When I get back to my dad's house I look around briefly at the photos and knick nacks. Then I walk upstairs into my room and really look around. What I see isn't encouraging, as it doesn't really look like anyone lives here. Especially not me.
I lean down on my old bed as I try to work out when I stopped living, as I already know when I started living again.
Absently, I grab the box with the phone and finish opening it. A couple of seconds after I put the batteries in the back, the phone makes a god awful sound and the LCD display shows Msg: 1 - 04/16/2011 12:32.
After a quick hunt through the instruction book, I find out how to get to the menu, and then the messages.
U wke yet?
I stare at the three words for several seconds before checking the manual again and pressing the button that will allow me to reply, and carefully typing "what?" and pressing the right button to send it.
I put the phone on my desk as I walk into the hall to find an old towel that is close to being threadbare. I'm just tugging one out from the bottom of the rear pile when my phone starts to play a tune.
Rather than lose the towel, I grab the phone in my power and bring it to me. After looking at it for a second, I press the green handset button with my free hand and put it up to my ear, "Hello?"
Victoria's voice comes from the other end, "Taylor! How are you?"
The towel finally comes free. "I'm ok."
"What's up?"
I sigh, "Can I talk about it later?"
"Sure, do you fancy hanging out at the Boardwalk? If you can take me and Amy, I'll pay."
I hesitate for a moment as I look down at my chiton, then I say, "Sure, I'll be at yours in a few minutes."
"Great. It sucks not being able to fly."
I laugh, "Don't forget I'm going to take the batteries out of my phone."
"Yeah, yeah, power interactions suck. See ya soon."
A second later, the phone beeps once before falling silent, so I remove the batteries and drop them into my pouch along with my current notebook and a pen. Frowning, I look at the pouch and reach in to pull out the woodworking book. Once I'm holding it, I lay the pouch on top of it and stare at the clear inch of book that's visible around the edges of the pouch.
"Ok, I really want to know how to do that."
I grab my staff from downstairs and experimentally slide it into the pouch with everything else.
Laughing I say, "Selene, goddess of the moon, thank you for the pouch, it's great!"
I get a sense of approval from Selene as I grab my sewing box and add that to the pouch too.
That done, I head to the grass lands and my mood immediately drops again. Where there should be five kittens, there are instead 4 kittens, and the carcass has also been taken. Carefully, I pick them up, and wince as the last one was separate from the rest and seems to be missing one of it's front legs, though it's still trying to move without it.
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After I dropped off the self help book, I teleported to Victoria's house and walked up the path to ring on the doorbell.
From somewhere in the house comes a cry of "I've got it mom!" though a few seconds later the door opens to reveal Mrs Dallon.
I step back a couple of paces and lean lightly on my spear as Mrs Dallon looks me up and down. A moment later, Victoria comes barreling through the doorway and stops dead as she looks me up and down.
Before Victoria can say anything, Mrs Dallon says, "Victoria, are you going to introduce me?"
I smile and raise my spear in front of my face, "I am Berenike, apprentice of Selene."
Victoria lamely says, "Um, do you prefer Taylor or Berenike? Anyway, this is my mom Carol Dallon, or Brandish of New Wave in costume."
I nod, "Pleased to meet you Mrs Dallon, and I think in costume I'd prefer Berenike."
Carol nods, "And you too Berenike. It's good to see another cape following in New Wave's example."
I give a little half shrug in embarrassment, "Actually, it's a matter or practicality. I have about as much hope of hiding the fact I'm a cape as Victoria does. Though for very different reasons."
I lift the top of the towel and levitate it over to Victoria, "Victoria, I had only planned on bringing one of these kittens, however a predator seems to have found them. Do you think your sister would mind healing the wounded one? If not, I will just put it out of it's misery."
Victoria seems to ignore me as she picks one of the kittens out of the pile and holds it up to her face, "Oh, it's so sweet, can we keep it mom, please? Pretty please?"
Mrs Dallon looks as though she's about to object when the sleeve of Victoria's jumper drops down to reveal her emaciated arm. "Fine, but it's your responsibility."
Victoria spins in the air, "Yay! Come on Bere, I'll show you upstairs while I get changed into my costume. I'll also introduce you to Ames too."
I look towards Mrs Dallon, who sighs, "Leave your spear by the door."
I nod, "Thank you Mrs Dallon."
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Victoria's bedroom is very, pink. The carpet is hot pink, the walls are two tone pink, the cupboards are even pink. The bed is blue, and the curtains are black.
As I stand in the doorway, Victoria looks back at me apologetically, "Yeah, sorry. I was going through a pink phase just after I got my powers, so mom and dad let me pick the colors for my room to cheer me up. Anyway, this one's Amy's room."
I turn and follow her as she walks to the other side of the stairs and knocks on the door, "Hey Ames, we've got a guest."
A few seconds later Amy pokes her head out of the door, "Hi, I'm Amy, and you know that already."
As Amy's pulling her head back in, Victoria says, "Ames, don't be like that. Berenike has kittens, see. And one of them is injured."
I roll my eyes as Victoria lifts her kitten to her face again. "Do not worry Amy. If you don't want to heal it, I'll just put it out of it's misery."
Amy pokes her head out of the door again, "No, it's fine. Just give it here."
I carefully levitate the injured kitten, that had been pushed to the bottom of the pile, and pass it over to Amy. As she takes hold of it, her face lights up in a smile as she runs her thumb over the stump, and seals it off. "There, it's done. I can't do anything about the leg as it's too fragile at the moment. Where did you find it?"
"They were stumbling around outside a gap between tree roots, and they were still there when I passed the tree again, so I'm sure the mother was killed. If I'd left them, they'd have died too."
Amy nods as she strokes the kitten in her hands, "Can I keep her?"
I shrug, "I don't see why not. Fair warning though, they can teleport."
Both of them stare at me, and Victoria says, "Wait, really?"
I nod, "Yes really. I told you about spike yesterday didn't I?"
Amy frowns, "I can't feel any of the markers that would suggest that she's a tinker creation. The DNA is a little odd, like it branched millions of years ago, but that can't be right."
I shrug, "All I know is that I learnt one method of teleporting by feeling what they were doing."
Amy shakes her head, "Ok, be like that. Call me when you're ready to go." Then closes the door again.
Victoria shakes her head, "Don't worry about Amy, she's like that with everyone. I'll be ready in a couple of minutes."
I nod, "I'll, ah, wait down stairs then."
As I reach the bottom of the stairs, I spot a man, that must be Mr Dallon, staring at a broken chair in the dining room. Walking through the lounge I stop in the dining room doorway, "Do you need a hand there?"
Mr Dallon glances up at me, "If you would."
I smile and pull my staff out of my pouch before pointing it at the chair and using my repair power on the chair.
In a voice devoid of emotions, Mr Dallon says, "Well, I've not seen that before. Does that work on wine stains?"
Rather than argue semantics, I just nod, "It can do."
"Oh good. We have some hidden under the chairs in the lounge."
I smile and levitate the chairs out of the way enough to use my cleaning power on the stains, leaving clearly visible cream colored spots against the slightly dirty cream of the rest of the carpet.
"Thank you, now Carol can move the furniture back the way she likes it. I'm Mark by the way."
"Berenike, apprentice of Selene. Or Taylor out of costume."
Mark sits down on one of the sofas gestures to the other end, "That's a bit of a mouthful."
I sit down, on the sofa and place the towel on the seat between us. "I suppose it can be. But the title is important."
Mark nods and scoops up a kitten that's battled it's way out of the towel. Rather than saying anything else, Mark just sits there staring out of the window while scratching the head of the kitten.
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Once Victoria's dressed in her signature white outfit, and Amy has thrown her robe over her normal clothes, I say, "We should probably do this in the street. And don't forget to take the batteries out of your phones."
Amy scowls at me, "What do you mean batteries?"
I look briefly surprised, "Oh, right, you wouldn't know. My powers interact badly with electronics. As long as I'm focusing the ability, it's very localized. But teleporting with me isn't going to be kind on them."
Victoria holds up the batteries from her phone, "I already did mine."
Grumbling, Amy starts to remove the batteries from her own phone, "You could have warned me."
Victoria shrugs, "I'm sorry, I forgot. It was a busy day yesterday, and I found out I could have killed myself accidentally."
Amy sarcastically replies, "Apology accepted."
I sigh and hold out the arm that's holding my spear in a loop, while holding out my other hand, "Well, if you want to get to the Boardwalk, it's easier for me to teleport if we're touching."
Victoria immediately loops her hand through my elbow leaving my hand free for Amy to take.
I picture the ice cream parlor and try to teleport. Emphasis on the 'try'. If Victoria is like dragging a sandbag along a beach, Amy is like trying to drag a buried bolder. Suffice to say all I achieve is a single step forward.
"Um, sorry about that. I'm, er, just going to try a different method of teleportation."
Victoria's eyes open in remembered horror, "Not that one please, I'd rather walk."
I shake my head, "Not at all, Selene told me that method is only for short range. I'm going to use the method she described, so it might take me a bit to work it out."
Amy sighs, "Great, so we're going to be part of power testing."
On the other side, Victoria says, "Wait, this Selene is a real person?"
I look at Victoria in confusion, "That's what being an apprentice usually means."
Victoria rolls her eyes, "You'd think that, but there are at least three capes in the USA with apprentice as part of their name. And I looked it up, and Selene is another word for the moon."
At their disbelieving looks, I add, "If you don't believe me, her full title is Selene, goddess of the moon. If you say her name, her full name, she can talk to you. Just let her know you're my friends, as I think she was a bit upset with Lacey earlier."
Neither of them say anything so I turn forward again and close my eyes to do my visualization. As an afterthought I say, "I'm just trying to work out how to do this, so bear with me."
Next to me I can vaguely hear Victoria muttering under her breath, but I put it out of my mind as I try to picture a doorway between here and the street outside. After a few minutes it's fairly obvious that the three of us have been spotted by the neighbors, as a lot of chatter starts up and Amy lets go of my hand.
That is until Victoria tugs on my arm, "Taylor, Berenike, I think you've done it."
Doubtfully, I open my eyes, only for them to widen, as in front of us is an illusion of a wooden doorway. I know it's an illusion because I can see through it. But inside the doorway is the front of the ice cream parlor I was picturing.
Between the doorway and the ice cream parlor is a veritable crowd of people. The ones at the front are all tapping their phone in frustration, while the people further back are holding their phones up, and there's the occasional flash from one of them.
Victoria nudges me, "Well, go on, it's your portal you should go first. Don't worry, we'll be right behind you."
I stand there for a couple more minutes before Amy huffs and stomps through the portal and looks back, "Come on, there's not that many people, they're just crowded around the front of the portal."
With a bit of nudging from Victoria, I walk through the portal in time to see Amy disappearing into the ice cream parlor behind the crowd. As soon as I step through, everyone surges towards me and I turn around and bump into Victoria. Who shouts over my shoulder, "Hey, give her some space, she's new to all this."
I shake my head, "I can't do this."
Victoria leans down and softly says, "Sure you can. Look, I'll carry you into the shop, we can have some ice cream, and you can close the portal. You can close the portal, can't you?"
I let out an 'eep' as Victoria leans down and sweeps her arms under my knees as she lifts off the ground. Once we're over the crowd, I look back down, and realize that there's really not that many people there. In fact the halls at Winslow were more crowded than that between classes. As Victoria carries me into the ice cream parlor, most of the crowd disperses behind us, though a few people keep looking at my doorway, and one enterprising individual walks through.