Chapter 1: The Arrival

Dalton nodded at everyone's comments, "I agree. I've got older kids, but not sure if it is worse thinking they found me in a coma in the driveway or I just disappeared off the planet. Maybe we just wake up at the same moment we left - who knows."

If we get back at all...

Novak giggled at AJ's suggestion of him possibly being a murderer. He said,

"That's lesson one of my mum's 'How to Be a Criminal' handbook. Never use a weapon of any kind, ever!" So, if you offered me a weapon back home, I would drop it. That shiv I found shortly before we were transported, I would have handed it to a guard." But now, I seem to know how to use it. Just like Dalton knows which bone to break, I know exactly where to stick it to make it hurt."

Dalton's suggestion made him think. "Maybe we could be back around the same time. That wouldn't be an outlandish idea. Maybe time just stopped for a second in the old world. Maybe we'll be back and not even remember this place. Just a short lapse of memory. Nothing more."

Dalton shrugged, "I'll hope for something like that... I'd hate my family be looking for me and it sounds like we are in for a long walk at least."

Al looked at Novac. "Like I said, I got your back if you got mine. I have people waiting for me back home too."

Hearing others explain their new powers and abilities, Al smiled slightly. "I've got to admit, this is all pretty awesome. Scary, but awesome."

"As for myself, I feel a strong connection to the earth. It grounds me and it's kept me from freaking out this whole time."

Al looked at the foliage around them. "I can hear the plants whisper ... and control the elements. Who knows what else I can do?"

Dalton laughs at a sudden image from a show he watched with his kids long ago, "Well, if you sprout a big orange mustache, we'll call you The Lorax - as you speak for the trees."