Pit 2

March 11, 2011
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Kaylee sits in the pits of team 4Royalty Racing, drinking a Pepsi. She watches as a few people pass her, not from her team, then takes another sip. Suddenly, she hears a engine roar and turns. Stuck on the outside, and at a higher velocity then usual, Naomi's midnight blue and rose red #40 Funimation car passes the pagota, causing the wind to stir up and blow Kaylee's hair back. Penny quickly presses the stop button on her time watch and looks down.
0:00:46:02
Naomi's best time of the day. Kaylee looks down and mark out the 0:55:17 on her paper and writes the time down.
"228 mph." a speed teller calls, holding a police speed reader in his hand.
"Kay!" Kaylee yells, writing the speed on the paper, marking out the 219.
Within two minutes, Naomi's car comes back around the 4th turn, but enters the pits instead of going another round. A second later, the car comes to a halt a couple yards from Kaylee. Kaylee runs to the car, surprised to see Naomi frowning and taking off her teal helmet.

"Naomi, what are you doing? You were getting record times of the day. You were on fire."

"The handling is off. It's making it hard to get into the inside of the track. If I keep driving, I'm gonna hit the wall eventually when coming out of one of the turns." Naomi says as she takes off the fire proof head sock, revealing her brown hat hair. 

"Oh." Kaylee says, not understanding some of Naomi's car talk.

"And, seeing as how we're testing at Barber Motorsports Park and the first race is in St. Pete, I especially have to be sure the handling works perfectly, or else I'll never have a chance to beat Dario and Will for the points lead. And of course Danica is always a threat, Helio too." she says as she gets out of the car and passes Kaylee.

"Why are you worried about those two tracks?" 

"Don't you remember from last year? Barber and St. Pete are more like street courses. And St. Pete is known for it's tight turns. If my car's not in perfect turning condition, I'll crash in the first 10 laps." Naomi explains as she takes a water from a cooler.

"Oh, ok. I guess I understand. Will it be hard to adjust?"

"With these guys, probably not. I'd say about, oh, five minutes?" Naomi says as she turns to one of her pit crew, Andy.
"More like two. I only need to adjust the front wing, then we're set for another dozen laps before we call it for today so that you can get to the Racers' Meeting on time tonight." Andy answers as he points to the front wing.

Naomi moans.

"That's tonight? Dude, I wanted to actually get some sleep before I leave tomorrow."

"Sorry Naomi, but you knew what you were getting yourself into when you signed, so you can't complain." Kaylee says as she takes another sip of her pepsi.

"I know, but still. It's irritating." Naomi says as she jerks the cap off the water bottle, takes a sip, then sits it on the control table.

"Hey, you have next week off. That's something to look forward to, isn't it?" Kaylee says, trying to brighten up Naomi's sprit.

Naomi smiles.

"Yeah, a week to stay home, sleep 'til 10, annoy Aacan, go to the spa with Mom, eat dinner with Uncle Jeff, go shopping with Anna and Marcus, do laps on my bike at our county course. It's the perfect getaway." Naomi says as she pulls her stringy hair into a ponytail..

"Even more perfect then our two week trip to Maui last spring?" Kaylee asks, smiling.

"Strike what I just said. It's the second perfect getaway." 

Within seconds, Naomi and Kaylee erupt into intense laughter, looking back on old times before Naomi's career took off full throttle.

As they begins to quiet down, Kaylee's eyes widen. Naomi notices.

"What's wrong Kay Kay?" Naomi asks, calling Kaylee by her nickname.

She points at Naomi's neck.

"You have that opal necklace on!" 

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Kay Kay." she says as she takes another sip of water.

"They actually let you keep it?" Kaylee asks as she as she admires the gem.

"Yep. They let me keep one shirt, one pair of pants, one gem accessory, a dress, a coach purse, the converse, another pair of shoes, and one pair of earrings." 

"Dang, which coach did you pick?"

"The medium teal and midnight blue one."

"Oooooh, that one was my fav!"

"I'll have to let you borrow it sometime."

"Really?" Kaylee asks, her face turning up in an excited smile.

"Yeah, that way I don't have to pay you back for the crack in your favorite mug."

"Sneaky meanie." Kaylee says as an irritated frown appears on her face.

"But you've got to love me!" 

Again, the two arrupt into eratic laughter just like before.

"Excuse me girls, will you please stop laughing, Mr. Peters wants to see you Naomi." they hear Penny say through their quieter giggles.

Naomi immediately stops.

"What did I do this time?" Naomi asks.

For some reason, Naomi and Mr. Peters didn't get along at times. Ever since Naomi had signed on as his lead driver, he pushed her to do the best. She knew that he was trying to help, but sometimes if Naomi didn't do something right, Peters, as Naomi calls him, would go into a tirade about Naomi not being responsible or intelligent enough to do exactly as he told her to do. This would lead to Naomi getting angry at him for pretty much calling her stupid and saying she wasn't capable to do as told, even though she did have trouble with it at times. And she is pretty sure her 13 year old brother, Aacan, has a higher I.Q. then she does. But still, she is pretty smart for your average 18 year old. Especially when it came to anything with an engine, singling out motorcycles.

"You haven't done anything, as far as I know anyway. He just wants to introduce you to someone. Nothing more." Penny explains.

A look of surprise takes hold on both Kaylee's and Naomi's faces. Naomi had never been called into Peters office once to meet someone before. Usually, she was called in so that he wouldn't have to embarrass himself in front of a crowd to yell at her, or to go over tactics for an upcoming race, if they were in good moods.

"Uh, ok." Naomi says as Kaylee and she begin to follow Penny to a nearby car.

She turns and waves at Andy to tell him they'd be back soon, Andy answering with a thumbs up. After a few minutes, they're walking into one of the entrances to the offices across from the track. For some reason, Peters didn't want a huge office, like Penske or some other big team. He wanted it nice, simple, and close to the track. 

As she walks down the long hall, she looks into a few rooms. Only one person is in their office. The anchor of the IMS Radio Network, Mike King. She smiles. Mike was a cool guy, being in his fifties and all. Although, at times, he did act younger. Since her father had died 16 years ago after drinking and driving down Maryland Street at night (Not Smart), Mike or her Uncle Jeff has been her closet thing to a Dad that she's ever had. Somehow, he senses her staring and looks up, his reading glasses shining against the light of his desk lamp. He smiles and waves. Naomi returns it with and even bigger smile and more over-the-top wave, leaving Mike laughing quietly in his office as she continues down the hall.

Within moments, Penny, Kaylee, and Naomi come to the door of Peters' office. Penny steps out of the way, allowing Naomi entryway to the door. She doesn't hear anything, so she's guessing that Peters was in a ok mood today, which made her relax a little. She walks up silently and knocks like she usually does, three knocks, then two quicker, small ones. 

"Enter." she hears Peters say from the other side of the door.

"Kay." Naomi says as she opens the door.

As normal, Peters is sitting at his glass top desk in his "King Chair" as he calls it, drinking a beer. But, a woman, maybe five years older, who of which she's never seen before, sits in one of his chairs in front of his desk. From the back of her blonde head, Naomi could tell that the girl was tall. Really tall. Maybe 6' 4" tall. and that she wore cute clothes. Some type of new designer label maybe, but it was definitely an outfit that she liked and wanted.

"Hello Naomi, nice to see you as always." Peters says in an unusually friendly way.

"Thanks, um, who's this?" Naomi says as she points to the woman, who's face she had not yet seen.

"Oh, yes, that's why I called you. Naomi, this is Alonsa Criado, your new team mate. She'll be driving the 31 car from now on." Peters says as he points to the woman.

The woman gets up from the chair and turns to face her. Naomi's eyes widen. The woman's strong, wise green eyes, olive skin, single freckle below her right eye, beautiful high cheek bones and full red lips shook Naomi's mind like an earthquake. She knew her, but whenever she tries to bring any memory forward, her mind becomes fuzzy. As her eyes wonder to find something else to look at, Naomi's eyes land on the pendant around Alonsa's neck. It's a topaz with three crystal hydrangea petals connected to the gem, and two curly strips of metal take the place of the fourth petal. Naomi holds her breath. She has a birthmark on the back of her neck that looks like the pendant. 
Alonsa notices her uneasiness.
"Are you alright?" she asks.
Naomi fights the urge to faint and looks Alonsa back in the eyes.
"Yeah, it's just that- Well, you look familar. But at the same time, I know that we've never met. It's weird." Naomi says as she rubs her head.
Alonsa's eyes widen, but they return to normal before Naomi or Peters notices. She then smiles innocently.
"Well, maybe you saw me on the street or something like that." Alonsa suggests.
"Yeah, that's probably where I've seen you. It would make sense." Naomi says, smiling.
Naomi puts out her hand, and Alonsa meets it in the middle, shaking it nice and firm, but not firm enough to hurt her hand.
"Well, it seems you two will get along fine. Now, Alonsa, if you could leave the room please, I need to discuss with Naomi about some tardiness that has been occurring lately." Peters says.
"Dang it, I thought I had escaped the lecture." Naomi says.
Alonsa giggles and begins to walk out. But, as she comes to stand next to Naomi she stops. Naomi looks over at her.
"What's wrong Alonsa?" Naomi asks.
Alonsa looks over at her, her eyes appearing to glow a slight gold.
"Forgive me for this." she says quietly so Peters doesn't hear.
"Huh?" Naomi says, confused. 
"I am
the keeper of my Akashic Records,
of all which is and
which shall be
Eternity it is and
Everlastingness
Oh, Three paths and
Two Pillars;
Open your Portals!" Alonsa whispers.

Suddenly, Naomi feels wind blowing at her hair from behind, which isn't possible, seeing as how they were in an inclosed space. Her mind jolts with unrecognized pain, shifting scenes passing her minds eye so fast that she can only see specks of certain visions. As more fill her head, Alonsa says more.

"The Queen,

Lost to us all,

So long ago

that she herself doesn't know

Who she is 

or that her reflection,

Is the same face worn

by my beloved Queen.

Now, I call out,

to you, my Queen.

I call your name,

I turn back time,

to the last days you saw

and unlock your mind,

releasing what was once known,

Now hear me and go back,

Calankaiana!" Alonsa says, power in her soft voice.

Naomi's heartbeat exaggerates, her being able to hear it in her ears. She drops to her hands and knees, breathing hard. In the background, she hears Kaylee's and Penny's muffled voices, echoing as if they were now far away. Peters' footsteps are very pronounce as she senses him now in front of her, probably shaking her. But, only one voice comes through normally, and that's Alonsa's,

"That's right Naomi, let go of this time for now and begin your journey. The journey which begins in your 1st life in the ancient past. Your past in Egypt..." 

Then, she sees white all around, then darkness.