UnKnown(PUBLISHED)

Twenty-Two

My hometown is enormous. And I never thought I would call Andromeda my hometown, but that's what it is, right? Nothing about this place seemed familiar. It didn't even feel like this was my hometown. I felt like an outsider. As if this body, these memories, and these abilities didn't belong to me. But they did—every single one of them.

"I'm bored," Fay whined, her head hanging upside down on the bed.

"Dinner should be ready soon, and then we have to go to bed anyway." Arianna shrugged her shoulders, holding her hand out as fire flickered from her palm. Fay rolled her eyes as she moved herself upwards so that she was now lying on her stomach.

"Don't you find it dumb? That we go to bed so early? It's not even nine, and we must go to bed right after dinner. All we do is learn and train all day. I barely have time to actually.. be kids! Do something reckless." Fay exclaimed, wiggling her eyebrows at the last statement. Arianna knew that look all too well.

"No. Whatever you are planning.. no, I'm not doing it. And we do have free time. We always do."

"Yeah, for like an hour or so. And the weekends, yeah, but we're kids. We should be playing."

"We're not like other kids, though. We're-"

"Special. Rare. Unique. The key to a better world. I heard it all. But we can still play. We can still be..kids." Fay interrupted, making a talking movement with her hand, which Arianna frowned at. "Just this once. Do something fun with me. I promise we won't get caught."

Arianna stared at Fay. Her mind was racing with what-ifs. But she knew Fay wouldn't leave her alone until she agreed, not even while she was staring at her with so much mischief in her eyes.

"Fine. What are we doing?"
...
"No. We are not doing this. Are you crazy!? We're not allowed in there. And it's locked." Arianna hissed as they stood in front of the door with a lock.  Fay ignored her sister and jangled the lock a little, not too much to make a loud noise but enough to see if it was breakable or could even come off somehow.

"Sealed and need a key." Arianna retorted, flicking her hand as fire flew out and hit the lock, but nothing happened to it. It remained the same. Fay placed her hands on her hips.

"Thanks, smartass."

"Language."

Fay stuck her hand into her nightgown pocket before pulling out a key.

"How did you get that?" Arianna questioned harshly, trying to snatch out of her sister's hand, but Fay moved her hand out of reach.

"I got it while going to the 'bathroom'." Fay made air quotes with her fingers as she spoke before unlocking the door.

Once inside, Fay ran her hand along the wall until she found the switch. Flicking it on, the twins scanned the room. It was just an office with papers stacked on top of one another.

"Oh. This is just where Mom does all her work, I'm guessing. But why does she leave it locked?" Arianna questioned as she neared the desk, picking up some papers. Nothing significant, at least to her, it wasn't—just standard work information.

Fay walked around the office, looking at the books along the shelf. Just like the papers, there was nothing significant. She maneuvered her way over to the desk with Arianna and sat down in the big chair. Her eyes landed on the locked drawer, and a grin spread across her face.

"Bingo," Fay whispered as she then tugged at it, but it didn't budge. "Can you see if there's a key anywhere?"

Arianna didn't like snooping around but knew Fay wouldn't stop until she felt satisfied. So she went around looking for a key while Fay searched the desk for one, but they both came up empty-handed.