Chapter one

The Starship Altoona was a large ship, one of the largest in the Altai star force. Upon it lived the team that was assigned to this galaxy. Their Leader was Journey, a man who led his team as if they were his own family. He stood taller then most, and his white face showed the long years that he had led this team. His wife Oceania was 2 generations younger and had often been told by the council that that was not so good of an idea to marry a woman who was younger then him. Most council members wives were older or the same age, and if they were younger, then they were only a few years, not a few generations.

But all that didn’t matter to Journey, as he gazed down at the women he was in love with and their newborn son sleeping in her arms. They had named him Star Barrier because of the black star that accented his right eye. His face was the white of the Altai and his lips had his mother’s color…Red. Journey had waited long for a son who could take over his duties. He had no daughters, so not even that was good. He had been hoping strongly since his marriage to Oceania the year before that he would have a son.

As his wife lay down to sleep, Journey took the sleeping child and placed him beside his mother in a crib-like bed. He stood there for a few seconds before leaving for his meeting at the council. There were five members of the Altoona council and they all had had children lately and would understand his tardiness.

He first met Cyberal, The second in command. He had a son as well recently born, but had an older son. Lizard boy was his name. His ability to move flexibly had been the cause of his name. He came to the meeting every once in awhile with his father. Today he was with his mother Ventura helping them with their new son, Celestial, who was called Space for short.

Standing Next to Cy was the only woman on the council. Mariah was grateful not to be named like the others and liked her unusual name. She had been early that day and had sat some coffee out for her four workmates. Her eldest son Genesis helped her. Mariah had a daughter but the girl was often sick and no one knew much about her besides Mariah and her husband Darin.

Sitting in the front thinking was Garen. He was the person who knew the ship like he knew himself. It was like he was part of it and many were glad he was around to fix things when something went really wrong. His oldest was in the ships school. Everyone knew Eric as the Fox for his speed. Whenever they landed on their planet to refuel, he would enter the races and he usually won them. His wife Andrea had just given birth to twins. They were not named yet as they were identical and She held close to her heart the practice of naming of the child from his greatest feature. It was a tradition in her family. She thought to name them Catman for the lines that graced their cheeks.

Journey’s entry into the room came unnoticed till the Garen looked up. Journey was quite fond of his brother-in-law and was glad to see him happy for a change. Andrea had been not been quite satisfied with their relationship and was planning on staying on the planet whenever they came to refuel. The twins made Garen happy and he hoped that Andrea would change her mind about Garen and stay aboard.

"Jour! Hey man, how’s sis?"

"She is sleeping right now."

"That’s good to know." He turned to face everyone and cleared his throat and everyone looked up and took his or her seats. As he began the meeting everyone was silent.

"We need to refuel soon and we haven’t met the goal yet." He said sadly thinking of both his job and his love.

"The goal can wait…we can just add another planet to the next set and get more fuel then normal. Have diodes carry the excess and we can refuel in the middle of space." Replied Mariah.

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Space was not in a good mood. Lizard had a good forewarnings to warn the others about his younger brother’s difficult mood. Space was usually happy and when he wasn’t, you steered clear. It seemed that only Star Barrier could come near the boy when he was this mad.

"Come, what’s got you in such a mood?" Star asked, Patience was his strong point and when Space was concerned, you needed it. His friends called him Ace because calling him Space didn’t sound right. They were now in there early teens. They hadn’t been back to Altai since the fuel up after they were born. None of them remembered the planet of their birth or the fact that they had been off the ship before. Due to the fact that their lives were confined in a ship, they often got irritated with the people who shared it with them.

"Jaime broke up with me!" Ace replied. Despite his youth, he already had a girlfriend; well…he had a girlfriend before she dumped him. He didn’t need to say her name. Since Jaime was the only girl aboard, everyone would have known what he was talking about. Genesis’s sister was everyone dream date except for him and Star barrier. Jaime liked Star and dated Ace to get to him and he knew it, but Ace did not know this and only found this out shortly before she decided to end it all.

Genesis was actually glad this happened because His sister would never be that nice to Ace anyway, and Ace was almost a brother to Genesis and he didn’t want to see either of them hurt by the other or hurt at all.

"Why is that so bad Ace? Look at the bright side…She won’t be using you anymore." Catman said, trying to liven the situation up. It made Ace madder and suddenly a burst of sliver light came shooting at Catman. All four looked over in shook. "What just happened?" he asked. Moving away from where he was sitting. Her looked up at the shocked face of Ace who had not known he could do that.

" I thought this might occur soon" came an alto sounding voice from behind them. Looking in from the hallway stood Mariah. She looked at her son’s young friends. They looked back at her in fright, as they didn’t anticipate this to happen. She wished it hadn’t been her daughter who had caused tension on the powers to cause them to form. Jaime had never thought of anything else other then getting what she wanted, which at the moment was Star. Mariah walked over to them and motioned them to follow her.

She guided them into a large room that l resembled the room where the deliberations where held when they came upon each new planet. The room was furnished with five sofa-like chairs surrounding a table and a shelf to the right. The carpet and chairs were a crimson color and the walls were trimmed a light sapphire color. Mariah went over to the wooden shelves that were in the back right corner, took three boxes off them, and placed them on the table in the center of the room. One was a Black lacquer that made it seem like it was a glass. Another of the boxes was scarlet with sapphires in its center making the form of circle. The last box was a dark jade with Diamonds around the border of the lid. Mariah sat on the seat behind them and motioned for the others to do the same.

"Do you understand what happened out there?" she asked the group.

"No, mom. I don’t at least" replied Genesis and they others followed him with nods. None of them had ever heard of the powers. It had been left out of the school because no one knew if the children would become talented or not since they hadn’t been tested.

" You all have the potential to have psionic powers. Usually the grand council, to see if they have talent, at the age of 5 tests children. Since you have been on the ship, you couldn’t be tested since we do not have the knowledge of how to do so. You may or may not be talented since only Genesis was tested. Ace has begun to receive his powers. The powers are to be used for only good. Those who use their powers inappropriately have been known to have their powers striped away till they can handle it and some never get it back. Do you understand?" She looked at them and saw them all nod. " That’s good. More often then not, the face shows what your power might be. For example, I have a line of stars above my eye showing that I am psychic and can see into others minds to help them if they needed it." I can also talk in my mind to some on else. She added in her mind.

Really? Came a mental reply. Mariah looked at them, but couldn’t tell who sent the message. Instead of replying she opened the jade box and took out an amulet that was fashioned like an elliptical and was a silvery color and handed it to Ace and told him to put it on. As he tied around his neck the others looked at her in confusion. Why did Ace need the amulet? Why? The strong mental voice asked.

"You must wear the amulet to help you manage your powers." Mariah explained since it was clear that they were not told anything about the psionic powers that they would possibly receive.

"Do we all have amulets like this?" asked Catman. Mariah nodded and took another out of the box. This one was also shaped like an elliptical but it was an emerald color. She handed it to the Catman and he placed it around his neck. It shone brightly with its sliver chain. Catman liked it and smiled as he leaned back in his seat, putting his hands behind his head. Mariah Smiled as she took the third one out of the box. This had a silver chain as well and had the oval shaped charm. The charm was a glowing ruby, and Star automatically matched it with Genesis and he was right. Genesis was equally pleased with the amulet chosen for him. For a few moments everyone was still. Mariah closed the box and deposited it back on the shelf. As she walked back Catman broke the silence.

"What’s in the other cases?" he asked calmly. His anticipation was not well veiled because his amulet was shimmering as the amulets showed the emotion of the their owner. Mariah opened the black case and pulled out her own amulet. It was larger then the boys and looked more like a piece of jewelry as the amulet itself was shaped as a heart and it was on a rose-gold chain. The gem inside the heart shaped diamond border was an onyx and it glowed as she put it on and closed the lacquer case and replaced the case on the bookshelf. They all looked in wonder at her necklace. Unlike theirs it could pass as a piece of antique jewelry.

Finally Mariah opened the last box. In the box lay a single amulet. It was on a silver chain and was surrounded by Rhine stones. It’s Plum amethyst center shined. It seemed amazing. Mariah lifted the amulet from its sapphire wrappings and handed it to Star. He put it on as the others had down and looked back up at Mariah. She looked at them all silently before she spoke again

"Now it is time to began training your powers." They were all surprised when she spoke, as they were getting used to the eerie silence. "Unfortunately, I can not teach you what you need to know. You must go to Journey’s wife Oceania. She was put on this mission to train. She will know what to tell you. I would wait till tomorrow as it is late and you all need to go and rest for training your powers in a lot of work." Mariah stood up as they all did and they all went to their own homes.

§ § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § § §

Star-barrier walked into his family’s suite silently, trying not to wake anyone. He had been up late that night; talking with Genesis about the training they were receiving from Star’s Mother. They had been training for a few years now and were almost completed with the training. Soon they would be able to use their talents whenever they want.

Star heard his mother and father talking in the dinning room and decided to walk in and join them.

"Hello Star," said his mother when she noticed him in the doorway. "Come here. We need to talk about your training."

"Mother I tried my hardest. Please say I don’t have to quit."

"No." Journey replied. "That is not what we need to say to you. You and your friends have done an exceptional job. It seems like you are a rare talent, that of the elder. It was said that every 500 years a new elder would arrive. It hasn’t happened for 700 so we thought that maybe there was never to be another elder. Your friends and you have elder potential. Your elder identity would be something like your name now, Star-child. Ace would be the Celestial, Cat-man the King of Beasts, and Geneiss something similar to demon or bat-lizard."

"What about the others"

"Well…Cat’s younger brother has no elder potential. Lizard boy would be the warrior. The fox would be himself, the Fox. There is only 5 elder so one of them may be a traitor to the elder, which would be the Blackwell. After he turns to the dark side, he will always be known as that."

"Wow" Journey nodded. "Now get some sleep tomorrow, you shall be making a journey to a planet to began your final act as a guardian." Star nodded and walked to his room. He lied down on the bed, but could not sleep. Finally, his Nana came and put a sleep motive in his young Tele-psionic mind.

"Boys," said Mariah as she sat at the head of counsel." You are being sent on a mission that shall expand your whole life. Like us all, you are to protect the Plant you are positioned on. If you put the land in danger, you shall return to us and be striped of your talents, which I can assure you is a painful experience. I hope you are not too young for a job of this multitude but it is needed to a great extent. This planet is on the brink of discovering how much mental ability they have, making them a especially good target for the Nomadic Empire we are so desperately trying to defeat. If they go down, we will as well, unfortunately. A great task is being set before you, and I hope we have trained you will enough to be able to handle it. I wish you well."

It was now Journey’s turn to speck.

"I know this may sound strange, but beware of what you do. Every Action you do could put you or the people in this planet in danger. They have agents from the nomadic Empire and if one of them knows you are one of us, then your life is at risk. Don’t let yourself forget to love because despite the risk, loving someone is the best thing that could ever happen. Just be careful."

The others said the same as Mariah and Journey in their own words and the boys were told to close their eyes. They felt a surge of energy and then wind as it hit their backs. They opened their eyes to find themselves in a forest in the state of Pennsylvania, in a country called the United States. For a while, they walked silently until they came to a clearing. There, they found picnic tables. They had been in the Zelienople Park. They decided to set down and talk over their new mission.

"We can’t go by our names here. They don’t use names like ours. If we did, Nomadic will know exactly who we are."

"Yeah you’re right, Ace. For once you are right."

"I want to be Peter" said Catman.

"Peter?" asked the other three, still unfamiliar with the names of this culture. Catman had made a point in studying it so he would have a clearer understanding of it.

"It is an old name that they use a lot down here. "

"Ok, your Peter. Who am I?"

"Ace"

"I know that. What name should I chose for here"

"You can use Ace, tell them it is your nickname. If they want more be Paul or Edward or something."

"Edward? No thanks. I use Paul."

"But I wanted that one."

"You can use it as a stage persona, Star. Choose something else as your true name."

"Ziggy Stardust!"

"Ahh…No. How about Stanley?"

"Stanley?"

"Yeah, like that commercial Oceania told us about, With Stanley cleaners."

"Oh Great. I am named after a carpet cleaner. I’ll have Eisen as my last name. Sounds like Einstein."

"great, that’s settled. Genesis?"

"Gene"

" That’s good. Close to your real name too? Wanna chose a last one?"

"Simmons"

"Where did you get that one so fast?"

"The mattress company."

"By the time we are done, the companies will have to pay us for walking ads" Ace joked.

"ACE!:

"Oh, come on guys, have a sense of humor!" Peter shook his head. He tried to think of a last name but couldn’t. With there not being anything said, the others looked around them. Gene saw an advertisement for a Santa Claus for the children’s play at the local school.

"Needed: Kris Kringle…"

"THAT’S IT!!!!" Peter yelled, drawing looks from the others around them as well as making the people at the table jump. "Criss. I will be Peter Criss."

"Perfect. Now what could I be?" Ace asked. No one knew.

"OK, each of you chose a letter."

"H"

"L"

"Q"

"Q? why q gene?"

"ok…..F!"

"R" said Ace

you already said L"

"Who cares? Add a R"

"OK, and I will choose an e because we need a vowel. Ok….HLQ…I mean FRE."

"FrehleR?

"Naw…doesn’t sound right," said Ace.

"Frehley?" asked Gene"

"That’s good. I am too tired of names to think anymore."

"Ok. Paul and Ace, look for something for us to do for a living. I will look for somewhere to live. Gene, go to the library and check some books out so we can see how they live in this area."

They all nodded and went on their way to the jobs they were assigned.

~*~

Peter had looked everywhere for a house but none were good enough. Then he walked along a busy road out of town. He had been walking close to a half hour (and wondering why he didn’t tell Gene to get a car) when he came across a ranch style house next to the interstate. The man who had built was selling it because he was moving south for his health. Journey had given him 2 million in the country’s money system so he could afford it but He knew that he was not to let anyone know about the money and earn more so they never ran out.

The inside the house was made up of ten rooms, including two bathrooms and a kitchen. There was a pair of French doors that opened up into the dinning room, which had ways to get into the kitchen as well as one of the two living rooms. The first living room had one wall with windows completely covering it and another window high on the wall. It had in-wall bookshelves and entertainment center on the other wall and of course a doorway into the other living room beside it. It was lower then the other ones so you had to step down to get into it. The doorway connecting it with the dinning room had a window beside it with 3 shelves with alternating height.

The second living room had a fancy plaster ceiling, showing the mastery of the man who built the house. It also had a shelving unit that looked into dinning room. On the opposite side of the room, there was a almost wall length window overlooking the yard and the road. Directly across from the French style doorway connecting the living rooms was another similar styled doorway into a hallway. Peter smiled. This house was perfect. But just to make sure he was going to look around. He wondered if he could move in today.

"…. It has to be Partyish. Is that a word? Partyish?" Mick Cummings asked the young woman who was his salesperson today. He often had her as a salesperson because of the fact that he liked her and the store noticed this fact. She was not a traditional model type beauty but she was still had men crawling on hands and knees for a date. Her brown hair want down to her shoulders and was up in the usual half-ponytail. The blue outfits that she wore set off her grayish Blue eyes and made her seem almost like a vision.

" I really do not know, Mr. Cummings. Maybe my sister would know." She was trying to get out of this situation as she always was because of the uneasiness she felt around him. Mary Ann was the other salesperson that worked on Saturday at Raven’s Music Store in downtown Zelienople, Pennsylvania. They worked every Saturday and week afternoons after school. Mary Ann was a senior in high school and She was a senior in college, earning a degree in business management. She hoped to become the manager of a major store chain.

"That’s quite alright, Misha. Now where do you keep those party mix records?"

"Back here. I’ll show you." She led him to the left front corner of the store where the two rows of records that had various artists on them where stored. After about five minutes of looking over each record carefully, Mick decided to buy five of them and walked in front of her to the front counter where the sales were made. As she rang his purchases up on the counter, he talked about the party he was going to be giving his mother for her 70^th birthday the following week.

"I think I will be able to surprise her this time, don’t you think dear?" She nodded in agreement, as she inwardly grimaced at his habit of calling her ‘dear’. She hated when anyone called her that. Sometimes she hated it more then being called ‘kid’ because of her short height. She was only 5’3’’ and often was thought to be one of the teenage workers that came in after school because they needed money to go to the movies or some teen-age hangout. She was 22 years old. Maybe be whenever she was older she be happy about looking younger then her years, but for now it got irritating when she had to show her driving license when she got pulled over and they thought it was fake.

" I am sure your mother will be quite surprised." Especially with the two Bee Gees songs on the one, she added mentally. She knew that Maria Cummings hated music of today. She much preferred classical music and Jazz to the rock music that her son thought was great. Against her suggestions that he should buy some classical records, Mick had presided to buy all rock except for one discotheque one that made her shudder with the thought. She hated the dance clubs and their music. It seemed a little bit much. You could dance to rock but for some reason, they didn’t play it in the clubs.

"Yes, I think she will be." He said as he picked up the bag of records. "Thank you." He smiled at her.

"No problem. Come again." Just not when I am here. She gave him a smile as he walked out the entrance saying he would. She sat down into the chair behind her and placed her head in her hands. Thank goodness that was over. She hated working when he came. He looked at her like she was an antique and he was her appraiser. It made her feel tremendously uncomfortable.

She opened the book that Her half sister Mary Ann had told her to read. She had said it was the best book she had ever read. It was called In spite of you and Marianna McPherson had written it.

"Hey!" came a voice from in front of her, nearly scaring her to death. The man’s laugh came next. "Sorry to scare you. I was just trying to get your attention for the paperback junk that you are reading." At that statement she couldn’t help but smile. She had always thought that they were junk as well. But Her sister had been set on getting her to read it.

"That’s ok. It wasn’t that good anyway. I am kind of glad you interrupted me there before my sister sucked me into paperback land." He again smiled at her.

"Since I am already here, do you have any musical equipment to sell? I was told that you were the best in town."

"They would to think so, all though Raven’s is the ONLY one in town that sells more then records. All the instruments and other gear is in the back, behind the rows of records and sheet music, so follow me." She led them past the albums and Sheet music for Mozart to the back of the storeroom. There stood all any musician could wish for.

There were five guitars, one from each of the major guitar brands and one that the store manager had designed himself and was the test subject for Raven Guitars. Beside them were three drum sets, again from the national name brands, that were black, sliver and one was even clear. In front of the drum sets were the amps, in order of their power ability. Then there was a bass section. It held five basses put on display in a square with the one that had been the Raven Brand in the middle. Beside that were the small things musicians used like drumsticks, picks, and reeds for the woodwind instruments that they sold in the other store in Pittsburgh. If you wanted to order an instrument that Raven’s didn’t have here, there was a full color picture catalog that you could order from, and the Pittsburgh store sent it down.

The man and his friend walked immediately to the guitar section. It seemed that both men were guitarist, although when they tried the guitars out, the one who was silent the whole time seemed slightly more in control of the lead, so she figured they were in a band and he was lead while the guy who had spoken to her was the rhythm guitarist. As they looked over the guitars with the musician’s delicate eye, another man came into the store so She walked up to him.

"Good mourning," she said smiling. He looked at her and smiled back. " May I help you?"

"Um, Yes. Did two guys walk in here looking for instruments?"

"Yes, they are in the back, looking at them now."

"Thanks Kid." If looks could kill he would have been died had he seen the look she gave him as he walked towards his friends

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

Paul walked up to where the girl had been standing for the last 2 minutes trying to drive mental spears though Gene’s body. He had watched her when she was helping the first guy out and had accidentally overheard the mental words she was using and knew that Gene had been giving himself a death wish whenever he had called her a kid. Right now, he was looking at the basses with Ace, who had already chosen a guitar. Ace’s guitar was a sliver Rick with black strings and tuning knobs. Paul’s guitar was a normal finish with a star burst in rhinestones on the bottom of the face. Gene had been looking at a black lacquer one that had what looked like red flames coming out of the sides in the design.

"Hey." He said, trying to get her attention without scaring her again.

"Yes?" she said turning towards him.

" We are ready to pay for what we are going to get."

"Oh, alright." She said. She led him to the front counter and was handed the starburst guitar. AS she entered the bar code into the cash register, he asked her about the delivery process. "You can have it delivered today if you want to. It is always slow, so we do a lot of the deliveries on Saturday. You just have to give us your address."

"Alright." She handed him a form he had to fill out in order to get the instruments and other stuff delivered. Gene and Ace came up with the guitar and bass along with the drumsticks, picks, and Amps they would need as he finished filling out the form and signed it. She added the new purchases to the cash register total, trying not to show her irritation that they couldn’t get a cash register that you only have to put in the price and not the barcode as well.

"Hey can we buy one of the Drum sets as well," asked Gene. She nodded her head deciding that it would be better not to talk with him so she didn’t lose the customers like she did the last time. She added the bar code that she had on the counter for the drums into the cash register and got another employee to get the matching set from storage. Paul paid for it all and then smiled at her.

"Have a nice day," he told her as he walked away

"You too." She responded as she went to the phone to call her sister in so she could make deliveries.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

"Mary Ann! Hurry up!" she yelled to her sister as they walked to the front door. Upon arriving she knocked on the French doors. Seconds later, a man dressed similar to those who had been to the store. He smiled at her and she smiled back. She already liked him and they hadn’t said a word.

"You must be the ladies from the music store." When she nodded and handed him the papers he had to sign to ensure that he got it he came out of the house and started to walk with them to the truck that was in the driveway. " I’m Peter Criss. What’s your name?"

"I’m Beth Hewlett and this is my Aunt Mary Ann Quinn and My Best friend Shandi Finn."

"Those are nice names."

"Thanks, So is yours." By now they had gotten to the truck. Mary Ann was already complaining about her feet hurting her but Misha had told her not to wear heels when they did the delivery.

"Why don’t you sit and I’ll help unload since it is half my stuff." Mary Ann looked at him with relief and sat down while Beth and him unloaded the three guitars. They took them into the house and placed them in a room that had one wall almost completely made of windows. "This is our music room. What do you think?"

"It’s cool. Nice lighting." She said turning around in the room. "But it is your house so it is none of my business what room you put what." She smiled at him, went back out side, and helped him carry the rest of the stuff in.

˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜ ˜

Ace and Gene were watching TV when Paul and Peter got back from the store. Paul was the first though the door, with both arms full with bags of groceries and two medium pepperoni pizzas. Peter followed with a bag full of movie rentals and Gene’s favorite food, chocolate chip cookies. The sat them on the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and the dinning room and joined the other two in the living room beside the music room with the ‘roni pizzas. The sat it down in front of them on the coffee table between the TV and the couch that Ace and Gene were sitting on.

"So, what did you think of the Girl?" Gene asked as he took a piece of the pizza.

"What girl?"

"The one who came from the store, Peter."

"I think her name was Misha." Paul interjected.

"Well, if that’s her, then she didn’t do the delivery. Mary Ann Quinn and her niece Beth Hewlett and her friend Shandi delivered it. Beth was nice, and Mary Ann I didn’t get to talk to her that much since she had worn high heels and they were killing her feet. She stayed in the truck for the majority of the time." Peter replied, digging into the pizza as well.

"Any my age?" asked Eric as he walked in, drying his hair with his towel, in a pair of jeans. Eric was technically Peter’s brother, but on earth, he wasn’t. He was Eric Carr and Peter’s twin was Eric Singer and looked nothing like Peter anymore, which was good. They had long gotten tired of being confused with one another with their faces. Ace’s brother became Vinnie Vincent.

"I have no clue…never asked them"

"Typical Pete." Ace said jokingly. " Never asks a girl anything important." They all laughed because they all knew that more often then not; it was All of them who did that.

"I did ask her if she played an instrument."

"Who is ‘she’"?

"She is Beth. She says she plays a guitar and Misha does as well. Mary Ann plays a bass and her uncle Sherman…"

"Sherman?"

"I asked that too, and she told me he was born in a public library named him the first thing she saw, a book on Sherman’s March"

"Poor Guy."

"Yeah, he tells everyone to call him by his middle name."

"What’s that?"

"Grant." They all moaned.

"If I were him, I would get my name changed." Put in Paul

"Yeah" agreed Gene. " The one kid at the store was a cute one though, too bad you didn’t met her. You say she plays guitar. She is a bit young to be any good at it"

"How old do you think she is?" asked Paul

"I say about 13, maybe 14."

"She’s 22, Gene and hates being called ‘Kid’." Ace looked at Paul warningly.

"You aren’t supposed to read their minds Paul."

"She was loud. I could do nothing about it." He responded, not repentant at all.

"She doesn’t like you much Gene."

"I knew that. I wish she did though. She sounds like an interesting Kid."

"GENE!!" He laughed at the looks of his friends.

"You guys have no sense of humor.

ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó ó

Shandi Finn and Beth Hewlett stood in the living room describing their evening to Misha. She was still a little bit angry with the man they called Gene, but something told her he was special. Some how that was to show her something although what she didn’t think she would ever know.

But he was far from her mind at that moment. Right then she was listening to her niece’s best friend go on about the one they called Ace. She shook her head. Something told her something was different with these men. She wondered if it had anything to do with the strange markings that they, including Shandi, all had above their hearts. She sighed. She may never know/

Later that night, as Shandi snored beside her on the floor in her Barbie sleeping bag, Beth stared at the ceiling. She knew deep in her heart something was different about those men she had met that evening. There was something about them that involved her. It was almost as if she could feel the one guys emotions.

Her mother would have known the answer. Melissa Hewlett always knew the answered to the strange and unusual. Her and her sister Misha. It was strange, but for the moment there, Beth missed the mother who she had never got to know.