Restored

“It’s time for a revolution!” She hollered out, pumping her fist up in the air with determination.

Cheers echoed throughout the building from the army that stood before her showing the same resolution as her.

“We will no longer sit around and be quiet, watching our lives wither away just because we are different! We will no longer be tormented and hunted down! We will show the people above, who are able to walk among the streets and woods and being able to enjoy the outside world, that we are no longer afraid of who and what we are! We will show them that we have the right to be able to live the same type of lives that they’ve been able to live carefree, because we can’t change who we are and don’t plan to. We will also show them that we are truly not that different from them, although that will take time, but we must do what we can in order to show them that we mean no harm. But in order to have that plan go into motion we need to rid ourselves of the evil enemies that have dared to put themselves between us and the freedom we have always dreamed about! Who have threatened us and wanting to use us for their own evil purposes. We will show them that we will not stand for that and that they’ve messed with the wrong group of people. Are you with me!”

“YEAH!” The crowd raised their fists as their cheers vibrated throughout the building. They then trailed off into their own conversations of the plan that was about to take place.

“Alaura?”

“Hm?” Alaura shifted her interest to the voices behind her. There she saw her friends, the ones she had made over the years, the ones who have accepted her for what she was and for what she continued to be. Also among them was the one that she had grown to love dearly, the one she couldn’t bear to be without no matter the cost.

“What are you guys doing here?” She turned to face them, “You guys should be at the safe house, where you will all be protected from the events.”

They shook their heads.

“No, Alaura. We don’t belong at that house we belong here alongside you.”

“We want to help you show the people above, our people, that you are not the evil monsters that they claim you are.”

“Absolutely!” Her beloved eyed her with his protective nature kicking in. “Honestly, if you think I will just sit back and let you take this on alone, then you’re sadly mistaken.”

“No, I can’t allow that!” Alaura denied as the fear for her friends and her love escalated. “If anything were to happen to any of you because of me I would never be able to forgive myself!”

“But we’d feel horrible if we didn’t fight alongside you like good friends should. You are a good friend Alaura, you’ve always done your best to help us when we needed it so allow us to return the favor.”

“But I can’t-”

“Alaura you do realize that even if you don’t accept our help we will end up following anyway.” Her love grunted out stubbornly with his arms crossed. He then shrugged, “So don’t bother trying to keep us away from the fight.” He smirked smugly, “Besides it’s not like I’m not experienced with fighting.”

“Please, Alaura, let us help you. Please!”

Alaura just stared at her friends as they gave her those pleading, puppy dog stares. Once she saw those gazes she knew she couldn’t deny them, so she eventually sighed in defeat. “Oh alright, alright.” She pointed at them and scolded, “But you guys better not go and get yourselves killed, I mean it!”

Her friends cheered, pleased that they won her approval. Alaura just chuckled, smiled and shook her head before her eyes drifted to her love. He gave her a warm smile that made her heart race and it increased when he made his way towards her.

“Alaura, I-”

BRINGGGGG! My head jerked up and I darted my chocolate brown gaze around the room to notice my psychology class heading towards the door. “Reggie!” I heard a girl call out to me. I whirled around to spot a girl who was my height, which was five feet and seven inches tall and she had a thin, fit, pear shaped body. She had curly mid-length blonde hair and light blue eyes. She ushered her hand towards herself, “Come on, let’s go!”

My mid-length chestnut, brown hair bounced when I shot up from my desk. “Oh shoot!” Slamming my novel shut, I gathered up my materials and dashed out the door with my blonde friend. We then proceeded to follow the herds of students down the halls, ignoring all the conversations that were happening around us.

Sigh, I just can’t believe I got that absorbed into my book again. But man, why did the bell have to ring right when it was getting seriously good! Ugh, it always does that to me and it’s so unfair, I really wanted to continue reading!

“Jeez, Reggie.” I heard my blonde friend say with slight irritation. She eyed me like a mother scolding a child. “You really need to stop doing that. Look, I know those books are good and you get really into them. But you need to start paying attention to what’s going on around you, especially when you’re in class.” She aimed her finger at me. “Remember how embarrassed you got the last couple of times you got caught and you had no idea of what the teacher was even talking about?”

A shiver tickled down my spine as I recalled that memory. “Yeah….” I softly spoke and I shook my head. “That was definitely not a good thing to experience.”

“Precisely! So, I highly recommend that you work on that or else more of those embarrassing moments will come in your direction.”

“Well, I can try. But.” I gave her a weak smile. “I can’t make any promises, especially when a good book is involved.”

The blonde closed her eyes and exhaled lightheartedly, “Who knew bookworms could be this difficult sometimes.”

“Hehe, sorry, Sam.”

“Ah, it’s alright, Reggie.” Sam reassured me. She then joked with a light nudge. “I mean, if you weren’t such a big book fanatic I wouldn’t know which books were good or bad.”

“Is that all I’m good for?” I gently returned, pretending to sound offended. “To make sure you don’t get the lame books?”

“Well, not completely.” She continued to tease. “But it certainly is a big plus.”

My eyes instinctively rolled in amusement. “Glad I can be useful to you.”

Yup, that’s me. I’m the long time book-loving seventeen year old girl known as Regina Grace Williams, but I’m sometimes called Reggie or even Ace for certain individuals. I’m also just your typical regular Jane, who enjoys not wearing make-up and the only jewelry I wear is earrings. I also love being conservative with my attire. Although there will be rare occasions that I’ll wear a shirt that shows off my thin, decently fit hourglass shape, but the majority of the time I don’t.

The girl beside me is Samantha Truman; she’s also called Sam for short. Now she’s what you call a classical girly girl, who loves wearing make-up, jewelry and anything that is classified as too girly. But she always manages to look absolutely gorgeous.

“So?” Samantha pointed at my school supplies. “That book,” She furrowed a brow with curiosity, “Is it really that good?”

“Hm.” I pulled the book out of my pile, “Well, I personally think it’s good. But you would have to read it for yourself to get a full opinion on it.” I handed it to her. “So read the summary and see if it sparks your interest.”

Samantha took the book and we stopped halfway down the hall so she could read the book’s summary. “Hm.” She sounded intrigued. “This does sound a bit interesting. Hey!” She waved the book slightly with a questionable stare. “This is another one that involves magic.”

“Uh, yeah, and you’re point being?” I eyed her strangely.

“Well, it’s just ever since I met you four almost five years ago all the books I’ve seen you read are stories that involve magic in some shape or form.”

“Not all of them.” I coolly denied. “I’ve read books where that wasn’t the topic.”

“Yeah, but not that many though.”

I rolled my eyes. “Sam, I think you’re reading too much into this.” Shrugging I went on. “So I have a bit of interest in the magic genre, but you know that’s not the only thing I look for in a book. I also look for good sounding characters, plot, the possibility for twists and turns and just something different. As long as a book as those things, they’ll always catch my fancy whether magic is the topic or not. But then again that’s something every reader looks for, not just me.”

“I guess you have a point.”

“Ace! Sam!”

Dropping the conversation, we turned to spot a black haired girl racing towards us, waving two pieces of paper in the air. Smiles appeared when we realized that it was my cousin, Roxanne LaDave or Roxy for short. “Hey, Roxy.” We greeted her brightly. Her black hair, which used to be dark brown, had soft blue highlights that she added just this year, and I must admit, they look really good on her. She has an hourglass figure as well, only she has smaller hips, she’s fitter and she’s bustier than me.

My cousin pounced by my side, smiling with her hazel gaze dancing with pride. I was honestly surprised. Roxanne’s hardly ever this cheerful in the morning. “What are you so happy about?”

She held out the two sheets of paper, that had A pluses on them. “I aced my chemistry and pre-calculus test!”

“You mean the tests you were panicking about all last week?”

Roxanne nodded. “Yep those are the ones.”

“And you said you were going to fail them.” Samantha voiced in humorously as she rolled her eyes. She then giggled and embraced my cousin. “Congrats, Roxy!”

Now Roxanne is a tomboy with a punkish attitude who loves to play sports, any type of sport that’s competitive. She’s also the type of girl who always speaks her mind no matter what. Roxanne’s style of clothing usually consists of whatever she thinks looks cool, colorful and crazy while also being tasteful about it. She also likes to wear those rubber band bracelets, along with her class ring.

Samantha pulled back and pretended to be some type of reporter. “So how does it feel to make it through your third and fourth test of the year?”

“Well, not too bad I must say.” Roxanne carefully tucked her tests on top of her schoolbooks. “Even though I was worried, considering,” She motioned her hand towards us, “we all know how brutal Mr. McLain and Ms. Collins are when it comes to grading tests.”

“Definitely.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“So I used every possible free time I could muster while during volleyball practice, work and other homework to study for these tests. I studied so hard that I think I almost blew my brains out so I could at least get a C on them and it obviously paid off.”

“I’ll say.” I gave her a proud smile. “You did better than you expected.”

“You bet’cha!”

“See?” Leaning towards Roxanne, Samantha propped her hand up on her hip. “Didn’t I tell you that you would do fine?”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Rolling her eyes, Roxanne waved her hand. “You don’t have to rub it in.”

Our blonde friend just chuckled. “Well, I should probably get going.” Samantha aimed her finger down the hall where Roxanne came from. “Spanish is calling my name about now.” She waved as she walked past us. “So I’ll see you two at lunch.”

“See ya!” Roxanne and I replied in unison.

“Alright, Ace.” I met my cousin’s grin. “Let’s get going ourselves.”

I nodded in return. “Right.”

“But ya know I’m quite surprised.” Roxanne gave me a questionable look.

“Surprised about what?”

Gently, she grabbed a few strands of my chestnut hair. “You usually put your hair up.”

“Oh.” Combing my fingers through my hair, causing her to let go of my hair. I let out a rough sigh. “Yeah I was in a bit of a rush this morning and didn’t get the chance to put it up.”

“I know I saw you.” She commented humorously. “Slept through your alarm clock, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t help it!” I complained and joked. “My covers just wouldn’t let me go! They just wanted me to stay in their nice warm embrace for all eternity.”

“Damn those covers and their snuggly goodness.” Roxanne playfully cursed and crossed her arms. “They can be so good yet so evil, my covers almost consume me every time.”

“Yes, I’m not the only one!” I replied with humorous relief. “You have no idea how hard it is to find someone who’s experienced what I went through.”

Roxanne grabbed onto my arm. “Oh my gosh we have so much in common!” She tilted her head and smirked comically. “Do you think we are related?”

“Hm.” I rubbed my chin playfully. “Nah, there’s no way I could be related to someone this awesome.”

My cousin then did an Elvis imitation. “Thank you, thank you very much, missy, you’re awesome as well.”

Light laughter escaped us as my cousin did her feminine imitation of the King of Rock and Roll. Roxanne and I turned down another hallway and just as we passed the cafeteria we heard girlish chuckles from ahead of us. We looked and groaned in annoyance when we spotted two popular girls surrounding a boy by his locker.

“Ugh, there they go again.” Roxanne rolled her eyes. “I swear, don’t they have something better to do than chase boys around?”

“You would think.” I shook my head with disappointment. “But apparently not.”

“Obviously.” Another grunt escaped my cousin as she pointed at the group. “Oh and surprise, surprise they’re target is that new guy from last year who’s making a name of himself on the football team.”

“So it seems.” Glancing over at the two girls, I couldn’t help but snort myself when I saw the boy smiling like he was having the time of his life. “Surprise, surprise, he looks like he’s having a great time.”

“Ugh, seriously!” Roxanne practically threw her hand in their direction, “How can any guy find those two attractive? Jenna and Alivia are truly two of the most annoying girls in this school and yet practically all the guys here find them captivating?” She pointed at me. “I swear, I’m calling Voodoo on those two.”

“Pfft.” I chuckled out. “Seriously?”

“How else would you explain their succession?”

I simply shrugged. “They probably just know how to work a guy. They are very experienced with them.”

Roxanne groaned in doubt. “I’m still calling Voodoo on them.”

Humorously, I merely rolled my eyes and shook my head.

The two of us walked into our 20th Century Literature class—which we luckily had together—before the bell rang. Roxanne and I took a seat in our normal spots at the table in the back of the room. One thing I liked about this room was that it didn’t have desks; it actually had long tables making the shape of a staple. Of course, to be honest, I personally like it when teachers make their rooms different. To me it makes it a bit more comfortable.

“So did you finish that essay that’s due today?” Roxanne asked me.

“Luckily, yes, and it only took me a few minutes to write it.”

“Is that why you were rushing this morning?” Roxanne turned her body to face me. “Were you up finishing that essay?”

“No, I finished that after supper.”

“Oh let me guess?” She teased and eyed me knowingly. “You-”

“Excuse me! Coming through!” A loud, demanding voice hollered out.

We whirled our attention towards the commotion to find a toothpick shaped girl pushing her way through the classroom door. She had long red hair, which was curled and up in a ponytail. She wore very fashionable clothes, that made her look like she was a TV star or something, though I find that very funny considering we don’t live anywhere near Hollywood or any big city like that. We are out in the country, and we live in one of the smallest towns in Wisconsin, and most of the residents here are middle aged or older. There really isn’t a whole lot of people one can impress wearing clothes like that.

Well actually some of us commute here from another small town just a few miles from this school. The school itself is located in Palmyra, Wisconsin, but my cousins and I along with some other students are residents of Eagle, Wisconsin. So with that being the case, the two small towns both help to support this school, Palmyra-Eagle Middle and High School.

That’s right; this one building is both the middle and the high school. One side of the building is all high school and the other half, which is pretty small, is the junior high. But of course with that being the case, the one rule that we high schoolers must obey is that we can never enter that side of the building unless we were told to by a teacher. There are so many high schoolers in this school that would love the opportunity to take advantage of the preteens. So, that was their solution to avoid any bullying or harassment among the students.

“I said excuse me!” The redhead hastily shoved her way through two “geeky” male students. The two boys grumbled with annoyance before going back to their conversation.

“Ugh!” Roxanne scowled with a hint of irritation. “Make way for the third most annoying girl in the school, Stephanie Jones.” She leaned her chin on her palm and eyed me blankly. “I swear that girl is so infuriating that she makes my little brother look like paradise.”

“Cole isn’t that bad.”

“That’s because you don’t live with him 24/7.”

I nodded agreeing with her. “True.” I observed Stephanie as she took a seat at the table on the right side of us where the “cool” kids usually sit, making sure no one saw her face. She took out some of her make-up from her brown leather purse and quickly began coating herself in it.

“Oh, good grief!” Roxanne gently smacked her hand against her face. My cousin slid her hand to the side of her face. Aggravation gleamed in her eyes and she whispered with disgust. “Doesn’t she have enough make-up on? I swear if she puts anymore on she’ll look like a clown, a very very scary clown.”

“Aren’t you over exaggerating a bit?”

“So what! The bottom line is that she shouldn’t put so much on! It just makes her more disgusting looking than she already is.”

My gaze narrowed. “Roxanne.” Yes, I would agree that putting that much make-up on isn’t necessary, considering people could tell when it’s too much. But that doesn’t mean Roxanne should insult her putting her down at the redhead’s level.

“Will you two shut up?”

Our gazes snapped towards the loud voice. We found Stephanie’s green eyes glaring at us with as much irritation as Roxanne. “I can’t concentrate with you two babbling like you are.”

Roxanne grumbled and I knew she was thinking something insulting. I shot her a glare, warning her to not say it. I knew it would only make a scene, which was something I truly did not want to happen. Roxanne groaned, closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, we are not the only ones talking.” She tossed an annoyed glance at the redhead. “So why don’t you put on some more lipstick and glue your mouth shut.”

Stephanie hardened her stare on Roxanne with reawakened hatred. She then sarcastically replied. “Oh, ha ha very funny it was so hilarious I nearly forgot to laugh. Look, I’m not really in a great mood to deal with you tomboy. So would you please just shut up and keep your mouths closed for the rest of the period?”

“Well in that case….” Roxanne mocked, sounding cheerful and friendly. She then shot back bitterly. “I won’t shut my mouth!”

“You better or else!”

“Oooo or else what? You and your goon squad will come and ‘get me’?” My cousin’s fingers made quotation marks. “Sorry, but you and your friends don’t scare me.”

The redhead scowled and looked away sticking her nose in the air. “Heh, well you should be!” She glanced at her. “We can easily take you out.”

“Wanna bet!?”

Hastily, I grabbed Roxanne when she motioned to pounce on the redhead. “Don’t, Roxy!”

“But she’s asking for it!” Roxanne tried to push against me.

“I know, Roxy, but you can’t let her get to you this easily. So please, calm down.”

“How can you say that?” My cousin retorted, sounding somewhat betrayed. “Doesn’t she get to you?”

“Duh, of course she does. But I choose to ignore her because she’s not worth the effort.”

BRINGGGGG!!!!

“Good morning, guys!” Our teacher, Mrs. Allen, announced, grasping our interest. She stood in front of the table near her desk that had a few piles of novels on it. She greeted us with her friendly, wide smile. “I hope you’re all enjoying this fabulous mid-September morning. Anyway,” Mrs. Allen clasped her hands together, “Your essays are due today so come up and place both them and your novels on the table behind me. While you guys are doing that,” She picked up one pile of books, “I’ll pass out your new novels. Then, once that’s all taken care of, we’ll get started.”

The students moved around and obeyed her instructions.

“Okay,” I spoke up and eyed my irritated cousin, “I’m going to get up now. Can you calm down enough for me to do that so I don’t have to worry about you slugging Stephanie?”

Roxanne exhaled with aggravation and sat back down. “Yeah, not like I have a choice.” She glanced over at Mrs. Allen. “Not unless I want to get in huge trouble.”

“Good.” I gave an assertive nod and stood up with my novel and essay. “I’ll be back.”

“Wait, Ace!” Roxanne called out urgently. She handed me her paper and book. “Can you please hand those in for me?”

I rolled my eyes with a small grin. “Oh, alright.” I took them as her smile reappeared on her face.

“Thank you!”

“Sure.” I responded before heading towards the table. While doing so I glanced at my teacher as she went on handing out our new novels. She’s an older teacher; however even though she appeared old she was young on the inside. She had a lot of energy to burn for a woman of her age; I must say she’s one of my favorite teachers because of that.

Once I placed our papers and novels on the table I scurried back making my way through the crowd of students. When I sat back down Roxanne handed me the novels to pass down to the rest of our classmates.

“Thank you.”

“Not a problem, Ace.”

“Okay, guys!” Mrs. Allen called out once everyone had a book. She had taken her normal spot, sitting on the front table holding the novel in her hands. “Now let’s get started.”

BRING!!!

“Alright!” Mrs. Allen began as we all gathered up our things and stood up. “Make sure you all read chapter 2 for Monday so we can discuss it. That’s your only homework from me tonight.”

“Awesome!” Roxanne exclaimed happily and tossed her smile in my direction. “That’s one assignment I can easily knock off my list before school ends today.”

“No kidding.”

“Move it or loose it nimrods!” We heard Stephanie roughly demand from behind Roxanne. However, before we could even look back at her, the redhead had already stormed past my cousin, practically pushing her out of the way.

“Hey! What the hell, Steph?!” Roxanne hollered out as her fury came back in her voice.

Stephanie peered back and merely snorted. “That’s what you get for being slow.”

Roxanne and I scowled lowly as the redhead marched out of the classroom.

“That toothpick is really pushing it! Honestly, was I seriously that much in her way that she had to literally push me?!”

I shook my head. “No, not that I could tell.”

“I didn’t think so!” She agreed as we strolled out into the hall. “I swear,” Roxanne shook her fist down the hall, “one of these days my fist, Old Nancy, is going to knock that toothpick’s teeth right out and will be enjoying every minute of it.”

I sighed. “She really does need an attitude adjustment doesn’t she?”

“Pfft, that’s an understatement!”

I was about to reply when excited voices echoed throughout the hall as we made our way towards Roxanne’s locker. Peeking over towards the commotion, I noticed that a bunch of our classmates, majority of them girls, were herded near the opening that led to the hallway where the main school office was.

“Wow, wonder what’s going on over there?”

“Well,” Roxanne sighed out blankly, “there’s only one way to find out.” She made her way towards the group and I followed in pursuit.

“Oh wow, they look so cute!”

“They do and they haven’t even faced us yet!”

“Hey, they’re backs could look good but their faces could be an entirely different story.”

“True.”

“Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

“No kidding.”

I arched a brow as we made it to the group and did our best to look over their heads. There in the middle of hallway was our school principal with a five people, which I had assumed was a family. In front of the principal were two boys who appeared to be around our age, looked tall like around six feet and two inches tall and they both had black hair. However, one boy’s hair reached his shoulder blades and the other one had his hair spiked a bit, enough to make it look cool and not weird looking. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the other three because the two boys blocked my view.

“Oh, looks like we may have some newcomers.” I pointed out the obvious.

“Are you freaking kidding me?!”

My eyes darted towards my cousin, startled by her sudden outburst. Roxanne hardened her face and gestured her hand towards the crowd. “You mean to tell me all this commotion is because we’re getting some new students? Some of these people seriously need to get a life.”

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that.” I retorted softly. “Everyone’s just curious.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like we haven’t seen something like this before and they’re acting like it is. Not to mention it’s beyond creepy, I mean, imagine being in those guys’ shoes and having everyone watching you like you’re some sort of celebrity or something.”

“Hm.” I bobbled my head, seeing her point. “That is true.”

“Come on, Ace, let’s get going.” Roxanne insisted and waved her hand in disappointment at the crowd. “I don’t want to be part of this creeper crowd and the bell will ring soon and I want to get to our next class pronto.”

“What?” I peeked up at the clock and gasped. “Holy cow!” Darting down the hall, I called out to her in agreement. “Let’s go!”

“Hey! Wait up, Speedy!” Roxanne hollered out comically as she raced after me.

“Man!” Roxanne stretched out her arms once we got off of the bus. “I am so glad to be done for the day.”

“At least with school, you still have to go to work at the grocery store tonight right?” I asked her as we made our way home from the bus stop.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” My cousin eyed me curiously. “What about you? Are you working at the library again today?”

“Nope, but I will be working tomorrow.”

“Man, you to? The same time I imagine? From basically two until closing?”

“That’s right, I’m guessing yours is the same as mine?”

“Yup, that’s right. Damn whatever happened to those Saturdays that we just got up, watched Saturday morning cartoons and just played with our toys and games until sunset?”

“Yeah, those kid days went by just too darn fast.” I shrugged. “But this is the price of becoming adults.”

Roxanne snorted. “Yeah, yeah, I know I just wish it wasn’t so difficult all the time.”

I glanced down the street only to notice that we had arrived at the bottom of my driveway. “Oh didn’t realize we were already here.”

Roxanne and I take residence in one of the newer subdivision off of Markham in Eagle and we literally live on the same street. We both even live on the corner of our streets, only her house was three houses down from mine. I live in a light blue two-story house, with white windows, black shutters, and there were two little flower gardens under the front windows. Beside one of the flower bushes was a statue of a rabbit holding up a wheeled barrel filled with roses. Roxanne lives in a light gray ranch with white windows and white shutters; above her white garage door was a basketball hoop. Their yard wasn’t very decorated; it only had a line of bushes that went from the little front porch to Roxanne’s bedroom window.

“Hey.” Roxanne suddenly exclaimed. She caught my attention as she aimed her finger at my driveway. “Isn’t that your brother’s car?”

“Hm?” Peeking over at the driveway, I spotted a familiar silver, two door Hyundai Accent. “By golly, that is Luke’s car.”

“Good, so my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.” Roxanne commented comically in relief. She then tilted her head and raised a brow at me. “But why is your brother here?”

“Uh...um...oh!” The answer abruptly dawned on me. “That’s right! Mom and dad mentioned that he was going to be visiting so him and my dad could work on this new invention that Luke had been working on.”

“Oo, what type of invention?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. Dad didn’t go any further than that.”

“Oh, is it a secret invention, ya know one that involves,” She winked at me, “a little magic?”

I bobbled my head as I thought about it. “Could be, those are the only inventions Luke ever asks for help on.”

“I figured as much. Well?” Roxanne sighed and turned to face me slightly as I came to a stop at my driveway. “If you find anything out about it, fill me in on it. I am now very curious to know what that loony guy has been up to.”

“Yup, you know I will.”

She gave me one last nod. “Alright, see ya tomorrow.” Roxanne waved at me before she continued her way down the street to her own home.

As for me, I let out one huge sigh before I made my way up to the front door. Once I got up to the front door I took out my keys from my backpack, unlocked the door and went inside. I then used my back to shut the door behind me. Subconsciously, I glanced around my home.

The hallway had white walls and wood paneling. It also had brown and beige colored tiles that led into the dining room, the kitchen and the extra bathroom, which was on the left side of the dining room. In front of me was a fleet of stairs that led up to our bedrooms and one bathroom. Next to the stairs, which was on the left side of me, was the living room that had dark red carpeting, beige colored walls and wood paneling.

The right side of me was the coat closet and a door that led into my parents’ office. Between the office door and the opening that led into the dining room was another archway that went into the family room where our fireplace stood. There was also another archway in the dining room that led into the family room as well. Across from the dining room and right behind the stairs was a door that went into our basement, which my parents transformed half of it into a game room and the other half stayed as mom’s laundry, storage room and dad’s work area.

“Luke!” I called out as I made my way towards the dining room. I didn’t see him there but I saw his bags on the table. “Luke, where are you?” I hollered again while I hung my backpack on one of the chairs.

“Down here!” I heard a young male voice holler from downstairs.

I looked over towards the basement door to discover that it was slightly open. But before I could make my way towards the door a young twenty-one almost twenty-two year old man walked up the stairs. His height was about six feet and an inch tall. He also wasn’t a very big guy, but he wasn’t a toothpick either, Luke was the exact size for his height. His hair was dark brown and buzzed cut, his eyes were light blue and he wears glasses.

“Ah,” I met him with a smile and propped my hands on my hips, “hard at work already I see.”

“Well, not quite.” Luke aimed his thumb towards the basement door. “But I figured to get the workshop all set for when dad gets here so we can get right to work.”

My older brother, Luke Williams, is on his third year of college in Green Bay, Wisconsin and he is hoping to complete his degree to become an engineer or some type of inventor. However, in the meantime he’s been working as a waiter at a restaurant exclusively in the Green Bay area while also working on some inventions here and there. His inventions range from household items to weird contraptions that I don’t even know what they are supposed to be used for. But he’s a bit of a beginner so I guess it comes with the territory. He has also been on the dating scene these last two years, each year being a new girl and he just started dating a new girl recently two months ago. So we don’t see the guy as often, but when he does come home it’s usually for a couple days or so.

“Wait,” I furrowed a brow and pointed at him, “you were able to get into dad’s workshop? I thought dad was the only one that knew how to get in there?”

“He taught me how the last time I was here.”

“What? When?”

Luke shot me an odd look like it should have been obvious. “Uh, it was during my mini vacation here back in August, remember? We went to the State Fair during that time as well.”

“Huh? Oh! Oh, that’s right.” I gently bonked my head as it came back to me. “I almost forgot about that.” My eyebrow suddenly rose. “Really? It was during that time that dad taught you?”

“Yup, it was one of the days you went to the Maxwell Street Day festival in Mukwonago.”

“Oh, well that would make sense.”

I was silent for a moment before Luke abruptly clapped his hands as something dawned on him. “Oh what am I doing?” He questioned himself. “I should be giving you a more proper greeting.”

“Huh?”

However, before I could literally do anything, Luke grabbed me and gave me a nuggie. “Sister nuggie time!”

“AH! Luke!” I struggled and wiggled until he finally released me from his grasp. I sighed and rubbed the top of my head. “Argh, why must you always do that every time you visit?”

“Because it just doesn’t feel like home until I do that to you at least once.”

“Ugh, have you ever thought about just giving me a hug?”

“But that’s boring!” He complained lightheartedly. “Why would I give my favorite little sister just a regular, plain hug? Nuggies are much more meaningful, since who else would you give that to besides a sibling?”

“But hugs are what normal people do!”

“Pfft, normal what is that?” Luke gestured his hand towards himself. “Do I really look like someone who would do something normal people do?”

Crossing my arms, I grumbled. “Isn’t normal what we’re going for here?”

Luke gave me a quick eye roll. “Reggie, don’t compare this with that, since me wanting to give you a nuggie is a way different thing than that.”

“Hey, I’m just trying to figure out solutions to save my poor head from your fist.”

“Well, sorry to break it to you kiddo,” He gave me a smug look, “but that ain’t going to happen. I’m going to keep giving you that proper greeting until I can’t no more.”

I groaned, protecting my head with my hands, “Which will be never knowing you.”

“Yup.”

“Figured you’d say that.”

The sound of a car motor and the garage door opening caught our attention. Luke took a peek at the clock. “Mom must be home.”

“No doubt, but she’s usually home before I am.”

“Maybe she went shopping.”

Car doors opened and closed before the lock on the door knob turned and once it opened a middle aged woman walked in. My mom, Diana Williams, had short, dark brown hair that just touched her shoulder blades; she had chocolate brown eyes and wore glasses. She was my exact height and she still had her hourglass shape only it had become more voluptuous over the years. Also in her arms were two grocery bags, which Luke smirked at.

“Boy do I love being right.”

I merely rolled my eyes at his response.

“Hey, could you two give me a hand?” Mom desperately asked. She appeared to be struggling to get into the kitchen, which Luke and I took notice of. “I have a couple more bags in the car, so if you could kindly get them that would-”

She wasn’t able to finish her sentence as she tripped over the door stoop. Luke and I both gasped and thinking quick, Luke thrust his arms forward, causing mom and the bags to suddenly float in mid-air. Both Luke and I sighed in relief.

I tossed my brother a smile. “Good reflexes there, Luke.”

“Yeah, no kidding. But I must admit I didn’t think I would make it in time.” Carefully, Luke moved one of his hands forward and as a result mom was placed back on her feet. Then with his other hand, Luke moved the paper bags towards the kitchen counters and once they were placed safely on the counter tops he lowered his arms back down at his sides.

“You alright, mom?” Luke quizzed with concern.

It was mom’s turn to sigh in relief. “Yes, I am.” She readjusted herself and smiled at him. “You guys having those powers definitely comes in handy.”

“Heh.” With slight pride, Luke rolled his eyes. “You’ve been saying that since I was a kid.”

“And I’ll keep saying it, because it’s the truth!”

“Whatever floats your boat, mom.”

Yeah, that’s right. Luke isn’t exactly your typical person, well he has always been an oddball. But this certain trait most certainly separates him from the rest, my older brother...has powers. Yes I mean powers, stuff you read and see all the time in movies and in books, but never in a million years thought it would actually happen in reality. But I swear it’s the truth and my brother is living proof of it, although he’s not the only one.

The sound of another car door caught my attention as we looked over towards the garage door again. This time a man walked through the door with some grocery bags in his arms.

His face brightened up when his gaze fell upon us. “Ah, I see we’ve all assembled. Just like old times.”

“Dad.”

Yup, that man is my father, Jonathon Williams—John for short—, he was the same exact height and body type as Luke; the only difference was that he had chestnut hair. My dad and I look almost identical to one another; some of my relatives say that I’m like a feminine version of my father. The only thing I have from my mother is her eye color, nose and her figure. He too, has powers just like Luke.

“Honey,” Mom turned to face him, “please tell me you didn’t go shopping too?”

“No, I noticed the bags in the back of your car. So I figured to grab some, since it looks like you got a whole boat load of stuff.”

“Hey, I have to make sure we’re all stocked up for the week.” Mom defended as she grabbed the bags from dad. “I also wanted to make sure we had some healthy snacks for you two. I don’t want you two snacking on just sweets and chips when you start working on your inventions.”

“Aw, mom, come on those type of snacks keep us awake and thinking.” Luke joked.

“Well, so do fruits and vegetables.” Mom countered and started to unpack the bags. “But don’t worry I bought the ones that I know you guys will eat, along with some dips to go with them.”

“Good enough for me.” Dad came up behind mom and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Luke gasped and tried to sound betrayed. “Dad how could you!” He snapped his finger at him. “You are a kiss up!”

Dad gave him a smug smirk, playing along with Luke. “Yup, and darn proud of it.” He waved his finger at him. “Trust me when you get married you’ll learn real quick that being a kiss up sometimes has its benefits.”

“Pfft!” My brother waved his hand. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I’ve learned that just from exes and this current girlfriend.” He spread his hands. “I just felt like teasing.”

Dad, mom and I merely rolled our eyes in amusement.

“Anyway,” Dad aimed his thumb towards the door, “Let’s get the rest of the groceries.”

“Sure.” Luke was about to make his way towards the door only to have dad get there first. Hastily, he closed the big garage door, which caused the three of us to raise our eyebrows at him.

“Uh...why’d you do that?” I quizzed him.

“Hey, I have to keep our skills sharp somehow.”

“Skills sharp?”

“Oh!” Luke’s face lit up when something clicked in his mind. He smirked, “I see what you’re getting at.”

“Just be careful!” Whirling around, Mom propped her hands on her hips and eyed the two sternly. “I have eggs in one of those bags.”

“Don’t worry, mom, we know what we’re doing.”

Mom exhaled loudly. She then leaned against the kitchen sink with her arms crossed and I did the same, only I leaned against the wall near the basement door. We both watched the two as dad gave Luke his full attention.

“Will this be another movement exercise?”

Dad shook his head. “No, not this time. This time we’re going to do a summoning exercise.”

“Summoning? Can we actually do that without snatching a different set of bags?” Luke asked curiously with a hint of uncertainty. “I have done that before.”

“That’s because you didn’t have the right information to visualize it properly. As long as we have the information right it’ll be fine.” Dad assured and looked back at mom. “Diana, how many bags are left in the car and are they all paper bags?”

“There should be four more left and, yes, they are all paper.”

“Okay, then two for you and two for me.” Dad instructed and pointed at the dining room table. “You use the table and I’ll use the counter.”

“Alright.”

The two took their assigned spots, raised their hands over the table and counter top, they closed their eyes and began to concentrate. Dad looked like he was having a piece of cake with it, which is no surprise because he is by far more experienced than Luke. However, Luke appeared to be having some difficulty, but he must have been able to work it out because right when the bags began to appear on the counter so did the ones on the table. Then within a couple of seconds the grocery bags were standing solid in both areas.

“Did we get them all?” Luke asked breathlessly.

Dad glanced over at me, “Reggie, could you-”

“Yup, I’m on it.” I answered, knowing exactly what he was going to ask. I went out into the garage and inspected mom’s car to discover that all the bags were no longer there. Once I saw that I went back in and reported. “You got them all.”

“Excellent, and they are all accounted for.” Dad met Luke’s gaze and praised. “So I’d say that this exercise has successfully been completed.”

“Good, but I must say that took a bit for me.”

“Most likely because you don’t use that ability as much. That is why I wanted to do that this time.”

Luke bobbled his head in understanding. “Makes sense, but man I guess I should be keeping up with that, eh?”

“It’s not a need, but it would be a good idea to make sure you’re not rusty when you desperately need it.”

“Alright you two.” Mom intervened and ushered her hands towards the basement. “Now skedaddle outta here so Reggie and I can put the food away.”

Dad raised a brow at her. “You sure? Luke and I would be happy to assist you.”

“No, John, Reggie and I are perfectly capable of doing it. Besides, we can’t let you two do all the work around here. We, non-powered people, have to make it look like that we at least do something around this house.”

“Haha, alright as long as you are sure.” Dad then strolled over towards Luke and motioned him to go down to the basement. “Let’s get to work on this invention of yours.”

“Sure thing, it’s all set up in the workshop.” Luke informed as they disappeared down the stairs.

Mom sighed and began digging through the bags.“Alright, time to get to work on these.” She picked up her gaze to meet mine. “I’ll work on the counter bags and you put the ones on the table away.”

I nodded, “Sure thing.” As I began to pull out the food items, I couldn’t help but glance down the stairs.

Exhaling softly, I felt a little envious. Man, how did Luke get so fortunate to get that one unique trait from dad? Even though it’s a very unusual and unheard of trait, a trait that no one in our family has been able to explain, it still would be nice to have. To be able to move things around and summon objects...man Luke is really darn lucky.