by Sarah Carter
“My mom can help,” Maddie nervously says.
“Trust me,” Lexi promises. “My parents can help more. They would be happy to do this.”
Maddie smiles and takes the credit card. “Okay, I won’t argue.I will call right now. Give me a minute.” She grabs the card and runs back upstairs.
Derrick looks at Connor. “So, you really have no problem with this?”
Shaking his head, Connor replies, “No man, stop obsessing over it. You will be good for each other.”
He leans forward and folds his hands together. “I really care about her.”
“You should tell her that, not us,” Connor responds.
“I will,” Derrick exhales. We just started dating.”
Lexi says, “It would be good for her to hear that.”
“Do you tell Lexi that?” Derrick snorts.
Connor nods. “Every day.”
“When you meet the one, it’s hard to hold that back. Sometimes you just have to say it,” Lexi says.
Derrick smiles. “I will. With everything that wonderful girl has gone through, I want to take things slow.”
“A girl needs to know you care,” Lexi urges. “Don’t spout sonnets, but at least be honest and tell her that you care.”
“I will.”
“It will be important to her,” Connor states.
He looks up the stairs and then back at them. “How are things going for you guys? I have been worried since the situation the other day.”
“We are fine,” Lexi replies. “It was handled.”
“Where’s the gun?”
“With someone, and it’s safe,” she answers.
Derrick smiles. “No one got hurt then?”
“No shots were fired,” Connor interjects. “We should really stop talking about it.”
“All right, just making sure everything was okay,” Derrick says.
They make small chit chat until Maddie comes down the stairs. “It will be here in a half an hour.”
“Awesome!” Connor cheers. “I’m starving.”
“I’m always starving,” Lexi jokes. “Non-stop consumption machine.”
Maddie frowns. “You don’t look it.”
“I have an abnormally high metabolism,” Lexi replies. “It's a genetic thing.”
“I wish I had that genetic thing,” Maddie sighs.
Derrick pulls her against him. “Hey, you are perfect, just the way that you are. Don’t ever think otherwise.”
“Thanks,” Maddie whispers, bashfully.
“So, what movie should we watch?” Connor asks.
“I got that new alien abduction movie,” Maddie declares. “Let’s watch that.” She gets up and goes to the DVD player. Connor and Lexi look at each other and shrug their shoulders.
Chapter 18
“Is everything ready?” Lexi’s dad asks.
Lexi nods. “Yeah, the other ship is getting Lana and Ashe as we speak.”
“Be good,” Lexi’s dad instructs. “I don’t want to have to bail you out of anywhere.”
She scoffs, “I’m going to be with Uncle Mason.”
He raises his eyebrow. “That’s why I said that.”
“Oh, get off it, Dad,” Lexi groans. “We will be fine. We are snowboarding and doing some hiking.”
“I’m not too worried about you,” he says. “Nothing can really hurt you.”
Biting her lip, Lexi replies, “Nope.”
“Okay, the ship is here. Have fun.” He reaches over and hugs her. Lexi returns the hug, squeezing a little harder than normal.
“See you later, Dad,” Lexi says. With that, she’s suddenly gone and on a ship.
The guard member nods his head. “Mistress.”
“Ugh, don’t get me started on that,” Lexi moans. “Just get me to Alaska.”
“We will be there momentarily,” the guard member replies. “Can I get you anything while you wait?”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m fine.”
“Then you can take a seat. It should only be fifteen minutes. There’s a lot of air traffic right now. Human planes. So, take off and landing will take a little longer than usual.”
“Oh gosh, fifteen minutes,” Lexi scoffs sarcastically. “Whatever will I do?”
He smirks. “Very well. Have a seat.”
Lexi plops down in a seat and throws her bag down next to her. She feels the ship move for a second and then it’s nothing. There was some new discovery with the gravity pull of Earth that makes their rides in the ships even smoother. Lexi leans back in the seat.
Where are you? She asks Connor.
On a plane. I don’t know where we are, though. I just see a lot of trees below me.
Probably, somewhere over Canada. Is everything all right?
Yeah, Jenkins, Elizabeth, and Andrew are with me. They haven’t said much. We have the suits. They said they have a definite plan, but don’t want to talk about it until we get there. So, I don’t know anything.
It’s probably a good idea not to say anything where anyone can hear. You never know who’s listening.
That’s true. Are you okay?
I’m on a runner ship. I’m safer than you. We haven’t crashed a ship yet, so I think I’m okay.
Well, I hope I don’t crash. This is my first time flying.
Really? Are you scared?
No, I’m not. Just a little unnerved. Take off was interesting. We hit a little bit of turbulence.
Uh oh, are you going to hurl?
No, you jerk. I’m fine. I’m just watching out the window. Wishing you were here to see this.
Once my parents find out, we have personal planes. So, we can fly anywhere.
Why do you have planes? You have spaceships.
Because we need to take the planes once in a while; otherwise, people would wonder how we get places. My dad is a famous neurosurgeon. He has to fly places and actually needs to use a plane once in a while if people are with him.
How lame is that?
Incredibly. When you are used to be on flights for a half an hour versus five hours, it gets old. But we have really nice planes, so it’s not too bad.
I want to see one. I really want to see a ship.
You saw the video. As for seeing a real one in person. I doubt that’s going to happen. I can’t steal one of those without my dad REALLY noticing. So, keep dreaming.
Maybe one day your dad will be okay with me.
I doubt it. He still doesn’t like Uncle Mason. But, it’s not that he doesn’t like you. He does. It’s that you are human. I don’t know if he will ever be okay with that. I highly doubt it.
We can’t hide ourselves forever. They will notice one of these days. We are connected now.
I know, but I want to give it a little time. Give it some time, and then be like, see Dad, he has known this entire time and hasn’t told anyone.
Oh, I get it. Good idea.
Yeah, I thought so. He may be more understanding if he knew you kept the secret.
Especially, if he finds out about this someday.
He can’t. Even if he accepts you, you can’t tell him about this. That’d totally nullify what we are doing.
But, if it gets out of hand, we have to tell him.
I will. I promise. My dad is a thought away. I can turn all my sensors on before we go in. He won’t really be watching me since I will be with Uncle Mason.
That’s good. I miss you.
Miss me? I just saw you in school.
Still miss you.
Okay, well, I miss you too.
Can we really go snowboarding one day? On an actual trip? I would love to. I never have been. Skiing either.
Yeah, of course. Uncle Mason will take us. It’s fun. I’m not the greatest at it, but I still have fun.
Well, that’s good because I doubt I will catch on like a pro right away.
You never know. Maybe, you will become like a master snowboarder.
You said the same thing about me shooting a gun, and
look at how bad I was.
True.
You’re laughing at me, aren’t you.
No...okay, maybe.
You’re so sweet.
Yeah, sweet is not a word usually used with me.
I think you are sweet.
Pistol, I get called a pistol, a lot.
I can see that, but I think you’re sweet.
Thank you. I think you have a very kind heart, too.
It will be nice when our lives are a little more normal after this.
Right. Try and be normal teenagers. All Lexi can think about is what Adam said. All she can think about is the future. If what he said is true, this isn’t the only thing she has to worry about. She sighs.
We can go on actual dates.
We still have to be careful that my family doesn’t find out. So, no fancy, romantic dates.
Picnics at the spot. We can do that. I doubt they will look into what we are doing there.
True. Very true. So, that sounds like a plan.
Okay, I need to use the restroom. That makes me feel weird. Peeing on a plane.
When nature calls.
Oh, shut up. I will contact you when we land.
Okay, talk to you in a bit.
Bye.
Ten minutes later, Lexi reaches their destination. A guard member walks up to her. “Your Uncle is waiting,” he states. “Do you want us to transport you down or do you want to...”
“Jump,” Lexi finishes for him. “I will just jump.”
“Very well,” he says, bowing his head.
Lexi grabs her bag and closes her eyes. A second later, she is in her uncle’s car.
Uncle Mason smiles. “Hey Little Bit, how are you?”
“Fine,” she whispers. “This is the address we need to go to.”
“All right,” Uncle Mason replies. “Do we have a plan yet?”
She shakes her head. “No, well yes. They have a plan, but they don’t want to say it over the phone.”
“Makes sense,” he says. “Okay, your aunt thinks we are going snowboarding. We should be okay.”
“That’s what my parents think, too,” Lexi declares. Suddenly, Lexi looks around. “Wait, whose car is this?”
With a grin, Uncle Mason replies, “It’s my friend’s. Really couldn’t have let your parents track where we are going.”
“Good thinking,” Lexi praises. “I didn’t think of that.”
“I also don’t have my cell phone, and you should turn yours off. We can say there was no cell reception where we were.”
Lexi reaches into her pocket and takes out her phone. She quickly turns it off. “There, we are good.”
“Let me see that address,” Uncle Mason instructs.
“They won’t be there for a little bit yet,” Lexi replies.
Uncle Mason looks at the phone. “Okay, I should be able to find that. We need to wait for Lana and Ashe. They should be here any minute.”
“Okay,” Lexi replies.
“Are you hungry? Can’t go on a mission on an empty stomach,” he teases.
She smiles. “When am I not hungry?”
“Let’s stop and get some grub then, after they get here,” Uncle Mason suggests.
“Sounds good to me,” Lexi agrees.
Ashe and Lana show up and they go to a local diner. They make idle chit chat over dinner, making sure not to say too much. Finally, the flip phone beeps. It’s a text saying for them to come.
“Well, let’s go, then,” Uncle Mason says.
The drive is a quiet one. No matter what, Lexi is really nervous. She knows Uncle Mason has done missions like this before, but she hasn’t. Her mom has trained her well, but Lexi has never had to really use her training. Plus, she has never really been without her powers. Lexi hopes she can pull this off.
Finally, they make their way to a house. It is deep in the woods. Uncle Mason pulls up to one other car that’s there. There aren’t many lights on in the house. “Is this the place?”
“This is the address they sent me,” Lexi replies.
“Okay, let’s go,” Uncle Mason suggests. They get out of the car and walk up to the house.
The front door opens and Andrew is standing there. “Welcome, come in, quickly.” They make their way into the house. Andrew shuts the door.
Lexi sees Connor come around the corner. He rushes over to her and hugs her. “You made it.”
“Yeah,” she whispers. Stepping back, Lexi gestures to Connor. “Uncle Mason, this is Connor. Connor, this is my Uncle Mason.”
Eyeing him up, Uncle Mason finally extends his hand. “Hi Connor.”
Connor shakes it. “Hi.”
Movement makes them look to the right. Jenkins comes out of the room. “Hello, I’m Jenkins. I lead this group.”
“Mason,” he states, sticking his hand out.
Jenkins shakes it. “This is Andrew.” Andrew and Uncle Mason shake hands.
“So, you can jump,” Jenkins says. Suddenly, Uncle Mason is on the other side of the room. Jenkins jerks. “Wow, incredible.”
“I don’t do it very often anymore,” Uncle Mason declares. “The Neturu keep a tight leash on us. I’m not supposed to do it.”
“Uncle Mason doesn’t care much for authority,” Lexi teases.
He puts his hands up and shrugs. “Can’t change years of behavior. I’m careful. That’s all that matters.”
Connor laughs. “I like you.”
“You and I need to talk sometime this weekend,” Uncle Mason states. “I need to say a few things.”
“Uncle Mason,” Lexi groans. “Don’t.”
Putting his hand on her shoulder, Uncle Mason says, “Don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. I just want to make sure he knows what he’s in for. The Neturu don’t mess around. I need to make sure he knows to keep it a secret.”
“If I’ve been helping with this situation, doesn’t that mean that I’m going to keep it a secret?” Connor counters.
With a smile, Uncle Mason says, “I’m not saying you are going to do anything wrong, but I’ve been around. I’ve gone through a lot. I just want to make sure you’re smart. I’m going to give you some pointers.”
Lexi steps forward. “That sounds good, but let’s talk about what the plan is.”
Waving his hand forward, Jenkins says, “Let’s go into the dining room. The map is in there.”
They all follow him in there. There is a blueprint map on the table. The suits are hung on a rack in the corner. The windows are blacked out and covered by heavy curtains. “So, you stole the suits,” Uncle Mason laughs. “Man, that’s all anyone is talking about.”
“I told Dad it wasn’t me,” Lexi replies. “I think he believed me. I said, why would I take them? There was no reason. He has no idea about what’s going on.”
“That’s the best,” Jenkins interjects. “We do want to keep our group a secret.”
“You do have the technology to erase their memories, right?” Connor asks. “So, we don’t have to kill them.”
Jenkins nods. “Yes, we do. We haven’t used it much and not in a while.”
“I will help with that,” Uncle Mason says. “I know how to do it.”
“The technology is a little older than what you are probably used to,” he replies. “But, if we work together, we will be fine.”
“Sounds good,” Uncle Mason agrees.
Lexi walks over to the table. “So, these are the floor plans?”
“Yes,” Andrew replies. “This is the house.”
Everyone walks over to the table. “It’s huge,” Connor gasps.
“It’s an old chalet,” Andrew declares. “We don’t know what room they are in.”
“Oh great,” Lexi snorts. “So, we are walking in there blind.”
Andrew shakes his head. “No, some of the rooms are uninhabitable.” He points to the map. “This section of the house is the only usable area.”
“Is there a basement?” Uncle Mason asks.
“Not anything they cou
ld use,” Andrew answers. “We believe that they are in these six rooms.”
Finally, joining in on the conversation, Ashe asks, “How are we going to get in?”
“These doors,” Andrew states. “They lead into the main hallway.”
“I think I should jump Uncle Mason and myself through the wall over here,” Lexi declares, pointing in the opposite direction. “I mean, if they think it’s just you guys, they will have no idea about us.”
Ashe leans forward on the table. “Do you guys have any idea on what I can do?”
Jenkins looks at him. “You’re full Neturu. You can shapeshift.”
Lana starts to laugh. “Oh god, you have no idea. He can time jump.”
Jerking back, Jenkins gasps, “What? What do you mean?”
“I can keep rewinding time until we get it right,” Ashe says. “Though if someone dies, I don’t know if I can correct that. I haven’t been put in that situation before.”
“We don’t know what the effects are of his time jumping,” Lexi interjects. “We have to be careful. We don’t need to create a shift in the future because we are messing around with the past. I say only in an emergency.”
Andrew puts his hand up. “It’s great to know this but I wouldn’t do it. We have no idea what potential harm it could cause.”
“I agree,” Uncle Mason says.
“I wasn’t suggesting it,” Ashe draws out. “I just wanted you to know it’s an option.”
“We do have to stop them,” Lana says.
Jenkins looks at her. “What do you do?”