Author's ramblings: I'm back home, the internet is working again, I guess that means new chappy :p

Here it is, enjoy and thanks for your patience ^^

Technology should be helping in our everyday lives. So how is it that I can never predict what my phone will do when I push a button, and I don’t even know what half the blinking lights on some cars’ dashboard means?

Margaret Ortiz while thrashing the new wash machine’s notice

Two weeks later, I was sitting cross legged on the backless bench in front of our refurbished barn, trying my best to school my features in an impassive mask, without much success with the imp's giggling wafting through the air and my father's amused smirk reigniting my own laughter.

Waking up Mom and the imp after the whole dreamwalking adventure had not posed any problems, and they thankfully didn’t remember anything about their own nightmares. From what Uriel said, if it was like that there shouldn’t be any consequences left from the ordeal.

I still had nightmares at times during which I found myself in the void place, but usually looking at the people of my family’s faces was enough to dispel the feelings of loneliness lingering afterwards. I hoped I would come to terms with the anxiety it brought me, at least enough to not awaken with a start in the middle of the night again, though I think both my father and Storm were keeping an eye on me.

It really was too much of a coincidence to always find one of the two either drinking tea, watching TV or reading a book downstairs each time I felt fidgety enough to need a breath of fresh air, and I didn't even believe in coincidences in the first place.

Those who were the least inconvenienced were Storm, who never even entered the dream state, and the pixies. I think the evil pair only put them to sleep but didn’t do anything else judging by their reactions, or lack thereof, though Mrs. Dross might have been a big help in placating them.

There was a new addition to the garden wall, on Mrs. Dross side, of a doll sized ladder coming all the way down, and tied to the jasmine climbing on our side of the wall. I think she was on the verge of attaining canonization in pixie’s faith, with the amount of cookies not so mysteriously appearing in our own garden.

The one who was hit the hardest, and also the one who hid it the best was probably my father. He never talked about what had happened, albeit at times when he thought nobody was looking his smiling mask would slip, his knuckles tightening around whatever poor household item he would be clutching at the moment. The death toll so far was two glasses, a pen, one of my notepads, and some parts of the potato launcher 2.0, although the last item of the list wasn’t mourned.

Inspector Leroy had paid us a visit after the commotion, since quite a few people had called the police complaining about some infernal racket in the neighborhood. Seems like not everybody had been asleep. We had fed him the good old “we chased away some suspicious men but couldn’t identify them, since they blended into the night.”

Technically, it had not been a lie, although he might not have been of the same opinion had we told him the truth. The shades were suspicious, they blended into the night allright, and we did chase some of them before barbecuing them.

Adan and Isabel had disappeared without a trace after their escape, despite our private investigator’s best efforts. They were not in their manor house, nor in any of their usual haunts. Emilie Rosalto had tracked their movements up to Marseilles, but lost the trail afterwards. Apparently they were very careful, sending various goons to pay for their needs in cash and moving regularly, so she was reduced to following in their footsteps while asking around the areas in which they were seen.

The fact they were not back in Spain was a fairly good indication that they had not given up on their objectives, so we had all been redoubling our efforts in training while letting the small P.I. hire more hands to help with the search.

I had taken a year of unpaid leave from work at the urging of Uriel, both to avoid splitting our resources in too many locations when trying to protect ourselves, and to be able to give my undivided attention to the training, which led us to the current predicament.

I was biting my lower lip, trying my hardest not to show my amusement as Storm was staring at an old model of cellphone laying in the middle of the garden table as if it was a venomous snake ready to strike, all the while inching his hand slowly towards it.

Right now Kate was not helping at all as she was filming the whole thing on her own phone with a big smile. Each time I looked at her I had to repress my own mirth.

The cellphone was of course one of my father’s idea. He had definitely not been happy at all when he noticed that Storm’s lightning had fried all the electronics nearby, including his gadgety watch and both our phones, so he had declared that Storm needed to work on his control until he could call a lightning bolt in a set place without impacting anything else, hence the cellphone.

The second evening Uriel had returned from one of his shopping sprees with a bagful of phones, either old models or secondhand ones that had the common trait of being dirt cheap, saying it was the best way to teach him. I thought myself that he was just trying to protect his dear toys.

Now Storm was supposed to call his power without killing the phone, which so far had not been a successful endeavor, as could be seen from the pile of foul smelling burnt corpses of what had been phones at the other side of the table.

I stomped on my inner imp once more, avoiding Kate’s gaze. This was just too tempting for my mischievous side.

Should I or should I not? I really, really wanted to…Would I get an angry Storm or a surprised one? Surprised was already cute, but angry was even better...

Seeing my struggles, my father winked at me from behind Storm. Oh boy, authorization given! Go me!

I focused, carefully calling a tiny flame on a small stick to the left of the table, in a structure of twigs and rocks the pixies we carried had been playing with earlier.

As the twig broke, the rocks fell on each other with a resounding thwack, breaking Storm’s concentration, resulting in a very satisfying puff of smoke surging out of the phone with a little explosion, over the cursing of a very surprised Thunderbeast.

Phone 7 vs Storm 0!

We all burst laughing at the sight of his blank face. A few seconds later he joined us ruefully.

“I guess I still need some work on that uh? It really wouldn’t do to fry a poor shmuck’s pacemaker if someone surprises me.”

The phone joined his comrade in arms, thrown away by my father.

“From the look of things, this is going to take a while if you can’t even touch a phone without killing it yet. You are forbidden from coming anywhere near the game console as long as you can’t control yourself.

On another note, have you two decided on what weaponry you wanted from the lists I gave you?”

Storm pondered for a short while.

“Dual blades for me, both long and short. I prefer straight blades for the long ones, although I can work with any type if needed, about the length of my training ones. A pair of curved knives for close quarters, and some throwing pieces would be perfect.”

“Not to rain on your parade, but wouldn’t that be even more conspicuous than just applying for a gun license, even in France?”

Uriel mussed up my hair, laughing.

“And can you please stop creating knots in my hair? It takes forever to comb afterwards.”

“No can do, it helps me think. As for your question, guns won’t be effective on shades or other lower grade demons, so I’m planning to craft weapons through which you can channel some power. As for making them less noticeable, I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

“Then I was thinking of something like a walking staff, and a set of throwing knives I could use without the blazing fireball special. Good luck trying to hide that."

A wicked smile graced his lips.

“Oh, I know just the thing, and I might have a couple other ideas for you…this should be amusing.”

He listed all we had said, adding other things on his paper. He hid the paper with a smirk when I tried to read it.

“No cheating Abby! You’ll know when I’ll be done and not a second before that.

I’ve already discussed it with Maggs for her and Kate, so that leaves only me.

Hmmm, should I tried to recreate my last blade or make a brand new one? So many things to ponder…”

Kate pouted, calling forth what I called her bratty face.

“Why can’t I decide myself like Sis and Storm? I’m not a kid anymore!”

“The fact you insist you’re not a kid proves you still are one in my books. I will make you some defensive items, but I will not put a deadly weapon in a child’s hand.”

“But...”

“This is not open to discussion Kate. Both your mother and I agree on that point.”

She went sulking in the barn, her favorite mouse on her shoulder. That would be a very squeezed pixie soon, poor thing.

“Weren’t you moaning because you hadn’t located all the materials you wanted earlier? That should give you time to decide while your contacts continue searching.”

“Moaning is such an ugly word; I was merely reflecting on the trials of life…”

“Reflecting very loudly in a whiny voice.”

“You do know you can be very un-cute at times?”

“Whine, whine.”

“You should be careful what you say daughter mine. After all, you will be at my mercy for the next few days.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you think it is the perfect time for a field trip? Not too hot or too cold, the weather should hold for the next week or so, and the mountains are magnificent in early autumn.”

“And this concerns me because…?”

“Ah, Maggs didn’t tell you? Both Kate and you will accompany me in the Alps, we should find the rest of the materials there. My contacts didn’t even know what some of these were, so I need to gather them myself.

It will do you good to stretch your legs, and there will be less people around for some of the things I want you to train.

As for Kate, for now I want her right where I can see her, or at least reach her quickly.

Storm will stay here to guard Maggs, since they both need to work at the pub.”

“What about school?”

“Already arranged with the teachers. This is her next science project since she’d been lagging in her biology course. She’ll be taking pictures and collecting samples.”

“You do know she’ll be complaining the whole time?”

“We all do things we don’t want to at times. A few days outside of a city won’t hurt her.”

I sighed.

Kate wouldn’t be the only unhappy one. Days scrambling around mountains, and sleeping outside in forests full of creepy crawlies just waiting for an opportunity to sneak into bedrolls and clothes. That was some entertainment I really, really could have missed without a second thought.

Another bang and puff of smoke marked the death of the eighth phone as a grumpy Storm went back to his training. Guess he didn’t like the idea of being left behind. Who needs a mood ring when one can use an old cellphone instead?

With another sigh I went back to my own training, trying to call my chain in the real world, without much success so far.

A wiggling golden chain the size of a child’s bracelet sure was a cute thing, as Kate had pointed when she tried to pilfer it, but the combat uses might be a tad limited…

Urgh, spiders, ants, ticks and mosquitoes….

“Sigh…I really hate camping in the woods.”