Chapter Six
"You brought us back to our apartment? You don't think Max might try to look for us here?" Larry asked, eyebrow raised as they exited the machine.
"Larry, Max is still in two-thousand-thirteen. He can't touch us here; he's just a baby. We're perfectly safe."
"Oh no!" Balki cried out, looking around frantically. "I forgot Cupydon! He must be so scared! Cousin, we have to go back and get him."
"Balki, are you crazy? Max will surely capture us if we go back. Besides, Cupydon wasn't your cat to begin with; he belongs to Max the creep," Larry reasoned.
"But, Cousin, I–" Balki protested.
Bianca placed a hand on Balki's shoulder. "Balki, Larry's right. It's too dangerous to go back right now, but I promise that we will try and find him later."
Larry's head shot up at her last words, his eyes wide. "Later? We will try and find him later? Bianca, Max is looking to hurt us! I don't know about you, but I really didn't plan on tempting fate today or anytime soon."
"But Cousin, Bianca cannot stay here forever. At some point, she will have to go back to her house. Unless we deal with Max, he will always be waiting for her like a monkey on her neck. We have to go back and make sure Bianca is safe," Balki told him as they walked to the kitchen.
Larry frowned. "I know," he groaned, reaching for his bottle of liquid antacid. "I just didn't want it to have to be today. Can't you just stay here for another twenty-six years? Maybe Max will have mellowed out by then."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door and Bianca squeaked. Balki instantly appeared by her side and placed his arm around her while Larry quickly took a swig of his chalky stress reliever.
"Larry? Balki? It's Jennifer and Mary Anne. Are you home?" Jennifer Lyons' sweet voice called out on the other side.
Bianca quickly reached in her pocket to allow her machine to disappear, but cursed when she realized she could no longer use her cell phone without a signal or the internet. "I can't make it disappear," she hissed.
Larry ran to the door and barely opened it. "Hey, Jennifer. I really wish I could let you girls in, but you see, Balki has come down with a terrible stomach virus and I'm afraid he's just too contagious."
Balki looked up from his position at the bar and glanced at Larry and then Bianca. He hated lying. Even if there was a good reason, he hated it.
"Oh, that's terrible!" Jennifer replied empathetically. "Balki, if you can hear me, I hope you feel better!"
"What she said," Mary Anne added.
"Do you hear that Balki? The girls want you to get better soon!" Larry yelled, turning his head in the direction of Balki's bedroom.
"Ah–ah–a-CHOO!" Bianca suddenly sneezed, causing both Larry and Balki to look at her, albeit with different expressions.
"God bless you," Balki replied before covering his mouth with his hand in error.
"Wow, Balki must be really sick if he sounds like that," Mary Anne said.
"Mary Anne, that wasn't Balki! Larry, what's going on?" Jennifer pressed.
"What's going on? Nothing, nothing. That, uh, that sound you heard was the, uh, television; yeah, the television. I was watching a documentary on allergies for an article I'm writing up in the paper," Larry replied nervously. "It's extremely boring. What do you say to maybe going out for dinner tomorrow night if Balki's feeling up to it?"
"Balki feels up to it now, just in case anybody was wondering," Balki muttered under his breath, causing Bianca to stifle a giggle.
"O-okay. We'll see you later, Larry. We have to catch a flight first thing tomorrow anyway. Dinner sounds good," Jennifer replied, still talking through the crack in the door.
"Tell Balki I hope he feels better," Mary Anne added before they left.
Larry quickly shut the door and leaned up against it. "Phew! That was close."
"Cousin, why you lie to the girls and tell them I was sick? I feel fine. My head is cool as a kumquat, my throat is wet and my nasal passageways are clear," Balki told him.
"Balki, if I had let the girls in, they would have seen Bianca and," he stopped, pointing at the machine, "that thing and would have asked a million questions. Is that what you want; for Jennifer and Mary Anne to find out that we're hiding a time machine? Just think of the repercussions, Balki."
"I don't want to think about percussions, Cousin. I just want help keep Bianca safe so that Max doesn't try to hurt her or anyone else again."
"Well, that's what I want, too, Balki!" Larry scoffed. "Bianca, help me out here, You see why I had no choice but to lie to the girls, right?"
Bianca reached on top of the refrigerator, grabbed an aerosol can of cheese and sprayed some in her mouth. "Right now, all I can think about is food," she mumbled. "I think we all need some serious nourishment before we think about doing anything else."
Balki smiled. "Oh, Cousin, can we order Chinese food from that new restaurant that opened on Fifth Avenue?"
"Bianca, what do you say? Do you like Chinese food?" Larry asked, his hand on the phone.
Bianca nodded her head before filling her mouth with more cheese. "Does it look like I care?"
Larry raised his eyebrows and looked at Balki in amusement. "Apparently not."
Bianca sat down her container of moo goo gai pan and sighed happily. It was hard to believe that something so simple as food could help not only her mood but her mental state, as well. "Well, that was good, but now we really need to go back to my house and retrieve my iPad before Max gets it and–"
Suddenly, the three of them looked up as a familiar buzzing sound reverberated from the living room and saw that Bianca's precious time machine had disappeared into thin air!
"Bianca, your machine; it vanished!" Larry cried out, his eyes wide with horror. "That must mean that Max found a way to control it and he's on his way here to kill us!"
"You mean we don't get to read our fortunes in the fortune cookie?" Balki asked.
"Here's our fortunes: we're doomed!" Larry panicked, grabbing Balki's arms as they sat side by side on the sofa.
"It's coming back," Bianca told them, hearing the machine as it made its return. "Dammit! They must've found my iPad and hacked into it already!"
Sure enough, the machine reappeared with Max, his two sidekicks and Cupydon. They almost looked laughable as they resembled clowns packed into a tiny car, but Bianca noticed she wasn't shaking from laughter, but from fear.
Urpos threw open the door and practically fell out. "We meet again," he panted, grabbing the liquid antacid off the counter and taking a gulp.
"Hey, that belong to Cousin Larry!" Balki scolded.
"Hello, babe," Max greeted with a smile as he reached over to graze Bianca's cheek with the back of his hand. Bianca recoiled and responded with a brisk slap across his face.
Max touched his now red jaw and glowered at her. "You just made a stupid move, my dear."
Bianca watched out of the corner of her eye as Larry and Balki slowly and carefully made their way toward the machine. She had to stall. "You have my iPad, don't you?"
Max proudly opened his black leather jacket to reveal it. "Good guess. You really didn't think just because you stole my phone that all was lost, did you?"
"No. I guess you just thought of everything, didn't you?"
"I guess so. Now are you coming with me willingly or do I have to use force again?" he asked as he, Lylo and Urpos closed in around her.
Quickly, Bianca grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and threw the contents in their faces before running to the time machine.
"Bianca, hurry!" Larry cried as Balki stepped out for a moment to let her inside.
Furiously, Bianca typed in a destination and didn't even think to shut the machine door as she pressed the power button.
Unfortunately, she also forgot to allow time for Balki to re-enter the machine before it disappeared.