AN: God, I am so sorry. Things have just been wacky and … I'm sorry. Anyhoo, here's the update.
CHAPTER FIVE
DAY 2, PT 2
Katrina sucked in a deep breath while Jovee's face scrunched up, and she gave the ear a flick. Douglas' hand quickly clamped around the offending ear, and turned to give Jovee a dark look. "What's the matter with you? You just flicked my ear!"
"Thank you Captain Obvious," Jovee said sarcastically. "Katrina, take a look at this. Remind you of anything?"
"What are you guys going on about? So he has pointy ears," Josie said, looking slightly annoyed.
"Oh, dude," Katrina said, looking at Douglas' ear. "It looks just like that time when you turned into an -."
"DON'T go there," Douglas hissed through clenched teeth.
"Elf?" Jovee suggested, trying to hide her giggles. Katrina didn't bother, and in a few seconds she was bursting out laughing. Josie just smirked.
"You turned into an elf once?" She asked, seeming amused.
"No!" Douglas exclaimed, backing away from the group. Then he turned his accusing eyes on Josie. "You're trying to change the subject! You're not going to get out of this that easily," He told her.
"This is serious, Douglas," Jovee said disapprovingly.
"I know its serious! She shouldn't be wandering around the school -."
"That's not what I meant, and you know it. What if it's possible that you're turning back into an elf?" Jovee demanded.
"Oh god," Katrina said. "I hope not. The consistently cheerful singing and dancing was scary."
Douglas' face turned a bright shade of pink, and chose wisely to remain silent.
"How did he turn into an elf in the first place?" Josie asked.
"He was feeling really depressed one day, and he just sort of … turned into an elf," Jovee explained.
"Slowly!" Katrina added. "The change took a little while."
"No it didn't," Jovee and Douglas chorused.
"It took two seconds."
"Oh," Katrina said. "I must be thinking of that time when Mr. Pearson came to visit the school, and the pressure to pass that big test thing in Z's class caused you to turn all of us -."
"What's past is past!" Jovee said quickly.
"Oh sure, we can forget your situation but you have to bring up mine? And I'm not turning into an elf again … I feel fine! You're worrying over nothing. My ears are just naturally a little pointy," Douglas said.
"Are you sure?" Jovee asked, seeming uncertain.
"I'm fine. Really! Now let's focus on the task at hand," Douglas said, turning to Josie. Katrina just turned him back.
"You really need to chillax. You'll put yourself in an early grave if you don't just take in a few deeps breath, and stop stressing!"
"Didn't your Mother ever teach you to have a good time?" Josie added. All three gave her a funny look, but Douglas quickly shook his off.
"Fine, fine. I'll try not to hassle you about the whole future consequences thing, okay?" He said.
"That sounds good," Josie added.
"So … you still up for a tour of the school?"
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Finley shook his head with frustration. "Nothing! Zip, nada … not even a tiny hint," He said with frustration. Professor Z looked pensive, while Nathaniel simply watched the whole exchange.
"We need Lucas," Professor Z finally said. "If we could just find some way to contact him …"
"Nothing's worked!" Finley fumed. "No matter what we've tried, there's no way to contact Lucas, no way to bring him back, and no way to control that part of the wormhole! It has a mind of its own now. We need to find a way to handle the situation the best we can without him."
Nathaniel studied his friend's face. "You don't mean any of that," He said thoughtfully. "You're just angry at Douglas for not even considering our theories."
"Maybe," Finley admitted, sinking into a chair.
"Give him some time," Z advised. "He'll get over it eventually."
"It's just hard," Finley said. Then he shook his head. "We need to stay focused. With the others off with Josie, now's the perfect time to run through some ideas."
"Finley and I have been thinking," Nathaniel cut in. "Without Lucas we obviously have no lead as to what went on that day. Now with Microne taking more of Pearadyne's projects, things are going to start to get really hectic."
"Wait, Microne has gotten more files?" Z asked.
"Yeah, Jovee mentioned it earlier today. They took some stuff when her Dad was out of town. Mrs. Randall thinks they have a spy in the labs," Nathaniel explained.
"This should be interesting," Finley said, sitting back in his seat. He couldn't help the smug smile from rising to his face.
"Back on track," Nathaniel said quickly. "I'm thinking we need to get someone into Microne."
Both Z and Finley shot Nathaniel disbelieving looks. "You can't be serious," Finley finally said.
"We need to find out what they're up to," Nathaniel said in his defense. "If we can get someone on the inside, we can find out exactly what they're up to. What they're doing with the wormhole."
"To do that, though, we'd have to get in touch with Collin Bush," Finley said.
"Not necessarily," Z replied slowly. "Perhaps you and Nathaniel can find your way in."
"Its top secret," Finley said, rolling his eyes. "I think it's going to be a little difficult getting in. Kids wandering around the facilities would be awfully suspicious."
"Vaughn and Corrine had no trouble getting into Pearadyne years ago," Z pointed out.
"Key words there: 'Vaughn and Corrine', and 'years ago'. Security has been upgraded quite a bit since then," Finley pointed out.
"Well, I figure we contact Collin Bush, tell him we remember him from his demonstration at the school last year, and we were interested in getting an inside view of the way Microne works - for a school project."
"He'd never buy it," Finley said.
"It's worth a shot," Nathaniel argued. "If we try nothing, then we're just giving in."
"We'll alert ourselves to them."
"I doubt a bunch of teenagers are suspicious," Nathaniel said, rolling his eyes.
"Jovee will want to come," Finley pointed out. "I think Vaughn Pearson's daughter would be a little suspicious."
"So we don't tell her - or the others. Z could act as our representative from the school. Just the three of us will go. We can schedule a tour for Saturday," Nathaniel filled in.
"Better yet," Z said. "We can schedule a class tour for Saturday, and with them distracted, the two of you could go off and try to find something," Z said, his eyes wide with the idea.
Finley seemed uncertain. "It would be a good distraction," He said slowly.
"I'll get Mr. Bush on the phone right now," Z said, sounding excited.
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DAY 3
All conversation died as soon as Douglas walked through the classroom door the next morning. The boy looked around, and then quickly hung his head, pulling his backpack tighter as he moved to his desk. It was early in the morning, and most kids were at breakfast, but Douglas felt the need to speak with Professor Z urgently. Unfortunately, Nathaniel and Finley had both decided to meet with Z before school to discuss their plans for the next day. Josie also had a desire to speak with Z, after an unusual dream last night which had her fearing she would never find a way back home. Katrina was there with Josie, and Jovee had apparently come when no one else showed up for breakfast. Z himself was not in the room.
"You shrunk," Jovee finally said, pointing out the obvious. Douglas' head snapped up, and he looked darkly at her.
"How'd you manage to figure that out?" He demanded angrily.
"Well I think the fact that your pants are suddenly too big for you, and they're actually swarming at your heel -." Douglas glanced down at his pants, a quick flush rising to his cheeks as he gave the belt that was hardly holding them on a sharp jerk. "And you're shorter than Josie," Katrina finished.
The redhead gave her a sharp look, to which she ignored.
Jovee walked quickly to her friend's side, and tugged his hat off, revealing long, pointed ears. "How interesting," She said.
Douglas snatched the hat out of her hand and threw it back on his head. "Go ahead, say it."
"I just did," Jovee said.
"So you're turning into an elf again," Nathaniel said, nodding his head.
"I am not!" Douglas exclaimed. He suddenly shrunk another two inches. He groaned, and allowed his head to fall onto the desk.
"At least he's not cheerful," Katrina pointed out.
Finley glared at her. "This is serious. We can't deal with him turning into an elf again," He said.
"I told you there was something suspicious about your ears," Jovee said.
"Have you been feeling depressed lately?" Nathaniel joked. Finley quickly elbowed him.
"There has to be a way to fix this," He said.
"I'm still in the room, you know," Douglas mumbled from the table.
"How'd you fix it last time?" Josie asked.
"We helped Douglas to realize he wasn't small … at least not in the way he was thinking of himself," Katrina said with a giggle.
"So just do it again," Josie suggested.
"Don't bother," Douglas said quickly. "I'm not feeling depressed."
"It's worth a try," Jovee told him. Then she looked around the room at the others. "Let's just give it a shot. Uh, Douglas, you're very easy to talk to. And you always seem to know things."
"You're fun to be around," Finley admitted.
"This reminds me of the time Marshall became invisible," Josie said.
"Dad became invisible!" Finley exclaimed with surprise. "How come nobody ever told me that?" Everyone in the room stopped and stared at him.
"Brilliant, Finn," Katrina finally said.
Josie just blinked. "Oddly enough, I had a feeling you were related. You are Marshall's son, right?"
"Eh …"
"It's only been three days, and you just blurted," Douglas said, shaking his head before he started coughing.
Jovee shook her head, and patted him gently on the back. "You're still sick, aren't you?"
"Add this onto everything else, and we're going to have ourselves quite an interesting four more days," Nathaniel said. At that moment, Z decided to come in.
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Professor Z looked around his classroom later that day, acknowledging the bored looks on his student's faces. Most of the kids were half asleep, Douglas among them. Only Finley and Nathaniel seemed to really be paying attention to the lecture, and that was because they were entertaining themselves with a game of tic tac toe. He cleared his throat, and straightened up.
"Since we are studying the scientific process, I thought it might be an interesting idea to go and visit an actual science lab, see how they work," Z said slowly. Everyone looked dully at him.
"We're not going to Pearadyne Labs, are we?" A student in the far back asked.
"No, Tucker, we'll be taking a trip to Microne Labs," Z filled in.
Douglas' eyes widened in disbelief. "What?" He exclaimed, jumping up. The whole class burst out laughing. He quickly sat down, his face burning. Z shot him a warning look before continuing.
"There we will observe the way things work, and I expect all of you to take notes, because we will be writing a report about this."
"Have you been conversing with Satan himself?" Douglas demanded.
"Douglas, please calm down," Z said.
"He's finally lost it," Tucker murmured, the girl beside him nodding her head in agreement.
Douglas slowly relaxed into his seat, shooting glares at Z, all the while trying to process why the professor could possible suggest something like this. Z continued on to explain when they were to meet for the bus, and what to bring, details on the reports, etc.
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Douglas waited until the classroom was mostly cleared out, before stalking up to Z's desk, slapping his palm down. "Would you mind telling me what you are thinking?"
Finley and Nathaniel stopped, watching the exchange between Z and Douglas.
Z turned, looked at the two and nodded. Neither seemed to like it, but they left the room. Z then turned back to Douglas. "While we're on the trip, Nathaniel and Finley are going to sneak away, and try to gather some information," He explained.
Douglas' eyes widened in surprise. "But that … that's going too far. You're stepping right up to their level!" He exclaimed.
"I know," Z said, sounding uncertain. "But time's running out. There doesn't seem to be any other way."
"There has to be another way," Douglas said.
"I wish there were, but you have to understand we don't have a choice. Things are getting out of control, and somebody has to do something about it," Z told him.
"But why does it have to be us?" Douglas demanded, panic seeming to rise in his voice. "Why should it have to be our responsibility?"
"Sometimes you have to give everything up to make things better," Z said softly.
"It should have ended then," Douglas told him. "This never should have begun."
"I know. We can straighten this out, though," Z replied.
Douglas was silent for a few moments, considering Z's words. Then he nodded. "I want in."
"You'll have to get Finley and Nathaniel to agree."
"Not a problem." Douglas turned to leave the room, but Z called out.
"Are you shorter?"
Douglas gave a nervous laugh. "I've wanted to talk to you about that, Z."
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Nathaniel leaned against the counter in the science lab later that afternoon, watching Finley pace back and forth. "You're making me dizzy," he commented.
"Douglas is crazy," Finley replied. "It can't be done. Three students sneaking off? Two was dangerous enough, but three? It will call too much attention," He said.
"So I'll stay behind and Douglas will go," Nathaniel replied. Finley froze; his head spinning back to look at Nathaniel.
"What!"
"You heard exactly what I said."
"You must be out of your mind."
"Come on, you two can't act like this forever. You're best friends," Nathaniel said.
"He's the one who won't talk to me," Finley pointed out.
"You didn't have to nudge him on. You've been pushing the whole 'Lucas' thing for weeks."
"Douglas won't accept that we're right. He knows Lucas was behind this whole thing."
"You didn't have to stress that it was on purpose," Nathaniel said.
"It doesn't look any other way!" Finley snapped.
"You're turning on him. Do you have any idea how that must seem. I think you're the one who won't run through other options." Then he held his hands up before Finley could reply. "I don't want to start an argument with you. I just think that maybe you could try to patch things up with Douglas."
"Even if I wanted to, it's not that easy."
"He's giving you the ball. He agreed to everything, he's willing to work with us. What more are you looking for?" Nathaniel asked.
"I want my best friend back," Finely said softly, collapsing in a chair. "I just wish everything could go back to normal. If Lucas had never gone through the wormhole, nothing would have changed."
"We wouldn't have become friends," Nathaniel pointed out.
"The only good that has come from this whole mess is the friendships we've made. And … possibly more," Finley said.
"Katrina," Nathaniel said with a wolfish grin.
"Forget I said anything," Finley said with a laugh. At that moment there was a knock at the door. Sheepishly, Douglas walked in. As soon as the two saw him, they began to howl with laughter.
"It's not funny," Douglas snapped, moving quickly to the table. He was now half his normal size, and in some ways resembling a kid. "We need to do something about this situation … and soon. - unless you want me cheerful and singing."
"It would be a welcomed change," Finley choked out. Douglas simply glowered.
"I'm asking for your help," Douglas said.
"Alright, alright," Finley said, shaking his head. "Don't want you drawing too much attention … again. Let's see. Telling you what we thought of you didn't seem to work."
"Yeah, that only revealed more to Josie," Nathaniel said.
"Speaking of Josie … where is she?" Douglas asked, sitting up.
"She, Jovee, and Katrina said they were going to hang out. Back to the problem at hand," Finley said with a frown.
Nathaniel looked between the two with an idea, before sliding towards the door. "I think I'm going to go get a drink."
Both shot him surprised looks, but before either could object, he'd slid away. Douglas slowly looked back at Finley.
"So …" He said slowly.
I can't believe he left, Finley thought angrily, still glaring at the door while Douglas was thinking mainly the same thing.
Douglas quickly cleared his throat. "Back on track."
"Right," Finley said. There was an awkward silence, and then, "I'm sorry."
The comment was such a surprise, Douglas gawked at him. "Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry," Finley repeated, making his voice louder. "I shouldn't have pushed you so hard about your father. I know it's a difficult subject for you, and it wasn't fair of me to try and -."
"It's okay," Douglas said quickly. Finley gave him a doubtful look, and Douglas shrugged. "Alright, it's not okay, but I think I see where you're coming from."
The two gave each other a nervous smile, neither noticing as Douglas seemed to grow an inch.
"And I'm sorry about not considering other options. Maybe there was something else going on the day of the wormhole. If we look at it, he may not have even been involved. He could have been just a bystander," Finley suggested.
"He was involved … somehow," Douglas said with a sigh. "I just can't believe he would willingly betray my Mom like that."
"I don't think he would either," Finely said slowly. "Your parents were too close."
Douglas nodded his head. "Did, eh, did Z talk with you about -."
"Nathaniel thinks you should take his place when we go off. He thinks you and I should try to find the files," Finley said quickly.
Douglas blinked. "Oh. Well, what do you think?"
"I think it's a good idea," Finley said slowly. "This way both you and I will possibly have answers as to what happened that day. What's going on."
Douglas nodded his head slowly in agreement. "That's sort of what I was thinking. So … we're in agreement?"
"Yes, I think we are," Finley said with a grin.
Douglas suddenly came back to his normal size, pointy ears vanishing. He sat up quickly. "Yes!" He exclaimed, jumping up and throwing his arms into the air. "Alright, it's gone!"
Finley started laughing. "Well that's one less problem to worry about."
The two started walking towards the door. "I just don't understand how it happened," Douglas said.
"No, Finley replied. "But I think it's pretty obvious our talking fixed it."
"Yeah," Douglas said, holding the door open. "Weird, huh?"
AN: Argh, I know, really bad chapter, but this is the best my muse will allow. Hope you like! Please review, it pushes me to keep going.