by Sybil Nelson
Max was our dog. Kyle and me. We found him abandoned by the river when we were eight. We both fell in love with Max at first sight and decided to share him. We named him after my middle name, Maxine, and Kyle's last name, Montgomery. He was kind of like our child. We even had joint custody. Max would spend a month with me and then a month with Kyle. That was until about a year ago when the devil twins perfected their game of Snot Wars with Max as the target. The poor traumatized dog ran away to Kyle's house never to return. So, after that, I had to go to Kyle's house to visit Max.
"Priss? Are you there, Priss?" Tai asked. My super hearing kicked in and I heard her even though the phone had fallen under the bed.
"I'm here,” I said, picking it up. "I can't believe I'm crying. It's just a dog."
"You know good and well Max wasn't just a dog. Just like Kyle wasn't just a boyfriend."
I nodded as if she could see me. She was right. Max was more than a dog and Kyle was more than a boyfriend. Why is it you never think your first pet is ever gonna die just like you think you'll be with your first boyfriend forever and ever?
"When did he die? What happened?” I asked.
"Two days ago. He was hit by a car."
The tears swelled again. I hoped Kyle wasn't there to see it happen. I didn't even want to ask about that.
"Two days ago? And you're just telling me now?"
"Well, you've kind of had other things to deal with. Besides I just found out. Spencer called me. He says Kyle hasn't been to school since it happened. Priss, you have to talk to him. He's completely devastated. In one month he's lost his girlfriend and the dog he shared with said girlfriend. You’re the only one that can help get him out of this funk."
Spencer was Tai's boyfriend. Well, kind of her boyfriend. I wasn’t quite sure. It was a long story. See, I used to have a huge crush on Spencer before I fell for Kyle and before I knew that Spencer had a thing for Tai. I still wasn't really sure how Tai felt about him though so I wasn’t sure if they were official or not. Anyway, the situation had to be serious if he called Tai for help.
"I've tried to talk to him. I've called him so many times the numbers are wearing off my phone. He hangs up on me every time."
"I can fix that. You don’t have a genius best friend for nothing. Hold on."
The phone went silent for a second. The next thing I heard was Kyle's voice.
"Hello? Tai? Are you there?” he said.
Tai must have had him on the other line and then just connected him over to me. He probably had no idea I was even on the phone. If he did, he would've hung up on me already.
I froze. I didn't know what to say. Of course, there were a million things I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him that Marco only kissed me to protect me and that it didn't mean anything. Except, I couldn't say that. For one thing, the kiss did mean something. I didn't want to admit it, but it did. For another thing, I couldn't physically say anything at all in that moment. It was like my throat had swollen shut.
"Hi Kyle,” I finally squeaked out.
"Priss?” I couldn't tell whether he was angry, annoyed, or relieved. Maybe he was all three. Tai must not have told him what she had planned.
"Don't hang up,” I said quickly. I braced myself for that familiar dial tone. When it didn't come, I took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry."
"For what?” he said still using angry/annoyed/relieved voice.
"For everything, but especially for Max."
He still didn't hang up. This was a good sign. He was actually letting me talk. "I know you really loved him. I - I did too." That was the truth. That dog was a part of our family. The Kyle and Priss family.
"Sometimes love's not enough,” he said. He didn't sound angry or annoyed anymore. Just sad. I closed my eyes and pictured his blond hair that was always perfectly styled even after a thirty minute game of one-on-one basketball. Is it weird that one of my favorite things about him is his hair?
What did that mean? Was he saying he loved me, but that it wasn't enough for us to be together? How could he love me? How could he possibly know if he loved me? He was only thirteen! Did I love him? Is that what this burning in my chest was right now? Was it love? Or did I love Marco? Or was I too young to know the difference?
"I gotta go, Priss,” he said, but he didn't hang up. I felt like he was wanted to say something else. "I threw a stone for you,” he said finally.
I knew exactly what he was talking about. Every year on the first day of Spring Break we'd have a picnic by the river and then throw stones. Of course, it always turned into a competition and we'd see who could throw the stone the furthest or make it skip the most. It was a silly little tradition we'd started when we were nine. Kyle and I had lots of stupid traditions. Besides Tai, he was my best friend in the world. I was just as shocked as anyone last December when I realized I liked him as more than just a friend.
"I miss you, Priss. I miss you so much it hurts."
"I-I..." Once again, I didn't know what to say, so I said, "I don't know what to say."
"Say that you miss me too and that you don't want to be with Marco and that we can be together again just like old times."
"I - I." I kept stuttering. I could hear my heart beating in the silence. A silence that seemed to last longer than Josh holding a high note from Christina Aguilera's part in Lady Marmalade.
"You know what sucks the most, Priss?" he said, breaking the silence. "What sucks more than watching you kiss another boy right in front of me and more than watching our dog die?"
Oh no, he did see Max get killed. How awful! I had to fight back tears again.
"What sucks the most is that I really want to hate you...but I can't."
"Kyle -."
"I gotta go,” he said and hung up.
"I've missed you too,” I said to the dial tone.
Chapter 11: Ian the Australian
I cried myself to sleep that night. All the boys in the house probably thought I was having my period or something because none of them bothered me. They stayed away like I had some sort of contagious disease. Or maybe Josh had sensed that I needed some alone time and told everyone to stay away. In any case, I was glad they all just left me alone and let me cry.
But when the silent alarm woke me up in the middle of the night, crying was the last thing on my mind. And I think my heart stopped for a minute. I was so nervous I thought I was going to puke. The last time the silent alarm went off, my mom had attacked us and nearly killed my dad. Suddenly, I was very thankful that Ryan and Marco decided to spend the night. What if my mother had come back and brought reinforcements, namely, Peter and Katya? Josh and I wouldn't be able to handle them alone. We were stupid for staying. We should have abandoned the house and ran at the first opportunity.
The alarm was only silent for most people. I could hear it clearly with my super hearing. It set off a light in Josh's room and vibrated the twins' beds so that everyone knew there was danger.
By the time I made it into the hallway outside my parent’s room, everyone was already gathered.
Priss, take the twins to Dad's room. Marco, Ryan and I will see what the intrusion is, Josh ordered telepathically.
"No way,” I whispered. "I have more combat training than you. You protect Dad and the twins. I'm going in." Before he could argue, I took off toward the living room. Marco and Ryan were right behind me.
As soon as we reached the living room, I heard the clanging of pots and pans. "Kitchen,” I said to the boys. Ryan levitated and glowed preparing for a fight. Marco had already started his conversion to metal.
Standing in front of the kitchen door, I kicked through it and jumped inside. Instead of finding a deadly Selliwood Specimen ready to attack us, I found a naked teenage boy shivering behind a frying pan. Yes, naked as in no clothes and only a frying pan away from complete embarrassment.
"Who are you?” I yelled as I covered my eyes.
"Ian!” Marco said. I peeked through my fingers just enough to see Marco step towar
d the intruder with a smile. He had his arms outstretched as if ready for a hug, but then noticing the boy's naked state, he dropped his arms and stepped back. The metal conversion was starting to reverse so I guess the naked boy wasn't a real threat.
"I'll get his clothes,” Ryan volunteered as he flew out the back door.
I was completely confused. "Whoa. Wait. What is going on here? How do you know this naked kid? And why are you so okay with him being, well, naked?"
"Sorry, Priscilla. I'm gonna need to get dressed first, so unless you wanna watch..." the naked boy said with a smile and an extremely Australian accent. At least I thought it sounded Australian. How was I to know for sure?
"Priscilla? How do you know my name?” I turned to Marco and said, “How does he know my name?"
"We will explain everything in a moment. Just let Ian get dressed first,” Marco said, placing a hand on my shoulder and guiding me out of the kitchen. Then he picked up the door and leaned it against the frame.
Once in the living room I paced in front of the couch. I was too confused to be angry or scared or anything. I really just wanted to know who this Ian person was and what he had to do with nudity and my kitchen. My mind flashed back to my first and only image of him. I would never be able to use that frying pan again.
"What's going on?” Josh asked, coming into the living room holding one of Dad's revolvers.
"There's a naked dude in the kitchen."
"What?"
"Did I stutter? Naked. Dude. Kitchen."
"Ooo-kaaay?” he said skeptically as he clicked on the safety to the gun. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath. He was probably trying to use his telepathy to get more information on his own. With his eyes still closed, he took another deep breath and sighed. "Katya,” he said.
Great, we're being attacked by naked people and all he can think about is his girlfriend. I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the couch.
Seconds later I heard an "all clear" from Ryan. I hopped up and followed Josh into the kitchen.
"Okay, so what's going on here?” I asked just as Marco was giving the formerly naked stranger a big macho bear hug. I didn't get a good look at him before so I took a second to study his appearance. Shoulder length hair so blond it almost looked transparent poked out of a big tan cowboy looking hat. He was a few inches taller than Marco and he had a rugged manly air about him that made me think he was older than Marco as well. I wondered how they knew each other. Maybe they were friends in France.
"Good to see ‘ya, Mate,” the clothes-challenged Australian said once they released each other. He sure didn't sound French.
"It's been a long time,” Marco said.
The Australian looked around the room briefly then settled on Josh. He walked over to my brother and stretched out his hand. "You must be Josh."
"It's good to finally meet you, Ian,” Josh said.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute here. Am I the only one who doesn't know this guy? Does anybody want to explain to me why there's a psycho Australian in my kitchen?"
Ian the Australian turned to me and said, "Hey, I'm offended by that. I'm not Australian. I'm Kiwi."
I threw my hands up in the air. "Great, now he thinks he's a fruit." I rolled my eyes, crossed my arms and leaned against the refrigerator.
Everyone started laughing which really annoyed me. What was so funny?
Ian took off his cowboy hat, held it to his chest, and then he held out his hand as if asking for a handshake. I looked around skeptically. Josh gave a slight nod as if to tell me it was okay so I reached for the Australian's hand. Instead of shaking it, though, he brought the back of my hand to his lips, stole a glance at Marco and winked.
"You were right, Mate. She's a pretty little Sheila." He gave Marco a devilish grin. Marco crossed his arms and glared at him. "Still can't take a joke eh, Marco? Lighten up."
What an annoying little flirting jerk! "Sheila? What do you mean Sheila?” I snatched my hand away from him. "I'm Priscilla. I thought you already knew that."
Once again I had apparently said something really funny. Everyone started laughing...again.
I held out my hand and lit a warning flame. "That's it. Somebody better start talking or I'm gonna light something up alright." I probably shouldn't have done that. I mean, I had no idea who this guy was. What if he didn't know anything about our mutations or the Selliwood Institute? I could be revealing our secret to a potential enemy. But from the way everyone was laughing, I had the feeling he wasn't an enemy. I also had the feeling he was one of us.
"Oh and feisty, too. Ya sure you can handle her, Marco?"
I aimed a flame and blew the hat right off his head with one thrust of my index finger. "Nobody handles me,” I said.
"Fair enough,” he said. "Let me properly introduce myself. I'm Ian. Katya's twin brother."
Chapter 12: Fine, Ian from New Zealand
Well, that kinda made sense. I did remember Katya telling me she had a twin brother. And he did have the same white blond hair. But the similarities ended there. I mean Katya was so straightforward and uptight she reminded me of tall blonde robot. This kid seemed like a wannabe Romeo wrapped in a Crocodile Hunter shell.
And I thought Katya said her brother lived in New Zealand, not Australia. Well, wherever this kid was from, it didn't explain one thing.
"Fine, you're Katya's brother. But why in the world were you naked in my kitchen?"
"The door was locked,” Ian the Australian said as he tucked his white button down shirt into his jeans.
I looked around the room once again confused. To everyone else, this was apparently an acceptable answer.
"You hungry, buddy?” Ryan asked.
"Starving."
"I'll make you a sandwich,” Josh offered.
"Hello!" I said, waving my hands in the air trying to get everyone's attention. "No one else finds it strange that a teenage boy shows up naked in our kitchen and his only explanation is that our door was locked? I mean is this a common habit? Are all the boys in Australia doing it?"
"I told you before, Sheila. I'm not Aussie, I'm Kiwi."
"And I told you before; my name is Priscilla, not Sheila. What does that even mean? Kiwi. Are you insane? A kiwi is a little, brown, furry fruit."
"Priss, it means he's from New Zealand, not Australia,” Josh said as he moved me out of the way so he could open the fridge. He pulled out some leftover ham and reached for the bread.
"Whatever,” I said, crossing my arms. I was still kind of annoyed at how everybody laughed at me before. I felt like there was some secret little boys club meeting happening right in front of me but I didn't have the secret boy decoder to figure out what they were saying. It was totally frustrating.
"And the nudity has to do with his specific genetic mutation,” Marco said, holding out a chair for me to sit down at the breakfast table.
After I sat down, he didn't add anything else, so I said, “Well, what's his power? Do his clothes just melt off at the sight of locked doors? I'll guess he'll never be a locksmith."
Ian smiled. "That's not quite it. See, I can walk though solid objects -"
"Yeah, but his clothes can't!” Ryan added with a laugh.
Ian blushed a little and nodded. "It's true. When I walk through a wall, for example, my clothes stay on the other side. I usually don't use my powers because of the nudity issue. I'm just worried about Katya." He sat down across from me. "We usually talk every day telepathically. Three days ago, I lost my connection with her. I know something is wrong. Where is she? Where's my sister?"
***
We all took turns filling Ian in on the events of the last three days. It still hurt to say it was my mother who kidnapped Peter and Katya and who stabbed my dad. Somehow I wished it was all a dream.
Ian just nodded as he listened while finishing off three ham sandwiches, four glasses of milk and all the cookies in the house. I wondered if overeating was another one of his super powers.
"So what
's the plan? How do we get my sister back?” Ian asked Josh once we had explained everything.
It kind of annoyed me the way he directed his question to my brother and just ignored the fact that I was even there. Why did he just assume Josh was in charge? Maybe I already had a plan or something. Okay, I didn't, but he didn't even consider the possibility.
"Actually,” Josh said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think you should ask Priss. She should be in charge of this mission."
