“Iggy, this is Nikola Tesla.” Over the weekend, it had become apparent that Nikola was their little brother, while Tesla was his robotic body. They’d debated on his last name. Should they use “Mayer” or “Bell” or “Dufae?” In the end they’d decided to use their biological father’s name, even though it was too dangerous to actually say aloud. “Nikola, this is Iggy.”
Iggy paused with hand outstretched, a smile tugging at his mouth, as if he wasn’t sure if what she’d said was a joke or not.
“We downloaded a personality and gave him a real name,” Jillian lied. “Say ‘hello,’ Nikola.”
Nikola tilted his head in confusion and then leaned close to Louise to whisper. “We’re so confused. When can we talk?”
Louise glared at Jillian for making things harder. Jillian rolled her eyes, indicating that she had a plan but couldn’t discuss it right now. Louise sighed and patted Nikola, “When we introduce you to someone, you can say ‘hello’ and ‘nice to meet you’ and such.”
Nikola stared at her for a minute and then turned to Iggy. “Hello. Nice to meet you.” He looked back at Louise. “Silly old bear.”
How did she get to be the bad guy in this?
“Do you have your lines memorized?” Jillian changed the subject.
“Yes. I think.” Iggy held up his left hand like it was a hook and waved it. “Spirit that haunts this dark lagoon tonight, dost hear me?”
“Are you talking to us?” Nikola asked.
Louise groaned and pulled him on ahead via the leash. “Why don’t you two practice in private?”
“He wasn’t talking to us?” Nikola whispered.
“No!” Louise whispered.
Flying Monkey Five was in their classroom.
Louise had paused in the doorway at the sight of a weirdly familiar strange boy standing in profile in front of Miss Hamilton’s desk. His focus was on Miss Hamilton, letting Louise stare unnoticed as she tried to figure out where she knew him from. He was as tall as Iggy and slender without seeming weedy. Handsome and obviously rich, he would have been a perfect prince for Elle’s Little Mermaid princess.
Prince Charming made her think of Crown Prince Kiss Butt, and, with a gasp, she realized who the strange boy was. She jerked backwards into Jillian, who’d been trying to convince Nikola to stay in their locker instead of exploring the new landscape.
“What’s—” Jillian started to ask what was wrong and then yelped slightly in surprise as Louise caught her wrist and dragged her down the hall at a half run. “What’s going on? Where are we going?”
Louise banged open the girls’ restroom door and pulled Jillian and Nikola in with her. Most boys would rather die than go into a girls’ restroom; she was praying that Flying Monkey Five was the same. But he was one of them: kidnappers and killers. “Oh my God! Oh my God!”
“What’s wrong?”
Louise opened her mouth to answer and then thought to check the stalls for anyone who might overhear them. She went down the row, swinging open the doors one after another. The metal doors clanged loudly in the tiled room.
“Lou!” Jillian complained. “You’re scaring me.”
“One of them is here. Flying Monkey Five. He’s in
Jillian gasped and skittered sideways from the doorway, looking scared. Louise really wanted her to be the brave one, because if she wasn’t, it meant Louise would have to be the brave one, and she didn’t feel ready to be it.
“What — what is he doing here?” Jillian whispered.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” Louise paced in front of the sinks. The mirror reflected back her twin’s fear twice fold. “Esme warned us about the Empire of Evil, and he’s one of them. She said that they’re dangerous. He’s probably here to do evil things — like kidnap us or steal Joy or something.” She didn’t want to scare Nikola by adding him to the list of possible targets. It was suspicious, though, that right after they’d saved the last of Esme’s babies, the Flying Monkey had showed up.
Jillian went into one of the stalls and shut the door and locked it. She stood in the stall for a minute before asking fearfully, “Do you really think so?”
Louise forced herself to ignore the fear that was jittering through her. “Why else would he suddenly show up at our school?”
Jillian unzipped her pants, pushed them down and sat on the toilet. She was stalling though — she wasn’t actually going pee. “How would anyone know about Joy? And even if they figured out how to open Dufae’s box — which I’m betting it would take them more than a few days to do — how would they know that Dufae or someone else didn’t take the
“I feel weird,” Nikola whimpered. “What is this I feel?”
Louise suspected he was afraid for the first time in his life. She hugged him tightly. “It’s okay. We won’t let anyone take Joy.”
