CHAPTER TWO – The Feud

The feud lasted for three days, surprising everyone in the household with its duration and intensity.

That first evening, none of them spoke to each other. Or at least, neither Bree nor Adam spoke to Chase. He also avoided them both by shutting himself up in his capsule with a book for the rest of the night.

The next day, they awoke to find that their all-day training session had been cancelled. Mr. Davenport had been called to one of his facilities in Denver on urgent business. Bree escaped to Owen's house, Adam and Leo spent the day at the mall, and Chase stayed home studying and reading. They ate dinner in silence and went to sleep early. Sunday was spent much like Saturday, except that pranks were added to the mix. Chase's school books went missing, only to finally be spotted on top of the roof, hours later. Bree found that her bottles of nail polish had been opened and the contents dumped into a bowl and mixed together. The new color was labeled "swirlie." Adam found his capsule full of chocolate pudding, which made him happy rather than angry.

Both Tasha and Leo tried to find ways to get the siblings to speak to each other, but their efforts were met either with silence or with sarcasm. Tasha threatened grounding if the pranks didn't stop. Mr. Davenport returned that evening, and they all spoke courteously to him, but he could tell something was not right.

Monday morning brought another silent breakfast, except for a loud burst of coughing from Chase after he took a swallow his orange juice. Somehow a large spoonful of salt had been mixed into it, but no one seemed to know how. Tasha finally sent them all off to school with instructions to come straight home afterwards. As soon as they were out the door, she turned to her husband worriedly.

"Donald, don't you think you should talk to them?" she asked as she cleared the breakfast dishes off the counter. "Get them to work this out? I've never seen anything like this. Even Adam…I mean, he usually can't stay mad at anyone for more than five minutes."

"They're teenagers, Tasha," Donald responded as he poured himself another cup of coffee. "They're going to fight sometimes. Didn't you and your sister ever fight?"

"Of course we did. But we always made up by the end of the day. My father was a big believer in not going to bed angry." Tasha smiled as she remembered a particularly nasty dispute that seemed silly now. "We tried not speaking to each other once. Only lasted about half an hour. We just couldn't keep from talking to one another. And once we started talking again, we forgot why we were mad in the first place."

"Figures," Donald mumbled. His wife and her sister couldn't seem to go a day without calling each other now, though he could never figure out what they could possibly have to talk about when they had just spoken the day before. "Look, that last mission was pretty stressful, and they kids are just blowing off steam. I'm sure they will work it out on their own."

"Like you and your brother did?" she challenged, placing a hand on her hip and staring at him.

Donald nearly choked on the sip of coffee he had just taken. "That's a totally different situation," he sputtered when he was able to speak again.

"Is it?"

"YES. For one thing, my brother is crazy. For another thing…well, he started it!"

"It doesn't matter who started it; someone needs to finish it. And the same goes for the kids. This has gotten way out of hand, Donald." She gave him that look again, the one to which he could never say no

Donald sighed. "OK, OK. If they're still not speaking tonight, I'll talk to them."

"Thank you." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and picked up her purse to head out for the day.

Donald considered her words as he sipped his coffee. He honestly couldn't imagine this battle between Adam, Bree, and Chase turning into the kind of full-scale years-long war he and his brother were in. For one thing, none of the kids were anything like Douglas.

Well, maybe Chase is, a little bit, he thought. Both had extreme intelligence and a desire to be the best at pretty much everything. And both had the desire for attention and a chip on their shoulder that seemed to come with being the youngest.

But Chase had something that Douglas lacked; compassion. Chase knew the difference between right and wrong, and didn't try to cheat or hurt others to build himself up. And Chase isn't a psychopath. Donald had made sure that none of the kids became anything like what Douglas had intended them to be.

Donald drained the last of his coffee and headed to his lab to start the day's work. He would talk to the kids that night, and he was confident that they could resolve their differences and start working together as a team again.

Adam glanced at the clock on the dashboard of his car. 3:30 pm. School had let out five minutes ago. Usually, he gave all of his siblings a ride home if they needed it. Today Bree had gone to Caitlin's house. Leo was in the front passenger seat. Chase hadn't come out of the building yet.

Normally this would have been no big deal to Adam. He wasn't in any particular hurry to get home. But he and Bree were still locked in this war with Chase, and he sensed the opportunity for a strike against his brother.

3:31. Adam started the car.

Leo looked up in surprise. "Aren't you going to wait for Chase?"

Adam shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"Don't you think this has gone on long enough?" Leo asked. "I mean, do you even remember what you guys are fighting about?"

Adam thought for a moment. He honestly couldn't remember how the fight had started. "Umm…well, we were….umm…."

"See? I knew it. You don't even know why you're mad."

Adam snapped his fingers. "I do remember! He called me stupid." He frowned and looked down at the steering wheel.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it, Adam," Leo said.

"Yes he did. He always treats me like I'm dumb, and I'm sick of it." 3:32. Adam shifted the car into gear and started to pull out of the parking lot.

Leo sighed and glanced out of the window towards the school's main door. He saw the door open and a familiar person step out.

"Wait, there's Chase," he told Adam.

But Adam just stepped on the gas and flew out of the parking lot, squealing the car's tires in the process.

Chase stepped out of the school just in time to see his ride go flying out of the parking lot. "Adam!" he cried, even though he knew it was useless. He quickly pulled his cell phone out of his backpack and called his brother.

"What are you doing? I'm right here," he said after Adam answered the phone.

"Oh, Chase, was I supposed to take you home today?"

"You know you were. You always give me a ride home. Now come back and get me." Chase gritted his teeth and added a tense 'please' to his request.

"Sorry, but Leo and I really need to get home." Adam grinned as he spoke. This was fun!

"What am I supposed to do?" Chase cried.

"I don't know. Why don't you use your superior intelligence to find a way home?" Adam pushed "disconnect" and laughed to himself as he drove towards the Davenport Mansion. Beside him, Leo sighed worriedly.

"Fantastic," Chase mumbled as he dropped his phone back into his bag and began walking. The walk home was manageable, but long. It would probably take him the better part of an hour, even if he walked at a brisk pace. There was a chilly breeze blowing, and he hadn't brought a jacket with him.

Chase crossed his arms and bent his head down against the wind. He had been on the verge of breaking down and apologizing to his siblings, but this latest incident made him change his mind. How could Adam be so petty and childish? And how could he and Bree team up against him like this? It was always two against one, and he was the odd man out.

Lost in his thoughts, Chase didn't notice the car that was slowly following behind him. It stayed behind him until they were out of sight of the school and into a less populated area. Then the car pulled up beside him and the driver's side window came down.

"Need a ride?"

Chase jerked his head up in surprise. He stopped walking and nearly dropped his backpack.

"What are you doing here?!" he exclaimed.

From the driver's seat of the dark-colored sedan, Douglas Davenport grinned at him.

"I'm offering my son a ride home from school."

END CHAPTER