Thank you for your patience lately with my poor updating. I had promised this chapter would be longer; I hope it satisfies everyone! Hope you enjoy!
Voices weave through my thoughts, dragging me out of a pleasant dream. I keep my eyes closed and latch onto the straggling wisps of warmth. There was a quiet beach, cool water, a rock to watch the sunset on. And him. The image of him splashing in water knee-deep, water glistening on his bare skin in the sun. Sitting beside him on a boulder while watching the colors in the sky as they reach the ocean; then him lacing his fingers over mine and smiling.
"Audrey? Where are you?" Bree's voice sounds from the hall.
"I'm right here," I call out in a groggy voice.
She enters the room and looks around. "Where?" She checks the closet, every cranny in the bathroom and comes out with her brow furrowed deeper than before. "This isn't funny!"
I groan and roll out of bed, annoyed about waking from such a wonderful dream. "Bree, right where you left me." She stomps over to where I am and walks straight through me.
Air catches in my throat and I raise a hand to my chest. No hand moves. In fact, when I glance down, there is no Audrey to see.
"Bree, where did my body go?" I ask slowly. She shakes her head and turns away. I grab for her. She stops suddenly and wheels around. Her eyes that a moment ago contained exasperation now convey confusion and growing fear.
She runs out of the room, screaming for Mr. Davenport. I stand-at least I assume I am standing-and feel the terror wash over me. How and what is happening? Maybe this is a bad dream that any moment Bree or my alarm will wake me from.
I am slowly aware of everything around me, including behind. Without exactly seeing with my eyes I see everything in a 360 degree radius and all below and above me. Trying to describe it to myself brings on a wave of vertigo.
Mr. Davenport appears a few minutes later with Bree in tow. "Audrey, what happened?"
I begin shaking. "I don't know. I was fine when I went to bed last night—" I stop. It feels more like a dream but I am positive it happened. Before I can elaborate, however, he motions for us to follow and leaves the room in a hurry. I glance to Bree for reassurance and trail after him. In the elevator he continues muttering something over and over. Bree leans against the wall, biting her nails. I keep scanning below me for any sign the rest of me will reappear.
I have the strange sensation of floating with no beginning or end. But at the same time I have a feeling of where each part of my body is. The ground below cannot be felt. Yet shen I reached out for Bree I could feel her skin.
"Bree, can you feel this?" I brush up against her, she starts but nods.
We step out of the elevator and into a room filled with high-tech equipment. Screens line the walls and stationed in the middle are tables covered with tools and bizarre-looking items. Against the far wall are three empty tubes. What on earth could those is used for? The majority of things in here have the Davenport Industries logo on them and I put the clues together fairly easily. This must be Davenport's basement lab.
I want to say something when Leo, Chase and Adam walk in. My stomach twists as the butterflies twirl. Why does he have to wear clothes that look so good on him? "Mr. Davenport, you called?" Chase asks. Why does he call his dad Mr. Davenport?
"Yes," he says, typing furiously on the monitor set into a counter. "Right now I need to scan Audrey to see what happened."
Chase scans the lab in suprise. "Is she here?"
"Yep; standing right next to you." He jumps and turns in circles. Feeling bold because I am not visible, I slide my hand over his neck, watching as he jerks. "Hi, there," I laugh. The quiver in my voice is only from the whole experience of not being able to touch my toes, I remind myself. Nothing else.
Davenport directs me to one of the three tubes and hurries back to the cyber desk. A whirring is heard and a blue light flashes. Almost as quickly as it started, it ends.
Everyone is looking over Davenport's shoulder with mouths hanging open and faces slack. Only Adam has a bit of confusion as to what is being displayed on the screen. They gather in a tight huddle on the other side of the room and talk in hushed tones.
"Oh, so you mean she's like us?" Adam asks loudly and is shushed. What does he mean? What does he mean by that? Davenport walks back over with a smile so forced it looks painful.
"How do I change back to me?" I ask before he can say anything. My more pressing matters first, if you will.
"Audrey, I know this will be hard but it is incredibly important you listen to every word." He explains how I apparently have been implanted with a chip in my neck that gives me superhuman abilities. Adam, Bree and Chase also have chips and he helps them train for missions. There is more but I hang on the first part.
"I have superpowers?" I stutter out.
Chase steps forward. "Sure, if you want to consider them that. Bree has super speed, Adam has super strength and super stupidity, and I am super smart." Gosh, he looks good in that blue polo that shows off his tan arms and hugs his frame. I shake myself out of it. This isn't the first time I have had a dream involving him in one way or the other. The next day at school, however, the dream plasters itself behind my eyes whenever he is in the same proximity as me.
"You seem to be able to change phases of matter," Davenport says, checking his screen.
"Please just tell me how to get back!"
"I don't know if I can. Someone else programmed your chip and I have no way of knowing how you change. Just try concentrating on being a solid again." I close my gasseous eyes and remember what I was like twelve hours ago. A tingling runs throuh my being and when I open them again I'm still a gas. I grunt in frustration.
"Do it again," Chase presses. I try it again to find both feet standing on the cold tile floor. Bree crashes into me with a hug. Good thing because my knees buckle. Chase crosses his arms with a triumphant smile. "I knew you could do it."
Leo ushers the siblings out. "We have to run more tests." My stomach clenches at the unplesant sound of that. As though sensing my apprehension Chase turns around and offers me a thumbs-up. Bree whispers good luck and gives my arm a squeeze.
"As the elevator doors close Adam calls, "don't let her use my tube!"
A couple hours later I collapse into the chair beside Bree. She puts down the pencil and pushes her homework away. "This is awful," I whine.
"Once you get used to it having bionics isn't that bad." I give her what I hope is an incredulous look. "How did the tests go?" She changes the subject.
"Well, they figured out I can change into different forms of matter, something about weather resistance, and have prolonged durability and endurance."
"That is awesome! And you probably have some hidden abilities, too. I didn't find mine before recently."
"Speaking of which, how long have you had your bionics?" I ask, the underlying message clear to my ears.
Bree swallows. "I wanted to tell you. Every day I wanted to tell you what I could do. It wasn't that I didn't trust you-if someone else heard it could put the others in danger and I couldn't risk it. I truly am sorry."
Right now I am too tired and upset to say anything so I get up. My feet carry me blindly until I find myself in the yard next to the full-length basketball court. Grabbing a ball from the supply closet I head out there. Basketball is a way that helps me calm down and takes my mind off issues. I slam the ball against the blacktop and drive in on the left. I put it up too hard and it richochets off the backboard. I groan and chase after it, attempting a three-pointer at the other basket. Even from this distance the force is too great and it flies away.
"Wow, and I thought I had anger issues." Adam is standing at half court with the runaway basketball in his hands. He jumps and with almost flawless form, sinks it.
"I kind of want to be alone," I say, not kindly.
He ignores me and grabs his own rebound. "These hoops were built to withstand me pulling on them," he says and hangs off the rim to demonstrate. There is a creak but it doesn't snap, even when he bounces with it.
"How do you do it?" I exclaim after a moment. "How do you deal with it?"
"Oh, its pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Think of it like a bomb: one wrong move and something can blow up or people could find out." He waves a hand in dismissal at my humorless stare. "Don't worry. You will understand how to control your bionics. After a while having them won't be such a big deal and lying to people isn't so hard-unless your name is Chase. Man, that boy couldn't lie if his life is on the line. Training is boring but I guess it helps alot. We also have our tubes that help glitching from happening; a glitch is when our bionics malfunction."
"Easy for you because being bionic is all you've ever known. What if I can't learn to control them and end up revealing it in public? That would put everyone in danger."
"Then we all move to the North Pole, dress up like elves and help in Santa's workshop. That shouldn't be hard for Chase because he's so small anyways." His face suddenly brightens and I can almost see the lightbulb flashing. "What if I teach you about your bionics? I could be your teacher!" he gasps.
I open my mouth to say no but an invisible hand twists my heart. Even if he isn't the most brilliant person in the world, Adam has always been nice to me. Like the time when someone ran into me and purposefully knocked my tray of food down my front, he was there to defend me and later let me borrow his sweatshirt to hide the mess. He is one of my best friends and if I let him down, what will that say about me as a person? Besides, as much as I want them to dissapear, I suppose I will need to learn more about these bionics. Who better to show me than a vetran?
I nod. "Thanks, Adam, I would really appriciate that." He grins then clears his throat and takes on a professional demeanor.
"First, as your teacher, I would like you to run up and down this court."
"Why?"
"To test your physical strength. We all have extra durabilility and endurance. How fast can you run sprints?"
Before all this I could be down the court and back in twelve seconds tops. Adam counts down on his watch and at one I shoot off. It does seem I can take faster strides than before or maybe thats just me. I brush the line and hurry back. "Done!" I call as I cross the starting line.
"That was... nine seconds," Adam squints at the numbers on his wrist. Only nine seconds? I could never do that before.
"Good job, student. Next, we will practice whatever it is you did this morning."
"But I don't even know how I did it! What if I get stuck and can't change back!?"
"Well, don't do that."
I sigh and close my eyes. There is no use arguing with Stubborn Adam. Concentrating on turning into something else has no effect at first. It creeps into my thoughts and sits there like a dog waiting for a treat. If everything is controlled by the chip in my neck, then perhaps I should be using that rather than digging through my brain. I try again, this time focusing on the piece of metal attatched to my spinal cord.
"You did it!" Adam exclaims brightly. Sure enough, it worked. I am now a substance floating through the air. "I wonder if I could inhale you," he says thoughtfully as though picking up on my thoughts.
"Please don't!"
"Fine," he sighs, "then try moving around." I feel a tingle where each body part is. Moving is similar to walking: it takes no real effort. The only trouble I experience is holding myself together when I attempt to go faster.
"Hey, Audrey, can you come back now? I'm starting to get a little bit freaked out," Adam calls when I grab the basketball from him and hold it suspended in the air.
I concentrate and find myself standing as a solid form. An idea occurs and I continue with it until a puddle of water takes my place. Hmm, that is definetly interesting. So I can take on any form of matter. Returning back to normal me form is more difficult than before but after a few minutes I am lying on the ground.
"What else can you do?"
"Mr. Davenport said I am weather tolerant; I can withstand extreme temperatures. Have anything that generates super heat or cold?"
"No, but I do have lazer eyes." Before I can make any move to prepare myself Adam's eyes glow red and send forth two lazers directed at me. With a gasp I relize I am perfectly fine. It is warmer than before but otherwise nothing feels uncomfortable...besides the fact that I am being roasted alive and feel nothing worse than a simple sunburn. He turns off the heat-literally-and stares at me. Smoke is wafting from my clothes. His face breaks from stunned to amazed to awed. "That is awesome! Can you teach me how to do that?"
I laugh and throw the basketball at him. "Bet your strength couldn't help you win against my skills."
"Oh, you are on!" I loose track of time and everything that happened since I woke up. We play full-court and it is suprising even to me how long I go without becoming tired. Even when he lobs the ball from across the court I manage to forget there are such things as bionics. I don't know how long we play for but the sun is setting when Bree's voice sounds. "Tasha says dinner is ready in a few minutes and to get cleaned up." She notes the sweat marks on Adam's shirt, how our clothes cling to us and says, "looks as though you two had fun today."
"Adam helped me understand my bionics better."
She gives a half smile. "Adam was helpful with something other than target practice? I'm awed." With that she zips off inside.
We put the ball away and I wrap one arm around him in a side hug. "Thank you for helping me today. I think you were the best person to talk to me about it. The others would have made it too complicated."
He returns the hug. "Sure thing. It's nice to finally have someone who speaks your language, isn't it?"
I laugh, "Yes, absolutely."