Chapter V

"God, Isis! I was so worried about you!" Isis and Dina made it back to the lake and went straight to the front desk to call her dad. He was already there waiting for them. He ran up to his daughter and gave her a hug. "If you ever say you're going on a trail, force me to come, okay?" He looked over at the two boys. "Who are they?"

"Papa, this is Anthony and this is Jasper." Isis pointed to both boys as she introduced them. Prowl (now Tony) bowed his head and Jazz (short for Jasper) held up two fingers and put them back down into his pocket. "These guys were lost in the woods as well and we all just…came together and found our way back."

Mr. Blanks walked up to the two boys and gave them both a hand shake. "Thanks for saving my daughter, and her friend. I owe you two a lot. Your parents know you're gone?"

"We, uh…We don't have any," Tony admitted.

"You guys live in a foster home?"

"We live wherever," Jazz replied. He looked at himself. Nice clothes for a couple of strays. "And we got these clothes on sale at a thrift store, just so you know."

Blanks gave a small chuckle and continued. "So you guys have been wandering around for most of your lives? What happened?"

"Both of parents were killed when I was two and when Jazz was three," Tony said, making it up as he went. "Mine were at a drive-by shoot and I survived. As for Jazz, his house burned down and when his mom survived, she was killed three days later in a hold-up."

"Terrible," Blanks sighed. "You two got a last name?"

"Jasper Roca and Anthony Black," Jazz said. "That's all we know. We wanted to know more, but we found the hospitals our records were held at and…it was burned."

"Right…" Isis' dad gave them a suspicious look. "Where'd you say you guys lived? Your hometown."

"We can't remember," Tony lied. "We were still babies at the time. We told you that."

"I'm surprised you learned how to talk and read. And walk," Blanks shot them another look. Isis and Dina saw Jazz's eyebrows raise and he looked over to Tony.

"Trust me, we're just as surprised as you," Tony said, keeping a straight face. He held it long enough for a Mr. Blanks to believe them.

"All right, fine," he said. "You two can come with us. We'll take you to a friend of mine. He has a friend who runs an orphanage." With that, he walked off to the front desk to call off the police search.

Jazz gave a long sigh and patted Tony on the back. "That was good, man. Real nice." Isis and Dina skipped over to the boys to join them in their relief.

"I knew you were good at telling stories," Isis laughed, "but I didn't know you could make 'em just as good!" Tony shrugged and bowed for a laugh.

"All part of being a ninja," he said. "If you ever tell a lie, you can't show emotion."

"You sure you didn't take private lessons with Yoketron or something?" Jazz said. "I still can't make a lie that fast."

"I made it as we were walking," Tony smiled. "Don't worry, I'll teach you someday."

They looked over at Isis' dad who was done speaking to the lady at the desk. "All right, the stuff's already packed up. I'm just glad I took the SUV; didn't know we were gonna have boys coming back with us. And no co-ed seating. I don't want something turning into anything, you got that?" He was mostly looking at the boys.

"Yes, sir," they said in unison. Jazz kept his hands in his pockets and Tony looked at Blanks straight.

"All right, let's load up." The two girls and boys followed behind him as they walked to the Chevy Blazer. Isis and Dina sat in the middle seat while Jazz and Tony sat in the back with all the gear. At times, the fishing poles would fall over and smack them on the face whenever the car started from going to a red light to green light. Isis and Dina would turn their heads around just to talk to them and sometimes laugh at all the materials that were slung into their laps and on their heads.

They pulled up to Dina's house first to drop her off and went on to Isis' house. Her dad invited the boys in and they looked around.

"Nice digs," Jazz muttered. "Whatever job this dude's doin', he's doin' it right."

"You two will sleep down here," Isis' father instructed. "I don't want anyone going upstairs for any reason. I don't care if you need to go to the bathroom; you can hold it. TV is turned off at eleven; anytime later than that and you won't have breakfast. That goes for you too, Isis. If I hear any fighting going on, you sleep outside; I don't care who started it, I'm finishing it. If you get a midnight snack, they're in the top cupboard and I don't want any crumbs around here; we don't need roaches, we just got rid of them last week." He glared at the boys and raised an eyebrow. "Is that clear?"

Tony nodded his head rapidly and Jazz did the same. Isis' father walked away, still looking at the boys as he went upstairs.

"Keep a gun under your pillow," he whispered to Isis.

"Will do," Isis lied in a childish way. Her dad continued upstairs and Isis walked down to the boys.

"And, Isis, a friend of mine is taking care of the dog for us, so he'll be back tomorrow. He wanted to borrow him for his daughters." Isis laughed and her dad finally turned the corner at the top of the steps.

"Wow, your dad's something," Tony said.

"He's being…well, a dad," Isis giggled. "Which one of you is on the couch?"

"Why?"

"I'm taking up half of it until eleven."

"I thought you weren't supposed to be near us," Jazz said. "Your dad seemed kinda on edge."

"No, no, no. He said you guys weren't allowed up." A smile came across her face. "He didn't say anything about me coming down." She waited for the boys to catch on. She saw Tony trying to think and Jazz just staring at her. He turned to Tony as he pointed a thumb at Isis.

"This chick's good," he said.

Tony kept his stance for a bit and finally snapped out of it. "I guess she's fine."

"Just don't force another kiss on me," Isis snapped playfully.

"One time!" Tony nearly shouted. "And for good reason!"

"Sure it was." Isis walked around the couch and sat on it. Jazz jumped over from behind it and landed next to her. Tony sat on the floor in front of them.

"Let's see if there's a movie on," said Isis. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm suddenly up for a sci-fi."

The boys fell asleep to the movie. When it was done, Isis realized the position that she was in. Tony was snoring on the floor, blanket draped over half of him. Jazz was laying across her lap, also sleeping. Isis moved slowly, thinking they might wake up. She lifted Jazz's head and held it there for a while. She grabbed a throw pillow and placed it under his head and let it rest there. Isis took the small decorative blanket on the top of the couch and covered Jazz with it. Making sure everything was fine, Isis took the TV remote and shut off the television. She stood for a bit, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness, and found her way upstairs and into her room.

She closed the door silently and turned so her back was against it. She let out a loud and fast sigh and slumped down to the floor. She looked up to the ceiling as if she was looking into heaven.

"Mom, what do I do?" she asked. She kept looking up at the ceiling, thinking she was going to get a straight answer. She remembered that God didn't work that way. It usually took time to get answers from God or one of his angels.

"Crap," she mumbled. She stood herself up and got herself into bed and under the covers. She looked at the rails above her that held up the top bunk and stared at it for some time. She started making shapes out of it and spotted a fox and a hen. It reminded her of The Canterbury Tales that she performed in a play once when she was seven. Which tale was it? The Prioress's? Either way, she thought it was funny how her imagination was still intact. Most teens would change by this time and either become juveniles, snotty, or more mature. Isis still felt like a kid, but she was leaning towards the mature stage. She wanted to be Peter Pan now, at this moment, where she wouldn't have to grow up and live in Never Land. Maybe she could live on Cybertron with Jazz and Prowl. No, they lived on a non-organic planet; she wouldn't survive. It'd be nice to at least see it though. What did it look like? How long have they been alive, really? How long does a single, average Cybertronian live?

Isis grabbed a pencil and sheet of paper to write down the questions. She wanted to remember these to interview the guys. It would be weird, but she was just so curious she had to know. Lord knows, she'd have a story to tell to her kids. Well, it would sound like a fiction story, but who cares! At least it was interesting. Thinking about it, she grabbed her journal out of her desk and started writing down exactly what happened to her the past two days. She wanted to remember this, everything.

She read over her work when she was done and couldn't believe what came up. Everything was normal up until those boys. When she came to the part of the crystals, she figured out those were small pieces of the All Spark and the two boys, or Decepticons, had gathered them up. All the things of getting lost again and running into Prowl and Jazz. They kissed her and Dina, right there in a dark region of the forest. But why did they bring them there, anyway? What were they really doing? They wouldn't bring them all that way just to kiss them. She took her pencil and paper and wrote down the question at the bottom of the sheet. That might be the last piece of trivia she would give them. Everything else would be about their home planet.

Feeling a bit tired, Isis put the journal back in the drawer of her side desk and put the question sheet back on top of it. She turned off the lamp and pulled the covers up to her chin and curled into a half-ball. She closed her eyes, trying to get to sleep faster. The more she concentrated, the more she wasn't able to sleep. Remembering a trick her dad taught her about not going to sleep, she rested her head a bit more and came up with an image. She was sleeping in a garden filled only with violet rose petals. It felt warm and soft, she couldn't help but nuzzle her face into it. It was the best feeling she'd ever gotten and wanted to keep this dream all night. She didn't want it to go away and suddenly get a nightmare at the turn o' day (which meant midnight). She'd wake up cold and stiff and wouldn't go to sleep until she saw the dawning of the day.

Her dream was disrupted when she heard a noise from downstairs. Feeling a bit protective about the house and scared to find what was down there, she risked it and got up form her bed. She grabbed the flashlight off her computer desk and slowly opened the door. She walked quietly downstairs and turned on the flashlight. The girl pointed the light towards the couch and then to the left to the small kitchen-dining room. She flashed it back to the couch and walked slowly towards it. She shined the light on the bottom of the couch from behind and saw a blanket that was folded, showing someone got up from it. She turned the light to the floor where Tony was sleeping, but he wasn't there either.

A gusty noise came from her right and her reflexes switched over to it. The back door was wide open and swung back and forth by the wind.

"Prowl, Jazz," she sighed. She closed the door and hoped that her dad didn't hear their exit. She left it unlocked so they could get back in. She walked back upstairs and into her room. She saw a note on her bed and read it.

Detected an All Spark fragment. Be back in an hour. Prowl, Jazz

"Of course," she sighed. For a second she realized that the boys were in her room. Then the thought that they were ninjas kind of scared her. They might've been going through a bit of her stuff and put it back for all she knew. God, boys were the same after all! She was about to scream when she remembered her dad was sleeping. If he woke up and found out that the boys were missing he might never see them again. And instead of them going to a foster home they would go to juvenile hall, the kiddie hoosegow, and never see them again.

"I'm-a kill 'em," she groaned. "I'm-a kill 'em both!"

She got herself back into bed and found out that her violet rose petal dream wouldn't come back and she had to go to sleep angry. She kept thinking of how she would get back to them and found there was no way to get back at two robotic alien ninjas.

xXx

Dina: *glares at Isis*

Isis: What?

Dina: You know damn well what.

Isis: I'm...sorry? I don't.

Dina: You brought them over to your house!

Isis: What?! Oh, God, Dina, it's not like that!

Dina: You're just as bad as Jessie and Julie!

Brianna: *stuck in the middle of the fight, trying to type* You guys, please. I'm trying to work on five different stories right now! I'm beginning to wonder if that "audience participation" thing is probably something I should'ne have done.

Isis: *ignoring* They had no where to go! What else was I supposed to do?!

Dina: You could keep Jazz at my place!

Brianna: Guys?

Isis: You'd probably sleep with him!

Brianna: Guys?

Dina: And you with Prowl!

Brianna: GUYS!!!

Isis+Dina: WHAT?!

Brianna: Shut up or none of you will see Jazz or Prowl again, you understand me?!

Dina: But I-

Brianna: Shut up.

Isis: She was just-

Brianna: Put da shut to the up.

Dina: But-

Brianna: Shut the hell up.

That was a total Madea moment for me. That's what I get for watching Madea Goes To Jail seven times.