This was clearly the absolute worst idea that had popped into Binny’s mind. But since it was the only idea that had popped into her mind, it was also the best. The approaching sounds of the guards’ footsteps sealed the deal. She was out of time, so it was this or nothing.
In some ways this would be easier than the Hippy Jump she’d yet to complete successfully on her skateboard back at home. All she had to do was land on the floor past the barricade without cracking her head open. But there were some new wrinkles as well. She would be trying to keep her balance atop a serving cart. Unlike her skateboard the cart was not exactly steerable. And to top it off, the jump would be several feet higher than anything she’d ever tried on the sidewalk.
It was too late to worry about that now. Binny crawled out from under the table cloth and slowly wheeled the cart down the ramp to a flat section about 30 feet from the barricade. She did her best to remain undetected by staying directly underneath the guards as she moved, and desperately willing the wheels of the cart not to squeak.
Binny perched the cart right at the edge of the flat area just before it started its downward slope. She placed her hands on the cart’s sides and kicked off. Even Binny was surprised when the cart started to slowly roll on a trajectory towards the barricade as she’d envisioned. Binny lay flat on her stomach on the cart as it continued to roll.
“Sir, I think I found her!” Binny looked up and to her left and saw four faces peering over the edge of the railing above. It was too late to worry about the guards. If Binny didn’t get on her feet, she’d crash headfirst into the barricade. She barely heard Grater scream, “Get her!!!”
The incline wasn’t terribly steep but the cart picked up speed at a surprisingly rapid pace. Binny had less time than she’d imagined. She pulled her feet under her, gripping the sides of the cart, and managed to get herself into a crouch.
Binny knew she would have to stand up at some point soon if she had a prayer of making it over the wall of benches and chairs. Suddenly this seemed a lot less like riding her skateboard than she’d imagined in her head. Binny was barely aware of the four men running towards her. She was however acutely aware that she would either escape or they would scrape her broken bloody body off of the floor. She wasn’t entirely sure which.
Binny willed herself to let go of the sides of the cart and slowly rose as the cart sped down the ramp. Everything was moving so quickly, she leaned forward into the descent, and was ready to jump. The wall was approaching so fast. She had to time it just right. In a couple of seconds she would be there.
At the very last moment before contact, Binny bent her knees slightly and launched herself over the wall. For a crazy magical fraction of a second Binny was flying. But as quickly as it came the sensation receded and Binny was falling. One thought flashed in her mind – it was going to be an ugly landing.
While countless attempts at skateboard tricks hadn’t quite taught her how to complete a successful Hippy Jump, she had attained one skill and could do it flawlessly over and over again. Binny knew how to fall.
Binny instinctively bent her knees and stretched her torso backwards so she wouldn’t land flat on her face. And then as if by some miracle, the soles of Binny’s sneakers hit the floor first. The momentum of her fall carried her forward, but she shot out her hands to avoid smacking the floor with her face. She was stretched out on all fours, her right ankle felt wobbly, and her palms were burning, but she had come to a complete stop.
The cart had not made the trip over the wall with her. It had smashed violently into the barricade. The guards’ wall had survived the projectile, but Binny’s makeshift skateboard had bounced backwards and made a very loud crashing noise as it clattered across the marble floor.
Binny couldn’t help but laugh. Her nervous system was flooded with adrenaline. It had given her the courage to try the jump. And now that she had survived, that same adrenaline was overwhelming her with nervous energy. She felt positively giddy.
“Get her. Get her” Binny heard Grater yell.
“The benches are in the way, sir.” One of the guards complained.
“I know that, you idiot. Get them out of the way!” Grater was beside himself with anger.
The guards’ frantic clawing at the wall behind her was all the incentive Binny needed to collect herself, get up off the ground, and run as fast as she could down the rest of the spiral ramp. As she ran through the front doors and shot outside, the cool night air helped Binny focus. She had to find Penny and Zach. She’d given them as much time as she could. She hoped it was enough.
§
“There she is!” Penny was smacking Zach’s arm to get his attention.
Zach and Penny had made it as far as the visitors’ entrance to the Epaphus building in their search for Binny. The three ran to each other.
“Are you okay? I heard the alarm.” Binny was still trying to catch her breath.
“We’re fine. Are you okay?” Zach’s face was set resignedly.
“I’m fine. What’s wrong? What did you find?” Binny had a worried expression.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. This is all there was.” Zach produced the single document that had been in the file they had found and handed it to his sister.
Binny started reading. “I don’t understand. What does this mean? This makes no sense.”
“I know.” Zach said.
“This was the only thing in the file?” Binny was incredulous.
“It looked like the folder had contained more documents at one point. But all that was left was this one sheet.” Zach explained.
“Can someone please tell me what is going on?” Penny demanded. “What does it say?”
Binny pushed the sheet toward Penny.
As Penny scanned the document Binny explained: “It’s a participant list. It lists all the patients that were part of the study. There’s only one name – Julie Jordan.”
“I’m so sorry, Binny. There really were no other documents there. We still have no idea what they were really doing with the trial.” Zach kept apologizing, feeling like he’d failed to get Binny the evidence she needed that Luce Laboratories was up to no good.
Penny suggested, “Isn’t this evidence enough that they’re up to something? Let’s show THIS to your parents.”
“It’s proof that something scary is going on. But we can’t show it to my parents. My mom would…” Binny’s voice trailed off.”
“Your mom would what?” Penny wondered.
Zach watched intently.
Binny took a deep breath. “Before, when we got out of the van, Mom’s eyes were puffy and I was worried about her, and I looked.” Binny’s words were coming out hesitantly, in bits and pieces. “Inside.” Binny looked embarrassed to admit what she’d done.
“Inside her mind?” Zach offered quietly.
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but she kept remembering when she’d gotten the drug, and then fast forwarding to images she was imagining of the two of us and Cassie in hospital beds looking very sick. I think,” Binny paused. “I think she’s feeling incredibly guilty. That this is all her fault. We can’t show her that she was the only one targeted by Luce Laboratories. I think that would just push her over the edge.”
Zach and Penny stood there, facing Binny, deflated and not quite sure what to do next. The alarm from the records room continued to wail in the background. The dark of the summer night had descended around them completely.
Penny mused, to no one in particular. “This seems impossible. How do you convince the people who work here to let you go, without revealing your powers, and without freaking out your parents?”
With a start, Binny turned to Zach, “Zach, the dumbass detector!”
“Uh, what?” Zach looked up at his sister in confusion.
“Remember?” Binny spoke excitedly. “You told me at dinner. Remind me EXACTLY how you were so sure it was working. What did you call it when you tested it on people who weren’t dumbasses?”
“A control group?” Zach asked wondering what Binny was thinking?
Binny smiled triumphantly, “That’s it!”
§
“Do I have to deal with everything myself?” Dr. Trace pushed through the door into the Epaphus lobby waiting area. Before the Jordans and Dr. Huitre could respond, Binny, Penny, and Zach ran through the front doors of the building.
“Mom! Dad!”
“Kids!” Julie ran to her children landing on her knees giving them hugs. “Where’s Cassie?”
Dr. Trace had been hasty in her exit of the exam room and had a stowaway. The door behind Dr. Trace opened slightly and out popped Cassie’s cheeky face framed by her dirty blonde bouncing curls. “I’m right here.” Cassie answered as if she’d been waiting for her cue to walk on stage.
“It’s you?!” Dr. Trace sputtered at Binny, Zach, and Penny.
Dr. Trace’s question was interrupted by the bustle of four security guards led by a lobster-red-faced Gore Grater bursting into the waiting area from the nearby stairwell.
“You!” Grater pointed at Binny. Zach and Penny stepped in front of her.
“WHAT IS GOING ON IN THIS CRAZY PLACE?” Jay yelled at the top of his lungs.
Julie stood up, a puzzled expression on her face, and walked towards Dr. Trace with her index finger out “Have you had some previous contact with my children?”
Binny proffered an answer before Dr. Trace could get her bearings. “Of course not. We just met tonight for the first time.”
Dr. Trace was getting angrier by the moment.
“How did you get out of those rooms?” Grater demanded.
This time it was Jay’s turn to interject, “Excuse me, did you lock my children in your exam rooms back there?”
A wave of confusion washed over the Head of Security’s face.
“Of course not. They wouldn’t lock us in.” Binny smiled her best smug grin at Grater.
“Well this has all been very exciting, but if you wouldn’t mind coming back to the exam rooms, we can finish our testing and send you on your way.” Dr. Trace was trying desperately to control the situation.
“That won’t be necessary.” Binny responded.
The room full of adults froze in stunned silence. Zach and Penny were watching Binny intently.
“Excuse me?” Dr. Trace’s eyes were ablaze with anger.
“There’s no need to test us. None of us have lowered resistance to meningitis, and I can prove it.”
“Oh really? Do tell.” Trace tried to hide her feelings with a forced laugh.
Binny surveyed the room. Now everyone was looking at her expectantly. “Every clinical trial has to have a control group. The control group exists to show what happens to the patients that didn’t get the drug. This is a super important part of the scientific method.”
“I don’t need to be lectured on the scientific method, young lady.” Trace responded snippily.
“Of course not Dr. Trace.” Binny sounded like she was giving a report in front of her class. “The point is, Mom, you were in the control group. You got the placebo. You never received the drug. You had us without the help of any drugs at all.”
Trace laughed heartily. “That’s impossible. There was no – ” her voice trailed off.
Binny’s eyes glinted as she looked straight at Dr. Trace, waiting for her to complete her sentence.
“There was no what?” Barked Jay. If his eyes could shoot lasers, they would have bored a hole through Dr. Trace.
Caught off guard, Dr. Trace stuttered, “What I meant to say was, my dear, there’s no way for you to know who is in the control group. The patients, and their families, are kept in the dark so that knowledge doesn’t affect the outcome of the trial. None of them can see the participant list.”
Binny had gotten Cassie’s coloring from Zach and topped the pages with the single sheet he and Penny had retrieved from the records room. She pushed the combined documents towards Dr. Trace. “Here’s the proof. It’s a list of ALL the participants in the study.”
Samantha Trace walked slowly towards Binny, carefully taking the papers from Binny’s hand and skeptically scanning the topmost sheet.
Binny smiled knowingly at Dr. Trace. “Do you see in the column marked ‘Control Group’? My mother’s name is in that long list?”
“You told us you tested hundreds of participants. Did you not even bother to check which ones were in the control group and didn’t need to be tested?” Jay asked.
“It’s okay Dad. It’s not her fault. Even the researchers are kept in the dark on who’s in the control group so it doesn’t affect the results.”
“Young lady, where did you get these documents?”
“Well, that’s a funny story. My sister was coloring over at Dr. Huitre’s house earlier today, and she thought these records were scrap paper.”
Dr. Huitre shifted on his feet looking increasingly uncomfortable.
“Look at the one on the bottom, there’s a pink limousine!” Cassie shouted, happy to finally have something to add to the conversation.
“So there is.” Dr. Trace looked at Dr. Huitre, glaring. “I don’t know how these documents ended up at your house, Henry,” she said with a glare in Dr. Huitre’s direction. “This participant list is supposed to be under lock and key in our records room.” She folded up the pages and put them in her pocket as she spoke.
“Hey, those are my drawings.” Cassie whined.
“It’s okay, you can make another one at home.” Julie had pulled Cassie towards her and was patting her reassuringly.
“Seems like you’re doing an excellent job of keeping these important documents very secure.” Jay directed his sarcasm at Dr. Trace.
Without taking her eyes off Dr. Huitre, she responded through gritted teeth, “Obviously we have some work to do to make sure our records stay secure.” Then turning her head to Jay and Julie she continued, “Please accept my apologies for this lack of professionalism. I assure you, this is not standard procedure here at Luce Laboratories. I so appreciate you coming out here tonight, and I am deeply sorry to have caused you any inconvenience or worry.”
Jay clapped his hands together, “So, we’re done here?”
Without waiting for a response, Julie squeezed Cassie and Binny’s shoulders, ruffled Zach’s hair, and said “Let’s go home.”
§
As they exited the building and headed for the parking lot, Penny, Dr. Huitre, and the Jordans could make out the muffled sounds of an even more agitated Dr. Trace berating the security team. “I’m glad I don’t work for her.” Jay joked. Everyone laughed. Dr. Huitre made one final round of apologies to everyone and left in his own car.
As the kids piled into the Jordan family station wagon, Julie swiveled around in the front passenger seat, “Uh, Penny? I’ve been wondering – what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I wanted to hang out with Binny so I hopped in the Luce Laboratories van.”
“You did what? Does your mother know where you are?”
“Oh, it’s okay. She thinks I’m at your house.” Penny flashed Julie a smile as if the matter was settled and then continued giggling with Binny as they fastened their seatbelts.
Julie was so tired, nothing was surprising her anymore on this endless day. “Well let’s get you home before she starts to worry.”
§
The day had been so crazy that Binny could hardly believe half the things that had happened. She was still extremely sad about her parents’ announcement, but it was difficult to dampen her feelings of accomplishment after leaving the Luce Laboratories headquarters.
As Jay turned the car onto the main street and off of the Luce Laboratories campus, Zach leaned his head forward from the way back seat, between Binny and Penny’s whispering, “Binny, I don’t understand, there was no control group. There was only Mom.” Binny whispered back, “I know. But Trace couldn’t admit that in front of Mom and Dad. She was so worried we’d tell Mom and Dad that she went along with my lie.”
“Remind me never to get on your bad side.” Zach joked and then leaned back in his seat.
Penny turned to Binny, “Remember that day when you were skateboarding and you got mad at me?”
Binny’s cheeks turned pink, “I’m so sorry about that. I really am.”
“No, no, it’s okay. I just remembered something. You were so sure I was making fun of you. And I told you then that you weren’t able to read my mind.”
“I remember.” Binny said.
“I just thought, I won’t be able to say that to you anymore.” Penny and Binny couldn’t hide their happiness from each other. Their relationship had come quite a ways in a very short time.
From the front seat Jay piped up, “What are you two girls laughing about?” The only response he received was more conspiratorial chittering from the back seat.
Jay continued, “You kids did very well tonight. And especially you, Binny. You were a real superhero tonight.”
“Dad!” Binny was embarrassed.
“No, I mean it. This was a hard day for all of us. The last thing you kids needed was to be questioned, poked, and prodded by some angry scientist lady. You stepped up, took charge, and got us all out of there. You’re my hero.”
As Jay delivered the compliment, Julie looked back at Binny proudly and added, “I hope you’ll be there for me if I ever need rescuing.”
Binny was beaming.
Binny reflected on her life. It was so very different than it had been just a few days ago. She and her siblings and her new best friend had super powers. She’d successfully kept that knowledge from her parents and from that terrible Dr. Trace. And most importantly, she’d kept her baby sister safe. Binny had information that Luce Laboratories didn’t want her to reveal. That should keep them away from Cassie for awhile. Binny had made a promise to Cassie. She’d kept it tonight, and she intended to keep it forever.
Binny looked down at her little sister. Cassie’s eyelids were heavy; she was on the verge of falling asleep. Before her eyes closed completely, Cassie looked back up at her sister and gave her a tired but sweet smile. Binny didn’t know what exactly came over her, but she couldn’t resist taking a look inside Cassie’s head and seeing what she was thinking.
On the screen that hung high in Binny’s mind she saw her own face looking down at her sister. Unsurprisingly, the image had a distinctly pale pink hue and was covered end-to-end in countless luminescent sparkles.