With all the ideas running through his mind on how to handle Oddily’s situation, he didn’t know what to do. Should he erase the memory of the events that had her so unnerved? That would require him to alter Pepper and Carrie’s memories as well. Or, was now the time for Oddily to know the truth?
Suddenly, Maxim released Oddily and grabbed the sides of her head. “I’m sorry baby. I won’t allow you to continue with this suffering!”
“You called me baby again!” She gave Maxim a lazy smile as his eyes pierced into hers. “What are you…doing?”
Maxim lowered Oddily’s head on the pillow and tucked a blanket up around her shoulders. “Willa, will you come in here please?”
Willa had been waiting outside and quickly entered the room to find Oddily sleeping again.
“I need to have you watch over Oddily while I’m away.”
“I understand, but please…whatever you’re planning, you need to be careful.”
“I will.” Maxim stood up and his body dissolved within a beam of soft light while he focused on the fate of his sister and Paul. He hoped he would find them safe.
15
Maxim materialized inside the chapel where he had last seen his sister. Zaylyn’s body was gone, and there was only one place where Paul and Nexa could have taken her—the graveyard. After Maxim left the chapel, he began to walk through the moonlit cemetery all the while keeping a keen eye on his surroundings.
“Paul! Nexa! Where are you?” The sound of Maxim’s voice had frightened a cluster of bats. When they took flight, Maxim pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head as he continued with his search.
Picking up speed, he began to jog between tombstones—looking for any signs of a fresh grave. It was Paul and Nexa’s only plausible solution for hiding Zaylyn’s body.
Maxim gasped when something scampered across his path. The critter nearly collided with him; but it veered off in another direction, and Maxim continued with a sense that time was running out. The premonition both confused and worried him.
Finally, after spotting a mound of excavated soil, Maxim sprinted over to the gravesite and spotted a pipe sticking up out of the pile of dirt. Was it an airway?
Maxim dropped to his knees and began to scoop out the soil with his bare hands until he reached the lid to a wooden coffin. With a little more digging, he was able to yank off the cover with such brutal force, his surge in strength shocked even him. But what unnerved him even more was…the coffin was empty.
Maxim jumped to his feet and spun around to scan the perimeter of the woods. He had walked into a trap—a strategy to mess with his mind…but from whom?! When Maxim finally realized the truth, he threw back his head and released a primal outburst of rage that echoed through the night. “I know you’re alive Zaylyn!”
Sure enough, she stepped out from behind one of the tombstones. “No thanks to you,” she began to pout. “All you seemed to care about was taking your precious Oddily home!”
“Where’s Nexa?” He shouted to drown out her voice.
“Stop hollering at me,” Zaylyn complained. “You’re starting to hurt my feelings.”
“I don’t give a damn! Where is my sister?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
Maxim snapped and lunged for Zaylyn, but she was quicker and got away.
“How dare you!” she frowned, while dodging his second attempt.
“What have you done with my sister?!” He went for a third try and failed.
“Calm down Maxim. I’ll let you speak with her.”
Zaylyn crossed her arms over her chest. “Go ahead. Make your telepathic connection with her.”
Nexa, can you hear me? Maxim spoke in the language that the two had made up as children, so Nexa did the same.
Maxim, where are you? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for over an hour.Why were you blocking me?
I wasn’t. It was Zaylyn that created the barrier between us.
That bitch! After she pushed me into the grave meant for her, she shoveled dirt in my face. Paul intervened and tried to stop her from throwing more soil on me, but she threw him in as well. Thankfully, I transported myself home before he fell on top of me. I don’t know what kind of powers that girl has, but you need to stay away from her. She is insane.
What do you think happened to Paul?
He probably experienced the same thing I did, and is now at home.
All right, listen to me sis. I don’t know how much time we have to talk, so I’m going to make this quick .Willa is in my room with Oddily. She has a new body so don’t be frightened when you see her. I’m here with Zaylyn and…! Before Maxim could continue, the connection between him and Nexa came to a halt.
Maxim turned to Zaylyn. “I have no feelings towards you Zaylyn. It’s just not there for me and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“That’s not true Maxim. I can do plenty and I already have. I’m tired of chasing after your ass, so I’m leaving you with a situation. When you figure it out, you’ll hunt me down and give me what I want.”
“What are you up to?” Maxim’s questioning mind began to race. “What have you done?”
“You’ll see. And by the way—don’t wait too long because it’s not going to be easy to find me.”
“Wait!” Maxim tried to stop Zaylyn from leaving but he was too late.
Back at the house, Nexa feared for her brother’s safety knowing he was with Zaylyn. She dried off from the shower, got dressed, and then ran to the opening of Maxim’s bedroom. Just as he had said, an android unlike the Willa she remembered was standing over the bed next to Oddily’s sleeping form.
When the new and improved Willa spotted her, it hurried over to where she stood. “Nexa, I can’t believe it’s you! You have grown into such a beautiful young woman.”
Nexa brushed the compliment aside. “Listen to me Willa. I just heard from Maxim, and I’m worried because he’s with Zaylyn.”
“Sweetheart, Nero knows Zaylyn well. He is friends with her father. Go and hear what he has to say about this girl.”
“You’re right. I’ll leave right now.” Nexa stepped away from Willa and the energy surrounding her began to intensify. Then, like magic, Willa watched Nexa disappear within a beam of light.
16
The next morning, Oddily opened her eyes and stretched until she spotted Willa. ”Oh, I didn’t know you were still here.”
“Good morning.” Willa tried to sound like a typical android.
Oddily glanced around the room with blurry eyes. “Where is Maxim?”
“He isn’t here.”
“Geez…what time is it?” She sat up, throwing off the covers.
“It is nine-fifteen and thirty-two seconds.”
Oddily climbed out of bed on unsteady legs and headed for the bathroom. “I wonder why Nexa didn’t come in and wake me up.”
“Why are you wobbling Oddily?”
The fact that Willa had asked a question was surprising, but she answered it anyway. “For some reason, I feel really weird today.”
“Explain in what way you feel weird.”
Oddily paused. “I don’t know. I have this strange feeling in my head.”
Willa took a step forward. “Have you ever felt this way before?”
Oddily scratched her head. “No, but I’ll be fine. Umm…I really need to get dressed now.”
Oddily got dressed and said goodbye to Willa, but the android had followed her downstairs. Sweeper came and scanned her body as usual while she searched for Nexa.
“Nexa is not home.” Willa spoke again.
“Oh darn, she left without me. How am I going to get to school?”
“I will drive you today.” Willa volunteered, concerned over the paleness of Oddily’s skin.
Oddily wasn’t sure if she understood what Willa meant. “You’re programmed to drive a car?”
“You are correct.”
Oddily wasn’t convinced. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just
go ahead and take my car. I can drive well enough to get me to school and back.”
“Are you sure?”
Oddily took note of Willa’s concern. “I have my driver’s permit. I’ll be fine.”
Willa realized that she needed to keep her mouth shut before Oddily got too suspicious of her. For fear of sounding too motherly, she had to back off and allow Oddily to do as she pleased.
Oddily hopped into her green Smart car and began to drive slowly through the lush landscape to the underground tunnel. She was wondering about the mystery of her surroundings and was curious to know what would happen if she ever told someone about this place. It didn’t matter though, because her lips were sealed. She didn’t need to be told that there was something very strange, but special, going on around there.
Then her thoughts drifted to Willa—the android that wouldn’t stop staring at her. It was beginning to make her uncomfortable, which was why she attempted to drive herself to school. She needed a break from her.
Oddily turned up the volume to her favorite song and listened as she drove through the tunnel. Neither Maxim, nor Nexa, had bothered to explain the reason for the crazy route they all had to take to get to the main street. It was as if they didn’t know what to say, so they said nothing
Finally, Oddily had safely made it to school and was rushing through one of the empty halls when Starla poked her head out of the girl’s bathroom.
“Oddily, come here!”
Oddily paused while remaining where she stood. “What do you want?”
“Do you see Kip anywhere?”
Oddily glanced up and down the hallway. “I don’t see him…why? You look upset.”
“My dumb-ass boyfriend is driving me crazy!” Starla snapped with daggers in her eyes.
Oddily listened politely to Starla’s whiny voice and then said, “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl. Well, goodbye—I’m late for class.”
“You little bitch!” Starla yelled as Oddily hurried away.
Inside the classroom, Oddily took her seat with her mind still on Starla. A short time ago, it would have been nearly impossible for her to say something that would anger Starla; but now, it was no big deal.
Oddily was savoring these thoughts when her attention went to Paul. Was he staring at her? Yes he was, so she gave him a polite smile.
In response, he leaned towards her and whispered. “Are you all right?”
“Paul, there will be no talking during class.” The teacher warned him.
Oddily took out a piece of paper from her notebook and wrote, I’m fine, and showed it to Paul. He nodded. Then, after she glanced at Nexa’s vacant seat, she wrote, have you seen Nexa this morning?
He shook his head slightly, and wrote her a message back. Try calling her on your cell phone after class.
Oddily had completely forgotten about the phone she had tucked inside her pocket and when class was over, she speed dialed Nexa.
“Good morning, Oddily.”
“Good morning, Nexa. Where are you? How come you didn’t show up for school today?”
“I had some things I needed to take care of, but I’ll pick you up after…hey, wait a minute. How did you get to school?”
“I drove my car, but don’t worry. I was careful.”
The tiredness in Oddily’s voice weighed heavily on Nexa’s mind. “Is Paul with you?”
“Yes, he’s standing right here.”
“Could you put him on the phone, please?”
Paul took the phone from Oddily and said, “Hey Nexa, what’s up?”
“Does Oddily seem okay to you, and has she mentioned anything about what happened last night?”
“No and no, but something’s up.” Paul glanced at Oddily’s weary eyes.
“Is Oddily listening?”
“Yep, you got that right.”
“Should I be concerned? I can come right now if you think I should.”
“Nah, there’s no rush…but check with me later.”
Paul hung up with Nexa and entered his phone number before trying to hand Oddily’s phone back to her, but she was preoccupied with Pepper and Carrie.
“Hey, what’s with the disappearing act girl? We had to ditch three hot guys to look for you!”
“Yeah, that was rude!” Carrie, once so worried became irritated. “Why did you ditch us?”
When Paul saw the bewildered look overshadowing Oddily’s face, he stepped in. “Sorry guys. Maxim had me pick her up and I was in kind of a rush.”
“That’s no excuse,” Pepper complained. “I even had my mom go to the police station to fill out a missing persons report; but because of your age, we were told we had to wait for seventy two hours.”
“She’s right Oddily.” Carrie jumped in, “and you could have at least taken your bags with you. We had to drag them around with us the whole time we looked for your ass.”
“I’m sorry.” Oddily became so confused, she didn’t know what to think; but her instincts told her to go along with Paul’s charade the best she could.
“Are Oddily’s bags still in your SUV?” Paul asked.
“Yeah, they’re stuffed in the back seat.”
“Why don’t I take them off your hands after school, and I’ll owe you guys a dinner for your trouble.”
“How about getting together tonight?” Carrie began to flirt as usual when a cute boy was around.
“Great. I’ll meet you guys at Woodland Cuisine at Seven o’clock.”
Pepper’s eyes lit up. “Wow, that’s an expensive place.”
Paul smiled. “You guys deserve it after what I put you through, and please don’t blame Oddily. She wanted to let you know she was leaving, but was an ass and rushed her.”
“That’s okay.” Carrie gave him a playful wink, and then turned to Oddily. “I’ll forgive you this time, but don’t do that again.”
Paul spoke up and confirmed their plans. “Okay then, I’ll see you two after school.”
As soon as Paul and Oddily turned to walk away, Oddily could overhear the girl’s comparing notes over what they would wear for dinner.
“Hey, would you mind coming with me tonight? You know…so you can protect me from your friends?”
Paul’s invitation made Oddily giggle. “No thanks. I’m hoping to be with Maxim tonight.”
“Why, where is he?”
Oddily shrugged. “I don’t know. He wasn’t home when I woke up this morning.”
“Well, if you change your mind, call me.” Paul handed Oddily her phone. “You have my number now.”
Oddily’s smile began to fade. “Why did you lie to them back there?” Her comment was so straightforward Paul was startled. He wanted to come up with a clever answer, but nothing came to mind.
“What are you talking about?”
Oddily stopped and faced him. “Maxim didn’t ask you to pick me up last night because he didn’t know where I was.”
Paul shoved his hands into his pockets and gazed everywhere but at her.
“Darn it Paul! I’ve been wondering all morning how I got home from shopping last night. Then you come along and make up an excuse to my friends about the very thing that I’ve been wondering about. Am I supposed to believe this is a coincidence?”
“No…not at all.” Paul’s discomfort was beginning to show. “Come on, we better get to class.”
“No, wait!” Oddily stayed her ground. “Something weird is going on, and I’m beginning to think that you know what it is!”
Paul glanced at the demure questioning look in Oddily’s eyes. All this time, he thought she had been clueless, but he was wrong. And strangely enough this pleased him, but not enough to tell her the truth. “I’m sorry, Oddily. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Oddily began to shy away from him by taking a step back. “That’s okay. I guess I’ll see you after school then?”
“Yeah—I’ll be waiting.” Paul watched Oddily as she hurried off to class and became curious. Where was Maxim?
17
When she returned home from school, Oddily was disappointed when she found no one there except for Sweeper and Willa. She went ahead and carried her shopping bags up the stairs to Maxim’s room; and, was about to go through them when Willa entered the bedroom, with a curly blonde wig on her head.
“How do I look? Do you think I could pass as a human?” Willa didn’t need Oddily to answer her. The way in which Oddily gawked at her was an answer in itself so she changed the subject. “What did you buy?”
At first, Oddily wasn’t too sure if she wanted to carry on a conversation with this android. She knew how silly she would feel doing so, but she decided to try it anyway.
“I’ll show you my favorite things first, okay?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Oddily had to push past her awkwardness in order for her to begin to search through the bags. “Here’s one.” Oddily pulled out a powder blue blouse and held it up.
“Lovely.”
“And here is one of the dresses Pepper picked out for me. She says it matches the pink in my cheeks when I blush.”
Knowing Oddily was already leery of her presence, Willa continued to give her simple answers in response. “Yes, it does.”
“And what do you think of these pants?” Oddily held a pair of jeans up for Willa to view, but then stopped and tossed them on Maxim’s bed. “What am I doing?”
“You are showing me your new clothes.” Willa volunteered.
“I know, but you’re a robot. You have artificial intelligence just like a computer. I’m talking to a programmed…I don’t know. I don’t know what to call you.”
“Call me Willa.”
Oddily flopped down on the bed. “Have you seen Maxim or Nexa today?”
“No.”
“Do you know where they are?”
“No.”
Oddily didn’t feel like talking to Willa anymore and asked it/her to leave with the excuse that she wanted to take a shower. When the coast was clear, Oddily began to snoop around.
Oddily did a quick jaunt down the corridor and discovered that the hallway she followed, circled back to Maxim’s room. She decided to walk the circle again, only this time she was going to stop and explore some of the rooms.
MAXIM: A New Type of Human (Oddily Series #2) Page 9
