The next few days were quiet. Then, without warning, all everything went nuts. Maggie spent the whole time in bed, or at least at home, her sense of time and of imbalance shrieking loud enough to break her eardrums if it had been vocal. She was barely aware that she was eight years old again. As it was, she had migraines that kept her down, and often completely out. Then, suddenly, it was over. The imbalance balanced again so abruptly that the absence of pain was almost as bad as the headaches - but only for an instant.
The next morning, there was a new girl at school. She was African American, taller than Aisha. In fact, she was taller than Maggie. Kat introduced her as Tanya. To Margery's surprise, she had power as well, but a different kind than the others. It was, however, the same color as Aisha's had been, just newer. She looked in some surprise at Kat, who smiled. "There have been some changes," she said. Maggie nodded.
"I guess. Nice to meet you, and welcome to Angel Grove." She turned to Kat. "Where are Adam and the others?"
"We're meeting them in the juice bar," Kat grinned. "Want to come?"
Maggie nodded. "Definitely." She let Kat and Tanya go ahead, trailing behind them. When they reached the juice bar, she sank down next to Rocky and touched his arm, intending to ask where Aisha and Adam were. The power he held nearly overwhelmed her, as if they'd gotten recharged, and it had the same strange difference as Tanya's did. So that change had gone through the whole group. "Whoa, Rock. Where you been?" she asked. He smiled at her, confused.
"What?"
She shook her head, then jumped as someone touched her shoulder. She turned to look at Adam, who smiled at her. He was changed, too, of course. There was one of the two she was looking for, at least.
"Hi. How are you?"
"I had the weirdest couple of weeks," she said to cover her surprise. "My sense of time was so totally screwed, it gave me migraines, and I think I was young again. Did something happen?" She Looked at him, and her eyes widened. Her head snapped around to take in Kat, Rocky and Tommy, then she Looked at Billy and got the shock of her life. "What happened to you guys?" she demanded in a whisper, holding Adam's arm for fear of falling off her chair. "Billy?"
His signature of power was gone; his aura, still slightly tainted blue, Read like everyone else's, as long as they weren't a Power Ranger. It showed he was slightly depressed, although what about she wasn't sure yet. And the change she'd felt in Rocky hadn't necessarily been all of the change in power, she realized; it was a completely different color. Same with Adam.
"Let's go to the park," Tommy said, taking charge of the little group as he usually did. They all stood up and followed him out. Once there, they found a secluded part of the park, and sat down in a circle. By the time they got there, Maggie had calmed down a little, but was still casting Glances at her friends, trying to figure out what had happened. "I take it you can tell Billy has no powers?" Tommy asked.
Tanya's head snapped around, eyes wide with shock, and Maggie turned a little slower to look at him. "Yes. And you're red, Rocky's blue, and Adam's green? There wasn't even green before." She must have sounded hysterical, because both Adam and Rocky tried to calm her down, and Kat looked at her, concerned, from her spot across the circle. "What happened? It happened during that weird time thing, didn't it."
"How does she know all this?" Tanya finally demanded as Maggie pulled her arms from Rocky and Adam.
"Don't. You're too strong. This power is strong. There's more of it." She wasn't making sense, and she knew it, but the disorientation wasn't gone from the imbalance, and this change had her completely confused, both in the power and in the team. She didn't realize anyone had moved until Billy knelt by her and touched her shoulder. "Where's Aisha?" she finally asked, and felt tears in her eyes.
He took a deep breath. "She's in Africa. We... They went on a quest, and Tanya returned in Aisha's place. Most people don't remember her, because of the time distortion. There are two time lines... You, and we, are the only people who remember it as it happened." He was sad, she could feel the pain in him.
"Is... Is she coming back?" Tanya took Aisha's place? Wait, this is so confusing....
"I don't know. I don't think so, not any time soon," he answered. She heard Tommy tell Adam and Rocky to explain to Tanya what was going on, then she heard nothing as she burst into tears and sobbed on Billy's shoulder.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" she heard Kat's soft accents as the hysterics began to fade.
"I don't know." She heard it through his chest, and became aware that they'd been talking for a while. She just hadn't heard anything anyone had said.
"I just...." she took a gasp for breath, keeping her face buried on Billy's shoulder. "I just have to adjust to you again." She laughed a little. "That, at least is a good thing. It means I'm still staying."
"Still staying?" Tanya's voice wasn't as hard, but still distrustful. Maggie sat up, giving Billy a kiss on the cheek in thanks, and turned to her. Adam stood behind Tanya, his hands in his pockets. He dressed differently now, hiding his body under baggy clothes, as if he were ashamed of it. Either that, or it made it easier to move in a fight. Still, she was going to miss those white t-shirts. Her face flamed at the thought.
"How much exactly did you tell her?"
"Not much," Tanya answered with a glance up at Adam, then over at Rocky, who stood against a nearby tree. Maggie's eyes followed hers and noticed that Rocky was grinning a little too widely. He winked at her; Maggie scowled briefly at him.
"Okay. The beginning. I'm Wiccan. Did they cover that?" Maybe this would help her calm down, she didn't know, but at least it would be a chance.
She looked confused. "No."
"Well, I am, and that explains a lot." And she proceeded to explain how she had found out about them, leaving out the "extra" she knew about Kat.
"Which is why you looked at them and went pale," Tanya concluded. She had relaxed a little as Maggie told her story. And Maggie found that she calmed down as well.
"Did I?" she asked. "It was something of a shock, I guess." Does that mean that their old colors will be with them, too? Like Billy's? Why can't I feel them? Is it just because the new powers are so much more powerful?
Tommy glanced at his watch. "Um, guys, we're really late for class," he said, and pulled Kat to her feet.
"It's not like they'll notice anything different from you," she said with a smile, and kissed his cheek.
"I've gotten better," he protested.
Rocky cleared his throat. "Okay, maybe a little," he said at a glare from Tommy, and grinned, unrepentant.
"I guess we'd better run?" Maggie asked, and they all took off. Yes, she decided, she was definitely going to miss those white t-shirts.
Maggie slammed her geometry book closed in frustration. Three times having the beginning of this class, and suddenly she'd hit a brick wall - the next section. She had no idea how to even begin. She looked at the book for a minute, then reached for the phone. Someone should be able to help her.
"Hi, Billy? Any chance you can help me out?"
"I'll try," he said quietly.
"I've just hit a brick wall in geometry. Would you be willing to tutor me?"
There was a long silence. "I tried to help Tommy with his, and it didn't work out so well," Billy said after a minute. "He's been getting help from Adam. Maybe you should try him."
"But why didn't it work out?"
There was silence again. "I think, because I understood it. I can't explain something I get the first time, I have no way of explaining it differently."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks."
"Do you have Adam's number?"
"No, I don't. Will you give it to me?" Good, Maggie, casual. She actually hadn't gotten it yet; she'd never had a reason to talk to him. She wrote it down, said good bye and hung up, only to stare at the phone for a long while before getting up the courage to call.
"Hi, may I speak to Adam?"
"Speaking."
Her throat closed up, and she cleared it. "Sorry. This is Maggie. Billy said you were a pretty good geometry tutor?" Her butterflies were going insane in her stomach, and she was about ready to drink poison just to get them to stop.
"I guess... Tommy seems to be doing better," he said.
"Um, could you handle someone else to tutor?"
There was silence at the other end. She'd thought they were bad before! "Sure, I guess. When do you need help?"
"Actually, right now, there's an assignment due on Monday, and I'm so lost, I've been trying to get it all afternoon." It came out in a rush. "I mean, tomorrow will be soon enough, but...."
"No, I'm free. Want to meet in the park, your house, mine, or the library?"
He's free? On a Friday? How often is he free on a Friday night? "The park? in the clearing you showed me?"
"Can you be there in fifteen minutes?"
I can be there in five, she thought to herself excitedly. "Yeah. Thanks, Adam. I really appreciate this."
"Sure. See you there."
She hung up, threw her books in her backpack, and ran down the stairs. "Going to the park for a study session!" she called to her dad as she passed the kitchen. "I'll be back before too late, and if it does get dark, I'll have him walk me home."
"Have a good time." The answer wasn't as absent-minded as he made it sound; he looked up and smiled at her before she left the kitchen doorway and flew out the front door. "Him?" she heard faintly as the door closed behind her.
The walk was nice, and she was there before he was, just as she'd planned. She sat in the center of the clearing, put her hands flat on the ground, and concentrated on calm, wanting to be relaxed when he showed up.
"You must live closer than I do," he said behind her, then sank down on the ground next to her. She smiled at him, completely masking the butterflies dancing in her stomach. At least, she hoped she was.
"Probably. I love this place." She gestured around the clearing. "There's a closeness here that isn't found in many places." She shook her head. "Sorry. Let's get this done so you have a real Friday night." She grabbed her back pack and pulled her books from it, glancing at him once to see his response.
He shrugged. "This is as real as it gets. As long as it's not interrupted." He leaned towards her. "So far, Mondo's been quiet in comparison, but don't tell him I said that."
Maggie laughed. "I don't think I'll have the opportunity." She opened her book.
"Hey." He touched her hand, and she looked at him in surprise. "If my watch goes off, you get out of here, okay? Go home. You'll be safer there."
She smiled. "Okay."
"So, tell me what's the problem."
The next few weeks were interesting, to say the least. She still hung out with them, and noticed the definite attraction Adam had to Tanya. She was glad; he seemed to be making an attempt to come out of his shell around her.
"Do you like Tanya?" he asked her one afternoon at a tutoring session. Maggie looked at him in surprise.
"She's okay. I wish Aisha had come back, but Tanya's okay, as far as that goes." She paused. "She has this thing for yellow, which I just don't like...." Maggie grinned. "Okay, okay, so she can't help it," she said as he opened his mouth. "And so far her taste in boyfriends has been really bad."
"Yeah," he said, deflated. "You don't like yellow?"
She shook her head. "It's just not my thing. My friend Tabitha looks smashing in it, and since our coloring is close, I'd probably look okay, but it's not a color I'd choose to wear. I think Tanya looks great in it. So did Aisha."
"Yeah." If it hadn't been so short, Maggie would have said the word was full of wishful dreams. She went back to her homework. "You know," he said after a minute, and Maggie looked up again. "I can't see you in yellow." The look on his face was one she didn't recognize.
"Is that good or bad?" she asked.
"Good, I think."
"Why?"
"Because I have bad luck with yellow."
Does he know what he just said? Maggie thought to herself, then watched the flush cover his cheeks. Yes, he did. She went back to her studying. "You miss Aisha, too?" she asked after a minute.
He sighed. "Yeah. We were friends for a long time. We were actually a trio from the beginning. I never really imagined finishing school without both of them here."
She glanced up; he looked downright depressed. Hoping she didn't regret it, she reached over and touched his hand. "I wish I had been able to have friends like you did," she smiled. "You are very lucky."
He gave her a half smile that sent her currently-quiet butterflies into fits, and she stifled a sigh. "Thanks," he said softly. She reluctantly took her hand back and went back to studying. Unfortunately, she knew she was more lost than ever. And she wasn't talking about the geometry.
The next session they had was interrupted by the familiar six tone beep. They were at the library, so Adam gave her an apologetic grin, grabbed his books, and headed out the door. Maggie waited for the familiar wave of power that usually signaled their teleporting, and it never came. She realized then that she hadn't felt them do anything for a while; it was as if their powers weren't in the realm of magic anymore. She waited until he came back to ask him about it.
"I thought you'd be gone," he said softly, interrupting her as she tried to understand the whole concept. It just wasn't working.
"I still need help. And I had a question."
He looked apologetic. "I have to get home, but I think we live in the same general area. You can ask me while we walk."
"Okay." She gathered her books, realizing she had more than one question, both of which vied for her attention as they walked out of the library. "I can't feel you guys any more," she blurted suddenly as they crossed a street towards the park.
He looked at her in surprise. "Feel us?"
"Yeah. You used to knock me over whenever you teleported, or morphed, I think. But I can't tell that anymore. I just realized it today. I know you had to do one or the other, but I didn't feel anything."
"Oh." He pondered that for a minute. "I'm not sure I can answer that question. We aren't powered by the morphin' grid anymore, though. It's crystals. Well, a crystal."
Her forehead wrinkled. "From earth?"
He laughed. "Is anything we do from earth?" he asked, and she wasn't sure if he was looking for an answer or not.
"I don't know. You obviously take care of her, and guard her, so I would think so...." She shrugged. "I guess it really doesn't matter. What matters is that you guard her."
"Her?" He gave her a half grin.
"The earth. Mother Earth, I guess you could say. Well, I would, and obviously do..." she trailed off, a little embarrassed. "Anyway, I just thought it was interesting, that you are out of the realm of magic as I know it."
He nodded. "It is interesting." They walked on in silence until they had to split up at the other edge of the park.
Nothing much changed until Tanya broke up with her boyfriend. He was the captain of the baseball team, and someone Maggie didn't like much. It happened at the end of a baseball game Angel Grove barely won, Tanya's first time pitching. Maggie hadn't heard the words between them, but the look on Tanya's face, as well as Adam's, did not bode well for Sean if he stayed around. Sean left pretty quickly, so nothing happened, and Maggie never asked what had been said. She didn't think she wanted to know that badly. And after that, Adam and Tanya were almost inseparable. Ah, well, it's not meant to be, she thought one night when her thoughts had strayed. It was disappointing. But the response she got was not a definite one, and she had to think on that, during her next ceremony.