Glint

9 - U

"Uuugh," Skylar moaned when Coach Brennan shouted, "Break time!!"

"What's wrong?" Kai asked, concerned. The boy had barely broken a sweat. He looked exactly like he had just gone to a salon, gotten his face maken over while a professional did his hair—not like he had just gone to a self-defense class. He looked flawless; Skylar looked . . . flaw . . . ful. Very flawful.

But mostly 'awful.'

"How do you look so good?" Skylar asked, then regretted it. Her face turned pink as she thought about other interpretations of her words. "I mean, how do you look like you just got a makeover when I look like I got a... a..."

Kai laughed. "I've been here for a long time, Skylar."

For some reason, Skylar shivered when he spoke her name. She attempted to shake it off, but the slivers merely subsided into her subconscious. "But you only got abducted, like, five months ago," she argued.

"Time moves faster here."

"Oh. But then why aren't you older than me?"

Kai sighed. "It's really complicated. In simple words—"

"Will you stop making it sound like I'm a tiny, hopeless, stupid kid you need to coddle?"

"You are," Kai muttered.

"What did you just say??!" Skylar yelled, using some of the last of her energy. "Excuse me?"

Kai widened his hazel eyes, making them look big and innocent. "Me? Nothing! Anyways, time moves faster, but we grow at about the same rate."

Skylar, still grumpy that Kai had called her a 'tiny, hopeless, stupid kid' he 'needed to coddle,' replied, "Whatever—hush, idiot," she added. Their small coach was crouching in a corner, whispering into a small device that was embedded with the same mark in the device the coach had given them at the beginning.

"No, boss... I'm sorry... they are not ready yet... no, no, it's nothing like that. We have a new recruit... Skylar... yes, the one you recently—CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE. Thanks for helping me; that sports tip was really great! Gotta go! 'Bye, Molly!" Brennan finished in a hurried rush. She had noticed Skylar's intimidating eyes watching her. "Hello, Skylar, Kai. What may I help you with?"

Her voice was squeaky and high-pitched. She sounded nervous, but she recovered quickly.

"Who were you—AGGGGHHHHH!" Skylar yelled when Brennan whipped out a gun-like device, pointing it at her face. Since the woman was shorter than her, Brennan was pointing it up, the nozzle aiming directly between her eyes. Briefly Skylar wondered if she'd done this before. "Don't move, little girl," she snarled. "You won't remember this soon."

Kai opened his mouth.

"You won't either, shrimpy boy," Brennan added, whipping out another and pointing it even higher to where Kai's face was. "You have heard confidential information—HEY! GET BACK HERE, KID!" she yelled to Kai, who had zoomed off somewhere. He appeared behind her, made the shhh signal to Skylar, and grabbed Brennan's throat. She yelped and pointed the gun to Kai, shooting him with a weird pink mist that seemed to smell like lavender, roses, and goat farts. It lingered in the air like a thin syrup before pouring onto Kai. He collapsed.

"KAI!" Skylar screamed. "WHAT THE—"

Her coach calmly pointed the gun at her. "Don't move or I'll shoot," she said. "And by the way, your little boyfriend won't last long—"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND," Skylar shouted. "YOU LITTLE—"

Brennan shot the mist at her. This time, the misty syrup appeared to sizzle in the air, turning colors, lingering longer like a thick syrup would. A sweet chocolate aroma floated into Skylar's nostrils, making her dizzy. A minty fragrance that prevented her from breathing came next, and a minor amount of citrus followed. They swirled in her mind, concentric circles rippling in the wind.

Then came the horse poop.

She fell down, blacking out.