Mia and her family lived at Allison's which was the part of the residential area were most middle and upper class families stayed, including the Campbells and the Roys. Mia had left the dojo around a few hours after Jason had left. She stepped on her lawn and frowned. The lawn was littered with cartons and packaging all proclaiming they belonged to  Lin Chang Oriental foods. The once beautiful lawn was choked up with the weeds and the grass looked lifeless. She stepped over the packages and continued walking towards the house. 

A rustling sound from the side of her house alerted her To an intruder. She ran over there to find a raccoon raiding her garden. She yelled and waved at it, but the raccoon only looked at her with mild indifference. Mia was annoyed so she reached for a weapon and she used the first thing She could reach. Her shadow. Her shadow slipped out from under her and she felt weaker immediately. Her point of view changed and she saw things from shadow's point of view.

The raccoon tried to turn but shadow was way faster, probably because shadows don't have weight. She was almost upon the raccoon when a sharp pain went up her shin. She had forgotten who she was and  were she was and had hit her leg on some garden gnomes. This wasn't the first time it had happened. Sometimes she lost herself and forgot which body was hers. 

It wasn't really her garden, it was her dad's own. He had really been into outdoor activities like fishing and camping, and while he was still with them the garden had been his favorite place in the house. Many days she would see him kneeling down and paying attention to his plants. Once she had seen him kneeling there viciously pulling weeds while he his lips moved. Full of childish curiosity she had asked what he was doing and he had smiled, drawn her close and said that he was praying to the spirits to bless his produce. She had thought over that over and replied that they didn't have to worry about the garden because mom could just buy groceries from the market. He had frowned and launched himself into a sermon about why the earth was important to us and why we should take care of it. 

At that time her mom was hardly around so it was just her and her Dad. They had even camped out with a tent on their lawn. They were a duo, Batman and Robin. That was until the divorce, Mia still didn't know the details but one day her dad had called her aside and told her that he was moving away and that He hoped that her mother would let her visit once in a while. Her Mother didn't.

She undressed for bed and tried to a read a book but it was useless, she couldn't concentrate. She put off the lamp and slid into a fitful sleep. When she opened her eyes everywhere was dark. Not the there-are-no-lights kind of dark, but the even-if-they-were-lights-they-wouldn't-work-here-kind. The darkness was so thick she felt it. And that wasn't an exaggeration, she could feel something moving over her skin. She felt like she was underwater. She felt something coming, she didn't know how or what was coming but she knew something was coming. She tried to call shadow but something was blocking their connection. 

Child

the word was repeated so many times by different "voices" that it sound like a creepy orchestra.

Welcome

Welcome child

Greetings mortal

If they were trying to freak her out then they were successful. She tried to take a  breath and was shocked when she stopped short. They was no air here and it appeared that she didn't need it either as long as she was here, wherever here was. The voices must have noticed her discomfort and her head was full of the sound of their laughing. She steadied herself and replied.

"What do you want?" When the voices replied they sounded amused.

We want nothing, merely to meet

Nothing

Introductions

Diplomacy

"Then can I go?"

Child wants to leave they sounded like they were talking amongst themselves.

Child may leave

We are done

Harmony 

with that she felt something pulling on her stomach, like someone had towed her stomach and was pulling it away at full speed. Fresh air confronted her and she felt the hard ground under her feet. She vomited and realized a bit too late that she was vomiting into her father's tulip. She heard a car pulling in, it would probably be her stepfather. She  stood up and walked to the front door. The car door slammed closed and she saw her step father. Jae Lin was on the short side even for a Asian. He had dyed his hair blonde and it looked awful. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her but didn't say anything. She reached the door and tried it. Locked. She stood and waited for Jae to come over, he took his sweet time about it. When he saw her still standing outside looking sullen his eyebrows went up a few centimeters more. 

"Why are you still outside?"

"The door is locked." His eyebrows went up a bit more. If his eyebrows went up anymore she would tell him that his eyebrows were trying to escape. He was about to ask how then did she come outside but he relaxed and opened the door.

*

"Jesus, Jason." Chuck stood at the bathroom door in a black bathrobe with red cloud designs. He looked speechless. Jason didn't know what to say so he said the first thing that entered his head.

"It's not what you think."

"Really? cause it seemed like perfectly cold water keeps on turning to stream when it touches you, which might mean that..." Chuck's hand shot out and touched Jason. He must have still been burning hot because chuck immediately withdrew his hand.

"Shit! Jason what's wrong with you, your like a pressing iron." Jason sighed.

"Umm... Well the thing is that sometimes I catch fire." Well that  was a dumb way to put it.

"Like a pyrokinetic?" 

"Yeah just that I'm shit at controlling it." Chuck thought for a bit before he replied.

"Well your shit at everything." And with that he started laughing, his laugh was contagious and Jason couldn't help but join in. They laughed and laughed until their stomachs hurt and their eyes watered.

"So your like a hero or something."

"That doesn't know shit 'bout what he's doing." That iniated another round of laughter.

"Your just in training, you'll probably turn OP soon you just need a bald man as your Sensei."

" And I'll make you my sidekick. Red head and the Indian, the dynamic duo." They had a good laugh about that one too, but it got Jason thinking about how chuck had it wrong. He wasn't a hero and even if he wasn't the main character. He was an extra that merely appeared and disappeared later to die an unremarkable death. Main characters were people like Kevin and maybe David. They forcibly pulled other people into their own stories. One of the first things he had learned at Sancta Maria was that everyone wasn't equal. 

"So are you planning on staying here till everyone wakes up, because we should probably clean this thing up." Chuck brought up a new set of clothes for Jason while they did their best to clean up.

*

They sat round a booth at some fast food joint Joe's. Everybody seemed normal except Alex, his eyes were a bit reddened but apart from that he seemed quite normal and laughed at the right places while staring at Mia. Mia wasn't her usual jovial self but that was probably because David was here and it was no secret that there was bad blood between them. 

David had that effect on everybody, even Alex who had been somewhat fascinated by him. It was either Xeterrans had amazing mental capabilities or David was a genius because he consumed knowledge like a well... Something that consumed knowledge, while insulting and debasing everything human at the same time. Jason had once had the opportunity to sit in at a conversation between Alex and David.

They had been chilling in the lodge which had become littered over the past days with books and bits of papers. Jason was sitting down bent over a lot candle hoping against all odds that it would blow up or something. He had even tried  thinking About all of his worst memories or at least some of them. In movies the protagonist just had to focus or yell out in anger and Boom something happens. But if he was the main character here then he was messing up. 

David snorted, It was a sign that he had discovered some evidence of human stupidity and he wanted everyone to ask him what it was but nobody did. Mia and Kevin weren't in the room and Mr Pierce was nowhere to be found probably at his day job. Alex and Jason had already made that mistake a couple of times and weren't going to repeat it and Jess had her earphones stuck in and was busy studying biology. Apparently knowing how the body worked would help her to heal the body. Go figure! 

Being ignored didn't daunt him one bit, he continued.

"Your kind's reaction to this bouts of sickness were laughable at best."

"What?" Oh no, he had done it.

"This epidemics, seeing that you had *very* limited knowledge in the art of science and healing the best thing you could have done would be to eradicate the cause and effect." This time it was Alex who spoke up.

"What do you mean?" David looked at them with those eyes that said, *'your all stupid, but here I am to save you from your blinding ignorance'*

"The diseases spread quickly and your skills were outclassed. If the intellectuals couldn't do anything about then the administrative and military should have intervened and established a quarantine..."

"I'm  pretty sure that's what they did".

"Oh no you misunderstand. I met they should have quarantined and Eliminated them." At first Jason didn't understand until he saw the look of horror on Alex. This bastard was suggesting mass murder.

"That's disgusting Dave, we can't just take matters into our hands and kill those innocent people."

"So instead your people's misplaced emotions allowed the disease to spread and kill more innocent people."

"So they should have murdered thousands?"

"I thought that over population was one of your world's problems? Seems like taking care of two problems at once."

"That's inhumane."

"Probably why humans are so far behind. We have saying back at Xeterra 'Finis justificat modo', translated it means the 'the end justifies the way'. I hope you learn that earlier than later.

The family in the booth behind them sang birthday songs and laughed. While everyone at theirs seemed on edge except David he had ordered everything on the menu, as the waiter left he dove straight into the matter at hand.

"So you saying that the flea's host is an acquaintance of yours?" They nodded.

"So how are we going to track him?" Alex asked.

"We can't."

"What do you mean we can't." Kevin blurted.

"Can't you sense him And track him like how you can sense us."

"I can't sense someone that I have never met." He pointed at Jess with his chin.

"If you were any good you would be able to track him down easily". Jess's jaw tightened but she didn't say anything.

"Seems like we're all making a big deal out of it. We'll just ask shadow to track him down." Jason volunteered.

"That's not half easy as it sounds." Their expert on shadows chipped in, "we have no idea where he is. He could've left Idaho for all we know."

"He's probably still in the area, flea's are terribly territorial they hardly leave where they find their host as long as theirs food."

"Well Brentwood Would seem like a stable to a food source to him."

"IT not HIM." Mia pointed out.

"There's no way Billy would do such." Jess said and shivered. She must have known Bill personally.

"Well that pretty much covers it" it was Kevin speaking, he had been mostly quiet throughout.

" Mia you'll try and keep watch on town as much as you can, if a fire starts we should be there before the authorities, and if we can't meet up then put a trail on him. We can't really do much until he or it makes his move." And with that the discussion ended.

Author's note: I'm sorry for the delay but I've been busy with exams.

A comic artist is desperately needed.

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