chapter two of my amazing novel!

(BTW, I edited chapter one. Now they live in an underground city. XD)

“The way she handled those young men… unimaginable! No sane, self-respecting girl would knock them over like that!”

“Sir, are you implying that she’s not sane or self-respecting?”

“We don’t know. She could be a real threat to society.”

“Wait… hold on… I have more information, sir! Her thought processes included wishes to time-travel. To the past.”

“Not good. And do you have anything on her little friend? The cute blonde she sits next to on the shuttle?”

“She acts normal, sir. An Authority’s child, in fact.”

“Good. I just need a way to use her.”

Evangeline “Evie” Deschaine’s father didn’t have a head. If he did, she’d never seen it. He ran away from her mom before she was born. Mrs. Deschaine had pictures of her ex-husband, but she always used the cropping tool to remove his head. “A man who leaves his pregnant wife to go become an overarching and evil Authority doesn’t deserve to stay in my memory,” she said, teary-eyed, whenever Evie asked her about her dad. When she spoke the word “Authority,” she spat it, like it was the vilest of curses.

The Deschaines had barely enough money to get by, and it was like that since before the wars, even though Evie couldn’t remember a time back then. None of Evie’s friends noticed or teased her. It wasn’t as if she had many friends, as her closest thing to one was Kathica Perlman, the girl who sat next to her on the shuttle and sometimes exchanged messages with her during class. Evie was too shy to talk to any of the other girls, and too scared to approach boys even though people often said she was attractive.

Kathica was a good sort-of friend to have, especially for someone as timid as Evie. She was strong and didn’t let anyone get the best of her, least of all Marc DeSilva and Keith Anderson, the school bullies. Evie had seen her knock both of them over today right after classes. Now she understood why the other children looked up to her in awe, as if they were a little scared of her and what she could become if you got on the wrong side of her.

The two girls were now studying together, sending messages back and forth, but they ended up talking about the incident that just happened. Kathica made it sound like it was completely unintentional, like it was just her reflexes in action, like she didn’t mean to put two older and bigger boys in critical condition.

“It’s not a crime that I like to live in the past,” typed Kathica, her spelling and grammar looking ancient and flawless and unheard of. “I’m sure there are weird things about you as well, except you’re doing a better job of hiding them then I am.” Evie said nothing. Kathica knew that her dad was an Authority, but Evie never told her about the “headless” part.

Evie didn’t know this, but her mom was standing behind her, reading every word of her conversation with Kathica. “She seems like a good influence,” she said, startling her daughter. “A nice strong girl, knocking down everything in her way instead of whining about breaking a nail. And she doesn’t care about being super popular in school.”

Evie thought her mom acted a little like Kathica sometimes. They were both a little out of the loop and didn’t seem to like using the cool new gadgets and computers that everyone else enjoyed. They preferred older things, like Kathica’s dinosaur computer and Mrs. Deschaine’s famous cookie recipe that had been passed down for generations. And they seemed to loath the Authorities, probably because they wanted to enjoy frivolities like people did in the past.

For a moment, Evie began to wonder if her mom and her only friend were actually from the past. Because time travel hadn’t been invented yet, she decided that they weren’t. It wasn’t as if she cared too much, because they were both good people.

She finished her homework quickly, then stepped out of her compartment to go for an evening run. Evie loved feeling the cool underground air and the synthetic sunlight on her skin. Luckily for her, athletics weren’t considered frivolous, as soldiers needed to be in excellent shape to win the wars. It wasn’t as if Evie wanted to become a soldier. She fainted at the sight of blood.

Half an hour went by, and Evie felt herself getting a bit tired. She slowed her pace down to a walk, trying to get her breath back until she could sprint again. Unknowingly, she stumbled into a dimly lit alley blocked by a dark shape. The silhouette could be nothing but a hulking, enormous Authority. Evie Deschaine’s days were numbered, or so she thought.

“Relax,” he said in a menacingly deep voice. “I’m not going to hurt you, Evangeline. I’ll just ask you a few questions.” Evie tried to stand tall and look fearless, but the man was too intimidating. “It’s about that friend of yours. Kathica. What does she act like?”

For some reason, Evie couldn’t imagine telling this man about Kathica’s face-off with DeSilva and Anderson. She replied, hesitantly, “Kathica’s a nice person, in general. She doesn’t let bullies win her over. And she loves old stuff.” That was all she would say about her friend. She didn’t want Kathica to get in trouble.

“Old stuff?” the Authority asked, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“She has an ancient computer, and when I message her, she always replies with perfect grammar, like people used to. That’s basically it.”

“Thank you for your time, Evangeline. You can run home. Like a good girl.” The big man chuckled and sent a fresh wave of fear down Evie’s spine. She could only hope she wasn’t dealing with her missing dad, but the man’s ample build and enormous shoulders suggested she wasn’t. Her mom was also quite muscular, which made Evie wonder where she got her slim figure from.

Evie breathed a silent sigh of relief and jogged all the way back to her compartment, loving the synthetic sunlight all the way. The only way to feel the real sun would be to go to the surface of the Earth, where war was constantly taking place, so she didn’t mind too much. Up there, Authorities wouldn’t be the only things out to get her.