The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 29. Chapter 29 - New Home

Auntie Peg and Dotty Marbles were in the middle of a reading lesson for the children at the Shifton Youth Outreach Center, when a trio of young people suddenly appeared out of thin air.

“Oh my stars and moons and planets!” Auntie Peg exclaimed to them. “Hello there, what a lovely little Bio-Shift you are. I’m Peggy, and this is Dot. Welcome to the Shifton Youth Outreach Center. What are your names?”

All the children who lived at the center were there except Nunyani. The slime-covered twins, Thech and Jzuna, were side by side. The child with skin like fire, Muunith, was seated with them, and little Fennah was between the two former child-soldiers, Sumi and Harakin.

The new Biological Shift girl blurted out, “We’re s’posta say the mystic’s boyfriend sent us here.”

“It was s’posta be the mystic’s old boyfriend,” added the girl beside her.

“Bivon!” Auntie Peg and Dotty Marbles cried out together, and they both cackled.

Jzuna got excited at hearing her big bearded friend’s name, and Thech let out a happy grunt.

Little Fennah bounced up and approached the Biological Shift girl who had little spikes all over her body. “You’re so pretty!” Fennah squeaked. “I’m Fennah.”

The glimmer on Filiou’s multifaceted eyes shifted, and her jaw-horns flexed as she replied, “I’m Filiou.”

“Can I touch your skin?” Fennah asked.

“My skin?” Filiou repeated, and Fennah nodded excitedly. “Yeah, I guess you can.” Filiou reached her hand out, and little Fennah tentatively brought her fingertips to Filiou’s knuckles, where the little claw-like bones protruded.

“They feel so neat!” Fennah shrieked with a giggle. She suddenly bounced forward and wrapped her arms around Filiou.

Filiou was so surprised by the reaction that she hugged Fennah back.

Dotty Marbles smiled at Djaruki and Tygo. “What are your names, girls?”

Tygo answered, “I’m Tygo,” but Djaruki was curious about the two queens.

“Are you both women?” she asked.

Auntie Peg snorted a laugh.

“Some of the time,” Dotty Marbles replied, “depends on the mood.”

Djaruki smiled at them. “I knew a person like that who lived where I’m from. Sometimes she was a woman, and sometimes she was a man.”

“She sounds perfectly marvelous!” Dotty Marbles declared.

“She was older than me,” Djaruki added. “I used to see her around a lot, but I don’t know what her name is. Oh, and mine’s Djaruki.”

Auntie Peg stepped up and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Djaruki.” She looked at the younger girls. “Tygo, Filiou, it is lovely to meet you two as well. You three are welcome to stay here with us at the Shifton Youth Outreach Center if you’d like. But Djaruki,” Auntie Peg added, leaning closer to her, “you look like you’re close in age to a great group of locals we know. Do you want us to introduce you to them? How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-two,” Djaruki replied. “And thank you, I’d like that a lot.” She was not feeling as emotional as when the three girls arrived at Weirdo Beard-O’s café; she was feeling hopeful. “I… I’ve never had friends like me.”

Auntie Peg and Dotty Marbles both nodded knowingly. “You’re a Shift too, aren’t you? It’s not just Filiou.”

“Yeah, the three of us are,” Djaruki stated. It felt good to admit it freely.

The very unusual pair of Jzuna and her brother Thech approached Filiou, their fellow Biological Shift, but Jzuna’s hovering tentacled form was startling, and Filiou took a nervous step back. However, Tygo positioned herself between Filiou and the two slimy children, and Tygo grabbed Thech’s gooey hand without hesitation, giving it a polite shake.

The mostly-unresponsive boy with his strange gaping mouth and rolled-back eyes hummed, and Jzuna’s psychic disembodied voice let out a peal of laughter all around everyone. “Thech likes you!” Jzuna cried out in glee. Her one enormous eye was squinting as if she was smiling, even though she did not possess a mouth.

Djaruki focused on the pair. “Oh wait a second, you’re the twins! I heard about you from Z’Matri!”

Sumi spoke up, “You met Z’Matri? But how’s that possible? I brought him and two other Shifts to a region that’s in another part of the world, and it was only like…” she paused, “a few days ago. How did you possibly get here in such a short time?”

Djaruki did not know how to reply. She looked at Tygo and said, “I don’t know. Tygo’s power stops the world – or something – and it lets us move while everything is frozen. We walked a long ways, and I think we did it all at once.”

Sumi was intrigued and she turned to Tygo. “I can make doorways in reality. They allow me to teleport myself and others to different places. Is that what you can do?”

Tygo scrunched up her little face. “I don’t think so. I think that I…” she looked at Djaruki and Filiou. “I think I freeze the world.”

“Can we watch you use it and see what happens?” Auntie Peg asked.

“Okay.” Tygo activated her power and a bubble of light expanded from her heart, causing the queens and young people of the Shifton Youth Outreach Center to become motionless. Only Tygo, Djaruki, and Filiou were unaffected by the bubble of light. “Let’s walk over to the other side of the room,” Tygo suggested, “so they can see the change.” They did, and she disengaged her powers.

To Auntie Peg, Dotty Marbles, and all the children at the center, it appeared to them that the three girls suddenly blinked from one side of the room to the other.

“Oooh!” Auntie Peg said with a laugh. “You’re fast! How spectacular! Can you do it again and include me?”

“Sure,” Tygo replied. She reactivated her power, but this time, Tygo only included the queen.

The bubble of light had not been perceivable to Auntie Peg the first time, but she now watched it with wonder. “Incredible,” she whispered as it stretched out beyond the walls of the room. “So we’re moving fast right now,” she stated, “and everyone else is moving slow. Isn’t that it?”

Tygo felt like she was on the verge of bursting with excitement. She was ecstatic. “Yes! That’s it! That’s what I’m doing! We couldn’t figure it out, but now I can feel what you’re saying!”

Auntie Peg chuckled. “Tell me more about it.”

“I can feel everything,” Tygo replied. “Everyone isn’t frozen; they’re just moving really really slowly. I love using my power!” She deactivated it again.

“Astonishing,” Auntie Peg marveled as she and Tygo returned to normal speed. She placed her large hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Truly astonishing.”

“Is she right?” Filiou asked Tygo in an excited voice, and her jar-horns rose. “Are you not freezing the world, and instead making us go really fast?”

Tygo was absolutely beaming. “Yes! That’s it exactly! I don’t know why I couldn’t tell what I was doing before, but that’s it!”

“Leave it to a queen to figure it out,” Dotty Marbles said with a laugh. She turned to the other children of the Shifton Youth Outreach Center and said, “What do you think, kiddies? Is that enough reading lessons for today? Why don’t we properly welcome our new friends and make some food? Let’s prepare a feast!”★