Bookie Paige [COMPLETED] [UNEDITED]

Chapter 2

My mind was racing as I quickly calculated the question at hand.

4.55576897 divided by 2.7789567.

Owl grinned, sure he had finally tricked me. But, this question was as easy as adding one and one. I quickly blurted the answer, and his face fell. It had only taken me 0.4 seconds to answer that one. I laughed and smirked at him, when Zip lunged at me. It only took me a hundredth of a second to calculate when she would reach me, and I quickly dodged to my left. Her hands missed me by a centimeter, and I watched a blur of blonde hair whiz by and smash into the coffee table.

"Zip, seriously, stop!" I growled, trying to hide my giggle. That had been the seventh time in the past hour, and logic said she would try at least once more.

"But, Bookie," she said, putting on a pouting face. "I haven't been able to get you yet!" See? She'll try again. I chuckled and ruffled her hair, looking around. Owl was standing by a window, deep in conversation with a blue jay. Shadow was in an armchair, practicing, again, becoming a pure shadow. Rain and Ivy were also practicing, though they were in the Invincible Room, our room that could withstand any of our powers. I stalked to the door, opened it, and slipped in. Rain was holding her hands up, her orange hair swirling as the wind she made blew it. A thunder cloud threatened Ivy, who was enveloping herself in a protective layer of bamboo. Only her green eyes and strings of her straight, brown hair were visible.

"Um, guys, could you hold your duel for a moment?" I asked politely, eyeing the cloud. Rain turned on me, grinned and tried to send the thunderstorm on me. My brain whirred and I ran in a large circle, knowing Rain wasn't coordinated enough to move the cloud with me, as fast as I was running.

She let out a gasping breath and sat down, panting. "God, Bookie! I can't ever get it on you!"

I smirked and sat next to her, giving her a stare that said, "Try me." But she only nodded and didn't send another flurry of storms on me.

Ivy slowly made the bamboo unwind from her body, and her tall form was suddenly visible. She strode towards us and sat, too, cupping her hands and making little rose-petal-people dance around a small birch tree. I smiled and brushed the top of the tree.

It had been only a year ago that the guys in black coats had raided our homes and dragged us to the Institute, where we had first been introduced. With difficulty, we had all escaped and fled to the Mexico border, where we had stayed for three months, learning about each other. The Black Jackets, as we call them, had found us and again we had fled to Florida, where we stayed for five months. With all our powers, it was fairly easy to stay away from the . . . Dumber of people. They had found us, and now we were in Virginia, where we had been for the past three months. Hard life, yep. Life, though, still life. Better than no life.

Zip was suddenly standing in front of me, a pouty expression on her small face. I smiled at her and pulled her onto my lap, where she tiredly yawned. Shadow also came in, as a shadow. He solidified and sat next to Rain. Owl , with the bluejay on his shoulder, also came in and sat next to Ivy. We were all here.

"So, guys," I began. "I've been thinking-"

"Your always thinking," Shadow pointed out. I glared at him, and he shrunk a little, becoming half solidified.

"The Black Jackets are going to find out where we are in approximately one week, give or take a day or two." I looked at all the faces. Little troopers. "So tomorrow we need to leave, and find a new place. And I've calculated that the safest place we could go right now is the upper part of California." I patiently waited for their response.

"You mean . . . The Redwood Forest?"

"Exactly."

Slowly, their grins spread wide, and I sighed in relief. We hadn't ever been to the Redwoods, so this a new experience. "There are plenty of squirrels and other animals to hunt, and probably some streams, too." They all nodded eagerly.

Redwood Forest we shall go, then.