Strange Country Day Page 8

I was jarred out of my nanobot-induced trance.

  “Sophi! Don’t—”

  She put her hands up and squeezed his head between them. In an instant, lightning shot up and down Flab’s massive body. His mouth opened for a scream of shock, pain, and horror.

  I shielded my face as I watched Flab’s eyes roll into the back of his head. Sophi let go and Flab went down. She rolled off him, trying to catch her breath.

  I knew it long before this moment, but it was a shock to my system to see her knock Flab unconscious. Images flashed before me: The doorknob that electrocuted me. The lights stopping in the City. The video games that ceased working when she put her hands on them. The constant stream of static shocks. And Christmas lights in the middle of the woods? There wasn’t an extension chord in the world that could reach us.

  “You … you’re … ” I stammered.

  She looked up at me and nodded.

  “I’m like you.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod.”

  Tears streamed down Sophi’s face as she clamped her hands over her mouth. We looked at Flab’s body lying still on the ground and tried to get over the initial shock after her … well, shock.

  “Is he dead?” she whispered. I got off the ground and crept over slowly. His eyes were closed, and the color in his fleshy face had been drained. I leaned in to look for any sign of life, ready for his eyes to snap open and his beefy hands to reach out and strangle me. I stared at his chest for a few seconds and … yes! It was moving, but he was taking shallow breaths.

  “He’s okay, but we need to get him to the hospital.”

  Sophi shook her head vigorously. “No, we can’t! They’ll arrest me,” Sophi said, wiping her eyes.

  She was right. We couldn’t just call on our cellphones, leave a tip, and run away. They’d probably trace the call, and we’d get in serious trouble. We couldn’t leave him there in case he was really hurt, and we couldn’t sit there and wait for him to wake up, though Sophi had proved there was a way to stop him.

  I looked around the forest for inspiration, and it hit me: if there were a bunch of bodyguards following me, they saw what had just happened.

  “I’m calling 911,” I said loudly.

  “You can’t!”

  “I’ll leave a quick tip, and we’ll run. It’s the only way to do it.”

  “But what if they find us? He’ll tell the police what happened.”

  I got up and put a hand on Sophi’s shoulder. “You have to trust me. What’s the closest street?”

  “Serviet Road.”

  I took out my phone, and Sophi turned away and started pacing. I auto-dialed my parents’ number.

  “911, what’s your emergency?” Mom’s voice!

  I lowered my voice for Sophi’s benefit, to keep up appearances. “We need an ambulance off the woods near Serviet Road. There’s an unconscious teenager there.”

  “We’ll take care of it,” I heard Mom say as I hung up.

  Sophi gave one last look back at Flab, who hadn’t moved once. She knelt over him. “Jared, if you can hear me … I’m really sorry I had to do that. But we are not dating. Okay?”

  I let her lead the way as we began running out of the clearing. Just a few seconds in, she stopped. I nearly ran into her as she turned around.

  “I left the lights on,” she said.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “No, it does. It’ll take one second.”

  I followed her as we jogged back through the path and into the lit area. Once again, Sophi came to a halt in front me. I took a step to my right to see what made her stop.

  Two men stood near Flab. One wore a blue hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and workmen’s boots. He had a crew cut with graying sideburns. I recognized him almost immediately—he was the dog walker who had saved Dex and me the day Flab had tried to attack us.

  He was joined by a tall someone in fatigues wearing a large backpack and a helmet. A mask and goggles covered his face.

  He also carried a very large rifle.

  We stood in silence for a few seconds before the dog walker said one word: “Go.”

  I glanced at Sophi, who looked as pale as Flab. “Lights?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

  “Turn them off,” he commanded.

  Without taking her eyes off the pair, Sophi walked over to one of the large trees to which the lights were attached. She reached up and pinched one of the lights between her fingers.

  TZZZT.

  We were plunged into darkness.

  Sophi turned around and began running again. I followed the sound, trying to protect my throbbing pinkie finger from the brambles and branches I encountered as we zigzagged down the path. We finally made our way out to the cul-de-sac and caught our breath.

  “Who were they?” she asked between deep gulps of air.

  “It’s a long story, but I don’t entirely know myself.”

  “We have time.”

  “You first. Flab interrupted us.”

  As we walked back along the illuminated streets, Sophi told me her story. About a year ago, around her twelfth birthday, she began giving people accidental electric shocks. Only they weren’t those little bits of static shock from a sweater, a rug, or dry air.

  One day, she was holding her dad’s hand and he jumped in the air. She’d wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare and her room would be filled with lightning bolts streaming from her hands, so she started wearing rubber dishwashing gloves when she went to bed to keep the charges at bay. She didn’t tell anyone about what she could do and was still struggling to control her powers; she used the clearing in the woods as a practice area.

  Recently, she began to be able to shoot bolts at specific targets, but didn’t know how much energy the bolts created. She had, however, figured out how to “accidentally” bump into kids at school who made fun of her and shock them slightly. But she’d never tried what she had just done to Flab.

  “What was with all the shocks when we held hands?” I inquired.

  She rolled her eyes. “You really didn’t know I was trying to send you a clue that we were the same?”

  “I did, I swear! I suspected something.”

  She responded with a tiny zap to the back of my hand and nodded sarcastically. “Sure.”

  I told her everything, from the experiments my parents did on children all the way through what I had learned recently: that we were protected by a group of unseen soldiers and bodyguards, even at school. When I explained my nanobots, I pulled the device Dad had given me out of my pocket. Instead of showing “READY” in glowing green letters, it flashed a series of blinking red numbers. It meant I had activated in the middle of my beating.

  “This is so much to take in,” she said as we walked.

  “But you knew about me before tonight, so you must have figured out something was up.”

  “When I watched you and Dex in gym class, I knew. It’s not the only reason I like you, but it’s perfect.”

  “It’s a relief to tell someone else.”

  “So you definitely didn’t call 911 back there,” she said as I recognized the crowded garden in front of Sophi’s house down the block.

  She gave me a half-smile. “Quick thinking, Ptuiac. But I still have a million questions.”

  “Same here.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’d really like to know why, if we have protection twenty four hours a day, they didn’t stop Flab.”

  “I want know why I have these powers.”

  We looked at each other for a second and walked past her house. Fifteen minutes later, I was walking up to my front door. Sophi put her hand on my arm.

  “Are you sure this is okay?”

  “I think so.”

  I took a few steps over to our kitchen window. “I’m home,” I called out.

  “Voice identified as Ptuiac, Alexander. Welcome home,” the computerized voic
e squawked. The front door clicked.

  Sophi’s mouth dropped open. I laughed and opened the door.

  We walked in to find Mom standing over our computerized cook. “Morimoto, a half-dozen chocolate chip cookies, please.”

  The machinery started whirring, and Mom turned her attention to us.

  “Hey guys! How was the rest of the bonfire?”

  “It’s okay, Mom. She knows, and we want to know more.”

  “Alex, what are you talking about?”

  “Mom, I said she knows.”

  Her smile dropped. She looked at both of us. Finally, she spoke in that quiet voice she reserved for times when she was furious. “Sorry you have to hear this, Sophi, but what both of you are doing right now is dangerous.”

  “So you were going to keep this a secret forever?”

  “We’re still figuring out what to do. But the less you both know, the better. I mean, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface … ” She trailed off. “Sophi, make yourself at home.”

  “Thanks, Mrs. Ptuiac. I really, really appreciate this,” Sophi said quietly as she slid into a chair at the table.

  Mom looked down at my left hand and saw the broken finger. “I’ll have Dad grab something for that.” She raised her voice. “Honey, come up with an auto-splint for Alex.”

  “Be there in a few,” came Dad’s reply from the intercom in the wall. Sophi nearly jumped out of her chair at the unseen voice.

  Dad arrived two minutes later, carrying a laptop. He joined us at the table and handed me a finger-shaped piece of metal that looked like a cast with an opening at the end of it. I slipped my pinkie in there and watched as it adjusted to fit the contours of my finger. A female voice came out of it: “Five weeks remaining.” Sophi’s eyes almost bugged out of her head as we joined her at the kitchen table.

  “The patent is still pending,” Dad said.

  Pop! All four of us jumped as Morimoto’s door opened. The arm dropped a basket of raw cookie dough on the table.

  “For goodness’s sake, Morimoto,” Dad said, shaking his head. He turned his attention to Sophi.

  “What you did back there was incredible.”

  “Is he okay?” she asked.

  Dad nodded. “He’s a bit woozy, but he’ll be fine. I heard you bumped into a couple of our men. After you left, they posed as police officers and took down a report when he woke up. He told them he didn’t know how he had been knocked out and that he wouldn’t press charges.”

  He turned in his chair to face me. “Alex, I’m sorry about what happened, but I couldn’t stop Flab from attacking,” Dad said. “We can’t blow our cover for everybody. Once we ID’d him as your teammate, we were forced to let it play out. Only if you were in further danger would we have stepped in. The two of you going into the woods didn’t exactly help matters … ” Sophi blushed furiously. “ … But, hey, look on the bright side. We discovered quite a secret.”

  “Martin!” Mom scolded.

  “Okay, sorry.” He got serious again. “Sophi, before I explain a few things to you, you have to promise to keep this a secret.”

  “Of course.”

  Dad opened the laptop and typed. He turned the screen around. It was a long list of categories and a box for a photo that was blank. The categories were filled in with all kinds of information: Date of Birth: 6/17/02; Weight: seven pounds, three ounces; Blood type: O positive.

  “Sophi, it’s nice to finally meet case number 574912BK.”

  Dad explained that Sophi had a rare heart defect that her parents had discovered before she was born. They brought her in right after her birth, and Dad’s team figured out a solution—a nuclear-powered battery attached to her heart.

  Sophi’s already-wide eyes got even larger after hearing that.

  “There’s another wrinkle to this story. When we dropped off the grid, some of the parents of the babies we’d helped save didn’t approve of us going underground to hide from the government. They thought their families would be harmed if they were associated with a group being hunted down.

  “So when we decided to move, we sent out a message to every family we worked with, even those who wanted nothing to do with us. We told them they might be in danger whether they had stayed in touch or not and that we’d be better off moving close to each other to pool our resources. A few agreed, including Sophi’s parents.”

  “Your parents also played another important role,” Mom interjected. “They thought this town was a perfect place for everyone. You’re the reason why we moved here.”

  “But little did we know you had those powers. We had no idea this was going to happen,” Dad said.

  “So we’re moving again,” I cut in.

  “No,” Mom replied. “Like I told you, we’re still figuring it out. The problem is that there could be other kids we don’t know about out there developing powers like yours, without protection. That’s what we’re working on at the moment: getting the old group of scientists back together to find and help those kids.”

  “Do my parents know I’m like this?”

  Sophi spoke for the first time in what felt like hours.

  “I don’t think so. Seeing you exhibiting these … side effects … isn’t something we’re ready so share with the group until we figure everything out,” Mom said.

  Sophi shifted in her seat. “Why are you so open with telling me all this?”

  “That’s how confident we are about protecting you. It’s taken us a long time to put those measures in place.”

  “One more question: Why can’t I control myself all the time?”

  “That’s a little more complicated. As I told Alex, I’m still working on that. But I believe part of the reason is your fluctuating hormones. Theoretically, sometimes you can control them, sometimes you can accidently blackout an entire city block.”

  Dad paused. “My turn. I have a favor to ask of you.”

  Mom started shaking her head. “Martin, this is a bad idea.”

  “It’ll be fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. “Sophi, I want you to turn that television on for me. But do it while sitting right where you are.”

  She looked confused. Dad turned his chair and pointed to a small flat-screen TV mounted on the wall on the other side of the kitchen.

  Sophi looked at me and started grabbing at her hair nervously. “No, Mr. Ptuiac, I can’t.”

  “Dad, no. You already know what happened tonight,” I said.

  “Are you sure about this?” Sophi asked my parents “What if I can’t control it?”

  “Sure! Don’t even worry about breaking anything, we can replace it,” he said.

  “I’m more worried about what I did to Jared.”

  “I’m not,” Dad replied. “Some confidence might help you have some control.”

  After a long pause, Sophi looked at the three of us and finally agreed.

  As my parents moved their chairs aside, Sophi took a deep breath and exhaled, shaking her hands loosely as if she were warming up to play piano, then took another deep breath and lifted her left hand. She pointed her left index finger, her nail covered in purple nail polish, toward the television. Her brow furrowed, and her teeth clenched. I saw her hand start to shake. Nothing happened.

  Her hand shook a little more … and then started to glow.

  ZAP!

  A small lightning bolt shot out toward the TV. We had to shield our eyes as it crackled and snapped. I heard the sound of light bulbs popping as the kitchen was plunged into darkness … except for the glow of the local newscast on the TV screen in the corner, which was coincidentally showing footage of the mayor’s speech at the homecoming bonfire, our team standing in the background.

  The three of us turned to look at Sophi, who leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

  I remembered what Dex said to me weeks ago. My girlfriend really was a witch.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I’m telling you, I must�
�ve dropped it last night.”

  Sophi swore she couldn’t find her cell phone and had likely left it at the so-called scene of the crime in the woods last night. At least it was easier to wind our way through the tangle of bushes and roots in broad daylight.

  The clearing looked even bigger in the sunshine with the giant stump in the middle and the Christmas lights hanging over us, tied to the surrounding pine trees.

  Sophi’s cellphone was nowhere in sight. We searched around the perimeter, near the stump, even in some of the low-hanging branches.

  “Maybe one of the guys took it,” I suggested after Sophi shot me an exasperated look.

  “Why don’t you ask them?” she shot back.

  “Right.”

  “I wasn’t kidding.”

  Oh. I cupped my hands and called out to the woods, knowing full well they wouldn’t answer. “Did any of you pick up Sophi’s phone?”

  Sophi hit me on the arm, which came along with a jarring shock. “I meant for you to call your dad!”

  We heard the sound of rustling brush behind us. We turned around to see a hand sliding a cellphone into the clearing.

  “Uh, thanks?” I responded. Sophi moved slowly to go pick it up, wary of who the hand was attached to. The bushes shook again and I mentally prepared to fight whoever it was.

  Sophi bent over and picked up the phone, and shrieked when Dex jumped out at her with a shout.

  “You’re welcome!” Dex said with a giant grin, his hands propped proudly on his hips.

  “How did you find us? And thanks for the scare,” I said, giving him a small shove.

  He pushed me back in retaliation. “I was coming over to see if you wanted to hang out, but I decided to follow you to your secret makeout spot instead.”

  Sophi turned maroon, but Dex had moved on, looking up at the canopy of branches, thistles, and lights covering the area. “This is pretty cool. How’d you find it?”

  “That stump over there used to be an enormous tree. They cut it down and brought it to City for the annual Christmas tree-lighting in midtown. This is actually somebody’s farm, but I’ve never seen the owner come here.”

  “No bears?” I asked.