Project Chimera

  Quinn’s lungs froze. It was a shocking statement, building an army of soldiers with major physical alterations—and Gray wanted to do so intentionally. She thought about Charles’s device, and imagined what Charlie might look like if her five abilities all came with permanent physical changes. It was horrifying.

  “Well?” prompted Victor.

  Quinn shook free from her thoughts. “Yes, I think I understand now,” she said, unable to veil the hint of contempt in her voice.

  But Victor didn’t seem to notice it. He was lost in his own imaginings.

  Dr. Gray worked at his desk into the night. The scientists sat quietly, exchanging looks of horror and despair when he wasn’t watching. Eventually Jack nodded off, and so did Charles. Quinn sat alone with her thoughts, and when she couldn’t stand the sight of Victor anymore, feigned sleep. Soon Dr. Gray packed up his things for the night. He went to where Cyke stood at the door, then glanced at the scientists and beckoned Cyke to join him in the hallway for a word.

  The door clicked shut behind them. Quinn’s eyes flew open. Realizing they were alone and not knowing for how long, she quickly turned to the air vent, praying that Diana and the kids were still across the street watching at this late hour. “Diana!” she whispered.

  Hearing his wife’s name woke Charles from a sound sleep.

  “Charlie! Mac! Maria!” Quinn continued. “Listen to me. Just keep an eye on us for a few days until Jack is better. I’ll let you know when he’s well enough, and then we’ll make our move to escape. We’ll need your help then. Don’t do anything rash in the meantime, and above all, don’t get caught!”

  She strained forward as far as the chair would let her, trying to see the dragonfly. She could barely detect it when the wings caught the light.

  There was a noise at the door, and Quinn quickly sat back, her heart pounding.

  “What are you doing?” Charles whispered when no one came in.

  “I didn’t have a chance to tell you before, but I managed to get a camera in here,” she told him. “It’s in that vent. Your wife and kids are watching us.”

  Charles’s face twisted. He tried to hold back his emotion, but tears started falling. “They are?” He looked up at the vent. “There?”

  “Yes,” said Quinn. She choked up too, watching him. He must have been so worried. “They’re fine. They can hear us, too.” The door handle turned. Charles and Quinn pretended to be asleep.

  Cyke stepped inside alone and dimmed the light, but Charles wasn’t tired anymore. His heart soared. His family could see him. They were watching him. It made a huge difference knowing that.

  Despite the horror of what Dr. Gray had revealed, Charles felt a ray of hope. Eventually the tears dried on his face and he dozed.

  Across the street the dragonfly camera showed everything. But no one was there to see it.

  CHAPTER 22

  Testing Mac’s Device

  The next morning Charlie slept in late. When she got up, her mom was sitting at the kitchen table with the newspaper spread open in front of her. Mrs. Wilde looked up when Charlie came down the stairs.

  “Look at this,” she said, pointing to the top story on page three. “‘Unexplained Happenings in Navarro Junction.’” It showed two photos: the grainy one of Charlie climbing the side of the burning house that had been all over the news and a new amateur photo of two large soldiers wearing full black bodysuits lying on the sidewalk on a deserted street.

  “Oh no,” said Charlie, alarmed. “It’s Braun and Mega after Maria and I kicked their butts.”

  “It sure is,” Mrs. Wilde said.

  “This news article can’t be good. What does it say?”

  “Basically that they still haven’t identified the ‘mysterious youth,’ and they’re questioning who these people in bodysuits are and what they’re doing in Navarro Junction. Whoever took the photo didn’t stick around until they woke up, and by the time he sent it to the newspaper and they assigned a reporter to check out the scene, the brutes were gone.”

  “Do you think we’ll have to watch out for news reporters now too?” asked Charlie.

  “Not if we’re careful. This is tricky enough. I still don’t know how we’re going to do it with just the four of us.”

  “We’ll figure it out,” said Charlie. “Did you hear from Ms. Sabbith?”

  “We talked late last night. She was shocked, of course, but she believes there’s no imminent danger for Quinn and feels good about the fact that we can keep an eye on them to see if anything escalates. She agrees that it’s crucial for her to get the items that’ll help with Maria, so she’s going to continue with that task while we monitor things. She wants me to call her if anything changes.” Mrs. Wilde gave a tired smile. “This is going to drag on for a while, I think.”

  “That’ll give us time to practice our skills. When are we going to go back over there?”

  “As soon as you’re ready. Are Mac and Maria coming with us today?”

  “I’ll check.”

  Charlie texted Mac and Maria on her way upstairs to get ready.

  “I have to babysit my stepbrothers all day,” said Maria with a sad-face emoji. “My mother is making me. It’s like payback for the bracelet thing. Ugh!”

  “I can go!” said Mac. “Meet you at your house.”

  “Great!” replied Charlie. “Bring your device.”

  “Duh,” said Mac.

  Maria sent more sad faces. “Aw, you two! Don’t let anything cool happen without me.”

  “We won’t,” Charlie promised. “Stay calm and hang in there, Maria!”

  “Was that a bad monkey joke?” replied Maria.

  Charlie cringed. She hadn’t meant it to be. “Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that I hope today goes all right and you don’t have any . . . incidents. I wish you could come with us.”

  Maria didn’t answer at first. After a while she replied, “Me too.”

  On the weekend the area around their building was even quieter than usual. Mrs. Wilde, Charlie, and Mac snuck inside, taking extra precautions in case soldiers were lurking. But once they reached the office, they could see from the drones that the soldiers were busy in the lab.

  They sat down to watch. The scientists were at their stations too, working on various tasks. Dr. Goldstein was still seated, but he looked slightly less sickly today. Charlie’s father seemed intent on his work and only paused now and then to glance over his shoulder at the soldiers working behind him or up at Zed, who was stationed at the table in front of him. She faced the scientists, keeping a watchful eye over them.

  Dr. Sharma had chosen a spot near the ladybug drone. Not long after Mac, Charlie, and Mrs. Wilde had started watching, Dr. Sharma lifted her head and acted like she needed to stretch. She looked long and hard into the camera, but she couldn’t do much more than that without being noticed.

  “Did you see that?” Mac said. “She gave us a look.”

  “Yeah, but what was it supposed to mean?”

  “No idea.” Mac slumped again. They watched for a while, but with so many soldiers in the room, there was no chance for any of the scientists to communicate with them.

  “I wonder if Dr. Sharma had a chance to tell my dad we’re here,” said Charlie. “It doesn’t seem like they get any time alone to talk.”

  “I’m sure it’s the first thing she’d tell him, given the chance,” said Mrs. Wilde. “She knows how much it would mean to us.”

  “How are we going to figure out what to do if they can’t tell us?” asked Charlie.

  “I think we need to be patient and observe like Ms. Sabbith said.”

  Mac and Charlie grew bored when nothing new happened. Mac turned to the roach camera in the hallway, moving it back and forth when the coast was clear, and making it turn and run, trying to get the feel for how the insect moved and reacted to commands.

  Charlie watched until the constant movement made her feel queasy. Then she flopped down on the floor and flipped through h
er device’s screens, wishing like crazy that she knew where the Project Chimera envelope had gone so she could deactivate her bracelet. She wanted to forget that the papers were still out there somewhere. And that somebody could be reading all about the devices . . . and maybe going to the newspaper with the information, like that person who took the photo of the soldiers did. She couldn’t stand to think about it. Where was it?

  After a while Mrs. Wilde got tired of the constantly moving roach camera too, and she shooed Charlie and Mac away from the table. “I’ll watch for a while. You two go do . . . something else. Memorize the blueprints so you know your way around the bank building. Or . . . I know. Why don’t you figure out what else Mac’s device does?”

  “Now we’re talking,” said Mac, warming up to the idea immediately. “I didn’t dare to try any training at home in case my parents saw me.” He hit the activate button and the liquid silver flowed from it, snaking up his arm and over his body. Within a second or two it hardened into a shell of armor.

  Mrs. Wilde looked curiously at his suit, then went back to the screens.

  Mac started walking and tripped. “I forgot how weird it feels to move in this,” he said. It made a clanking noise. He moved around some more, then ran and slammed into the wall on purpose, startling everyone. “Didn’t even hurt,” he boasted. He looked at his device, clicked a button, and lifted his helmet off.

  “Are you sure your device is based on an animal?” asked Charlie. “It’s so . . . different.”

  “It would have to be, wouldn’t it? If all the devices are injected with animal DNA that means it’s some sort. Plus, remember there was the outline of scales the other night?”

  “That’s right, I almost forgot. And there was that drawing of an armadillo or whatever.”

  “I haven’t figured out the animal yet,” Mac insisted, a bit defensively. He started clicking the buttons on his device. “Hey, look. New screens. I don’t remember seeing these before.” He squinted and read, “‘Defense Mode: Protective Shell Activated.’” He looked at Charlie. “You were probably right the other day when you said I just needed to reset it.”

  Charlie beamed and came over to look. She was reminded by the various tabs that the graphics on this device weren’t nearly as far along as the ones on the Mark Five.

  Mac came to a new screen. “‘Scales,’” he read. “I bet this is the tab I was on last time.” He touched the word and instantly his smooth armor became etched with large leaflike scales, with the points of the leaves pointing downward.

  “That’s it!” said Charlie. “That’s what you had before. Do you know how you got here?”

  “I’d better redo it to make sure,” said Mac.

  Charlie peered at the suit, then traced her finger along the thin indented line of the scales. “But what good is this? It’s just . . . a design.”

  Mac didn’t answer. He was busy retracing his steps. The scales vanished. A moment later they returned. “Okay, got it,” said Mac.

  Charlie shrugged. She still didn’t understand what good it was. Unless . . . “What does that screen lead to?” she asked.

  “A tab that says ‘Under Construction,’” said Mac. “Like a website with a broken link. Weird, but I guess it makes sense.” He pressed it even though there was nothing there. Surprisingly that brought him to another screen, which read, SCALES: DEFENSIVE. He clicked on it, and the pointy tips of the scales all separated slightly from the suit, fanning out. “Whoa,” he said.

  “Cool!” said Charlie. She reached out to touch one and quickly pulled her hand away. “Ouch! They’re sharp!” She looked at her finger, then looked closer at the scales.

  “Yes,” said Mac triumphantly under his breath, and looking himself over. “But they don’t stick out very far. You have to really try to pick me up or come at me from below to get cut.”

  “Thank goodness,” said Charlie. Knowing that she’d heal quickly if she got hurt, Charlie tentatively bumped her shoulder into Mac. The scales stayed pointed downward and didn’t slice into her. “Okay,” she said, double-checking to make sure she hadn’t been cut. “This is definitely cool because now you can’t accidentally hurt us.”

  “Yeah, it’s okay, but it’s not very fierce,” said Mac. He sounded a little disappointed. “I wonder if there’s anything else?”

  “I’m going to take a picture and send it to Maria,” said Charlie. As she lined up her camera, Mac clicked through some more screens.

  Before Charlie could send the photo, she and Mac got simultaneous text messages.

  “I can’t get to my phone,” said Mac. “It’s in my pocket inside the suit.”

  “It’s Maria in our group text,” said Charlie, skimming the message. Her face fell. “Uh-oh. She got mad at her stepbrothers and she changed into a monkey again.”

  “Oh no,” said Mac, his face growing concerned. “Ask her if she’s okay.”

  “She says she’s locked in her bathroom and the boys are pounding on the door.”

  “Oh no!” said Mac again.

  The text messages kept coming, and Charlie read them to Mac. “Now she says they’re making so much noise that she can’t concentrate enough to meditate.”

  Charlie sent some encouraging words so Maria would know they were there, and they waited again. Then another message came in. Charlie read it and looked up. “She wants to know if we can come and help her.”

  Mac picked up his helmet and looked at Charlie solemnly. “I don’t know. Can we?”

  Charlie looked at her mother, who was peering intently at the screens. “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “Maria’s stuck in monkey mode and needs our help.”

  “Is she in danger?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Mrs. Wilde shook her head, eyes still glued to the screens. “One sec. Mac, how do you switch the cameras so the cardinal is on the big screen?”

  Mac clunked over to her and talked her through the keystroke. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “There are a couple of soldiers outside the building. I want to see if the cardinal can pick up their conversation.”

  Mac checked the volume, but they were too far away from the drone to be heard.

  “Mom?” said Charlie again.

  “Yes, honey?”

  “What about Maria?”

  Mrs. Wilde hesitated. “By the time we get to her, she might already be changed back. And if we go, we might miss something important here.”

  “What if I go by myself?” asked Charlie. “I could run the distance pretty fast.”

  Charlie’s mom turned to look at her. “I know you can, but look where the soldiers are. They’d see you leaving, and we can’t risk that. After what happened yesterday, we really need to stay hidden. I won’t have them grabbing you, too.” She offered an apologetic smile. Tell Maria I’m sorry. Keep checking on her, though.”

  “I will,” said Charlie. She turned back to her phone and told Maria what her mother had said. “I’m really sorry,” she added at the end. “Maybe if you’re superquiet the boys will go away for a few minutes so you can meditate.”

  Charlie waited, watching her screen. But Maria didn’t reply. She waited some more, then called Maria on FaceTime.

  Maria answered. Her face was streaked with tears, and she still had a beard and patches of fur on her head and arms. Charlie could hear the boys pounding on the door in the background. “Hi,” Maria said, sounding miserable.

  “Oh, Maria,” said Charlie. “Do you want me to try to help you concentrate and relax?”

  “No, that’s okay. You and Mac just do whatever important stuff you have to do. I texted Kelly. She’s going to call me from Mexico in a minute.”

  “Oh,” said Charlie, feeling even worse. “Okay. Are you sure?”

  Maria nodded. “Thanks, though,” she added.

  “Let me know—”

  “Oh! Here she is. Bye!” Maria hung up.

  “Bye,” said Charlie to the blank screen. She looked up a
t Mac and her mom, then put her phone away. Later, when she checked in, Maria was too busy playing games with her stepbrothers to talk long. But apparently Kelly had helped her turn back into Maria again.

  Because it was Saturday night, the building they were in was deserted of its other business tenants. Charlie’s mom kept an eye on the soldiers and said the kids could go outside into the hallway. Mac practiced running in his armored suit up and down the long stretch until he got a bit more accustomed to how that felt. Soon he was less clunky and gaining speed.

  After a while Mac became winded and started coughing uncontrollably. Charlie helped him liquefy the suit so he could get to his inhaler. By the time Mac had his asthma under control, everybody was ready to go home.

  Weary, they left home base and stopped at the Sugar Plum for a quick dessert to revive them. Charlie had mint chocolate-chip ice cream in a sugar cone and Mac had a piece of warm apple pie because he said that ice cream would just make him start coughing again.

  Mrs. Barnes met them in the driveway when they pulled up to Mac’s house. He quickly slipped his bracelet into his pocket.

  Charlie’s mom rolled down the window. “Hi, Claudia. Thanks for letting us borrow Mac.”

  “Hello, Diana,” said Mrs. Barnes. “Is everybody staying out of trouble?”

  Mrs. Wilde smiled. “Definitely. No more incidents. The kids will think twice before doing something like that again.”

  “Good. I just wanted to make sure. Thanks for driving Mac home.”

  “Anytime. He’s great company and such a nice young man.”

  Mac rolled his eyes at Charlie as he grabbed his things and got out of the car, but he grinned despite his embarrassment.

  Charlie grinned back. “Nice young man,” she mouthed at him, and put her thumbs up.

  Charlie’s mom didn’t notice their antics and continued. “You know, I’m off work all next week, so he’s welcome to come over anytime.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” said Mrs. Barnes, warming up a bit more. “Mac’s father is headed to a convention in Fresno next week, and I’m closing out a riparian rights case with a huge brief to write, so I’ll be swamped. It might be nice for Mac to have a place to hang out so he’s not stuck here alone all day.”