by Lisa McMann
Had they heard right? Mac and Maria looked horrified, and Mrs. Wilde stared silent and wide-eyed.
“It’ll be miraculous. Sorry you’ll miss it.” He laughed and continued pulling the heavy door, peering at them one last time before he closed it. “Enjoy your stay—you’re going to be here for a while. Even someone as strong as Charlie won’t be able to open this door.”
Managing to break free, Maria, Charlie, and Mac all scrambled to stop the door from closing on them. But it clanged shut just before they slammed into it. Charlie even left a dent, but the door didn’t open. They were stuck inside the vault.
“Ugh!” screamed Charlie. Maria made fists and pounded at the door, and Mac backed up and ran at it again, while Charlie ran back to her mother and pulled out the gag. “Are you okay?” she asked, untying her.
Mrs. Wilde nodded. “I’m fine. Did you get Dad and the others out?”
“Yeah, but they’re across the street!”
“Give me your phone,” said Charlie’s mom. “I’ll text Andy to check if they’re okay. You see what you can do with that door so we can get out of here.”
Charlie handed her phone to her mom, then eyed the massive door. “It’s so huge,” she murmured. Would an elephant be able to open a locked vault? She sure hoped so.
“Mac,” said Maria, “get in here with your claws, will you? See if you can rip out any of this metal.”
Mac dug his claws into the doorframe and started bending it, slowly peeling back the sheet of metal that covered the lock.
“That’s it, Mac!” said Maria. “Keep going!”
Mac pulled harder, ripping the material away and tossing it aside, revealing the dead bolt. Then he hooked his claws and strained at the dead-bolt lock, trying to bend it so he could wriggle it out of its socket. “Charlie, pull me!” he said, and quickly made his scales flatten so she wouldn’t get hurt. “If we can bend this a little more, I bet you’ll be able to break open the door.”
Charlie grabbed Mac around the waist. On his go she pulled him backward. The metal around the door groaned and bent, and then Mac’s claws shredded through it. He and Charlie went flying backward, skidding along the vault floor. Mac rolled off Charlie and helped her up.
“You’re doing it!” said Maria, peering at the metal. “I can see the long stick of metal starting to bend in there. Can you get your claws inside, Mac?”
While Mac dug in once more, trying to break metal with his pangolin claws, Maria encouraged him, and Charlie focused on the door and tried to channel her inner elephant, telling herself she could do this. Finally Mac managed to bend the inner workings of the huge lock mechanism, at least a little bit. Enough to weaken it. Or at least they hoped so.
Mac backed away from the door, breathing hard from exertion. “Your turn,” he said to Charlie.
Charlie nodded. She backed up as far as she could and stared at the vault door, visualizing it collapsing under her strength. Then she ran toward it at top speed and slammed into it, causing a tremendous noise.
The force knocked Charlie out cold. She crumpled to the floor.
But the safe door bent and groaned, and with an extra push from Maria and Mac, it opened.
CHAPTER 39
A Wrench in the Plan
By the time Charlie regained consciousness, she was halfway to the back entrance of home base, being carried by her mom and her friends.
“Whoa,” she said, squinting in the sunlight. Her head and shoulder hurt. “Looks like that worked?”
“You’re a brute,” said Maria admiringly. “You dented the vault door enough to break it open.”
“Your starfish is working,” said Mac, “so hopefully you’ll be feeling okay soon.”
“Here’s hoping the starfish does magic on concussions,” Mrs. Wilde said grimly, eyeing the sixth-floor windows of their building. “We may have another fight on our hands if Prowl and Miko are still up there.”
Charlie felt her bruises gingerly. “I’m okay to walk,” she said.
They set her down in the alleyway as they hurried around the corner of their building.
As they reached the door, Mrs. Wilde paused and narrowed her eyes, looking across the parking lot. She pointed at someone running fast toward them. “Who’s that?” she said, alarmed.
Maria turned sharply. “What the—” Then she slapped a hand to her forehead. “It’s Kelly.”
“Kelly?” said Charlie, fearing her injury might have affected her hearing.
“How the heck would she know where to find us?” asked Mac.
Maria looked guiltily at the others. “I—I told her last week. Before she went to Cabo and started doing stupid things.”
“Oh,” said Charlie. She wasn’t happy.
“Maybe she can help us,” said Mrs. Wilde. “We could use it.”
Maria flagged Kelly down and they all quickly went inside the building.
Kelly’s clothes were torn, her hair was in tangles, and she had dirt and blood on her face. Tear tracks divided the dust on her cheeks, and she looked exhausted. Even her backpack appeared like it had been dragged through the mud. “Hi,” she said miserably between breaths. She bent forward, putting her hands on her knees to steady herself.
“Are you okay?” asked Maria. “What happened to you? How did you get back from Los Angeles?”
“Bus,” she said, still breathing hard. “Somebody on it recognized me and alerted the media, who were all there at the bus station waiting when we arrived. Then I ran into those two beefy goons from the warehouse with one other guy. I barely got away from them. I had to hide in an empty trash container until they left, and then I remembered where you were.”
Mac’s eyes almost bugged out at that last confession, but he didn’t say the obvious comment that had come to everyone’s mind: Kelly hid in a trash can? She must have been desperate.
“I’m afraid this isn’t a safe place anymore for any of us,” said Mrs. Wilde, hurrying everybody up the stairs.
“Thanks to Kelly,” Charlie muttered.
Kelly looked at her, shocked at first. Then she narrowed her eyes. “Oh, I get it. You’re mad I took credit for your burning house rescue. Well, a lot of good that did me.”
Anger boiled up in Charlie. “You put my dad and all of us in a lot of danger!”
Mrs. Wilde gave Charlie a warning glance. “We can talk about that later. Kelly, we’ll protect you if we can. But right now we need to hustle upstairs.”
Charlie pretended she didn’t see it. She wasn’t feeling generous at all after all the stress Kelly had put them through, and Kelly’s selfish attitude wasn’t helping. “You’ll help us fight if we need to,” she demanded. “And we need that envelope back. Right now.”
“Fine,” said Kelly. “Sheesh.” Her weariness showed on her face, and her chin began to tremble. She shrugged her backpack off her shoulder and pulled out the Talos Global envelope. She ignored Charlie’s outstretched hand and gave it to Mrs. Wilde. “I don’t need your stupid papers anymore, anyway.” Kelly swallowed hard and glared at the stairs.
Apparently Maria couldn’t hold in her feelings about Kelly either. “And you need to stop lying. Why did you do that to me? To us? That wasn’t cool.”
Kelly’s face cracked. “So you’re turning on me now, too, Maria? After all I’ve done to help you?” Her face turned red and she tried to say something more, but only an ugly sob came out.
“Nobody’s turning on you!” Maria said. “But we’re mad. You did some pretty crappy things.” Mac didn’t say anything, but he nodded in solidarity with Maria and Charlie.
“Kids, please,” said Mrs. Wilde, sounding exasperated.
“But they’re being awful to me!” said Kelly.
“Oh. My. God,” said Charlie bitterly.
“Stop.” Mrs. Wilde held up her hand, shutting them down. “We’re all hurting about this, but the fight’s not over! Right now we need to focus. Let’s go.” She reached the top of the stairs and started jogging to home base.
“Sorry, Mom,” Charlie muttered. She ran to take the lead, checking her bracelet as she went. Everything was still activated. She waited at the door while the others caught up and pressed her ear to it, wondering if she could hear anything.
It was silent inside. Maria and Mac joined her at the door. They waited an extra beat while Mac reactivated his scales, then Charlie placed her hand on the doorknob. Slowly she turned it, and Maria peeked in.
“Ay, dios mio,” she said under her breath.
In the reception area stood Miko and Prowl. “Welcome home,” Prowl purred. “We’ve been expecting you.” Between them they held Andy, who was gagged and tied up.
CHAPTER 40
Hanging by a Thread
Charlie pushed into the room, ready to fight. She stopped when she saw the soldiers with Andy. Anger boiled over. “Leave him alone!”
The rest of the group followed. Mrs. Wilde saw her son and gasped. Andy struggled and twisted, but he was bound too tightly to move much. Tears dripped down his cheeks and soaked into his gag. He gave Charlie and his mother a pleading look. They charged toward them. “What do you want with him?” Mrs. Wilde cried. “Where’s Charles?”
“Charles and the others are a little tied up right now,” purred Prowl, and Miko laughed. “When we saw you coming on your fancy cameras, we decided Andy needed to stick with us for a while. We won’t hurt him if you let us go quietly. We might even release him eventually.”
Charlie couldn’t breathe. Eventually? They were taking Andy hostage. Mrs. Wilde pushed past her. “Just leave him and get out of here! We won’t stop you. We promise.”
Miko sneered. “Nice try, but we can see we’re outnumbered.” Then she noticed Kelly hanging behind the others. “Oooh, look, Prowl! It’s the famous one. Cyke said you gave them the slip at the bus station before he could tell you all the things Dr. Gray has to offer you. How nice of the Wildes to deliver you straight to us.” She glanced at Prowl, then took a step forward. “How about we make a trade, hmm? If she comes with us, we’ll give you the boy back.”
Charlie’s mouth opened in shock, but she couldn’t speak. Kelly looked up sharply. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Dr. Gray thinks you’d be a great addition to our team,” said Prowl. He watched her carefully. “He thinks you could play an important role in his plan to change the world.”
“Dr. Gray is insane,” said Mac under his breath. “Don’t trust them, Kelly.”
“We’ll be keeping them both, thank you,” Mrs. Wilde said coolly, but her face was deathly pale. Her fingers trembled.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” said Miko. “You could be the hero for your friends right now if you come with us.”
Charlie could see Kelly’s face change. “No, Kelly.”
She snarled at Charlie and looked away.
Prowl saw the exchange. “Having a little fight with your friends? I hope they’re treating you like a celebrity.” He glanced at Miko, then back at Kelly, and said confidentially, “Dr. Gray saw you on the show and he’s a big fan.”
“They’re both staying with us,” said Mrs. Wilde sharply. She took a step toward Andy. “Either get out now or we’ll take you out.”
“Oooh,” said Prowl, a small smile playing at his lips. “Pretty confident for someone who doesn’t have any enhancements.”
“You’re asking for trouble,” Mac warned.
“Let Andy go,” Charlie said forcefully. She made fists and put them in the air.
Kelly frowned and glanced at Miko. After a moment she took a defensive stance too.
Prowl sighed and examined his claws. “Do we really need to do this again?” Then he nodded at Miko, and without further warning, he shoved Andy to the corner behind them while Miko hopped onto the counter and jumped on Mac. Prowl sprang at Mrs. Wilde, knocking her into the wall, the Talos Global envelope ripping apart and contents scattering. She slumped to the floor, dazed. Charlie ran at Prowl, fists flying. He dodged her and leaped at Kelly, knocking her down.
“Get off me!” screamed Kelly, flailing. “I thought you wanted me on your side!”
Prowl eyed her suspiciously, then let up and went after Mac, slamming him into the wall. Charlie whirled around and Miko lunged for her.
Maria bounded up and over the counter and grabbed Andy. She dragged him to the double doors and pushed on them, but they were locked as usual. “Dang it!” she muttered. “Who has keys?”
Nobody had the wherewithal to respond. Mrs. Wilde was still down. Mac swatted at Prowl with his claws, but the leopard man was nimble and managed to keep Mac and Kelly in one corner. Charlie’s fist connected with Miko, sending her into the wall, but the soldier rebounded off it and hit Charlie, knocking her into Mac. “Yowch!” she said, rolling away from him.
“Sorry!” said Mac, diving at Miko. But the deft chimp woman skittered miraculously midair and leapfrogged off of Mac’s helmet, barely getting scratched by his blades. Mac swung his arm around and caught her in the leg with his claws as she pushed off. She squealed and dropped to the ground, clutching it.
Charlie noticed Prowl ready to attack Mac and slammed into him from behind. He landed hard on Kelly, knocking her flat. She screamed and flailed, swinging her arms and kicking her feet. Charlie went after Miko, while Maria gave up on finding a key to the door. She jumped up on the counter and grabbed the fluorescent light fixture on the ceiling in order for her to get some momentum. But the plastic cover ripped off, sending it to the floor on top of her. She lay still, the wind knocked out of her.
Mrs. Wilde regained her senses. She rubbed her head and blinked a few times, then crawled over to Andy to protect him and stay out of the way. She fumbled through her pockets, searching for her key.
Prowl rolled off Kelly, who was furious. Mac slammed his claws into Prowl. The soldier hissed in pain, then charged at Mac and smashed him into the wall again, clearly frustrated that he couldn’t seem to hurt the silver-suited predator.
Charlie leaped to the wall and stuck there, then chased Miko around the perimeter of the room.
Kelly jumped to her feet, angry, and charged at Prowl. Prowl whirled around and faced her, claws fully extended this time. He crouched, waiting to pounce.
“Prowl, no!” shouted Miko. “Dr. Gray said not to hurt her!” She turned suddenly and leaped at Charlie. The two went crashing to the floor and started rolling around in a tussle, knocking Mac down too.
“But she’s coming at me!” Prowl argued. Still he retreated, bounding away, and caught sight of Andy and Mrs. Wilde at the door to the surveillance area. Mrs. Wilde was fumbling at the lock with her key. “Oh, no you don’t!” Prowl shouted, running over to knock the key away as Kelly pursued him. The key flew across the room, and Miko snagged it from the air. She slid it into her suit. Charlie slugged her, and the woman went crashing into Mrs. Wilde, knocking her away from Andy. Prowl pounced, picked up Andy, and whirled around to face Kelly, holding the boy hostage once more.
Kelly stalked him, eyes on fire.
Prowl hissed, warning her.
Miko rolled and grabbed Charlie, picked her up, and flung her into Mac. Maria was still down. Mrs. Wilde was down, too. Then Miko saw what was going on with Prowl, Andy, and Kelly. The chimp hopped onto the counter, moving from side to side fearfully, unsure what to do.
Kelly—clearly exhausted, enraged, hurt inside and out—charged like an injured animal, uttering a primal scream. She clicked her device and kicked out wildly at the soldier, but she missed.
“Kelly, stop! Be careful!” cried Maria, sitting up and rubbing her head.
“Andy, watch out!” screamed Charlie, seeing the poisonous spikes.
Kelly, possessed by her desire to obliterate one of the many people who’d hurt her over the recent days, didn’t comprehend either of them. She pursued Prowl like nobody else was there. Charlie sprang up and ran toward them, trying to knock Kelly down, trying to keep her away from Andy, but that only made things worse. Kelly spun around from the impact, righted herself,
and slammed her foot blindly backward, connecting.
Everyone cringed. They waited for the leopard man’s scream of pain.
It came, loud and piercing. He fell to the ground, letting go of Andy.
But then Andy fell, too. He made a small muffled cry before his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.
Charlie stared at him as she realized what had just happened. “No! You hit Andy too!” She dived to the ground at his side while her mother struggled to get to them.
“Andy!” Charlie sobbed, touching his cheek. “Wake up, Andy!” But her brother was limp and lifeless. She cried his name again, tears pouring down her face. Maria helped Charlie’s mother up so she could go to him. Miko pulled Prowl away from them all, toward the door. Mrs. Wilde took Andy and cradled him, checking him over.
Charlie got up and turned angrily. “Kelly!” she screamed. “Look what you did! What’s wrong with you? I hate you!”
Kelly stood frozen, the predatory look on her face draining away. She glanced at Miko and took a step toward the door.
Miko left Prowl, screaming and paralyzed, and reached out to Kelly. “Are you okay?”
Kelly jumped at the touch and took a step back. “I didn’t mean to hurt Andy,” she said, her voice wavering. “I just . . . I get so angry. And I keep hurting . . . people. . . .”
Maria turned sharply to Kelly and said quietly, “We know you didn’t mean it. It’s going to be okay. If you take the device off, all of this will stop. It’ll all go back to normal.”
“Give it to her!” Charlie said, her voice ragged. “You’re dangerous!”
Kelly’s eyes widened. She looked at the device. Then she shook her head. “I can’t give it back.” She blinked, then said, “I can’t go back to being normal again.”
“What are you talking about?” said Maria.
Miko turned to Kelly. “We get it,” she said. “You’re special now, like us. You’re better than other people.”
Kelly’s bloodshot eyes narrowed, filled with confusion. She turned to Charlie accusingly. “Why should you get to keep your bracelets and not me?”
