The next morning, I decide not to tell my friends that Maria saw us. Besides, they'd probably tell Mum and Mummy, and that's the last thing I want. They might tell Maria that we cannot be friends. 'I'm going over to see Maria,' I say.
'Okay,' Mummy nods. I'm about to head out when Anne, Jane, Rocky, and Maggie join me. We meet Catalina, Anna, Kitty, Joan, and Bessie outside Maria's house, and they all look irritated.
'What happened?' Anne asks.
'Kelsey beat us to Maria,' Anna growls. 'Can we go and kill her?'
'No, we can't!' I yell, and I ring the doorbell.

Maria answers, and she seems delighted to see us. 'Hi,' she grins.
'Who is it?' Kelsey asks, and she joins Maria at the door. 'Great, the weirdos, and my ex's girlfriends. One of them is the niece of the local lunatics.'
'Daughter,' I snarl. 'And my mums aren't mad.'
'They never hang out with anyone except their daughter and her friends. Who knows what goes on in that house? My boyfriend says that they all have troubled childhoods.'
'Don't make me hit you, Hooper,' Catalina snaps. 'We didn't have troubled childhoods. He says we did because he married us and executed two of us, divorced two of us, and is the very definition of madness.'
'Shut up! Henry's not mad,' Kelsey says.
'Yeah, right,' I growl.

'You heading off without me?' Maria's dad asks.
'We're going into town,' Maria says.
'What, without a proper goodbye?'
'Dad,' Maria moans, and her dad leans forward and points to his cheek. Maria walks back over to him and kisses him on the cheek.
'I'm so ashamed for you,' Kelsey says. I nudge her—hard.
'Who's your friends?'
'Catalina, Anne, Jane, Anna, Kitty, Emma, Bessie, Maggie, Joan, and Rocky helped us move in yesterday. The new girl is Kelsey.'
'Did they tell you? About the people that used to live here?' Kelsey asks.
'No, how come?' Maria's dad asks. 'What happened?'
'They ran away—screaming. My mum's friend, Kath Pontin, who lives down there, says they talked about aliens and monsters. The old people also used to bug the local lunatics—'
'You call my mums that one more time, and I'll make sure everyone knows that you are a bully and a gossip who never knows when to shut her goddamn mouth!'
'You wouldn't dare!'
'Actually, I do.' I look over the road and see Mum and Mummy. Mummy is posting a letter at the nearby post box while Mum is hanging out on the driveway.

'Mum, Mummy, I'm heading out,' I call.
'Where are you off to?' Mum asks.
'Bubbleshock factory, as usual.'
'Well, have fun,' Mummy says. We head off to the bus stop together, and Kelsey gives Maria her phone number.
'Just don't give it to anyone in year eight.'

That's when Mum and Mummy drive by in Mummy's car. 'They're the mad women, always racing about.'
'They're not mad.'
'They seem glamorous, though. What do they do?' Maria asks.
'Mummy, her name's Sarah Jane, she's a journalist. Ruby White, my Mum, is a biophysicist.'
'Why don't they have anyone around?' Kelsey asks, and we ignore her. 'Well, what's the reason?'
'We're not answering you, Kelsey. Our private lives are not up for discussion.'

We all stand by the bus stop, waiting for the Bubbleshock bus. My mind wanders back to my older self as I consider what she might have gone through. I only know a tiny bit of what happens to her, but I guess it isn't my place to know.

'What about you lot?' Maria asks. 'What sort of things do you normally do?' We're about to tell Maria when the Bubbleshock bus arrives.
'Here it is!' Kelsey grins, and she and Maria start laughing. Their joy seems to be infectious, as we're all soon smiling and laughing like idiots.
'Hello, girls,' the driver greets us as we get on. 'All aboard for Bubbleshock.' Kelsey picks up one of the free samples, but the rest of us leave them be. The bus moves on to the factory.

'I don't get how this Bubbleshock stuff's supposed to work,' Maria says as we nab some seats near the back.
'I don't care. It makes you feel all wide-awake and stuff, and it tastes fab.'
'It smells disgusting,' I say.
'You lot are part of the 2% then. It doesn't work for 2% of the population. Anyway, it's organic.'

Jane snatches the bottle from Kelsey. 'So, that's supposed to make it okay? Just the magic word, "organic"? I've been around for longer than you can imagine, and just because something is "organic" doesn't mean it's always good.'
'Well, it's natural, and that's good. So, there.' Kelsey snatches the bottle back. Kelsey laughs at Jane, and I shoot her a look. No one laughs at my friends and gets away with it.

People start cheering as we approach the factory, and Maria leans over to take her first look at the factory. The gates open, allowing the bus to get through. I look behind to see a familiar little green car zoom in through the gates behind us.

We all get off the bus and enter the building. 'Welcome to the Bubbleshock experience,' the tour guide says. He's done this tour so many times, so he almost sounds bored of it. 'If you'd like to step through the archway one at a time.' Two boys go through at the same time. 'One at a time, thank you.' Everyone starts going through.
'A security scan in a pop factory?' Maria asks, unconvinced.
'People want to steal the recipe!' Kelsey exclaims before walking through. 'Come on; it doesn't hurt.' Maria follows her, and I allow my friends to go through before me. I glance down at my trusty silver bracelet with blue gems—it's not an ordinary bracelet but a bio-damper that only displays my human half. Please, let this work again.

I step through the archway.

The computer starts beeping. The man jumps away from the computer like it has grown teeth. 'What is it?' The tour guide asks.
'She's not human, sir,' the security guard says.
'I've got no idea what you're talking about,' I say indignantly. The tour guide goes to check the computer.
'The girl's a halfling,' the tour guide growls, almost hitting the man over the back of the head. 'Besides, she'll eat herself in due course.' Everyone begins whispering and sneaking glances at me.
'What was he talking about?' Maria asks when I join the group.
'It's nothing. Come on; we don't want to fall behind.' We follow the group towards the main production area.

'Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Bubbleshock!'
'It's huge,' Maria breathes as we walk down a set of stairs.
'I've seen it loads of times,' Kelsey shrugs, and I glower at her.
'Don't spoil the moment.' We head down to the main area, and the man offers everyone more free samples after telling us to turn our mobile phones off. Kelsey goes and grabs one, but Maria doesn't.
'What's a mobile phone going to do? Make the bubbles go flat?' Maria jokes.
'Okay, I like her,' Maggie grins.

'Hey, you,' he says and gestures for Maria to step forward. 'No Bubbleshock?'
'No, ta,' Maria says. 'I'm one of the 2% with the wrong taste buds.'
'Don't worry, we're working on it,' the man holds up a bottle. 'Soon, we'll have everyone drinking Bubbleshock. The whole world.' He tosses Maria the bottle.
'I'd rather have a cup of tea.' Maria dumps the bottle back in the trolley. I guess the tour guide recognises us from all the times we've been and doesn't ask us why we're not having any.

We continue the tour, and the tour guide says, 'Bane has received ringing endorsements.' I glance at the screen.
'Now, I know we're not supposed to advertise, but we've got to make an exception for this!' The screen is showing Blue Peter, and the two presenters are holding bottles of Bubbleshock.
'You've got to try Bubbleshock; it's simply delicious,' the female presenter agrees. They both hold their bottles towards the camera.
'Drink it!'

This is bad. They've corrupted Blue Peter. The sooner I can get the boy out—Luke, I correct myself, remembering what my friends called him. The sooner I get Luke out, the better. Speaking of which, I should find him soon. We don't have any clothes on us, but we're prepared to risk it. We talked on the group chat before arriving and agreed to get Luke out today. It's the first tour, so we still have some time.

We are almost at the end of the tour. 'I'm going to find Luke and get him out,' I whisper to my friends.
'What are you whispering about?' Kelsey asks, folding her arms.
'As if we're telling you,' I growl. I turn back to my friends. 'Keep me covered, okay?' The ladies nod, and I slip away, back down the familiar corridors.

When I get to the room, I realise that someone is there. Alarms start blaring, and I see Luke wake up. The alarms turn off soon after but return quickly. The man is darting between the screens and controls as sparks fly. He glances back at Luke as he sits up. I run in and elbow the man, then hit him. Sparks fly from a screen, and I jump away. The man isn't so lucky, and he falls away, knocking himself unconscious. I help Luke pull the wires and mask off. I pull him off the slab. 'Come on; we need to get away.'
'It's you,' he says.
'We need to run; come on!' I start running, and he runs after me. 'Luke, hurry up!' I turn back to see he stopped running. We are in a maze of corridors, and I lost my way a little way back.
'What did you just call me?'
'Luke,' I say. 'My friends said that would be your name when my mums adopt you.'
'Luke,' he says, testing the name out.
'Do you like it?'

Luke starts beaming. 'I love it. But if I'm your brother, I need to know your name.'
'I'm Emma.' We hear men close by and start running again. 'Come on, let's find a way out.' We start walking again and almost bump into Catalina, Anne, Jane, Anna, Kitty, and Maria.
'What happened to the other ladies-in-waiting? Where are they?' I ask.
'They're waiting in the car park for us,' Catalina says. 'We came back for you—and Kelsey disappeared soon after you.'
'What?'
'We need to go,' Maria interrupts. 'At least find somewhere to hide while we figure something out.'