Part 1: Forecast

Mia was gathering her papers before she left the university for the evening. She’d been assisting an old professor friend of her grandfather’s—even filling in for him on occasion. Mia had been going over some research data for him when she noticed the time. She wanted to hurry home because guests were going to start arriving soon. Her house had become the official meeting place, hang-out, and vacation house for the Sentinels and the Ronin Warriors. Zoe, Astarte, Gilgamesh, and Anubis were already living with her on a permanent basis, but the others would be coming by over the next few days. They didn’t realize it yet, but it was going to be a working vacation. Mia was going to have everyone help with the house renovations. After all, if they were all going to spend a lot of time there, they might as well build themselves some places to sleep. She’d been able to house the Ronins for a while when they first got together, but adding all the Sentinels, too, made things tight.

Mia turned with a start. Nothing was there. For a minute she thought she’d sensed someone. She felt really uncomfortable because that was the fourth time today. Her armor was telling her something—but what?

“Hey, Mia. Need a hand?”

“Ryo! Don’t sneak up on me like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack! I wasn’t expecting you so early. I thought you and the other Ronins weren’t coming up until later this evening.”

“Kento, White Blaze, and I just got in. The others will be here tonight. I thought maybe you’d like some company on the way home. And you know Kento--couldn’t wait to see Zoe again. White Blaze is with them. He was pretty hungry and Zoe said she’d feed him whatever he wanted. He decided to stick to her like glue.” He saw that Mia still had a worried look on her face and went over to put his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

She relaxed in his arms. “Fine. I guess. I’m just having this weird feeling of…I don’t know. A premonition maybe. Like something important is going to happen.”

“Well I showed up, didn’t I? That’s important.”

Mia laughed. “Maybe that’s it. I’m just excited about this summer and looking forward to everyone being together again.” Mia was sure it was something more, but until she had a more definite feeling, she didn’t want to spoil things for anyone.

Ryo helped her get her stuff together and carried most of it for her. It was late and no one else seemed to be around. She locked the professor’s office and they walked down the hall towards the exit. As they walked past the faculty lounge, Mia heard a noise from within. The room was dark and no one was supposed to be in there. Mia whispered to Ryo. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?

“That shuffling sound. It came from in there.”

“But the room’s dark. No one’s in there this late. Maybe you’re just hearing things.”

shuffle, shuffle

“There! Did you hear that?”

“Yeah. Like someone moving around. We’d better investigate. Stand back and I’ll go in first.”

“Ryo. I appreciate the thought, but you don’t need to protect me. I’ve got armor of my own, remember? And I think some of its abilities might work better here than yours. Besides, I wouldn’t want you to burn down the university. Then I’d be out of a job.”

Ryo frowned, but he knew she was right.

Mia didn’t need to call her armor, the Armor of Occlusion. The Sentinel armors were more a part of the wearer than the Ronin ones. Some of its abilities were always at work. She could see through illusions and darkness even when she wasn’t suited up. Mia slowly opened the door and went in, Ryo right behind her. She moved silently through the darkness as if she were part of it. She looked around the room. Her eyes stopped when she got to the couch. Someone was laying on it, sleeping. She felt a strange tingle. The sleeping figure rolled over and opened his eyes. Mia didn’t know him, but had the feeling that she should have somehow. He was young, maybe a year or two younger than Ryo. And he looked like he’d been sleeping on a lot of uncomfortable couches lately.

His surprise quickly turned to outright panic. “NO! Not so soon! Don’t you guys ever give up?”

“Wait! Please. We’re not going to hurt you. Just tell us what you’re doing here and…”

He jumped up, rushing at them. Ryo tackled him to the floor.

“Ryo, don’t hurt him!”

The young man struggled with Ryo like a madman. He got one arm free and slugged Ryo hard. Ryo was momentarily stunned and relaxed his hold. The boy broke free. He ran out the door shouting, “You won’t get me! Tell the Lord of Storms he’ll never get me!”

They ran out after him, but he’d already gone down the hall and out the door. They looked around outside. He was nowhere to be found. Ryo rubbed his jaw and looked at Mia with a lopsided grin. “What was that you said? ‘Don’t hurt him, Ryo.’”

Mia came over to look at the Ryo’s bruised jaw. “Sorry. I didn’t think he’d go crazy like that.”

“That was weird. He was completely terrified of us. And what was that ‘Lord of Storms’ stuff he was yelling about?”

“I don’t know.” But Mia had a feeling they were going to find out. Just like she knew they would see that young man again.