Firestarter

Chapter Three

Promise

THE BOOKS WERE VERY SHORT. Ten would have been disappointed if she knew what half the words meant. As it was her only issue was it was too dark. She considered going and turning the light back on. Mike couldn't expect them to sit in the dark. And her legs were cramping. She'd accidentally kicked El just moving, and finally decided they were both going to just sit still.

Luckily, Mike seemed to turn back. About three minutes later he was running down the stairs and threw the sheet back.

"Come on. I'll show you around," Mike barely waited for them to follow.

Ten followed quickly. El looked around, realized she was being left behind, then went after them. The stairs creaked as the three ran up them. Mike headed through the door. The girls hesitated for a moment in the doorway.

What if it was a trick? They shared a look. Mike had said not to go upstairs. Now he was saying to go upstairs. Perhaps it was a trick to see if they would listen. A test.

If so, what was the right answer?

Curiosity won. Ten took El's hand and followed.

The house was warm. Not temperature-wise — in fact, it was rather cold — but the colors were warm. Browns, and soft yellows, and wood floors, and a soft, cream carpets. Nothing like the bland, hard walls of the lab. Ten stopped on the carpet. It tickled her feet. She wiggled her toes.

"You want anything to drink?" Mike offered. He was unaware of the girls going the other direction. "We've got OJ, skim milk...what else? Um, we have..."

Ten questioned, "OJ?"

"Orange juice. It's good, you'll like it," Mike explained.

To prove this, Mike headed to a white container. A wave of cold came from it as he opened it. He pulled out a container filled with an orange liquid and placed it on the counter. Ten slowly approached it while Mike went to search for something else. She unscrewed the lid and sniffed the liquid. It smelt sweet. It must be the orange juice.

Ten did like the color orange.

Very carefully, as not to drop the heavy container, Ten lifted it. She attempted to drink from it. All she managed to do was dump it on her face. Some went up to her nose. It stung. Ten yelped and clapped her hands over her nose, dropping the container in the process.

That got's Mike's attention. He turned to see a growing orange puddle. Ten shrank away from him.

"Oh, no," Mike hurried over to pick up the container. Ten was surprised to see he was more worried than upset. As he collected napkins, he explained, "You're supposed to drink it out of a cup, not the jug. It's easier."