Lately, all along the east coast, things had been quite crazy—especially in New York City

I want to thank Quintessence-X, DeathbyAngel, and Dust Mowt. I cannot reply here because you will probably rip me to shreds after this chapter. I will reply to the reviews individually though. I figure that if I can keep you separated, I might stand a chance against any revolt. (Shifty eyes)

Lately, all along the east coast, things had been quite crazy—especially in New York City. The overcast skies were so prevalent that the New Yorkers all seemed to take on the gray of quality of the sky. All over downtown Brooklyn and the rest of the city, people seemed more and more dejected. It seemed to mainly affect middle-age adults who actually worked, though the increasing lethargy in younger people and the hopelessness in older people could hardly be overlooked. Sluggishness was taking over so much that even the newscasters had began to stop trying to find the silver linings in their news, giving it to the people straight and taking no prisoners as they accused people in their stories.

Dust Storm, however, didn’t know what lethargy was. And that’s not to just say that he wasn’t lazy; if you asked him, he probably couldn’t spell it.

“Like, dude, we’re almost brothers! I can’t date him… Even if we did meet irl,” Dust Storm defended, leering at Nathanial. “Don’t get me wrong though, Japanese guys are hot as hell, ‘specially when they’re tall… But I just can’t…”

Nathanial seemed to not be paying any attention to Dust Storm, but Dust Storm knew that as he applied his eye shadow in his compact, Nathanial heard everything. And in the off chance that he missed anything, his compact would catch it on its ever-transmitting audio receiver. He learned early on that Nathanial wasn’t actually applying his makeup at every moment of the day so much as he was spying. “But you like him?”

“Yeeeesss…” Dust Storm sighed.

“And you would tell him so, except that…” Nathanial prompted, eyes narrowing as his transmitter stream fluxed slightly but then regained signal.

“He would know.”

Nathanial turned his head with deliberate care and sharpened his eyes, somehow making the closest one glint under overcast skies. “Andros, dear—” ooh… he busted out the birth name. Students at the Markena Banks High School for Hacking never did that, unless they preferred to go by their birth name. “—Andros, you have to understand that he is supposed to know your feelings.”

Andros flinched at his name, but ultimately heard the message, not whipping ass because he had heavier things on his mind. He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. Then spoke.

“So you want me to call him?” asked PICKLEDPICKLE, shaking his head.

“Yeah,” Nathan said, twiddling with the screws on his skateboard. “You have to tell him you don’t like him the way he thinks you do. His letters and im’s make it sound like he likes you. A lot.”

“Nooo…” PICKLEDPICKLE groaned. “I like him as an extension of myself. Sort of how I like me. I like me a lot, but I wouldn’t date myself, you know?”

“No, actually, Taylor, that’s kind of weird to be thinking about… But he’s hot. Like damn.”

“You’re just obsessed with Hispanics,” PICKLEDPICKLE accused.

“Because they’re hot,” Nathan flipped his red shag, green eyes leering through his curtain of hair. “Like me.”

“Whatever. Anyway… I don’t really want to…What am I going to say? ‘Hey Dust Storm, just calling to say I don’t like you the way you like me!’ How’s that going to sound?”

“It will sound like you’re finally telling your feelings to someone,” Nathaniel sighed. “But I’m nobody’s spiritual guru. I have stuff to do.”

Andros knew that by stuff, Nathaniel meant blackmail. And by do, Nathaniel meant… Well, it was just like it sounded. He kept people’s secrets that he found out via compact-recorder at the price of sex. The only thing that kept Andros safe was the stuff he had on Nathaniel. And they were friends. Though, Nathaniel was quite the power-bottom, as they say…

Andros picked up his phone and dialed…

“And the call is made,” Nathan smirked. “How do you say ‘I’m fucked?’ in Japanese?”

Taylor frowned fiercely and flipped Nathan off with gusto. He answered the phone.

“Hey Dusty…”

“Hey Pickle… Um, I called to tell you something.”

“That’s funny! I was going to call to tell you something!”

“What were you going to tell me?”

“Tell me what you were going to tell me!”

“Okay. I sort of like—OH SHIT! ” There was a loud screeching noise on the other end.

“ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?! What HAPPENED?!” Taylor’s eyes were wide as saucers and Nathan was on edge, straining to hear the conversation.

“Fucking car… Swerved and almost hit me… I’m sitting down on the bench in front of the schoolyard and… Um, I need to get my breath back… I’ll call later. But I did want to say I got the ticket. It cost me a month’s allowance, but it’s a roundtrip to Cali for 3 days, if you can put me up for that long.”

“Um, yeah… I think I told you this before. My closet is almost as big as my bedroom,” Taylor said, calming down a bit. “And it’d be easy to pick you up from the airport and stuff… Dude, this is so in the bag…”

“Next week is good for me, that Friday and then I’ll leave Sunday. Is that good for you?”

Ayo’s eyes checked the rearview mirror. Good. He’d scared the shit out of Andros. Of course, Ayo would not remember this when the trance was broken, for Oya was in full possession of his ward. He was obligated to feel bad about both things: One, possessing Ayo and two, terrorizing a person, but both things had to be done.

If Oya had not stopped Andros for confessing his love for Taylor, the world might have exploded. Really. It was pretty unstable as it currently was, and with the other disasters the two interacting had caused…

Oya had done his research: He learned more intricately what every Angel instinctively knew… In fact, the book sat right next to him, open to the chapter he was reading.

Summarized, it said that the two cosmic oceans—Yin and Yang—oft times channel into living beings to test their harmony. The cosmic oceans were very powerful and were not to make contact with each other, lest they cause chaos in the universe.

It just so happened that the oceans decided to manifest right during the dawn of the Information Age where the chances of never seeing each other were actually less than the opposite on a world-wide scale. Oya needed more time. The better the two got to know each other, the worse things got. At this point, a confession of love would be world-ending.

Taylor waited at the terminal holding a sign reading ‘STORM DUST’ with a picture of a huge brown tornado. He bit his lip expectantly as people began to get off the plane.

In India, it was business as usual when the dust particle that caused raging winds in Kansas had traveled unfortunately into the eye of a woman smuggling poorly-packaged anthrax. She dropped the package and in the Indian heat, plumes of white powder flew dangerously on the wind.

In Japan, it was business as usual when a small girl teased another girl her age about her hair bow, only to be struck by the sudden flash of lightning from clouds that had not been present in the sky moments before.

In Egypt, it was business as usual when a rebellious boy stomped his foot hard onto the ground of their second story Cairo apartment, only to feel a slight tremble go through the unit. Following the tremor, there super-shake moments later.

In Los Angeles, California, it was business as usual when Andros and Taylor exchanged real names, shook hands, and then hugged. And nothing happened as Andros followed Taylor through the doors with his small duffel bag in tow with his rollerblades hanging off his backpack.

Well, this is it: The turning point. Next chapter will be up soon and it will be an fyi chapter, so submit any questions you’ve got. I love you all, faithful reviewers! Now I’m going to work out. I’m so scrawny…