Okay, so here's chapter five. Um, this should be the last one that flips back and forth between two different days, at least for a while, I don't really remember…
Anyways… Wow! Thanks to everyone who favorited/alerted! I was surprised by how many people suddenly seemed to jump aboard the Fireproof train. *laughs*
Um, reviews, let's see…
frozenangel1988: Sorry it's hard to follow, this should be the last confusing one, at least for a bit.
MusicAnimal, Emerald, and RiverOfTheWolf: Tada! I updated!
Guest: I can't tell you! That would spoil it silly!
Miss-Paparella: I'm glad you like Mouse! Makes me happy! *grins* As for the thing with Nancie… *smiles mischievously* I can't tell you of course, but this chapter should give you more of a hint. You're free to guess… I'd be happy to tell you if you've guessed correctly.
Anywho, here's chapter five! Enjoy! And please review. Even if it's only to tell me to get my ass in gear and update, at least it allows me to see that I have readers!
Fireproof
Chapter 5: Mouse Has A New Fear.
They didn't even notice her at first, since she wasn't in a desk, plus, you know, they were busy arguing with one another. In fact, it wasn't until they had settled quietly that they even realized there was a third person in the room with them. Will had his head propped on a fist as he glanced nervously at Warren, afraid the volatile junior would attack at any moment.
There was a sound.
A hum.
At first he thought it was a machine, maybe even the sound of the detention room as it neutralized the powers of whoever was inside, but the sound kept hitching at irregular intervals, too organic. He began looking around, that's when he saw her. "Mouse!" Will shot to his feet, completely forgetting about Warren in his concern, and rushed to where the girl was sitting on the floor, as far away from the door as possible.
Her knees were tucked against her chest, her face resting on them, hands holding the sides of her head as though to keep it from breaking apart. She didn't respond to him at all. "Mouse!" When she still didn't respond, even when he shouted right next to her, Will grew alarmed. He grabbed her shoulder, shaking it, trying to get some sort of reaction out of her.
Nothing.
He shot to his feet and ran to the door, pounding on it. "Principle Powers! Mouse! Ther-there's something wrong with Mouse!" Warren watched from where he'd risen to his feet by his desk, looking back and forth uncertainly, some measure of concern in his eyes. –He wasn't heartless after all.-
The door whooshed open to reveal their white clad principle, looking mildly agitated. "What is it?" In response, Will pointed frantically at the girl sitting in the back of the room. The woman became alarmed at the sight and rushed to the girl on the floor. "Miss Kelly? Miss Kelly, can you hear me?" She lifted the girl's face with a hand under her chin, attempting to make eye contact, but the girl's eyes, wide open with tears pouring out, were unseeing. She shot to a standing position and turned quickly to Will, "Keep trying to rouse her, I have to get the nurse immediately." The moment she was out of the nullification field she activated her power and went shooting off down the hall.
Will went back to calling her name.
Warren continued to watch, concerned but uncertain.
Two days ago, the morning following the last chapter
It was an unwritten rule in the Kelly household that any confrontations with Mouse had to wait until after school, as she was dangerously irritable in the mornings, well, irritable and slow to respond intelligently. Which was why she only knew about Nancie's concerns because she overheard her sharing them with Joshua Kelly, Emryn's father and Nancie's boyfriend. "-ou didn't hear her, Jo! She was… She sounded so… She mistook me for that woman, but her voice wasn't sad, or angry, or hurt, or… anything like that!" Mouse paused mid-step, hand on the kitchen door, about to push it open. Her sleepy face immediately darkened and a frown pulled at her lips, she held her tongue, eavesdropping.
"She was practically asleep, Sweet, I'm sure it didn't mean anything at all." Ah, and there was her father's voice, calm, cool, collected; Mouse couldn't think of a time she'd ever heard him sound differently, but then, she hadn't really seen him for any stretch of time in years.
"She mistook me for her mother, Jo! Her mother! And she just sounded happy! Comfortable even! After what that woman did! After she-" Mouse gave the door an angry shove as she entered the room, pretending to yawn and acting as though she hadn't a clue what they were just discussing, knowing that if she started a fight there would be no stopping it.
And she was too damn tired for that.
Back to the now
"What's wrong with her?" He was hovering, Will knew he was hovering, but he couldn't help it. The moment nurse Spex had entered the room he'd been forced to step back, and aside from demanding that the boys help move Mouse out of the room the woman hadn't said anything. Will was pretty much going through worse-case scenarios in his head at this point.
Spex glanced up, seeing the near-panicking Will hovering as close as he could get and farther back, against the wall, a blank-faced Warren. She hadn't even realized that both boys had stayed. "She's going to be alright. She's just in shock right now."
"Why?" He was only slightly less worried now that he knew she would be okay.
Nurse Spex frowned. "It was her power. The Detention room blocked it, causing her to suffer from extreme sensory deprivation. She had a panic attack and then it sent her into shock." She did another scan, noting that the signs of her anxiety were subsiding at least. She turned her attention towards Powers. "She should never have been sent into that room."
The woman nodded grimly. "Agreed. Her files don't say anything about a sensory driven power though, only that she cannot be harmed by fire, I don't understand why she was affected."
"Well, yeah she's fireproof, but what about her other power? The one with chain reactions? That involves her senses, right?" Mouse was calming, her skin regaining its normal tone. The closer she looked to her normal self, the less Will worried. He was now annoyed, -The Boy-scout wasn't quite angry.- the school had messed up and hurt his friend. And he was not okay with that. "How could you not know about that?"
Then
"Emryn! You're… up…" Mouse took a quiet pleasure in the expression of panic that Nancie was unable to hide.
Her father barely glanced at her.
"Yeah, I have to be, otherwise I won't be ready for school in time." She was carefully controlled, her voice the same sleepy 'no duh' tone it always was when she felt someone had said something stupid to her. "Hey, are there any more Kashi Bars left?"
"What? Oh, um, yes, I think so." Mouse rolled her eyes at the flustered, floundering behavior of Nancie. –Really, if she didn't already know something was up before, this would have alerted her. How oblivious did they think she was?- She dug around in the cabinet to hide her face, knowing they'd be able to see her thoughts clearly otherwise.
Her temper riled, she decided to mess with them more. "So, what were you guys talking about?"
Nancie let out a strangled sound that Mouse was pretty sure was supposed to be a laugh and searched desperately for something to say. And she was failing. Epically.
"Nothing." Her father didn't sound remotely fazed, a frown flickered across her face as she glanced at him over her shoulder, he still wasn't even looking at her.
The frown turned into a scowl as she turned away from him. "Whatever." She shoved the kitchen door open violently with her shoulder, ignoring Nancie's attempt at talking to her, and went back upstairs, she had to get ready for school.
She had a personal stalker waiting for her after all.
Now
Principal Powers frowned unhappily as she finished reading over the file for the third time, just like the other two times she'd read it, she found no mention of any power other than her being fireproof. –Perhaps it's a recent development?-
But no, the Stronghold lad had stated it like her ability was common knowledge. –Then why wasn't it in her file?- When she asked Emryn, after the girl had recovered, she only gave a vague shrug of confusion, stating that she didn't know, and proceeded to dodge the topic afterwards.
Powers glanced at the girl's personal history, wondering if that was somehow related to the missing information. She could hardly blame the girl if she was still hiding abilities, not when something like that happened to her…
She decided it might be best to set up a meeting with the counselor, there would likely be backlash from this event anyways and it would be helpful, even if it didn't reveal anything more about her powers.
And maybe it would help with her temper.
She still needed to talk to Boomer about the incident, she needed to know why he hadn't reported Emryn for it. Powers had had to find out about the girl almost dropping a car on him from another student, which had not made her happy. Maybe if she'd found out about it in the proper fashion then she would have been alerted to the girl's other power and Emryn wouldn't have suffered in the way she had.
–Powers really disliked 'what ifs'.-
Then
"You know, I could have sworn that I told you to buzz off." And yet, she had known he would show. –Likely waiting for a chance to get back at her for how she spoke to him the day before.- She hadn't looked away from her locker but she knew he was there, the area directly around her had suddenly cleared of people.
All except one, that is.
She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, he was dressed much the same as the day before, though today he had forgone the leather jacket. She mentally sighed. –She actually found him more attractive without it, as his intimidation level went down some. Not that she thought for a moment that it affected how dangerous he was, she was still afraid of him.- He was opening his mouth to respond when a pink clad body stepped between them.
Gwen Grayson.
Mouse glared.
"Hi." The perky senior was smiling enthusiastically, completely unperturbed by the way Mouse reacted the first time she'd tried talking to her. When all she got by way of response was a glare and a raised eyebrow she decided to just get on with it. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot and I jus-"
"Oh, you mean when you were rude to my friends, right in front of me, then expected me to… what? Ignore it? Not notice? Just because Will's finally become a guy, doesn't mean I'm at all affected by your happy-as-sunshine face. Wrong foot? I suppose you could call it that. Personally, I call it you being a snobbish bitch." She closed her locker and walked around the stunned Miss Grayson 'til she was looking at Warren. "I'm really not in the mood, okay? So just leave me alone?"
Her eyes were tired and he was surprised to realize that she was genuinely asking, not telling him. After a moment of debate he nodded and walked off silently, he paused, looking back. She was still standing where she'd been before, looking pathetically lost as she clutched her books to her chest and stared blankly down the hall, eyeing all the people walking by.
He heaved a sigh and went back, grabbed her by the elbow and turned her in the correct direction for her first class. He gave her a light push and then walked off without another backwards glance.
She looked after him, perplexed, before giving a small thankful smile and following his silent directions. Maybe her week would get better.