Test Subjects 1 And 2

Chapter 10: The New Girl

When Astral woke up, the first thing he did was look around the room for his brother. He sat up.

"Black Mist? Where are you?" Astral called.

Black Mist entered their room. "Oh, you're awake." He grinned. "Still feeling sleepy?"

Astral frowned. "That's not funny anymore."

Black Mist laughed. "Sorry, but I needed to get that out there."

Astral grinned a little. "So, what happened?"

"You had a vision. It was bad."

Then, Astral remembered it. "Yes, I remember. There was fire...I was on fire. What was that?"

"A vision. I told you that already. Dad knew you would be having those."

"Speaking of Father, where is he?"

"Off at the lab working on some medicine experiment thingy." Black Mist shrugged. "He'll be back in a few days. Nothing to worry about. Mom's at the grocery store, so she'll be back in a few."

Astral nodded and got out of bed. "When do you think I'll be able to go out?" he asked his twin.

"Dunno. Dad'll know." Black Mist and Astral went to the living room, and both boys looked out the window.

Then, they saw a girl with blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail, a white tank top, pale blue jeans, and pink flip flops. She looked about their age with a few more days. She looked in their direction, and they both ducked in time.

"Did she see us?" Astral whispered.

"Don't think so," Black Mist hissed back.

Then, they heard a knock, making the brothers jump. "Hello?" It was an unfamiliar female voice. "Is anybody home?"

"What do we do?" Astral asked Black Mist. "Father told us not to interact with people we don't know."

Black Mist shrugged. "I dunno. I guess we wait until she's gone."

So they waited. The girl was still outside, waiting for them to come out. Finally, Black Mist couldn't take it.

"Astral, since you're not used to the outside atmosphere, got wait in your room. I'll get her to go away."

Astral nodded in understanding and flew stealthily to their shared room.

Black Mist snuck to the door and waited for the right moment. When he was sure that she was at the point of boredom, he threw open the door and made a hissing noise, somewhat like a serpent. Since he was still in the shadows, the girl didn't see his full body. Unfortunately, she rammed into him the moment the door opened.

"What was that for?!" Black Mist growled.

"I-I'm sorry," the girl apologized. "I didn't realize you were something other than a snake." She held her hand out to help Black Mist,  who was still in the shadows' cover, up.

Black Mist refused the help. "Why are you here anyways?" he asked the girl.

"I saw two things peeking out if the window. They looked like aliens, so I decided to check it out. Um...do you live here?"

"Yeah, I do. Now, please leave before I do something I might later regret," Black Mist threatened.

The girl giggled. "Well, okay. Hopefully, I'll see who those two aliens were." She exited and closed the door behind her.

"Astral, she's gone," Black Mist called.

Astral poked his head into the hall and looked around. "Okay. What did she want?"

"She just wanted to see if there were aliens here. I obviously couldn't let her know about us, so I lied."

"How did she not know that you are an alien?"

"Dunno. I stayed in the shadows, I guess. She didn't seem to notice."

Astral and Black Mist stared out the window again, watching for their mother's return. When they saw the car pulling up, Black Mist jumped up.

"She's here!"

Astral, knowing very well that his body still wasn't immune to the outside air, covered his mouth and nose when Sarah opened the door. She carried a large amount of groceries, and she almost fell when she closed the door.

"I'll help you with that, Mom," Black Mist volunteered while firmly and carefully grabbing the bags with his tendrils.

"Thank you, Black Mist," Sarah said gratefully. "It looks like your getting used to your ability."

"Mother, do I have an ability like Black Mist?" Astral asked while taking the rest of the bags.

"Of course. Your father told me that he forgot to test it, but you can levitate objects. I must warn you, it takes a lot of concentration." She walked with them to the kitchen, and they started putting the food away. "Although, he did say that he doesn't know if you have more except for one more."

"What is it?" Astral asked while testing his levitation ability. It worked like a charm.

"He told me to let you find that out for yourself."

They put away the stuff in silence, and when they were done, Black Mist broke the silence.

"Mom, a girl came by today," he stated.

"A girl?" Sarah gasped. "Did she see you?"

"She seemed pretty keen on finding out who was in here, but she went away when nobody answered," Black Mist lied.

"Oh I see. She must be our neighbor Marie. She's a very curious girl. She's been like that since she moved here years ago."