Walter was convinced the charm was located in here, and he had a secret tool that would find it for April and the team. Using the same gadget that had shown everyone the horrors of the Genesis Camps, Blake and Marco had adjusted it with a special attachment that would lead them to the elusive memory charm.
The memory charm was used in much the same way as the attribute charm but with one major difference. The attribute charm allowed the wearer to steal the physical strength or knowledge of a particular person. It copied a person’s mental and physical skill set.
The memory charm allowed the wearer to see into a person’s own memories. The wearer could read a person’s mind and see that person’s memories as easy as watching a movie on a big screen. It was a powerful weapon for the Minister, as it allowed his personnel to see into the minds of his enemies and know for sure if they were loyal to him.
Connor remarked, “The Minister’s been looking for this stupid charm for over fifty years, and we think we can find it with that flying video camera? I just don’t see how it’s gonna work.”
Blake explained that Walter had developed a type of sonar that would react with the material found in the charm. If they could just get the metal mosquito into the area, they would find the charm.
“What in the world is a metal mosquito?” Connor asked.
Blake replied that he and Marco had changed the name of the gadget. “You’ll understand why once you see the modifications we made.”
April added, “All we need now is the go-ahead from Johnson.”
April didn’t know why Walter and Johnson were holding off on the continuation of the plan. She had the clearance to get into the site early, before anyone else showed up. It would be the perfect time to search the site with the mosquito, and no one would be the wiser. Blake and Marco had clearance to get into the security huts and shut down any surveillance during the time. Connor was just ready to head back to base.
While April, Blake, and Marco mulled over plans and kept their eye on the mission, Connor spent most of his time wondering what was going on with Matthew and Amanda. He couldn’t understand what his purpose was in this mission. All he had done every day was dig holes and get dirty. He missed Matthew, but he also missed Amanda.
Connor left the rest of the group and lay on his bed. He’d been throwing a ball against the ceiling for about an hour when April rushed in. “Get your stuff ready. We’re going first thing in the morning.”
Connor replied, “What do you mean going? Is it time for Phase Two? Are we gonna finally get this done?”
April gave Connor a big hug and said, “We’re gonna find the charm in the morning, and we’re gonna get out of here. Have your stuff ready to go at 3:00 a.m. It’s gonna be a long day.”
With that, Connor threw his hands in the air and said, “Finally!”
April’s team went to bed early that night and dreamed of nothing but completing their mission. They were so close! But they couldn’t have expected what awaited them.
Chapter 13
I LOVE THE EIGHTIES
Matthew was the last of the Chance family to make it home on Wednesday night. As he walked into the kitchen, he saw Amanda on a laptop computer, but she closed the screen before he could see what she was working on. “I see you found your way home,” she said.
“Yeah, Cameron gave me a ride,” Matthew replied. “He wanted to come in, but he has to be back at the SAP house to set up for the festivities.” Matthew opened the refrigerator and noticed several dishes already prepped for the big dinner on Thursday night. He grabbed a cold can of soda and with a touch of sarcasm said, “Thanks for waiting for me, by the way.”
Amanda explained that Addie had insisted she get her hair and nails done before her date with Cameron. “I didn’t know how long you were going to be with Cassie…or Cassandra Jenkins, so I just went on to my other classes. Worst case, I figured you’d hop a ride with one of the twins. I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded driving you home.”
Matthew stuck the edge of the cold can on Amanda’s neck, and she shrieked, jumping from her chair. “What the hell, Matthew? That’s freezing!”
“I just thought you could use a little cooling down. I asked Lindsey if she could drive me, but they don’t have a car on campus. I had to settle for your boyfriend.”
Amanda took her seat back at the kitchen table and asked, “So how did it go with Cassie? Does she know who we are?”
Matthew made up an elaborate explanation on how he convinced Cassie Jenkins that he and Amanda were not who she thought they were. “She kept saying things like, ‘You look so familiar’ and ‘Do you have family from Travis?’ I told her that we had never been to Tennessee but that we did have some cousins from there. I think she believed me when I told her that you were named after some distant cousin that had died in an accident back in the 1980s.”
“You really think she bought all that garbage? It seems pretty weak.”
“I did the best I could on short notice. She started talking about a summer job for me with Genesis, so she seemed to move on from Amanda and Matthew from 1984. We’re good—just let me handle it.”
Matthew was confident that Cassie Jenkins would be a great asset in 2016, but he didn’t want anyone else on the team viewing it as an issue, so he’d decided to keep the knowledge of her to himself. He didn’t want Addie or Bryan finding out what had happened with her. After dealing with Walter and how he’d reacted to the news of Amanda and her brother, it was just a risk that he didn’t want to take.
Matthew took a seat by Amanda and looked around the kitchen, which connected to three other rooms on the bottom level of the house. “Where’s everybody else?” he asked. “I figured everyone would be home by now.”
Amanda relayed a message that Addie had left on the refrigerator door. It read: “Steven, Bryan, and I have a late game tonight. It’s a good opportunity to spend some more time with Sandra, so we won’t be home until around ten. Amanda, I know you will be out with Cameron tonight, so make sure you stay on point. Matthew, I’m not sure of what you have going, but try to help Amanda out as much as possible—but don’t get in her way. She’ll need time with Cameron alone. Watch out for each other, and call me if you need anything.”
Matthew said, “Wow, it’s like a real note from Mom.”
“I know,” Amanda replied. “Sometimes I forget that she’s, like, this great military leader and kick-ass chick. It’s almost like I have a mom again.” She paused for a second. “I think she understands me.”
Matthew shook his head and said, “As much time as you two spend talking with each other, I would hope she understands you.”
Amanda didn’t reply, and Matthew could tell he struck a nerve. He decided to change the subject. “So, what were you looking at when I came in? You closed that laptop awfully quick.”
Amanda moved her laptop into her backpack. “It was nothing important. I was just doing some research on fraternities and sororities around here. It looks like they are very well known for their parties and the amount of alcohol consumed at them.”
“What kind of alcohol do they serve?” asked Matthew. “Back in 2185, only certain levels of government officials are allowed to drink alcohol. That’s what April told us.”
Amanda shook her head. “I don’t know. There will be beer, cheap wine, and some tequila shots, I’m sure. Have you ever tried liquor?”
“No. I’ve smelled some, though. It smells terrible. I don’t know why anyone would want to drink that nasty stuff. Besides, we’re too young to drink, according to current Virginia law.”
Amanda laughed. “That doesn’t matter on a college campus, you moron. You have to drink at these parties, or everyone will think you don’t belong there. And that’s the one thing that we can’t have happen.”
Matthew thought about it for a minute. “How are we supposed to stay on our game tonight if we’re both drunk?”
Amanda pulled the Hathmec from her shirt and said, “I have a feeling we won’t have
to worry about that. The health charm heals us from wounds, right?”
“Yeah, so what?”
Amanda grinned and said, “If it can heal us of our physical wounds, it should be able to heal us of our mental wounds as well, like being drunk.”
Matthew was starting to catch on. “So, while Cameron may be drinking and losing some of his inhibitions…”
“I will have complete control of my functions and be able to find out whatever I want from him. He probably won’t even remember my asking him anything about the charm the next day. I hear those hangovers are no fun at all.”
Matthew had to admit that this was a great idea. He had just one comment. “What if Cameron doesn’t like to drink?”
“Please,” Amanda responded. “This is a twenty-year-old guy in college. He’s gonna be drinking.”
She then asked, “What about you? Are you picking up the twins or just meeting them there?”
Matthew suggested that since she was getting a ride from Cameron back to campus, it would make the most sense for him to take the car and pick up his dates at their apartment. “I know they could probably walk to the party, but I think it says a lot that I would take the time to come pick them up. You did hear me correctly, right? I said that I was picking up my dates. That’s plural, for the English impaired.”
Amanda wasn’t thrilled that Matthew had even one date, let alone two, but she kept her poker face intact long enough to get up from the table and make her way to her bedroom. She yelled back down the stairs, “Cameron will be here in two hours to pick me up, and it will take me one hour and fifty-nine minutes to get ready, so don’t bother me!”
As an afterthought, she took a quick skip down the stairs again and poked her head around the corner. “By the way, I know this whole party thing must be intimidating to someone who has never been to a party, so try to follow my lead tonight and you might not look like a complete idiot out there, ok?”
Matthew wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or petrified by what Amanda had inferred. She was right about several things. He didn’t know what he was getting into, and he didn’t want to make himself look like an idiot in front of everyone. He needed a plan.
He took to the Internet to see what he could find, thinking, “I’ll just look up ‘fraternity party’ and see what comes up.” He was in luck. One of the top headlines read, “The Ultimate Frat Experience.” That’s just what he was looking for. It was a movie all about fraternity life. It had been made in the 1970s, but that shouldn’t matter. Surely things hadn’t changed that much.
Matthew spent the next two hours downloading and watching excerpts from a movie that had all kinds of cool characters to emulate. One was named after a fish. Another was known for crushing beer cans on his forehead. The fraternity in this movie ran amok through the entire town that housed them. The best part was the party itself, and what stole the show were the guys smashing guitars against the wall and everyone wearing togas. This looked like fun, and Matthew now felt prepared to enter the SAP house.
He grabbed the cleanest white shirt in his closet and changed into a pair of blue jeans. It was an eighties-themed party, and he looked like a boss. Based on a picture he had seen, all he needed was a red cap and he would be ready to go. He stole one from Steven’s room and was off.
He was running late—he needed to pick up Shelby and Lindsey by ten—so he grabbed his keys and rushed out the door without even saying good‑bye to Amanda. But she noticed the red cap in his back pocket as he whizzed by her on the stairs. “That’s a good idea,” she thought.
She waited another ten minutes before Cameron drove up. He jumped out of the car decked out in an all-white suit and pastel T-shirt. “You know, from that cop TV show. Just don’t call me Crockett.”
Amanda replied, “Yeah, I know. You look great!”
“I bet I know who you are,” Cameron said. “You’ve got a bandana on your head and a pink leotard.”
Laughing, Amanda started to run in place. “Let’s get physical!”
Cameron gave his seal of approval and started talking about the party. “I hooked those guys up bigtime. The best sound system around is now pulsating through that house. Along with the digital cameras I’ve placed all over the first floor, this party is going to be awesome.”
“What are the cameras for?” asked Amanda.
“Each camera will stream to a different digital monitor in the house. It will be like everyone in the house will be able to see what everyone else is doing during the party. Those guys would have been lost without me there. It’s all about knowing which signal is which and then getting the control boards to recognize each of them. It’s really simple when you think about it.”
Amanda had no idea what Cameron was talking about, but it didn’t matter. She would listen to him ramble on about his electronics and system requirements, but in the end, she knew she would have to get him to open up about other things—like the trans-x charm.
Amanda replied, “I wanted to make sure I wore something I could dance in and be comfortable. How about you?”
Cameron chuckled. “Oh, I don’t dance, but I love to watch everyone else have fun and jump around.”
“You don’t dance at all?” Amanda asked. “I’m sure after you get a couple of drinks in you, you’ll be all over the place. Dancing and hollering with the rest of them.”
Cameron laughed harder. “Well, I doubt it. I don’t really drink either. I take on more of a producer role at these parties. I might take a sip or two, but I’m really not crazy about the taste.”
Amanda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d made a major miscalculation with Cameron. Yes, he was very popular on campus, and everyone wanted to be his friend, but he wasn’t the typical popular frat guy that she knew from 1984. He was the technical guru of the campus, and that’s what sparked his popularity. It was the digital age, and ideas of whom and what was popular had changed dramatically from 1984.
Matthew had just arrived at Lindsey and Shelby’s apartment. As they made their way down to the lobby, Matthew was struck by the outfits they had picked. One wore a white top with a black miniskirt while the other wore a black top with a white miniskirt. They were twins—dressed opposite and the same at the same time.
Lindsey said, “We are so ready for this party! We are totally eighties. Thanks for picking us up.”
“I guess you’re the Boss?” asked Shelby.
Matthew replied, “No, I would say Addie’s the boss.”
The girls laughed at Matthew, and Shelby said, “You’re kidding, right?”
Lindsey added, “Who’s Addie? We’re talking about the outfit.”
Matthew smiled. “Yeah, I was just joking. I’m just messing around with you two. I’m totally the boss. Let’s get going, shall we?”
Matthew wasn’t sure what “the boss” meant, but he would go with it. He had seen a picture of a man online dressed like this, but he hadn’t read past the header. He must have been a boss of some kind.
As Matthew and the girls walked back to his car, he asked about breaking guitars. “So, how many people are normally at these parties playing guitars? Should I wait until the end of the party to break one of them or do they have frat members that take care of that?”
Lindsey looked to Matthew with an odd expression. “Wow, you’re just full of jokes tonight, aren’t you?”
“Have you ever been to a fraternity party?” Shelby asked.
“Sure, lots of them.”
“I’ve never seen you at one,” said Lindsey.
Shelby added, “Yeah, me either.”
Matthew tried to cover his tracks and made up a story about the time he was at one of the parties and a guy drove in the front door on his motorcycle. “This guy was awesome. He played music on his throat and helped the frat build a tank out of an old car. It was crazy, but a ton of fun.”
Shelby looked at Lindsey and laughed. “That’s the plot of that stupid movie my dad watches all the time.”
; They finally reached the car, and everyone got in. Lindsey was in the front seat and Shelby in the back. They kept looking at each other and mouthing, “You tell him” and “No, you tell him!”
Matthew could see that something was up. “Tell me what?”
Lindsey went first. “Look, Matthew, we think you’re a great, good-looking guy, but we need to be honest with you.”
Then Shelby said, “You’re really not our type. The only reason we wanted to go to the party with you is because this one is invite-only, and we can’t get in without someone who’s been invited.”
He hadn’t started the car yet, so he turned to look at both of them. “You’re telling me that neither of you are into me?”
Lindsey giggled for a second. “We’re really sorry if that’s what you thought. You’re a really nice guy, but we just wanted to go to the party—”
Shelby interrupted. “Well, that’s not the only reason we wanted to go. There’s these two guys that we would like to get to know better, but they don’t seem to know we exist.”
Lindsey added, “We thought if we showed up with you, it might get their attention.”
Matthew had hit a new level of confusion, but in a weird way, it all started to make sense. “You want to go to the party with me to make two other guys notice you and possibly make them jealous.”
The girls nodded in unison. “If you don’t want to take us, we’ll understand. We didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
Matthew laughed. “No, you didn’t hurt my feelings. In fact, I think we could help each other out. I’ll make a deal with you. You two help me to not make a fool out of myself tonight, and I will help you in any way possible to make these other two guys jealous.”
He put one hand out to Shelby and one hand out to Lindsey. “Do we have a deal?”
They each shook one hand and agreed to the deal. The girls gave each other a high five, and Matthew sped off toward the SAP house. Now that he had an understanding with the Hofner twins, he felt more confident than ever that he would make it through the night.
Last Chance Volume 2 - The Legend of the Hathmec: Planting the Seed Page 19
