"I agree," Avery replied, yawning suddenly. She helped Element to her feet, then showed her to a room where she could sleep. As soon as she was sure Element was settled in, Avery made her way to her own room, where she collapsed on the bed.
What a day, she thought, laying on her bed and not bothering to change into pajamas. She was out just a few moments later, an unconsciously-shifted tail wrapped around her body.
(I've gtg soon, but I'll be back in a couple hours.)
Element lay down in her bed, and set her glasses on the table. In a day, I've almost been killed, talked to my dead brother, made three new friends, and figured out that pebbles could kill us all.
Vaughn smiled slightly, remembering that he had yet to show the others Mr.Mann’s address. He guessed that they would be able to find it, but at least he would get there first. Eventually, he fell asleep where he was laying on the couch.
Dylan growled in subdued frustration. Deciding that he might as well try to get some rest, he clambered in to bed and laid himself down on his back.
Great. I have a power I can't use without suffering the most annoying sense of pain, and when I do use it I turn into the world's most cruel human being.
He thought of how he had acted in his encounter with Vaughn. How he had said he didn't care. He thought of his supposed father, murderer and leader of the flame, and of his brother, who had been so willing to fight from the ripe old age of 3. He thought of Avery, who's last word before passing out had been his name. Who was good at everything.
He closed his eyes, feeling his fatigue, and gave himself to sleep.
Element awoke, back in the field from earlier. Could her brother be trying to talk to her again? She looked around, and spotted a tall man in a grey trench coat, his back to her. She ran to him, wanting to ask him if he'd seen Ben. "Excuse me," she said as she approached. "Could you-" She was cut off when he turned around to face her, because he instantly caught on fire. He began to melt, eyes turning to goop and teeth falling out. Element screamed and turned around to run. She ran and ran with her eyes closed, terrified to turn back. Voices were filling her ears all around her, making her scream in terror. Ni tan sols el vostre cadàver romandrà- Malapit na ang kamatayan The whispers grew louder as Element's screams were drowned out, until finally she hit something hard. The voices stopped, and she was outside of an all glass room. Her brother was on the inside, sitting in a chair with his head and shoulders slumped forwards. The man in the grey coat approached him, holding up a flaming sword. Element screamed and banged on the glass, but suddenly it wasn't glass anymore. It was ice, and he was trapped under it, drowning slowly. Darkness began to fall over her, and the last thing she saw was the man with the grey coat standing over the ice, holding a small grey stone. Then it all went dark.
Element bolted into an upright position and shrieked. Looking around frantically, she realized she was in the spare room. She sighed with relief, and held her hand to her head, which was drenched in sweat. She hugged her knees to herself, and cried softly so that nobody could hear. ( Sorry that was REALLY LONG )
Vaughn woke up at around 4:30 in the morning. He got ready groggily, feeling half asleep the whole time. He wrote a note for Sam, saying that he went to the store to get some things. ‘I shouldn’t be gone long,’ he thought. He was just planning on going out to Jared Mann’s house to scope it out.
Upon deciding sleep wasn't an option, Element got out of bed, ate, washed her face, and got dressed. Putting on her glasses she frowned at her reflection. Dressed in jeans, converse, a heavy light blue sweatshirt, and her hair in two little buns on each side of her head, she wasn't much of a sight. Then again, she never really was. She grabbed her laptop, and began to search the name Vaughn had said. Jared Mann. she typed in, and information popped up on her screen. Scrolling through various websites, and hacking into several social media accounts, she found an address. Yes! she thought triumphantly.
Vaughn left the house and got into the car, sparking the wires to start it. He pulled out of the driveway and drove down the street. He hadn’t slept in days, and sleeping for a few hours only made it worse. His eyes felt droopy, and he swerved once before jolting awake, knuckles white as he gripped the wheel.
( crud I just wrote a ton of stuff down and it all got deleted, so basically what happened is that Element didn't want to wake anybody up so she took Oscar to go to Jared's house and she told Oscar to send an alert to Avery so she wouldn't get worried. )
Dylan woke slowly. Not in the sense that he was groggy in the mornings, but in that he drifted back to conciousness, rather than open his eyes right away. It was like a computer doing a systems check, one part of the system after another coming online. He pushed himself up off the bed, stretching his arms and legs as he got up. His phone beeped at him from the floor next to the bed. He picked it up with a slow hand, and brought it to his eyes, noting with satisfaction that they'd already adjusted as he was waking. He keyed in his code and turned off the alarm. He got up and left the room, taking his pouch with him. As he walked down the hall and into the kitchen, he fingered the onyx stone, noting with satisfaction that it was still cool to the touch, and sharp on one corner. He eyed the coffee pot, empty from last night. Filing through the cabinets as quietly as he could, he nabbed the filters and grounds, and set to work brewing a new pot.
Vaughn sat outside Mann’s house in the car, watching for any movement inside. He yawned, then turned on the radio to keep himself awake.
Vaughn sat in his car, which was parked outside of Jared Mann’s home. The radio was playing softly in an attempt to keep him awake as he waited to see if there was any movement in the house.
(Stupid website wouldn't work… Otherwise, I'd have been here earlier.
And I'm totally shipping Dyvrie(?). If I haven't already said that…)
Avery awoke to the sound of an alert from her phone.
OSCAR: Hey, Avery. It's Element. I just wanted to let you know that I borrowed Oscar to go check out that guy Vaughn was talking about. I didn't ask because I didn't want to wake anyone. Please don't get mad!
How did she get Oscar to take her? Avery wondered, still groggy from sleep. Oh, I suppose he downloaded her fingerprints and eye-scan when she rode with me…
After throwing on a pale pink t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, she quickly brushed her hair and put on some mascara, the only makeup she ever wore. Standing in front of her tall mirror, she thought, Why am I doing this? There's literally no reason to look nice today. I'm looking for an evil organization with my friends… With Dylan. She smiled at the thought of the mysterious young man who came to mind, then shook her head in confusion. What is wrong with me? I can't think about him like that; I've barely known him for twenty-four hours.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and walked out of her room and to the kitchen, ready for breakfast.
Vaughn exhaled heavily and rested his head on the dashboard, wanting nothing more than to go back to sleep. He reached over and turned the music up louder, sitting up with a groan.
Dylan glanced over as Avery walked in. "Hey, Avery. I got coffee going. I don't really know where the food is, sorry…"
Avery blinked, both because her eyes were still adjusting to the bright kitchen lights and because she was surprised to see Dylan. She smiled and thanked him for the coffee, then showed him where the food was.
"There's a bunch of food in the fridge, so feel free to have any of that. There's also food in the pantry, just over here," she said, walking over to a tall cupboard around the corner. She pulled out a box of pancake mix, then went back into the kitchen to get the rest of the ingredients. Glancing over at Dylan, she asked, "Do you want any pancakes? I figure that we can eat some now and save the rest for later, in case we get hungry and forget to eat. Also, Lenny might want some when she gets back from wherever she is."
Dylan nodded, still taking Avery's mascara in. He wasn't quite used to seeing people with makeup, and she was straight up disarming with it. Dylan tried to surpress that thought and failed.
"Yeah, I'll take some pancakes, thanks." The rest of what Avery said sank in, and Dylan backtracked, "Wait, you said Lenny's gone?"
Avery noticed Dylan staring at her, and she blushed bright red. To hide her blush, she got busy making pancakes and answered his question. "Yeah, she said something about the guy Vaughn was talking about last night. She took Oscar and left earlier this morning."
"Huh. Well, I hope she doesn't get into trouble," Dylan said. Talk of Lenny reminded Dylan that he still hadn't asked her about his power. He cursed himself, then looked back up at Avery.
Well… she's right here, might as well…
"Say, I got my whole light thing after the galaxy stone incident, right? And you said that wasn't a human reaction. What is a human reaction?" He asked.
"Nothing. As far as I know, humans haven't ever reacted to the Galaxy Stone the way you did," Avery answered. She looked up from the pancake she was cooking and turned to face Dylan, her emotions carefully masked. "Are you saying I might be right?"
( The website wouldn't work for me either! Sorry guys! )
Element parked a few blocks away from Jared's house, deciding that she didn't want to draw that kind of her attention to herself. With swift strides, she walked down to his house. When she reached it, she saw a car parked out front. Great. she thought, and she walked around to the back door, her movements hidden by bushes. Suddenly, she had an idea. Knocking on the back door, she masked her face with the most fearful expression she could. She watched a man come to the door, and he opened it, hair disheveled and eyes foggy. "Sir!" Said Element. "There is somebody on your front lawn in a car… I… I think he might be dangerous!"
Vaughn’s eyes widened as he saw Element go up to the door. “You have got to be kidding me!” He slumped down in his seat, hidden now.
Jareds eyes widened, and he quickly ran out the front door. Element crept inside, and walked around the living room. He'd be back any second. She spotted his lap top on the table, and snatched it up. That was really all she needed. With quick movements, she put it in her bag, and sprinted back to Oscar. Climbing in, she smiled. "C'mon Oscar we gotta go!"
Vaughn jumped out of the car, deciding it wasn’t worth it to go after Element. He needed Jared Mann. He sprinted and tackled Jared to the ground. Despite the fact the man was larger than him, he was easily able to subdue him. With a quick blow, he was knocked out, and Vaughn dragged him up.