My leg tapped a nervous beat onto the floor of Steven's car. Rock formations outside zoomed by as he sped home where Saorise and Ryder waited. Steven and Mr. Alan conversed in low tones in the front, while Deryn sat with me in the back.

  "If it makes you feel better, if anything had happened they wouldn't let you go back home," Deryn said. "The kids are fine."

  My foot decided to tap faster. "That doesn't really help, but thanks anyway. Why are you coming with us?"

  "I'm learning electric tracking under Lieutenant Vanel," she said.

  Somewhere in my brain, it recalled that Academy students studied under officers if they were going into specialized work. "Is that why you're staying at the compound?"

  "One of them," she replied.

  Besides my thumping and the adults' conversation, the rest of the ride was quiet . My ears heard their talk, but the information disappeared from my mind with each new thump of my foot.

  Steven pulled up into the driveway and led us to the side of the house. With the morning glories cushioning our walk, I noticed some flowerless patches on the ground.

  Then my eye caught the open window on the second floor.

  My heart paused. Oh stinkers, someone was still in there. Some psycho was up there with my little brother and sister. As something inside me clicked, my brain fired off a set of instructions. Tell the others, then get inside and take the crazy guy down. GO.

  My muscles tensed while a current of electricity ran through my legs to fuel my jump to the window. "There's someone up there."

   Everyone turned to look at me. 

  "I'm going up."

  "Chael, wait--" started Steven.

  The pulsing of my heart and the sparking in my body clouded the rest of his warning. I leaped onto the stone wall. With the nanobytes adding to my strength, I managed to latch onto the house above the first-floor window.

  While the stone wall provided grips for my hands, they also rubbed my skin like I was getting a sunburn.

  "What the heck are you doing?" Deryn said.

  "Chael, get down here," Steven yelled.

  I ignored that and my sunburn feeling hands.

  I reached for another hand-hold and scaled my way up to the second floor with a few swings. "Someone's inside. I'll hold them there," I shouted. My hands found the windowsill as I pulled myself up.

  There was a curse, and someone ran off--hopefully, to back me up.

After I clambered in through the window, my feet splashed down onto the floor. My legs chilled for some reason. After checking for people in the room, which was empty, my eyes glanced down to see water seeping through my shoes and socks.

  What the. . .

  A tub of water sat under the window. Chains of paper clips dipped into the liquid and ran to the other side of Steven's desk. Like an idiot, I stood in the puddle and gawked at the ridiculous set up as the H2O wavered between my legs.

  An electric current sprang down the chains and zapped me.

  "Owww."

  My electrical resistance was particularly strong, so I didn't know if it was the water or some special metal in the paper clips, but that zap hurt like someone decided to draw blood from my legs.

  Of course, they'd take five tries to find a vein first.

  I floundered out of the sparking water, tipping the container and knocking most of the water onto Steven's carpet. The fried chains scattered into weird formations and drew back as the perpetrator tugged on them.

  After I recovered from my confusion, I jumped the desk and landed in front of two crazy kids who set up the trap.

  "Saorise, Ryder, what in the world?"

  Their tiny hands gripped the chains. Ryder's mouth formed an "Oh".

  Saorise's, on the other hand, did the talking. "We didn't mean to." After dropping the chain, she tried to scoot farther back against the desk. "It was an accident."

  "So you electrocuted me on accident?"

  "No, we shocked you," Saorise said. "We wanted to catch the bad guy."

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. "It's the same thing. In the literal sense at least."

  "What?"

  "Just . . . nevermind," I said.

  Outside, a pair of boots thundered down the hallway and stopped at the door.

  Steven marched in and took two strides to the desk. With one admonishing look, he reprimanded me and thoroughly terrified Saorise and Ryder. "What are you two doing up here? You're supposed to be downstairs."

  Saorise fiddled with the edge of her shirt. "We wanted to catch the bad guy for you. I didn't mean to hurt Chael."

As if he didn't want to be here, Ryder turned his head away.

  Steven turned to me. "What happened?"

  "They set up a booby trap and electrocuted me," I said.

  He pressed his lips into a tight line and took a deep breath. "Please take them downstairs."

  "Okay." I grabbed their hands. "Let's go."

  My flushed face thanked him for not lecturing me after my. . .bolt up the wall.

  As I led them away from their crime scene, Ryder fed me an apologetic look. Paired with Saorise's side of guilt, the two managed to satiate my lingering annoyance at their attempt to fry me.

  By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, I had forgiven them. They weren't off the hook though.

  Deryn and Mr. Alan waited for us at the bottom of the stairs. She looked at my shoes then up at me. "Why're you wet?"

  "Long story," I said. "Find anything outside?"

  Mr. Vanel chose this moment to walk up the stairs and leave us.

  Deryn shook her head. "Didn't sense a trace. It's been awhile, so it'd be hard to find anyway." Then she headed upstairs.

  Saorise tugged on my shirt. "Are they looking for the stranger?"

  I nodded and drew the two of them closer. "You guys okay?"

  "Yes." Ryder bobbed his head once.

  "Mrs. Lindley said there wasn't anybody," Saorise said. "Why'd she do that?"

  To keep you guys for worrying, but obviously she failed, I thought.

  "Because . . . Mr. Steven and his friends are going to catch the bad guy."

  It wasn't a total lie. As of that moment, Mr. Alan and Deryn would find the electrical traces from whoever broke in, track them down or identify them, then arrest them. That was their job. It was not the job of two small children to electrocute random people who jumped in through the window.

  Saorise and Ryder swallowed the lie like a piece of candy. The worry on their faces changed into admiration, misdirected at me.

"Are you gonna help catch the bad guy?" Ryder asked.

"Um, maybe." I maneuvered the kids to the stairwell.

  While the two kept taking glances at me, I didn't have to be a mind reader to know what they were thinking. Saorise asked me everytime she had a nightmare. Ryder only calmed down after I reassured him that I was there.

  They expected--no, believed-- that I was their hero. Every ounce of me wanted to live up to those expectations, but I couldn't track down whoever this stranger was.

   With little resistance and with the guidance of my nose, I guided the children to the kitchen. The food baking in the oven reminded my stomach that it was empty, just like the kitchen. No motherly figure stood by the stove to ward off charred goods.

  "Where's Mrs. Lindley?" I asked.

  "Upstairs," Ryder said.

  One minute later, I deposited the children in the master bedroom where Mrs. Lindley was sorting through a bunch of clothes.

  "Welcome home," she said with an overly sweet smile.

  "They told me about the guy."

  The smile lost the sugar coating and morphed into one of worry. "Yes. Well, dinner should be almost ready."

   With each child caught in the grip of my hand, I informed Mrs. Lindley of their antics while motioning to my still wet pants. With a little bit of force, I pulled the children to stand in front of me instead of using me as a shield.

   She rubbed her temple. "That was dangerous."

  "Yeah," I said.

  Mrs. Lindley's hands found their place on her hips--the same place my mom used when she was about to scold. "Saorise, Ryder. I'd like to talk to you."

  Muttering some excuse about changing my pants, I ran out of the room before she started her lecture. A few doors down in my room, my wet clothes switched out with drier, comfortabler ones. As I dumped my wet clothes in the hamper, the smell of food drifted in from the kitchen.

  Maybe dinner was done.

After I crept passed the door of the lecturing woman to the stairwell, I bumped into Deryn and Mr. Alan. The lieutenant had his lips pressed together, hard. Deryn didn't look any happier.

  My stomach rumbled, but not from the hunger I felt a few minutes ago."What's wrong?"

  Mr. Alan's face changed into the look he used when he told us about our parents' deaths. As the muscles in his face loosened, his eyes narrowed as if to soften the next words. "We didn't find anything to trace. All we had were our signals and a few traces of your mother's."

  The muscles in my hand tensed. "So you can't track them?"

  They shook their heads.

  Then the stranger was free. He could come back and do something worse than prowl around. He could take Saorise or Ryder, or hurt them, or mess them up for good. He could come for me.

  "The guy was good," Deryn muttered. "Even left us something."

   I managed to choke out the next word. "What?"

   "Chael," Mr. Alan said and cut her off before she could answer. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. What of it?"

  With hand reached out as if she were talking someone down, Deryn took a step towards me. "You're sparking."

  I looked down at my hand where blue sparks flickered on my fist. I forced my hand open and let the faint tingling disappear. "Sorry. I'm just all jumpy from all the tests."

  "Get some rest then," Mr. Alan said. "The doctors can check you out if you're still feeling off."

  "Yeah, I will."

   He nodded and continued down the stairs.

  Before she followed after him, Deryn stopped by me. Placing a hand on my shoulder, the touch relaxed some of my muscles. "It'll get better soon. Takes time."

  "What do you mean?"

  "The fear." Deryn removed her hand. "Trust me on this." As she said those last words, her different colored eyes locked with mine. The two shades of the lightning blue burned those words into me.

  With that, she left me alone on the stairwell.

  I drummed my fingers on the railing. Downstairs were an empty kitchen and cooking food. Further down the hall was a Commander and father who was likely to give me more information. I chose to go down the hall.

  Steven had just closed the window when I walked in. His desk was cleared of everything, including his computer, and showed its shiny wooden surface.

  Steven's hands rested on the table with a hint of silver peeking out from under his fingers.  "What's wrong, Chael?"

  "What'd they find?" I stood across from him. "I talked to them outside the stairwell."

  "Nothing." He slid a metal thing towards me. "Except this."

  They were two crescent moons merged bound with a sliver of gold.

  It was the same as the one I found at our old house.

  "They came again." My fingers ran over the sharp design.

  "Yes," Steven said.

  "You know who they are?"

  "I've got an idea." Steven took back the symbol.

  My fingers threatened to clench together again, but I held them off. I couldn't stop the moving bile in my stomach though. "They wanted you to find it?"

  He spoke reluctantly. "Most probably. Chael, you don't have to worry about this."

  "Yes, I do." I gripped the edge of his desk. "They're after us, right? I have to be ready--ready to fight. You remember what happened last time."

  Steven leaned forward and killed the gap made by the desk. "Yes, I do. And I'm here to help you, to protect you. I am helping you get stronger, but I will take care of this."

  While his fingers dug into the desk, his face hardened with determination. The tenseness of his muscles, the unwavering eyes, and the burning gaze--they all shouted I will not fail.

  My father had the same look when I saw him for the last time before he ran into the fight. A little part of me wondered if Steven would do as good a job as my parents.

  I backed away. "Okay then," I said, giving up the fight. There was no point in arguing any further.

  Even though he won the argument, his head lowered. "Trust me on this."

  "Okay. I will." My tongue rolled off the words without putting in any of the meaning. I paused for a moment before asking this next question. "You think they're going to try something again?"

  His answer came in the form of a slight nod of the head.

  A quiet blanketed the room. Eventually, Mrs. Lindley's scolding floated to us in even tones and outright tore the silence away when she called us to dinner.

  Even though I was starving earlier, I didn't eat much that night.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

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