When I wake up, my head feels like a brick and my face is nestled into the front lawn of Anna's home. I jerk up and think about all the ants that could be on my face. I don't particularly like grass, and if it's freshly mowed I hate it even more. This lawn was always freshly cut. Mr. Henderson is very peculiar about it being cut and inch tall.
I get up and run my gloved hand across the side of my mouth. My cheeks redden as I realize that I totally drooled and I take a big gulp, looking around. Nobody has seen me. Me? I reach up to the short platinum blonde. Yeah, I am Chaos still, I breathe a sigh of relief. What would I have done if I am Kelsey? Phantom is nowhere I can sense him, and I walk up to the front door.
Oh, Mother please don't be here! I think as I walk up to the front door. When I reach it I realize that maybe coming from the front door isn't the best idea if Maine was in there or not. I turn on the heel of my chunky combat boots and walk past the garage towards the back gate. With extreme caution I unlatch the gat and swing the gate wide enough so that it wouldn't creak open.
If Maine wasn't here and Anna or her parents saw me, I'd have lots is explaining to do. It was so strange for someone to enter the house through the back door. I didn't want to come off as peculiar and make Anna wonder. When she wants to know something then there is no way for her not to know it. That is why I need to be careful as I look for any tell-tale signs of my mother's pleasant visit discreetly as possible.
The back door requires a key but my bedroom window would be easier to slip through than risk getting caught by a chef or Anna. I peer over the window well before stepping onto the first rung of the small ladder that acts like a fire escape. I climb down carefully and face the window. I feel the pleasant vibration as my body turns intangible as I walk through the window panes.
Once in my room I look around for any animal that Rush could be before slipping out of my Chaos clothes and into a 'Future Harvard/Stanford/Yale Student' on the front in black box letters. Honestly, I have no will to go to any of those colleges- not that my grades are good enough any who- but Anna got the shirt for me and so I wear it to please her good will. The shirt looks the best when paired with my black sweatpants that Mrs. Henderson absolutely hates me to wear. I pull them on anyways, since the thought of dressing up for my mother is appalling.
I quietly pull out a lock picking kit from under the sofa cushions. I hide most of my Chaos tools in between the couch cushions and underneath the couch and the bed. Sometimes, I put the items-like a small pistol I got from my apartment when Mom was arrested and a few... other things I shouldn't have- in a black box that has stuffed animals on top in my closet. I don't have many items that are personal to me but that pistol is one of my treasures. I believe Mom may have used it to kill Dad if he was dead. I have nothing to know about my father but I do know that Mom loved that pistol very much. And so I took it before the cops could commandeer it.
Knowing that I have that pistol, even if Mom doesn't know I have it, made me feel safer. It is the security that one has when having leverage over another, and that is a relief.
I pocket the lock picking kit and step out into the hall. I pause and debate if I should change or not. If Phantom hasn't left me then I'd be able to feel his powers, which I do not. Maybe Phantom is expecting Kelsey to be here, maybe not. But Kelsey isn't here so I wonder what Phantom would do if he knew that. He'd probably go search for her. The first stop would be wherever Anna is.
I walk to Anna's door to her room. She's not in it, but her bed is a huge mess of clothes, hair accessories, papers, notecards, and pens. I scrunch my nose up at the sight. My room is always cleaner than hers except when Phantom keeps me so busy during the week.
Mother, what are you planning?
I silently shut the door and walk towards the stairs. I creep up them cautiously. Nobody seems to be in the mansion. How strange.
When reaching the main floor I decide to play it safe and turn invisible. There's less to worry about when nobody can see you. I tread carefully in my boots, which is an art Phantom told me is possible in the beginning of my superhero career. Sound is my worst enemy at the moment and so I take my time scouring each office, room and the kitchen. I poke my head through closed doors so that I don't have to open them and scan the empty rooms that are hardly ever used in the first place. There is nothing so I tread up to the second floor.
Anna's school papers litter the coffee table in the hall to the master bedroom. I halt to peek at them. One paper has today's date on it so I know she's been here after school. Upon furthering my attempt of investigating, I realize that there is not hidden message or code that Anna left behind. That can be a good or a bad sign, but I hope for the best because she doesn't know anything.
Not knowing is dangerous. The thought makes me worry about Anna. I don't put it past Maine to take her as a means to get whatever she wants. Maybe Phantom is wrong and she wants Anna like the rest of the villains want Anigirl. Maine could easily have figured out that Anigirl is Anna. As easily as Phantom did.
I swallow hard at the thought and push it out of my head. I need to know what the villains are planning and how Maine's plan fit in with it all.
What's your angle, Mom?
I enter the master suite by going through the door. Phantom lies in the center of the huge bed and I bite my lip to keep from screaming in shock. His legs are crossed, the buttons of his suit jacket are open revealing a dark gray shirt, and those green eyes are aimed at me.
"About time. Man, Chaos, I was beginning to worry that maybe Maine was in this house and she got you. How lame," he pokes his tongue out at me.
How did I not sense him? Well, he wasn't using his powers if that helps. I make myself known with a long sigh, "You dumped me in the front freakin' yard."
He laughed, "You were drooling on my suit. Again."
I shrug my shoulders, "If you don't like me drooling all over you, then don't knock me out."
He smirks, "Oh I wouldn't mind if you drooled all over me, because that will happen... eventually and we'll both enjoy it immensely."
I make a fake gagging noise that is not attractive at all, "So you keep alluding to."
"It will happen eventually. After you agree for me to train you. How scared were you as you searched the Henderson's home for your mother?"
I clench my fists at my sides, "Maine is not my mother. I am not Kelsey. I wasn't the least bit afraid but I will admit that I was nervous. Being nervous about something and earning something are two extremely different emotions, Phantom. Not that you would know of course, seeing how you don't have any feelings whatsoever."
He groans, but a smile plays on his lips, "Low blow using the feeling card."
"Get out of here Phantom. We both don't belong in the Henderson's estate."
With that I saunter towards the balcony doors, open them and jump down to the grass. There's a way to survive a jump like that, and it's called making your bones intangible for only a millisecond as the impact spears through the body. An extremely hard trick that I came up with myself. Phantom just floats down after me.
Note to self: straighten out bed spread of Anna's parent's room.
"I can teach you how to hover," he states proudly.
"Like I'd ever agree to your tutor services," I shoot back.
"Sometimes I wish that you'd fight with Maine and get common sense knocked into you. Don't worry Chaos, I have broad shoulders for you to come cry on once you get whacked in the face with a substantially large dose of a drug I like to call reality."
I grind my teeth together, "Like I'd come crying to you!"
He shrugs those broad shoulders at me, "Only time will tell."
Then he poofs into thin air and I know he is gone. For a moment I stand there and wonder how he could do that. It's a trick that Phantom shows no interest to share with me. I suppose it is for good reason. If I knew how to poof away then if he tries to lock me up or kidnap me then I'd just vanish. He does that to me when he doesn't like the way I catch him in a headlock, or there's nothing sexual about the way I tie him up. Phantom is quite the diva.
With a sigh I turn back to the house and once again make my way to the backyard and down the window well to my room. I change into gray shorts that reach to my fingertips and a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. I run my fingers through my now long black hair and know that I am now Kelsey.
I open the door and once again step out. Nobody is in the house and I sigh. Being alone really sucks lollipops for me. I used to always be alone while Maine was out robbing or killing people. Being alone with only thought to accompany one's self isn't fun.
I sit down on the couch and flick on the T.V. screen to a cartoon. There are DVD cases to the left of the T.V. screen that have seasons of shows on the disk. I think about popping in the fourth season of White Collar or the second season of the original Teen Titans- Anna's favorite kid show when she was younger, but settle on Kelly & Michael reruns instead. The noise drowns out my thoughts as I just mindlessly stare at the screen, lounging on the couch and taking up most of the room. It doesn't matter, I reason, because it isn't like Anna is here to share the couch with anyways.
I debate whether or not to do Pre-Calc homework but decide against it. I miss the sound of the front door opening but then I hear Anna yell, "I'm home peeps!"
And the worry that Maine could have my best friend disappears. So if she isn't after Anna, then what does Maine want?