chapter 8

"Just be grateful it's the left arm and not the right."

Because it was really just a deep cut, I was told I was still able to go to school, but they said to still keep it bandaged and up in a sling. I thought it made me look silly. The others were trying to make me feel better.

"At least you can still write."

I made a whining noise.

"Besides, doesn't it hurt less like that?"

"Actually, the tight bandages make it hurt more."

"But having it kept elevated should help."

"Excuse me." A different voice cut in.

We all looked towards it and saw JJ. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt." He looked around at Jay, Sam and Naober. I got the feeling he'd just wanted to talk to me alone. I wondered if I should let him.

"I er…I heard what happened. Sorry about your dad."

At the mention of my dad, Naober seemed to take the hint. She took Sam by the hand and gestured to Jay and the three of them left.

"Do they think he's gonna be ok?" JJ continued.

"Maggie seems to think so but…" I shrugged.

"I'm sorry." He said again. "It'd be a devastating hit. For all of us." He came and sat next to me. "But I was wondering, since my family lives just outside the city maybe, you could come to ours after school. Get away from all this for a bit, maybe take your mind off things."

"Oh." I had to admit, I was curious about meeting the rest of his family. And it occurred to me that since coming to America, I hadn't really been outside of Nabula very much.

"Sorry if that's coming on a bit too suddenly."

"No, it's just, I wasn't expecting it."

"So what d'you think?"

"I mean, I would have to ask about it but I think I'm interested."

He nodded. "Ok, well let me know."

I had three group chats on my phone: one was just me, Jay and Tiana; another also had Sam and Naober; and there was one that included all the senior staff at Nebulas Rise. It was this chat that I asked the question on

Me: JJ from school asked if it was ok for me to go round to his after school.

To my surprise, Brain was the first one to answer. But that made more sense after I actually saw his message

:Brain

JJ?

Me:

Joshua Jeckulson

:Maggie

He's one of the Jeckulson boys, huh

Me:

yes

The oldest boy

Can I go?

:Sky

The Jeckulsons live outside of town don't they

:Cid

They're a good family. There father's a Dr

:Zee

Maybe it would be good for you to get

out of town for a bit

Me:

so I can go

:Maggie

I don't really see it being a problem

Just don't stay too late. Be back

before dark

After school, JJ and his brothers were waiting by the car. The twins were in the same year as me and I recognised them from the kidnaping incident we'd all been subjected to. At first glance, they may have looked identical but they had different colour eyes and looked quite different from their brother: Their skin was like jungle bark and their fair hair was short and curly; one of them had the same grey eyes as there older brother, the others eyes were a sort of moss colour.

The triplets were a few years younger, and all of them were completely identical: they had the same face shape and hairstyles and eye colour as there oldest brother but the other colouring was kind of a mix; their hair was a soft brown, even though there eyebrows were a lot darker; and there skin was almost a peach colour.

The car itself looked pretty impressive but I supposed they would need a big, comfy car with so many kids in the family. For this reason, I found the drive over quite pleasant. The boys talked and laughed and I looked out the window, vaguely paying attention. As we went along, things got more populated, the buildings bigger and taller and more people waking the streets.

As it turned out, the Jeckulsons lived in the penthouses of one of these bigger buildings. Another thing I figured was an affordable necessity for a very successful Dr with a large family.

In the lobby, I met the sisters. Rowan I also knew from the kidnaping incident. She looked a lot like the twins, with the moss coloured eyes, except her short hair was dark. She approached me with a smile. "Princess."

"I wondered why you called me that, since you're not from Nabula."

"Because it suits you." With her index finger, she lightly touched the side of my check. Being the oldest of all the siblings, she'd always had a maternal feeling about her: caring and protective.

Her younger sister, on the other hand, was looking at me very judgemental. She looked a lot like her eldest brother but had the fair hair of the twins, which was tied back in a ponytail. Her arms were folded as she scowled sideways at me from where she was leaning by the elevators.

"Don't mind Rue." Rowan cationed. "She can be a little prejudiced but she has her reasons for it." She then said about taking us all upstairs but JJ took me aside.

"You bring the boys up, we'll join you shortly." He led me to the side. "Come on, I wanna show you my prize possession."

Round the back of the building was a large garden type area and grazing around in that area was a majestic, black horse.

JJ went right up to it, offered his hand for it to sniff before stroking its noise.

"You own a horse?"

He laughed. "What'd ya think? I named him black shadow."

"Black shadow, seriously?"

"Don't get the wrong idea. I actually named him after this anime character I liked."

I came closer and chanced to offer it my hand. "So how long have you had him?"

"A few years."

I giggled as the creature sniffed my fingers. It tickled.

"Can you ride him?"

"Of course I can. When I get the chance."

I was stroking the beast's neck now. "I have a horse." I said, suddenly. "Well technically it's a Silqueen but it's still a foul, it hasn't used its wings yet."

"Huh." He was looking at me in a sort of incredulous way. "I heard you set free all the Silqueens after the attack on the zoo. I didn't realise you'd taken one home with you."

"It couldn't fly away like the others. What was I supposed to do?"

"Well if you're going to own a horse, you might want to learn how to ride one. I could teach you."

"You could?"

"Sure I could. We could right now."

But just then a man came out of the building and towards us. "Woe, not without helmets."

"Sorry, dad."

Oddly enough, Dr Jeckulson looked more like his younger daughter than any of the boys that I'd met so far, with the short fair curls, slight tan and grey eyes.

I bowed my head slightly. "Dr Jeckulson."

"Miss Crugger." He said something to his son and JJ went back inside. "We heard about the trouble in Nabula. I hope you know that even those of us outside the town are hoping for a speedy recovery."

"Thank you. I'm sure we all appreciate that."

"Does it still hurt?" He pointed at my sling.

"It comes and goes. Mostly it just itches."

"Mind if I take a look at it?"

I hesitated. "Here?"

He chuckled. "No, not right here. I have a kit upstairs." He was a Dr but I still wasn't sure if I trusted him as much as I did those back at Nebulas Rise. But then again, he couldn't really do more harm than had already been done, so I nodded and we headed up in the elevator.

It wasn't quite the height of luxury but it was close. There was no balcony or outdoor area but there was a wall mounted flat screen TV in a large living room with three 3-seater sofas around it, complete with dvd player and video games console that the twins were already occupying themselves with. There were five bedrooms, two of them with their own en-suite bathrooms as well as the main bathroom; one of them was shared by the sisters, the other JJ shared with his youngest brother.

Little Jacob was only six years old, not quite old enough to go to Nabulas school just yet. Out of all the boys, he was the one who looked like he would grow up to be a spitting image of his father: with a flat of fair hair, same eyes colour and skin tone and though his face was still very boyish, it already looked like it was shaping up to look like his old man's.

In one of the draws in the kitchen was the kit Dr Jeckulson mental. Slowly and gently, he lifted my arm out of its sling and carefully started to peel away the bandages.

"Why do you think it went for me and not one of the others?" I questioned, while he was working.

"Oh, basic hunting strategy really: Go for the weakest, the ones who can't fight back."

It kind of felt bad to be told I was the weakest but didn't say it in a patronising or judgemental way. He just said it as a fact.

"By the looks of things, you were quite lucky. It's not that deep. Healing well." He took a cotton bud, soaked it in some clear liquid and brushed it down the wound. "Does that hurt?"

"Not really." It tingled a little but it didn't particularly hurt.

"Good. Then you have nothing to worry about." He started to re bandage the wound. "Should be just fine in another day or two."

"Do I really still need the sling?" I complained, as my arm was being lifted back into it.

"Should keep it elevated for now. It'll help it to heal."

Some time later, I joined the twins in the living area. "I do like your bath." I said, coming to sit with them on one of those sofas. "Who's idea was it to have taps in the middle of the bath rather than at the end?"

Rue scowled at me. "You used our bath?"

"Of course not." I'd never use someone else's bath or shower unless it was a public one. "I just needed the loo."

"'loo'?" One of the twins snickered.

I glared at him. "I grew up in Britain for six years." Sometimes I still didn't quite have a handle on the American language.

From the kitchen, I heard Dr Jeckulson chuckle softly. "Guess there's some things we never lose from where we came from."

From where I was sitting - back to the telly, leaning against the arm of the sofa - I could see him working behind the counter. "And where did you originally come from?"

"Same place you did really."

"But that can't be right."

"What, did you think dog-like creatures were the only ones on Serious?"

When I merely blinked, he continued. "Let me give you a little silence lesson, princess. You're people and mine evolved from the same planet. It was just Canines and Felines but all manner of furry, humanoid beings. They even had rodents for pets."

"I never knew that." I said, intrigued. "That's…"

"Infuriating?" Rue offered.

"Fascinating." I corrected.

For a few seconds I tried to focus on the game the twins were playing but something else had occurred to me and I turned back to their dad. "So what was it like there?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You never thought to ask about it before?"

I shrugged. "Guess it never occurred to me before."

He leaned forward on the counter. "Well, it wasn't really that much different from this one, except it was larger than this one, with more surface area than people that needed it. No need for any of these tall buildings. In fact there were rarely buildings more than a single story high. When it came to architecture, the people there were still pretty privative. Hadn't really gotten past building with rook and stone. But technologically, they were quite advanced, because they had to be, what with their sun being larger and closer."

"Wait, that can't be right." I interrupted. "I heard this planet is the way it is because of its distance from the sun."

"Ah, so you're a bit of a science buff." He commented with a smile. "You would be right but it wasn't that much closer. All it really meant was that it was quite a bit warmer. The daytime sky was more yellow than blue and while it did still rain, it perhaps wasn't the same sort of rain you get here."

"And because it was bigger, did that also mean the days were longer?"

"No. The days were pretty much the same as here. Which could only mean…"

He was testing me now. I liked it. "It rotated quicker."

He nodded. "We also didn't have a moon so the nights were darker."

"You didn't have a moon."

He shook his head. "Not every planet needs moons to support life."

I sighed, sagging backwards. "I wish I could know more." It was true I'd never thought about it before but suddenly I wanted to know everything there was to know about the planet I was born on.

I noticed Dr Jeckulson was smiling at me. He beckoned me over. There was a tall bookcase outside of one of the bedrooms. From on top of it he took down a big, thick, hardcover, colourful looking book and handed it to me.

Serious: the land of furies

"I think this was finished shortly before the invasion. Take it back with you. Keep it for as long as you need to learn all you want to know."

I took the book with a grateful grin. It was almost the size of my whole chest. I started to wonder how I was gonna carry it back. It certainly wouldn't fit in my school bag. Come to think of it, had I thought about how I was gonna get home from there?

"I can drive you home, it's no trouble." Dr Jeckulson told me when I brought this up. "I'm sure the boys can look after things themselves for a few minutes. I do hope you'll visit again though."

I laughed, a little nervously. "I would love to."

(Jay's pov)

I'd always enjoyed the rush of riding with Buddy. There was something about the exhilaration of it that made me forget about everything else. Just stay focused on the ride. Thia could go off and spend time with her new friends if that made her feel better.

- I honestly couldn't blame her for wanting to get away from it all - but this was my way of getting away from it all. My way of trying to feel better.

Just like last time, we went back to the clearing where the corpse still lay; I went into the trees to find the creature's nest. But this time I took as many of the leaves and twigs that made up the nest as I could carry, took them back out into the clearing and (as gently as I could without touching it) placed them over the beast's body. You might not've known it but you did us a solid back there.

A chuckle escaped me as I thought of what Thia would think of Mr if she saw me attempting to bury an animal like this. But I didn't want to do it all at once cause going backwards and forwards to the best and back would be far too repetitive and tedious.

Instead, I straightened up and stretched, deciding I would do it bit by bit each time I came this way, and looked around for the best route to head up the mountain.

I did end up going back to the nest because everywhere else looked too steep. I could always have gone up on Buddy but I wanted to do this myself. I didn't want it to be Quick and easy. Once more, I looked out at the view from that spot. I'd made sure to bring my sketchpad and pencils this time. For a while, I contemplated whether I wanted to draw the view from here but if I was really going to get all the way to the top, wouldn't it be better if I drew it from up there? Maybe I could do both.

I sighed, an idea coming to me. What if I draw the town from all the different angles and heights I could find on these mountains? That sounded like it would take a while as well as being tedious. But it also sounded like it would be interesting.

Shrugging to myself, I sat down and took out my sketch pad.