Einstein wasn't quite sure what had just happened. Even though Mr. Old as Time and Hawking were long gone, he continued to hold his breath as he crouched in the cramped closet. He felt as though his whole body was tingling, and there was an odd pressure on his face that made him nauseous. The only thing he could think was, What did Hawking just do?

A few minutes later, another question came to mind: What the hell is the side pocket? Einstein knew Hawking had been purposefully cryptic, for Mr. Old as Time was listening, but he wouldn't have minded a bit more information on the definition and whereabouts of this "side pocket."

Perhaps it had something to do with the PHC. Maybe "side pocket" was computer lingo for "security cameras" or something of that sort. Or maybe the closet was a side pocket of the room Einstein was currently inside of. The boy turned around and surveyed the closet, cursing when he couldn't find anything of interest. He shrugged his backpack off and opened the closet door to get a better look at the room.

"The side pocket," Einstein muttered to himself. He stood from his crouched position, deciding to get a closer look at the items around the room. To facilitate mobility, he took his coat from around his waist and shoved it into his backpack.

It was at that moment that he saw the index cards on the side of his bag.

"The side pocket," he repeated. "You could have just said 'the backpack' or pointed to your back, mute. Though I can't call you mute anymore, can I? In fact, I could never call you mute in the first place, could I?"

Einstein pulled the pack of cards from the side pocket of his backpack and sat back down. He was still shocked at the fact that Hawking had spoken to him. To him, of all people. She nearly had a panic attack when she realized Einstein had been listening to her log into the PHC. Why would she then physically say something to him, even though it obviously made her anxious? What was she sacrificing her comfort for? Him?

"Probably Clay," Einstein murmured in an attempt to stop contemplating Hawking's reasons for speaking to him. She'd barely said three words, anyway. It wasn't a very big deal, he told himself to calm his racing thoughts. He had other matters to focus on at that moment.

He turned his attention to the cards in his hands, and it was suddenly as though those three words Hawking had spoken (and the one she'd mouthed) were nonexistent.

If you're reading this, Einstein, I've probably been taken by Mr. Old as Time into the Nursery, the first card read. I knew I'd be found, as it happened in my dream.

"That would have been nice to know," the boy snapped as he moved to the second card. "All you had to do was tell me!"

Shut up and keep going.

Einstein ripped the index card in two. He discarded of the remains and continued.

You can either wait in the girls' locker rooms for me until I find Clay and join you, or you can leave now. I'd prefer it if you found a place off campus to wait, but it's your decision.

Einstein was silent. He couldn't form an obnoxious or snide response to spit out.

In case the scanners still work, use my ID card to get into the locker rooms, the next card read. You should be able to use tools in the gym closet to create something to scale the fence. Godspeed.

Einstein shook his head. He couldn't leave Hawking to find Clay without any help. She had helped him get into the Nursery and shut down the school's security. He couldn't simply watch as she risked her life for another one of her friends. He would repay her for what she'd done for him.

Before Einstein could change his mind and begin to think logically, he stood and put his backpack on. He would find Mr. Old as Time and tell him to release Hawking so the two could find Clay together. Then all three of them would escape without any trouble. The boy took a deep breath and walked to the door. He twisted the knob and opened it, peeking out to see it the hallway was clear.

"Oh," a cold voice said, startling Einstein out of the room. "Wow."

"G-Gene!" he stuttered, letting the door close behind him. "Gene, what are you--?"

Einstein paused once he realized where Gene was standing. The blonde was disheveled yet cool as he leaned against the wall. His fingers caressed a small button near the fire alarm at the end of every hallway in the Nursery. It was a bright red distress button that would set off an alarm throughout the entire building when pressed-- the kind many placed in vulnerable convenience stores. Or maximum security prisons.

Einstien couldn't tell which of the places named this button belonged to, but he could guess it was the latter.

"You shouldn't be here, Einstein," Gene explained flatly. "Your curfew was nine o'clock. And this building is off limits to unauthorized students such as yourself."

Einstein stared at Gene, frozen. Out of all the things that could have gone wrong, he didn't expect his roommate to follow him into the Nursery building and ruin his entire escape plan by pressing a panic button. He hadn't even known the buttons were there until Gene pointed one out. The one his hand was hovering over.

At least Einstein, with Gene's ID card in his back pocket, now knew that the scanners had all truly been disabled.

"How did you find me?" Einstein finally asked.

"I heard a voice," Gene replied as calmly as ever. "I was asleep in our dorm when it called out to me. She said, 'Go find Einstein in the Nursery and help him.' I was caught by Curfew Patrol on my way down here, but Mr. Roberto was understanding."

Einstein rolled his eyes. This was definitely his friend; Gene talked too much and found himself off topic more times than not. "A voice? Are you sure you're not hallucinating, and this isn't a dream? Perhaps you should go back to--"

"Don't humor me," Gene snapped. "I'll have you sent to Detention in a heartbeat."

"No! Gene, don't press that button!"

The blonde froze abruptly, and Einstein realized what he had just done. He now had complete control over Gene.

"Okay." He sighed delicately before continuing. "You will forget everything taught to you in Detention. Anything told to you or ingrained in your mind by Dr. Anderson will no longer exist. Are we clear?"

Gene blinked and immediately asked him, "What did you just do to me?"

Einstein closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, there was a large gray dot where Gene's face should have been. An aura. He cursed, rubbing his temples, and closed his eyes again. The lights above his head were suddenly much too intense, and he could only squint through the brightness.

"Th-there isn't time to explain!" Einstein responded quickly. "Hawking is being taken to Detention, where they'll brainwash her like they did to you. We need to help her and then find her friend Clay."

"We?"

"Yes, we! Had it not been for me, you would still be in the same state you were in when you walked into the building. Don't you feel different now? I know you don't remember anything that Dr. Anderson or anyone told you in the Detention room, but you should be able to recall what happened before that. The same thing is going to happen to Hawking if we don't find her."

Gene thought for a moment. "What were you two doing here in the middle of the night? And how is it that Hawking was caught, but you weren't?"

"We were disabling the video cameras and scanners around campus so we could leave without anyone detecting us. And, er, I was in the closet when Mr. Old as Time found Hawking," Einstein explained. "She says she has a plan, but I doubt she'll be able to do it by herself."

Gene nodded, but he was silent other than that. A full minute passed before he spoke again. "I'll help you find Hawking," he said slowly, "if you let me come with you two."

"You want to...leave campus? You do realize we're not coming back?"

"Where else am I going to go now that you've unbrainwashed me," Gene snapped. "By the way, we're going to speak about that in great detail later. Right now, we have to find Hawking."

"And Clay," Einstein added. The gray dot had grown during his conversation with Gene, and he was now unable to see out of his left eye. The foreshadowed migraine was going to begin soon. "And we have to hurry."

****

Einstein didn't want to walk, much less run, through the corridors of the Nursery building any more than he wanted to have another migraine. The aura had disappeared, and he could now see through both of his eyes. However, the back of his head was already beginning to pound with his heartbeat-- and his footsteps.

It had been Gene's idea. He was the one who had suggested that he go into to the Nursery and tell Dr. Anderson he'd seen Einstein running through the halls. In order to make the story more believable, especially because the security cameras throughout the building were offline, it was necessary for the boy to truly sprint to the Detention room and have Dr. Anderson listen for his footfalls. With the ruckus Einstein was making as he squinted through his pain, he was sure the woman would go after him and leave Gene alone with Clay.

All he had to do was find Hawking and manipulate Mr. Old as Time before his migraine got any worse than it already was.

The most difficult part is getting there, Einstein assured himself. If you find that Hawking's plan worked, then everything should be okay. And if it didn't work, Gene's plan will. All you have to do is get to the Detention room.

However, this was easier said than done. With every step, the pain in Einstein's head increased exponentially until he wasn't sure where he was going anymore; he only knew he wanted to stop moving and lay still on the ground. He was about to do so when he finally spotted a door with a sign labeled DETENTION next to it. Staggering toward the room, he pushed open the door to see if Hawking was inside. A terrified gasp was elicited from his lips.

"Einstein! What are you doing here?" Mr. Old as Time demanded from somewhere off to the side of the boy. But Einstein was too preoccupied with the machinery in the center of the room to look at his teacher.

Hawking was sat in a chair in the middle of the room, her back turned to Einstein. A large needle protruded from her head, and a tube connected it with a large computer-like machine that stood next to her. Her eyeballs rolled from side to side incessantly beneath her closed eyelids, and her fingers had contracted the same disturbing twitch. Gene had told Einstein to expect this, but it still made him step backward in horror. He turned to Mr. Old as Time, vaguely remembering what he'd come into this room to do.

"You will take Hawking out of the machine," he demanded carefully. As soon as he did so, his head throbbed in complaint. He stifled a cry of pain and continued. "Once...once you have finished, you will find Dr. Anderson and tell her you watched me leave the building. You will say th-that I ran in the direction of the school. Er...yes! You will also forget that you saw me here or that I said this. Are we clear?"

Mr. Old as Time stood blankly for a moment before beginning to do as he was asked. Einstein signed in relief and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes. He had never manipulated anyone while having a migraine, and he certainly never wanted to do it again. It felt as though a major league baseball player was using a cello to hit grand slams on his brainstem every few seconds.

The sound of the door to the room closing was left a low ringing in Einstein's ears, and he gradually realized Mr. Old as Time had finished taking Hawking out of the machine. Several confused moments later, he opened his eyes to find that she was already standing in front of him.

"Are you alright?" she whispered. "Did Gene find you?"

Einstein frowned. Her voice was startling. "How did you know?"

Hawking shook her head. "No time. He should have gotten to Clay by now, so let's go."

"But...."

Before the boy could question her, Hawking took his arm and wrapped it around her neck to help support him. The two made their way to the Nursery, but because Einstein could barely walk, their path was painfully slow. At least ten minutes had passed before Hawking pointed towards to staircase that led down to the bright whiteness called the Nursery. It hurt to even look at it from the corner of his eye.

"Could I stay up here while you look for Clay and Gene?" Einstein murmured to Hawking. However, the girl paused and gestured towards the stairs once more. This time when he looked at it, Einstein spotted a figure making its way up the steps.

"Is that you Einstein?" its voice called quietly. "I found Clay."

It was Gene, but the bags underneath his eyes much more conspicuous than before. Einstein tried to groan in relief, but it came out as a whimper. "I fou...found Hawking."

"My gods, you sound awful. What happened to you?"

Gene had finished making his way up the staircase by now. He was holding Clay in his arms, and the small boy brightened immediately at the sight of the mute. Gene frowned at Einstein as he set Clay down and pulled his roommate's body away from Hawking's.

"Why didn't you tell me you were having a migraine?" he asked as he picked Einstein up.

The boy was in too much pain to do anything but shrug in response.

"Can we leave now?" Clay asked. The boy seemed too energetic for someone who'd just spent hours on end in the Nursery. 

Gene nodded. "The door is over there. Let's go."

The group of children began to make their way out of the building when someone asked, "What are you all doing here in this building?" They all turned to find Dr. Anderson quickly walking towards them, her hand outstretched towards Clay. "What is going on?"

"We have to run," Gene muttered.

But when the children turned back around, they found Mr. Old as Time had suddenly appeared and was closing in on them from the other direction. Einstein wanted to bang his head against the wall for not telling Mr. Old as Time to leave the building, but his brain stem was already two steps ahead of him.

"We're trapped," he groaned from Gene's back.

A/N: Hello, readers! This is the second to last chapter of The Prodigies before it's completed. Most chapters average around eight or seven pages. The next one will be ten, which is the longest out one of all. Please vote and comment if you liked this installment of The Prodigies! See you tomorrow! (I forgot to publish this yesterday. Sorry!)

Question: What do you think will happen to Kenny, Einstein, Gene, and Clay? Any theories?