"Pretty well," said Sam with a big smile. "Nothing much really happened, and the new teachers seem okay."
"Is that so?" her Dad said with a knowing smile. He was continuing to type on his computer, but clearly listening anyway. "What about the kids?"
"There's a new girl that came by, but other than that it's the same old people," said Samantha with a roll of her eyes.
"Oh come now," her father said with a bit of a smirk. "Your intellect might mean that you'll run right over them, but they have their uses."
This was about the most devious thing he'd said in a while, and Sam couldn't help but grin. Her father was advising her to take charge and manipulate at fourteen? She had questionable parents, but an excellent future! Sam wandered into the kitchen to pick up a few food items for her father. He always liked it when she went out of her way to help him while he was working. She turned back in his general direction as she was preparing a sandwich, slathering it with mayonnaise. "Is Mom back from work yet?" she said.
"Not your mother," said her father knowingly. They'd had a conversation like this one countless times. "She's been overworked since the day I met her."
Sam came out with the sandwich plate and placed it next to her father. He bit into it with a hint of glee.
"You're one to talk, workaholic," said Samantha wryly. Her father nodded, not taking a drop of offense as he enjoyed his sandwich.
"Just make sure that you don't turn into us, Sam," he said in response to this. "You're fourteen. It isn't time yet to become a boring adult."
"Ehehe, I'll do my best," she said. She began to wander in the direction of her room, waving her father off. "Bye Dad."
Her father waved back, but seemed absorbed in his food and his computer. High school had done something strange to family relations in her house, although these were still the same. Ever since turning twelve, her sister had been much less communicative with her and more concerned with impressing her peers. Samantha paused, standing in her own room with an odd look on her face. She didn't like the change, but there wasn't much she could do about other than talk to her parents more often and wait until the situation cleared up. It was sure to fix itself, right?
Samantha sat tiredly at her desk and eventually logged onto AIM to meet this Sharon person. She'd really gotten suckered into meeting this git, hadn't she? Sharon's screen-name was Seika Luminas, whatever the heck that meant. It didn't go as badly as she'd expected---- the kid Roleplayed, just like her close online friend Sapphire. (Well, her screen-name was Sapphire anyway). They laughed together for almost three hours, slowly constructing a plot out of the characters they brought into the story. Dang, not bad overall. The kid's characterization needed a bit of work, but a little subtle encouragement would go a long way with this one.
Samantha was about ready to flick off her lights and slip into the heaven that was her comfortable bed....but the voices started up again. They came slowly at first, like a program that was loading, but they soon overwhelmed her mind. "Agghh, dammit!" Sam said, rubbing her forehead. "My medicine doesn't work at all. Migraine!" Seika sat up in bed and backed up against the wall, waiting for it to stop. It wasn't stopping.
Jock Guy from the first incident was back, and he seemed much more worried than before. Definitely more formal, too. "I propose to the Council that we concern ourselves with the incidents surrounding Judge Right. His presence has been reported in multiple universes with no Secondary Rite in play and no relation to one another."
A new voice arose which sounded impish and sarcastic. There was a malice to it though, like a breath of poison wafting through the room. "You expect that He is entirely stagnant? Entropy is inherently part of Multiversal affairs. A change in activity means nothing of interest to this Council."
Sam frowned, listening more carefully. It was odd. She was beginning to realize that she was either insane, or she'd somehow stumbled into someone else's conversation. Entropy? A Multiverse? What was this, DC Comics?
"I am inclined to agree with Malrek," said a cold feminine voice that sounded like a flowing stream. "He has been unpredictable, but this is nothing unexpected to this Council. My compatriot has taken in too much of the Left's political hysteria as of late. And I am of course a loyal representative of the Light."
Interesting. So it was a political telepathic discussion, but about a political body she'd never heard of. "Left" and "Right" seemed to be the two major political parties, but she doubted it was anything like what those terms meant in the United States. A "Judge Right" suggested that both parties had a specific head of party, which was interesting. Sam grinned like a maniac. It was finally happening, wasn't it? This was her chance to go to a magical world!
Sam thought, in the general direction of the chatter, <Uhm, excuse me? Er, can you hear me? Is this thing on?>
"I insist that we bring it to a Council-wide vote," said Jock Guy's voice more urgently. "If these incidents continue happening multiple timelines and universes are going to be disrupted. Those of the Right in on the Judge's conspiracy are of course going to attempt to dissuade us from taking action!"
"Show me your proof," said a deep bass voice with a peculiar rumbling in it, like an earthquake. "The Light may take whatever action they will, but to involve all those present at this meeting requires some more substantial evidence of wrongdoing. It seems to me that you are jumping the gun too early to convince anyone, brother."
They obviously couldn't hear her thoughts. And Jock Guy was losing his argument. There had to be a trick to getting these guys to hear her. She seemed to have gotten control of the volume of the transmission, though. I think I've worked out how to turn it on and off at will, so....I'll try again tomorrow. It's happened twice now, so I figure I'm going to get a few more chances.
Sam dimmed the volume of the thoughts and crawled back into bed, but she wondered how she was ever going to sleep. Her first year in high school was turning out to be much more eventful than she'd thought.
