Chapter 4-Secrets
We walked home to find Alana and the others pulling a large whiteboard up from the basement. I could've sworn Freddy was trying to move the thing with his mind. I knew it was impossible, but I think it was working, because when he looked at me, all his siblings nearly fell over at a sudden pull of weight. With a lot of tugging, they managed to get to the top of the staircase, and Alana placed in the middle of the living room.
"I think that things gained weight!" she joked, laughing nervously. I smiled beyond my uncertainty.
"What's this for?" Drew and Chrissy asked in unison. Alana explained that with the information that we gather, it would be hard to just remember it, so we would write it down. Everyone smiled and agreed, saying that it was how detectives solve crimes. I was still uneasy of what I thought I had seen, but I convinced myself it was nothing. And over analyzing this will cause some type of problem. "Have you guys found anything new?" Alana asked when she noticed my silence. She shot a worried glance in Drew's direction, amber eyes fading into dullness.
"Yeah," Chrissy chirped, "we met this guy-" she passed her a photo of Broderick, "at a bookstore on the square. And May & Drew saw a suspicious person leaving the store when we mentioned Max. It could be a coincidence, but there's no harm in looking into him." A blurred picture from the bookstores surveillance camera showed the figure of the man.
Alana put the pictures up and asked if we had any information on them. By the time we finished up, Broderick's information looked something like this: Age-18; relationship-Friends; Motivation-Unknown; other info-Works as a bookkeeper at Books by the Dozen, attends PBTC.
The stranger's didn't look nearly as promising: Age-25-30; relationship-Unknown; Motivation-Unknown; Other info-Lives in an apartment near the bookstore.
I realized just how little we knew, despite a whole day's worth of searching. I stared up at the elaborate tan ceiling etched with gold swirls. Just then Drew suggested one of the most obvious things we forgot.
"One of our groups should check out the school tomorrow. We could find out Max's enemies, see if he had any fights lately. Possibly some type of threatening argument with a roommate…A psycho ex-girlfriend. Something!" He scanned everyone's faces, eyes lingering on mine for just moment longer. My body tensed at the strong energy that leapt between us at that second. I was released from his stare by Hannah starting to jump around proclaiming that she had the "smartest big brother ever!"
All of the sudden, Chrissy doubled over. Hannah stopped and ran to her sister's aid. "Are you ok, sissy?" she whispered holding her close. Drew told Hannah to step back, and he scooped Chrissy up and took her to her room. Her face had gone chalky pale, with a faint sickly green tint to her flushed cheeks. She murmured something to Drew as he struggled to carry her up the never-ending staircase. Her sudden fall stunned each of us into a deadly silence.
We reached the doorway only to have Drew and Alana order the rest of us to wait out here until they knew what was wrong.
*Inside the room/Drew's POV*
"You ok, Chrissy?" I asked as her eyes fluttered open. She smiled frailly at me. She took my hand and murmured that everything was going to be well. "Something grand is about to happen." She whispered just as she fell back into slumber. Alana placed her hand on her sister's forehead. She pulled her hand back as if she had touched fire, which was ironic as she controlled this element as well as her codename, Flareon. But we didn't need fire. We needed ice.
"Get Glaceon in here." I went to get our sister, Bianca. Once she was inside, she placed a tender hand on Chrissy's heart. A pulsing blue light ran over her body for a minute before being soaked into Chrissy's paled skin. Feeling for her temperature again, Alana gave a nod. I knew Chrissy, also known as Evee, would get better soon.
All of our siblings had codenames referring to Evee's evolutions. Our parents were, after all, scientist attempting to create Evee humanoids and we were part of their experiment. Don't get me wrong, they love us very much, and they weren't thrilled at having to work on their experiments on their own children, but it had to be done. They weren't supposed to have loved us at all. My brothers, sisters, and I originally didn't even have names.
We were just called by the names of our 2% eveelution selves. Flareon, Glaceon, & Evee are my eldest sisters. They are better known to society as Alana, Bianca, and Chrissy- or Evee, since she has no special powers that we know of-she was the normal type. I'm known as Leafeon since I mostly control earth type elements. Ethan's original name was Vaporeon-for his unique ability to travel and control water. My youngest brother, Espeon, or rather Freddy, has what most people would think were the coolest of all powers. But nothing is cool about having so many people's thoughts running through your mind that the feelings of someone else can't be deciphered from your own. The twins were a story all their own.
Hannah's perky, hyperactive behavior came from Jolteon's electrifying self. Georgia, on the other hand, was laid back much like any Umbreon would be. But even though the twins are as different as night and day, they would not be able to go on without the other. Aside from the Pokémon DNA planted amongst their own, they are also gifted with visions. Even I would have thought that was awesome…If I didn't have to deal with them screaming in terror of another nightmare.
But of course, that was my life. It was all our lives. It was the secret that we all had to bare with the help of no one. The one thing that kept us all detached from society, for we all knew that we are not, under any circumstances, allowed interfere with any 'outsiders'. I knew May had noticed Freddy's ability in the living room and with just that information alone, she could figure out something was up. Alana's maternity instincts kicked in, and she automatically sensed I wasn't myself. She knew the risk of having May in our home just as well as I did.
"You should go to bed. Get everyone else to sleep too." She smiled at my worried expression. "Tell them not to worry about Chrissy. She will be just fine." I smiled in return, and left to tell the others the good news.
*Back in the Living Room/May's POV*
"Chrissy is going to be better soon." Drew said to his siblings. "She just had a slight fever. Now, Alana wants us not worry, and get to bed. We have a long day ahead of us." He took Hannah & Georgia up to their rooms, but managed a tired smile just before rounding the corner. 'I'll meet you in my room.' He mouthed. I nodded and went up stairs.
Glad to be able to relax for a change, I realized just how tired I really was. 'Chrissy will be just fine' that was the last thought I had before sleep overcame me the second my head hit the pillow.
