by Sybil Nelson
Well, long story short, Dr. Witherall and Colonel Selliwood found out about me and tracked me down to River's Bend. Mr. Witherall just posed as our teacher in order to keep an eye on me and study my powers. (Haha! Get it? He kept an eye on me. He only had one eye!). Then they attacked and kidnapped my entire family, Mom, Dad, Josh, the twins, and even Tai. The only reason they didn't get me as well was because I was at the town square gazebo with you when it happened.
So then, I went and broke into the Institute. I was able to save my family and the other children they kept there for their genetic experiments. Even though I blew up the institute, Dr. Witherall and Colonel Selliwood both escaped. Since they knew where we lived in River's Bend, we had to move to Missouri for our own safety. They probably still want to kill us.
Sorry, I couldn't tell you. But if you knew the truth you would be in danger as well. I mean, Dr. Witherall and Colonel Selliwood are still out there. I overheard a conversation between the two of them in which they promised revenge, especially against the President of the United States. He also said that he figured out a way to control his Specimens once and for all claiming that their biggest fault was that they thought too much. That means he's probably coming after us. I'd hate for you to get caught up in it too. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of me.
I stopped writing and scratched out the entire letter. Yeah, right. I wish I could send this letter to Kyle. I wish I could tell him the truth. But I couldn't. I didn't want to put him in danger. I also didn't want him to think I was some sort of freak.
I crumbled up the piece of paper, tossed it in the air, and then destroyed it with a blast of fire from my index finger. He could never know.
Chapter 2: It's Bananas
I spent three hours trying to write the perfect letter to Kyle. I even considered going to the grocery store and seeing if Hallmark had created anything for letting your boyfriend know you were a genetically mutated freak that might accidently fry him to a crisp the next time you kissed him. Probably not.
I would've preferred to just see him in person. I wish I could go to his play. In just three short hours, he was going to be the cutest Romeo ever. But, no, my parents wouldn't let me. They thought it was too dangerous for me to go back to River's Bend given the whole genetic-mutants-trying-to-kill-me thing.
I finally gave up trying to communicate my feelings to Kyle and decided to get a snack. I was totally bummed on my way to the kitchen. My life stunk. I had no friends out here in the middle of nowhere Missouri, I rarely got to see Kyle and Tai, and I wasn't even allowed to go to school. Not that I especially liked school, but anything would've been better than being stuck in the house all day with a bunch of stinky brothers.
Speaking of stinky brothers, where were mine? The silence in the house gave me the feeling the twins were up to something. Not that I have telepathy or anything so I didn't know for sure. Josh was getting so good with his psychic powers that he could even sense danger sometimes. But no, it wasn't any special powers that let me know that the twins were up to something. I mean, come on, they were the twins. They were always doing something sneaky and most likely disgusting.
I finally spotted Charlie and Chester dashing out of the kitchen toward their bedroom."What are you doing?" I yelled after them. Ryan and Peter were right behind. All four of them were laughing hysterically. Ryan and Peter were a set of eight-year-old twins that I had rescued from the Institute. For some reason, they enjoyed hanging out with my five-year-old twin brothers. It was probably because they didn't have much of a childhood in the Institute so my brothers were showing them what it was like to be kids…annoying kids.
"Nothing," Charlie and Chester said in unison, giving their best puppy dog expression.
This was bad.
"We ain't do nothin, Miss Priss," Ryan said taking off his cowboy hat.
"Yes, we have not done anything," Peter added. I couldn't quite pinpoint Peter's accent. I'm thinking it was Norwegian or Icelandic or something. Even though Peter and Ryan were twins, Selliwood had programmed them with completely different accents. It was pretty funny to see the looks of confusion from strangers when they realized one twin sounded like John Wayne and the other sounded like Leif Ericsson.
I crossed my arms and stared at them trying my best to look intimidating.
"Sorry, Miss Priss, we was just seein' what would happen if -"
Charlie jabbed an elbow in Ryan's stomach. "Shut-up. She's bluffing. She can't do anything to us."
Ryan quickly zipped his lips. This was gonna take a little more than my scary-big-sister stare in order to get them to talk. I held up my hand and lit a flame. "Talk or somebody's getting toasted. Nicely toasted."
Charlie and Chester screamed and started running around in circles. Ryan and Peter started levitating. Did I mention they could fly?
"Mom, Priss is trying to kill us!" Chester yelled.
"Priss, don't kill your brothers," my mother called from her bedroom. "And don't use your powers in the house either."
"Fine.” I shut off the flame. "But I'm watching you,” I said to my brothers.
Charlie and Chester gave their evil grins then ran to their room with Ryan and Peter following close behind.
I entered the kitchen slowly. I knew they had done something in there so I wanted to be ready in case I slipped on some strategically placed slime or something. Once I was convinced it was safe, I grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and set it on the counter. Still looking around the kitchen, I opened the freezer and that's when it happened. I heard a series of ropes being pulled. I looked up just in time to see a huge bowl of banana pudding drop onto my face.
I screamed as the thick banana scented glob slid down my body. I started to run out of the kitchen in search of those blond bombers, but instead I slipped on the some of the pudding that had spilled on the floor and landed on my butt with a thud.
Ugh! I was so stupid. I should have been looking up instead of down. I thought Charlie and Chester would be too little to do something above my head. I forgot they had the help of flying eight-year-olds.
My giant of a father burst in through the back door with a rifle in his hand. "What's going on? Are you okay, Priscilla?" Dad was always a bit protective of me. My scream probably scared him to death thinking I was in danger or something.
I glared at him. "Do I look okay?"
Realizing that I wasn't in any real danger, Dad put the safety on the rifle then said, "Is that my banana pudding? I just made that this morning."
"Is that all you're concerned about? Look at me. I'm gonna smell like a monkey for a week!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Priscilla. Monkeys don't smell like bananas. They smell like...monkeys." Then my father started laughing. He was laughing at me! I heard more snickering from behind. I turned and saw Charlie and Chester in the doorway doubled over and nearly crying with laughter. Ryan and Peter were enjoying themselves as well as they flew to the ceiling and started dismantling the elaborate rig that had been very well camouflaged.
"I'm gonna kill you!" I said, lunging for my baby brothers and dragging them into the mess like we were in some sort of professional pudding wrestling league.
"Okay guys, break it up." My dad grabbed me by the arms and pulled me off of them, just as Mom and Josh entered the kitchen.
"Alright, what's going on in here?" my mother asked.
Josh shook his head and said, "It looks like another unprovoked attack from the twins. Mom, they have to be stopped."
"We was just playin around," Charlie said, forcing his lip to tremble.
"Yeah, we didn't mean anything by it," Chester added.
"They're lying. They're little monsters and they do this stuff on purpose just to drive us crazy!" I said, wiping pudding out of my eyes. Ugh, who knew banana pudding could sting so much.
"I have to agree with Priss on this," Josh said. "They're out of control. Yesterday they filled all my shoes with grape jelly."
"We just want
ed to make toe jam!" The twins said in unison.
Peter and Ryan burst out laughing as if that was the funniest thing they'd ever heard. I rolled my eyes.
"Priss is right," Josh continued. "They're driving us crazy. We can't take it anymore. We need a break from them."
"What kind of break?" my dad asked still holding on to me so I wouldn't attack the Devil Twins.
"Why don't you let us go home for the weekend? To River's Bend," Josh suggested.
I shot him a look. When had he come up with this plan? Not that I was complaining or anything. I'd love to go to River's Bend for the weekend. That way I could see Kyle's play. And see Kyle, of course. I started to get excited. I hadn't seen him in almost two months!
Follow my lead, Josh said to me telepathically.
"Please, please, please," I said. "Just for the weekend. We'll be so careful. And if anything goes wrong or seems suspicious we'll be back in a flash." I lit a quick flame for emphasis. The room instantly smelled like burnt bananas.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, kids," my mother said. She closed her eyes and massaged her forehead as if she was getting a headache. "I haven't been feeling well. I was kind of hoping to take it easy this weekend and let you and Priss take care of the twins," she said to Josh.
"Are you all right, Babe?" My dad let me go and went to examine his wife. He felt her forehead then stared into her eyes. "You should rest, Quin. Why don't we let Josh and Priss go to River's Bend and I'll keep the twins out of your hair for the weekend."
Whoa, wait, what? Did my dad just agree to let us go? The same dad who forced all of us to move to a farm in the middle of nowhere in the first place? The same dad who wouldn't let us have cell phones or e-mail addresses? The same dad who was so overprotective he timed us when we went into public bathrooms because he was afraid we'd get kidnapped? This was way too easy. Something was up.
I stared at Josh.
"Thanks, Dad. We're gonna go pack," Josh said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the kitchen before I had a chance to say anything.
"What was that all about?" I asked Josh once we reached his room. "That was not normal. Did you do something to Dad?"
"I kinda used my powers on him."
"Oooh, Josh! You're gonna get in so much trouble." Mom had strict rules about using our powers on each other, especially Josh's power of hypnotic suggestion. It wasn't fair that Josh was technically able to get anyone to do anything he wanted at anytime. He was only supposed to use it for emergencies.
"I know what you're thinking and this is an emergency. We have to get to River's Bend immediately. It's a matter of life and death."
Chapter 3: Witherall Returns
"So did you have a vision or something?" I asked Josh as I flew the jet to Pennsylvania an hour later.
He shrugged. "It wasn't really a vision. I don't know what it was. I just know we have to be in River's Bend. Something is going to happen."
"Well, if it's so important, why didn't you just tell Mom and Dad?"
"I wasn't sure they'd believe me and I didn't have time to explain."
"So you hypnotized them instead?"
Josh shook his head. "Just Dad. My powers don't work on Mom."
"Really?" That was strange. My mother used to be very powerful. As the first successful genetic experiment of the Selliwood Institute, she had super speed, telepathy, and telekinesis. But after a torture machine at the Institute stripped her powers, I thought she just became a normal human. If that was the case, though, Josh should have been able to hypnotize her pretty easily. Normal humans couldn't even feel when Josh entered their mind. Huh. I guess my mother still wasn't normal after all.
After I landed the jet in a wooded area outside of River's Bend, Josh spent the next twenty minutes just walking around in circles. He was trying to get a sense of why we were there. I looked at my watch and tapped my foot.
"Josh, Kyle's play starts in ten minutes," I whined.
"Shh," he said, closing his eyes and trying to focus.
Why couldn’t he hurry it up? I wanted to wish Kyle luck before he went on. He would be so surprised to see me. I couldn't wait to see the expression on his face. Maybe I could even sneak a kiss from him. I started to heat up at the thought of it.
A few minutes later Josh sighed. "Maybe I was wrong. I'm not getting any visions, intuitions, nothing."
I could tell he was really disappointed in himself. "Don't worry about it, Josh. Maybe it'll come to you later."
"I sure hope so."
***
By the time we got to the Polk Middle School auditorium the play was about to start. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kyle. I guess I'd have to wait until after the show to see him.
Polk Middle School's version of Romeo and Juliet was a bit different than what Shakespeare imagined. It didn't use old English or funny looking costumes. In a lame effort to be cool and relate to the students, Mr. Owen, the drama teacher, decided everyone would wear regular clothes and talk normally. So basically it was more like West Side Story than Romeo and Juliet, but Mr. Owen refused to admit that. He hated musicals. He said they didn't seem natural. Someone could have said the same thing about the fuzzy hair piece on top of his head.
Even though it was a ridiculously dumb concept, in my opinion, Kyle was absolutely amazing. I mean, I knew he was talented and all, but I couldn't believe the way he was able to memorize all those lines or not burst out laughing when he was professing his love for Bethany Walters as Juliet. I wasn't worried about Kyle falling in love with her for real or anything. I mean Bethany could only really love herself. I'm surprised she didn't have to glue a mirror to Kyle's forehead in order to kiss him convincingly.
My eyes were so locked to that stage watching Kyle in action that I didn't notice Josh getting more and more agitated. When I finally looked over at him he was sweating and his face had turned a sickening shade of green.
"Josh, what's wrong?" I whispered.
He closed his eyes and took deep breaths.
"Josh? You okay?"
He shook his head.
"Let's get out of here," I said wrapping his arm around my shoulder and lifting him up. I hoped everyone was too busy watching the play to notice how a scrawny thirteen-year-old girl could lift a buff sixteen-year-old boy and that we could slip away without any questions. No such luck.
"Is he okay?" Mrs. Talendy the seventh grade English teacher asked when we reached the lobby. She was a sweet old lady whose only wish was to get me to read anything besides comic books. She failed miserably.
"Oh, yeah, he's fine," I said. "Romeo and Juliet just makes him a little...emotional." Josh puked on my shoes and passed out. "And nauseated," I added, holding him up.
"Oh dear. Let me get you some help." I watched as Mrs. Talendy shuffled away.
Great, this was the last thing we needed. I tossed Josh over my shoulder, shook the puke off my shoes and dashed for the nearest exit. With my head down, I just ran as fast as my feet would carry me. As I turned a corner, I unexpectedly ran into something solid. I stumbled and fell backward with Josh falling on top of me. Even the fall didn't wake Josh up. He was completely out of it.
What the heck did I run into? I knew my school and I knew there shouldn't have been a wall there. When I looked up to see if Polk Middle School had started some new construction, I realized I hadn't run into a wall at all. It was a woman, a very tall and scary looking woman.
"Sorry about that," I said to the massive, muscular black woman that stood in front of me. She was easily six feet tall and built like a gladiator. She wore a black leather outfit with a circular patch on the left shoulder. Wait a minute. I recognized that patch. It was the symbol from the Selliwood institute. She had to be a Specimen.
I rolled Josh off of me and jumped to my feet taking a fighting stance in front of Josh's body. I had to figure out a way to defeat her and protect my brother at the same time.
The Specimen smiled and crossed her arms confidently. "You plan on fighting
me, little girl? You would never win."
"Don't be so sure of that, Specimen U," a familiar voice said. It was Dr. Witherall. "Hello, Priscilla," he said, stepping in front of Specimen U. "I've missed you."
Missed me? What did he mean he missed me?
"Do you mean you missed tormenting me and my family?"
He didn't respond at first. It was kind of hard to read his expression given that one of his eyes was glass. Half the time I didn't even know where he was looking let alone what he was thinking.
He turned and looked at Josh...I think. "I guess my signal worked a little too well," he said taking a syringe out of his pocket. He stepped toward Josh.
"What do you think you're doing?" I blocked my brother from his path.
"I don't want to hurt either of you, believe it or not."
"I choose not."
Dr. Witherall sighed.
"Did you do this to him?" I asked. I guessed Specimen U didn't like my tone. She must have thought I might attack as she stepped toward me in defense of Witherall. He held up his hand and waved her off.
"It's harmless," Dr. Witherall said. "I sent a signal that reacted with his unique body chemistry. I didn't think he would be so sensitive to it. He's more powerful than I thought. This solution should neutralize his powers." He held up the syringe.
"Yeah, right. You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you drug my brother like you did my mother for seventeen years."
"Very well." He closed his eyes and nodded. Then he took a deep breath and whipped out a little black jewelry box from another pocket.
I eyed it suspiciously.
"Take it. It's for your birthday," he said.
"Birthday?"
"Yes. I know it was a couple of months ago, but it took me that long to create a signal that would alert Josh."
"Whoa. Wait. What? You did all of this just to give me a birthday present?"
