Travelers

Chapter 23 - The newest

Part 3
A Super Story

Jacob walked across the room and around the ping pong table. Suddenly, he let out a shout and punched the large black punching bag that was in the corner. He hit it again and again. "They're all... doomed... to destroy... each other... and now... there's nothing.... we can... do... about it!" he said between his breaths. He punched the bag harder and harder until finally he pulled back in his anger and planted a kick into the side of it. The bag wavered for a second, then fell onto its side. He calmly set it up right. He turned to the others and said, "Sorry you guys had to see that." He locked eyes with Cat as he said it, and she turned away from his gaze.

It was then that the doorbell rang. Jacob hadn't been expecting anyone else, to show up, but Mal gave a nervous smile.

"Who did you invite?" Jacob said seeing her face.

"Rose, but she apparently was late," Mal said.

They all ran upstairs, but before Mal could get all the way up, Jacob stopped her. "What did you tell her about why you invited her?"

"I told her the truth. I'm still surprised you didn't tell Richard when you invited him." They finished ascending and found that Cat had already opened the door for her. Rose stepped through the door and her long brown hair settled as she left the windy outdoors. She was taller, but very slim. Her brown eyes always seemed to have some darkness behind them. She was often smiling, but Jacob guessed that she wasn't often truly happy. She asked if they were going to travel or not. Mal and Cat jumped in for him, and explained the situation briefly.

"Oh..." she started, "well, at least you can tell me the story of it, or maybe we can try again." Richard stood quietly in the back, as they discussed another attempt. Finally, they decided to just hang out and play a few board games. In the end, they all went away, and Jacob found himself wishing he could be back in his Gryffindor dormitory, with the other guys. He hadn't truly connected with any of them, but he definitely missed his red bed. He fell into a dreamless sleep, and went through his next few weeks by going through the motions. Finally, it was a Sunday night when something finally changed.

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Cat walked through the doors of the Student Center, a separate part of their church dedicated to students, and greeted Mal and Rose, who immediately saw her. Jacob seemed to sit back and wait for her to come further in before talking to her. They talked for a few moments before they continued towards the middle of the room. Jacob joined them and Cat noticed he was holding a frisbee. Normally he was playing a sport they all enjoyed called Gaga ball. It was a fairly simple game, but he was probably the best at it out of the four of them. He asked if they wanted to jump in for a round or two, so they did. Then he asked if they wanted to go out and throw the frisbee around for a while. They all liked the idea because they were getting a little exhausted by the game. They all headed towards the back door of the building, Jacob leading the way into the bright summer sun. He went out, and she couldn't see him for a moment. Mal and Rose were right behind her, so she continued through the door and stepped into the light, shading her eyes. For a moment she was almost blind, and all she could see was white. When her vision cleared a new sight met her eyes. She had been expecting the small grassy area behind the student center, but what she saw was different indeed. She had stepped out onto a sidewalk in what looked like a larger city. It was midday, rather than in the evening, and the city streets weren't too busy. She noticed Jacob to her right and Mal coming through the door behind her, followed by Rose.

All of them but Rose knew exactly what had happened. They had traveled again, and this time they had brought her along. Cat was curious what book they were in this time, and she didn't have to wait long to find out. Moments later she noticed a figure running towards them, followed by what looked like a massive bird in the sky. Cat looked up to see the bird eclipse the sun. The figure stopped before them, dressed in a skin tight suit, he looked like a superhero with the cape he wore. Cat realized that he very well could be, as there were plenty of superhero books.