NEW Chapter 5 Prison Break

Okasy I don’t know what in the hell happened to my new shapter 5 from this morning, but this chapter is suppossed to be about the mindfacking that Kieron does at the prison, him taking stef with him, using her to mindfrack, Gracen being blown by that, because only other scotts are suppossed to to have the ability, to use each others powers like that! Where did this go! This is when Gracen realizes Kieron is quite the force to be reckoned with!

Operation Progeny Rescue –Interview with Subject Kieron Kwest

Topic 3- The Prison Break

1 Memory Recordings Attached

Phoenix: Would you please state your name for the record?

Kieron: It hasn’t changed since our last interview, I’m still Kieron Kwest.

Phonix: You know this is a formality Mr. Kwest, I have to ask you your name at the beginning of every interview.

Kieron: Oh I suppose so Phoenix, but it’s getting a little tired.

Phoenix: And what is today’s date Mr. Kwest?

Kieron: It is Satun, Octin 19, 4058

Phoenix: I’d like to start today’s session with a full confession regarding your participation in Merlin Kourac Kahn’s escape from prison. You understand that you do have complete and total immunity from any prosecution that could have resulted from that crime, due to your cooperation in this mission, correct?

Kieron: Yes, that is my understanding.

Phoenix: So there’s no reason for you not to be completely forthcoming, with regard to all of the facts surrounding Kourac Khan’s escape. We need to know how you were able to accomplish something so difficult in such a seamless manner.

Kieron: Okay, I’ll do my best to explain it.

Phoenix: The first question I have for you is how where you even able to locate this prison? This facility is classified as off-grid, and manual transport, is that how you arrived at your locate are no teleporters destined there. The only way to reach the prison is through manual transport, is that how you arrived at your location?

Kieron: Yes it is.

Phoenix: Could we please memory record the trip?

Kieron: By all means, Phoenix, take a trip through my mind.

With that, Kieron’s memories filled the entire room. It was a very hot predawn in the real world. Kieron, Steffana and Sashana stood outside of the above ground entrance of his aunt’s underground barracks conversing,

Kieron stated, “I just need for you to get us to the first external barrier of the WARS, I can take it from there, me and Steffana.”

Sasha replied, “Are you insane? Why are you changing this whole thing up liek this Kieron. We have a plan in place, let’s just stick to it!”

He replied, “No. I’ve thought it over, repeatedly and from every angle…this is best. There’s much less risk this way.”

Sashana, exclaimed, “By taking Steffana inside of a WARS? What are you thinking! This is crazy Kieron! For teh love of GAW, she’s only thirteen years old. And you know how sensitive and fragile she is! This is idiocy!”

“No. It is the safest way to do it. You were the one who was complaining, about all the risk, and all the trouble this was going to be and how you really wanted no part of it”

“So you swap me out for my little sister? I may be a selfish baesh but I’m not that selfish. This is my baby sister! I will not risk her getting trapped up in some WARS, Kieron, this is not an option! I won’t do it. I will not take you.”

“That’s fine.” Kieron said, as he mounted an Avibike, which looked like a heap of junk, but evidently was fully functional, because he beckoned toward Steffana who jumped on the back of it, like she belonged there and knew it. Kieron pushed the button and the engine purred.

“We’ll just have to travel the old fashioned way. It’s a lot riskier and will take us a lot longer, but if you won’t help-”

Sasha looked like she was going into panic mode. She grabbed Steffana’s arm and pleaded, “Steffana don’t do this! Do not go with him, it’s dangerous. He shouldn’t be asking you to do this!”

Steffana was on the back of the bike, holding on to Kieron, completley preapred for take off, whatever Sasha’s reservations were she seemed totally unaffected by them. She breathed deeply, looked at Sasha reflectively and responded,

“He says his uncle will die if we don’t help him Sasha. We have to do this, don’t you think?”

“No! I mean yes, we do. But you don’t. We had a plan in place that did not involve you, but me, Othello, Endara, Tazar and Kwazar. We’re all older and we could have handled it. It’s not right for him to change the plans and put it all on you Steffie. It’s too dangerous, and you are so young, you don’t even realize!”

“He says it’s safer this way. Safer for everybody.”

“And you beleive that?”

Steffana nods her head to indicate that she does.

“Oh Steffana! I just don’t  understand it. He’s got you under quite the mindfrack. Well fine! If this is how you too want to play it fine!”

And with that all three of them suddenly dissappeared. And with that Phoenix interuptted the memory record.

Phoenix: Okay, Let’s stop right there. Do you mind explaining for the record exactly what happened? How did the three of you just manage to dissappear like that?

Kieron: It’s called shimmering.

Phoenix: Shimmering?

Kieron: Yeah, shimmering, it’s Sasha’s power so, I don’t really know much about it, just that, it is something she can do. Soemthing she’s always been able to do.

Phoenix: So Sasha can make people dissappear?

Kieron: No, not exactly, she’s moving them, or in that case, us. It’s like she takes herself and as many people as she can carry, probably no more than three, and she makes us dissolve into energy particles, then she just puts us back together in a different location. It’s the same concept as a teleporter, it’s just that she doesn’t need the machines to do it.

Phoenix: And she’s the only one with these abilities?

Kieron: As far as I know.

Phoenix: What do you mean, as far as you know? Do you have any of these abilities?

Kieron: No.

Phoenix: Well, who else might have them?

Kieron: I think that it’s an ability that Steffana may develop, as she gets older, but as far as I know, she doesn’t have it now.

Phoenix: Why do you think she’ll develop it?

Kieron: Well because she has the first part of it…she can turn things and people into energy…it’s probably only a matter of time before she figures out how to move them from one place to another.

It annoyed Gracen to be reminded once again, that her powers weren’t so unique as she’d imagined. But at least she’d not heard of any shape shifting. She was hoping that at least she still remained the one and only with that power. Actually, as she began to think of it, there might be benefits to having these sisters with powers like her own.

Phoenix: I see, well, let’s discuss this altercation between you and Sashana. Obviously, she didn’t want you to take Steffana into the WARS. She wanted you to follow another plan, why didn’t you?

Kieron: Because obviously, with just me and Steffana, things were going tobe easier,and safer.

Phoenix: How so?

Kieron: Well the first plan, involved breaking in and busting my uncle up out of the WARS. It required, among other things, a lot of reliance on Sashana and Endara for shielding, a lot of reliance on Othello, Tazar and Kwazar for the strategic use of force, and honestly? I wasn’t confident in the team’s abilities…Sashana was my strongest player and she…well Sasha’s flaky.

Phoenix: And so, you mean to tell me, that you had more confidence in the abilities of the thirteen year old girl?

Kieron: Of course.

Phoenix: And why is that?

Kieron: Well she’s not any girl; she’s Steffana.

Phonix: So what was your new plan with only you and  Steffana?

Kieron: It was so simple and obvious, it had to be from GAW…a mind frack. I’d have Steffana frack him out of the WARS. We wouldn’t have to bust him out, he’d simply walk out, with a pardon from the warden.

Phoenix: And you were confident that Steffana could mindfrack a Warden of a WARS?

Kieron: With my help, of course.

Phoenix: Of course. But Sasha didn’t seem to think it was the best plan, to take Steffana, why did she have such strong reservations?

Kieron: Because it wasn’t the sort of thing that Sasha wanted Steffana to do.

Phoenix: Well what big sister would be okay with sending her younger sister into a WARS, can you really blame her?

Kieron: She was with me.  She was going to be alright. Sasha knew that.

Phoenix: So…you and Sashana often argued over Steffana?

Kieron: Well, let’s just say we had drastically different ideas about how she should be cultivating her talents and powers.

Phoenix: What sorts of ideas did Sasha have about her sister’s abilities?

Kieron: Sasha wanted Steffana to be her mini-me, just into all the stupid iaish that Sasha was into.

Phoenix: Like what?

Kieron: Cheering, fashion, jewelry, painting, art, a lot of stupid silly iaish.

Phonix: well actually all of those activities sound a lot more appropriate than breaking into a WARS. Don’t you think Sasha had a point? She is only thirteen.

Kieron: But she’s powerful. You’ve seen what she can do. She’s very, very powerful. A girl like that has got to be trained in how to handle that level of power.

Phoenix: And why is that?

Kieron: Because if she’s doesn’t learn, very quickly, the ways of the world and how to protect herself in it, her power will be usurped by someone who does know. She has to learn how to own her power.

Gracen was stunned by his wisdom. She had to admit this Kieron was someone who she couldn’t help but like. She didn’t want to, but he was just so incredibly different than any man she’d ever known…but then almost all the men she knew where Scotts…and well, the male Scotts were an incredibly dangerous bunch. And if only she’d met a man like Kieron in her youth, things may have turned out very differently for her. If only someone had taught her how to own her own power, instead of offering her up to the highest bidder.

Phoenix: Hmmmm, it’s an interesting take on her…but…isn’t that exactly what you’re doing to her?

Kieron: What?

Phoenix: Usurping her powers?

Kieron: No. I’m teaching her! This is good for her!

Phoenix: Do you honestly think she wanted to go inside of that WARS to free your uncle Kieron?

Kieron: She wanted to help out. We’re a family.

Phoenix: What about her family? What about her sister? Did you really think that you were justified in ignoring Sasha’s concerns-

Kieron: I didn’t ignore her…I told her, just like I’m telling you now, it was safer for everyone that way! We did it, didn’t we? We got in there, no problem and accomplished the mindfrack and got out, just liek I said we would!

Phoenix: How woudl you describe your relationship with the Scotts, Othello, Sasha and Steffana. Describe your relationship with each one of them please.

Kieron:I thought you wanted to know about the prison break?

Phoenix: Oh, I do, and we will get to that, but for now, what I really want to know about is, your relationship with the Scotts. It’s important.

Kieron: Well first of all, I want to state, for the record, I did not know that they were Scotts.

Phoenix: But you suspected-

Kieron: I knew them as the Scotias. There father was Henry Scotia. Their mother was Michelle Scotia. I called them Uncle Hi and Aunt Mi. I only ever knew them as the Scotias.

Gracen noticed that this sounded like a very carefully rehearsed line. She observed his body language, he bristled and tightened at the questions. Mr. Kieron Kwest certinaly knew more than he was letting on.

Phoenix: Okay, fine, let’s stick with that story then. They were the Scotias. But even so, they were the Scotias and your last name is Kwest. It seems like you were destined to be the odd man out. They were siblings, and you were just a cousin, and a distant one at that. They are free world citizens and you were, at least until very recently, of a provisional status. Surely you felt a little alienated from your more privileged cousins.

Kieron: No.

Phoenix: No? How could that possibly be?

Kieron: It wasn’t like that. No one treated me any different…I was one of them. We did everything together like siblings, they felt like my siblings…and because I was the oldest, I was always in charge.

Phoenix: Really?

Kieron: Yes, really. Why is that so hard to believe?

Phoenix: Well, I don’t know. It just seems odd, given what I understand your families situation to have been.

Kieron: Well what is that Phoenix, why don’t you enlighten me?

Phoenix: Well…your father was…well let’s just say his life was complicated.  Those complications led him to seek  was seeking sanctuary for you and your mother and the guest house on the Scotia estate was what he was able to arrange. I’d imagine such an arrangement would result in you being treated like a rather unwanted step child.

Whoa. Gracen watched Kieron’s expression closely. This seemed to be the first that Kieron was hearing about his father’s complicated past. Initially he was angry about Phonixes read on hsi family’s past, but he was quite masterful at cloaking his true feelings and expressions. Whatever his initial reaction was, it passed so quickly it was hard to tell what it was, anger, irritation, annoyance. Kieron responded,

Kieron: Well, I don’t know what to tell you Phoenix, that simply was not the case. I was treated very well by the Scotia’s and especially Uncle Hi.. He never made any distinction between Otello and I. We were treated as brothers, and so that’s what we were brothers.

Phoenix: were you close?

Kieron: Very.

Gracen noticed the emotion rising up into his eyes at the thought of Othello. Immediately she coudl see that it was true. They had been very close indeed.

PHoenix: What about you and Sashana, what was that relationship like?

Kieron: Oh GAW, Sashana, she’s that stereotypical annoying little sister, who always wanted to tag along, see what me nad Othello were up to, so she coudl run back and tell, get us in trouble.

Phoenix: So, is it fair to see that you two did not get along?

Kieron: No, I woudln’t put it like that.

Phoenix: But you called her annoying.

Kieron: Becasue she was…at least she was when she was younger, but you know, she grew up. She grew out of it, and then the tables turned…it was always me and Othello, trying to track her down, trying to keep her out of trouble.

Phoenix: Was Sashana a troubled young woman?

Kieron: Well…she definitely…let’s just say she grew up quick. When Uncle Hi and Aunt Mi transitioned, well something changed in her.

Phoenix: So how would you describe your relationship with Sashana?

Kieron:Like typical siblings, sometimes we fought, most times we didn’t. I loved her, like a sister, a bothersome, annoying sister, but still a sister. I looked out for her.

He was telling the truth,and based on the conversation between them, that she had observed, admittedly through Kieron’s own recollection, it seemed to be the case. They seemed to behave as siblings did. Gracen had never had a big brother,and she wondered what that wodul have been like.

Phoenix: Okay, well now let’s move on to Steffana. Did you find her annoying as well.

Kieron: No.

Phoenix: well, why not?

Kieron: Things were different with her.

Phoenix: How so?

Kieron: Well, she was the baby for one. I’m ten years older than her, so we didn’t really…she would never…she was very quiet, cute cuddly…it was more like, look at the baby, isn’t she cute? We all pitched in to care for her, you know feeding her, getting her to sleep, teaching her to talk and walk, it was fun for us…she was our baby. We were all very protective of her.

There was definnitely something he wasn’t saying. Something he was hiding for sure.

Phoenix: and yet, you’ve taken a special interest in her, why is that? Here you are a boy, ten years older…she was just a baby…somehow over the years it seems you’ve forged this special bond.

Kieron:Yes, becuase of her powers. We have the same powers…well some of them anyway. She’s the only telekine in her family, so they don’t understand her, but I do. I decided that I would be her teacher.

Phoenix: when did you decide this.

Kieron: Early on.

Phoenix: How early?

Kieron: I don’t know Phoenix the first time-

But then he suddenly stopped. Again, it was clear to Gracen that he was hiding soemthing. It was clear to Phoenix too as she was getting annoyed.

Phoenix: teh Frist time what?

Kieron: The first time she moved soemthing. Look, I don’t know. Does it matter? just- I help her okay? That’s all you need to know about that.

Gracen realized that he was hiding something clearly, and one of the first tasks on her to do list woudol be to figure out exactly what. But, whatever it was, she didn’t get the sense that it was harmful. It just didn’t seem to be the case that he was hurting her. It wasn’t anything like what Duncan and Brutus  has done to Leevian, or what Octavius had done to her. It was, Gracen believed, coming from a good place, with an intent to help…and still, in the back of her mind she couldn’t help feeling like tehre was something dangerous about it.

Phoenix: Okay, fine then, let’s get back to it. I need to understand how this happened. Othello and you are like brothers, Sasha is your annoying little sister, and Steffana is your baby sister, who you’ve taken a special interest in teaching, still I don’t get how you manage to convince the other two to let you take their baby sister inside of a WARS. It was a very dangerous thing to do.

Kieron: They knew she would be safe with me. I’d never let any harm come to her.

Phoenix: that’s your story,a nd I must admit you stick to it very consistently. So let’s have at it, back to your memory of this event.

Suddenly they were emerged back into the the blazing hot real world sands. Sasha, asked,

“is this where you wanted to be?”

Kieron answered, yeah, it’s close enough. I’ve got it from here. And with that, Steffana climbed onto his back. What happened next, Gracen would have never beleived, had she not seen it with her very own eyes…she’d heard of the existance of such things, but she had never before seen anything like it, two very thin armlike apendages grew out of what had seemed liek a perfectly normal hurrain back, they wrapped around Steffana, as iif to secure her snugly in place, and then they sort of morphed back into his back, making Steffna seem like, she too, was merely an appendage. Noneof them were the least bit surprised by any of it, it was clear that they had done this many times before. And if that wasn’t surprising enough, what happened next actually knocked her out of her seat. A pair of extraordinarily large wings emerged and as they expanded to their full length Gracen guesses the total wing span was a good 20 feet!

With Steffana on his back he shot up a good 200 feet in the air, and he soared!

Gracen wonddered how they withstood the real world sun? They were wearing sun suits, but still. the real world sun was brutal and deadly. She never actuallly been there, but she’d heard stories of people doing things like this and actually bursting into flames, or dying from radiation poisoning.

Kieron navigated that real world sky as if he was a natural born flyer. Kieron had to admit she found his grace and ease with flying exhilerating and sexy. Maybe so did the young Steffana, too. Or maybe she was just frightened, it was hard to tell. One thing was for sure, she was holding on to Kieron  as though her life depended on it, the whole way there. The way she dug her hands and thighs into his backside; well it was…it was almost sixsual. Surely there was nothing sexual going on between those two, was there? She was certain that Steffana was much younger than Kieron. She was 13, and hopefully untainted or molested. He was 23, and by the manner in whcih he carried himself, Gracen was certain his first stage of adolexcent sixsual experimentation was in full throttle, but she was certainly hoping not with the young Steffana. She certainly hoped he was more principaled than that. Still, the long, hot real world excursion proved that Steffana was comfortable being an intimate travel partner of Kieron. Gracen couldn’t help but wonder what other intamacies those two might share.

He and Steffana landed the right outside of a rather ominous looking building, that seemed to go on for miles and miles, in the middle of what appeared to be absolutely nowhere. IT was a salt dessert.

In huge bold lettering, the words Worldworld Authorized Rehabilitation System were engraved across the front of the building, high up near the roof of it. There were no windows at all, and no entry that Gracen could see. A huge electrified fence, running at least twenty-five feel high surrounded the vast structure. Image capturing Satys were everywhere. How these two would manage entry into the structure, was going to be a sight to see. Gracen began playing the memory recording in slow motion.

deadlydid it the trick.This was one mind-frack where he needed to be in complete and total control. With Steffana, he had that ability.

It was weird how he could totally merge his mind with hers. When he was with her, it was almost as if he could mind-frack, which he couldn’t. And that was a shame because it was such a powerful ability to have, but that seemed to be primarily a female power, with very few exceptions.

He hadn’t even explained the plan to the rest of the crew, because he didn’t want to get their hopes up. He knew how nervous they all were about the prison break. He didn’t want them to think they were off the hook, in case they still had to go through with it. He hadn’t even revealed to Steffana where they were going, just that they were going deeper into the real world. Everything would be fine as long as she followed his lead, and she was very good at that.

Luckily, his mother and his aunt were away, busy making the obligatory appeals at the nearest Viable World Justice Center, for all the good that would do, which was none.

They’d be using Tazar’s Avibike, which looked like a heap of junk, but did it the trick. They would visit Merlin, in the Worldworld Authorized Rehabilitation System, or the WARS for short. The WARS center where Merlin was housed was at least fifty miles away…by bike, in this sun, it would be hard on Steffana, but if it worked. It would be worth it.

They were up before sunrise, because Kieron wanted to cover as much ground before the sun reached its height, as the real world sun was excruciatingly hot. They had ultraviolet shields and sunsuits of course, but even with that protection, the ride was uncomfortable. He’d left a note for the others, it was purposefully vague. Of course Sasha and Othello would freak once they realized he’d absconded with their baby sis. He felt bad for the deception, but he knew if he’d confided in them, they’d never allow the two of them to go it alone. They’d insist on coming along and Kieron didn’t want the extra baggage. It was a simple enough job. He and Stef could be in and out.

On the way there, she held onto him, as though her life depended on it. The way she dug her hands and thighs into his back; well it was…it was almost sisual. He scoffed at the thought of it. Steffana was just a child… and surely she knew nothing about sixe…did she? Because of her five-year absence from the family she was, in many ways, a mystery. Why was she so powerful? And why did she have such a strong pull on him that was almost…he didn’t know how to describe it exactly. It wasn’t that he was attracted to her…she was just a child, and like a sister to him at that. His little darrie doe. But there was some kind of pull there. A connection that defied explanation.

Once they arrived at the WARS she was nearly unconscious, she was so hot.

“I’m sorry, darrie doe, so sorry. But please. I just need you to do this one thing for us…focus. Make us invisible and get us into that building. It will be cooler inside…and then you can rest.”

She did as she was told. Once inside, her temperature began to drop as they began making their way into the dark and dank bowels of the building unnoticed. Kieron instructed,

Use your mind to locate Merlin.

Oh my GAW Kieron! What is this place? Are we inside a WARS?

We are, but don’t panic. Stay calm. Remain invisible. All we have to do is find Merlin, so just concentrate.

Technically, Merlin was his mother’s youngest brother, but, actually, merlin had always been more like Kieron’s big brother. He reflected back on his earliest memories of Merlin: the both of them at his father’s funeral, Merlin holding his hand, and later picking him up and carrying when the grief and the reality of his father’s death became too much to bear. He’d been there for Kieron when no one else could. Othello had been too young, his own mother had been lost in her own grief and Steffana had been, at that time, probably no more than six months old or so. But even then, in her own way, she too had helped him to cope with that painful loss.

Back then; they all liked playing with the baby, and especially Kieron, who had always been an only child. In playing with Steffana, he was able to forget his grief, if only momentarily. Was that the reason they’d become so close? Anyway, through sending her all of his thoughts and feelings about Merlin, she was able to locate

him very quickly. Sometimes, it felt like he and Steffana were one person. And then too, Merlin made it easy given his own receiving abilities. Although Merlin could not mind frack, he could send and receive with great power. They were in his hovel of a cell in no time.

Oh my, my, my, what a sight! To what do I owe the pleasure? Who is this beauty Kieron?

This is Steffana.

Steffana! Little darrie doe, Steffana? Impossible!

No, entirely possible and luckily for you she’s grown into quite the mind-fracker. We’re going to try to frack you out of here, but to do that, we need to get to the mind of the Warden.

How’d you even manage entry?

Invisibility.

She can do that, too?

Merlin surveyed Steffana in amazement and disbelief. Steffana, uncomfortable with the attention of a man she could barely remember, simply looked down.

You don’t remember me, do you Darrie Doe?

She shook her head no, slowly.

I’m your uncle. Uncle Merlin. When I heard your thoughts I imagined your sister. I didn’t know that they had found you! Well welcome home! Give me a hug!

She smiled at him and accepted his embrace. Next Kieron instructed her,

Go up to the above ground levels. It’s much lighter, nicer and safer. Wait for me there. We will find the Warden. No matter what, keep your invisibility shield in tact, you hear?

She nodded that she understood.

Okay, now go. I have to discuss some things with Merlin privately.

Once she left, Merlin castigated Kieron.

Man, what in the hell are you doing bringing her in her! Do you realize how dangerous this is? What the frack!

She is very powerful…

But she is just a kid Kieron! You don’t bring a kid into a place like this! What were you thinking?

I’m thinking about saving your cush…and I don’t have a lot of time, so look, you know the deal. I’m going to put some credits on your account. Is there anyone that you need for me to take care of?

So you think she’s that powerful of a mind-fracker? Really? Do you have any idea how powerful a man the warden is? He has skills.

Of course, but so do we. Relax. It’s done. And if it isn’t, I have a plan B. But while I’m here, let me know what I can do for you.

The guard, outside the door here, I want you to give him an ulcer or something.

It’s done.

Kieron was a double telekine; it allowed him to move things both inside and outside of the body. He had the ability to hurt people, sometimes very badly, just by moving their internal organs.

He’s been bothering you?

Hell yeah… Going through my packages, demanding his cut of my credits.

Then the inmate in cell 45. I need him dead.

Dead?

Yeah dead. He’s a disgrace to the Real World race. A sciser. I can’t tell you how many good men he’s gotten killed. Through scising. Now he’s claiming he’s got the goods on me. I need him dead.

I’ve never murdered anyone before. I draw the line there. But I will hurt him badly…and then I have Steffana frack him. He won’t remember his name once we’re done with him.

 

 

Steffana In Prison

She had no idea why Kieron had brought her to this horrible place; she just knew it was very important to him. She wanted to do as instructed, but what he was asking…well…it just didn’t seem right.

Take away all of his abilities to think, reason, even speak. Scramble his brain.

Kieron…I don’t know if I can do that…why?

Just do it! I don’t have time to explain!

She was struggling with his instructions…pushing people’s thoughts into a certain direction was one thing…but scrambling them, taking away cognitive abilities…she didn’t know where to begin!

Hurry up!

And then he did it. It was as if he took over her mind, and before she knew it, he was doing it. He was some how using her abilities as though they were his own, and there was nothing she could do to stop him! The poor man, on the floor of the cell, he was shaking and foaming at the mouth…she wasn’t sure what Kieron was doing to him, but she was sure it was dangerous. Deadly even.

Stop it! Stop!

But he ignored her. The man suddenly stopped shaking.

Okay, there, now. It’s done. Now let’s go and see the warden. That will be much easier than this.

They went to the Warden’s office and accomplished what is what that Kieron wanted so much. It was, just as he had promised a lot easier. They waited inside the WARS until nightfall, because Kieron explained it would be easier, healthier to travel under the cover of night. No burning real world sun to make her sick.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

He seemed genuinely concerned. Sometimes she wondered how much he really cared. He knew that he concerned himself her teacher, her mentor, but did he ever see her as more than a student? Besides it bothered her how he would just go inside of her mind and just take control over it. She wanted to make him happy…but…at what costs? And why couldn’t she resist him. Didn’t she have a right to her own mind?

“I hated that place.”

“I know. I probably should not have taken you there. I’m sorry. I’ll never take you back.”

“No…It’s okay. I’ll go again, if you need me too. ”

I don’t. We did it Stef! We did it! Easy. Merlin will be free in a moonsike. Steffana, you are incredible.”

He picked her up and swung her around onto the back of the bike. When she did that her heart skipped a few beats. Why did she find herself feeling this way whenever he touched her? She knew she probably shouldn’t. He was her cousin…and like a brother to her. As he mounted the bike, she nestled up close against his back. It was okay, because she felt dizzy and literally needed to hold on to him to stay on the bike. Even though, she could barely hold her head up as they flew through the cool night air, all was well. He made her feel safe. When they returned to the realworld compound at nightfall, they were greeted by almost all of their family. Steffana knew her sister Sasha would be furious. Immediately Sasha thought pounced,

Why would you run off with him Steffie? I’ve been a worried sick all day!

Aunt Kellie, asked Kieron,

“Where the frieke have you been?”

Next she looked at Steffana sympathetically,

“Is everything okay, honey?”

“Of course everything is okay. She was with me.”

“I will deal with you later, but right now, I’m talking to Steffana.  I’d like to hear how she feels from her, not you.”

“Steffie, how do you feel?”

“Sun-tired.”

“Of course, well it’s night now. Go on ahead, go into that back room and get some rest.”

The real world sun was something that Steffana had never experienced before. It had made her sick, even with the sun suit Kieron had provided. In most of the real world, the ozone layer had been destroyed with the third world war. This made the sun, which was a lovely, beautiful source of energy in the free world, an ugly, deadly, and painful force of nature in the real world. Where they had dared to go, the envirashields must have been nonexistent, this has caused her sun sickness. She just wanted to get some rest, but she knew that she would not escape Sasha’s mind-lashing.

How could you have been so stupid Steffana! This is really getting out of hand. For him to take you to demolishing sites is one thing…but out in the real, real world! With the unforgiving sun! You simply can’t do these things! You’re not a man! You’re just a girl! Where did you go?

Tell her nothing. Kieron instructed.

Friek him! Tell me everything! Sasha demanded.

She hated being caught between the two of them. It was like having two jackhammers inside her head.

Please let me get some sleep! She begged Sasha.

As soon as her head hit her dirty pallet, that Kieron had insisted she manifest, instead of that lovely king sized bed, she swiftly fell soundly asleep.