by Sybil Nelson
Josh didn't have the best luck with girls. His first girlfriend broke his heart and cheated on him. I thought he'd finally found happiness again with Katya. And now she was gone. The more time passed, the less chance we had of finding her and reversing the programming Witherall and Selliwood had done.
There had to be something I was missing. I felt like all the pieces were there, but for some reason I couldn't put them together to see the whole picture.
Some of the pieces had been handed to me by Dr. Witherall himself; the same man who drugged my mother and performed genetic experiments on her for seventeen years. The same man who posed as my math teacher and then kidnapped me. Whoa. Wait. What if all those clues were just part of some sort of elaborate trap? I mean, why would he be trying to help us? It had to be a trap. He was just trying to throw us off the right path.
I closed my eyes and tried to go over everything in my mind. I thought about the Institute, my time there, my mother's time there. I tried to focus and see Dr. Witherall handing me the box with the locket. Was there something in his eyes that would give away whether he was friend or foe? Oh, why couldn't I be psychic like Josh? Maybe I would be able to sense his true intentions or something.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember was someone tapping my shoulder.
"Good morning, Priscilla,” Marco said when I opened my eyes. He was sitting next to me at the briefing room conference table.
"Marco? I didn't even hear you come in,” I said with a yawn and a stretch. So much for super hearing, I thought as I stretched my arms above my head. "How long have you been here?"
"A little over an hour."
"You've been watching me sleep for over an hour?” I said while I tried to smooth down my hair. I was sure I looked awful after sleeping face down on a cold conference table for an hour. But Marco didn't seem to mind.
He nodded. "You are beautiful when you sleep."
I felt my cheeks heat up. I tugged on the suffocatingly (is that a word?) hot turtle neck I wore to cover up my embarrassing pimple situation. I thought I would burst into flames. Why did he have to say things like that?
"So I'm not beautiful when I'm not asleep?” I said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the mood.
"No, that's not what I meant. I -”
"I know, Marco. I'm just kidding."
"Oh, right. I still have to get used to your humor."
He paused for a moment and that's when I noticed a chocolate cake and a glass of milk sitting in front of me. "What's this?” I asked.
"Oh, I made you breakfast,” he said with a satisfied grin.
I looked between him and the cake several times. "You made me a cake...for breakfast?"
"Yes, I made it myself. Don't worry, it is not feces."
"What?” I said my eyes expanding.
"It was a joke. I was just kidding. You know I was referring to you and your brothers playing in the feces."
"Oh, right." I sighed in relief. I couldn't help but smile a little at the gleam in Marco's green eyes. He was learning quickly.
"It is your father's special recipe,” he added. "When I saw you were down here sleeping, I went upstairs and made it for you. It's right out of the oven. It is still warm."
I looked at the cake again and raised my eyebrows in surprise.
"You don't believe I can cook?” Marco asked. He was starting to look a little disappointed.
"No, I believe you made it, it's just that it's eight thirty in the morning." I paused. How could I say this without hurting his feelings? "Um, people don't eat chocolate cake for breakfast."
"They don't?"
I shook my head.
"I've seen you eat doughnuts for breakfast, correct?"
I nodded.
"Well, what is the difference between a doughnut and a cake?"
I opened my mouth to dispute him and then realized I couldn't. Why was it acceptable to eat a doughnut for breakfast and not a cake?
"Fair enough,” I said with a shrug as I cut myself a slice.
It was definitely my dad's recipe for double fudge peanut butter chocolate cake. I could tell by the hint of cinnamon. Over the past four years my dad had turned into quite a cook. I really missed him. It was usually him who led these middle of the night research missions in the briefing room. I know he was technically all right and would make a full recovery, but I still couldn't believe how close I was to losing him.
On top of that, my mother was the one who tried to kill him. She was actually working for Selliwood now. I tried to convince myself that she wasn't behaving normally and that Selliwood was controlling her, but it was still too overwhelming to think of my mother as a murderer. My stomach knotted up. I couldn't finish my slice of cake.
Marco turned my chair around so that he was staring directly into my eyes. "We're going to find her, Priscilla,” he said as if he had been reading my mind. Well, he probably was. "Everything is going to be okay." He reached out and wiped away a tear that I didn't even know had formed.
"How do you know?” I asked, looking into his eyes. My throat was tight and dry. My voice was barely a whisper as I tried to hold back tears.
Marco didn't answer. He just kept staring at me. I never wanted to be telepathic more than in that moment. I wanted to know what he was thinking. What was going on behind his striking green eyes?
"I shouldn't kiss you,” he said after what felt like ten minutes of staring. He leaned toward me. His hand still rested on my cheek.
"People do things they shouldn't all the time,” I said. Whoa, that was a great line. How'd I think of that? I gotta write that down.
Marco smiled slightly then pressed his lips to mine. I'd been waiting two months to do this again. The last time we kissed, I didn't really get to enjoy it. I had to fight Specimen Zero right after. This time there were no mutants trying to kill me. There was just Marco and me.
As he pressed deeper, I got a tingly sensation all over my body. Normally that tingle meant you really liked a guy. I did really like Marco, but I knew that tingle actually meant he was transferring his powers to me. In about five minutes I would turn completely to metal. But in that moment I didn't care. In the next moment I did, though. That was the moment when the nausea started.
I pulled away and covered my mouth trying to hold back the urge to spew bile and chocolate cake all over the room. "What's wrong?” he asked.
I shook my head and swallowed. "Nothing,” I lied. Swallowing a mouth full of puke is definitely wrong.
He shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "My powers are making you sick aren't they?” It wasn't really a question. He already knew the answer.
"Maybe if we kiss more often my body will get used to the power transfer and it won't make me sick anymore,” I said hopefully. I really wanted to kiss him, but I also didn't want to puke all over him. Talk about unsexy.
Marco stood while shaking his head. "I don't think so. Your body is rejecting the foreign antigen in my saliva. The reaction will get more and more severe." He turned away and looked up the stairs. "I'm sorry, Priscilla,” he said before storming out of the basement.
Could my life get any worse? The guy I like makes me vomit and turn into a statue every time we kiss. Maybe Tai was right. Marco and I would never work.
Chapter 9: Love Sick
A few minutes later, Josh scurried down the steps into the briefing room holding two cups of coffee. Once down the stairs he stopped abruptly and stared at me like I was some sort of alien.
"What?” I asked when he didn't say anything.
No response. He just kept staring.
"Do I have a booger or something? Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked. I touched my neck to make sure my pimple or third boob or whatever was still being covered up. Yep, all clear. I really had no idea what his problem was.
Josh smirked and shook his head. "Been making out with Marco?” he asked, setting the coffee on the table and then plopping down in a chair.
My jaw dropped op
en. How did he know? Wait a minute. I looked down at my arms. Sure enough, I was completely metal. There was really no way to deny it. Suddenly my stomach tightened. There was also no way to stop the vomit that was about to spew out of me. Josh grabbed a trash can and held it in front of me just as all the chocolate cake made an unwanted encore appearance.
"Gross,” Josh added with a shake of his head. He set the trash can down and went to sit on the other side of the table.
I wiped my mouth on my arms. Not very helpful since metal isn't too absorbent. I grabbed an old nasty tissue out of my jeans' pocket and wiped my mouth while trying to calm my breathing. "That's it? Just gross?” I panted.
He took a sip of coffee and nodded. "Well it is gross. Look at what you just put in that trash can." He looked at the trash can and shivered a little. "I kinda feel bad for you though. It's got to suck having to puke every time you kiss your boyfriend."
A part of me hoped that the more I kissed Marco the more my body would get used to the effects, but I didn't think that was going to happen. Marco was right. The power transfer was getting worse. I mean the first time he kissed me, I didn't vomit. Sure I felt the nausea and all, but I didn't actually turn into a human volcano.
Wait a minute. Did Josh just call him my boyfriend? "Boyfriend?” I said. "He's not my boyfriend, Josh. And if he was, why are you alright with that? I mean why aren't you threatening to beat him up like you did to Kyle?"
Just a few weeks ago, Josh had tried to scare Kyle to near death right before our movie date. He said he wanted to make sure that Kyle understood the meaning of "boundaries" and that he didn't touch me while we were alone in a dark theater. And this was right after my dad had sprayed Kyle's hands with some kind of glow in the dark green concoction so he could track where he placed them and right before a ridiculously embarrassing episode involving my little brothers, my bra, and a chicken salad sandwich. Don't ask.
Josh shrugged. "I don't think Kyle is right for you. Marco is different." He took another sip of coffee and opened up the laptop so he could get back to his research. I wasn't about to let him off that easy though.
"Whoa. Wait. What are you talking about? How is Marco different?” Okay, so that's kind of a dumb question. I mean, he did just turn me into the Statue of Liberty so to speak. If that ain't 'different' then I don't know what is.
"Marco is one of us. He knows what we're going through. Kyle will never be able to understand our genetic mutation."
"But we don't know that. Maybe he would understand. I never gave him a chance,” I said banging my metal hand against the table.
Josh sighed. "I just think that in the long run, you might be happier with Marco."
"In the long run?" I asked skeptically. "I'm only thirteen. I'm not planning a wedding or anything."
Josh shrugged and started typing on his computer. I could tell he'd already put the situation out of his mind. He had more important things to think of, like how to get his mom and his Katya back. But I kept thinking about Marco.
"Well, what about the metal conversion thing?” I said a few minutes later. I pointed to myself as evidence. "How are we supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend if we can't even kiss?"
"You're too young for kissing anyway,” he said with a smug smirk.
I gave him a death glare. He better be happy I couldn't shoot fire out of my eyes.
"Okay, okay. Don't look at me like that,” he said, pretending to hide behind his hands. "We'll figure out something. You and Marco will be together one day. I know it."
Ugh. I hated when he did that. Any time Josh used those words "I know it", I never knew if he meant it in a normal I'm-a-big-brother-and-I-know-everything kind of way or in an I'm-a-freaking-psychic-and-I-know-everything kind of way. Either way, it was annoying.
Now I was completely confused. My best friend thought I should be with Kyle, but my brother was convinced Marco was the one for me. I didn't know what to think.
We fell into silence as Josh got back to work searching the internet. I closed my eyes and waited for the "metal effect" to wear off. Searching the internet again felt pretty pointless. We had been at this for hours and were no closer to finding mom and the others.
"What if this is all a trap?” I asked Josh an hour later.
"What do you mean?” He turned away from his computer and looked at me.
"The necklace and this Crang thing. What if Witherall gave me that necklace with the letters inside to just put us on a false trail? What if we're just wasting our time?"
"I've thought of that." Josh sighed. He turned his attention back to his computer.
"And?” I said when he didn't keep talking.
"And I don't know what else to do." He stood from the table and ran his fingers through his hair. "Do you know how frustrating this is for me? I'm psychic. I'm supposed to know what happens. I should have been able to stop this before it happened and I couldn't. Do you know how it feels to have no idea what to do next?” He kicked a chair then started pacing the room. "I keep staring at this computer following this Crang lead because it's all I have." Josh closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't get Katya out of my mind. Part of me hates Mom for falling into Selliwood's clutches and putting Katya in danger."
"Don't say that, Josh. It isn't her fault. Colonel Selliwood has control of her."
"I know. I know. I know." Josh sat back down and put his head in his hands. "Have you thought about what will happen if we can't reverse Selliwood's programming? Maybe you were right. Maybe we should have gone after them yesterday. We could have used the jet's tracking system to find the hovercopter and Specimen W."
"No, you were right," I said, placing my hand on his back. "We can't just jump into something blindly. We could end up just like Mom, Peter and Katya. We have to have a plan."
Josh shook his head. "What if it's too late for all of them?"
"It's not too late,” I said with a confidence that almost convinced myself. I stood up and went to his seat. I wrapped my arms around him and said, “We can do this. We will do this."
Chapter 10: That Familiar Dial Tone
We made it back to our house in Missouri a little before lunch. Marco had gone ahead of us so someone besides my dad would be in there when the twins woke up. We didn't want the twins crashing into my dad's room and bugging him to play Xbox or get some disgusting gunk out of their hair or something. My dad still needed to rest.
When Josh and I entered the kitchen Marco was wearing an apron and making peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches for the twins. Something about a muscular teenage superhuman in an apron made me smile. He was the perfect combination of sweet and masculine.
"Hello,” he said not taking his eyes off of where he was spacing out the marshmallows evenly on the bread.
"Hi,” I said awkwardly. I didn't need to be stuck in a room with Marco right now. My feelings were just too confusing. I mean I really wanted to be with him, but that wasn't physically possible. And what about Kyle? I turned to dash out of the kitchen and ended up running right into Josh.
Josh wrapped an arm around me and patted my head. I think he understood what I was going through.
"The phone's for you,” he said, letting me slide past him.
What was he talking about? The phone wasn't ringing. And I had super hearing. I would know. "You okay, Josh? The phone's not...oh.” I said as the phone started ringing.
Josh winked at me and said, “It’s Tai. You better take it, I think it's important."
I shook my head in amazement as I walked to my room. Josh was getting more and more powerful every day. I just wished his powers would be more useful than a human caller ID.
"Priss, you have to talk to Kyle,” Tai said when I picked up the phone. She sounded nervous. This made me nervous.
"Why? What happened?” I sat on my bed and folded my legs beneath me. I stuck my thumb nail in my mouth and started chewing. I winced when I realized I had already chewed that nail away and was now sin
king my teeth into my flesh. I knew something was wrong and I knew it had to be big.
"Max is dead."
I dropped the phone. I needed both hands to wipe away the bucket of tears that suddenly started pouring out of my eyes. I couldn't take anymore. This was the last straw or the straw that broke the camel’s back. Why did both of those doom-filled sayings involve straws? From my experience straws were actually pretty helpful little things, not harbingers of disaster.