Note: This story is still getting on its feet after some months of inactivity, but looks to pick up soon. The order of writing isn't as strict as the Applebus tends to be, due to some circumstances beyond our control (Zinni's move, busy lives, etc). The story was started August 23, 2000; hopefully our writing should get a little better and less confusing in time. It's not always easy to write a story in a Yahoo club, okay? *g* That's where it started, but we're putting it here for increased ease and accessibility. More should come before long. Stay tuned.
Key: Laurel Ananda Daffodil Dani Zinnia Keila (KY-lah) was awakened in the middle of the night by voices. They came from out the open window of her room in her family's summer home on the lake. She listened carefully. The voices belonged to Grant and Deidre. Grant was Keila's older brother, 17 years old. For the past week he had been palling around with a small group of 18- and 19-year-olds a few houses down. Apparently they were staying there without any parents, which Keila's parents didn't exactly approve of, but all the same they cautiously let him associate with them. Keila didn't like them...except for Deidre. Unlike the others, Deidre wasn't wild, and she didn't smoke constantly like most of the others did. She had very short hair and about five earrings per ear, but she was very kind. Keila suspected that Grant liked Deidre. And she had to admit that if he had to like one of them, Deidre might as well be it. So, naturally, Keila wanted to know what they were saying. Cautiously she crept over to her window, which was on the ground floor. She crouched under it, so Grant and Deidre couldn't hear her, and listened. "Grant..." Deidre's voice was soft and low, just above a whisper. "Yeah?" "Well... before... before we go any further... there's something I have to tell you." "What is it?" Grant gently inquired, then added, "You know that no matter what, I'll always love you... you can tell me anything." Keila heard a small sound, which she took to be the sound of Grant kissing Deidre. Keila grinned to herself. Deidre took a slow, deep breath before continuing. "Well... you know that I'm not like the others, the rest of the guys down the road there. An'.. well.. I guess I'm not like anyone else here at all.. except..." She stopped. "Deidre, that's *why* I love you - that's who you *are* - completely unique, and I love that." Grant burst in emphatically. "Shh!" Deidre sharply reprimanded. "Don't wake anyone up. I don't want anyone else to hear this but you." Keila shrunk down a little further. "Grant... I really don't know how to say this, how to make you understand without.. without pushing you away, making you leave." "Deidre..." "OK. Alright. I'll just say it. Grant... I'm not.. well... I'm not exactly human." Keila didn't hear her brother's gasp, as her own sharp intake of breath masked the sound. "I know you probably think I'm crazy.. an', well, maybe I am, but... I'm not from this world. I've only been here for a few months... but there's something else you need to know." Grant was silent, presumably still reeling from his first shock. "Your sister... well, she's not really your sister. She's... one of us." Grant and Keila were both silent, numbed, dumbfounded, whatever. Grant was the first to recover. "Deidre... please..." he pleaded. "Don't do this... I love you... I don't know what they made you take over there, LSD or whatever, but... please, stop it, come back." Deidre laughed, but a gentle laugh, not harsh or mocking. "Grant.. think about it. Have you ever seen any baby pictures of your sister? Have you ever seen any old pictures of me? No, of course not. And haven't you always known your sister to be.. well.. a little odd, maybe?" Keila tuned out the conversation by this point, and heard no more, still reeling. After a few minutes, though, she realised that it was actually plausable... there *was* that strange absense of baby pictures, and she'd always felt like an outsider, even among her own family, some days. But... no! It couldn't be! Deidre was crazy! But... Keila sat, battling in her mind, and still she could not reach an answer. Was she an alien... or was Deidre just high? Keila contained her thoughts. She had to hear wot else Deidre had to say. She had to know. "Grant, the whole reason I came here at all was to get her… Ye see, some of the people from our world came to see if this world was inhabitable fourteen years ago. They left everything behind and came with their family. There was the commander, Lleian (LEE-an), his wife Maebh (Mayv), Lleian's sister Saorhith (SEE-rith), Maebh's brother Tyrnan (TEER-nan), and Lleian and Maebh's young daughter, just a year old. "They came not in a space ship, for it is from another universe we come. Our world is called Paercyn (PAIR-kin). Our people are similar to your world's elves of folklore. We have cat-like eyes, pointish ears, spritely noses, tall and slender bodies, high cheekbones, and certain abilities. Some of us have the ability to heal. Others can emit different wavelengths of light. Still others have an ability called telekinesis. There are too many abilities for me to mention. "The travelers came here through a portal that opens every thirteen years and stays open for two. They found this world habitable and full of life. But they had difficulty adapting to this life… They couldn't use their powers in public because people would see them as dangerous freaks. After a year, some scientists had found out about them and they were tracking them down. They wanted to do experiments and study them. So they made a hasty departure, but they were unable to bring their daughter. She was left somewhere around here, and your parents found and adopted her, naming her Keila. I've come to bring her home. But now I've met you. And I have to leave with your sister tomorrow night. The door will be closed the next morning." A silence permeated through the night. Would Deidre leave with her and not take Grant? Keila shook her head furiously. This was a dream--aliens didn't really exist! And, if she was one, of course she would know it...wouldn't she? Maybe Deidre wasn't as kind as she thought...she was a psychopath, a prisoner of her own imagination. It was to the point now that the top of Keila's head and her eyes were peering above the window, looking down at Grant and Deidre, their backs to her. He was looking at her with confusion and disbelief, and her eyes and words carried such sincerity that it was scaring Keila. That's when she saw a flash--a fiery red burning in Deidre's eyes. Grant seemed to notice it, also...he backed a few steps away. Nervous words bit into the thick summer night air: "What's going on here?" Deidre had taken on a positively evil aura, and Keila could sense it... Before she knew what she was doing, she jumped out of her hiding place. "Stop!" Deidre's fiery eyes turned to Keila with a evil smirk curved on her lips... "Deidre!" gasped Grant. "What's happened to you? What are you doing?" Deidre spoke to Grant, but kept her eyes fastened on Keila. "Your so-called 'sister' is an alien, yes, but she is not of my race...she is a Raida, the only remaining Raida who has not, could not hide from us--how could she, not knowing who she really is? She is the key to the Paercyns' power over this world and others! I have come to take her back, but not to her home! My crew and I have come to take her to ours!" "What?" Grant asked, bewildered by terror. "I, I...Deidre, we've got to get you to a doctor..." He stopped mid-sentence, finally beginning to believe what he didn't dare accept before. His confusion turned to rage. "You used me, didn't you?! Deidre, I thought you loved me! I thought I'd fallen in love with a sweet, kind girl, not some..." He stopped again, afraid to insult a potentially dangerous alien. Then he saw Keila, still cringing in terror in the window, and cried, "Go, Keila, now! Get Mom, Dad, anyone!" Keila tried, but Deidre fixed that awful glare on her, and she found herself completely immobilized. She tried to scream, but made no sound. To her horror, she saw the world around her fade to midnight black, and felt herself slump to the ground... When she awoke, some time later, she found herself on a hard metallic floor, with her hands tied behind her back. Grant was with her, still out like a light, and tied up too. Out a window was inky blackness and countless stars.