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 Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:50 am
Mina took it and started sucking on the slice curiously--and immediately her eyes bugged out and she spat it out. "Ugh! What is that!? That's--UGH!! Pan," she stated with a horrified look, "that's terrible."
She didn't miss the floating blocks, and Pan's shattered cup answered one of Mina's questions. Mother was right again.
She knelt down and started brushing the shards into a pile, wrapping her hand in a handkerchief to keep from getting cut. "Pan," she said quietly. "Don't move, okay? I'm going to clean this up, but I've dropped plates before, and mom says anyone right by dropped glass shouldn't move, 'cause you might step on stuff you can't see. Do you have a dustpan?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:57 am
"Okay," Pan said, still taking in the floating blocks. She stood still allowing Mina to sweep things up. "Okay. Okay we can deal with this. This is okay."
She pointed Mina to the dustpan and after things were swept up she went to the fridge and pulled out another slice of ginger root, this time for herself. "Okay, things are fine."
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:45 pm
Mina almost made a joke about the ginger root, but didn't. Her jokes always sucks anyways. Dad said to just give it time, last time she saw him. Instead, she went with, "Sooo... this is new, huh? He did it a few minutes ago, too, when he dropped one of them, but I didn't know if you knew about it. Never seen it before."
She leaned on the counter and sipped her hot cocoa, still trying to get the HORRIBLE taste of ginger out of her mouth.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2009 10:27 am
"No," Pan repeated, "this is definitely new. So he was doing that earlier, and it's not a haunting? Peter do you speak to ghosts? Baby I don't want you speaking to ghosts."
Peter shook his head, "I can mak'em go pop too. Watch." He floated one of the blocks into the air, sending it up against a wall, and then his eyebrows scrunched in anger as he glared at it, all of his frustration over the skittles pouring out. The block started to glow slightly, then shake. Then with a deafening noise the explosion took out the wall of the apartment building. A few shrapnel pieces came their way, but were stopped in the air before any of them were hit. However the gaping hole in the wall gave a perfectly good view to the street, where people were stopping and staring.
"Oops." Peter glanced at Pan. "It was a smaller pop last time."
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 4:50 am
Mina froze for a moment and stared at the hole in the wall, shaking. Expl---
She stood up and stood by the hole in the wall, blocking people's view from the outside.
A window on the floor below swept open, and Mallory Cross leaned out to take a look. Seeing Mina, she paused and then shouted up, "Hey! You alright? Use a few too many firecrackers up there or something?" The words were calm and joking, meant to reassure the gathering crowd that it was just a small experiment gone wrong, some fool teenager almost blowing her own head off and getting lucky, but the woman's gaze was a lot more piercing.
"Uh..." Mina looked down at her, still stunned. "...Yeah." She couldn't think of anything else to say.
Mallory nodded. "I'm not coming up... but I can come up with something for that. If you want?" she added with a raised eyebrow. She seemed entirely comfortable dealing with demolished walls, and for a moment, all Mina could think of was the firefighters who doused the car, and the salvage men who'd ripped it apart and taken it away.
Mina looked over at Pan.
"Mina?" Mallory called from below, waiting on an answer.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 6:49 am
"I need a new wall." Pan said trying to breathe. She glanced over at Mina, "Who are you talking to? and don't get too close to the rubble, Mina, there could be junk in there that'll give you cancer." Despite her words, Pan picked up Peter and started walking over, though still kept a decent distance so as not to fall or drop out the building hole.
Across the street what seemed like an average business man was standing around on the phone. His report was going through. They'd found a new group of people in need of investigation.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:48 pm
"New wall," Mina repeated, turning back to stare at the exposed wiring and insulation. She didn't hear anything else Pan said, or see the man across the street.
At the window below, Mallory nodded. "You stay sharp, kid. There's someone else up there, right? Keep them away from the hole in the wall, send them down here. Mina!"
Mina jerked and looked down at her.
"Repeat what I just said."
Mina stared at her blankly.
Mallory's eye twitched in annoyance. "Keep people away from the hole. Send them down here. Now."
Mina nodded slowly. "Send Pan and Peter down there. Don't let them near the window--I mean wall."
"Right."
Mina looked back up and turned to Pan, now shaking again. "Hey. You know Ms. Cross, downstairs? I'm always taking groceries to her? She wants you to stay away from the--the hole in the wall. She has something to fix it, if you go down there. Please? And take Peter, too?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 10:32 pm
Pan gave her an odd look. "She has something to fix the hole in the wall? Like what? A blanket?" Pan gave her a shrug and picked Peter up in her arms as she started towards the door. "All right, Mina, come on, let's go see Ms. Cross."
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2009 11:55 pm
Mina gazed back blankly for a moment, not understanding. When the words finally caught up with her, she just said, "Okay," and shakily followed them out.
At the next landing, Ms. Cross' door was ajar. The chain was still in place, as always, and Mallory's eye peered out just above it. "How big is the hole?" she asked.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:04 am
Pan leaned in slightly to the door crack, "We've never had a chance to meet. I'm Panthea, and this is Peter." She leaned back slightly. "The hole is about the size of a refrigerator."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:19 am
The other woman nodded. "Mallory Cross. I'll be right back."
She disappeared for a moment, then came back with a small cloth packet in her hands. She smiled a little. "I've blown up a few walls myself, from time to time. Take one of these and set it in the bottom middle of what's exposed, then hit it with a hammer. Should foam up instantly, or almost instantly if there's static there. That big of a hole, you'll have to use several to fill it up, but don't worry too much--they stack, and they still insulate like a wall... they just look a bit funny there. If you had a window there, don't try to put it back in--you don't want your hands in this when it's foaming up still. It'll ground any exposed wires, too, so... some of your lamps might not work. Main thing is that it blocks the hole. Keeps the rain out, you know?
"You got all that, Panthea?"
Mina spoke up. "But... how..."
Mallory gave the teenager a sharp look. "Mina, eat some chocolate. See a therapist. Don't say what happened. If it's what I think it is, you're better off saying you stole some dynamite from a demolition site downtown and it went off in your backpack while you were upstairs. Anybody asks, even the cops or your mom, that's what you tell 'em. We clear?"
"...Clear." Mina swallowed. "But--"
"Chocolate's in your backpack, give me your bookbag when you're done. If you get punished for it or get a juvy record, just gotta take it. I'll get it cleared up before you graduate."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:29 am
Panthea took the packets, making note of the instructions, though having no idea what the stuff was, how it worked, or anything else of the matter. "This stuff doesn't have lead in it, does it? Peter sometimes puts strange things in his mouth."
"Do not." Peter mumbled.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:41 am
"No lead," she replied. With a note of uncertainty, she added, "It's... kind of a rubber compound. It's not toxic when hardened, but don't..." She blinked several times and wet her lips. "If someone swallows one, they're going to... they're going to die. Stomach acid is just as sure as a hammer for activating it. But if someone licks the hard foam later, it's not a problem. Best just bring me back whatever you have left."
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:49 am
Pan nodded, though held the packets a little more hesitantly. "I'll be sure to do that." She gave a quick look to Peter, who gave her a slight glare back.
"Do not," He echoed again.
"Are you going to be helping out with this Mina? or do you have to head back to your mom?" Pan asked, as she weighed the packets hands.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:57 am
Mina hesitated. "I--I--"
"Go with them," Mallory answered for her. "If anyone's still outside, watching, make sure they see you." She closed the door without saying any more, and they could hear the bolts being rammed into place on the other side.
Mina's stared ahead for a moment, then slumped her shoulders. "Let's... Let's do this." She followed Pan back up to help.
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