Prologue:
- This is the stuff that drives me crazy!
"You have got to be kidding me."
She groaned and spun on her heel, sending her short brown hair in a fan behind her.
"First time I leave the three boys alone, they ransack the room!”
She sighed and shifted her weight to one foot. The hotel room they had been staying in was, indeed, ransacked.
Lamps were toppled over, cushions ripped up, table and chairs dumped over like a garbage can.
Sheets were scattered all over the floor. It was a mess.
Taking a deep breath, she took a step into the room and ignored the crunch of glass under her brand new, teal blue, knee high converse.
Her sharp green eyes flashed over the scene. In her minds eye, she watched as a dark figure creep up on the three boys.
She noticed a blood smear on the wall. It was small, but enough to tell her it was a fight, made to look like a ransack.
She studied the room again, now knowing what truly happened.
Her mind picked up clues of what had happened, and her odd connection with one of the boys gave her impressions of what happened specifically to him.
Like the fact that the blood was his from a cut on his right thigh.
The hooded figure had caught two of the boys by surprise, but the youngest, Sage, - the faire hair eleven year old - gave a great shout and the other two boys jumped into action.
There was a large struggle, which ended with the boys running away.
She sighed and her back pocket of her skinny jeans vibrated. She whipped out her cell phone and answered the call.
“Where the heck are ya’ll?” She asked.
“We’re headed out of town. We need to shake this tail we’ve got.”
The interference with his voice told her they were driving with the roof down on the military Jeep her brother owned.
“And…what do I do? They took my bag.” She pointed out.
“Nope. We’ve got it right here.”
A load lifted off her chest.
“Ok, where do you want to meet?”
“Uh…where was it we were going?”
She took a deep breath and calmed herself down by spinning her rings around with her thumb.
“We’re going to the Smithsonian. We still need to see the other half of the prophecy.”
“Right…I knew that.”
No he didn’t. Not like she could blame him.
“Re-read the half we do have. It’s in my notebook in my bag. Found it?”
She heard him rummaging, and then something spilling.
“I’ll pick that up.” He muttered.
“M-hmm.”
“Ok. Got it.”
“Read it. And meet me at the Smithsonian.”
“Alright. Be safe. Die your hair.”
That made her think.
“Hey Jayson,”
“Yup?”
“I’m going to go me.”
There was silence, which she had expected.
“You’re…you’re not you now?”
“Well right now, I’m mellow me. Which is really only…well not even half of me.”
More silence.
“What?”
She laughed.
“Ask Grady, he’ll tell ya.”
“You know, your southern drawl is really coming through right now.”
That brought on a smile.
“Well yeah. I was born in the south you know. It hits harder when my brother’s around. He never lost his. Haha.”
“So does that mean you’ll be wearing cowgirl boots and a hat?”
“Uh…no.”
“Aw snap. I’m just kidding. Grady says to let you do what ever the heck it is you want. I guess I’d better know the real ’you’ other wise who knows where we’ll end up.”
She scoffed.
“Something tells me that you already know the ’real’ me. See ya latter.”
“Stay safe.”
“Of course.” She stated with a growing smile.
“I mean it Finnley. No more close calls. Got it?”
“Yes dad.” She threw out there sarcastically. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. Tell the boys I said hi, and to behave! And that goes for you too. No flirting.”
“Yeah, I barely remember my name, do you really think I remember how to flirt?”
“No. But you have that sort of personality that makes every girl come to you like a magnet.”
“Do I hear a hint of jealousy?”
She scoffed.
“Jay, if I was jealous, you’d know it.”
That made him laugh.
“Yeah probably. Ok I got to go. Talk to you latter.”
“Yup. Adios.”
“Manténgase a salvo.” Stay safe.
“Si usted también.” Yeah. You too.
She hung up and slipped the phone back into her pocket. She pulled out her iPod and slipped the earphones in place.
Double tapping on her favorite song, she waited a moment to get into the beat before walking out the door.
++++
After she paid for the damage to the room, she headed over to Target.
Making an evil look and rubbing her hands together - just for the sake of being weird - she dove into the juniors department.
It took several tries to find a shirt that went with her new converse, but she finally got it and tossed it together with a jacket. Fall was definitely here.
She then went and bought a die kit for her hair and then paid for it all, plus a hat.
She walked back to the hotel room and quickly changed her shirt. She liked this one in particular, because it was yellow with the saying ’stop and smell the roses’ on it in pink distressed lettering. The jacket was green and looked similar to an army jacket, and looked even better with the sleeves pushed up past her elbows. (The hat matched)
Then she went to work dying her hair. Careful to leave the roots brown, she died it and that alone took an hour or two.
Once she was satisfied with the results she then checked out of the hotel and started walking.
