The missing chapter 1 of Children of Legend

So, I was checking my posts that imported from my old website today and I noticed that chapter 1 of Children of Legend did not import. I noticed this because a new plugin to assemble posts into a novel format needs the links to this novel format. the rest of the web novels are fine.

I checked the old website posts and even the old website is somehow missing the post, there is a 2 week gap in the GPFriday posts where I know I posted it… The website lost the post…

Sigh. What to do… Well, I can go into my archives and grab the chapter and post it here. Here it is below.

 

Chapter #1: Unusual Children

 

Greeley Colorado

March 31st, 2020-CE

 

It was a scene that should not be playing out in a first-grade classroom. The sound of a child gurgling and chocking. His raven-haired teacher, eyes filled with rage, held her pupil off the ground. Her hands around his neck, throttling him. His gold eyes bulged. Tears started to mix into his brown chin length hair. To the teacher’s right and his left stood another seven-year-old, her green eyes wide in horror. Torn between what to do to save her eldest friend.

A third seven-year-old stood defiantly, his blue eyes staring daggers into the teacher. He was not frozen in terror, “Let him go!” he growled, as best his high-pitched voice could manage, “Put him down or I’ll hit you!” He ran up to her and kicked her in the ankle.

The teacher’s response was to kick the blonde haired, blue eyed, boy. It knocked the boy down but enraged him further. He reached out to the air. He could feel a book but it wasn’t in his hand. He thrust his hand forward as if he were throwing the book. A heavy dictionary from the book case behind them flew across the classroom, much to his shock, and collided with her head.

The action worked and she dropped the boy to the ground where he laid there coughing and gasping. She spun around, “Who threw that book?” She howled in rage.

“Just another child,” the boy coughed. He said it to keep her attention off of his friends.

She turned around and grabbed his neck again. His face reddened as she tightened down. His mouth opened to yelp but no sound came out. Instead his mind screamed out in a telepathic projection for him, “Somebody help me!” His mind screamed. Everyone around him, normal and otherwise, heard the cry for help. Children in the other rooms all screamed and gasped. His two friends, the only other children in the room, stepped back in shock of such a powerful projection.

Her response was to squeeze tighter. He heard a small pop as his hyoid bone broke. Rage filled her dark eyes, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live!” She whispered.

Unable to speak, he unconsciously projected, “I’m a boy!”

“You’re a demon!” She hissed.

“Put him down!” A male voice barked. His gold eyes shot to the doorway to see another teacher standing there. His teacher ignored the male teacher until she could no longer ignore him. A punch to her jaw sent both the boy and the teacher to the ground. The teacher was unconscious and the boy was almost starting to follow.

Still unable to breathe, his mind again called out, “Jena, help me!”

Now able to act, the girl with green eyes and reddish brown shoulder length hair rushed to his side. She gently touched his neck, sending a comforting and warm, invisible stream of energy into his neck. His hyoid bone healed itself correctly, allowing the boy to gasp. The teacher soon followed up, “Get away from him!” The teacher stated sternly.

“No!” he coughed, “She is my family!”

 

*        *        *

 

The boy with gold eyes, his friend with blue eyes and blonde hair and Jena sat on a bench outside of the principal’s office. Jena had her arms draped around the golden eyed boy’s shoulders and watched as his neck turned different shades of blue and purple in the shape of two hands strangling him. His coughing had died down but his voice was still raspy and his breathing was still haggard. She didn’t want to touch his neck, afraid she would cause more pain in trying to user her empathic abilities to heal him, “Are you okay, Sean?”

The golden eyed boy nodded as the voices coming from the office behind them started to grow louder, “I’ll be fine.” He said. He glanced over to his friend who was still fuming with rage over what their teacher had done, “How about you, Curtis?”

“I’m fine, I just want to have another go at Ms. Leeks!” Curtis grumbled.

“Use your newfound power against her?” Jena questioned in response.

He glanced down at his hands, “I’m not sure how I did that. I was angry and I wanted to throw something at her. I could feel the book in my hand at that point. I thought I picked up a book and I thought I was throwing it from my hand. I never knew that I never had the book in my hand until it hit her in the head from a different angle.”

“Telekinesis,” Sean stated with a raspy voice. Both of them looked at him in astonishment before Jena smiled. He was gifted with two abilities just as the rest of them were. His second ability gave him insights into just about anything.

Curtis glanced down at his hands, “Cool.” He reached out, determined to grasp another item from the secretary’s desk across the way. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t feel the object from before. He glanced down at it again and asked, “Why can’t I feel it like before?”

“Maybe it was your emotional state?” Jena suggested.

“So, I can only wield this power when I’m pissed?” Curtis questioned.

“I know, it sucks,” Sean stated.

Curtis, however, beamed, “What do you mean? This is totally awesome!”

“Huh?” Both Sean and Jena stated at the same time.

Neither had a chance to react as they heard a crash of class from beyond the doors of the principal’s office.

 

*        *        *

 

Inside of the principal’s office Sean’s parent’s Dale Carter and Sylvia Carter paced while the principal sat typing on his laptop, “What are you going to do about this incident, mister?” Sylvia hissed at the male principal. Her straight red hair was starting to get disheveled as she paced furiously. Her green eyes carried more fire than her crimson hair. Sitting atop her black shirt was a triskal within a circle. It was an article of which she constantly clung to. Her leather jacket was open as the spring weather was starting to make it too warm for her to wear the jacket any more.

When there was no answer from the principal, Sylvia shot her husband with a venomous stare. The venom was not meant for him but it did get him to act. He placed his hands behind his back and his blue eyes pierced through to the man. His telepathy got him to sit up straight and acknowledge the pair of unusual parents. The mother was a network technician and the father was a former Marine and now a cook at the college, “Our son just had his life threatened by his first-grade teacher. What do you intend to do about it?” He asked sternly.

“We have called the police and have detained Mrs. Leeks. She is under arrest for aggravated assault,” The Principal answered.

“That’s not good enough!” Sylvia exclaimed.

“What would you like me to do?” The principal asked but his gaze was fixed at Dale, not Sylvia.

“Excuse me, Mister! I asked the question!” Sylvia hissed.

“Would you control you wife, Mister Carter,” The principal insisted.

“She’s not property,” Dale answered.

“Direct your responses to me!” Sylvia insisted sternly, “Now, what are you going to do to help my son?”

“We are going to offer council services to the three children in the room when the attack occurred; your son, Jena Beckhart, and Curtis Barton. We will also pay for a hospital examination and any treatment for any injuries that have occurred.”

“That’s not good enough!” Sylvia growled.

“What would make it good enough?” The Principal questioned in response.

She placed her hands on her hips and answered, “The trust that should exist between student and teacher as well as the trust between parent and staff is destroyed, what will you do to fix that?”

“We can have the teachers and staff take classes for sensitivity and anger management,” He answered.

“How about you resign?” She hissed.

“Excuse me?”

“You hired that vile teacher! She didn’t like my son from day one and you were the one that hired her!” Sylvia protested.

The principal shook his head, “I refuse to speak to you anymore, good day Miss Carter.”

“We could go to the news about this incident,” Sylvia stated.

The Principal said nothing, he went back to writing a report on his laptop. Dale shook his head and said, “We will go to the news and to the school board with this if you refuse to help.”

The principal ignored both of them. Sylvia strode forward and slammed the lid of the laptop shut. He barely had time to pull his hands free of the keyboard. Sylvia wasn’t finished. She grasped the laptop in her hand and chucked it towards the window. The laptop sailed into the window, shattering it as it went through it. The Principal stood, enraged by what she had just down, “What the hell! Why you little—”

Quicker than what could be thought possible, Dale placed himself between the principal and his wife, “Excuse me sir, you cannot just ignore us! On top of that, NEVER threaten my wife or speak ill of her!”

“I should have your wife arrested for vandalism!” the principal growled in response.

“Do that and I will end your career, you will spend the rest of your life asking people ‘would you like fries with that?’ instead of administering staff!” Dale stated in response.

“She is making an unreasonable request,” He stated.

“You aren’t dealing with the situation that well,” Dale protested in response, “You should expect two parents that are nearly hysterical! If you want this to wait until everyone calms down, then you may receive calls from a legal team. You don’t want that; the district doesn’t want that and I don’t want to put my child through that! Sylvia is right; his trust in teachers will be shattered from this point forward! All the best councilors in the world will not be able to help that! The administration does have some responsibility in this. It may have been wrong for her to ask for your resignation but she deserves to hear that you have some responsibility for this situation!”

Sylvia hissed and turned around, “You take care of this Dale, I’m taking my don down to the springs. He needs some time with family!”

 

*        *        *

 

Sean sat in the back seat with a book in his lap. It was starting to get dark out so he couldn’t read it now. He couldn’t concentrate on the book anyway, his neck seemed to hurt too much from his recent experience. His mother glanced at him from the rear-view mirror as she drove down the highway. Her green eyes showed as much concern as they did sadness, “I’m sorry for what happened to you today. I wish I could take it away from you. What happened that caused the teacher to attack you like that? Did you do something to provoke the attack?”

Sean shrugged. His gold eyes focused on something far off in the distance. He was trying to figure out what could have caused the attack. It had been a few years now since he could hear the drone of voices in his head. It was a sea of voices; one way conversations in his head. They had nothing to do with him most of the time. They were one way monologues that had to do with someone’s day or what they were doing or their first impressions with something. A couple of years ago he realized that it was the thoughts of those around him. He tried to block them out the best he could but they still filtered in. Some of the thoughts he welcomed in, those like Jena who seemed to have similar abilities to him.

“She was thinking about something,” He answered after a moment, “I told her it was alright, she was probably overreacting.”

Sylvia’s eyes narrowed. She hoped her son would not take after her and after his father’s side of the family but it was becoming apparent that he was one of the gifted, as Dale’s side of the family referred to. Her side of the family always tried to bury their powers. They tried to pretend that they didn’t exist. Those that managed to blend in usually were “unusually talented” or had “intuitive instincts.” She was never one to blend in and thus she was one of the black sheep of the family.

“You read her mind,” She stated finally, “You know you shouldn’t do that.”

Sean nodded, “I know. I didn’t mean to do it. It just sort of happened. It all slipped out and the next thing that I knew she had her hands around my neck.”

“I’m not excusing what she did and I will make sure she gets punished for what she did. I am just letting you know that a lot of people exist in the world that do not have your talents. You should not use your talents on other people. Using your talents against people that don’t have your talents will scare them and they may attack you for it. I’m sorry you had to find that out the hard way. Just keep that in mind the next time you have the urge to look into the mind of another person,” Sylvia stated in response.

Sean shook his head, “You don’t understand. I didn’t mean to do it at all. I don’t mean to read anyone’s mind. I hear them all in my head all the time. It is an ocean of voices in my head. I hear them all the time. It is loud and I can’t block them out. I can’t get them to shut up!”

His words seemed to shock her. She didn’t know that he had been struggling to block out the thoughts of those around him. It sounded like his mind had the reach much further than her mind or her husbands. She glanced down at her speedometer in thought. She wondered if she might have been wrong about not letting her husband and his family train her son on how to control his abilities. It seemed now that his powers were totally out of control. He had no clue on how to block out or control his powers. She thought he would have learned something by now.

She forced a smile and said, “Don’t worry. I am sure something will change for you in the near future. For now, enjoy Relena’s company when we get to Colorado Springs. I am sure she misses you.”

The mention of his second cousin did seem to cheer him up. He smiled and nodded, “It has been a while since I saw her last. I wonder if she has been having fun?”

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GPFriday: Children of Legend chapter 2: the Call

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Previous Chapter: Second Semester Chapter #1: End of Middle School

Chapter #2: The Call

 

Greeley Colorado

May 27th, 2027-CE

 

If there was any respite from the sickness and fever it was the fantastical dreams that the fevers produced in return for Lone Wolfe. He had adventures the likes of which books and video games could never reproduce. He met new people and had new experiences that he could never have in the outside world. Everything was bright and vivid. Smells were enhanced, objects and touch felt so real. He could stay in that world forever.

The feeling of a cold compress being placed against his forehead scattered those dreams like smoke on the wind. At that point, he could feel how horrible he felt. His head pounded. His throat felt parched and drier than the hottest desert. His body ached all over. He wanted to open his mouth to say something and open his eyes but he couldn’t. All he could do was listen to what his parents said in the background and grow worried as sleep tried to steal him away from the conscious world again.

“I don’t think it is such a good idea for you to leave. He is getting worse. His fever is now 102.6,” His father stated.

“I told him I would go down and get Relena to come back up with me.” His mother answered, “I don’t see another time when we will get the opportunity to do this for him. He was really looking forward to spending the summer with other family. He spent so much of his childhood alone. I would rather not let him spend another summer like that. You are also on vacation. I hate to leave you alone like this but keep an eye on him. Make sure he gets his fluids and gets food and if he starts to get worse then let me know. If you need to then take him to the hospital.”

“Was it this bad for you?” His father questioned in response after a moment.

“No,” Sylvia answered, “But then again all of his gifts, so far, have been stronger and wilder than mine. This new one could be the same way. He also decided to push himself because he was afraid he wouldn’t get to see Relena if he stayed home sick. It could be one, the other, or both of those factors. We will have to wait and see.”

“Could this kill him?” His father asked after a moment. He sounded really worried.

“No. He will get through this. It may get a little rougher but he will make it,” His mother sounded confident. He didn’t hear any more as he fell back asleep into another fantastic dream of wonder before anyone could say anything more.

 

*        *        *

 

A gentle nudge on his shoulder and the compress being lifted off of his head roused him from his sleep. This time, he was able to open his eyes but it was all he could do to sit up. He glanced up and saw the blue eyes of his father glancing down at him with concern on his face. In his hand was a glass. He offered it to his son, “You need to drink some water.”

“Where’s mom?” Lone Wolfe asked as he accepted the glass.

He took a sip as his father answered, “She left to go to Colorado Springs. She will stay the night and leave with Relena tomorrow.”

Lone Wolfe nodded. He took another sip of his water. The water seemed to relieve the parched feeling in his throat. He could feel it make its way down to his stomach. Cooling everything it touched. He glanced up to his father and asked, “How am I doing?”

“I just took your temperature under your arm. You are at 102.7. Do you think you can handle some soup?” His father questioned in response, “I made some chicken noodle soup.”

“I would love some,” Lone Wolfe nodded, “My fever is getting worse. Are you going to have to take me to hospital if it gets any worse?”

His father looked worried at that comment, “I am thinking about it.”

“What is this new talent? Why is it making me sick?” Lone Wolfe asked, “If I have to go to the hospital then will them doing something to me take it away?”

“What did your mother tell you?” He asked with a sidelong glance.

“She only told me that she would tell me when she got back,” Lone Wolfe answered, “What about the hospital? Will I lose this new gift if I have to go?”

His father shrugged, “I can’t answer that. I haven’t seen anything like this before.” Before Lone Wolfe could ask or prod anymore, his father went to the door of his room and said, “I will get you your soup. I will be right back.”

With nothing more to do or say, Lone Wolfe reached for the remote to his smart TV and turned it on. He had found a channel and something to watch by the time his father returned with the soup and a tray. He sat the tray down for him and asked, “Do you need anything else?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “I should be okay.”

His father nodded and left the room. He watched TV and slowly ate the soup as he was not sure if his illness also affected his stomach. He blew on each spoonful to cool it off and was glad that he was not made nauseous from the food. The soup managed to fill him up and return some of his strength to him as it went through his system. It also made him thirsty enough to finish off the water.

He sat the empty dishes on the tray and watched TV. He had the volume loud enough that he did not hear his father on the cell phone in the other room. He didn’t hear it until His father opened the door to the room, “Relena is on the line. Your mother thought you’d want to talk to her.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “Hand it over!”

He handed his son the smart phone, “I will leave you two alone to talk. When you are done, hand the phone back to me and let me know if your mom is on the line or if you two hung up. Depending on how long it is, I will need to check your temperature again at that point.” With those words said, his father retrieved the tray of dishes, left the room and closed the door.

Excitement filled Lone Wolfe’s voice as he answered the Line, “Relena?”

“Do you still call yourself Lone Wolfe like you told me all those years ago or do you call yourself Sean again?” Relena questioned in response, “Or do you call yourself something different?”

Lone Wolfe chuckled, “Usually people say hello.”

“You didn’t,” Relena stated.

“True enough,” he answered, “Everyone calls me Lone Wolfe anymore. Jena does, Curtis does, most of the teachers do. Everyone except mom and dad. Hang on, why did you ask if I called myself something different? Do you call yourself something different?”

“Depends on who is in the room,” Relena stated, “Most people don’t get me anymore. I have been having some strange dreams lately.”

“Tell me about it,” Lone Wolfe replied, “Fevers can do that to a person.”

“That’s right. Sylvia said you are sick. I’m sorry. At least I will be up there tomorrow night!” Relena stated with the happiness in her voice clearly carrying over, “But my dreams aren’t fever dreams. You have had dreams before that were replays of memories. These dreams feel like those, only they aren’t my memories. They feel like something else.”

“Well, communions can do that to a person,” Lone Wolfe mentioned, “You and I had one at the farm when our parents got together when the great grandparents had their family reunion.”

“Yeah, your mom was pissed,” Relena stated, “Somehow, she could tell that we went through it.”

“Everyone could tell that something happened between us,” Lone Wolfe replied, “that and we hid from everyone for like four hours. The latter is reason enough for her to be pissed but she has seen that before. She is the only one there who really had an idea of what happened.”

“What do you think everyone else thought?” Relena asked.

“That feels like a loaded question,” Lone Wolfe replied.

“It could be,” Relena giggled.

“Anyway, we seemed to have strayed from my question. What did you mean about me going by a different name? You also hinted that you go by a different name in other circles. What’s that about?”

“I was getting to that before you diverted me,” Relena stated.

“So, I am to blame?” Lone Wolfe smiled in response.

“You brought up the communion,” Relena pointed out.

“So, I did. Please continue,” Lone Wolfe admitted.

“Well, I have been having some dreams recently. They feel like memories. They are my memories only they aren’t. It feels like I have lived a life before. I lived, I died, and now I live again. In one of these dreams you called me by a name, only it wasn’t you; you were someone else.” Relena explained. She took a breath and said, “You called me Akasha and since then I have been having this feeling that I should go by that name. The few that will agree to it have been calling me by that name for a month now.”

Something with that name struck a chord with him. What started out as funny banter had turned serious. He had heard it before but he swore that it was the first time he heard it at the same time. What was more, she also said it was a past version of him that said it. He was not sure how to reply. Relena ended up insisting on a response, “Are you going to say something or are you going to leave me hanging here all day?”

“Sorry,” Lone Wolfe replied, “You said I called you Akasha? A past me?”

“Yes,” Relena replied.

“Would you prefer I call you that name now?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“Well, it would be awesome if you would. At least when our parents aren’t around,” Relena replied, “I told my dad about the dreams I was having and about the whole reincarnation thing in the beginning and he got really angry! I thought I was going to be grounded. When he did nothing other than insisting that I forget about these dreams, I thought he was going to call a priest and perform an exorcism. I was actually surprised that he allowed Sylvia to come down here. I was even more surprised that he is allowing me to go up there to stay with you guys.”

“Maybe he is thinking that we will straighten you out with our own odd ways?” Lone Wolfe suggested, “Something like your dreams being a cry for attention and wanting to feel like you fit in with something. Lots of people think they have been reincarnated. It’s not very Christian but there are religions that revolve around it. If you see that there are others like you then maybe you will give up on what he thinks is nonsense.”

“Do you think it’s nonsense?” Relena questioned.

“I want to say yes because I haven’t had those dreams but something tells me no.” Lone Wolfe replied. Something else grabbed his attention at that moment, “In that dream, when I called you Akasha, what was my name?”

“I thought you wouldn’t ask,” Relena stated. He could hear the smile on her voice, “I called you Deleous. That is why I asked if you were going by a different name now. I thought you were starting to have these dreams too. You and I usually experience similar things at around the same time.”

The name she gave him for his past life also struck a chord in him. Just like last time, even though he never heard the name before, he recognized it. Yet, He had to admit, it was not his name. He couldn’t start going around wearing it like it was his. He shook his head, “I haven’t had any dreams like that. Maybe this is one thing you will take the lead on.”

“Okay, well, I will still call you Lone Wolfe then and you can call me Akasha when the adults aren’t the wiser,” Relena stated.

“You have a deal,” Lone Wolfe replied.

“Another thing,” Relena stated, “At first, I thought we only ran into just each other in past lives. There are more of us that have lived before.”

“Of course,” Lone Wolfe nodded, “I told you that there are religions around this.”

“I mean that we have ran into more people that have lived before and are living now. You know two of them. Well, three but two of them are human,” Relena stated in response.

“You’ve lost me,” Lone Wolfe replied, “There are only humans. You can’t mean I had a pet that was a reincarnation? I haven’t had a dog or a cat or anything that lives long enough to bond with.”

“Well, more on that later. I mean you know two people that we apparently spent a lot of our past lives with,” Relena replied.

“Now I’m curious, who?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“Jena is the first one,” Relena answered, “You called her Kana in the same life in which we all had the names I mentioned before.”

Hat trick, Lone Wolfe thought as he recognized another name he never heard before. It was starting to worry him that she was able to do this to him from so far away. It was also curious that he had been friends with her his whole life. It seemed natural that they be friends and close friends at that. He was still willing to chalk it all up to coincidence. He had to know if she could pull it off again, “Who is the other one.”

“The one that taught you to control your telepathy. Scarlet. In that same life, you called her Shima with the moniker of ‘the Mentor’ which is weird because she taught you in this life too,” Relena stated, “Didn’t you say she is going to college to become a teacher?”

“You are starting to scare me, Akasha,” Lone Wolfe replied. Again, same name and same result. This time it almost seemed to explain the odd friendship between both Lone Wolfe and Scarlet. The pull to mentor and befriend a stranger with uncontrollable powers. She could have locked his telepathy away and the world would have been better for it. Instead, she went for the harder route. She taught him how to control it.

“Curtis is involved too,” Relena stated, “Only he wasn’t human in that life. He was something else. Something darker. You saw it in him. In our communion, I could tell that you saw something darker in his spirit but you couldn’t tell what it was. I couldn’t quite catch it in my dreams either but I know he wasn’t human in that life. I know because I kept seeing him again and again in different lives. Also, there is someone we haven’t met yet in more recent times that has been showing up like that too. Her name sounds more normal. I bet she would still look like she is our age; ever see someone that looks like a French girl going by the name of Miranda?”

Lone Wolfe laughed but it was more of a nervous laugh. Part of him felt like she was setting him up for a joke at the last minute. The name was too normal for it to be a reincarnation. Especially with the last couple of names he just heard, “You are joking, right?”

“I don’t think so,” Relena stated, “I remember this in several more recent times.”

“Well it is impossible to know if I have seen this Miranda before. While not a common name, it is certainly not a strange name like Kana, Shima, Deleus, or Akasha.”

“True,” Relena stated.

“Anyone else I need to be aware of?” Lone Wolfe questioned in response.

“Well there are a lot of people. There are two more that come to mind but I don’t think either of us have met them yet. I am sure we will run into them eventually. You didn’t run into Curtis right away and you only met Scarlet seven years ago. We are bound to run into the others eventually,” Relena replied.

“Without you around I will not have a way to tell who they are,” Lone Wolfe stated in response.

“With any luck, I will be there when you meet them,” Relena stated in response. She squealed after a moment, “I can’t wait to actually meet Jena, Curtis and Scarlet. I have seen them through your eyes from the communion we had but now I will actually be able to meet them! I will be able to get to know them! I am so excited!”

“I hate to burst your bubble but Jena and Curtis are leaving tomorrow for their family vacations of their own. Scarlet should be back next week, though. One out of three isn’t bad, right?” Lone Wolfe replied.

Relena sighed in frustration, “I guess. Maybe the other two will get back before I have to head back home. If not then I can see about coming up there again for a break or something?”

“They are all upper middle class so they take vacations every break they get,” Lone Wolfe stated in response, “If you get a break, they will get one too and they will go on vacation then as well. They aren’t like us poor folks.”

“We aren’t exactly rich down here,” Relena protested.

“Bullshit,” Lone Wolfe replied, “You will get to see how the have-nots live while you are up here. I am sure you will be fed up with it by the time you leave.”

“I doubt it,” Relena argued.

“I will put it this way,” Lone Wolfe stated, “One of us will be sleeping on the couch while you are here.”

“At least I will see what you have stashed in your sock drawer,” Relena chuckled.

“Socks,” Lone Wolfe stated dryly, “All I have in the sock drawer is socks.”

“Well, I will just have to come up there and find out,” Relena replied, “Anyway, I am being told that I have to get off the phone now. I will see you tomorrow night. Get better soon. I don’t plan to be cooked up in the house all summer.”

Lone Wolfe smiled, “Goodbye,” He said instead of his customary till next time.

“Goodbye,” She replied and disconnected the line.

Lone Wolfe took the phone into the living room where his father worked on a program on the computer. He handed the phone to his father and said, “We are off the phone. It sounds like both mom and Relena will be coming up here tomorrow night.”

His father nodded and smiled, “That’s good news. Now it is time to take your temperature. Sit down on the couch.”

Lone Wolfe sat down on the sofa as his father went into the bathroom to sanitize the thermometer. He came back in and handed it to his son and said, “Put it under your arm.” Lone Wolfe nodded and slid it into his arm pit and hit the button to start taking the reading. After a few seconds, it beeped and he took it out and read it, “It says 101.9.”

His father smiled, “That’s good. Maybe you will be better by the time they get back.”

Children of Legend: Chapter #15: The Timeless Girl

Enjoy the final chapter of Children of Legend. The graphic this time will be the cover of the e-book when it comes out: Enjoy;

Chapter #15: The Timeless Girl

 

Greeley Colorado

April 7th, 2021-CE

 

It was almost the end of the new year. Nothing too exciting had happened throughout this year. Jena and Curtis had managed to talk their families into letting them get together with Lone Wolfe’s family at the end of the winter break at the bowling alley. Jena knew that every time there was a break that Lone Wolfe got lonely since he rarely got to see his family members. Lone Wolfe hoped that it would be the start of a new tradition.

It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that anything out of the ordinary started to happen. That odd event was when a new girl showed up. She had blonde hair and green eyes. It wasn’t so uncommon for new students to show up throughout the year or for students to disappear. In this age of adults having to change jobs for various reasons, it was expected. What was unusual was it was so late in the year.

That was only the beginning. Every day, she seemed to hang out with a new group of students and take on their mannerisms. The groups all accepted her just as if she were one of their own and had been there the entire time. The next day she would hang out with the polar opposite group with much the same affect. Jena tried to read the girl and got nothing. That was the strangest bit; Jena could tell if someone was blocking her, Jena could feel the mind of someone there, but in this case, it was like the girl was made up of nothing but air.

Lone Wolfe decided to try reaching out to her mentally to see if he could see if he could succeed where she failed. Since he had been given lessons by Scarlet he had become pretty good ad wielding his abilities when he wanted to and restraining them the rest of the time. Try as he might; it was like the girl did not exist.

Lone Wolfe sat back in his seat. He thought about whispering a plan that was forming in his mind to Jena. He decided to project it to her instead, “I think I will ask Scarlet about this tonight. She will know why both you and I cannot read her.”

Jena nodded and projected a question back, “I thought that you were done with your training with Scarlet?”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “I don’t think you can ever really be done with her training. I think she is just trying to find something new and my parents are less willing to keep us together now since we spent so much of the summer together. I think we will probably end up spending this summer together as well. In either case, I can call her tonight and find out why we cannot read her.”

It was a long day waiting for all of their lessons to be completed and the homework to be assigned. As soon as school was let out, Lone Wolfe took the chance to get home as soon as he could. When he arrived home, neither of his parents had made it home from work yet. He grabbed the home cell phone and found Scarlet’s number in it. He decided to dial it and let his parents know later that he had a question for her.

He was surprised that she answered right away, “Hello?” She answered.

From the noise in the background, he could tell that she was on a bus. He figured that she must be on her way home from school, “Hi Scarlet, it is Lone Wolfe. I have a question for you.”

“Hi Lone Wolfe. How are you doing? What is your question?” She answered.

“I am doing fine,” Lone Wolfe answered, “So there is a new girl in class. We have noticed some odd behavior from her over the last few days and Jena and I thought she might be a telepath. We decided to try to reach out to her telepathically. We can’t seem to read her or find her at all. It is like she isn’t there.”

“What makes you think that she is one of us?” Scarlet questioned. Due to the nature of their conversation and where she was, she was trying to be intentionally vague because of who could be around her.

Lone Wolfe explained what the two of them had been seeing over the last several days regarding the behavior of the girl and the behavior of the groups of people she associated with. With the disparate nature of the groups she hung out with, Scarlet had to agree that it did sound unusual. She nodded, “If she is one of us then she couldn’t be a resistant. If she is a Resistant then she can’t be one of us and you have just noticed a remarkable personality.”

“What is a Resistant?” Lone Wolfe questioned.

There was a long pause before she answered, “Someone who cannot interact with us in the way we normally interact with people if you understand what I mean. They have something that blocks us. They aren’t exactly common but they are known amongst us. You can run into someone that you cannot read. What is unusual is that Jena couldn’t reach her either. If she was blocking you, I think you would have known it. You would have felt the knock just as much as this girl would have felt the knock.”

“Knock?” Lone Wolfe asked in response.

“When you hit a wall, you make a noise. You knock on the wall, for lack of a better term. You feel it and they feel it. If it is like nothing is there then that is different,” Scarlet replied, “We can talk about it later if you don’t understand.”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “No, I think I get it. I just wanted to know if you had an idea. If this girl is a Resistant would it be unusual that two telepaths cannot read her?”

“Yes. Usually a Resistant is only resistant to one of us. I’m not sure why,” Scarlet replied, “Maybe it has something to do with how we are put together or something but if you couldn’t read her then Jena should have been able to. If Jena couldn’t then you should have been able to. It is highly unusual to have two of you run into problems with her.”

“Too bad you couldn’t come to the school and see for yourself,” Lone Wolfe stated in response, “Maybe you could get through to her. Well, thank you for the information. I will see you later.” He disconnected the line after she said her goodbye to him.

With nothing else to do, Lone Wolfe did his homework until his parents got home. At that point, he told them about the phone call and the reason why he made it. He figured it would be better to tell them now as opposed to them finding out about it later when they got the phone bill and get really upset. They gave him a minor talk about it but nothing more came of it. He would have to wait until tomorrow.

 

*        *        *

 

Lone Wolfe sat down at his desk and rested his back pack at his side. He yawned a moment later and put his head down on his desk. He didn’t sleep that well the night before. He wanted to know what was going on with the mysterious girl and why he couldn’t read her mind. He had almost fell asleep when Jena came in and sat down at the desk next to him, “Good morning, don’t fall asleep or the teacher might get angry.”

“Ugh, morning Jena,” Lone Wolfe sighed, “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Well, when you can’t do anything about it then it is best to put it out of your mind. That is what I do when…” Jena stated then her voice trailed off.

Lone Wolfe glanced up at Jena and saw that her green eyes went eyes and her mouth was open. She was staring at something on just the other side of him. He turned around to find the girl they were just talking about staring at him enthusiastically and like he was a specimen. She smiled when his eyes widened and he backed away. She invaded his personal space and said, “Found you!”

Lone Wolfe was unsure how to respond to her, “I’m sorry, were we playing a game?”

The blonde girl giggled, “You could say that. I think I will hang out with you and your friends today.”

Lone Wolfe was still baffled by this girl that he still could not sense telepathically. Now she was interacting with him. With nothing else to say, he greeted, “I’m Lone Wolfe and this is Jena. Curtis will be here in a moment. What is your name?”

“I am Nicole Lyla,” She answered, “But everyone calls me Nickalyla.”

“Why?” Lone Wolfe questioned.

“Why what?” Nickalyla questioned in response.

“Usually a nickname is either something people give you because of something you do or it is a family name or pet name. Your name sounds like they shoved your first and last name together. Why would people do that?” Lone Wolfe asked in response.

Nickalyla shrugged, “They just do.”

Lone Wolfe heard the door to the classroom open up. He glanced up and saw Curtis walk through the door, “Making your moves fast,” He greeted with a smile, “You already have the mystery girl over here talking to you!”

“Actually, she found me,” Lone Wolfe replied.

Curtis shrugged as he took the desk on the other side of Lone Wolfe, “Interesting.” The rest of the students took to their seats as the bell rang.

 

*        *        *

 

It was lunch time and the three of them had eaten their food at breakneck speed as per usual to get the most out of the lunch time break. The three of them raced outside to see if they can grab a ball. They didn’t find a ball but they found someone who did manage to get one of the rubber balls from the gym, “Play kick ball?” Nickalyla questioned.

The blonde girl twirled the ball on one finger. Curtis was impressed with her being able to balance the ball, Jena and Lone Wolfe were trying to figure out where she got the ball from and how she knew that they were planning to play kick ball. She was still eating when they ran out to the playground. At least they thought she was still eating when they left.

“Well come on!” Curtis ushered with a wave as he started to chase after her, “Nicole and I are on the same team, you and Jena are on your own team!”

Lone Wolfe and Jena shrugged but followed their friend and Nickalyla out to the field anyway. They weren’t going to waste a recess just trying to figure out who this girl was. They might be able to do that just as well while playing kick ball with her. If not then she might be around with them for a couple more days before she jumps to the next group of people in the class.

They strode out to a portion of the grassy field that had two worn spots on either end of the field. The students of years past had worn the goal spots down and it was now easy to figure out where the goals were. Nickalyla’s face lit up with an idea, “How about we have the boys be the goalies and you and I try to score a goal?”

Curtis sighed and shook his head, “What? I don’t like being a goalie!”

Jena glanced to Lone Wolfe, “I don’t mind.” He answered in response. He glanced back to his friend and playfully jibed, “Are you afraid you will fall asleep if you just stand still for a while? Afraid that they will take all of the action and leave you just standing there?”

Curtis blushed, “That wasn’t what I said.”

“Then are you afraid that Jena will score a goal against you?” Lone Wolfe smiled proudly, “Too late for second thoughts. She is my team mate.”

“I can be a goalie! I just would rather kick the ball!” Curtis snapped back.

Jena smiled, “Don’t worry, I will make sure that I get past Nickalyla just so you can get a chance to attempt to block me!” She boasted in response.

Nickalyla smiled as both of the boys walked to the goal spots. She held the ball out and said, “Let’s begin!”

She tossed the ball up into the air. Both Nickalyla and Jena took up position to kick the ball as soon as it landed. The moment the red rubber ball bounced off of the ground, Nickalyla leapt forward and kicked the ball as hard as she could. It sailed right over Jena’s head and headed for Lone Wolfe. He moved to block it. He tripped over a rock as he went to kick and fell forward. The ball smacked him in the face and bounced down before hitting him again and knocking his head back as he fell to the ground.

Curtis chuckled, “That’s using your head!” he commented.

“Not funny!” Jena exclaimed as she ran towards Lone Wolfe.

He sat up, blood streaming from both of his nostrils, his eyes already starting to blacken from the repeated impact of the hard rubber ball. Nickalyla took a couple steps forward and whispered, “He’s bleeding.”

“Well, yeah,” Curtis stated as he stepped forward beside her, “He just got pwned by the ball. I’m surprised that he is even conscious.”

Jena knelt down and placed her hands on either side of his face. After a few moments, the pain from his nose and eyes started to vanish and the blood stopped flowing. Lone Wolfe Wiped the blood that had been coming out of his nose from his face and flushed in response, “Thank you, Jena.”

She smiled in response, “That was a spectacular fall.”

Lone Wolfe nodded as they both rose to their feet, “Yeah, I tripped over a rock or something.”

They glanced over and noticed that Nickalyla was walking over to them. Curtis was staying where he was further back in the field. Lone Wolfe and Jena glanced around and noticed that no one else was moving. There was no more breeze in the air. There was no faint scent of the grass anymore. The only people that seemed to be capable of moving was them and Nickalyla. She smiled as she joined the group and said, “I have been searching for you two. One of you will become something special. We will be watching.”

Lone Wolfe and Jena glanced at each other. They glanced back to Nickalyla as they could again feel the breeze and smell the grass, “Who is this ‘we’ that you refer to?”

“No clue,” She shrugged with a smirk and snatched the ball up from the ground.

She started to walk back to the middle of the field when Curtis called out, “How about you be Goalie next?”

“Why not?” Nickalyla stated and threw the ball towards him. Just like with Lone Wolfe, the ball smacked him in the face. This time, it was on purpose, not an act of circumstance.

Lone Wolfe and Jena giggled slightly, he wasn’t wounded. He glanced at his friend and said, “Be sure to score a goal against her. Kicking the ball in her face wouldn’t hurt either.”

GPFriday: Children of Legend: Chapter #14: End of Summer

Enjoy!

Chapter #14: End of summer

 

Greeley Colorado

August 12th, 2020-CE

 

Summer was drawing to a close and Lone Wolfe’s friends had returned from their summer vacations after a long break. It was a last chance for the four of them to enjoy a swim at the public pool before they had to go back to school. Since Scarlet’s school started later than the younger ones, she didn’t feel the urgency that the kids did but she went with them anyway. At this point, after several more trips to the pool with her bathing suit, she didn’t mind going in it anymore.

Lone Wolfe Jumped into the pool first, enjoying the cold-water wash over his body, taking the heat away. It didn’t matter if they had power now and it had been a couple of weeks since the last of the power outages, nothing took away the feel of the oppressive heat like the water did. Jena slipped into the water a little bit at a time, she was used to the warm water on the beaches of Florida at this point so the cold water was a bit jarring for her. Her efforts to acclimatize to the water was thwarted by Curtis who jumped in as eagerly as Lone Wolfe, he spent the summer in southern California so he was used to the water being colder than the pool.

Scarlet slipped into the pool last. She didn’t splash in like the boys but she didn’t make an attempt to slowly adjust to the water either. She didn’t see the point in splashing everyone with water. When she was in the water she found Lone Wolfe, Jena, and Curtis soon enough and said, “I have an idea for a game. It is a variation on one called Marco Polo.”

Lone Wolfe and Jena seemed interested. They turned to Curtis who knew of the game but had played it a lot with his sister and cousins over the summer, “How do we play this game.”

“Instead of the person being it closing their eyes and calling out Marco and the others replying. We all float in the water and close our eyes. We try to clear our thoughts. The one who is it has to listen for the thoughts of the ones who are not it and try to find them,” Scarlet suggested.

Curtis frowned, “It is a game for your kind. I don’t have your gifts. I can’t play this.”

Scarlet cocked her head in confusion, “I thought you had some telepathic abilities. Maybe they aren’t as strong as Lone Wolfe’s and Jena’s. This might help you out as well.”

The suggestion that he might be more like Lone Wolfe and Jena seemed to perk up the blonde-haired boy more, “You think so?”

Lone Wolfe shrugged, “She seems to be pretty good at picking up if someone is like us or not. If she says you have something then you might have something.”

Jena nodded in agreement, “It never hurts to try.”

Curtis nodded and smiled. This would be something that he could play and that his sister would not be able to participate in, “So who is it?”

Scarlet shrugged, “I suggested the game so I can be it.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “So we just close our eyes and float in the pool.”

Scarlet nodded, “And try to clear your thoughts. If I can hear you, I can try to find you. If I find you and tag you then you are it and we start the game again.”

Jena nodded, “Sounds like fun.”

They all closed their eyes and started to float in the pool. All of them were fairly good enough to float in the pool like Scarlet suggested. When they started to float, the four of them all tried to clear their minds. Scarlet then set out to listen for just the three others playing the game. It was as much a lesson for Lone Wolfe as it was a game. It would both teach him to control his accidental projections and allow him to home in on other psychic’s projections as well.

Scarlet could instantly hear the thoughts of Curtis as he floated around in the pool. By all rights and accounts, she should home in on him and tag him to be it next. She thought, after a moment, of saying something to the other boy about trying to keep his thoughts to himself but figured it would be good for Lone Wolfe to have someone easy to home in on.

Lone Wolfe and Jena were much quieter by comparison. While telepaths were louder than others, they had learned how to quiet their minds when needed. It made for what could be a one-sided game, if Curtis got tagged too quickly. Being a training exercise instead of just a game, she focused on just finding Lone Wolfe, making sure she wasn’t too loud in her mental search as well. While the stated purpose of the game was for the one that was it to find others and tag them, if the one that was it was too loud, the others could pick up on it and try to move away from it. With all of their eyes closed it would be prudent to try to track the person who was it.

After a few minutes of floating calmly in the water, she found Lone Wolfe. While she was patient and waiting for someone to slip up, Lone Wolfe had lost awareness of his surroundings and bumped into someone. He apologized and felt embarrassment for doing so. He went from being drowned out by all those at the pool to sticking out like a sore thumb, worse than his friend, Curtis.

She quietly kicked with her legs and arms, sending her in his direction. In a moment, she reached out with her arms and touched him on the arm. She opened her eyes to make sure it was him and not someone else and said, “You’re it, Lone Wolfe.”

The four of them stood up in the water and looked around. Of the four of them, only Lone Wolfe seemed to venture very far away from the group. Scarlet wasn’t sure if this was done by design or if he was just lounging around and happened to drift so far away from the group. There was something else that had his attention, though.

The swimmers right around them all appeared to be startled by the four of them floating there playing some mutant game of tag. No one other than the four of them seemed to understand the rules. While they were silent and only gave the four children odd glances, their minds broadcast much more detail about what they were thinking than their looks.

It was those momentary thoughts, impressions, that all telepaths could pick up on with ease. Those were surface thoughts, and while most people didn’t mean them, it was their first method of blowing off steam. If pressed, most humans couldn’t even begin to remember all of the impression thoughts and momentary thoughts they produced throughout a typical day. The calm person could be inwardly yelling obscenities at a slow driver, the conscientious one could be judging everyone around them at a moment’s notice just to forget about it or revise those impressions later.

Combine all of that with the phrase, “First impressions can’t be taken back,” and life becomes very confusing for a telepath. Jena was used to these momentary thoughts and thought nothing more of it than the people thinking them thought. Curtis either couldn’t hear the thoughts or was very adept at blocking and ignoring them. Considering his display during their game, Scarlet thought it was the former.

Lone Wolfe was normally used to ignoring the momentary thoughts but it was the fact he and his friends were the subject of those thoughts that caught him off guard. He wasn’t used to so many people thinking about him and his actions before. He froze in place in the water. Scarlet was used to being the subject of attention and debate both verbal and sub vocal as well. She approached him carefully, “Lone Wolfe, it’s okay. Just ignore them.”

He focused on her after a moment, “Not used to the attention.”

Jena approached him and nodded, “better get used to it now. All eyes will be on you when you get into public speaking in high school.”

Scarlet chuckled, “That’s the truth.” She glanced around, those that had given them attention had gone back to other things, “See, they already lost interest in us. Let’s keep playing. Don’t give them any notice as to what they think as they will lose interest quite quickly.”

Lone Wolfe nodded, “We stick out like sore thumbs.”

“We always will,” Jena stated in response.

Scarlet glared, for a moment, at the younger girl before Curtis swam over to them, “So are we going to play the next round or are we on to something else? That wasn’t a long game.”

Scarlet shrugged, “I don’t think we should.”

Lone Wolfe shook his head, “No, let’s play. I was it right?”

Jena nodded, “yes you were!”

The three of the younger children started floating face up in the pool with their faces up just like before. Scarlet shrugged and knelt down in the pool before floating on her back. As she had done before, she made sure that she was not broadcasting her thoughts to everyone else but making sure she could hear everyone else as she floated. She could hear Curtis clear as day. She wondered how long it would take for Lone Wolfe to find him.

Not that long, “Tag, you’re it, Curtis!” Lone Wolfe stated.

The four of them stood but Curtis had a frown on his face, “You could have waited until I got away. I didn’t even have a chance to make sure I was clear.”

“What do you mean?” Jena questioned in response, “We all had plenty of time to get away. You keep broadcasting yourself. I am surprised that Scarlet didn’t tag you right away.”

“I was searching for Lone Wolfe,” Scarlet stated in response, “But Jena is right. You are broadcasting your thoughts which makes you easier to find. Try to quiet your thoughts when you find us.”

The four of them closed their eyes and started to float around the pool again. This time Curtis was it and had to find one of the other telepaths in the pool. Unlike the other three, he didn’t have the range of sensitivity of the other three. To him, there were no other voices to scour for. There were no other voices to search for. He grumbled and reached out for his hands. He touched someone and opened his eyes but he found that he startled another swimmer. The others were nowhere near him. This went on for nearly fifteen minutes before he sat up and growled, “This is nonsense! I quit!”

Jena started to say something but Scarlet placed a hand on her shoulder, “Let him go. He may not have been sensitive enough for us to play. I am sorry that we made him feel bad.”

“Maybe you can train him?” Lone Wolfe suggested in response.

Scarlet shook her head, “I can only train someone to control their abilities. I cannot make their abilities better.”