by Sybil Nelson
Once my metallic effect wore off, we left the house. Tai ran home and got a couple of accessories in order to disguise Elizabeth. A red wig and sunglasses hopefully would do the trick. We didn't want to take a chance of someone recognizing her and calling the police. Although, who would even believe that the President's daughter had showed up in River's Bend, Pennsylvania?
As soon as I got outside, I was tackled by a brown furry sack of meat. At first my defenses went up and I was about to fight. But then I realized I knew this sack of meat. “Max!” I yelled flinging my arms around the dog Kyle and I shared. “I missed you so much, buddy,” I said as he licked my face. I was really happy to see him, but I also knew that it meant Kyle had to be nearby.
I stood up and looked around. That’s when I saw Kyle sitting on the curb. I looked a mess and I was still limping. I really didn't want him to see me like this, but it was too late. I wondered how long he and Max had been waiting outside. Did he overhear the fight with Specimen Zero?
I grabbed Tai's jacket and threw it on hoping to cover up some of my injuries. Fortunately, Kyle didn't even notice I was bleeding. He had other things on his mind.
"Why didn't you just tell me you wanted to break up with me?" he asked, standing up from the curb.
"What are you talking about? I don't want to break up with you!"
"Really, then why were you kissing Marco in your backyard?"
Oh, snap! I think my heart stopped. My throat felt like it had closed up completely. I couldn't breathe. How in the world was I going to get out of this? How was I supposed to explain that Marco had kissed me in order to turn me into metal in order to save me from a bullet shot from my best friend while I fought a shape-shifting mutant? It sounded completely ridiculous.
"I...I...You saw that?"
"Yes, I saw it. I was taking Max for a walk when I saw you and the twins going toward Tai's house. At first I wondered why you would come to town and not tell me. But I didn't care. I was just happy you were here. I had some exciting news to tell you and I thought Max would want to see you. But then I saw you talking to Marco and I followed you. And then you...you kissed him."
"Kyle, it's not like that, I swear." I reached out to touch his arm and he jerked it away,
"Well, then what is it, Priss? Why don't you tell me what it's like?"
I stood there with my mouth open. What could I say?
"Is that her boyfriend?" I heard Elizabeth whisper to Tai. Then she nudged me in the back. "Just tell him."
I held up my hand for her to be quiet. She didn't know that Kyle didn't know the truth. She didn't know that I couldn't tell him.
"Just tell me what?" Kyle asked angrily. He was so upset a vein was throbbing in his forehead.
"Just tell you that...that...that...I -"
"That she made a mistake and that she's sorry," Tai volunteered.
"No. I made the mistake," Kyle said. "I made the mistake of thinking you ever cared about me." He stormed off toward his house. “Let’s go, Max.” Max looked back and forth between me and Kyle a few times before following Kyle.
I wanted to run after him and hug him and explain everything, but what was the point? Maybe it was better this way.
Marco was waiting by the jet when Elizabeth, Tai, the twins and I arrived. I ran and leapt into his arms. In that moment, I didn't think about Kyle. I didn't care that I no longer had a boyfriend. I was just happy that Marco was safe.
Marco took the twins back to Missouri in the hovercopter while Elizabeth, Tai, and I took the jet.
"So why is it you let me find out everything about you, but you won't tell your own boyfriend?" Elizabeth asked after we'd been flying for a few minutes.
Tai and I looked at each other. She knew what I was thinking. She could look at the navigational system and tell that I was flying toward Missouri and not Washington DC. As long as I got to Katya within the next thirty minutes, Elizabeth wouldn't remember anything. Katya could erase up to three hours of memory. Then, we'd drop her off at a police station in DC and everything should turn out fine.
Dealing with Kyle would be harder. I wondered if I could convince Katya to come with me to River's Bend as well. Maybe she could erase the kiss from Kyle's memory. I looked at the time and shook my head. We'd never make it.
This was all getting too complicated. Why did Marco have to kiss me? Well, if he didn't kiss me there's no telling what would have happened in that basement. No, Marco had to kiss me...the real problem was, I didn't have to enjoy it.
Chapter 26: Going back
When the holophone beeped, I cringed. I knew exactly who it was going to be.
“Priscilla, are you okay?” My dad said. Marco must have told him everything.
“Yeah, Dad, I’m fine.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, because you are in so much trouble, young lady.” My dad’s relief quickly disappeared and was replaced by anger and annoyance.
“What? Why?” Well that was a dumb question. I knew I was grounded. I shouldn’t have taken the jet. But come on, I just rescued the First Daughter. You’d think I’d get a break.
"That is soooo cool!" Elizabeth said, swiping her hand through the image of my dad's face. "Is that a hologram? It looks so real!"
"Hey, Dad. Let me introduce you to the First Daughter of the United States of America." I gestured to Elizabeth sitting in the co-pilot's seat as if I was Vanna White displaying a prize. If anything could derail the tirade I knew was coming it had to be the President's daughter.
"Don't change the subject, Priscilla. You know what you've done. You snuck out of the house, you stole the jet, and according to your little brothers you completely doused the seventh grade of Polk Middle School with ice cream."
"She was just trying to defend me, Mr. Sumner," Tai chimed in from behind me.
"And, let's get it right, okay Dad? They were eighth graders and they totally deserved it." Charlie and Chester had such big mouths. They didn't have the common sense to realize that they shouldn't talk about what happened? I probably should have told them that the ice cream stunt was a secret punishable by wedgies. They hated wedgies.
"Priscilla!" he screamed, losing his patience.
Elizabeth nearly jumped out of the seat. "Good Lord, I thought my dad was scary," she whispered.
"Greg, calm down," my mother said, poking her head into view. "She may have done all those things, but she also just rescued the President's daughter. She risked her life to save someone else's and she succeeded. I think we can cut her some slack."
Finally, a voice of reason.
"How are you doing, Elizabeth?" my mother asked.
"I'm cool, I guess." Elizabeth was still mesmerized by the hologram in front of her.
"What about you, Tai? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Mrs. Sumner, thank you. Priss has taken really good care of us."
I turned around and mouthed a thank you to her. Since Tai was such an angel all the time, they were bound to believe her.
"Hey, if it's worth anything," Elizabeth began, "Priscilla did an awesome job kicking some a-- …I mean…butt tonight. Go easy on her, k?
"We will," my mom said with a smile. "Won't we, Greg?" She nudged my dad with her elbow.
My father took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, we will," he said through clenched teeth. "I want you home in an hour and then we need to have a little chat."
Now it was my turn to breathe a sigh of relief. At least I didn't have to worry about my dad chopping my head off as soon as I walked in the door. The "little chat" he referred to, though, would turn into a two hour speech about obedience and safety and probably come with a quiz after.
"I want you to drop off Elizabeth at a police station on East Capitol Street in DC," my dad said after he'd composed himself a little. "My friend Jim knows a Secret Service agent. We told him he might want to be there tonight."
"Okay, Dad. Will do!" I said going back to my super cheery voice. My dad rolled his eyes and walked away from the transmi
tter.
"Fly safe, Priss," my mom said.
"Hey, Mom, can you have Katya ready to join us in about ten minutes?"
"Will do."
I clicked off the holophone then turned to Elizabeth. "Thanks for the good word. You totally saved me."
"Well, I guess we're almost even then." She held her fist up and we shared a fist bump. That chick was totally awesome.
Once we made it back to Missouri, Katya joined us on the jet. I didn't even take the time to land all the way and turn off the jet. I just got close enough to the ground for her to jump in. My parents understood the need for us to hurry. We needed to make Elizabeth forget everything as soon as possible. Of course, she would remember being kidnapped and possibly even coming to River's Bend, but she wouldn't remember anything about the rescue.
"I don't get it," Elizabeth asked as we continued flying. "Why did we have to pick up Svetlana over here?"
"Svetlana?" Katya said innocently. She sat down in the cockpit behind the co-pilot's seat and strapped in. "My name is Katya." Humor was lost on that girl.
Elizabeth turned to me and said, "Is she for real? I was just kidding."
I nodded. "Long story."
"Anyway, why the detour? I would think you'd want to get me back to my parents as soon as possible. What gives?"
When no one answered her, she said, "Okay, since no one will talk to me, let's see if I can figure out what's going on here." She pointed to me. "You can shoot fire out of your fingers. You have a friend that can turn into metal and he turned you into metal in order to save you from a bullet shot by you," she said pointing to Tai. "Do you have super powers?"
Tai shook her head.
"Just a super brain," I said. "And she's a super cool best friend."
"I wish I had a best friend. My dad is so freaked out by who I hang out with; I barely have any really close friends."
I felt kinda bad for her. I mean, I knew a lot about overprotective dads. I knew what she was going through.
She shook off her sadness and continued, "Okay, so the dude or dudette or whatever it was that kidnapped me, has the power to change shapes into different people. So it turned into you in order to take me. Why?"
"He works for a man named Colonel Selliwood. Selliwood hates your father almost as much as he hates my mother. With this plan we figure he was trying to kill two birds with one stone, you know? Frame me...possibly for murdering you. It's pretty pathetic that he's going after kids for his revenge though."
"Yeah, what a loser. Colonel Selliwood, huh?” she said looking off to the side. “I'll have to remember to ask my father about him."
"No, you won't," Tai said.
"What do you mean?"
"Unfortunately, we can't let you remember any of this. It's a matter of safety," Tai added.
"Well, how do you plan on making me forget? This was a pretty memorable evening. It's not every day a girl gets rescued by super kids."
Tai and I stole glances at Katya.
"Oh, I get it. I guess the Russian girl has the power to erase memories, huh?"
"Good guess," I said impressed by her perceptiveness...Is that a word?
Elizabeth crossed her arms and slouched down in the chair. After several minutes she said, "What if I can help you guys? I'll help you catch this Selliwood character."
I shook my head. "Sorry, Elizabeth. Too dangerous."
"Come on. I'm the President's daughter. Do you know how useful I can be? Just don't erase my memory. I promise I won't tell anyone about you. I promise."
"Well, how could you possibly help us without telling anyone about us?" Tai asked. That was a good question. Leave it to Tai to be the logical one.
Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything. After a few minutes she had finally put her thoughts together, "I got it! I can help you behind the scenes. Pull some strings when you need it, get you information, anything you need. Please. I want to help. I want to be a super kid too." Elizabeth was practically begging.
I wanted to say yes. I really did. Having an insider in the White House could be a big help at some point. I just didn't think I had the authority to make that decision. I didn't know what to do.
I looked at Tai and Katya. They looked just as confused as I did. I wished I could hold a telepathic conversation like the other Selliwood kids so I could know what they were thinking.
"I don't think that's gonna work," I said finally.
"Please? Just think about it okay? Please?"
"I think I may have a compromise," Katya volunteered. Then she sent me a telepathic message.
I've been working on a new technique with Joshua. I can lock her memories away in a secret part of her mind and unlock them later with a secret password if needed. That way if we need her later for something or need her to remember, the information will still be there.
I shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Let's do it."
"Do what?" Elizabeth asked. I forgot that I had said it out loud instead of thinking it.
"Uh...Nothing," I said staring into the sky. "Landing in five." I tried to sound brave, like an authority figure or something. It must have worked because she didn't ask any more questions. She crossed her arms and sulked for the rest of the ride.
I landed the jet in the middle of the abandoned FedEX field in Washington DC. It was the perfect landing spot. If I got any closer to the White House, I might have been picked up on radar. Even though Dad and W had reconfigured the cloaking mechanism, I didn't want to take any chances.
The plan was for Katya to walk with her to a police station and then do her little mind trick once she was in safe hands. Normally a pretty blonde girl walking down the street of Northeast DC with the First Daughter would probably be a little dangerous. But, I was completely confident in her ability to protect Elizabeth all the way to the police station. I mean, no matter how pretty she was, technically, she was still a trained assassin.
Tai and I decided to say our goodbyes to her at the jet.
"So, I guess this is it," Elizabeth said as she hugged Tai and me. "Are you sure you won't reconsider the mind erasing thing. I really don't want to forget you guys."
"Don't worry, Elizabeth. I have a feeling we're gonna meet again one day."
Chapter 27: Psycho in the White House
After dropping off Tai, Katya and I were alone in the jet again. For a moment, I had a flash back to the air raid from just a few days before. I was exhausted and I didn't really want to have to get into another fight. But then something worse happened. Katya started getting personal.
"So, I have been thinking about the situation with you and Kyle."
I wanted to ask how she even knew about Kyle and me, but I didn't have to. This telepathy thing was getting really annoying.
"How does this telepathy thing even work?" I asked with a sigh. "I mean you have enhanced genes. How does that translate into hopping into people's minds?"
"Well, the average human uses only about 8% of their brain," Katya began, sounding very formal and intelligent. "The more you increase that percentage, the more seemingly amazing things you can do. Telepathy and telekinesis are simply ways of using your own energy to connect with matter. It is a very simple scientific procedure."
Simple. Yeah, simple. Why did it seem like I was the only one who couldn't do it?
"Take the wind for example," she continued. "When the wind moves an object, can you see the wind? No, but you can see what the wind does. You can see the movement of the object. Telekinesis is much like that. We're moving the matter around something. That is actually more difficult than telepathy. For telepathy, all I have to do is find the current or wavelength a person uses to think. Have you ever heard the saying 'We are thinking on the same wavelength?' Well, that is completely accurate. It is kind of like tuning for a radio station. Each person just has a different radio wave. Now what Joshua can do that none of us can, is once he finds a person's radio station, he can act as the DJ and decide what to play. Joshua is amazing.
"
She got this dreamy look in her eyes and it was kind of creeping me out so I decided to change the subject.
"So what were you saying about Kyle and me?"
"Right, Kyle. You want to get him back, yes?"
I sighed. "Yes."
"Well, I know how. All you have to do is kiss him."
Now it was my turn to cock my head to the side and stare at her in confusion.
"Yes, when your brother kisses me, he does this thing with his tongue that almost makes me forget my own name. If you do that to Kyle, I am sure he will forgive you."
I gagged. I literally had to cover my mouth to keep my insides from gushing out.
"What is wrong?" Katya asked innocently.
"Kat, listen carefully because this is extremely important." Katya leaned in and concentrated on my face as if I was about to speak the most important words ever. "Let me make this perfectly clear," I began slowly. "I never, ever, ever, ever, want to hear about what my brother does with his tongue."
Katya stared into space as if deep in thought. Finally, she nodded and said, "I see your point. I think I understand your request. I would not want to learn about what my brother does with his tongue."
"Whoa. Wait. What? You have a brother?"
"Yes. My twin. Specimen Iota. We call him Ian and he lives in New Zealand. Your mother helped him escape two years ago."
"Katya, I've known you for like four months. How come I didn't know you had a twin?"
She looked at me strangely. "You never asked."
"I see your point," I said borrowing her phrase. "Don't you miss him?"
Once again, the confused look. "How could I? He's always here," she said pointing to her head. "We communicate constantly. I enjoy his funny accent."