“That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” Binny said. She moved her hands, mimicking Zoe’s descent from the branch.
The six children were walking towards the center of the neighborhood. The clouds overhead were hastening the darkness that normally wouldn’t have fallen over Madrona for another hour or two.
Zoe was giggling as she walked, not entirely sure how to respond.
“Can you do it again?” Gabe asked.
“I think so?” Zoe wasn’t entirely sure herself.
As they walked, and after looking up and down the street to make sure they were alone, Zoe started to lift off the ground with each successive step, almost as if she was walking up an invisible staircase. Everyone else stayed firmly on the sidewalk. By the time she got to the third ‘step’ her balance was a little off and she started to wave her arms.
“Come down. Come down.” Binny urged.
Zoe regained her balance with her arms out like she was walking a balance beam and gently floated down to the sidewalk.
“That was much better than before.” Zach said smiling.
Zoe blushed.
“Flying is the absolute awesomest.” Penny gushed.
“You’re next you know.” Cassie said to Gabe who was still staring at his sister, amazed by her new ability.
“Who me?” Gabe said, bewildered.
Binny gave Cassie a look indicating that she shouldn’t promise things she couldn’t deliver.
Cassie responded as if Binny had made her comment aloud. “Oh, I’m sure of it.” And then to Gabe, “Yes, you. I’m not sure exactly when but it’s coming.”
“Maybe it will. Maybe it won’t. It’s pretty cool to hang out with superpowered kids. Nobody else gets to do that. So I’m already pretty lucky.”
Binny and Zoe looked at each other in surprise at Gabe’s mature outlook on the situation.
“That’s a very grown up attitude little brother.” Zoe patted her brother on the shoulder.
“Just promise you’ll give me a ride someday.” Gabe smiled at his big sister.
Zoe thought that it might be awhile before she could make sure she didn’t injure herself much less be responsible for someone else. And besides, she couldn’t lift Gabe on the ground. How would she lift him while flying? Zoe kept those thoughts to herself and just said, “Absolutely!”
After consulting the text he’d received earlier one last time, Zach suddenly said, “OK. We’re here.” The group came to an abrupt halt.
“Where is here?” Zoe said.
“I don’t see anything.” Gabe was looking at the line of tall shrubs that defined the property line. They were dense and in the spots where one could even see between them, a tall fence lay behind them.
“Let’s walk around the block. There’s bound to be a way in.”
“And you’re sure this is the place?” Zoe said.
Zach took out his phone. “The text just gave this address and said. ‘I believe you’ll find what you’re looking for there. Good luck.’”
“Did he mention why his security guard was still after us today?” Binny rolled her eyes.
“He did as a matter of fact.” Zach read a follow-on message from Luce that said he’d be meeting with Grater the next morning to make sure he left the kids alone.
“I guess.” Binny let the matter drop.
“Why didn’t we think of looking here before?” Zoe pointed to the teal roof that was now just visible over the fence and overgrowth.
“When we did our search before, I assumed that Ollie wouldn’t be in someone’s private home, because who would let him in? So I figured it had to be a public place. It never occurred to me that there would be an abandoned house in the neighborhood. I guess I didn’t know there were any abandoned houses around here.” Zach said.
“The plants are doing a good job of hiding it.” Penny joked.
The home sat directly in back of and across the alley behind the row of shops in Madrona’s retail district.
“Hey, we’re behind Soul Repair.” Binny said.
“Yes. That’s their back door.” Zach pointed to the door with the darkened inset window featuring the Soul Repair logo.
“It’s open.” Directly opposite the Soul Repair door, Gabe tugged on a gate that had been set into the fence that bordered the home. It was easily missed as the surrounding overgrown shrubbery had almost concealed it.
“How did you find that?” Binny asked in surprise.
“Some things are easier to see from my height.” Gabe was beaming.
“Maybe that’s your power, finding things nobody else can find.” Cassie added.
“It’s not open exactly. More like broken.” Zach traced his finger along the chain that hung loose on the fence. “Some of your handiwork?” Zach joked to Penny.
“I had nothing to do with it.” Penny smiled.
“It means he’s here.” Zach said.
The excitement at Zoe’s new power seemed to evaporate with Zach’s pronouncement. The faint sound of distant thunder echoed and the sky got noticeably darker.
§
“Did you hear that?” Julie Jordan asked.
“You worried about them?” Quincy Yang said.
Julie smiled sheepishly. “Yeah.”
“Thanks for coming over to help us eat all this food.” Jay said to everyone at the Jordan’s kitchen table.
“Thank you for inviting us over. Your daughters weren’t exaggerating about your cooking.” Serena said.
“What did they say?” Jay raised his eyebrows in mock fear.
Everyone laughed.
“I know I’m the only one of you who isn’t a parent. But I think it’s great that you trust your kids to run around the neighborhood on their own.” Jonathan said.
“We do?” Jay joked.
Julie and Serena gave Jay a look.
“I mean, we do.” Jay retreated.
§
The structure sat in the heart of Madrona like a corpse buried just below the earth. Rotting and invisible. It looked like it had once been a home. Zach thought it had really been more of a mansion really. The dilapidated structure stretched twice as wide as even the biggest homes in the neighborhood. And the grounds could have fit at least three, maybe four other houses on them.
In the fading light, Zach could still tell that the house had once been painted white, but just barely. Paint was peeling. But the teal clay roof tiles still shone bright.
There is a garage of sorts as well. Zach thought it would have been called a carriage house given how old it looked. Zach and the others walked the grounds surveying the property. It was hard to find an entrance given that the house seemed to float in an ocean of overgrown foliage and weeds. A sign hung from the porch ceiling over the front door, but the letters were so faded that Zach couldn’t tell what it had once said.
“Binny, would you mind checking to see if he’s in there before we go in?” Zach asked.
Zach, Zoe, Binny, Penny, Cassie, and Gabe stood at the foot of the steps to what had at once been the front porch.
“I was afraid you were gonna ask me to do that.” Binny responded.
“Afraid?” Penny asked, concerned.
“Afraid of what I might see.” Binny confided in the group.
“I don’t want to risk going in there if we’re wrong. It doesn’t look exactly safe.” Zach said.
Binny took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She took that familiar path in the front of her mind, but somehow above it to the screen that showed what the people around her thought. Her companions were various shades of focused dark green, but with nervous cracks spreading across their emotional landscapes like shattering ice.
Binny zoomed out so she could see beyond her immediate vicinity. Smaller, further away, was another mind. The angle reminded her of when she’d seen Gabe knocked out, lying below them in the shelter. The blob of consciousness sparkled. Well, not quite. The closer Binny zoomed in, the less it was sparkling, and the more it looked like television static. Sometimes she would see tiny angry purple flecks. Binny zoomed closer.
And then the pain began. Binny’s head started to ache all at once. Not a dull pain either. Sharp needles forcing their way into her skull. The closer Binny got to the static, the more it hurt. It took Binny a couple of seconds to realize the connection and retreat completely.
“What’s wrong?” Everyone saw Binny double over.
Once she’d pulled back in her mind, the pain disappeared, but the shock did not. Binny touched her hand to her skull and then brought it in front of her face expecting to see it covered in blood. Binny started crying, scared by what had happened.
Penny and Zach rushed to put their arms around her to see if she was ok.
“I’m alright.” Binny tried to gather herself and stop the tears that were now flowing freely.
“What happened?” Zach said.
“What did you see?” Zoe asked.
“I’m not really sure.” Binny wiped her face with her shirt. “Something, well someone, is definitely down there. In the basement. I can tell. But when I got close, I couldn’t see what they were thinking. Just a whole bunch of noise. And the closer I got, the more my head started to hurt. Whoever is down there, I don’t think I can see what they’re thinking.”
“It’s him.” Zoe said.
“How can you be so sure?” Zach asked.
“Who else could it be?” Penny said confidently.
Nobody had an answer for her.
§
Henry Huitre felt his phone buzzing. He pressed the button to answer it without even looking to see who was calling and immediately regretted his choice.
“Henry? I’m sorry to bother you. Really.” Samantha Trace said on the other end of the line.
“What is it Sam?” Huitre forced himself to sound as polite as he could.
“Ollie’s missing. I’ve been walking around the neighborhood for over an hour and I can’t find him.” Trace sounded close to tears.
“Does he not have a phone? It seems like every kid has one these days.” Huitre asked.
“No.”
“I’m sure you’ll find him soon. He probably just got distracted by whatever game he was playing and lost track of time.” Henry hesitated a little before continuing. “I’m afraid I’m looking for my dog as well. He seems to have run off.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Trace said on the other end of the line.
“I am gonna head out soon and look for Rembrandt some more. I promise, if I see your son, I will call you immediately.” Huitre said.
“I’ll do the same. And Henry?” Samantha said.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
§
“Everyone be careful where you step. I don’t want anyone to twist their ankle.” Zach instructed.
Large sheets of plywood covered all the windows. Penny approached the pair of front doors gingerly hoping the floorboards on the porch wouldn’t decide this was the moment to give way.
Penny tried the handle. It was locked.
“It’s Pennytime.” Zoe spoke in just above a whisper.
Penny blushed a little and then turned her focus back to her task. She placed her hands on the handles and went to her breaking place. It took less time than usual. The entire handle and locking mechanism fell to pieces. Some dropped on the porch. The kids could hear the clatter of the pieces that fell inside the house.
Penny pushed the doors but they wouldn’t budge. A look of surprise crossed her face. “Uh. I’m not sure what’s wrong.”
Gabe had pushed to the front of the group and was peering in through one of the small windows that were stacked vertically on either side of the front doors. It looks blocked.
Zach leaned in to inspect as well. “There’s furniture piled up in front of the door. We need to find another way in.”
“How are we gonna do that?” Zoe asked.
“Ollie got in somehow, so there must be a way in for us too.” Zach responded.
“Fine.” Zoe seemed stumped for the moment.
Another search of the grounds yielded no obvious answers.
“Tell me again, what you saw when you looked for Ollie with your mind?” Zach asked Binny.
“Please don’t make me do that again.” Binny looked nervous.
“No. I promise. Just remind me what you saw.” Zach said.
“It was like static, like you see on a television when there’s no picture.” Binny answered.
“Right, but what about where he was?” Zach asked.
“Yeah. It looked like he was under the house. In the basement maybe?” Binny said, unsure of exactly what her vision had meant.
After some long seconds of tapping his fingers on his leg as he was thinking, Zach suddenly said, “I have an idea.”