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“Make sure you get both sides of each blade,” Grandma instructed, peering up at me. “Otherwise, you’ll just have to do it again.”
I grunted and stretched to wipe down the ceiling fan to my grandmother’s standards. It was the first Saturday of the month, which meant it was time to deep clean the house. At least, that was what it meant in Grandma’s world. The phone rang in the kitchen and she stepped away to answer it. I slowly wiped a blade, taking a moment to add more cleaner to my rag before resuming.
My mind kept wandering to the latest events on Turgor. How were we going to find out who was leaking our whereabouts to the KaKonians? Did the Senior Council know where we were?
I paused and sprayed some more cleaner. Of course they would know, I chided myself. They’re the most powerful group on the planet. But what did that mean? If they knew where we were, why hadn’t they confronted us already? What were they waiting for?
“You know, if you’re going to stay up there all day, you’re going to have to finish the rest of your chores tomorrow,” said Grandma. “And Lord knows you won’t want to do that.”
I groaned, tossing my towel down onto the floor. Grandma stepped out of the way and waited patiently for me to climb off of her dining chair. She studied me quietly while I moved on to dust the TV stand.
“What’s wrong, sweet pea?” she asked, her forehead wrinkling in concern. “Are you not feeling well? Is there something going on at school that you’d like to talk about?”
I shook my head no. “I’m just tired, that’s all,” I said, offering a small smile. “I’ll be glad when school is over. I don’t know how Nia handles it.”
Grandma chuckled. “We all have our strengths, you know. For example, Mrs. Matley has the prettiest roses in the neighborhood. And I used to get so jealous! I would try to plant my own roses and they would just wilt on the spot as soon as I touched the bush!”
We laughed.
“But everyone knows I make the best sweet potato pies. And Jennifer can’t cook to save her life, bless her soul. So now I’ll send over some leftovers and she sends me flowers from her gardens. We both recognize our strengths and weaknesses.”
I rolled my eyes. “Real subtle, Grandma. I get it—don’t be jealous of Nia.”
“And love your own strengths.” Grandma smirked. “You know, if you could harness that smart aleck mouth of yours, you could probably do something more with that, too. Maybe join the debate club.”
“Aw, Grandma!”
She raised her hands in mock surrender. “I’m just saying. By the way, I need you to stop what you’re doing and run down to the corner store. I’m all out of milk and I want to finish this pound cake.”
Happy for an excuse not to clean, I stood up and tossed the dirty rag onto the side table before snatching the money from Grandma’s hand. I ran out of the door before she could scold me and headed down the street. The sun was hidden behind thick, grey clouds that looked swollen with rainwater. I quickened my pace. No need to get wet and mess up my hair.
Who are you kidding? a small voice inside my head mocked. Even if it did rain, it still wouldn’t mess up your already messy ponytail. Shut up, I muttered to myself as I rounded the corner. The corner store was a few more steps away. Just because my hair is messy doesn’t mean I don’t care about how I look.
Suuuure. The tiny voice laughed.
I grumbled to myself, pushing the door to the store open and almost hitting Mr. Oakland in the process.
“Ms. McLaughlin!” he exclaimed, adjusting his bag of groceries. “Nice to see you.”
I stepped back. “Er, Mr. Oakland...what are you doing here?”
His grey eyes twinkled. “Well, usually stores are open to the public.”
I laughed. “No, I mean in this neighborhood. You live on the other side of town.”
He adjusted his glasses with his free hand. “Ah, well, I was out and about running errands and forgot I needed a few things for dinner tonight. So here I am.” I nodded politely. “How’s the project coming along?” he asked.
I shrugged. “It’s coming. I’m meeting with the group next week to finish it up.”
“Well, if you need more information about multiverses, just let me know.”
I smiled. “Thanks, but I think we got all of the info we needed.”
He barked a loud laugh. “That’s what we all say until it’s not true, isn’t that right? It’s never too late to learn more about life on other planets.”
I frowned. “You’re talking about aliens.”
“Am I?” Mr. Oakland smiled. “Could it be possible that so-called ‘aliens’ could just be ourselves and loved ones from another universe attempting to make contact?”
I just stared at him, my mouth open. This man was certifiably insane.
He sensed my thoughts and gave a small chuckle. “I’m sorry, I can rant a little when it comes to discussing theory. I should let you go before it starts to rain.”
I nodded, and we parted our ways. As I paid for the milk, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Mr. Oakland had been lying when he’d said he’d just so happened to come to my neighborhood’s corner store. Had he been trying to run into me on purpose? And if so, why? A bright light zigzagged across the sky, splitting the clouds. I stopped and stared as a boom of thunder followed quickly behind it. Crap. The storm was almost here.
By the time I made it back to our house, it was pouring, and I was soaking wet. My sister met me at the door holding a towel. I grabbed it, squeezing my hair and ignoring her smirk. She gave Grandma the milk and then followed me through the kitchen and into the laundry room.
“So outside of looking like a drowned rat, what’s new?” she asked, leaning against the door.
“Ugh, don’t you have someone else to annoy?”
“Nope! I’m all done with my chores and Grandma’s making dinner. I’m all yours.”
I sighed and peeled off my pants. “I ran into Mr. Oakland, the guy whose work we’re researching. He’s kind of weird.”
“Oh yeah? What’s his field?”
“He studies multiverses.”
Nia grew quiet, popping her gum as I peeled off my shirt and grabbed a new outfit from the clean clothes basket on top of the dryer.
I glanced over at her. “What?”
“Do you think he’s aware of places like Turgor?”
“You know, the way he talks...I wouldn’t be surprised.” I shrugged and tossed the wet clothes into the washing machine. “But unless he can follow me into my dreams, there’s no way he’ll ever be able to link me to Turgor. You, either.”
Nia followed me again as I moved from the laundry room up to my room. “Still, we better keep an eye on him. I don’t like coincidences when it comes to this stuff.”
I turned around to face her. “If you want to check into his background, be my guest. But be prepared to be put to sleep. That guy has published twelve huge books on the subject.”
She smirked. “Not a problem. I like to read.”
I ignored her and fell face-first into my wonderful, soft bed. The cool sheets caressed my face. Mmm...
Nia coughed.
I rolled over with a sigh to face her, noticing she had her DiGi in her hand. “Can I help you?”
“Check your DiGi.”
“Why?” I whined, not moving. “Doesn’t a girl get a night off?”
“Not when you’re in a war, you don’t.”
I dug around in my jeans pocket for the small device and flipped it open, using my fingers to enlarge it so that it was right in front of me in the air.
Girls, I need for you to come as soon as you can. There’s been news. Kiss Grandma for me. -Grandpa
My eyes narrowed. Since when did Grandpa send cryptic notes like that? And he never ever mentioned Grandma, especially in messages to us. What if it was a trap? My eyes met Nia’s. It seemed like we were both thinking the same thing. Something wasn’t adding up and it probably wasn’t good.
“Let’s just get through dinner and we’ll see what’s going on,” I said, my voice calmer than I felt.
She nodded and walked silently out of the room. My heart began to pound. Nia was never frightened—what if she was right to be worried? We needed to get to Turgor, and to Grandpa, as soon as possible.