Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 30th May 2022
Frederick Levit, Principal of Arcadia Oaks High School,two-time winner of the chili competition at the state fair, and single by choice not because he couldn't find a nice girl, Mom, sighed and resisted the urge to drop his head into his hands. He thought longingly about doing so. About massaging the tightness on either side of his temples with his fingers. About the bottle of extra-strength Advil in his desk drawer, reserved for days like these.
"I am telling you," the shorter, plumper brown-skinned woman was almost yelling, "I have jurisdictional precedence!"
The taller woman, thin and pale, sniffed. "I think not."
"Ladies," Fred tried to break in, but was ignored.
Military Lady glared at the other. "Lady, I am here with the full backing of the U.S. Government!"
"And I am here on the behalf of a higher authority." Conservative Tweed drew herself up another imperious inch. "The school board."
"Ladies," Fred tried again, louder. This time he was awarded with a matching set of glares. "What are you here for?"
"Illegal aliens," the two women said as one, then blinked, looking at each other in surprise.
"All right," Fred said, taking advantage of the moment of silence, "what illegal aliens?"
Military Lady recovered first. "I am here on behalf of the United States government to aid in the retrieval and relocation of a pair of suspected aliens to our facilities."
"Wonderful." Fred's headache grew stronger. "May I ask what illegal aliens?"
"They're going by the names Aja and Krel Tarron." The woman opened her briefcase-Fred caught a glimpse of something that looked like a gun, but also not like any gun he'd ever seen-and slapped a couple of 8x10s down on his desk. Fred drew the photographs to himself with the tips of his fingers, looking them over. They were a bit grainy, like they were still frames taken from videos, or possibly zoomed in. But they were definitely pictures of the Tarron twins.
"Their paperwork," he said, looking up, "seemed to be entirely in order."
The woman sniffed. "Paperwork can be faked."
"I take it you have experience of that," Conservative Tweed murmured. Military Lady's head snapped around, glaring at her. "In any case," Tweed said, "I, too, am here with concerns about the Tarrons. Though my primary interest is in their parents."
"Parents?" Military parroted, eyes widening behind her glasses.
"Indeed." A calculating look crossed Tweed's face. "Do you know, I think we might be able to assist one another."
Slowly, a grin formed on Military's face. "We might," she agreed.
Tweed offered her hand. "Bertha Flanagan," she introduced herself. "Special advisor for the Arcadia Oaks High School Board. Please, call me Birdie."
Military took her hand and shook it. "Colonel Amanda Kubritz," she introduced herself in turn. "I think we're going to get along just fine."
Yawning and stretching his arms over his head, Jim started down the stairs just as he heard the front door close. Well, he'd missed Douxie again this morning. Not unusual on the days the wizard had the opening shift at the bookstore. Which, he thought as he entered the kitchen, was why he'd taken to packing Douxie's lunches the night before, half the week.
Rummaging through the refrigerator, he deliberated briefly, before pulling out eggs and sausage. Something easy today. Something simple. Some toast to go with, for carbs. Milk for calcium, and juice for sweetness, as well as getting on with his first portion of fruit-and-vegetables for the day.
Jim hummed as he made his breakfast, not noticing the packet that had been left on the dining table until he was actually putting his plate down.
/Necklaces for your classmates,/ the note on top said in Douxie's florid copperplate handwriting.
Curious, Jim pulled on the tape, opening the envelope that Douxie had clearly folded out of a sheet of notebook paper. Inside were six quartz pendant necklaces that matched the one around his own neck. Douxie had wrapped masking tape around the cord of each one, to label them with the names of their intended recipients.
"Okay," Jim said, sliding the necklaces back in and trying to re-close the envelope. It only kind of worked, the tape's stickiness now tenuous and grudging. "Why it matters who gets what necklace," he said to no one, "I don't understand. But fine."
Shrugging, he went to put the packet in his messenger bag, so he could hand them out at school. The broom was missing from the closet, he noticed; was Douxie using it for something?
Then he realized Douxie's skateboard was propped in the corner of the closet.
"Holy Gorgus," Jim said, eyes widening. "He isn't seriously-"
"No," he answered his own unspoken accusation. "He totally would."
Douxie was riding a broomstick in to work like it was his skateboard.
Jim felt the urge to facepalm. Because there was not hiding and then there was being freaking obvious and begging for trouble. And no matter what Douxie might think, they were totally not the same thing.
He pulled out his phone. /You're insane,/ he texted to his brother, then shut the closet door and went back to his breakfast.
Aja was smiling as she walked onto the school campus, holding her books of text to her chest. It was a beautiful sunny day, very few people had so much as given her and Krel a second glance in gym class yesterday, and after school she was going to watch Steve's basketball practice and then go on a date with him!
(Also, she was hoping that Coach Lawrence would allow them to repeat yesterday's dodge ball game. She wanted a chance to avenge her honor and defeat Jim.)
"I would offer you a creston for your thoughts, but I believe I already know what they are," said Krel, walking beside her.
She hip-checked him. "And I would offer you a creston for your thoughts, but I would likely not understand them."
"Fair enough," Krel admitted. "Did you do your math homework?"
"Ugh, yes." Aja made a face. "I know it is easy for you, but, really, why do I need to know all this al-ge-bra? It will not help me lead a planet."
"I do not think that is why they are teaching it," Krel said thoughtfully. "Though, that said, the educational structure of this planet remains mystifying. Thermogenic cosmosis is so much simpler."
"Yeah, I try to learn through osmosis too," Toby said, joining them. "Doesn't really work for me."
"He means falling asleep on his textbooks," Jim told them.
Krel blinked. "That is not how thermogenic cosmosis works!"
"It's not how textbooks work, either," Claire agreed. "Good morning!"
"Good morning," Aja replied.
"Oh, hey, before we go in to class." Jim dug in his bag. "Douxie sent these for you." He opened a white envelope and dug through it, pulling out and detangling two necklaces. "Your very own magic panic buttons."
"Lively!" Aja declared, examining hers briefly and pulling it over her head.
Krel also examined his. "I will be asking him how these work," he said before putting it on.
"I'm sure you guys can come up with some techno-magic way to improve them," Jim agreed.
Claire, though, was grimacing. "Aja- let's take off the tag first, okay?" She reached for the necklace and did just that.
"But how will anyone know whose it is?" Aja asked.
"Generally," Claire said, "we don't wear labels on our clothing and things."
"Says you," Toby muttered. "Nana still puts my name on my underwear."
/There's a thin line between insanity and genius,/ Douxie texted back, grinning. /I try to dance all over it./
Between the colonel accusing the Tarron kids of being illegal aliens, and the woman from the school board doing the same, all Fred wanted was a do-over of the day. Preferably one where he had caught the flu and called in sick to work. "Look, ladies-"
They turned to glare at him as one.
"I understand your concerns," he said, thinking of what a couple of his staff had come in to tell him on Monday afternoon. It wasn't like Lenora Janeth wasn't a little high-strung, but she had a reverence for truth and the rules that made Fred disinclined to doubt her. And, crazy as their story had been, Tom Lawrence was steady and humble as a rock. There was no way he was making things up. "But there are rules in place for this kind of thing. Procedures. I can't just let you remove two students from the school like this. If nothing else, it sets a bad precedent."
"You want precedents?" Colonel Kubritz loomed up in front of him. She had an amazing presence for a short woman. She pulled something out of her pocket and held it up. "Do you see this? This is a 'do whatever I want and get away with it' badge."
He swallowed. "There's no such thing," Fred countered, reaching for his phone. "I'll need to speak with your superior, make sure these are legitimate orders-"
"Oh, let's do be done with this farce," Miss Flanagan said dryly. She pulled something out of her skirt pocket, pointed it at Fred, and-
His head hit his desk as he convulsed.
"You shot him?!" the colonel demanded.
"Oh, don't get all wrought up about it," Miss Flanagan dismissed. "It's nothing immediately fatal. It will simply get him out of our way, so we can both get what we want." It had to be whatever she'd shot him with, but for a few seconds, Fred could have sworn he heard the cry of a red-tailed hawk.
"Hmm." The colonel sounded thoughtful as the world faded unstoppably into black. "I take your point."
Archie poked a paw at the broom that was leaning against the corner of the store's break room. Despite Douxie's best efforts with duct tape, it was clearly on its last leg, and Archie's professional opinion was that they wouldn't even be able to make it home on the thing.
Trotting back out into the bookshop proper, he found his familiar perched atop a ladder, sitting on the top cap, reading a book. "We need a new broom," Archie announced.
Douxie looked up from the tome and sighed. "Yeah, I know."
Shifting into his natural shape, Archie unfolded his wings and flew up to the store's second level, where he shifted back. Sitting down in a meatloaf position, he poked his head out between the railings, so he was about on the same level as his familiar. "I'm sure Barbara won't notice the replacement."
"I'm sure she won't," Douxie agreed. He heaved a sigh. "So we need to get a new house broom, and one for transportation."
"You really should make it yourself, for best results."
Douxie sighed again. "Ash wood, with broom corn bristles," he murmured. "Soak strips of willow bark in seawater and moonlight, to tie the bristles on..."
"The traditional way," Archie said.
"Tradition," Douxie said. He was silent for a moment. "You saw how Jack-"
"Yes, I did," Archie agreed.
"Can't say I've ever seen anyone use their staff as a broomstick before," Douxie mused.
"Even if you had, you haven't got your staff," Archie observed.
"Yes, I know that," retorted Douxie. "You don't have to remind me."
"Of course, Jack's staff is essentially his wand. I'm sure at some point, someone must have accused him of overcompensating for something," said Archie, smirking. His tail lashed, betraying his amusement.
"I'm sure they got frostbitten for it," said Douxie. His fingers drummed against the book. "We'll stop at the hardware store between here and band practice, all right? Pick up a new broom for the house."
Archie arched his eyebrows. "You realize your bandmates are going to have quite a few questions when you come flying up on a broom."
"Well. After the rest of Arcadia Oaks sees me flying through downtown and the suburbs? They're going to have to get in line."
The P.A. system crackled to life halfway through his sophomore World History class. "Aja and Krel Tarron," came the bored voice of Grace, the school secretary, "please report to the principal's office."
Several students, most of the class in fact, Waltolomew noticed, blinked and turned to look at the siblings.
"Do not worry," Aja said, standing. "I am sure it is just the Birdie lady, wanting more information from us."
"With stacks of paper as tall as we are to fill out," Krel grumbled, shoving his belongings into his backpack. "Ay ay ay."
"Shall I assume, then," Waltolomew asked them, "that we're not to expect you back for the duration of class?"
"Probably not," Aja said cheerfully. "I suspect that the office may have to call our 'Grandpa Varvatos' to assist with all the... paperwork." Her smile was ingenious. She waved her fingers goodbye to their classmates as the two of them headed for the door. "Wish us luck!"
"Man," said Toby Domzalski, "I remember the days when we didn't have bounty hunters coming to the school."
Waltolomew raised an eyebrow. Bounty hunters? He would need to get the full story later, he thought. For now, though, the Tarrons clearly felt they had the situation well in hand.
"Now," he said, turning back to his lecture, "in both 1274 and 1281, Japan's samurai armies were mobilized to confront two full-scale invasions launched by Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire. Though outnumbered, and facing an enemy equipped with superior weaponry, the Japanese fought the Mongols to a standstill on both occasions until the Mongol fleet was destroyed by typhoons, which were referred to as 'kamikaze,' meaning 'divine wind'..."
"Do we actually have a plan, little brother?" Aja asked him as they walked toward the school's offices.
Krel shrugged. "We take the paperwork, hit Stuart up for some IDs, then deal with the Birdie at home. I think the humans have a saying about being forewarned."
His sister nodded. "That sounds easy to do." She pulled the office door open. "After you."
"Thank you." Krel found the secretary easily enough. "Hello. We are to see Principal Levit?"
The woman looked up at him, squinted her eyes suspiciously, as if trying to put a name to the face, then nodded. "Oh, yes, the Tarrons." She pressed a button on her desk and spoke into an antiquated microphone. "The Tarron siblings are here to see you, sir." Releasing the button, she pointed at a door at the end of the hall. "He said to send you right in. Go on, dears."
"Thank you," Krel said politely. As he walked away, the woman pulled something-a pencil?-out of her upswept hair and made a note on a sheet of paper. Well, not the usual place humans kept their writing devices, but he was hardly going to be critical.
He knocked on the door before opening it. "Principal Levit?" he asked. "You wanted to see my sister and myself?"
As he had expected, the chair behind the desk spun slowly around as he and Aja went inside, revealing the bounty hunter known as Bertha Flanagan. "Ah, Mister Tarron. So good to meet you."
"You are not Principal Levit," Aja said, playing her part.
"No, I'm afraid the principal is... indisposed." The woman stood. "I'm Bertha Flanagan, special advisor for the Arcadia Oaks High School Board. Call me Birdie."
Behind them, the office door slammed shut. Aja and Krel whirled, to see Colonel Kubritz standing there in the shadows, a look of dark triumph on her face. "And call me your worst nightmare."
"What are you-" Aja asked, before her voice cut off and she fell to the ground.
"Aja!" Distantly, Krel realized he'd heard the sound of a plasma weapon firing. He felt a hot burst of pain against his own neck, and, falling, knew no more.
"Well, that was easy," Amanda said as 'Birdie' coolly sheathed her weapon, tucking the ion gun away into her skirt pocket.
"Yes." Birdie walked across the floor and knelt down to briefly examine the two aliens. She stood, crossing her arms. "Have you a more discreet place to do the interrogation, or should we proceed here?"
"I have a very secure location," Amanda promised, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing. "Costas. We have secured the targets, and need an immediate evac."
"Yes, ma'am!" She could practically hear his salute. Then, more hesitantly, "'We,' ma'am?"
"I'll fill you in later," she told him. "Kubritz out."
Kneeling to do her own assessment, she noticed each sibling wore a crystal pendant. "These mean anything to you?" she asked, displaying one.
Birdie shook her head. "Nothing. I would assume they are some sort of fashion accessory."
"Hmm." Amanda's eyes narrowed. Out of one of the many interior pockets of her jacket, she pulled out a black cylinder that was about the length of a pen, but twice as thick. She tapped it on the pendant in her hand.
The device let out a beep.
"Magic," Amanda swore, and pulled both necklaces off the aliens' heads. Another pocket provided a very carefully made bag, which the jewelry went inside. Sealing the bag, she tapped the detector wand against it, and was gratified when no beep occurred. "We should check their belongings."
Birdie arched an eyebrow. "Are you expecting tracking devices?" she inquired.
"I'm expecting anything and everything," Amanda retorted, already reaching for the nearest backpack. "Who knows what these aliens get up to."
"Yes," said Birdie dryly, kneeling to help. "Who knows, indeed."
Grace squeaked as the half-dozen military men went straight for the principal's office. Two remained outside on either side of the door. A few minutes later, their fellows emerged, carrying two wrapped bundles that... well, she'd seen enough movies in her time.
They looked like bodies.
Trailing the ramrod-straight uniformed men were the military woman who'd come in earlier to see Principal Levit, and the woman from the District. The latter had a small, pleased smile on her face as she never broke stride. The military woman, however, paused by Grace's desk. "We were never here," she said, looming over Grace. Grace shrunk back in her seat, eyes wide. "You saw nothing, you heard nothing. Are we clear?"
Grace nodded frantically. "Perfectly clear!" she said.
"Good. Hopefully we won't have to meet again." The woman smiled. It wasn't at all nice or comforting. "Have a good day."
Petrified like a rabbit, Grace waited until the door to the parking lot closed behind the woman. Until she heard vehicles rev up and drive away. And then she waited a few minutes longer before getting up, on legs that felt like jello, and walking jerkily down the hall toward the principal's office. She knocked timidly at the door, then, when she got no answer, pushed it open. "Principal Levit?" she called.
No answer.
Stepping inside, she looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of place.
At least, not until she walked to his desk and saw the body sprawled behind it. "Freddy!"
The ambulance pulled into the school parking lot, sirens cutting out, at class change. The paramedics hustled into the school offices as pretty much the entire student body gathered to watch. Jim and his crew gathered with them, wanting to know what was going on.
"Did we have an assembly today?" Steve asked.
"I don't think that's why the ambulance is here, Steve," Eli replied.
"Oh." It took a moment for other reasons to possibly occur to Steve. His eyes widened. "Hey, if somebody has a heart attack or dies or something, they have to cancel school for the rest of the day, right? There's a law about it or something."
Darci rolled her eyes. "There really isn't, Steve."
"Oh." He deflated.
The bell rang. "We should get to class," said Claire. But nobody moved.
Mary, as always, was tapping on her phone. "Hmm, come on... aha! Got it," she said. "Looks like the 911 call was for a man collapsed in his office, unresponsive."
"Wait, you can hack into 911 records on that thing?" Toby asked, peering at it.
"Duh, dweeb. What do you think being a technomancer is good for?"
He shrugged. "I dunno?"
"Knowledge is power," Mary told him, "and everything's stored electronically these days."
"If knowledge is power, explain your Physics grades," Darci told her.
"Ugh. Physics is boring," Mary complained.
"This didn't happen the first time," Jim murmured. He glanced at Toby and Claire. "At least, I think it didn't?"
Claire shook her head. "I don't remember an ambulance coming to the school at all."
"Me neither," agreed Toby.
"You don't think Aja and Krel..." Jim started, but stopped. He didn't know what he wanted to say.
"Well, I mean, I'll buy that Aja's likely to stab someone," Toby admitted, "but the 911 call didn't say anything about stabbing."
"Maybe someone just genuinely had a heart attack," suggested Claire.
"Yeah, maybe." Jim continued to watch as the paramedics carried someone away on a stretcher. They were too far away for him to see who it was, and the angle was bad.
"All right!" SeƱor Uhl said, coming out into the quad. "Get to your classes, everyone! This is not a free show."
Reluctantly, the crowd dispersed, heading back toward academia as the ambulance doors shut.
Glancing back over his shoulder as the vehicle disappeared, though, Jim couldn't help feeling worried. He pulled his phone out of his pocket as he headed on to his next class, and sent a message first to Aja, then to Krel. /Hey, how's it going? You guys missed someone being taken away in an ambulance./
No answer came immediately, so he tucked his phone back away, waiting for a response. However long it took.
Author's Notes: Colonel Kubritz's "do whatever I want and get away with it badge" is totally a reference to the first Michael Bay Transformers movie. Strickler's lecture was largely borrowed from the Wikipedia article on History of Japan. The school secretary is 100% a cameo by Grace (played by Edie McClurg) from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
