A second glance at his unconscious mother, halted this train of thought. What mattered right now wasn’t figuring out who did it. It was the other’s in his family. Cursing himself for the delay, he used his phone to reach out to his sister. There was no answer. Idiot!. Alan berated himself, she was in school, and sent her a message instead. Luckily she responded quickly.
“Alice, has anyone tried to approach you or talk to you today?”
“No.I’ve been in school all day. Everything ok?”
“No.” “Yes.” “Just come straight home after school?”
“Why?”
“Too long to explain. Actually, I’m just going to pick you up from school. Got it?”
“Sure, but what’s going on?”
“Just do it ok. TTYL”
“Ok”
Alan called his Father, Brother, and sister-in-law in short succession, having similar conversations. Giving them instructions to go to the pod center and stay there till he got there. Only briefly mentioning to each they may be in some danger, and he’d explain everything later. He didn’t have the heart to mention his mother. That would happen in time.
He checked on his mother noticing her breathing had evened out, before making one final call to Shelley. He only paused briefly, dismissing the errant thought that she or her father had anything to do with his mother.
Unlike his family, She’d demanded more information when he requested a security detail to come to his home. Glancing down at his ring, he remembered his connection to Cosmos and their heightened vigilance. He shared that his mother had been acting strangely, and she was now unconscious. She promised to send over a group immediately.
Despite Shelley living in a completely different city. Her family’s connections had her in contact with some local security firm, who had a medic on hand that arrived at Alan’s house within an hour. The 5 man team didn’t argue with Alan, when he instructed them to go to the pod center with his mother, and not the hospital. They did insist that a pair of them accompany him to his sister's school.
Checking the time Alan’s hands trembled. Alice hadn’t responded to any of his texts or calls. The high school had released students 10 minutes earlier when they finally pulled up to the red brick building. Frantically scanning the front facade, his heart sank when he didn’t see her waiting at her usual place. He did, however, see her best friend Janice, standing in a group near the entrance. Half holding himself from literally jumping out, Alan rushed out of the car. Janice gave him a look of surprise, apparently not expecting him to appear in the luxury sedan.
“Janice, have you seen Alice?” He tried to keep his voice calm as he spoke to her. “I was supposed to meet here after school, but was running late.”
“Hey Alan, yeah she was going to be right out, but she needed to grab a few things from her locker. You know, you kind of freaked her out with all those weird texts.” She seemed to just notice the other two intimidating security guards also step out of the car. “Is everything ok?”
“Sorry Jan, but it's a family emergency. She should be back by now, right?” Jan nodded with concern. “Where’s her locker?”
Moving quickly, Alan and his two friends moved quickly toward his sister’s locker. He’d felt bizarrely out of place in the school he used to find so familiar. Turning the corner toward the hallway where her locker was, Alan saw only a few lingering students and no sign of his sister. Except, his steps quickened, a single locker eerily left half ajar. He was about to order the guards to split up to look for her, when he heard the sound of distinct steps coming from the classroom across from her locker.
Alan didn't know exactly how he knew. Perhaps it was the expensive patent leather shoes clapping on the cheap school linoleum, or maybe it was the sudden sharp scent of exotic cologne. Yet, Alan could only imagine one person who fit that image.
“Hola, Alan.” a familiar Spanish Castilian accent wafted across the hallway. “It’s so good to finally meet you in the flesh.” Carmen stood just outside the classroom door, dressed in white suit and a contrasting scarlet dress shirt underneath. “I’d hoped to have heard from your mother by now. But it seems her confidence in convincing was highly overrated. It is of no concern. I’d much rather do business directly with you instead, mano y mano.” He smoothed his pencil mustache as a pair of bodyguards moved to flank him. One of which looked as though he’d been hit by a two by four.
“Where’s my sister?”
“Such a beautiful carnation, such as her, must be treated gently. She’s just inside the classroom in perfect condition. Unfortunately she’d gotten into a bit of a fight here at school, so she’s in (what do you call the word in english?) detention” The bodyguard with the bruising sneered.
“Why don’t you come inside, Alan. You two can leave.” Alan’s mind began to grow foggy for a brief moment, before he felt a natural resistance inside of himself push back. Similar to the battle he’d had with the bug queen. Not unexpectedly, the pair from the security team turned around and walked away at Carmen's orders. For a moment, Alan wanted to lunge at Carmen, but thoughts of his sister kept him in check. Instead of fighting, he started to walk forward. The scent of cologne stinging his nose, as he passed by the Spaniard.
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Crossing the threshold into the classroom, he at once noticed his sister. She stood calmly in front of a white board meticulously writing, ‘I will not fight in the school.’
“Alice, are you ok?”
She didn’t even turn around, but only responded in a subdued voice. “I’m learning a very important lesson right now, please don’t bother me.” The unsettling behavior aside, it appeared she was uninjured. As he was about to move toward her
As he was about to move toward her, he received another direction. “Alan, no interfering with Alice’s punishment. Sit down so we can finish our business.” Again, Alan felt the compulsion once again. This time, slightly stronger. It was weird, he thought. The compulsion should have gotten weaker, as his mind adapted to the attempts. He continued forward, sitting down, as his mind raced to figure out how to free his sister.
“Alan, I appreciate your foresight and tenacity, but you're not in a position to best use the resources at your disposal. I have a contract here, which will make sure you get a fair price.” He pulled out the same contract Alan’s mother had offered him earlier, laying it on a student desk. Alan supposed the hundreds of millions of dollars were more than fair in one sense. Or else Cosmos would likely have voided the contract under suspicion of coercion. Which new races were highly protected against. Alan didn’t agree, and instead sat there, sharply glaring at the man in front of him.
Carmed laughed, “You seem to have the same stubborn streak as your mother. She rejected my offer too. Of course, I hadn’t figured out that she wasn’t the owner. I'm sorry about that by the way. But she, like anyone else, needed proper inspiration. And when you're a people person like me,, it doesn’t take very long to figure out what motivates people like her. Love. She just needed to understand that you signing this would be the most loving and safe thing to do for her family.” He held out a pen for Alan, and motioned his guard to stand near Alice. “You’ll sign this Alan for the love and safety of your family.”
Alan’s arm began to move unwillingly. His mind felt foggy. As he half realized that he no longer controlled his actions. His mind wanted to push back, as his arm inched toward the pen. Half of him felt it was the right thing to do, while the other half of his mind screamed at him to stop. That by signing this, his family was no more safe than they’d been in his last life. As his hand inched slowly forward, he sought to push past the fog encasing half his mind. But the odor of Carmen’s cologne continued to distract him. It was like swimming through tar, struggling to break through to the part of him who wanted to sign the contract.
Carmen smiled smugly, as he watched the young man’s arm slowly take the pen and move toward the paper. His mustache twitched only briefly, when it dropped from Alan’s hand. Reaching down, he picked it up again and held it out. “Take the pen Alan and sign.”
Carmen didn’t even react when Alan’s hand suddenly reached forward and gripped his arm. Making eye contact with Alan, it only took a moment for him to recognize the difference. He began to cry out, “Restrain him he’s not…” Forced energetic shocks ripped through the Spaniard, causing him to seize, paralyzing his voice. It was the second time Alan had been forced to use his power that day, however he didn’t bother to hold himself back as he did with his mother, as he felt the flesh begin to heat under his hand. Only a sharp kick to his side, sending him sprawling across the floor, had forced his grip to release.
Trying to awkwardly roll to his knees to face the two other men, Alan attempted to find a way to defend himself. The guards, each having removed a batton with flickering electrical current at the top, slowly circled to surround him. Chairs and tables were pushed aside to move forward. In his haste to find his sister, Alan regretted not equipping any weapons previously. Edging backward he contemplated his options.
“Hey!”
The heads of the bodyguards turned slightly toward the shout. The already battered and bruised guard only had time to flinch as a chair rocketed into his face causing his body to contort into a backflip. The other guard had only enough time to raise his arms when the flying form of Alice lanced directly into him, legs first. He flew, crashing with thud into the far wall. While Alice had dexterously back flipped to land on her feet.
“Dang Sis.”
“I think we need to go.” Alice said in a haggard voice. Alan nodded and began to move toward the door. As Alice passed the alive, yet still twitching Carmen, she kicked him for good measure. Alan, having a suddenly brilliant idea, reached down and grasped the trembling hands, and slid the matter ring off his finger. They both sprinted through the hallways filled with lockers, trophies and inspirational banners. Only to run into a confused pair of security personnel making their way back toward Alan.
The security team, seeing the obvious distress of the siblings. Immediately, flanked them, taking a position forward and behind, understanding the intent to return to the vehicle. As they neared the entrance, Alan passed by the front office. Where he recognized the high school principal and a number of the staff holding their heads, while engaging in a shouting match about unapproved visitors. Well that answered one question, Alan thought.
Janice was still standing by the car, when the four of them rushed out. Alan didn't give her a chance to protest as he basically pushed her, along with his sister into the Sedan.
As the car sped away, Alice nearly shouted over the chatter of the security guards radios. “What’s going on Alan? One minute I get some weird text from you, which you don’t even bother to explain. And the next thing I know, I am confronted by some guys in suits.”
“I should have told you sooner. Someone found out about my earth identity, and told the wrong people. I would have come sooner, but they got to mom. She’s ok, but I needed to tell everyone else too. I’m sorry sis, I didn’t think they’d go to the school ”
“You’re sorry?” She spitted. “You’re not the one who tried to get away, and suddenly couldn’t do anything except follow the direction of some smarmy Spanish guy.” Tears began to form and fall from her face. “You didn’t have to listen to him, as he told me how I was such a good little carnation. How he whispered about how helpful I was being for my family, while his men leered at me. You didn't have to wonder if they were going too... ” She choked, and than hit him in the chest “You don’t get to be sorry!” She broke down, crying without restraint, sobbing, as Janice held her.
Alan sat in silence, watching his sister. Wanting to both reach out, and afraid to so. The pain of the large bruise forming on his chest, nor the relief of having his sister safe, did nothing to distract him from the pangs of guilt.