Lys nodded then closed her eyes for a minute. "Go!" she said before starting to count to a hundred. Raye stepped over the stick and then began to carefully walk around in the area. After closer inspection, Ty realized that her movement was limited by forcefields unpredictably placed within the area. Slowly but surely, she made her way through the invisible labyrinth, and Lys had only gotten up to 87.
"Yes! That was awesome!" She celebrated by giving Lys a bear hug.
"Whatever! You used up most of the time to get out. It's not that impressive."
"So you think you can do better?"
"I bet I can do it in half your time."
"You sure about that? Just because I make it look easy, doesn't mean you can do it."
"Lys, set up the maze!"
"Okay."
"So, what happens when you lose?" Raye challenged.
"'If I lose, I go along with whatever you want for a week."
"You already do that!"
"Without complaining."
"That should be how you always do it."
"And I refer to you as 'Queen of Awesomeness', and talk about myself in the third person, with the title of 'Dumb-ass Supreme'."
"... I could live with that."
"And when I win."
"If!"
"The same thing goes for me, except I want to be known as 'His Ty-jesty'."
"Deal!"
"It's ready!" Lys yelled.
"Let's do this!" With that he ran in. His trek was considerably bumpier than his sister's, but he somehow managed to get out a few seconds before her. "Haha. Yes! I'm in charge now."
"I don't know. You said you could do it in half my time, and that definitely wasn't half."
"Does that really matter? I still beat you!"
"Yeah, but we had terms, you can't just change them so they benefit you."
"I'm not changing anything! And besides, I would have finished in half the time if it was the same maze, but it wasn't now was it."
"It's true, his maze was a bit different. Should I redo yours?"
"No, I have a better idea. Can you make the same maze twice if I make your space bigger?"
"I don't know. I could give it a try."
"Okay, if you can do it here's what we'll do. You make two mazes that are exactly the same and we'll run through it at the same time. Whoever makes it out first, regardless of how long it took, so you won't have to count for this one, is the official winner of this bet."
"Sounds good to me." Ty acquiesces.
"Just give me a bit." Lys says.
20 minutes later Lys was ready. The siblings had spent this time creatively insulting each other. The new words she learned from them amused Lys.
"OK, are you guys ready?"
"Always!"
"Obviously!"
"Then ... Go!" It was a good thing Lys didn't have to keep count for this round because the sibling's antics would have thrown her off innumerable times. During their trek, they would take the time to make faces at each other, or call out more catty insults, perhaps in a bid to throw of concentration. It took about a good five minutes before they made it out, racked in laughter at surprisingly the same time, seemingly forgetting about their wager.
"Hey, what are you guys doing?" a boy slightly younger than Lys asked.
"Just playing 'Ghost Maze'. I just made it up!" Raye explained proudly.
"Can I play too?"
The three of them looked at each other before nodding. "Sure. What would you like to do?" Raye asked
"Can I make a maze?"
"Do you know how?" Lys responded
"No, but I can learn it."
"Sure, I'll show you."
"Kay, New Rules!" Raye suddenly exclaimed. "Once the little guy,..."
"Cove."
"Cove, learns how to make mazes, this is how we'll play it. We break up into teams. One Classic per Telekinetic. Each Classic will run in the maze of the opposing Telekinetic, and the faster Classic wins for the team. No locking contestants in deliberately, and no tampering with other mazes. You can make obstacles, but only three inches high. More rules will be added as needed. You guys game?"
Everyone agreed to these terms, and Cove picked up the method pretty fast. Their first round was boys vs girls, with a clear victory for the girls. Naturally, Ty wanted a rematch.
"Clearly you had an advantage."
"Oh, this ought to be good. How did I have an advantage?" She asked derisively.
"Well, I had to run through Lys' Maze, who had plenty of time to master this, while you ran through Cove's, who literally just learned how to make one. No offense, man."
"That's cool."
"I hardly think the hour she's been making walls counts as that much more experience than his."
"Oh, but the quarter month is such a big difference."
"Yes it is! Why are we even talking about this?! Whatever, we can switch partners if you really want to."
"I do!"
"Then let's do it!" They spent a while, switching teams and running around before more people joined them, including Tilda. The next forty-five minutes were spent in a tournament of 'Ghost Maze', and Ty 'inexplicably' wound up in a team with Tilda. Surprisingly, this did not impede on his performance, and he did pretty well for himself throughout. A girl they didn't know the name of wound up winning the final tournament. As she celebrated with her teammate, people slowly started dispersing, but everyone expressed their desire to have a tournament again. As Lys and the siblings walked home—Raye denying involvement with how her brother was paired up—they unexpectedly ran into Mia, who had a look of excitement on her face.
"Hey sis, what are you doing out here?" Ty questioned.
"Well, shortly after you guys left, Rosie told me to go out to the recruiting place again and ask if they have a position open for me. So, I went there and almost got mad at her, because the place seemed to be closed already, but then I saw some old guy who asked me what my name was. When I told him, he immediately asked me to become his apprentice! Apparently a random clairvoyant had told him his perfect apprentice would be called 'Mia', and another one told him to find me there. I'm going to become a Welder!" Mia's siblings showered her with congratulations and squeezes. Lys smiled at their antics. Yet, somehow she was left with a feeling of restlessness.
Chapter 5
The following week grew tedious. Every morning, Mason and Mia would go to their respective occupations and return with some kind of food. Most days Mason would also bring some books home. During the day, the 'younger' children would explore the town with the guidance of Tilda, which was arguably both a blessing and a curse for Ty. Usually, Rosie would opt to stay at home. Since Mia had found an occupation, Rosie had only went outside once, and that was because she wanted to see the 'Ghost Maze' tournament for herself. The tournaments had soon caught on as a nightly occurrence. One large game tended to be played before everyone would head home. Sometimes, Raye chose not to directly participate, and just acted as a referee.
"I pretty much invented the game, so if anyone should make a call it's me." she had said in explanation. Ty himself never missed a game, particularly because Tilda usually wound up being partnered with him. Although he wasn't confident enough to engage in a natural conversation with her, he never backed down from proving himself a valuable ally at 'Mazing'. As for Lys herself, she was restless. True she didn't feel quite as anxious to do something as she had a few days ago, yet she did feel a tad unsatisfied—which was only exacerbated by the almost constant hum in her mind. Maybe she was feeling a tad greedy, as she had little to nothing to do back at the Haven, and now with all these opportunities she had a constant need to do something. The tours around the town hardly entertained her, and although she loved 'Mazing', the tournaments were only so long. What was worse, is that she had no idea who to talk to about this. She didn't want to burden Rosie, who already had enough problems with the Clairvoyants pressuring her into joining them. As grateful as she was to Mia for taking her in, she wa
s still a bit intimidated by her. The other two siblings were more approachable, but they wouldn't understand, as they were quite content with having no responsibilities. She had even tried discussing the strange humming sensation with other shore children, but they had no idea what she was referring to.
“Do you mean the General Pull?” a telepathic boy had thought at her. “I think all the natives can sense that. Perhaps the Amps are more sensitive towards it than others, but I believe that's a very common experience.”
“No, I mean it's similar.” Lys said out loud, not quite used to just thinking at someone yet. “But it feels a little...Louder? But not really loud. The Pull is like something that happens with us without thinking. Like breathing, or the way your heart beats. And you know sometimes that's a bit stronger or more noticeable, like when you are out of breath after running for a long time or something like that. That's what the Pull is like when we are close to the Power Core.”
“Indeed.”
“But the thing I'm describing, it feels....Honestly the way it feels when you think at me, except without words. Or even feelings, just...Just something inside me seems to try to remind me of something. But it's...Something I never heard of? Do you know anybody that feels like that too?”
“...I don't think so. May I dive in a bit further? Perhaps there's an old memory about your parents, or something, being reawakened by returning here. That's also a common occurrence with Shore Children.” He pointed at her forehead as his thoughts entered her mind.
“I...Maybe? I hadn't really thought about finding my family since I got here...Sure go ahead.” She responded. The boy nodded as he closed his eyes, readying himself to have a deeper look at Lys' subconscious. After a few seconds he grimaced and opened his eyes again.
“Odd.” His thought once more entered her mind. “I can't really find anything unusual in there. Or, I at least can't find anything that sounds like what you were describing.”
“Are you sure? Not even a little?”
“I'm sorry, I saw some of your older memories, but they didn't seem any different than any other I'd observed. And frankly, I'm still not sure what I should be looking for. But I think I can show you what your mother looked like.”
“That's okay, Imyd. I'm sorry for holding you up.” she said in defeat, as she walked away. Reaching out to somebody outside of her core group had not helped her. She had considered going to Mason, however, he just seemed to be exhausted all the time, much to the amusement of Mia.
"Perhaps, you would like to switch occupations? I'm sure working with open flames to make heavy objects sounds quite refreshing to you, compared to the arduous task of turning pages."
"For that to work, you would have to learn how to read, and I would have to learn welding. Which would be a substantial waste of time."
"In my defense I do know a bit of the basics, which is more than I could say for you."
"Well I did fix a car. Welding couldn't be that much harder."
"A yes. This 'car' thing. I think I remember you mentioning that back in the ruins. You were so caught up in finding that relic, you missed our escape."
"Yeah, thanks for not trying to find me."
"Hey, you freed Lys, right? It all worked out, didn't it?"
Mason just rolled his eyes jovially, causing the others to giggle, or in Rosie's case smile slightly.
"Are you guys fighting? Are you breaking up?" Raye and Ty asked simultaneously.
"Can't break up what never was, babe." Mia answered with a wink as she set down their finished dinner.
"So, once I turn eighteen, I was thinking of getting an occupation as a cheese-maker. What do you guys think?" Ty brought up.
"If you became a cheese-maker, no one would ever have cheese again." Raye quipped.
"Are you saying, I can't do it?"
"No, I'm saying you'd eat it all yourself."
"And you wouldn't, smart-ass?"
"I never said that, dumb-ass."
"If you two could read, I'd lend you a book on cheese making I cataloged a few days ago. It's a bit of a dull read, but I'm sure it would have some value if you're really interested in being a cheese-monger."
The two blinked dully. "There's a book about cheese?" Raye asked confusedly.
"What's a 'cheese-monger'?" Ty added.
"Never mind." Mason answered. Mia laughed at this conversation.
"Oh I almost forgot, I've heard some news about the outer limits." Raye announced.
"Outer limits?" Mia asked.
"Hey, how come I didn't know about this?" Ty complained.
"Because all you ever do when we go out, is stare at Tilda, like a creep."
"Shut up. That's not true."
"Whatever. So, the outer limits is what they call the farthest areas of Gentry. Basically, all the surrounding towns that touch the forcefield. Anyway, apparently something exciting is happening there."
"Exciting how?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems people are going to the surface again for some reason."
When she said this Lys, who had not heard this rumor either, was distracted by a small gasp beside her. She turned to see Rosie shiver for a second.
"Are you alright?" She whispered to her.
Rosie just nodded, but avoided looking at her. Lys noticed that Mia seemed to be aware of Rosie's behavior as well. Her suspicions were all but confirmed, when the older girl rushed them out after dinner.
"Don't want to keep Spellbinder waiting, right Ty."
"It's Soulbinder." he muttered as he quickened his steps, Raye giddily following behind. Lys tagged behind slowly, all kinds of thoughts swimming in her mind. She wasn't used to being left out of the loop, when Rosie had a premonition. Yet, she didn't want to upset her by confronting her either. She knew her friend was under a lot of stress from the Clairvoyant's, and if whatever was happening in the outer limit's was giving her grief, she didn't want to add to it by drilling her about it. Besides, she was sure she would tell her eventually. Or so she hoped.
Chapter 6
The following day, Rosie still hadn't told Lys anything. But she noticed that Mia quickly changed the subject when Ty brought up the Outer Limits. Clearly, she was in the know. Lys tried not to feel hurt, yet she couldn't quite hide the fact that Rosie excluding her left a sour impression. If she was aware of how much her choice was affecting Lys, she didn't let on. However, she seemed quieter than usual, which could be interpreted as guilt. For the time being she decided to not pursue her friend for an answer, however, she wasn't sure how to approach her anymore. So, she decided to avoid talking to her altogether.
"Hey, are you coming or not?" Raye suddenly burst into her train of thought.
"Uhm, I think I'm going to stay. I don't really feel like exploring today."
"Cool. But you're coming to the center to Maze with us right?"
"Probably, but if I don't make it ask Cove to partner with you."
"Not Cove! His mazes are always stupid hard!" Ty protested.
"Then don't challenge us, dumb-ass."
"OK, you can just ..." their bickering continued as they left for the day. Shortly after, Mia got up to leave as well.
"Make sure he eats." was all she said as she left for her occupation. Although this would have been the perfect opportunity to corner Rosie, she still hesitated. Perhaps the fact that her friend didn't readily divulge the information was making her hesitate. Lys decided to focus on something that didn't confuse her, and prepared some breakfast for Mason. The boy had taken to spending most of his time in the bathroom, as it was the only other room in their home. His occupation sometimes had him staying up all night, which required the extensive use of light. Seeing as the others still enjoyed sleeping, he had no other choice than retiring to the bathroom. When she opened the door, she was not even surprised to see him asleep on a stack of books.
"You know, you could keep a pillow, or something, in here." She said perhaps for the fourth time.
"This place is cluttered enough as i
t is." He sighed as he awakened. Lys always appreciated how easily he awakened, particularly now that the way he tensed up before was steadily decreasing.
"Mia wanted you to eat something."
"Thanks." he said as he took the plate from her, and went back to reading the book that had remained in his hand. Lys twisted her heels, in order to dissipate the awkwardness. Finally, the boy realized that she hadn't left.
"Do you need the room?"
"No, I was just wondering ... How do you do it?"
"What, read?" she nodded swiftly. "I don't know what to say. It's simple conceptually, but harder in practice. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes easier." She scrunched her nose as she tried to work through his sentence. He sighed and beckoned her to himself. "Take a look at this." he said once she had reached him. "These markings are called letters. When you put them together, they represent words. Reading is mostly just making sense of the markings. Do you understand?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good girl. Wait a sec." he said before rummaging around in his pile. After a minute, he returned with a scrap of paper and a writing device. "So remember when we first got here? And they wrote your name?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so this is what it looked like." he said as he wrote 'LYS' on the paper. "Okay, so each of these markings, well they're called letters, make a different sound." he said as he pointed towards the individual letters. "Sometimes the sound changes based on the letters surrounding it. Luckily, your name is simple so this will be easier to explain." The girl scowled at this. "I didn't mean any offense. Whatever,... Here; This letter is called an 'L'. This letter rarely sounds different which is the case with your name." He looked towards her to ensure she was following. "Next, we have a 'Y', which can sound like 'ee' or 'yo'. In our case it's 'ee'." Lys nodded in understanding. "Finally, we have the 'S'. It can sound very different when combined with one or two letters, but in most cases it just has a hissing sound. So which one do you think is the case for your name?"
She quietly sounded it out before bursting into a smile. "The hissing sound!"
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