Chapter Four: The Arrival

Jane woke up. She didn't know that she had fallen asleep but she must have done, you rarely wake up without falling to sleep. Upon waking up she saw a new person in the front room, the hole in the wall had been fixed over the course of her sleep which made her ask how long she had been snoozing.

"About an hour" Silverfang informed her before catching the questioning look. "That's Scarlet, she came down about ten minutes ago and has been talking quietly with Beth and Satyr for the past nine and a half" he told her, glaring at them, it was so bumming to be left out of a secret conversation. Jane looked at the new girl for a few seconds before she remembered something.

"Where's Nehvna and Avrion?" she asked Silverfang scratched his head.

"They are asleep somewhere, they told Eliot they were tired and so probably crashed on one of the beds, not sure which one though" Silverfang told Jane. She was satisfied with this answer as she laid back down on Silver's lap.

"So this Rose? She isn't Scarlet Rose is she, Sean's Public Relations girl?" Jane asked rather sceptically, not believing that she would come here. However, she did seem similar to that hazy woman Satyr and Beth where talking to.

"Probably, I don't know. It was just 'Scarlet' so it could be Rose, or it could not be" Silverfang replied so Jane simply shrugged and snuggled back into him.

"Wake me up when they let us in on the conversation" Jane said with an underlying grumpiness before going back to sleep.

Jane was awoken half an hour after she went back to sleep.

"They are involving us now" Silverfang told her, Jane was groggy but interested.

"I have talked with Satyr and she tells me that you are the one Shadow tried to kidnap" Scarlet said, looking at Jane.

"Yea, he is my dad's....friend-thug. He tried to drag me back home" Jane explained, Scarlet simply shook her head.

"No, I'm afraid Shadow is no longer your father's friend or thug, because your father no longer is. And he did not take you for your father, he took you for himself" Scarlet said in a neutral voice, but with a slight tone of pity.

"Ohh, well then he was my father's friend-thug" Jane reiterated, seemingly unperturbed by the announcement of her father's death, she was a bit confused as to what she meant by 'for himself' but she didn't really care to know the answer. Silverfang, however, was slightly more sympathetic.

"Jane, he may have been a good contender for biggest asshole of the year award, every year, but he was still your father" he told her, and got a blank, nonchalant stare in reply.

"And? It wasn't by choice. People have been trying to sling that line for years, and it never works" Jane replied, before looking to Scarlet. "So, who offed the old….can't find a good word for him really" Jane admitted.

"Actually it was Shadow that killed him" Rose informed them casually. The look of confusion on everyone but Beth and Satyr's faces however, told Scarlet it was not.

"But why?" Jane said, stating everyone's question.

"For reasons yet unknown" Rose replied, this did nothing for the confusion however.

"Well that's bloody helpful" Silverfang exclaimed before Jane could.

"Ahh, I am sorry. But I can not say what I do not know. Humans may be stupid, but that doesn't mean others are of infinite knowledge" Rose said with a slight smile, she looked as if she was going to speak but was interrupted by Silverfang.

"You make it sound like humans aren't the only people on Earth" He said sceptically, unsure if this Rose was trying to trick him or actually thought that people where really stupid.

"You're an idiot" Rose told him, unintentionally answering his question. "The Orion–Cygnus Arm holds a lot more than just this system. And then there is the rest of the galaxy and then the other galaxies beyond that. The universe is a big place, so incomprehensibly large that only a half dozen beings have true omnipotence within it and you are trying to say that you are the only race to reside in it, and the only people to ever find this planet of interest? Humans really are some of the densest sentient beings around" Rose told everyone, sighing slightly with vexation, she then spoke quietly to Satyr for a while, ignoring everyone else, before leaving.

"He's coming soon" Silverfang heard before Rose left. Silverfang then approached Beth and Satyr with a rather un-amused look. "I have a few questions for you" He said with a strained voice, dragging both of them upstairs despite Satyr's protests that she needed to wait downstairs.

"Right, stand there a second while I work out where to start" Silverfang told Beth as he dragged her into the guest room.

"Start on what?" Beth asked, genuinely confused for one of the first times.

"Probing you for answers" he replied, but before he could think of a question a voice came from the doorway.

"Is there a problem?" it asked in a rather calm voice that had an underlying tone of such seriousness it would make the most prude man's voice seem silly.

"No thank you Eliot, we are fine" Beth said before noticing that the voice was completely different to Eliot's, however when she looked over at the doorway there was no one there. Forgetting Silverfang for the moment - and he did not seem to mind being forgotten as he followed Beth - she walked over to the door and looked around. There was no one in the hallway or on the stairs. With her curiosity now at extreme levels Beth headed downstairs.

"Has anyone come in yet?" Beth asked with a confusing scanning of the room.

"Your Rose friend left only a minute ago, why would anyone be here yet?" Eliot said, answering her question with a question of his own and looking at Beth's confused face with his own face of confusion.

"He has a point; it's not like Rose is even where she is going yet. And people can't just appear in houses with such a large group without anyone seeing them" The calm, serious voice said, but the speaker was gone by the time Beth had looked around.

"This is not just me going nuts it is?" Beth asked but the looks on everyone else's face indicated that was not the case.

"It wouldn't be the first time you have gone nuts" The bodiless voice said, a hint of amusement entering its voice. This time the voice spoke, a look of recognition crossed over Beth's face, quickly followed by a look of extreme annoyance.

"I'm going to feed you to some dogs, kill the dogs and then feed them to some bigger dogs. Then kill them dogs and burn their remains" Beth threatened.

"Scary" The voice replied with no deviation from its normal tone. "You don't mind if I draw on these walls do you?" It asked and obviously didn't wait for a reply because a second later a very realistic drawing of a Giraffe appeared on the walls. "Giraffe is such a strange name, but then so is Hippopotamus. I can understand that one, it basically means 'water horse' but Giraffe is, odd" the voice mused in a tone that was getting increasingly amused. Beth had already walked over to the cutlery drawer and was currently picking out a dozen knives. "I like Dobermen, them massive dog-bear-things, the only problem is that things tend to get really hairy around them" the voice continuted, laughing at its own joke. Jane and Avrion also forgot the strange events for a second and laughed while the boys just stood with confused looked on their faces.

Beth then stormed over to the spot she was standing on and threw the dozen knives in the direction of the drawing. Several of the knives thudded into something and the knife part turned red quickly, a sharp "Ow, that hurt" rang out, the only one without a look of shock and confusion was Beth, who simply had an annoyed look on her face. "Et tu Bethee?" The voice asked before a thud rang out and the knives moved downwards, near the floor, but floating in the invisible man.

Beth waited for a second before walking over to the area where the knives was and looking down. "Now stop pissing about" she said in a commanding sort of voice.

"Trust you to ruin my fun" The voice said as the knives flew up again and pulled themselves out of whatever it was lodged in. The knife spun one and then it was devoid of any blood that stained it, however the blood was not on the carpet or the surrounding walls, it had simply vanished.

"You're not seeing me though, I need to make my dramatic entrance, talking of which, is nearly here. Put the kettle on, I want a cuppa tea" The voice said and a couple of seconds later the knives lost their fight with gravity and plummeted to the floor. Beth then proceeded to pick up the rest of the knives and did her best to ignore all the confused looks she was getting from Eliot and the rest of them.

"Wha?" Jane asked as Beth gathered the last of the knives and began to wipe them one by one and put them back in the drawer. She then filled the kettle up with hot water and started waiting for it to boil. Seeing that she would not get an answer out of Beth she turned to Silverfang. Nehvna and Avrion came down the stairs, yawning and stretching.

"What was with all the noise?" Nehvna asked, but whatever reply she would have gotten was cut off by an extremely loud roar of an exceptionally powerful engine that came from outside, it was so powerful that things in the house started vibrating from the intensity of the noise. The noise sustained for a few more seconds, and then cut off.

“Bloody ‘ell, he could wake the Kabals with that racket” Beth muttered as there was a knock at the door.

"I’m not getting that, I remember what happened last time I answered the door" Eliot said, making Beth chuckle a bit as she opened the door.

"Hello" the man at the door said with a smile before Beth punched him in the face.

"Somehow that looks familiar" Eliot said, watching her punch the man.

"You have a very strange way of showing your affection, you know" he said, rubbing his nose.

"Yes well you are just very strange Sean, so I am allowed to have very strange ways" Beth told him before letting him inside to the ogling people. Nehvna gasped as she saw who was at the door, and moved close to Jane's ear to whisper in it, not wanting the others to hear.

"I've got a crush on him, he is so scruffy in hair and clothes but he pulls it off so well he looks better than he would in a suit. He devilishly charming and the most chivalrous person I have ever seen, there is just something about him that makes me feel all gooey when I see him, even on the T.V, so him being here in person is...It's just...Ohh" Nehvna devolved into a squeal and was a hairs breadth away from jumping up and down. Jane looked at Nehvna with a smile before whispering back.

"Nehvy, that just makes you like every other girl on the planet" then adding with thought 'except me, I can't fathom what the others see in him' she thought. Sean had walked into the middle of the room in the time between Nehvna and Jane's conversation; he then looked around at the people and bathed in the awed looks.

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"Everyone loves me, everyone thinks I am awesome, everyone - "he began but Beth cut him off sharply.

"Don't make he have to stab you again you egotistic maniac" She said handing a cup of tea to Sean and sitting down, ignoring the scowl she was getting from Nehvna.

"Well it seems I have won over the women around here, now all I need to do is win over you" Sean told Beth who scowled at him.

"I seriously will stab you if you carry on" she said, taking one of the knives out of her sleeve to prove it. Then she thought for a second on what he had just said. "Does that mean you don't think I am a woman?" she asked, brandishing the knife rather dangerously for Sean's liking.

"I’m just saying you're the only one not won over" He told Beth, pacifying her, as the knife vanished back up her sleeve. Sean took a sip from his cup of tea and then looked over at Jane, smiling like he was going to cause some mischief.

"Awww, I want her as my sister, we could have so much fun" Sean said, causing Beth to throw the knife at him. It sunk into Sean's head and forced it to roll back before it returned to its original position. However, he didn't slop any of his tea and the rest of his body was unaffected by the knife.

"Dammit woman, stop throwing knives at me. It’s a party trick only, and this is not a party" he said, pulling the knife out of his head.

"How..? How..?" Jane asked, her questions just trailed off to nothing.

"Well, you see, when the Earth was young, and humans had just popped into existance as cute little monkeys, they were quite hairy"

"How does that help you pull knives out of your head?" Silver put in, perplexed at the strange and unconnected comment.

"It doesn't" Sean replied, simple, and quite blunt. But, before anyone else could say anything, Sean caught a glare from Beth, and spoke again.

"Well enough about that, I guess I should get down to why I am here. And to help me I have brought someone you might know" he said, nodding his head to a man stood with a good posture. He was the polar opposite of Sean with straightened hair and a posh suit. Even his body language was different, the new man was standing serious and looked 'to the point' sort of person while Sean's stance was a lot more relaxed and, as he had just demonstrated, looked to be the person to have some humorous banter before getting down to business.

"Balance, stop being a stiff" Sean said, taking another - this time larger - sip from his cup, Nehvna made a slight squeal as she found out who the new person was.

"I am, by nature, a stiff. I am the serious person, you are the bantering person. Together we make the team" Balance told him, there was the memory of his words but no memory of him actually having spoken.

"Stop showing off, we can all do that, we just don't because showing off is only good if the crowd will appreciate it" Sean told Balance, his words made it appear that he was annoyed but his tone and body language showed that he was not.

"My apologies" Balance told Sean, this time it was a normal way of speaking. He then looked at the people in the room. Five of them where looking bewildered, one of them was looking annoyed and one of them was looking bored.

"Are we going to get to the Shadow problem yet?" Beth asked, she had heard them banter a hundred times and it was highly annoying.

"Ohh yea, the Shadow problem. He took out Mark so he must have a new master, Shadow is not the kind of person to do such a thing unless he thinks it will get him further than staying with Mark but then let's face it, Mark is a dweeb and there is a billion people on this planet alone that could get him further than staying with Mark, so it is a bit of a redundant statement" Sean said, stroking his chin to make himself look like his thoughts where more deep. Silverfang picked up on the stance and smiled.

"I do that as well" Silverfang said, which caused Sean to smile as well.

"It is an awesome thinking pose" Sean replied, draining his cup before catching Nehvna's eye. "Why is there some shy looking beauty staring at me?" He asked. Nehvna's face quickly turned bright red and soft squeaks escaped her as she clung to Jane for support. She had never been called a beauty before and it was Sean calling her that as well, she couldn't handle this pressure, it was all too much. She wanted to stop the embarrassing squeaks coming out of her mouth but she had no control over them at all. Jane spotted how Nehvna was feeling and so decided to step in, to salvage the situation while she still could.

"She is my sister and she can be shy at times, so please be nice" Jane told him, giving Nehvna a hug to comfort her.

"Hmm, If I marry her then I could be Jane's brother in law" Sean said with a scheming smile, Nehvna's squeaking doubled as the prospect of marriage entered it and she buried herself in Jane's chest, not wanting to be seen by anyone, now that her cheeks rivalled the sun for brightness.

"Sean. Focus" Beth told him, making two separate words and adding a large amount of emphasis to both of them. He spun round and spoke in single words.

"Yes. Shadow. Right" He then returned to the use of proper sentences "From what I have seen, he already jumped ship. Took him long enough as well. I'd head to Klass directly but I need to pick up a very important someone and such a jump would be hard to do undetected" Sean told Beth, plastering the over used look of confusion on everyone's faces.

"Who is Klass" Eliot asked, Jane had apparently let him do the speaking this time.

"Ahh, Klass, an old friend. He used to be a planet hopper, going from one planet to the next gathering holidays and festivals while spreading the holidays and festivals from the last planet; he takes about two, gives about two and then leaves for the next planet. He does this because he is a Thaui, a being that draws strength from being known. It is similar to Celestial style but require simple knowledge rather than prayer. I met him after one of his visits to a new planet and invited him into a…" Sean failed on the word and simply repeated "a" until Beth spoke.

"You are simply making more questions with your explanation" Beth told Sean.

"Yea that sort of happens a lot" he replied, looking at all the gormless faces, the only one that didn't look like their brain had jumped ship was Beth, but she had heard it all before.

"He is a friend" Sean said simply, he disliked such simplicity but it was necessary for these people.

"Try keeping on track, Shadow is bad, tell us your plan" Beth told him, he glared at her before speaking again and keeping it simple.

"He has gone, I'm going to find out what he is up to and I want you to take them to Klass' place, that is why I brought him up" Sean told Beth, but Jane piped up with a question.

"If Klass if a planet hopper" Jane spoke the word strangely, as if it was hard to comprehend herself saying it "Then where would his 'place' be?" She asked, fully expecting an answer she couldn't properly understand. Sean nodded, rather impressed, Jane had taken the knowledge rather well and was thinking laterally as well. He decided to voice his approval, because he was like that.

"That is a very good question. He settled down after a while, I could tell you where but you would not understand where it was" Sean told her, it was not as confusing a reply as usual but it still shocked everyone.

"So, this off planet is…actually leaving the planet. That…sounds…unique" Silverfang said eventually, finally managing to get the words out. "So, how are we going to get there?" He asked.

"That is also a good question, as I don't have a space-ship stuffed down my pants, despite what people might think" He said, a rather lewd smile spread across his face before Beth glared at him.

"Umm, sorry about that, well just watch the birdy for a second" Sean then lifted up his empty cup of tea and everyone was drawn to it, as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. It was Jane that first noticed the different surroundings. He then dropped the cup on the floor and it vanished as soon as it touched the carpet.

"Why have the walls changed?" She asked, causing Sean to smile, he looked like he was going to go into a massive explanation when Beth starred at him and made him give the simple one.

"We changed houses. And islands, we are now in Ireland, I moved with a certain amount of subtlety since I want to stay relatively under the radar for now" Sean explained.

"And what radar is this?" Jane asked, she didn't know there was radar for people instantly changing islands.

"The Radar. Explanation would be confusing" Sean replied, hating how he had to keep so brief.

"Is that how we are going to go 'off planet' then?" Jane asked, it was not in any way what she through planet travelling would be like. The others had made Jane the 'Question Asker' as everyone else was staying silent.

"No, same planet travel is nice and quick but going to other planets requires a bit more, especially when you move with the subtlety that I am moving with" He explained again, he was doing a lot of explaining but then he liked explaining so it was all good.

"So what does this 'bit more' look like then?" Jane asked, the only person not completely stunned by the change of surroundings, but then she was a lot like Beth in that respect, she liked to know what was going on all the time.

"Well it is going to look like the insides of your eyelids, since you are all going to take a nice nap while I set it up" Sean replied, as he finished Jane yawned, she had not felt tired a minute ago but now her eyelids where so heavy and hard to keep open. Everyone around her started yawning as well, Jane was uncertain if they looked more confused or tired but she herself was too tired to think about that.

"What's happening?" Jane asked in a slurred voice, hardly pronouncing the words. She felt like she hadn't slept for a week and would like nothing better than to lie down and close her eyes but she kept them open with sheer force of will to at least get the answer from Sean before she crashed.

"I simply suggested that you should take a nice nap while I sorted the whole planet thing out. You are the ones who are now heeding my suggestion and taking a nap" Sean said, his smile made it blatantly obvious that he was lying through his teeth but Jane could no longer stay awake. Several thuds where heard in rapid succession as everyone collapsed from extreme exhaustion. Beth, Sean and their respective friends were the only people left standing at the end of it, he smiled in a satisfied manner and turned to his sister.

"Mind giving me a hand? Planet travel is easy enough but when you have to cart such a large group of people around it gets slightly more difficult to move subtly" Sean told her, she shrugged and got up.

"You know you didn't have to be so forceful with them, it was even affecting me with the force you put into that" Beth replied. The feeling of tiredness had gone from her body but everyone else was sleeping soundly, it would be nearly impossible to wake them up with the fatigue they were feeling.

"Well I don't really have a guide to tell me what her resistance is, so I erred on the side of caution" Sean explained, kicking the carpet. A small obelisk, roughly 5 foot, rose out of the ground with four sides; each side had a space carved specifically for a person's hand. Beth, Satyr, Sean and Balance all put their hands on the obelisk and it glowed two different colours, A deep, lush green for Sean and Balance and a shocking violet for Satyr and Beth, The obelisk shone the two colours for about a minute and then the walls changed again and the whole atmosphere felt different, even the air smelt different and flowed down your throat in a different way to the air on Earth.

"Well, now that that is done I'm going out. Watch the kids" Sean said, heading to the door. The obelisk sank back into the ground, its job done.