Defied, p.2
Defied, page 2
“Our tagline says ‘Clean Energy to Power a New Planet,’” Kimber continued. “I put extra emphasis on the words ‘a new planet,’ considering the natural disasters we as a human race have had to endure over the past months. Ladies and gentlemen, we witnessed unprecedented catastrophes—earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, super hurricanes, tsunamis that swept over entire Pacific islands, and even holes in our ozone layer. Thankfully, those events have subsided, and our planet is returning to a state of equilibrium. But this reprieve won’t last very long if humankind doesn’t change its ways.”
Kostia whispered in Loosha’s ear, “Here comes the tree-hugger speech.”
Loosha smirked at Kostia’s ignorance. Unfortunately, he had seen with his own eyes what a planet on the verge of destruction looked like. The events that had occurred at Wadi Rum were Armageddon, the apocalypse, and Judgment Day all wrapped into one.
“Let me repeat myself,” Kimber said. “This reprieve won’t last very long if humankind doesn’t change its ways. While leading minds may disagree on the science, one thing is without question: we are destroying Earth by pillaging its natural resources in our ravenous search for energy. Oil drilling, fracking, destroying forests and wetlands, polluting our oceans—all of these have led directly to this moment in our history. X-Point Energetics is the cure for all that ails a sick world.”
The audience sat in stunned silence as Kimber filled in the details. She described how her company now possessed technology that would make the modern energy industrial complex extinct. X-Point Energetics had the ability to harness the immense power of solar wind to fuel our planet for millennia.
“Ground zero of our operation is in the Middle East, but it has nothing to do with oil,” Kimber explained. “With the blessings of the Jordanian government, we have purchased an area deep within the Wadi Rum desert, a place made famous by the classic Hollywood movie Lawrence of Arabia, to begin our groundbreaking work. Our team has nearly completed the infrastructure.”
The words Wadi Rum made Loosha’s lunch burp into his esophagus. It felt like Kimber had sucker punched him. The pieces of the puzzle began to take shape. The name of the company, X-Point Energetics, sounded a lot like the thing Daisha had talked about when they were Warping around the world. The X-Point was the place where the Earth’s and the sun’s magnetic fields met. That location was in the Wadi Rum desert.
A huge round of applause ripped Loosha from his thoughts. The audience began to disperse. Reporters shoved microphones in Kimber’s face, but she refused to answer questions as she rushed to a waiting limousine.
Pinchole slithered through the crowd and approached Loosha.
“You,” Pinchole said. “Follow me. Someone wants to see you right away.”
Loosha nodded toward Kostia. “Him too?”
“No,” Pinchole said with a shake of his head. “Just you. Come.”
Loosha followed Pinchole to the same limousine that Kimber had ducked into. The driver opened the door, and both of them stepped into the car. Doctor Lennon Hatch and Kimber Vallan stared at him. The Doctor looked the same as always: tall, balding, extremely well dressed, and red-faced. Loosha also remembered where he had seen Kimber before. She was the Doctor’s new girlfriend.
The Doctor held out his hand. “Loosha, so very nice to see you again.”
Loosha shook the Doctor’s hand and nodded. “Nice to see you again, sir.”
“What did you think of my dear Kimber’s performance?” the Doctor asked.
“Uh…um,” Loosha stuttered. “It was very good. I… uh…She was well spoken and knowledgeable.”
“Kimber’s more than just knowledgeable,” the Doctor said with a laugh. “The lady has a PhD in physics from the University of Sydney. Since our mishap in India, I need to keep a low profile and be a silent partner in this new venture, at least for the time being. Kimber will be the public face of X-Point Energetics until I feel it’s appropriate for me to come forward.”
“What’s this press conference about your new energy company all about?” Loosha asked.
“We’re creating a buzz to help open the wallets of potential investors,” the Doctor answered.
“X-Point Energetics has everything to do with energy,” Kimber said. “But not the kind of energy the world has come to know. It’s all about Geographical Transpor—”
“Let’s stop this conversation right here,” Pinchole said, interrupting her. “Loosha’s a hired henchman, not a scientist. We need to keep some things on a need-to-know basis.”
The Doctor shot Pinchole a stern look. “Settle down, young man. Or I’ll make you sail to the Middle East in a bathtub.”
Pinchole sighed and sank into the seat.
“Sir, excuse me for being so blunt,” Loosha said. “But why did you ask me to be here?”
“Because of your loyalty,” the Doctor said. “And your tremendous talent. Do you understand?”
Loosha shook his head no.
“Out of all of my men, you were the one to capture the boy, Axel. And from what I’ve heard, you were very close to capturing Daisha as well. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor opened his briefcase, pulled out two eight-by-ten-inch photographs, and handed one to Loosha. “Have you ever seen this woman?” he asked. “She calls herself Stiv.”
Loosha studied the photo. It was a picture of a young hipster woman with big glasses, partially shaven metallic-blue hair, and several tattoos and piercings. She kind of looked familiar, but not enough to jar a recollection.
“No,” Loosha said. “I don’t think so.”
The Doctor handed him another photo. “What about her? Her real name is Megan, and if you haven’t guessed it already, she and Stiv are actually one and the same.”
The person in this picture looked significantly different. Gone were the glasses, tattoos, and piercings, although the hair was the same. Loosha recognized her instantly. She was Daisha’s friend from Wadi Rum—the scientist.
Loosha looked up at the Doctor. “Never seen her before in my life,” he said, trying to look as believable as possible.
“I want you to find her,” the Doctor said, his eyes red with rage. “She’s a spy, a thief, and she tried to destroy my whole operation.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m appointing you head of my CSO. You will report directly to me.”
Loosha nodded. He knew that CSO stood for Clandestine Support Operations. Leading the group would be a big promotion.
“Bring her to me,” the Doctor continued. “Alive. Do this for me, and you will be an extremely wealthy man.”
“I’ll find her,” Loosha said. He exited the car, and when the Doctor’s limousine was out of sight, he whipped out his phone and immediately texted Daisha.
Chapter Four
AXEL
Axel had just gobbled a big handful of Charu’s freshly picked blackberries when Daisha burst into the house.
“Loosha just sent me a message!” she exclaimed.
“What does it say?” asked Megan, looking up from her iPad.
Daisha handed her the phone. “Read it for yourself.”
“‘Urgent! Watch FNC tonight eight p.m. your time. More later,’” Megan recited.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Axel wondered aloud.
“And what’s FNC?” asked Charu.
Megan walked over to the couch, dug a remote from under the cushions, and flicked on the TV. She switched to a channel where a young anchorman was interviewing an older woman. A breaking-news banner flashing DOW FALLS 678 POINTS scrolled along the bottom of the screen.
“This is it,” Megan said. “It’s a network called the Financial News Channel. They report on business, the stock market—stuff like that.”
Daisha grabbed a slice of pizza from the kitchen counter and took a bite. “Why would Loosha want us to watch a boring cable news network?” she asked.
Megan shrugged. “I have no idea, but we’d better tune in at eight. Until then, we have a tour to go on.”
They had reservations for a two-hour guided kayaking excursion around Sebago Lake. Everyone piled into the rusty Saab Megan had nicknamed Ol’ Bessie. It was her aunt’s car, but she was letting Megan use it for the summer. Axel sat up front with Megan. Charu and Daisha sat in the back. The car cruised up a pothole-pocked dirt road and turned onto Route 11. During the quiet ride, the Doctor’s face flashed in Axel’s mind. He was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Loosha was back at the Doctor’s headquarters in Palo Alto. Could watching a cable news network dedicated to money have anything to do with their old nemesis? The thought drifted away when they arrived at the Waterways Paddle Company at Long Beach Marina. A perky college-aged woman with blond hair knotted into two loose pigtails met them on the dock.
“I’m Presley,” the woman said with a smile. “And you must be our two o’clock tour.”
After introductions, they signed a waiver, and Presley guided them to a rocky beach. Kayaks lined the shore. A large rack of life jackets sat under a stand of pine trees.
Presley handed them each a life jacket and pointed to two double kayaks. “Take your pick,” she said before plopping down in her own kayak. Airbrushed on the sides were the words Presley be Paddlin’ and Keep Calm, Paddle On.
Axel hopped in the front seat of a bright-red kayak. He had just adjusted the backrest when Charu jumped into the rear seat. He looked up and saw Daisha standing over them, a not-too-happy look on her face.
“Come with me,” Megan said to Daisha. “We’ll have fun!”
Daisha shot Charu a sneer and joined Megan.
“The girl just wasn’t fast enough,” Charu said with a giggle and a shrug.
“I didn’t know it was a competition,” Axel said, plunging his paddle into the water. With a hefty stroke, they were drifting away from shore. They paddled in silence, following Presley’s lead as she guided them toward a small island in the middle of the lake.
“We’re paddling to Outer Island!” Presley hollered. “There’s a mating pair of bald eagles building a nest out there. Maybe we can see them.”
A tingle of anticipation wiggled up Axel’s spine. He had never seen a bald eagle in the wild before, and the excitement was palpable. As they approached the island, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. Charu’s face brushed next to his.
“This is so much fun,” she whispered. She planted a quick peck on his cheek.
Axel’s heart leaped into his throat. He stammered something incoherent and looked toward Daisha and Megan’s kayak. They hadn’t seen the kiss. Both of them were too busy scanning the sky for the bald eagles. The memory of holding Charu’s hand back in India surged into his thoughts. That was after the earthquake and right before they had Warped together for the first time. Holding her hand felt nice, but kissing the girl had never entered his thoughts.
“There’s the female!” Presley exclaimed.
Axel looked up and saw the largest bird he had ever seen dive-bombing the water. The eagle reared up at the last second, spread its razor-sharp talons, and snatched a fish right out of the lake.
“Whoa! Did you see that?” Axel cried, trying to break up the moment between him and Charu. “Completely awesome!”
Two hours later, they were all back at the house. Everyone was exhausted from the tour. Charu’s kiss still burned on Axel’s cheek. Before, he’d kind of suspected the girl liked him, but now he was absolutely one hundred percent sure. He was also certain Daisha didn’t like it one bit.
Axel put on his flip-flops. “I’m going for a walk,” he said.
“Aren’t you fried from all that kayaking?” Daisha questioned.
Axel stepped outside without answering. He hopped off the porch and headed toward the boathouse. The boathouse wasn’t really a house. It was just a big, weathered shed made of old wood, sitting at the base of a wobbly dock. Inside were an old card table, some folding chairs, and a tiny changing room. Axel plopped down on a chair. Carved into the walls were years of innocent family graffiti. Names, dates, this-person-loves-that-person messages, stick-figure drawings of people jumping off the swim float.
Several notches on the corner wall caught his attention. He looked closer and saw it was Megan’s growth chart from when she was a kid. The words read Megan, age five followed by a line scrawled into the wood. This went on all the way up the wall, ending at Megan, age eleven. Axel guessed that was when Megan had lost interest in her height transformation.
A memory gently swam into his mind. He swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump forming in the back of his throat. His father had monitored his growth spurts in the same way as Megan’s family had. Only Axel’s record was scribbled in pencil on the frame of his closet door back in Palo Alto.
“I really miss you, Dad,” he said, letting out a long sigh.
Before he had the chance to sink deeper into thoughts of his old life, Charu popped her head into the boathouse. “Let’s go swimming,” she said. “Last one to the float is a rotten cobra egg.”
Axel smiled, rubbed his eyes, and chased after her.
Chapter Five
DAISHA
Daisha looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
“I’m getting fat,” she said to herself with a chuckle. It was a big change from her time on the run from the Doctor. “Too many butter pecan cones from Sebago Freeze, I guess.”
Nearly every evening, Megan drove them to the local ice cream shop for an after-dinner treat. Axel always ordered the salted caramel milkshake. Megan loved the chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone. Charu indulged in flavors like coriander streusel ripple, blueberry basil, or buttery vanilla lobster. The last of which made Daisha want to puke.
A faint scent of pomegranate wafted into her nostrils. Megan had recently taken her and Charu to a spa for a girls’-day-out facial and pedicure. Daisha could still smell the lotion they had used on her skin. She picked up a brush and ran it through her hair. Thankfully, her locks were growing back from when she had snipped them off at the Palo Alto Library in an effort to avoid being recognized.
A loud splash caught her attention. She looked out the bathroom window and saw Charu paddling toward the swim float. A moment later, Axel ran out of the boathouse. He peeled off his shirt, kicked off his flipflops, and dove into the lake after her.
Daisha tore out of the bathroom, raced through the house, and burst out the back door. Within seconds, she was in the water, furiously swimming to catch up to Axel.
“Where’s your suit?” Axel asked when Daisha caught up to him.
Daisha wiped her eyes and spit water from her mouth. “Didn’t feel like putting it on,” she said.
Charu was already on the float, wearing the bikini Megan had bought for her. She was smiling at them, but Daisha knew the girl wished it was just Axel swimming out to meet her. Axel climbed up the float ladder with Daisha close behind.
“Seeing that eagle today was beautiful,” Charu said.
“And a bald eagle to boot,” Daisha added. “The symbol of America.”
“Why is that your country’s symbol?” Charu wondered.
Axel shrugged. “Because our founding fathers said so. What’s India’s official animal?”
“The Bengal tiger, of course. Our national fruit is the mango, and the Ganges River dolphin is our official aquatic creature.”
“I read the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn,” Axel offered.
They laughed and sprawled out in the late-afternoon sun. The warm air quickly dried them off. Daisha stared at a patch of fluffy clouds drifting overhead, thinking about all she had been through over the last few months. After everything, it felt silly that now the biggest thing affecting her was Charu, but she couldn’t help it.
Jealous.
A tingle of ache burned in her stomach as the word popped into her mind. She had never thought of it like that before, but that was exactly how she felt. She was jealous of Axel and Charu’s relationship. The two of them weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. Things hadn’t progressed that far, but they had spent many tough weeks together and their relationship was special.
“Teach me how to do a backflip,” Axel said, snapping Daisha out of her thoughts.
She leaped to her feet, eager to show off her athletic prowess.
“Watch me demonstrate, and I’ll explain,” she said, proceeding to do a perfect backflip into the lake.
After Daisha gave brief instructions, Axel made an attempt. It was a complete failure. Instead of flipping in the air, he flapped like a bird with a broken wing and splashed sideways into the water.
Daisha and Charu howled with laughter.
“You didn’t jump high enough!” Daisha shrieked.
“A graceful Ganges dolphin you are not,” Charu added with a smile.
“Very funny,” Axel said, climbing back on the float. “Is my back all red? I smacked pretty hard.”
“Like a lobster,” Daisha quipped.
Chirp…chirp…chirp…chirp.
The sound made Daisha nearly jump off the float. For a heart-freezing second, she thought it was the GeoPorts again. But the sound wasn’t coming from the units inside the house. The peep was coming from a real cricket stranded on the side of the swim float.
“How’d a cricket get way out here?” Daisha wondered.
“I didn’t know they could swim,” Charu said.
Daisha walked over to the end of the float and carefully examined the insect. It was about an inch long and was dark brown with six legs. She reached out, and the cricket leaped from the float into the water, skimming across the surface toward the shore.
“There’s your answer,” Axel said. “Crickets can swim.”
“‘The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever,’” Daisha said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Say what?” Axel said, raising his eyebrows.
“It’s a line from Charlotte’s Web. I loved that book in elementary school. In fact, I probably read it twenty times, and I watched the old cartoon even more.”
“That was a good one,” Axel said. “But I was more of a Stuart Little kid myself.”
Kostia whispered in Loosha’s ear, “Here comes the tree-hugger speech.”
Loosha smirked at Kostia’s ignorance. Unfortunately, he had seen with his own eyes what a planet on the verge of destruction looked like. The events that had occurred at Wadi Rum were Armageddon, the apocalypse, and Judgment Day all wrapped into one.
“Let me repeat myself,” Kimber said. “This reprieve won’t last very long if humankind doesn’t change its ways. While leading minds may disagree on the science, one thing is without question: we are destroying Earth by pillaging its natural resources in our ravenous search for energy. Oil drilling, fracking, destroying forests and wetlands, polluting our oceans—all of these have led directly to this moment in our history. X-Point Energetics is the cure for all that ails a sick world.”
The audience sat in stunned silence as Kimber filled in the details. She described how her company now possessed technology that would make the modern energy industrial complex extinct. X-Point Energetics had the ability to harness the immense power of solar wind to fuel our planet for millennia.
“Ground zero of our operation is in the Middle East, but it has nothing to do with oil,” Kimber explained. “With the blessings of the Jordanian government, we have purchased an area deep within the Wadi Rum desert, a place made famous by the classic Hollywood movie Lawrence of Arabia, to begin our groundbreaking work. Our team has nearly completed the infrastructure.”
The words Wadi Rum made Loosha’s lunch burp into his esophagus. It felt like Kimber had sucker punched him. The pieces of the puzzle began to take shape. The name of the company, X-Point Energetics, sounded a lot like the thing Daisha had talked about when they were Warping around the world. The X-Point was the place where the Earth’s and the sun’s magnetic fields met. That location was in the Wadi Rum desert.
A huge round of applause ripped Loosha from his thoughts. The audience began to disperse. Reporters shoved microphones in Kimber’s face, but she refused to answer questions as she rushed to a waiting limousine.
Pinchole slithered through the crowd and approached Loosha.
“You,” Pinchole said. “Follow me. Someone wants to see you right away.”
Loosha nodded toward Kostia. “Him too?”
“No,” Pinchole said with a shake of his head. “Just you. Come.”
Loosha followed Pinchole to the same limousine that Kimber had ducked into. The driver opened the door, and both of them stepped into the car. Doctor Lennon Hatch and Kimber Vallan stared at him. The Doctor looked the same as always: tall, balding, extremely well dressed, and red-faced. Loosha also remembered where he had seen Kimber before. She was the Doctor’s new girlfriend.
The Doctor held out his hand. “Loosha, so very nice to see you again.”
Loosha shook the Doctor’s hand and nodded. “Nice to see you again, sir.”
“What did you think of my dear Kimber’s performance?” the Doctor asked.
“Uh…um,” Loosha stuttered. “It was very good. I… uh…She was well spoken and knowledgeable.”
“Kimber’s more than just knowledgeable,” the Doctor said with a laugh. “The lady has a PhD in physics from the University of Sydney. Since our mishap in India, I need to keep a low profile and be a silent partner in this new venture, at least for the time being. Kimber will be the public face of X-Point Energetics until I feel it’s appropriate for me to come forward.”
“What’s this press conference about your new energy company all about?” Loosha asked.
“We’re creating a buzz to help open the wallets of potential investors,” the Doctor answered.
“X-Point Energetics has everything to do with energy,” Kimber said. “But not the kind of energy the world has come to know. It’s all about Geographical Transpor—”
“Let’s stop this conversation right here,” Pinchole said, interrupting her. “Loosha’s a hired henchman, not a scientist. We need to keep some things on a need-to-know basis.”
The Doctor shot Pinchole a stern look. “Settle down, young man. Or I’ll make you sail to the Middle East in a bathtub.”
Pinchole sighed and sank into the seat.
“Sir, excuse me for being so blunt,” Loosha said. “But why did you ask me to be here?”
“Because of your loyalty,” the Doctor said. “And your tremendous talent. Do you understand?”
Loosha shook his head no.
“Out of all of my men, you were the one to capture the boy, Axel. And from what I’ve heard, you were very close to capturing Daisha as well. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor opened his briefcase, pulled out two eight-by-ten-inch photographs, and handed one to Loosha. “Have you ever seen this woman?” he asked. “She calls herself Stiv.”
Loosha studied the photo. It was a picture of a young hipster woman with big glasses, partially shaven metallic-blue hair, and several tattoos and piercings. She kind of looked familiar, but not enough to jar a recollection.
“No,” Loosha said. “I don’t think so.”
The Doctor handed him another photo. “What about her? Her real name is Megan, and if you haven’t guessed it already, she and Stiv are actually one and the same.”
The person in this picture looked significantly different. Gone were the glasses, tattoos, and piercings, although the hair was the same. Loosha recognized her instantly. She was Daisha’s friend from Wadi Rum—the scientist.
Loosha looked up at the Doctor. “Never seen her before in my life,” he said, trying to look as believable as possible.
“I want you to find her,” the Doctor said, his eyes red with rage. “She’s a spy, a thief, and she tried to destroy my whole operation.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m appointing you head of my CSO. You will report directly to me.”
Loosha nodded. He knew that CSO stood for Clandestine Support Operations. Leading the group would be a big promotion.
“Bring her to me,” the Doctor continued. “Alive. Do this for me, and you will be an extremely wealthy man.”
“I’ll find her,” Loosha said. He exited the car, and when the Doctor’s limousine was out of sight, he whipped out his phone and immediately texted Daisha.
Chapter Four
AXEL
Axel had just gobbled a big handful of Charu’s freshly picked blackberries when Daisha burst into the house.
“Loosha just sent me a message!” she exclaimed.
“What does it say?” asked Megan, looking up from her iPad.
Daisha handed her the phone. “Read it for yourself.”
“‘Urgent! Watch FNC tonight eight p.m. your time. More later,’” Megan recited.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Axel wondered aloud.
“And what’s FNC?” asked Charu.
Megan walked over to the couch, dug a remote from under the cushions, and flicked on the TV. She switched to a channel where a young anchorman was interviewing an older woman. A breaking-news banner flashing DOW FALLS 678 POINTS scrolled along the bottom of the screen.
“This is it,” Megan said. “It’s a network called the Financial News Channel. They report on business, the stock market—stuff like that.”
Daisha grabbed a slice of pizza from the kitchen counter and took a bite. “Why would Loosha want us to watch a boring cable news network?” she asked.
Megan shrugged. “I have no idea, but we’d better tune in at eight. Until then, we have a tour to go on.”
They had reservations for a two-hour guided kayaking excursion around Sebago Lake. Everyone piled into the rusty Saab Megan had nicknamed Ol’ Bessie. It was her aunt’s car, but she was letting Megan use it for the summer. Axel sat up front with Megan. Charu and Daisha sat in the back. The car cruised up a pothole-pocked dirt road and turned onto Route 11. During the quiet ride, the Doctor’s face flashed in Axel’s mind. He was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Loosha was back at the Doctor’s headquarters in Palo Alto. Could watching a cable news network dedicated to money have anything to do with their old nemesis? The thought drifted away when they arrived at the Waterways Paddle Company at Long Beach Marina. A perky college-aged woman with blond hair knotted into two loose pigtails met them on the dock.
“I’m Presley,” the woman said with a smile. “And you must be our two o’clock tour.”
After introductions, they signed a waiver, and Presley guided them to a rocky beach. Kayaks lined the shore. A large rack of life jackets sat under a stand of pine trees.
Presley handed them each a life jacket and pointed to two double kayaks. “Take your pick,” she said before plopping down in her own kayak. Airbrushed on the sides were the words Presley be Paddlin’ and Keep Calm, Paddle On.
Axel hopped in the front seat of a bright-red kayak. He had just adjusted the backrest when Charu jumped into the rear seat. He looked up and saw Daisha standing over them, a not-too-happy look on her face.
“Come with me,” Megan said to Daisha. “We’ll have fun!”
Daisha shot Charu a sneer and joined Megan.
“The girl just wasn’t fast enough,” Charu said with a giggle and a shrug.
“I didn’t know it was a competition,” Axel said, plunging his paddle into the water. With a hefty stroke, they were drifting away from shore. They paddled in silence, following Presley’s lead as she guided them toward a small island in the middle of the lake.
“We’re paddling to Outer Island!” Presley hollered. “There’s a mating pair of bald eagles building a nest out there. Maybe we can see them.”
A tingle of anticipation wiggled up Axel’s spine. He had never seen a bald eagle in the wild before, and the excitement was palpable. As they approached the island, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. Charu’s face brushed next to his.
“This is so much fun,” she whispered. She planted a quick peck on his cheek.
Axel’s heart leaped into his throat. He stammered something incoherent and looked toward Daisha and Megan’s kayak. They hadn’t seen the kiss. Both of them were too busy scanning the sky for the bald eagles. The memory of holding Charu’s hand back in India surged into his thoughts. That was after the earthquake and right before they had Warped together for the first time. Holding her hand felt nice, but kissing the girl had never entered his thoughts.
“There’s the female!” Presley exclaimed.
Axel looked up and saw the largest bird he had ever seen dive-bombing the water. The eagle reared up at the last second, spread its razor-sharp talons, and snatched a fish right out of the lake.
“Whoa! Did you see that?” Axel cried, trying to break up the moment between him and Charu. “Completely awesome!”
Two hours later, they were all back at the house. Everyone was exhausted from the tour. Charu’s kiss still burned on Axel’s cheek. Before, he’d kind of suspected the girl liked him, but now he was absolutely one hundred percent sure. He was also certain Daisha didn’t like it one bit.
Axel put on his flip-flops. “I’m going for a walk,” he said.
“Aren’t you fried from all that kayaking?” Daisha questioned.
Axel stepped outside without answering. He hopped off the porch and headed toward the boathouse. The boathouse wasn’t really a house. It was just a big, weathered shed made of old wood, sitting at the base of a wobbly dock. Inside were an old card table, some folding chairs, and a tiny changing room. Axel plopped down on a chair. Carved into the walls were years of innocent family graffiti. Names, dates, this-person-loves-that-person messages, stick-figure drawings of people jumping off the swim float.
Several notches on the corner wall caught his attention. He looked closer and saw it was Megan’s growth chart from when she was a kid. The words read Megan, age five followed by a line scrawled into the wood. This went on all the way up the wall, ending at Megan, age eleven. Axel guessed that was when Megan had lost interest in her height transformation.
A memory gently swam into his mind. He swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump forming in the back of his throat. His father had monitored his growth spurts in the same way as Megan’s family had. Only Axel’s record was scribbled in pencil on the frame of his closet door back in Palo Alto.
“I really miss you, Dad,” he said, letting out a long sigh.
Before he had the chance to sink deeper into thoughts of his old life, Charu popped her head into the boathouse. “Let’s go swimming,” she said. “Last one to the float is a rotten cobra egg.”
Axel smiled, rubbed his eyes, and chased after her.
Chapter Five
DAISHA
Daisha looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
“I’m getting fat,” she said to herself with a chuckle. It was a big change from her time on the run from the Doctor. “Too many butter pecan cones from Sebago Freeze, I guess.”
Nearly every evening, Megan drove them to the local ice cream shop for an after-dinner treat. Axel always ordered the salted caramel milkshake. Megan loved the chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone. Charu indulged in flavors like coriander streusel ripple, blueberry basil, or buttery vanilla lobster. The last of which made Daisha want to puke.
A faint scent of pomegranate wafted into her nostrils. Megan had recently taken her and Charu to a spa for a girls’-day-out facial and pedicure. Daisha could still smell the lotion they had used on her skin. She picked up a brush and ran it through her hair. Thankfully, her locks were growing back from when she had snipped them off at the Palo Alto Library in an effort to avoid being recognized.
A loud splash caught her attention. She looked out the bathroom window and saw Charu paddling toward the swim float. A moment later, Axel ran out of the boathouse. He peeled off his shirt, kicked off his flipflops, and dove into the lake after her.
Daisha tore out of the bathroom, raced through the house, and burst out the back door. Within seconds, she was in the water, furiously swimming to catch up to Axel.
“Where’s your suit?” Axel asked when Daisha caught up to him.
Daisha wiped her eyes and spit water from her mouth. “Didn’t feel like putting it on,” she said.
Charu was already on the float, wearing the bikini Megan had bought for her. She was smiling at them, but Daisha knew the girl wished it was just Axel swimming out to meet her. Axel climbed up the float ladder with Daisha close behind.
“Seeing that eagle today was beautiful,” Charu said.
“And a bald eagle to boot,” Daisha added. “The symbol of America.”
“Why is that your country’s symbol?” Charu wondered.
Axel shrugged. “Because our founding fathers said so. What’s India’s official animal?”
“The Bengal tiger, of course. Our national fruit is the mango, and the Ganges River dolphin is our official aquatic creature.”
“I read the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn,” Axel offered.
They laughed and sprawled out in the late-afternoon sun. The warm air quickly dried them off. Daisha stared at a patch of fluffy clouds drifting overhead, thinking about all she had been through over the last few months. After everything, it felt silly that now the biggest thing affecting her was Charu, but she couldn’t help it.
Jealous.
A tingle of ache burned in her stomach as the word popped into her mind. She had never thought of it like that before, but that was exactly how she felt. She was jealous of Axel and Charu’s relationship. The two of them weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend. Things hadn’t progressed that far, but they had spent many tough weeks together and their relationship was special.
“Teach me how to do a backflip,” Axel said, snapping Daisha out of her thoughts.
She leaped to her feet, eager to show off her athletic prowess.
“Watch me demonstrate, and I’ll explain,” she said, proceeding to do a perfect backflip into the lake.
After Daisha gave brief instructions, Axel made an attempt. It was a complete failure. Instead of flipping in the air, he flapped like a bird with a broken wing and splashed sideways into the water.
Daisha and Charu howled with laughter.
“You didn’t jump high enough!” Daisha shrieked.
“A graceful Ganges dolphin you are not,” Charu added with a smile.
“Very funny,” Axel said, climbing back on the float. “Is my back all red? I smacked pretty hard.”
“Like a lobster,” Daisha quipped.
Chirp…chirp…chirp…chirp.
The sound made Daisha nearly jump off the float. For a heart-freezing second, she thought it was the GeoPorts again. But the sound wasn’t coming from the units inside the house. The peep was coming from a real cricket stranded on the side of the swim float.
“How’d a cricket get way out here?” Daisha wondered.
“I didn’t know they could swim,” Charu said.
Daisha walked over to the end of the float and carefully examined the insect. It was about an inch long and was dark brown with six legs. She reached out, and the cricket leaped from the float into the water, skimming across the surface toward the shore.
“There’s your answer,” Axel said. “Crickets can swim.”
“‘The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever,’” Daisha said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Say what?” Axel said, raising his eyebrows.
“It’s a line from Charlotte’s Web. I loved that book in elementary school. In fact, I probably read it twenty times, and I watched the old cartoon even more.”
“That was a good one,” Axel said. “But I was more of a Stuart Little kid myself.”
