“—the Wampanoag’s psychics had an unusual place in their society. The Wampanoag feared their tribesmen with a sixth sense, believing their abilities were the manifestations of dark forces, and were unknowing agents of instability. Rather than destroy them, the Wampanoag exiled their psychics to the Massachusetts’ coastline that would come to be known as Plymouth Rock.”

Wednesday morning began with Psionics History, and Taz sat at her seat, writing down the shorthand notes on the markerboard that Mr. Burke was writing with a shaking hand. Melodica was gone, as usual, but Taz didn’t let that distract her from her classwork.

Whatever Mel was going through, Taz was trying to remain optimistic that she’d open up about it sooner rather than later.

“When the Quakers landed on Plymouth Rock, they were met by the exiled Wampanoag psychics, who, through limited telepathic communication, were capable of speaking with the pilgrims. Now, as religiously devout as they were, this caused initial tensions between the two groups, alleviated only by the necessity of mutual survival in this strange new world, but as we know, the pilgrim’s intolerance would eventually lead down a dark, dark path in colonization.”

Taz looked up to the back left of the room, where Theresa’s desk was empty. Taz frowned to herself; that was a slight bit more cause for concern; she could find Melodica if she really wanted to, but she hadn’t seen Theresa since last Thursday…

“But, before tensions could flare into theft and violence, the Wampanoag exiles were able to introduce the pilgrims to their unpowered tribesmen to—”

The class’s lesson stopped at the sound of a knock, and Mr. Burke turned to look up at the door, adjusting his glasses as it opened, and a bit of excited chatter filled the silence as, to Taz’s surprise, Madeline stepped inside.

“Mr. Burke,” she said in her husky voice, but Taz could tell something was wrong, her hands were crossed, “can I speak with you for a moment?”

Mr. Burke frowned a bit, but nodded. “I suppose so.”

Madeline came down the steps, glancing briefly at Taz, brushing her shoulder with her fingertips as Taz gave her a curious look. Madeline spoke in a low, hushed tone with Mr. Burke, a few students looking at Taz in particular for an explanation, but she just shrugged as she waited.

“Right, right…” Mr. Burke spoke a little more clearly than Madeline did. “Oh. Oh, I see… I’m so sorry, Ms. Cole, you have my condolences.” She whispered a little more, and after a moment’s hesitation, nodded. “Of course. Make sure her other teachers know as well.”

Madeline nodded and turned on her heels to march over to Taz, and bent down to pick up her bag, making Taz blink as it was plopped on her desk.

“Maddy?”

“Pack up, squirt, we’re taking the day off.”

Taz blinked. She obeyed, putting her writing utensils and notebook away, unable to deny it was still a little thrilling to hear she had the day off with her sister, but at the same time, she had class…

“Why? What’s up?” Taz asked. She slung her backpack on, looking around at her classmates with a small shrug, some looking envious – though it was hard to tell if it was because she was spending it with Madeline or if it was because of the implied ‘no work’ part.

But, her bubbly curiosity slipped when she met her sister’s eye, and nervous jitters started in her limbs.

“C’mon.” Madeline insisted. “Let’s go get some waffles.”

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Never had a chocolate-chip waffle tasted so sour.

She’d taken exactly one bite of her breakfast and left the rest to sit and cool as she leaned against Madeline’s side and held onto her arm. She briefly loosened her grip on Madeline so she could reach up and wipe a tear off of her cheek, and then buried her nose into Taz’s hair to give a shuddering sigh.

The little breakfast nook was buried a ways into PJ away from the school, and with classes in session, the people here were mostly intown workers or a few kids playing hooky. It had tall booth seating and a pervasive smell of pancakes and syrup, and what seemed like three pages of ways to prepare eggs that Taz had skipped over in her haste to find her favorite meal.

But, after ordering, Madeline had told her why they weren’t taking classes that day, and all the nervouscitement Taz had been ping-ponging around with flattened out into pure dread.

“Y’know, I—” Madeline sucked in a deep breath, “I always kinda knew something like this could happen. I just thought because she worked in the office so much—”

“Mhmm…” Taz buried her face against Madeline’s shoulder. Her heart hurt. When Madeline had told her Aunt Zi was in the hospital, Taz thought it might have been some kind of illness. But, all of a sudden, Brain Scythe was real again. It had felt like a distant problem now that she was here at PA, but her aunt…

“Gawd, this sucks so bad.” Madeline groaned, forcing herself to mentally grab some bacon and munch on it so she wasn’t just sitting there weeping into her sister’s hair.

“Can we call her? You said she was waking up sometimes, right?” Taz asked gently, eager to feel some sort of resolution to all of this, but Madeline shook her head.

“She’s not really in talking condition, they’re prepping her for surgery right now. Dad’ll probably call when she’s good to talk, but until then…” Madeline sighed again.

“Mm…” Taz sank in her seat and tapped her fingertips together worriedly. Her insides twisted up in anxiety, so much so that the smell of breakfast was actually making her want to vomit a little, but… “What do you want to do, Maddy?”

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Madeline wiped her eyes again, and dragged Taz almost onto her lap to hold her like a teddy bear. Taz puffed up, squirming as Madeline spoke tiredly under her breath. “I hate crying, I’m already sick of it. I want mom to be okay, I wanna fly up there and fix her myself somehow, I want… ugh…”

Taz tried to loosen Madeline’s grip, but Maddy hugged like her mother, which meant Taz could feel her bones beginning to weaken…

“Maddy…” Taz whimpered. “I have… an idea…”

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“—but did you know that when it snows,~”

“~my eyes become large and~”

“~The light that you shine can’t be seen?~”

Karaoke bars weren’t exactly active this early in the morning, but there were still a few patrons taking a seat and sipping some early morning alcohol, idly looking up at the stage at the two girls pouring their hearts out into a microphone.

“~Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey~”

“~Oooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah!~”

“~And now that your rose is in bloom,~”

“~A light hits the gloom on the grey!~”

The dark and smoky atmosphere of the mostly empty bar meant that Taz and Madeline went mostly unapplauded as they leaned shoulder-to-shoulder at the edge of the stage, singing until the ache in their chests eased. Taz could imagine the whole place filled up with teenagers looking to grab some soda and cheap bar food and sing to their classmates while various townsfolk just sat back and watched the spectacle with a beer in hand.

She was kind of glad it was mostly empty right now. While she did enjoy a crowd of listeners, and hearing clapping following a good performance, this felt a lot more personal, and the only reason the two hadn’t retreated to one of their bedrooms to sing was because there was a certain catharsis to vomiting your feelings out on a stage.

The song came to an end, and Madeline leaned her weight onto her little sister, drawing a squeak. Taz led the two down the steps as the bartender gave a hearty clap, and passed them both glasses of sprite.

Taz took their drinks to a small, lonesome table for them to chat while Madeline hung around the bar, and after a little talk, sat down with Taz holding a dark colored drink with ice.

“What’s that?” Taz asked after swallowing a mouthful of soda.

Madeline set her drink down after a sip and gave a much more mirthful sigh. “Rum and coke.”

“Wha? Maddy, that could get you kicked out of PA!” Taz stared at the drink with worry, and Madeline shook her head.

“It’s not contraband, Taz, it’s one drink.”

“How did you even get it?!”

“Womanly charms.” Madeline smiled to herself, and Taz shot her and her stupid big boobs a pointed look. “Oh don’t glare at me, Taz, I’m feeling edgy and it helps.”

Taz pouted, but deflated a bit, and to Madeline’s wide-eyed surprise, took the drink glass and drew out a sip, her eyes tightening. “Oh, ew ew, I don’t like that.” She crinkled her nose and pushed the drink back to her sister.

“I could get you something sweeter if you wanna try some more, Taz.” Madeline asked with an interested expression, looking almost impressed. “Maybe like a gimlet or something? Heck, maybe a screwdriver, your mom loves those.”

“I dunno if I should.” Taz mumbled, scratching the back of her head with a blush. “I was just trying to be… I dunno, edgy or something. Besides, isn’t alcohol a psionic suppressant?”

“Yeah.” Madeline nodded, stirring her drink a bit before sipping again. “Sometimes, when I’m really stressed out and feeling close to burnout, Noelle will take me to The European and we’ll drink some wine until I’m relaxed. As long as you don’t overdo it, it helps your brain just chill.”

“Huh…” Taz hummed. “I wonder if it chills out the PPA…”

“The what?”

“Nevermind.” Taz shrugged, leaning back in her seat. Awkwardly, she held a hand out to Madeline, who, with a smirk, passed the rum and coke to Taz to give another testing sip, but it only made her entire face scrunch up. “How’re you feeling?”

“Better.” Madeline said with a little nod. “I’m still worried about mom, but this was nice. Thanks.”

“Yeah, of course!” Taz smiled a bit, though it faltered some. “I should call my mom, make sure she’s okay too.”

“You should.” Madeline polished off her rum and coke, and started on her sprite as the two girls fell quiet with their thoughts for the moment. “I’m gonna try and get a ticket into Phoenix tonight. I wanna see her.”

Taz swallowed her drink and set her glass down, giving Madeline a small frown. “Is that a good idea?”

“Why wouldn’t it be, Taz?! It’s my mom!” Madeline huffed, but Taz’s frown deepened.

“I mean, are they going to let you see her?”

Madeline frowned a bit. “They should, I’m family.”

“You should call your dad first.” At that, Madeline grunted, unable to argue. “And what about Brain Scythe?” Taz asked in a much more urgent tone, making Madeline frown. “I mean, we’re safe here, but if you just show up without a plan, or people around you… I mean they already almost took my aunt from me.” Taz’s expression fell, her voice much more quiet. “I don’t know what I’d do if they took you too.”

Madeline opened her mouth to argue, to say anything to put Taz at ease, but after a second, shut it. Then opened, then shut again. Then, she frowned, and then, she drew her legs up to sit criss-crossed, closed her eyes, and bridged her fingers over her stomach.

Taz sat back and went quiet, trying to keep her thoughts low as Madeline entered her personal focus pose, and she could feel Madeline’s mind less crackle, more bloom with activity as she put everything into examining the possibilities.

Divination couldn’t see the future, but it could enter a ‘Mentalist’ state that quickly drew upon the deepest annals of memory and processed information at lightning speed. Taz had only seen it a few times, she didn’t know what it felt like, but she could feel another psychic’s mental focus go through the roof when they did it.

Probing Madeline’s mind didn’t help much; numbers, names, places, and information swirled in her head too quickly for Taz to follow along with just a surface reading, but after a moment of relaxation, Madeline’s eyes opened and she frowned.

“Ninety-eight percent of kidnapped psychics were captured alone, over sixty-percent were under the age of twenty-five, and just under fifty went missing during the day as opposed to night.” Madeline groaned, and leaned forward, running her fingers through all that pretty curly hair.

Taz frowned, and scootched her chair over to lean against Madeline and snuggle into her shoulder, eventually getting an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll visit her together when they say we can.”

Almost angrily Madeline buried her nose in Taz’s hair. “You’re smart and I love you. C’mon, let’s finish our drinks and go actually eat this time.”

“Okay.” Taz smiled a little bit.