Headaches

I screamed as the electricity hit my stomach, sending shocks throughout my whole body. "You need to be faster," Franklin growled impatiently.

"I'm trying," I groaned back angrily, clutching my stomach as I tried to heal the pain.

"Fly. Make a wall of ice. Freeze me. Do something." He had been telling me the same thing all day. I was just too tired. My head hurt way too much. I just plain couldn't focus any more. "You're a healer!" he cried suddenly, throwing his arms out, "Just heal your stupid headache!"

"I'm tired. Work with Luna." Ugh. The look he gave me made me feel even worse about how terrible my focus had been the past few days. My head hadn't stopped throbbing for days. He resigned and let Luna take my place in fighting him. Instantly, he let off a jolt of electricity at her. The jolt veered away and then Franklin stumbled back a few feet, tripping over a box that had quickly shoved itself under his feet. Luna smirked triumphantly. Ha! I could almost hear her shout.

"Good thinking, Luna," Franklin chuckled, standing up. "Can't lift me though still." That put the smirk off Luna's face. Instead she put out her hand and screwed up her face, clearly trying to lift him off the ground. He chuckled again. "I'm nowhere near as light at Emma." He shot me a look that clearly said my weight was somehow a weakness. "You're going to have to get a lot more mental strength before you can lift me."

"Franklin! Emma! Luna!" Luna's mom called out from the front room. Her voice made my headache suddenly intesify and I doubled over, clutching my skull. The room began to spin, my stomach lurched, and I fell over.

"Emma!" Luna's voice seemed to echo throughout the entire room as I blacked out.


The first thing I noticed was that I was crying. I had no idea why though. Emma! Emma! I kept thinking. I had some weird sense that someone died, but it didn't make sense. No one had died. Weird memories I didn't recognize seemed to be flashing through my mind. Why was I thinking my own name over and over? I opened my eyes. Luna was shaking my shoulders, whispering my name over and over while tears streamed down her face.

"What's wrong?" I blurted out stupidly, nearly knocking her over as I sat up suddenly. She furrowed her brow at me, but at least stopped crying. Then I remembered the feeling that someone had died. "Wait, who died?" I asked, horrified that it was someone important.

"Emma, no one died," my mom's voice said softly. I felt a little bit better and rel-- My mom? What? I shook my head. Luna's mom. True, she was much more of a mother to me than my own had ever been, but that didn't make her my mother. What was with me? "Did she hit her head?" Luna's mom asked Luna who looked more than just slightly terrified. Luna shook her head and looked at me like I might suddenly explode. "Emma, how are you feeling?"

"Fine," I said impulsively. I shook my head. It hurt.

"How does your head feel?"

"Fine." Impulsive again. "Er, no. It's buzzing. Hurts a lot. Fuzzy." I giggled at the word. My friend had had a bear named Fuzzy when we were little. Er, no, I had had a bear named Fuzzy. "Astral!" I said suddenly, jumping up. I regretted it a moment later as I became suddenly more dizzy and stumbled. I lunged forward to catch Emma. Er, no, Luna and her mom grabbed my arms and kept me from falling. Whatever. Astral projection or something.

"What?" Luna's voice echoed somewhere far off. My vision blurred, the world spun, voices echoed around me, and I fainted.


For some reason, I was making pancakes. "Emma!" Franklin shouted, causing me to jump and nearly trip myself. "You're burning pancakes worse than me. Why don't you sit down?" I looked at the pancakes again. They were literally on fire.

"Oops," I said stupidly. Franklin moved me out of the way and put out the flaming pancakes.

"Jeeze, Franklin, you literally burnt those pancakes," Luna yawned as she walked into the kitchen. "I think I'll just have cereal, thanks. G'morning, by the way." I suddenly remembered my head hurt. And then I realized I didn't remember anything since blacking out, which must have been days ago, judging by the lack of "Are you okay?"s I was experiencing. Did I have old-timer's? Or however you spell the real word.

I was so busy trying to figure out what was going on inside my head that I didn't hear the doorbell ring or notice Luna dragging me out to the entry room until I found myself sitting in one of the chairs in the entry room, in conversation with Luna, her mother, Franklin, and a teenage boy who I was sure I had never met before. He must've been 16 or 17.

"Master Timblewood has specifically requested to have Miss Emma and Miss Luna come with me back to his home for special training," he was saying. "I am very sure you are aware of Master Timblewood's expertise and knowledge in people like us, Miss--"

"Yes, yes, I'm fully aware of his . . . expertise. However, the decision is for Emma and Luna to make themselves, so I suggest you impress upon them, not me, how . . . knowledgable Timblewood is." Luna's mom had a very sour look on her face. I got the feeling whoever this Timblewood guy was and her had some sort of history that she was trying to put behind her. The boy looked disappointed that she was acting less than completely admiring of Timblewood. He smiled again as he looked right at me.
"Well, Miss Emma," he turned to Luna, "Miss Luna, I suppose I should explain more about Timblewood to you." You should explain more about how amazing your voice is. What? His voice? Where did that come from? A sharp pain shot through my skull suddenly, as if someone was ripping it apart and exposing my brain. For some reason, I suddenly had no care for his words, just the fact that he was speaking seemed to be making me feel all weird and airy. Ugh, I'm going boy-crazy, aren't I? My headache worsened exponentially and I didn't catch much else that he said except that he wanted Luna and I to go with him to some prestigious, upper-class, "special people" school. I wished I could have heard what he was saying better, but my head seemed to be echoing loudly and the pain just kept intensifying. "Miss Emma?" Shoot, he had asked me a question.

"Er, well . . ." I said, trying to remember what he had just said. I looked to Luna's mom, hoping she could save me from embarrassment.

"I think it may be a good thing to get the two of you out of this house," she said. "Lord knows you've both been stuck inside far too long. And I trust the principal to care for you."

"Please, ma'am, Mister Timblewood is not a prinicipal," the boy said, "He's a--"

"It's up to Emma and Luna. They have my permission to go."

"Misses Emma and Luna?" The beautiful boy said, awaiting our repsonses. Luna looked like she had left her brain elsewhere. More pain shot through my head and I grabbed the sides of my head and tried to heal it. He said some other stuff, probably along the lines of, "Zomg! She's dieing! -insert spazz attack here-" Then Luna's mom said something and Luna ran out of the room. The room lurched suddenly and I fell over. I expected to black out again, but instead, the pain in my skull dulled slightly and I started to hear what was being said again.

"I haven't quite figured out what's going on, but I think Emma's getting headaches from Luna," Luna's mom was saying, probably thinking I had actually blacked out. "I've tried reading her mind, but I can't make sense of anything in her mind. Luna's mind seems alright though. I think, for Emma's sake, only one of them can go. Timblewood might be able to help Emma, so I think Emma should be the one to go."

"Have you considered the possibility that Miss Emma may be developing some sort of mind ability? Perhaps you should not halt the proccess." Ugh, no, not another ability I couldn't control. No way. I did not want to deal with that.

"It's different than any developing mind ability I have seen. And I have . . . other reasons for wanting to separate them. Their relationship with each other is . . . unhealthy." I lifted my head to see the boy make a strange face at Luna's mom. He didn't seem to like anything she was saying.

"Master Timblewood has requested I bring both back to the mansion with me," he said firmly, suddenly looking much older and more powerful. Luna's mom glared at him and it was very clear that her mind would not be changed. I groaned, no longer wanting to be thought unconscious and forced myself to think I really had blacked out.

"Emma? Are you alright?" She knelt down beside me and I stood up slowly.

"I'm fine. I want to go." She looked at me carefully and nodded slowly.

"Why don't you go get your things together?" She looked at the boy. "Why don't you go help her? I need to speak with Luna." The boy nodded, glaring at her. I hurried to my room, wanting to get away as fast as possible.

"Miss Emma?" the boy said softly as I threw all my things together and then started throwing all of Luna's things together as well. He touched my shoulder lightly, his way of asking me what was wrong.

"She can't stop Luna,"I growled. "Luna wants to go. I know she does. She lost her mind last time I left without her. I'm not doing that again." He smiled slightly.

"The two of you are very good friends, are you not?" I nodded. "Her mother does not like that." I felt my jaw clench. My head definitely still hurt. The boy took Luna's and my things out of my hands and set them by the door. Then he led me to Luna's mom's room where Luna's mom was shouting at Luna.

"--can't spend forever with her!" Luna's mom looked as if she was about to explode in anger.

"What in the world are you two screaming about?" I groaned. My head was throbbing, but I was trying to ignore it.

"Why don't you go finish getting your things, Emma," Luna's mom said in the fakest voice imaginable.

"Ma'am, Miss Emma has already gotten her things. She is prepared for departure," the boy said quickly.

"Let me just finish saying goodbye to my daughter." More like finish screaming at her.

"I'm going," Luna said, very clearly standing up to her mother.

"Very well then. We can all go together," the boy said. Luna's mom scowled, but he gave her a look I didn't understand and she didn't argue. Emma and Luna: One. Luna's mom: Zero.