Project Chimera

  “Mayday! Mayday!” it read. “I’ve got a little problem over here. HELP.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Pulling It Together

  Charlie’s mind started spinning again after seeing Maria’s text message asking for help. Was Maria just being dramatic or was something really wrong? Had the soldiers gone back to her house? The thought was enough to make her bracelet activate. Quickly she unlocked her phone to reply. But as she began typing, the cracked corner of her screen split straight across the bottom of the phone’s face. The lower one-third of the screen no longer responded to Charlie’s fingertips.

  “Crap,” she muttered. Her strength ability was completely destroying the thing. Why did it have to happen now? Andy looked over and his eyes widened at the sight of her Frankenphone, but for once he wisely stayed quiet.

  Charlie tapped the delicate screen lightly, wondering if maybe the cursor had just frozen momentarily, but soon confirmed that she couldn’t type another letter. The message box was right in the middle of the damage. A second later the screen faded and went black. Now what was she supposed to do?

  A flood of anxiety, anger, and frustration washed over her. This whole situation was hard enough without her phone giving her problems. She glanced at her mother, who was still talking to Dr. Sharma. Andy had curled up in the chair with their dog, Jessie, and was talking to her quietly as he petted her.

  “Hey,” Charlie said to Andy, going over to him. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to text Maria back and mine’s dead.”

  “Mom said not to text our friends.”

  “Yeah, but this is an emergency.”

  “No,” he said. “Go plug yours in if you need to do it so badly.”

  Charlie grimaced. “Come on, please?”

  “No. Do you want me to tell Mom on you?”

  Charlie sighed and gave up. She went back to the kitchen, spying the landline. Her mom was standing right next to it. She went after it, but when she reached for it, her mother automatically pulled it out of her hands and put it back in the holder, shaking her head and frowning.

  Charlie tried to explain that she wasn’t about to tell anyone what was going on—she just needed to check in with Maria. But Mrs. Wilde turned away and plugged her free ear so she could hear what Dr. Sharma was saying.

  Out of options, Charlie dropped into a chair and hoped Maria’s “little problem” was just that—little. Her mind turned back to the other urgent situation of the day, which was playing out like a horror movie. She was hardly able to comprehend that her father had been abducted, probably by the same strange, animal-like soldiers she’d fought off hours before. And it was because he had created the bracelet that was stuck on her wrist right now. Her dad. Had made this insanely powerful bracelet. No wonder he’d been abducted! Mr. Dr. Wilde, as her friends called him, was no lowly biologist. He was amazing. And Charlie couldn’t tell anyone. Not even him.

  Not that it mattered. She closed her eyes, overwhelmed and exhausted by the bombardment of otherworldly events. School that morning seemed like it had been a week ago. Like Andy, she needed to curl up and process what had just happened.

  She hoped the soldiers hadn’t been rough with her dad like they’d been to her. It was a relief to know that Dr. Sharma believed Dr. Gray needed Charles, so he wouldn’t hurt him. But Charlie’s imagination was going crazy after everything she’d experienced, and she couldn’t shake the thought of more terrible things happening to him. What if her father wouldn’t help Dr. Gray? Or worse . . . what if he would? It was a terrible situation no matter what.

  Charlie’s mom hung up and came back to the living room. “Quinn assured me that now that Dr. Gray has your father, he won’t need you or your bracelet, Charlie. So you don’t have to worry about them coming after you anymore.” She let out a sigh of relief. “We’re all going to be okay. And we’re going to find him.” She searched Charlie’s face, then checked Andy’s response too, making sure they were both handling the news all right.

  Charlie frowned. “Are you sure they won’t come after me? Why would they suddenly not want the bracelet when that was all they wanted earlier today?” She wondered if that meant her friends would be safe too. That would be a big relief.

  “Well,” said Mrs. Wilde, a bit of worry creeping back into her voice despite her intentions, “I guess nothing is sure anymore. But they probably found your father sometime after they attacked you. And I guess it makes sense that they’d want him more than the bracelet—your father made that device over ten years ago. With today’s technology, he could make something more advanced now.”

  “Maybe one without any glitches,” said Charlie, thinking of how the wrong powers sometimes activated.

  Andy sat up. “But I still don’t understand why that Dr. Gray dude kidnapped Dad. Why doesn’t he just make a new device himself? Isn’t he a biologist too?”

  “Quinn said that Dad and the other scientists were all creating different types of devices. I imagine Dr. Gray wants to skip all the work that Dad already put into the Mark Five and have him improve on what he’s already done.”

  While Charlie absorbed this new information, Andy just shook his head. “I can’t believe our dad can do crazy junk like that. Who knew? And you too, Charlie,” he said, their previous disagreement over the phone apparently forgotten. “You’re pretty cool.”

  Charlie shrugged. Seeing Andy able to let some of this intense stuff fly right over his head was a relief—she didn’t want him freaking out inside like she had been. But hearing her mom explain things made her feel a lot better. Maybe that had helped Andy, too.

  “So . . . what do we do now?” Charlie asked her mother. She inched toward the landline phone again, growing more and more anxious to reach Maria and find out what was going on with her.

  “We sit tight and wait for Quinn to arrive. She’s going to give us further instructions once she reaches her government contact.”

  “Do we get to stay home from school?” asked Andy.

  “I think that would be best, at least for tomorrow. Even if Quinn is right about her theory, I’m not confident enough to let you two out of my sight quite yet.”

  “I have tests coming up,” Charlie murmured automatically, knowing at least two of her teachers were planning them at the end of this week before spring break began. She hadn’t had much time to prepare with everything that had happened. But tests seemed so much less important now.

  “Well, I guess that’s pretty cool,” said Andy. “A day off tomorrow, then only two more days of school.” He looked up with a consternated expression. “Oh, Mom, I forgot. Juan asked me at school today if I could go camping with his family on break. But . . . I guess I should say no.”

  Charlie’s mother blinked. “What? Who?”

  “Juan is one of Andy’s new school friends,” Charlie reminded her. “He’s been over a few times but maybe not when you’ve been here.” Diana Wilde had been working extreme hours since the move to Arizona a month ago, and Charlie was getting used to having to fill her mother in on everything.

  “Oh, of course I remember him,” said Mrs. Wilde, distracted. “I drove him home once and met his mom. Nice family. Maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” She looked at Andy and trailed off, lost in thought. “Do you want to go?”

  “Well, I mean I did. But with Dad missing, I don’t know.” His face screwed up and he buried it in Jessie’s fur.

  “Actually . . . ,” Mrs. Wilde began, then shook her head, looking overwhelmed. “I can’t handle one more thing to think about right now. I’m sorry, buddy. Let’s figure this out later.”

  Andy lifted his head and nodded solemnly. Everything was up in the air, their mom was trying to deal, and Charlie knew Andy didn’t handle this kind of stress very well. She thought distraction might be good for him. “Hey. I have the second Ms. Marvel for you,” she said quietly. “You want it?”

  Andy breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, sure.”

  When Charlie returned with the comic, she caught her m
other’s grateful gaze and returned it with a solemn, brave one of her own. A certain, unusual kind of energy passed between them. A bond of trust, perhaps, or a deep sense of understanding. It felt like one of those looks between two adults when there were children in the room—and this time Charlie wasn’t the child. She’d seen it dozens of times between teachers at school. Between her parents across the dinner table. All sorts of unsaid things passing through the air. It was Charlie’s first experience being on the receiving end of it, and it made her feel like she was in on a special secret. Like her mom was silently asking Charlie if she wanted to be a member of the secret looks club. And if she was ready for the responsibility that went along with that.

  Charlie was. She thought so, anyway. She swallowed hard and nodded slightly.

  Her mom’s eyes grew shiny. She leaned in and embraced Charlie in a long, tight hug, and stroked her hair. “Let’s try to keep things light for Andy’s sake, okay?” she whispered.

  “Okay.”

  “Atta girl.” Mrs. Wilde released Charlie and gave her a half-smile, and then reached for Andy to hug him too.

  Charlie’s phone vibrated again, jolting her back to Maria’s problem. She looked at the screen to find another text message. “Seriously, Chuck,” it read. “Help needed pronto. I think you’re the only one who can help me at this point.”

  “Maria!” Charlie murmured, tapping and swiping desperately on the alert to try and open the message, but it soon faded. She had to find out what was going on. She stood up quickly and excused herself to the bathroom, grabbing the landline phone on her way. But once in the bathroom she realized she had no idea what Maria’s phone number was and she couldn’t look it up. This was so frustrating. She had to do something about her phone—what if her father tried to call and she couldn’t answer him? What if Maria was really in danger? What if the soldiers came back and she couldn’t let her mom know?

  This was a terrible time to throw one more problem on the pile, right when her mother had so much else on her mind. But Charlie knew it was the right thing to do. As she went back to the living room to confess about her broken cell phone, she wondered if she could recall Maria’s number from memory. But she’d barely looked at it—she’d just added Maria as a contact. She hadn’t written it down anywhere else. Just then she remembered she’d seen it one other place. It was on the soccer team roster on Charlie’s bulletin board in her room. Maria Torres’s name and contact information were at the top of it. She made a detour to her bedroom.

  But when Charlie tried calling Maria from the landline, the phone rang five times and went to voice mail. Why didn’t she answer?

  CHAPTER 6

  Maria’s Big Problem

  Charlie left a message. Why hadn’t Maria answered? Maybe she didn’t answer unknown numbers, and there was no reason for Charlie to think Maria would have her home number plugged into her phone. That had to be it. Hopefully she’d check her voice mail soon. Charlie tried calling again. And again, no answer. Had something bad happened to her?

  It was no use looking for Mac’s number—his phone and iPad had been stolen by the thugs who attacked them. Charlie flopped down on the bed and put her head in her hands. She had to help Maria. But there was no way her mom would let her go over there—not tonight. She’d have to sneak out.

  Just then Charlie heard a voice outside, followed by the sound of pebbles bouncing off her bedroom window. Her lungs froze in fear. Were the soldiers after her? But that was silly—they wouldn’t waste time throwing pebbles to get to her. They had already broken into the house once. Nevertheless, she felt her bracelet heat up.

  “Hey, Chuck! Are you in there?”

  Charlie’s eyes widened, then her breathing resumed and she ran to the window. She peered out into the darkness, shading her eyes from the light behind her, but couldn’t see anything. “Maria?”

  “Charlie! Are you all right?”

  “Are you?” Charlie replied. “My phone broke! I tried to call you from the landline but you didn’t answer. Things are a little crazy here right now. My dad . . .” She felt her throat constrict and she blinked hard. She couldn’t get herself to continue.

  “Not your phone too!” exclaimed Maria, sounding more devastated than Charlie would have expected. “It’s bad enough not being able to text Mac.”

  “Hey, I didn’t break mine,” said another voice. “It was stolen.”

  “Mac, you’re out there too?” Charlie asked.

  “Yep.”

  Charlie moved over and turned off her bedroom light, then returned and looked out the window again. Now she could see the silhouettes of her friends below, and beyond them the line of trees and the walls that enclosed the backyard.

  “Can you come down?” asked Mac. “You need to see this. We have a huge problem.”

  “Yeah,” said Maria miserably. “Huge.”

  “Why didn’t you just come to the door? It’s not too late. You can come inside.”

  “Um . . . well, no,” said Maria, her voice taking on the tiniest quiver. “I can’t. I don’t want your mom to see me.”

  Charlie looked over her shoulder. The hallway was deserted. Mom and Andy were still downstairs. “Hold on a sec.” She ran out of her room to the top of the steps and listened, trying to figure out if she could get around them without her mom seeing her. She could hear Andy sniffling and her mother talking to him in low, reassuring tones. “Nope,” Charlie muttered. She’d have to find a different way.

  She went back into her room and closed the door softly, leaving her in total darkness. Immediately she began to chirp uncontrollably—her echolocation power had kicked in. She hoped it wasn’t loud enough to summon Andy or her mother upstairs wondering what sort of bird was on the loose. She flipped on the light switch and the chirping ceased.

  Leaving her shoes off, Charlie went back to the window. She carefully removed the screen and pulled it inside the room, then climbed out backward and hung there, her stomach flipping as she hoped that would be enough to activate her climbing ability. An instant later she could feel her fingers and toes tingling. “Okay, cool,” she muttered. She gripped the window ledge and her toes latched on to the rough stucco siding, the stickiness feeling a little like Velcro. Awkwardly at first, then more smoothly as she became reacquainted with the sensation, she made her way down the side of the house.

  “So, my dad was abducted,” Charlie blurted out as she neared the ground. It felt weird and horrible to say it out loud. It made it feel real. “The soldiers got him.”

  “Oh no!” said Maria. “That’s horrible!”

  “Are you serious?” asked Mac.

  “Totally serious. But you can’t tell anybody. Promise? I’ll explain later.”

  “Okay,” said Maria and Mac together, both sounding uncertain. Then Mac said, “What can we do to help?”

  “My mom got in touch with someone who’s going to help us, so it’s under control at the moment.” Charlie landed on the ground and turned around, searching for her friends in the shadows. Suddenly she began chirping again. “Ugh,” she said. “Can you hear that?”

  Mac started laughing. “Is that your echolocation? You sound like a bird with hiccups.”

  “Yeah. You both look like silvery shimmers to me. Let’s step over here.” Charlie guided them to the swath of light that came from her bedroom window. The chirping stopped, and Charlie got a good look at Maria. Her eyes widened, and she took a step backward. “Whoa. What the—?”

  Maria’s cheeks were tearstained, but those weren’t what surprised Charlie. It was her hair. Or whatever it was on top of Maria’s head. And . . . on her chin.

  Charlie sucked in a breath and peered closer. Maria had a furry beard. “What happened to you?” she asked as gently as she could.

  Maria started crying, and she held out her wrist. “This bracelet,” she said. “It turned me into a monkey.” There was fur on Maria’s arms, too.

  “Oh no,” Charlie breathed. She glanced at Mac, who looked solemn, and
then at Maria. “Can’t you turn back?”

  “We tried all the buttons,” said Maria. “And the bracelet’s stuck on me, like yours is.”

  A horrible feeling began to grow inside of Charlie, on top of the already horrible feeling that wouldn’t go away because of her dad. This was beyond awful. Charlie could hardly imagine how Maria must feel. “There has to be some way for you to change back,” she said, trying to be logical. “There just has to be.”

  “Do you really think so?” asked Maria, her voice practically begging Charlie to confirm it.

  “Of course I do,” said Charlie, but she didn’t feel very confident. “Maybe Dr. Sharma will be able to fix you—she’s the person who’s coming to help us rescue my dad.” Charlie quickly filled them in on Dr. Sharma’s and her dad’s roles in creating the devices and what they’d suspected about Dr. Gray.

  “That’s incredible,” marveled Mac. “Your dad worked on these? Is that why Dr. Gray had the soldiers abduct him when they couldn’t get the bracelet from us?”

  Charlie nodded and looked solemnly at Maria. “I know you must hate what your bracelet has done to you, but we might need to use these things if we’re going to save my dad.”

  Maria looked doubtful but then said, “Well, of course I would want to help with that. But right now I just wish I hadn’t ever put this thing on.” She looked down. “Or at least picked a different one.”

  Charlie thought she understood. “What about checking the Project Chimera folder and the envelope? Maybe we can find some answers there so at least we can get you turned back to normal now.”

  Mac held up the large manila Talos Global envelope with the folder stuck inside. “I brought them from Maria’s house.”

  Charlie sighed in relief. “Smart thinking. So your parents haven’t seen you like this?”

  Maria shook her head. “Not yet.”

  “Good,” said Charlie. “Even if we can’t figure out how to fix this right away, you could wear a scarf or something, right? And long sleeves?” She tried to sound hopeful.