Chapter 5 - Dinner

Autumn sat next to Heidi at the dinner table, trying to relax as Heidi's mom made small talk with her. Heidi had helped her mother prepare dinner, since she ate a completely different diet than the rest of the family.

"Oh another chunker," Lucinda muttered sarcastically as she joined them at the other side of the table. "How nice. I hope mom made enough food."

Heidi went from warm and pleasant to subzero instantly. The god-like presence that had been dormant suddenly returned with a vengeance—and it was an angry god.

Lucinda blanched as the full force of that presence hit her. She worked her mouth in desperation, but no sound came out. Eyes that had been so full of disgust were now filled with fearful pleading as she felt the intensity of her sister's displeasure. Autumn guessed Lucinda had never felt Heidi's full attention before.

"You will never insult one of my friends again," Heidi stated in a tone that would have made the sun shiver. "Ever."

Lucinda shook her head frantically, stark terror in her eyes.

As quickly as the powerful presence had arrived, it was gone. Heidi's parents both looked shaken at the display of raw power. They both recovered quickly though, with Mrs. Rockwell resuming her barrage of questions about Autumn's mother as if nothing had happened. Clearly, they were aware that something strange was happening with their daughter.

"How long has your mom been in the textiles business?" Mrs. Rockwell asked smoothly, with no sign of her former concern.

"Since before I was born," Autumn replied slowly, trying to adopt the same air of nonchalance the parents exhibited. Lucinda was still white faced and appeared to be staring off into space. "She only started contracting exclusively to the military about ten years ago though."

"What is it that your mom sells?" Mr. Rockwell asked, suddenly curious.

"Flame resistant garments," Autumn answered, trying to swallow a mouthful of surprisingly good fried vegetables. Heidi had expertly seasoned the vegetables with an array of seasonings Autumn had never even heard of before. "Most of her business comes from the Air Force and Navy, but she's trying to get a toehold into the Army market as well."

The remainder of dinner continued smoothly, with the Rockwell parents keeping the conversation light. Mr. Rockwell had been very impressed with her knowledge of her mother's business. It felt good to have the approval of such a solid individual.

She couldn't help but notice the speculative glances the Rockwell couple shared with each other when they didn't think she was looking. They had to be wondering why their obviously extraordinary daughter had befriended her and made a point of bringing her to their home. That thought had certainly crossed her own mind more than once.

After dinner was finished, Autumn helped Heidi and Mrs. Rockwell clean up the kitchen. Once the kitchen was clean, Heidi led Autumn to their back yard to begin her new exercise routine.

Autumn had expected a backyard filled with exercise equipment, but the only thing that stood out of place from the green lawn were two sets of wooden 2x4 boards anchored a few inches above the ground, one broadside and the other narrow. Heidi gestured toward the wider of the pair, watching Autumn with a slight curve to her lips.

"What?" Autumn asked with a raised eyebrow. "You think I'm going to walk on that?"

Heidi nodded, her lips curving even more. "Just today though. Tomorrow, you'll be walking on the narrow one."

"Sorry, but I'm about as graceful as a hippo and as coordinated as a three-legged rhino," Autumn declared, taking a step backward.

"You obviously haven't seen a hippo in water then," Heidi replied, absently grabbing Autumn's arm and guiding her toward the makeshift balance beam. Autumn wanted to resist, but she felt an inexplicable urge to follow wherever Heidi led her, as if her will had been superseded by another force.

Autumn finally gained control of her head and turned to look into Heidi's eyes. "Seriously. I can't balance, not even to save my life."

Heidi's eyes once again took on that otherworldly glow as an overpowering presence pushed at the bounds of reality around her. "SOPHOROSYNETRA."

Heidi's voice had barely been above a whisper, but the force of the word shook Autumn to her core. There was a much louder inverted boom than the one from the orchestral room, followed by the sound of car alarms in the distance.

When the shock wore off, Autumn felt the difference immediately. The thought of walking on a narrow plank no longer seemed impossible or intimidating. She could literally feel the presence of her energy core, giving her a sense of equilibrium the likes of which she had never imagined possible.

Not bothering to question what Heidi had done to her, she stepped up onto the board and easily walked across it without even the smallest of wobbles.

"Well done," Heidi congratulated her with an approving smile. The superhuman presence had once again vanished. "I knew you could do it."

"Well, thanks for... whatever it was you did," Autumn replied as she easily walked back across the board. "Why am I balancing in the first place though?"

"Because balance has to come before anything else," Heidi replied, gesturing at her to continue walking back and forth. "Before you can travel from point A to point B, you must be able to balance on the line that connects the two points. Before we can properly balance our minds, we must learn to balance our bodies. An imbalanced body is a fountain of signal noise to the mind."

"Okay, I suppose that makes sense," Autumn said thoughtfully as she paced back and forth on the board. "Am I supposed to lose weight doing this?"

"Only indirectly," Heidi replied with a shrug. "A proper diet is the most important part of losing weight. Having your head in the right place is the second most important part, so bringing balance to your mind and body will accelerate your ability to lose weight in the long run."

Autumn felt her heart quicken at the thought that she was actually going to lose all of her excess weight. "How long do you think it would take me to drop in weight to your size?"

"Eight months," Heidi replied without hesitation.

Autumn blinked in surprise at the immediate response, then reminded herself that she was dealing with a genius. Heidi could probably work out this kind of math in her sleep.

She spent the next hour walking the plank as Heidi walked next to her on the thinner plank. Making excellent use of their time, Heidi spent the hour discussing their homework. It was obvious that Heidi had no need of the lessons—she knew all of the answers to all of their homework assignments as if it was secondhand knowledge. The constant barrage of questions and dialogue kept her in a semi hypnotic state though, and she barely noticed that she had spent an entire hour pacing back and forth on a four inch plank.

Heidi's mom drove her home afterward. Autumn had never met anyone with such a warm personality as Mrs. Rockwell. She was a native Hawaiian, with large brown eyes and gorgeous tan skin. Her midnight hair was tied back in a ponytail that reached midback.

Heidi had given Autumn a bag of sweet green beans as she left, with instructions to eat one every five minutes until she went to sleep. Supposedly, they would suppress her appetite until Heidi showed up in the morning to prepare breakfast.

Autumn's phone rang with her mother's video call as soon as walked into her house. She answered her phone with a broad smile, taking her mother by surprise. Her mother was tall, blonde, and extremely fit. Aside from the hair color, she was completely opposite from Autumn in appearance.

"What have you been up to?" her mother asked curiously. "Have you been swimming, or is that sweat?"

"Sweat," Autumn replied with a short laugh. "I've been put on a new diet, as well as an exercise regime."

"By whom?" her mother asked quizzically.

"A girl I met in school," Autumn replied, unable to stop smiling. "Her name is Heidi Rockwell."

"As in Colonel Rockwell's daughter?" her mother asked in surprise.

"Yep," Autumn answered with a nod. "I had dinner with their family. Pretty much just vegetables. Do you know who Heidi is?"

"I think so," her mother replied with a small frown. "She seemed pretty reclusive if I'm thinking of the same girl."

"Oh she was until recently," Autumn agreed with a chuckle. "She was also three times larger last year. I'd be surprised if she is more than ninety pounds now. She lost all of that weight over the summer vacation."

"Oh," her mother said slowly. "So she has you following the same diet now too, huh?"

"It's a lot more than that, mom," Autumn informed her, taking a deep breath. "I don't know what happened over the summer, but she is a completely different person now, and not just physically. She is smarter than anyone I have ever met. The music teacher at the high school, Ms. Devons, thinks she might be a savant. She learned how to play all of the instruments in the orchestra in less than a month. According to Ms. Devons, she is as good as any professional musician on every instrument she touches. It takes her less than two hours to master a new instrument. She started teaching me how to play the guitar, and I simply cannot believe how easy it is. Somehow, the way she teaches turns a light bulb on in your brain, and everything just makes sense."

"Really?" her mother asked with interest. "That is odd. How did you meet her?"

Autumn told her mother about the incident in Mrs. Reinich's class with the pyramids, as well as Miss Devons request for her to befriend Heidi. She didn't mention the supernatural events that had occurred. She didn't want to freak her mother out. When she was finished, her mother was silent for several moments.

"Well, I'm glad you found a good friend," her mother finally said with a cheerful smile. "I'm excited to meet her when I get back."

"Me too," Autumn smiled back. "Love you, mom."

"Love you back," her mother smiled in farewell.

Autumn didn't even have any food cravings that night as she went to bed, even though it took her several hours to fall asleep. She was excited to see how the next day would turn out.