As always, Liz, Dev, and the gient belong to me, as do all the people working for Sinister.
Thank you Sensei Dor for letting me use you name. You are an honorable sensei, and it is an honor to be one of your students. Likewise, thank you NePier for also letting my use your name. May all your eggs break without getting shells in them, and may you never burn another pot roast in my kitchen again!

The Sun Will Shine Again
by Raven Adams
April 1998

Chapter 11

The days grew longer as Spring came. The morning sky filled with colors so brilliant that they could only be reproduced in a crayon box. And at night, the sunset would turn the sky to velvet as it dipped its sleepy head into the waters of the Atlantic. And the spring constellations in the sky seem just close enough to touch.

Snow melted in the higher reaches, causing small waterfalls as it drained into rivers and lakes. And flowers of many different sizes and colors sprung up. The air filled with scents, as if an Angel had come down and sprayed the whole countryside with perfume.

Birds that had left in the colder months came back, their songs of mating filling the air like an orchestra. Tree leaves came back with a green brilliance, and the air was alive with the sounds of honey bees going about their work to gather nectar from each flower.

Children played outside, sailing kites, and riding on bicycles. Hockey gear was put up, and baseball outfits were donned. The world was alive once more, the death of winter having left for another year. And the songs of Spring and Summer coming into every open window that could be found.

The world had turned into a playground for the children, making new friends and finding new adventures was on every little boy's and girl's mind. The time was right for exploration...

The time was right for every child but the two kept underground in a maze of laboratories.

Lizzie and Devin didn't know that it was spring time. They didn't know they were in Maine either, all they knew was that the bad IT was gone, and their giant would watch over them. And even though they were prisoners, they were treated fairly, and they never have want for anything.

"Oh come on, Lizzie! I wanted to read that one!" Devin cried in dismay, his voice taking on a whine.

"Too bad, it mine now, an' you c'n read it after I done, Flat Scan." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fine! Be that way... Mutie!" He grinned, picking another book off the library shelf. It was a game the two played, neither really knowing what a flat scan or a mutie was, just knowing that Devin was human, and Lizzie was special. Devin got his book, a hefty one that he had to blow the dust off of as he opened it, and came to sit on the floor in front of Lizzie. Her hand came down and found his as they quietly sat and read together. They often found comfort with one another since they had met, and the only times they were separated was when one or the other had to go for the TESTS.

The TESTS they both despised. Neither knowing what they were for, and none of the people that worked for IT would tell them. They just knew that after one they felt different for a while, then the feeling seemed to become normal, as if they should feel that way.

They pretty much had their run of the place--they could go almost anywhere they wanted to. Only a few rooms were restricted to them, and the giant, who still said very little, had to follow them everywhere they went. Except for the TESTS. He would stay away then, pain filling his eyes. Lizzie often wondered if he had gone though the TESTS too when he was younger. But it didn't matter. Devin and she both soon forgot much of what the world had been like OUTSIDE. Devin forgot his Uncle Jim, and Lizzie's memories of her mother were fading.

Her father stayed in her mind the most. Perhaps it was because she tried blocking her mother's death from her mind, and she was forced to remember everything her father had ever taught her. She was required often to show her thieving skills and the more and more she had to pick a lock or hack into a computer, the faster and more sure of herself she became.

Devin had to hone in on his skills too. He was made to teach Lizzie all he knew about living off the land. Teach her how to catch food, and how to find it. Which berries shouldn't be eaten and which could be. Things he had learned to survive. Likewise, Lizzie taught him to be a thief, as well as she could. There was still much she hadn't learned in her three years as her father's apprentice. She still had four years of learning to do. They had a schedule every day to follow, not that they minded for most part. It kept their minds away from the life they had before, and kept Lizzie from crying herself to sleep at night.

In the morning they had a training session with Dor. He wasn't too harsh on them, even though he never had a kind word to say to them. He made them run laps, climb ropes and walls, swim, and do push-ups and sit-ups. Dor also taught them martial arts. For three hours before breakfast they were his, and by the time they were done, they both were ready to collapse.

Next they had to make their own breakfast, as they did lunch and dinner. NePier was the cook, but he was allowed to make suggestions, but never help. He was most likely the nicest one among the people who worked for IT. He and the giant. NePier was from France, but they never would have known it if someone hadn't of told them. He was deaf, and both were forced to learn sign language in order to understand what he was saying to them.

They were also required to go to the SCHOOL. The SCHOOL was much harder then any Lizzie had ever had to go to, and since Devin had never been to one before, he didn't know the difference. The SCHOOL was run by Shora, the green-eyed and -haired mutant that was almost a mean as IT. She was a harsh teacher. Devin and Lizzie were required to know how to manage money, to read perfectly, they were taught other languages too. Lizzie now had Latin and Spanish to add to French and English. Devin didn't learn quite as fast as Lizzie in the languages, but he made up for that in history and science.

After SCHOOL was lunch and then another training session. This one run by Gart. She taught them to use computers and how to shut off security systems. She was the one to make them teach each other everything they knew.

During her class they would be taken away for the TESTS one at a time, never together. Neither remembered much of what happened during the test, just knew sometimes they felt stronger than they had before, and they never hurt, but neither liked them.

After Gart, they would be with Morn. She was a quiet woman, she was also quick with a harsh word when they did something not to her liking. But she, unlike the others, had kind words to say when they did something right also. She taught them to use weapons. She helped Lizzie with her invisibility and the small charging ability she had inherited from her father. Also, Lizzie was taught to control her feelings to the point that she could make her eyes change to any color she wanted them to, and to hide what she was really feeling. Anger was the only thing she couldn't control, but she didn't get angry often. Both were taught to use guns and gasses, as well as throwing knives with deadly acuracy.

After that they could do whatever they wanted. And more times then not, they found themselves in the library, either reading something, or one or the other of them playing the giant in a game of chess. He was their protector, it seemed. He would never let the others hurt them, had even slapped Morn once for hitting Devin. He was also there to keep their minds busy and sharp.

Nether understood why they were being taught any of this, nor did they understand why they were there. But they both bore with it, and in Lizzie's mind she still clung to a thread of hope--her father finding them. And they had each other. They had become like brother and sister, never separate, and they loved each other. That was all they needed.

"Lizzie cut it out!" Devin turned around sharply. His words were angry, but she knew he wasn't.

"I n't do anyt'ing, Devin!" She said not taking her eyes off her book.

"You're reading out load! How am I supposed to read with you talking so much?"

"You hearin' t'ings, mon ami."

"I can here you, ma ami."

"Amie." She cerected him, he glared at him, then turned his back to her to keep reading. the next thing Lizzie know, she could hear him reading out loud. Cul! She thought to herself, but said nothing.

"That's it, Lizzie. " Devin said, slamming his book on the ground. "I can take you reading out load, but you don't cuss at me!"

She looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Hein?"

"I heard you call me an ass!"

Lizzie blinked. Quietly she said, "Devin, I didn't say that out loud. I only... thought it.

He watched the two of them out the corner of his eye and sighed. It had happened. Sooner then he had hoped. The Master would be back soon, now that the link between them had been set.

The giant decided to leave the two of them alone, to let them sort out their minds by themselves. There really wasn't anything he could do to help them, not yet anyway. He walked quietly to the control room and picked up the transmitter. "It's done." He said simply.

"Good." Came the reply, and he left the room, going back into the library. He looked on at the children, now hugging each other trying to be comforted and to give comfort. They had no idea what was going on, why they had to take the tests, but the four months that they had spent here, at peace with themselves and each other, would quickly come to an end.

Continued in Chapter 12

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