I walked down the stairs as I listened to Adam rant about history. It was surprising, considering the fact he always complained about not knowing what "The Declaration Of Independence" was. (Happy 4th of July bye to anyone who actually celebrates it).
"I love history class! Someone is always leaving me a little piece of gum stuck under my desk." Adam grinned as Leo, Bree, Chase and I stopped to look at him.
"Adam... please tell me you didn't-" I was cut off as Adam blew and popped the piece of gum, gagging in disgust in the process. "He did. He totally did." I turned away to stop myself from throwing up.
"Oh. Guys, don't look now, but here comes that guy none of us like. Marcus." Leo piped up as I looked up and smiled, along with my other bionic friends as we cheered.
"M-Dog!" We sang and all walked over to Marcus.
"Wait. Hold the phone. Hold the phone, hold the freaky-deaky phone. "M-dog"?" Leo questioned as Chase nodded.
"Yeah. Bro's call each other by nicknames." He smiled as Marcus looked over to Leo.
"Well, I'm your actual bro and you don't call me by a nickname." He complained as Adam and I chuckled.
"Actually, we do. We just choose not to do it in your presence. Mr. Tiny McLittlestein." Adam said in a high voice, squishing his fingers together.
"Hey, Marcus, what are you up to this weekend?" Chase asked as Marcus shrugged.
"Ah, my dad's out of town so I'll be stuck home alone with my grandma." He answered as Leo snapped his fingers and pointed at Marcus accusingly.
"A-ha! You said your grandma was dead!" He yelled, thinking he had caught Marcus.
"The other one. But thanks for reminding me." Marcus choked up as I jammed my elbow into Leo's side. "I wish I could stay with you guys."
"And I wish you weren't a spastic sociopath with abandonment issues." Leo smiled as I smacked his arm.
"Leo! Give it a rest, will ya? Marcus hasn't done anything wrong since the guitar thing." I said as I turned to him.
"Nessie, none of us are safe until the FBI responds to my request for a background check on this "M-dog." Leo glared as I rolled my eyes.
"Look, Marcus I'm sure that you can stay with us until your dad gets back. We will just have to check it with Mr. Davenport." I said as he smiled.
"Okay. Cool. Thanks, guys." Marcus said before walking off as the bell rang. One of the football players tossed the football to the other, which started flying in Bree'a direction.
"Bree watch out!" Chase warned, waving his hand. In that moment the ball flew my direction and I quickly caught it, snapping my attention over to Chase as my eyes widened.
"Did— did you just? And I just- did I just catch a football?" I asked myself and turned to the two football players, smiling awkwardly as I handed them the ball.
"I think I just moved that ball with my mind." Chase whispered as Leo gawked.
"I did not know you could do that." He said as Chase looked at him.
"I didn't either." Chase replied, staring at his hand.
"So we are all going to ignore the fact I just caught a football?" I spoke as they all frowned at me. "What? I suck at sports!"
⁂
"Chase, this is amazing. You can move things with your mind! You're like a really cool magician. You know, if there was such thing as a really cool magician." Leo joked as I stabbed my fork into the chicken from my salad, leaning back in my chair at the cyber desk.
"It doesn't make any sense. It was probably just a fluke. I mean, it's not like everything around me is gonna suddenly start flying through the air." He said, waving his hand as things started flying through the air. Including my salad.
"Hey! I was really enjoying that." I frowned at Chase and pointed at him with my fork. "You owe me a new salad." I grumbled as he smiled nervously.
"I'm gonna tell Mr. Davenport about this. If this is anything like what happened to Vanessa and it's a glitch, then Mr. Davenport could pull me out of school as well." Chase said as I shrugged.
"Why haven't we just looked at our files?" I asked. Chase snapped his fingers and nodded.
"Great idea! Let me tap into his cyberdesk, see if I can find out anything." He said, walking behind the desk and pulling up both of our files, his eyes widening. "Woah.."
"What did you find?" Leo asked as he finished picking up my fallen salad.
"Guys, these aren't glitches. Vanessa can teleport herself and others using her molecules as a signal. And I can move objects by manipulating the energy around them. We've unlocked hidden abilities called geo-leaping and molecular kinesis." He said as I gasped a laugh.
"Yeah, Chase, I'm also gonna need you to unlock your ability to use smaller words." Adam complained as Chase continued to swipe through everyone's files.
"According to this, we all have hidden abilities." Chase said as Bree pushed past Adam.
"What?!" She chirped as Adam leaned forward.
"What are they?!" He frowned, trying to read it.
"I don't know, let me see. Oh, no. It's shutting us out. Mr. Davenport must have put a security lock on it. I'm sorry, guys, I guess we'll just have to discover them on our own." Chase sighed as I smiled.
"This is amazing guys. I can take us anywhere in the world in less than a second! Wait. I want to test this out." I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath, picturing Honolulu in my mind. When I opened my eyes, I was standing in front of its beautiful island.
I returned back a few minutes later, lei around my necks, drink with a cute little umbrella in my hand, a shirt that said "Aloha" on it, a grass skirt and flip flops. I took a sip of my near-empty drink as everyone smiles and 'pies' except for Chase.
"You guys should totally check out the dune-buggy ride on Honolulu. I would have gone on, but apparently the last guy drove everyone into a volcano. Yeesh." I said and walked over to Davenport's desk.
"Vanessa, you shouldn't use this ability until we know more about it. The next place you could end up on could be the moon. With no suit, and no helmet." He said as I groaned and rolled my head back.
"Fine! I won't geo-leap anywhere. After I steal Einstein's brain." I said and shut my eyes, Chase a yelling to keep me from leaving as I whined. "FINE!" I yelled and plopped down in my chair, crossing my arms in annoyment.
"This is awesome! You could totally use this to look at the answers for my next history test." Leo cheered as Chase shot the idea down.
"No, Leo. This new ability could be dangerous. Neither of us will be using our unlocked abilities until further notice." Chase demanded as I leaned over to Bree.
"Now I see why you're always complaining about him." I whispered as she nodded.
⁂
"Hey, Mr. Davenport. Is it okay if Marcus spends the weekend here? His dad is away and he doesn't want to spend it with his not-dead grandma." Adam asked as Mr. Davenport turned to look at me, raising a brow. I smiled and zapped the lei around my neck, watching it disappear.
"No. Don't do it. Marcus is an evil, two-faced liar. And also... a Sagittarius. They're shifty." Leo snapped as Bree and I frowned.
"I'm a Sagittarius." We said in unison as Leo looked over at us, then up and down.
"I rest my case." He finished as I chuckled.
"Here, how about I help you open a new one?" I threatened as he yelped, hiding behind Davenport as I jokingly took a step forward as the doorbell rang.
"You know, guys, this is really not a great for visitors. I got a lot of stuff..." Davenport trailed off as Chase answered the door, Marcus standing behind it with a smile.
"M arcus. What a surprise. We were just talking about you." Chase said as he slowly turned to me, I shrugged in confusion.
"Yeah, let me catch you up to speed. You're two-faced and no one likes you. Goodbye." Leo smiled and pointed to the door as Marcus laughed.
"I love this little guy. He's so full of fire! Mr. Davenport, my dad left before my grandma got there and I was all alone and this is the only place that I feel safe and... please don't make me leave!" He cried and hugged Mr. Davenport. My eyes widened in shock. I didn't know someone could cry so much.
"Yeah, okay, okay. Okay, all right. You can stay." Davenport said as his watch beeped.
"What's that?" Marcus asked as Davenport turned away quickly, and I saw a quick glimpse of 'mission alert' on the screen. I love timing
"Uh, that? That means it's, uh—it's happy time. How about you stay here and be happy, and we'll be happy over there." Davenport suggested as Marcus nodded and smiled, the rest of us walking over to the other side. "Guys, that is the mission alarm. We have to get down to the lab immediately. Leo, distract Marcus." He said in a hushed voice as Leo went to shoot down the idea.
"What?! No—no. No." Leo said as Chase and Davenport ran out of the room and down to the lab, Marcus walking over.
"Uh, Marcus. We'll be right back. We gotta go... pick up a pizza." Bree said as Marcus raised a brow.
"All of you?" He asked as I smiled awkwardly.
"It's a ... really big pizza." I said, Adam, Bree and I running down to the lab.
"Leo's got Marcus taken care of. I told him we were picking up a pizza." Bree said as Davenport nodded.
"There's a crisis at my space station." Davenport said as Chase and I frowned.
"You have a space station?" Chase asked.
"More importantly... you didn't tell us?!" I cut in.
"Because I don't trust any of you not breaking my stuff." He admitted as we glared at him. "Anyways. Yeah. I'm building the world's first intergalactic tourist destination. Key words: "First" and "Tourist." Ka-ching! Watch the Earth rise from your hotel room as you enjoy all the comforts of home, like oxygen and gravity." Davenport joked as I held back a chuckle.
"I've always wanted to go to space. It's been a dream of mine since I was a kid." I smiled as Davenport nodded.
"Yeah, well, you're about to get your wish. A meteor shower struck the station, and an asteroid breached the hull. It's gassing out. If we don't something quick, it's gonna re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate with all my crew members on board." He explained as my eyes widened.
"I was hoping they just ran out of food." I muttered as Davenport laughed.
"No... that was yesterday." He said as my eyes widened.
"Oh! Our first rescue mission—in space! Wait, from now on, I'm gonna need you all to refer to me by my code name "Space Cadet." Adam said as he but his tongue and I shook my head.
"Got news for you, buddy. We've been calling you by your code name for forever." I said and he frowned in confusion.
"Okay, you guys don't have much training for space, but people's lives are in danger, so I will talk you through it. Chase, as usual, you are our mission leader. Now, your mission suits are not equipped for zero gravity, so there are three space suits in the shuttle. Lift-off is in ten minutes." As I suddenly remembered the guest upstairs.
"Wait. What about Marcus?" I asked as Davenport sighed.
"I don't know. I guess I'm gonna have to call his not-dead grandmother." Davenport answered before leaving as I turned to Chase , both of us practically squealing.
"WE'RE GOING TO SPACE!" We cheered before doing our little cheerful dance as Adam and Bree grimaced at us.
"You two together are going to kill me." Bree complained as Chase and I high-fived.
"Anyways. Chase, if you are going to lead us, you have to tell Mr. Davenport about your molecular kinesis. If you can't control it, you're putting us all at risk." Bree continued as Chase sighed.
"Don't worry, okay? I already talked to him about it, and he deactivated it. So I'm good to be your mission leader—as always." He grinned.
" "I'm your mission leader." Why don't you just put it on a t-shirt so everyone knows when you walk into a room?" Adam asked as Chase grinned, picking up a shirt as I played the role of the over hyped show-girl.
"Fine. When the Martians show up, you're gettin' probed first." He continued as Chase and I looked at one another and frowned.
⁂
I sat in my chair next to Chase, Adam and Bree behind us as I helped Chase lift us off. "You guys ready?" I asked, turning to see Bree, who was perfectly calm as Adam was shaking with nerves. "Don't worry, Adam. We'll be fine."
"I'm not worried about that. I really have to pee." He said and took in a sharp breath, Chase and I sharing a look.
"Alright... ready for lift off." Chase said. Flipping a few more switches, I held the joystick.
"In ten.. nine..." I started, Chase finishing the count down.
"One." He finished, pressing a large green button as I was shoved deep into my chair as we ascended into the sky, heart thundering in my ears.
Now, it definitely wasn't the trip to space that felt wrong. But it felt like something wasn't right. Something back down at the lab.
⁂
I guided everyone to their seats before running back to the space shuttle.
"The passengers are secure. And may I just say, they all smell horrid." I gagged as Bree nodded.
"There isn't much time. The hull breach is compromising the structural integrity of the station. And there's an asteroid shower heading our way!" Chase yelled as Adam walked over.
"Okay, I've got the tool we need to fix the hull." He said and started shaking it around.
"Adam be careful with that! It's not a toy." I said as he giggled.
"Not unless you give it its own voice." He joked, making his voice higher. "Hey, look at me! I'm a toy!" He falsettoed as Chase snatched it out of his hands and set it on the table.
"Okay, we have to contact Mr. Davenport so he can guide us through this." Chase narrated, turning on the screen to see Leo. LEO?!
"Earth here. Commander Dooley speaking." He grinned as all of our eyes widened.
"Leo?! Where is Mr. Davenport?" Bree asked.
"He had to take Marcus home. But he should have been back by now. Oh, also, before I forget, I'm gonna need you to bring me back a lot of souvenirs. A space helmet, space rocks, space soap, a space towel, those tiny little space shampoos—shampoos, not conditioners--" I cut him off by tapping the screen, which turned off.
"Great. Now we have no clue what to do." I complained as I scratched my head.
"How is Adam supposed to go out into space and fix the breached hull if we don't have Mr. Davenport here to tell him how to do it!" Chase asked as he waved his hand, the tool needed to fix the hulk flying across the room and breaking into two. He froze up, staring ahead as I crossed my arms.
"Chase... did your deactivated molecular kinesis just destroy the tool we need to fix the damaged hull?" I asked as he slowly made eye contact with me and smiled meekly.
"No?" He lied as Bree yelled in frustration.
"You lied to us! You never even told Davenport about it, did you?" She asked.
"If I did he would have never let me come to space!" Chase argued.
"Wait. So our mission leader just messed up the mission. Whoo-hoo! For once it wasn't me!" Adam cheered as he went to high-five me. Only to see me glaring at him and watch him scratch his head.
"We have to talk to Mr. Davenport. He'll know what to do." I said, all of us silently hoping Leo had left.
I tapped the screen and low and behold, Leo was still talking. "..space chocolate, space taffy, a Martian, moon cheese, space pizza..." I groaned and shut the computer off again.
"Great. Well, Davenport's not there, but at least we know what Leo wants from the gift shop!" Bree snapped "What are we gonna do?!"
"Wait. What if Adam used his heat vision to seal the pieces of the hull back together?" I asked as Bree scoffed in disbelief.
"Vanessa! That's a great idea!" She praised as I smiled. "Chase, hand over your t-shirt." She ordered as he glared at her, and I jokingly held out my hand.
"Unh-unh. Let's just go. Come on. Go." Chase ordered Adam over to the door.
"Okay, the visor is designed to let your heat vision through. So whatever you do, don't open it or your face will explode." Chase explained as Adam nodded slowly. I walked in with Adam, grabbing the tether.
"Adam, I'm connecting the tether to you. Do not unhook it." I ordered as he started laughing.
"That's a funny word: "Tether." Tether. Tether. Te—Te-- T- T- T- T- Tether. Tetherrrrrr. Tether. T- T- T- T- T--" I rolled my eyes and walked back into the shuttle, Chase closing the door.
We all walked over to the window as I put a mic in my ear, hearing Adam still go on about the tether.
"Tether. Tether. Tether. Tether tether tether tether tether. Tether. Tether tether tether." He repeated as I sighed in disappointment.
"Adam, just find the panel." Chase ordered, Adam groaning in annoyance.
"Oh I see it!" I heard the sound of metal being pushed together. "I did it!" He cheered as Bree, Chase and I hugged.
"Uh-oh." Adam said as we all stopped.
"What do you mean 'uh-oh?'" I asked as I gasped in shock, watching Adam start floating off into space.
"His heat vision severed the tether. He's drifting out into space!" Bree stated the obvious as I put my hands on my head.
Asteroids started to fly past Adam, who started screaming. "Adam, you have super strength." I reminded as he chuckled, punching one and stopping it from hitting him. He yelled in pain.
I shook my head, opening the door and walking into the other part of the shuttle. "What are you doing?" Chase asked as I suited myself up.
"What does it look like? I'm going to save Adam." I answered as Chase sighed reluctantly while I hooked the tether to my suit. I turned back to him, giving him a reassuring nod before he stepped out and J out my helmet on.
I jumped out and started floating towards Adam. "Hold on Adam! I'm coming!" I yelled as he frowned.
"Hold into what?!" He asked as I suddenly felt a tug.
"No! The tether is too short! I can't reach him." I stated as Adam started drifting further away.
"Ooh! Did you bring a stick? It's not going to work! I'm drifting away!" He yelled as I looked back at Chase and Bree, then my tether, then to Adam.
"I really hope this works." I said to myself as I started to reach for my tether.
"Vanessa? What are you doing?!" Chase yelled as I sighed.
"I'm going to try and use my Geo-leaping to get us back into the shuttle." I answered.
"No! I'll just use my molecular kinesis-"
"There isn't enough time, Chase! He's already too far away!" I snapped as I unhooked my tether, doggy-paddling towards Adam. I gripped onto my arm, hoping and praying this would work.
I visualized the inside of the shuttle, suddenly feeling less light weight as I opened my eyes, looking around in relief.
"Oh thank god!" I yelled and fell to the floor, taking off my helmet as Chase ran down and fell next to me.
"Are you alright?!" He asked as I smiled.
"I will be." I answered, grabbing his face and pulling him into a kiss as Adam and Bree's mouths dropped open in shock.
Chase pulled away as we stood up, looking over at his siblings. "Surprise...we're dating." I mused as Adam blinked.
"If there was a fly I probably would have swallowed it from how open my mouth is." He said as I rolled my eyes, slipping out of the suit.
⁂
"On my way home I discovered what that little red light on my dashboard of my hydrogen car means. It means "you're out of hydrogen and you're walking home." How's the mission going? Guys? Guys? What's the status of the space station? Are you there?" I heard Davenport call for us as I dropped my duffel bag.
"Yep. Right here." Bree said as Leo and Mr. Davenport snapped their attention to us while we walked over.
"Oh... hello." Davenport smiled as I frowned at him.
"Where have you been?" Chase asked.
"You totally abandoned us! And the entire mission!" Bree snapped.
"Adam floated out into space and almost became the world's dumbest satellite." I explained as Davenport's eyes widened.
"Yeah! Wait." Adam interjected.
"And he would have if Vanessa hadn't have stumbled upon her geo-leaping." Chase accidentally admitted as I scoffed.
"Well it wouldn't have been a problem if you didn't break the tool with your molecular kinesis!" I argued as the two of us suddenly realized Mr. Davenport was listening. "Oh... also we may have stumbled upon our geo-leaping and molecular kinesis." The two of us smiled awkwardly.
"How did you two find out about that?" Davenport asked as I frowned.
"More importantly... how could you not tell us we all have hidden abilities?" I questioned.
"Uh, Mr. Davenport, what other abilities do I have? Because I vote for the ability to look into the future and see myself far, far away from all of... this." Bree gestures to Adam and Chase while Davenport sighed.
"Yes, it's-- it's true, you all have abilities you don't know about. But I can't tell you what they are or when they'll appear." he admitted.
"Why not?" Adam asked.
"Because I don't know what they all are or when they'll appear." Davenport continued to admit.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Chase asked.
"Look, there are certain things I can't tell you right now, but it's for your own good. Strange things will continue to happen, and I promise eventually I will give you the answers you're looking for. But for now, you just have to trust me." He explained and started to walk away.
"But Mr. Davenport—"
"Please, I need you to trust me. And you have to be careful who you allow into your lives. We had a close call today. Marcus found the lab." Davenport interjected as Adam, Bree, Chase and I shared worried looks.
"What?!" We all yelled in unison.
"Hmm... Who would have guessed that Marcus coming here would lead to bad things? I'll tell you. It's Mr. Tiny McLittlestein! Right here!" Leo spoke up as I glared at him.
"We're just lucky I came down when I did, or he could have discovered all of our secrets..." Mr. Davenport said as he looked at me with a sad look. and I frowned.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked as he sighed quietly.
"Vanessa... your father is alive."
⁂
And that's the end of book one. What a way to end it. IN A CLIFF HANGER! *laughs maniacally* I want to thank everyone who has read this book, even though for right now it's less than 300 (but I am still grateful for all of you <3)
I promise in the next book there will be more diversity between Vanessa and the characters. I will make more chapters where she hangs out with one of them and we get to see more of that persons relationship with Ness.
And there will be more of Chase and Vanessa's relationship in the next book, I swear. Once they aren't 15 it will get better 👹
Thank you all for reading my book, and I will see you next time (don't forget to check out my other books)
So ling for right now <3