Paranormal Twins: The New Beginning

I watched the four of them disappear. I turned my head and saw Jakki talking to Tadashi. I smiled slightly and leaned against the wall, my hands in my pockets. I heard footsteps coming up behind me. “Is this a normal thing for you guys? Burials and hunting and kidnapping?” I asked. I turned my head and saw Rain, her arms crossed against a gray shirt, her left hip popping out under her ocean blue skirt. “Oh, Hey Rain. I thought you were Sage.” I turned my head back to where I was watching previously, thinking she was going to walk away.

Instead, I heard Rain come over and lean against the wall next to me. “Sometimes it is.” I looked at her confused. “But it’s not always like this.”

I bit my lip. “But you train yourselves like it is normal.”

Rain thought for a few seconds. “It’s like the military. They spend every day either training or fighting.”

“But the military is all volunteer.” I rebuked.

“So are we.” She replied. “We don’t force anyone to work here.”

I crossed my arms and mumbled, “I don’t remember volunteering.”

Rain smiled slightly. “You’re different. Your dad brought you here. Since you’re still 16 you have to do what your dad tells you to do. Plus, Rogues attacked your family. Rogues don’t usually attack people in their homes unless they know who they’re attacking and why. This is the safest place for you right now. Especially because of who you are.”

“What do you mean? Who am I? What am I in danger from?” I looked at Rain, but she didn’t return my gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell us Jakki was in trouble?” Rain challenged me, changing the subject.

I sighed, leaned my head against the wall, and shrugged. I circled the bracelet around my wrist. “Tadashi was the one that decided that. He was afraid of getting in trouble. He said he wanted us to do it ourselves.”

She shook her head. “He should have told Ryan and me.”

I shrugged. “He said you would tell the Leaders.”

She looked confused and said, almost to herself, “We’ve done things in secret before… He knew we wouldn’t tell them.”

I was about to reply to that before Ryan interrupted us, running over. “The Leader’s want to see us.”

Rain nodded and pushed off the wall. “Okay.” She turned to me and nodded. “See you around.” She turned back to Ryan, who just stood there. “What is it?”

“They want to see Jay and Jakki too.” He said. Rain nodded slowly.

“I… I guess I’ll find Jakki.”

Ryan nodded and smiled. “We’ll meet you by the elevator.”

Rain nodded, but before she could walk off I called her name. She looked back at me. “You...” I hesitated, suddenly feeling stupid. “You look good. Pretty, I mean.”

Rain smiled. “I know.” She turned around and walked off to find Jakki. Ryan tapped my shoulder and motioned me to follow him.

We walked in silence for a few moments before he cleared his throat. “She’s not vain.” He started. I snorted. “She’s really not. She just… She takes pride in her looks. It’s not a bad thing.”

I thought about it. I guess it wasn’t. We walked in silence again until he spoke again. “How was it like? Living in the human world?”

I bit my lip and shrugged. “It was… Normal, I guess.”

“Normal?” He asked. “What do you mean?”

I thought for a second and smiled. “I guess, for you, this life is normal. But… in the human world, going to school, friends, sports, and homework. That was normal.”

He thought about that. “What was the school like? What was a ‘normal’ life like?” He put air quotes around “normal.”

I chuckled slightly and scratched my head. “Well, high school was… High school. A bunch of teenagers between 14 and 18 in one place for 8 hours at a time. Everyone classified by their personality. The goths, the preps, the sporty ones.”

He nodded, though his face showed his confusion. “Like how we classify jobs?”

I bit my lip. “Kind of… Though they were based more on what friends they had, their music taste, and their clothing.” We stopped walking and I realized we were by the elevator. I leaned against the wall next to it and he stood in front of me.

“What about you? What were you classified as?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I was a bit of a loner. I mean, I was on the baseball team, and I had a lot of friends, but they were only friends in school. I never hung out with them outside of school. Sage was my best friend. We’ve known each other for as long as I can remember.”

Ryan nodded. “Baseball?”

I nodded. “I was the best pitcher on the team.”

Ryan smiled. “You’d probably be good at throwing knives.”

I smirked and nodded. “Oh, I am.”

Ryan laughed. “Rain and I are both good with archery. Though I can kick her butt at hand-to-weapon combat.”

“Only when you’re the one with the weapon.” I heard Rain say. I looked over Ryan’s shoulder and saw Rain and Jakki walking towards us. “Let’s see what the Leader’s want, shall we?”

We all got into the elevator. I didn’t know why, but Rain and Ryan seemed nervous. They were whispering to each other and their eyebrows were scrunched together. Jakki stood close to me, and I put my hand on her shoulder.

The elevator opened and we made our way to the Leader’s office. Rain and Ryan looked at each other before Rain knocked on the door. I heard scuffling behind the door before Mae opened it. She motioned us in and walked back to her desk.

“I need to talk to all four of you, but I want to talk to Rain and Ryan first.” She looked at them and smiled. “He’s back. Safe and sound.”

I scrunched my eyebrows together and glanced at Jakki, who shrugged. I looked over and I saw Rain and Ryan hugging, so I guess they understood Mae’s vague statement.

“Where is he?” Rain asked.

“Home. I told him to get some rest.” Rain nodded and smiled. It was a strange sight. I was used to seeing Rain being calm and collected. It was different seeing her excited.

“Can we go see him?” Ryan asked.

“He found someone while he was away, so he’s over there with him, but yeah, you can go see him.” Mae told them. They practically ran out of the room, barely remembering to close the door behind them.

Mae watched them leave, smiling. She shuffled through papers on her desk before looking up at us. Her smile faded and she bit her lip. “You two… Yes, you too. Where should I start...” She started shuffling through papers and I glanced over at Jakki. She looked back at me. We had matching looks of concern on our faces.

Mae cleared her throat and we looked back at her. She sighed. “I guess I’ll just cut to the chase. Your father- your birth father, the Lead Researcher, is back. And he wants to see you.”