Ivy and the Fluorescent Lightbulb

Chapter 6 - The Lightbulb

"What's a government agent doing at our house?" Syndria said, her eyes fixed on the motorcycle and eyebrows furrowed into a frown.

"And did they get inside? I don't see anyone from the front window..." Kronalia said, her leg bouncing up and down and her arms tightly crossed.

"They must've heard about our cybervist attack," Oak said.

"...or Ivy's health bar," Augaley said with a grimace. "Remember how it beeped when it was first set up on Ivy earlier? That had happened in Syndria's bedroom, so they probably got tipped off by the error message. It's never done that for any of us before."

"Either way, we cannot be caught with Ivy here!" Carbon said, looking between Ivy and the home. "Is there anywhere that we can hide her instead of your place, Kronalia and Syndria?"

"U-um I can't seem to think of anything at the moment!" Syndria said, biting her lips.

"I knew it! The agent's gonna catch us here with Ivy," Oak groaned, leaning a head against the taxi's window. "Didn't I say we'd end up in big trouble? How did I end up in this mess with all of you?"

"I don't know," Syndria testily said. "You tagged along with us since we took Ivy to our house."

"The first thing we need to do," Oak said, ignoring her statement, "is figure out how to keep Ivy hidden from the agent. Then we can figure out how to hurry up and get her back to her time before we get caught. Our entire plan could go up in sparks if we get in trouble before we can even get started."

"Oh, look!" Syndria gasped. "They've turned on the lights in my room."

"Lemme see," Kronalia said, standing and leaning over Syndria's shoulder. "Is that the agent there?"

"Where, I don't see anyone!"

"No, I see her." Kronalia abruptly sat down, crouching from the window. " And I think she saw me. The agent just looked out the window."

"If she saw us," Carbon said, looking frantically around, "then she may come out to investigate, and then she'd find Ivy, and then—"

"Does anyone have a good hiding spot for Ivy?" Oak muttered, burying his face into his hands.

"Anywhere I think of is in our house," Syndria groaned. "And if we leave, it might look suspicious..."

"Why not?" Kronalia said. "I doubt they'd think an impromptu trip to the food district would be suspicious."

Just then, a small holographic screen popped in front of Syndria. "Oh...it's Mom," she groaned. "Give me a nanosec to answer this." She tapped a button on the menu. "Yeah, Mom?" she said.

<<Syndria?>> a woman's voice, similar sounding to Syndria and Kronalia's, said. <<Where are you? I thought you were home with your friends?>>

"Oh, yeah!" she cheerfully said. "I was, but then we went to the library."

<<Oh, are you the black vehicle outside?>>

Syndria desperately looked at the others for an answer. Kronalia grimaced and shrugged, Carbon looked at Oak and Augaley, and Augaley quickly shook her head. Oak slowly raised his head from his hands and looked at Syndria. "Yes," he mouthed.

"Y-yeah, we just pulled up," Syndria said. She gulped. "Why?"

There was silence for a few seconds. <<There's a government official here, and she was checking on a possible health issue here. Was everything ok?>>

"Oh, that!" Syndria said, laughing. "Augaley and I were trying out shoes and didn't realize that it would cause an error in the system."

<<Don't you know to only wear your own issued clothing?>> her mother sighed. <<Alright, I'll have to fill out some paperwork with the agent now, hurry up and get inside. We'll be in the living space.>>