Ash Ketchum: Rise of Galactic

Ch. 6 Bronze Idaho and the Voice

There are people in this world you don't really picture as having a sister, like, for instance, Hitler. (However, Clemont told me that Hitler did have a sister, named Paula.) Calem was one of those people. I wondered what Calem's sister would be like and how she'd respond to us all showing up at her tanning salon. I remembered what Calem had said about her on our way to California—that she didn't really associate with the rest of his family anymore. Maybe she'd throw us out. Where would we go then? And what if Calem's father was dead?

We drove to a small strip mall and pulled into the parking space next to Drew. The sign on the building in front of us read:

BRONSE IDAHO TANNING SALON

A red-and-blue neon sign in the salon's front window flashed OPEN.

Drew started getting out of the van, but Calem stopped him. "You guys better stay here for a minute. I need to make sure my sister's cool."

"Okay," Drew said. "We'll keep watch."

The rest of us followed Calem through the front door. The salon's lobby was decorated in a Hawaiian motif, with amateurishly painted palm trees and hula girls on the walls and thatch covering the front counter.

The woman standing at the front desk looked up as we entered. She was a female version of Calem, though she was much smaller, maybe only an inch taller than Serena. She had long, red hair accented with a violet streak, and a nose ring and multiple ear piercings. Not surprisingly, she was very tan.

"Hey, sis," Calem said.

"Calem," she said, her surprise at seeing him evident in her voice. "Where have you been?" She looked at the rest of us with a confused expression, then came around the counter and hugged her brother.

After they separated, Calem said, "I just came from the house, or what's left of it. Where's Dad?"

I held my breath.

"He's staying with me until he can find an apartment," she said.

Calem's expression relaxed. I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Where have you been?" she asked again.

"California."

"Who are these people?"

"Friends of mine," he said. "We need a place to hide out."

Her expression changed from curiosity to anger. "Hide out? What have you done?"

"Nothing," Calem said. "We haven't done anything wrong."

She looked at me and I nodded in confirmation.

"Then why are you hiding?"

"It's a long story," Calem said. "And the less you know the better. We just need a place to hang until we figure out what we're going to do."

She looked at him for a moment, then said, "Okay. But you can't stay up front. I've got a business to run. And you owe me an explanation."

Just then the front door opened and a tall, professionally dressed woman walked in. She looked around at us. "Excuse me, are you all in line?" She asked Serena.