AN: Ok, so, to everyone who read Chapter 1 before September 21 read it again because I changed it. Italics is telepathy. 3 DAYS UNTIL HOUSE OF HADES COMES OUT ASDFGHJKL
Chapter 2: Blue
Hi. I'm Alexis Walker, but I'd prefer if you'd call me Alex. I know that the other Alex already told you a bit about our rings, and the UR, but you're going to be hearing five sides of the same story, so just shut up and deal with it.
I groan as I hear my alarm bleeping through the fog of sleep. I reach out and try to smack a few times, but by the time I hit it, I'm already awake. I sigh and leap from my bed to my closet using my enhanced abilities.
Um, what did Alex say to say during these? Oh yeah. Pause. Um, sorry, I forgot to mention that, to you humans, I'm an alien. I come from a race called the Astonians, and my mother had strong powers even by our standards due to a Martian ancestor, which is why my three brothers, two sisters and I are able to shift our forms, and other abilities that we haven't fully sorted out yet. My father, however, can't shape shift, which is why he can't leave our house. We came to Earth because our planet was destroyed in an inter-galactic war, and only my family and my uncle Saint escaped. Uncle Saint went to a planet called Mogo, and we came here. So, yeah. Um, oh yeah, Unpause.
"Xanilia! Are you finished getting ready?" My father, Nathan, or Caxilint, Walker, calls from downstairs. Xanilia is my real name, but Alexis is the closest English translation. "Yeah Dad! I'll be there in a sec!" I grab my phone from my dresser and hurry downstairs, dialing Alex's number along the way. "Hey Alex." I say when he picks up, tucking my phone between my ear and my shoulder as I put two slices of bread in the toaster.
I smile when my long-time crush greets me. I hadn't even known that I had been crushing on him until I mentioned how oddly I felt around him to Silena one day. She had started freaking out, telling me that I'm in love with him and she had known along, etc. etc.
"You sound annoyed. Another call from Samantha the Teenage Witch?" I ask, careful to keep the hostility out of my voice when I mention Alex's ex. "You know me too well Walker." He tells me in a jokingly weary tone. I grin the way only Alex can make me. "And that's a problem Jordan?" I ask in a teasing manner.
"Have you heard from Roy?" He asks, his voice serious now. I note that, even though I had been mostly joking, he hadn't answered my question. "No. I'm getting worried, and so is Silena." I say. Roy trusts me a lot, and talked to me more about his mom's situation than any of our other friends. I'm really worried, and I hope that he's okay.
"What if there's something seriously wrong with him?" Alex asks me, voicing my fears about Roy. "Don't give up hope Alex. I'm sure that he and his mom are fine." I tell him, though I know that I don't believe what I'm saying. I don't think Alex believes me either.
My phone suddenly beeps twice, and I nearly drop my toast. "I'm getting another call." I tell Alex, and than check the ID. I gasp. "It's Roy! I'll call you back in a bit." I transfer my call and Roy picks up.
"Roy! Are you alright? Where have you been?" I ask him, too excited to be talking to my friend to wait for him to answer my questions. "He shot her." He whispers, his voice hollow and sad. I suck in a breath. Roy and I have always been close, and he's always been able to talk to me. I'm the only one who knows all the details about his mother's situation. I'm the only one who knows about his mother's cancer.
Okay, the whole pause and unpause thing is kind of stupid, so I'm just not going to use it. Now, I'm sure that Alex told you the whole story about the threats and Roy's dad and such. However, he didn't know about Ms. McEntire's cancer. It's such a rare form of the disease that they don't even have a proper name for it, but it's not fatal. Some days, Ms. McEntire will be fine, some days she doesn't have the strength to get out of bed, and others, she'll have random seizures and spasms. At that time, her condition was relatively under control, but Roy was worried about something bad happening. Worried and scared and angry at the world for everything happening in his mother's life.
"Oh. Roy-" "I'll tell you." He cuts me off quietly. I was surprised at the lack of anger, or even worry or sadness in his voice. He was completely and totally emotionless. "I came home from school a week ago and he was there, outside the house. All he said was, 'When she's gone, know you have a place with me.' I ran inside and called the police. She was there. Lying in the kitchen, blood pooling around her. It was terrible. She's in a coma, and the doctors say that she probably won't make it." He finishes bitterly.
"Roy, are you okay?" I ask him. "Probably not, Lexis. But it doesn't matter. I have to be strong. For Mom." He tells me, his voice getting quieter and quieter. It seems a bit more like he's talking to himself than to me. "Are you coming to school today?" I ask him. "Yeah. I'll see you at the bus." he tells me, than hangs up. I sigh and shve my phone in my pocket, than head out to the bus stop.
I smile as people look at me-or rather, through me, in confusion. I suppose they can sense that something's wrong, they just can't see what it is. Camouflage is very effective. I've loved practicing the skill I discovered a few months ago, but it's still a bit unsettling to have to move every time someone thinks that they're walking through an open space.
I start across the street to where my bus stop is, but after I've only walked a few paces, a giant truck comes hurtling around the corner, straight towards me. I stare, the prospect of death freezing me where I stand, and I forgot that I'm invisible and the driver can't see me. I quickly raise my arms in an X, as if to block the 18-wheeler about to kill me, when something miraculous happens. The truck that was about to end my life passes right through me instead.
Quickly regaining my ability to think, I float into the air, avoiding more cars. I quickly pull out my phone and settle, cross-legged, on top of the house-like bus station, still camouflaged. I have no idea what just happened, but hopefully my mother will.
"It's called density-shifting." My mother tells me. I'm sitting next to Roy on the bus, clutching his hand in what I hope is a reassuring manner. I'm holding my phone in my other hand, asking my mother, Bella, or Lazinthia, Walker, about the incident with the truck earlier. "It allows you to weaken the density of your own form so that you can pass through objects, or strengthen, making your skin like steel. It's quite the handy ability. Now, I have to go, sweetheart. Have fun at school." And she hung up.
"Come on." I pull Roy up as our school comes into view through the windows of the bus. A flood of students rush from the bus, and at some point, I lose Roy's hand. Just inside the school's gates, Alex, Johnny and Silena are gathered. Silena is asking Alex if there's been any news about Roy. "Quite a lot actually." I say. The trio spins to face me. "Alex!" Johnny cries, "What have you heard about-" "Roy!" Silena shrieks, interrupting Jonathan's frantic question.
I turn to see that the tall boy had approached behind me. Silena had her arms wrapped around his chest in a bear hug. "Hi." He says weakly, speaking in the same hoarse tone he's been using all morning. "What's wrong, man? Is everything okay?" Johnny asks his best friend.
"No. Nothing's okay anymore." Roy snarls, his first show of emotion all morning. "My mom was fucking shot. The bullet didn't hit her heart but it came pretty damn close. She's in the hospital and there's a good chance she won't make it. My bastard of a father has the nerve to say that if she dies, he'll take me in. He's the one who fucking shot her in the first place! No, I'm not okay. And if she dies, nothing ever will be ever again."
I know that he doesn't want it, but a wave of pity erupts in the pit of my stomach. "Roy. I-" "Save it." Even Silena, who can usually calm Roy down after an explosion of his temper, or make him smile on a bad day, can't comfort the red-head now. The bell rings soon after that and Johnny escorts Roy to home room. "Do you think he'll be okay?" Alex asks me as we walk, side by side, into the big building. "I don't know, Alex. Really, it all depends on if his mom recovers. But we have to have hope, right?"
When I get home that day, my mother rushes me immediately to the small attic, what we call the training room, where our mother teaches me and my siblings to use our Martian powers. "Density shifting is quite a difficult ability to master, but I'm confident that you'll be able to do it." My mother begins to me and my twin brother, Xathint, or Thomas.
Did I not mention that I have a twin brother? Hm. Must have slipped my mind.
I'm not surprised to see Thomas there. Due to the fact that we're twins, our powers have been developing at the exact same rate. Even though Thomas can be really annoying, it's nice knowing that it's guaranteed I'll always have someone beside me in training sessions.
"First off; when did you first discover your new ability?" My mom asks. My face reddens when I hear her question. She'll probably say that I'm irresponsible for camouflaging myself in public. But when I glance at Thomas, he's blushing as well. "Thomas, why don't you go first?"
He face turns an even more intense shade of scarlet. "I... uh.. I was kissing a girl and-" "You WHAT?" Our mom explodes. "You were kissing a girl?" She shrieks. Our mom has always been overprotective, and even though she started letting us date when we turned sixteen a few months ago, she still starts yelling at the merest mention of a date.
Her rage barely contained, our mother continues speaking in a carefully controlled tone. "What happened?" She asks, gritting her teeth. "I fell right through her. I covered it up, said I slipped and fell, since she didn't notice that I fell through her." Thomas tells her. "Alright." Our mom says. "And you, Alexis?" You had to get her in a bad mood, didn't you? I tell my brother accusingly through our twin mind link.
Oh, yes, and most twins who have telepathy have an unbreakable mind link. They don't hear all of each other's thoughts, but the can converse telepathically without having to create a link, and without other telepaths being able to sense it.
"Well, I was practicing camouflage, and when I crossed the street, a truck went on a red light, and it passed through me instead of hitting me." I tell our mother. "Okay, I'm disappointed in both of you right now, but that will be dealt with later. Right now, we're going to be training in density shifting. I haven't used my own power in awhile, so I may be a bit rusty."
We spent the rest of the afternoon practicing density shifting. Most of it was drifting through the floor and scaring the crap out of my younger siblings, but our older sister and brother didn't seem to care much when we fell through their ceilings. We're going to try solidifying our densities next 'class'.
That night, after dinner, I had floated through the roof (I love density shifting already) and I've been star-gazing. But it's quite surprising when a group of five multicolored stars suddenly appear in my vision.
I blink several times upon their appearance and wonder if I'm hallucinating. The blue one seems to be coming closer. And closer. I slowly back away, but it doesn't matter. The blue star is right in front of my face. And it's not a star at all. It's a ring.
Alex made me stop talking here, though I don't know why.