Exciti

Chapter 41 (Liam)

Ice and water spilled off the sides of an inflatable pool as Adam was tossed into it for the fifth time that day. Liam suppressed a shiver. He didn't need to imagine how unpleasant it was; Adam's gasping and sputtering was enough to give the general idea. He exchanged an uneasy look with Lucy, who started coming to the doll house again after their venetian disaster three days ago.

Lago helped Adam out and handed him yet another towel, "Better?"

Adam wiped the water out of his eyes with a shivering hand, "Yes, but I'm going to get pneumonia at this rate." He complained.

Lago grimaced then called across the dollhouse, which was the size of a basketball court today, "Joseph, I bethink thee shouldst halt the training f'r the present day."

Liam agreed and rubbed his throbbing eyes. Not only was the healer's prescribed method to stop Adam's gift from burning him alive brutal, but Liam was also getting a creeping ache in his eyes whenever he strained his Visus. Hid dad was already threatening to take him to an optometrist because of the headaches that usually followed.

Monsieur Kerman called from across the room, "Not until they learn to manage the side effects of their gifts, it is most crucial. Boys! They are gifts, not curses! Embrace them, embraaaace them!"

Liam and Adam groaned. Kerman had turned into a merciless drill Sargant ever since Adam learned to control his gift. Lago told them that he took it as a personal insult that the breakthrough did not happen in his classroom.

Barb unfurled from Adam's pocket to yell. "Will you stop this! The coin is turning ice cold then sweltering hot then back to ice again! It is like I have a thermostat, and a crazy roommate!" She then turned to look at Lago, who wiped a goofy smile off his face as soon as he saw her expression, "You are supposed to look after them! Look at Adam, he looks like a chick that had fallen in a frozen pond."

Adam mouthed, "Hey!"

"You are interrupting my lesson, Tail!" Kerman yelled from across the room.

Barb rotated to face him, looking a little more like an eagle than a goddess, "You! Are you trying to kill him?! He might be a natural, but he is a human child, too."

Kerman lifted his nose at her, "The side effects could kill him all the same!"

Lago walked to stand between the two, his hands up in a calming gesture. "thou art allowing thy temp'rs to..."

Kerman stomped his foot, and yelled, "Temper? I can't do my job! I must speak to the doctor, this is outrageous." He then strode to the exit.

Barb followed, "Come back here, you coward!"

Lago ran after them, desperate to avoid bloodshed.

When the three of them left, Lucy grinned, "I'm betting on the Tail."

Adam laughed, "I don't know, Kerman's temper can give Barb a run for her money"

"And Lago is trying to stop them? Yeah, good luck with that." Liam said and sat down on the stairs that led to Kerman's apartment, which were the only chair-like thing in the wide, empty room. He sighed, the pain in his eyes was slowly subsiding.

Lucy waited for a bit, then started walking to the exit, "Maybe we should go help Lago out." She touched the door, then touched it again. "That's odd," Her smile faded off her lips as she started shoving at it. "It won't let me out."

Right then, the entire house tilted and swung. Lucy and Adam fell down , and the two of them started sliding around in the spilled pool water. Liam gripped the banisters for dear life, and was soon joined by the other two.

"What's going on!" Liam mouthed.

Lucy struggled to stay up, "Someone is moving the doll house ,"

"HEY, WE ARE IN HERE!" Adam called out, but the swinging continued.

"Do you think Kerman has finally lost it?" Liam mouthed to the other two.

Adam shook his head, "He'd never damage his precious doll house like this."

Lucy looked at the exit, "then who the Cell is moving it?"

All thoughts of this being an accident fled Liam's mind when someone draped something on the house, dimming the lights to near darkness.

_____________________________________________________________________

(Adam)

A minute or two later, the house's movements slowed, and the three of them sat on the dry stairs. Adam strained to hear any noises from the outside.

Lucy looked at ceiling, "We need to break out of here, forget about the exit. We can use the windows, or...."

"Kerman said that he uses this house because it can withstand Exciti toy attacks. Do you think we can even make a dent in the windows?" Liam signed.

"We have to try," Lucy objected.

"Shhh," Adam hissed. He could hear a muffled voice coming from the outside.

"I brought him. Give her back." Adam was surprised to hear the speech at its normal speed, whoever locked us in must've disabled the time effect.

Some quality about the distant voice was familiar, but Adam could not put his finger on it. Lucy had started to sign to Liam what they were hearing when a second voice, also somehow familiar, answered, "You will have to come with us. Get in the house."

The house gave a jerk, "You promised to give her back."

"If you want her back unharmed, get inside."

"You lied." A racket sounded outside, and the three of them got their weapons ready to welcome the thief. Adam's puzzle pieces orbited around his arm like planets in a solar system, the way they always did whenever he called upon them since the Venetian bubble.

The door flashed and a man was thrown onto the wet floor. When they saw who he was, they immediately lowered their weapons. Adam stood up, his cube collapsing into his hand. "YOU?!Why?"

Lucy breathed "Key Maker?"

The old Excitus stood up on shaky legs then looked up at them. His ethereal, baritone voice had a tremor to it when he begged them, "Please, help Berta."