Defied Reality - 11. Chapter 11: Apocalypse Stuff

"Kind of glad we upgraded hotels, at least now we can be at the beach party...or rather above it, until we're ready to join it." Trent said, though as much as he said, he knew he was simply talking to himself and not a single thing he said broke through to the sounds within the room from where he was standing on the balcony.

Oh, Taylor could hear his brother, but his attention being directed towards him was to a minimum in comparison to the attention he was giving to Gage. He leaned down, kissing and biting at the side of his neck, the pleasure that was sizzling every nerve inside of him was beyond great as he thrusted deep within Gage, holding him down by the arms, his movements getting harder and he pushed himself up on his hands, causing more pressure to be applied to Gage's arms, but this was done ultimately for more leverage.

Gage's eyes closed as he shook and trembled beneath Taylor, something was to be learned from this experience, sex with their kind, even as a hybrid, was a heightened and more sensitive experience, for a human the euphoria and the bliss could reach ten times that of which they ever experienced. And two full bloods? Make that a twenty, but since Taylor was a hybrid, the pleasure scale was slightly less, still, with a full blood, enough to be amazing.

"Fuck!" Taylor screamed and leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Gage's neck and then he shifted up onto his knees and grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled back while he thrusted forward, the bed shook beneath their movements, thankfully it wasn't a creaky bed.

Trent leaned forward and crossed his arms on the railing. "Still?" He looked at his watch. "Taylor, seriously...just let go." He turned around and walked to the door way and then closed his eyes. "Thanks, now I know what I look like having sex with Gage."

Actually all Trent was doing was serving to prolong it with his distractions. Taylor felt irritated and suddenly all sound vanished from the room, even Gage's sounds and his own, the room went entirely mute. His eyes opened, he could feel himself breathing, yet he couldn't hear it. The alarming response, followed with his hips still in motion caused that 'let go' that Trent had so asked for. His eyes shut tight and he leaned forward.

Taylors chest pressed flat against Gage's back and he pushed deep into him and grinded in a circular motion, feeling the tightness that surrounded him and then a round of quick thrusts began as he gasped quickly and suddenly released inside of Gage, except the release was not quick, nor was it normal, it was prolonged, it was like multiple releases with which the intensity of pleasure only grew greater the longer they went on. His mouth fell open and he grabbed Gage's arms and his eyes opened, trimmed finger nails digging into his skin.

Gage went through his own released, he too had also become alarmed by the sudden withdrawal of sound which granted Trent his request so quick. The pleasure was good and Gage knew how to enjoy the entire one minute of continuous release, however he could feel his arms being dug into and he looked up, seeing how much of a toll it was taking on Taylor.

Finally Taylor had stopped moving once the minute was up and his face contorted into a look of almost pain. He pulled out and rolled over and closed his eyes.

"Where the fuck did the sound go?!" Trent screamed, yet his voice would not echo into the room.

Gage looked up at Trent and then he looked over at Taylor and he shook him. "Taylor, the sound...the sound." He said, knowing speaking would be pointless.

Taylor covered his ears with his hands and screamed at the top of his lungs until his scream broke through the silence and all the sound returned to the room. He sighed, breathing heavily as his hands lowered from his ear.

"I can hear again." Trent looked around. "Did I bother you that bad? Well, sit in the room when I have sex and see how it makes you feel."

"How fucking long does it last?" Taylor looked at Gage.

"One minute, naturally for us, though that is only when you experience sexual pleasure with another person. You can make humans experience it too, selectively, just route your pleasure through them, kind of like a bounce off physical empathy." Gage explained.

"One minute?" Trent spun around. "What's one minute?" His eyebrows lifted. "Wait...that lasts one minute?!" His eyes widened.

Gage looked at Trent. "You don't know?"

"Well, I'm not a virgin." Trent frowned. "I just...well, it did keep feeling good, I just chose to stop...because it wouldn't stop. I never...understood why. One minute of that?" He looked at Taylor. "It looked like it felt so good it hurt.."

Gage nodded. "It can, the first few times." He grabbed the sheet and pulled it around himself.

"It did hurt...towards the end." He sat up and reached down, grabbing his clothes off the floor and pulled them up on the bed, throwing on his white tank top, the round collar of it and the thick straps were lined in a hunter green. He then pulled on his boxer briefs and his camo shorts.

"Does that mean Tess can breed a litter?" Trent started laughing. "I mean...if she gets so much of it..."

"Ew..." Taylor looked up. "Don't ask that, he should talk to her about it."

"For starters, Tess can only intensify the pleasure, as you can. She couldn't intensify the production, if they did release that much, it'd likely be sperm the first few shots, and the rest of it would be lots of blanks, my theory." Gage looked over at Trent. "Now don't you two have a beach party to go to?"

"You're not going? Gage..." Taylor frowned. "You alienate yourself from everything...you alienate yourself from my life!" He stood up, clearly upset.

Gage was dressed by now and he stood up.

"It's a beach party, people of all ages are going to be there, it's a public place...it's not a big deal." Taylor argued.

"Well, I'm going, you'll find me with Tess at one of...many of the bonfires." Trent headed towards the door and stepped out of the room.

"I just...I don't know why, I want you to have a normal life." Gage shrugged.

"A human lover? They would be a liability to me...but then, might as well, since my lover is just as defenseless as a human, if not more so, for the fact that he's just not there!" Taylor took a deep breath and grabbed a pillow and threw it across the room.

"Okay, you want the truth? If I were there, the times I've been there, who did you all rely on to fix everything? Me, because I already know everything, because I'm stronger, when I'm there, you all become dependent." Gage frowned.

"Then just refuse to help, we all get it, we all know why, and we know if it were a real jam, you would do something if you knew we couldn't work it out ourselves. Just come..." Taylor reached his hand out. "Come...or just go the hell back where you came from, if I can't have all of you, I don't even want half of you."

"Hey, Cole...and other people I don't know, and Tess." Trent smiled, walking around the bonfire and sat opposite Cole, on the other side of Tess in the available lounge chair.

"Hell, I don't even know half their names." Tess grinned and took a sip of her beer and looked around. "Do you guys hate me?"

"Don't worry about it, hell, we're just out here to chill." Brighton said, then he gave Cole a side glance. "And, I mean...this is to celebrate Felix and his life, I mean the little guy was cool."

Cole looked at Brighton. "Really? You consider this, that?"

Tess looked between the two guys. "Uh oh...some one make me another S'more." She looked at Trent and grinned. "Beer and S'mores." She took a drink.

"Kind of. I mean...I know if he were here, he'd be right here down with us." Brighton nodded and then he grinned at Tess. "I love your girls sense of humor, you caught a great one."

Cole stared at Brighton and wrapped an arm around Tess and pulled her close. "Yeah, I have. If you asked me, I'd actually say...out of this world." He grinned.

Avery walked along the beach, taking in every one of the scattered groups and bonfires, noticing how conveniently positioned Mia's fire was to Tess' fire. She fumbled that thick seashell in her hand and as she walked closer, she eyed the two groups to make sure no one saw her as she under handedly gave that seashell a toss and then walked around from the far side. "Trent, hi."

Trent looked up and smiled. "Avery." He got up and walked over to her.

"Ow!" Tess screamed as she seashell hit her on the back of the head as Avery came around from the side, it didn't even cross her mind to make that girl a suspect. As soon as the pain started to subside, she turned and grabbed the sea shell out of the sand. "Someone threw this at me!"

Cole's eyes widened.

"Uh oh..." Brighton grinned and tried not to laugh.

Tess looked up and saw Mia was sitting at the fire almost directly behind theirs, slightly at a diagonal angle. She got up and started heading over there.

"Tess, wait!" Cole got up to follow her.

Trent heard Tess scream in pain, he was tempted to look, but Avery snagged his face from turning with a hand to his cheek, bringing him back to face her. "Girly drama, it's why I don't have any friends, except you...and if you go getting involved, who will I have?" She laced her arms around his neck.

Trent looked at Avery and grinned. "Well, I guess you got a point."

"She can take care of herself." Avery smiled. "So what have you been doing?"

Trent's eyebrows lifted. "Well, if this concept amuses you...I got to watch myself have gay sex...or...what I would look like if I did." He slowly nodded. "Apparently they didn't care that I was in the room...or on the balcony, actually, I got on Taylor's nerves so bad...he literally muted the room."

"Muted the room? As in...he cut off all the sound? He can do that?" Avery grinned.

"Yep, seems so. I could feel myself screaming...yet, nothing, no sound."

"That's interesting." Avery said. "Not that the first part isn't...that's actually weird, I guess not growing up together, it must be weird seeing him, watching him, maybe like an out of body experience a little?" Her eyes shifted towards Tess.

"Kind of, sometimes." Trent nodded.

"You bitch! I know you threw this seashell at me!" Tess presented the shell to Mia as she and everyone at her fire stood up.

"I didn't throw anything at you, Tess! You know that I wouldn't do that! Especially now." Mia looked around.

"Oh, why wouldn't you after I blamed my whole house fire on you?! It was your stupid ass that grabbed the jug by the fire place, thinking it was fucking water and started slushing it everywhere! And as if that wasn't enough, you toss the jug on the floor!" Tess laughed.

"That's a lie! And I only let you tell it so you could get your condo! And now you're going to accuse me of assaulting you with seashells? Grow up!"

"Assault?" Tess laughed. "Maybe I should have you thrown in jail. I'd love to hear it on the news, girl arrested for assault with a seashell!"

"Uh oh..." Trent headed closer to the scene and Avery was quick to follow.

"You fuck with me and I'll tell the insurance company that stupid jug wasn't labeled and you'll owe all that money back!" Mia yelled.

"You think that's what you're going to do?" Tess stepped closer to her. "You know, I've had all these years...from destroying your Barbie's to destroying your face...and now..." She slowly shook her head.

"Tess! Don't!" Trent ran forward.

Avery's eyes widened, hoping Tess would follow through, hoping to actually see a real burst of that power.

"Now..." Tess shoved a single hand into Mia's chest and she screamed, a stream of bluish purple energy blasted in a V shape that stretched out from Mia's form and off down the beach for the first initial second as the girl flew backwards with the extreme force of telekinetic energy until she hit a red pick up truck, parked by one of the fires, her body denting it and within that moment, the whole beach froze.

"Pretty good range...I'd say." Taylor looked around.

"Yeah, but how are we fixing this one?" Gage looked at the mess. "As soon as you let go, shes going to fall from that truck, into their fire, the impact it's self will be what kills her, she could already be dead."

"Maybe Tess...just uh...did a few more training sessions on video?" Taylor walked forward. "I doubt anyone would betray her, other wise they risk the same fate. So we could hope on a fear response."

"The government coming after you guys again, they aren't going to worry about fear." Gage followed Taylor.

"Then lets move Mia, we can take her and uh...put her in her fire..." Taylor cringed. "That's horrible."

"And if she's dead and doesn't roll around and scream? How did the push kill her?"

Taylor looked around. "It doesn't...I can get the truck, drive it, you put Mia back in front of Tess and when I drive, I'll unfreeze it and run Mia over and run the fire over and say the break broke..."

"Then the truck will suddenly poof from where it is."

"So what?" Taylor turned around. "Better them question that then to question what Tess just did."

"They already seen what Tess just did, that's just going to make it spookier." Gage shrugged.

"Proof, the point is proof. And don't give me the dent's in the side of the truck, not the front, that could come from anything." Taylor walked down the beach and his eyebrows lifted as Mia froze mid air, her back against the red pick up. "Grab her."

"How are you going to find the keys?" Gage looked at the several guys that were froze with looks of shock as they were all in the middle of getting out of the way.

"I'm just going to make it turn on." Taylor walked around to the drivers side and flicked an index finger and the drivers side door opened, he climbed in and flicked his finger to close the door.

Gage walked over and grabbed Mia in his arms and she fell limp and he carried her towards Tess again while Taylor steered with his hands without actually touching the wheel, telekinetically driving the truck.

Taylor spun the truck around. "Okay, stand her up and hold her!"

Gage rolled his eyes and stood Mia up in front of Tess, Taylor then flicked his hand out the window and froze Mia's body. "You can let go now, and get out of the way."

Gage stepped out of the way and took a deep breath as everything unfroze and Taylor slammed on the gas and ran Mia over and drove the truck straight through the bonfire and then slammed on the break. He lowered down in the seat.

People started screaming, though Avery wasn't the only one there with a good eye, many of the people there saw what she saw, that red truck that Mia crashed into, how it changed places instantaneously, how Mia was propped back into place, how the truck was driven to restage a new accident to cover Tess. She looked over and saw Trent still where he was and then looked at the truck and saw his twin slipping out from the passenger side and running over to Gage, she hoped for her cause, no one else noticed that.

Tess stumbled back and her breath was sucked in and held, feeling Cole quickly pull her back even further.

Avery walked over to Trent. "I saw what you saw...and I doubt I'm the only one. So...what was that?"

Trent's eyes widened. "A stupid plan, might fool the police, maybe, but any witness would clearly see different if they watched right." He looked at Avery. "That was freezing, if I'd guess, he had Gage over there, prop Mia back up, took the truck, unfroze it and ran her over."

Avery looked around. "Well, at least it's a better situation to work with." She looked at the beach goers. "Unfortunately, I think they saw a picture show, with a few missing pictures."

"This is bad...we're going to have to go on the run..." Tess walked with Cole over to Trent and Avery as she gasped and breathed heavily.

Taylor and Gage walked over to the gathering. "I don't know...if I made it better or worse..but she'd of been dead either way. Either the impact would of killed her or the bounce off and landing in the fire, of course there would of been a chance to put her out."

Taylor went on. "But then...she'd have scars." He looked up and gasped. "Oh my god, I'm stupid. Does she know?" He pointed at Avery.

"Yes, and she keeps it secret, so chill, I got to have a girlie friend too." He looked at Taylor and grinned. "And sorry for trying to be humorous." He took a deep breath.

"Can't you just erase their memories?" Avery asked.

"You could! Event recreation...just rewind it all." He looked at the others. "We'll all remember it, just everyone else, they won't. It's like final destination, we all have a horrid premonition and wake up and stop it."

"Then...why didn't you just rewind that Felix guy alive?" Avery asked.

"Because we don't know when exactly he was killed, or by who. We know it was after he left Trent. It would still be by chance of us getting there in time." Cole said. "On the positive side, who are we to take heaven from someone?" He looked up. "Wait, who are we to take heaven away from Mia?"

Tess snorted a laugh. "Think she went there?"

"What if someone saw Taylor getting out of the truck?" Gage looked down. "Should of froze it again."

"No one saw me, they were all to busy screaming at each other and getting on their phones, I looked, and I even telekinetically drove the truck, I never touched it other than sitting in it." He looked at Cole. "And he has a point too."

"I think we should know if she even went to heaven." Tess looked at Gage. "Anyway to tell?"

"No." Gage shook his head. "If you want to keep her dead and none of us get caught...we have to warp time. It's a variation of event recreation...but rather than restarting it, we warp it to what we want."

"Into what?" Taylor asked.

"Like Tess' door power, when she does it, well, it's kind of like bending reality and stitching two locations together, it's the same with events. So...Tess pushes Mia...but before the full force has any impact, Taylor nails her with the truck, everything that happens in between just...doesn't happen. We'll remember it, we'll know, as it won't affect us." Gage explained.

Avery thought about this, wondering, if she would be immune, like the rest of them, would that include her recording equipment, because if that got erased and things happened as Gage suggested, all of it would look natural and it would not have captured any of their powers.

"Can we create events in this that didn't happen at all?" Taylor asked.

"Like what?" Gage asked.

"Well, instead of me driving the truck, what if you possessed someone and drove the truck yourself, then took your body back?" Taylor asked.

"That's safer..." Tess said.

"We could do that, I guess for event B to happen, the freeze would have to happen regardless, we would have to create my possession and then manipulate the timing to where Taylor froze everything just before Tess actually shoved Mia. So, in all reality, we're simply manipulating the timing, mostly. So, Taylor, I'm going to need you to freeze right before Tess has the chance to push Mia, then everyone stays frozen until I'm ready to run her over." Gage nodded.

"Still doesn't change the part where the truck it's self instantaneously pops from that fire where it was, to right in line with Mia where it runs her down." Trent said.

"That's the part we make up, we plant it in their minds that, who ever I possess, takes the truck and actually drives off with it, without unfreezing them, we just implant the thought, so when everyone does unfreeze, the instantaneous affect is gone, they will see the truck driving around as Tess is walking towards Mia, even though that isn't what really happened, that is what they will remember seeing." Gage nodded. "Do we all understand now?"

"Lets get it over with." Trent said.

"Taylor, you ready?" Trent grabbed his back pack.

"Yeah, I guess." He looked over at Trent. "Just wait for me down in the lobby."

"Okay." He nodded and walked out of the room.

Gage grinned and sat up. "Pretending to sleep is...not that fun." He turned towards Taylor. "Do you uh...want me to drive you to school? I don't really have any reasons to be there...but I can hang around, so when you're free."

Taylor smiled. "A drive would be nice." He looked at Gage and shook his head. "I wouldn't want you to have to hang around though, it could be pretty boring." He lowered his head to rest his chin on the top of his back pack.

"You act sad, why?" Gage asked.

"Just...last night was supposed to be fun for us...and it yet again turned into..." He shrugged. "I had convinced you to do something with me."

"Why don't you skip for a day then. I guess it won't kill you." Gage suggested.

"And do what?" Taylor looked over at him.

"Well, I don't know, you're better at this Earth stuff than me."

"Sorry I told you to go back." Taylor dropped his bag to the floor and turned towards Gage.

"It's alright." Gage crawled across the bed and sat next to Taylor. "You were just angry and...understandably so."

Taylor looked over at Gage. "It's just weird...me, I guess...being the hero." He shook his head. "Not to steal your thunder.."

"No, you were the hero." Gage smiled. "Even if Mia was already dead, if you hadn't done what you did, she would of fell in the fire.."

"Yeah, but you could of fixed that."

"Stop, you're discrediting yourself." He wrapped his arms around Taylor's neck from behind. "Now, go have a good day?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, just wish that you would come with me."

Gage grinned. "Play some tricks, look, I told you guys...your abilities are gifts...use them, explore them...see what can happen. I promise, if you put your mind in the right place, it'll be a fun day."

Taylor nodded and twisted around and kissed Gage. "Okay, doesn't mean I won't stop bugging the hell out of you until you come or I graduate."

Gage grinned after the kiss and laughed. "I promise I can be more stubborn than you."

Taylor shook his head and laughed as he headed out of the room. "We'll see!" He called out.

"Oh, hey, could I speak to you for a minute?" Jackson stepped out of the office just as Tess, Cole and Brighton were walking by.

Tess looked at Jackson. "Uh...sure." She looked over at the guys. "Go on...I guess." She hesitantly followed Jackson into the office and the man closed the door behind her.

Brighton grinned. "Why don't you go on? I'll make sure she gets to class safe."

Cole narrowed his eyes. "Oh, I'm sure you would." His own grin appeared. "I'll let you...see what happens." He walked backwards and then spun around and headed off.

Jackson headed into the guidance counselors office. "They let me borrow it for this meeting."

Tess grinned and walked in and spun around. "And what did they do with Miss Benedict Arnold? Evict her? Didn't even give her thirty days to empty her desk?"

Jackson smiled. "She is getting a two hour delay, a nice morning." He walked around the desk and sat down. "Care to sit?"

Tess frowned and turned around and sat in the chair across the desk. "What do you want? I thought you were leaving us alone."

"I was...until Mia died." Jackson nodded. "You see, the whole thing, while it was all random, the guy didn't have a motive, and everyone he was with all have said that the dent on the side of his truck just appeared, that it was not there before, that nothing caused it. Mia was hit by the front of the truck, after an altercation with you, and of course the twins were there..."

"So the dent randomly appeared? Well, not to toss my friend under the bus, but shouldn't you talk to Taylor when things randomly pop around?" Tess leaned back.

"Oh, I plan to, but what caused the dent? I don't think destruction is really his style." Jackson clasped his hands together, elbows rested on the desk.

"So we have special abilities and we're supposed to know everything?!" Tess burst out and sat up, leaning forward. "Maybe the dumb asses were drunk, ran a red light on the way to the beach, got side bashed, continued on anyway and lied about it! Ever consider that?"

"Okay, how about that fire at your house? That one was mysterious."

Tess narrowed her eyes. "Ask the insurance company, we told them the story. Mia grabbed a jug by the fire place, it was lighter fluid, she was a dumb bitch, didn't see the label and thought it was emergency water, and then she started splashing the place and then just threw the jug, that was after a log fell out and rolled to the couch and set the couch on fire."

"And you got a beach front condo, lucky you." Jackson smiled.

"Luck happens, even to people like me...or my friends." She sat back. "So, is that all?"

"Guess I can't make you say anything more, if you see Taylor before I do, let him know that I'm looking for him, and where to find me." Jackson said.

"Might just send Trent, for the laugh of it." Tess stood up and walked out of the office, yanking the door and letting go, the door flying and slamming shut as she left the office.

"Ooo...someone is storming mad. What did the cop want?" Brighton asked.

"Wanted to talk to me about my argument with Mia, as if that fucking matters." Tess looked around. "Where is Cole?"

"Went to class, I sent him. I thought...we could get to know each other." Brighton grinned.

Tess' eyes widened and she stepped closer. "Do you really want to know me right now?"

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Brighton grinned.

Tess grinned and brought her hands up to his face. "Well, why don't we get to know each other?" She asked.

Brighton stared at her. "That would be..." His face contorted in pain. "Oh my god!" He jerked away from her. "My tooth!" His hand moved to his cheek.

"What's wrong? Is your tooth hurting?" Tess looked towards her back pack. "I think I'm fresh out of Asprin, man, I should of stopped off at the store!"

Brighton looked down and shook his head. "I got to go to the nurse." He mumbled and his eyes watered up as he ran off down the hall.

Tess watched him and her eyes widened and a slight half grin appeared. "Too bad..." That grin then fully took on it's life as she walked on the opposite way to head towards class.

"You." Johnny walked out to the court yard. "Trent or Taylor?"

Taylor looked up, sitting on the ground, leaned back against the fountain with his phone in his hands, playing a game. "Uh...I could lie, and you'd never know it."

Johnny lowered down in front of Taylor and clasped his hands together. "True, but I would kind of appreciate it if you didn't."

"Well, what's the nature of your business?" Taylor looked back down at the screen of his phone.

"Not telling you until you tell me which one you are." Johnny frowned.

"Taylor." He said, his fingers moving over the screen as he kept playing his game.

"Perfect." Johnny grinned. "So, tell me...how did my brothers car get that side dent in it? What really happened at the beach?"

Taylor's attention left his game and he looked up at Johnny. "You know what happened as well as I do, your insane, road rage, brother, decided to take it to the sand and Mia got in the way, lucky he missed Tess, otherwise we would be really fucking pissed."

"No, he had an episode of missing time." Johnny said. "One minute shits cool, the next, he's climbing out of the truck, Mia's fucking dead and everyone is freaking out."

"Has he talked to a shrink? People dissociate." Taylor nodded. "In fact, if it makes you feel better..." Taylor grinned, actually amused for a moment as he leaned forward and patted Johnny on the arm. "Maybe he has multiple personality disorder and his murderous alternate took over!"

Johnny looked down at his arm and then reached over and snatched Taylor's phone from his hands. "I'll throw it in the fountain!" He stood up. "I'm not fucking playing, this is my brothers life. I know what you did at the Good Will, I don't know what the fuck you are...or what the fuck you do, but you think you can just ruin peoples lives to save your own?"

Taylor looked alarmed when his phone was taken and then he slowly stood up, taking in Johnny's words and then guilt began to set in as he thought about what they had been doing to protect themselves. He frowned and took a deep breath. "You want your brother free?"

"That's what I want, because I know he didn't do it...and I don't know how you made it happen but I know one of you, if not all of you, did it." Johnny glared.

"Well, we could get him out, but then you would have to be prepared to run."

Johnny shook his head. "I want an explanation, hitting Mia doesn't put a dent in the side of his truck."

Taylor closed his eyes. "She originally hit the side, Tess pushed her and the telekinetic force was to strong...and she flew across the beach and hit it."

Johnny looked confused. "I don't remember that."

"I froze everything as soon as she hit...and then we manipulated time, recreated and manipulated the events, of course that gets messy, it's like editing a movie, the dent was a detail that we missed."

Johnny's eyes widened. "Wait, you can do all that? Tess pushed her and then you changed it and made it look like Joby drove the truck and hit Mia instead?"

"Not me or my brother...or Tess, none of us are that...skilled or powerful yet. Our Guardian did it, of course he's not without his own flaws, though he told us doing it could be dangerous if we didn't know what we were doing."

"Well, then do it again, put someone else behind the wheel." Johnny stepped closer.

"Rewind time...after all this time has passed? Really?" Taylor's eyebrows lifted. "I'd much rather just let it go on."

"Right." Johnny nodded. "It's all about what you want." He looked down. "Think about it, I don't know what you are...but you look human, so I can hope...there is some humanity inside of you." He turned around and walked away.

Taylor frowned, watching Johnny head for the door to go inside.

Avery walked into Milo's office and grinned.

"Ditching school?" Milo turned in his chair to look at his daughter, a cigar hanging from his mouth.

She grinned so deviantly yet so innocently at the same time. "Oh, I just asked for a bathroom pass like five minutes before lunch, I'm sure I didn't miss much." She walked over to the desk and pulled out a CD in a clear case. "But you missed a lot."

"So you got something." Milo pulled the cigar away and grinned, taking the CD with his free hand. He stubbed the cigar out in the ashtray and opened the case and stuck the CD in.

"Yeah, apparently, as immune as I was to what Gage did, so was my camera." Avery sat on the edge of the desk and listened as Milo played the video.

Milo laughed. "You threw a seashell at her, very strategic."

"Just watch." Avery leaned around and looked at the monitor as it got to the part where Tess pushed Mia, the wave of colored energy appeared for a brief second as the girl flew across the beach several yards and hit the truck.

Milo kept his eyes focused on the screen, as soon as Mia hit the car, then he sees the truck instantaneously jump to another spot on the beach, as well as Mia, as she was placed right back in front of Tess. His eyes widened.

"That's freezing, Taylor's most skilled power, while everyone is in that state, Taylor and Gage took the truck and moved it and then put Mia back where she was, of course for camera's or people, no one would notice anything happening, it causes that instantaneous affect. If you were real careful, no one would notice anything at all."

"That could be handy." Milo clicked the top of his pen.

Avery listened to the chatter between the group and her eyebrows lifted, curious as to what her father would say.

Milo's eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly opened. "Manipulating time? Warping it? Creating events that never happened? Implanting thoughts? Possession?" He looked at Avery. "They can do all of that?"

Avery shook her head. "Gage can, the blonde one. He is the full blood. The hybrids have the potential, but it takes a great amount of power and control, it's actually dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, or so he has told them." She slid off the desk and folded her arms. "Instructions?"

Milo narrowed his eyes on the blonde one with the spiked hair and the noticeably vibrant blue eyes, without even having to make them glow. "Keep your connection with Trent, it would be suspicious if you changed your M.O, but we definitely want to explore this Gage person." He looked at Avery. "Understand?"

"Crystal, diamond...or ruby? Maybe a sapphire?" Avery started stepping back.

Milo grabbed his cigar and struck a match, lighting it up and then he stubbed out the match, blowing out smoke. "You'll get a present, definitely not a ruby, I've always hated them."

Avery laughed and turned around, heading towards the door.

Milo stared at his computer with a look of wonder.

Johnny stood there and waited until Eli picked the lock and the door to Tess' condo opened. "For future reference, if anyone asks, we got locked out."

"Like they would believe that." Eli laughed and opened the door and walked inside and looked around. "She sure got what she wanted. So where is this fancy box you saw?"

Johnny followed Eli inside and closed the door. "Probably her room, that thing is pure fucking gold, you take that and sale it and I swear you'd be worth millions."

Eli looked down the hall. "Still could...after you uh...ya know, blackmail Taylor."

Johnny grabbed Eli by the arm and yanked him down the hall. "Just come on." He looked around and reached the end of the hall. "This is Tess' room. I bet she put it in the closet or something."

Eli shoved Johnny into Tess' room and followed him. "Has to be, if it's like you described, that bed isn't tall enough to hide it under." He walked over to the closet and opened it, noticing a golden glow and he looked to the very back of the walk in closet and saw The Arc. "Found it."

Tess opened the door and made a face. "That's weird...it should of been locked."

Brighton grinned and followed Tess inside. "Maybe someone forgot, don't worry about it." He placed his hands on her shoulders and guided her inside.

Tess stepped inside and then pulled away and turned around, shifting to the side and shoving the door, it flew shut with a loud thud.

"Fuck." Johnny whispered and shoved Eli into the closet and closed the door.

"So, where is Cole?" Tess looked at Brighton.

"He had to go visit his sister's dad." Brighton said.

Tess' eyebrows lifted. "That's odd, why would the man want to see his illegitimate child? Especially when he broke up with his mom?"

"Don't ask me, hey...some step parents actually care about their step kids, and his mom is still technically married to the guy." Brighton shrugged. "So, going to give me the tour of this condo that so luckily fell into your lap?"

Tess stared at him. "Not much to see, I just wanted it for the awesome windows and the great views. That's the kitchen, living room." She waved her hand and then headed down the hall. "Guest bedroom, it sucks, unless you like it small and cozy and would rather see the city. Master at the end, my parents, and then...mine, a mini master." She waved her hand, gesturing as she talked.

"It's nice, so polished and new looking." Brighton walked into Tess' room. "What are the floors made of?" He looked down.

"Well, we had a few customizations done, we're doing a little at a time." She walked into her room and looked down and grabbed the paper off the burgundy lacquer dresser.

"Black chiseled edge glass mosaic with an iridescent metallic finish that fades from dark blue, to green, to purple to magenta." She read, and then laid the paper down. "Cool,
huh?"

"It's nice." Brighton then looked up at the walls. "And a stone wall along the bed..."

"And purple lacquer walls everywhere else. What can I say? I love shiny." Tess slightly laughed and walked over to the large window and looked out.

"Let me guess, your room is the only one that's getting remade, am I right?" Brighton stepped closer, walking up behind her and gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"How'd you know?" Tess asked.

"Because, you like things your way and when you want it...you get it." He leaned closer, his head tilting to the side and forward, coming close to hers while his hand idly rubbed her shoulder.

"Maybe...if I'm lucky." Her eyes shifted to the side. "What are you trying to pull?"

"I want you, Tess...and to be quite honest...I could protect you, better than Cole could, I could fight along side you, anytime you needed."

Tess appeared confused and pulled away and shifted around to face him. "What do you mean you could fight with me?"

Brighton sighed. "I'm special, just like you." He quickly shook his head. "I'm not another one of you...but I'm different...and you're the first one I've told." He stepped closer. "We just have to be together."

Tess' eyes widened. "You're creeping me out." She turned and quickly tried to walk around him.

Brighton managed to corner her and grabbed her by the arm before she could make it around the bed, he swung her around and slammed her head into the wall, knocking her out. A frown appeared. "I didn't want it to be this way." He leaned down and picked her up.

Johnny and Eli cracked the closet door and looked out, watching Brighton lay Tess across the bed as he moved on top of her. "What the fuck?" Johnny mumbled.

"Shhh..." Eli looked at him.

"He's going to violate her." Johnny's eyes widened.

"Not our problem." Eli shook his head. "Just let his pig ass finish and then we get the box out."

Brighton kissed her neck and then pushed himself up and went to work undressing Tess.

"Oh, hey, the guidance counselor wants to see you in his office." A girl said as she walked down the hall. "If you're Taylor, that is. I was just being sent to come get you."

Taylor smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, I'm Taylor...maybe we should color code or something."

The girl laughed. "Maybe." She walked on by him and headed off to get to her own class.

Taylor sighed, wondering what this would be about, thankfully the office was just around the corner, so he headed that way and knocked on the door. He waited and got no response. His eyebrows lifted and he grabbed the door knob and simply walked into the office, seeing the large office chair turned away from the door.

"You wanted to see me?" Taylor asked.

A grin appeared and the chair spun around to reveal Gage sitting there, sun glasses and all. "You wanted me to be in your life more, now I am. I'm the guidance counselor slash dean."

Taylor's eyes widened. "How? And dean? Isn't that a college thing?"

"I can make credentials just as easily as I can make anything else. And by dean, I just meant that there has been a change, I handle punishments since I'll be working more closely with the students, unless it's a serious offense, then it's out of my hands. Unless I possess the Principal and use his hands." He lightly laughed.

Taylor walked over and sat down and let his bag fall from his shoulder and to the floor. "Well, I sure wasn't expecting something like this."

Gage smiled. "Think about it, sex in the office, getting dirty on the desk, hoping no one walks in and catches us."

Taylor laughed a little and looked up at Gage. "That's awful..."

"I think we'll just have to see where this goes." He leaned back. "So how has your day been?"

Taylor took a deep breath. "Kind of crappy, I was made to feel guilty about sending that guy to jail."

Gage rolled his eyes behind those sun glasses. "We did what we had to do, we have to protect ourselves at all costs, one little life is not worth the loss of many and even all, including that one little life anyway."

Taylor's eyes widened. "What? Are you talking about apocalypse stuff?"

Gage slowly shook his head. "I'm not telling you exactly what or when until I am ready to tell you, really it's fairly simple."