Bookie Paige [COMPLETED] [UNEDITED]

Chapter 17

Rain waved her hand- that she wasn't steering with- towards where Owl had fallen. She had a bored expression on her face, and I had to laugh. She wasn't worried at all. I hadn't been either, of course. Owl had purposefully and accidentally fallen. It wasn't the Black Jackets this time.

Owl, on his own, personal cloud, floated up next to us. I watched as his grinning face popped into view. Ivy, startled, squealed and jumped back, accidentally shooting a huge vine towards Owl. The vine slapped him in the face. Literally. It shaped as a human hand and slapped him. Owl let out a cry and fell back onto his cloud, clutching his cheek.

"Owl!" Ivy exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!" By now, everyone except Owl and Ivy had buckled over laughing. Rain's cloud was swiveling out of control; she couldn't keep it steady. Eventually, though, she regained balance and made the two clouds collide into one. Ivy immediately scrambled over to Owl, ripped his hand off of his face, and placed her index finger on his cheek. Where there had been a huge gash, there was only a little bit of redness, now.

"Oh!" I gasped for breath. "My god!"

"That was-" Zip tried to breath, too. "That was hilarious!"

Owl frowned and rubbed his cheek. "Was not," he said curtly.

"It sooooooo was, Owl," Rain replied in her high voice, still giggling.

We all giggled for the next few minutes. I wasn't even paying attention to my visions.

That's why I didn't notice when a figure appeared behind me. Everyone else, who were facing me, gaped.

"What?" I asked, slightly annoyed.

"Bookie, look behind you."

I stiffened, ready for anything. A Robo-Animal, perhaps. Or even a flying Black Jacket? I quickly flipped around and gripped the shirt of my opponent, pulling back my arm to punch it. Just as my fist collided with what should have been flesh, the shirt was gone, and I punched air.

"Shadow?" I shrieked.

He solidified to my left, and I tackled him. "Shadow, if you shadow, I will personally make sure your nose will bleed today." He shrunk back, but didn't shadow. "How did you get onto this cloud?" I growled.

He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "I'm sorry!" he blurted.

"That wasn't my question!" I snapped, ignoring the apology.

Shadow sighed. "I can't tell you-" I sucked in a breath of warning. He winced. "I can only show you."

Then he was out from under me. I whirled around, and he was facing me. His hands were grasped behind his back, his face calm. He disappeared again, and reappeared behind the others, who still gaped. He did this several times until I tackled him again.

"You can teleport," I breathed in awe. He grinned, causing me to make a sound like a wolf's growl, and nodded.

"New skill," he said proudly.

I regained my seriousness and shoved him into the cloud, which was soft but solid. He winced and shadowed halfway. I gripped his shirt tighter and snapped, "No!" He solidified. "How far can you teleport?"

"So far, about a mile."

"How long have you known about this?"

"Since the Black Jackets recruited me."

That set me off. "And another thing!" I roared. "How long have you been freaking working with them?"

He winced. "About a month."

"Why?" I pressed on.

"Because!" He yelled back. "They showed me things!"

"What things?" I was practically screaming at him now.

"They showed me how you were going to kill pretty much the whole world!"

I laughed maniacally. "Oh, sure, Shadow. Believe everything they tell you these days?"

His lower lip was starting to tremble. I was scaring him. "N-no!" He wailed. "But the Boss . . ."

"What?" I thundered.

"He's my father!"