( And other stuff )

Felicia sat up and looked around a few minutes later, and she blinked a few times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. They were surrounded by grimy stone walls that were covered in illegible graffiti. On the wall behind them was a large painting of a woman dressed in green and purple.

Brad picked himself up and looked around. “Okay, Felicia? ( Read more... )

When Ian and Felicia had left the suite, Brad turned to Karen. “This place is a little creepy. Don't think I blame this Katherine chick for wanting to get out.”

“Do you still want to stay here?” asked Karen. She was pacing around the suite and taking all the details of it in while she still had the chance.

Brad chuckled. “No. I mean ( Read more... )

Karen had been sitting by the window all morning with a pencil and paper in her hand. Coffee was percolating on the counter. Brad was sprawled on one of the sofas, on his belly, with his torso and head angled off the cushions. A heap of books sprawled on the floor near the sofa, which was beige, and Brad was turning the pages of one, looking at ( Read more... )

Felicia watched the last member of the Council leave before turning to Ian. “I did not realize the danger I would be in. Does the council do this often?”

Ian slowly shook his head. “They don't deliberately try to mislead us,” he said. He rose to his feet and picked up his black uniform jacket, with the shiny silver eagle insignia on the collar. “ ( Read more... )

“This is all going to work out,” said Felicia, making solid eye contact with Karen and Brad in turn. “Ian has been doing this for a very long time, and the Council will make every effort to fix this. Follow me, and I'll show you to where you'll be staying. It will be a very short stay, I assure you.”

Karen seemed a little harder to ( Read more... )

“Mother, where did they come from?” asked the loud, piercing voice of a child. He pointed to four people who were crumpled on the floor in front of a large painting.

Ian raised his head with effort and looked around for Felicia. It felt warmer here, and the floor vibrated as a train passed somewhere below. She was within arm's reach, so he ( Read more... )

Felicia felt extremely comfortable when she woke up that morning. She had faith that today would be productive. She smiled, and opened her eyes, only to be surprised to see Ian lying beside her.

Ian was snoring slightly, his arm hooked around his pillow.

“Ian. The sun is up. We need to work.” Felicia tapped him on the shoulder.

Ian opened ( Read more... )

Brad got out of bed and tilted his head to the right, looking at the face, verifying that yes, this was the same obnoxious teenager who Lucas had brought to the VIP party tonight.

Karen glanced from Brad to what lay on the bed in disbelief. “What do you mean? Are you playing some kind of sick, tasteless joke on me?”

“Well, I didn't turn on ( Read more... )

Karen was having a very good night of sleep when the alarm went off. She ignored it, and put one of her pillows over her head.

“Not fair,” Brad muttered. “Wanna sleep.”

It was silent for a little while, and Karen was able to fall asleep again for a few minutes. The pillow over her head didn't drown out the sound of the phone, however.

“Damn it!” ( Read more... )