A Teaser for The Children Of Ankh

                

 In every lifetime there is a moment. A moment so clear, so profoundly unique; that it stands out against billions of other moments. When you find a moment such as this one, you pay extra close attention to it. It will usually contain something that defines you in the future.

 Frost knew that he would recognize Frejas child the instant that he saw her. She was lying in the grass very still and completely alone. Her white blonde curls, wildly strewn around her; she looked like a sleeping angel.

Lily and Grey came to stand beside him, “Are you sure that she’s the one?”Lily whispered.

Frost replied softly, “Pretty sure, she even looks a little like Freja. How old do you think she is; four, maybe five years old?” From the playground, came something amazing. A little duplicate of the child lying in the grass. The other little angel plopped herself ungracefully onto the grassy bed next to her sister. They were mirror images of each other.  Frost’s heart constricted in his chest the first time he’d laid eyes on them. This, he would always remember as a defining moment in his life.

“This can’t be good,” Lily whispered.

One of the freckled little girls saw them standing there; she jumped to her feet and ran over to the fence, and stood on her tippy toes. With a giant toothless grin, she stuck her chubby little fingers through the rungs of the fence.  “Do you want to come in and play with us?”She squeaked.

Lily fought the urge to giggle; this child had the cutest voice she had ever heard.

“What’s your name? You sweet little thing,” Grey said with his thick Aussie accent. 

“I’m Kayn, that’s my sister Chloe,” she pointed a little finger adorned with messy sparkle nail polish at her sister. The little girl had sand on her beautiful white frilly dress and grass in her hair. She had a sticker of a frog on her cheek and she just seemed to be a joyful child.

Chloe sat up; now glaring at them, yet not moving a muscle. Chloe was obviously not going to be the one out of the two, abducted by a random stranger.

 Frost was so captivated by this little girl that he couldn’t even speak. He just stood there grinning at her. He found himself wishing that he could come back when she was sixteen, and hide in her closet as her body guard; to protect her from the danger that was her legacy.

  “You guys look like movie stars.” Kayn gushed, and then turned her attention to her own hand, “I have nail polish on, see?” she said, her beautiful eyes gleamed with pride as she displayed her wiggling fingers for the rest to see.

   “Very lovely,” Lily appraised. Just as a little boy with a mess of dark curls came running up to the fence and grabbed Kayns arm. He glared at the group, then leaned over and whispered in her ear assertively, “Chloe says you’re not supposed to talk to strangers. “

   Frost then, leaned in and touched Kayns dainty little finger through the fence. He smiled, “We won’t be strangers for much longer, I promise.” A five year old Kayn looked into the depths of Frosts eyes, and felt as if she knew him somehow.

Frost Knelt down and met her gaze, marveling at the innocence and vibrant intensity that shone back at him through the chain link barrier. His expression changed briefly, as he spoke to her under his breath. “It’s very important that you become strong.” He touched the tip of her nose with his finger gently, and smiling softly; he whispered, “We will see you in eleven years Kayn.”

With that, they; the three immortals, disappeared. 

Eleven years later

The eleven years had passed rather quickly. Days to weeks, which turned to months, then years, and soon; over a decade had passed. Ten years of questionable jobs and heart wrenching decisions. This was what it was to become Ankh.  It was finally time, they were back in that small island town where he had first seen them. Frost had often thought of the little girl with the sparkly nails and frog sticker on her face. As a matter of fact; that thought, had been his happy thought for the last eleven years of his life. He would think of her toothless smile and find his day just a tiny bit brighter. He found that he could accomplish almost anything that ‘the powers that be’ would throw at him, if he just remembered Kayns smile. She reminded him why it had been worth it; to preserve humanity, to attempt to save them from themselves. It was the millions of small children that he had seen with that same innocent untouched smile, which told his heart that he, was still a good man somewhere inside.  It was now time for the twin’s correction. Ankh was the first clan to arrive. They were not allowed to stop anything from happening, they were only allowed to claim the survivor and offer them protection. Only about one second tier in fifty actually survived, after the corrections team was sent. Frejas daughters had crossed his mind repeatedly over the last eleven years. He had to admit, he was rooting for the little one with the frog sticker on her cheek. The odds of that little girl Kayn surviving her correction were next to impossible, if she didn’t have enough second tier triggered within her to see it coming.

Chapter 2  Kevin and Kayn

The humming of Kayn’s blood; as it coursed through her veins, seemed to sing along to the steady, almost tribal, beat of her feet as they pounded rhythmically into the dirt.  A veil of earth flowed behind her; she resembled a flaxen haired angel; attempting to outrun a cloud.  The cloud of dust seemed to follow her for a moment or two longer than it should, with not one whisper of wind in the afternoon air.  The smile that spread over her lips while she trained; showed that her heart was overflowing with so much joy that it could not be contained beneath a serious competitive demeanor.  Watching her run was a beautiful experience to behold, and people would stop by the track after school simply to watch a moment of her bliss before beginning their long walk home.

Kevin left class quickly every single day, rushed to his locker, and fumbled with the lock; in a desperate attempt to get up the hill to that spot in the grass where he would watch Kayn train.  There was a method behind his madness; for his best friend had a twin sister that he had been addicted to the mere sight of since kindergarten.  To anyone else, this would make no sense at all. But Kayn was his friend; Chloe was his fantasy.

Kevin shoved past the herds of students as they attempted to pry their bodies through a single doorway. Some girl accidentally shoved him up against the wall; causing his bag to drop and his books to scatter.  His organizational skills had always left something to be desired. In the congested school hallway; after taking a moment to collect his papers, he zipped up his bag, and continued his quest for his one moment in the day to be in the presence of the unattainable Chloe Brighton.

He ran up the hill and unceremoniously plopped himself in his usual spot in the grass.  There his best friend was; kicking up dust like a champ.  He would time her next lap.  Kevin clicked his watch as his best friend flashed by him.  He smiled at her, even though he was certain that she had not even noticed him sitting there yet. Kayn just oozed happy vibes when she ran, it was contagious.

Her body; lean and freckled from exposure to the sun, glinted with sparkles in the sun’s rays.  Kayn did love that coconut sparkle tanning spray, perhaps a little too much. He squinted from the glare of the over applied sparkles as she passed by again. Kevin grinned as he thought about the list of strange little rituals that his best friend had on her daily to do list.  At the beginning of her run; she did look magical, all glittery like that. But by the end, that glitter tanning spray would cause the track’s dust to stick to her whole body in an extremely comical way.

Kevin had always thought that she was beautiful; but of course, this was something that he would never say to her. He knew that a declaration like that would probably only succeed in creeping Kayn out; that, and maybe causing him to die of embarrassment. That is; if he were to survive uttering the words of admiration in the first place. He had no doubt that with his luck; he’d get two words out and burst into flames. He knew that Kayn had always thought of him as nothing more than her best friend.

  It sure is a beautiful day, He thought to himself as he looked upwards at the vibrant blue sky.

As Kayn took off her blinders for a moment, allowing for a second to appreciate the sun’s rays gently whispering across her skin; she experienced a feeling of pure joy that was transcendent.  She kicked up another cloud to outrun as she rounded the corner.  Then there came that pleasurable jolt of electricity that surged through her brain; ignited her soul, and set her afire with insurmountable joy.  This moment in her run, had always left her with the feeling that she had been given a gift or anointment of physical power.  Her adrenaline rippled a winding path of pleasure underneath her skin.

She hit the straight stretch feeling such unimaginable, euphoric, physical ecstasy; that she felt she was being baptized by the sweat trickling down her forehead to the sides of her face.  Kayn Brighton was alive in this moment; in a way that only a runner could comprehend.  She was thankful for this moment, and every single time the experience overwhelmed her as it had today. Her soul felt just a little bit stronger.

Every nerve ending hummed like electric wire. “Faster Kayn, go faster.” Kayn was an athlete, born to push the limits of her body; programmed to be a power house.  Runners are a breed of their own; they have their incredible days, and their horrible days in a competition. Every day on that track, trail or wherever a runner chooses to run, it is always a feeling of spiritual completion.

‘Don’t call me baby’, by Madison Avenue, was cranked in her ears.  She kept pace to the beat, feeling powerful and strong.  She grinned and made eye contact as she ran past her best friend Kevin, signaling her acknowledgement of his presence.

 Kevin sat listening to his music, plucking the long, thin, green strands of grass out of the ground by their roots. He glanced up to look like he was paying attention when she ran by him. Then, out of moderate boredom; He continued to inspect the grass like a monkey at the zoo.  One by one, He studied the blades of grass and then threw them behind him.

The next time; when he saw her approaching, he waved and displayed a giant fake toothy grin. It was a funny thing that he had done since Kindergarten to make her erupt with laughter.  She passed him, and acknowledged that she had seen him sitting there being a goof, by shaking her head from side to side and smiling with her eyes.

 She started to walk in order to cool down her overheated body.  Her heart began to thump and pound in her chest like an act of defiance to her now walking feet.  She licked the sweat from her upper lip; tasting its salty pleasurable reward.  She took her track dust covered hand, and wiped her forehead to keep the stingy sweat from her eyes.  She then wiped the sweat on her shorts and noticed the streaks of dirt mixed with sweat and wondered if she had a streak of dust across her forehead.

Kayn turned in one fluid movement to greet Kevin; whose grassy scent signaled his arrival by her side.  His giant grin told her that her face was most certainly covered in dirt, but he didn’t mention it to her.  She loved how he always seemed to look like he was coming to greet her after she had won the Olympics or something equally spectacular.  She yanked the earplugs from one of her ears without ceremony.

“Holy crap,” He yelled, “that’s your best time this year! You’re going to kick serious butt at the finals next month!”

“You know my earplugs are out Kevin; I can hear you.”  She spoke quietly with a touch of sarcasm.

“Oh, I see, you think you’re pretty cool because you’re fast. Well young lady, plenty of people are fast but how many people can do this?” Kevin retorted with a wink and a teasing smile, before proceeding to do a dance move involving a twirl and some kind of awkward ill timed, running man, that left him laughing at the mortification that was written all over her face.

“Please stop,” Kayn pleaded, as she surveyed the track and surrounding areas for witnesses.

Kayn Brighton was a pretty girl, but she really had no clue how beautiful she really was.  Her naturally curly wheat colored hair, hung damp with perspiration in a messy pony tail.  Kevin had often thought that; with her pretty face gently speckled with freckles, and her cute nose streaked with mud, she resembled an Amazonian size forest nymph.

He jogged beside Kayn now in order to keep up, and was struggling because she walked with long model height strides.  He used to be just the most adorable little boy on the planet. But there was a point where he stopped feeling adorable; that was when his best friend Kayn, surpassed him in height by at least two feet by the end of the seventh grade.  As a joke, their mothers had been planning their wedding since second grade; so this was a complication that they had not anticipated.

Kevin had been in a painfully awkward, acne covered stage for three years now. He was still adorable, although possibly only to Kayn.  However, she did notice that his skin was looking pretty clear today. This morning there had obviously been some sort of attempt at hygiene.   She smiled at him as he valiantly attempted to jog as fast as she was walking.

“You are awesome; I mean that, and I’m totally not saying that to butter you up so you’ll put a good word in with your sister.” he said with a grin that spread from ear to ear.  He huffed and puffed; struggling to keep up to her easy pace.  She just loved him to death but she had been letting him down easy for ten years now.  She gave him a pat on the shoulder and then flung her arm around him.

She slowed right down to a casual stroll and then sweetly said, “There’s just this one problem muffin; my sister is way too advanced for you.”

“Right; that’s what you say to all the guys stalking your twin sister,” he countered with an attempted smirk at his clever way of calling her sister slutty.

She choked back a laugh and said, “Yes, as a matter of fact it is exactly what I say to every single one of them.”  With a sweet sugar filled tone in her voice Kayn added, “I was forced by the numbers to come up with a token line that I just say to all of them.  It just saves time darling.”

His face crinkled into a grin that showed his dimples, and he shook his head; feigning his distaste. He retorted in an almost flirty tone, “I personally, cannot believe that after all these years, I am merely a number to you Kayn.”

She displayed a giant smile at his attempt at innuendo, and would have been flattered had he not kept the conversation directed towards her twin sister.  She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder and said, “Just do yourself a favor; take a hint, before she pushes your sanity right over the edge and you become a nutty, obsessed fruit cake like her last boyfriend.”  She slapped him on the butt and added, “At least; have the decency to warn me if you ever find yourself feeling the urge to wear my sister as a skin coat, so I can get you some help.”  Kevin let out a small jump yelping from the stinging slap and shot a shocked look back in her direction.

“You’re really very funny, Candy Kayn.  Maybe you should be a comedian or something,” he shot back at her.

“It would be way funnier if it wasn’t totally the truth,” She challenged.

Kayn’s twin sister, Chloe Brighton, was the perfected version of her. She was popular, always the picture of perfection. People described her with words like captivating, stunning and provocative.  Kayn, on the other hand, was described as cute, funny and a good runner.  It didn’t seem very fair; however, she loved her sister with blind acceptance. They had always been extremely close but definitely did not hang out in the same crowd now.  To be honest, Kayn had no crowd at all; it was really just her and Kevin.

The only boys who ever showed an interest in Kayn; were usually after her sister, Chloe.  Kayn, being a tad less worldly than her sister; would always end up falling for the lines, thinking that, maybe this time, this guy actually liked her.  She would talk to them on the phone for a while, then inevitably they would ask to come over to hang out, or maybe do home work together.  She would invite them over, and right when her heart would begin to flutter with the romantic possibilities of a goodnight kiss, or how incredible it would be to have an actual boyfriend, it would happen.  They would always make their intentions obvious by saying something like, “because we are such good friends, could you introduce me to your sister Chloe?”

Friends…It was such a simple word. It was a word that she had begun to despise at a very young age because of her sister.  That one word; that had blown out every single candle of hope that she had kept lit inside of her heart her whole young life to date.

She would be blatantly lying, if she said that this constantly repeating scenario didn’t breed some kind of resentment towards her sister.  Still, she would never let it show.  Not once, had she ever freaked out at her sister for stealing her imaginary boyfriends, or simply for being a morally bankrupt bitch.

Kayn had learned very early in life that her twin didn’t follow the same ethical or moral code that the majority of the human race at least attempted to adhere to.  Kayn had this thing called a conscience; which included guilt and a little voice in her ear saying, “Don’t do it.”  She was pretty sure the voice talking to Chloe, said, “Do it,” every single time. For, there was never the need for sentiment or morality in Chloe’s universe.

The giant, self-contained universe that seemed to revolve completely around her twin sister was simply amazing.  One could stand with their mouth agape for hours, simply listening to the stories of horrific events that Chloe had caused during a 24 hour period of time.  It was as though her sister was in her own little snow globe completely by herself and life surrounded her.  Once in a while someone stirred up her water, but it simply revolved around her like everything else did, never really touching her or giving her a second to swirl around losing a second of control.  Chloe was always completely unaffected by the world around her, and stood unwavering through life’s currents.

She stopped walking and looked behind her, the track was empty. She shivered as she watched as a gust of wind seemed to run a trail down the track behind her stirring the dust up into the air.

Strange weather we’ve been having lately, Kayn thought as she noticed the clear blue sky had changed in a matter of moments to unsettling looking spatters of both white and grey. She could smell the scent of the fresh cut grass; it was almost overpowering.  Come to mention it all day every little thing had been over powering her senses.

 Kayn looked down at her feet, and as she shuffled through the grass, she could even hear the grass rustling loudly under her feet.  Kevin’s feet then came into her line of sight. She raised her eyebrows at him pointing to his untied shoe laces.  They stopped walking towards the building so he could rectify the situation.  He bent over in front of her, fumbling to quickly tie his shoe, before she could think up a smart ass comment about him trying to kill himself.  Too late, He thought smiling, because it was almost like you could see the little light bulb above her head light up with a funny dig.

She began to speak as if she were reading his obituary. “I can see the paper now; it would read something like this; Kevin Smith was a wonderful boy; so smart and good looking, but a little clumsy.  Had he simply tied up his shoes, he would have never tripped down the stairs and found himself impaled on a janitor’s broom.  Remember kids; tie your shoes; safety first.”

“Have I told you yet today; that you’re an asshole?” Kevin stated as soon as she finished her version of his obituary reading.  Kayn didn’t have a comeback.  She swung her head around to look behind her. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was sneaking up behind her.

Kevin leaned in to whisper in her ear, “You sure you’re okay? because you’re starting to creep me out a bit with this cagey behavior.”

Kevin’s warm breath in her ear made Kayn shiver again, and she said, “No, just overtired I guess.”

“The way that you’re swinging your head around young lady, is frankly a little creepy.” He said, raising his eyebrows in her direction in a moderately concerned fashion.  He twirled around in a circle and added, “Nobody is coming I swear.”

“I know,” Kayn smiled. “I’m just feeling off.  Maybe I’m coming down with something?”

“We should be more worried about you ending up with a nasty case of whiplash, than me impaling myself on a janitor’s broom.”  He put his arm around her and gave her a buddy like squeeze.  “Let’s go have a shower, muffin; you’re kind of sweaty and sticky.  What do you do…cover yourself in honey before you go for a run?” He said laughing, as he smelled his hands and said, “Ewww that’s not honey.”

“There’s this thing called exercise.  It causes us to sweat, removing toxins from our body. Have you ever heard of it?” Kayn sweetly retorted.

“There you go talking all dirty again, literally; it’s kind of hot, all this talk of toxins and waste.  What were your boyfriends’ names again Kayn?”  Kevin retorted sweetly.

“You should call up your invisible girlfriend and ask her what her name is, love monkey,” She rebutted, as they had a grinning face off.

“I have a girlfriend, Kayn.  Her name is Chloe.  She just doesn’t know it yet,” He smiled; he couldn’t help himself, he knew it irritated her to no end.

“Do you know what the difference between you and a stalker is?” She replied sweetly.

“Do tell, oh wise and mighty stalking connoisseur,” He sighed.

“Whether or not you’re wearing my sisters stolen thong underwear right now,” She said, wrestling Kevin down and trying to look down the back of his shorts; to see if he was wearing Chloe’s thong underwear.

“Hey, hey, simmer down.  You don’t want me to yell rape, do you Candy Kayn? And I happen to be going commando; so pulling off my shorts is not a great idea today,” He chuckled fending her off.

“Gross, Kevin.”  She backed away laughing, imagining if someone else did it.

“Hey, I’ll have you know, that I have been going commando since my first wedgie in grade five; once they grab for underwear, and don’t find any, they get very afraid and back right off.” He chuckled.

 Kayn doubled over into fits of giggles, “I may actually pee myself!” she managed to gasp through bursts of hysterical laughter.

“You learn lots of little things that help you maneuver through geekdom unscathed if you’re crafty, you know.” He said as they started walking together again.