Future Mysticons

Nighttime

          "Chrysy." Chrysy turned towards the door where her mother stood with a 'you did it again' expression on her face.

          "What's up Mom?"

          "The stars and moon." Em responded, coming to take a seat on the edge of Chrysy's bed. "Seeing as it's midnight."

          "Oh." Chrysy looked down at the project she'd been working on since dinner. "I guess I got a little distracted."

          "Again." Em added. "What are you working on now?"

          "A robotic arm to attach to the cupboards at Skypies. For example, we can attach one to the plate cupboard and then Pyrite can just hand it the plates and it will put them in the cupboard." Chrysy hadn't even realized how excited she'd gotten, just talking about it. She smiled as her mother came over to inspect her work, occasionally poking at something.

          "Nice; I see you put in a sensor?" Em turned to look at her daughter.

          "So the arm doesn't put plates on stacks that are already too high." That was probably the thing that Chrysy loved the most about both of her parents; but especially her mother when it came to engineering. Instead of being angry that she was up so late when she had work the next day, they just smiled and encouraged her hobbies.

          "Smart. And you'll want to build it to go both ways; taking dishes down as well. That would really help all of us shorter people." Em remarked with a wink.

         "Of course!" Chrysy softly exclaimed. "But you think that Pyrite will be able to figure it out?"

         "Hey, Pyrite's a lot smarter than we give him credit for." Em told her.

         "I thought you were going to say 'than Copper'." Chrysy joked.

         "Be nice, Chrysy." Em gently scolded; but she smiled along with her daughter. The two sat there and smiled at each other for several minutes, enjoying each others company in the still quiet of the summer night.

          Everything seemed far too perfect that Chrysy almost wasn't surprised when it was interrupted. Suddenly, the stillness was shattered by screams from the next room. Chrysy and Em looked over, their gentle smiles turning into fear.

          "That's Pyrite." Chrysy breathed. Em rose to her feet and started to run to Pyrite's room, Chrysy close behind her. The two made it right before Kasey and the three of them rushed into Pyrite's room together.

          "Pyrite?!" Em raced to his bed, pulling back the empty covers. Kasey checked the window which was open, the curtains blowing in the warm breeze.

          "I don't see anyone." He reported.

          "Where could he have gone?" Chrysy fearfully gasped. The room didn't really have anywhere that even a young dwarven boy could hide.

          "Let's stay calm; we don't know what's happened yet and panicking won't help anyone." Kasey told them. "I'll go check outside, Em, check the house and Chrysy, go wake Copper and tell him to look around." They all nodded and set off to their tasks, trying not to imagine the worst.

***********************************************************************

          "Couldn't sleep?" Everyn jumped as her aunt strolled out onto the balcony; then went back to leaning on the railing, looking out at the city.

          "Never can." Everyn softly replied.

          "Nightmares?" Zarya joined her in leaning on the railing.

          "Every night." Everyn twisted her hands together as her aunt just stood there and watched her. "Multiple times in a night." She admitted.

          "Hey, let me show you something." Zarya wrapped an arm around her niece's slender shoulders. Everyn leaned against her aunt as they walked through the palace to the living room. Everyn was surprised to see both of her cousins sitting on opposite couches, arms folded and eyes locked in a death stare.

          "What's with them?" Everyn asked.

          "Since Vivyan has telepathy and they're identical, they have a permanent psychic connection." Zarya quietly explained.

          "I know." Everyn was still confused as her aunt turned to look at her.

           "That also means that they share their dreams and nightmares. In some ways I guess it's better with someone else there; but at the same time, the one who wasn't having a nightmare tends to resent the one who was, for pulling them in."

          "Do they do this every night?"

          "Multiple times in a night." Zarya replied. "Come on." She pulled Everyn after her into the room. "They won't mind." The twins looked up and smiled as Zarya and Everyn joined them.

***********************************************************************

          Kitty sighed as she steered her ship away from another threatening cloud bank. She hated flying through the night, but she was already behind schedule. She missed her friends and family and was anxious to get back to Drake City.

          "Hey Mom." Kyle joined her.

         "Shouldn't you be asleep?"

         "Shouldn't you?" Kaddy popped up behind Kitty, who jumped. She must be really tired if she hadn't noticed her daughters perfume.

         "You know that I want to get back to Drake City."

         "Yes, but where's the sense in tiring yourself getting someplace to do something if then you'll be too tired to do that thing?" Kyle asked her.

         "Is it just me or did only half of that sentence actually make sense?" Kitty asked.

         "It's just your tired brain." Kaddy explained. "Now just let me take over; I'm too excited to sleep anyway."

         "I'm positive you're actually related to Piper somehow." Kitty told her ever-bouncy daughter. "But okay." She allowed Kaddy to take the wheel and Kyle to help her to her cabin.

         "Why are you so anxious to get back, anyway?" Kyle wondered.

         "Oh, you know. I want to see everyone again." Kitty tried to brush off his question, but his icy blue eyes seemed to penetrate her mind. "Okay fine." Kitty sighed. "I just have this feeling like something terrible is going to happen. I know it's just a feeling, but..." She trailed off, shaking her head.

         "...But these kinds of feelings have never been wrong before." Kyle finished for her. She gave him a half-smile to thank him for understanding.

         "Doesn't matter; we'll deal with it once we get back to Drake City." She tried to reassure them both. "Good night Kyle."

         "Good night Mom." Kyle replied as he left.