Chapter 14: New Year's Traditions

When New Year's Eve arrived, Alexa invited Roxie and Tricia over for a sleepover. Before they arrived, her parents forced her to hide the terrarium in her parent's bedroom closet. They were unaware that Alexa had already told them about being a Futurian. They brought sleeping bags and blankets, and camped out on the bedroom carpet of Alexa's bedroom.

They helped Alexa's mother bake brownies and other goodies in the kitchen. There was sparkling cider and root beer, and Alexa's parents ordered pizza. Roxie and Tricia gossiped about kids that Alexa had grown up with, and informed Alexa about which girls liked a particular boy, or which boys and girls had become couples at Shorecrest junior high. When the countdown came on television, all three girls watched the television in the living room as Alexa's parents styed in their bedroom, and watched the countdown on the television in their room.

"Now it's time to talk about boys," said Roxie. "Alexa, you mentioned having a boyfriend. What is he like?"

"He's cute!" Alexa replied. "I'm in Verso house, and he's in Recto house, but we get along. If students from Recto tried to haze us, my boyfriend would warn me."

"Has that ever happened?" Roxie asked.

"No, not yet," said Alexa. "But from what I've heard from the older girls, it happens from time to time."

"Would you do the same for him?" Tricia asked.

"No!" Alexa replied, "I wouldn't betray Verso house!" 

Tricia laughed and threw a couch pillow at Alexa. "Still the same Lexie!" said Tricia.

"Who do you like better, Santiago or Carl?” Roxie asked.

"I admit I have a bigger crush on Santiago," Alexa replied, "but my parents only want me to date guys from my academy. Carl is nice, but he's too nice of a guy. I want someone more adventurous, someone who will stand up to me if I'm ever in the wrong."

"Santiago is nice, too," said Tricia. "What's the difference?"

"Santiago isn't afraid to stand up to me," said Alexa. "I need that from a guy. Carl pulled a prank on me when I first met him, but other than that, he's just this really nice guy who let's me have my way."

The morning came for Alexa to return to the academy. She used her neutrino dissimilator to miniaturize the terrarium, so it and her shrunken captive could fit inside of her backpack. She also shrunk the duffel bag given to her by Morgan Lefevre. The rocket sled arrived, and Ozymandias took her luggage and placed it all in the trunk. They took off for the academy, and Alexa disembarked and walked with her luggage to her dorm.

Once inside her dorm, she unpacked and set the miniaturized terrarium on the desk, then went and got Stratus, and told her to bring her neutrino dissimilator. When Alexa got her shrunken captive and placed him on the desk, She re-enlarged the terrarium, and had Stratus aim her neutrino dssimilator pistol at the captive as Alexa briefly re-enlarged him to normal size. The instant he was normal size, Stratus reduced him down to an inch tall, the size he was supposed to be at.

"He got away when I tried to re-size him at my house in Southern California," said Alexa. 

"You should always have another person with you with a second neutrino dissimilator gun when you're re-sizing your captive."

"I know that now," Alexa replied. "I don't know how I could be so stupid!"

"Did ayone see you re-capture him?" Stratus asked.

"Just a boy I know," said Alexa. "But he already knows I'm from the future, I know him really well."

"You need to be careful about who you trust in the ephemeral world," said Stratus. "For all you know, that boy could grow up to be famous and he might mention the Futurians. Exactly how many people do you know who you've told about us?"

"Three," said Alexa. "Santiago, and my two best friends, Roxie and Tricia."

"Don't tell anyone else," said Stratus.

"I won't," said Alexa as she grabbed her captive and returned him to the terrarium. 

Stratus turned to leave, then said, "Did you punish your captive for trying to escape?"

"Yeah," Alexa replied, "I swallowed him and kept him in my belly for half an hour!"

Both girls started laughing at this, then Stratus left. When she was gone, Alexa got the duffel bag given to her by Morgan, and set it pn her desk. She used her neutrino dissimilator pistol to re-enlarge the two electronic devices Morgan had given to her, then activated the transponder as she had been directed to do. Now, it was only a matter of time before the plans of the Dark Mistress came to fruition.

She hid the two electronic devices inside of a drawer, then went about her day. Since it was a Sunday and there were no classes, she decided to go to the library to study for upcoming classes. There were girls and boys from both Recto and Verso houses there, and most of the kids were socializing rather than studying.

They were so loud that Alexa couldn't concentrate, so she went to see what all of the commotion was about. There were a group of kids, both boys and girls, watching a group of captives go through an obstacle course. There was a wooden box with an open top, filled halfway with water. Two wooden slats extended from one end of the box to the opposite end, and a shrunken captive was on each slat. The goal was for each shrunken man to reach the other side without falling into the water, but to make it more difficult, their owners were twisting the wooden slats so it was more difficult to get across.

A boy about two years older than Alexa and his captive were manning one slat, and a girl about the same age as him was manning the other. Alexa could see that the boy was a Recto house student, and the girl wass a Verso house student. There was a digital scorekeeper, with points for Verso and points for Recto. Alexa could see that Recto was ahead by one point.

"What's going on?" Alexa asked. "You guys aren't gambling, are you?"

"We're not gambling, if you would pay attention to what's going on around you," said Hellion.

Umbra took Alexa aside. "Nobody is gambling, this is an annual tradition here. Every new year, when we first get back on campus, we have a friendly competition in the library, with both houses competing against each other. There are several different obstacle courses. You can get your captive to play, if you want."

Alexa ran to her dorm and retrieved Terry, her shrunken captive. When she returned, she placed him on the gaming table to reserve her spot. When it came time for her turn, there was an onstacle course where the captives were forced to retrieve certain items that were hidden inside a wooden box with no lid. There were obstacles inside the box that obscured the view of the items being retrieved. The items were coins from various contries and tokens. There were two small ladders on either side of the inside of the box, and each captive had to climb up the ladder with the token or coin, and toss it over into a bowl on each side. While they were trying to accomplish this, their owners tried to rattle and shake the box to make it more difficult for the captives.

Alexa was playing against a Recto boy a year older than her. When she tried it, and found it to be fun, better than video games. Her captive was more athletic than the captive belonging to her opponent, and he made it up the ladder twice for each time her opponent's captive went up the ladder with a coin. Alexa won the game, so now Verso house was tied with Recto house.

Alexa continued to watch the games, and Verso house won again. Carl joined her when Recto house scored another point.

"Looks like Verso might pull this off," said Carl.

"It sure does!" said Alexa. "How many games do we play? I know in the World Series, it's the best four games out of seven."

"Best seven games out of thirteen," said Carl. “That's how an older Recto student explained it to me, and each player can only go once. The score is tied six to six right now. You did pretty good for your first time."

"My captive is more athletic than the other person's captive," Alexa explained. "It was like stealing candy from a baby."

Carl held Alexa's hand, and she returned the favor. Carl and Alexa looked at each other, and they both smiled.

"One good thing about having a girlfriend in Verso house," said Carl, “is that if they win, I still have a reason to be happy."

Just as Carl finished saying that, a Verso house boy won against a Recto house boy, for the winning point. Verso won, seven to six.

"Since my house lost, how about I buy you a hot chocolate?" Carl asked, and Alexa accepted. She stuffed her captive into the portable container she wore as a necklace, and went with Carl to the drink dispenser near the cafeteria. After they both had drinks, they sat down on a table outside.

There weren't very many other students around in that area. Carl sipped his hot chocolate and said, "One of the older Recto guys said they're going to haze Verso house if they lost the new year's games."

"That's weird!" said Alexa. "I was telling one two of my ephemeral friends about you, and I told them that you would probably warn me if they were going to haze us."

"Would you warn me if Verso was going to haze us?" Carl asked.

"Probably not," said Alexa.

"At least you're honest," said Carl. “I'd rather deal with a person who would wrong me who tells the truth than a person who would wrong me and lie about it."

Alexa stood up. "I've got to warn Umbra, is it just the boys versus the boys? Or are the girls getting involved?"

"I'm not sure," Carl replied. "But I don't want you to warn them, they'll know I told you about it. We’re the only Verso/Recto couple on campus!"

"Carl, you're asking too much of me!" said Alexa. "What did you expect me to do with this information?"

"I see it as a test of loyalty," said Carl. “You're either loyal to me, or to Verso house. If you warn them, I'm breaking up with you."

"Carl, that's completely ridiculous!" said Alexa.

"I've been debating breaking up with you any way," said Carl.

"Why?" Alexa asked.

"There's a rumour going around that you're working with the Dark Mistress. I personally don't know anyone who disagrees with that!"

"That's all a lie," said Alexa.

"I can tell you're lying about this," said Carl. "I've seen your face before when you were lying, and I know when you're telling the truth. The only reason you're wearing that transponder necklace is because you're working with Morgan Lefevre, and the faculty is trying to track her with it."

"If you believe that, why are you going out with me?" Alexa asked.

"I'm into dangerous women," said Carl. “I always have been. But unlike you, I come from a family of older siblings who attended Futurian academy, and I know how dangerous Morgan Lefevre really is. I think you're naive, if you really are working with her. She would betray other Futurians to create the future she desires."

"I didn't know you could stand up for yourself like this, Carl. Will you stay with me if I don't warn Verso house?" Alexa asked.

"Yes," said Carl. “I don't care if you're working with the Dark Mistress, but I think you should go through and read up on the people who worked with her fifty years ago. She tried to take over Earth, and almost succeeded."

"Why doesn't anyone on Earth know about it?" Alexa asked.

"The Futurian scientists used mind control to remove any memories the ephemerals had of the incident."

"What happened to Morgan Lefevre?" Alexa asked.

"They put her in prison, but she can manipulate time, so she just came back to the time she was first incarcerated and picked up where she left off."

"Can you show me the files on what happened with her?" Alexa asked.

Carl agreed, and the two of them walked over to the library. They studied for close to an hour, and read up on a lot fo the information about the uprising fifty years prior.

"At least she didn't kill anyone," said Alexa.

"Futurians can't die," said Carl. “Our technology is too advanced for that. But Morgan can disrupt our lives to the point where we would wish we were dead.”