Perspectives

Chapter 60

A satisfied grin spread across Piper's face as she felt her fist connect with the side of Kalen's head. He let out a surprised cry of pain as he stumbled back, nearly tripping backwards off the porch before catching himself.

When Kalen looked back at Piper he looked incredulous. "That is for the manhandling." Piper announced, folding her arms smugly over her chest.

There had been so many occasions when Piper had wanted to punch Kalen during her time in Amasis, especially during the first few days. She had always been too small to retaliate against Kalen and his dickish behavior, but now that he was normal sized, well Piper wasn't going waste a moment to get her revenge.

Kalen's shocked expression shifted into one of sheepish understanding and he gave a small nod. "I suppose I deserved that." He admitted, rubbing at the tender spot on his face.

"You deserve worse than that," Piper told him, "but seeing as you're all reformed and everything--"

"Hold on." Naomi suddenly interrupted from behind Piper. "Does someone want to explain to me what the hell is going on?" She asked as she stepped forward to stand next to Piper.

"Yeah, as happy as I am to have gotten to punch you, I'd like to know what you're actually doing here, Kalen." Piper stated.

The sound of a car door closing from across the street caused Kalen to flinch, and his eyes began to dart around nervously. "Uh...could we do this inside?" He asked in a lowered voice.

Piper grabbed Naomi's arm and pulled her back into the house. "You're lucky my mom's not home." She told Kalen.

After closing the door and turning back to face Piper and Naomi, instead of launching into an explanation as Piper had been expecting, Kalen simply stood there gazing at Piper dumbly. "You cut your hair." He remarked, a soft smile forming on his lips.

Running a hand self consciously through her hair, Piper shrugged. "Yeah, and you became normal sized." At this Kalen suddenly took on that paranoid expression again as his eyes flicked towards Naomi.

Piper waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry, Naomi already pretty much knows everything." She said. "And she's not going to tell anyone else, if you're worried about that." She assured him.

Naomi meanwhile, was currently shooting Kalen some suspicious looks of her own. "I thought you were supposed to be like a giant or something." She pointed out, eyes scanning Kalen up and down.

"Uh--well first of all, I'm not a giant, humans are just really tiny." Kalen replied, causing Piper to immediately roll her eyes.

"Oh we are not going through this again." Piper groaned, shooting Kalen a glare.

"So why do you look human sized?" Naomi interrupted Piper and Kalen's stare-off.

Of course Piper already knew the answer to this, but she hadn't fully explained the mechanics of inter-dimensional teleportation to Naomi, mostly because she herself hardly understood it. And even though she had overheard that SSD scientist say they were close to being able to teleport Amasisans to Earth at full size, now that Celia was in charge, they had no real reason to use it.

"Would it not be somewhat disruptive if I showed up on Earth at my full size?" Kalen questioned Naomi.

"Well yeah but--" Naomi started but Piper cut her off.

"I want to know why you're here." Piper told Kalen. "Don't tell me something bad happened." She pleaded, images of Rothgard getting free from the Pervicacious and regaining control of the council began to fill her mind.