'Since when have you been that good a gymnast?' Kris asked. 'Why have you kept that a secret?'
'No secret,' Magaly said. 'Just not important to us until now. I´m not going to waste my time talking about something irrelevant. Anyway, I´ve been an elite level gymnast for two years, and I´ve been going to out of state competitions for six. I started qualifying to regional competitions at age eight.'
'So where exactly is this competition?' Ms Johnson asked.
'Anaheim,' Magaly replied.
Ms Johnson called Maggie to tell her of the situation. She hung up a few minutes later, and turned back to the girls.
'Luckily, Maggie´s girls were all there at the time,' Ms Johnson said. 'I´m not sure if Jimena, one of the girls, will drive them to Anaheim, or if Catty will take them through the space/time tunnel. The atrox already know about all of them, so they can´t hide by taking a plane.'
Three weeks later, Jenni, Althea, and Kris were piled into Althea´s father´s car, following Magaly´s family to the airport. Jenni, Althea, and Kris had managed to wheedle their parents into accompanying Magaly to Anaheim, under strict supervision of Magaly´s parents. Althea, an incessant web surfer in her spare time, had found cheap plane tickets, and Kris´ parents (who were relatively well off) lent them the money for a hostel and plane tickets.
At the airport, however, problems began. Their amulets set the metal detectors off, causing security personel to wand them over with the metal detector sticks. The girls were relieved when no one asked any questions. But, their amulets had begun to glow.
'Jenni, who?' Magaly whispered.
Jenni reached out mentally. She found a Follower among the security personel monitoring the x-ray machine. Jenni discretely pointed the person out to the other girls.
'What is this?' the security person asked, indicating the manuscript in Magaly´s carry on.
'It is an inter-library loan book from Colby,' Magaly replied. 'I am in an advanced level Latin class at school, and my teacher thought it would be a good assignment to read pieces of the book.'
The security guard grudgingly let their bags pass, and they were off to their gate. Jenni mentally watched the Follower.
'Following us,' she whispered.
The other girls looked over their shoulders, relieved to see the security guard go into a bathroom. They found seats next to their gate and waited for boarding to begin. Magaly intently watched the bathroom, hoping that the security guard would not come after them on the way out.
A few minutes later, a stewardess emerged from the bathroom, walking towards the gate where the four Daughters were sitting.
'I think that is the security guard Follower,' Kris whispered.
'I hope she´s not on the same flight,' Althea whispered back.
Much to their dismay, the woman did enter through the same gate that the girls were to leave from, and boarded the plane that the girls were to be on.