Poppy Mayberry, Return to Power Academy

by Jennie K. Brown

  We’d all heard the horror stories of weekdays breaking into Nova Power Corporation at its old location, never to be seen again. My dad said that was totally untrue, and I believe everything he says.

  But I’d forgotten that teleporting wasn’t even an option for Logan anyway. Teleporting Tuesdays could only use their powers to teleport to places they’d been before. Since Logan had never even stepped foot in Nova Power Corporation, that wasn’t going to happen.

  “And what could we do, anyway?” Ellie said. “We don’t even know what we’d be looking for.”

  “Uhhh … Sam,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Duh. And Sabrina.”

  “And why do you think they would be there? They went missing. You heard Mayor Masters. N.P.C. is looking for them right now.”

  As much as I wanted to believe N.P.C. was looking for them, I had a feeling that wasn’t the case. I imagined poor Sam and his big cowboy hat. And little, frightened Sabrina. She barely had control over her powers, so how was she going to survive?

  Ellie pushed pieces of broccoli around with a fork. It was very unlike her not to eat veggies, so she was obviously distraught. I knew she wouldn’t admit it, but she definitely had a crush on Sam.

  I do not, she thought.

  I smiled. We’ll find him, I thought right back.

  “I don’t know,” said Ellie. “But we have other important things to think about.”

  Like what, I thought. People were disappearing, and we could be the next ones. What was more important than that?

  “The play!” Ellie said enthusiastically, suddenly perking up. At least she could take her mind off of the craziness that is Power Academy.

  “Two of the actors have disappeared. How will the play even go on?” Logan asked.

  “Oh, Mr. Fluxnut already found replacements, silly! Isn’t that exciting?”

  “Yeah, Ellie,” I said unenthused. “Just about as exciting as this delicious meal here.” Using my Monday power, I used my spoon to pick up a blob of brown stuffing before plopping it back down on the plate. I remembered back to last summer when I tried to do the same thing. It didn’t go so well then—much of it had ended up on Ellie.

  “Oh, come on, Poppy. You need to perk up. Maybe we should do a little warm-up exercise?” Ellie bent her elbows, placed her hands under her armpits, and started flapping away. I cracked a smile.

  “There you go!” she exclaimed. “That’s the Poppy I like to see.”

  Logan chuckled along. It felt good to laugh a bit, especially considering what we were dealing with. One by one, cuspers were disappearing and we had no clue if we’d be next.

  “Sorry, Poppy,” Ellie said. I knew she was trying to lighten the mood, but she knew, just as we all did, that there was something strange going on with N.P.C. and Power Academy. Something that we would have to figure out because it was clear that Headmistress Larriby had no clue what to do about it. From here on out, we had to constantly be looking over our shoulders.

  “Can we please decide what exactly we’re going to do, though?” I asked, bringing us back on task. “I just have a feeling they’re close by. Clothes-too-tight Larriby explained what was going on with the cuspers, but she never even mentioned if it was connected to Mark Masters.”

  “That’s true. She never even brought him up at all.”

  I leaned in and whispered, “I know we have no proof, but I just have this gut feeling that Mark has something to do with the missing cuspers. These things have to be connected, especially after what Sabrina said right before she …” I couldn’t finish the thought. Last year, my gut didn’t mislead me when Pickle went missing, and I knew it wasn’t misleading me this year.

  “What if Mark’s a secret cusper too, and that whole Saturday talk is just a lie?” Logan offered. “Or,” Logan said, looking right into my eyes, “maybe we should ask your dad. I mean, he does work at N.P.C.”

  I shook my head. “No way. He’s not even allowed to talk about his job to my mom. It’s like, super security stuff.” And again—all the Nova secrets. “How did they even know that Sabrina was a cusper?” I added. “I mean, with her parents being the days that they are, that just doesn’t make any sense.” I used my Monday power to slide the fruit cup from Logan’s tray to mine—I knew he wouldn’t eat it, and I’d suddenly realized how hungry I was.

  He smiled at me as a few strands of hair fell over his eyes. My cheeks grew warm as I sent a rush of wind his way to push them back in place.

  Thanks, he thought.

  “That’s why we need to get into N.P.C.,” Logan said in a hushed voice. “Obviously, they know things that we don’t, and I have a feeling that this is one of those things.”

  He was on board. Now we just needed Ellie.

  She smiled. “Well, what are we waiting for, then?” Ellie said, taking me off guard. “Let’s do it,” she added, just as her and Logan’s mentees sat down next to us.

  Later that evening, Ellie, Logan, and I sneaked through the administration hallway to the internal entrance of Nova Power Corporation, where I had seen Mark Masters at the beginning of the Power Academy summer program. Gosh, so much had changed in just a few days. We studied the little blinking black box on the side of the door, but just couldn’t figure it out.

  “What we need is Sam,” Logan said matter-of-factly. Ellie frowned, and I could tell by the pouty lips that she was holding back tears. She had gushed non-stop this past school year about spending the first few weeks of the summer with Sam, and now that he was missing, I could tell she was totally bummed. Beyond bummed—she was upset and sad. We all were.

  Logan was right. Where a normal Wednesday’s electricity-manipulating power couldn’t break through a high-tech door like this one, Sam’s double Wednesday may actually be able to. But he wasn’t here, and that was the reason we were breaking into N.P.C. in the first place. Well, Sam and Sabrina. And Mark—I wasn’t sure why, but he definitely needed our help, too. That whole internship-with-maintenance thing was so not the truth.

  I took another look at Headmistress Larriby’s office door. We had tried her code a number of times, but it hadn’t worked. In fact, we had attempted every four-digit combination we could think of that somehow related to Nova— the first day the meteor struck, the day Roy Lichtenstein discovered his power, the day N.P.C. was created—and nothing. This was so frustrating. If only it were as easy as last year.

  And then it came to me. It might be as easy as last year, and with the right equipment, maybe even easier.

  “Swipe card,” I said, looking to the left of the keypad at the place where a thin access card could be swiped.

  “Huh?” Ellie asked.

  “We need a swipe card.”

  “Okay …”

  Logan caught the hint. “Your dad,” he said, his jaw dropped.

  Taking a cue from Ellie, I batted my eyelashes. “I need a huge favor,” I said to Logan.

  He squinted. “Uh … Poppy? What’s wrong with your eye?”

  Apparently I was batting them a little too hard.

  “Oh … just an eyelash.” I fake-pulled an eyelash from my eye and said, “Better.”

  Flirting wasn’t my thing, so I cut to the chase. “So, I was wondering if you could do another favor for me?” I asked in my sweetest Poppy voice.

  “Anything. You know that, Poppy,” Logan said, leaning in closer to me. My mind flashed back to that kiss on the cheek and I blushed. Was it wrong that I wanted another one now?

  “You need to get that card from my dad.”

  “But how?” he asked, leaning back into his original position.

  “Teleport, of course.”

  “But what about the whole can’t-teleport-to-a-place-you’ve-never-been-before thing?” Ellie interjected.

  “Logan left his swim towel at your house, so I took it home with me at the end of last summer,” I said. “He had to stop by to pick it up.” I looked at Logan. “So, will you do it?”

  Silence.
“I really don’t want my first encounter with your dad to be me stealing his I.D. card,” he said.

  “Well, what did you want it to be like then?” I said, suddenly hoping he would invite himself over for dinner, or lunch, or for any reason, really.

  “I don’t know. Anything except him waking up to find a stranger creeping around his house in the middle of the night. And he’d be all like, ‘who are you?’ And I’d be like, ‘Hey, I’m Logan. Poppy’s boy … uh … friend.’”

  We laughed. “True. But you know as well as I do that you’ll never get caught.” It was simple; he would teleport there and then do the disappearing Friday thing to snatch my dad’s access badge. “You’ll do it, right?” I said, taking a step forward and lessening the empty space between us.

  It didn’t take much for him to give in. “Sure.”

  “Okay then,” I said. I don’t know what compelled me to do it, but then I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

  Three things happened at once. Logan smiled. I stepped down. Ellie’s jaw practically fell to the floor. I pivoted so they couldn’t see the huge smile that spread across my face.

  “Let’s meet at the same place, same time tomorrow night,” I yelled as I made my way back to our room.

  Chapter Eighteen

  A few other students had noticed that Sam and Sabrina went missing, and Lester asked Mr. Fluxnut about it the next day after rehearsal.

  “Sam had to go home due to a family emergency, and Sabrina had no hope with her Monday power, so we dismissed her before she embarrassed herself even further,” Mr. Fluxnut had explained to us all, even though it was obvious Sabrina was Mondaying-it-up all over the place. I couldn’t have been the only one to notice that.

  “Oh,” was all the others muttered. They seemed to believe those ridiculous responses. They were too busy trying to master their own powers to even notice Fluxnut’s shoddy coverup. Something was off with that guy.

  Now, it was dark in Power Academy, and all the other weekdays were fast asleep in their dorm rooms. Ellie and I were in our room, counting down the minutes until we were to meet Logan back at the N.P.C. entrance.

  “Why do we even need to stay? If Sam and Sabrina went missing from Power Academy—where they were supposed to be safe—how is being home more dangerous?” Ellie asked, pacing the room and then finally sitting on the edge of her bed. We had rehashed this same topic over and over again and couldn’t quite figure it out. We were supposed to be safe here, but the fact that cuspers were disappearing so close to N.P.C. made it seem more logical that they were being held there. If this plan didn’t work, I would be going home tomorrow.

  Just like during last year’s mission, Ellie was dressed from head to toe in black camouflage. Even her nails were painted midnight black. Last year I rolled my eyes at this, but now I was used to it. My lips curled into a smile as I thought back to how far we’d come in our friendship.

  With a flick of her wrist, Ellie sent the bottle of dark liquid flying in my direction. Using my Monday power, I swiped one coat of paint on my nails as well. Might as well break the rules in style.

  “It’s almost time,” Ellie said, pushing herself from the bed.

  “I hope he comes through,” I said, absentmindedly dropping the bottle of nail polish in my pocket.

  When we got to the end of the administration hallway a few minutes later, there was no sign of Logan.

  “What if your dad found him wandering around your house?” Ellie asked. I didn’t want to think of what that could mean. Would he call the Nova police? Or worse—escort him back to Power Academy himself? I could only imagine Headmistress Larriby’s reaction when she found out that he not only left Power Academy without permission but that he was found skulking around an N.P.C. security guard’s home.

  I pushed that thought from my mind. “He’ll be here.” He has to be, I thought to myself, forgetting that Ellie obviously knew what I said.

  In the background, I heard the clicking footsteps of someone coming down the hall. Click clack, click clack, click clack. Clothes-too-tight Larriby always wore soft-soled grandma-esque shoes, so it must be Mayor Masters.

  Over here, I thought to Ellie, gesturing her to come my way. There was a slight curve in the hallway where Power Academy met up with N.P.C., and we flattened ourselves against the wall. Just as quickly as we heard the footsteps coming in our direction, the sound of them went farther and farther away.

  “Phew,” Ellie sighed. “If we get caught—”

  “That reminds me of something,” I cut her off. “We need to do some super sleuth work. Give me a hand,” I said, nodding my head in the direction of the security camera above the door.

  Larriby watches those, like, all the time, I said in my head to Ellie.

  Okay?

  I grabbed the bottle of black nail polish from my pocket and shoved it in her face.

  “Oh, I get it.”

  “You’re much taller,” I said, while she grabbed the bottle from my freshly painted nails. In two jumps, she had painted over the camera’s lens.

  I impatiently tapped my foot on the ground below. Where is—

  “Ah!” I jumped, feeling a tap on my shoulder.

  “You scared the you-know-what out of me,” I said to Logan, who now miraculously stood in front of me. An access card suspended from a long lanyard dangled from his right hand. My dad’s bald-headed face stared back at me.

  “You got it!” I said and lurched forward, embracing Logan in a hug.

  “Oh. Em. Gee. This is totally awesome!” Ellie squealed, joining in on the hug. I pulled away. “I love all this secret spy stuff,” she said.

  Logan and I rolled our eyes simultaneously. Oh, Ellie. She added an element of levity to this serious situation. We would be grounded for life for breaking into Nova Power Corporation.

  “I think you should do the honors,” Logan said, placing the card in my hand, which now shook with nerves.

  “But what if it doesn’t work?” I asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out.”

  I lifted the card to the thin slot on the box and pulled down. The red blinking light turned green. We were in.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It was like we walked into a completely different world as the glass door swished closed behind us. Nova Power Corporation contrasted with Power Academy—and the rest of Nova, for that matter—in every way.

  Where there was a grand entrance to Power Academy, complete with a sparkly, shiny chandelier and new green wallpaper, N.P.C.’s walls were gray. There were no lights whatsoever, except for the dim emergency lights that lined the baseboards on the floor.

  “I wish Sam were here to give us some light,” Ellie muffled. I could hear the sadness in her voice.

  “That’s why we’re here,” Logan reassured her. I smiled at his kind words. Cute, funny, and nice. What else could a girl want in a boyfriend? I mean … friend. What else could a girl want in a friend that just so happens to be a boy?

  “I threw this in for good measure,” Logan said, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a small flashlight. And smart, I thought to myself. Ellie nudged me in the shoulder, reading the thoughts right from my head.

  As we continued down the hallway, we passed by offices and more offices. The first door read Office of Nova Transportation. Then we got to the Office of the Treasurer. A small door to the right read Security. Even though I never saw where my dad worked, I knew that his home base was behind that door. He had done security for the city of Nova for over twenty years. I sighed.

  “Poppy, it’s okay,” Logan said, taking my hand in his. “You had to do it.”

  Was the guilt over taking my dad’s security access card showing that much?

  “Yes, it is showing that much,” Ellie answered. Typical Ellie move.

  “This is all to help our friends,” Logan said, squeezing my hand gently and then letting go. I wished he hadn’t let go.


  “This is totally ridiculous,” Ellie huffed. “Just one hall after another.” She threw her hands up. “I don’t even know what we’re looking for!”

  We turned a corner just to be greeted by another equally long hallway. I wasn’t sure exactly what we were looking for, either, but I had an odd feeling that I would know once we saw it.

  “Well, we only have tonight,” I said, dangling the access card in front of her face. “Logan has to get this back before the morning so my dad doesn’t notice it’s gone.”

  At the end of that second hallway, we took a right turn, and, again, saw another long hall. But something was different about this one. The other hallways were pitch black, but there was a soft, flickering glow, similar to the glow of a television, at the end of this one.

  “Shhh, I think someone’s coming,” Ellie said, stopping in her tracks.

  We all grew still. “I don’t hear anything,” Logan said.

  “Neither do I.”

  “Sorry, guys,” Ellie said. “False alarm.”

  The light grew more and more pronounced as we continued down the hall, and I could finally see where it was coming from—behind a large glass door at the end of the corridor. We were almost at the door when I turned around. Logan was right behind me, but Ellie was still standing at the far end.

  “I don’t know about this,” she whispered loudly. “Something just seems … off.” Even with the distance between us, I could tell she was shaking from nerves.

  Ellie, please. We’ll probably find nothing, but at least we tried, I thought down to her. Let’s just check it out, and then we’ll go back. She sighed and walked towards us.

  All together now, we stood at the end of the hall in front of the giant metal door with the words Testing Center written on the front. Although I had no idea what was behind those doors, I knew that it was something that we needed to see.

  With a quick swipe of the card, we were in.