JD snorted and burst into a fit of laughter. “We are so not related. No way.”
“I don’t like to assume anything, which is why I ask. But I didn’t think you were since you look nothing alike.”
“We’re good friends,” Cadence said.
“Good friends?” Jaes leaned forward a little.
JD put an arm around her. “Yeah, great friends. We’re super close.”
“I wasn’t aware you were dating.”
“We aren’t,” Cadence said. She felt JD’s arm tense up around her. Perhaps she had said it too quickly? But they weren’t a couple, and she wasn’t sure if they would be one. Why was it anyone’s business? It wouldn’t hurt anyone if they had been dating.
Taking a moment to sip on his soda, Jaes turned his attention to JD next. Then he proceeded to ask a number of questions about his home, school, and life in general. What he wanted to accomplish, Cadence wasn’t all too sure. Because while the man acted as though he was interested in learning about JD, he would still glance her way every so often. There was something Jaes wasn’t telling them about his fascination with her. She was being evaluated, and she wanted to know why.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Angela didn’t think much about Orlando’s invitation to come over for more training. Naturally, when she arrived at his mansion and rang the doorbell, she was surprised to see his sister answer the door in a cute navy blue dress. Usually, no one else was home when she came over. The house was always quiet and empty. Not now. There was music playing in the kitchen and something smelled delicious. Enough so to make Angela completely forget that she’d already eaten a huge dinner.
“Hello!” His sister sang out as she looked Angela up and down and nodded in approval. A good thing, in Angela’s book, since the young woman was Orlando’s legal guardian. It’d be nice if the two of them got along.
Orlando came down the stairs in his usual all-black attire, from his button down T-shirt, to the baggy black jeans, and even his socks. His hair was wet and looked freshly washed.
“You didn’t tell me your girlfriend was so cute Orly,” his sister said, looking up at him.
“She’s a cheerleader, of course she’s cute. But she’s not my girlfriend.” He pointed at Angela. “We’re friends. Tait bailed on me, so I’m going to go hang out with someone else instead. Figured I’d let you and John have some time alone. Just remember what I said about not doing things where I can walk in on them. Because when I get back I don’t want to come across anything...weird.”
“What do you think I do with him anyway?” his sister asked, acting completely appalled. “Kissing is not weird. Most normal couples do it.”
“I’m just saying!” He waved a hand quickly and faced Angela. “Are you ready to go?”
“Y-yeah,” Angela said, watching the two. It reminded her a lot of how she and JD did things back home. Only JD didn’t take care of her on a twenty-four-seven basis. He didn’t have to make all of the important decisions about school, or her whole life in general. Her heart ached for both Orlando and his sister.
She followed him to his car, preferring to let him drive. It was one of the rare nights when her parents lent out both of their cars to JD and Angela. Her younger siblings were staying with Grandma and Grandpa tonight, so she was pretty sure she was being kicked out of the house for as long as possible.
Once more the two got into his sister’s car. “So where are we going on our hot date? I thought we were training,” she teased.
“How do you feel about going on the field to practice?” Orlando smirked and his eyes glittered slightly under the green glow of the radio light.
“I’m down with it, but is that a good idea without Alan’s permission?”
“I don’t exactly care about having his permission or not.”
“You want to go see what she’s doing, don’t you?” Angela could sense the anger coming from Orlando, like a bad vibe. A dangerous one too, which made her leery of going out to practice tonight.
He shrugged like it were nothing, but the way he tightly gripped the steering wheel suggested it was anything but. “So what if I do? I think I deserve to know after everything we’ve been through.”
Gently and carefully, like he was a wild animal caught in a trap, Angela put a hand over his. “Call her and break up with her, and we can do something fun. That will give you more satisfaction and freedom from the situation than spying on her. I know it might not seem like it, but at least then she can know how badly she hurt you and see the consequences to her actions. If she doesn’t care, then she’s not worth your time. In the end, you deserve better anyway. You obviously don’t trust her, and without something like that, you can’t exactly have a relationship. No matter how good the good times are. Spying is only going to make you more bitter and lash out.”
“What if they’re doing something important for their operation? Something we can stop?”
“Is that really the reason you want to go?”
“I need to know what’s so much more important than me,” he said sharply. “I don’t expect you to understand.”
“No, I get it. Because you wouldn’t have done the same thing to her, am I right?”
“Right.”
“Then that in and of itself should be an answer to what you need to be doing here.” When she glanced over at him and saw how sad he was, she couldn’t help but sigh. “But you’re right. Her tribe is probably up to something, and we can at least drive by her place to see if she’s there or not. Take a look around, so we can figure out what they’re doing. For Alan. And we aren’t going to do anything stupid.” She stressed the point. Even though I want to start her hair on fire for hurting him like this. They better be forcing her to do it.
Orlando held up his pinkie for her to take. “I swear. Nothing stupid, or I’ll wear yellow to school for a week.”
She took it in her own and grinned. “Kind of makes me wish you hadn’t transferred.”
****
They parked on the same hill they had been on the night of their last mission, watching the park below. It was void of people, but since it was now officially winter, who would want to spend time there outside in the snow? Off in the distance Angela could see a couple of cross-country skiers moving away from them, and there was an ice skating rink a couple of blocks away near the high school. The sled tracks impacted into the snow on the ground suggested that people had been there earlier, but must have left when it got dark.
Orlando and Angela had waited outside of Tait’s house for almost an hour to see if she was home, coming home soon, or if there was no chance of her being back at a reasonable time. The two had worn their masks so they wouldn’t be recognized just in case someone looked into their car and saw them spying. When there was no evidence of her inside, or of her coming back, they went to the park.
“I don’t know why I picked here. They aren’t going to be around. Why would they come back to the place we busted them at?”
Angela glanced over at him. She hated to see the frown on his face. “It’s convenient maybe? You okay? Something you want to talk about?”
“No,” he said and she couldn’t help but be curious about which question he was answering. All of them?
“What do you want to do now?” she asked instead, not wanting to press. He didn’t like to talk about his feelings; he’d made that clear before. She’d lucked out a couple of times and got him to spill, but she didn’t want to push it too much. There was a chance he’d push her away completely and never try to open up again. Angela liked him, so the idea of messing up their growing friendship didn’t sit well with her. I really like him, she sighed. Probably too much.
He pressed his hand to his chin, pulling a knee up to his chest as he did so, and gripped the steering wheel with his other hand.
“Don’t think too hard or you might blow a fuse,” she teased, hoping the humor would help lighten things up a little bit.
The usual eye roll he seemed to always do was
accompanied by a quiet scoff, but there was also a slight hint of a smile. “Want to go do some exploring?”
“Where?”
“In the tunnels.”
She stared at him, studied him, trying to decide if he was being serious or not. “You want to go down into the tunnels that had bad guys in them two weeks ago? Why?”
“Maybe they left something behind?” He shrugged. “If anything, we can see how they all connect to the school. Why should the aliens be the only ones who understand the layout? Besides, I left some homework in my locker. We can bust in and grab that while we’re at it.”
“Are you serious? You want to break into your school to get some homework? You’re a goodie-goodie!” She couldn’t help but giggle because all her images of Orlando were completely shattered in that one moment. A few of them had been slowly chipping away the more time she spent with him, but this was the icing on the cake.
He glared at her. “Yeah and? I could be a meth addict, a stoner, or an alcoholic. I bet you’d think those were cool, but they’re stupid. I get that you’re still in high school, but I thought you kind of graduated early so to speak.”
“Hey now, I didn’t say it was a bad thing. I’m just shocked to the point where I’m finding it hard to believe. But I guess when you don’t go out and do things with people, what else are you going to do in your spare time since you aren’t interested in meth, pot, or booze?” she teased.
“Now you’re catching on. Besides, it’s not like there’s anything better to do now. And we’re going to be breaking and entering to get it. Sort of, so that makes it a lot less lame.”
“What’s it for?”
“Biology. I got a packet of reading and obligatory study questions to answer for the weekend, and I put it in my chemistry book on accident. That class is significantly easier and I never have homework for it,” he explained.
“You’re taking Biology and Chemistry at the same time? Are you nuts?”
“Advanced placement Bio at that, and it wasn’t my idea. I qualified, so my sister did it to punish me. It’s not so bad. Chemistry is a breeze, and the other isn’t so hard but there’s a lot to memorize.”
As usual, he was calm while he spoke. How did he do it? She would have demanded her parents changed her schedule if they had done something like that to her. Unless he secretly liked all of the hard classes? He was becoming even more difficult to read.
“So what do you say? Are we going in?” he asked at last.
Go in to a potentially dangerous place with a hot guy? Or go back home and pray my parents aren’t making out or whatever on the couch? Am I really weighing these two options? Maybe I can get more coffee out of him afterward. I kind of don’t want the night to end. And she knew it was stupid reasoning, but sometimes she had to follow her gut.
“Okay, but if anything bad happens, I’m counting on you to save me since I’m still new with my powers here,” she snickered.
“I can do that. Besides, JD would murder me if I ditched you.”
“True that.”
“Then we can figure out something else to do after we go in, are disappointed, and have another few hours before curfew to kill.”
She gave him a small smile. “Don’t want to be alone?”
“I’m always alone,” he mumbled.
“Not right now you aren’t,” she pointed out and then pinched his arm, pleased when he winced. “Yeah, I’m a physical, flesh and blood, being. Not an imaginary friend. You’re not alone.”
“Whatever.” He got out of the car and shut it loudly behind him. At first she was worried she’d made him angry, but when she got out and saw his coy smile, she relaxed.
Together, they made it down the hill without any problems. What she didn’t anticipate was stepping on a patch of ice, slipping, and using the sleeve of his coat to prevent herself from breaking a tailbone. His hand went behind her back, catching her quickly. With ease, he righted her again, and surprisingly he didn’t say a word. The closer they got to the tunnels, the more withdrawn he became.
Angela bent down to lift up the door to the entrance and was surprised by how heavy it was. She grunted as she pulled with every bit of her strength, but the hatch wouldn’t lift. It reminded her of a manhole cover. Orlando gently pulled her aside.
“Stand back,” he said and closed his eyes. She watched as his brow furrowed, and his eyes squeezed shut, and he strained. The cover opened shortly after, and he set the metal door aside.
She gazed up at him. “I loosened it.”
“If that makes you feel better sweetheart, I’ll humor you.” He motioned for her to drop down first. “After you.”
“Such a gentleman,” she mumbled and peered down the dark hole. It was pitch black down there, but maybe that was why he wanted her to go first. She was a natural light if she wanted to be. This would be good training for her because she had yet to ignite her fire and keep it secluded and stable.
Time to get this party started, she thought. I can’t think of something that’s going to tick me off or I’ll blow something up. Warmth. I need to think of something warm. Hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, puppy kisses, happy smiles, his smile. No I can’t get a crush on him, he’s dating my best friend. Who’s evil, lying, and hurting him. Who hurt me. Don’t get angry. Focus. Hot chocolate, fuzzy socks... Soon, her hands were on fire although she didn’t notice until she heard Orlando step away from her. Then she could see some light through her closed eyelids.
There wasn’t a lot, just small flames that danced along her fingertips, but it would be enough for her to see by for the time being. She touched the cold metal of a ladder, and carefully climbed the rungs down.
While she waited for Orlando to join her, she took a look around. The tunnels were completely dark. She held the fire out in front of her to try and get some kind of picture of what they were dealing with. The walls weren’t smooth like the tunnels she had been in the night of the party. They were man-made, but much older and far narrower than she would have preferred. Electric lights were installed, and she searched the walls for a switch to turn them on.
“There better not be any rats down here,” she said as she looked. A maintenance box hung on the wall near the ladder, and next to it was the light switch. She flipped it and watched the lights turn on down the tunnel for as far as she could see.
Orlando jumped down the last few rungs and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure if that was the brightest idea.”
“It was bright, but not in the way you’re suggesting.” She shrugged. “I figure if anyone is down here, the lights would have already been on. I think we’re safe.”
“For now. I meant if someone decided to come here later and noticed the lights being on, they might wonder who else is here.”
“Then we’ll be careful and blast anyone we need to.” She winked and walked forward in the direction she was pretty sure went to the school. He followed at a comfortable distance, looking around as he did.
“I was secretly hoping for something more interesting,” he admitted.
“Same, but what can you do?” They came upon a three-way fork in the tunnel. One path continued straight ahead, one went right, and the other left. Signs on the walls labeled where each one went. Going straight would take them to the water tower, right, to the mall, and left went to the high school. Angela knew that the water tower and mall were at least a mile away, if not more. The tunnel system was so extensive and broad.
Silently, they went left. On their way to the school, they passed a number of doors. When they peeked inside each one, they saw nothing but large empty space. The rooms could potentially be good space for meetings and other work. At the party, The Doctor had set up one of his labs in a room just like those. A harsh reality of the mobility of his project. He could set up and take down his work anywhere. The tunnels were everywhere and connected miles of cities together.
The hall started to get progressively dark the closer they got to the school. She also noticed a slight i
ncline in the floor as they walked. A sign read “Lunar Falls pool” next to a door. Orlando stopped to investigate it. He gave it a firm tug and then pushed.
“Locked, duh,” he mumbled. With a slight twist of his hand, the door lock clicked.
“Neat trick. Didn’t know you could pick locks with telekinesis,” Angela commented as she let him go first through the door. The two were inside of the pool maintenance room. A soft red and green glow came off of the emergency lights so they could see. A small window allowing them to see into the pool itself gave her a disorienting sensation of being underwater even though she knew she wasn’t. The pool lights were on. In fact, the whole pool room was illuminated.
She stepped towards Orlando, moving away from the window. “I think someone is here.”
“Open swim?” he suggested.
“Maybe,” she whispered, but her instincts were telling her otherwise. Something was going on. When they’d driven by the school, there were only two cars in the parking lot, and they looked like they’d been left a long time ago. The lights to the building were off except for a few small ones in the entryway, and those were likely there for security reasons.
Angela took a shaky step toward the window one more time to try to pick up any sounds. All she could hear was the sound of the water moving, but not children playing. There were no splashes, shrieks, or anything else resembling what an open swim session sounded like. So what is going on?
Orlando grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her away. “Let’s get my homework and leave.”
She nodded in agreement, wondering if they were thinking along the same lines. If there were members of the green or blue tribe inside, she didn’t want to run into them tonight. Not with only her and Orlando. Finding information from an abandoned site was one thing, picking fights with a group of super powered teens was another. She let Orlando lead the way out. He knew where they were. The hallways of the school were dark as they navigated away from the athletic portion of the grounds and crossed over to the academic side. The two sections of the school were connected by a long, wide hallway with windows for walls. The moonlight poured in through them and lighted the way.
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