7

Dear Shannon,

I hope that I'm correct in guessing where you have gone. If not... well, you aren't going to be reading this anyway, so it won't matter. But there is only one spot I can think of. Your mum's house. If you haven't gone there, then why on earth haven't you? Sure, your mum was a right bitch. But it's a place that no one would expect you to go to.

Not sure why I just wrote that. If you haven't gone there, you aren't reading this, so it doesn't matter. Anyway, developments. They have occurred. You missed the greatest moment of my life. I mean, it was fortunate, because it involved Riley, so it's good that you weren't there, but still. I overpowered him. That's what I'm going to call it. Realistically, I shocked him because he didn't know what my powers were.

I found him in there, and because his memory is eidetic, he recognised me. Stopped me in my tracks, literally. He was toying with me. He was cocky. So, I got him. Zapped him while he was trying to figure out my power. He knows it now!

In all seriousness, this is huge. Riley has been seen has this huge, unstoppable killing machine for years now, and all of a sudden we discover two new possible ways of stopping him. No wonder he's getting nervous. He won't get that confident again, that's for sure. He'll be thrown. And that's why we need to strike ASAP.

Obviously, not with Anna, not yet, but Melissa maybe. Me too. There are others... apparently, we found another one from our family, although I'm not sure what his power is yet. We'll have to see. Basically, what I'm saying is that you need to come get us sooner rather than later. Because now he's vulnerable. His superiority complex has been shattered.

Stay safe,

Andrew

Signed 12/05/2018

"I've already explained this to you."

"Well, run it by me again." Riley was extremely intelligent, but simply couldn't comprehend what Sana was telling him.

"Fragments have been found, okay. We don't know what this means, but digging in Rome pays off sometimes, you know."

They stood on top of a crane, facing down into the cavern. Sana's brown locks blew in the wind. They waited for the extraction crew to retrieve the fragment of the mineral. "This could be huge."

"Or terrible. You don't know the repercussions. For all we know, this could sap out our powers."

"Or it could give us new ones."

"I don't need a new power."

"From the sounds of things, you do. Outsmarted by a homo electrica? Are you going soft? Insane? Old? All of the above?"

"I'm younger than you, and I'm already insane. And soft? Really? Anyway, I told you, it won't happen next time."

"Won't it? I could just locate him now, you know. It would make this process so much easier."

"Nah, I'll do it myself. He isn't a priority. I have two: that girl and this stone."

"But you dumped the girl for the stone. When you yourself said that you didn't know what the fuck was going on with this."

"That's true. I don't. But I'm curious. And the girl... there's years before she'll even be close to my level. You know more than anyone how good I am. How easy it is for me. Would she ever be able to challenge me? Maybe when I'm old and senile."

"Hey, you're already old, remember!"

Riley laughed, but it soon died away as he looked with anticipation at the worker holding the stone with gloved hands. Would it be worth it? If he lost his powers and went back to being an average Joe? But if he gained new powers, then who knew what he could do. Pain Bringer. Electric man, like that man he was zapped by at Shannon's house. So many things could happen, but the reward was well worth the risk.

And he would be the one to reap that reward.

* * * *

Shannon didn't know where the bodies had come from. That was a bad sign, in Melissa's eyes. Their mentor, their shaman, was at a loss for words. They were piled up, stinking, rotting messes around the sides of the house and covering what looked to be a rusty swing-set. Anna started to use her telekinesis to attempt to move the bodies, but could only manage to move them centimetres away from their original position. Melissa looked at her daughter disapprovingly.

"Well, I'm not going to touch them with my hands. Are you?"

"No. But don't practise on dead bodies, Anna."

"Why not? They're dead. They aren't going to be using them anymore." Melissa didn't bother responding.

"I just want to know where they came from." Shannon took a tentative step towards them, before pulling her foot backwards. "Later. We'll do this later."

"I think that's a good idea." Melissa felt herself turning faint.

"What about the electricity?"

"If you're so desperate to fix it, find another way into the basement. Don't try going past those."

Back inside, the three started to move around the house, opening up the curtains and allowing light to stream into the house. The curtains were far easier to move than the bodies, and Anna started to use her telekinesis.

"Don't use it too much. You'll get lazy and fat."

"She already is!"

"Thanks, Shannon." She left the two women to their own devices and walked around the house, searching for another route to the fuse box, or to the basement, stumbling across bedrooms, living rooms, and a closet that looked older than the earth itself. She finally stumbled across the room from all the movies: the dark, damp and disgusting door that led downstairs, seemingly directly into hell itself. She walked down calmly, but on the alert, half expecting to see someone waiting there, hoping for someone to crawl into their lair.

There wasn't, and Anna was shocked at how easily she turned the electricity on again. She just flicked all the switches in the fuse box.

"It's almost as if someone set the house off, as if they knew there wasn't going to be anyone here for a while. Or like they went on holiday."

"'Oh yes, I think I've done everything I need to, switched off the fridge, turned off the electricity... I feel like there's something I'm missing. Oh! Of course! I forgot to dump my murder victims into the backyard!' I somehow don't think so."

"Well, anyway, it's all working again. I think I'm going to go and rest."

"Something tells me that is a good idea." Anna walked away from the other two, who sat there sipping their coffee.

"Okay, now that she is gone, please tell me you know why the bodies are there." Melissa had put off the topic for as long as she could, but she couldn't resist anymore. "It looks like a genocide out there! How are you and Anna so okay with this?"

"Because we're smarter than you are. You know it's true. And I hate to say this, but I had no clue that they were there. If I had, would I have brought you here?"

"Yes."

"Fair enough, I probably would have, because I'm a cold heartless bitch. Whatever. My guess is that after my mum was disgraced and executed, they started to use the yard as a dumping ground for all of the people who they 'got rid of.' Or maybe they are the people who were killed as a result of her betrayal."

"Okay, sounds reasonable. Question two. Who is Andrew?"

"He is one of us. Unsurprisingly. He has the ability to manipulate electricity. Unfortunately, if he does so over too long a period, his own skin begins to break, and he starts to bleed. He is one of the main people on our side that lives in America. But he recently did something stupid, which against all odds has paid off, and that is come back to Britain. He 'heard' that Riley was coming for us and found Riley in my house, but somehow escaped."

"Do we get to meet him?"

"Probably not, unless he decides to come here. The thing is, he has a big red target on his back after escaping Riley's clutches, so coming to us would not be doing us any favours. And, as I've said before, your daughter is literally the most important thing on the planet for us right now. So, where do you think we should go from here?"

"You're asking me?"

"Of course. Your input is valuable." This wasn't the reason at all. At around the same age as Melissa, Shannon hadn't been able to say what she liked about, well, anything that mattered. She had gotten older, as had the people around her, and as they retired, she was suddenly the leader of a large group of people without having any leadership experience whatsoever. She had gotten better, but she still wanted to nurture Melissa.

"Well, surely you guys have places that we can go to in case of emergencies. What about one of your special facilities, to help me and Anna?"

"Firstly, it isn't 'your facilities', it's 'our facilities'. I don't mean to sound like a communist, but it's true. And if I'm honest, we're kind of in a precarious situation right now. This is as safe as it gets. They know about all of our special hideaways. They just haven't eliminated them because they don't have the personnel, and the one man who could overthrow us is basically living by his own agenda. Right now, taking us out isn't a priority, because we don't threaten his own life. But as soon as he finds out that Anna is there, we're fucked."

"And why is this place safe again?"

Shannon let out a laugh. "You are still clinging to the thought that anywhere is safe? You don't get safe anymore. I thought you were smart. How many times does this have to be explained to you? Get with the program, Melissa."

Melissa shook her head at the older woman's peculiarity. "I think I'm going to follow Anna. Good night, Shannon."

"See ya. Hey, be ready tomorrow. The way things have been going, I wouldn't be surprised if there was another letter from Andrew soon."

"Okay, Shannon."

* * * *

"So, basically, what you're saying is that we're screwed?"

"In essence Andrew, yes. At least, if these fragments can do what we think they can do."

Andrew almost pulled from his own mind. Conversations with seminiverbius always hurt his head. And now he had to go to Italy. He supposed there were worse places to go on business, like any country that wasn't in Europe or Australia, but at that moment, he didn't want to bother. Not to mention that Leonard just annoyed him. Lazy prick.

His plane was later that day, but he didn't have to leave for another 10 hours, so he hot-wired another vehicle on the side of the road and drove north.

He really hoped that his hunch was right. He missed talking to Shannon, and he wanted to meet the hottest topic in their world, little Anna. Reports had been sent, but nothing too descriptive, and he was curious. Hey, maybe they wanted to come along for the journey. Given Shannon's obsession with her home country, Andrew guessed that the answer would be no.

He remembered the place vaguely. Shannon had told him about what had happened in there to her mother, but Andrew hadn't known Shannon when he was younger, and had only been to the place a handful of times, and not at all in the last ten years. There were lights on, which surprised Andrew.

"Knock knock."

Shannon appeared from a room beside the hallway. "Andrew!" She ran over and gave him a quick hug, before stepping back and staring at him. "What are you doing here? Why did you come and see us?"

"Well, there are some things to discuss," he said curtly. Then his mouth crinkled into a warm smile. "It's good to see you too, Shannon."

"Melissa! Anna!" The duo stumbled out of various rooms, Melissa holding a cup of coffee, and Anna fruitlessly patting down her bed hair. "Can you guess who this is?"

"Is this the guy who sent us letters every day for a month without ever coming to collect or protect us?"

"Yes. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I'm saf-- I'm okay now. It's nice to see you in the flesh, finally."

"Most people meet me at some point or another. I tend to travel a lot. Is this the child prodigy? I can already tell how smart you are."

"You can? How?"

"Well, for one, you are just getting up at the late time of 10 o'clock. Studies show that people of higher intelligence tend to sleep in and stay up later at night. That, and the way Shannon's been harping on about you in her letters."

"Okay then. Explains a bit."

"I personally think that the reason for this is that smarter people have too many ideas floating around, that they have to think about their ideas before finally sleeping."

"He goes on a bit, but he is all business. Right, Andrew?"

"Yes. Sorry. I am fascinated by the human mind. Degree in psychology. Now, I haven't just come here to show off."

"Very different from the norm." Shannon assured Melissa.

"Riley has given up on you, apparently."

"What?! Not that I'm complaining, but why?"

"He found something more important, which is also the reason I came here. Fragments of the stone have been discovered. You know, to the utter delights of his family. I am going to go and follow him. I have a plane leaving tonight, but I decided to come and visit you. And to ask if you want to come along."

"To Italy? I thought it was safe here."

"Yes, Anna, but I need help from people. And because Leonard is a gigantic dick, and won't help us, I came to you."

"Sure, why not?"

"That's a surprise. I was expecting a no from you."

"We have to do something. Sitting here all day would be mind-numbingly boring, and I don't mix well with boredom. No offense to you two."

"None taken."

"Well, that was easier than expected. Now, sit down, because it doesn't leave for ten hours. We have things to discuss."

Anna began to walk away. "Where are you going?"

"I figured that you wouldn't want to include me. I'm young, vulnerable and valuable."

"No. We need you."

Anna grinned, for the first time in days. "Well then. Let's go."