The performance
I got ready for the ballet eagerly, in the skirt and one of the blouses that Uncle Steve had made for me, my hair up and the garnet earrings in. I had some pretty dress pumps with a two inch heel and felt really good. I'd been to the ballet before, of course, but these were usually matinee performances; this was an evening performance, dressier. There was a tap on my door and when I yelled, Deri came in. She had a cute blue dress on with low wedges; she'd curled her hair and it was pretty. "You ready?" she asked. I considered her. It was an important night, so I rummaged in the vanity drawer and held out the box with the enamel earrings.
"Do you want to borrow these tonight?" I asked, and when her face lit, I was glad I'd offered. She switched out the plain gold balls she'd been wearing and we went down together.
All four of us went; it was kind of a surprise that Dad was able to come. I don't think he's all that crazy about the ballet, actually , which is hard on him, having me for a daughter, but he doesn't hate it or anything. But it was a big deal, the first staging of the Sandman ballet in about ten years. It was (very) loosely based on the Neil Gaiman classic comics, and although Miles was in the corps for the night, he was understudying Dream, a really good role and almost unheard-of for a new member of the corps.
There were a lot of the family in attendance, of course; Grandma Alex, Grandpa Damian, and Iris were there along with Grandpas Bruce, Xander, Thomas, and Mark, Grandma Martha, a slew of aunts and uncles and cousins. We probably made up about a tenth of the audience. The quality of the production was high, and the dancing was wonderful, as befits the country's premier company, and Miles did really well. You could tell that he was already making progress in the short time he'd been a professional. If the muse of dance had graced me, she must have full-on french kissed Miles.
Deri and I chattered on the way home; Dad was driving, since when we'd started back there was an emergency flight and the aerial lanes were closed, and then we were past the launch points when they reopened. Mom asked us about our opinions and some aspect of the ballet now and then. It was kind of late, around ten, which was late for a school night, but this was an extenuating circumstance. I'd pay for it tomorrow, though, being tired in class, but it was so worth it.
Nobody expected a thing as the traffic from the city started to thin out.
A big dark van in the lane on our left and a delivery truck in the right lane suddenly squashed our pod between them. The impact was pretty vicious, all the safety measures came into play, and I couldn't see anything through the airbags and barriers that deployed. I was shaken but not really hurt, and as we came to a stop, I clawed my way through the deflating airbags to find Deri in a similar condition. But when we called for Mom and Dad, there was no answer. The delivery truck that had been on my side rolled away and stopped, and I was shocked when my door was wrenched open and I was dragged out. The door for the forward compartment was also open and Mom was positioned as if she'd opened the door but collapsed before she could get out of the seat. As I looked at her, her bracelets flickered into reality on her wrists, then faded away.
A wash of hot air rolled over me as a new conveyance pulled up in the emergency lane, its propulsion idling but not cut off. "Number four, where's the other one?" I heard someone who was wearing a mask and anonymous clothes bark as he/she/it stepped out. I tripped over some debris in the road and the person bringing me along--I think it was a guy by the build--swore at me, grabbing my hair, which had lost about half its pins in the accident, and hauling me to my feet. That really hurt.
But I wasn't going to let them take Deri too, after what had happened to the Osborn kid, the animals, and I buried the piece of metal that I'd picked up off the road into the side of my captor turning to run to my sister. He swore and hit me so hard I was actually flew back before landing hard on the pavement. I just lay there, stunned, and I could hear Deri, speaking warmly.
"You don't need my sister too," she was saying persuasively. "I'm cute and little, you can get a huge ransom just for me. My sister's got a temper, too, she's not as popular--"
I abruptly lost focus when the guy I'd stabbed stomped my ankle and I screamed. He stomped it again, and in agony I saw his boot coming toward my head.