Project Chimera

by Lisa McMann

  Charlie and the others could hear Mr. Wilde sigh in relief. They traveled in his pocket back to his station.

  When it was clear that all was quiet in the lab again, with everyone appearing to work as quickly as they could, Mac rewound the footage to the part they’d missed. They watched the dragonfly falling and Charles whispering into it, confirming they’d seen their sign and they would plan on an escape on Monday night.

  Everyone sat back in relief. At least they had that part of the plan figured out. And Mr. Wilde had done an amazing job to calm down Dr. Gray, so that was good, too.

  Mrs. Wilde looked at the kids. “Now we’re getting somewhere.” She checked the time, then said, “It’s late. Tomorrow we’ll talk to Ms. Sabbith and start figuring out how we can help them on Monday. But for now . . . I’ve had enough. Let’s call it a night.”

  On Friday Maria’s mother announced that she’d hardly seen Maria all week, and she insisted that Maria stay home. She invited Mac and Charlie to hang out there with them. Maria was wary in case she changed into a weremonkey, but at least she was getting better at changing back to her old self quickly now. Knowing that Mrs. Wilde and Ms. Sabbith would be busy working out a plan today, and there wouldn’t be any action happening until Monday, Charlie and Mac decided to accept. “We can try to figure out what Kelly’s animal power is,” said Maria.

  “And there’s always good food,” Mac pointed out. After having hurried meals and sandwiches every day for a week, the kids were looking forward to whatever Maria’s grandmother had in store for them.

  They hung out together in Maria’s bedroom and researched various fish and other water creatures, but they couldn’t come to an agreement on what they thought Kelly’s animal might be. Mac insisted it had to be big and strong to allow her to rescue three teens at once, so he found a website of colossal sea creatures and read about them. Every now and then he’d exclaim the name of one, like Portuguese man-of-war, or lion’s mane jellyfish, or giant isopod. Maria was more focused on the rescue part of Kelly’s animal and looked up what the smartest sea creatures were. She came up with octopus, sea lion, dolphin, otter, and penguin.

  Charlie let them argue while she checked to see if Kelly had done anything new. Last night Dr. Gray had said in no uncertain terms that if Kelly did something that would lead people to discover what he was doing, it would be Charlie’s dad who would suffer. She was worried about him. And worried about what Kelly was going to do next. Because Charlie didn’t believe for a moment that Kelly was done showing off.

  “Nothing new from Kelly,” Charlie announced after she’d checked her usual online channels. “That’s a relief.”

  “Probably because she’s flying home this morning,” said Maria.

  “Oh.” Charlie had forgotten that. There wasn’t much Kelly could do up in the air—or at least Charlie hoped not.

  “She’ll probably find a way to kick out the pilots and land the plane or something,” grumbled Mac, swiping through another website filled with possibilities. “Oh! Blue whale! Whaddaya think?”

  The girls shrugged. Having so many options was making it even harder to figure out.

  That afternoon the three emerged from Maria’s bedroom and discovered her abuela Yolanda already working on the evening’s feast. With the Torres dogs underfoot, the kids crowded into the kitchen and helped Yolanda peel, slice, pound, and fry the plantains that would be used with garlic and pork rinds to make mofongo. They watched as she prepared her famous caramel flan for dessert, and they cut up a mountain of peppers and onions to go with the churrasco.

  That evening the table was packed with the whole Torres family plus Mac and Charlie. Maria’s three stepbrothers were back from their trip to the Grand Canyon and full of stories about all the wildlife they’d seen—especially the huge elk that had wandered across the road right in front of their car.

  The conversation turned to Kelly and how her face was plastered all over their mom’s social media. “How did she do those rescues?” the youngest stepbrother asked Maria.

  “I don’t have a clue about how she managed the house fire one,” Charlie said, trying not to sound snide or sarcastic. Mac squelched a grin and kicked her under the table.

  “She must be a great swimmer to have saved those people in Cabo,” Maria said lightly.

  “She’s so cool,” said the middle brother.

  The oldest agreed. “Everybody is talking about her and I’m like, ‘I know her.’” He laughed and his face flushed.

  Mac smiled politely and said with false enthusiasm, “Yes, she sure is great.”

  They moved on to talk about Puerto Rico and Maria’s extended family who lived there, and then discussed how much they’d miss Yolanda when she went back home again.

  It felt just about perfect being there, laughing and having fun. Charlie almost forgot about how much she missed her dad.

  As they were finishing up the meal, Maria’s mother pushed her chair back and reached into her pocket. “Sorry everyone,” she said apologetically. “Somebody keeps calling me, so I’d better take it.” She pulled out her phone, looked at it, and frowned. “Hmm. It’s Kelly’s mother.” She got up and walked to a quieter part of the house to answer.

  Maria and Charlie looked at each other. Had they both gotten that prickly feeling at the backs of their necks? Mac looked over, too, uneasiness apparent in his eyes.

  They didn’t have to wait long. After a few minutes, Maytée came back into the dining room, a stricken look on her face. “Have any of you seen Kelly since she and her mom got home from Mexico this morning?”

  Charlie, Maria, and Mac all shook their heads solemnly as their hearts raced—something bad must have happened. “Why, Mamá?” asked Maria. “Is something wrong?” Her eyes went wide and she reached under the table and grabbed Charlie’s hand, both of them feeling the effects of their abilities beginning to kick in. Maria’s hand began to sweat in Charlie’s, and Charlie could tell she was worried about changing. But they had to find out what was going on.

  “Kelly didn’t show up for dinner,” said Maytée, “and her mom found a note in her bedroom. It looks like she ran away from home.”

  “What?” exclaimed Mac.

  Charlie echoed his shock. “Why?”

  Maria didn’t say anything. She started breathing deeply to stop herself from changing.

  “Do you need help?” Charlie whispered in her ear.

  Maria shook her head, but a second later she was tipping her chair over and running for the bathroom. “I’m fine, everyone!” she called out behind her as her mother started following her. “Just need the bathroom!”

  Maytée returned to the table, still in shock from the phone call, and the boys started talking over one another, wondering why Kelly would do something like that.

  Mac and Charlie looked at each other, eyes wide. What was Kelly trying to prove by running away from home? Was it really that bad for her there with her parents? Or did this have something to do with her newfound powers?

  Maybe it was both.

  That evening Charlie alternated between reading and googling Kelly as she waited for her mom to come home.

  “Hey, kiddo,” Mrs. Wilde said, poking her head into her room. “Did you have a good day?”

  Charlie nodded. She’d called her mom on her way home from Maria’s to tell her about Kelly going missing. “How about your day? Anything new? Yolanda sent a plate of food home for you. I put it in the fridge.”

  “Oh, that’s so kind of her.” Mrs. Wilde’s smile was tired. “Your dad managed to talk in private through the dragonfly cam a couple times today and told us some stuff that’ll help. He also said he loves and misses you.”

  “Aw, Dad,” said Charlie. Tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Then Ms. Sabbith and I FaceTimed for a couple hours. We’ve been working on a rescue plan for Monday evening. She and I will talk you kids through everything tomorrow night, once she gets back. Can Mac and Maria spend the day with us?”

  Ch
arlie nodded. “I’m sure they’ll skip their movie to come with us. We just have that soccer scrimmage at three.”

  “Got it. Also, Juan’s mom texted me, saying that they’ll be coming home first thing tomorrow, so we can pick Andy up around ten. We can get Maria and Mac then too.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell them.”

  Mrs. Wilde kissed Charlie on the forehead and went to bed.

  Before Charlie turned off her light for the night, she pulled her laptop onto the bed and googled Kelly’s name one last time. There were lots of entries that Charlie had already clicked on. But the top one was new. It was the most recent, posted just minutes before. It read, “Wonderkid Kelly Parker Visits LIVE, TONIGHT to Reveal Her Secrets to Saving the World!”

  “Oh no!” Charlie whispered, scrambling to sit up. “Kelly, what are you doing?” Charlie knew that LIVE, TONIGHT was a Friday night internet show with a live studio audience and millions of viewers. The host liked to have guests who would do shocking, provocative stunts. Some speculated that the show was rigged, but fans didn’t care. Charlie’s mom and dad generally didn’t allow her to watch it because it was too adult, but she’d seen clips of it before. She clicked on the link. While she waited for the feed to start, she group-texted Mac and Maria.

  “Are you watching LIVE, TONIGHT? That’s where Kelly is.”

  Mac replied immediately. “Going there now.”

  Maria didn’t respond. It was almost eleven—Charlie thought she might be asleep already. She called Mac. “Are you on?”

  “Doing some quick research before it starts,” he said. “They film in Los Angeles. Do you think I should I call Kelly’s mom?”

  “Do you have her number?”

  “I can find it.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’d better. I’ll text that info to Maria. I think she’s asleep.”

  “Will do,” said Mac. “I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay.”

  They hung up. Charlie sent Maria a text message letting her know what was up and giving her a link so she could find the show in the morning. Then she settled in to watch.

  CHAPTER 32

  The Showstopper

  A band onstage began playing, and the audience cheered. The host, a young college-age genius named Silas Beck, with an angular fringe haircut, skinny jeans, and diamond-studded high-tops, emerged from behind a curtain. He jumped around on the stage in time with the music, making the audience rise to their feet and scream.

  He opened the show with some commentary and showed a few clips of shocking things that viewers had caught on camera and sent in. Some of the videos had clearly been doctored to look even more outrageous, but the crowd didn’t care.

  Charlie watched. She didn’t understand why people were so crazy about this guy, but whatever. Then Silas introduced his guest.

  “Tonight we have an amazing young talent for you. You may have heard of Kelly Parker in the past few days after she saved three people from drowning off the coast of Mexico.”

  The crowd whooped.

  “Since then we’ve learned that wasn’t her first feat of bravery. She revealed that she also saved two people from a burning house in Arizona.” The grainy photo of Charlie went up on the screen.

  “My hair is brown,” muttered Charlie. “That doesn’t look remotely like her.” At least not to Charlie it didn’t. But Silas’s audience seemed to accept it.

  “The most exciting thing,” he continued, “is that Kelly told our producers that she has special animal powers that no one else has, which enabled her to perform those shocking rescues. And tonight, exclusively,” he said, pausing dramatically, “she’s here to reveal what they are. Let’s bring her out!”

  Charlie’s heart sank and she dropped her head into her hands. “No, no, no, Kelly,” she muttered. “You told them you have animal powers? Shut up. Shut up!”

  She lifted her head and watched two stagehands escort Kelly to stand with the host. Silas raised a skeptical eyebrow at Kelly, then shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” said Silas. “Congratulations on your instant fame.”

  “Thank you,” said Kelly. She was casually dressed in a red tank-style shirt and white shorts, but she looked nervous and her voice sounded a bit more strained than usual. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and stood straight, slightly angled toward the camera. The Mark Four device rested comfortably on her wrist.

  “Don’t mention the device,” whispered Charlie. She couldn’t stop staring at it. It seemed bigger than life. Were normal people noticing it too?

  “So, ‘animal powers’?” said Silas quizzically, doing air quotes with his fingers.

  “That’s right. You know, like abilities animals have that humans . . . don’t have.”

  “Tell us more,” said Silas. “Where did you get them?” He had a slight smirk on his face, and he glanced directly at the camera after he said it, as if he had a secret with the audience. He seemed slimy.

  “Don’t answer that!” Charlie said to the screen.

  “I—I don’t want to talk about that,” said Kelly. “I just have them. I can do things that other people can’t do.”

  Charlie let out a breath. But she knew this was far from over.

  “Which animals do these abilities come from?” asked Silas. “You can at least tell us that, can’t you?”

  “Um,” said Kelly, squirming a little, “a lizard. The—the climbing one.”

  Charlie glared at the screen.

  “And what about saving the swimmers? That was definitely not a lizard power.”

  The audience laughed.

  “That was from a dolphin,” said Kelly.

  “Dolphin,” Charlie muttered. Maria had been on the right track.

  “So, these powers,” Silas said sarcastically, “do they just come naturally to you? Were you born like this—able to climb the side of a house? Able to pull three people out of a riptide? Like, did Baby Kelly pull drowning kittens out of a river one day and it all exploded from there?”

  The audience laughed harder.

  Kelly looked repulsed by Silas and shocked by the audience’s reaction. Charlie almost felt sorry for her in that moment, because the host was being kind of a jerk. The audience loved it. They were jerks, too. No wonder Charlie’s parents didn’t like her to watch this horrible show.

  Silas kept badgering her. “C’mon, Kelly. How did you do that? Can you climb that wall for us right now?”

  “No, she can’t,” Charlie informed the screen, feeling a little bit of anger rise again, “because she’s a lying liarhead.”

  “Look,” Kelly said through gritted teeth, “I’m here to reveal another power.”

  “Well! Aren’t you sassy, trying to run my show?” Silas panned the audience, prompting them to react in laughter again. “Let’s get right to it, then.”

  Kelly, seeming rattled, nodded once. “Great,” she said. She let out a breath, clearly trying to regain her composure.

  Charlie’s phone rang. She dived for it. It was Mac. She answered and could hear the show running in the background at his house. “This is a train wreck,” said Charlie, and moaned. “If she mentions the device, my dad’s in big trouble!”

  “Maybe Dr. Gray won’t see this,” said Mac weakly, but they both knew Gray must be watching Kelly as closely as they were now.

  “Maybe,” said Charlie. But she knew her dad’s fate rested in Kelly’s hands.

  Silas’s assistants wheeled out a large speckle-painted board and set it up center stage. The board had a white background with lots of brown, orange, and yellow globs of paint on it. It looked to Charlie like something Andy could do blindfolded in about three minutes.

  Silas led Kelly over to it and stepped to one side. “Okay, let’s see your new heroic ability! How is Kelly Parker going to save the world next? Audience, let’s give her some encouragement.”

  The crowd began clapping methodically and chanting, “Kel-ly! Kel-ly! Kel-ly!”

  Kelly appeared to relax a little now that she ha
d the audience on her side again, and she placed herself in front of the board. She faced the people and smiled her fake star smile. Then she took a quick glance at her bracelet and clasped her hands behind her back.

  “Look,” said Mac over the phone. “I’ll bet she’s programming the bracelet to do something.”

  “As long as she doesn’t mention it,” muttered Charlie. “But after this show won’t people start demanding to know how she’s doing it? How long can Kelly keep the bracelet a secret?”

  “Hopefully until after Monday night at least,” said Mac. He sounded worried, too.

  They watched as the audience chanted faster and clapped louder. Finally Kelly took a deep breath and held it. She closed her eyes. Over the course of less than a minute, her skin began to change colors to match the camouflage pattern on the wall behind her.

  “Whoa!” cried Mac. “What kind of animal does that?”

  “I don’t know,” said Charlie. “Chameleon, maybe?”

  “Nah, not like that.”

  “Shh. Listen. They like it.”

  The crowd’s chanting and clapping rolled into applause and cheers. But after the way Silas had set up the new power as something that will save other people, like the first two abilities had, a few hecklers in the front row of the audience seemed to be expecting something more.

  “Hey, Kelly! How does that save anybody?” shouted one of them.

  “That doesn’t seem very heroic,” said another.

  “It’s just an illusion—a light trick!” cried someone else. “Show us the lizard!”

  A few others said it too. Then one started chanting, “Climb the wall! Climb the wall!”

  Kelly’s eyes flew open. She looked scared.

  Charlie gasped. “Oh no,” she whispered.

  The rest of the audience shouted down the hecklers, but that only made them more boisterous.

  “What the heck is wrong with them?” asked Mac.

  “I don’t know,” muttered Charlie. They seemed out of control.