Two (Countdown Book 5)

Chapter 15

We arrived back at around nine pm, having left at seven. We'd both talked excitedly the whole way back, still dazed and disbelieving that we'd actually seen our families. Mackenzie told me about the nice little two-bedroom cottage she shared with her dad, who was a lawyer. She told me about what she'd done over the last three days, and I listened patiently, knowing this would be our only chance to talk about it. When we got home, we'd have to pretend like we'd been on another boring mission.

When I told her about Becks, Izzy and Abi, she sounded surprised, but happy for me nonetheless. I told her about what we'd been doing over the last few days, right up to the shopping trip we'd taken earlier today. She seemed to find it fascinating that I had younger siblings, and, honestly, so did I.

When we arrived back, I expected people to come up to us, demanding where we'd been. Nobody did. I guess we were all used to each other disappearing for a few days at a time. We always came back, though. Always.

I went up to my room, putting my new and old stuff alike away. Jake asked me about it, and I just shrugged, saying that me and Mackenzie had decided to go shopping on the way back. He rolled his eyes and muttered something about Elementals, but I let it slide, because I was in such a good mood. A few times, though, I caught him glancing at me susiciously, which was probably because being an Empath, he could sense my emotions.

Steve and Tony came in a little after me. We all got changed into our pyjamas, and decided to stay up a bit longer for a game of Poker, which was strictly not allowed in the school. Jake, Tony and Steve told me about the lessons they'd had that day.

I still found it unusual that, around all the portals and superpowers, we still had time to learn basics like English and Maths. I supposed me and Mackenzie should probably go to the lessons now that we weren't actually working, but there was no way I was sitting through hours of school work when I could be seeing my family or training for the next confrontation with Makinshien, if there ever was one.

We went to bed around one, when Tony started snoring on the table. Steve nudged him awake and helped him to bed like a big brother might. We all clambered under the warm covers, and we were all asleep fairly quickly.

I awoke the next morning, slightly surprised to have had no nightmares. I got dressed, had breakfast and then returned to my room and booted up my laptop. I had agreed with Maria that I'd look into the dreams, I was having, and I was prepared to do just that.

I loaded up Google, and typed in the word: Makinshien.

A lot of results came up, mostly theories, images and videos that had leaked from when he had first appeared. I read one article that made my stomach churn a bit:

END OF THE WORLD?

We have informants in the government who claim that our government is hiding something about this most recent appearance from us.

The informant, a scientist, claims that the 'portals' appearing all over London are the result of some dimensional shift. This allows people to come through from the past. Although this seems unlikely, we have witnesses who have seen Winston Churchill, Pirates, Ancient Greeks and that T-Rex munching on Hamleys was certainly no illusion.

Then, this guy comes through a portal (picture on the right). Video footage shows the man announcing himself as Makinshien, and while we know he is almost certainly not from this time, we have to ask: is he even from Earth?

He seemed to have some kind of superpowers, as shown in a fight with two youths who work for the Government. Although one figure is unclear, we can tell from a grainy image that the boy who got in a sword fight with Makinshien is Eli Moore- the boy named a superhero AND an outcast a couple of years ago.