A New Tomorrow 2/5
At the bottom of the stairs stood the other three Tomorrow People. Off to one side, a tall man wearing a grey suit stood leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. General Damon came out of a doorway to the right caring a tray loaded with sandwiches.
"There are drinks in the kitchen, if you want something." He told the teens and headed to the living room. The tall man followed General Damon.
"Hi guys. This is . . . " Megabyte started but Jade, the youngest Tomorrow Person cut him off.
"Gabrielle Carison."
"Right. You'll have to get used to that. We try not to read other people's minds but Jade's kind of new at this." He glared at the short blond girl and turned her to the other Tomorrow People. "This is Ami Jackson and Adam Newman. And this is Jade Weston. I guess we're going to be in the living room. Do you want something to drink?"
"A coke would be fine." Gabrielle watched Megabyte retreat into the kitchen.
"You'll have to get used to a lot of things." Ami, the tall, dark skinned girl came forward.
"Yeah, we can be quite a lot, all at once." Adam, the tallest Tomorrow Person, stepped forward. His brown eyes sparkled at her as he pushed his brown hair out of his eyes. "We should probably go in."
She nodded and walked into the living room.
General Damon stood up when they came in the room. "Gabrielle, I never had the chance to introduce myself. I'm General Damon, Megabyte's father, and this is my assistant, Frank." He gestured to the man in the grey suit.
"Hi." Frank waved to her and looked back down at his laptop.
Gabrielle took a seat on the couch next to Adam. Ami and Jade sat on the floor leaning against his legs. Megabyte came back in and sat on her other side. He handed her a glass and grabbed a sandwich off the tray. Gabrielle took one also. General Damon sat in a chair across from them.
"So what happened to you today, Marmaduke?" General Damon leaned forward in his chair and stared at his son.
Megabyte glared back at his father. "I was on my way to school this morning and these two goons grabbed me. They drugged me and tossed me in a van. When I woke up, I was in this huge white room strapped to this thing. These men around me just looked at me and started poking me needles and things. When they were done, I was thrown in a dark cell with Gabrielle. We decided to try and get out so we mind merged and knocked out the men when they came back. When we got out of the building, I teleported us home."
"I get the feeling there's a little more to what happened than just that." Frank looked up from his computer.
"Yeah. But I think Gabrielle could probably explain better than I could."
Everyone looked at Gabrielle. She took a breath and began to tell her story. "My name is Gabrielle Carison. The men kidnapped me from my car when I was going to my uncle's house. His name is Michael Carison. I'm not sure how long ago I left. What's today's date?"
"April 25." General Damon told her.
Gabrielle looked up in surprise. "I went home the day before my uncle's birthday. On April 7, almost three weeks ago. I had no idea I'd been gone so long. The school has probably called him. Uncle Mike must be worried sick."
"We'll call him later." General Damon looked at Frank, who nodded and wrote something on a pad.
Gabrielle nodded. "They ran my car off the road and pulled me into a van where they tied me up and drugged me. The next thing I remember is being carried into a white room like the one Megabyte was in. They took my blood. They were always taking my blood. Then they did some kind of test. This one man put a collar 'round my neck and there was this sharp pain in my head. It wouldn't stop. God, it was awful." She took a deep breath. Both Adam and Megabyte put their hands on hers. She leaned into Megabyte. "There were so many tests. After the testing, they put me in this room with no light. Every day they brought me food and every other day they took my blood. That was it. I had no other contact with them. The first day I was there I tried to teleport away but I couldn't."
"You can teleport?" Ami looked up at Gabrielle.
"I only did it once about a month before I was taken. I fell down the stairs at my uncle's house and landed in my dorm room at The Oaks School. I never really tried after that. Too scared, I think. I mean, how do you explain that to your uncle? My school is in London but he lives in Cambridge."
"You know what it felt like, being in the building? Like being deep underwater for a long time. When Megabyte and I finally got out of there, my ears popped and it felt like this huge pressure was gone from my head. Anyway, my eyes finally adjusted to the dark and the light from the hallway hurt. The men never talked. No one ever talked. I would hear something that sounded like mumbling voices coming down the hall but I could never make sense of them and they would stop as soon as my door was open. Finally, Megabyte was put in my cell and we escaped." Gabrielle punctuated her sentence with a huge yawn.
"You kids must be tired. Why don't you all sleep here tonight? We've got lots of extra room." General Damon stood up and stretched. "Frank and I are going to do some work on your story and see what we can find. We'll contact your uncle and your school and tell them you're all right."
"Thanks, General." Adam stood and all the Tomorrow People followed suit. Gabrielle noticed this and decided immediately that he was the leader of this unusual group.
"I'll show everyone to their rooms, dad." Megabyte took Gabrielle's hand and led everyone upstairs. Ami and Jade were given a room across from Megabyte, and Gabrielle's room connected to Megabyte's bathroom. Adam slept on the floor in Megabyte's room.
Megabyte woke to a loud scream. In a second, he was out of bed and vaulting over Adam. Adam sat up groggily and watched Megabyte disappear into the room next to his bathroom. He got up and followed him through the bathroom and into Gabrielle's bedroom.
Gabrielle was clawing at the air in front of her, whimpering and screeching, mentally and verbally. Megabyte was trying to calm her down.
"Gabrielle, you're safe here. It's me. Megabyte."
Rather than comfort her, his words seemed to send her into another fit . The door to her room flew open and General Damon came flying in followed by Frank and the rest of the Tomorrow People.
"What's wrong?" General Damon looked at the crazed girl in his son's arms.
"She's having a nightmare." Megabyte looked up at his dad. "What does it look like?"
Adam sat on the other side of the bed and touched Gabrielle's sweat-soaked shoulder. //Gabrielle.// He thought. Immediately, she calmed down in Megabyte's arms.
"What did you do?" Frank peered over Ami's and Jade's heads.
"Megabyte?" Gabrielle opened her eyes and looked at the people in her room.
"You were having a nightmare." Megabyte hugged her close.
"I was in the lab again." She laid her head on his shoulder.
General Damon looked at his watch. "I think you boys have this under control. The rest of us should try and get some sleep out of what's left of the night."
Frank retreated to the hallway. The girls followed him. //Night, Gabrielle. Hope you feel better in the morning.//
//Night Ami, Jade.// She 'pathed back to them.
"If you need anything during the night, let me know." General Damon backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. "Night."
Megabyte helped Gabrielle lay back down. "Go back to sleep."
Adam stood up and walked back to the connecting door. "I'm going back to bed."
"I'm going to stay with her until she's asleep."
"Right. G'night."
Megabyte looked at Gabrielle. She had a tight hold on his hand but was already fast asleep. //Hey Adam?//
//Yeah, Megabyte?// Adam's mental voice sounded sleepy.
//What did you do to calm her down?//
//I just touched her. Why?//
//Nothing. Just curious. Night.//
//Night.//
The next morning Megabyte and Gabrielle were the last ones downstairs. General Damon and Frank looked up as they came into the dining room.
"We called your uncle's house several times last night and this morning but there was no answer. We also called your school. They said they had already been contacted by your uncle. He told them you were going to be staying with him because you were ill." He looked at Frank, who took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.
"I did some checking around with the local police. I'm afraid that your uncle is dead. They think it was murder."
Gabrielle stared at Frank in disbelief. "Uncle Mike is dead?"
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