Chapter 5

         You future husbands out there should know what it's like, the nervous feeling you get when you're about to meet your girlfriend's parents. Only my case wasn't like that. Jessica wasn't my girlfriend, she was a good friend who was a girl. I had another problem. Jessica knows about the secret of our kind, but there were a lot of tricky questions around that area. What if her parents asked how old I was? I couldn't exactly tell them I was born in 1877. What if they asked where I was born? Do I tell them I was born and raised here in California, or do I tell them my parents took me all over the world?

         I'm a good liar in the sense that people can't tell when I'm lying, but I'm bad at keeping my story credible. I thought that the best thing to do would be to call Jessica up and agree on a time to meet her parents. You know what? Forget it. I'll do what I need to do when the time comes.

         When the time came to get dressed before meeting Jessica's parents, I ended up dressing in my gray pants and gray socks with black shoes. I put on a nice, clean, white shirt and a black tie. I pulled my black blazer on and slipped my watch onto my wrist. My brothers were going out also, to meet Terra, Cari, Rhonda, and Portia's families.

         I left the house and drove to Jessica's place. From the outside it looked rather nice. There were tulips growing in the flowerbeds and the grass was nicely mown and watered. The house was a pale yellow color. There were several windows and one looked in on the piano. I glanced over at the hammock on the side of the house that I had found Jessica sitting in the first time I went to her house but she wasn't there.

         Gathering up my courage, I walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. Jessica's father answered the door.

         "Hello, you must be Aden, Jessica's told us so much about you," he said. "Please, do come in."

         I walked in to find a tidy house. I stood with my hands behind my back as Jessica, her brother, and mother joined us.

         "Mom, Dad, Jacob," Jessica said, "this is Aden Jenkins. Aden, my father, Joseph Sanders."

         She gestured towards her father and we shook hands.

         "Nice to meet you, junior," he said.

         "My mother, Jane Sanders." Her mother and I shook hands.

         "And my brother Jacob," she said.

         We didn't shake hands, we just nodded at each other.

         "Please come into the living room," Mrs. Sanders said.

         I sat on the end of the couch that was closest the piano and Jessica came and sat next to me. She was wearing a very pretty dress and a lot of make up around the eyes. Her parents were wearing casual slacks and t-shirts and her brother had on a Star Wars T-shirt and black jeans.

         "Jessica says that you speak many languages. Is French one of them?" Mr. Sanders asked.

         "Oui," I replied.

         "Ah," Mr. Sanders said. "Je parle français aussi, et toi?"

         "Mais oui," I said. "Parlez-vous d'autres langues?"

         "Non, le français seulement," Mr Sanders said.

         "What are you saying?" Jessica asked me.

         "Just chatting in a friendly manner," Mr. Sanders answered.

         "What other languages do you speak?" Mrs. Sanders asked me.

         "I can speak a lot of languages. French, Spanish, German."

         "That's wonderful. How long did you study?"

         "My brothers and I have traveled many places in this world and that was how we learned them."

         "Jessica says you play the piano and guitar, could you play us something?" Mr. Sanders asked.

         "Okay," I said.

         "Wait," Jessica said. "Come play a piano duet with me."

         "Jessica," Mrs. Sanders said. "He's never played your duet before. Or have you?"

         "No, but I can sight read pretty well."

         The music wasn't very hard and I only bobbled once, but I went on anyway. When we finished, the rest of Jessica's family applauded. I noticed that Jessica's little brother was shyly ducking his head whenever my eyes turned towards him, and I wondered if he were scared of me.

         "So Aden," Mrs. Sanders started, "do you have a job for the summer?"

         "I don't have a job now but hopefully after college, I'll be able to get a job that I like and am good at," I said.

         "What are you going to major in?" Mrs. Sanders asked.

         "I'd like to major in English and music. I'm interested in writing creative non-fiction and I've written several short stories, but I've never sent them off to publishers."

         "Why not?" Mr. Sanders asked.

         "Mostly because I never got the time. Music was a hit for my brothers and me because we play so often."

         "When will we get to meet your parents?" Mr. Sanders asked.

         I felt Jessica stiffen behind me.

         "I'm afraid that won't be possible," I replied.

         "Why not?" Mrs. Sanders asked.

         "My parents are dead," I said quietly.

         "Oh. . . I'm sorry about that," said Mrs. Sanders. "Is it too troubling to talk about?"

         "Kind of, it wasn't that long ago."

         "Okay then, we must drop the subject," Mrs. Sanders said. "Do you have any plans for the afternoon?"

         "Not exactly. Lately, Jessica and I have just gone to my house and talked and played music. I'd like to show Jessica a beautiful place in the forest near my house."

         Jacob left to go play on his skateboard while we talked on about education and life in the daily world.

         "You are welcome back here at any time," Mr. Sanders said as we were parting. "You don't have to be shy, if you two want to come back here and play music or something, we would be more than happy to welcome you. You're much better than Jessica's former boyfriend, don't you think, dear?"

         "Yes, I agree," Mrs. Sander said.

         "Jessica's former boyfriend?" I asked.

         "I'm sorry, didn't she tell you? He was all brawn but no brains," Mr. Sanders said.

         "Oh, okay, but I'm not . . ." I was cut off by Jessica who elbowed me in the ribs. "Thank you," I said.

         Jessica and I left the house. As we stepped into the car, I was thinking about the conversation we'd had. Mr. Sanders had said that I was better than Jessica's former boyfriend. Did that mean James was Jessica's former boyfriend? Did that mean that he thought I was her current boyfriend? I didn't think she was my girlfriend. We're just friends.

         "Where's this beautiful place you want to show me?" Jessica asked as I pulled up to my house.

         I led Jessica to the edge of the forest. As it wasn't too late, only four o'clock, the sun was still shining, but the thick forest looked dark and scary. I looked at Jessica and saw worry in her eyes.

         "Want a ride?" I asked. "You could close your eyes so you don't have to see it."

         "Okay," she said. "Try not to tear my dress or snag it."

         "I wouldn't dream of it," I told her.

         She clambered onto my back and I held onto her under her knees. With that, I launched into the forest. Later, Jessica told me she felt a bit like she was on a roller coaster. I had to jump over several small tree trunks and dodge quite a few branches. Some of the branches probably wouldn't have hit us, but I didn't want to tear her dress. I thought I could keep a steady pace of about twenty, twenty-five miles an hour for about twenty miles. Our kind don't have regular lungs like humans; we can hold our breath for unnaturally long periods of time. We also don't tire as fast as regular humans. What would probably make a human so exhausted that they'd throw up, would probably make us breathe harder than usual, but not collapse with fatigue.

         The place I had in mind was about ten miles into the forest. I had thought I should offer her a ride, since she was wearing shoes that had points under the heels (I think they're called "high-heels") and it probably would have made her feet hurt. After about nine and a half miles in, I could see the clearing ahead. It was a pleasant place with a stream running through it and the sounds of wildlife were in the air. There were trees surrounding it, but not directly over it. The trees got thinner and thinner until there were none at all. I put her down and she took my hand as we walked there in silence.

         "Oh, Aden, this is the most breathtaking place imaginable," she gasped.

         "You like it?" I asked.

         She nodded. The grass was soft and glistening and the stream was nice, even for me. But best of all, I thought, was the sun. It shone down on us and felt wonderful. It took all my power, not to ignite and burn this whole place up. Then I thought, what if I did light this place on fire. This is one of the few nice places that humans had not yet polluted and bulldozed to build towns and cities and highways. The birds were chattering and the sound of the stream was beautiful. I thought again about lighting this place up. I'd ruin the only place that can truly bring me happiness. Not to mention I'd probably freak Jessica out and maybe even burn her.

         Bringing my attention to the present, I found Jessica lying against a grassy knoll. Her eyes were closed and there was a smile on her face. She was breathing deeply. I guess she must have really liked the scent of pine and the sound of water too. It really was quite beautiful. I walked over and sat down beside to her; soaking up the sun.

         "I wish we could stay here forever," Jessica said.

         "Can you sing?" I asked.

         "Not really, but you sure can."

         "Hey, I usually just try and harmonize, so it's not as important."

         Jessica sat up and turned to me. "No matter what you sing or do, you'll always be important to me," she said. She started to lean forward with her eyes closed. I didn't know what she was doing, but before we could make contact, I heard a snap of a twig and jumped up in alarm. Jessica opened her eyes and looked up to see my eyes darting back and forth in search of the source of the sound. The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. Across from the way we had come, I thought I saw a dark shadow move. I pushed Jessica behind me.

         "Well, well, well. What have we here?" asked a voice.

         It was coming from the shadow in the forest. The figure stepped out into the clearing and Jessica let out a whimper. It was a Heinous Knight. He was dressed in black armor with a shield over his back, his red sword hanging from his belt and his hands were on his sword, preparing to draw.

         "You serve one who is forbidden to come within our dimension. Be gone," I said confidently.

         The Heinous Knight laughed. "You know nothing of us and our master. But please, it is unnecessary to make this any more unpleasant than it already is."

         "Speak of your business, and I will allow you to pass. Otherwise, retreat or regret it."

         "As if you could beat me!" exclaimed the knight. "I have practiced for longer than you have been created. None have defeated me! Nor will any one of your kind do so, for I am the mighty Thor, named after the great god of the Norse myths!"

         "Well Thor, state your business and retreat."

         "You dare speak to me as if I were your equal! As for my business, my master is holding a council for those wise enough to attend. Now step aside or I will make you."

         "I think not," I said. "Jessica, please back up into the forest and climb a tree. He cannot climb with his armor."

         Jessica slowly backed away from me; though I'm not sure how well she could climb with her skirt and pointy shoes.

         "That was unnecessary," Thor said. "We do not harm the females of the humans, for they have no power and no chance of stopping us."

         "Well, that's one thing sorted out," I said. "Now, you may retreat, or be stopped."

         "As if the mighty Thor would ever retreat against a puny Fire weakling!"

         And with that, he drew his sword and charged. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jessica shrink into the shadows of the forest, and I hoped she would get far enough out of the way since the knight was going to make me fight. This time, I wasn't fighting a human like James, I was fighting a human who had been cursed under the spell of Vadrak.

         His sword started to descend upon me, and I barely managed to block it with a wall of fire. I was down on one knee holding the wall up. I used my strength to throw the knight backwards a good twenty feet. He landed with a crunch and staggered to his feet. I surrounded myself with flame and propelled more of my fire at him. Despite his heavy armor, he jumped over the wall which was a good seven feet tall and came at me again. I made a protective dome of fire around myself. The knight's sword must have been one of the special ones that Vadrak's best blacksmiths had created because he hurled gallons upon gallons of water at my forcefield from his sword.

         These swords had been made for fighting my kind. They can do real damage to all five elements, throw water to stop fire, turn earth into mud, throw flames to stop wood, shatter water into drops, and use both fire and water to immobilize metal.

         He threw water at me until my dome gave out. The next few seconds were a blur, but I found myself in the shallow stream with him splashing after me. He caught me and pushed my body under until I blacked out.