‘Pop’, came the familiar sound of Claire’s brother Doug entering her chambers. Try as she might she could not convince him to knock first. However, since he never used the door she had learned to deal with it. Her mind had attuned itself to the almost silent popping sound made when he used his ability.
“Hey Dougie.” She said without turning from the window overlooking the large manicured lawn and topiary of the Lawson estate. With the sun just going down she traced the long shadows until they stretched out of sight. Clair then stared at the twenty-foot wide ornate iron gate that kept “them” out and “us” in as her father was very fond of saying. There were times she felt more like a prisoner than the daughter of the land owner.
“Hey sis. What’cha doin’? Dougie loved using the less than perfect English that their mother demanded. “Ya wanna escape again? Ya know how that ticks ‘em off”
Ever since they were both about five, they had been ‘escaping’ the confines of the estate. Doing so out of boredom or to escape the wrath of their father for something they did.
“Sure. What did you have in mind this time?” she replied. Mother and father were on a trip and they were in the care of the servants.
Doug and Claire had made a pact early on not to let mother, father or the servants know about their abilities. Their ability was similar with the only difference they had discovered, thus far, was that where Doug had the barely audible sound of ‘pop’ Clair’s sound was ‘poof’. Additionally she also produced a very light mist as she entered and exited. They continued to test limits of these abilities. For distance and whether there was an object that they could not move through, past or around. So far they had not found one; rock, brick, wood, glass. Distance did not yet pose an obstacle either. Clair had once ‘poofed’ to the gate from her room, about one hundred paces. Doug has told Claire that he did not have to ‘see’ the target with his eyes. If he had been there, he could go there. She did not believe him and could not bring herself to attempt it.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go.” Doug was impatient. She jokingly blamed his being younger but they both knew that he was mere minutes younger, being twins and all. Clair went to the door and checked for the servants. They were not around. As she turned around, she heard the ‘pop’ and the game had begun. Doug liked to play as they traveled. She went back to the window and saw him for a split second at the gate and ‘poofed’ after him.
As usual, she poofed back into existence at very leftmost side of the gate where the lamp would not illuminate her. She looked back at the manner for signs that the servants had seen them leave. Seeing no indications she turned towards the tree lined path leading into the forest. Catching a glimpse of Doug at the edge of the forest.
