"...and that is what a monomial is, Brian..." droned Melissa and Michelle's
math teacher, Ms. Kariko.
"She's only explained this concept to him four times this period," thought Melissa stormily.
"I wish to sleep," thought Michelle, straining to see the blackboard on the far side of the room where the teacher had written out notes.
"Just forty-five more minutes until class ends," Melissa thought.
{Today's Thursday!} came a thought-voice suddenly.
Michelle dropped her pencil, and Melissa gave an involuntary gasp. At the sound, the other students and the teacher looked at Melissa, who promptly went into a coughing fit to cover up for it.
"What?" Melissa croaked, trying to sound like she had a sore throat as best as she could.
Mrs. Kariko looked at her strangely, then went on with her algebra lesson.
{WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!} Michelle mentally yelled, {WE COULD GET FOUND OUT! MRS. KARIKO IS AGAINST MUTANTS' RIGHTS!}
{Sorry. I didn't think you would be all that interested in your math lesson,} defended Adam.
{Quiet warning would be nice,} Melissa suggested.
{Hey, how are Melissa and I hearing each other?} asked Michelle.
{I made a mental connection with Melissa, and I used her to link up with you. I tried linking with you first, but it didn't work out.}
{That would explain that fuzzy feeling I felt in my head. So I'm a mental conductor now too?} asked Melissa.
{Wasn't it Mozart who seemed crazy because of his mood swings?} Michelle asked, slyly.
{No, that was Beethoven,} corrected Adam.
{Supposedly due to lead that was put into some wines back then, before they realized it was poisonous,} added Michelle.
"Michelle, shall I repeat the question?" asked Mrs. Kariko, annoyed.
"Uh, um," Michelle fumbled between thoughts and verbal speech, "The, eh, lowest common denominator is, er, 12."
"Correct. Now what do we do with the LCD now, Jen?"
{Sharp,} came a new thought-voice.
{Agh! I don't recognise you!} exclaimed Melissa.
{It's Mike. Adam linked me up,} he said.
{You're getting good,} commented Michelle, approvingly, {But how can you handle your classes at the same time?}
{I'm in band,} Adam replied, {The other Adam isn't here, and Mr. Van Zulen is focusing on the flutists right now.}
{And Mike?} Melissa asked.
{Business. You know, we never do anything in this class.}
{So I've heard. Everyone in the group is in Business except me,} complained Melissa.
{That's a good thing,} simultaneously replied the others.
{Why this sudden Meeting?} asked Mike.
{Roll call. Does anyone know where Phil is?} asked Adam, {I haven't seen him today.}
{Michelle and I are in his French class, first period. He was there, alive and breathing,} said Melissa.
{How about Holly and Geordie?} asked Mike.
{I spoke to Holly on the phone last night. She seemed perfectly healthy, so don't worry about her not coming,} replied Melissa.
{Homework, page 22 in the blue book, questions 5, 7, and 9-18,} Michelle muttered, then, {Oops. Did I send that?}
{Yes, but thanks! I can't see the board from here!} said Melissa.
{Yes...anyway, I saw Geordie while in the subway before school this morning. He's fine,} said Adam, {How about Gordon?}
{Oh! I saw him. He's at, um, wait,} Mike thought back, trying to remember when he saw Gordon last, {He's at-}
{Yo mama's house,} sent Michelle, {Whoop. Um, accident?}
{Yeah, right,} said Adam sarcastically.
Michelle started to stick her tongue out, then stopped herself. Worried, she looked around. No one was looking at her strangely, so she assumed no one saw.
{Bite me,} she said.
{Fine. Be that way.}
There was a pause, then:
{ARAY NAKO!}
Melissa looked at Michelle from across the room, while Adam and Mike borrowed her eyes. Michelle was rubbing her temples, as if thinking hard about the question in the assignment in front of her.
{What's that supposed to mean?} asked Adam.
{I think it's Tagalog,} guessed Melissa.
{They're sort of the Philipino variations of 'OW!' or 'AGH!} explained Mike.
{You will pay, Adam,} Michelle thought darkly, {Somehow, some way, sometime, somewhere. But I'll get back somehow.}
{What did you do to her?} asked Melissa, curiously.
{I brought up most of her pain memories, all at once, then concentrated them into her head,} he explained.
{Oo! Can I try?} Melissa asked eagerly.
{Why don't you use your oh so powerful telepathy to talk to Gordon?} Michelle asked angrily.
{I did. He's not in school,} replied Adam.
{So, you can give me a headache, but not send you powers out of school?! Do I have this correctly?}
{-yes.}
{Suddenly I feel waves of annoyance coming off of someone,} Melissa commented, {I wonder why and from whom.}
Adam probed through Michelle's mind for a moment, and suddenly the pain she was feeling stopped.
{Neat trick. Just try not to do it again,} Michelle ordered.
{Fine, be that way,} Adam said, sulkily.
{She will. You should know that,} Mike said.
{Yes. I know. I've known her for over four years, Mike. That's probably twice as long as when you've been able to actually see her.}
Mike started to send something, then stopped.
{He wouldn't care whether or not you liked him, Mike,} Melissa told him, privately, after reading his mind.
{It's all good if Gordon can't come, isn't it?} asked Mike, {After all, two people are fine, and getting him into the house is just another setback.}
{A very small one,} pointed out Melissa, {And he's told me already how excited he is to start this. What's 56 divided by 7?}
{8. What for?} asked Adam.
{In this question, 7x=56,} replied Melissa, {Mrs. Kariko wants the answers with just one variable.}
{That's question 11, isn't it?} asked Michelle.
{Yes.}
{How can you concentrate?} asked Mike.
{Multitasking is one of my many talents,} answered Melissa.
{If Gordon's not in school, then were is he?} asked Adam.
{Wid yo mama. Oops! Second accident?} Michelle tried to make her thought- voice seem innocent.
{I'll try not to mentally bite you again, but you're not helping.}
{Why don't we just go through with this? We'll see how things are and adjust our plans when everyone that can come meets up at ESA later,} said Mike.
~
"They'll be coming any time now," Michelle reassured Mike, leaning on him.
She, Holly and Mike were sitting on the curb in front of the Etobicoke School of the Arts; Holly and Geordie's school. Mike smiled and brushed her cheek with a green feather.
"That's what you said," he grabbed her left wrist and looked at her watch, "20 minutes ago."
"Where'd the feather come from?" Holly asked.
"From one of the lovebirds that Michelle's parents own. It's for you to blow so that the guys know where to go when you're leading them," Mike looked up, "After all, you're the only one in that part of the group who knows where the house is."
"Hey, Nutmeg," Holly tapped Michelle's shoulder after a moment.
"What?"
"Think you'd be able to survive find food as a snake?"
"Blind, I could find you any day."
"Yeah, right. Prove it."
"Fine."
Michelle morphed quickly, sitting down, while Holly tried as quietly as possible to stand a ways off.
"Doesn't what we're doing at the house count as abusing our gifts?" asked Mike.
{Meh. Like they didn't do it first,} answered Michelle.
She slithered along the sidewalk, without eyes, tasting the air, trying to sense where Holly was standing quietly.
"Do you give up yet, Nutmeg?"
The vibrations from Holly's voice helped Michelle pinpoint where she was. Michelle recklessly slithered as fast as she could towards the vibrations' source, straight into Holly's left sandal. Michelle twined herself around Holly's ankle.
{Thank you, Humus, for that very useful clue. Has anyone else come into sight?}
"No," Holly put a hand by Michelle, who slithered and interlaced herself in Holly's fingers, "I've never heard of an eye-less, blue, grass snake."
"Surely you've heard of blue-grass music before," joked Michael, grinning.
Both the girls groaned.
{I like creativity,} stated Michelle.
A puff of blue smoke appeared at the three teen's left. Phil, Melissa and Adam had arrived.
"Hello," greeted Melissa.
Adam waved and Phil nodded.
"Cool. A blue grass snake," said Phil, adding, "Does it dance to blue- grass music?"
The snake hissed and reared up.
"My dear Nutmeg here is tired of blue-grass jokes. Please make attempts to restrain yourselves," advised Holly.
Mike stood up, saying, "Just two more people."
"May I?" Melissa put a hand out to the snake, which transferred over to her.
"Cool."
"What time is it?" asked Adam.
Mike glanced at Michelle watch, which she'd given him to hang on to while in morph.
"It's 6:05. It takes about 15 minutes to get there, and we need to get there by 6:30, so we should begin in ten minutes."
Gordon came around the corner, speed walking, as a TTC bus stopped at its designated place across the street.
"Am I late?" Gordon asked, a bit out of breath.
"No," said Phil.
"Hey!" Geordie waved from across the street before walking over to the others.
"You took the bus?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah. It's the only way I could get here."
"I guess since everyone's here, we should start?" asked Gordon.
"Fine by me," said Mike.
The others nodded. Melissa put Michelle on the ground, who demorphed, standing.
"Aight. We can-actually, wait. I want to change my name. I'm destroying Cassie's character by using her name, and she's cool."
"So?" asked Geordie.
"I'll rip off from the game 'Bloody Roar' instead."
"What?" asked Holly, blinking.
"You play 'Bloody Roar'?" asked Phil, incredulously.
"Why shouldn't she?" countered Mike.
"Well, she's a girl," said Geordie.
"Hey! What's so bad about girls playing Playstation?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah!" backed up Holly.
"Fine, fine. What character?" asked Phil.
"Uriko. The Beast."
"Ok, ok, FINE! Let's get this over with," prompted Geordie.
"Melissa, help me get Holly to become wind," said Michelle.
Holly stepped toward Melissa, but when Michelle tried, she stumbled and landed hard on the sidewalk.
"Ow! Wow. Legs. Need I say that was my first time as a snake?"
"Um, why can't the rest of us going to the house become wind too?" asked Gordon, "That would make things easier."
"Not really," Michelle staggered up with Mike's help, and leaned on Melissa, "Gravity and physical form hits you really hard at first. It's better if just one other person struggles to adjust for a bit, while the others can make the most of the hour we've got."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?!" exclaimed Holly.
"You didn't asked," answered Michelle, "Don't worry. You can morph something really light when we're in the house. But you can't stay as the wind the house, because I don't want to, so you have to morph something. And it would make things harder when we're looking through their stuff."
"Fine."
Holly took one of Melissa's hands, and Mike quickly tapped Michelle's elbow, saying, "Be careful," before Michelle took the other. For a moment, all three girls of the group disappeared, and then Melissa reappeared.
"AAH!"
She fell flat on the sidewalk, and stayed lying there, twitching a little.
"you ok there?" whispered a small voice by her right ear.
"Whoa! Michelle wasn't kidding!" Adam exclaimed, watching Melissa.
"thank you," came a whisper by his right ear.
"Phil," Melissa started, her words slightly slurred, "Teleport Mike, Geordie and I to John G. like our plan, then come back here so you can go on your way."
In a matter of seconds, Phil did as he was told, and Holly led them to the house blowing the green feather that Mike had dropped at last moment.
~
"Are we there yet?"
"No," chorused Phil and Adam.
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"Gordon, knock it off!"
"Fine."
There was a short pause.
"Are we there yet?"
{Why did you add him into the plan, Phil?}
{That was Geordie. Not me!}
~
"Are we there yet?"
"Holly, can't we go any faster?" Phil asked.
The feather stopped moving and dropped to the ground. The three boys stopped walking.
"we're almost there. ten more minutes," came his answer.
"why don't you just mentally bit him?" Michelle whispered to Adam.
"I did. Twice. He doesn't seem to care."
"Are we-are you talking to yourself, Adam?"
Gordon grinned at Adam's annoyed look. The green feather picked up from the ground and the boys started following it again.
"Knock him over. Please. I know you must be annoyed by now too. Just get him to shut up," Adam whispered in a low voice.
As soon as they came to a deserted plaza, where she knew no-one was looking, Michelle wafted over behind the three boys until she found what she was looking for: a small patch of dry dirt.
"Are we there yet?"
She started slowly, twirling around in the patch, picking up the dirt little by little.
"Are we there yet?"
She let a bit of her gather shat small breeze was blowing through the street, and added it to her silent, miniature hurricane.
"WATCH YOURSELF!" she finally called out, and quickly twisted towards Gordon.
""Are we-WHOA!"
Hurricane Michelle was swirling at just about Gordon's full height. Gordon stood staring for a moment, then started running just a moment too late. She whipped the dust around, hitting Gordon from all sides.
"CAN YOU SHUT UP NOW UNTIL WE GET TO THE HOUSE?"
"Ok! Fine! I'll stop!" Gordon managed to say.
The wind stopped and Michelle let the dust she picked up land on Gordon, who was by now sneezing uncontrollably.
"Thanks, Michelle," said Phil, who was a bit of a ways ahead by now.
"Are we-uh, oh."
Gordon stopped himself as soon as he saw a hurricane with dry leaves beginning to form.
~
"My. Isn't this treehouse great?" Phil commented from his tree, "Very rustic. Feels like how our ancestors must have lived in trees, way back-"
{Shut up,} Adam ordered.
He positioned himself so he could see out the treehouse window onto the road where the car Matt was in had gone, and down the driveway by the side door of the house, where he knew Gordon stood, invisible.
{Someone might hear you. Then you'd get kicked out, and there goes part of our backup plan.}
~
{Humus, how's recuperation coming?}
Michelle slithered down the hallway, looking in all doors, trying to find her way from the kitchen to the side door. She heard a whine from the kitchen, and guessed that Holly had morphed into a puppy.
{Ooh. Not as well as it could be. How long did it take for you to get used to this, Nutmeg?}
{Do you really wanna know, Humus? Actually, we should use our other names. I meant Whirl.}
The purple anaconda looked through a doorway at her left.
{That's more like it! The door!}
The white shi tzu in the kitchen hoisted itself up slowly, and collided with before staggering into the hallway.
{Well, Uriko, if I didn't want to know, why would I ask?}
The snake gave itself little suction cups on its underside and inched up the door to the knob.
{It could have been a rhetorical question, Whirl.}
Turning into the first door to the right, the small dog found itself in a bedroom with black walls.
{Whoa.}
Then the dog's ears perked up, {There's a picture of Hannah on the desk in a red picture frame! This must be Matt's room! Aah!} the dog jumped onto the unmade bed, {I have to keep his sheets! Maybe there's some of his-}
{Whirl! Don't distract me!}
{Sorry.}
The anaconda twisted and wrapped itself around the doorknob. Slowly, it turned, and then Michelle heard a click.
"Yes! Finally you got the door open!"
Gordon quickly swung the door open, coming visible again, and inadvertently threw Michelle of the door, onto the wall behind it.
{Spiderman, you creep!}
The anaconda hissed at him.
"Oo. Sorry Carrie. Hey! You're a purple anaconda!"
{The name was never 'Carrie'! It was 'Cassie'! And I'm Uriko now, Cockroach-boy!}
{Temper, temper. Uriko, calm down,} Holly scolded.
She padded into view of Spiderman and Uriko, with a shred of black fabric in her teeth.
"What is that?" Gordon asked.
{It's black fabric,} Whirl answered, sitting down.
"I knew that! I meant, where is the fabric from?"
{Don't tell him, Whirl! He either wouldn't understand why you took it, or he would.}
"Why can't I know?"
{Never mind. Whirl, you keep looking in Matt's room, as well as the rest of this floor.}
{If you insist,} the shi tzu said cheerily as it ran out of sight.
{Spiderman, in the hallway, first door to your right, there's some stairs going I believe into the basement. You look there first.}
"Right. Where're you going?"
{Straight to the kitchen.}
"What?!"
{I'm kidding! There's a second floor in this house. I found some stairs going up, three doors to the right of this hallway.}
"Oh. I see."
Spiderman ran past Uriko and turned left. Straight into a wall. Whirl in Matt's bedroom felt the floor vibrate a little and heard a slightly muffled thud.
"OOW!!"
{What happened?} came Adam's voice, {Phil nearly fell out of his tree.}
"Cassie, you liar!"
{It's Uriko.}
The anaconda found Spiderman rubbing his forehead, which was swiftly forming a lump, as he sat on the floor.
{Sorry Signal. Nothing big. Is Genie ok?}
{I said nearly. Not that he actually fell.}
{Gordon didn't realise the house's side door was right by the end of the house's hallway, and ran into a wall. Spiderman, I said the stairs to the basement were at the right.}
Gordon cursed, got to his feet, then went into the basement, grumbling.
{Whirl, I'm gonna morph into something with legs so that I can go up the stairs a little easier. Make sure you're on the floor, ok?}
{Um, ok! I'm ready!}
The purple anaconda shimmered, and in its place, an adult Dalmatian with dark red spots appeared.
{How many more animal mutations are you going to create, Uriko?}
{As many as I can while it's safe. What do you think are the chances our Prime Minister lets the bill for mutant registration pass?}
Whirl remorphed into her shi tzu before answering.
{Well, there are parent groups like the Student's Parent Council who want safety for their kids. Then there are other child-care associations. Teachers, parents, actually the entire school for that matter would want to know who's dangerous in their classrooms. But religious groups and anti-prejudiced people say that mutant registration is just another way to single people out and discriminate against them.}
Uriko trotted up the steps and found there was a door to the second floor.
{Sound's like our future looks bleak,} the Dalmatian mused, struggling while trying to turn the doorknob with her forepaws.
{Actually, the Prime Minister himself is against mutant registration,} Whirl said, in one of the desk's drawers, then added, {Hey! A journal!}
Whirl tossed the brown book onto the floor and jumped after it. Uriko finally heard the knob click, and leaned on the door to get it to swing open.
{Are you sure it's Matt's journal?}
The red-splotched Dalmatian sniffed around, trying to pick up an unusual scent that was not normally found in a house.
{It's says on the front: 'Matt Munro's Journal: School Year 2003-2004'. This has to be it.} Whirl answered in her best 'what-you-just-said-was-stupid' voice. The shi tzu nosed the book, trying to flip open the cover. She heard a big dog's nails slowly click in the hallway, then a dragging sound.
{Help me out here! I can't open up the cover.} Holly called.
{Hang on. Let me get downstairs.}
The shi tzu's ears perked up, and the fur on it's back straightened.
{You're not downstairs?}
{No. I think I'm in some sort of workout room. There're weights everywhere, and a treadmill.}
{You're not in the hallway?}
{No. Would I lie to you, Whirl?}
{But if-}
Whirl stopped. There was a shadow by Matt's bedroom doorway. Whirl softly trotted to the doorway as Uriko carefully came down the stairs.
{What's up, Whirl?}
Halfway down the staircase, both girls, Signal, and Genie heard Spiderman scream in the basement.
{Gordon, what's happened?!} Adam, Holy, and Michelle all asked at once.
Uriko sped down the stairs as fast as she could, and found Whirl, still in her shi tzu morph, visibly trembling, facing a sitting, very big, female Akita dog. It looked like it had dragged itself to Matt's bedroom's doorway. Michelle walked forward slowly, then nudged the real dog's right side carefully, hoping it wouldn't wheel around and bite. The Akita silently turned to Michelle. The first thing that she noticed was that the Akita was holding a skinny runt of a puppy by the scruff of its neck in her teeth. Then Michelle notices the bigger dog's breathing was very shallow.
{It's been practically hacked up in its left side!} Michelle exclaimed in horror.
{What?} Adam asked, adding, {Phil's wondering the same.}
{Wait. Holly, check on Gordon now,} Michelle ordered.
Quietly, Holly went into the basement.
{Adam, just use my eyes.}
The Akita still hadn't moved.
{That is just. . .sick. That dog has lost an eye; it's still bleeding.}
{Can't you see? It's already half dead. It's dying.}
{Michelle, it's 7:20 p.m. We've got 10 minutes.}
The Akita gently put her puppy down, and lay behind it. She pushed the pup towards Michelle with her nose.
{It wants you to take it, Uriko.}
{I realise, Adam.}
There was a pause.
{Well? Michelle, we're low on time.}
{I know, I know!}
{Knowing you, you're going to hate yourself forever if you don't take it,} pointed out Adam.
Michelle inwardly sighed.
{I don't know how this will work, but,}
Uriko nosed the Akita puppy. It whimpered, and she realized it was hungry.
{I'll take care of her for you,} Uriko said quietly to the mother-Akita. But she soon found that her message was a moment too late.
{Is it. . .is she. . .?} Adam stopped himself.
"Uriko. . ." Gordon called.
Uriko was already walking down the stairs carrying the puppy. She saw that the Akita had left a wide trail of blood up the stairs and along the hallway. At the foot of the stairs, the tawny coloured pup began to wriggle and protest.
{What?} Uriko asked it, putting it down on a step level to her head. She nuzzled it a little, saying, {This is where you were kept, isn't it?}
The puppy whimpered.
{Signal?}
{Yes, Uriko?}
{It's the puppy. She's terrified to go down to the basement, and I need to go there.}
{This affects me, how?}
{I want either you or Genie to quickly grab the puppy when I put her outside, and keep her in your treehouse until we all leave.}
{Hang on. Ok, Phil refuses. Do I have any real choice in this?}
{None whatsoever.}
{Fine. I'm climbing down the tree now.}
{Thanks.}
Uriko grabbed the pup, not protesting, and ran up the stairs, around the corner, and realised that though the inner door was open, there was a screen door.
{Um. . .Signal?}
He stepped into view, and raised an eyebrow. Uriko sat down, adopting an English accent.
{Might you please be a dear and open the door for me, Signal? Silly paws, you know. Terrible for opening doors.}
{Depends. Do I have any real choice in this?}
The Dalmatian narrowed her eyes.
{Fine.}
Adam pulled the door open.
{Uriko, what's taking you so long?} came Whirl.
{Hang on. Here,} Uriko got up and held the small dog towards Signal.
"How do I, um, carry it?"
{You're kidding?}
If it were possible, the Dalmatian would have looked incredulous. Signal shook his head. Uriko sighed.
{Do you at least know how to carry a baby?}
Signal looked blank, then shook his head.
{How do you carry you little brother?}
"I half drag him.}
{AGH! BOYS! You cradle it. Hoi. This isn't rocket science.}
"Well, you're a girl."
{Take her! I don't have time for this! Just take her!}
Adam careful, if not awkwardly, held the puppy, which was too weak to struggle, then asked, "How do you know your parents will let you keep this?"
Uriko had already started down the stairs to the basement for the second time that day.
{I honestly don't. What's up, Spiderman? What'd you find?}
Spiderman and Whirl were at the far side of the basement. About five, long planks of wood were piled to the side, and both teen mutants were looking into a hole in the floor, about five feet long and five feet wide. Then Uriko saw the looks on both their faces.
{What's in there?} Uriko asked, nervously.
She trotted over and looked in.
{God,} Whirl said, stunned, {Who could do that?}
{That. . .ugh,} Uriko turned away.
"What've they been doing here?" Gordon asked.
"She's only explained this concept to him four times this period," thought Melissa stormily.
"I wish to sleep," thought Michelle, straining to see the blackboard on the far side of the room where the teacher had written out notes.
"Just forty-five more minutes until class ends," Melissa thought.
{Today's Thursday!} came a thought-voice suddenly.
Michelle dropped her pencil, and Melissa gave an involuntary gasp. At the sound, the other students and the teacher looked at Melissa, who promptly went into a coughing fit to cover up for it.
"What?" Melissa croaked, trying to sound like she had a sore throat as best as she could.
Mrs. Kariko looked at her strangely, then went on with her algebra lesson.
{WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!} Michelle mentally yelled, {WE COULD GET FOUND OUT! MRS. KARIKO IS AGAINST MUTANTS' RIGHTS!}
{Sorry. I didn't think you would be all that interested in your math lesson,} defended Adam.
{Quiet warning would be nice,} Melissa suggested.
{Hey, how are Melissa and I hearing each other?} asked Michelle.
{I made a mental connection with Melissa, and I used her to link up with you. I tried linking with you first, but it didn't work out.}
{That would explain that fuzzy feeling I felt in my head. So I'm a mental conductor now too?} asked Melissa.
{Wasn't it Mozart who seemed crazy because of his mood swings?} Michelle asked, slyly.
{No, that was Beethoven,} corrected Adam.
{Supposedly due to lead that was put into some wines back then, before they realized it was poisonous,} added Michelle.
"Michelle, shall I repeat the question?" asked Mrs. Kariko, annoyed.
"Uh, um," Michelle fumbled between thoughts and verbal speech, "The, eh, lowest common denominator is, er, 12."
"Correct. Now what do we do with the LCD now, Jen?"
{Sharp,} came a new thought-voice.
{Agh! I don't recognise you!} exclaimed Melissa.
{It's Mike. Adam linked me up,} he said.
{You're getting good,} commented Michelle, approvingly, {But how can you handle your classes at the same time?}
{I'm in band,} Adam replied, {The other Adam isn't here, and Mr. Van Zulen is focusing on the flutists right now.}
{And Mike?} Melissa asked.
{Business. You know, we never do anything in this class.}
{So I've heard. Everyone in the group is in Business except me,} complained Melissa.
{That's a good thing,} simultaneously replied the others.
{Why this sudden Meeting?} asked Mike.
{Roll call. Does anyone know where Phil is?} asked Adam, {I haven't seen him today.}
{Michelle and I are in his French class, first period. He was there, alive and breathing,} said Melissa.
{How about Holly and Geordie?} asked Mike.
{I spoke to Holly on the phone last night. She seemed perfectly healthy, so don't worry about her not coming,} replied Melissa.
{Homework, page 22 in the blue book, questions 5, 7, and 9-18,} Michelle muttered, then, {Oops. Did I send that?}
{Yes, but thanks! I can't see the board from here!} said Melissa.
{Yes...anyway, I saw Geordie while in the subway before school this morning. He's fine,} said Adam, {How about Gordon?}
{Oh! I saw him. He's at, um, wait,} Mike thought back, trying to remember when he saw Gordon last, {He's at-}
{Yo mama's house,} sent Michelle, {Whoop. Um, accident?}
{Yeah, right,} said Adam sarcastically.
Michelle started to stick her tongue out, then stopped herself. Worried, she looked around. No one was looking at her strangely, so she assumed no one saw.
{Bite me,} she said.
{Fine. Be that way.}
There was a pause, then:
{ARAY NAKO!}
Melissa looked at Michelle from across the room, while Adam and Mike borrowed her eyes. Michelle was rubbing her temples, as if thinking hard about the question in the assignment in front of her.
{What's that supposed to mean?} asked Adam.
{I think it's Tagalog,} guessed Melissa.
{They're sort of the Philipino variations of 'OW!' or 'AGH!} explained Mike.
{You will pay, Adam,} Michelle thought darkly, {Somehow, some way, sometime, somewhere. But I'll get back somehow.}
{What did you do to her?} asked Melissa, curiously.
{I brought up most of her pain memories, all at once, then concentrated them into her head,} he explained.
{Oo! Can I try?} Melissa asked eagerly.
{Why don't you use your oh so powerful telepathy to talk to Gordon?} Michelle asked angrily.
{I did. He's not in school,} replied Adam.
{So, you can give me a headache, but not send you powers out of school?! Do I have this correctly?}
{-yes.}
{Suddenly I feel waves of annoyance coming off of someone,} Melissa commented, {I wonder why and from whom.}
Adam probed through Michelle's mind for a moment, and suddenly the pain she was feeling stopped.
{Neat trick. Just try not to do it again,} Michelle ordered.
{Fine, be that way,} Adam said, sulkily.
{She will. You should know that,} Mike said.
{Yes. I know. I've known her for over four years, Mike. That's probably twice as long as when you've been able to actually see her.}
Mike started to send something, then stopped.
{He wouldn't care whether or not you liked him, Mike,} Melissa told him, privately, after reading his mind.
{It's all good if Gordon can't come, isn't it?} asked Mike, {After all, two people are fine, and getting him into the house is just another setback.}
{A very small one,} pointed out Melissa, {And he's told me already how excited he is to start this. What's 56 divided by 7?}
{8. What for?} asked Adam.
{In this question, 7x=56,} replied Melissa, {Mrs. Kariko wants the answers with just one variable.}
{That's question 11, isn't it?} asked Michelle.
{Yes.}
{How can you concentrate?} asked Mike.
{Multitasking is one of my many talents,} answered Melissa.
{If Gordon's not in school, then were is he?} asked Adam.
{Wid yo mama. Oops! Second accident?} Michelle tried to make her thought- voice seem innocent.
{I'll try not to mentally bite you again, but you're not helping.}
{Why don't we just go through with this? We'll see how things are and adjust our plans when everyone that can come meets up at ESA later,} said Mike.
~
"They'll be coming any time now," Michelle reassured Mike, leaning on him.
She, Holly and Mike were sitting on the curb in front of the Etobicoke School of the Arts; Holly and Geordie's school. Mike smiled and brushed her cheek with a green feather.
"That's what you said," he grabbed her left wrist and looked at her watch, "20 minutes ago."
"Where'd the feather come from?" Holly asked.
"From one of the lovebirds that Michelle's parents own. It's for you to blow so that the guys know where to go when you're leading them," Mike looked up, "After all, you're the only one in that part of the group who knows where the house is."
"Hey, Nutmeg," Holly tapped Michelle's shoulder after a moment.
"What?"
"Think you'd be able to survive find food as a snake?"
"Blind, I could find you any day."
"Yeah, right. Prove it."
"Fine."
Michelle morphed quickly, sitting down, while Holly tried as quietly as possible to stand a ways off.
"Doesn't what we're doing at the house count as abusing our gifts?" asked Mike.
{Meh. Like they didn't do it first,} answered Michelle.
She slithered along the sidewalk, without eyes, tasting the air, trying to sense where Holly was standing quietly.
"Do you give up yet, Nutmeg?"
The vibrations from Holly's voice helped Michelle pinpoint where she was. Michelle recklessly slithered as fast as she could towards the vibrations' source, straight into Holly's left sandal. Michelle twined herself around Holly's ankle.
{Thank you, Humus, for that very useful clue. Has anyone else come into sight?}
"No," Holly put a hand by Michelle, who slithered and interlaced herself in Holly's fingers, "I've never heard of an eye-less, blue, grass snake."
"Surely you've heard of blue-grass music before," joked Michael, grinning.
Both the girls groaned.
{I like creativity,} stated Michelle.
A puff of blue smoke appeared at the three teen's left. Phil, Melissa and Adam had arrived.
"Hello," greeted Melissa.
Adam waved and Phil nodded.
"Cool. A blue grass snake," said Phil, adding, "Does it dance to blue- grass music?"
The snake hissed and reared up.
"My dear Nutmeg here is tired of blue-grass jokes. Please make attempts to restrain yourselves," advised Holly.
Mike stood up, saying, "Just two more people."
"May I?" Melissa put a hand out to the snake, which transferred over to her.
"Cool."
"What time is it?" asked Adam.
Mike glanced at Michelle watch, which she'd given him to hang on to while in morph.
"It's 6:05. It takes about 15 minutes to get there, and we need to get there by 6:30, so we should begin in ten minutes."
Gordon came around the corner, speed walking, as a TTC bus stopped at its designated place across the street.
"Am I late?" Gordon asked, a bit out of breath.
"No," said Phil.
"Hey!" Geordie waved from across the street before walking over to the others.
"You took the bus?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah. It's the only way I could get here."
"I guess since everyone's here, we should start?" asked Gordon.
"Fine by me," said Mike.
The others nodded. Melissa put Michelle on the ground, who demorphed, standing.
"Aight. We can-actually, wait. I want to change my name. I'm destroying Cassie's character by using her name, and she's cool."
"So?" asked Geordie.
"I'll rip off from the game 'Bloody Roar' instead."
"What?" asked Holly, blinking.
"You play 'Bloody Roar'?" asked Phil, incredulously.
"Why shouldn't she?" countered Mike.
"Well, she's a girl," said Geordie.
"Hey! What's so bad about girls playing Playstation?" asked Melissa.
"Yeah!" backed up Holly.
"Fine, fine. What character?" asked Phil.
"Uriko. The Beast."
"Ok, ok, FINE! Let's get this over with," prompted Geordie.
"Melissa, help me get Holly to become wind," said Michelle.
Holly stepped toward Melissa, but when Michelle tried, she stumbled and landed hard on the sidewalk.
"Ow! Wow. Legs. Need I say that was my first time as a snake?"
"Um, why can't the rest of us going to the house become wind too?" asked Gordon, "That would make things easier."
"Not really," Michelle staggered up with Mike's help, and leaned on Melissa, "Gravity and physical form hits you really hard at first. It's better if just one other person struggles to adjust for a bit, while the others can make the most of the hour we've got."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?!" exclaimed Holly.
"You didn't asked," answered Michelle, "Don't worry. You can morph something really light when we're in the house. But you can't stay as the wind the house, because I don't want to, so you have to morph something. And it would make things harder when we're looking through their stuff."
"Fine."
Holly took one of Melissa's hands, and Mike quickly tapped Michelle's elbow, saying, "Be careful," before Michelle took the other. For a moment, all three girls of the group disappeared, and then Melissa reappeared.
"AAH!"
She fell flat on the sidewalk, and stayed lying there, twitching a little.
"you ok there?" whispered a small voice by her right ear.
"Whoa! Michelle wasn't kidding!" Adam exclaimed, watching Melissa.
"thank you," came a whisper by his right ear.
"Phil," Melissa started, her words slightly slurred, "Teleport Mike, Geordie and I to John G. like our plan, then come back here so you can go on your way."
In a matter of seconds, Phil did as he was told, and Holly led them to the house blowing the green feather that Mike had dropped at last moment.
~
"Are we there yet?"
"No," chorused Phil and Adam.
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"Gordon, knock it off!"
"Fine."
There was a short pause.
"Are we there yet?"
{Why did you add him into the plan, Phil?}
{That was Geordie. Not me!}
~
"Are we there yet?"
"Holly, can't we go any faster?" Phil asked.
The feather stopped moving and dropped to the ground. The three boys stopped walking.
"we're almost there. ten more minutes," came his answer.
"why don't you just mentally bit him?" Michelle whispered to Adam.
"I did. Twice. He doesn't seem to care."
"Are we-are you talking to yourself, Adam?"
Gordon grinned at Adam's annoyed look. The green feather picked up from the ground and the boys started following it again.
"Knock him over. Please. I know you must be annoyed by now too. Just get him to shut up," Adam whispered in a low voice.
As soon as they came to a deserted plaza, where she knew no-one was looking, Michelle wafted over behind the three boys until she found what she was looking for: a small patch of dry dirt.
"Are we there yet?"
She started slowly, twirling around in the patch, picking up the dirt little by little.
"Are we there yet?"
She let a bit of her gather shat small breeze was blowing through the street, and added it to her silent, miniature hurricane.
"WATCH YOURSELF!" she finally called out, and quickly twisted towards Gordon.
""Are we-WHOA!"
Hurricane Michelle was swirling at just about Gordon's full height. Gordon stood staring for a moment, then started running just a moment too late. She whipped the dust around, hitting Gordon from all sides.
"CAN YOU SHUT UP NOW UNTIL WE GET TO THE HOUSE?"
"Ok! Fine! I'll stop!" Gordon managed to say.
The wind stopped and Michelle let the dust she picked up land on Gordon, who was by now sneezing uncontrollably.
"Thanks, Michelle," said Phil, who was a bit of a ways ahead by now.
"Are we-uh, oh."
Gordon stopped himself as soon as he saw a hurricane with dry leaves beginning to form.
~
"My. Isn't this treehouse great?" Phil commented from his tree, "Very rustic. Feels like how our ancestors must have lived in trees, way back-"
{Shut up,} Adam ordered.
He positioned himself so he could see out the treehouse window onto the road where the car Matt was in had gone, and down the driveway by the side door of the house, where he knew Gordon stood, invisible.
{Someone might hear you. Then you'd get kicked out, and there goes part of our backup plan.}
~
{Humus, how's recuperation coming?}
Michelle slithered down the hallway, looking in all doors, trying to find her way from the kitchen to the side door. She heard a whine from the kitchen, and guessed that Holly had morphed into a puppy.
{Ooh. Not as well as it could be. How long did it take for you to get used to this, Nutmeg?}
{Do you really wanna know, Humus? Actually, we should use our other names. I meant Whirl.}
The purple anaconda looked through a doorway at her left.
{That's more like it! The door!}
The white shi tzu in the kitchen hoisted itself up slowly, and collided with before staggering into the hallway.
{Well, Uriko, if I didn't want to know, why would I ask?}
The snake gave itself little suction cups on its underside and inched up the door to the knob.
{It could have been a rhetorical question, Whirl.}
Turning into the first door to the right, the small dog found itself in a bedroom with black walls.
{Whoa.}
Then the dog's ears perked up, {There's a picture of Hannah on the desk in a red picture frame! This must be Matt's room! Aah!} the dog jumped onto the unmade bed, {I have to keep his sheets! Maybe there's some of his-}
{Whirl! Don't distract me!}
{Sorry.}
The anaconda twisted and wrapped itself around the doorknob. Slowly, it turned, and then Michelle heard a click.
"Yes! Finally you got the door open!"
Gordon quickly swung the door open, coming visible again, and inadvertently threw Michelle of the door, onto the wall behind it.
{Spiderman, you creep!}
The anaconda hissed at him.
"Oo. Sorry Carrie. Hey! You're a purple anaconda!"
{The name was never 'Carrie'! It was 'Cassie'! And I'm Uriko now, Cockroach-boy!}
{Temper, temper. Uriko, calm down,} Holly scolded.
She padded into view of Spiderman and Uriko, with a shred of black fabric in her teeth.
"What is that?" Gordon asked.
{It's black fabric,} Whirl answered, sitting down.
"I knew that! I meant, where is the fabric from?"
{Don't tell him, Whirl! He either wouldn't understand why you took it, or he would.}
"Why can't I know?"
{Never mind. Whirl, you keep looking in Matt's room, as well as the rest of this floor.}
{If you insist,} the shi tzu said cheerily as it ran out of sight.
{Spiderman, in the hallway, first door to your right, there's some stairs going I believe into the basement. You look there first.}
"Right. Where're you going?"
{Straight to the kitchen.}
"What?!"
{I'm kidding! There's a second floor in this house. I found some stairs going up, three doors to the right of this hallway.}
"Oh. I see."
Spiderman ran past Uriko and turned left. Straight into a wall. Whirl in Matt's bedroom felt the floor vibrate a little and heard a slightly muffled thud.
"OOW!!"
{What happened?} came Adam's voice, {Phil nearly fell out of his tree.}
"Cassie, you liar!"
{It's Uriko.}
The anaconda found Spiderman rubbing his forehead, which was swiftly forming a lump, as he sat on the floor.
{Sorry Signal. Nothing big. Is Genie ok?}
{I said nearly. Not that he actually fell.}
{Gordon didn't realise the house's side door was right by the end of the house's hallway, and ran into a wall. Spiderman, I said the stairs to the basement were at the right.}
Gordon cursed, got to his feet, then went into the basement, grumbling.
{Whirl, I'm gonna morph into something with legs so that I can go up the stairs a little easier. Make sure you're on the floor, ok?}
{Um, ok! I'm ready!}
The purple anaconda shimmered, and in its place, an adult Dalmatian with dark red spots appeared.
{How many more animal mutations are you going to create, Uriko?}
{As many as I can while it's safe. What do you think are the chances our Prime Minister lets the bill for mutant registration pass?}
Whirl remorphed into her shi tzu before answering.
{Well, there are parent groups like the Student's Parent Council who want safety for their kids. Then there are other child-care associations. Teachers, parents, actually the entire school for that matter would want to know who's dangerous in their classrooms. But religious groups and anti-prejudiced people say that mutant registration is just another way to single people out and discriminate against them.}
Uriko trotted up the steps and found there was a door to the second floor.
{Sound's like our future looks bleak,} the Dalmatian mused, struggling while trying to turn the doorknob with her forepaws.
{Actually, the Prime Minister himself is against mutant registration,} Whirl said, in one of the desk's drawers, then added, {Hey! A journal!}
Whirl tossed the brown book onto the floor and jumped after it. Uriko finally heard the knob click, and leaned on the door to get it to swing open.
{Are you sure it's Matt's journal?}
The red-splotched Dalmatian sniffed around, trying to pick up an unusual scent that was not normally found in a house.
{It's says on the front: 'Matt Munro's Journal: School Year 2003-2004'. This has to be it.} Whirl answered in her best 'what-you-just-said-was-stupid' voice. The shi tzu nosed the book, trying to flip open the cover. She heard a big dog's nails slowly click in the hallway, then a dragging sound.
{Help me out here! I can't open up the cover.} Holly called.
{Hang on. Let me get downstairs.}
The shi tzu's ears perked up, and the fur on it's back straightened.
{You're not downstairs?}
{No. I think I'm in some sort of workout room. There're weights everywhere, and a treadmill.}
{You're not in the hallway?}
{No. Would I lie to you, Whirl?}
{But if-}
Whirl stopped. There was a shadow by Matt's bedroom doorway. Whirl softly trotted to the doorway as Uriko carefully came down the stairs.
{What's up, Whirl?}
Halfway down the staircase, both girls, Signal, and Genie heard Spiderman scream in the basement.
{Gordon, what's happened?!} Adam, Holy, and Michelle all asked at once.
Uriko sped down the stairs as fast as she could, and found Whirl, still in her shi tzu morph, visibly trembling, facing a sitting, very big, female Akita dog. It looked like it had dragged itself to Matt's bedroom's doorway. Michelle walked forward slowly, then nudged the real dog's right side carefully, hoping it wouldn't wheel around and bite. The Akita silently turned to Michelle. The first thing that she noticed was that the Akita was holding a skinny runt of a puppy by the scruff of its neck in her teeth. Then Michelle notices the bigger dog's breathing was very shallow.
{It's been practically hacked up in its left side!} Michelle exclaimed in horror.
{What?} Adam asked, adding, {Phil's wondering the same.}
{Wait. Holly, check on Gordon now,} Michelle ordered.
Quietly, Holly went into the basement.
{Adam, just use my eyes.}
The Akita still hadn't moved.
{That is just. . .sick. That dog has lost an eye; it's still bleeding.}
{Can't you see? It's already half dead. It's dying.}
{Michelle, it's 7:20 p.m. We've got 10 minutes.}
The Akita gently put her puppy down, and lay behind it. She pushed the pup towards Michelle with her nose.
{It wants you to take it, Uriko.}
{I realise, Adam.}
There was a pause.
{Well? Michelle, we're low on time.}
{I know, I know!}
{Knowing you, you're going to hate yourself forever if you don't take it,} pointed out Adam.
Michelle inwardly sighed.
{I don't know how this will work, but,}
Uriko nosed the Akita puppy. It whimpered, and she realized it was hungry.
{I'll take care of her for you,} Uriko said quietly to the mother-Akita. But she soon found that her message was a moment too late.
{Is it. . .is she. . .?} Adam stopped himself.
"Uriko. . ." Gordon called.
Uriko was already walking down the stairs carrying the puppy. She saw that the Akita had left a wide trail of blood up the stairs and along the hallway. At the foot of the stairs, the tawny coloured pup began to wriggle and protest.
{What?} Uriko asked it, putting it down on a step level to her head. She nuzzled it a little, saying, {This is where you were kept, isn't it?}
The puppy whimpered.
{Signal?}
{Yes, Uriko?}
{It's the puppy. She's terrified to go down to the basement, and I need to go there.}
{This affects me, how?}
{I want either you or Genie to quickly grab the puppy when I put her outside, and keep her in your treehouse until we all leave.}
{Hang on. Ok, Phil refuses. Do I have any real choice in this?}
{None whatsoever.}
{Fine. I'm climbing down the tree now.}
{Thanks.}
Uriko grabbed the pup, not protesting, and ran up the stairs, around the corner, and realised that though the inner door was open, there was a screen door.
{Um. . .Signal?}
He stepped into view, and raised an eyebrow. Uriko sat down, adopting an English accent.
{Might you please be a dear and open the door for me, Signal? Silly paws, you know. Terrible for opening doors.}
{Depends. Do I have any real choice in this?}
The Dalmatian narrowed her eyes.
{Fine.}
Adam pulled the door open.
{Uriko, what's taking you so long?} came Whirl.
{Hang on. Here,} Uriko got up and held the small dog towards Signal.
"How do I, um, carry it?"
{You're kidding?}
If it were possible, the Dalmatian would have looked incredulous. Signal shook his head. Uriko sighed.
{Do you at least know how to carry a baby?}
Signal looked blank, then shook his head.
{How do you carry you little brother?}
"I half drag him.}
{AGH! BOYS! You cradle it. Hoi. This isn't rocket science.}
"Well, you're a girl."
{Take her! I don't have time for this! Just take her!}
Adam careful, if not awkwardly, held the puppy, which was too weak to struggle, then asked, "How do you know your parents will let you keep this?"
Uriko had already started down the stairs to the basement for the second time that day.
{I honestly don't. What's up, Spiderman? What'd you find?}
Spiderman and Whirl were at the far side of the basement. About five, long planks of wood were piled to the side, and both teen mutants were looking into a hole in the floor, about five feet long and five feet wide. Then Uriko saw the looks on both their faces.
{What's in there?} Uriko asked, nervously.
She trotted over and looked in.
{God,} Whirl said, stunned, {Who could do that?}
{That. . .ugh,} Uriko turned away.
"What've they been doing here?" Gordon asked.