Fractured

Chapter 7 - Bending Limits

It took Marc and I around half an hour to reach an agreement before we were all able to head to bed and get some much-needed sleep. In the morning I was to give a small demonstration of my flexibility in exchange for a delicious hot breakfast and fresh coffee. Looking around the twins apartment, I knew I wasn't going to have enough room to be able to warm up properly, to show off what I was willing to share, so it was quickly decided that our demonstration and breakfast would be done in Marc's apartment.

I was up at the usual 5:30AM the next morning and Brandon and I made our way over to Marc's apartment so I could start warming up my muscles for what I knew was not something most people could do. Corey was still asleep when we left, using the pretence of having some work to do on his software as a reason to meet us at the other apartment at 8.

I was about an hour into warming up when Axel and Brandon went to get some balloons – I had insisted they buy I a new packet so there could be no accusations of tampering! I still hadn't seen Corey, but the notification I received earlier let me know he was looking at my old alias trying to find more on my past. I smiled to myself knowing they wouldn't find anything, Kitty had been a nickname and I had scrubbed the alias entirely when I moved from New York.

I am not sure how much later it was when Raven finally woke up and joined Marc in the kitchen. He clearly didn't remember anything from last night, as he began to question Marc. "Why is there a bird in the lounge room practically folding herself in half, where did the coffee table go and why do I feel like I have been hit by a bus?"

Marc laughed at Raven before replying, "That's Andy. We struck a deal last night and she is in there getting ready to hold up her end of it."

"What exactly was this deal?" Raven sounded distracted while trying to work out what I could possibly be going to do that would involve being folded in half. Marc quickly explained how he came to realise we had met a few years ago and that I had agreed to show them a couple of my more awe-inspiring tricks in exchange for pancakes, bacon, eggs and coffee.

"Ok, but where did you move the coffee table to?" Did Raven really have no idea what happened last night?

"You've no idea, do you?" Marc asked, grabbing the tablet off the kitchen bench. He tapped on the screen a few times before handing it to Raven. "You should watch this. It will explain why you hurt as much as you do, how you got the bruise on your back and what happened to the coffee table."

"Any chance I can get a copy of that? Uncle Phil wont believe it until he sees proof!" I asked from the lounge room, while Raven sat in silence watching the events of last night over again. He watched it another three times before putting the tablet down and heading into the bathroom.

"Is he ok?" I asked as we heard the shower start.

Marc didn't answer; instead he seemed to be lost in thought. It took me a minute to realise that it probably had something to do with the stretch I was now sitting in. I cleared my throat loudly to draw his attention back to the room.

"I am sure he is fine", was his only reply before heading back into the kitchen.

Corey arrived shortly before Axel and Brandon returned with the balloons. Marc even convinced Raven that this was something he wouldn't want to miss – he had retreated to his bedroom again after his shower and from what little noise could be heard while he was in there, I was fairly confident he had been cleaning his guns.

As I finished warming up I got the guys to decide who would be responsible for the balloons as I was only planning on doing the trick once. IT was something that I could only do a limited number of times in a row at the best of times, and it had been a while since I last attempted it. After some back and forth between them, they decided that Marc would be the one to do the honours. Once they all moved to the lounge, he quickly inflated the balloon before all attention was on me.