by Alesha Dixon
“All right.”
“Wonderful! I’ll drop you at your friend’s party afterwards, I promise. Come on,” she said, ushering me out the front door and towards her sports car, with Alfred following closely behind, now wearing one of Dad’s raincoats that he’d stolen from the hooks by the door.
“I guess it is kind of exciting,” I admitted, putting my seat belt on as she turned on the ignition. “My first superhero mission.”
“And this one is VERY important, darling,” she nodded, sharing a glance with Alfred in the rear-view mirror. “Trust me.”
11
“Are you sure this is it?” I asked nervously, peering down at Aunt Lucinda and Alfred from the air duct.
“Oh, yes,” Aunt Lucinda replied, squeezing antibacterial hand gel on to her palms after having given me a leg up so I could remove the grate in the ceiling and climb in. “Thank goodness you’re here! Alfred and I would never have fit in those air vents. Now, as I said, crawl straight that way and then take the first right, then the second left, then left again. You’ll happen upon a package - grab it and then come back here as quickly as possible.”
I gulped and nodded, staring down the dark, cramped tunnel before me. I gave Aunt Lucinda a thumbs up and began to shuffle forwards on my hands and knees, repeating the directions in my head: first right, second left, left again.
Aunt Lucinda had been very vague about the package we had to rescue from this secret hiding place, no doubt trying to protect me from whatever horrible thing was in it. In the car on the way, she explained she’d received information that an evil criminal had hidden a package in the ceiling air vents above a famous London auction house years ago. The criminal was due for release from prison any day now and it was imperative to national security that he did not get his hands on this item.
“If we don’t get there before he collects it –” Aunt Lucinda had whispered, her eyes welling up with tears of fear “– life as we know it will be changed for ever.”
We’d had to break into the back room of the auction house where there was an entrance to the air vents – Aunt Lucinda had come prepared with some blueprints of the building. She was right too about fitting into these air vents; there was no chance she would have squeezed in. My spine was practically scratching along the top of the tunnel. I felt better knowing that I was helping to save the world, even though I didn’t feel very brave as I crawled in the darkness.
The further I went, the darker it became. I turned my palms upward and took a deep breath, pushing aside my fear about what this evil package might be and calmly drew my focus to my powers, just as Mum had taught me. Bright beams immediately sparked from my fingertips, sending a powerful surge of light throughout the tunnel, so I could see where I was going. I smiled to myself. The training sessions really were working.
“Well done, Aurora!” I heard Aunt Lucinda cry from below me. She must have seen the light glowing through the duct opening above her.
I ducked right as the air vent split into separate pathways, then made my way to the second left.
Turning left again, I gasped as I suddenly saw a box, covered in dust, sitting by a grate in the middle of the tunnel. I could hear voices below me. It was the main room of the auction house, in which there was a crowd of people bidding on lots of precious items, completely unaware that someone was crawling through the ventilation shafts directly above them. The air vent creaked as I made my way towards the package, making me stop in my tracks.
I suddenly had a vision of the tunnel giving way and me crashing through the ceiling on top of everyone. I bit my lip.
“Come on, Aurora,” I whispered to myself as my heart thudded against my chest. “You can do this.”
I carefully moved forwards, ignoring the echo of another loud creak down the tunnel. As I got closer, I stretched out my hand and reached the box, pulling it towards me very slowly. Aunt Lucinda had warned me to be VERY careful with the box when I had it in my grasp, which wasn’t exactly comforting. What was this thing? Clutching it in my fingers, I began to crawl backwards because there was no room to turn around. I was so nervous about the package that my light began to ebb. I tried to pull my focus back but I just couldn’t. The tunnel fell into darkness. Had I gone right yet? Or was it left? Wait, I was getting confused. It was all the wrong way round. It suddenly felt very cramped and hot in here. I began to panic.
“Aurora?”
Aunt Lucinda’s soft voice came echoing down the tunnel behind me.
“This way, Aurora! You can do it! I’m so proud of you!”
Feeling a boost of confidence from her encouragement and remembering that this was for the safety of others, my palms began to glow again. Not with the same power as before, but with a flickering of light. I continued shuffling backwards, following the sound of Aunt Lucinda’s voice until my legs fell through the hole of the ceiling where she was waiting for me. Alfred hurriedly moved under my dangling legs and Aunt Lucinda reached up to catch me under the arms and place me safely on the ground.
“Here,” I breathed, holding out the box. “Got it.”
“Well done!” Aunt Lucinda cried, eagerly snatching the box from my hands. “You’ve done very well.”
She suddenly twisted the clasp and opened the lid of the box, making me instinctively duck and cover my head with my arms.
“What are you doing?” I yelped, crouched on the ground. “Are you mad?”
But she took no notice of me. Instead her eyes widened with delight and she presented the contents of the box for Alfred to see.
“At last. It’s ours.”
“Aunt Lucinda,” I said slowly, straightening up. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on is that I am now in possession of one of most priceless items on the planet.” She lifted a sparkling necklace with a big blue diamond pendant from the box. “This is the Dream Diamond. Do you know how much this is worth?”
“But… I thought… You told me that this was an emergency! That the package was left there by an evil criminal?”
“It was, darling! Awful man,” she sighed, unable to take her eyes off the diamond resting in her hand. “I helped him steal this years ago before he got caught and put in prison. I’ve been wondering all this time where he hid it and finally I was able to get it out of him. I should have known he’d hide it here. This is where we stole it from. He never was the most creative of thieves.”
She smiled and put the necklace on, patting the diamond safely. Alfred peered at it closely and then hopped from side to side on his long ostrich legs in excitement.
“You have no idea how long I have waited to get my hands on what is rightfully mine,” she beamed, tickling Alfred’s chin. “Thank you, Aurora.”
“Aunt Lucinda!” I stood frozen in shock. “You tricked me! You used that charm thing you can do, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. If I told you the truth you’d hardly have helped me, would you?” She rolled her eyes. “You get that streak of righteousness from your mother; it’s very tiresome. I had to use my powers of persuasion on you. But still, I’m very impressed with your powers, Aurora.” She looked at me carefully. “Kiyana hadn’t mentioned how strong they were in you; it really is very strange for them to be showing themselves this young. I wonder what else you’ll be able to do in time.”
I clenched my fists. “You made me miss Kizzy’s party to help you steal a priceless diamond! I thought I was saving the world! You had tears in your eyes! You betrayed me!”
“You’d have tears in your eyes too if you knew you were close to having this beauty around your neck! Plus, it’s not stealing when it’s rightfully yours. The only reason it ended up at the auction house is because my grandfather was stupid enough to donate it out of the family decades ago,” she said all defensively. “And don’t be so dramatic – this was not a betrayal. This was a life lesson.”
“In what? Trusting the wrong people?” I yelled.
“Don’t shout, Aurora, someone will hear you
,” she hushed, glancing at the door that led to the main auction room. “A lesson in what you can do if you put your powers to good use. Nothing is out of your reach. Now,” she smiled, getting the car keys out of her handbag, “we had better get going. Your little friend will be wondering where you are.”
I was so angry, I couldn’t even look at Aunt Lucinda for the entire drive, let alone speak to her. Not that she noticed; she was too busy admiring the diamond in her car mirrors every chance she got. I had five missed calls from Kizzy, two voicemails and about a hundred text messages asking where I was. By the time we got to our road, it was time for everyone to be picked up from the party.
“Don’t be too angry with me, darling,” Aunt Lucinda said as we drove up to Kizzy’s house. “A love of jewels and gems is in our blood.”
“What are you talking about?” I grumbled.
“Didn’t Kiyana tell you? That’s where all our superpowers come from in the first place.” She pulled in to the side of the road. “Supposedly, anyway. Our ancestor, Dawn, found a mysterious stone buried in the darkness and that’s how she returned light to the world. Of course, that’s just the legend but—”
“Aunt Lucinda, I really don’t have time for more ridiculous lies,” I snapped, unbuckling my seat belt and getting out of the car, slamming the door behind me. “Please leave me alone.”
“Well, there’s no need to be like that.” She chuckled as I walked away. “Have a lovely time! Ciao, darling!”
I heard her sports car zoom off as I ran down Kizzy’s driveway and knocked loudly on the door. No one answered. I knocked again, for longer this time. Suddenly, it swung open and Georgie Taylor stood in the doorway, looking at me suspiciously. She had coloured glitter perfectly swirled in a rainbow round her eyes.
“About time,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
“Is Kizzy there? I need to speak to her.”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“What?”
“Aurora,” Georgie said, her expression softening, “she’s kind of upset that you didn’t show. Aren’t you guys meant to be best friends?”
“I have a good reason. It was my aunt, she—”
“The party’s over, Aurora, everyone has gone home except for us,” came a voice behind Georgie. Suzie moved forward to stand next to her friend, folding her arms and looking down at me in superiority, with matching glitter around her eyes.
“I know it seems bad, but I have a good reason. Please can I talk to her?”
“She’s busy,” Suzie sighed, flicking her hair back. “We were in the middle of a display. I’ve been perfecting my backflips.”
I shared a glance with Georgie as Suzie pulled out a compact mirror from her pocket to check her glitter was all intact. She snapped it shut.
“Better get back to it, she’s waiting. Bye then,” she said, attempting to shut the door by ushering Georgie out the way.
“Wait!” I pulled Kizzy’s present from my bag. “Can you at least give her this?”
As I held out the present, Kizzy appeared, shuffling into the door frame between Georgie and Suzie. She had matching eye glitter too.
“Kizzy! Here, this is for you. Happy birthday!”
“Thanks,” she mumbled, taking her gift.
“Kizzy, I’m so sorry, I—”
“It’s OK, Aurora, I get it.”
“No, you don’t get it. You know what my aunt’s like, she—”
“You didn’t even call,” she interrupted, her eyes full of hurt.
At this point, Suzie got bored and turned on her heel, walking back into the house. “Come on, Georgie,” she said, disappearing down the hall. “We need to move Kizzy’s furniture so we have space for the flips. I want to try something new for the next routine. My next competition is in a few weeks and backwards somersaults are imperative to getting that perfect ten.”
As Georgie followed her, leaving just us, Kizzy shook her head.
“Suzie completely took over everything,” she whispered, glancing back to make sure they couldn’t hear. Suzie’s voice echoed through the house as she barked orders about where to move sofas before turning on some music for her routine.
“Kizzy,” I began desperately.
“It was like it was her birthday party, not mine. We had to watch her routines all day. Still,” she sighed, “at least she showed up. And Georgie has been really nice. She did everyone’s glitter and she helped me decorate my backpack to match hers.”
“Please, if you could just—”
“You’re meant to be my best friend. Instead you’re just shutting me out. It’s like you don’t want me around any more.”
“That’s not true!” I protested. “I can explain.”
“OK, then.”
“Huh?”
“Explain,” she said, watching me with curiosity. “Explain why you couldn’t come today even though you promised this morning.”
“I… Well … I can’t exactly explain but—”
“I knew it.” She shook her head. “Another secret.”
“I wish I could tell you but I just can’t! It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “Well, maybe you should find a new best friend who can.”
She shut the door gently, leaving me standing on her doorstep alone.
12
“And this is the staff canteen,” my dad informed my school year chirpily. “We eat lunch here! The sandwiches are rad.”
Rad? Did he just say … rad? No one has used the word “rad” since the ice age.
“When Aurora was little, we found her under one of these tables chatting away to a fossil that she’d stolen from a display,” he chuckled, winking at me. “Naughty little munchkin!”
MUNCHKIN???
This. Could. Not. Get. Any. Worse.
When Mr Mercury had mentioned at the beginning of term that he’d love to speak to my dad about organizing a school trip to the Natural History Museum, I was like, “Sure thing, Mr Mercury,” because I just thought, you know, he was a new teacher and he was being enthusiastic and I’d hit him on the head with that football earlier that week, so I was trying to be nice.
And now here we were, on a behind-the-scenes tour directed by my dad, who was telling childhood stories and using words like “rad”. Why had I done this to myself?!
As my dad continued to ruin my life, I glanced over at Suzie and Georgie, who were still giggling at the fossil story. Kizzy was with them, doing a very good job of looking interested in everything my dad was saying.
She still hadn’t spoken to me since her party. She spent all her time with Suzie and Georgie now and I had no one to partner with in group projects or in PE, and I had to sit on my own at lunch break watching her laugh politely at whatever Suzie was saying and admire all of Georgie’s must-have accessories. Her and Georgie had those matching backpacks now too.
Since our falling-out, I hadn’t been able to focus in my training sessions and Mum kept badgering me about what was going on until I exploded.
With words this time, rather than light beams.
“Maybe I don’t want to have superpowers any more!” I had yelled, when for the fourth time that week I hadn’t been able to do anything.
“What do you mean?” Mum had asked, baffled.
“They’ve ruined everything. Dad was right. They make you forget what’s important.” I had picked up my bag and wiped away a tear. “I just want to go home.”
She didn’t say anything – she just nodded and drove me home, waiting until I went up to my room and shut the door before going to speak to Dad. Hearing Mum’s voice, Clara had poked her head round my bedroom door.
“Is Mum downstairs?” she asked eagerly, coming into my room with a book tucked under her arm.
I nodded. “She’s not staying though.”
“Oh.”
I felt a pang at her crestfallen expression and patted my bed for her to come sit next to me.
“I miss he
r around the house too. And I’ve been a lousy big sister,” I admitted as she climbed up and rested her head on my shoulder. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around much in the evenings.”
“Don’t worry, you’ve been busy with your ballet lessons. You must be really good by now.”
“I’m going to start making it up to you, and to everyone else now,” I said firmly, speaking more to myself than to her. “Starting with no more ballet.”
After that night, Mum didn’t argue with me when I said I didn’t want to do any more training and that I was giving up my superpowers. Instead, I went straight home after school and walked Kimmy with Dad and Clara or played computer games with Alexis, when he let me. And now that she wasn’t teaching me every spare moment she got, Mum was able to take us all out more.
You know, when she wasn’t busy saving the world.
Aunt Lucinda raised her eyebrows when I told her that my family and friends were more important than my superpowers, so I’d be focusing on just them from now on, but she didn’t try and persuade me otherwise. She just clicked her tongue in disapproval, said I was missing out on a life of diamonds and VIP passes, and then asked if I’d be a darling and fetch more ice for her mojito.
I had learnt my lesson and all I had to do now was make things right with Kizzy. The school trip to the Natural History Museum was the perfect opportunity to try and talk to her properly.
Dad led the class from the canteen down a load of stairs and through to the back rooms of the museum. Mr Mercury, who was in charge of the trip, walked with him at the front, asking hundreds of intense questions and trying to encourage us all to ask questions too.
As they yabbered away about Dad’s upcoming precious stones exhibition, I tried to catch up with Kizzy, standing directly behind her as Dad gathered us into a group ready to launch into a lecture on the mineralogical storage rooms before us.
That was when it started to happen.
One minute, I was feeling fine, building up the courage to tap Kizzy on her shoulder, and the next minute I felt that familiar warmth of tingles rushing down my arms and into my palms.