PART FOUR
Disclaimer and the like in part one
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Part four-The Curiousness of Destiny
When Scully walked into the bathroom she almost
collided with Molly coming out of one of the stalls.
"Oh, sorry, Agent Scully," Molly said and walked over
to the sinks. On the same counter as the sinks was
Molly's backpack, conveniently open.
"Hey, Molly," Scully said as Molly turned on the
taps, "can I ask you a few questions?"
"Uh, yeah, sure. No problem," Molly said as
she grabbed a paper towel to dry her hands with.
Scully leaned slightly and looked into her
backpack. "That's an interesting book you have here."
Molly craned her neck to look into her backpack.
The sinking feeling in her stomach sunk even further
when she realized that Agent Scully was talking about
Shannon's book. Thoughts sped rapid fire through her
head. 'She saw through the spell--Few ordinary people
can do that--What if she's not ordinary--Witches and
Dragons are always connected--If she's the Witch
who's the Dragon--Witches and Dragons always work in
pairs--she's working with---'
The string of thoughts was broken through by
Scully. "Molly? The book?"
Molly focused her eyes back on Scull and got
a properly puzzled look on her face. "My Algebra
book is interesting?" she said, keeping up with the
glamour, all the while praying the FBI Agent wouldn't
question her too much.
Scully looked into her backpack and saw an average
collection of school textbooks. But oddly, there were
two algebra books. Suddenly something shifted in her
head. Her vision blurred. One of the algebra books
became the leather bound one. "This one," she said
tapping a finger on the leather.
With a great effort Molly managed to keep her
mouth shut. In her head she searched for a response
that was true but didn't give away the whole story
about the book. "It's just an old book I borrowed
from a friend who owns a bookstore. I had wanted
to show it to Alec."
Scully looked up at Molly, feeling contempt
for her lack of height once more. Somehow instinctively
she knew she wasn't telling the whole story, but she
wouldn't get anymore answers even if she pressed further.
"Uh, Agent Scully?" Molly broke into her
thoughts. "Why're you so interested in the book?"
she asked innocently, brushing a wisp of red hair
behind her ear. "Does it have something to do with the case?"
Scully shook her head. The girl was right. The
only connection to the case was through Molly Addison.
Nothing to truly validate an investigation save for a
very extreme hunch. Molly herself wasn't even a suspect.
"No, I was just curious." She turned and began to walk
out of the bathroom.
At that moment Molly made a decision. A decision
to determine the true nature of Agent Scully, even if
Agent Scully herself didn't know it (where did that come
from? Molly thought). She called out to her in the
language all Witches knew, even if they knew they were
Witches or not. It was likened to a form of telepathy,
and the only other people besides Witches who could
understand it were Dragons, and then only after an
extensive amount of training. ''Is curiosity a good
thing?'' Molly called.
The FBI agent turned around in slight surprise
at the girl's question, but then couldn't help breaking
out into a slight smile. It reminded her of something
she would have asked at Molly's age. ''Curiosity is
usually a good thing, but don't be so curious that it
gets you into trouble,'' she warned, and then walked
out of the ladies' room.
Molly collapsed against the pale green tiled
wall. If Agent Scully wasn't a Witch she was doing
a damn good job of hiding it. No, she was a Witch,
ordinary humans couldn't learn the language at all,
and she'd understood the question and responded in
like without even realizing it.
The puzzling thing was that there was no Dragon
in the area. Alec would have certainly noticed that,
even if his mind was turning into meatloaf. But would
he recognize a Dragon that didn't know he was a Dragon?
Her back straightened against the tiles. The pieces were
all beginning to fall into place. If Agent Scully was as
smart as Molly thought she was she would make some
connections, although not the mystical ones. And if
Molly's hunches were correct all this started with
Agent Mulder.
With a determined look on her face she picked
up her backpack and rushed out of the bathroom, leaving
the door swinging behind her.
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Mulder followed Scully out of the cafeteria with his
eyes. To kill some time he let his eyes wander around the
room once more, only to come to rest on Alec.
'Scully was right', he thought. 'Those two kids
know something.' But Mulder doubted it had anything to
do with the case. They had an air about them that made
it seem like they were carrying a perpetual secret.
He shook his head slightly. They had no real reason
to suspect them, let alone haul them in for questioning.
Mulder, yet again, seemed to be jumping to conclusions.
Although many times his jumps to conclusions were correct jumps.
Mulder glanced over at Alec again. Scully probably
thought he was being dense, but he did notice the
resemblance between himself and Alec. A big resemblance.
But that wasn't the main thing that was bothering him.
What was bothering Mulder was that there was just
something about Alec, something right below the surface,
that he couldn't put his finger on.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by Scully sitting
down in her seat. "Feel better?" he asked sincerely.
"Yeah," Scully said. "Anything happen while I was out?"
Mulder shook his head. "Nah, just someone screaming
about finding a rat in the kitchen," he kidded. Scully
just rolled her eyes, but smiled a little with the
corners of her mouth.
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Molly walked back into the cafeteria trying to
look as nonchalant as possible. She reached the table
and stood over Alec, who was munching on some potato
chips. "Alec, we have that project to do in the library,
remember?" she pleaded. At the same time she was asking
another question with her eyes.
Alec picked up on the silent question and mouthed 'What?'
'In the library,' she mouthed back. "The one for
French class. It's due Monday," she said to keep up
with the act.
"Okay," Alec said amiably, and they walked out
of the cafeteria calmly. But when they got out into
the hallway Molly grabbed Alec's arm in an iron grip
and began running full tilt for the library. Alec,
the one on the track team, had to struggle to keep
up with her.
When they hit the library, which was luckily
almost empty save for the sole librarian replacing
books in the far corner, Molly pulled Alec into one
of the small little rooms used for private research
and study and locked the door behind them. Alec
collapsed against the wall and Molly against the
door, panting in an effort to catch their breaths.
When he could finally breathe again, Alec straightened
up and walked over to Molly. "Okay. What the hell's
up with all this? You drag me to the library pretending
to do a French project we don't even have. What's up?"
he asked, his voice getting calmer.
Molly stood up straight and looked him in the eye.
"It's the female FBI agent, uh. Agent Scully."
"What about her?"
"She saw the book."
Alec's brow ruffled. "So? She saw what looked
like your algebra book."
Molly shook her head. "No. She was past the
algebra book glamour and to Shannon's book."
Alec's eyes bulged. "But that's impossible.
No ordinary person could see past a Witch's glamour,
right?"
She took a deep breath. 'Here's where's the
impossible stuff comes in,' she thought ruefully.
"But what if she's not ordinary?"
"What are you saying?" he said, beginning to
get the picture.
"What if she's a Witch?" Molly finally said aloud.
Alec shot her a strange look. "I don't know. I
mean, there are a few ordinary humans who can see past
spells."
"Yeah, but they have to be made aware of said
spell by the Witch that cast it. D'you think I'd
tell a woman who I don't even know that I put a spell
on a book," Molly said, trying to keep her voice under
control. She winced a little. There was one important
piece of this puzzle that she'd forgotten to mention.
"I also asked her a question in the Witches language.
She answered me back in the same language. But she didn't
even know she was speaking it! I don't even think she
recognized that I'd even spoke to her differently. She
understood the language instinctively. Which only
happens in Witches."
Alec scratched his cheek. "I hate to say it
but you're right."
"Thank you," Molly grinned smugly.
A flash of thought came to Alec. "Wait a sec.
Where's the Dragon, though. If there's a mission a
Witch always works with their other half-the Dragon,
like me and you, or my grandparents. And I haven't
sensed any new Dragons in the area for weeks.
Molly waved a hand in the air. "I don't know.
First-I think she's here because the FBI assigned her
to it. Second-I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know
she's a Witch."
"A Witch without full powers at her age? That's
impossible!" Alec said slumping down on one of the
chairs in the sparsely furnished room. He ran a hand
through his oak-brown hair tiredly.
'Impossible is becoming his favorite word of late,'
Molly thought. "There are a few loopholes," Molly said,
sitting down to face him. "Like if the Dragon hasn't
come into his full powers yet either." Alec opened up
his mouth to retort, but Molly cut him off at the knees,
her grey-blue eyes beginning to shift like the sea.
"I know you're going to say how impossible that is but
just hear me out. Witches and Dragons come into their
powers at the exact same time. Witches, though, sometimes
don't realize it because they haven't met any Dragons yet
to tell them and help them realize exactly what they are."
"So what you're saying is that she's got the
powers but doesn't know it because she hasn't met a
Dragon yet, more specifically the other half of her
pair," he posed.
She bit her lip. Now comes the hard part.
"Kinda. No, actually, not at all. What I'm saying
is that maybe, just maybe, the Dragon doesn't even
know he's a Dragon yet."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Another near to
impossible case."
"Near to impossible, but not totally impossible.
You told me that in order for a Dragon to come into their
full powers they need their mother with them, right?" Molly
asked, looking towards him for confirmation.
"Actually, Dragons have a Witch nearby during the
first time, more likely than not their mother or father,"
he said, biting on his fingernail.
Molly leaned back in her chair. "I remember your
mother and grandmother telling us exactly what would happen."
Here Molly began to choose her words more carefully. This
was where the conversation could begin to get a little hairy.
"But what if the Dragon got separated from their family
at a really early age? Y'know, as people get older the
memories of the earlier years start to fade. What if
they forgot their memories of being with their real
family, the Dragon family? And what if their new family
was ordinary? Isn't it possible then to be a Dragon but
not have the full Dragon powers?"
Alec bit his lip. "I...have absolutely no clue.
I suppose it's possible. We've know each other since
kindergarten and pretty much grew up being prepared
for what we would become. My Gramma sensed that you
were the Witch, it's one of her gifts, and began to
train you herself. But if someone was separated
really early and didn't have any clue as to who
they were I suppose the powers would stay buried."
He fell silent for a minute, thinking deeply. "So
who do you think she knows who's a Dragon, maybe a
boyfriend, husband, really close friend?"
Molly bit her own lip and stared around the room.
Before wasn't the hard part, this was. "Uh...I...ah...
actually I think that...uh...Agent Mulder is the Dragon."
She waited for Alec's onslaught of words.
But the onslaught didn't come. He was still calm.
"You do? Where's you get that idea from?"
She exhaled sharply. She revised her opinion-the
last two parts weren't the hard ones, this one was the
mother of all hard parts. "Did you get a good glimpse
of how Agent Mulder looks?" she said, skirting around
the subject.
"I guess. He kinda reminds me of my father, only
a good five to ten years younger," Alec said, unaware
as to what Molly was getting at.
Molly gripped the arms of the chair, her short,
neat fingernails digging into the dull wood. "He looks
a hell of a lot like you," she said softly and seriously.
"And everyone always said you looked like your uncle,"
she said, and then settled back for the imminent response.
The light finally clicked on in Alec's head. "You
have got to be kidding me!" he yelped. "Yes, I'll admit
there's a strong resemblance, but I don't see how the
hell you come up with an idea like that!"
She crossed her arms over her chest. "You can't
tell me it's not possible," she retorted.
Alec leaned forward and rested his arms on his
knees. "But think of it-what are the chances that
this person who could possibly be my 'long-lost'
uncle ending up here to investigate a case that
is being caused by a creature from the non-ordinary
world?"
Molly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know,
maybe it's destiny."
He snorted. "Destiny?"
"Yes. Destiny-equal parts chance, free will,
and necessity."
"That's a novel theory," Alec said. "Where'd
you come up with that?"
"I got it off an old episode of 'Mighty Max'",
Molly sneered back at him. "But think of it-" she
began ticking off points on her fingers, "-Chance-the
Cader-Ieran chose these woods to attack from.
Free will-the FBI chose to investigate the whatever
you want to call them. Necessity-it's necessary to
prevent anymore kids from losing their souls. It
makes more sense than you think."
Alec exhaled sharply. This was swiftly becoming
too much for him to handle. He got up and paced around
the room for a second, then leaned his back against the
wall. "An old episode of 'Mighty Max'"? he questioned.
"Yeah," Molly smiled, got up out of her chair, and
walked over to him. "What're we gonna do?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know. I don't think
we should tell anyone about this idea of yours yet. I
don't wanna get Gramma's hopes up when we're not sure
of anything."
"That's a good idea," she said. Molly reached
out and took both his hands in hers. "And I'll be
right there when you have to break the news to them,"
she said, leaning her face in close to his.
Alec smiled brightly, his green eyes lighting
up with flecks of gold, and gripped her hands tighter.
For a few moments they just stood there like that,
staring at each other.
At that moment the door to the room opened.
Molly and Alec's heads jerked around to see Kevin
Silver walking in. Kevin grinned and commented
"Y'know if I was anyone else I wouldn't buy the
'just friends' argument."
Suddenly they felt awkward and let go of each
other's hands. Kevin noticed the shift in their
actions and rolled his eyes, wondering when those
two would realize what everyone else was beginning
to see. "What are you doing here?" Alec asked.
"I was looking for you two. Someone said they
saw you guys headed this way. I came to tell you
school's out for the day," Kevin said.
"Why?" they chorused.
"They found another kid in the woods," Kevin said.
"Do they know who it is?" Molly asked.
"If they do they haven't told us yet," Kevin muttered.
Alec shot a knowing look at Molly and she nodded
slightly. "Let's get home then," Alec said, and the
three exited the small room.
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END PART FOUR-The Curiousness of Destiny
Note: The destiny quote really is from an old ep of
'Mighty Max'. Don't even ask me why I was watching it.
2nd note: If Molly and Alec's relationship reminds you
of the relationship between two certain federal agents,
that's the idea .
(
geocities.com/rhiaramsay)