Saturday, March 22, 2008, 8:00 a.m.

Sunnyside Farm, Otego Township, New York State

The eastern slopes of the Catskills Mountains glowed in the morning sun, and despite not wanting to be here, Alexis Layton found them lovely. From her vantage point high in the air, she was getting some of the best views of the rolling green peaks. It almost made her forget why she was here.

All too soon, she had to return to reality. Sighing and dropped her eyes off the glorious mountains, Alexis began to scan the ground below her for the barn with a green slate roof next to a house. There were a number of those around here, and Alexis had to pull out her PDA with the satellite picture to find the right one. The barn found – she hoped – Alexis dropped out of the sky, landing on the long, curving driveway, well away from the house and the road that ran just south of the barn.

For a moment, she paused, listening to be sure no one was around. When she was satisfied, she closed her eyes and reached into herself, triggering her favorite and least-used ability. When she opened her eyes, her pale skin was honey-toned, while her black hair was a dark blonde with highlights. Alexis dug out a mirror, eager to see if she’d gotten close to the mental image she had of herself now.

“Blah,” she grumped irritably. She had gotten close, but until she saw it on her skin, she hadn’t realize that it would look so much like Tiffany, right down to her hazel-green eyes. My subconscious sucks, she growled to herself, knowing that she had been spending too much time listening to her two roommates. But it was for a good reason; she had to find out what they knew about Diamante’s death, even if they didn’t realize that they’d known it.

“If this keeps up, I’ll kill them,” she sighed, realizing that the two were getting on her nerves. With a start, she realized that she disliked them so much that she was looking forward to an afternoon spent in the company of Flickers-to-be, pretending to be someone else. It was almost a vacation. She knew that she had Spring Break next week, and she was supposed to join them in Ibiza.

That was a worry for later, and Alexis pulled her golden hair into a ponytail as she started to walk up the driveway. It was calm and quiet, oppressively so, as if nature felt that she was intruding. The gravel crunching under her shoes was the only man-made sound to be heard, and that was hushed compared to the birds singing.

Feeling strangely relaxed, Alexis followed the driveway around until the trees gave way to the farm she’d seen from the air. A small sign over the mailbox confirmed that she had found the right place, and the nova smiled, pleased with herself. The scent of hay and horses gusted by, pushed past her nose by a gentle wind. Somewhere nearby, a horse whinnied, a sound that Alexis decided to take as a welcome.

For a moment, she had a glimpse of a different life, a simple one. She didn’t understand it, but that moment bred a faint desire to have that life. She quickly dispelled it, knowing that wishing was futile. Not knowing where else to

“Hello!” A voice to her left rang out, and Alexis turned to see a stocky woman with short, red hair walking out of the house. “You must be Alexis. I’m Brandy.”

“Yes, I am,” Alexis replied, smoothly, stepping forward and offering her hand. “It’s good to meet you.”

“At least you dressed right,” Brandy remarked, eyeing her riding boots, jeans and wool over-shirt. “Never get over the number of people who think it’s ok to run around out here without boots on. Crazy people. Must not like their toes.” She gave a hearty laugh at her own joke, which Alexis dutifully joined. “Come on,” Brandy added after they were done chuckling. “We need to feed, groom and saddle fifteen horses. Ready for work?”

“Yes, I am,” Alexis replied, falling into step with Brandy as she walked toward the barn. “Did Mrs. Denton talk to you about using another name? I value my privacy.”

“Right, right. What do you wanna be called?” Brandy asked as she eased the front door on the barn open.

Alexis smiled as she stepped into the barn, enjoying the feeling of comfort that a horse lover could only find in a barn. “How about Jane?”

“Sure, if you want,” Brandy shrugged. “Grab that shovel; we have work to do.”

By noon, the stalls were clean and the horses ready for their ride with a full belly. Alexis had been surprised and pleased to find out the kids had been coming out for several weeks and had already learned the basics of riding. And the horses they would be on were well-trained and exceptionally docile; Alexis flapped her arms and shouted at one, and the gray mare flinched but didn't jerk away. Today, Brandy just wanted her to ride along on the trail, bringing up the rear of the group. A four-hour trail ride sounded like a great way to spend the day.

"And there they are, Jane," Brandy said, pointing down the driveway. A bus was bouncing toward them, painted with the greens and browns of the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings progam. Alexis' stomach clenched as she saw young, eager faces staring at her through the windows. "Don't look so scared. Only one of them is a bad one, and she may not be here."

Alexis nodded as the bus swung around and stopped, opening its doors to disgorge a stream of energetic children. They spread out in every direction, running for the tethered horses, or over to the tree swing, or chasing after the farm cats not wise to what this particular vehicle meant. The driver was off last, a kind-looking woman with dark skin and a sweet smile. "Hey, Brandy," she said as she approached, opening her arms for a hug.

Brandy returned the hug, smiling. "Hello, dear. You'll be thrilled to know we have help today," she replied, stepping back and indicating Alexis. "This is Jane, the volunteer I mentioned. Jane, this is Rolene."

"Oh, right. Glad you could make it," Rolene said, nodding. Clearly, she knew who "Jane" was.

"Hello," Alexis said, offering her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Rolene."

"It's really nice to meet you," she answered, taking the hand. "And please, call me Ro."

"Sure," Alexis agreed.

"We ready?" Brandy asked, and Ro nodded, pulling a folder out of her bag.

"I have the permission slips and the liability papers right here," Ro said. She paused and glanced at Alexis. "Jane, why don't you go over and meet the children? This is boring paperwork, and you don't have to mess with it." Her encouraging smile was not reassuring.

Alexis had no reason to say no, though she wanted to come up with an excuse. As she turned, Ro caught her arm. "Wait, I almost forgot. You don't need to know everything about the kids, but you should know that one." She pointed to a small girl, so much smaller than the others that Alexis decided that she was the youngest one there. "That's Destiny, and she can create problems. She sometimes gets into a fight for no reason. I'm sure there's something going on, from her viewpoint. But anyway, just don't let her push or hit the other kids, ok? She usually only goes after the other girls, so watch her interactions with them."

"Why do you let her come, then?" Alexis asked.

Ro became very somber. "Her home life is very bad," she said, her voice soft. "She needs to come out here and be with the horses in the clear air as much as any one else. She hasn't been bad enough to stop her trips up here. Don't be mean to her, don't ride her, just keep an eye on her."

"Right," Alexis said, her fear lumping into a knot in her chest. Why had she thought this would be easy? She didn't know how to deal with people like this.

There was only one thing she could do, and with a sigh, she walked toward the kids picking out "their" horses. Destiny was standing away from the group, watching them carefully. Alexis decided to beard the lion in its cage, and moved to stand beside the slight girl. "Hi," she said, smiling down at the girl.

No answer, at all; not even a blink. Alexis could see her breathe, so she wasn't dead.

"I'm Jane." The toe of the shoe scuffed the dirt.

"What's your name?" The small body shifted away from her slowly.

"Don't wanna talk, huh?" Alexis was starting to feel stupid. "Do you want help finding your horse?"

Quick as a snake, Destiny kicked at her. The girl didn't even look; she just struck. Alexis barely avoided it, and that finally got a reaction. The small girl looked up at her, her curly hair a halo around her dark face. Her eyes narrowed into slits and she began to breath faster, the air rushing in and out of her nose so fast that Alexis was concerned that she was going to hyperventilate. And she attacked, using a weapon Alexis couldn't dodge: words. "White whore green-cunt ass-licking shit-haired gutter-slut bitch."

Alexis gaped, as surprised by the viciousness as she was by the extended vocabulary of the girl. Destiny took advantage of her moment of shock by pointedly farting at her and running away, dashing behind the horses.

"She's had a bad life. All of them have. They watch people die, literally in front of them, from violence most never see. They live with drugs, criminals and abusive family members. They will probably have short, brutal lives. So I'm asking that you remember this: when she said those things, she was giving you a small piece of the Hell she lives with. That's why she lashes out; she's in pain, and you have to be, too. Pain is the only language she's learned."

Ro's words had hung in Alexis' mind for the first part of the ride. She wanted to relax, to enjoy the dark brown Morgan moving easily beneath her. She couldn't forget Ro's statement or Destiny's pure rage.

Ahead of her, the wee monster rode happily on her spotted horse. Destiny's first and only smile today had manifested when she had clambered aboard "her" horse. Sorting the children out had taken far longer than Alexis had dreamed it would. The other children had wrestled and bickered over the horses for a long time. Ro and Brandy had gamely mediated and cajoled children into separate horses. One horse had not been squabbled over; the dainty gelding that Destiny had selected was hers without question. Alexis doubted that came from the other children's generosity, and she wondered how many had been called names and farted on before the horse dispute had stopped.

The path was wide enough for the line of horses and well maintained, and the horses knew it completely. As a test, Alexis had dropped her reins and let the gelding walk in the valley they'd rode through first, and he'd stuck to the trail until he'd seen some tasty plants. Then she had to guide him back to the path, ignoring his soft grumbles. The terrain was almost enough to make up for the company, especially when the path began to rise and the terrain to the left dropped away, giving a view into the valley below.

Ahead of her, someone shouted something about a bird, and Alexis glanced up, rising in her stirrups to see better. Lost in thoughts, she hadn't noticed that she and Destiny had dropped behind the rest of the group. Trying to keep the frustration out of her voice, she called forward, "Destiny, please step up. We need to catch up."

Alexis saw Destiny nod; the spotted horse began to walk faster. Glad that the girl was being agreeable, Alexis turned to look down into the valley again. The farm probably used them for lessons; she could see jumps in the field. She made a mental note to ask Brandy whether she could bring Bitty out here. The mare would probably like this place.

The Morgan stopped, snuffling and shifting his feet. Startled, Alexis glanced forward. Destiny's horse had stopped in the middle of a bend, its body angled for maximum inconvenience. On their left, the drop was a virtual cliff; on their right, pines grew up to the path. This was a bad place for something to go wrong. “Destiny? Is something wrong?”

Her reply came in the form of a middle finger, displayed over a small shoulder.

Anger roiled through Alexis, enough that Davian poked at her quietly. *Alexis?*

*I’m fine,* she said, gritting her teeth. *Just dealing with a pest.* She didn’t need to tell him that she didn’t want to talk now; he knew, and quietly withdrew his presence from her.

Still angry, Alexis dismounted. She unwound the lead rope that was hooked to her horse’s halter, tying it off so that he wouldn’t wander off. Then, she took a deep breath and eased up next to Destiny’s horse, urging him to side-step and give her room. With a groan, the horse did, only to have Destiny jerk on his reins, trying to force him back. But the horse couldn’t withstand the gentle, firm pressure from the nova and his backside eased further away from the ledge until he was brushing a tree with his flank.

“No!” Destiny shrieked angrily, sawing on the reins and drumming the horse with her heels. The gelding tolerated it for a moment as Alexis continued to move up beside him. Suddenly he lashed out, spooked by the pressure on both sides and the abuse from his back. Alexis saw him move and she braced, expecting the kick that slammed into her. She didn’t expect that he would buck his rear high into the air, kick her with both hooves, and throw Destiny over his head and down the cliff.

Alexis had a horrible, frozen second of shock before she reacted, leaping off the cliff after the falling girl. She didn't have enough time to check her fall with flight; she didn't have the room to change direction without slamming into the ground. Even as the furtherest part of her mind vowed to practice dive-bombing and other aerial manuevers, she did the only thing she could think of with her limited time. She used her flight for just a second, to catch up with the falling child. Alexis grabbed the tiny body and twisted, landing first on the field below.

For a second, there was only the sound of strained breathing as the two girls lay still, trying to recover. "Ouch," Alexis whispered when she caught her wind. Her arms tightened around Destiny and she sat up, feeling all the painful aches, followed by a sharper pain in her back. She ignored that for a moment, murmuring, "Destiny, are you ok?"

The tears and the shuddering hiccups started then, as the child tried to cry and recover from getting the wind knocked out of her. "Shhh," Alexis said, starting to rub her back after a moment of uncertainity. "Shh, it's ok."

After a moment, Destiny could breathe again and started to cry in ernest. Alexis held her as she sobbed out the fear and stress. As the child cried, Alexis felt her back, fear spiking through her as she felt something sticking into her back. "Oh, god..." she whispered, her fingers probing a bit. After a moment, she relaxed - it didn't feel very deep, and she grasped it and yanked. It hurt, but not as much as it should have. More worrisome was the rush of warm blood that followed. Frowning, she pressed her shirt against the wound with one hand and dug for her cell phone with the other.

A quick call to 911 got her an operator; by the time the woman had all the information that Alexis could give her, the bleeding had stopped. Destiny had stopped crying, too. Alexis put her free arm back around the girl, expecting her to pull away. She didn't, and when Alexis, frustrated with the 911 operator, snapped the phone shut, Destiny looked up at her.

The look in her eyes was scared, yet hopeful. It was an expression that Alexis had never expected to see on the girl. "Your hair is black," Destiny whispered, reaching up to touch a strand. Alexis just nodded. Destiny softly asked, "And novas save people."

"Some do," Alexis said, thinking of the darker rumors of superior attitudes. "Most do."

"Then would you kill my step-father?"

"I..." Words failed her. It wasn't the request; Alexis was not naive. She understood, in a distant, theoretical manner, that the world could be horrible and she could empathize with someone wanting to remove the person making it so. But the calm sincerity of the child asking her to do so was a bit unnerving. “I don’t think that I can kill someone,” Alexis whispered. “But… I can help. Somehow.”

Hope fled from Destiny’s eyes, and she pushed away from Alexis. “Stupid rich cunt. You got your big house and your pretty clothes and you don’t need to worry. I hate you!” Stumbling and moving stiffly, the child limped away from her, still cursing.

Groaning, Alexis stood up. Following Destiny seemed like a bad idea, but she couldn’t let her just walk away. She settled for a compromise: walking well back of the girl, just close enough to grab her if something happened.

Destiny knew her way about the farm better than Alexis, and she led the nova right back to the barn, where she sat down. Alexis’ phone rang, and she picked up with a terse, “Hello?”

“This is Brandy. Destiny’s horse just came trotting up, loose. Where are you two?”

“We’re back at the barn. My horse is secured back on the bend up the cliff,” Alexis said. With a little probing from Brandy, she told the whole story. “We’re fine, good enough to walk. Emergency services is on their way.”

“Alright, we’re going to get back as fast as we can. Just hang tight, ok?”

The authority in the woman’s voice was compelling, and Alexis nodded wearily. Her back hurt, and she had to fly home tonight to meet the others before they left for Ibiza in the morning. But a small thought was lodging in her brain, and she couldn’t let it go. Tonight, she’d safe and sound sleep in her bed, and Destiny would go into whatever hell she called her life. Alexis would do what she could, which would be calling Social Services. But she was sure that it wouldn’t matter.

These were the people that Odysseus talked about, and she still didn’t know how to help them.

~fin