Chapter 6

         I woke with Jessica pushing on my chest over my heart and filling my lungs with her breath.

         "What happened?" I asked.

         "After the knight drowned you in the water, he beat you pretty good with the flat of his sword. I don't know how you survived, I mean, first he held you under water for at least ten minutes, then he brutally beat you, but you haven't even broken a bone, then he wedged you between several rocks so you would stay in the water and he ran off. You're bruised up, but even that seems to be healing.

         "After he ran off, I dragged you out of the water into the sun. I thought you were dead, you were so cold. I tried everything I learned from that life saving class I took."

         "Thank you, Jessica," I said. "I would've died in the water, if you hadn't pulled me out. Each of our kind has an Achilles heel and water is mine. Water puts fire out, that's pretty basic and logical. Water does damage to Earth also, by making it mud, but fire burns up wood."

         "I'm just glad you're still alive. It was really brave of you to stand up to the Heinous Knight like that. Do they all look that way?"

         "Must we talk about it now?" I asked.

         "No, no, of course not. You go ahead and rest."

         I nodded my thanks and drifted off again.

         The next time I woke up, I felt refreshed and realized it was already late evening. I should get Jessica back to her house or she and I would be in trouble. I sat up and saw her dozing next to me. I gently shook her shoulder, and her eyes popped open.

         "We should get back," I told her.

         She nodded and stood up. As I waited for her to get on my back, I noticed that the beautiful clearing in the forest showed no sign of struggle, much less a furious fight. I didn't know why that was, but if the Elders didn't want me to know, then so be it. Jessica climbed onto my back, and I hurried through the forest. We didn't talk and I didn't really want to anyway. She just rested her head on my shoulder and kept her arms secure around my neck. When we got back to my house, I found my brothers all sitting out on the porch. As soon as they saw me, they jumped up and looked concerned.

         "Where were you? Why'd it take you so long to get back?" Hearst asked.

         "Yeah, we dropped the girls off almost an hour ago," Timur told me.

         "We were attacked," I said. "I'll tell you about it later."

         I led Jessica over to my car and opened the door for her. I walked around to the driver's side and got in.

         "When will I next see you?" Jessica asked.

         "Not sure," I said. "Did you have something in mind?"

         "No, I just like being with you."

         I dropped her off at her house and hurried home.

         I made it inside and went up to my room to find my brothers sitting on the floor and chairs waiting for me.

         "What's wrong" I asked.

         "We were worried about you, you were gone for so long. That wasn't like you," Irvin said.

         "So what happened?" Timur asked.

         "I took Jessica to that beautiful clearing in the woods and a Heinous Knight attacked us. I fought him, but I lost. He shoved me in a stream and held me under until I blacked out. Jessica told me he wedged me between two rocks so that I would eventually disintegrate. I think she saved me."

         "Sorry, Aden, but you really mustn't wander off without telling us. We all love each other here and no one here wants anything to happen to one another," Irvin said calmly.

         "Personally, I'm just glad you're safe," Timur said.

         "I would have told you, but I didn't want to bother you when you were with Terra, Cari, Rhonda, and, Portia" I said.

         "Aden, you're a good fibber with other people, but to us, you're the worst liar in the world," Hearst laughed. "You didn't think of us when you went out with Sanders. You were more interested in her reaction to the Raj."

         "The what?" I asked.

         "It's what we call the clearing you went to. You know what it means." Timur said.

         "Of course I do," I said. "It means 'heaven.'"

         "Got that one right, bro," Irvin said jovially.

         "Did Sanders really save your life?" Demetrio asked.

         "Yes, she did," I said.

         The summer passed without any other mishaps. Jessica, Terra, Cari, Rhonda, Portia, my brothers, and I had all been admitted to Harvard University, and we all arrived about the same time. All were intelligent enough to get into the college and all had parents rich enough to pay the tuition. We all split up money to pay for a large house that was big enough for the ten of us. I spent most of my time studying and doing chores around the house, but when I could, I spent time hanging out with my brothers or Jessica. Sometimes the ten of us would make a reservation at a restaurant or go to a movie. The money we had inherited from our parents hadn't run out and my brothers and I all had jobs.

         It was hard enough to go to college, work a job, and do chores in a large house, but when we managed to find a time from our jobs, we often found we had homework and studying to do. I had a job designing methods to increase the speed of internet connections at an I.T. building. It wasn't a bad job, but I thought I'd like to find the time to actually sit down and write more often.

         On one of the occasions when the ten of us were eating dinner at a restaurant, we were rudely interrupted. We were celebrating the end of our first year of college and having a great time. Everything was going great until the clock struck 19:00 hours or 7:00 p.m. We heard several dishes break and two seconds later a young man burst in. He was out of breath and doubled up. He had jet black hair and blue eyes the color of the sea. He wore a white shirt and tie and dress pants with robes over all. He straightened up and pulled an envelope out of the pocket of his robes and handed it to the nearest person which happened to be Irvin. Irvin read it quickly and his eyes widened.

         He stood up and said, "We've got to go."

         Irvin passed the letter to Hearst who read it and passed it to me. The message said this:

ATTENTION! Our people are under attack. One of our messengers has been sent to collect you. Come to Mexico City as soon as you finish reading this. More will be explained when you arrive.

          Sincerely,

                    The Elders

         I stood up as well and passed the letter to Demetrio. When the five of us had read it, we gave the girls a quick goodbye, gave them money for a taxi and dinner, and ran out with the messenger. He led us to an alley where a black limousine was waiting. There were more men waiting for us in the alley and the man who had come into the restaurant sat up front next to the driver. We piled in and another man followed us. He introduced himself as Gomez, Esgrimidor de Agua or Wielder of Water. He spoke Spanish, but I'll translate for you.

         "Is it Vadrak and his Heinous Knights attacking?" Hearst asked.

         Gomez nodded and said, "Cease your questioning, and I will explain all."

         We nodded for Gomez to go on, and he began talking of the troubles our kind have had for years.

         "Ever since Vadrak came through the portal and recruited Heinous Knights, he always sent a few out to pick off one family at a time. But now Vadrak has developed more powerful weapons to use against us and is destroying more than one family at a time. We cannot get everyone together to prepare to march to war against him because a civil war between our kind is uprising. They disagree on trade and on land. We do not have enough time to settle small disputes between families. We need to focus on the greater enemy before we reduce our kind even further. We need to unite as one and strike Vadrak and his men when they are at their weakest point. We cannot do that with our people fighting each other.

         "The only way to defeat the Heinous Knights is to chant the ancient spell that releases them from the curse. Any questions so far?"

         "How long will it take for us to get to Mexico City?" Demetrio asked.

         "We won't be going to Mexico City," Gomez said. "Mexico was used in case we were attacked and the message was read. The Elders aren't extremely fond of Mexico City. It is too polluted and it is as busy as ever. The streets are congested and the sidewalks are packed.

         "One of our inventors created a device and implanted it in this limousine. It lets the limo and everything and everyone inside it teleport to a new location. We're hopping around to make sure we're not being followed. Right now I'm pretty sure we're in Norway. We're going to the base where we have been recruiting others of our kind. The Elders are fond of you because of your father. They remember him well and were sad to see him go in the last war. They wish to see you fight in person, and then go into the training level they see fit. Everyone else gets thrown into the beginning training and if the trainer thinks they're good enough, he moves them up."

         "What are the battle plans The Elders have in mind?" I asked.

         "We will tell you later, once we have arrived. We don't think the car has been bugged, but you can never be too careful. Right now we must cease talking."

         My brothers and I nodded. I put my hands in my lap and meditated. When I meditate I make sure I'm in a comfortable position and let my five senses take over. My eyes were staring off into space though I could see around me. Gomez was looking nervous. He was biting his fingernails and his eyes were closed. I think he was praying to The Elders. I listened, but none of the outside sounds penetrated the car.

         After half an hour of jumping around the world, the limo stopped at the Jardin botanique de Montréal or the Montreal Botanical Garden. We were about to get out when Gomez stopped us. He began to chant a spell that I did not recognize. As soon as he finished the spell, the world went white.

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.

Chapter 4

         The following day, we headed down to a street where we knew there was a pay phone. I went first and the others gave me some privacy. I inserted the coins and dialed Jessica's number. The phone rang and was answered by a voice which I assumed was her father. I asked for Jessica and she answered a few seconds later.

         "Jessica, it's Aden," I said.

         "Aden! Thank you for calling, I was afraid it wouldn't be for months," she said.

         "Can I pick you up? We need to talk."

         "Sure, do you need my address?"

         "Yes," I said.

         She gave me her address and we said goodbye.

         Demetrio took the phone next and I walked to my car to pick up Jessica. At her house I found her sitting in a hammock and was pleased to see her reading Treasure Island. When she saw me, she jumped out of the hammock and came towards me with her arms outstretched. I didn't know what she was going to do to me and backed away. As soon as I did, she dropped her arms and looked hurt. I had no idea what she wanted or how I had hurt her. I hadn't realize that I had backed into the street. When I heard a car's horn honking at me, I jumped straight up and let the car pass under me as Jessica shouted my name.

         Once the car had passed I let gravity take over and bring me back to the ground. I walked back to the sidewalk where Jessica stood with a horrified look on her face.

         "What's wrong?" I asked.

         "How did you do that?" Jessica asked.

         "I can't tell you here or now, but I hope we're good enough friends not to insist on the answers to your questions right away. Can we go now?"

         Jessica nodded and I opened and closed the door for her, and walked over to my side of the car. I started up and drove back towards my house.

         "Where are we going? I don't recognize any of this, and I grew up here. I know the town pretty well."

         "We're going to the house my brothers and I share."

         We were silent for the rest of the way. At the house, my brothers and their friends were already in the living room. Since I was going to tell Jessica about our secret, I wanted some privacy. We went into my bed-sitting room. I motioned to the chair across the room, but Jessica plopped onto my bed which was closer to the door. She jumped off just as fast.

         "Jeez," she said. "Do you have a fire going underneath your bed? It's like your bed has nothing but heating pads on it."

         "Sorry, that's why I pointed to the chair."

         Jessica sat down on the chair I pointed to, and I pulled up another next to it.

         "Are you going to tell me your secret, or are you just going to remain as Mr. Mysterious?" Jessica asked.

         "That is what we went to the Elders for," I said, "but before I can tell you I need you to promise you will not tell anyone. For if you do, you will be crushed by the hands of the five elements."

         "I promise," Jessica said after a moment's pause.

         "Will you also promise not to interrupt or ask questions until I'm done?"

         "Okay, I promise," she said.

         "You know that my skin is abnormally warm, but that is only part of it. There are five elements in this universe and they are fire, earth, metal, water, and wood. They come in a cycle in that order. The heat has to do with the fire. My brothers and I are one of each of the five. I am fire, Demetrio is earth, Timur is metal, Irvin is water, and Hearst is wood. You have not seen us in our true form, and if you did, you would think we were a part of nature. But if I changed into my true form right here and now, you would literally burn up.

         "Ever since I joined the human world, I have had to be careful not to set everything on fire. I told you on our day at the beach that water puts me out. It literally puts me out if I'm in too long. I would still float, yes, but I'd be unconscious unless someone dragged me out and put me near or in a fire.

         "It's not easy to explain, but that's who we are. We have tried to understand the human race and we have partly succeeded; although I do not know some of the terms you speak of. I know the language, and most of the ways in which one acts. We are forbidden to tell anyone unless the Elders grant us permission, for the Elders are the law for our kind.

         "There are five Elders, each for one element who can bend it to his will. I can also bend fire to my will, but not nearly so well as they. We need these powers to fight the enemy. You can only see three dimensions, and know about four because the forth is time and you cannot see time. But in our world, there are twenty-six dimensions. We have thirteen years of school and each semester we learn of the inhabitants of one of the dimensions.

         "We currently live in Dimension A, where there is a balance between order and chaos. It is not like Dimension F, which is heaven according to your religion, but it is pleasant. In Dimension Z however, that is where the evil things lie. About one-hundred years ago, someone accidentally opened a portal between Dimensions A and Z. There was good news and bad news to this. The good news was that only one villain got through before the portal was sealed. The bad news was that he was immortal. The other bad news was he used mortal men as puppets. He cursed them, and they became his army. We call these Heinous Knights. They have grown more and more powerful and started killing off our kind.

         "However, some of our kind resisted. We created an army of about five-thousand and marched against the Heinous Knights. At first, the battle was going very well for us. We released about two-hundred from the spells and they fought with us. Just when we thought we were about to overcome the army of the Heinous Knights, legions upon legions more of them joined the fight and we were overwhelmed. The mortal men were put back under the spell, and we were slaughtered. That was how my parents died. Vadrak is the leader's name, and if I ever learn enough, I am going to avenge my parents and send Vadrak back to Dimension Z and let the mortal men be free once more. That is the end of the tale."

         Jessica looked at me and I understood the expression in her eyes; sorrow.

         "Oh, Aden, I am so sorry about your parents," she said quietly.

         "It's okay," I said.

         "Thank you, for telling me, I understand why you couldn't before. I'm sorry I nagged you."

         "That's okay," I repeated.

         I thought that Jessica had forgotten about my jump over the passing car because she didn't ask about it. My kind can do whatever we need to do to avoid getting injured in the mortal world. I stared at the wall across from me, but I wasn't sure what to say. Just then she leaned towards me and put her lips against my cheek. I was so startled I fell off my chair. I crawled backwards on my hands and feet to lean against the wall and stared at her with horror.

         "What?" she said, clearly dumbstruck by my reaction.

         "What did you do to me?" I cried.

         "I kissed you," she answered. "Hasn't anyone kissed you before, or you them?"

         "No," I said, trying to calm down.

         "I'm sorry I startled you, but humans do it all the time. I thought you were trying to understand us."

         "I was, but I never expected this."

         "Okay, calm down, I'm sorry. It was only a small peck."

         "I'm sorry I reacted so," I said. "Let's go downstairs."

         "Sure," she said. "I'd love to hear you play some songs."

         "Okay, I'll get the band."

         I left the room and met my brothers downstairs talking amongst each other with their girls. I suggested we play some music. We played several songs which they seemed enthusiastic about. I think the style we played is called Rock. We ended with a song we called: Opposites.

         We stopped at about five thirty and dropped the girls back at their houses. I think Jessica expected to hear more calls from me. I didn't exactly want to disappoint her, but I didn't really know what to say. I didn't think a long talk on the pay phone would do, so we'd have to talk face to face. I was also nervous because of the last visit. What would she say, and what should my reaction be?

         Several days after our first visit, my brothers and I agreed to give the girls another call. We used the pay phone and arranged to pick them up. When Jessica and I got back to the house, we sat in the living room. As soon as we sat down she spoke about meeting her parents.

         "My parents want to know who you are," said Jessica. "They were introduced to James and didn't like him at all, so they'll either like you or not. But no matter what they say, it will not have any effect on me unless their reaction is positive. You're handsome, you're smart. Anything to add that might make them like you more?"

         "Do they like people who can play musical instruments?" I asked.

         "Yes, that too, I know you've been hiding more talent still."

         "What about foreign languages?"

         "Yes, do you know any?"

         "Quite a few actually," I said.

         "Like what?" asked Jessica.

         "English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Greek," I ticked them off on my fingers.

         "Wow, really?"

         "Yeah, fluently if that means anything to you and your parents. My brothers and I have traveled the world of common languages. Oh, and I left out Russian."

         "You're incredible. Say something in another language," Jessica demanded.

         "D'accord. Est-ce que tu veux jouer 'Questions over Questions'?" I asked.

         "What does that mean?"

         "It means 'Okay, would you like to play Questions over Questions?' Anything else?"

         "Yeah, how do you say 'thank you' in Portuguese. My cousin speaks a bit of Portuguese, but I can never say anything back."

         "Obrigado."

         "Thanks. Sure we can play Questions over Questions. Can I start?"

         "Sure, go ahead," I said.

         "Will you come meet my parents like they requested?"

         "Yes, but not today. How long have your parents permitted you to stay?"

         "Until five o'clock. When will you meet them?"

         "Maybe next week. What should I expect? I've never been introduced to anyone's parents or relatives before, and I don't really know how I should present myself. Could you give me an idea?"

         "Sure, I've told them that you play instruments very well and I could tell their faces lit up; both my parents love music. You should play something for them. We have instruments in the house that you could play. Let's get off the topic of my parents and get back to Questions over Questions. Why do you have blankets when you're so warm to begin with?"

         "I need the insulation despite my heat. What do you do for hobbies?"

         "I play the piano as you know, I like to ride my longboard, maybe play a bit of softball. I don't exactly have one that stays. What about you?"

         "I only play music, that's about it. I can't exactly coordinate in this world nearly as well as I can in my own. What did you and James like to do together?"

         "We used to play badminton with a couple other friends. I was never very good, mostly he would save me when the birdie came in my direction. What is your world?"

         "One in which there is not one master of the elements, but five masters. 'Tis a sin to try and create one Master of the Elements. Let's change the subject. Actually it's getting late, should we head back?"

         "Not yet please. Can we just play something?"

         "Okay, pause on Questions over Questions."

         We stood up and she sat down at the piano and started playing Pachelbel's Cannon while I harmonized on the guitar. "Do your parents speak any foreign languages?" I asked.

         "My father speaks French pretty fluently and my mom sort of knows Spanish. My little brother is also studying Spanish in school."

         "Okay, just wondering."

         I drove Jessica back home. Before she got out she said, "Next time you call, come over to my house because my parents want to meet you."

         "Okay," I said, and she walked into her house.

         I drove home thinking about my encounter with Jessica's parents.