Eco: The Discovery

Chapter 2

A loud, angry scream awoke Ziron the next morning. He jerked up and Sade tumbled out of his arms and onto the carpet. When Ziron finished rubbing his eyes, he opened them to find his mom holding Sade by the hair.

“What is she doing here?” she screamed.

Ziron could barely keep his voice level. “You weren’t supposed to be back until Monday morning.”

“Well then good thing we came back early! What is she doing here?” she asked again.

“Let her go, mother.” Ziron spoke through gritted teeth.

“What if I don’t? What are you going to do then, Ziron?” She challenged.

“I’m warning you; if you don’t stop being a bitch and let her go I’ll-”

Ziron’s words were cut off by his mother’s gasp. “How dare you call me-”

“Oh, please!” Ziron interrupted her. “You already know that I think you’re a bitch, don’t act so surprised.” Ziron could see that his mother had no intention of letting Sade go so he created a shield to contain her. His mom felt a shock in the tip of her fingers causing her to let go of Sade. The air in the room became charged.

“You can’t keep her from me forever, Ziron.” His mother glared.

“Yeah, yeah.” Ziron grabbed hold of Sade and led her out of the room. “Mom, you’re such a bitch that I seriously don’t know how you wield Light Eco. I wouldn’t bother pounding on that shield, by the way.” He called back to her.

Ziron led Sade downstairs and into the kitchen where he knew his dad would be. If anyone would try to help them figure out what was going on it would be him. He was handsome, smart, funny, charming. He was understanding, clever, and more open-minded than anyone bothered to be anymore.

“Dad?” Ziron called to his father who was looking in the refrigerator.

“Yeah?” Neil, their father, turned around with a bag of chips in one hand and a carton of orange juice in the other. “Oh, hey, baby girl,” he said as he caught sight of Sade. She smiled like a little girl and walked over to hug him. Neil planted a kiss on her forehead. “What are you doing here?” he asked. “You mother is going to kill you, you know how she is.”

“Unfortunately,” said Sade with her lips in a grim line.

“Where is she anyway?” Neil asked.

Ziron turned away and pretended to keep himself busy by looking for the pancake batter. “Upstairs.”

“What is she doing?”

Ziron thought for a bit. “She’s probably thinking somewhere along the lines of ‘I brought him into this world and I can take him out.’”

“Let her out, Ziron.”

Ziron turned around quickly. “Don’t you want to know what Sade is doing here even though our mother disowned her?”

“You know her parents were tough,” Neil tried to justify. “But, yes, what are you doing here, Sade?” He turned toward her.

Sade gave Ziron a questioning look.

“Show him,” Ziron told her as he turned back to prepare his pancakes. He turned back when he heard his father gasp. Sade was holding her hair up in the exact same way that she had when she had shown Ziron that her tattoo was gone.

Neil put don the juice carton and moved slowly forward, without uttering a word. He touched the back of her neck lightly. “It’s happening again,” he said quietly.