threat2

Part 2

Nathalie whirled around. �Blaise!!� She exclaimed, eyes popping wide open. �What the hell is going on?�
Blaise took her arm and led her into the big room. She looked around in awe, feeling like she was in paradise, this was the one place that she had wanted to visit her whole life.

�I think you know.� Blaise said blond eyebrows raised.

�Where are we?� She asked, wide-eyed still, noticing that he did not move his lips, but first things first. �This looks like the set from The Tomorrow People.�

Blaise smiled. �Close. Not a set, but the real thing, the designers of the show took a few liberties.� He pointed up. �See, we don�t have those stupid chairs up there.�

She looked where he pointed. �I see that,� she said, still in shock. But, you-you mean that the ship is real? We�re inside an alien spaceship?�

�Yeah.�

Nathalie suddenly snapped back at him. �And I got here--�

Blaise cut her off, finishing her thought, the thought that she had in her mind, but couldn�t believe that it was true.� �You teleported.�

�Teleported?� She cried. �I teleported? Me? The Tomorrow People don�t exist, how could I have teleported?�
Blaise was shaking his head. �How can you explain how you got here then?�

Nathalie opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by another voice in her head. �She knows the truth, but she won�t let herself believe it for fear that this is all a dream.�

Nathalie�s mind reeled, that was exactly what she had been thinking.

She felt something in her mind, and there was a bright flash of red and white and a girl appeared, arms crossed over her chest, looking straight at her. She was tall and thin, built like a swimmer with muscular shoulders, and was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tank top, her short brown hair was pulled off of her face with a headband.
Nathalie sat down hard on the low wall around the center column. Reality sinking in, putting a hand to her forehead. Blaise moved to her side and put an arm around her shoulders, she anted to shake it off but let him, actually feeling a little comforted.

�She needed to see it.� Nathalie heard the girl say when Blaise gave her a dirty look.

Nathalie looked at her. �I guess I did, Julie.� The name was out before she even had a chance to think about it.

�Yes, Keery.� She said with a smile. �My name is Julie Andrews.�

�Like the actress?� Nathalie asked with a smug smile.

Julie narrowed her eyes, and Blaise snorted to which a cold blue gaze from the Auzzie and an amused one from the American was turned. �Yeah like the actress.� Nathalie suspected that she had heard that one before.

Julie seemed to shrug it off and her brows knitted together in confusion. �Why do people call you Keery anyway?�

�You seem to know so much about me, take a guess.� Nathalie said a little more clipped than she had intended, and she heart Blaise snort, trying not to laugh.

She�s fitting right in, she heard his thought.

Julie blanked, unable to come up with anything. Blaise looked at Nathalie with a slight smile. �Touch�.�

Julie glared at Blaise then turned to Nathalie. �I don�t know.�

�Wow!� Nathalie said, actually excited, her mood lifting a little. �I stumped a TP, you guys are called that right?�

Blaise nodded, blond hair falling into his eyes. He swiped at it with one hand. �Yes, we are.� There was an emphasis on �we� that made his point clear.

Nathalie looked at Julie. �My friends call me Keery because my last name is Ciarana.� She pronounced it �keer-anah.�

�Ah,� the Australian girl said. �It�s cool.�

�Thanks,� she said. She looked at Blaise, who had moved to one of the windows. �You knew that I would break out, didn�t you?�

�Yes,� he said. �I have for a long time, a couple of years actually. But I really knew when your headaches started, a few days ago.�

�That�s why you warned me.� She stated. �But why didn�t you tell me?�

�It�s not something you tell. Its for that person to find out on their own.�

Nathalie sensed something, it was a weird feeling to have her mind so open. �My bike?� When she said it she sensed something else and shot a look at Julie.

�If looks could kill,� she heard Blaise comment wryly.

�Shut up,� she snapped at him, then turned back to Julie. �You! You took my bike! Where is it?�

Julie smiled. �I�m impressed that you figured it out so quick.� She said. �Follow me.� She closed her eyes and teleported away.

�Julie!� Nathalie cried out loud, dismayed.

Blaise looked at her evenly. �Follow her.� He said simply.

�What?�

�You know how to do it even if you don�t think that you do.� Blaise said. �Just focus your mind, reach out until you sense where she is and teleport. Keep your focus though or you�ll end up back in the sea, though I�m guessing that you don�t want that and it might happen anyway.�

�Thanks for the vote of confidence.� She said and took a deep breath, her mind reeling. He was right though, if she focused her mind, she could sense Julie nearby, somewhere else in the ship. She could have walked, but she was as anxious to try out her powers as Blaise and Julie were anxious to see if she could do it.
She opened her eyes and looked at Blaise who was watching her curiously.

�I�ll show them.� She thought with such conviction that she broadcasted her thought to both Blaise and Julie.
She sensed what she had done and wanted to smack herself on the forehead. She saw Blaise smile, and heard Julie�s laugh in her mind, then felt her presence disappear.

Blaise smiled. �You shouldn�t provoke her like that. Julie is known for being testy.�

�And bitchy.�

�I heard that.�

They both chuckled for a moment.

�I bet she took my bike with her.� Nathalie said.

�No doubt.�

�Was taking my bike your idea or hers?� Nathalie asked coldly.

Blaise frowned. �Hers,� he said. �I had nothing to do with it. I tried to talk her out of it.�

�Good,� Nathalie said. �I know which one of you to dump in the sea, in the middle of shark infested waters.�

�Ouch.� Blaise cringed, sensing sincerity. �I warned her that there would be hell to pay.�

�Yeah,� She pulled her still sodden hair out of the collar of her leather jacket. When wet, her bright red ringlets hung nearly to her waist. She grabbed both lapels of her leather jacket and struggled to shrug her shoulders out so that she could get the sleeves off. It was stuck to her like a second skin.

Blaise made a small noise and moved to help her. He got it off of her shoulders and she pulled her arms from her sleeves and let the garment fall to the ground, leaving her clad only in her long sleeved tee shirt, jeans and sneakers.

�Thanks,� she said. �If I had let that dry, I would have needed to be cut out of it.� Her gaze locked with his for a moment, and she got the feeling that he was intrigued by that thought.

He broke the silence first. �No problem.� He said. �I think she�s getting impatient.�

Nathalie had the impression that he already knew where Julie was and was just waiting for Nathalie to make the first move. He had more practice after all.

�How do I-?� She asked, not finishing. She was drawing on her mental history of the show, but was coming up empty.

�Just focus harder,� Blaise said. �You have to reach out harder, but you could sense her anywhere in the world if you tried hard enough.�

Nathalie sighed. She closed her eyes and reached out. She located Julie, with some difficulty, feeling like she was fumbling about in a darkened room, and locked her mind onto that location. She felt a slight adrenaline rush as she concentrated and there was a sense of hyperawareness as she teleported consciously for the first time. It didn�t feel like much of anything, but nothing like she had thought that it would be like.

She reappeared on a small dark street, taking a step back as her awareness returned with a rush. She could see neon signs lining both sides, written in what she vaguely recognized as Japanese. Her gaze fell instantly on Julie, standing a few feet away in a pool of lamplight. She was leaning against the side of Nathalie�s motorcycle, the trademark red and black Ducati paint job slightly faded by sandy dust. Julie had a pleased smile on her face.

�Good job.� Julie said with a broad smile. �Thought you�d end up in the sea a few times before you made it.

Nathalie ignored her, but moved quickly and knelt beside her bike. She brushed the sand off with her hands and examined the engine with a practiced eye. �Keys,� she demanded, holding her hand out.

Julie reached in her pocket and pulled out the keys in question, handing them over.

Nathalie turned the key and hit the ignition switch. The bike sputtered and coughed. Nathalie turned it off before the sand clogged gears could damage themselves.

�Damn� she said. �I�m gonna have to take it home and clean out everything.� She turned an angry scowl up at Julie. �Was it running when you teleported it to the ship?�

Julie frowned, thinking. �I think I might have been, why?�

�The air filter is full of sand, and some of it made it through to the engine.� She said angrily.

Nathalie felt a flood of guilt come from her. �I�m sorry,� Julie said. �When I took it, it was only a matter of looking out for you. We didn�t want it ruined if you broke out while you were riding.�

Nathalie felt some anger dissipate and looked up at her a little calmer this time. �That�s alright.� She said, �I just have to clean it out.�

Julie crouched beside her, one knee letting out a large crack, making both laugh a little, effectively breaking the tension. �Can I help you? I know a little bit about motorcycles. It would only be fair.�

Nathalie looked startled. �Do you know how to clean out sand?�

�I grew up on the Sunshine Coast in Australia. Sand is everywhere.� She said sweeping her arms wide. �Yeah, I learned a few things about it.�

�Sure,� Nathalie said. �It would be a fit penance."

Julie smiled and Nathalie looked around the street, noting again the Asian script on everything.

�Where are we anyway?�

�Tokyo, though not exactly the best part,� Julie said. �Sorry again, Nathalie. It was my idea to take the bike, but I didn�t intend for it to get messed up.�

Nathalie�s answer was cut off by Blaise�s voice in her head.

�Cat fight over?� He asked, his telepathic voice was smug. She could sense that he was still in the ship, arms crossed, facing one of the windows, eyes closed.

Nathalie focused her mind. �Sorry to burst you bubble, but there wasn�t one.�

Blaise laughed and kept laughing as he appeared in front of them, and opened his tawny eyes to regard Nathalie with pride. �You did very well Keery.�

�Thanks.� Nathalie said, standing and dusting off the knees of her jeans.

�Bike okay?�

�A little sand clogged, but it�ll clean it out.� Nathalie said. �Julie�s gonna help me as punishment.�

�Whatever,� Blaise said shooting a meaningful glance at Julie.

Nathalie looked at the two. �I am gonna take my bike home and get changed, then I�ll meet you back in the ship in a little while.�

�Be careful,� Blaise said taking one hand and squeezing it. �Try to teleport out of sight okay, we�ll explain later.�
Nathalie was a little startled at his caution, though it made sense. �Oh, okay.� She said. She reached over and took hold of one of the handlebars and concentrated, teleporting herself and her bike home to her family�s garage, right next to Jake�s bike. She looked out the window of the closed door and saw her father�s car parked in the driveway but her mother�s car was not there, still at work probably. She grabbed her keys and waded her way through the junk in the garage to the side door of their ranch-style house. She kicked off her sodden Reeboks and socks and mounted the three steps to the door. She looked trough the door, hoping that the kitchen would be deserted so that she could get to her bedroom without running into anyone and having to explain herself.

No such luck, her dad was cooking dinner. Adrian Ciarana was a professional chef, and had spent practically every working hour either in their kitchen at home or in his restaurant downtown. The tantalizing smell of cooking Chinese food made her mouth start to water.

Nathalie sighed, realizing that she could just teleport to her room, but remembering Blaise�s warning, but also realizing that she didn�t want to take the chance that her twin brother Jake would see her. She squared her shoulders, and pulled at her damp shirt as she opened the door and stepped inside. Her father turned upon hearing the door and smiled at her. Then, as he got a good look at her and noticed the state of her clothes and hair, his smile faded.

�Nathalie! What happened? You go swimming without taking a swimsuit?� He asked, red eyebrows raised high over his blue eyes.

�Kinda,� she said looking down at her clinging and sand spotted clothes. �I gotta go change.�

�Yeah,� her father said running a hand through his short red hair. While their features were similar and both had curly hair, Nathalie had gotten her coloring from her father, while Jake had gotten his dark hair and dark eyes from their mother.

Nathalie started heading through the hallway, half-listening to her father�s advice about not swimming in May. She made her way to her room with her jeans tucked up as high as she could so that she didn�t drag sand along the runner.

Her brother�s door was open, and she saw him sitting on the couch that he had sitting under his window. An open book lay unread on his lap and his television cast lights over his sleeping face in the almost dark room.
Nathalie turned around and walked into her room. The walls were white and the d�cor was navy, white, and gold and had decorations of suns and moons.

How lame, she thought softly to keep her thoughts to herself. Yeah Dad, I went swimming with my clothes on�in the South Pacific when I teleported to meet my best friend and an Auzzie brat who stole my motorcycle.
Nathalie trudged into the bathroom and closed the door. She stared at her reflection, looking for some change in her body that reflected the changes in her mind. She felt older, but didn�t see anything different. She stripped off her sodden clothes, leaving them in a sandy pile next to the door and stepped under a hot shower.

She took a long time scrubbing off the sand and salt. Once she was thoroughly clean to her satisfaction, she stepped out, wrapped a towel around her body and padded back to her room, her feet leaving wet footprints on the runner. Her brother was still seated at his couch, but the book had been closed and lay beside him on the seat. He was awake, the remote control under his hand, and was staring at her with interest, as if waiting for something to happen to her.

�You are such a perv,� Nathalie said with a smile, knowing that there was no way that he was interested in her in that way.

�Nice,� Jake said with a nasty smile and turned back to the television.

Nathalie turned around and walked into her room. She dressed quickly then sat down onto her bed to brush her hair.

                                                                           * * *

To Nathalie, Jake seemed like he was sleeping on his couch, but he was really keeping his mind tuned to his sister. He had heard her enter the house, make a lame excuse to their father about why she was wet and sandy, then he had the presence of mind to pretend to be sleeping when she passed, so that she would not think anything was going on.

He had sensed the headaches that she had been having for the past few days, every one of them. They had been connected long before they had broken out, forever they had been able to feel everything that the other had gone through. But Jake had broken out long before Nathalie, though he was younger, nearly two years earlier, in fact.
And she had broken out today, that much made apparent by her sandy, sodden clothing.   He was a Tomorrow Person, but not the kind of TP that Nathalie was. He was a Dark, she was a Light. The kind of TP that a person became depended on their personality and mentality in their life before they had broken out.

Though they had always been connected, Jake had managed to hide his new powers from his sister, knowing that she would break out eventually. Jake and Nathalie, though they had been born only a few minutes apart, Nathalie a few minutes before midnight on New Year�s Eve, Jake a few minutes after on New Year�s Day, they couldn�t be more different people, despite their similarities that came from being twins. Nathalie had been shy and academic, while Jake had been the opposite. He had been the bully in Junior High and the jerky jock in High School. Nathalie had been on the swim team and the synchronized swimming teams, Jake had been the cheerleading bimbo dating football player.

Nathalie slipped into the bathroom and Jake decided that he really wanted to check on her. When she had come home, he had not heard the engine of her motorcycle, which meant that she had teleported, even though his mind had told him the same thing. He checked with his mind to make sure that she was occupied, in the shower, then teleported to the garage. Her bike was sitting in the middle of the sea of junk and spare parts, next to his. Its normally clean red finish was covered in sand. The bike was dry, no seawater, which meant that she had not been riding it when she �ported, but somehow it had ended up somewhere tropical for the sand was white, mixed with black volcanic sand, not the darker fresh water sand around their home. He had known that the ship was in a tropical location, but not exactly where and it ws his duty to find out.

Jake reached out and touched the bike.

While he was not truly precognitive in the strictest sense of the word, he did have the ability to see images of what had happened to a person or an object in the recent past. He saw flashed across his mind�s eye of his sister and that annoying Blaise Kensington, then of someone wearing a full faced helmet, jury-rigging the Ducati. �Andrews,� he hissed identifying the thief. �She took the bike out of concern for Nathalie. How sweet.�

He closed his eyes again and concentrated on the bike. He saw Andrews drive away with, with Nathalie in pursuit until she had seen Nathalie teleport in the middle of the deserted street collapsed to her knees. Then, Andrews had stopped the bike, pulled into an alley and �ported to the ship, where it had sucked in all the sand that he could see caked into the filter and gears, before she had shut it off. Then there had been a time where nothing had happened to the bike until Andrews returned to the room and teleported the bike to�he concentrated, Japan.

Damn, he thought. No hint on where the ship is.

He had been working hard for the past two years trying to find out the location of the Light�s ship, a closely guarded secret even by hybrids like Morgan, able to go to both ships without any effect on their powers.

Jake�s head snapped up as he sensed Nathalie finish her shower. Quickly, he teleported back to his room, just in time for Nathalie to walk by, one towel around her body, another around her head.

His eyes followed her as she walked, his mind in tune with hers, waiting for something to happen, hoping that she would not discover what he was just yet.

She obviously took his interest differently. �You are such a perv.� She said.

�Nice,� he said, and she walked into her room and shut the door.

She could be so immature sometimes.

But he could sense a change in her, a sudden maturity in her with the emergence of her powers, which reminded him that she was no longer the same old, ordinary, boring Nathalie.

Things are different now. He thought to himself. Thing is, how different?

                                                                            * * *

Nathalie was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair when Julie teleported into the room. Nathalie yelped in surprise and curled up into a little ball in the middle of her bed. She sighed and hurried to close the door so that her brother or father wouldn�t see. �Don�t do that!� She hissed. �What are you doing here.�

�We need you to come back to the ship so that we can explain a few things.� Se said softly, with an urgency that left Nathalie confused.

�Fine, sure, no problem.� Nathalie said. �Go, I have to say goodbye to my dad. I can�t just teleport out of my room.�

�Ten minutes.�

�Yes sir.� Nathalie said with a mock-salute.

Julie smiled, but it was strained and the Auzzie teleported out again.

Nathalie sighed. �Give me some warning next time.� She broadcasted to Julie inevitably. She heard the Auzzie laugh as she left the room.

She walked into the kitchen and found her brother and father sitting at the table eating dinner. Her father had a flourish for the dramatic and so every night they had a table cloth and candles, and the plates were always arrayed just right, exactly as he did at the restaurant. Makes more dishes to wash. Nathalie thought with a smirk.

�Sit, eat.� Jake motioned to her to sit.

�I gotta go,� Nathalie said. �I promised Caitlyn that I would meet her at the mall.� Easy story, the mall was only a few blocks away and Caitlyn worked at one of the little boutiques, so she would be there anyway even if Nathalie had no intention of meeting her.

Her father looked up at her through a short curtain of copper and auburn. �Be home by midnight.� He said, gesturing with a fork..

Nathalie smiled. �Yes Daddy.� She said, kissing him on the cheek.

Jake mimicked her. �Yes Daddy.� Nathalie rolled her eyes and walked out the back door. Her eyes drifted over her bike and she let out a small sigh. The repairs would only take a day or so, but she had to find that time.
Nathalie walked through the little side door so that she didn�t have to lumber open the big door. She looked back at the living room window to see her brother watching her like a hawk, acting like he was waiting for her to do something. She got the strange feeling that he was waiting for her to use her powers out in the open, but that was impossible, he didn�t know about her powers, unless�

She shook her head, not ready to entertain those thoughts. No, he�s not a TP. She thought firmly.

Nathalie stuck her tongue out at him, making faces. When it came to younger brothers, even twin brothers, maturity went out the window. He didn�t respond, and instead, he watched her as she walked across the street and moved out of sight of the house. Once she was sure that she as out of sight, she ducked into the shadows under a tree and looked around before she teleported to the ship.

                                                                               * * *

Jake looked after his sister. Teleport, damn it. He thought, I know you can. He knew her well, he knew that she had broken out, but he also knew that she wasn�t stupid enough to teleport out in the open, he hoped anyway. He had sensed that she was breaking out for the last few days, but had had expected for her to �port way earlier than today.

Jake closed his eyes. �She�s out.� He said silently.

��Bout damn time.� A voice said in his head that he recognized as Christopher Murray. �The beacon of the goody-goody ship is either weaker than we thought, or your sister is just taking way too long to show her true colors, or she�s just a weak TP.� He seemed to favor the third choice.

�She�s not weak,� Jake said. �I can feel that she just took a long time to break out.�

�She might be trouble, but just remember the prophecy.� Christopher said.

�The ones born on the cusp of the new year, one dark one light will unite together or destroy each other taking the world with them, blah, blah, blah.� Jake quoted for the millionth time. �Yeah, Chris, I know.�

�Do you?� Christopher said, then left Jake alone, leaving the words hanging between them.

Do I? He thought. They had both been born on either side of the new year, he was a Dark, she was a Light, Tomorrow People, determined by their nature, some teleporting to one ship, some to another. Two poles expected to fight for domination until the end of time.

But, Jake thought. Will we unite, or will we destroy each other?