The characters and concept of the Tomorrow People (including Adam Newman, Megabyte Damon, Jade Weston, Lisa Davis, Kevin Wilson, Ami Jackson, and all related supporting characters) are the copyright of Thames/Tetra television and probably in some associated way with Nickolodeon. They were created (in part) by Roger Damon Price. They are used without permission but without intent to profit from them. (It's all in fun. Please don't sue.) This story will be archived in the Tommorrow People Fan Fiction Archive. Please do not archive elsewhere without my express permission. The character of Merilee Winslow is my own.
Notes:
Carnival is the first story in a serial. The name of the serial is "The Blood of Tomorrow, the Sins of Yesterday." This serial will be a little "rougher" than most TP episodes were. People will die. Stories will be given a warning label if they exceed the PG guide-line of the list. Carnival does not exceed the PG guide.
Timeline:
I'm going a bit outside of canon on the timeline here. As Kevin didn't really make appearences after the Origin story (except for the opening and ending chapters of Culex) I've "adjusted" his apparent age up to 15 at the time of Origin Story. This is being done in an effort to make his and Megabyte's relationship more believable and to bring the TPs closer in age.
This is the timeline for "The Blood of Tomorrow, the Sins of Yesterday."
Origin Story - Kevin 15, Megabyte 16, Lisa 16, Adam just shy of 18. Culex - Ami 15 Monsoon Man - (no one has a birthday in here) Rameses Connection - Ami turns 16. Adam is now 18. Lisa 17. Megabyte 16. Living Stones - Jade is 14, just shy of 15. Lisa and Megabyte are 17. Adam is 18. Ami is 16. Kevin is still 15, nearly 16.
By this timeline there is about a month between Origin and Culex. Two months between Culex and Monsoon. Two months between Monsoon and Ramses. Four months between Ramses and Living Stones. (I'm arbitrarily making these up, except for Ami turning 16.)
The timeline for my stories goes as follows
Carnival - three months after Living Stones. Kevin is 16 in the story. Jade is 15.
Binding Ties (unwritten as yet) - One week after Carnival.
Weakest Link - two months after Carnival
Monolith - three months after Weakest Link.
Thanks to my betas for an incredible job - David Yates, Megan Freeman, and Temesha Chatman. Many of their wonderful suggestons made this a much richer story than the one I started out with. I hope people enjoy it and the future stories in the serial. Trust me, I have big plans.
The ever wordy, mike matott
(Lyrics to "Sister Janet" by Tori Amos used without permission. The song is copyrighted by Sword and Stone music 1994)
Carnival
"But all the angels, and all the wizards, black and white are lighting candles in our hands." -- Tori Amos "Sister Janet"
The sky was a mild shade of blue and grey. Jade and Kevin abandoned their bikes on a rack at the end of the street. The sounds of milling people mingled with those of carnival music. The street fair was in full swing. On that late June day, the two young teens weaved their way through the crowd.
"I want to try the shooting gallery," Kevin said.
"Whatever for?" Jade gave him a puzzled look, "It's not like you could ever shoot someone so why would you want to shoot a gun?"
"It's not like I'm gonna be shooting at a person. It's just a target."
"I'd rather check out some of the wares tables."
"Well, fine," Kevin muttered. "See if I bloody well care."
Jade started walking towards the tables without waiting for Kevin.
"Hey!" he chased off after her.
They made their way along the side street, Jade perusing everything. Kevin grumbled along behind her, wondering why he was tagging along with her since he was the older one.
[What does age have to do with anything?] Jade 'pathed.
[Huh?]
[You were thinking about how I should be doing what you want because you're older. And I want to know what age has to do with anything.]
Kevin let out an angry sigh, [You're not supposed to do that!]
[Do what?] she said, lips curled slightly in a smile.
[Read someone's mind without permission,] Kevin 'pathed.
[I wasn't. You were practically broadcasting it. Besides, it was a feeling, not a complete thought. I can't help picking up on those.]
Kevin grudgingly had to admit Jade was right. Her empathy was the strongest among the Tomorrow People. He felt a bit of jealousy about it. Before she broke out, he had been the most empathic of the group. It meant that sometimes he had a very general sense of what someone was thinking or, especially, feeling. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the reaction to it. It was slightly different than telepathy or mind reading. It was something more raw; more uncontrolled. It was something Kevin had had before he even broke out. It was something Jade had surpassed him in. Sometimes Kevin felt useless around the other Tomorrow People. They were the next stage in human evolution, supposedly, but they each had talents separate from the others in their ever growing group. They all shared a telepathic bond, could teleport, and were somehow genetically unable to kill other humans but they still had individual strengths. Adam was the best teleporter and had a small healing ability. Megabyte had a talent with electronics. Lisa was the strongest telepath. Ami had both precognition and telekinesis, although both were uncontrolled. Before Jade came along, at least he had some talent that was stronger than the others. Now, he didn't know what, if anything, made him special among special people. Kevin noticed that Jade had wandered down a side street. There were fewer and fewer booths along this section of the fair and they seemed to be heading towards the side-show segment of the street fair. Jugglers and other street performers interrupted the flow of the crowd. At the far end of the street was a sign for fortune telling. Jade appeared to be heading for it.
"Jade!" Kevin called after her. "Where are you going?"
"I want to get my fortune told," she said over her shoulder. "Come on."
Kevin let loose a sigh and shuffled after her. He arrived at her side as she reached the table. The sign said "Esmerelda, Divine Teller of Fortunes." Tarot cards were spread out on a red velvet tablecloth. A crystal ball decorated one corner of the table and a petite woman in outrageous gypsy costume decorated the chair behind the table. She wore a robe of red and yellow with gold stars and moons embroidered in haphazard spots around her. She had incredibly dark black eyes that almost made her brown hair seem fair in comparison. She wore too much make-up and her nail polish was a brighter red than Megabyte's hair.
"Would you like your cards read?" the woman asked Jade in an obviously fake gypsy accent.
"Ooh, yes, please," Jade said.
"No," Kevin said at the same time, grabbing Jade's arm and pulling away.
"Hey!" Jade said, trying to shake loose Kevin's grip.
"Two pounds to know your future," the gypsy woman called, apparently switching to a hybrid of Russian and Italian accents. "What have you to fear?"
[Kevin!] Jade 'pathed, [What do you think you're doing?]
[Saving you money,] he replied, [These people can't see the future any more than you or I can. They're nothing but charlatans and ..]
"Charlatans!" the gypsy woman shouted at their backs in a piercing English contralto. "How dare you call me a charlatan!"
Kevin and Jade spun around immediately and faced the woman.
"I didn't say ..." Kevin began.
"How did you know he ... " Jade began simultaneously.
"I am not a charlatan. If you wish to doubt me, so be it. But do not call me a charlatan."
Kevin drew a tighter channel directly to Jade, [How did she hear me?]
Jade's response was also tightly focused, [Maybe she's one of us?]
[At her age?]
[Is there a set age for us breaking out? Adam was almost 18. You were only 15.]
[Still, there's a lot more difference between how old Adam was and how old this woman is.]
[I'm not willing to rule out the possibility though,] Jade insisted.
"You children think you are the only ones with talents," the woman said.
"You know about us?" Jade asked, missing Kevin's glare.
"Esmerelda knows all," the woman said in a heavy accented voice, Rumanian this time, then resumed her natural English accent, "Seriously, though. I know something about you and your kind."
"Who are you?" Kevin asked.
"My real name is Merilee. I am a fortuneteller, and there *is* gypsy blood in my veins."
"What do you know about us?" Kevin asked.
"That there are more and more of your kind popping up in interesting places," she said. "I see kids like you from time to time."
"Can you really see the future?" Jade asked, awed by the woman.
"Sometimes. To be honest, it's easier to figure out what the other person is thinking about and then just make something up to fit their dreams."
"If you're not one of us then how can you read minds?" Jade asked.
"Do you honestly think your talents are exclusive to you and your kind?" the woman laughed. "You are not the first to possess such talents. Your kind may be the only people to have so many gifts come so naturally, though. I've spent years honing mine."
[Jade, I really don't think we should be talking to her about things like this.]
[Oh, relax, Kevin. It's not like she's some mad scientist or corrupt government agent trying to capture us. She's closer to being like us than most people are. Don't you think there's something we could learn from her?]
[I really don't see what.]
"What sort of talents do you have?" Kevin asked.
Merilee chuckled and smiled at Kevin, "Well, I can still feel your doubt from here, but it doesn't take a mind reader for that. Hmm. From time to time I can read minds. I can sometimes see ghosts, but I can always feel them when they're near. Sometimes I can see the future. It helps to use a tool like the Tarot deck or a scrying pool."
"Oh, Kevin. Let her tell our fortune. What can it hurt?" Jade pleaded.
"For you two, I'll even do this one for free," Merilee said.
"Oh, all right. I still think it's a bit of rubbish, but go ahead."
Merilee shuffled the deck. She instructed Kevin and Jade to each cut the deck once. Then she shuffled it again. When the deck felt right in her hands, she stopped and had them each cut the deck so that three card piles lay in front of her on the red silk tablecloth. Kevin felt something when she stilled the deck. As he cut the deck he thought he saw an aura around his hand that stretched out to the deck and merged with it, blurring his vision. Merilee turned up one card from each deck, then made a second row with another card from each of the three decks.
"This row is for you. The second row is for Jade. This card represents your past," she said to Kevin, pointing at a picture of an old man with a lantern and staff. "It's the Hermit. It says that in the past you retreated, from yourself or from others. You needed to find something within yourself."
"This card is your present," she continued, "The four of cups, reversed. You find yourself offered something that you might not want to take. Or something that you doubt yourself, but that belongs to you. It may indicate that you are needed to complete a group, that there are three people who need you to make them complete."
"But our group is larger than three other people," Jade said. "I don't get it."
"There's nothing to say the other three are Tom... one of our group," Kevin said. "Maybe I'm supposed to join a different group."
Kevin wanted to doubt Merilee, but something was strange about this. He felt a connection to the woman, but more than that he felt a connection to the cards. No, it wasn't the cards. It was something coming through the cards. He could see what the woman was saying. It felt filtered, but true. If only he could read these cards better.
"This last card is very interesting," Merilee said. "It shows your future."
It was a card of the earth with a snake circling it, eating its own tail.
"The World. It means that something is coming full circle. Something from your past is coming back, either to help or harm you. I can't tell. The feeling is too ambivalent. Too vague."
Kevin nodded. He understood. Something flicked at the back of his mind. A memory of his childhood. Then flashing forward to a memory of Megabyte when they met. Something was waiting for him. It simply a question of time before everything came clear.
"What about me?" Jade asked. "What do my cards say?"
"The first is the three of cups," Merilee said. "It refers to the formation of a happy union. The formation of friends. I get the sense of the granting of a wish."
"The second, your present, is the Queen of Cups. It is a reflection of yourself. She stares into the cup, seeing things others miss. She is emotional, but caring and sensitive. Sometimes her emotions override everything else."
If it had happened earlier, Kevin would've laughed, but now he could see the truth in her words. Jade's emotions did sometimes get her into trouble, but she never stopped caring for her friends.
"The last card, your future, disturbs me," Merilee shuddered. "It is the Hanged Man."
Kevin looked at the card and something flashed behind his eyes. He saw Jade, somewhat older, bending over something and speaking. He tried to warn her, but the light and sudden absence of sound startled him. He couldn't hear anything, not even his own screams. He shuddered and the vision fled. Jade was staring at him.
[What is it?] she asked, concern flooding out of her.
[Nothing,] Kevin lied, [I just had a bit of a dizzy spell.]
"Are you all right?" Merillee asked.
"Fine," Kevin tried to smile, but Merilee gave small, knowing nod.
"This card," Merilee continued with the reading, "indicates sacrifice. A great loss. Or it may indicate a quest of the spirit. Your soul leaving your body, perhaps. It is hard to say for certain what the future holds. It sometimes changes. And sometimes, you can't do anything at all to change it."
Kevin felt a chill slice through his stomach. That last comment was directed at him. He felt sure of it.
"Well, that's not so bad," Jade said. "I was worried that it might be something truly awful. It doesn't sound like anything we can't handle, right Kev?"
"Right," he smiled, the last bit of disquiet filtering off as Jade's mood became pervasive.
"I wish you both long, happy lives," Merilee said. "I hope I will get the chance to talk to you again sometime. Perhaps, something a bit less dramatic? Tea, perhaps?"
"Oh, I'd love to!" Jade said. "You must have some awfully interesting stories to tell. And we've had some really weird and kind of neat things happen to us."
"I think I would like to talk to you again, sometime," Kevin said.
Merilee feigned surprise, "Oh? No longer a doubter?"
"Let's just say, I still have my doubts about some things," he said, smiling.
"A healthy attitude to have," Merilee replied. "Too many people are willing to take what I say as fact. Everything is open to interpretation."
Kevin and Jade made some more small talk with Merilee. Mainly Jade talked while Merilee and Kevin interjected from time to time. Merilee shook their hands and said goodbye, watching them walk off into the crowd.
"She was a nice lady. I'm glad you stopped being so mean to her," Jade said.
"Sorry. I guess I should learn not to be so stuck up about who we are and what we can do. It doesn't make us any more special than anyone else, really."
"Well, of course not, silly," Jade gave him an affectionate shove. "Everyone's got talents. What does it matter if someone's a bit better than you are at something, as long as you do your best and enjoy what you're doing?"
"Stop reading my mind," Kevin smiled.
"I'm not ..." Jade began, then realized, "Oh, you're joking."
"Well, I'm glad it was obvious," he said sarcastically.
"Come on, sourpuss, let's go do something. You still wanna go to the shooting gallery?"
"Naw, that's okay. Why don't we get some food instead?"
The two teens weaved their way through the crowd until they came to a candy vendor. They grabbed some cotton candy and peanut brittle and headed for their bikes, talking and eating the entire way. They headed back home, Kevin turning off at his aunt's as Jade continued her way home. He said goodbye to her as she disappeared around the corner, then propped his bike against the house.
Kevin felt the card Merilee had slipped into his palm when they shook hands. He took it out and read it. It said "Merilee Winslow, Kennington" and gave a phone number. He decided he would give her a call soon. There were some more questions he wanted to ask. He wanted to know what it was he'd seen when she turned over those cards. He wanted to know how to tell what futures could be changed and which couldn't. He wanted to know if he had found something that would make him special again among the Tomorrow People.
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end