Camp was over. The bus was packed, and the excited kids were playing and dancing in the parking lot, tearing down the hill, or making one last stop in the outhouse. Raz and Lili walked down the path together. Somehow, without his goggled helmet he looked much more…mature…than ten years old. "Let's be perfectly clear about this," Lili said, "That was the best summer of my whole entire life." "Hey, the summer's not over yet!" Raz pointed out. "We can hang out for a couple of weeks still."
"My family lives out on the East Coast. Where's yours?"
"They move around a lot."
"Umm," Lili said, toeing the ground. "Well, you better go," she said, pointing. "Your dad's waiting for you." Raz turned and saw his dad standing in front of the tree ring timeline. When he saw Raz was looking, he smiled and waved. Raz turned back to Lili. "Umm, well," Raz said, at a loss for words. He'd never had to say farewell to a girlfriend before. "Bye," Lili said quietly, then turned to walk back up the path.
No.
Raz grabbed Lili's hand, spun her around, and kissed her. It was a moment of pure joy and bliss. Why can't love between adults be as simple? Raz pulled back, a dreamy look in his eyes. Lili smiled, but Raz saw it fade into sadness. Lili turned and ran away up the path. Raz, unsure what to do, reached out for her. Sasha and Milla landed in front of her, blocking her escape.
"Children, this is an emergency," Sasha said as Raz ran to meet him. "There's been another kidnapping." "I was here the whole time! You saw me!" Coach Oleander called from where he stood next to his jeep. "No, this time we know who it is," Sasha stated, "and that's what scares us." "Who was kidnapped?" Raz asked, worried. "Truman Zanotto, the Grand Head of the Psychonauts," Milla sadly announced.
"Dad?" Lili asked, and Raz looked at her, surprised. "Sir, can you teleport this many of us back to headquarters?" Sasha asked Cruller. Right at that moment, the large Psitanium rock strapped to his back fizzled out. "Uh, what?" Cruller asked,as he slipped back into another personality. "Hey, what are you people doing in my kitchen? Now git!" he cried, shooing them away. Sasha sighed, holding a hand to his head. "Guess we're taking the jet," Oleander said, joining the circle.
The large blue and white jet rose up out of the forest and landed in the parking lot, hovering. Psitanium glowed in the back of the ship, where the forward-curving wings met the body. "Don't worry about your father, Sweetheart," Milla said, cupping Lili's chin in a white glove. "After all," Sasha said, as Cruller walked away behind Lili, "we'll have Razputin helping us." "I'm going?" Raz asked, surprised.
"Of course. We can't do it without our anti-kidnapping specialist."
Sasha smiled as he looked down at his protege. Raz held his hand to his chin, thinking. The pose made him look like Sasha. Raz turned and went to his father, the unasked question on his face. "I've taught you everything I can, Son. Now go show them," he said, placing his hands on Raz's shoulders.
"Show them all."
Raz nodded and looked at Lili, something unspoken passing between them. "Let's go," Raz said, and they trooped toward the jet. A pink telekinetic hand opened the hatch in the roof, and more hands picked up Raz, Lili, and the other Psychonauts and dropped them in the jet. The hand disappeared and the hatch closed. The jet took off, leaving a pink and blue light trail.
Raz and Lili looked out a window, watching the clouds above and the scenery below. This was the first time Raz had ever flown, unless one counts the time in Coach Oleander's Basic Braining class, which he didn't. The flight took several hours, and eventually the two got bored and snuggled into a chair. Sasha was worried about it, and Milla thought it was cute, but none of the adults told the two off. All three adults, however, were worried about what Truman Zanotto would think of Raz.
"Morry, park there," Sasha said, pointing, as they neared Psychonaut Headquarters. "Don't tell me what to do, Nein. It's not like they've remodeled or anything since I was last here," Oleander said in his growly voice. "Actually, they have," Milla pointed out.
"Really?!"
Raz and Lili burst into the giggles. Sasha placed his hand over his mouth to hide his smile from Morceau. Oleander landed the jet, and the pink telekinetic hands appeared again to open the hatch and let everyone out. Several agents, all clad in black, came out to greet them. The one female was very tall and had red hair with a black streak. "Agent Nein. Agent Vodello. Agent Oleander," the female agent said. Then she saw Raz.
"Why is that boy wearing a uniform?"
"Agent Latke, this is Agent Razputin," Sasha said. Raz came over to stand between Sasha and the woman. "Razputin, this is Agent Latke. She's in charge of security here at headquarters," Sasha explained. "If this is some sort of trick…" Latke said, but she reached out to shake hands with Raz. He saw a smile spread across her face. "Agent Latke…" Raz started, but she cut him off by ruffling his hair.
"Don't worry. I understand…oh! And by the way, call me Angie."
Raz felt slightly disgruntled. He didn't like people touching his hair. Agent Angie and her companions turned to leave, and Milla, Oleander, Sasha, and Lili started to follow. Raz nodded belatedly and ran to catch up with them. Up ahead, Angie fell in step with Lili. Raz saw the woman whisper something to the girl. Lili cried out and fell back to walk with Raz. "Angie! You're upsetting the children!" Milla reprimanded her. "Ha. They'll live," Angie said.
She annoys the crap outta me.
"Me, too," Raz said. "Ah! Stop reading my mind!" Lili demanded. "I can't help it," Raz explained. Once inside headquarters, Angie led them to the temporary Grand Head. Agent Ruse stood outside the Grand Head's office, waiting for them. Angie pulled Raz in front of Ruse. "This is Agent Raz," she explained. Ruse studied Raz for a moment. "You look young for a Psychonaut. How old are you, boy?" he asked.
"Ten, sir."
"And he's Miss Zanotto's boyfriend!"
"Angie!"
"Agent Latke, you're dismissed," Ruse stated. "Ohh!" she whined, then went off with her officers. "Agent Nein, the Grand Head was on his way to retrieve his daughter from camp when he was kidnapped…" Ruse explained the situation, but Raz's mind wandered. Something in the Grand Head's office was tugging at him. Raz went invisible and slipped through the partially open door. "Raz!" Lili cried when she saw her boyfriend pull up his invisibility. Milla, Oleander, Sasha, and Ruse all looked at her.
"He's gone invisible!"
"Razputin doesn't know his way around here. We have to find him," Sasha said. "What's gotten into that boy?" Oleander asked no one in particular.
"Darling!"
"Private!"
"Ra-az!"
Raz walked around the desk. The tugging was stronger here. He found a drawer, but it was locked. Whatever was tugging on him was in there. "Oh, man!" he said, hitting his head against the drawer. Raz heard a click, and the drawer slid out, as if of its own accord. He looked inside. There lay a pair of goggles. The lenses were green, and the headband was black. Raz picked them up and examined them.
"Hmm, must be nightvision goggles."
Raz placed the goggles on his head and pulled them down over his eyes. At first it was dark, but then his eyes adjusted. Everything in the room stood out in clarity through the green lenses. Then Raz noticed the glowing footprints. The large, purple ones walked around the desk. The smaller, red ones, Raz quickly figured out, were his. Raz walked around the desk and saw many different colored footprints clumped together. The purple footprints were Truman Zanotto's. They had to be, being the only adult-sized ones on the other side of the desk. Raz followed them out of the room.
"Raz!"
Lili's Psitanium-colored footprints danced across her father's. "Raz! Where did you go? Sasha and Milla are freaking out!" Lili complained. "I found these really cool goggles in your dad's desk!" Raz exclaimed. "I can see these glowing footprints!"
"Really?"
"Yeah," said Raz, looking at the floor. "I know you can't see them, but yours are, like, a pink-purple color, mine are red, and there's these big, dark purple ones I think are your dad's…"
"Razputin!"
Sasha mentally called Milla, Ruse, and Oleander to tell them he'd found Raz. Then he saw Raz's new goggles.
"Razputin, can you see through those goggles?"
"Yeah…" Raz answered, not sure what Sasha was talking about. Ruse was the first to catch up with them. He stared at Raz's goggles.
"Can you see through those?"
"Yes! Why are you asking me that? I can see everything just fine, and there's these freaky, glowing footprints…"
Ruse looked at Sasha, who just shrugged. Raz pulled the goggles up onto his hair. "There's something special about these goggles, isn't there?" Raz said, coming up to Ruse and Sasha. "Yes," Sasha said. "Since you're able to use them, I'm sure you want to know the story of Truman Zanotto's goggles…"