Fictional Fantasy Volume One (Completed)

Chapter Twenty-Three - Yuki Rey

I couldn't believe it. My father was brought on board. Wasn't he in prison? Didn't he hate magic?

It took everything in me to stay calm.

"So. How are you doing aboard The Box?" I asked stiffly, trying to make eye contact and failing horribly.

"Its been alright. I haven't been here for long." His thinking got a bit more abstract, then he said, "Are you using telepathy?"

"Yeah." I admitted. "I, um, I can't hear so I use telepathy." I nervously rubbed the back of my head.

"My daughter can't hear either," he said obliviously.

"Wow. What a coincidence." I replied.

"Yeah." He held out his hand and I took it. As we shook he said, "So I'm Yamada. What's your name?"

"I, uh, I don't have a name," was my brilliant response.

"What?" He looked confused.

"Excuse me a moment." I let go of him, and ran off at superspeed towards the water room. Once I entered, I closed the door, stripped, then jumped as far as I could (which, boosted by the superspeed was pretty far) and then sulked at the bottom of the pool.

I couldn't believe that he of all people was here. Suddenly, I saw the words of nearby thoughts run across my mind complaining about a splash. I swam up to the top to see Amy sitting on one of the platforms. She was dripping with water.

"Sorry," I thought to her.

"Its fine. Are you ok?"

"My dad is here, somehow," I explained.

"Oh. Isn't that a good thing?" she asked.

"Not really. Last I knew he was in prison."

"What for?"

"I have no idea. The newspapers wouldn't release any details. I haven't checked to see if they've been released more recently, and I don't really care."

"It sounds like you care." Amy was sitting with her short legs dangling in the water. "Although, it is strange that he's here. Did he use magic?"

"No. He hated magic. Marigold said that it seemed like he broke out of prison with the help of that lizard woman." I climbed up out of the water to sit down next to her.

"Lizard woman?" she gave me a look.

"Sorry. 'Reptilian individual.' The one with the artificial limbs. I don't know her name." I tried defending myself against the slip-up.

Amy didn't mention it again. "So what's so bad about having your father on board?"

"He's a criminal!" I pointed out.

"Aren't you one too? I mean magic is illegal."

I thought about it and the vigilante past that seemed so distant now. I guess I had broken the law in the past. It was always to help people, right? Anyways my father couldn't have been trying to help anyone. He was always so harsh and indifferent to me. I always got the impression that he somewhat cared, with those interpreters that seemed to double as bodyguards, but couldn't he have learned sign language himself? Couldn't he have ever just talked to me.

"I guess I am, but I've never done anything worth going to prison over."

"How are you sure that he has?" she asked.

"Because-" I trailed off. She was right. I may have misjudged my father. I thought a moment. "I've changed my appearance since I last saw my father. He didn't recognize me. I'll invite him to have dinner with me and Aileen, then ask him why he was in prison. Then, depending on the answer, I'll tell him who I am."