by Sybil Nelson
"What is that!” he yelled with a little too much glee in his voice.
"Nothing. Leave me alone." I went to squeeze past him in the narrow hallway, but he blocked my path.
"Good God, it's huge. If your boobs were that big, you might actually need that bra of yours." Josh laughed at his little joke.
My mouth flew open in shock. "Why you little - " I picked up my big brother, tossed him over my shoulder and started walking toward the back door. He was still laughing, but he stopped abruptly once he figured out where I was going.
"Priscilla, stop! Don't you dare. Priss, put me down!"
But I ignored him as I headed toward the steaming pile of manure in the backyard. I had been longing to do this to him since Dad started collecting the manure to convert into fertilizer. This was about to be a dream come true. I did a little spin move then threw him into the pile like I was doing the discus in the Olympics. "Take that, Mr. I'm-in-charge."
Charlie and Chester had followed us outside and started laughing at Josh trying to scramble his way out of the cow manure.
"Oh, you two are gonna get it too,” I said, looking at them. They screamed and took off running in opposite directions.
I decided to chase after Chester. I still owed him for a little incident involving my door knob and some glue. Josh finally got out of the pile and chased after Charlie flinging cow poop along the way.
I caught up to Chester, picked him up and gave him the same fate as Josh. Chester was kicking, screaming and laughing as I tossed him into the manure. Then I felt a sudden shove behind me and before I knew it I was lunging headfirst into the stinky pile as well. Both Charlie and Josh had snuck up from behind and shoved me in. A disgusting, dirty, smelly wrestling match between my brothers and me started. We were laughing so hard we could barely stand up straight. I think we all needed this silly stress reliever after the night we'd been through.
Finally, I noticed Ryan hovering above the pile with his hands behind his back and a confused expression on his face. I looked to my left and Marco was standing there also very confused.
"Do you need assistance, Priscilla?” Marco asked.
"No, we're just having fun," I said.
"Fun? Playing with feces is fun?"
"Well...not usually...It's just that...Um..." How was I supposed to explain this to him? The Specimens had spent so much time locked away in the Selliwood Institute and only learning how to kill that they always had a hard time understanding normal human behavior. Okay well, playing in manure isn't really normal, but either way it was going to be hard to explain. Thankfully, Josh jumped in.
"See, Marco, sometimes when humans get too stressed out, they need something to relieve that nervous energy. Doctors say laughing is the best medicine. Seeing my brothers and sister completely covered in cow manure is quite funny."
"Funny? Hmm." Marco scratched his chin as if deep in thought. "Will it be as funny as this? Now Ryan!” With that Ryan took his hands behind his back and starting flinging water balloons at us. Marco pulled out the water hose and completely doused us with water laughing the whole time.
I guess Marco had learned more about human behavior than I thought.
***
After I got cleaned up, I decided I needed to talk to Tai immediately. I didn't care what time it was in Denmark.
"Houston, we have a problem,” I said as soon as she answered the phone.
Tai gasped. "Oh, no! Is your Mom back? Did she attack again?"
"You got the email?” My hair was still wet from the shower, so I sat on the bed and started drying it with a towel while holding the phone in place with my shoulder.
"Yeah, I read it over and over again. I can't believe it. Is your dad okay?"
"Yeah he's fine. Josh and I were pretty scared for a while, but I think he's gonna make it now."
Tai breathed a sigh of relief. She was pretty close to my parents. After being kidnapped with them and held at the Selliwood Institute, she was basically a part of the family.
"So what's the big emergency?” she asked once she had calmed down a little.
"Oh it's bigger than big. It's huge. I'd rather be dead right now than have to go through this." I flopped onto my back and threw the towel over my head.
"Okay, now I just think you're being dramatic. Don't have a 'Prissy Fit.' Just tell me what's going on."
"I've got a pimple on my neck." I whispered into the phone just in case Marco was nearby. Thankfully, he hadn't already noticed it during the manure/water fight.
There was a pause.
"And?” Tai said finally.
"And I look like a monster!” I said, leaping from the bed. "This is serious, Tai. It's huge."
"It can't be that big of a deal. You're overreacting."
"Josh is calling it my third boob."
Tai started laughing hysterically.
"It's not funny! Charlie and Chester named it Spot and just asked me if they could pet it."
She laughed harder.
"You better be happy you're my best friend. If you weren't, I'd come over there and toast your insensitive tail right now." I sat down on the bed and started drying my hair with the towel again. Then I realized something. I can shoot fire out of my fingers. Why the heck am I using a towel? With my hand a safe distance away from my head I lit a flame, and then moved it up and down the length of my hair.
"Sorry, Priss. I just don't know what you expect me to do. I'm in Denmark right now. It's not like I can hop on a plane and help you conceal your pimple with makeup or something."
"I don't think makeup would even help. It would be like trying to fill the Grand Canyon one thimble of water at a time. Just plain pointless." With my hair dry, I shut off my flame and started searching my messy room for a hair scrunchie.
"You're probably right. This sounds like more of a stress-induced problem than a cosmetic anomaly."
"Stop using big words and just tell me how to get rid of it!"
"It's on your neck, right? Why don't you just wear a turtleneck?"
I rolled my eyes at her ridiculous suggestion. "You want me, the human fire ball, to wear a turtleneck? I'll spontaneously combust!"
"Well, besides drinking more water and trying to relax, I don't know what else you want me to tell you, Priss. And I don't know how you're supposed to relax with your current mom situation."
I sighed. She was right.
"Look on the bright side,” she added. "At least you don't have a big date or anything coming up."
That didn't make me feel any better. It just reminded me of my awful boyfriend troubles. Kyle Montgomery was my first boyfriend. We grew up together back in River's Bend, Pennsylvania. We did everything together from racing each other on our bikes to pranking nearly the entire eighth grade. He was my partner in crime and up for doing crazy things that Tai would never do. But back in February, when I saved the President's daughter from some kidnappers, Kyle kind of saw me kiss Marco. But I wasn't cheating on him. It totally wasn't like that. See, Marco can transfer his powers with a kiss. He was just trying to protect me before I fought against Specimen Zero. But since Kyle doesn't know the truth about my family, we couldn't really explain all that to him. To make things worse, I kind of enjoyed kissing Marco. Okay, I really enjoyed kissing Marco. But that doesn't mean I don't like Kyle too, right? I'm so confused.
"Well, Kyle and I might not be together anymore, but what about Marco? I can't let him see me like this."
Tai went silent again. Then she sighed.
"What's wrong?” I asked her. I gave up trying to find a hair accessory and sat cross-legged in the middle of my room.
"If you must know." She paused again then took a deep breath before blurting, “I don't think you should be with Marco."
"Why not?” This was news to me. I don't think we had ever talked about Marco like this before. I had no idea how she felt about him.
"I just don't think he's right for you. I think you belong with Kyle."
"But Kyle hates me. He r
efuses to talk to me. He sends back all the letters I send to him."
"Priss, Kyle has been in love with you since the third grade, maybe even before that. Do you know he missed almost a week of school after you moved away from River's Bend? He claims he had the flu, but I know it was because he missed you so much."
"Kyle hates school as much as I do. He'd use any excuse to get out of going."
Tai sighed again. "Priss, the boy has got it bad for you. And yes, he can be annoying and moronic sometimes, but when it comes down to it, you two are perfect for each other."
"Wait...are you calling me annoying and moronic?"
"Priss, I'm being serious here." I can imagine she probably rolled her eyes at this point. "You and Kyle are my two best friends and I want to see you together."
I got quiet for a minute while I let this sink in.
"Now, I don't know Marco too well,” Tai continued. "I'm sure he's a perfectly nice guy. And he's admittedly the most gorgeous piece of human I've seen walk the Earth besides your brother but what kind of a future do you two really have together?"
"Whoa. Wait. What did you say about my brother?"
"Come on, Priss. You know your brother is hot."
I gagged a little.
"Anyway, you and Marco can't be together. I mean every time he kisses you, he turns you into metal. What kind of relationship would that be?"
She had a point there.
"Kyle is just really hurting right now. Give him some time. He'll come back to you. I know it."
I wasn't so sure.
"Anyway, let me know when you and Josh have decided on your next step. I want to help, okay?"
"Okay, talk to you later."
After hanging up with Tai, I continued my search through the piles of clothes and comic books on my floor. I didn't find a hair scrunchie, but I did find a turtleneck.
Chapter 7: The Witherall Locket
At two o'clock in the morning, Josh burst into my room. He was pale, sweating and out of breath.
"Witherall,” he said before opening my dresser and flinging out my clothes.
I rolled over and put the pillow over my head, too groggy to try and process what he was talking about. A second later everything came flooding back to me though. My mother, Selliwood, the specimens, kidnapping, mind control. This was no time to be worried about sleep. Josh was in my room all panicky and stuff for a reason. The last time he did something like this, he told me to take Marco with me on a certain mission which ended up saving my life.
"What about Witherall?” I asked while hopping out of the bed. I flipped on the lights and immediately regretted that decision. It was way too bright. I shut my eyes tightly while slapping the wall trying to shut the lights off again. Once I had the switch off, I lit my finger instead. The flame filled the room with a warm glow.
Josh ignored my question and kept digging through my clothes.
"Um, Josh, I don't think you're going to find Dr. Witherall in my panty drawer."
"The locket. Where'd you put the locket?” he asked, moving on to my shirt drawer.
"What locket?” I had no idea what he was talking about. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate. Witherall. Locket. Did he mean the necklace Dr. Witherall had given me?
A few weeks ago, Josh had a vision that we needed to return to River's Bend for some reason. I didn't argue. I just hopped on the jet and went. When we got there, Dr. Witherall showed up along with Specimen U. I thought we were in for a fight, but instead, he gave me a necklace and told me it was for my birthday. Weird. No, weirder than weird. One second the man is trying to slice me open for his research and the next he's playing Santa Claus or something.
I shut off my flame and walked over to my bed. I flipped over the mattress and then dug my hand into the small slit I had created. I pulled out the diamond necklace with the large L hanging from the center and dangled it in front of my face. "Is this what you're looking for?” I asked Josh. He turned and walked over to me. Then he just stared at the necklace as if he was afraid to touch it. I lit another flame so he could get a better look. "It's a necklace, Josh. Not a locket."
He shook his head, and then carefully took the piece of jewelry out of my hand. "It's a locket."
He sat on the floor and continued staring at it. After shutting off my flame, I braved the brightness and flipped on the lights again before joining him on the floor.
Josh used his index finger to slowly trace the edge of the red L. When he got to a certain place he paused and the L popped open. I guess it was a locket.
"How did you know?” That's a pretty stupid question to ask a psychic, but hey, I'm only thirteen and it was two o'clock in the morning. You try thinking straight under those conditions.
"I had a vision,” he said, staring closely at the contents of the locket.
"What's inside?"
"Letters." He reached for a notebook that I had lying around my room and dumped the contents of the locket on to it.
R-N-C-G-A
"What does it mean?” I asked, staring at the ridiculously tiny letters. It was like trying to read a grain of rice.
"Maybe it spells something."
We started arranging the letters.
R-A-N-C-G
"That mean anything to you?” Josh asked.
I shook my head and rearranged them again. G-R-A-C-N
"Anything?” I asked.
"Nothing." Josh took a turn and came up with C-R-A-N-G
I stared at those letters for a moment. I got a tingly feeling all over like something important was about to happen.
"Crang," I said after a moment. For some reason I was whispering even though my dad was knocked out on pain killers and my little brothers could sleep through a monster truck rally in their room. "Josh, I know that word."
I stood up and started pacing my messy room nearly tripping over a basketball and a giant Pixy Stix.
"How? From where?” he asked, staring up at me.
"Crang. I’ve heard that word before. In United Arab Emirates, Xi said something about meeting Dr. Witherall at Crang. And before that, at the Selliwood Institute, Dr. Witherall said he would meet Colonel Selliwood at Crang in order to start the next phase of their plan."
"That must be where they are. That's where they have Mom."
"But Josh, after my fight with Xi in UAE, Dad looked everywhere. There is no place on Earth called Crang. It doesn't exist."
"Yeah, I remember that." He stared at the locket again deep in thought. "It has to exist. This,” he said holding up the necklace, “is not a coincidence. Crang exists and we have to find it."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's do this."
Josh hopped up and ran out of the room to go get dressed. I threw on a pair of jeans and then decided I needed a little sugar rush for some energy. I popped open my Pixy Stix and chugged half of it. Then I washed it down with a near empty can of Mountain Dew that was sitting on my window sill.
I sat down on the bed waiting for the sugar to kick in while staring at the locket and the tiny letters. The locket that Dr. Witherall had given me. A man who one day wants to kill me and the next day wants to help me blow out birthday candles or something. Josh was right. There is no way all of this was a coincidence. There is no way he would out of the blue give me a clue-filled locket.
What are you up to, Witherall?
Chapter 8: Excuse Me, While I Kiss this Guy
Thirty minutes later, Josh and I were in the briefing room of the safe house using every internet search engine known to man trying to find Crang. I never typed so fast or so much in my life. Together, I'm pretty sure we searched every inch of the world for this place. It wasn't a city, it wasn't a state, it wasn't a country, and it wasn't an organization. We started to think it was the name of someone who had connections to Witherall or Selliwood. We found a David Crang on Facebook. But unless Dr. Witherall or Colonel Selliwood spent their free time in Cancun on Spring Break wearing tacky shirts and drinking fruity drinks with umbrellas, we
were pretty sure there was no connection.
By seven in the morning, I was exhausted and Josh was cranky. I mean more cranky than usual. He was like super cranky. He slammed his laptop shut and stormed out of the basement without saying a word. It must have been killing him to know that he was helpless in finding Mom or his precious Katya. I started thinking about the awkward beginning to their relationship. Being born and raised in the Selliwood Institute, she didn't really understand the concept of flirting. So when she noticed how my brother always found a way to take off his shirt in front of her she thought it was because we had a problem with laundry. She had no idea that my brother was trying to hit on her. I finally explained things to her, well, I explained as much as I could without puking, and she got the point. The next time Josh asked her out she accepted and they'd been inseparable since.