Annie O’Cassidy
Maurice’s Surprise
It was very rare that Maurice initiated hugs. It wasn’t that he was anti-hug, as Annie understood, but Annie certainly was the instigator of most hugs between them. She reciprocated and hugged him as tightly as she could. As he spoke to her, her hug slowly weakened. She pulled away as he whispered to her. She crouched a bit, and just gazed into his eyes with an expression that was terribly rare for her. She was practically frozen. Her lips were parted just a bit. If one were to compare her visage to something as she stood, it would be that of a Romantic painting—one that art critics would ask their students for years what the woman in the picture might be saying. In fact, she was silent.
“I—” she began as Tefford arrived and made his first command. She never finished what she was going to say. In her heart, it was a relief, of sorts. Maurice had never called her Del. Only family did. Several questions tried to bolt through her mind all at once, and she’d made sense of none of them as a result. As Tefford insisted they all leave at once, Annie grabbed Maurice’s shoulders for a moment and looked into his eyes again and nodded once. She turned and started running towards her car.
“Pile into my car!” she exclaimed as she waved towards her lavender 1959 Cadillac Coupe DeVille Convertible, “I only have four free seats...but if we sit in laps we can fit everybody!”
She dashed to her car and reached into the shadows to pull her cousins into her lap after shoving her keys in the ignition, freeing the passenger seat up. Her cousins were just shadows on her as she pulled a seatbelt over them all, but she still affixed the seatbelt gingerly.
Sally, Shawn, & Capt. Pennel
Cowritten by Khasinkonia, Imaria, and Talchyon
Although most of the students with powers were acutely aware of the dire straits they were in, there were two that had yet remained blissfully unaware of the circumstances they were in, namely Shawn and Sally. The latter was generally hard at work with extracurriculars, and, though aware of her powers, had never once thought to demonstrate them to anyone else, as of course, though there was empirical evidence to prove she had them, that evidence was surely something that in her head could mean anything from fame to detainment, neither of which sounded particularly appealing. In fact, her visit to Shawn's house had, as far as they were both aware, nothing at all to do with the purple gremlins that were swarming after many of Prefeton's superpowered teenagers.
It was their removal from the centre of things, both in relative to town, and in relative to the social circle of superpowered teens, that kept them blissfully unaware of the nightmare that was going on elsewhere.
Sally stood in the cold air outside of Shawn's house, wearing her favourite bright red puff jacket over a long-sleeve black tee with light peach corduroy pants tucked into black suede boots to keep her nice and warm. With a huff of condensation, she pulled her phone out of her pants pocket and dialled Shawn's number.
Picking up their phone, Shawn answered, "Hello Sally, you're a little late. I'm getting the door now, we'll need to keep the noise, my grandparents are sleeping." With a clack of the dead-bolt being undone, the dulled yellow walls being the first thing Sally sees of the room, followed by Shawn wearing a turtleneck, a skirt, and slippers. In the process of dyeing their hair. "Sorry for being in the middle of this, I dye my hair in secret, for err... quite personal reasons. It is also a good thing you brought the jacket, the heater needs to be serviced."
Sally nodded and smiled as she stepped in.
"No worries; my parents don't really like running up electric bills, so I'm used to being chilly," she replied cheerily, "I don't wanna keep you, so are you fine with chatting while you work on your dye?"
"I'm fine chatting while I do this, it is mostly set, it just needs to dry at this stage, do you want to sit in the living room, or head to my room for this interview. If we head to the living room we don't have to head up some stairs, but we're closer to my Grandparents if we go there," Shawn replied.
"Where are you most comfortable?" Sally enquired as she started fumbling with her left hand to pull a notepad out of her jacket pockets.
"I'll be more comfortable in the living room, I don't think we could get up the stairs quietly." Shawn replied while walking to the right and sitting down on a sofa.
Sally nodded as she sat down and set her phone on the cushion between them.
"Do you mind if I record?" she asked.
"No I do not" Shawn replied
"Excellent," Sally nodded as she opened up her phone. She said the date, and then crossed her legs.
"Alright, so I don't really know where to sta—" she began before a loud crash outside interrupted her.
"Sorry, do you have a dog or something?" she asked.
"I don't have a dog, my grandparents don't want the noise," As another crash interrupted their reply, "And I am not sure if any of the neighbors have dog, I've never heard one."
Sally looked concerned, and leaned in.
"There aren't bears on Prefeton, right?"
"I don't think so, but I've heard urban legends of similar things, gators, pigs, and some crypids. It could also be some raccoons." Shawn replied leaning forward about to get up.
"That doesn't make any sense..." Sally insisted as she shook her head and turned off the recording while standing up straight, "It sounds too bold to be a raccoon."
Her second statement was punctuated by what sounded like breaking glass elsewhere in the house.
Reacting to the glass shattering "That is really bold for a raccoon, I think that was the back porch door."
"Do you want me to help?" Sally asked, "Or should I wait here?"
"There's a gun safe upstairs, an old one with a padlock, which has never been locked since I've been in high school. Anything in it should be enough to stop it. Follow me so we don't get separated, it could be an intruder." Shawn whispered before springing up and heading back towards the door to go up the staircase.
Sally stayed close, but from the corner of her eye, spotted a glowing purple blur and turned like a whip. As if it was an innate reaction, she stomped on the tile floor while guarding her face, which promptly shattered and slammed the creature into the ceiling.
"We need to run," she said to Shawn.
"I've seen these before, get out the door!" Shawn yelled, "I'm sure my Grandparents heard the glass break and my yell, They'll be safe, Grandpa keeps a gun on him." Shawn said hurrying out the door.
Sally nodded quickly and followed Shawn out the door. She slammed her foot into the ground and sent a concrete pillar up from the pavement to block it shut.
"Hey Sally, before we go anywhere, I'm gonna check their bedroom. I'll try to be quiet." Sneaking over to the window, Shawn peered in. Noticing the room was empty with the lights on and the bed made. Upon linking back up with with Sally, Shawn said,"Ok, they aren't in their room, but the lights were on, where ever they are, I hope they're safe." Shawn said while quivering.
Sally delicated followed him, and then murmured, "What was that?"
In a hushed tone Shawn replied, "Oh, the creature, I don't know, I just remember seeing them during the dance a few weeks back, the one where the military claimed at the punch was spiked, that was a cover up, a bunch of kids of powers. And from what I witnessed, you have them too. I guess I'll show of my power, in part because if I don't I'll be shivering." And a few moments later, proceeded by a bright light the shrouded anyone's view of what was happening to him, Shawn's lower torso and legs had been transformed into a sheep's body and a pair of horns sprouted from the front of their forehead.
Sally's eyes went wide before she even attempted a response as she turned her head to avoid looking at the light. She nodded slowly and put her notepad, pen, and phone into her pockets and then clasped her hands together and looked back at him.
"I...well, that's interesting, I suppose. We can't be hallucinating if we saw the same thing, right?" she asked aloud.
"I guess your right on that one, and I don't think either of us drank punch on the way in." Shawn replied then paused for a bit "So... Uh, do you have any ideas on what to do now? I don't think my house is the best place to stay, should we head to yours?"
“I wasn’t at the ball,” Sally corrected, “But I suppose my house might be safer. But if these creatures attack humans, then would it be safer to be somewhere away from where most humans are concentrated?”
"So we're going to just run into the woods, but what if they come from the woods? It did come through my back door after all." Shawn replied, having troubles staying quiet in this state of mind.
“The military base,” Sally said with a snap of her finger, “They’re definitely safe. We should go there.”
"I mean, if these these creatures are just attacking everyone they see, the military is obviously on their way, so it couldn't hurt to meet them in the middle." Shawn replied to Sally.
Sally nodded, and waved in the direction of the road.
“Let’s go!” she exclaimed.
At that moment, a large van drove up on the road heading out of town. It was a dull green, and the driver looked rather serious. But glancing at the two youths by the roadside, it pulled over.
"Friends of yours?" Capt. Pennel asked from inside. When Rashaad nodded and he saw it in the rearview mirror, the older Pennel rolled the window down.
"Rashaad says you're friends of his. We're blowing this joint, and you can hop in if you want. But hurry and make up your minds, if you would."
After Sally and Shawn hopped in, they once more headed off.