CHAPTER FIVE – SIERRA BUELLER'S DAY OFF

"Mother, I just don't know what to do."

Nana takes a deep breath. "Gregory, what did she do?"

"She ran away crying again. She says something's wrong with Steela, but I don't see any issues."

"What's wrong with Steela?"

Tandin rubs his temples. "She said she's acting strangely. I for one think it's just part of being a teenager. Although Sierra just got home soaking wet after checking on her; she stood out in the rain the whole time."

…..

Meanwhile, Sierra scoops up her comlink and holo-calls Hero.

Hero's voice is sleepy. "Hey, Sierra."

"Hey, Hero. Have you seen Steela lately?"

Hero's wide awake. "Yeah, I have. Why, did she finally dump that creep?"

Sierra thanks her lucky stars for Hero's lack of brain-to-mouth filter.

"No, she hasn't. Man, do I have stuff to tell you."

…

Nana's voice escalates into panic mode. "Does she have dry clothes on now?"

"I almost went out looking for her but she's home and she's drying off right now. As for why Steela didn't let her in the house, she says that there was a young man over."

"Oh, I think I understand. How old is Miss Steela?"

He tries to summon up Steela's age. "Seventeen."

"There it is. At seventeen, it's all about the boys. Every single teenager has wings on their feet. You remember yourself and your brothers, Gregory?"

Tandin had attempted to block those memories. He really, truly did. "Yes."

"You have nothing on teenage girls. Nothing!" she cackles. "Remember how when you and your brothers misbehaved, I said that someday you'd have a child just as bad?"

"Yes,"

"Well, she's arrived! Have fun for the next ten years."

"Mother, you can't possibly -."

"Just remember, Gregory. Someday, those two will have children just as loud and hard-headed as their mothers!" She advises. "But for now, talk to your ward. You have to if you want to have even a little peace with her."

…..

"The creep just left you out in the rain?"

Sierra makes a face. "Yep."

"But there's lightning, and thunder, and…Steela would never do that. Once she found out that you existed, she swore on Lu – a few people's graves that she would help take care of you. And Steela keeps her promises."

"Tandin says it's just growing up, but it doesn't seem right." Sierra eggs Hero on.

"I'm with you, sister. Something's up here, I just don't know what it is. Maybe she's on drugs or something."

Drugs.

A possibility formulates in Sierra's mind.

If they're the right drugs...or the right trigger...yes, that could explain it!

"Hero, do you have the day off work tomorrow?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Want to spy on Bastian Lockwood?"

Hero immediately perks up. "That sounds excellent. I'll come get you at eight."

"But school doesn't end until three."

She can sense Hero's irritation halfway across Iziz. "Honey, think outside the box a little. You don't have to go to school if you get Tandin to call you in. Now, listen carefully."

SIERRA

"Sierra, your alarm's gone off twice!"

I smile into my pillow. After explaining Tandin's and my schedule to Hero, she gave me foolproof advice for how to convince him that I am sick.

"All right. Step one is sleeping through one alarm, but not the second." She advised.

"Ugh…Yes." I say groggily, yanking on my baggiest, most comfortable clothes and trudging out of my room to the bathroom. While in there, I brush my teeth and perform the second part of Hero's plan.

When I walk out into the kitchen and Tandin's sight, he freezes for a split second.

"Are you all right?"

I sit down at the table. "My head hurts. Did you turn on the air conditioning in here?"

"Eat your breakfast; that might help."

I go to get the cereal from the cabinet. I'm about to pass Tandin when he grabs my arm and presses the back of his hand to my forehead.

"You're warm. I'll get the thermometer from the bathroom."

"All right," Hero said. "The next thing you have to do is run really hot water over your forehead and hold the thermometer up to the lightbulb. Just make sure the numbers don't go too high, if Tandin gets nervous you'll end up in a doctor's office."

Tandin glances at the readout. "You have a fever. Go back to bed, I'm calling you in."

Victory!

"Okay. Have a nice day." I tell him, trudging back to the bedroom.

He's taking out his comlink, punching in numbers. I can't believe it was that easy!

"Your Nana will know if I should take the day off."

I can't believe I thought it would be that easy.

Please, oh please let Nana not pick up the comlink! She had three kids, she's bound to recognize Hero's three-step program for skipping school.

Tandin stands there for a while, then sighs. "She's not answering."

Oh boy, Hero never went over what to do if something goes south. When Lux skipped school, he walked the line of sick and well. Maybe I can pull that off.

"I'm fine, Tandin. I can go to school."

"Not with a temperature, you're not." He punches in the number for the school office. "I guess I'll be going to work, but I want you to call me every two hours to check in, understood?"

"Yes," I say and plod back into my room, sitting on my bed until I hear the front door shut. I sneak into the living room and look out the window. Yes, he's halfway down the block. I did it!

I grab my key card. Tandin won't get home until a little after five, and it's seven right now. Hero and I have ten hours to spy on Bastian.

…

"All right, so what are we looking for again?"

Hero shrugs. "Drugs. Anything that can mess up someone's mind."

"Okay," I bite my lip, a little hesitant to come out with my theory. "Um, what about hypnosis?"

Hero blinks. "Hypnosis?"

"When Lux and I were kids, we used to hypnotize each other for fun," I explain. "It really does work."

"You think Steela's in a trance?"

"Not that different from drugs. And it doesn't show up on drug tests."

Hero pauses, but it doesn't take a bloodhound to smell her disbelief. "Okay, let's say you're right and he is hypnotizing her. What would he need to pull that off?"

I rack my brain. "Some kind of hypnotic trigger. Lux used a pendant on me, but it can be anything. I read about some guy who hypnotized his friend with an X shape."

Hero sighs.

"That would explain why she seems normal when he's not around, but once he rears his creepy head she's all happy-happy-joy-joy, Bastian-is-my-one-true-love." She rolls her eyes. "Force, I want to smack some sense into her but I know that won't work."

Ever since Bastian made Steela leave me out in a storm, I'd have to agree. "Okay, so are we breaking into his house?"

"Yup…"

I pause. "Okay."

There are worse things I could do than break into Bastian Lockwood's house. Such as, skip school and then break into Bastian Lockwood's house.

Oh. I already did that.

…

In all honesty, I should have expected it: Hero and I find next to nothing.

No books on hypnosis. No mind-altering drugs. No mind control devices, at least nothing that looks like one.

Nothing. Just a normal apartment.

"All right, do you want to go home and eat lunch?" Hero asks. "Because it's almost noon, and -." Her comlink cuts her off and she looks down at Caller ID. "Hutch? Hang on, I'd better take this. He's supposed to be on the clock." She picks up. "Hello?"

"Guys!" Hutch half-whispers. "Tandin is in my checkout line at the Reddy Mart!"

THIRD PERSON

Sierra nearly chokes on her tongue. "What?"

"Tandin is waiting in line for me to check him out." Hutch whispered hurriedly. "And unless he's got a cold and magically doesn't have any symptoms, he's going home to check on Sierra. He's got cough drops and chicken soup in his hands."

Hero and Sierra were halfway out the door at that point. "He must be going to check on her during his lunch break. Hutch, try and stall him!

Hutch rolls his eyes. "Stall him? Babe, I am the Cashier From Hell. 'Technical difficulties' are my middle name."

…

"Hi, General Tandin. Did you find everything all right today?"

Tandin nods. "I did. How are you today, Hutch?"

"I'm fine," Hutch says cheerfully, strategically scanning an item with his thumb over the barcode. "Uh-oh, hang on. Looks like this one isn't scanning. I can look it up in the inventory for you. What brand and size is this?"

…

Sierra races into her house, skins out of her clothes and into her pajamas, and jumps into bed. Hero takes off down the block, praying she won't run into Tandin.

When she sees him coming, she pulls her hood up over her face. Come on, Tandin. Don't look at me, don't look at me…

He doesn't. The general walks right past her and up to his front door.

"Sierra, I'm home. Where are you?"

Sierra trudges out of her room, a blanket wrapped around her for extra effect. Tandin raises an eyebrow. "You're flushed. Do you feel worse?"

Sierra nods, even though it's guilt and not illness that makes her feel worse. Tandin touches her forehead again.

"You're warmer. Go sit down, I'll bring you some lunch in a minute." He says, and picks up his comlink to say that he will not be coming in the rest of today, he has a personal issue to tend to.

…

Two hours later, the doorbell rings. Tandin opens it to a young boy.

"Hi," the boy says. "My name's Ean Gould and I'm in Sierra's class at school. The teachers sent her assignments home with me."

He holds out a folder full of holodisks.

"Thank you," Tandin says evenly, taking the folder.

"Um, can I come in for a while? I left my keys in the house, and my older brother Griff won't be home for an hour to let me in."

"Of course," Tandin says, stepping aside to allow Ean entry to the house. "Sierra, your classmate Ean is here. Please come out of your room."

…

As the two teenagers awkwardly socialize, Tandin reflects on the fact that he can tell the difference between faces flushed by fever and ones heated simply from exertion.

A/N: Oh Sierra, Hero's plot is no match for Tandin's intuition and experience. Never try to fool the General who knows fibbing skills run in your family.

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