Claremont Academy Session 4 – Never the Twain Shall Meet

Inspired by the Young Justice Episode “Misplaced”

Friday Lunchtime

Chris’ and Gustav immediately closed their copies of Lord of the Flies (their book reports were required for English class on Monday morning) when they learnt that two members of The Balance were finally visiting the school.  That meant a Special Assembly starting after lunch instead of having to attend Double Maths.

They rushed to the Assembly Hall and managed to get themselves good seats near the front before the majority of the senior years arrived. For some reason, Old Man Summers had decided to restrict this Q&A session to the senior classes rather than open it to the whole school. Afterwards, they wondered if the Old Man was psychic and knew in advance what would be said.

On stage, they could see that several of the teaching staff were already seated while Summers stood behind the lectern.  Sitting beside him at the front were two members of The Balance; a large seven-foot tall dragon-like humanoid with a big friendly grin on his face and a smaller, shaven-headed adult, with European features but dressed like an Asian monk.

As they watched, the monk-like figure suddenly levitated off his seat until his head was at the same height as his companion. “Show-off” thought Chris. He turned to chat with Gustav, but shut up when he saw the look of sheer anger and emotion on his friends’ face as he glowered at the two guest speakers. Given how much he’d apparently been anticipating this event, Chris was shocked at the depth of emotion Gustav was now projecting at the two on the stage.

Mr Summers introduced the two guests as Akira and Young Sam of The Balance. He explained that although initially The Balance had started out as a local HCP-certified team, they had recently expanded onto the international stage. After a brief history of the team, he opened the floor for the pre-agreed questions.

A sixth form girl they didn’t know stood up first and asked, “Have either of you ever killed anyone? Is this something you’d be prepared to do if it was for the greater good?”

Sam spoke first, “That’s a good question, I wasn’t prepared for that. Do you want to go first, Akira?” as he deferred to his monkish companion.

Akira replied, “I think death is an illusion and that we change state at the point of death. I may have been instrumental in someone changing state in the past.”

The student asked before anyone else can say anything, “So this is something you would consider if it was for the greater good? What would you define as the greater good?

Akira continued, “I think every situation has to be weighed up and considered on its own merits. Nothing can be ruled out.”

Sam spoke up quickly, “I wouldn’t necessarily use the same language as Akira, but… When you’re out in the field, all you can do is try your best to try and prevent as many deaths as possible. Now, accidents happen, people get caught up in the moment, sometimes it’s a matter of scale; it comes down to having to choose between allowing a smaller, impactful event over a larger scale calamity. You just have to make that call. If you feel that you’ve done your best, despite difficult circumstances, then you can move on with your life and live with your conscience. It’s very difficult. There is a lot of support out there for these types of situations, and be aware your decision will be scrutinised thoroughly afterwards by the Authorities.”

Again the pupil spoke, despite Summers motioning her to sit back down, “What would be considered sufficient motivation for such an act – saving one life, several, or stopping an invasion?”

Akira merely said, “Yes.” Sam continued, “It’s very difficult to call. When you’re there as a hero, after receiving all the advice and training that the Hero Certification Programme can offer, you’ll understand. It’s very difficult to describe.”

Mr Summers gave the pupil a bit of a dirty look and signalled for the next question.

Another pupil stood up and asked, “What do you believe should be the necessary qualifications to be certified as a meta first responder?”

Sam replied, “When I went through my breakthrough, it was the Hero Certification Programme that was most instrumental in directing my career choices. I would absolutely say that was crucial as it taught me everything I needed to know about self-defence, use of appropriate force, helping and protecting others and most importantly the law of the land. I should say that there could be more training – I was an adult when I had my breakthrough, so I went through the condensed version of the programme – and occasionally it can be difficult to get onto the course. There are a number of very talented Metas out there who haven’t had the opportunity to take part in the HCP process, but still do some amazing work. I would think if they also had an easier gateway to suitable training, everyone would benefit. To me, the best way to handle it would be through more mentorships, like an apprenticeship.”

Feeling as though he was rambling slightly, he asked Akira what he thought. He replied, “well, I think my study of the Dark Arts makes me uniquely qualified as a mentor, and I would be happy to take a youngster under my wing.”

The next question was, “Other than responding to threats, what do you do?”

Akira spoke up first, “I spend a lot of time meditating, honing my skills.”

“Did you study martial arts at one point, Akira?” asked Sam.  “Only Pool, I find it useful as a way to focus my mind, especially when I’m distracted. I’ve been playing a lot of Pool recently.” That outburst resulted in a lot of whispering in the audience. Mr Summers immediately calmed the audience down.

Sam spoke up, “For me, it’s three things; one, managing or trying to manage a home life with friends, family and partners, trying to keep everything together. Secondly, it’s my role and work with Héros sans Frontières, keeping on top of current medical practices, being a qualified first responder in any situation. Being a trained paramedic is always useful and I recommend it to everyone undertaking the HCP training or interested in this kind of work. Thirdly, it’s managing your media presence. You may have seen me on the Internet or at conventions, you may have seen me on television giving interviews. Public image is definitely something you need to manage in this type of work, otherwise someone else will do it for you with their own interpretations.”

Mr Summers requested the next question.

This time it was Zoe who stood up, “Akira, I understand you classify at least some of your powers as magic, is this a delusion, misdirection or do you claim that magic is real?”

“I do have some meta-abilities, but my appearance now,” as he instantly changed his image into a duplicate of Young Sam using the illusions of Idolon, “is the result of a magical spell. I hope you can all see, otherwise I may have to resort to a mystical blast instead…” Gustav thought he had to be joking about the blast, but seeing the gleam in Akira’s eyes he wasn’t a hundred percent sure. Akira’s ensuing maniacal laughter didn’t help that feeling of unease.

Sam spoke up, “Talk to some of your teachers, they may be able to explain the philosophical and scientific differences between magic, technology and meta-abilities. They can explain better than us.” Akira shouted over him, “Just get yourself a do-it-yourself guide and give it a go.” Sam immediately replied, “I have a different opinion of this than my companion.”

Mr Summers lent over and spoke quietly to both of them, “Please remember 95% of the students in this room are not metas or undergoing HCP training. You are in a school environment, so please keep your answers focused on what the whole school would benefit from..?” Then reaching for the microphone he said, “We do not recommend any students dabble in things they do not fully comprehend, we can’t say here whether they will or will not work but the psychological implications may not be to your benefit. If you have any serious concerns, please make an appointment to talk with Mr Dean or Dr Lockheart after the assembly.” Sam tried to back Summers’ up about practising any activity safely and ended on a “when in doubt, consult your local library” and winked.

The next question was, “How closely do you work with the Police?”

Sam stated, “We work very closely, in fact on an almost daily basis. They will often be our first contact with a case, they will usually dispatch us to the scene, provide us with extremely valuable information on almost every single aspect of what we need to know. We are usually only called in to deal with Meta-related situations or where there is technology that may be beyond their ability to handle safely; more than say the use of normal firearms. They are a crucial to everything we do. They are the eyes and ears of our whole operation.”

Akira piped up, “They are very lucky to have us.” Sam interrupted, “We’re very lucky to have them” as Akira continued, “at times they can indeed prove useful though I think the amount of work that comes the way of Steadman Investigations (which has now been taken over by one of my colleagues) just shows the huge gap between public expectation and what the Police are actually able to deliver. Heroes can help plug that gap.”

It was Gustav’s turn to ask his question, though he now thought his attempt at making them feel guilt for their actions in Carpathia was too vague for them to comprehend it properly. He stood up and asked, “How do members of the Balance deal with loss and mourning?

Akira replied, “We haven’t actually lost a member of the Balance yet,” momentarily forgetting about Chrono’s disappearance some time before, “but I think we would find it very hard because we’ve become close, almost a family unit.”

Sam said, “There was a time when there was someone that I thought I was close with that disappeared for quite some time and that was a very difficult time for me, a lot of lost sleep, a lot of feeling isolated and a lot of black coffee. Thankfully the situation was resolved, but it was a very difficult time. All you can do is continue to try your best, try not to get too caught up in your own doubts or feelings and seek out family, friends and anyone who can help support you through it.” Akira leant forward, “There’s a very good saying that you don’t get mad, get even.”

Gustav was surprised at Sam’s answer, though Akira’s flippant, throwaway comment annoyed him. He’d assumed that they were in reality mercenaries without a conscience, but he’d found Sam’s answer helpful in dealing with the death of his father, but now wished he had asked them directly about Carpathia. He might actually have understood what had happened or at least heard their side of the story, especially as he thought they might have been responsible for the death of his father and his suffering in the rubble.

Chris asked, “I understand that the most recent addition to the Balance doesn’t have any Meta-abilities.” “That’s true,” said Sam. Chris continued, “How well do they fit in and do you think advanced technology ability can be as good as meta powers?”

“Our newest member you may have seen on our social media feed is Mace, a wonderful scientist originally from France. She’s been invaluable, though there has been a bit of a learning curve. She often provides a different prospective on how to proceed and sees a lot of good in the world, which is very useful at times. Coming from France and a different legal system, we’ve had to make a couple of adjustments to her equipment, looking at how we handle things differently. We review everything in our post-action reviews with the Police and adjust our processes accordingly. Mace has been a major part of that process. In my opinion, I believe a technological genius like Mace is invaluable, even more valuable in some situations that Metas. Akira, anything you want to add?”

He leant forward and said, “Just that magic is itself a form of technology, and I agree that a genius needs to be respected.”

Summers looked slightly exasperated, but signalled for the remaining questions.

A large teen, one they’d seen hanging around with Ces’ Morgan previously, stood up and asked, “Are your encounters real or are they scripted and acted out with the villains being nothing more than method actors paid to make you look good for financial reasons?” The person asking was from the year above theirs and received several boos and hisses from the audience for that question.

“No, please…” said Sam, “This a valuable question and one we hear all the time. You may have seen on our feed an incident some time ago, an encounter we had with a T. Rex in London, next to the London Eye featuring lots of old film stars? Now that was scripted, a publicity stunt and a bit of fun. However, everything else we’ve been involved with have been real situations. We don’t often do that kind of thing; get involved with films or stunts.”

Nathaniel stood up next to him and asked, “Do you actually believe that meta’s are superior to normal humans? I believe you even refer to those of us without powers as ‘mundane’s’?”

“Yes, there are a lot of nicknames out there. Another I’ve heard was ‘normies’ but I wouldn’t use them. I’ve spent a lot of my early meta-career trying to create a normal image for myself instead of this dragon-shape you see before you now. The transition was very difficult for me, and a lot of the time breakthroughs aren’t something people want for themselves and choice of abilities aren’t something we have control over or even necessarily want. Personally, I value everyone equally. I don’t think there should be any differences between people, because of what they can do.”

Akira interrupted, “Even the lowliest of lifeforms has the right to existence,” muttering under his breath, “even you.”

The next question was “Should all Meta’s be registered and tested as they are now or is it an invasion, I mean contravention of their human rights?”

As Akira was about to answer, an argument broke out in the audience about whether being an unregistered Meta was a crime and whether they should be imprisoned – a couple of teachers immediately headed down from the stage to separate the two arguing groups.

“I personally think they should be registered” said Sam, “But how you’d manage that in practice..? Having a registry, a public census of meta-abilities, is a different thing again. All meta’s are currently required in the UK to register but can do so with a degree on anonymity and I think that’s a good thing.”

Akira spoke up, “I think the question is fundamentally wrong, because we are not really human and therefore what we should be looking at is what meta-rights should be.” Sam tried to interrupt, “I don’t know..? “And I think Metas have a right to even more protection than humans.” Sam again interrupted, “I don’t know about that, I mean the name we use is meta-human, emphasis on the human? We should be looking at our similarities, not our differences, surely? We all live in the same society.” “Sam, meta means beyond, beyond humans!” In the background Beaky spoke up, “Actually no, it means a change of position or condition, such as in ‘metamorphosis’…”

Akira continued, ignoring the interruption, “Beyond human, so we should have rights that are beyond human rights.” Sam tried to calm him down but failed, Akira carried on, “Really the only people who should be able to judge metas are other metas.” Sam said, “We all live, survive, collaborate together on a global scale. I don’t know how you would be able to practice what you are saying…”

Mr Summers stood up, explained that they should move on from this obviously contentious subject and that from the school’s point of view they believed strongly that everyone should be equal and treated equally under the law and that a jury of your peers referred to mental capacity not what abilities they had. He then stated that the next question would be the last.

Winter stood up and asked, “What is the best thing about what you do and the worst?”

“The worst thing for me,” said Akira as Sam joked it was having to stand next to him, “is the terrible loneliness because you feel very much on your own facing all these challenges.” Turning to Sam, he continued, “You spoke about your breakthrough in the past tense, I feel as though I’m still going through my breakthrough and I feel there is no one that I can talk to about that because nobody would understand.” Sam tried to sympathise with him, but knew he needed to get the subject back on topic if he could.

“Going back to the question, the worst thing I think is that the job is never done. There will always be times when you’ve been awake for over twenty-four hours, when the only thing keeping you together is a warm blanket and a cup of coffee but the disaster is still occurring and there is very little you can do to improve the situation, but you have to keep trying. As for the best times? Seeing the look of relief on an innocent’s face when they realise and you realise that they are no longer in imminent danger and are now safe. That is something I will never get sick of and something that I will continue to do until I am no longer able.”

Mr Summers thanked them both for attending and dismissed the assembly, telling everyone that the last two periods of the day were cancelled, but they could chat briefly with their guests if they wanted. He went on to say that if anyone had any questions or concerns regarding the assembly (he looked at Akira when he said that) they should take the opportunity to talk with one of the teachers present or arrange a visit with Dr Lockheart.

Most of the pupils began to file out of the hall. That meant no last two periods of Double English for Gustav and Chris. Young Sam and Akira were being asked by some of the students to sign posters before heading over to the Mansion for a session with any of the Special Curriculum students that wanted to attend.

Chris knew that meant there would be an opportunity for a combat session for HCP participants if they wished.

Down Below, Firewall stepped into the Combat Chamber to face Young Sam.

Seconds later, the speakers sounded out the standard warning that the teachers would be monitoring the combat at all times and would stop the fight if they felt it was getting out of hand, such as seriously injured or at risk of dying. Then the start combat light flared into life.

Sam immediately began to explain to Firewall the need to properly assess your opponent and circumstances when in a combat situation to ensure innocents are safe. In the monitoring room, Silver smiled, Sam might prove a good mentor or trainer at some point, but calling Firewall ‘young sir’ was patronising to say the least.

Sam continued explaining about always looking for ways to reduce collateral damage but to give his best as the people he’d be going up against in the future would not be holding back. Firewall initially considered turning into his insubstantial, electrical data form because he was pretty sure that there was nothing Sam would be able to do to affect him whilst in that state, but that sort of defeated the purpose of the session, didn’t it? Keeping yourself safe wasn’t the same as actually winning.

Meanwhile, Sam kept on offering advice as Firewall thought through his strategy for the match, then… he erected his Firewall barrier and unleashed a Taser blast. Sam dodged easily whilst explaining, “A Taser is an excellent choice and a good way to take down low powered enemies.” “Well I didn’t want to hit you with my laser beam” Firewall replied. Sam was surprised, “You’ve got a laser attack? You should use that next time, and I’ll show you why you need to know as much about your enemy as you can.”

Sam walked forward slowly, arms open wide. “Give me your best shot, but avoid the eyes.” Instead, Firewall unleashed an area blast. The electricity arced out in all directions including towards Sam.  “Try dodging that!” The blast hit Sam and left him slightly dazed. “Wow, I mean ow, excellent. Misdirection is a useful tool in the fight for justice.” Firewall smiled, “I did read the tale of Br’er Rabbit, you know. The ‘don’t throw me in the briar patch’ strategy.” Sam immediately responded with a fear roar. Instantly Firewall was compelled to run as far as way as possible in fear and immediately turned insubstantial. “Firewall, you must learn to overcome your fears if you want to become a hero.” Firewall pushed himself back into the fight as he said, “That was pretty scary, I didn’t know you could do that.” Sam smiled, “I don’t use it very often it’s a bit of a trump card, besides it hurts the throat.”

Firewall responded with another burst area attack as he substantialised himself. This time Sam was ready for it and it had no effect on him, “Hah, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice..? “ Firewall smiled, “I did think about hitting you with my laser attack just to see what it did, but, maybe next time.” As he spoke, Sam suddenly flew straight at him whilst unleashing his draconic persuasion, “You’ll not be using that energy blast again, young man.” Firewall felt entranced, unable to respond. Sam felt bad about it, that was no way for this match to end, but he knew Firewall would remain entranced until Sam attacked again. Damn. He stepped forward and gently tapped Firewall on the check to break him out of the spell. “Time to snap out of it,” he said as he stepped backwards. “I just want to see what you can do, Firewall.” Sam continued to encourage Firewall to do his best. Firewall responded by unleashing his laser aimed between Sam’s eyes. A bright flare suddenly blinded Sam and superheated the scales on his face. Sam muttered to himself, “I did say not the eyes!” he was temporarily blinded. Sam immediately tried to check his sight – he could already see shapes, but they were very blurry. He instantly used his chameleon-scales to hide against the walls of the chamber whilst he waited for his sight to return properly. It didn’t help, Firewall immediately unleashed another energy burst, leaving Sam staggered. “Yes Firewall, I’ve seen enough. You’re a very talented young meta and I’m impressed with the progress you’re making at the school. You’re going to be a real asset when you’re older.”

Firewall felt extremely happy with the outcome. He’d outsmarted a member of the Balance but he also knew Sam had gone easy on him, as if he’d wanted to he could have plastered the walls with him and he felt sorry about using his laser attack to temporarily blind him. Thankfully, the effect was temporary. As they left the chamber, the two of them began to analyse the combat session, even as Nurse Joy tried to administer first aid to Sam’s eyes.

Akira and Ashen then took their place in the chamber. Ashen felt a bit anxious, especially having witnessed Akira’s unpredictability at the assembly. The standard warnings sounded over the speakers as the start combat light came on.

Ashen reacted first. He ran across the chamber, tried to grab and hold Akira before trying a punch only for it to be blocked. Akira responded, “That was a good move.” He unleashed his Theurgical-Kinesis at him, pushing him back and across the room. Ashen rolled with it and managed to avoid being injured. That was close.

Ashen flew up towards the lights planning to smash the lights only to discover that the school had replaced each light after his last fight with a light socket that was also a switch so that hitting them now merely switched them off. Made sense. He punched out as he flew by, switching each off in turn, leaving the chamber in complete darkness.

Akira responded by casting the Illumination of Abbridon, creating a globe of light as bright as normal daylight. Daylight flared across the chamber. Ashen felt his skin burn. This mystical light could obviously also affect creatures specifically vulnerable to it, such as him. “I yield” he shouted. This was killing him.

As two staff members rushed in, one of the teachers shouted at Akira to ask if he could turn the spell off? Akira considered it for a moment, “I could if I wanted to.” He replied, “Then do it”, screamed the nurse who threw a reflective blanket over Ashen and immediately enclosed him in healing darkness.

In a sudden blur of motion, a number of other blankets were thrown over him and he found himself removed from the arena and safely moved to one of the training rooms under comforting artificial light. That was over quick, too quickly, Ashen thought as his self-healing kicked in.

After the analysis discussion with the teachers, both Firewall and Ashen went upstairs to change, as both Cadet and L33t replaced them in the chamber. The teachers had obviously decided that there would be no more one-on-one combat sessions with Akira.

As they were about to step in the lift, ‘Ant’ Andrews caught up with them and explained that as it was their first weekend away from the grounds that they should keep their costumes and anonymity collars on under their street clothing, just in case. After a quick shower and a change into clean uniforms followed by their ordinary clothes on top, with Gustav finding that they’d provided him with a specially lined hoodie, jeans and gloves.

They checked the monitors to see if the combat sessions were still going on. They were, this time with Young Sam and Akira, facing the entire team of the Amazons. Gustav smiled, that wouldn’t be an easy combat for Akira, he thought.

As they left the Big House and crossed the playing fields to collect their weekend school passes from the admin offices, they could see young Cassie playing flying tag with a tanned platinum-blonde female in a pink t-shirt.

This was Princess, who they had seen previously in Down Below but hadn’t actually spoken to, a paragon publicly ‘flying her colours’. Unlike Outrage, Princess was laughing and giggling with Cassie as they bounced around. Both waved at them. The blonde teenager kept her distance but shouted down, “Hi, don’t think I’ve had a chance to welcome either of you two to Claremont yet. Don’t be alarmed, Cassie and I are both Meta’s …” Cassie immediately flew right in front of her and with her arms crossed and an irritated look on her face said, “They’s knows me aw’ready, I was a good gi’l and said hello when they first arrived, DIDN’T I?” The last was shouted at Gustav and Chris’ on the ground below at enough volume that they both wondered if sonic powers might not be part of her meta-abilities.

Despite being at the epicentre of Cassie’s outburst, Princess merely smiled, “That’s good to know, Cassie.” Looking down at the two of them below, she continued, “Anyway, welcome to Claremont, might see you around some time.”  Both started flying back towards the teachers’ bungalows.

In the school office Ms Jennings (Cassie’s mum) issued them with their weekend passes whispering with a smile that most other pupils refer to them as ‘passports’ and then printed off and handed them their weekend bus tickets valid for travel anywhere within Wessex for the next few days.

She explained that they needed to be back at the school in time for lock down at 10pm every night. Unless she explained, they asked for a late pass, which allowed them to stay out until later. Both immediately requested a late pass. Ms Jennings agreed an extension until 11pm for both that and the following night, but warned them to make sure they checked the time of the last bus back.

What to do? Head to Wessex or possibly go to St. Mary Mede that night for a steak dinner at the Murder Café and some live music perhaps? Gustav was ready for his rare steak. Chris started asking if he would be eating the salad (knowing that Gustav was notorious for leaving his on his plate). Gustav immediately began to wonder if his friend was financially broke, but then remembered overhearing Ant’ Andrews talking to him about the fact that his parents had sent him an allowance. Maybe he didn’t want to use it for some reason. Instead of pushing it, he determined to order a side salad, chips knowing Chris would eat them if it was on the table and, when Chris’ mentioned his love of onion rings… decided to add that to his order. He would be happy with a rare, bloody steak and a large coffee…

As they stood at the bus stop waiting, Gustav asked Chris what he thought of the Balance today. Chris felt they were ‘badass’ though he felt Akira sure must have a screw loose. Gustav admitted he did seem ‘unrestrained’, Chris raised that to ‘unhinged’. They discussed his comments about treating metas differently, as superior to humans? Just a very short step away from other, darker things, they agreed. When the bus arrived, they went up to the top deck and found some seats where they could continue their conversation without being overheard. Chris was amazed that the school had allowed him to say what they did in an assembly. Gustav admitted he was surprised that knowing they were criminals, they’d even been invited. That was news to Chris, and Gustav explained about the team being considered international terrorists in his home country of Carpathia. The discussion then turned to finding some live music, and Chris wondered what styles Gustav was into. Not Techno or heavy metal, Gustav admitted he liked classical, which Chris interpreted as 90s music.

With them on the bus to St. Mary Mede were Chris Templar, Bethany Dalton with another girl from her year, Tara Tobias and the twins, Ali and Alan Mayson who were in the same year as them. Chris secretly found Tara very attractive with her big eyes and red hair but was struggling with his own sexuality so didn’t risk approaching her, just admiring her from afar. He glanced to the back of the bus to where she was seated with Bethany and was surprised to see her give him a shy smile back in return.

Their bus stopped outside the Blood Cottage Murder Museum, Miss Maple’s infamous residence. A poster outside showed the old spinster lady and mass murderer from the 1950s, infamous for committing 26 known murders before finally being arrested and hanged. She’d successfully managed to blame others for her own crimes, working alongside the Police to apparently discover their murderers. These innocent people she managed to blame for her crimes ended up in prison, and six of them were even hanged before the truth about her was finally revealed.

Next door to the cottage was the local historic society Exhibition which was situated in the converted stables (open until 9pm Fridays) and beside that was a small but immaculate little café in the cottage next door. This was the Murder Café.

A sudden darkness descended all around them. Seconds later, it had disappeared and the street and shop lights were once more visible. As they looked around, it was apparent that all the adults, including the bus driver, had just instantly vanished. The bus was left drifting forward uncontrolled – in gear, but with no brakes applied when the driver vanished. The bus gently crashed into the bus stop and came to a stop.

Looking around, all they could see were children and teens. All the older youths and adults appeared to have vanished completely. Gustav blurted out, “I didn’t do that.” Chris was considering whether either of them knew how to drive the bus. “Now’s probably not the time,” Gustav said as he turned to see what had caused a crash behind them. Two cars now driverless collided into each other.

Gustav saw that one of the vehicles had a young child in a safety seat inside, and it was still moving towards them. The road thankfully was only a 20mph zone and the initial crash had already slowed the car down. There was no time to change, Gustav rushed forward and slammed his palms on the bonnet of the car, trying to act as a brake. Secretly using his meta-strength, he slowed it down whilst digging his feet into the tarmac, which cracked at the force. His shoes began to come apart at the seams with the impact but thankfully, his costume’s boots inside, despite being skin-tight, were resilient and protected his feet from injury. He could have stopped the vehicle instantly but wanted a safe, slow stop so allowed its momentum to push him backwards whilst slowing down until it came to a complete stop after a few yards at the kerb. Gustav, reached inside, turned off the engine and began to rescue the toddler passenger from her safety seat.

Further away, they could hear other cars crash.

They turned to their schoolmates still standing near the bus stop, “Ah, has anything like this ever happened before?” Alan spoke up, as he and his sister had been students at the school for the longest. “No, this is a new one, I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

Meanwhile, Bethany took the child off Gustav and was heading towards St. Mary’s Church, which had its doors open and was obviously being used as some sort of venue before the adults had disappeared. As she walked over, she explained, “There will be other children out there, many too young to be left on their own. We need to find them and bring them here, where we can look after them together. We also need to know how far this thing extends and if there are any adults left elsewhere; if so, we need to let them know what is happening here. Someone needs to try and contact the school and the Police, or see what’s on the internet about this.”

Gustav pulled Chris aside, “Can you do a scan of the internet whilst I go for a run and see if I can find out how far this reaches?” Chris agreed and mentally linked himself into the nearest router as Gustav set off at a sprint in the opposite direction from the school. Most of the town was deserted, he did however observe smoke coming from a nearby house. He approached it and realised that he had a chip pan fire to deal with. He rushed in through the back door. Inside, he could see a young child in the living room still watching a TV programme (which was still being broadcast), completely oblivious to the fact that the cooker was on fire and flames were starting to spread up the kitchen wall.

Gustav switched off the cooker, grabbed a fire blanket off the wall and immediately smothered the fire. Once the fire was completely out, he grabbed the child and, despite its screams, headed back towards Bethany and her improvised nursery with him.

It appeared as though the whole town was now missing all of its adults. Could they, somehow, be the catalyst? After all, it had happened just as they had arrived. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be here. Bethany meanwhile was trying to get through to the school on her phone but no one was answering which is extremely unusual as Camille was always available to pick up even if everyone else was busy. Chris suggested that there had to be something in the town that had caused it.

They checked out the murder museum and the local history exhibition next door. Both were completely empty of people. There was nothing obvious they could see that could have caused this, though Gustav did wonder if Akira was somehow responsible, though Chris didn’t agree.

Several kids were coming out into the streets. Some were stealing from a nearby newsagent and supermarket, others were just crying. Bethany with the assistance of Chris, Alan, Ali and Tara began to organise the older kids to go and start gathering the younger, unattended children and bring them to the church so they could be looked after all together in a safe space.

Thankfully, there was a fully stocked kitchen and snack shop come non-alcoholic bar inside the church that Bethany immediately requisitioned, having placed a note with her bank details inside the till to cover any expenses.

She got Tara and Chris to organise activities (including opening up the Youth Centre in the crypt) as Alan organised the search parties through the town for other lock-in children. Ali, however, seemed to have wandered off somewhere by herself.

Chris’ did find that there was a Wi-Fi signal he could intercept. He mentally logged in and checked for any information on St. Mary Mede, Miss Maple or school kids at Claremont with serious grudges against all adults. Beyond the usual information and gossip, there was nothing. There were however a number of recent posts on social media from in and around the town and the school confirming that all the adults had suddenly vanished. Reports from outside the area were saying that there were two intersecting globes, each about a mile or so wide, formed of some sort of dark energy that were centred on both the town and the school. Where they stood, the sky seemed normal but outside the area, it apparently looked very different. There were no reports of missing children or adults beyond the barriers, thankfully. Whatever this was causing this, it was obviously localised.

Gustav suggested that perhaps it was something like the science experiment that had cast them back in time. Chris smiled, “I thought that was a mass hallucination? I don’t think this has the same feel about it, but I really don’t know what we should do.”

Thinking it was worth confirming whether there was some sort of globe over the town, Gustav headed into the privacy of a nearby alley, took off his street clothes and switched on his anonymity collar to become Ashen. What a first public outing, he thought as he immediately flew up into the sky. He got about half a mile up in the sky before he bounced off some sort of invisible barrier, or at least it seemed invisible from his side of the globe. He tested it, but although there was some give, the barrier remained impenetrable. He returned to the ground and Chris, who was still trying to co-ordinate the information on the internet. Chris’ confirmed that everyone in the town and school over the age of eighteen had definitely vanished. With Ashen hiding in the shadows, an anxious Alan approached Chris; it seemed that his sister Ali was nowhere to be seen and he didn’t know what had happened to her. Overhearing, Ashen immediately began searching, using the shadows as cover before flying back up. He used his communications earpiece to keep in touch with Chris.

Meanwhile, Chris’ was able to confirm that in the absence of any teachers that several of the older students including Cadet had taken on the task of keeping the students at school safe. There was also an unconfirmed report of as many as three adults being seen wandering in the school grounds. Two of the figures were definitely together, though some reports said a third adult figure was also seen nearby, though they all seemed to vanish when any of the pupils got close.

These were the only adults anyone had seen since the darkness descended. Several of the older HCP students were obviously out in the grounds searching for them and Chris considered heading to the school to help but decided against it. From above, Ashen still couldn’t see Ali, but looking back he did see young Chris Templar step into a back alley and apparently vanish. He flew down to where he’d been, but there was no sign of the young student. If young Chris was somehow connected to Smash as they thought and had been trying to change, could that have somehow triggered his disappearance?

Claremont Academy pre-Blackout

Young Sam and Akira were still at school, chatting with several of the Special Curriculum pupils. Sam had tried to explain to Akira that he really needed to work on his public image when a sudden darkness descended over the whole area. Even indoors, all the lights momentarily blacked out. When the light reappeared a second later, they found themselves standing alone; all the children that had been standing around them had disappeared. Looking around, only adults appeared to remain.

Sam turned and glowered at Akira, “What did you just do?” Akira smiled, “I admit I hate kids, but this wasn’t me, though I’m quite relieved myself.”

They walked into the grounds and crossed the playing fields towards the school, but it was the same there. Only the few adults remained, all the pupils in the school had suddenly and mysteriously vanished. Mr Summers gathered the teachers and staff together in the main hall and explained that he’d contacted the Police in St. Mary Mede and it appeared that every child under eighteen in and around the town had also disappeared. The Police were searching the town and surrounding area for some clues as to what had happened. A small Vietnamese woman was muttering something about it being “another close encounter…” They never did find out what she meant, though, as she suddenly rushed outside.

One of the male teachers walked in to inform them that there were reports coming in on the internet and local news of some sort of force bubble over the school, as well as another over the town. Apparently, from the outside, the bubble was pitch black and impenetrable. A few minutes later the Vietnamese woman came back in to report that some ground staff were reporting seeing a couple of people, strangers apparently walking  in the grounds heading towards the mansion. Sam immediately wanted to go and have a ‘physical’ chat with them and find out why they were in the school, especially now.

They headed outside and saw a man and woman walking across the grounds towards the mansion. Sam and Akira immediately flew across and intercepted them. “Hi, can I ask who you are and what you are up to?”

They stopped and immediately explained that they were Tom and Tilly Tuppence and they were expected. They were there to liaise with the school regarding a couple of their pupils. Then suddenly a smile came over Tilly’s face. “You’re library members, aren’t you? I remember reading something about it. We’re with the Watchers.”

Sam and Akira remembered meeting Dr Bathsheba She’arim, Batty, in Israel, who claimed to represent a breakaway sect of the Library called the Watchers. Sam asked, “If you’re here to liaise with the school about some pupils, shouldn’t they be around?” Tom looked annoyed, “I was going to ask you about that. There were lots of students round and about when we first arrived, but then they all seemed to vanish.” Sam continued, “So you don’t have anything to do with the darkness or the pupils’ disappearance?” “No! There is definitely a sort of aura of magic about it, but we’re not the ones responsible.”

They went on to explain they had an appointment with a Dr Eldrich about a couple of pupils at the school, and agreed that both of them could accompany them if they wanted. As they walked, Tom explained that they were there to establish further links between the College Invisible (where mages were trained) and the school. They were present today as they had an appointment to discuss the progress of a couple of students they had placed at the school, so they could participate in the College Invisible programme and learn the use of magic properly and safely. Mr Summers arrived shortly after and confirmed their story, however given the current crisis he did not want to spare any of his staff, even visiting teachers such as Dr Eldrich, from the task of finding the pupils.

Akira had been invited at one time to train at the College Invisible himself but in the end, he had felt he would prefer to organise his own training. He asked who they were here to discuss. They admitted that the students they were there to check up on were Alan and Ali Mayson, though they seemed extremely reluctant to meet them personally.

As they were speaking with the couple, Summers told them another stranger had appeared on the school CCTV, a figure wandering the grounds, apparently dressed in what looked like tattered robes or a cloak. On the screen the figure appeared translucent at times as though not always there. Ghost-like, it drifted across the grass, at times vanishing from sight completely.

As they discussed what appeared to be going on, the visiting female Tilly suddenly collapsed onto the ground with a drawn-out scream.

Sam immediately rushed over and began to administer first-aid and placed her in the recovery position. His examination confirmed that there wasn’t anything obviously wrong with her. He stepped back, only for her to vanish. A second later, her prone figure appeared about 100 yards away, lying on the grass. Again, she disappeared and reappeared closer to the tattered figure and the school chapel.

As they watched her reappear, a report came in from Camille on the gate. Apparently one of the pupils, the alien Smash, had suddenly turned up. According to him, all the missing youths and pupils were trapped in a parallel universe, a copycat school and town without any adults.

In Kidsworld

Alan was upset that no one seemed to know what had happened to his sister, who was still missing. To add to the confusion, one of the adult figures mentioned before wandering the school grounds had vanished from the school grounds, only for it to reappear in the streets near to the Church; a figure in some sort of tattered cloak or robe. They looked over and to their surprise Ali Mayson, accompanied by a floating figure in a tattered robe, walked past everyone in the square without even appearing to notice them. Alan shouted over to her, but she ignored him completely. She seemed to be in a daze, was she being compelled or controlled somehow?

Ali walked into the stable house used to accommodate the local historic society Exhibition. The tattered figure followed her inside and seconds later, they heard a smashing sound of breaking glass coming from one of the exhibit cases.

Stepping back into the street, Ali now held an antique, grey metallic talisman in her hand as she turned and immediately set off as though intending to walk back to the school. The translucent figure followed closely. Alan ran across to try to stop her, only for him to suddenly rise off the ground as though grabbed by a giant invisible hand. Whatever it was, shook him violently before he flew across the street and slammed into a nearby wall. He was bruised and battered, but not seriously injured.

Chris and Ashen realised they’d seen something very similar to that amulet before; lying in a glass cabinet in the school chapel. There had been a card lying beside it – something about it being a pagan symbol found near the Coven’s Curse, which runs through Raven Wood. Wonder where this one had been found and why there were two of them?

There was something not quite ‘right’ about the one in Ali’s hand though, at least compared to the one at the school. Chris mentally checked the school’s website in his mind and in the history of the estate page; he found a footnote and a photograph of the school’s pendant.

The local historical society’s website said that their object was found on Saxon Heights on the outskirts of the town and was believed to be connected to a local witches coven called the Brood of Tiamat, possibly lost during the Civil War of 1645.

It took a couple of minutes before he realised what the difference between the two objects were, beyond the school’s version being on a rusty, metallic chain. The two were actually mirror images of each other with the symbols reversed and he suddenly realised that they looked as though they could be overlaid on each other to make some sort of complicated mystical sigil.  The grey metallic alloy both were made of had apparently never been identified.

Ashen felt sure that the best thing to do for the moment was to follow them for now and see what happened next. Alan was again all for rushing in and trying to ‘rescue’ his sister, but Ashen tried to talk him out of it. “We have to see where this goes. This being with her might cause her harm if we don’t handle this properly. I’ve seen several horror films similar to this, we need to make sure your sister is unharmed by our intervention. We need to handle this with kid gloves.”

Alan seemed deep in thought for a second, then decided to confide in the teen hero standing before him. “Be very careful, Ali is a sorceress, she’s been trained to use magic for her own protection.” Ashen suggested that perhaps she’d been trying to help when this had happened and might accidentally be the cause? Alan explained that no she’d been with him all the time until she’d gone missing so that this, pointing around him, couldn’t be due to anything she’d done. She was just a passenger on the bus when this had happened. “Was this her first visit to St. Mary Mede?” “No, we come fairly regularly since arriving at the school three years before after the death of our parents. So all this couldn’t be due to either of us, sorry! We need to do something about that weird character following her, he seems to be controlling her.”

Ashen continued, “We don’t want to put her at risk or cause her any undue harm by intervening when we don’t know what’s going on. Please wait, just for now. We, I’ll follow and act as soon as I think it’s safe to do so, promise.”

He agreed to not do anything or interfere for the moment, but insisted on following close behind her, no matter what.

In front of the three of them, Ali and her spectre-like companion walked away from the town towards the school. The three of them followed on behind, Chris wishing that he could turn insubstantial so he didn’t have to walk back, but of course Alan was with them.

In Adultworld

Back at the school, the female watcher, Tilly, stood up, her eyes glazed as a ghostly figure approached her and both turned and wandered towards the Chapel. Tilly’s movements were jerky and shuddering, as though she was being forced to walk.

As they were about to fly across and confront them both, Tom pulled them both aside and explained that he felt he better explain something about his sister, about them both. “Look, I think you need to know a bit of background as I don’t really know what’s going on or how this involves us.” He explained that his sister was “possessed by a supernatural creature called a Luminae, a creature consisting of mystical light, a creature that dwells in a dimension known as the Convergence – a dimension that exists between every other dimension and acts as a buffer zone and as a gateway to everywhere and everywhen. I think this tattered man, this entity, is trying to use her somehow. You have to understand, no matter what, she mustn’t under any circumstances touch or come in contact with her younger self. I know this sounds crazy, but you see we are the older selves of two of the students here, Alan and Ali Mayson. We are their future selves originally from 2029 when we accidentally become time-exiled to our own past due to going through a mystical portal, which went disastrously wrong.

A couple of years ago we, they, ah, Alison and I lost their, our parents. Look, it’s easier if I speak about this in the third party. Ali and Alan were orphaned when their archaeologist parents, both of whom were themselves Watchers, accidentally opened a dimensional portal whilst researching in Thailand, which resulted in their deaths.

Shortly after their future selves, us, appeared. You see in 2029 the twins will find the same dimensional portal their parents had discovered and will find themselves being transported into the Convergence. Whilst there, a Luminae will merge with Ali in return for agreeing to guide them back to Earth, unfortunately we arrived home in 2016 but as our adult selves.

I, ah Alan tried to use magic to separate the creature from his sister (who had unfortunately fallen in love with the power it gave her) only to discover that while I, he could separate it from her, it always returned. My sister is addicted to its power you see and it will one day soon destroy her. The only way to prevent that is if the Ali and Alan either never step through the portal into the Convergence – but of course we can’t explain that to our teenage selves without risking a cataclysmic paradox. The alternative was for Ali to be trained in magic so she could not be possessed in the first place. That will still allow us to continue to exist, but hopefully without my sister being possessed and losing her mind and her identity. So, to make this happen we took new identities as Tilly and Tom Tuppence, used glamours to change our appearances and persuaded the Council of Watchers to train the twins in the mystical arts. Thankfully, they realised just how powerful a Luminae-possessed person can be and how uncontrolled. The Luminae-possessed are, very much governed by their emotions, and have no restraints. So we are allowed to keep an eye on our earlier selves, arrange their training on the condition they never meet us, as if that ever happens we’d create a major temporal paradox and add in a Luminae to that mix and you have all the necessary ingredients for an end of the world scenario. I wonder if that is what that weird creature is trying to do? So, you can understand why we need to avoid that at all costs.”

Tilly had now reached the chapel, entered, and a few minutes later walked back out holding a grey-coloured pendant in her hands.

“After careful consideration, Sam, I think we should definitely smite the cloaked thing,” said Akira. Tom insisted on accompanying them as Tilly headed towards the main road and St. Mary Mede with the tattered creature in tow.

Akira, Sam and Tom rushed after them and as soon as they were within range, Akira tried to contain the woman by forming a force cage round her. The bubble of energy formed round her and for a second they saw a floating mermaid-like creature formed of blue light emerge from inside Tilly and in response, the force barrier immediately dissipated away as the creature merged back inside her.  So that’s a Luminae, eh? The two figures continued their journey towards St. Mary Mede.

Sam immediately rushed in front and decided to try to use a backdraught from his powerful wings to impede Tilly from continuing walking. Given the insubstantial nature of the tattered man, he wasn’t expecting his ‘gale’ to have any effect on it. It definitely stopped Tilly’s progress, and it didn’t call the creature inside her forth.

Akira used his Theurgical-Kinesis to try to pull the pendant from Tilly’s hands. She tried to hold onto it but failed as it flew through the air towards Akira though for a couple of seconds it seemed to turn insubstantial as the figure in the tattered robes gestured but he managed to keep the pendant’s movement sufficiently unpredictable that whatever spell the creature had tried to cast did not take hold for long.

Thankfully, Akira’s will, influenced by his partial conversion, seemed stronger than the spell. This was immediately followed by a blast of blue hellish fire from Tilly straight at Sam’s back. It flowed over him like hellish napalm, and he collapsed to the ground, dazed.

Akira was still trying to ‘reel in’ the pendant using his TK, but it was only a matter of time before the tattered figure rendered it insubstantial and therefore immune to his abilities. Instead, he teleported over and grabbed it out of the air before teleporting away again. Sam immediately flew into the air and grabbed hold of Tilly, flying her away as fast as he could, heading away from the figure, the pendant and the tattered man. As Sam gained some distance with his surprised passenger and as Akira teleported away in a different direction with the mystical object, the ghostly figure seemed to start to fade.

Back in Kidsworld

Back on the road to the school Ashen, Chris and Tom continued to follow Ali and the ghostly figure whilst Chris tried covertly to interface with the internet from each cottage or house they passed, hoping against hope that there would be some sort of message that would give them a clue as to how best to handle this. Seems that kook Akira was right, though, magic obviously did exist.

Chris was sure that whatever else they did, allowing the amulet Ali was carrying to be joined with its mirror pair was to be avoided at all cost. Why else would they be trying to transport the artefact back towards the school?

Ashen tried to use his voice of allure on the tattered man, trying to get him to stop and talk about what was going on and explain what his intentions were. He flew as close he dared and spoke, putting all of his will into his tone of voice.

It didn’t appear to work. The creature had never spoken or shown any interest in any of them before now, and it continued to ignore them as though immune. Chris stepped away whilst no one was looking and quickly changed out of his street clothes and activated his costume. Time for Firewall to show up, he just hoped Tom’s anguish and worry about his sister would stop him connecting the dots and realising that Chris vanishing as Firewall turned up was too much of a coincidence.

The worry was that this shadowy figure had immense power. No time for half measures or subtlety, Firewall elected to respond by unleashing a laser blast at where the head should be, beneath the hood of the tattered figure. He quickly aimed and unleashed a blast of pure light. It hit, and for a split-second, it illuminated a reptilian face beneath the hood that for some reason reminded him of a sad-looking Lord Voldemort-like creature, but the blast appeared to do no actual damage. Then he felt as though his fingers were melting and drifting away, and he saw his fingertips become insubstantial. There was no pain, just a feeling that this would consume him completely if it were allowed to continue. Ashen saw what was happening and asked him if he was okay? Firewall looked down, this was just like he felt when he turned into his data-form. Perhaps he could use that to fight against this. He momentarily turned into a data stream and reconstituted himself.

He tried to talk to the creature by accessing the various language databanks on the Internet as a source, but it just continued to ignore his attempts. In the end, he even tried ‘coughing’ Klingon at him, after all everyone knew that, didn’t they? Still no response as Ali continued her steady, almost mechanical march towards the school.

Ashen turned to Alan, “Look, I need to stop your sister. I will do what I can to do so safely, it’s going to get a bit grisly for a couple of seconds, so please turn around, I promise she will not be harmed.” Alan nodded as Ashen’s voice of allure washed over him, serious concern still in his eyes as he turned away. Ashen flew straight at and grabbed Ali and used his exsanguination bite on her neck to gain control of her will. Already dazed and controlled by the tattered creature, she put up no resistance and immediately collapsed into Ashen’s arms, the amulet still in her hand.

A wave of paralysing fear suddenly washed over him. He felt the need to flee as far and as fast as possible. Alan collapsed in fright to the tarmac, whilst Firewall tried to put as much distance between himself and the source of the terror as possible.

It was only after Ashen finally came to a stop a hundred yards away from the tattered man that he realised he was still holding the girl and she still had the amulet clutched in her hand. He continued to fly as fast as possible through the darkness with the now struggling sister, who was in the process of recovering from the dazed compulsion.  Ashen put some distance between them and the tattered creature until they were both standing just outside the school walls. They were soon joined by Firewall.

Ashen noticed the amulet begin to glow. It was reacting to its mirror twin at the school. Damn, this was definitely not a good thing. Ali meanwhile was getting concerned about where her brother Alan was. Ashen was now sure that under no circumstances should the two parts of the sigil be together in the same place.

Suddenly, a message came over their earpieces; a message that somehow had leaked over from the adults, bleeding through to their reality. It was Andrews warning them that under no circumstances should anyone bring the second amulet into the school and especially not to the mansion, and that Ali Mayson should be kept away from the school for her own safety. The message was on a loop and kept on being repeated continuously.

Ashen immediately explained to Ali that if she wanted to see her brother, they needed to head back to St. Mary Mede and used his comms to place a call to Alan’s phone telling him to meet them at the church. As Ashen flew back with Ali, Firewall entered the overhead electric cables in dataform and re-emerged seconds later in the square.

As he disappeared into the electric network, he couldn’t help notice that the figure in the cloak was looking fainter, more transparent.

Arriving within minutes of each other, Alan suggested checking out the cabinet in which the amulet had originally been stored. Meanwhile, an even more dishevelled ghostly figure appeared in the distance, apparently following the girl and the amulet.

Firewall grabbed the amulet and headed inside the exhibition to check out the now shattered glass case with its legend about what was known regarding the object. Firewall placed the object inside its case. As he turned round, he saw an almost transparent figure now dressed only in rags enter behind him and reach out towards the amulet.

Attacking the figure hadn’t done much the last time, so he elected to try and laser the amulet instead. To his surprise, the object didn’t melt, but as soon as the blast of pure light hit the grey metal, it began to glow brighter and brighter until it was brighter than the midday sun. The shadowy figure behind him immediately began to dissipate in the light. Seconds later, Firewall was alone. He walked outside and to his and Ashen’s amazement the street outside was a mixture of adults and kids as more and more adults turned up or just appeared searching for their kids. The bus was still resting beside the bus stop, its engine idling, and the crashed cars were still crashed. They really needed at some point to find out what happened to their drivers when the world around them was split in two.  People were slowly reappearing on the streets as the two realities reintegrated.

In Adultworld, three minutes previously

Back at the mansion, Akira suddenly found the pendant he was holding had begun to glow brighter than the midday sun, though it failed to get hot. Akira was forced to drop it to the ground and cover his eyes. Then the brightness vanished. Outside, the missing pupils began to appear. To several teachers surprise, the pupils hadn’t burnt down the school in their absence or even flooded any of the rooms, though the kitchens had obviously been raided.

In the sky, multiple cracks of thunder pealed across the clear evening sky as reports came in from outside the affected area to say that the domes over the school and town had vanished.  Sam and Akira looked on as the tattered raggedy figure faded from existence, but not before they both got a look at the reptilian face beneath the hood. Then the figure vanished completely and an emotional weight fell away from them. They knew without a shadow of a doubt that whatever the tattered man was, it was no longer present, or at least not on this plane any longer.

Tilly demanded to be put down as Smash appeared in front of her and began to create light patterns between his fingers. He quickly explained that he had met Luminae before and knew how to communicate with them. He was telling this one to calm down, as the risk to its continued existence on this plane was now gone.

It was only after Akira and Sam had left that the school realised that Akira still had the amulet in his possession. They considered asking for it back, but then again the more distance between the two halves the better.

Back in Town, Firewall and Ashen reunited Ali and Alan before taking their leave and vanishing; Ashen into the shadows and Firewall into his data form and apparently escaping through the electrical cables. In reality, they both travelled to where they had left their clothes, dressed and joined everyone else on the streets.

They went to the café and once the staff calmed down, were served their meal before heading to the only venue in the town willing to allow young people in; St. Mary’s had a live band in the chapel and to Chris’ delight there a Pool table in the crypt. He immediately played a few frames whilst Gustav pulled out his well-thumbed copy of Lord of the Flies and, sitting outside, resumed reading in peace.