1

It took a few minutes but Nat found his way back out to the front yard, his ears burning from the laughter.  He was muttering to himself, something that sounded like counting.   He nearly ran into a tanned man with golden hair, a bow in his hand and a quiver full of arrows across his back

“Welcome, young one!” the man said.

Nat looked up. “Hello,” he said.

“You seem upset,” the man said putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Trying not to squash something,” Nat said through gritted teeth.

“Well, I know a place you can squash all you want and not hurt a thing,” the man said.  “I am Josho, parent of Raven.”

“I'm Nathaniel . . . Nat,” the boy said.

“Come with me,” Josho said with a smile. “You seem to need to get some of that anger out.”

Nat nodded.  “Boy, do I!”

               They returned to the building Nat had just quit but through a different door.  After passing through an entry hall they came to a lone corridor running perpendicular. Josho stepped across the wide hall and pushed open a set of wooden double doors.

               “Here we are!” he said with what sounded like relief.

               He stepped into a raging forest fire, or at least that is what it seemed to Nat.

               “It’s on FIRE!” Nat said in alarm.

               Josho shook his head.  “It is not on fire,” he assured.  “It is a flame that does not consume.”  To prove it, Josho plucked a flaming branch from a tree, muttering what sounded like a pray.  He held it out to Nat.  The young man took it, amazed more at that single branch then all the other incredible things he’d seen that day.  Fingering the leaf gingerly he found physical substance and could trace the vein quite readily.

               “Now if you see a beautiful elf maiden of black-silk hair and bright green eyes with flame as hot as fire, she is Raven's birthing one.”

               Josho glided between the flames like a wraith, but Nat flinched every time he got too close though he felt no heat.  It was not hard to trick the eye but to trick the mind was another story.

               “Back there in the cave of the dark you can smash all the bad guys to a pulp,” Josho offered with a chuckle.

“I don't hit people,” Nat told him.

“They are not real but . . . “ Josho looked around.  “Spock!  Change a corner with that work out stuff Mark likes.”

A complete weight set appeared out of thin air.

“Think you can handle that?”  Josho said stripping off his clothes down to a loincloth.

Nat eyed the weights while Josho swung his arms back and forth as if suddenly free.

“It's good to be home,” he said with a deep sigh.  “SO!  What got you so mad?”

               “That isn't enough.”  Nat pointed at the weights.

               “Spock, more weights,” Josho said with a smile.

“How much is that?”  Nat tried to add up the weight be what he thought they might be since none were marked.

“So who did you want to squash.” Josho asked.  “Not enough?  Spock give him the weights Archer would use.  Let me guess . . . you are new and angry and want to squash someone . . . has to be Nicky.”

“I don’t like people laughing at me.”

“Everyone wants to squash him for the first few weeks,”  Josho laughed.

Nat leaned over and picked up Archer’s weights using one finger.  Josho’s eyebrows rose.

“Spock, add more weight,” Josho said.  Nat shifts his grip to the whole hand.  “Now why did he laugh at you?  Did you fall prey to one of his traps?”

“What’s that?” Nat said.  “Double?”  Then to Josho he said “Traps?”

Another curl and Nat growled.

“Can you make it ten times?”

Josho said “Spock, as the boy requests please.”

Nat curls the weights, still one handed but there is a slight tremor in each lift.

“Spock is a very useful spirit,” Josho commented.

“Okay,” Nat said, setting the weights down.  “Give me a hundred times.”

Nat grabbed the bar with both hands and hoisted it aloft.

“You ARE indeed a strong one,: Josho said.

“Traps,” Nat reminded him.

“Nicky and Aaron like to catch the new people in their traps, all in play.”  Josho assured Nat.   “They have a dark streak just like my Raven.”

“What is the weight?”  Nat asked.

“1000 tons,” came the disembodied voice of the computer.

“That’s not enough,” Nat said, his breathing calm and unlabored.

“Why did he laugh at you?” Josho asked.

Nat frowned.

“You can tell me,” Josho offered.  “They all call me grandpa around here.”

“Spock, twenty-five times,” Nat said.

Josho plunked a few berries suspended amidst the flame munching them as he watched the boy push 25000 tons up with only a slight tremor.

“I will have to find a mighty oak indeed to make you a bow.”

“Bow?”  Nat lifted the weight again.  “I can throw an arrow further.”

“I don’t teach javelin throwing,” Josho said, watching the boy lift the weight again.   “So, you are feeling better”

“I never . . . “

 Nat pushed the weight over his head to full extension.

“Stay mad long . . .”

 The boy pushed it up again.

“If I did. . . “

He let it drop after one last lift.  The entire building and over a mile around shook with the impact.

“But how can I correct the boy if I don't know the problem?” Josho asked.

Nat looked down at the smaller man.

“When I was about 12, my body changed, puberty and all,” He wiped his forehead on the back of his wrist.  “Suddenly, I grew a foot in a summer.”

“Impressive,” the older man said.

“By 13, I was 6'4",” Nat continued.  “And, I could pick up Sammy’s car . . . I started crushing things I grabbed too quickly.  Including the cat.  By 14, I could lift a semi . . .”

“Ouch!”  Josho winced.  “but you are careful now, aren't you?”

Nat nodded.  “I never close my hand on anyone else’s hand.”

“You deny yourself pleasure.”

“Of crushing someone?”  Nat shook his head.

“Nat people are not that fragile,” the man said.  “If you take care you can hold a hand.”              

The boy blinked, knowing the man could not understand.

“Can Spock give me a piece of coal?”

“Yes,” Josho said then added.  “Spock lump of coal.”

The coal appeared at their feet and Nat scooped it up.

“I understand you are strong,” Josho said.

Nat held the coal between his palms then squeezed.  The carbon fractured and grew warm then hot as more pressure forced the molecules to realign.  At last, the boy relaxed and held out his hand, an uncut diamond lay in his palm.

“Whose hand do you suggest I hold?”

Josho plucked the stone from Nat and tossed it over his shoulder.

“I don't think you would hold a hand that tight,” he said.  “And if you want to practice.”

The man places his hand in Nat’s.

“I haven’t been able to pick up a glass in three years,” the boy said.  “No matter how careful I am, I break it.”

“I will tell you if it hurts.”

Nat looked at the man’s callused hand.

               “Come on,” the man urged.  “Just lightly close the fingers.  I know I am a man but I don't think you would try this with a woman.”

               He pushed on Nat’s fingers.

               “Just lightly don’t even fully close it,” he said.  “If you get used to it, you will know how far to close and not hurt.”

               Nat slowly curled his fingers over Josho’s.  There came a pop and the man winced.  Nat’s fingers opened and he withdrew his hand.

               “Damn!”

“It's okay,” the other said, his face impassive.  “You just need to practice.  Tomorrow you we will try again.”

“Only thing I can do without breaking something, is surf,”  Nat scuffed his bare toe in the dirt.

“I am not broke,” the man said.  “I need to excuse myself though.  Tomorrow here.  We practice more.”

Nat wasn’t fooled by the display of nonchalance.

“Spock, drop me in front of Archer,” Josho said and disappeared in the shower of sparkles.

“Yeah, right,” he muttered.

2

A figure dropped out of the sky like a spider on a strand of silk, stopping just at eye level.

“Is he gone?” A woman, spitting image of Raven but her black hair streaked with silver, hung suspended by a sticky looking vein.

“Yes,”  Nat stared at her wide eyed.  “Hello.”

“Good!” she said.

“Good?” Nat repeated.

“You give a man a child and he gets all kinds of notions in his head.”

“Um . . . I’m Nat.”

“I am Rav,” she said with a sweet smile.

               She dropped to the ground and rose to her full height, somewhere near Nat’s belly.

               “So, you met my grandson, Nicky.”

               “Yeah, and Jessy and Luthien . . . that is a strange name . . . and Aaron.”

               “He is a devil but don’t let that get to you,” she said, taking his arm and the elbow.   “Actually their names are Luthien, Fealome and Lomion.  The boys took human names.”

               “They took me someplace where everyone was tall.”

               “The home of Archer’s parents,” she said.  The woman didn’t seem to be all there so Nat decided to indulge her.  “Jessy is a gem too, you should get along nicely with her.”

“She got all mad at me, hit me . . . when that girl Elwin talked to me.”

“Are you hungry?  Nicky loves my bread.”  Rav went on.  “No one else cares too much for my cooking.”

Rav smiled up at Nat.

“Jessy is at that age,” she said.  “You are about the same are you not?”

“The same?”

The woman began to fish around in the bag slung over her shoulder then pulled out a hard, burnt-looking lump of bread.

“Cooking was never one of my talents but I am getting much better at it,” she smiled.  “You know if I was a few years younger I might just get the same notions as Jessy about you but I think you need to find her and make nice, she will be all upset.”

Nat eyed the ‘bread’  “Make nice?”

Rav thrust the lump into his hand then made shooing motions.

“Eat and go make nice with her.  She is female.”

“Why?” Nat had passed confused about a mile back.  “I mean . . . “

“Because she is hurting!”  Rav’s voice had turned sharp and she almost glared at the boy.  “Spock put some nice clothes on the boy, nice jeans and a tee shirt I think with those sport type shoes the brisket ball players wear.”

“BASKETball,” Nat said automatically.

“Now get and feel free to call me grandma too.  I am liking it.”

“You don't look old enough to be called ‘grandma’,” Nat complained.

“Raven is my only child,” Rav said.  “And from her the thirteen shall come forth.  Now go make nice with Jessy. . . “

“Thirteen?” Nat swallowed.  “Um . . . I don’t know what to say to her!”

“The thirteen of the new life and say ‘Hello . . . are you okay?  Did my body hurt your hand when you slugged me?”  The woman beamed.

Nat nodded "I guess.  Where do you think I can find her?”

“Oh, never get advice about women from Josho!”  She warned.  “Spock?  Where is Jessy?”

The computer replied “She is at the center of the maze.”

“Okay, I know where that is,” Nat said.  He lifted the ‘bread’.  ”Thanks for the bread!”

“You are welcome!  Growing boys need their strength!”

As he moved away he took a bite of the loaf and after two chews his face changed to a ‘how do I get rid of this look’.

Nat mumbled "Thank you . . .”

“Now go make nice,” she said, raising a hand to wave.  Sotto voce she added “Spock rise the hedge so he can't peek over it and cheat."  With a grin of mischief she disappeared into the flaming forest.

3

Nat stepped up of the front entrance to the massive building and turned left; his appearance noted by the man Ghost Archer and a kid about his own age.  They were in earnest conversation and Nat took little note of them.  He was still unsure what he was to do to ‘make nice’ when he stood at the entry of the hedge maze a minute later.

“Jessy?" he called.

“Go away!” came the reply muffled by the intervening hedges

               “I met your grandfather and grandmother . . . “ he offered, stepping in to the shade of the maze.

               “SO!” she snapped.

               Nat turned a corner, trying to follow her voice.

“Just go away!” she sounded on the verge of hysterics.

He stopped, now more than a few turns into the maze.

"Okay . . . but where do I go?"

“What do you mean?” she called, closer now.

“Who do I see for a room and stuff?” he said.

“Just go to the school!  I am sure you will find . . . SOMEONE!!”

“Okay . . . “

“Stand still you will never get out of here . . .”

“But I only made a few turns!”

Jessy made a sound like ‘humph’.

 “That’s what YOU think!”  She looked up, noting the new extra height the hedges had sprouted.  Spock.

“I can see the lawn.” He called out.

Jessy popped around a corner just as Nat sidestepped onto the lawn.

“Told you . . .” he said.

Her eyes traveled up his body, noting the perfect fit of jeans and the way the tee shirt covered his body be so tightly it hid nothing.

“Bet Grandma did that,” she said.  She was still wearing only the tiny bikini.  “Okay, I will take you to the school.”

She literally slipped between the hedge and his body, pushing into the hedge to do so.  The greenery left marks across her naked back.  She stopped about a foot away from him then headed for the house.

“Yeah, she did . . . “ he said, trailing along just behind her.  Didn’t the girl ever lift her head?

“It looks good on you,” she said.

“Don't you ever look around at the world?” he said, something almost harsh in his tone.

“What do you mean?”

“Or are your feet that fascinating?” he asked.

“I have pretty feet!” she stopped and he almost ran into her.  “You don't like my feet?”

“They're nice feet, but you always watch them . . . “ he told her.  “You think they'll run away?”

“Everything else does,” she said with a note of sadness.  She tilted her head and looked at him out of the corner of her eye.  “I am sorry for hitting you, did I bruise you?”

Nat shook his head “You hurt your hand?”

“Nah I have had to hit my brothers a lot,” she said.  She held out her hand, knuckles up.  “See!  All in one piece.”

They walked a few more steps.

“I guess you think I am really dumb,” she lifted her head a little more.

“Well . . . people don't usually try to hit me.  I think I scare them.”

“Well you deserved it!” Jessy snapped.

“For what?” He asked then pointed out,  “You got powers too.”

Jessy bit her lip and for a moment looked into his eyes and then back at her feet.

“Yeah,” she growled.  “I got really stupid ones.”

“Crushing everything you touch a 'cool' power?”  Nat asked.

“Well . . . “ She did something and Nat sank into the ground to his waist.  “See, dumb.”  She knelt in front of him.  “Real stupid stuff.  Spock could you pull Nat out of the ground for me?”

“Don’t bother,” Nat said and with a surge he rocketed into the air a good hundred feet.  He landed heavily in the grass actually dropping to a knee.  The hole he made was nearly as deep as the one Jessy had created. 

Pulling himself free, he muttered  “Gotta work on the landings.”

               Jessy ran the fifty feet or so over to him, grinning.

               "That would work pretty good on someone else, I'll bet,"  Nat offered.

“Well I could of sunk you lower,” she said.  “but pretty dumb,  just like me turning to stone.  Death Maiden thought it looked appealing but she is made of metal.

“Turning to stone?  Like a statue?”

Jessy’s body altered and she took on the look of a granite statue.

“See,” she said.  “I am ugly.”

Again she looked down at her feet.

“You look like one of those Greek statues I saw in the museum . . . “ Nat said.  “It protect you?”

“Don't know,” she said with a shrug.  “No one ever has tried to hurt me so I don't know.  You want to test it?”

“Maybe . . . . “ Nat wasn’t convince, he shook his head.

Her hand felt like sun-warmed stone when she slipped it into his.  For a moment he looked down at her.  She nodded and he carefully closed his hand.  Jessy smiled, no evidence of pain in her face.

“Guess I should get you a room!” she sounded almost happy for the first time that day.

“Does it have a big bed?”  Then he blushed.  “I mean . . . I need a longer one . . .”

“Daddy will make sure it all fits you,” she assured.  “Including ceilings and the doorways.”

He found her looking up into his eyes.

“Nat,” it was her turn to blush.  “Do you um . . . “

Confusion clouded her features.

“Umm . . . never mind,” she said, turning away and pulling his hand.  “Come on.   School is this way.”

A stone Jessy led him by the hand through the edge of the forest, breaking out on what had to be the opposite side of the building from his earlier visit.  As he had expected, this side was landscaped in a similar fashion, complete with gold fish pond.  The building was only two stories on this side and what appeared to be the main entry was a more substantial than the opposite side, pair of white oak doors, open wide at the moment.

“Sure has a lot of windows,” Nat commented.

“Yeah, I'm glad I don't have to wash them,” Jessy said.

They followed the length of the pond to the doors.

“Just have to find what rooms are open,” Jessy said then muttered.  “There is a book somewhere.”

“Cool . . . “

4

They stepped into the main entry hall, a long, wide hallway leading left and right.  The floors were like wooden mirrors, so reflective it looked to Nat like an inverted copy of the room.  Antique chairs, somewhat less substantial then Nat was comfortable with, lined both walls complete with intricately carved little tables adored with crystal lamps and fresh cut flowers.  Opposite the entrance was a formal sitting room with more antique furniture arranged to face floor to ceiling windows that over looked the pond and gardens below.  Over his head, a gigantic chandelier was suspended from the ceiling of the upper floor, a gallery surrounding it at that level.  Somewhere, down the hall, they heard voices.

“I think I hear Chrissie.” Jessy said, turning that direction.  “She would know.”

She stopped short, Nat nearly running into her.

“Umm . . . Nat?”  She looked pensive.

“Who’s Chrissie?” He asked.

Jessy’s voice shifted to disgust with a hint of something else.  “She is a student here but she tries to get all the boys.”  She let Nat’s hand drop and her body was once again soft, lightly tanned flesh.  “Really pretty.”

She took the next few steps in a rush and pushed open the door.

A couple stood together, almost intimately close.  The girl, Chrissie, had the look Nat had grown up with, the California beach bunny.   Slender, curvy with long blonde hair nearly as light as Nat’s, she had the face of an angel and the body of a centerfold.  She wore a rainbow striped halter top that was glued to her body to show high, firm breasts that needed no bra.  The bright yellow terrycloth shorts didn’t quite make it over the curve of her ass, something she was very aware of and the boy with her had both hands resting on her hips.

He was quite the contrast to her.  His face was rather weather-beaten and there was a metallic sheen to his eyes when they met Nat’s.  Something in those eyes told the surfer, this guy had a short fuse and violent temper.  His hair was cropped and spiked, bleached white as paper and an amazing number of metal studs pierced his face.  Dressed in black leather pants, boots and an open leather vest, he screamed ‘punk’.

The boy whispered “Oh!  There you go girl, get closer.” His chuckle was a vocal leer and he pulled Chrissie’s hips against his body.

“Hey Chrissie who's your new . . . ‘friend’?” Jessy said, with something not quite a sneer.

“Who’re those people,” the punk said, his lips brushing Chrissie’s ear.

“Hey, Jessy!”  Chrissie said brightly, taking the opportunity to push the guy away.  “This is Ian, a new kid here.”  Breaking away from Ian she slunk over to Nat and placed a hand on his chest, her eyes going wide.  “Well, hello tall and strong.”  She purred.  Slowly she let her eyes travel up his body, staring for a moment at the fit of his jeans.  “Where did you find the BIG one, Jessy?”

“Hi, I’m Nat,” he made an effort to keep his arms to his sides.  Beach bunny girls he was used to, and mentally dismissed this one as just another flirt.

“There you go again,” Ian admonished.  “Trying to be a flirt, Chrissie.  A lot of fire comes out of you but not much heat.”  He winked broadly at Nat.  “If you know what I mean!”  Again the leering chuckle.

Jessy squirmed.  “Umm . . . he is new and I need to find a room for him.”

“Oh yeah?!”  Chrissie glared at Ian.

“Yeah,” the young man said, hands on his hip.

Chrissie stuck out a finger and began pushing Ian backward until his calves came up against a couch then with her whole hand, she pushed him, forcing him to sit.  Totally ignoring Nat and Jessy Chrissie straddle his hips, pressed her body against his and gave him a full-on open-mouthed kiss that left him speechless.  Then she climbed off the stunned boy and sauntered back to Nat, brushing up against him as she moved by into the hall.

“Come on, big boy, let’s get you a room.”

After her display, Nat swallowed hard, not sure if Chrissie’s words were really all that innocent.

“So, what was THAT?” Ian said as they headed down the hall.  “Like a SPARK!?”  He came off the couch and leaned out the door, holding the jam.  “Let me know when you wanna feel a blaze, Chrissie!  Or maybe a CLAW.”  He held up one hand and the fingers joined into a single long claw.

Chrissie spun a complete circle, winked at Ian and continued walking.

“Hi, NAT!” Ian called.  “I’m Ian and I’m new too!”

Nat turned to walk backward.

“Only been here a couple hours myself!” he said. 

Ian followed after them, obviously watching Chrissie’s butt and made squeezing gestures as he caught up to her.

“I’ve been here for a bit,” he said, swaying his hips in time with Chrissie’s.  “So, where ya from, man?”

“San Diego.” Nat told him.

“So far it’s been cool, like a college frat house,”  there was the leer and the chuckle again.  He was obviously entranced by Chrissie’s ass.

Chrissie snapped her fingers and Ian straightened up.

“Too bad the whole hall on MY floor is girls!”  She turned to face backward, walking close to Nat.  Jessy trailed like a lost puppy.

“Chrissie, my dear, be nice, we are talking here, don’t cha see.”  Ian said.  “I’m just in from Hawaii.”

“Yeah?  So?”  Jessy’s tone was snide.

“What’s wrong?  Jessy is it?”  Ian finally actually looked at her and stopped dead.  The tiny bikini blotted everything out of his head.  Nat figured there wasn’t much to blot out in the first place.

“Whoa, mama!” Ian drawled.

Jessy hooked her hand in Nat’s arm.  “Come on, Nat, I’ll find you a room!”

Nat could see Ian was making her very uncomfortable.  If the guy was from Hawaii, Nat figured he would have been used to little bikinis.  He let Jessy pull him to a staircase and followed her down.

“Spock, just showing Nat his room!”  She called out.

“She sister to the chick with the tattoos?” they heard Ian ask Chrissie.

“Nah, that’s her mom,” the girl replied.

“NO SHIT?!”