“Hah! Back here again Sonra? You got no class! Sure you can give a good fortune or two but that doesn’t matter one little bit. It is all in the presentation! Get out of here and let the professionals do their job. Go drive a bus or something!”

  “....Fine!”

…..

  “Good riddance, That lady gave me the creeps.”

  “You shouldn’t say stuff like that! It’s rude!”

  “She can’t hear us, she is too far away by now. Besides, what do you care if I’m rude?”

  “She was competition then, now she is a potential customer! But didn’t it weird you out? That last thing she said?”

  “What? The “How does it make sense that a real psychic can’t compete with fake psychics!” line? She is just trying to mess with us. That, or she is crazy. Either way, one less competitor eh?”

  What happened to my peaceful days? Bemoaned Bil/Ted as he continued on without Erin to his English class. I’m sorry for ever aspiring to be more than a fly on a wall. Despite his pessimistic outlook Bill/Ted felt surprisingly good. Begrudgingly he conceded it was likely due to Erin’s little “pretend I’ll kill you” trick. Before that his mind felt all foggy and he couldn’t focus on anything.

  But seriously, that girl needs to be reigned in! Because of her in the past 24 hours I have genuinely feared for my life on three separate occasions! I won’t live long if this keeps up, I’ll get a weak heart!

  Bill/Ted only had class with Joshua and Erin for that first period and the rest of the school day he could spend freely in the company of nice normal people. Unfortunately Bill/Ted was now somehow a half step out of sync with them. He knew things that they may never know, couldn’t know. This set him apart from them, he had switched teams from the blissfully unaware to the awake and wary.

  It doesn’t help that I will need to start each class explaining to my classmates that I had missed most of the first day of school because his parents suddenly won a free vacation to Africa, and urgently needed me to help pack. Yep, that will definitely get me a few weird looks.

  Right as I was about to round the last corner to reach my next classroom, an arm slid across his shoulders. Holding me tight. “Heya Bill/Ted, how do you feel about taking a nice road trip?” My skin crawled as the voice of Grayson stirred the hairs on my neck.

  I don’t like Grayson. Perhaps hate is a more appropriate word. What kind of a jerk decides to up and bind the fate of random strangers to his own for no good reason! But I can’t just say no and oppose him, he is sane enough not to hurt me right? Whatever I decide to do from here on, right now I can only agree.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Sure. But, um, does Joshua know about this?”

  “Of course he does! He is actually the one who asked me to do this. Don’t worry, our job shouldn’t be that dangerous. If we do things right, there shouldn’t even be any gunfire!” smiled Grayson reassuringly. “Now hurry up, we need to catch a plane.” Grayson steered me towards an exit and began to walk quickly.

  Crap. Whatever insanity I’m being dragged into aside, guess I won’t be making the rest of my classes today either.

----------------------------

  “Are you sure this is a good idea!?” A simpering weak voice came from the body I had strapped to my back. Annoying.

  “Of course it’s a good idea! Joshua came up with it after all! Let me tell you, that guy is crazy smart. He is also quite attentive to the details and takes some pride in his plans. If we are lucky, he might have even put a little faith in this one.” Soothe the child. Soothe the child.

  “But Grayson, the plan is to crash through a window on the top floor of a 20 floor skyscraper! How? BY JUMPING OFF THE GROUND!” Tis a shame but I put on gloves, Alfonso was on the no-touch list.

  “Yes, and your point is?”

  “There has to be a better way. Most importantly, that better way does not involve me being your glorified backpack.”

  “Joshua told me to keep an eye on you, I figured you would probably prefer to be on my back. But if you would rather I take Joshua’s word seriously, you can be strapped to my front. Besides, there is no time to make adjustments now, we already got the signal!”

  “. . . Whatever.”

  “Alright, grit your teeth to keep from biting your tongue off and try to keep your neck straight so you don’t get whiplash.” I closed my eyes and felt. The millions of connections I had, all around the world, each a part of me. Then as if it was all a great harp, I plucked at the connections and made them vibrate. Share with me your strength, just a little. Together we are strong. The connections all reverberated together and I absorbed a small amount of energy from each person that made up this vast Link. I could feel my muscles tighten and swell, becoming iron. Veins popped out one by one distorting smooth skin. It felt like all the blood in my body had turned to fire, my heart beating so fast you couldn’t distinguish one beat from the next. I made a fist and clenched, steam rolling off my whole body. A wide grin showing my tightly grit teeth found its way to my face as it always did.

  “Grayson??? I can feel the heat through the kevlar!”

  “Still your tongue or lose it! I’m jumping in 3...2...1!” Cement cracked underneath my feet as I jumped.

  We were moving so fast that even air resistance felt like it was trying to peel the skin off my bones. The target window appeared before us in an instant and I smashed through it. Remembering Joshua’s instructions, go straight, I kept my momentum and charged. I must keep careful that I don’t put too much strength into my legs, we wouldn’t want to step right through the floor would we?

  The hallway passed by in a second and a large mahogany door was all that stood between me and the target, Alfonso. Easy. I smashed through the door and found a few people in the office. But it was clear who the objective was. The tall, stern looking man with silver hair and grim determination on his face. Alfonso has aged well. I tucked him under an arm before he or anyone else could do anything annoying and jumped through the window behind him.

  The fall felt slow compared to the jump before but soon enough we reached the ground. After sticking the landing, I always stick the landing, running became my main focus again. There wasn’t much time left before the strength left me. But reaching our destination shouldn’t be a problem. I grinned at the thought of the soon to be spectacle. Joshua could be downright nasty sometimes.