Project Chimera

by Lisa McMann

  Charlie and the others all nodded. Mac’s mouth slacked. The roach camera went dark, but the sound was still working. It wasn’t long before they could hear the gurgling of Prowl’s stomach.

  Mac gave a pained look. “Once it hits the liquid in Prowl’s stomach, the electronics are done for.”

  “Isn’t it already done for?” whispered Maria.

  “Not if I can help it.” Mac jabbed his fingers on the controls, trying to get the roach to climb up Prowl’s esophagus. The others watched the ladybug cam. “If we can hit his gag reflex, he might puke us up.”

  “Like a hair ball!” said Charlie.

  “You can do it, Mac!” cried Maria.

  Prowl picked up his mask and began to put it back on when his face got a funny look on it. He pounded his chest, making it sound like thunder through the mike. “Oh no,” Mac said again. “Hang on, roach!”

  But the roach couldn’t hang on. When the sound cut out abruptly, everyone knew the roach was dead meat. After several attempts to revive it, Mac gave up. He flipped the ladybug cam to the big screen and repositioned it to focus on Prowl, who was on his hands and knees on the floor, his back arched high. A few minutes later Prowl expelled all the contents of his stomach onto the lab floor. Then he coughed once and walked away.

  “That was . . . incredibly gross,” said Maria. The others nodded. “Do you think the roach came out?”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” said Mac, dejected. “It’s too late.”

  Within minutes another unidentified soldier came along, cleaned up the mess, and dumped it all into the trash bin. Mac dropped his head into his hands for a brief moment, and the others knew enough not to say anything to him.

  Just as Charlie’s mom suggested they all take a little break, Charlie’s phone chimed. She pulled it out of her pocket and studied it.

  “Everybody,” Charlie said, “I just got a weird text message from Sara. It says ‘Kelly??’ and there’s a link to an article.” She moved so that everyone could gather around to see it and clicked on the link.

  Her eyes flew open wide, and she read the title aloud. “Brave Twelve-Year-Old Rescues Three in Cabo.”

  CHAPTER 27

  Kelly Resurfaces

  “It’s got to be Kelly,” Charlie said. “Do you think she still has the bracelet after all? I always kind of suspected . . .” She scrolled to the article, revealing the first paragraph, and began reading.

  “‘Three teenage swimmers can thank a young girl from Arizona for their lives after venturing into a riptide yesterday afternoon—’”

  “¡Eso no es posible!” Maria exclaimed. “Swimmers? It can’t be Kelly.”

  “Shh!” said Mac, hanging over Charlie’s shoulder and reading ahead.

  “‘—and nearly drowning,’” continued Charlie. “‘“When we realized what was happening,” said one, “we called out for help, but it was already almost too late. We thought we were shark bait.” But according to bystanders on the beach who were heeding the surf warnings, the young girl appeared from the direction of the boardwalk and ran into the water toward them. She pulled all three to safety on the beach. “It was miraculous,” said Marvin Toomey from Bakersfield, California, who was in Cabo San Lucas with his family for spring break. “I didn’t even hear anyone calling for help, much less see those teens struggling out there.”’”

  Charlie scrolled down, revealing a photo.

  There in the photo was Kelly Parker, grinning from ear to ear. She was sandwiched between two boys and a girl who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, and one of the boys was planting a kiss on Kelly’s cheek.

  On Kelly’s wrist was the missing bracelet.

  “Unbelievable,” said Mac under his breath.

  “There it is,” muttered Mrs. Wilde, sounding disgusted. “She totally lied.” She started pacing.

  Charlie kept scrolling and read further.

  “‘“I didn’t do anything much,” the hero said modestly. She gave her name as Kelly Parker from Navarro Junction, Arizona. “I heard them calling for help and I don’t know—I didn’t think about it. I went to help them. That’s just the kind of person I am, I guess.” Parker, twelve, was also in Cabo San Lucas for spring break, staying with her mother, who was not with her at the time of the rescue.’”

  Charlie stared at the words. “She told us she hates the ocean.”

  “She’s not even a good swimmer,” murmured Maria.

  “Yeah, but she’s got the device,” said Mac. “She’s got to have some ocean creature ability in order to pull off a rescue like that. But what the stink is she doing, telling everybody her name? Posing for photos?” He seemed truly upset. “She knows what kind of trouble that can lead to.”

  Mrs. Wilde stopped pacing and watched the kids react.

  “After all we did to keep Charlie a secret from the reporters,” fumed Maria, “and Kelly knew we did that and why it was important to not say anything.”

  Charlie was quiet. She felt . . . betrayed. Then she turned to her mom. “What does this mean? For us?” She grew scared, wondering what Dr. Gray would do if he heard about this.

  Mrs. Wilde returned to study the article. “We’ll find out soon enough, I guess,” she said angrily. “Maybe the story will die down.” She turned to look at Charlie, Maria, and Mac. “Which one of you has the best shot at convincing Kelly to stay quiet from now on?”

  “Maria,” said Mac and Charlie together.

  “Text her, please,” said Mrs. Wilde. “Tell her if she says another word to anybody about this incident, I’m telling her parents everything.”

  “I’m not sure that’ll work,” said Charlie. “She’s not exactly getting along with her parents right now so she might not really care.”

  “She seemed upset enough when her dad yelled at her after he had to miss his golf game to pick her up.” Mrs. Wilde’s eyes narrowed. “Besides, she really makes me mad. Lying about such a powerful, secret device? Not okay.” Without another word she went back to the cameras and began messing around with them like Mac had shown her.

  Charlie watched her, wide-eyed. Her mom rarely lost her cool. But she didn’t blame her. What Kelly had done could expose them all and maybe even put the scientists in danger if Gray found out and felt threatened.

  A few minutes later came Kelly’s reply. “‘Tell Charlie’s mom,’” Maria read out loud, “‘that if she does anything to me or my bracelet, I’m telling the press everything about Charlie. And I mean everything.’”

  Mrs. Wilde sighed heavily, then wrinkled up her nose. “Well, I guess I should have seen that coming.”

  “Yep,” said Maria. “She definitely doesn’t scare easily.”

  Charlie’s mom fumed for another moment, then shook her head. “I say we leave her alone for now. People will forget about this soon enough. They always do. Besides, we have work to do.” She let out another frustrated sigh, then took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. The anger cleared from her face. “Let’s review the dragonfly footage from last night.”

  They did so and found nothing. The scientists had retired late and Dr. Gray didn’t stick around. A soldier remained inside the room at the door the whole time. All they caught sight of was a furtive glance at the dragonfly cam from Dr. Sharma and Charles, which, while comforting, gave them nothing new to go on.

  “I’m getting tired of this,” muttered Mrs. Wilde. She thought for a moment, then looked at Mac. “Can you please see if you can figure out how to get the dragonfly into the lab? Not through the door but some other way? There just seems to be more opportunity to pick up information in there, don’t you think? Especially if we can get the camera nice and close to Quinn or Charles.”

  Mac agreed. He took over the controls and carefully maneuvered the dragonfly cam up through the ductwork of Gray’s office. He hit the combination of keys that Ms. Sabbith had shown him, making a small light turn on to illuminate the space in front of it. Then he hit another key, and a map and compass appeared on the screen, pinpointing the
dragonfly’s exact location and direction it was facing. But there were no duct paths leading to the lab that Mac could find. “They must all be covered over or something,” he said to no one in particular after a while. “Or just not connected to the ones in Gray’s office.” He brought the dragonfly back through the ductwork, then found the roof vent where Ms. Sabbith had made it enter the building. Using its light source, and with the quiet nature sounds of evening piping in through its microphone, Mac flew the dragonfly low over the rooftop above the lab to look for a new way in.

  The others were grim and quiet—it had been a rough day. After a couple of hours of making no progress, with the girls hovering nearby offering suggestions, Mac sighed and pushed his chair back and rubbed his eyes. “I need a break,” he said. He got up and showed Mrs. Wilde how to move the dragonfly back and forth over the roof of the lab, and she took over. Mac went in search of food.

  Eating dinner from the supplies Mrs. Wilde had brought, Charlie, Maria, and Mac sat on the floor and began searching social media on their phones for articles about Kelly. Every now and then they blurted out random discoveries—the news had rippled through their school friends pretty quickly, and through the rest of the world. Despite their hopes that the story would die, the article had been shared over two hundred thousand times already and showed no signs of quieting. It had been picked up by dozens of other news outlets and bloggers. People were sharing it across all platforms. Kelly’s story was going viral before their eyes, and there was no way to control it. By eight o’clock Kelly was being interviewed live on one of the most watched news outlets in America, talking about the amazing rescue she’d made. Mac joined the internet feed on his iPad.

  Then the reporter said, “You’re from Navarro Junction, Arizona, where there just happened to be another amazing rescue recently by a mysterious youth. It was someone who saved two people from the second story of a burning house.”

  “That’s correct,” said Kelly.

  “Oh no,” muttered Charlie. Fear seized her. Would Kelly spill the beans about her? Maria grabbed Charlie’s and Mac’s arms and gripped them tight. What would Kelly say?

  “What do you know about that?” asked the reporter.

  Kelly smiled assuredly at the camera, almost as if she’d been hoping this question would come up. Almost as if she’d planned for it to happen.

  “I happen to know a lot about that,” she said. “A whole lot.” Then she dipped her head modestly. “That mystery youth . . . was me.”

  CHAPTER 28

  Kelly Goes Wild

  “What the heck?” exclaimed Charlie, jumping to her feet. “She did not just say that!”

  “Replay it, Mac,” Maria instructed. “But I’m pretty sure we heard the same thing.”

  “How dare she!” Charlie gripped her hair, tugging at it in frustration. “What a . . . UGH!” She couldn’t think of a name despicable enough to call Kelly.

  Mom parked the dragonfly drone on the roof for the time being and came over to watch the clip. Mac queued it up and rolled it again, and Kelly repeated the words. “That mystery youth . . . was me.”

  “Yep,” said Mac. “She really went there.” He shook his head, seemingly appalled by her nerve but at the same time almost admiring it.

  “At least that gets the spotlight away from you, Charlie,” said Maria. “Maybe this isn’t a bad thing.”

  “B-but she didn’t save those people—I did!” Charlie started pacing. “I mean, I don’t need the credit or anything. I don’t care about that. Not much, anyway,” she admitted. “But she totally just lied. I can’t believe this.”

  Mrs. Wilde went to Charlie, offering her a hug. “It feels wrong, doesn’t it? You having to be silent about your good deed while somebody steals it away from you without even looking uncomfortable about it. That was a pretty low thing to do. I wonder what made her say it.” She smoothed Charlie’s hair. The thoughtful, almost sympathetic look on her face made it seem like she knew the answer.

  It made the others think. They remained quiet. Soon Charlie sat back down and leaned over Maria’s shoulder again, watching her search for more. Maria glanced at her and squeezed her hand. “I guess maybe grown-ups are finally paying attention to Kelly, which is all she really wants. I’m sorry, Chuck.”

  “It’s all right,” said Charlie. After a while she added, “I wonder what else Kelly’s device does. She has the Mark Four. Did Dr. Sharma ever mention how it works?”

  Mrs. Wilde looked up. “I asked her last week when you were in school. She was pretty private about it. I don’t blame her—it was her invention after all. Your father was the same way about protecting his projects. I’d hoped to get more specifics once things settled down, but I didn’t have a chance to talk about it with her beyond that before she got abducted.”

  Maria tapped her lips. “Like Mac said, we know now that Kelly has some sort of water creature’s ability, like a fish. I wonder what kind.”

  “It would have to be a powerful fish for her to be able to pull all three of them out of a riptide at once,” said Mac.

  “Could be an octopus or squid or something,” said Charlie. She frowned, still mad at Kelly for what she’d said.

  “What about a manta ray? That would be cool,” said Maria, really getting into it.

  Mac started a search on his phone while his iPad kept track of Kelly. “There are a lot of possibilities in the ocean.”

  Charlie plopped down on the floor and folded her arms across her chest, frowning. “Maybe she has a second ability to be able to poop owl pellets,” she grumbled.

  “Well, technically, pellets are vomit,” Mac said, but Maria shut him down with a look.

  “Maybe her third,” continued Charlie, ignoring Mac, “is to act like an annoying peacock, strutting around, being beautiful and highly obnoxious all at the same time. It certainly suits her.”

  “Pretty sure she already had that ability without the bracelet,” said Mac matter-of-factly. “Besides, the colorful ones are males, so . . .”

  “Mac, stop,” said Maria pointedly.

  “I can’t help it,” Mac replied. “Accuracy is important.”

  “What are we going to do?” Charlie asked her mom. “With her, I mean?”

  “Well,” said Mrs. Wilde, “from the sound of that TV interview, she’s not in this to squeal. She wants fame. And if she keeps the device, she’ll get it. But we have enough to do here. We can’t worry about her.”

  “She sure loves an audience,” said Maria.

  “So I can tell,” said Mrs. Wilde. “And she’s a great performer. I believed her when she said she threw the device out, and I’m pretty good at telling when somebody’s lying. Anyway, since this story is already viral, we’ll let her bask in her fame. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, we’ll be here trying to stop the bigger evil. Once we have the scientists free, we can deal with her. Maybe she’ll do some more good deeds—let’s not forget she saved three teenagers from drowning. I’m certainly not mad about that.”

  “That’s true,” said Charlie. But she was still really annoyed with Kelly for taking credit for her rescue. “I guess that’s better than her using the device for bad things.”

  “Yes,” said Mac firmly. “Knowing her, this whole thing could have gone really badly.” He left the words hanging in the air before getting up and going back to the dragonfly camera. Charlie had to wonder if there was still a chance the situation might go that way.

  They stayed as late as Mac’s parents would allow, but the scientists worked later again. Dr. Gray seemed determined to move as quickly as he could toward world domination. Eventually Mac and Mrs. Wilde gave up trying to find another way in for the dragonfly and parked him back inside Dr. Gray’s office vent again.

  As the kids and Mrs. Wilde were getting ready to leave for the night, Maria’s phone buzzed. “It’s another text from Kelly,” she said, opening it. She read it to herself, then raised her eyebrows. “Good grief,” she muttered. “She’s starting to lose it. Maybe all t
he fame is going to her head.”

  “What does it say?” asked Charlie.

  “It says, ‘By the way, tell Charlie the envelope she stole from the warehouse has been really helpful. And maybe she should be more careful about slamming her gym locker door shut. The lock doesn’t always catch.’”

  CHAPTER 29

  Venturing Out

  Charlie was getting really tired of Kelly. She was being outright mean, rather than just secretly mean like she’d been before. She’d lied about the bracelet when she knew it was important for Dr. Sharma to have it back. And she’d stolen the top secret documents from Charlie’s locker. And why? So she could secretly learn about her bracelet while keeping Charlie and the others from learning about theirs? What kind of friend did those kinds of things? Charlie wanted to write her off as totally horrible. But there was still something about Kelly that made Charlie hesitate. The girl had been through a lot lately. Maybe all the turmoil from her parents’ divorce combined with her newfound fame was messing her up and making her act so awful. Still, Charlie didn’t know how much more she could take when Kelly wasn’t acting anything like a friend.

  Before they went home, Mrs. Wilde dialed Ms. Sabbith on speakerphone to tell her about Kelly and the media and the text messages. The engineer said she’d just seen the TV news clip.

  “This is troubling,” Ms. Sabbith said gravely. “Kelly seems unstable, and obviously I’m worried for her. But I’m more concerned about Dr. Gray finding out. He’s been so secretive for years—I’m afraid if he sees Kelly flaunting her hybrid powers, and worse, if she lets the world know a device like this exists, he’ll get even more paranoid. Will he worry that others will be able to track him down through her? And if so, does that put our scientists in danger? After all, he threatened to hurt them if you called the police.”

  Mrs. Wilde glanced at the kids. They all felt uneasy. “What do you recommend we do?” she asked. “When can you come back?”