The Karma Beat

by Juli Alexander

  The teacher rushed to help him up, but he shook off her help. “I got it,” he snapped.

  Mrs. Mashburn stepped back.

  I rushed out of the room before Mrs. Mashburn could realize that I was staring at her instead of Johnson.

  I was dying to tell someone what had happened. But I couldn’t. I’d have to tell my mother later. But now that I was hiding things from her, I wasn’t sure I should seek her out for any one-on-one time.

  I laughed as I walked down the hall, catching more than one curious look. Johnson had literally flown through the air for a second before crashing down on his face. And he so deserved it.

  I needed to find Alex and beg her to cover for me tomorrow. I couldn’t risk my brother tagging along. I was so lucky Alex had forgiven me. She’d totally think that something was up with me and Leo.

  Lying was not my thing. The whole genie mess really set me up for lying to my friends though. Either that or just be the weird girl who has no friends.

  I shuddered. How could anyone survive without friends? Especially if their family was mostly irritating brothers.

  Resigning myself to lie convincingly, I made my way to the locker to catch Alex.

  She spotted me coming. “Wassup?”

  “Are you kidding me? What’s with the hip hop speak?”

  Alex laughed.

  “I think you’re spending too much time with the boy's basketball team.” Some of them, mostly the white guys, thought they were Lil Wayne.

  “You’re just jealous. Or you would be if you ever came to the games and saw the guys play.”

  Uh-oh. We were already on the wrong track.

  I rushed right into my scheme. “So I’m sneaking out on Saturday to meet Leo for lunch. Will you cover for me?”

  “No way! He asked you to lunch?” Her earrings bobbed as she talked. “Like a date? He is so totally yummy. Wait a minute. Why aren’t you just telling your mother the truth?”

  Moving closer to her, I said, “Um. Well, because we don’t want Ian to know, and I don’t want to deal with Mom yet. I mean. It’s probably just a one-time deal. Mom would probably worry for nothing.”

  “Wow, Jen. I don’t think you’ve ever kept something from your mother before.”

  Probably not. “Sure I have,” I lied. “Anyway, it’s no biggie. Can I say I’m hanging at your house?”

  “Of course. But I want all the details.”

  Great, now I’d have to make up some details. “Okay. You’ve got it.” I switched out my books.

  “Why don’t you sleepover? You can tell me everything.” She grabbed her notebook from the locker and slammed it shut.

  Making up details face to face would be harder. “I’ll ask. Mom might say no since I’m already spending the whole day with you.”

  “Try it, and call me in the morning. Dad and I are heading out to the Georgia Tech b-ball game tonight.”

  “Have fun!” The only thing they had in common was basketball. Her father had the extended cable sports package. All those sports networks kept their relationship running smoothly.

  When Mrs. Logan announced a pop quiz in English, I groaned and resigned myself to failing.

  Kelsey smiled and held up her pen. “Loser buys lunch?”

  Kelsey and I were usually the top students in the class. I wasn’t the slightest bit prepared. I had blown off last night’s assignment.

  My only chance was if the quiz was heavy on assignments from earlier in the week.

  “I’m not going to have my usual score today, Kelsey.”

  Her mouth dropped open. She leaned closer. “You didn’t do the assignment?”

  I shook my head.

  “Jen,” she said wagging her finger to scold me.

  I shrugged as Mrs. Logan passed out the quizzes.

  With a sigh, I read over it. I’d just met Leo and I was already messing up.

  After class, Kelsey said, “Call me. I have to meet Kyle now.” They were wearing matching concert shirts today from a Coca Cola Amphitheater performance last weekend. “I’ve got to hear what happened last night to make you blow off your homework.”

  I winced. I’d better start making something up.

  When I got home on that afternoon, I discovered that Dylan was sleeping over. He and Ian would stay up all night playing video games.

  No way was I getting anywhere near those two pervs.

  When Mom and Dad took their walk, I went with them.

  Then I hung out in the family room and watched a movie with Mom. Dad and Sean played board games in the kitchen. I was glad to see they were serious about the grounding.

  After the movie, Mom went to take a turn with Sean, and I headed upstairs to catch up on the Rokrgirlz and my email.

  With the doors to my room and Ian’s closed, I could usually keep from hearing all of their trash talk. Listening to Ian and his friends talking made me wish I was a lesbian.

  I started to get hungry and thirsty around midnight. I opened the door and went out to the hall to find Ian and Dylan just ahead of me on the stairs. Bad timing.

  “I’m totally kicking your pathetic ass,” Dylan said to my brother.

  I rolled my eyes. The idiots were always insulting each other.

  Ian ignored him.

  “Where’s Derek anyway?” Dylan asked. “I thought he was hanging out.”

  “I dunno. He didn’t say.”

  “You know why he didn’t come? Cuz he’s doing what he always does on a Friday night, playing GTA4, which he beat over a year ago, just so he can hang with the animated hookers in cyber world.”

  “Dude, if the graphics get any better, you’ll probably start doing the same thing.”

  Dylan snorted. “Like you won’t.”

  Ian laughed.

  I cringed, and made a mental note to stay away from Derek. Sometimes the morons were actually right about things.

  Chapter Six

  On Saturday morning, I grumbled when my alarm went off and then kicked off the covers. I had to hurry to mop the kitchen and bathrooms before Leo got here. Sean had done them last week so they were probably really grungy. The kitchen wasn’t bad. The bathrooms. Ick. While I mopped, I had to figure out what to wear. Not because I cared, but because Alex would ask. Okay, fine. I cared. A little.

  At nine-thirty, dressed in a striped top that everyone said flattered my complexion, jeans, and clunky leather belt, I hopped into the car with Leo.

  “I have to be back at your house at four for practice,” he said as we pulled away from the curb. “Will your mother be around? Is it safe for me to go?”

  “Mom and Dad are going out. You’ll be fine.”

  “I hate to lose the time, but I need to keep up appearances. I can’t exactly quit the band and have Ian think I’m spending all my time with you.”

  “I’m out with Alex, remember.” The car smelled of something warm and yummy. Leo’s aftershave?

  “Oh, right. I appreciate you riding with me. We have a lot of houses to check for Lexus crossovers.”

  He paused at a red light.

  “Do you think it’s about revenge or about the five billion dollars?”

  “I don’t know, but if anybody has too much money, they’ll be easy to spot. What do they pay at Genie Communications anyway?”

  “I doubt any of these guys would make over a hundred grand. Mom does two jobs and she makes a little more.”

  The light turned green and he pressed on the gas. “So we search for somebody who has left town, gotten in debt, or bought something expensive. I shared the list with Dad and none of them rang a bell.”

  “How did you show him the list without them knowing?” I hadn’t imagined private visitation.

  “They were probably watching, but I had no choice.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’ll hit a few of the names and then we’ll head over to Emory.”

  Emory. “You mean we’re really going to that meeting.”

  “Yeah,” Leo said. “Katie’
s doing the program, and she asked me to come.”

  “But she’ll see us together.” I hadn’t planned on being seen by anyone we knew. It was way too risky. I thought we’d be pretty anonymous driving around in Atlanta traffic.

  “Katie’s cool. She won’t tell. She’s working on retracing dad’s steps for the last week or two before the thefts. She knows I asked for your help.”

  “I don’t know, Leo.” How could that be safe? Leo seemed like a great guy, with maybe a weird sense of humor, but I didn’t want to be banished for him.

  “Katie’s been great ever since the arrest. She’s been stocking the fridge at our place, cooking me meals, doing laundry. She’s awesome. She really cares about my dad. They wouldn’t have let her leave the visitation with her memory intact if she hadn’t agreed to be bonded to him. So even if they aren’t married, they kind of are, now. Dad’s already talked to her about watching out for me if he gets sent away. Besides, with all the laptops, cell phones, and MP3’s on campus, the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E. would have trouble tracking us.”

  Either he was nuts, or I was an idiot. “What do phones and laptops have to do with anything?”

  “Technology interferes with the magic monitoring systems used by the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E.”

  I whipped my head around to look at him.

  “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that,” he said with a laugh.

  I just stared at him. “Are you serious?”

  “The major technological advances were made by genies, Jen. And in addition to making money and helping mankind, those genies were motivated by the fact that modern technology interferes with the monitoring systems in place. The Techno Echo. Doesn’t your mother tell you anything?”

  Apparently not.

  “It’s common knowledge in the genie world.”

  “Like the mirror trick.”

  Doubt clouded his eyes. “I’m surprised your mother would keep it from you. The upcoming Summit will have a debate about easing the restraints on genies.”

  My dad always said we shouldn’t bury our heads in the sand. Know what’s going on, he said. Don’t stand by and let others make the decisions for you.

  And yet, I had buried my head in the sand. Or Mom had buried it for me. Did Dad know about all this?

  “If you’re so overprotected, how did you get out of the house today?”

  “I’m not really. About normal things.” When Mom told me I’d been activated early, she’d warned me that she wasn’t going to complete my education until later. I just thought that meant I couldn’t do all the wish granting stuff. I had no idea she was hiding important things from me. “She does work for the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E. Maybe she isn’t allowed to tell me.” Now, I understood why the Oversight Committee was so much busier lately. They had to work much harder to catch those abusing their powers.

  “Maybe. Or maybe she just wants to keep you out of trouble.” He kept focused on the road ahead as he said it, not looking my way at all.

  Surely my mother had more faith in me than that.

  “Bob Selby’s the first on the list. He lives in a subdivision near here.” Leo handed me a notebook full of MapQuest searches. They were organized geographically.

  “Wow,” I said, glad for the distraction. “You did all this last night?”

  He nodded. “I would have started the drive-bys, but Katie wanted to cook me dinner.”

  I held up the thick notebook. “This must have taken forever.”

  With a shrug, he said, “It wouldn’t have taken as long but I had to run out for a second ink cartridge.”

  I didn’t doubt it.

  “Can you tell me where I turn? I think it’s Dawson’s Bridge.”

  I checked the paper. “Right. It should be the next red light.”

  “I see it,” Leo said.

  Minutes later, we passed the house. “It’s for sale,” I said, pointing to the sign in the yard.

  “Maybe he’s moving up in the world?” Leo pulled into the next street and parked at the curb. “I’ll run back and see if he still lives there. Sit tight.”

  I turned the page to identify our next target. Anslee Ellison. She lived only a mile away. Leo had generated the directions from one house to another. I was impressed. He was way more organized than my brothers. I lifted the heavy notebook again. Okay, he was way more organized than me, too. I couldn’t imagine doing this. I turned to the “Vinings” tab to see how many senior staffers lived there. Five.

  Leo opened the door and hopped back in to the driver’s seat. “The place is empty.” He handed me a flyer from the real estate sign. “No Lexus in the garage.”

  “You really think this means something? Our first try? It’s not likely.”

  “You’re right, but I definitely need to check this guy out.” He moved the gearshift into drive. “Which way?”

  I told him, and we headed for the Ellison house.

  “I found some information on some of them online. I Googled everybody.”

  “Anything suspicious?”

  “Check the last tab in the notebook. I made a list.”

  I flipped to the end to see a list of names and notes.

  “One of them moved to Atlanta this month. I thought that was strange.”

  I glanced down the list. “And this guy has been sued four times?”

  “Yeah. I thought he looked suspicious. As far as I can tell, he’s a slum lord.”

  “Really?” I wouldn’t have thought the U.N.I.V.E.R.S.E. would put up with staffers mistreating people. “Did he lose the lawsuits?”

  “No. He won all four.”

  “So he didn’t pay out any damages.”

  “No, but he had to pay to defend himself. So money may still be a motivating factor.”

  Five billion dollars would buy a lot of slums. I nodded. “And this woman. You wrote that her daughter has been kicked out of four private schools.”

  “It might be nothing, or she might need money. It’s worth checking out.”

  “So you’re sending the PI to check into these people?”

  “I can’t do it all. I have to go to school. My father made me promise.”

  He kept his promises? Good to know.

  I wanted to ask him how he was paying for this investigator. Weren’t those guys expensive? But I couldn’t make myself. He’d think I suspected him of taking all the money.

  “I’ve got a trust fund from my grandmother,” Leo said. “I’ve been using that, but it won’t last forever.”

  “Your dad’s letting you spend your college money?”

  “No. My college money is in a separate account.”

  I guess his dad was more responsible than I thought.

  “Turn up here,” I said as we neared the road.

  At eleven, we pulled into the Emory campus and found a parking spot near the University Center.

  We’d done drive-bys on eight homes. The list would take us forever.

  “This might be boring,” Leo said with an adorably sheepish wince. “But I promised.”

  He was such a virile force; I had stopped thinking about him as a teenager. He obviously cared about Katie a lot. “I’m sure it will great.”

  He gave me a half smile, and we walked into the Dobbs University Center. The place held hundreds of tables next to the cafeteria, but it was almost deserted. A few stray students were studying, ear buds in place.

  “Leo,” someone yelled from across the building.

  I turned to see a tall woman with dark hair. From forty feet away, I could tell she had an exquisitely beautiful face.

  She smiled and waved, and then turned to leave through another door.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  “Katie’s neighbor Serena. She usually stays for the meetings.”

  I glanced over at the door. “Not this time, I guess.”

  Leo motioned to a hallway on the right and I followed him to the doorway of a small auditorium. A scruffy-looking guy with a beard was standing in the front of the room talking. />
  “We’re just in time,” Leo said, and slipped into the room to some seats in the back. I followed, and he waited for me to take my seat first. I thumped down in the wooden seat, and Leo sat beside me. Right beside me. The seats were way closer than the seats in the car. The guy stopped speaking to say, “Leo, Dude. Welcome.”

  “You know these Habitat guys?” I whispered after Leo greeted him.

  “I work on a lot of houses. Sometimes I run into the guys from Emory.”

  He volunteered his time to build homes for the poor? Leo wasn’t what I expected at all.

  A forty-something woman who was just standing up to approach the podium turned and waved at us.

  Cleary this was Katie, and she wasn’t what I’d expected. Male genies dated supermodels and breast-enhancement marvels. I’d seen the pictures in the tabloids and heard my mother sighing over the bad behavior of male genies. The rock star trashing his hotel room was almost always a genie. The athletes who reveal that they’ve slept with thousands of women. Usually genies. After thirty years, genies could retire. They turned over their powers after making a wish. They could either give themselves some amazing talent or give it to their spouse or children. Some even chose to be teenagers again and start their stellar careers in high school.

  I knew Katie was a professor, but I was expecting her to be one of those unusually hot women. You know, like anybody on television. They all look like supermodels whether they’re playing a lawyer, doctor, or computer genius. Katie wasn’t unattractive. She was just normal. Like my mom. No one was going to cast her to play herself in a TV movie.

  She’d started talking, but I hadn’t been listening. I realized that Leo had to be right. His father had changed.

  When I finally managed to wrap my brain around Katie’s lecture, I realized that she wasn’t talking about nutrition at all. She was describing various methods of going green in home building and remodeling without going broke. I opened my notebook and jotted down a few notes in case my parents decided to take on any more projects. Last I’d heard, Mom had laid down the law and they were “done, done, done” with projects. I’d been relieved since they usually made us help and seeing dad walking around in cargo shorts with a hammer through one of the loops just reminded me of my nerd origins.