Project X

The Way it Began: Blue

    "You're scared of me, too." I concluded. He looked almost startled by that,

    "No, I-"

    "It's okay." I assured him, "I get it. Even mom's afraid of me, so it's not like I can blame you." He winced,

    "You knew about that?"

    "I've always known." I admitted, "I still remember the first time she looked at me like that. With fear in her eyes. Like I was some... Evil thing that had taken her son away and replaced him. I tried to ignore it. Tried to do whatever I could to fix it. But that look never went away. I never understood why before, what I could've possibly done, but I do now. Maybe, deep down, she somehow always knew what I was. Who I am. And now, you and Kai do too. So I... I understand." He shook his head sadly,

    "I am afraid." He told me, "But I'm not afraid of you. I'm afraid for you. I'm scared because I don't know what's gonna happen. Because I don't know how we win this, or if we'll even get out alive. But mostly, I'm afraid we're gonna lose you."

    "You guys are never gonna lose me."

    "You don't know that, though. None of us do. Anything can happen. Any of us could get hurt at any time. Phil could take you, or we could get separated-"

    "Doesn't matter." I told him firmly, "No matter what happens, you've got me. Come hell or high water- or even high faeries, you've got me. Even if the worst happens and you, like, run away and leave me behind or something, you'd still have me. I may not chase you down and force you to come back, but damn sure I'd wait patiently for you to come home. And, when you did, I'd give you a noogie and a kick in the ass for leaving me in the first place."

    He laughed a little at that, in spite of himself, "You promise?"

    "Pinky swear, man."

    "I just... I don't know what we'd do without you. What I'd do."

    "I don't know what I'd do without you guys either."

    "You know I look up to you, right?"

    "Yeah, I know." I smiled, "It's real annoying. Means I've gotta be a good influence." We both chuckled,

    "I know you're only a couple of months older than me, but you're still the best big brother a guy could ask for."

    And then, I didn't even think. I just pulled over.

    "Okay. That's it." I announced, "I'm hugging you now."

    "Wait, what?" I put the truck in park and got out, walking around to Irwin's side. He had already unbuckled, probably half out of habit, and half out of confusion, and I could see Kai starting to stir awake from the sudden stop.

    "You heard me." I told him, "Bro hug time."

    I reached in through the window, pulling him through and hugging him tight. He hugged me back, not seeming to care all that much that he was hanging halfway out of a truck window.

    "I love you, freak." I told him,

    "I love you, too, bigger freak."

    "Uh... Guys?" It was Kai. Irwin and I separated, expecting for Kaili to make some lighthearted joke about how gay we were, or how we'd make such a cute couple if we weren't brothers, but she wasn't even looking at us. She wasn't angry, but her eyes had changed to cat's eyes. And she was staring right past us.

    Irwin and I exchanged confused looks, then followed Kai's gaze. All we saw was an old abandoned building, completely in shambles, and covered in graffiti. I knew something was off about it, I could feel it, but I couldn't tell what it was.

    "Kai, all I see is a building."

    "Look with your eyes, idiot."

    "Uh, I am?"

    "No, your other eyes."

    My other eyes? I assumed she meant my dragon eyes, but I didn't know how. I could only transform when I was angry, and I was clearly not reliable with that, so how could I possibly look with my other eyes? I sighed, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Slowly, I started to hear a distant, rhythmic thump. At first I'd thought it was my own heartbeat; but, as it grew louder, I quickly realized that it was actually the pounding of a heavy baseline. Confused, I reopened my eyes, and saw something that, less than a week ago, I would've thought was impossible.

    The building had changed. It was no longer the creepy, abandoned, in shambles thing of before. It was like a large, concrete warehouse looking thing. Except there were a few windows up near the top of the building, out of which colorful lights were throbbing and dancing like a mass of gyrating bodies.

    And then I put it together.

    It wasn't an abandoned building. It was a nightclub. But, it wasn't just any nightclub.

    It was a nightclub for monsters.

    "Dude, this is like Percy Jackson: The College Years."

    "Irwin, you know I love you, but how is it possible that you can make something this cool sound lame?" He shrugged at Kai's remark,

    "It's a gift. And Percy Jackson is not lame." He hopped through the truck window and started to make his way towards the building,

    "Hey!" I grabbed him by the hood of his jacket and yanked him back, "What the Hell do you think you're doing?"

    "Going into the nightclub?"

    "Are you insane? There's monsters in there! Actual, legitimate, monsters!" He looked at me like I was stupid,

    "Jason, you do realize that we're actual, legitimate, monsters, right? The people in there, they're like us. Besides, think about it. Out of anywhere to randomly pull over, you did it in front of a secret monster nightclub. There could be another person from Project X in there!"

    "Woah, woah. Did you just refer to us as 'Project X'?" He grinned,

    "Yeah, I figured we needed a code name. X is the Roman numeral for ten, and you said that there could be up to ten of us total. And we're all basically Phil's science projects, so we're Project X. Pretty cool, huh?" Kai made a face and shook her head,

    "No. No, it's not. But, he does have a point, Jace. We should at least go in." I sighed,

    "Fine. We'll walk right into a nightclub full of monsters. What's the worst that could happen? It's not like we can blow the place up." Irwin cheered.

    "Woo! Go Project X!" I groaned.

    "Dude, you are so changing that." I started making my way towards the club. I heard Irwin laugh as he turned to follow me,

    "Dude, I am so not." I rolled my eyes.