Open Minds: The Fog

Chapter Four:Lexi-In Which Nobody Gets Any Work Done

Lexi spaced the rest of the class, eager to tell Allison and Taylor about her discovery. Unfortunately, Taylor was out the door with his new friend in an instant, and their next classes were apart.

All through Algebra, Lexi sat and thought and paid no attention to her teacher. She scribbled on her notebook and shoved the assignment in her pocket. Her next class was Gym. She loathed public school Gym classes. At SAEPTA headquarters, she could visit an actual gym or a training room or visit someone to help her stretch her posers or combat skills. That did not involve basketball relay races.

Lexi made a lackluster effort in the activities of Gym class and paid all attentions to the Elemental. Her name was Jeanie Lee.

When, to Lexi's immense relief, the bell rang again, the crush of teens in the hallway was almost suffocating. Lunch time.

The school allowed students to roam campus with their food and do as they liked. That was a good thing and a bad thing. It did, on the bright side, allow Lexi to talk discreetly, one-on-one, to whomever she wished. On the other hand, she had serious issues actually talking to anyone.

She couldn't find Lee anywhere, and, upon visiting Allison in the library, realized it would be hard to pull her away from her job. She encountered Taylor in her wandering of the school, but he and that boy Marco were sitting alone in the empty orchestra closet, deep in whispered conversation. Lexi left them alone.

Sitting, almost invisible, in red pumice, Lexi contemplated her life. It was a stupid thing to do, and she was sitting in between the pink flowering bushes around the school building and the building itself. She thought about when Cambridge had first taken her to SAEPTA, about stretching her powers and longing for a team. If this was what it would be like to have one, sitting in rocks and sticks, all alone, maybe she didn't want one.

But no. A team was Lexi's big goal in life. Ace this mission, and her dreams will come true. She would head a team of Spigs, well known in their ranks. Allison, who was Regiment Major, would be so impressed that she would give Lexi special missions. Diana would lose her mind with jealousy, well seated, for once. That was it.

Really, though, Lexi would be fine with any team at all. A community, a circle of family, that would always support her and never tell her she was useless make things hard on purpose.

She ate the sandwich that had sat in her hand all of lunchtime. Halfway through it, the bell rang.

Lexi's next class was English, and she still needed to talk to Taylor. She tried talking to and asking for through the earbuds, but only Allison responded with, "No, just me. Sorry, Hon."

English was incredibly boring. The required reading was a small book about war in South Sudan. It was alarmingly small for the eighth grade, and had a limited vocabulary, but this gave Lexi the opportunity to think more.

Jeanie Lee was in this class too, and was playing absently with her Cardinals cap and tugging on her glossy black ponytail. Lexi still couldn't feel much backlash from the Tipped crouching behind Lee, and she was still afraid to open herself to the Lihe, might it bring back the pain and immobility.

Bored, Lexi looked over her schedule. Choir, then Science, and finally Study Hall. She knew she had choir with Taylor. That was on opportunity to talk to him about the big spirit and about Lee.

As the class began, Lexi was dismayed to find that she wasn't the only student with no intention of singing or learning music. Half the class was slouched against the wall behind the risers, talking and on their phones.

As the other half warmed up with nursery rhymes, she pulled Taylor aside.

"Hey, Lex, what's up?" He tilted his head curiously.

"The Spig. Her name is Jeanie Lee and she's an Earth Elemental, powerful, and being tailed bay a big Tipped." She looked at him, expecting him to say something like, 'Wow, Lexi, great work. I can't believe I ignored you and talked to boys all day and didn't notice your calls. You're the best.'

What he actually said was, "Uh-huh, I figured that out. She lives with her dad, he's from Korea, she loves sports takes art class." He looked at her in anticipation, as if also expecting praise or waiting for her to finish telling him what she's found out.

She frowned. "Oh. That's...Great. Good job."

He beamed and jogged back over to the risers and sing with the others. Lexi sat behind the risers and watched riddle videos until the bell rang.

Lexi has Science next, with no one of interest, and stared vaguely out the window. Halfway through the class she pulled out her phone under her desk and played Tetris discreetly for the rest of her time.

Finally, her last class. Study Hall. She wondered if she should start on the mountain of homework she had been given. The mission was supposed to be a quick one, no need. It was easy to talk Lexi out of schoolwork.

After school Lexi waited impatiently behind the school for Taylor. It started to rain. When Allison came outside she asked Lexi if she wanted to wait in the car.

"No, thank you," She smiled sweetly. I need to talk to Taylor when he comes.

Allison laughed and shook her head. "You're the boss, Hon."

Lexi waited for a good ten minutes in the gentle hishh of light rain. Taylor came out of the doors backwards, laughing and calling to someone inside.

"Yeah, yeah. Good meeting you too! See you tomorrow, bro!" He turned around held his hand out. "Rain. Neat!" He looked over at Lexi. She was glowering at him from under the soggy hood of her windbreaker.

He smiled nervously and put his backpack over his head for cover. "Shall we... go?"

She turned around without replying and walked back to the Civic.

Upon arriving back at El Motella after stopping at the McDonalds, Allison went out to buy microwave dinners and Mr. M was still in absence.

Lexi sat on one of the two beds, facing Taylor, who sat in the creaky rocking chair. Silence and the fall of coastal rain.

"This is awkward. Are you mad at me, Lexi, or just stressed?" Taylor spread his hands and leaned forward.

Lexi frowned deeper. "Of course I'm stressed and why shouldn't I be mad?" She threw up her hands. "I'm probably overreacting, but you abandoned me and didn't answer my when I tried to talk to you and why in heaven's name are you making friends?" She ran her hands through her hair. "This is not the time. This is a bigger deal than we thought it was. That spirit's signature is-" Lexi's hands dropped. She looked up. Her eyes were wide with fear and her pupils dilated. "Oh my God. The Lihe signature."

She reached slowly under the bed and pulled out the boring book on Lihe signatures. With trembling fingertips, she flipped through the pages to a spread near the end.

Lexi slid the book upside down and tilted it to face Taylor.

"Taylor," Her voice was almost silent under the sound of rain on the sidewalk outside. "We might actually die trying this."

Glossary (In order of appearance):

SAEPTA: The company of Spigs Lexi and her companions work for/the company they're recruiting Jeanie Lee for. (Spiritual Activity Erasure and Projection Training Association)

Elemental: A Spig that has an extremely powerful Patron, usually one of the Firsts (Earth, Darkness, Fire, Light ect)

Spig: The generally used slang term for Spiritually gifted or Projection

Tipped: A spirit that can (should?) no longer project its energy or even have energy, having the yin-yang balance off.

Lihe: Spirit Energy (pronounced: Lee)

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