Day 1
Capitol University
Judicia, Erbaine

Liam kept his distance, just in case something like The Hand-Switch decided to happen again. He cleared his throat, keeping his tone upbeat. "Hey, guys."

A chorus of half-hearted greetings came from the small group. Paul smiled in recognition. "Hi, Liam. How's it going?"

"Interesting, as I'm sure you all know."

Paul laughed dryly. "Yeah, we're still trying to figure things out ourselves."

Liam arched his eyebrows. "Really? What do you think happened today?"

Paul shrugged. "No one knows."

"I'm guessing the world's going to end," one of the girls said flatly.

"No, I can tell you for a fact that's not true."

The girl frowned. "Then what happened?"

"That, my friends, was a supernova." Liam crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"What's a supernova?" Another girl chimed in.

Liam grinned. "Well, I'm glad you asked."

— Day 2, Noon —
Palisade National Park
Camp Watzmilion

Dan was leaning over near one of the sundial stone’s smaller markers; his head almost touching the ground as he lined up the stone’s shadow with the sun high above. He was muttering something about “correcting for local time variations” to himself as Volt approached.

“Excuse me, Dan, mind if I ask a few questions?” Dan was deep in his calculations and didn’t respond to Volt’s request. The dog glanced up at Angie.

“He gets involved like this sometimes,” she grinned. “Allow me.” She leaned over and whispered in her husband’s ear.

Dan immediately stood up and looked over at Volt, but remained silent a moment. “Sorry; I was in the zone there. Sure, I’ll try to answer your questions.”

Day 2, Noon, Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion

"I was just wondering," began Volt, "if your car's brakes and steering are also broken, or if they need electricity too? If it had something else to make it go, would those things be okay?"

Dan thought for a moment. “Well, technically the steering and brakes still work, but they’d require a lot more effort to use than normally. But without the engine to move the car…”

At that moment he made one of those intuitive leaps he’d become known for at work (“That’s why they pay me the big bucks,” he’d occasionally quipped to his wife): “You know of a power source that we could use, right?” he blurted out. The dog had already displayed at least two special abilities… ”Are you the power source we could use?”

[backtracking a little ... ack, monster post alert!]

~Day One~
~Judicia, Erbaine~
~Ten minutes before the supernova~

Leann Archer, sixteen, stared despairingly at the sketch she had drawn of her friend Cassandra. At least, it was supposed to be Cassandra; right now it looked more like a cross-eyed mutant with fuzzy moss for hair and clown hands. She sighed and crumpled it up. No use trying it again, today just wasn’t a good day for drawing.

“Ms. Archer?”

She started, looking up guiltily. Her teacher, Mr. Gears, was looking straight at her. “Uh, yeah?”

Mr. Gears nodded at the diagram on the wall behind him. Leann felt almost jealous looking at it. Her math teacher had no imagination, but he could draw a perfect triangle almost without trying. “We are attempting to prove that x can be shared in common with triangles y and z if z is an isoceles triangle. What theorem do you suggest we begin with, if it is given that angle a is 60 degrees?”

Darn it! I hate math.

“I believe this marks the third time I have asked you this question, Ms. Archer.”

“Sorry, Mr. Gears. I think -- maybe we should use -- “ Leann stared at the diagrams, mentally scrambling for something, anything that might provide a solution. Nothing came up.

“I guess we know why your parents gave you up, Leann,” someone from the back of the room called out.

Everyone burst out laughing. Mr. Gears rapped his ruler twice on the desk for order, and the laughter quieted down, but a girl behind her giggled, and the guy next to Leann smirked.

Leann ducked her head down, trying to shrink in on herself. She wished she could just turn invisible, or maybe sink through the floor.

“Enough! Ms. Brady, since you appear to prefer making cracks to focusing on your schoolwork, you will remain after class today to help me with some additional problems. Anyone else wishing to do so may speak freely, those that do not will keep their mouths shut unless I call on them. Now, returning to the problem at hand - “

Whatever else Mr. Gears had been going to say, no one ever heard. There was a flash of brilliant light, and … something else. A weird sensation, unlike anything she had ever felt before, tore over Leann. She nearly screamed, but as suddenly as if it had come, it was over.

The classroom fell completely apart. Mr. Gears rapped his ruler on the desk, so hard it cracked, but everyone kept talking or crying or babbling as if they didn’t hear. Shut up! Leann wanted to say. If you want to find out what happened, shut up so we can find out!

Wait. I’m sinking.

Leann could feel herself falling, slipping toward the floor. This is crazy! What happened to my chair? Then she looked up, and saw the seat of her chair above her just seconds before she fell through the floor.

------

~Day Two~
~Parksville~

David Kingsley was a man of order. There was a time and a place for everything, and as he told the students in every class he had ever taught, nothing sounded so beautiful as something in the right place at the right time.

But there was precious little order now, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

He and his wife, Lauryn, had spent almost the entire morning in their living room, hoping that at any moment the television or the radio or the phone would start working so they could start piecing their lives back together. Agonizingly long minutes had ticked by with no change in the situation, each one meaning it would take that much longer for “normal” to return.

But they could only stand the not-knowing so long. So when they found out from a neighbor that an emergency center was being set up at the elementary school, they had both gotten into the car - even bringing Lauryn’s cat Figaro - and gone there, unsure of where else to go.

Despite the chaos, David was already glad they had come. He recognized some of his students and their families in the crowd, and as well as some of the teachers. Then he happened to glance over to the playground, and felt a rush of relief.

He got his wife’s attention, and they both headed straight for Brandon and Gina.

“Thank heavens you’re all right!” Lauryn exclaimed, hurrying up to hug Gina.

“We couldn’t stand waiting in that quiet old house of ours,” David said to Brandon. “We had to come out here and find out what’s going on. Does anyone have any idea, and what’s being done to fix it?”

((12: I'm moving us along a bit. Feel free to flashback if you need to!))

Day 2
Outside of Green Hills Highschool
Parksville, Erbaine

Once Fred managed to escape from the collapsed school, Cat wondered what to do. The area was deserted, but the cars were all in the parking lot. How could that be? She couldn't drive, though-- didn't know how-- and even if she could, she didn't have keys.

"I think we should try to find people, maybe people who know what's going on," Cat suggested tentatively. "If you want to come with me, I mean."

— Day 2, Morning —
East Parksville Elementary School
Parksville, Erbaine

“We’re so glad to see you!” Gina exclaimed as she hugged her friend Lauryn.

After greetings were exchanged Brandon and Gina answered David’s question with a brief summary of what they’d heard from the military during breakfast. The only thing they didn’t mention was Holly’s healing ability.

This wasn’t because they didn’t trust the older couple – they’d become good friends over the past few years – but was a result of a decision the Norwoods had made the previous night, after their twins had gone to sleep. Whether or not to share this was a conundrum: their friends deserved to know, but they decided that what others didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. After all, in light of what the military had said, they still had some uncertainty about the government’s true intentions. Should the worst happen, and the Kingsleys or Baxters face government interrogation, they wouldn’t have anything to tell.

So for now Holly’s ability was a secret to be kept from even their closest friends. But Brandon and Gina both knew it was just a matter of time until that ability manifested itself in front of others, and then the cat would be out of the bag.

They were momentarily spared further thoughts along these lines when Holly blurted out, “Our house burned down!”

“And Grace’s too!” Ivy wailed. Both twins began crying, and their parents crouched down to offer comfort.

“The Baxters?” David asked, alarmed. He knew them because Angela taught at the same school, and in recent months the two couples had enjoyed the occasional dinner date in each other’s homes.

“The Baxters are camping up in Palisade National Park, so they weren’t here for the fires. We haven’t heard from them but only hope they’re all right.”

“I miss Grace,” both twins blubbered as one.

“We miss her too, honey.” Gina tried to comfort her daughters. The twins gradually stopped crying, distracted by the opportunity to play with Figaro.

“What will you do now?” David asked.

“We’re not sure.” Brandon was still crouched down, arms around Ivy. He stood up, child in his arms. “We’ve mostly just been reacting to what’s happened. At least we have this shelter to stay in. We were thinking of waiting a few days for the Baxters to come back to town, and then go from there.”

Hinterlands, Day 1, during Supernova

After Cameron had traveled many miles (by this time had reached the foothills of the Palisades) he received a call from Parkville airstrip command tower.

“Birdseye 119, this is Parkville Airbase, we are picking up strange anomalies in overhead. We strongly suggest that you get your Raptor out of the sky, and soon. Over” the voice said.

Cameron keyed his mike while looking overhead “This is Birdseye, Sir with all due respect…What in the blazes are you talking about? Over.” The aircraft controller in the tower responded “I’m sorry, Captain, but you need to get out of the air now. I can’t tell-” and with that static overwhelmed the aircraft controllers voice.

“What the heck?” Cameron yelled as his engines began to shutdown, he grabbed his mike and began calling “Mayday, Mayday, this is Flight 119. I’m going down, one hundred; make it one hundred and fifty miles outside of Parkville… Unknown anomaly, blinding light… I’ll try to save her, but I’m not making any promises.”

This commentating was purely for his black box… The orange box, that was installing inside his cockpit to record everything said there, incase of an accident. “All electrical components down… Compass, spinning, I don’t know where north is… Still loosing altitude, I don’t know how much cause that’s down too. Even my gyroscopic compass is dead. I’m going to have to eject, good bye baby”

And with that he pulled his ejection seat handle. Cameron cursed; his seat didn’t fire as it was supposed to. He was trapped within his own bird and the only thing his could do was ride the plane to the ground.

Captain Cameron Far was able to lessen the impact by righting the plane so that he skimmed the top of the trees several times before his wings grabbed hold of the tree limbs and slammed his million dollar aircraft into the ground.

He blacked out on initial contact, when he recovered his vision flames were raging all around him. Cameron grabbed his knife from his boot and began to cut himself loose from his seatbelts.

When Cameron finally cut loose of the straps, he began to work on the next obstacle, the bullet proof canopy above his head. Without electronics there was no way he could open that thing normally, so he grabbed his 9mm and shot the bracing out; this allowed him to punch the glass out of their slots.

Cameron pulled himself out of the burning wreckage of the Raptor, slid down the fuselage and hit the ground with a roll, it was then when he first felt the pain in his leg, shearing pain that rocked through his body.

The pilot crawled forty yards away from the downed plane before his passed out. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was the Phoenix that used to be his Raptor.

— Day 1 —
Burg, Boriel
On a road to school

"Ugh, I hurt! Could this, in some ways, be the worst day of my life?" Topaz frowned; this wasn't nearly as bad the day her father walked out of she and her family's life. Just thinking about it made her feel like her blood was on fire. "Push that thought away, 'cause I ain't ever going to think of that dirty monster again," she muttered and tried to hide her pain back inside.

To her surprise and relief, a police car zoomed nearby. "Hey! Over here, sir! I need a doctor!" To get his attention, she waved frantically. She peeked at her arm for only a moment, but then whirled around again to watch in complete shock. Her arm, or what she thought was her arm, was waving so fast she couldn't tell what it really was. As she stopped waving, she took deep breaths of air, super fast ones. Mom, help me! I think I'm going bananas, or I've become the opposite of a slowpoke!

— 10 AM, Day 2 —
Parksville, Erbaine
Palisade National Park
Lui's Cabin
She was sitting in a tree. There was a masked figure below her, standing on the ground, but no matter how high she climbed, its dark, gloved hands were always only inches from her ankles. The couldn't escape. Suddenly an axe appeared in its hands—knock, knock, knock. The sound of the metal hitting the wood filled her awareness, sharp and cold. The masked figure was cutting down the tree.

Terra awoke with a jerk. She wasn't in a tree, she was lying on the rug in Lui's cabin. But the knocking sound continued. Is someone taking an axe to the side of the cabin? She thought, her mind hazy from sleep.

No, it was someone knocking on the door, but not the ordinary knock of a friendly visitor. The impatient, heavy-handed knock of someone with authority.

"Wake up, Loretta, we've got company," Terra said, scrambling to her feet and picking up the shotgun as a reflex. She wondered if Lui was still asleep in the garage—

And if she's still a wolf?

Terra bit her lip and hoped she wouldn't need to find a way to explain the huge canine, and that Lui would stay quiet until whoever it was went away.

She opened the door and found three military personnel staring at her—at least, she thought they were, but it was difficult to tell behind the dark sunglasses they wore. The summer morning was already hot and the sun's light was broiling, but staring into these cold faces was like being plunged into a pool of ice water.

"Yes?" Terra said uncertainly. She leaned the shotgun up against the wall beside the door, not wanting to appear aggressive to the military, but all the same, very reluctant to let go of it.

"We are assuming you are aware of the supernova that occurred at twelve hundred hours yesterday?" The man in the middle began dispassionately, and Terra nodded. "Ten thousand troops have been dispatched to the Parksville area to restore order in the wake of this disaster, and we are checking up on everyone. Making sure there are no. . . issues that have escaped the government's notice."

The man pulled out a clipboard.

"Your name?"

"Terra Langley," Terra said slowly, and felt a flicker of irritation as she saw three pairs of eyebrows raise behind sunglasses.

It's been ten years, but everyone still remembers my name, thanks to the media, she thought darkly.

The man turned to Loretta.

"And your name, miss?"

Day 2, Noon, Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion

"Well, one of two power sources," Volt answered Dan, "the other one is gravity. Since Parksville is downhill from here, I thought we could coast down most of the way. When we can't, I can push the car. It works out for both of us. You can't get a way over the occasional uphill and straight parts of the road without our help. We need something to carry Jenny's stuff in so I don't have to drag her bags across the road and she doesn't have to walk the whole way. Plus, we'll be less likely to be noticed."

"Wait a minute," said Jenny, who had come over to see what was going on and heard most of Volt's idea. She had a stern frown on her face. "Volt, you're injured, and if you are spotted pushing the car, it would be a lot worse than being spotted just walking along. Also, didn't you say you could only just barely lift that rock as heavy as a car?"

"No, I said I could throw that rock, if only a couple feet. And my paw is feeling better, look," he said as he took off his bandage. Jenny half-expected to see more blood gush out, or at least a large scab, but when she knelt down to examine it she had to admit to herself that Volt was right, his skin had almost finished healing.

"I know it's risky," continued Volt, looking into her eyes, "but you said yourself we should look for a way to leave, and this may be the only chance we'll get for weeks."

Jenny stared hard at the ground, deep in thought. Finally, she looked up at the Baxters. "If you guys want to risk it, I'll go along." She turned back to Volt. "But you have to promise me something."

"What?"

"If at any time you start to feel tired, just stop pushing and take a rest. No, don't give me that look, I know you'd just keep going until you collapsed rather than admit a job is too hard for you. You're stronger than you were Volt, but you're not invincible. There's nothing wrong with giving up if the goal isn't worth it, and it's more important to me that you save your strength for what lies ahead than use it all on a short term goal."

Volt sighed. He had never doubted Jenny's judgement before and wasn't going to start now. "Besides", he thought, "I won't get tired anyway." "I promise," he said.

Both faced the Baxters again, waiting to see their decision.

--Day 3 qn--
Quadrant 9
8:18 qn
Previous Post

Dr. Steele pressed a button and a soft hum of motors indicated the elevator was descending. He glanced out the window and around a web to view the now shivering and whimpering woman against the wall.

The door opened behind him, but he did not turn around.

"'Scuse me sir; I brought you and the boy some coffee."

"Ah, thank you Corporal." Steele turned around and relieved the man of one of the steaming to-go cups on the tray.

The Corporal's head wove back and forth, examining the room. Then he said, "Looks like I missed him. Is he down there now?"

"Yes."

The man set down the tray and moved closer to the window, peering through the cracks and staring down at the young man now walking swiftly across the floor.

Steele gripped the cup in his right hand and looked through the wider breakage on the other side of the window. Eyes pinned on the broad youth below, Steele watched as he strode up to the hologram machine and flashed out a great fist to "smash" into the machine. The hologram crumpled to the floor and the speakers in the control room let the Doctor hear the shriek of metal on metal and the loud crash as the thing was completely "annihilated".

"Sir," began the corporal suddenly, "May I ask you a question?"

"You may, but I give no assurance of an answer."

In the room below, Tony was approaching the cowering woman. A soft, soothing voice drifted through the speakers.

The Corporal continued anyway, "I understand that only a few people know of your assistant's powers: Those who do are under strict orders to reveal it to no-one and to treat him as normal."

Steele's grey eyes locked coolly on the Corporal's brown and the man shuddered slightly, but did not stop talking. "How is it that he helps you with these people when he is one of them?"

Steele brought the container to his lips and sipped quietly, keeping his gaze fixed on the Corporal. The Corporal shifted uneasily, but did not break the stare. A faint whimper could be heard over the speakers and Tony's voice grew a bit louder but was still soothing in tone.
Finally, Dr. Steele set his cup down on the control board.

"It's very simple, Corporal Mathews: A), He believes we are helping them, which of course we are. We are repurposing their lives for a higher end. B), He is completely unaware of his connection with them."

Slightly taken aback at the calm answer, Corporal Mathews nodded slowly and glanced out the window thoughtfully. Tony had his hand out to the woman, like one would to a stray dog. Her eyes were flicking from his hand to his face, back and forth nervously.
"So, you mean he doesn't know he's a mutant?"

"Correct."

"How is that possible?"

Dr. Steele smiled coolly, "Anthony is a very modest young man. He has always been stronger than most people, so is used to being able to do things others cannot. He simply has not realized he has greater strength than before."

The corporal's forehead wrinkled as he considered and after a moment asked, "But, I thought he bent an iron bar for the president? Wouldn't that be obvious, even to him?"

"Indeed, but he does not remember that incident."

Corporal Mathews' forehead creased deeper and he said thoughtfully, "Partial mind wipe?"

But Steele was suddenly striding across the floor and stepping into the elevator. Without a word, he pressed a button on a tiny remote control in his hand and the doors slid silently shut.

The corporal blinked and turned back towards the window. The woman's face was tightening and her whimpers no longer could be heard. As he looked, her eyes suddenly began to flash and her hands began to move. Tony's voice could still be heard, calm, cool, collected and gentle. Suddenly he shot up into the air so rapidly he almost seemed to vanish before the corporal's eyes. But a moment later he was paused about halfway between the floor and the ceiling.
The woman began to scream something at him that was undecipherable because of how her words ran together hysterically. Hovering in the air, Tony was very still, though the corporal could not see his face.

Suddenly a voice rang out sharply and the woman's head snapped around, eyes still flashing. Corporal Mathews craned his neck to see Dr. Steele moving quickly across the floor, a hand uplifted, his voice stern and commanding. The woman glanced at Tony, then slid her eyes back towards the Doctor. He was very close to her already, his voice lowering into a deep monotone, both hands outstretched. She did not move until he placed one of them on her shoulder, then she recoiled at his touch. But he persisted and- he moved and the corporal could no longer see what was happening with the woman because the Doctor was blocking his view. But Tony was still suspended in the air, very still, but very tense.

Then all of a sudden, the youth dropped like a stone. The Corporal's eyes widened, then he heard Steele bark something sharply. Tony stopped six feet from the ground, looking rather limp and floppy. Mathews wondered if he had passed out, but a moment later could see him shaking his head deliberately, as though trying to clear his mind. A moment later, he was slowly let down to the ground. As his feet touched the metal of the floor, it was clear when the woman's psychic grip released him, because he staggered suddenly and collapsed to his knees. Steele's voice could be heard in the monotone, but Mathews could not see what was happening with him and the woman still.

For a moment, all was still in the room below. Tony was still on his knees, breathing hard. The Doctor still stood over the woman, his voice beating steadily through the speakers into the room above. Corporal Mathews found himself becoming drowsy, with the Doctor's drone in his ears. But just as he was starting to think he should go get a coffee for himself, a square of the floor in the iron box began to open up. Mathews was startled awake and leaned closer to the window and squinted in an effort to get a better look.
Something began to rise slowly out of the dark hole in the floor, not far from where Tony knelt. At first, Mathews had no idea what it was, but after a moment it became clear that the thing was a chair, entirely of the same silver metal that lined the floor, walls and ceiling of the room below.

As it began to slow in its ascent and the floor began to close a bit to fill in the empty area around the base, Dr. Steele moved aside and Mathews got a look at the woman. Her eyes had stopped flashing and now they were staring and dull. Steele said something to her and touched her shoulder. She arose slowly and moved sluggishly across the floor towards the chair, now settling and finally stopping in its motion.
Tony's head lifted and he picked himself off the floor as well, standing aside to let the woman pass him. She paused by the chair, until Steele said something else and tapped her again, whereupon she sat slowly.
Tony turned his head towards Steele and murmured something, his voice tickling the speakers. Steele nodded towards him and the youth beat a hasty retreat back to the elevator as Steele pressed something on his remote and metal clasps snapped over the woman's wrists, ankles and chest. She sat motionless, staring at the Doctor's face.

The hum of the elevator made Corporal Mathews turn his head towards the door. A second later, they slid open and Tony stepped out. The boy started when his eyes fell on the corporal and he took a half step backwards.

"Brought you and the Doctor some coffee, but you were down there already," explained the Corporal.

"Oh," breathed Tony and wiped a hand across his forehead, which was beaded with sweat. He moved to the table and collapsed in the chair beside it, swiping his cup off the table and taking a sip.

"It's probably not too hot anymore. My apologies sir."

"No problem. I'm too hot myself to be wanting anything to 'warm me up'," smiled the youth around the rim of his cup. "Tastes good, thanks."

The Corporal glanced back out the window at the Doctor, standing in front of the woman, talking quietly to her in that strange monotone. In his mind's eye, he saw Tony back out there, holding out a gentle hand to a woman who tried in the next instant to kill him. Turning his head back around, he cast a sideways glance the youth's way, noting the brawny hand curled softly around the cup. That one hand could, it was said amongst the officers, crush a man's thigh bone with one squeeze. Yet it was held out in peace to a creature that desired his death.

"Well, sir, I should be going now. If you need anything, please call me."

Tony nodded slowly and sipped at his coffee.

Mathews began to walk out the door, when something suddenly occurred to him. "Um, sir?"

Apparently that method of addressing him did not yet register with Tony, because it took him a moment to respond. "Oh, yeah?"

"Would you prefer if I brought you an iced coffee next time?"

The youth's face broke into a large grin, "That would be awesome, thank you."

Corporal Mathews smiled and saluted him, "Very well sir, I'll do that." As he shut the door behind him, he realized that even though he had just witnessed a portion of the sessions conducted by Dr. Steele and his assistant, he still had no idea what was going on the iron box below the control room. And he wondered.

— Day 2, Noon —
Palisade National Park
Camp Watzmilion

Dan and Angie were silent a moment as they contemplated Volt’s offer to help them return to Parksville. Finally he spoke. “From what I’ve already seen, I believe you really can push our car if necessary. But I’d hate to have you injured or spotted by others.”

“It’s the best way to get back to town,” Angie pointed out. “We can meet up with our friends there, and you can get back to the power plant and help out like you wanted.”

“I can see Holly and Ivy again!” Grace exclaimed.

“Seeing the Norwoods again would be great. But after our conversation with Sergeant Jones I’m not so sure I can do much about all that’s happened. And I'm not sure the military's just going to let us leave camp with all that's going on. This is such a large-scale event…”

“We’ll do what we can. One day at a time, dear, one day at a time.”

Dan smiled at his wife. “You’re absolutely right.” He turned to Volt and Jenny. “Count us in. We’re going home!”

Grace clapped her hands gleefully and skipped off down the trail back toward the camp, Candy at her feet.

Day 2, Noon, Palisade National Park, Camp Watzmilion

"Well, that's settled," Jenny said. "We just need to collect a few things: the pager, and my luggage."

First came the pager, Jenny climbed the tree this time. When she got down she gave it back to Dan. "I guess we can trust you with it for a few minutes."

Next they stopped at Jenny's cabin. She pulled out from under her bunk a large suitcase and a backpack from on top. "It's my only suitcase, there's not much in it," she explained as the Baxter's stared at it. "There's enough room in here for Volt to fit if he wanted to. And I mean that literally, he dumped out most of my extra clothes and climbed in here before I left and I never knew it until I got here." Volt bowed his head in mock-shame, although it had been uncomfortable, he'd do it again.

"Well, that's everything, now let's get going. I suggest we push the car until we're out of sight of the camp, then Volt can push it until we get to the top of the next hill."

~Day Two~
~Parksville~

"You can stay with us," David said, almost as soon as Brandon finished talking. He glanced quickly at his wife. Perhaps he should have asked her first, but as he suspected, she was in complete agreement and nodded. "It's much too quiet at our house these days, and it's better than staying in a government shelter."

David's low opinion of Azurema's current government flavored his last statement, but he stopped himself from an outright comment on the situation. Such a remark would be ill-advised with all the soldiers around, and the Norwoods were aware of his political views in any case.

"It would be wonderful for us, too," Lauryn chipped in. "David and I aren't as young as we used to be, and the house is so quiet with Josiah and Michelle gone ... " Tears pricked her eyes and throat; there had been no word from the twins, and unless the electricity returned, there would not be any for some time.

David slid his arm comfortingly around his wife's shoulders.

Meow, Figaro told the girls seriously.