Chapter 1

Garet sighed as Ivan ran past him, a blanket over his head. Ever since the Jupiter Adept had overdosed on chocolate a couple of months ago at Christmas, he had been acting...well...like a four-year-old. The Great Healer said there was nothing they could do for him, he might never return to normal.
"Wooh!" Ivan was yelling. "I'm a ghost! Whooh!"
At that moment, he hit the wall and fell on the ground, twitching. "I am the creature of darkness! Leave me in peace!" Ivan screeched. He tried to get up, but his legs were tangled in the blanket, and he fell over again. "Ow..."
"Give my blanky back!" Ivan tried to grab it from him. "I can't be a ghost without it!"
"Here, I have an idea," Garet searched the drawers, and came out with a large, brown paper bag. He cut eye holes in it and put it over Ivan' head. He tied the blanket around Ivan's neck to serve as a cape. "There, now you're the masked crusader."
"Whee!" Ivan ran around the room, bouncing on the furniture and knocking things over. "I can FLY!"
"Yep, you can fly," Garet returned to his mug of coffee. He hardly noticed that it tasted different.
He had just finished the coffee when Ivan kicked him in the shin.
"Ow!" he glared at the Jupiter Adept, who "flew" away with his own sound effect. "Ivan! Why did you do that?"
"You're my arch nemisis!" Ivan declared. "I HAVE to kick you so you don't try to take over the world with your evil conspiracy!"
"Oh, REALLY?" Garet was begining to feel light headed...and immature. He paused. "Ivan? Did you put anything in my coffee?"
"Only two!" Ivan sang, jumping up onto the back of the couch. "Only two! M&M's, melt in your mouth, not in your hand! But they melted in you coffee!"
"Oh no," Garet muttered, sinking to his knees. "Ivan...I'm not supposed to eat chocolate."
"But the nice lady said that M&M's WEREN'T chocolate!" Ivan protested. "She said they're M&M's, and you'd like them in you coffee!"
He pulled his paper bag off of his head and looked at Garet, big purple eyes blinking innocently. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Garet lied. His head was spinning, and he felt like he was going to black out. Suddenly all that mattered was eating more chocolate. "Ivan, could I have some more M&M's?"
"Uh huh!" Ivan ran off and returned with a bag of the candies. He gave Garet a handful, and the Mars Adept ate them quickly.
It wasn't long until they were eating the M&M's, giggling, and trying to wipe their now multi-colored hands in eachother's hair. This was how Isaac found them when he opened the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked, raising one eybrow. Then he noticed the nrealy empty bag of M&M's on the floor inbetween them. "Oh no...you ate chocolate! Garet, you moron!"
"Chocolate!" Garet waved his sticky hands in the air. "I like chocolate!"
"Oh, no, there's two of them," Mia groaned. She dropped her bags of groceries on the floor. "Isaac, what are we going to do?"
"I don't know," Isaac shrugged. "Don't ask me."
"Go play outside!" Ivan cheered. "Outside!"
"Yeah, outside!" Garet agreed, nodding furiously.
Mia groaned again, and sank into a chair. "Isaac, take them outside."
"And do what?" the Venus Adept asked, looking bewildered.
"I dunno, something constructive," Mia waved one hand, indicating the open door. "I know! I saw some old buckets in your closet! You could take them huckleberry picking!"
"YAY!"