The Courage Within (Riley Bennett)

by Andy Coltart

‘I’m not sure about this,’ said Casey.

  ‘I thought you were the rebellious, risk-taking one?’ said Riley.

  ‘Not when it comes to your life I’m not,’ said Casey. Riley smiled and put her arm round Casey.

  ‘Aww, thanks,’ she said, ‘but Alex is right, we have to do something about this.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Casey, ‘but what?’

  ‘I wanna try something’ said Riley, taking out her phone.

  ‘What’s that for?’ asked Alex.

  ‘An experiment,’ said Riley getting up from the table. ‘If I’m invisible then so is my phone, right?’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Casey.

  ‘Let’s see if I can take a photo with it,’ said Riley. She pointed the camera at Casey and asked her to smile, which she was happy to do. Handing the phone to Alex she asked him to take a look in the gallery and see if the image was there.

  ‘Yeah, it’s here,’ he said, ‘but what has this achieved?’

  ‘A lot,’ said Riley. ‘It means I can take photographic evidence whilst I’m invisible!’

  ‘Brilliant!’ said Alex.

  Before the others could say anything Riley had gone to the other end of the cafe and was taking photographs of Vince, Joe and Sam. None of the gang noticed anything out of the ordinary.

  ‘Perfect,’ said Riley as she returned to the table.

  Casey checked her watch. ‘We’d better finish up and pay. Your father will be here soon,’ she said.

  ‘I’d better make myself visible again,’ said Riley picking up her phone and turning towards the loos.

  ‘I’ll help you,’ said Casey.

  As they set off together Alex went to the counter to pay for the drinks and ask for their latest order to be in take-out cups. In the loos Riley span round and grabbed her head as the brain burn started. She started to fall and Casey grabbed hold of her.

  ‘You’re okay,’ she said, ‘I’ve got you.’ A few moments later Riley was alright again.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said to Casey as they headed for the door.

  As they walked out of the bathroom one of the gang turned to them and said, ‘Hey kid, you been in the bathroom all that time?’

  Realising they wouldn’t have seen Riley leave an hour ago, Casey answered ‘Yeah, she’s not feeling too good.’ They didn’t wait for a reply and headed for the door where Alex was waiting.

  ‘What was that about?’ he asked.

  ‘We’ll explain outside,’ said Casey.

  They told Alex what Joe had asked them whilst they waited for his father to arrive.

  ‘Oh, by the way, you left these,’ said Alex handing the girls their shopping bags.

  ‘Oh, I’d totally forgotten about those,’ said Riley.

  ‘Really, after the hours that went into choosing them!’ said Alex laughing.

  ‘Very funny,’ said Casey.

  ‘Look, here’s your father’s car,’ interrupted Riley.

  ‘Just in time,’ said Alex, still laughing.

  They got into Mr Manning’s Mercedes and he started to drive them home.

  ‘You kids had a good afternoon?’ he asked. They looked at each other nervously.

  ‘Yeah, yeah it was good, thanks,’ said Alex.

  ‘You okay?’ asked his father.

  ‘Yeah I’m fine, just a bit tired,’ replied Alex.

  ‘Well we will be home soon,’ said his father.

  Chapter 20

  The Rescue Plan

  When they arrived at Alex’s house his father unlocked the door and they all went inside.

  ‘Have you had anything to eat?’ asked Mr Manning.

  ‘No, we haven’t,’ said Alex.

  ‘Well if the girls like curry I could order in from our favourite restaurant,’ said Mr Manning. Alex looked at Riley and Casey, they both nodded.

  ‘That would be great, thanks, Dad,’ said Alex.

  ‘Well I’ll get that sorted if you lot want to chill out.’ ‘Okay,’ said Alex as he signalled to the girls to follow him upstairs.

  When they reached his room they all took their usual spots on the bed and chair.

  ‘What an afternoon!’ said Riley.

  ‘What a week,’ said Casey, falling from a sitting position onto her back on the bed.

  ‘Yeah it certainly has been,’ said Alex.

  There was a moment’s quiet as if everyone was having some personal reflection time. All going over the events of the week in their minds. The lightning strike seemed a distant memory. Even trying on clothes that afternoon seemed a distant memory with what lay on their minds now.

  ‘So, what are we gonna do to save the President?’ asked Riley.

  ‘We have so many things to think about,’ said Casey, sitting back up.

  ‘Let’s make a list,’ said Alex.

  ‘Okay,’ said Riley, ‘firstly, can we get to Washington without our parents getting suspicious and can we get tickets for that same White House tour?’

  ‘Okay,’ said Alex, ‘what else?’

  ‘We need to know what we are actually gonna do if we are there, like a detailed plan,’ said Casey.

  ‘We also need to know what Riley is capable of. Can her new energy pulse be controlled and what can she do with it? Knowing that may help save the President,’ said Alex.

  Riley stared at her hand. ‘What is it?’ asked Alex.

  ‘I’m just wondering if we’re in over our heads here. I mean we only discovered I had the energy pulse today and I don’t even know if I can do it again, let alone use it to defend the President in some way,’ she replied.

  ‘I guess we are going to have to test it and see if you can do it again,’ said Casey.

  ‘First things first,’ said Alex, ‘none of this matters if we can’t be there.’ He swung his chair round to face his computer and started typing. The girls got off the bed and walked over to see what he was doing.

  ‘Can you see that OK?’ asked Casey.

  ‘Yeah, I adjusted the screen yesterday when we spoke online,’ replied Alex.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Riley.

  ‘Checking White House tour tickets,’ replied Alex. They watched the screen to see what came up.

  ‘There,’ said Casey pointing. The others looked.

  ‘You’re right there’s five tickets left for that tour,’ said Alex.

  ‘That’s incredible, those tours normally book up months in advance,’ said Casey.

  ‘We’d better get the tickets now then,’ said Riley. Alex got out his Visa card and put in some details. He added all of their names to the booking. As he clicked ‘complete booking’ a reminder popped up to bring photo ID with the ticket.

  ‘Well,’ said Alex turning his chair back round as the girls sat back down on the bed, ‘that’s the easy part done.’

  Silence fell over the room again as they realised they’d taken the first step to actually doing this.

  ‘Food’s arrived,’ shouted Alex’s father from downstairs.

  ‘Okay,’ Alex shouted back. All three of them got up to go down stairs.

  ‘We’ll carry on this conversation after dinner,’ said Alex. The girls agreed.

  ‘Thanks for the food,’ said Casey to Alex’s father.

  ‘Oh, no problem,’ he replied. ‘Actually, I meant to ask before do you two want to stay over, if your parents agree of course?’ Riley and Casey looked at each other, then at Alex.

  ‘Yes please,’ they both said at the same time.

  ‘Okay,’ said Mr Manning. ‘I’ll make some calls after dinner.’

  Everyone tucked into the various curries on offer. They were all quite hungry as they’d not eaten since breakfast. After dinner Alex and the girls loaded the dishwasher and cleared away while Mr Manning got on the phone. Just as they finished he came through to the kitchen. ‘I’ve spoken to your mums. They’re fine with you staying as long as you share a room. They’re also going to drop off some clean clothes for you for tomorrow,’ he said.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Ri
ley.

  ‘Yes, thank you,’ said Casey as they left the kitchen with Alex to go back up to his room.

  When they got into Alex’s room he asked, ‘Why do your mums want you sharing a room?’

  ‘Probably because it’s our first time staying in a house with a boy they’ve only just met,’ said Riley.

  ‘Little do they know,’ said Casey.

  ‘Anyway,’ said Riley, ‘let’s get back to the rescue plan.’

  Sitting in their usual spots, Alex spun his chair round to face his computer screen.

  ‘What are you looking at now?’ said Riley.

  ‘Travel to Washington,’ said Alex.

  ‘Aren’t we going to struggle getting there for the first tour?’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Alex, ‘we will have to go the day before and stay the night.’

  ‘There’s no way our parents are going to agree to this,’ said Riley, ‘if it means bunking off school.’

  ‘I’m fine with that,’ said Casey.

  ‘Me too, I’m just concerned about our parents, given the FBI were looking for us last time we disappeared,’ said Riley.

  ‘It is a problem as I can’t see them letting us skip school and travel to a different city without a detailed explanation,’ said Casey.

  ‘Let’s see if we can get there first,’ said Alex, still looking at his computer. ‘Then we can worry about parents.’

  ‘Okay, so here’s the good news,’ said Alex, ‘there’s a train that goes direct to DC and leaves here after the schools close.’

  ‘That’s good, avoids us bunking off,’ said Riley.

  ‘What’s the bad news?’ said Casey.

  ‘It doesn’t arrive until 3.00 a.m.!’ said Alex.

  ‘That only gives us six hours until the tour!’ said Riley.

  ‘It means we will have to get ready on the train,’ said Alex.

  ‘We can do that,’ said Casey, ‘we’re a team, aren’t we?’

  The others liked the sound of that.

  ‘Let’s not start creating a name for ourselves that really sucks,’ said Alex laughing.

  ‘We could be The Lightning Bolts!’ said Casey, laughing.

  ‘Well that’s just proved my point,’ said Alex, rolling his eyes.

  ‘Listen, names are not important,’ said Riley. ‘What’s important is we are here for each other.’

  ‘True,’ said Casey, smiling.

  Alex booked the train tickets and then suggested they go into the garden.

  ‘I want to see if Riley can use her energy pulse again,’ he said. They girls agreed that was a good idea so they followed him back downstairs. Mr Manning was in the front room watching television so would be oblivious to anything going on in the back garden. As they went outside Alex grabbed an apple from the kitchen.

  ‘Hungry?’ said Casey.

  ‘No, this is for throwing,’ said Alex. He also found an old football lying at the end of the garden which he gave to Casey.

  ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘let’s try the football first.’

  ‘What am I supposed to do?’ asked Riley.

  ‘Just what you did before, imagine pushing the ball back without touching it,’ said Alex. Casey still had the football so she was the one to throw it. Riley raised her hand and the ball just bounced off!

  ‘Well that didn’t work, did it?’ said Riley, sounding frustrated.

  ‘What was different about the car?’ said Alex.

  ‘It was bigger,’ said Casey.

  ‘And it was going to kill us,’ said Riley.

  ‘Okay, so imagine the football is coming to kill you,’ said Alex. Casey burst out laughing.

  ‘Wait, no he’s right, Casey,’ said Riley. ‘Throw it again.’ Casey threw the ball as hard as she could this time. Riley raised her arm facing the palm of her hand to the ball. Just before the ball reached her a pulse of energy created a ripple in the air and the ball flew back at Casey the moment it was hit.

  ‘Yes!’ shouted Casey as she dodged the football. ‘You did it!’

  ‘That’s great,’ said Alex, ‘let’s try it with a smaller object.’ He took the apple out of his pocket and got ready the through it.

  ‘Riley,’ he said.

  ‘Yes,’ she replied.

  ‘I want you to try something different this time. Don’t just push it back; try and stop it in mid-flight.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll give it a go,’ she said.

  Alex launched the apple in Riley’s direction. She raised her hand; an energy pulse came out much slower this time. They watched as the apple decelerated in midair before dropping to the ground in front of Riley.

  ‘Amazing,’ said Alex.

  ‘We’ve discovered so much from this,’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah, it looks like I can control the force of the energy pulse,’ said Riley.

  ‘One thing we still don’t know is can you use it with or without being invisible?’ added Alex.

  ‘Oh yeah,’ said Riley, ‘I hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps I should try this while I’m invisible.’

  Alex was looking around on the ground.

  ‘What are you looking for?’ said Casey.

  ‘Something smaller than an apple,’ said Alex, as he picked up a stone.

  ‘Okay Riley, your next challenge is to stop the stone in mid-flight and hold it there with the energy pulse,’ said Alex.

  ‘I’ll try,’ said Riley, ‘but let me turn invisible first.’ She spun round and her friends stopped her from falling over when the brain burn came.

  ‘Okay, I’m ready,’ said Riley a few minutes later.

  Casey watched as Alex threw the stone at Riley. Riley raised her hand and the energy pulse rippled out through the air. She kept her arm up and concentrated as the energy hit the stone. Rather than dropping her arm she held it there and to everyone’s amazement the stone stopped and hovered mid-flight.

  ‘Awesome,’ said Casey.

  ‘You know what this means, don’t you?’ said Alex.

  ‘What?’ asked Riley.

  ‘It means you can stop a bullet in mid-flight!’

  ‘Hold on just a minute!’ said Casey. ‘Stones are one thing but bullets! Plus, don’t they move much faster?’

  ‘She’s got a point, Alex,’ said Riley.

  ‘Okay, perhaps stopping a bullet is a bit more Superman’s thing. So how do we protect the President?’ said Alex.

  ‘I could stand between him and the gun,’ said Riley.

  ‘No way, not happening!’ said Casey. ‘Even if you were invisible the bullet would still kill you.’

  ‘Not if I’m wearing a vest,’ said Riley.

  ‘I hate to admit it, but she’s right,’ said Alex. ‘If she takes that first shot the chaos that follows will allow the Secret Service to get the President away.’

  ‘But what about Riley?’ said Casey, sounding very concerned.

  ‘It’s a risk,’ said Riley, ‘but unless we can think of a better option.’

  Casey looked less than impressed with this plan, but for now it was the only one they had. They made their way back inside and headed upstairs. After further discussions about the week ahead they decided to call it a night. The girls’ mums had dropped bags off for them so they collected them from the hall and went to the bedroom Mr Manning had set up for them.

  ‘You okay sharing a double bed as I don’t have a room with two beds in the house?’ said Mr Manning.

  ‘We’ll be fine thanks,’ said Riley. They said goodnight to Alex and closed the door.

  The girls got into their pyjamas and climbed into bed. They lay on their sides looking at each other.

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay with a bulletproof vest on?’ said Casey as she lifted the hair from Riley’s face with her finger.

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘Why are you so worried?’

  ‘Because I really like you,’ said Casey.

  ‘I’d kinda guessed that,’ said Riley.

  Casey moved closer. ‘How do you feel about that
?’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Riley. ‘I’ve not thought about relationships before. Can we talk about it once this threat is over?’

  ‘Yeah sure,’ said Casey, moving back a little on her pillow. Riley, picking up she was feeling a little rejected, leant over and kissed Casey on the forehead.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said.

  ‘Goodnight, Riley,’ said Casey.

  ‘Night,’ replied Riley, turning out the light.

  Chapter 21

  Family

  Riley woke to hear a knocking on the door. ‘Come in,’ she said in a bleary voice. The door opened and Alex walked in with a tray.

  ‘Wake up, you two,’ he said.

  Casey and Riley sat up in bed. Alex handed them the tray which had cups of tea and plates of toast on it.

  ‘Wow, thanks, Alex,’ said Riley.

  ‘How are you two doing?’ said Alex.

  ‘Okay Thanks,’ said Casey, just beginning to wake up now.

  ‘Great,’ said Alex. ‘Well, I’ll leave you to have breakfast and I’ll see you downstairs in a bit.’ With that he got up and left the room.

  ‘This is nice,’ said Casey.

  ‘He’s a good guy that Alex,’ said Riley.

  ‘Yeah he is,’ said Casey biting into some toast. Once they’d finished their breakfast they took it in turns to use the bathroom and get dressed. Eventually, the girls appeared in the kitchen carrying the tray on which stood empty cups and plates.

  ‘Here, let me take that,’ said Alex as he took the tray off Riley to clear away.

  ‘Do you know what time we are going home?’ said Casey.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ said Alex. ‘I think we were in the garden when your mums called yesterday so I don’t know what they’ve arranged with my dad.’

  ‘Where is your father?’ asked Casey.

  ‘Golf I think,’ said Alex, ‘he usually plays on a Sunday.’

  The three of them sat round the table in the middle of the kitchen. Mr Manning’s laptop lay closed on the top. Alex made a pot of coffee and he and Riley had some.

  ‘Guess we’re back in school tomorrow,’ said Casey.

  ‘Yeah can you believe it’s only one week since the lightning strike?’ said Riley.

  ‘That doesn’t feel possible,’ said Alex. ‘So much has happened.’