Planet X (Under Construction)

CH 2: Sierra

 (Clearwater, Florida) : Three Years Later

A girl no more than sixteen years of age sat on the beach, watching as the tide trickled over her feet before it disappeared back into the ocean. Leaving clumps of wet sand stuck to the bottom of her feet and in between her toes. "Sierra! Come in for dinner!!" the all to familiar voice of her mother hollered at her.

"Coming!" Sierra yelled back, lifting herself up and darting towards the tiny silhouette of her house which rested near the edge of the beach. She quickly covered the distance between her and her house, and bounded up the stairs, almost making it into the kitchen before the figure of her mother blocked her from entering through the door.

"Eh, no. clean up." Her mother pointed towards the shower head that stood on the far right corner of the back porch. Sierra sighed and marched over towards it, wincing at the iciness of the mat positioned below it. She turned on the shower head, the water drenching her and sending bits of sand and salt water down the tiny drain at the bottom. Sierra turned off the shower head with a creak, wiggling her now clean but damp toes. Her mother handed her a towel and they both walked inside.

Sierra was hit by a blast of warm air when she entered the kitchen. The scent of steamed lobster and melted butter filling her nose and making her stomach rumble. She quickly sat down at the dining table next to her brother, Kai. It was a Hawaiian name meaning ocean, which suited the cheerful, surf obsessed ten year old perfectly. "Who wants Lobster?" their father grinned, as he held up a plate of bright red steamed lobsters.

"Me!" Kai said excitedly.

"Here you go then," his father grinned, placing one of the tinier lobsters on his plate, and a small bowl of melted butter next to it. Kai attacked the lobster, twisting off its claw first and using the lobster cracker to crack it open.

"Slow down," his mother said, laughing as he hungrily jammed the now butter drenched lobster meat into his mouth.

"Soarwe," Kai mumbled through a mouthful of food. He paused and forced swallowed his food, licking away the excess butter from his lips. "I was out surfing all after noon, I'm pretty hungry,"

"The waves were good today then?" his father asked, Kai shook his head.

"Most of them were ankle busters, but I got a few big surfs," Kai told his father, a small grin finding its way onto his face as he recalled the larger waves.

"What did you do today Sierra?" their mother asked noticing her son was off in la-la land.

"I swam," was Sierra's frank reply as she tried to decide whether to break the lobsters tail or claws off first. Claws, she decided.

"You spend a lot of time in the water," her mother observed in a way a scientist might.

"I guess," Sierra replied, breaking the lobsters claw and stabbing at the meat inside with her fork. She dipped the meat in butter and brought it into her mouth, chewing slowly. Unlike her younger brother, she liked to savor her food.

The sound of a phone ringing rang through the air, Kai shuffled through the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the waterproof cell phone his parents had so generously given him last year.

"Sup?" Kai said into the phone, his deep blue eyes lit up at the voice that replied "Hey, what up brah?" he listened intently to what the caller said to him "Really? Where?.. Yeah, I'll be there." Kai hung up with a grin on his face and then looked up at his father hopefully with big puppy dog eyes. "Dad, can I go night surfing?"

"Absolutely not," was his mothers quick reply, and at this Kai's face completely dropped.

"Why not!?" he cried, standing up in his chair a little.

"You're too young," she replied bluntly. Sierra looked towards her brothers disheartened face and felt a pang of sympathy go through her.

"What if I take him?" the words were out of her mouth before she even released what she was saying. Her mother looked at her, surprised by her actions.

"Only if you promise to stay on the same beach and keep a careful eye on him," her mother finally said after a moment of contemplation.

"YES!" Kai whooped, tackling his sister into a bear hug. "YOU ARE THE BEST SISTER EVER!!" he cried, giving her a slobbery kiss on the cheek.

"Eww, get off!" Sierra scowled, trying to sound angered but instead she ended up laughing. Kai eventually let go of his sister, jamming the rest of his food into his mouth and announcing that he was going to go get ready. Sierra watched her brother run off to his room, stumbling to catch himself as he almost tripped over his skateboard, a sense of pride filling her at how happy she had just made him.

"I'd better go change too...," Sierra said, looking down at her outfit. She had worn a wetsuit today seeing as Mrs. Chamberling had set her dog Todo free on the beach. Todo was a kleptomaniac with a bathing suit obsession, the furry mutt had somehow managed to pull off her bikini bottom not once but twice. He kept them in his private lair underneath Mrs. Chamberling's porch, along with some stolen shoes and other small trinkets. Although Mrs. Chamberling would swear he was nothing short of an angel.

Finishing up the lobster as quickly as she could without jamming it down her mouth like Kai, Sierra got up from the table and left to her room to change.

-----

Sierra and Kai walked side by side down the beach, Kai with his surfboard resting on top of his head and hands holding onto either side of it. The board was to big for him to just hold onto it with one arm like some of the other, more older surfers did. "Kai!" a boy around Kai's age hollered when he saw him walking down the beach.

"Hey Noah," Kai grinned at his friend.

"Oh, hey Sierra," Noah said, stuttering slightly as he realized who the girl next to Kai was. "How's it going?" the young boy attempted to make his voice sound smooth and confident but he tripped over his words slightly. Sierra suppressed the laugh that tried to rise up from her throat. Noah, despite his young age, had a tendency to fall helplessly in love with a new girl every month, and with his cute face and knightly nobleness, he was a prince charming in training.

"Back off dude," Kai scowled, going into protective brother mode. Noah may have been his best friend but that did not exempt him from Kai's 'nobody dates my sister' rule.

"Sorry," Noah said sheepishly to Kai, remembering all the 'my sister is off limits' talks Kai had given him ever since his crush for Sierra had developed. "Come on, lets go surf," Noah said in an attempt to get back on Kai's good side, Kai nodded eagerly and the two best friends took off running towards the water, dragging their freshly waxed surfboards behind them. Sierra plopped down on the sand, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arm around her legs. She rested her chin on her knees and watched as Kai mounted onto his surfboard and began to paddle out towards the waves.

Sierra's father had tried countless times to teach her how to surf when she was little, but Sierra had always refused by nose diving into the water whenever he had placed her onto the board. He'd given up trying to teach her soon after Kai learned how to stand up on a surfboard.

A gleam of white light suddenly flashed in the corner of her eye. Sierra's gaze shifted from her brother towards the board walk which was a mile or so away. Sierra looked up at the dozen of boutiques and snack shops that dotted the top of the boardwalk, looking for a lighted window, but everything was dark and empty. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a moment, but then she saw it again, the flash of white, and realized it was coming from underneath the boardwalk.

She took a quick glance at Kai who was laughing with Noah and two other boys about a joke that was unknown to her. He wouldn't notice if she left. Sierra thought, and it was true. So she got up and made her way towards the boardwalk, the need to know what the light was throwing all her caution out into the wind.