They did know what was going on. They knew Sparrow and others were kidnapping scientists to build a secret gate between worlds. They knew that the scientists were balking when they discovered that their work would plunge Elfhome into war. They knew that Sparrow and Ambassador Feng had been behind the plot to kill Windwolf. They knew that there were moles in the EIA, using that agency to keep out anyone who might investigate their activities.
They knew. And as Lemon-Lime, they could do something about it.
Louise took a deep, cleansing breath. Right. Lemon-Lime was going on the warpath. It was a good thing that she needed to write fight music already.
“You did what?” Jillian cried as they detoured to the grocery store after school. It was odd walking through the store knowing that they could afford to buy anything they wanted.
“I had a dream last night that Windwolf survived the attack. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell — the fairy, not our sister — saved him while riding hoverbikes, so I turned it into a video. I called it
“What — what — what?”
“I think Orville was supposed to be Peter Pan in my dream because Tinker Bell looked like Alexander.” She picked up a bag of cheddar-flavored goldfish crackers. Their mother usually insisted on healthy snacks like carrots and grapes.
“This is all kinds of wrong. First off, we don’t know if Windwolf survived.”
“No one will know until next Shutdown, but everyone is acting like he was killed. If we don’t remind people that he might be alive, the UN is going to steamroll through several votes, including the quarantine zone expansion, which they were putting on hold. Oh! Chocolate-covered strawberries.”
Louise shook the strawberries at Jillian. “The person most vocal about pushing through the votes? Ambassador Feng. They’re using this attack to leverage what they want. And we’ve got to stop them.”
“Us?”
“We’re the only ones that seem to know the truth.” Louise added the strawberries to her basket.
“What if they get mad and start to look for us?”
“Jello Shots have been trying to figure out who we are for the last two years. We apparently are like world-class ninjas because a hundred thousand geeks haven’t been able to find a clue.”
“I don’t know if that’s scary or sad.”
“I think it’s both.” Louise picked up premium beef jerky that their mother would never, never buy because of how horribly expensive it was.
“Yeah, both.” Jillian eyed the basket. “Why are you buying so much junk? You know we’ll have to hide it all.”
“Because we can,” Louise said. “Besides, I want something in case we get hungry. We’ve got lots of work to do. Thank God we’re nearly done with saving the babies.”
“So this video is of Peter Pan and Tinker Bell saving Windwolf?”
Louise laughed. “No, I just riffed on my dream. Two Pittsburghers save him. I don’t even name them. The guy is dressed up as an African explorer. The girl looks like Tinker Bell with the blond hair and the breasts, but she has a flamethrower. They kill this saurus chasing Windwolf and take him to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.”
“That is so weird. Why?”
“I had a dream about Nigel in Pittsburgh. I just smashed the two dreams together to protect Alexander.”
“Okay, that works.” They stopped in the kitchen equipment aisle and considered the tools. They needed heavy gloves, tongs, and something to stand in for the rack holding the vials of frozen embryos so they could practice stealing them out of the liquid nitrogen vaults. “Did you check on the snake?”
“Yes, we can pick it up tomorrow afternoon. All we need to do is make sure ice doesn’t melt in the
They’d been so upset the night of the robbery that they’d just brought the
They set up for the experiment on their desk, arranging the magic generator, oven mitts, scissors, a thermometer, and a glass of normal ice. They’d toyed with stealing a cup of liquid nitrogen out of the chemistry lab at school, but the long commute on the crowded train made it unsafe and impractical.
Her first impression of the
They set the
