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Raven & Josie - Chapter 1

Written by Glaazius :: [Sunday, 12 February 2023 19:45] Last updated by :: [Tuesday, 14 February 2023 11:02]

Raven Josie bookcover

Get acquainted with Raven and Josie - two ordinary sisters endowed with extraordinary powers that should only be reserved for a God.

One day, the adolescent state of mind of the siblings is tried when their mother - the beloved InfinityWoman and the only force on the planet able to control them - is requested for a mission in her native world.

With their mother absent, it takes little time for the girls to delight in their formidable powers, leading to damaging outcomes for the unfortunate people on the planet.

Things get perilous when one of them starts embracing the more malevolent desires in her mind as she feels that she stands in her right to subjugate humanity to her whims.

+++

Initially, Raven & Josie is an upbeat tale about two superpowered sisters going their day-to-day lives while experiencing their typical sisterly squabbles.

It's a novel-length story that will progress gradually.

Fans of the "good girl" genre may also appreciate this story, particularly the initial few chapters.

There are going to be deeds of heroics. There are going to be joyful moments.

But eventually, the plot will take a steep dive into darkness while portraying a grim future for those incapable of defending themselves against a worldwide menace with indescribable powers.


CHAPTER 1

Edited by Amber Collins

"Oh, I'm so going to miss you, girls!" Tara – aka Infinity Woman – curled her arms around her daughters to squeeze them into a tight hug as salty tears swelled in the corners of her eyes.

"It's only going to be six months, right, mom?" Josie – the youngest of the sisters, a petite girl bearing the visage of youthful innocence with an abundance of voluminous wheat blond strands gliding down her delicate shoulders – blubbered between tears from underneath her mother's firm grip.

Tara gently tugged Josie's chin, raising her head until their gazes zeroed in on each other. Josie's grassy-hued eyes met Tara's, twinkling like polished gems. Tara did her best to muster a comforting smile but only managed to conjure something that showed the surge of sadness she was feeling right now.

"Here." Josie removed her necklace and wrapped it around her mother's neck. A small stone was attached to it with symbols engraved in it that represented her mother's clan. "You gave it to me when I was little and told me it would bring me good luck. Now I want you to have it."

Tara smiled, touching the stone. "This will surely be useful. Thank you, dear." She caressed Josie's cheek, wiping away a rolling tear with her thumb.

"Ugh, can we please wrap this up? I have an important meeting, and I can't be late." Raven's eyes peeked over her Mom's shoulder at her phone as she stood uncomfortably, basking in her Mom's love.

"Please promise me that you'll take good care of your sister," Tara said as she intently locked into Raven's transfixing sea blue eyes that blazed brilliantly while groping her apple cheeks affectionately under the touch of her warm palms. Her 18-year-old daughter was a champion in maintaining an indifferent attitude. But Tara pierced easily through that façade, as she was well aware of the warm heart bouncing beneath the girl's act of toughness. Raven just hated goodbyes.

"I'm not a babysitter, Mom! Josie can take of herself. She's only like 2 years younger than me."

"Well, lucky your loving Dad is always here to look out after you'll all while I'm gone." Tara cast a glance over her shoulder and smiled at her husband, who stood watching his family proudly with his hands on his back.

"Except when a group of armed terrorists is after us, huh?" Josie poked her sister with her elbow while cleaning the remains of her tears. "In that case, we'll have to run our own affairs, right Raven?" she said, batting her eyelashes at her taller sibling, whose stature dwarfed Josie by at least two inches.

Raven snorted, flicking away a stray lock of dark hair that had the annoying habit of obscuring her left eye. "That'll be even more boring than swatting flies."

"Now remember what I've said, girls!" Tara wagged her finger. "Only reveal your powers to the world when–"

"… humanity's survival is at stake. Yeah, yeah, we know, Mom." Raven gave a nonchalant wave with her hand. "You only told us like a thousand times."

"Okay, I guess this is it then," Tara turned around and faced her husband.

"Promise me you won't do anything reckless up there," John said as his hands took hold of his wife's.

Tara laughed. "Hey, relax, hon. It's InfinityWoman you're speaking to, remember? I can afford to be reckless."

"Not when you're fighting adversaries on par with your power level up there on your home planet," John added earnestly. "Puh! Routine mission, my ass!"

Tara gave a faint smile before giving her husband a lengthy kiss.

"Hey! There are children here!" Raven snapped her fingers, igniting a chuckle from her parents.

BARK! BARK!

"Oooh, I'm gonna miss you too, Rexter," Tara crouched down to caress their pooch – an elderly Labrador with a gimpy rear right leg.

"Excuse me, miss Sourgon, we have to leave." Zerouth, a messenger from Tara's people, said with a tone of urgency. He stood waiting for her near his space pod.

Tara nodded. "Of course."

She took one last glance at her family before Zerouth prodded her by clearing his throat. She sauntered off with Zerouth. They both entered the cramped space of the pod and took a seat before the door – that opened upwards – swung close.

As John and Tara locked eyes, uncertain if they would ever reunite, Josie sidled up to Raven and whispered in her ear. "Where do you think is the bathroom in that thing?" She nodded at the space pod.

"Oof!" Josie groaned as Raven planted her elbow in her sister's stomach.

"Hey! That hurt! Oof!" Raven's elbow jabbed Josie's stomach again. Harder this time.

Josie scowled and opened her mouth to say something but refrained from it, anxious that it would treat her on another thrust.

Raven stepped up to her father and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She'll be back in no time, Dad. She's the toughest woman alive. Even when compared to her own people."

John smiled faintly at his daughter and wrapped his arm around her waist, tugging her closer.

Feeling that she was needed, Josie walked up and joined her father and sister as they stood with intertwined arms, watching their mother and wife lifting off into the sky.

"And there she goes…" Josie said solemnly as their mother's space pod was nothing more than a dot in the sky until it vanished in a blink.

"So, who's up for my famous pasta with salmon and spinach?" John glared a forced smile at his daughters as he attempted to bend this moment of sadness to a moment of joy.

"We are!" Raven and Josie cheered simultaneously, shooting their arms in the air.

"Oh wait, I'm not," Raven pulled her arms down. "I still have my important meeting in the city. And *checking the time on her phone* I'm likereallylate now."

"Here," John threw his car key at Raven, who caught it deftly in mid-air. "Take the Ford Turino. It has a 3rd generation V8 engine. It won't beat a modern-aged sportscar, but it will be more than sufficient to beat that clunker of a Daihatsu of yours."

Raven smiled. "Thanks, Dad. But I'm afraid I need way more speed than that."

John scratched his balding head while catching the car key Raven tossed back at him. "Geez, Raven. I haven't got any more horsepower than this. I'm sorry, kid."

"Don't be, Dad. You're still the best. I have the solution right here." With a broad smile, Raven placed her hands on her hips and lifted off a few feet into the air.

John wrinkled his brow. "You're going to use your powers to get to the city?"

Raven nodded self-assuredly as she floated in the air, looking down upon her Dad.

"That sounds quite thoughtless if you ask me. What if someone notices?"

"Oh, dad." Raven landed on the ground, placed a hand on his shoulder, and shook her head.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

“Here, your Motortrend. I just grabbed it from a shelf in the kitchen 100 yards from here in less than the blink of an eye. How is that for a style?" Raven winked.

"How impressive that may be, Raven." John curled the magazine in his hand. "You still can't risk exposing yourself out there. Or have you forgotten your mother's warnings?"

Raven exclaimed. "Ha! Mom did it all the time when we were residing in our vacation home, didn't you know?" Raven said. Her father's brows met in a frown, indicating that he was unfamiliar with the fact.

Raven sighed. "Listen, Dad," She wrapped her slender arm – that possessed the strength to pound through the hardest steel planet earth had to offer like a fork through cake – around her Dad's burly shoulders. "We Sethions are perfectly capable of staying hidden, even while roaming through crowded areas. And look!" Raven beamed while holding up a pack of Marlboro's. "I even took the trouble of getting your cigarettes from the housewhilegiving this explanation!"

John sighed and shook his head. He eagerly took over the pack of cigarettes and lit one up. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that," he blew out a puff of smoke.

"Can I go along?" Josie beamed.

"Of course!" – "Absolutely not!" John and Raven said simultaneously. They looked at each other, puzzled.

"Ugh! Malfunction here, peeps!" Josie rubbed her hands against her temples.

"To be honest, I don't find it very responsible to bring Josie along, Dad," Raven said.

"Why not?" John took a long drag of his cigarette. "Because she might expose herself? You just said that–"

"I know what I said!" Raven fumed.

"So?"

Raven crossed her arms and looked away.

"You don't want her around while hanging out with your friends, Is that it?"

"I have an important appointment is what I said, didn't I?!" she lashed.

"Yeah, I know… With your friends." John smiled while tapping his cigarette with his finger, swirling a chunk of ash in the wind. "Look, I've had this discussion with your mother before. And I believe it to be wrong to force you girls to conceal your real identities. Sooner or later, the world will find out. Perhaps some already even know." He gave Raven a knowing look, who quickly averted her eyes.

"Does that mean I can fly to school every day at the start of the new year instead of biking?" Josie asked hopefully.

No!" John and Raven said simultaneously, agreeing with each other this time.

Raven sighed. "Okay, come along, sis," she said with great reluctance.

"Yessssss!" Josie cheered. She ascended in the sky and made a somersault of joy before landing on the ground.

"But you'll have to follow my every lead!" Raven added.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Josie took a military saluting pose.

"And do not 'sir' me!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Joseline said.

Raven sighed and shook her head. "Alright, we're off. Love you, Dad. Safe some pasta for us, will ya?" she winked.

"Will do. Love you too!"

After giving his girls a goodbye kiss, John shielded his eyes from the sun when they cannoned upwards, rippling his clothes with the shockwave it created. They vanished from sight before a puff of exhaled smoke from his lips was carried away with the wind. He sighed. Witnessing his girls using their extraordinary powers made him sometimes feel petty. "Come, Rexter! Let's have a walk!"

"Hey, Raven!" Josie called out as she caught up with her sister while shooting through the air quite leisurely but still way faster than an airliner. "Does this mean we can, like, do everything we want now? You know, now that Mom is gone and all."

"No, it means it's time for us to grow up," Raven replied, looking to the side at her sister soaring up to her while her dark hair flapped violently in the wind.

Josie looked puzzled. "But Dad said the world will find out about us anyway."

"In life, you must sometimes learn to look beyond someone's words, Josie. Dad gave us the responsibility to choose for ourselves. Sure, we could expose ourselves right away. But everything has consequences."

"Just like it did when you sneaked out at night to buy some burritos in Mexico only to get caught by Mom and get grounded for a week?" Josie beamed mischievously.

Raven snorted. "Why do you bring something like that up?!" she snapped. "Do I have to smack you in the face?"

Josie giggled. "Sorryyyy. Hey, have you ever seen your own blood?"

Raven shrugged. "Only once while sparring with Mom,"

"You and Mom once sparred?! That issooocool!"

"It's not that thrilling. I hate fighting. Mom did it solely to let me experience at least once what it's like to fight a true opponent."

"Well, I don't!" Josie smashed a petite fist in her hand. "Iloveto fight! It's only a shame that there are no real challenges for me here among these frail earthlings. Unless…" she eyed her sister with a devilish grin.

"I'm not going to fight you!" Raven snapped.

"Okay. Okay. Take a chill pill. Sheesh. I was only joking."

"And besides," Raven added. "Don't you remember what happened last time we fought?"

Josie chuckled. "How can I forget! I sometimes think Dad is still traumatized by it all."

"That's because he is!" Raven whipped. "Good thing Mom forbade us to fight ever again. We'rewaystronger now. The consequences would be catastrophic."

"They would also bewaycooler, I think," Josie said.

"You're incorrigible!"

"Hey," Josie began after a short moment of flying in silence. "Dad once told me that nothing in the world can harm Mother. Do you think that applies to us as well?

Raven shrugged. "I guess. Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious," Josie said, looking thoughtfully.

"Okay, enough, chitchat. Let's take things up a notch. You know the rendezvous point, right?"

"You bet! I'll race you there!" Josie blasted off with several sonic booms blasting in her wake. Raven followed suit.

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Comments (2)
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Wow ! I really like where it starts. I can’t wait for next chapters, guess it will be very fun !
compy
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site
Hey, thanks for the kind words!
Hope the rest of the story will meet your expectations!
Glaazius
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