“Where are you going with those cookies?” I asked, sticking my arm out to block his way. “Those are for my friends and me.”
Vinnie craned his neck and asked what we were talking about so secretively. But I ushered him into the hallway before he could catch sight of Emmett’s latest note.
“Listen, Vinnie, I have a new comic book hidden somewhere in the apartment,” I whispered, careful not to wake Baby Lou. He perked up his ears, since one mention of the word “new” grabbed everybody’s attention. With the war on, new things were hard to come by.
“If you give me what’s left of the cookies,” I continued, “I’ll let you have that comic book.”
Vinnie stared hard into my eyes. He was getting too smart for my usual tricks. “What are you all talking about that’s so important? It must be good if you’re willing to give up a comic book for it.”
I dashed into my bedroom and reached under my mattress. As much as I wanted to keep the latest Miss Smash for myself, I knew this was the best way to bribe my brother. Akiko, Mae, and I were still starving, and we had a long night of puzzling ahead. Spam hash was not going to get us through, but my favorite cookies certainly could.
I quickly tucked Vinnie back under the green blanket beside Lou, leaving a dim light on in the hallway so he could sleepily read my comic book. This way, Mae, Akiko, and I could focus on Emmett’s message.
“I can tell right away that the first line is something important,” said Mae as I set down three glasses of milk for cookie dipping. “Because those are three different words, but they all use the same letters.”
I stared at the note:
GARDEN RANGED GANDER!
And right away I knew what Emmett was saying: “Danger! Those words all spell ‘danger’!”
One line down, two more to go. I could feel sweat break out under my arms and along my neck.
“And the middle line, with that letter X,” Mae said, running her finger beneath the words:
EXPORT JACKY P.
“There’s only one X that really matters right now,” she said.
“Project PX!” said Akiko, dipping a cookie in her glass. “But what’s left over when we spell that out? Josie, do you know anyone named Jack or Jacky?”
I shook my head and grabbed a pencil. We ticked off each of the letters that made up “Project PX.”
What remained were three letters: A-K-Y.
“Kay!” we exclaimed in hushed shouts.
Now we had to figure out the last line. My heart beat like a drum corps, pounding so hard I thought Akiko and Mae had to be able to hear it. But when I listened to Akiko’s noisy breathing and saw the flush in Mae’s cheeks, I knew they were as anxious as I was. We stared:
HEN WOKS.
“My auntie woks,” said Akiko quickly. “Lots of people I know cook with woks. But a hen?”
“Rearrange the letters,” urged Mae, her usual serene calm forgotten now as the pressure mounted. Another news report drifted in from the radio, telling us of more losses for British and American troops, and I noticed the pencil in my hand begin to shake. We had to figure out Emmett’s message! We had to stop the Hisser from committing another terrible attack! We had to do something—right now!—to beat this evil!
“Hew, how, new, now, snow, show, know,” Akiko said, rearranging the letters of the third and final line.
“Know.” Mae gasped in horror. “That’s got to be it—using the K.”
And at that moment, the whole puzzle seemed to click.
DANGER DANGER DANGER!
PROJECT PX KAY.
HE KNOWS.
Thirty-Three
HE KNOWS!” MAE WHISPERED TRYING hard not to shriek. “Emmett is telling us the Hisser knows about Project PX! About Kay!”
We were on our feet in seconds, stumbling toward the kitchen window and onto the fire escape. I caught a glimpse of the clock on the wall as we left: It was ten minutes to midnight. Thankfully, Vinnie and Baby Lou didn’t stir during our noisy escape to the roof.
“When we get to the Moore School,” I began, barely able to find my voice as fear gripped my throat, “we need to move them safely out of the building. And at the same time, we cannot let Project PX—whatever it is—fall into the wrong hands.”
It was my fault. I knew now that it had to be. But at the same time, this knowledge gave me a determination as strong as steel: I’d keep my cousin safe, and all of the Secret Six safe, even if it took every ounce of strength I had.
“And we need to finish off the Hisser and his henchmen, too,” Akiko said. “Because if we don’t stop them, they’ll just come back stronger next time.”
We stood close together, forming our familiar triangle, shoulders touching. The night was warm, and the moon shone bright on our faces as we looked into one another’s eyes.
“Finish chewing already, Akiko!” said Mae, her voice impatient.
“It’s been a tough day! And Lorna Doones are the best cookies ever made,” Akiko said, her mouth full. Finally, she swallowed and dusted at the crumbs on her lips. “Okay. I’m ready.”
All three of us seemed to know what to do now. Reaching into the center, we grabbed hold of one another’s right hands. And just as we connected, the familiar surge of electricity pulsed through my veins. Mae’s eyes were bright, and Akiko’s raspy breathing was louder than ever.
“Cape,” I whispered to the night.
“Mask,” said Akiko.
“Boots,” declared Mae.
Nothing happened. The quiet thrumming played in my ears, but where was the burst of light? The swirling air?
“We’ve lost it,” said Akiko. “I knew it was too good to be true!”
“No, we haven’t lost it,” corrected Mae. “We’re just not doing something right.”
We clasped our hands tighter in the center of our triangle, and we each threw our left arms around the shoulders next to us.
“For Hauntima,” said Mae.
“Right,” added Akiko, sounding hopeful. “And Hopscotch.”
“And for Zenobia, the Palomino,” I urged, “Nova the Sunchaser, Miss Smash . . .”
The familiar yellow glow hummed around us, but our clothing was the same. What were we doing wrong?
“Maybe it’s because you were still eating,” said Mae, glaring at Akiko. “Do you still have cookies in one of your hands?”
“Or maybe you broke our powers,” Akiko shot back, “and that’s why I fell out of the sky earlier today.”
Panicky tears filled my eyes, and I tilted my face to the stars, hoping to keep them from pouring down my cheeks. Kay was in danger! We had to act now to help save her!
“All I want is to protect the people I love from getting hurt,” I shouted, no longer able to contain my frustration.
A beam of golden light shot from the center of our triangle, and a gust of wind lifted our hair. Mae and Akiko screamed in surprise.
“Right! Protect innocents and fight for justice,” added Mae.
“And do good,” hollered Akiko, though we could barely hear her as the crackling current began to pound in our ears and the swirling rush of wind and light whipped faster and faster into a funnel around us. It lifted us off our feet, and I had the sensation of being in the eye of a raging hurricane. Colors swam before me in bright green, bold purple, and radiant orange.
And then in a flash we catapulted back down onto the rooftop. In the stunned silence, we stared at one another. I was happy to have stayed on my feet this time, instead of landing on my backside like I’d done before. Mae wobbled in her boots, but she remained upright like me. Akiko stumbled and looked as if she were going to fall, but at the last moment she caught herself too. Maybe we were finally getting the hang of this.
“We’re going to need names soon,” said Akiko, running her gloved fingers across her orange mask. “Something better than ‘Wee Three’ or whatever the newspapers have called us.”
“My aunt Willa back in Chicago has a pilot’s license,” said Mae, tugging at t
he top of her purple boot. “I’ve always wanted to wear boots like she wears when she flies. Maybe I should be called Super Boots!”
I ran my fingers over my own boots, tall and green. I touched the mask at my eyes too. The material seemed to pulsate under my fingers, as if it had an energy of its own.
“Look, you two, we don’t have time to waste on names,” I said, unfurling my emerald cape behind me as I leapt upward toward the full yellow moon. “If we don’t stop this evil snake, our name won’t matter. Nobody will remember it anyway.”
Thirty-Four
AS ANYONE WITH A LITTLE flying experience will say, soaring through the skies at night is a whole different thing from flying during the day. With the war on, the city was under a strict blackout order. And like most cities around the country, Philadelphia’s stores, homes, and businesses weren’t allowed to leave even a single light on. So Akiko, Mae, and I relied on the moon to help us get where we needed to be.
The redbrick buildings looked like dollhouses in a row as we soared high above the streets.
We were breathless by the time we landed at that familiar corner of Walnut and Thirty-Third Street. Unlike in the afternoon, when it had been bustling with college students and businesspeople coming and going, now it was deserted. Mae, Akiko, and I seemed to be the only souls, our moonlit shadows stretching into the empty intersection.
“Let’s hide behind the newsstand and wait for them,” said Akiko, pointing at the small building on the corner diagonal from Kay’s building. “The moment they arrive, we’ll knock them out cold.”
“There’s no sign the Hisser or his men are already here,” said Mae, her eyes scanning the scene. “Just a few kids on their bikes over by that tree. One of them looks like that awful neighbor of yours, the bully.”
This caught my attention. I stared toward the tree in the darkness. Wouldn’t you know it, Toby and his band of juvenile delinquents were out past curfew. And riding my brothers’ bikes.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go make sure justice is served.”
Akiko, Mae, and I leapt into the air and circled above Toby and the other boys from our neighborhood. They were taunting a mother raccoon they’d snared with a rope, and her four young kits scampered around her in a sort of panic.
“Let that animal go,” I called as we landed a few feet from Toby’s circle. The boys jumped in surprise. “She’s an innocent animal. Let her and her kits go right now.”
“What have we here?” said Toby, pushing past his fellow lunkheads to get a better view of the three of us. “Some kiddies dressed up for a costume party. Halloween’s not for three more months.”
“Four,” I corrected, “but math isn’t for everyone.”
“Hey, you better watch your mouth, girlie,” he spat. “Or we’ll use this rope on you trick-or-treaters.”
Mae stepped forward now, and her voice was like ice. “You heard her. Set that animal free, or you will suffer the consequences.”
Toby laughed at Mae, and his dim-witted buddies joined in.
“Right,” he scoffed. “Like you’re going to stop me.” And to show he wasn’t going to be pushed around, Toby yanked on the rope around the raccoon’s neck, tightening it.
“Enough!” shouted Mae. And with a thrust of her hand, she unleashed a gale-force wind that knocked Toby and the other bullies to the ground.
As they climbed to their feet, Akiko transformed into a bowling ball and knocked Toby out at the knees. Again he fell to the ground, this time scraping the palms of his hands.
“Ouch!” he cried. “That really hurt!”
“Imagine how those animals feel when you torment them,” I snapped. “But that’s just it; you don’t seem to understand how others feel. You only care about yourself.”
Toby started to climb onto his bike seat as Mae freed the raccoon from the rope. The kits chased after their mama, racing for the nearest bushes. I was relieved to see the raccoons escape, but I couldn’t bear to let Toby get away. So I scooped up all five of the bikes, including the red ones that belonged to Vinnie and Baby Lou, and held them above my head as I hovered in the air.
“I understand not all of these bikes are your own,” I said in a voice low and steady. I didn’t want to lash out in anger, the way I had at Gerda’s Diner. I tried to be more like Zenobia and the Palomino and so many of the superheroes I admired—using power for justice, not vengeance. “Tomorrow morning, you will return what you’ve stolen to the rightful owners. If you don’t, you’ll hear from us again. And we won’t be so nice.”
And just to make sure I was getting through to these knuckleheads, I used a bit of telekinesis—staring at one, two, three, four, five heads, then flicking my eyes—to knock their skulls together. Toby stumbled backward, stared at me wild-eyed, and then took off running. His not-so-tough lunkheads followed close behind.
“What do you plan to do with those bikes?” asked Mae.
“I’ve got a good idea,” I said, adjusting my hold on the bicycles. “After talking to Mr. Hunter last night about the stolen bikes, I thought it might make sense to park these in Toby’s bedroom. Just to make sure he gets caught!”
Akiko was close beside me, and as one of the bikes started to slip, she grabbed hold of my arm. “If only we could teleport to Toby’s apartment right now!”
With a whoosh filling my ears and a blinding light forcing me to squint, I began to slip downward as if I were on a long slide at the playground. Only, where I landed wasn’t in a familiar park. It was in the bathtub of an unfamiliar bathroom.
“Josie!” whispered a sandpaper voice. “What did you just do?”
It was Akiko, still holding tight to the bicycle and to my arm.
“It wasn’t me!” I gasped, my voice cracking. “You said it. I think you’ve got another superpower! Just like the Palomino: teleportation!”
“Only, where did it take us?” she croaked. “Let me try again!”
And she said something about teleporting to Toby’s bedroom, not bathroom. With another whoosh, we seemed to slide through space again.
“This looks about right,” I whispered, setting down the bikes beside a boyish-looking bed as quietly as I could. We leaned them together against a wall, beneath a photograph of Toby Hunter and his dad going fishing.
“Do you think he’ll get in trouble?” Akiko asked.
“We can only hope,” I whispered. “Now, let’s get out of here. We can’t leave Mae waiting!”
Akiko said something about wanting to teleport back to Mae, and with a noisy popping sound, she disappeared. I was left standing alone in the awful silence of Toby Hunter’s empty bedroom. Snores from the room next door droned through the wall. What if Mr. Hunter woke up and found me here?
I’d just contemplated climbing out the open window when another popping sound broke the silence.
“I think you have to hold on to make this work,” Akiko whispered irritably, grabbing my hand. “Here we go!”
And in another flash of white light and a slide down what felt like a twisting chute, we landed right back on the street beside Mae.
“That was impressive,” she said, clapping her purple-gloved hands. “Another power for you, Orange One. I hope that takes care of the bullies and stolen bikes. But now I think it’s time we get back to protecting Kay and the computers. Come on!”
Mae was right. We couldn’t afford to waste another moment where the Hisser was concerned. We raced back to the corner and stared at the Moore School’s redbrick walls. The street was still quiet, and the full moon hung just above the treetops.
“We’ve got to work together to fight him,” I whispered. “We know it’s not just the Hisser who’s after Project PX, but the Duke and his henchmen too. Whatever that secret project is, it’s too important to let a bunch of Nazis make off with it!”
The silence was eerie as we crossed toward the school’s darkened front doors. The only sound was the faint whistle of a train in the distance. The blinds must have been drawn tight, becaus
e no light filtered out into the street.
“Oh, listen, here comes a dog and its owner,” whispered Mae, spotting a pair moving slowly along the sidewalk not far from us. “Look at those droopy ears! I love basset hounds. This one’s name is Bertha, and she is not happy about those men parked in the big station wagon with the wooden sides. One of them took her ball.”
Akiko rolled her eyes and told Mae to can it.
“This isn’t the right time for your dog obsession,” she whispered sharply. “We’ve got to take this seriously.”
“I am taking it seriously,” Mae shot right back, her eyes studying the street up ahead where the basset hound was walking. “And so is Bertha!”
“Please,” I snapped to halt their latest back-and-forth bickering. “Mae, we could use your telepathy to pick up what the Hisser or the Duke might be thinking around here. Not whether a dog lost his ball.”
“Her ball,” Mae corrected. “Bertha is a she.”
Nevertheless, Mae stopped focusing on Bertha. Instead she pressed her hands to her temples and stepped out from the shadows, staring hard at the Moore School’s two wooden doors and what lay inside. She seemed to focus her mind, so Akiko and I stepped to each side of her as watchers, wary of any movement in the darkness.
“Trying to find the Hisser . . . what he’s thinking . . . ,” Mae said slowly. Then, with a start, she grabbed us. “Oh no! The Hisser and his men are in that big wooden wagon Bertha saw! They’re planning to attack . . .
“Now!”
A split second later, the street transformed from silence to a deafening roar.
“THE BRATS ARE BACK!” boomed the Hisser, his snakelike form bursting through a round sewer cover in the middle of the road before us. The metal disk clattered on the street like an oversize coin flung by a careless giant. And the force of his thunderous voice hurled us backward like rag dolls. Our bodies slammed into the wall of the brick building just behind us.
The Hisser’s yellow snake eyes glared, and his scaly serpent’s body seemed endless as it burst up and up and up from the dank underworld. The only difference in his appearance was on the right side of his gruesome head, which was red and blistery from a burn. Immediately I thought of Akiko and her power with flames.
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