Defied Reality - 10. Chapter 10: She's A Killer

"I can't believe she blew the house up." Gage walked into the hotel room, followed by Trent and Taylor. He turned around and looked at Trent. "How could you let her do that?"

"Well, her living room was a mess. She didn't know what to tell her parents. And then...she decided she wanted a beach front condo. So..she tried her event recreation power, good news, she pulled it off, got the demon to help her blow it up."

Gage stared at Trent. "She used the demon to help her destroy the house because she wanted a condo? Now where do we live.."

Taylor sat on the edge of the dresser and looked between the two. "Well, Gage...you are her brother." He looked over at him. "And we're your backpacking across America friends.."

Trent's eyes widened. "Who have searched far and wide...and have finally landed on the door step...of your long lost sister."

"Half sister." Gage corrected. "And it's still a stretch that they would let us crash there, a condo is small for six people."

"Why don't you just get a loan? I mean...you crash landed here, took your identity, made it official with...a reality warped birth certificate and social security card, your credit would be..."

Trent disrupted Taylor. "His credit would be nothing, good or bad. They would see that as high risk, like...why does he not have any credit? He has no credit history to tell us, the loans people, if he is a safe bet or a bad apple, it's like getting a scratch off lottery ticket."

"Well, we all start off with no credit. I mean, minors don't have credit, so it's blank when we become adults, have to build it some how." Taylor shrugged.

"You build it by being good with banks, paying your bills, you work your way up. Once there is some consistency, then they give way to the small stuff, then that builds more." Trent explained.

"At least you robbed an ATM for this room." Gage grinned. "Was it fun?"

"Kind of." Trent leaned his shoulder against the door and a small grin appeared.

"Tess is on her own...for a long time, I am holding a serious grudge!" Taylor stood up and walked over and looked out the window at the crappy view of another brick building.

Gage slowly shook his head. "Kinda can't blame you. I mean, in the end, I will always tell you three to be a unit, but to be mad at her for what she did, and especially why she did it, I can't blame either of you if you feel that way."

"At least Felix doesn't know where to find me, he's probably going to stalk me forever."

Trent laughed. "Freeze him. Hell, he wants something frozen..."

Taylor turned around and laughed at Trent. "There's an idea."

"Couldn't we just...create a credit report?" Trent asked.

"That would take knowing what one would look like." Taylor said.

Gage frowned. "And that's where I'm stupid. I mean I picked up what a social security card and a birth certificate would look like, I just had to act like a dumb guy and ask someone where I might see them, got pointed to the right offices, went in, hovered, saw others and...made my own out of plain paper and a little...magic."

Trent looked down, thoughtfully. "Okay, so the only problem is we don't know what their credit report might look like, but we'd see it when they pull it up." He looked up at Taylor.

Taylor's eyebrows lifted and he glanced at Trent. "How are we going to make them pull it up, freeze them, and then manipulate what is on the screen, without them noticing? And still, we won't know how it's supposed to look."

"You don't need to." Gage said. "You create a hallucination in their mind, they know what a good credit score should look like, you just make them see it, will them to see it."

"And then...we get some money." Trent grinned.

"We want to know what happened, young lady!"

Tess looked up at her dad. "Young lady? You haven't called me that since I was ten!"

Ava looked at Austin. "I just don't understand how the house blew up. Maybe instead of screaming at her, we need to figure that out. The insurance company is going to want to know." She looked at Tess. "Honey, what did you do? What happened?"

"Ugh!" Tess grasped her hair and both of her parents froze. "I haven't figured it out yet!" She bursted out and then opened her eyes and looked at her parents. "Uh...guys?"

Tess climbed off the couch that was supplied in their suite and she walked around her parents. "Uh oh...I did it." Her eyes widened and she rushed back to the couch and sat down and they unfroze a second later.

"Uh...I just know that I...uh..." She looked between them. "You know, I had a friend, Spencer? Well, we all went outside...but he stayed inside the house, as far as I know." She looked around. "He could of went outside too, like the front, I can't guarantee that he did. Maybe...the gas stove got turned on...and he lit a cigarette, like in the movies?"

Austin stared at Tess. "You do know, we have to explain this to the insurance company? And I hope to god, we don't have to explain that someone died in it!"

"Okay." Tess nodded. "Spencer wasn't there, we all made it outside." She admitted. "Um...okay, what happened is that I was playing with the fire poker, you know, like I always do? Well one of the logs rolled out of the fire place and onto the floor. The carpet caught fire, and I freaked out. I knew you guys would be so pissed about the carpet. And then Cole ran in and kinda tripped over it and made it roll and...it set the couch on fire...and the whole thing just went out of control...we all were freaking out."

Ava and Austin stared at her in disbelief.

Tess' eyes widened at them. "It's true, Cole didn't get burned because he was wearing jeans, and he didn't fall on the log, it rolled and caught the couch on fire. Then Mia grabbed the jug by the fire place, because shes stupid, she thought it was water when really it was the lighter fluid, I guess she figured, maybe we kept water there in case something happened. So she opened it and just threw the whole thing everywhere and the fire went all over the living room, caught the curtains, and we had to run into the kitchen."

"Okay, so we're supposed to tell the insurance company that your friend mistook lighter fluid for water?" Austin's eyebrows lifted. "We didn't exactly label the jug."

"You can't tell them we didn't label the jug." Ava said.

"She just made it worse, shes stupid, that's Mia." Tess shrugged. "You can't help her."

"Honey..." Ava looked at Tess. "I still don't see that destroying our house, the living room, sure, maybe some damage in the hallway...but it couldn't of destroyed our house."

"What? Am I supposed to know every detail? If I were paying attention to everything, I would of screamed at her before she threw it everywhere. I was scared Cole was going to set on fire! I had my back turned to her and when I turned around, the jug was in her hands and the fluid was going everywhere, then she just threw the jug!" Tess looked down and crossed her arms.

Austin sighed. "Just try to tell us what you can, what made you run outside?"

"We all thought the whole house was going to catch fire. We were only in the kitchen for like a few seconds and then we ran into the back yard and called for the fire fighters and we waited...and it got worse, it went up to the roof, then down the hall, all the bedrooms, the carpet, I guess it trailed the carpet and eventually went to the kitchen." Tess shook her head. "They were spraying, but they said the house was already gone, it was over."

Austin sighed. "Alright, just relax and...we'll have to take that to the insurance company and hope they pay out."

Tess looked up. "If they do, can we get an ocean front condo? High up level? Much safer too. Less likely to have another fire again."

Ava grinned. "You've always wanted one." She shook her head and looked at Austin. "I kind of agree, I don't want to invest in another house."

Austin shrugged. "Don't jump to quick, we'll have to see if they pay off." He headed into the bedroom he was sharing with his wife.

Taylor tossed his gym clothes in his locker after changing back into his regular clothes when Felix ran up to him. "Taylor or Trent?"

"Taylor." He grinned and looked at Felix. "Why?"

"What Tess did...was freakin awesome, though I wonder what shes doing with it now." Felix said.

"Probably trying to explain it to her parents, while trying to sweeten them up to her condo that she wants while we...live in a cheap motel, trying to figure out a new place to live."

"Well, maybe you should train yourself...we can pull some jobs." Felix grinned.

"Like what?" Taylor grinned, shaking his head. "You want to rob the seven eleven down the road? Maybe sneak something out of Wal-Mart?" His eyebrows lifted. "Though, freezing Wal-Mart would be a range..."

"How big is your range anyway?"

"Well, I would say that I wouldn't be comfortable trying to freeze a place where I couldn't see the whole thing, so I'd restrict it to smaller buildings and rooms." Taylor nodded.

"Well, we could still do something." Felix grinned. "Come on."

"I know...exactly what to do." Taylor walked around Felix and headed for the shower room and lifted a hand, freezing all the guys in the shower. "Take all the pictures you can, I don't know how long it'll last. Oh, and don't get caught, they'll murder you." Taylor grinned and back stepped out of the locker room.

Felix walked over and looked into the shower room and his eyes widened. "Hey, that's fucked up!" He looked over at Taylor and ran after him.

"Hey, you wanted me to help you do a job." Taylor sighed as Felix ran after him. "I mean, you'd think, using my power and all, I'd be picking the jobs, sorry if photography isn't your thing."

"That isn't what I meant." Felix walked around Taylor and pressed a hand against the lockers.

"Why don't you go bug my brother? Sure, I had the power first, but he needs to train it, and hell, before he even tried using it, he pulled off some pretty cool stuff himself." Taylor stared at Felix.

"What can he do?" Felix grinned.

"Actually...he can solve our little problem." Taylor grinned and walked around Felix.

"What?!" He turned around and looked at Taylor. "Hello?! That's it?!" He sighed and shook his head. "Man, I need some kind of bribery."

Taylor walked by the library and caught sight of Tess. He frowned and walked inside and headed over to where she was, by the computer, seeing that she was checking out condos.

She took in a deep breath and sighed. "So, are you here to give me a lecture?"

"You've never confused us..." Taylor said.

"Just luck, I guess. Or maybe it's our bond thing." Tess shrugged.

"Have you seen Trent?"

Tess shook her head. "He probably wouldn't be caught dead in this library, can't exactly put world of warcraft on here, play it, and take it off in quick time." She paused. "Then again...he probably could accelerate all of that download time."

"Kind of why I'm looking for him." Taylor started to turn away.

Tess sighed. "I know you guys are mad. And that's okay...maybe breaking up is what everyone least expects."

"Everyone?" Taylor looked back at her.

"Yeah, the everyones that come after us." Tess scrolled the mouse. "Being that I'll be all to my lonesome, I'm kind of looking for ones close to the elevator...or the stairwell."

"Well, you know...you have a long lost half brother that could show up at your door." Taylor shrugged. "And I wouldn't hold it against him if he did that." He turned and walked out of the library.

Tess looked over at Taylor, watching him walk out of the library. "That would be very Hallmark."

Trent stood there at the school payphone with his backpack open, scooping all the change that he was making it spit out.

"See! That right there...is a job." Felix grinned. "You're Trent."

"I'm just doing this because it's mildly amusing." He lightly tapped the front of the pay phone and it stopped. "Five dollars worth of quarters." He zipped his back pack up and looked at Felix. "You have any better ideas?"

"I have better ideas." Avery walked up and grinned as she looked between them. "Mind if I borrow?" She looked at Felix.

Felix looked over at Avery. "Mysterious Avery...I have to say, whatever your secret is, a few around here have you beat." He shook his head. "Not like I'm going to get them to help me out anyway."

Trent watched Felix walk off and his eyebrows lifted. "Mysterious Avery?"

"That's...just because I tend to be a loner, yet I could get in the popular crowd if I wanted, but I avoid the cliche's." She looked at Trent. "So, you steal from pay phones often? How do you do it?"

"I have my own little trick." He smiled. "But...not really, it was minor amusement. Catching five dollars worth of quarters, it's not so much the reward of the change, but the reward of the act, the phone spits money at me."

"I see." She leaned a shoulder against the pay phone and smiled. "Isn't there another you that runs around here?"

"Yep, think you'll get us confused?" Trent asked.

"I don't know, we'll have to see." She turned around and started walking.

Trent followed after her. "So that's it? You wanted to borrow me to...ask me that?"

Avery grinned. "Well, you didn't exactly share anything."

"What do you want to know?" Trent slightly stepped in front of her.

"The thing about being a loner, you don't talk, you listen. And normally...phones don't spit money at people." She tilted her head to the side. "So...share something."

"And you could keep a secret?" Trent asked.

"I said I don't talk." Avery laughed. "Unless I want to...and fat cops or other strange people, they don't make me want to talk."

Trent looked over at a door. "We're going to the janitors closet." He grinned. "Bad, huh?" He shook his head and walked over, opening the door and he looked to see if she was coming.

Avery followed after him as they went in and closed the door. "Well, now it's dark."

"Not for long." Trent unzipped his back pack and dug inside of it, moments later the room would be lit by six quarters that floated in the air in a circle just above them, each one giving off a soft white glow. He looked at Avery. "Bet you weren't expecting that."

Avery's eyes widened. "How are you doing that?"

"For all that to be answered, this will be one long make out session...in the janitors closet." He grinned.

Gage looked away from the television when the door opened. "It's early."

"I know, I skipped." Taylor walked over and fell on the bed beside Gage. "I felt lonely." He looked over at Gage. "Why didn't you just make yourself school aged?"

Gage grinned. "Because I'm not? Because I'm Tess' older brother, and it would feel weird."

"You're twenty five...that's not old and wise." Taylor rolled over onto his stomach.

"I feel that way, down here, teaching you three. It would just be weird." He grinned.

"Then I don't want to go anymore." His head fell onto the pillow and he looked at the television.

"You need to." Gage said.

"By the way, I know how to fix our problem, one of Trent's powers that you mentioned to him. That thing...where he can go into the computer...he can make a bank account and just put loads of money in it. I mean, so long as the computer says we have that much, then we do, right?" Taylor looked up.

"I would think so." Gage looked down and rubbed the top of Taylor's head. "Don't ask me how you people work, that is what you need to teach me."

"That feels good." Taylor's eyes closed as Gage rubbed the top of his head and he smiled. "Maybe you could just get a job there or something, then you'd at least be there."

"Maybe." Gage looked up at the television and then his hand moved down over Taylor's back and he tugged the back of his shirt up.

He grinned and lifted up on his arms, shaking his head out of his shirt and then pulled his arms out. He laid back down and closed his eyes.

Gage tossed Taylor's shirt aside and then began to rub his back, being able to sense the arousal that it was causing Taylor, yet he did nothing, despite that side effect, he intended this to be soothing.

"That's nice." Taylor let a laugh echo in his chest as it didn't escape closed lips which remained in a smile.

Gage stared at Taylor. "You probably shouldn't get to comfortable."

Taylor's eyes opened. "Why?"

Gage's hand stopped on the middle of Taylors back and then he pulled it away. "For one, I am keeping you from fulfilling your mission." He looked down. "Not that I'm hardcore on it...but you were denied knowing half of your life for the cause."

Taylor sat up. "Seriously? I'm not going to fulfill my mission period, and you know why. Unless I go donate sperm, you want me to do that? I can..." He looked away. "Except that...I think you have to be legal, so...you might have to wait a little while longer."

"I just worry if you're with me because it's safe for you. After being with Spencer, and him dragging out the fact that being with human counter parts is going to create a huge liability for Trent and Tess, as Tess has already experienced, having to protect Cole, she was lucky Trent was there."

Taylor stared at Gage. "I'm with you because I want to be with you, because I like you, it has nothing to do with anything else. Why are you worrying? One less liability if I'm not dating a human, right?"

"Except one thing." Gage looked at Taylor. "In this new world, once it comes be, everyone will be hybrid as the last of the full blooded humans die off. Yet, I'll be a full blooded Annunaki, how do you think I will be seen?"

"Maybe they will make you president? Or...just...leader?" He leaned over on one arm.

"And you think I can run a world? I haven't lived for centuries and eons and ages...I've topped twenty five, and that's in regular years as I've aged with Tess, with you...and with Trent."

"Neither has Obama and..." Taylor trailed off. "Well, I'm not going to go into that."

Gage's eyebrows lifted. "You shouldn't, he's not a world leader anyway, he leads a big chunk of land with...what? A few time zones?"

Taylor looked around. "Three...I think, then you have to count Hawaii...where he was born, then they had that story about his fake birth certificate."

Gage shook his head. "My point is...maybe the elders have a reason for going out, no full blood of either race should survive, maybe they have a reason for that. Don't get me wrong, I still think it sucks..."

"You haven't even told us why they would die!" Taylor rolled off the bed and walked over to the television and turned it off.

"In time." Gage sighed. "I just don't want this half of you...to take you over is all, and being with me, I wonder if it will do that. You're already talking about quitting school, why? Because of me."

Taylor rolled his eyes and turned towards Gage. "And because of that, it means I'm sliding closer to my alien half?"

"Maybe, I'm also your teacher when it comes to that stuff, how do you know that you wouldn't become more immersed in it?"

Taylor frowned. "So where does that put us?"

"You keep doing what you're doing. I've thought about this, we had a moment, it was special, I felt...well, I felt. Taylor, normally I don't feel, I'm objective, I think. I just...don't want you to feel...what's the word?"

"Committed?" Taylor looked at Gage.

"That's it." Gage nodded. "And it's not like I came here to look for lovers, so I'll always be here...if you change your mind or ever decide that you want to explore and end up..." He trailed off.

He frowned at Gage. "That's a pretty crappy break up. We're together, want to cheat, go for it, I'll be here?" He shook his head.

"Whatever, there isn't anyone, so you might just have to resign yourself to the fact that...you're stuck with me." Taylor grinned briefly and then it faded as he grabbed his shirt, throwing it on and headed for the door.

Avery stepped out of the janitors closet and she grinned at Trent. "Well, that...was quite a session. Interesting."

Trent let go of the door and it fell shut. "Yeah, well it's how it goes."

Avery nodded. "It's a lot to take in."

"Well, it's a lot to put out." Trent grinned.

Avery smiled. "A mouthful, for sure."

Trent started laughing. "So, what did you think of it?"

"Magical, first of all." Avery said. "And then...very mind blowing." She grinned, knowing everything they were saying could be taken as a double meaning.

"Well, take some time, let it sink in...and if it was to mind twisting, let it organize it's self." Trent shook his head.

"I'll do that." Avery nodded.

Mia walked up to the two and gasped. "You sleazy slut! I knew you had something going on! You got him in there!"

Avery looked over at Mia and then started laughing. "And what a trip it was. Maybe you should go in there with him? He might show you a good time." Her eyebrows lifted and she looked at Trent. "I'll track you down."

Trent grinned at Mia and then looked over at Avery. "Like a hunter?"

Avery turned around, walking backwards. "If you want to think you're the prey." She laughed and walked around the corner, hearing Mia's bitching grow faint, so it was obvious that Trent was walking the other way.

Her attention then fell on Felix who was sitting on the floor down the hall. "Groupie." She said to herself before approaching him and she lightly kicked him in the knee with her black stiletto. "Lonely to lonely, get up and join me?"

Felix looked up at Avery. "Are you serious?"

"I'm not classified, am I?" She grinned and walked around him and headed into the next class room which happened to be empty and unlocked. She sat her back pack on the desk and unzipped it, her eyes narrowing as she waited, listening to the footsteps as Felix followed, then the slight thud of the door as it shut.

Avery grinned and pulled out a small gun with a small silencer on it and she spun around. With a quick fire, and a trained aim, she nailed him right in the forehead. She watched him fall back into the door, no blood seeped from the wound in the way that she had shot him. She grabbed her bag and walked over and looked down at him.

"Wanting to use them for petty crap." Avery pushed his body over with her foot to nudge him out of the way of the door. "They deserve better. Though I have to say, I never expected three." She put her gun back into her bag and zipped it up, walking out of the class room.

They would find him the next time that room was open for class.

"Mia, please! My god!" Trent stopped just outside of the library and turned around. "I'm sorry that Taylor kinda...took off on you at his appointment, but should I need to remind you..."

"No, you don't need to remind me." Mia frowned. "But you..." She pointed at him. "You're on the market, you don't want to be with that scary bitch. She walks around here watching people like a hawk. I swear she is a spy or something."

Trent laughed. "After all I've seen...I think I'd know a spy. Do you have a shrink by any chance? If you do..." He leaned closer. "You get any of the good stuff?"

Mia's eyes widened. "No! I don't have a shrink. And talk to Felix about drugs, maybe if you'd do some jobs with him, since your brother is to stubborn to do that, or anything else for that matter, maybe you could get the good stuff."

Trent took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm only half nice to you because Tess is so mean to you. Wait until you find out who she blamed the fire on."

"What did she say?" Mia asked, in a whispered tone, as if she was hearing the latest rumor.

"Well, she said that a log accidently fell out when she was playing with the fire poker, Cole tripped and the log rolled, caught the couch on fire. Did you notice that big clear jug beside the fire place? It's lighter fluid, and she said that you mistaken it for water and poured it all over and then threw the jug across the room and the whole house went up."

Mia's eyes widened and she gasped. "That bitch."

Trent grinned. "She's probably in the library looking up condo's, which is why I was going this way, if you want to go brawl with her and get mad detention for extra loud noise."

Mia started to walk around Trent until she suddenly felt him grab her arm. "What?" She looked at his hand and then looked up at him.

"Actually, I wouldn't." Trent stared at her with a serious expression. "I think this is a new sensing thing...but I am sensing totally wired, bottled up, anger. I don't think she'll play fair or even mildly nice with you."

Mia stared at him and then tugged her arm away. "Thanks." She looked down, never having felt threatened by any of them before.

"Just...give it time." Trent shrugged, seeing the vulnerability and the discouraged look that Mia appeared to portray. "Then you two can do your old thing again, she just needs time, I know she enjoys it just as much as you."

"Yeah, right." Mia nodded and headed off down the hall.

"You look wired..." Cole said as he walked over to Tess who remained at the computer, scrolling listing's of condo's.

"If I were at Starbucks, I'd probably be on my tenth coffee...with mega sugar and caffeine." Tess said.

Cole noticed Tess' hair appeared a little frizzy. "Are...you sure...you aren't pulling from the computer?"

"Huh?" Tess' stone cold expression finally shifted into confusion.

"Your hair, it's frizzy, kinda like static electricity..." Cole said.

Tess let go of the mouse and then pushed the button to turn the monitor off and closed her eyes, covering them with her hands. "Oh god." She pulled her hands away and opened her eyes and suddenly they felt so heavy. "I can barely keep them open..." Her eyes fluttered frantically.

"What's going on?" Trent walked in.

"Not sure, but she was really into her listing's." Cole looked at Trent.

"I think I was accidently pulling energy from the computer, I don't even know how often I was even blinking." Tess covered her eyes. "I don't even know if I was blinking."

"You might of not been." Trent looked down at her. "I was sensing major anger when I got here, I don't know if it's that sensing thing."

"I don't feel angry." Tess said.

"Nah, because you were wired." Cole said, brushing his fingers through Tess' hair, trying to fix it.

"Some people channel their anger into obsessing." Trent turned the monitor on and looked at the condo listing's. "How long have you been at this?" He shook his head. "You probably don't know, when did you start?"

"When I got to school." Tess said, keeping her eyes closed and covered.

"And lunch period is about over." Trent said. "That's...about three hours, and if you went that long without even blinking, or barely..." He shook his head and tried not to laugh. "Your eyes are going to be messed up for a little while."

"It's awful!" Tess yelled. "I feel wide awake...yet my eyes just can't open, they feel so sensitive..."

Cole lowered down to his knees. "Want me to take you to the nurse? We'll get you a pass, or we can just leave...you practically skipped all your classes so far anyway. I'll take you...back to the hotel."

"Probably the best idea." Trent nodded.

"Wait...what about that thing your friend mentioned..." Cole snapped his fingers several times. "Uh...something, restoration, healing...something."

"Oh god, I don't even know if I could do anything right now." Tess leaned side ways in the chair.

"Maybe I could." Trent kneeled down and pulled Tess' hands down from her eyes and brought his hands up and put them over her eyes, closing his own.

Cole looked back and forth between them and moments later, Tess' face relaxed and her eyes opened. "It worked." She stared at Trent's palms. "Okay, it worked!"

Trent opened his eyes and pulled his hands away. "Sorry, now what has you so angry?"

"Well, I got grilled by my parents." She said.

"You should of known that." Trent said.

"It's not just that." She crossed her arms and looked down. "If it wasn't for all of this..crap, the living room wouldn't of gotten messed up to begin with. You, the three of you get to run around and do whatever, I have to answer for everything."

"Then maybe the condo was a good idea, your place won't be the center battleground anymore." Trent tilted his head to the side and shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"I liked my life the way it was, and...in the scheme of it all...I feel completely outnumbered." She looked over at Trent. "I wonder if you'll ever know what it's like to feel alien...to your alien friends, the only ones on the entire planet."

She shook her head. "I just want a normal life...and a normal boyfriend." She grabbed her bag and stood up, walking off and headed down an isle of books.

Trent stood up, watching Cole take off after Tess, thinking about the first time they met and then thinking about now, how he saw her in a completely different light. He looked down, wondering just what would happen if they alienated themselves from each other.

"Are you okay?" Cole followed Tess out of the library.

"No, not really." She stopped down the hall and fell back against the wall, wanting to cry. "I guess...everything didn't really hit me until today, I mean, I guess...maybe I was so rushed on adrenaline...and then we lost our home, I had to face my parents, and then I realized, this is my life that is on the line...and not even just my life, but the lives of people who aren't even involved or shouldn't be."

"You're shocked." The hint of a smile appeared on Cole's face and then faded. "I should be the one that's a frantic wreck." He took Tess' hands into his own. "It's okay, just go through it, you have to. Wiring yourself like that, look what it did...and you didn't even mean to."

"That's even worse, I'm going to do stuff that I don't even mean to." Tess looked at him with wide eyes and shrugged. "What if I go around doing that all the time? I'm going to look like a meth head, wired twenty four seven. Who knows how long I would of done that if you guys hadn't of come.."

"Woah...what happened?" Taylor rounded the corner after having come in from the entrance hall.

"I was wired on the computer, pulling energy from it without knowing it...and almost destroyed my eyes because I don't know if I was even blinking!" She looked over at Taylor.

Cole looked at Taylor. "She's really not in a good place right now, especially...with anything relating to the whole...alien gig...so..."

"Move along?" Taylor looked over at Cole. "We care about her, and we struggle just as much as she does with it."

"You think so?" Tess stared at him. "What did you guys do last night? I'll tell you what I did, I had to answer for what happened, I had to come up with lies, which is really difficult when your dad grills you the way mine does. So, what did you guys do? Jump an ATM for cash and get a room? Then chill out? That about it?"

Taylor looked off to the side.

Tess nodded. "I figured, so, as you see, I struggle just a little bit more. Though, maybe with the condo that I hope to get, with us separated, my place won't be the battleground, yours will. They will go for the place where the most power is sensed, unless they want to single me out. Then again, I'm kind of hoping the three of you combined will have a power signal so strong, maybe I'll be camouflaged."

"If your long lost brother doesn't show up on your door step." Taylor sighed and headed off down the hall.

"He wouldn't..." Tess mumbled and shook her head as Cole guided her off towards the entrance of the school so they could leave.

Taylor walked into the library and saw Trent and quickly rushed over to him, the brothers nearly running into each other. "Glad I found you!"

"Or nearly ran me over." Trent said.

"Shh!" The librarian looked up at them.

Taylor looked over at the librarian and his eyes narrowed and he shook his head and he looked at Trent. "I know how to fix our problems. That power that Gage wanted you to learn, the computer manipulation thing."

"Uh...where I went into the computer? Like inside of it?" Trent's eyebrows lifted. "I just saw Tess get wired...and that was freaky, she doesn't need Starbucks anymore."

"I don't think you actually go into it, dumbass. I think you just mentally project yourself." Taylor shook his head. "Point is, you go to a bank, open an account for Gage and just put a number into it, then they think he has that much money in his account."

"One problem." Trent grinned. "When you open an account, they do paper work too, you actually have to go there. So, you need to have Gage go to the bank and open the account, then maybe I'll try to put in a few one through tens and add a neat amount of zero's."

"That will look suspicious." Taylor said.

"If they ask, it came from another account. See..bro." He threw his arm over Taylor's shoulders and walked him towards the door. "You don't create money, you throw it around. So when I add all those neat numbers, I'll subtract some neat numbers from someone else...and then input the transfer information. And, if you plan to do this, it's better to be more complicated, as in, I'll pick account one, toss the money through accounts two through ten, and finally into Gage's. By the time they sort it all out, the money will be spent."

"Then...he should use a fake identity." Taylor said.

"Right, you're catching on. And he made those things out of paper and a wave of a hand, right? So, grab some cake because it's that easy." Trent pushed the door open and walked them out of the library.

"But, wouldn't it be smarter if you did all this through business accounts rather than personal? Think of the chaos, just one account would have a whole business of suspects, think about ten businesses, and then if Gage posed as a business himself...we could hallucinate an entire staff of co-workers that are in just as much chaos as all the other businesses, who is working with who to throw around all this money? And that's only if we even get bothered." Taylor suggested.

"Or...I could go through the security system of a bank, get the vault unlocked and we could get the money." Trent gave Taylor a look. "If your freeze don't glitch again, I'm serious...if you pop or glitch, if either of us do, we are dead."

"I think I've got that one mastered, compared to you. Maybe if we both do it simultaneously, that just bumps the odds twice up." Taylor shook his head and stopped just at the entrance.

"I don't get it, why don't we just hallucinate a check to a real estate agent and the seller?"

"Trent? Don't you watch House Hunters? You never see the seller." He grinned and tried not to laugh. "We have to see the seller to do that. And...some how, I don't think they just give him a check, because it might bounce. Actually, a hallucinated check is going to bounce." He couldn't help it at that point, he fell back against the wall and started laughing.

"Laugh it up." Trent rolled his eyes.

"Daddy?" Avery walked into Milo's office and dropped her back pack. "I'm home." She grinned.

Milo looked up from his desk. "Find out anything about the explosion?"

Avery shook her head. "No, you know I always watched Tess from a distance." She sat down in one of the two seats across from his desk, crossing one leg over the other.

Milo nodded and looked down at his work. "Oh, right, your non-cliche thing."

"Sorry, I do have some packing news though." She pulled a cigarette out of her purse and placed it between her lips, flicking the lighter to light it.

"Packing?" Milo looked up and lifted a single brow.

"Those twins that mysteriously appeared to her, I made contact, they don't go against my non-cliche thing. The one, Trent, he was making the pay phone spit money into his back pack."

Milo half grinned in interest. "So, is it safe to say that what Tess did to Mia is true?"

Avery laughed. "I saw the girl in a bandage, and given this, I think it's safe to say that it's true."

Milo nodded. "So, is that all you found?"

"No, this annoying waste for a life was begging him to help with petty crap, which by the way, sorry, but I had to kill him for that. It pissed me off."

Milo tensed up in anger. "Were you careless?"

"No, we were alone in an empty class room, clean shot, no blood shot technique." Avery puffed her cigarette. "Anyway, I went with Trent to the janitors closet." She grinned.

Milo's eyes narrowed on her.

"It was all a joke, thing is, he took five quarters, made them float and glow right in front of me. I reacted like a shocked, but handling it well, person. You wouldn't believe what I found out." Avery shook her head.

"Tell me." Milo demanded.

"Well, there is officially four of them, three are alien human hybrid, the fourth, an older, non student, is a full blood, acts as their teacher of sorts, he only showed up recently, a little after the trio got together." Avery stated.

"So, all those years ago, those beings that appeared, that looked like us, the ones that dropped Tess off..."

Avery nodded. "They were full blooded aliens, the Annunaki. And the reason we look like them, or they look like us, is because they made us in their image, of course that was way before God took over and took that from them and made it his own story."

Milo's face tensed up. "Wait a second here...we're going into God now?"

"It's the history, apparently the Annunaki came to Earth to get stuff for their home planet, they built the city of Atlantis and then created humans as a slave species to do the work, infusing some of their DNA, but not enough to make us as...high level as them. Well, time goes on and humans get granted intelligence, then Annunaki mate with humans, create hybrids, that pisses God off, he tries to destroy it all, they escaped to their planet and all that's left on the Earth is humans, God rewrites history, or tries to, and life goes on."

Milo stared at Avery in dead silence.

Avery smiled and flicked her ashes in the ash tray. "You wanted the answers."

"Okay...lets drop the history stuff, tell me about the three." Milo said. "Will that give me a migraine?"

"Well, just like you witnessed Tess being dropped off on the door step like the cliche orphan in a cradle story, they went and did the same to the twins, one in Puerto Rico and one in Bermuda, the three points of the Bermuda Triangle, oddly enough. And they found each other through an interconnected dream, exchanged Skypes, and then the twins came here." Avery looked off to the side. "That's how they hooked up."

"Oh, and the full blood is apparently Tess' half brother." Avery added, taking another drag from her cigarette.

"I need some Asprin." Milo sat back and rubbed his head.

Avery laughed. "Daddy, I got you the answers..What do you want me to do now?"

Milo looked at his daughter and sighed. "You're too much." He shook his head. "Get close, you've connected with the one twin, keep that and build it, work your way in, I want to know just exactly what they can do."

Avery grinned. "Use any means necessary?"

Milo pointed at her. "You know I can't tell you that! I can't stop you...but I'm not going to tell you that..." He shook his head. "You're a mess."

"I know." She grinned and stubbed out her cigarette and grabbed a root beer lollipop out of her dad's candy dish and unwrapped it, putting it in her mouth as she stood up and walked out, tossing the wrapper in the small trash bin beside the door.

Just as Trent and Taylor were about to walk out, a loud scream echoed through the halls. The twins looked off down the hall and started running in the direction of the scream, turning around the corner and heading down the hall that lead outside to where the pay phone was at. They slowed down at the gathering crowd, seeing teachers and other school officials trying to push them back, another teacher on the phone.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"Only one way to know." Trent headed towards the crowd and pushed a few people out of his way, moving through the crowd.

Taylor followed after Trent, working his way through the path that his brother was creating until they finally made it through just in time to see Felix laying there, dead, with a single gun shot wound in his head and not a drop of blood.

The brothers looked at each other and then found themselves being shoved away and Trent jerked away from the teacher that was man handling him and he grabbed Taylor by the arm and pulled him back.

"What do you think this means?" Trent asked.

"Nothing good." Taylor frowned. "If...I had just been with him...if I hadn't blown him off...maybe I could of..."

"Don't." Trent looked up. "We both blew him off, I blew him off for this girl I met...and I was supposed to be his friend."

"Were you?" Taylor asked. "Were any of us? They just barged in on our secret, and save for Tess' relationship with Cole, I didn't exactly bond with him, or Mia." He looked towards the crowd. "Still, at least you blew him off for something. I blew him off just because...I thought he was annoying...if I hadn't...I could of stopped the bullet."

"Okay, we suck, we're horrible. But what's more important is, who shot him? I don't think he would of been shot...if it weren't an...'us' thing." Trent said.

"He wouldn't do any jobs without us, I kinda think it's safe to say he didn't put himself in his own danger." Taylor looked at Trent. "It's too professional. Actually, seems kind of personal, even in a cold hearted kind of way."

"We need to tell Gage." Trent turned and the brothers quickly headed off down the hallway.