9-2: Zoo-Loo
Been a while, I know. Just got back from my wonderful trip to New Mexico and Colorado and now I'm back home in Texas. Whoopee! Back to work. And now for belated replies:
(((-2-)))
Jeremy had his hands around Odd's throat and was squeezing tightly. Mrs. Hertz happened to look over and clucked shamefully.
"Jeremy Belpois, stop monkeying about and pay attention," she ordered sternly.
The blonde boy loosened his grip but Janika had to pry his fingers away from his victim's neck. As she heard the teacher, her face contorted into a look of severe distaste. "That drives me crazy, you know? It's 'monkeying around' not 'about'. Why don't people ever get that straight?"
"We are not here to discuss your pet peeves, Janika," Jeremy snapped sourly. He had finally managed to calm down enough to speak in complete sentences. "Why exactly does Aelita not have a phone? Everyone has a freaking phone!"
"I don't have a phone."
"Shut up, Janika. I wasn't talking about you and you were supposed to be keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't get lost. And did you? No! Now my gir—our very inexperienced friend is missing and it's all your fault!"
Odd rubbed his neck and managed to croak, "We don't know that she's lost, Jeremy. She could have just wandered down another corridor or something. Besides, we never got her a phone because we always assumed she'd be with one of us all the time."
"If you really want to know who ran off with your little friend," a very aggravating, whiny voice spoke up, "you may want to ask someone who saw them. In this case…me."
"Sissy, are you serious or are you just joking with me? Because right now I am not in the best of moods to put up with any of your usual bull," the blonde genius growled in a very dangerous voice.
She ignored the warning sins, however, and flicked her hand in a dismissive gesture. "I think I might be able to help you guys…if you do something for me. A favor for a favor."
Both Odd and Janika had to grab their friend to keep him from throttling the annoying brat. "Believe me, cuz, we're not joking and this is an emergency. Aelita needs her—uh—medication. She has diabetes."
"Uh huh" she said, unconvinced. "Tell me a story I'll believe and I'll think about giving info to you free. I'm sure we can work out an arrangement." Sissy rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Say…break up my little boy-toy and that hussy."
The dark-haired girl turned her back on her cousin to speak with the two boys. "It really is doubtful she was kidnapped. Someone must have convinced her to leave."
Sissy realized she was losing her grip on the crowd. "Okay, okay. Let's talk numbers, then. Something more along the lines of 30 bucks."
They pretended not to hear her. Odd agreed with his friend saying, "Yeah, and obviously they were bored, which means they either left our group or the whole museum."
"How about 20?"
"It really depends on who it was that convinced her to skip class."
"I'll drop it down to 10, but that's as low as I go," Sissy inserted crossly.
"There were twelve students in our group. Who's missing besides Aelita?"
"I'll tell you but only if you give me five dollars!"
Jeremy surveyed the kids and nearly shouted, "Talia! She and Aelita have been hanging out together recently. From what I know about her, I'm pretty sure she would leave the museum and go traipsing around town."
"But where would they actually go?"
"We won't find out until we start looking. But first things first: I need to figure out exactly what X.A.N.A. has planned. It could be another routine attack or something worse like blowing up gas pipes and setting them on fire. Let's grab the lovebirds and get out of here."
Sissy looked confused. "What are you guys babbling about? A routine attack? What in the world—wait! Where are you going? You still owe me two dollars!"
(V)
"Isn't that against the rules?" Aelita wondered.
"If it was, would I be doing it? And why would they have such an obvious way in if it was illegal?" the reddish-haired girl argued.
"I don't know. I don't think it's exactly obvious. Aren't we supposed to pay somewhere?"
"You only have to pay if you take the wussy-way through the front gate. The ones who find the subtle ways to get in don't. It's sort of a reward for our ingenuity."
"I didn't see a sign anywhere about a rewa—"
"Now you're trying to be technical. It's a given. Can you give me a boost up onto this dumpster or not?"
The wall of the zoo was about four feet above a pair of dumpsters in an alleyway. Aelita finally sighed and helped her friend up on top. Talia reached down to drag her up and then they both set to climbing the wall.
Aelita peeked over first. "Maybe we should go a different way. I think this is a pen."
"Oh, don't be a big baby. I doubt those tigers eat people. Let's just pretend like we're supposed to be here. Follow my lead."
She slipped over and walked along a suspended metal ramp that appeared to be used for droppng food down to the striped felines. Several people were ogling the cats, but only one teenage boy with pale hair and eyes of the deepest blue noticed the girls slip over the wall, saunter purposely along the outer rim of the cage, casually hop over a gate, and finally mingle with the crowd.
"Wish I'd thought of that," Dan muttered bitterly, remembering the ten dollars he had spent to get in. "Hmmm… Those sisters are kinda cute. I wonder where they're going."
Making sure his annoying little cousins were busy with their mother, he swiftly took off after the pair, his curiosity aroused. Relatives were a pain sometimes. If they needed him he always had his cell phone.
Aelita caught sight of the aquarious part of the zoo and ran inside. Talia followed with a little laugh. It was funny seeing her friend excited about things. "What's so interesting in here?"
She entered the tunnel-like opening and walked down a hallway into a darkened area full of dimly lit aquariums. "Jeremy told me about fish, all the colors and types and sizes. They're so amazing and I've never seen any," she said tapping the glass.
The other girl stared disbelievingly at her. "You've lived on a Japanese island your entire life and you have never, ever seen a fish. For some reason I see something wrong with this picture."
She thought fast. "I meant exotic fish. Of course I've seen fish before."
Talia shrugged and let the subject drop. Behind them Dan, however, knew better than to believe a makeshift response like that. So they weren't sisters. And the one girl didn't look Japanese; not even an accent in her voice. She pronounced her L's perfectly.
Light music played from speakers in the corners of the room. The materialized girl recognized it from Yumi's home and hummed happily along, remembering the cat back at her foster home and how it would "dance" whenever Yumi played her CDs.
She stopped humming suddenly as she caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye. As she turned, the cat almost melted away into the darkness. After a moment she returned her attention to the zoo's attractions.
They passed under a security camera as they viewed the aquariums. Aelita exclaimed over every flit of motion and twinkling of color. One animal in particular caught her eye.
"That red one looks almost like a Krab," she whispered. Clouds of memory obscured her vision as she recalled…
"It is a crab, silly!" Talia guffawed. "You just keep on surprising me, Aelita. What's with you, anyway? It's like—" She cut off as the security camera sparked suddenly and began to smoke. "Great Paul's bunion! What the heck is goin—urgh!"
She coughed and gurgled as the smoke poured down and surrounded her straight away. Her swinging fist clipped Aelita's chin and the girl with strawberry-colored hair fell back against the glass of one display.
People rushed around, trying to get away or figure out what had just happened. When the fallen girl managed to get back to her feet, there was an eerie blue light emanating from Talia's eyes.
"Pawn Krelle activated. Terminate Subjects A and B immediately," came almost a mechanized voice from Talia's throat. Her glowing gaze focused on Aelita.
Well, I guess I'd better leave you guys w/ a nice little cliffy. Tell me: if you were a dog, what kind would you be and why? (I get the feeling Odd's choice would be something that looked like Kiwi)