Jasper didn't waste any time and immediately launched into the story. "Okay, so Charlotte goes to your house and finds it completely trashed…."
"I've got something!" Jasper yelled. Charlotte ran across the Man Cave, almost knocking over Ray and Schwoz. "What?! What is it?!" She screeched.
Jasper pointed to an image on the screen. "Watch."
He hit play. The video showed something fall out of the van. "Check this out." He zoomed in.
The others squinted. "A license plate?"
"Yeah," said Jasper. "Half of one, anyway." He pointed to the screen. The plate read A113 and cut off there. "Look closer."
Charlotte saw it first. "Oh," she breathed.
The plate had fallen out of the van, but had caught on something. "When is this?" Ray asked, referring to the video.
"Right after they got Piper. They didn't notice, I think."
Charlotte frowned. "What if it's a trap?"
Jasper shrugged. "I don't think so." He made a few clicks. "It falls off later, but the van is alone at this point."
Charlotte glanced over at Ray, who appeared to be thinking because he was stroking his chin. "What do you think?"
Ray stopped stroking his chin and snapped his fingers. "I have an idea."
"...and his idea was the extra Kid Dangers."
"Yeah, I kinda figured."
Ahead of the boys, Charlotte pushed open the doors to Junk N' Stuff. Jasper took his place behind the counter, and his friends started for the elevator.
Henry reaches for the button but stopped. "Remember," he said, looking at Charlotte.
She nodded. "She knows nothing."
Henry pushes the button. The initial falling of the floor was always a bit startling, but they were used to the falling at this point and usually landed on their feet.
Not today.
Henry and Charlotte were kind of stacked on top of each other when the elevator doors opened. Ray was sitting on the couch with Schwoz, shuffling a deck of cards. He looked up and, seeing them, laughed so hard he lost control of the cards. Schwoz snorted like his pig.
After they finally pulled themselves together, Ray held up the few remaining cards had had and said, "Personally, I think we all deserve a day off."
"What about Jasper?"
"His job was to stay put."
"Ray."
"Fine. Keep shuffling, I'll be right back." He handed the cards to Henry and stomped toward the elevator.
"Jasper, go downstairs," said Ray when he got up to the store.
"Kay kay!" Jasper, happy to obey his favorite superhero, skipped toward the elevator.
Ray was about to turn around and follow him, but he noticed something- a pair of 3D glasses- had been knocked over behind the counter.
He had just stood back up to put them where they belonged when the shop front door opened.
His first instinct was to scream and fight, it startled him so bad, but he didn't.
A woman walked into the store. She was tall, with the help of dark blue two-inch heels that matched her knee-length dress. Her hair was brown and a bit wavy and her body was tense; she looked like a female version of Ray.
"Rey?!" He exclaimed.
"Oh," said Rey, relaxing just a bit. "So you already know who I am."
"Oh. Uh… yeah." Ray swallowed. "What are you doing here?"
Yeah. Ray finally meets his half sister and that's the first question he asks her.
"Well," said Rey, a bit sheepishly, "first, I owe you an apology."
Ray softened up a little bit. "For what?"
"Well… I, well, our… mother finally mentioned you to me a couple of months back. I've been trying to work up the courage to talk you to. To you," she corrected herself quickly.
"Well…" said Ray slowly. "I kinda found out about you a while back. Not a super long while, but a while."
Rey smiled and took another step into the store. "You win."
Ray smiled a little. He walked over and sat down on the step. Rey did, too. Then Ray frowned. He couldn't resist asking. "So… how's Mom?"
Rey made a face. "I wouldn't know," she said, her voice harsh and soft at the same time. "She disowned me a long time ago."
Ouch. "Oh... What happened? If you don't find me asking," he added quickly.
Rey rolled her eyes. "Apparently I'm 'the biggest disappointment since her last kid,'" she said, making quotation marks with her fingers. "That's how I found out about you, actually. She let it slip."
"Huh." There was a silence. "So… have you been here a while, or…?"
"No, I just moved here a few weeks ago. I've got a job as a news reporter here now." She grinned a little. "I'm sure you've heard of Captain Man, right?" Ray nodded. Oh, jeez. "I actually got to talk to him a bit. It was exciting. He's actually kinda cute."
Gag. Now I know how Henry feels.
Just as he was thinking this, there was a ding and a voice from the back room. "Ray? You up here?"
Both Ray and Rey looked up as Henry walked through the beads. He recognized Rey immediately.
"Hi there," he said awkwardly, trying to hide his surprise.
"Hello," she said back.
"Uh," Ray slowly stood up, "Rey, this is Henry. He works for me. Henry, this is Rey, my half sister."
"Nice to meet you," said Henry politely, reaching out to shake her hand.
"You too," Rey said with a smile. That's when her phone started going off. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, silencing it. "That's my alarm. I'm supposed to pick up my kids from their after-school clubs."
"Oh, yeah, go ahead!" Ray said. "Do, uh, do you wanna get together and talk sometime?"
Rey smiled. "I'd love that." Then, without warning, she came down the step and gave him a hug. Ray was startled, but hugged her back. Henry watched, smiling.
Ray and Rey finally broke apart, smiling. Rey left, looking back at her brother first.
"So," said Henry once she was gone, "that's Rey, huh?"
"Yeah," said Ray. They both watched the door and didn't look away until another voice scared the living daylights outta them.
"Did you guys forget how to use the elevator?" Charlotte smirked a little when she saw them jump.
"No," said Ray. "Something just came up."
"'Something'?" Charlotte raised her eyebrows.
Ray looked at Henry, then back at Charlotte. "Let's go downstairs," he said. "I've got something to tell you guys."
And so he did.
Everyone was really excited to find out that Ray had a sister. No one was mad that he didn't say anything before, and they were all very supportive.
Charlotte was the one to ask the burning question: "Does she know?"
Ray bit his lip. "No."
Henry asked the other burning question: "Are you going to tell her?"
"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know, you guys." He slumped down in his seat. "I just meant her, I wanna gain her trust first."
"You told me about five minutes after we meant," Henry pointed out.
Ray shrugged. "Yeah, but that's different."
Henry and Charlotte exchanged a look before shrugging. They were both thinking about Piper. Ray didn't want his own sister finding out. How would he react to Piper knowing?
Really, really badly.
Spellcheck kept telling me "Rey" was spelled wrong. ;P
Ciao, and Happy Reading!