Poppy Mayberry, the Monday

by Jennie Brown

  “Awesome,” he said in shock, while still managing to pull greasy-nostril-man Grimeley’s arms behind his back, distracting him so he couldn’t use his Monday power at all.

  At that point, Mrs. Larriby had pulled her large self through the shed window. Our eyes met. Before I could even move, she was charging toward the cage that held Pickle. I panicked and froze, and then something even stranger happened. In less than an instant, I watched Ellie’s hand rise up and point toward the metal cage holding Pickle. Before I could even blink, the cage slid sharply to the left just as Headmistress Larriby came close to reaching it. What the heck? Did Ellie just…

  Ellie opened and closed her eyes hard a few times in disbelief.

  “Now!” I yelled, somehow knowing what Sam wanted to do next.

  An intense stream of light from his finger flashed in Larriby’s face. Temporarily blinded, she stumbled backward, and then regained balance. She started toward Ellie and the pink jewelry box that was now in her hand.

  “Do something!” Ellie yelled, but I was one-hundred-percent positive that her mouth didn’t move. I had definitely just read her mind.

  I knew that she was talking to me, so I pointed toward Logan’s soccer ball. Hit her! And just like that—it did. The ball smacked into Larriby’s forehead and she stumbled a few more steps backward.

  “Quick, Sam!” Sam rushed over and helped me hold her huge body down. It definitely took two of us.

  “Now that’s what you call teamwork,” Logan yelled, holding Grimeley in a headlock now.

  “I got her,” Sam said, holding Larriby to the ground.

  Pickle ran to me, and I smiled as her tongue licked the side of my face. “I missed you, too, girl.”

  The four of us stood over the defeated duo that was clothes-too-tight Larriby and greasy-nostril-man Grimeley with our found belongings in hand. “We’ve passed your stupid challenge,” Ellie yelled.

  “Yeah,” the boys shouted.

  Ellie smiled and nodded at me.

  “Now you’d better tell us what the heck is going on!” I demanded, taking the words right out of Ellie’s head.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I bent down toward the furry circle in my lap, and gave Pickle a gentle rub behind her ears. Her eyes slowly closed. I sighed. It was nice to have her back.

  I looked up to see the tight-lipped Headmistress Larriby sitting across her large oak desk from the four of us. She had our information cards in her hand and was twirling them in her fingers so quickly that flicks of fluorescent yellow highlighter marks flittered around like fireflies.

  We needed answers about the whole thing that just happened in that shed, and over the last hour, no one wanted to give us any. We begged Larriby and Grimeley to talk after we succeeded in the challenge, but they hadn’t spoken one word to us at all.

  A loud knock on the wooden door broke the silence.

  “Come in,” Headmistress Larriby shouted.

  Mr. Grimeley escorted in a tall, blond, lanky woman dressed in a red fitted pantsuit.

  “Mayor Masters.” Headmistress Larriby’s chair creaked as she pushed herself up. “It’s a pleasure to—”

  “Sit back down, Mayella. There’s no need to suck up to me now,” the well-dressed woman demanded.

  I laughed inside.

  “That’s her,” I heard Logan say. At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure if he said it aloud or if I read it from his head.

  “That’s her,” he said again. It took me a moment to realize what he meant. Oh! That was the woman who the boys overheard speaking to Mrs. Larriby about “the girls holding them back.” Well, we girls sure showed her.

  On that thought, Mayor Masters’ head whipped around to me. “Poppy Rose Mayberry, as much as you try to keep your thoughts to yourself, it rarely works,” Mayor Masters, an apparent Thursday said while locking her eyes with mine. “And yes. You ladies did show me!” Her red lips curled up and into a warm, somehow familiar smile.

  Phew!

  “I would like to speak with these four.” Mayor Masters nodded toward Logan, Sam, Ellie, and me. “Alone,” she emphasized.

  On that cue, Grimeley shuffled out of the office and Headmistress Mayella Larriby pushed herself up from her chair and followed. Mrs. Larriby’s first name was Mayella? Seemed like such a sweet name for such a sour person.

  “We’ll be discussing your behavior later,” Mayor Masters shouted to Headmistress Larriby. She gingerly lifted her hand and pointed toward the door. It slammed behind Larriby’s big butt. Mayor Masters was not only a mind-reading Thursday, she was a Monday as well.

  What was going on?

  Mayor Masters looked toward the fur ball in my lap and frowned. Pickle. “I had no idea the headmistress stole a live dog as part of her challenge,” Mayor Masters said while shaking her head. Clothes-too-tight Larriby was going to get in trouble because of Pickle. “I was unaware that this item was a living thing, however,” she said, pointing at Pickle. I was pretty sure the disapproving tone in her last words was directed toward me.

  I should never have brought Pickle here in the first place.

  Mayor Masters unbuttoned her suit jacket and then delicately sat in Mrs. Larriby’s chair. Although she looked mini standing next to the plump Headmistress Larriby, she looked even smaller against the oversized seat. We waited long enough to know what’s been going on, and I had a feeling that we were about to find out.

  “We’ve had our eyes on the four of you for quite some time now,” she broke the silence, speaking matter-of-factly.

  “Who is we?” Logan said, pushing a few strands of hair from his face.

  “Well …” She cleared her throat and looked between Ellie and me. “Of course there’s Principal Wible at Nova Elementary.”

  That made sense. He did send Ellie and me here in the first place.

  “All of your instructors here at Power Academy, including Maggie Masters,” she cleared her throat and looked at me, “my daughter.”

  My eyes lit up. “You’re Miss Maggie’s mom?”

  “Yes, dear,” she answered, chuckling.

  “But she—”

  Mayor Masters fidgeted in her seat. “She studied in England and lived there for years—to see how people live without our special talents.” She smiled. “She just returned two months ago,” Mayor Masters explained.

  Ahh. Since Mayor Masters was her mother, then it was no wonder Miss Maggie had singled me out so often. I thought about her continuous cheers and tips, and the airplane note she sent me. And then a trigger went off. That note she had written seemed strange to me, but I had pushed if out of my head. The airplane had read Embrace your powers. Powers. With an S. Plural. I smiled to myself.

  “I’ll explain that in a bit, Poppy,” Mayor Masters said, reading my thoughts. Miss Maggie definitely had her mom’s warm smile.

  “What about clothes-too-ti—” Sam started. Logan nudged his side, and rephrased his question. “I mean Headmistress Larriby and Mr. Grimeley?”

  “Of course they work for me,” she said through more chuckles. “Mayella and William do a nice job of scaring the students into mastering powers.” She sighed. “And they did a particularly nice job of helping the four of you find your true potential.” She glanced down at the cards once more and then back up at us.

  Mayor Masters motioned us to pull our chairs closer to the desk. We did.

  “But wh—”

  “Ellie. I will explain everything,” Mayor Masters cut her off. “Just give me the chance.”

  Ellie sighed. “What-ev.”

  As rude as Ellie could be, I totally understood her frustration in this situation. There was no doubt about it, just a few hours ago she had moved Pickle’s cage without a nudge, push, or anything. Something that only Mondays can do. And then there was Logan’s teleporting, and my mind reading. And Sam had super strong Wednesday powers. We were all in need of an explanation.

  “As you all have probably noticed
, Power Academy is not only intended for those who are behind in their weekday powers, like you all originally thought,” Mayor Masters said as her thin fingers spread our information cards out in front of her. “That was simply the pretense under which you were sent here,” she continued with a broad smile. “It worked out perfectly in your cases, however, as each of you did need some work with your dominant power.” She sent a wink our way.

  Dominant power? What did she mean by that?

  “Yes. It is true that the larger purpose of Power Academy is to assist the struggling students in catching up with other Weekdays in Nova—those students in your power-intensive classes, for example. But,” she scooted her chair even closer to the desk and hushed her voice, “the other objective is to target a certain, special group of students.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of the word special. Her rounded fingernails tapped on our cards.

  “It has to do with our birthdays, doesn’t it?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “Yes, Poppy. It does.” She smiled. “And what exactly do you notice about them?”

  “We’re all born in the same week at the same exact time,” Logan spoke up, pointing to the highlighted line on his card.

  “Exactly. 11:59 p.m.”

  Ellie scrunched her face. “But I don’t get it.”

  Mayor Masters went on. “Individuals born in Nova just on the cusp of another weekday have the potential to possess more than one power.”

  Whoa!

  Mayor Masters sat up straighter in her chair, which seemed impossible considering she had perfect posture as it was.

  “Like tonight,” Logan’s voice rose in excitement. “Like when I teleported.”

  “Yes, Logan.” Mayor Masters pursed her lips.

  “Or like when I totally moved Pickle’s cage with my mind?”

  “Yes, Ellie.” Mayor Masters’ lips loosened into a slight smile. “Or you, Poppy,” she said, tapping her pointer finger to her head.

  So, I had been able to read Ellie’s mind after all! This was just too crazy to believe though. How was it possible?

  Mayor Masters’ face became serious. “This will take some processing,” she said, taking a deep breath.

  Sam crossed his arms in front of his chest and tilted his head to the side. “I think we can handle it.”

  I knew we could handle it.

  Mayor Masters nodded. “If you are born right on the cusp of two days, as you all were, you have the potential of not only possessing the power of the dominant day, but you also have the potential of inheriting a power from one of your parents.” She paused, giving us a moment to comprehend what she just said.

  Mayor Masters now concentrated on Sam. “Since your mother is also a Wednesday, your Wednesday powers are doubly strong.”

  Sam puffed his chest out and smiled broadly. No wonder he could do all that crazy light-electricity stuff better than even my Dad. And he was an awesome Wednesday.

  This was just so … well … unreal. Not only could I move things with my Monday power, but I could read minds like my mom does with her Thursday power. Craziness!

  Mayor Masters spoke carefully. “It’s quite unusual to have four of you born at the time, and never have we had four different cusp students here at the academy at once …” Her index finger pointed toward the cards in front of her, and just like that, they stacked into a pile without her having to touch a single one at all.

  We all gasped.

  “You’re like us, too?” Logan asked.

  “It seems so, doesn’t it?” she said. “When I first encountered my second weekday power, my cusp power, I was mystified and honestly—a bit scared. Here I was born a Monday—just getting used to my Monday powers, and then all of a sudden I’m sitting in sixth-grade history class hearing millions of thoughts from the students sitting around me like a true Thursday.” She sighed. “Talk about confused!”

  Three of us chuckled, while Ellie just stared ahead.

  “I still don’t get it,” she said with her jaw hung open. Poor Ellie.

  “Don’t you see, Ellie? You have more than your own weekday power to master; you have your mother’s power to master as well.”

  “You mean I’m, like, kinda a Monday too?” Her voice screeched in excitement, and then quieted. “Like my Mom,” she said to herself, but loud enough for me to hear.

  Mayors Masters cupped her hand over Ellie’s and nodded. “Yes, dear.”

  “Each year we create reasons to invite those like the four of you to Power Academy. Rarely do we even have one cusp student.”

  The four of us listened intently.

  “As I said before, most of you needed to work on your dominant power as well, so it worked out perfectly. As for the other cusp power—it’s best that you discovered your talents in a safe, controlled environment.” She paused and looked around. “Here. We were hoping that if we put enough pressure on you, then you would not only demonstrate the mastery of your true weekday power, but show a hint of your other one.” She smiled. “And after hearing about what happened with the Headmaster and her assistant, it worked better than we anticipated.” She laughed. “All four of you found your cusp power quickly—” She stopped, but the strained look on her face told me that she wanted to say more.

  “Go on,” I urged, sensing she was going to say something important.

  But she shook whatever that was away and spoke. “I’m just sorry that Headmistress Larriby and Mr. Grimeley had to be so … well, so—”

  “Mean, nasty, rude, cruel,” Ellie interrupted, saying out loud what we all thought. “I can go on it you’d like,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

  “She gets the point,” Logan said, rolling his eyes.

  “And I will be addressing their behavior,” Mayor Masters stated firmly. “But, know that I did advise them to put some additional pressure on you.” She leaned back in her chair and chuckled. “And you two boys.” She shook her head side to side, and laughed louder. “The conversation you overheard was just what the four of you needed to give you that extra little push.”

  “You set that up?” Logan asked and then looked at Sam.

  “Let’s just say you needed some motivation.” Her eyes quickly darted to Ellie.

  So, Mayor Masters and Larriby were simply acting out a script when the boys overheard them. They wanted us to believe that Ellie and I were the reasons we wouldn’t leave early—just to give us more of a reason to master our powers. They were good. Really good.

  Sam jumped out of his seat. “Oh, man! This is too cool! I can’t wait to tell—”

  “No one,” Mayor Masters demanded. She tightly closed her eyes and then opened them again. Her voice softened. “Not yet, at least.” She scooted in closer—even though I was pretty sure there wasn’t any more room for her to do so. “We are unsure how the general public will react to the knowledge of dual powers, and so it’s something that must be worked with delicately.” Her lips pursed again. “I’m sure you understand.”

  We nodded.

  “So, who else knows about the two-power thing then?” I asked.

  “Just those who I mentioned earlier, your parents, and, of course the others who are like you all.”

  Ellie shot up straight. “There are others?”

  Mayor Masters laughed. “Ellie. It’s quite possible that other Nova residents are born at the stroke of midnight. You see, there are only ten of us that we know of at this point.”

  Only ten? And if we have this crazy cusp power ability, who knows what else is out there?

  “Exactly, Poppy,” Mayor Masters said, reading me again. “If that’s possible, who knows what else is.” Mayor Masters stood up. “But that’s something we at Nova Power Corporation are trying to work out.”

  Mayor Masters grabbed our files and slid them under her arm. “I will be in contact with each of you toward the end of the summer to discuss the next steps.”

  What was she talking about? “Next steps?”
I asked.

  “You four have much to learn over the next year, and the first part of that learning process occurs at the beginning of sixth grade.” Her heels clicked against the tiled floor as she made her way toward the door.

  “You will all be enrolled at Nova Middle.” Mayor Masters nodded toward Logan. “Even you.”

  “Awesome, man.” Sam slapped a high five to Logan. “No more home school!”

  She reached for the doorknob. “In the meantime—enjoy the rest of your summer. Although you should focus on your true weekday power, you will find your secondary power becoming stronger and stronger every day.” She smiled and opened the office door. “Work with it, but …” She turned and her voice lowered. “But be careful not to share this information with others. We are still working on what this means exactly for those like us.”

  Just like that, Mayor Masters was gone.

  “This is like the craziest thing ever!” Ellie grinned from ear to ear. She always wanted to be a Monday … and now she kinda was.

  Logan rubbed his eyes. “I know. Let’s just get our stuff together and get the heck outta here. We can focus on all this when we get back home.”

  “Mmhm,” I agreed. There were so many unanswered questions, but my number-one priority was getting me and Pickle the heck home. Hopefully, Mom and Dad could explain the rest.

  But gosh. It took me long enough to get decent with my Monday power. I can’t even imagine how long it will take to perfect my Thursday one.

  Chapter Twenty

  “I can’t believe this was a set-up!” Ellie said, grinning from ear to ear. “And to think, I have been a Monday all along!” Ellie hadn’t stopped smiling since our conversation with Mayor Masters. She definitely had a reason to. “And Mayor Masters said that our parents knew about it!” She pursed her lips in confusion. “Then, why?” her voice trailed off. She and her mother obviously had some things to discuss this summer.