Taken: Garakgrrrl
Actor/Actress: Margot Finley
Quatrain 68, Century 10: "The Cheshire breed is spawned / an intertwining battleground / dominance attained, without a ship set sail"
Journals: Book 1, Entry 12
This Nostradamus quatrain clicked after logging onto an Internet chat room. Students at the Bradbury Academy in Chesire, Massachusetts, were talking about fellow student Julia Hartman. Seems she may have torched a classmate with the power of her mind. In my textbook, that pegged her as alien.
The problem's trying to investigate a boarding school incident when you're wanted for murder. An airtight cover is needed. Fortunately, heard about the need for a new track coach at Bradbury. It was time to lace up my sneakers.
Coaching the track team proved a good opportunity to meet the students. Julia Hartman was made the outcast. When I asked the other students about Julia and the fire, nobody claimed to know much. But they did say Julia spent most of her time in the infirmary with Nurse Kelly.
Julia was a peculiar girl – quietly confident, guarded and confused, but incredibly smart. Found her speed reading Shakespeare. She told me Nurse Kelly didn't want her to go to gym class anymore – something to do with an anemic medical condition, but that she wasn't supposed to talk about it. She resented this, said that she wasn't a quitter. I asked her about the fire. She didn't know what happened. Julia explained that when the others humiliated her, she felt an uncontrollable anger. Now the other girls thought she was a freak. I sympathized with Julia. It's tough being on the outside. I knew what she was going through…
Julia showed up at practice the next day, determined to show her taunting teammates what she was made of. Julia started the race late, but still left 'em all in the dust. Her speed was super-human. A record time. Julia was amazed at her own performance. She said she was transforming – something was happening to her. I guessed the Gua were behind this. I wondered if Julia might even be an alien and not know. Julia's transformation concerned me. The other girls taunted Julia repeatedly. Julia was starting to stand up for herself…and relishing the power she was starting to wield.
I found out more about Julia's background. Her mother had given her up for adoption when she was only four. Nurse Kelly had raised her…and now her grip was tightening on Julia. I stole a look at Julia's medication on the sly. Eddie determined these pills were primarily used for DNA research.
Were the aliens manipulating Julia's DNA? Was this the "intertwining battleground" that Nostradamus prophecized? If there was going to be a battle for Julia Hartman between me and the aliens, only one of us was going to win. I wasn't about to let Julia be an innocent casualty of war…
