The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 25. Chapter 25 - Leaving

Djaruki awoke before Tygo or Filiou, and seeing the two girls sleeping peacefully made her smile. She could hear quiet noises coming from downstairs, and she tried to rise without waking her two young traveling companions, but they stirred.

Filiou’s eyes began to shimmer. She sat up, stretched, and said, “Good morning, Djaruki.”

Tygo opened her eyes and gave Djaruki a big smile. She scrunched down, pulled the blankets tight around her face, and exclaimed, “Morning!” She sounded very enthusiastic for having just woken up.

“Hi, girls. I think our hosts, Thoozu and Rhina are awake and downstairs. Should we join them?”

“Yeah!” Filiou replied immediately, but Tygo sat up and her smile was gone.

“Can we three talk first?”

Djaruki and Filiou did not know what Tygo wanted, but the girl was very serious.

“What is it, Tygo?” Djaruki asked.

“I think they’re gonna invite us to stay,” Tygo stated. “And they’re real nice, and Weirdo Beard-O’s is real nice too, but I want to go to that place Thoozu and Rhina mentioned, the city with all the Shifts, and I think you two should come too. Rhina called it Shifton, like Shift-town, as in a place for Shifts. That’s where I want to go. Will you come with me?”

“Of course!” Filiou replied with delight, and her jaw-horns curved up.

Djaruki let out a little chuckle. “I’m coming too; it’s where I was heading before we found each other. Should we ask Thoozu and Rhina more about it?” Djaruki recommended.

Tygo nodded her little head.

“Wanna go downstairs now?” Filiou asked.

The trio joined the wives in the sitting room.

“Good morning,” Rhina said to them, and she added with a playful smirk, “thought you three were just going to sleep the day away.”

Djaruki looked out the window in confusion. The sun had barely crested the horizon. “What time is it?” she asked.

“Seven A.M. and beautiful,” Thoozu replied.

“Can you tell us about that place you mentioned,” Tygo asked outright, “the one you called Shifton?”

Both Thoozu and Rhina looked excited, and Thoozu began to explain. “Shifton is a small neighborhood in the major city up the coast. Shifton is in a region close to the old gates, and the grand metropolis is called Teshon City.”

Her wife snorted a laugh. “Grand metropolis?” Rhina repeated incredulously. “Don’t let Thoozu fool you, girls. Teshon City is a gritty old military base that was abandoned a long time ago; then people started moving in. It’s been a rough place for years, but it’s gotten a lot better, which is what made it possible for Bivon to open Weirdo Beard-O’s café down here.”

Thoozu smiled. “Up in Teshon City, our son was one of the founding members of an organization that offered relief to the city’s inhabitants, the Unity Between Humans and Shifts. Qin was killed helping his people, people like you three.”

“When did he die?” Filiou asked.

Djaruki had also been wondering the same thing, but she did not want to ask for fear of upsetting the women. However, the question did not seem to have saddened them as much as Djaruki expected.

Thoozu and Rhina interlaced their fingers, and Thoozu said, “He died seven years ago, back when the city was much worse. It was heartbreaking, but we know he helped a lot of Shifts. We miss our Qin, and it makes us sad that he’s gone…”

“But we are so proud of him,” Rhina added, “and his memory lives in us and in the folks he helped. Our Qin was a good man.”

“And I think heading to Shifton is a great idea for you three!” Thoozu continued with a wide smile, and her wife nodded in agreement. “If you’re looking for lots more people like yourselves, go to Shifton.”

“Yaaay!” Tygo exclaimed, and she activated her powers.

Thoozu and Rhina were frozen.

Tygo was ready to leave. “Let’s go!”

Djaruki and Filiou turned to her.

“Why’d you do that right now?” Djaruki asked, and Tygo’s smile faded. “Don’t you at least want to say goodbye to Rhina and Thoozu first?”

“And shouldn’t we thank them?” Filiou added. Her jaw-horns were now pointing down.

Tygo looked sheepish. “Oh, yeah, you’re both right. Sorry.” The three girls turned to their hosts, and Tygo disengaged her powers.

From the wives’ perspective, right in the middle of Tygo crying out yay, the girl had abruptly stopped, and now the three of them were staring at Thoozu and Rhina.

“What just happened?” Rhina asked.

“Sorry, I froze the world,” Tygo replied.

“No you didn’t,” Thoozu stated. “The three of you girls just flashed from one position to another. Nothing froze. You were each in one position, and then you were all in different positions. What did you just do?”

Tygo glanced at Djaruki and Filiou, both of whom shrugged. She focused back on the two women. “You weren’t frozen? You looked frozen. I don’t… I don’t really know what my power does. When I use it, everyone and everything everywhere stops moving. It let us walk all the way here from where we’re from.”

“Even the sun in the sky stops moving,” Filiou added.

Neither Rhina nor Thoozu could make sense of how exactly Tygo’s power affected the world, but they knew each Shift was unique. “Well, it’s astonishing,” Rhina declared. “Now, before you use it again and freeze all of us, can we make you breakfast?”

Filiou blurted out, “Can we please go back to Weirdo Beard-O’s?!”

The two women chuckled. “Of course we can,” Thoozu replied. “Let’s head over there.”

“Do you wanna see it?” Tygo asked as they all stood from the table.

“See what?” Rhina replied.

“Wanna see the world stop?”

Thoozu and Rhina were very intrigued. “You can show us?”

Tygo nodded, and the two women watched a bubble of light expand from the girl’s sternum. It stretched out beyond the walls of the house, and Filiou picked up a little figurine from the mantle. She let go of it in midair, and it remained.

“Well isn’t that just something?” Rhina stated.

“Touch it!” Filiou exclaimed in glee. “I love Tygo’s power!”

Hearing the Biological Shift girl declare her adoration of her fellow Shift’s power, Djaruki was even more convinced that using her own abilities should not feel wrong to her. She had loved the feeling of using her pulse-wave energy, but the vile words of her family and former friends about Shifts had inadvertently built up a huge amount of shame in Djaruki about being who she was. I’m a Shift, she thought to herself. I am a Shift.

Djaruki was not paying attention to Rhina and Thoozu’s amusement at Tygo’s powers as the girl disengaged them, but Filiou, Tygo, Thoozu, and Rhina all cried out in alarm, as the hovering figurine dropped to the floor and its head broke off.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Tygo cried out. “I didn’t mean for your little statue to fall!”

“It was my fault,” Filiou said in a miserable voice, but Thoozu and Rhina burst out laughing.

The three girls were very surprised by their reaction.

“Wow, your power is wonderful!” Rhina said through her cackles.

Thoozu wiped a tear from her eye. “We both hated that thing! It was a gift from some neighbors who comes over for tea once a week, and so we’ve felt like we needed to keep it on display for them…”

“But now it’s broken!” Rhina blurted out with another boisterous laugh. “It was so ugly! Thoozu and I make fun of it all the time.” Rhina stared right at Tygo and Filiou with a big smile. “Thank you both for breaking it for us!”

“Now,” her wife added, “let’s make our way over to Weirdo’s.”

The five of them headed out into the bright morning sun and began to walk through the town. A cool breeze blew in off the ocean, but without a cloud in the sky, the day would be a warm one.

Several customers were already at the café when the group arrived.

“Good morning, lovely ladies,” Bivon said to the five of them as Thoozu opened the door. The big fellow bowed dramatically.

Filiou giggled.

“We’re here for coffee, young man,” Rhina stated with a grin.

“Comin’ right up! Would you and your wife like your regulars?”

They both nodded.

“And what about you three ladies?” Bivon asked, focusing on Djaruki, Tygo, and Filiou.

“I want the same thing I had yesterday,” Tygo replied. She turned to Filiou. “Did you like yours?”

“Uh-huh, and I’d like another please.”

“And actually,” Djaruki added, “I liked my spicy drink yesterday, but will you please make me one of theirs?”

“Three snowy lattes!” Bivon said, and he got to work fixing all five drinks.

“I like it here,” Filiou cooed with a happy sigh.

“But I think you’ll like Shifton even more,” Thoozu countered.

Bivon glanced up at the three girls. “Are you headed farther? Going to Teshon City?”

Tygo responded with enthusiasm. “Yeah, we’re gonna go where lots of Shifts are!”

“When you get to town,” Bivon replied, “go to the Shifton Youth Outreach Center first. It’s run by a couple of fabulous queens! When you get there, tell them you made friends with the mystic’s old boyfriend.” He chuckled and stroked his red beard. “There are a lot of good people up in Shifton. You three will do well.” He handed Rhina a tiny mug with thick, dark coffee. “Here you go.” A moment later, the others had their drinks as well. They sat at a table as Bivon served other groggy customers waiting for their morning energy boost.

After their coffees and some delicious food, the three travelers thanked and said their goodbyes to Thoozu, Rhina, and also Bivon. Then Tygo activated her power, and to the perspective of those in the café, the girls simply disappeared★