Bolts And Feathers

Prologue

It was Saturday morning. The birds sang in the trees, greeting the rising sun. In a quiet, suburban neighborhood, a dog began to bark.

"Harding! Be quiet!" yelled a female voice.

The dog did not heed the command, and continued to bark.

"Ugh! Alexis, make your dog shut up so I can go back to sleep!" yelled another boyish voice.

"It's morning time, Toby! You shouldn't be going back to sleep!" shouted the first voice.

"I do what I want!"

A man rolled over in bed to face his wife.

"I have a feeling we're not sleeping in," he muttered.

"It will happen someday, sweetie," his spouse replied.

The man groaned and slid out of the bed, the dog's barks continuing to echo through the house. He opened the door to his room and stepped into the hallway.

"Alright, kids. Get out of bed," he called. "And Alexis, please shut up Harding."

A bleary-eyed eighteen-year-old girl stumbled out of her room. "Sure." She walked slowly down the hallway, shaking the sleep from her body.

Alexis Brown was a pretty girl, even in her messy hair and pajamas. She had thick, shoulder-length, brown hair that she usually wore in a single braid. Her eyes were brown as well, but a light brown, like the brown of an acorn shell. Alexis was the average height for her age, but her fluffy hair seemed to make her taller. Personality wise, she was an extroverted, caring person with a heart for righting the wrong in the world. She loved all living things, and always found time to spend dwelling in the wonders of nature.

It was obvious that the girl was exhausted this Saturday morning. She nearly tripped over her father as she passed him in the hallway. The older man watched his daughter carefully.

"Alexis?"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Watch out for the-"

"Woah!"

"-stairs."

But the man had no need to be worried. Alexis had caught herself and was hanging in mid air above the stair she had missed. She grinned at her father, her messy, chocolate brown hair falling over her face.

"Whoops." 

In a sudden burst of movement, she swooped down the rest of the stairs and landed gracefully at the bottom.

So began that Saturday morning in the Brown household. Many of my readers already know the story of Alexis and Toby Brown and their amazing powers, but this story is a bit different, so listen closely.

When Alexis was four years old, she and her family were in deep trouble. They lived on the streets of Chicago, Mr. Brown barely earning enough money to keep his family from digging through the dumpsters. But one day, all that changed. Mr. Brown was approached by Dr. Edward Eusker, head scientist of Eusker Labs. Dr. Eusker made a deal with the desperate family. Eusker Labs would provide for all the needs of the Brown family if Mr. and Mrs. Brown would offer their children Alexis and Toby as test subjects for a few harmless experiments.

At the time of the agreement, Mr. and Mrs. Brown were exceedingly thankful for their accommodations. They were supplied with food, shelter, education for the kids, and even things they didn't need. But after nine years, the time for the experiments had finally come. All throughout their education, Alexis and Toby had been taught to control their desires and emotions. Of course, not all emotions can be controlled, but the siblings had learned how to enter a Neutral Zone, a state of mind that only the harshest primitive emotions could drive them out of.