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This is the Costa Residence, nestled in the most annoyingly nice neighborhoods in Delmor, also one of the few places you'll ever see Gatta (Maria's little sister) in the roleplay...



Maria was infuriated. "GATTA! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!"

Gatta roamed out of her room. "Yes, Maria?" she answered as sweetly as she could.

"Gatta, you little RAT," Maria muttered, "I know that you are the only person who knows about Wall Shadow's identity aside from me, but you could at least be more civil. And NEVER steal my jeans again! You could've ruined my FAVORITE pair!"

"Oh, like I couldn't go and tell Mom about you anyway? I know that she can also see spirits, but you're just too smart to ghost out in front of her. Sneaking into my room was the worst thing you could've done, you know, with my ONE ability."

At this, the painting on the wall shook a bit. Damn telekinesis. It can't actually knock it over, but my parents will hear it rattle! Maria looked at Gatta with sisterly irritation. "Listen, kid... I know that you're good with seeing me and talking to me, after all... but just stop getting on my nerves, please. My minor telekinseis is kicking in and I don't want Mom and Dad to notice. Last night was too close of a call, you know?"

"Yeah. You know I'm good, you just don't want to admit it. At least school is out as of tomorrow so I don't have to lock your room up if an emergency comes up and you have homework."

"Ok. But really, stop borrowing my jeans!"

This argument was actually rather old, but Gatta and Maria had it at least once every month, sparked by a little thing such as Maria's jeans.

Maria retreated back into her room and got her stuff ready for the last day of school, which she was psyched about. She packed up her books for Precalculus and Spanish, shoved them in her backpack, and left them at her door. I really need a vacation. Maybe I'll slip out as soon as I can and just get some fresh air. I know I need it, and Mom and Dad aren't forcing me to do much on my summer assignments. Ah, well, all I have to do is a history essay on any revolution of choice, and then this damn summer reading. Oh, wait! There's nothing but reading in here, not like those stupid essays from last year. Oh. My. God. I've already read this book. I'm home free!

<<

Maria's family greeted her warmly, though Gatta did shoot her a 'You're just in time, you owe me' look.

"Sorry I'm so late, I went to the Stop&P to get some food right after school and then as I went home, I stopped to watch what went on at the Channel Q building. I got a bit distracted... Anyway, want me to cook dinner?" Maria explained, putting her bag by the stairs.

"Thanks, Maria, but we're good. Gatta decided to make dinner once you got home. What's for dinner, anyway, Gatta?" their mother repiled.

"I figured I'd do a mock-up of a chicken stir-fry with some chicken, some of those vegetables from last night, and a few peanuts for flavor..." Gatta answered, citing one of her favorite dinner ideas.

"That sounds good, will you need any help?" their father asked.

"I'm good, Dad."

"What's on TV?" Maria asked.

"We'd been watching Channel Q a few minutes ago, it was fascinating. We just now flipped to Square of Money. Wanna watch, Maria?" Mom asked.

"Sure, I'll watch a little Square of Money."

"So how was your day?" Dad asked conversationally.

"Pretty good. It was a weird day, though. Especially with Channel Q's thing happening as I left Stop&P..."

"Ah," Mom answered, "Yeah. Some of those heroes are interesting, like Captain Pasty. Who'd have thought his skin would actually REFLECT that laser?"

"I know! It shocked me too. Anyway, I'm just amazed by how many heroes there ARE in Delmor. I mean, about a quarter of the Islandinsula HAS to be either a hero or a villain, there are almost too many to count, from what I've heard in the news," Maria replied. "Ooh, Chilling out by the pool cue! That's the Before&After!"

At that moment on Square of Money, the player guessed it.

"How long was it going to take them anyway?" Dad laughed.

"Maria, could you give me a hand in the kitchen?" Gatta yelled into the living room.

"Ok, Gatta! Mom, Dad, I'll be right back," Maria replied.

<<
Dinner was uneventful as the Costas ate the peanut-flavored chicken and chatted conversationally.

Maria yawned.

"Long day, Maria?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, It was pretty weird. I think I'm going on to bed, I stayed up too late the past few days studying for my exams..." Maria sighed tiredly.

"Ok, goodnight!" Dad added cheerily, even being nice enough to clear her place at the table.

Everyone else added their goodnights as Maria dragged her bag up the stairs to her bedroom, finally feeling the crash after her adrenaline rush earlier. She put the binders under her bed with the first semester's stuff, stowed the look-alike bag in her closet with the real one, and changed for bed, throwing her clothes into the laundry basket.
,
"'Night, Mercury..." she muttered to the sleeping cat on her bed, scratching him behind the ears and lightly moving him so that she could crawl into bed. Within five minutes, she was fast asleep, with Mercury curled up next to her on the bed.

<<

Maria rematerialized in the living room, which was still thankfully empty. She slowly walked up the stairs, not letting them make noise.

She changed back into her noghtgown and slippers and logged onto her computer, signing on to her internet browser. She went to Buugle and searched "Legend of Isis". Advancing her search, she also inserted something that got rid of all Egyptian myth results.

The Legend of Grand Duchess Isis, Daughter Of The Water

That was the top result. She clicked on it and read it over. She read of the history and then found a link that read "Changes". It wasn't very detailed, but it might have been enough for Lyra to figure something out. She printed out the main page and the changes page, as well as a very condensed version of some of the common spells and left them on the table, also remembering to unlock the door. She was pretty sure she would still be awake at 5, but she figured she ought to make sure that Lyra would have everything if she fell asleep.

Maria ambled over to the couch in the dark, laid down, and turned on the TV quietly to Adult Sit, which was playing Elbow San. It wasn't her favorite show or anything, but it wasn't an infomercial, something incredibly stupid, or an ancient rerun of something, so she continued watching it.

<<

Maria woke up in a jolt, slightly surprised. "Oh, sorry. I dozed off a bit. No, we moved the bathroom, it's in Hawaii. Yeah, it's still down the hall..." she replied, slightly sarcastic from tiredness. "By the way, when you're through, look on the table. I did manage to find a bit of stuff for you. Anyway, I'm probably getting boring. Go on and change clothes down the hall, we can chat later. If you want, I don't think my parents would mind you staying for breakfast after hearing the story..."

Mercury loped down the stairs, obviously still half-asleep. He meowed tiredly and purred slightly at Lyra before leaping onto the top of the couch and looking down at Maria before snuggling into the top of the cushions and going back to sleep.

<<
"Oh, Ok. And you're welcome... I'm not hungry, but thanks," Maria answered.

Mercury responded to the head scratch by waking up, looking at her, making a "mrreow" noise, and purring.

"I think Mercury's happy..." Maria added to Lyra, looking at the happy but tired cat.

"I know a bit about the spells, but I figured I'd at least print them out. I guess someone who has a copy of the book could read all of it, even the parts in Italian that aren't spells, and made a site on it..."

<<
"Oh! Stay right here, there was a bit more of a history page that I thought you'd seen. I think it had something to do with the parts of the book in Italian..." Maria said, half-leaping off of the sofa and confusing Mercury, who didn't expect that. She dashed up the stairs, logged back onto the computer, opened the page from her History file, and soon had about 3 pages of pronted material. She shut the computer down, mircaulously not waking up her family, and ran back downstairs, shocking Mercury again as she sat down in a hurry.

"Think this'll help?" she asked.

<<

"Ah, OK. So you know how to change it now, so what's next anyway? Might I recommend ITALIAN LESSONS?" Maria responded, both fascinated and sarcastic. "By the way, did you see my updates to the Wall Shadow outfit?"

Gatta woke up at that point, leaving only Mercury, who had fallen back asleep, and their parents asleep.

"Lyra?" Gatta asked, her voice quiet and raspy from having been asleep, "What are you doing here?"