“I’m not being difficult,” Max said, annoyingly reading my thoughts. “I’m just being honest.”
“She never said you were being difficult,” Heather told him, a confused frown scrunching up her forehead.
“No,” Max said. “She didn’t say it. She thought it.”
“She thought it?” Heather laughed. “How on earth do you know what she . . . ?” Then she stopped. She looked from me to Max.
“Yeah,” Max said. “I read her mind. That’s what I do.”
Heather mouthed the word “Wow!” although no sound actually came out.
She looked at me. “What can you do?”
“This,” I said. Then I turned myself invisible. I watched Heather’s face drain of color as I disappeared. I only stayed invisible for half a minute, then made myself visible again.
Tom broke the silence. “And you seriously believe that I could have one of these powers, too? I mean, as in actually for real?”
“Yeah, we do,” I said.
Tom breathed out heavily through his nose, and nodded as if agreeing to a life-changing deal. Which, to be fair, wasn’t too far from what he actually was doing. When he spoke again, he sounded like the main character in a film who was about to take the first steps on a new planet. Knowing Tom, he was probably imagining that was who he was.
“All right, let’s do this,” he said. “I want to find out.”
“You’re sure?” Izzy asked.
Tom nodded. “I haven’t thought about anything else for the last two days. I need to know.” He looked around at us and allowed himself a small smile. “And anyway, I don’t need to worry about standing out. If I can really do something like you guys, then we’d be the same. I wouldn’t be the odd one out at all. Come on, let’s go for it. How do I do it?”
I smiled back at Tom, and, mainly to hide the fact that I suddenly had a lump in my throat, I started rummaging in my bag. I pulled out the cloth bag with the two crystals I’d bought at Tiger’s Eye: the howlite and the turquoise. I opened it, picked up the crystals, and held them out for Tom to see.
“You need a crystal, like one of these.” I pointed at Heather. “Heather’s is . . . what was it again?”
Heather held out her hand to show us her ring. “Citrine.”
I pulled my necklace from under my shirt. “Mine’s rose quartz. Max’s is hematite. Each one does something different.”
Tom nodded seriously. “OK.” He reached out an arm.
I stopped him. “Wait! Once you’ve used one and it works, that’s the power you have. As far as we know, you can’t swap it. That’s it.”
Tom tilted his head to the side and pulled at his thick curls. They bounced back up as he let go.
“No, that’s not a moldy Life Saver,” Max said. “It’s a crystal.”
“How did you know I was thinking . . . ?” Tom began. Then his eyes widened. “Oh, yeah. Jeez, that’s pretty impressive.”
“It’s called howlite,” I said.
Tom swallowed. “All right, then. I’ll take it,” he said.
“The howlite?”
“Uh-huh.”
And before I could stop him, he’d taken the crystal out of my hand.
We all stared at him in silence.
“Tom, you shouldn’t have done that,” I said. “It could do anything. We haven’t tested these. They could — ”
“I’ll be fine,” Tom said. “Don’t worry. There’s something about this one. . . .” He turned the howlite over in his hands. “It feels kind of right for me, if that doesn’t sound too stupid.”
It didn’t actually sound stupid at all. That was how I felt about my rose quartz. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said.
“Me too,” Heather agreed. Max gave a little nod as well.
Tom looked at the howlite in his palm. “OK, so that’s all sorted out,” he said. “Now what?”
Heather got up from her seat. “Wait a sec.” She went over to the drawers by the window. She opened the top one, pulled out a ball of string and a pair of scissors, cut a length of the string, and brought it over to us.
She put her hand out for the crystal. Tom gave it to her and she threaded the string through the hole in the middle and handed it back to him. “Here,” she said. “Put it on inside your shirt. Keep it next to your skin.”
Tom took the string necklace from Heather, tied it around his neck, and tucked the crystal under his shirt. “Now what do I do?” he asked. “Nothing’s happening.”
“You have to relax,” Izzy said. “Don’t think about anything.”
“Kind of empty your mind,” I added.
“Empty my mind?”
“Yup,” Max grunted. “Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
Tom thought for a moment. “Not really,” he said. “Some of the most important scientific breakthroughs in history have involved theories about emptiness. If quantum physicists can devote their lives to it, I’m sure I can spare a bit of my mind for it. I can try, at least.”
We all waited in silence while Tom closed his eyes and tried to relax. Probably not easy with the four of us staring at him, watching for something to change.
Nothing happened.
Tom opened his eyes and frowned. “Hmm, OK, let me try that again,” he said. He closed his eyes once more. This time, he took a couple of deep breaths and slowed his breathing down. We waited a full minute.
Still nothing.
“Maybe you’re doing it wrong,” Heather suggested carefully.
“It takes a while,” I added. I hadn’t really expected anything to happen right away. I mean, I’d had to practice for hours before I really got the hang of it. Mind you, this was Tom. He was the quickest person I knew at picking up a new skill.
Tom actually looked crestfallen. Maybe he’d been starting to like the idea of having a superpower after all. “Or maybe it’s not going to work,” he said. “Maybe the serum never got into my system. I should have known I wouldn’t — ”
“Do what you did at karate,” Izzy interrupted.
Tom squinted at her.
“When you went to karate classes in elementary school, you said you had to do a kind of meditation thing before you began. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. The teacher said I was the best in the class at it.”
Izzy smiled. “Try that.”
Tom closed his eyes. I watched him for thirty seconds. Then his eyes were open again — and he was beaming.
Why was he looking so pleased with himself when it hadn’t worked — again? Maybe he was right after all. Maybe the serum hadn’t ever gotten into his system.
“It’s probably easier if you practice on your own,” Heather suggested. “I could never have learned how to do it if I’d been trying in front of other people.”
“And it’ll take longer than half a minute,” I added.
“I gave it longer than half a minute,” Tom insisted. He was still grinning. “I gave it about two minutes. None of you moved. Wait. I know what I’ll do. Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?” Heather asked.
“For . . . look, I’ll show you.” Tom turned to Max. “Max, what’s on the table?”
“Er, nothing,” Max said.
Had Tom lost it already? He couldn’t see that the table was empty?
“OK. Now, observe.” Tom closed his eyes and took in a slow, deep breath.
A moment later, his eyes were open. He really hadn’t gotten the hang of this. I was about to say so when I looked at the table. It was full of stuff: books, paintbrushes, a vase of flowers, all our bags.
I pointed at the table. “What . . . ?” I said. “I mean, like, where . . . ?”
The others stared.
“How did you do that?” Izzy asked. “How did you get all those things on the table?”
Tom gave her a sly smile. “I can’t be sure,” he said. “But I think I stopped time.”
It felt like hours before we all stopped staring at Tom and found our voices.
“Yo
u . . .” Heather began.
“Stopped time. Yeah,” Tom finished.
“But that’s, I mean, that’s . . . phew!” Max added helpfully.
“I spent all night practicing my power before I could do it that easily!” I protested.
Tom shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a quick learner.” His smile was infectious. “You were right. I am like you guys! I have a superpower, too!”
The end-of-lunch bell stopped our celebrations. We had five minutes until afternoon classes began.
“When are we going to get together again?” Heather asked as we picked up our bags and quickly scarfed our lunches.
“Tomorrow at lunch?” I suggested. No one disagreed. “Great,” I said, feeling a bubble of excitement at the thought of it. “See you all here again tomorrow, then.”
“Looking forward to it,” Heather said with another of those shy smiles.
“I can’t wait!” Tom beamed as he pulled his bag onto his shoulder. He was himself again, only better. More confident. “I’m going to practice nonstop till then!”
Max laughed. “And, hey, see you this evening, Jess,” he said, reminding me we still had to take the crystals back to the lab to keep Nancy from worrying about intruders. “Text me when you’re on your way and I’ll meet you on the bus.”
“Will do.”
As I headed into the afternoon’s double history class, I couldn’t help hoping that we weren’t going to be learning anything too important. There wasn’t the remotest chance of my concentrating on anything other than the crazy, the wild, the impossible, and the completely bizarre — aka my life.
That evening, Max and I were crouched behind a hedge — the same one Izzy and I had crouched behind when we’d first spotted Max. It was beginning to feel like my special spot.
We’d spent the bus ride going over what had happened at lunchtime and planning what we were going to do now. We’d decided the best strategy was to put the crystals back in various random places where they could easily have been overlooked.
We’d been behind the hedge for ten minutes now, scoping out the street and waiting for the perfect moment — or, to be more precise, building up the nerve to break into Max’s father’s secret lab.
“There’s no one around. The place is dead,” Max said. “Plus, my knees are hurting. Come on. Time to go for it.”
I had one more look down the street. Max was right. It was deserted.
“OK,” I agreed. “You’ve got the crystals and the bottle with the serum?”
Max patted his pockets. “Yep.”
“And you know the passcode?”
Max frowned. “I know it as well as I know myself,” he said darkly.
“OK, good.” I looked around one last time. “All right. Come on, let’s go.”
I stood up and was about to walk out from behind the hedge when Max grabbed me. “Wait!” he hissed. “Get back down!”
I instantly crouched back into position beside him. “What?” I hissed back. “What is it?”
“Look!” Max was pointing at someone. It was almost a repeat performance of the last time I’d been here, when Izzy and I had crouched down out of sight. Last time, it had been Max going into the lab. This time, I had absolutely no idea who it was.
From here, all I could see was a tall, slim man who seemed to be wearing a nice coat. He was definitely heading for the lab.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
Max shrugged. “Can’t really tell from here.”
“Is it your dad?”
“No. He’s too tall to be my dad.”
I thought for a millisecond, then I knew what I had to do. “Max, I’m going in,” I said.
“What do you mean, you’re going in?”
I’d already closed my eyes. “Shh, I’m concentrating.” A moment later, I’d turned invisible. “I’m going to follow him,” I said. “See who he is and what he’s up to.”
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous.”
I replied in a whisper. “He won’t know I’m there,” I said. “Just don’t go anywhere, OK?”
“I won’t,” Max said.
“OK, give me the stuff.”
Max took the bag with the crystals and the serum out of his pocket. He held his hand out, waving it around like someone feeling their way in the dark. I reached over and took the bag from him.
“OK, I’m off,” I said. And before Max had a chance to talk me out of it, or I had a chance to freeze up with nerves, I was halfway down the road and heading toward the lab — and the stranger.
The first thing I deduced was that he clearly wasn’t supposed to be there. He was fiddling with the keypad, trying different combinations. If he was part of the research work, surely he’d know the code. I studied his face as he entered numbers.
I didn’t recognize him. His hair was short and neatly parted on one side. Even in the darkness, I could see that he had piercing blue eyes. So piercing, in fact, that when he looked around a couple of times and glanced in my direction, I felt positive he could see me. He couldn’t, though. He wasn’t acting like someone who knew they were being watched.
He was holding a notebook open at a page with various numbers on it. He tried a couple. Each time, the keypad made a buzzing noise and the door didn’t open.
The man didn’t seem to be getting ruffled at all. “You knew it wasn’t that one,” he mumbled. “Come on. You know the one to try.”
He ran his finger down the page in his book. “This one,” he said as he came to a number at the bottom of the page.
I watched him press the numbers: 0 . . . 6 . . . 2 . . . 6 . . .
The keypad beeped and the door clicked open. He’d done it. He’d broken in.
I put a finger in my mouth and bit on it to stop myself from gasping or making any other kind of noise that would have alerted him to my presence. Instead, I watched him calmly enter the lab, and before he had a chance to close the door behind him, I followed him inside.
The man peered curiously around the lab in a way that told me he hadn’t been in here before. He wandered around, reading papers, sniffing the contents of bottles, examining the machines on the desks. All the time he did this, he was scribbling things down in his notebook.
Somehow, through my panic, I reminded myself what I was here for. The crystals.
I took the bag out of my pocket. Each time the man’s back was turned, or he was busy making notes, I sneaked crystals into various places. I placed a couple of them under a table that had some others on top of it. I pushed them right up against the table leg, where they could easily have been missed. I put a couple more under some paperwork piled high on a desk. Again, it would have been easy enough to have missed those.
I still had three crystals in my hand. I peered around the lab for another hiding place. Then I spotted a cardboard box, half open, on the floor under the far desk. Only problem was, the man was standing right next to it. I held my breath and waited for him to move. As soon as he’d crossed over to the other side of the lab, I crouched down, sneaked under the table, and dropped the remaining crystals into the box. They could easily have slipped off the table into that.
Now there was just the serum to return.
I was tiptoeing across the lab to the cupboard it had come from when the stranger suddenly stepped backward, right into my path. I jumped sideways, knocking a pile of papers off the desk as I did.
The man spun around. “Who’s that?” he snapped. His voice sounded like a hiss.
I stayed as still as I had stood the time I’d been desperate to win freeze dance at Izzy’s seventh birthday party. For good measure, I stopped breathing, too.
The man bent down to pick up the papers. “Concentrate, man,” he said to himself. His voice was deep and menacing. “Make a mess and they’ll know you were here.”
Phew. He’d assumed he’d disturbed the papers himself. I managed to breathe out.
The man continued snooping around the lab. With every step he took, I was more and more con
vinced he was going to discover me. Plus, he was right in front of the cupboard I needed to get into. Any second now, he’d open it and see the vials that contained all the ready-made serum. No!
He was reaching up toward the cupboard and I was wondering how I could distract him without giving myself away when the sound of an old-fashioned telephone broke the silence.
The man patted his jacket pocket and pulled out a cell phone. “What?” he said, his voice low and deep and menacing. He paused for a moment, then spoke: “Yes, yes, of course I did. . . . No, not yet . . . I just need a bit more time.”
I put my hands in my pockets to stop them from shaking. My fingers tightened around the bottle of serum. I had to put it back.
“Yes, I know that it’s a lot of money, and, as I said, you will get it all back. With interest. I take my business dealings seriously, and I have never defaulted on a loan. . . .” There was another pause before he added, “I’m pursuing a new lead.”
The man turned vaguely in my direction and smiled. It was a predator’s grin. Then he nodded impatiently. “Believe me, you’ll be more than satisfied. I’m going to invent the most incredible thing. . . . Let’s just say I’ve got a winning formula.”
At that point, he broke off to chortle at his own joke. His laugh cut through me as if it were a steak knife and I was dinner. “Trust me,” he continued. “Just give me more time, and I will make you almost as rich as I’m going to make myself.”
Then, in a voice that was so slimy it was as if a snake were slithering out of his mouth with his words, he added, “Of course I’ll test it rigorously. . . . On whom? I don’t know — a bunch of kids who don’t demand to read contracts or be paid. I’ll find them from somewhere.”
OK, that was it! I had to get out of here. My fingers loosened around the bottle in my pocket. I’d managed to put everything else back. It was only one little bottle. Surely no one would miss that. I couldn’t risk staying here another minute.
Luckily, a few minutes later, the man walked close enough to the automatic door that it whooshed open. I took the opportunity and whizzed through. As it slid shut, I opened the front door as quietly as I could, edged outside, and softly closed it behind me.