The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past

Chapter 13 - The Perfect Plan

Just over a hundred years earlier, the house where the Jordans currently lived had been designed with a variety of features not typically found in modern homes. Most were tailored to accommodate the presence of servants – a button in the floor of the dining room where the lady of the house could tap her foot to call her housekeeper, a small bedroom where the housekeeper would reside, and a back staircase from said room to the kitchen for ‘commuting’ to work without using the main staircase. That was reserved only for the family’s use.

Over the years, the Jordan’s house has undergone many renovations, bringing its features more in line with modern expectations. The button in the dining room floor, no longer needed, was hidden under a rug. The tiny room had been expanded and was now occupied by Zach Jordan, the oldest of the Jordan children. And the extra set of stairs had been split in two and repurposed into a pair of closets. 

There remained an unused bit of square footage – a small stretch of hallway buried between Zach and Binny’s room that led to the former back stairs. Over the years the remodels left it walled off and now it was only accessible through small panels in the back of Zach and Binny’s closets. This forgotten space was now home to various pipes and wires that needed to travel hidden behind the walls of the Jordan house. It was also home to cobwebs. Lots and lots of cobwebs.

“Yuck.” Binny found herself scraping at her tongue with her hand, hoping that what she’d just inhaled wasn’t a spider. 

“Shhhh.” Zach worried they would be heard.

“Don’t worry, they think we’re asleep.”

When Zach and Binny had been younger they’d often played in this secret hiding place. Their parents weren’t thrilled about it as it didn’t seem safe, but that didn’t stop the kids. As Zach and Binny played together less and less, the space remained mostly unused. By the time Cassie had been old enough to want to know about it, neither Zach nor Binny had told her, because they didn’t want her traipsing around either of their rooms to get into it.

Zach and Binny spent most of their evening reviewing the day’s events and trying to realign their understanding of the new world in which they lived.

“We need a new hideout.” Zach was trying to get the dust and cobwebs out of his hair, not liking the idea of having a spider walk on his face any more than Binny did.

“Yeah, I’ll get to work on that right away,” said Binny sarcastically. “Aren’t you freaked out by what just happened?” Zach seemed a little too focused on making sure his hair was spider-free, and not enough on what mattered.

“What happened?”

“Let’s see. Our baby sister has a super power and some creepy guy has been stalking her.”

“Maybe if one of these spiders bites me, I’ll get a super power.” Zach tried to deflect.

“Zach!” Binny was getting exasperated.

Finally Zach acquiesced, “He’s a doctor. He’s Mom’s doctor.”

“Exactly. He’s been stalking Cassie, all of us, since even before we were born.”

Zach laughed.

Binny shot him a look cutting his laughter short. She continued, slowly now, lowering her voice, “Don’t you wonder?”

“Wonder what?”

“Wonder how Cassie got this power?”

Before Zach had a chance to respond, Binny continued. “Apparently Mom had trouble getting pregnant – which by the way I’m not sure why nobody ever told me that – and went to this scary doctor to get experimental drugs. And now Cassie can turn herself invisible and the doctor who gave Mom the drugs is on the phone having equally scary conversations with some guy named Sam. Something is not right here.”