Twinepathy (Part 42): Big. Time. Trouble.

Hullo, everyone! Had a good week? I forgot about posting on Friday, but never fear! I remembered today! Check out part one if you’re new.

Jen has us go over the story twice – first from my perspective, then from Blaze’s. Blaze informs me that the man couldn’t see us because we were invisible to everyone but each other. He apparently forgot to mention that tiny detail. I feel like an idiot, and now I realize how many smarter, less risky things I could have done after catching up to the guy. But what’s done is done, I guess.

After we both describe what happened, Jen presses us with questions, asking about everything from the color of the guy’s eyes (neither of us noticed) to the exact spot we left him. I have to say, I don’t think we’re very helpful.

Ezra’s still not awake. Before we started, we moved her onto the couch, which I’ve unofficially dubbed the Couch of Pain… but it seems more like she’s just a sleep instead of being unconscious. I feel a spark of anger toward the jerk who did this to her. Then a thought punches me in the stomach, making me gasp for air. “Do… do you think this is related to all the amnesia stuff? Could she have amnesia?”

Jen looks over at Ezra with a frown. “I don’t think so. This seems completely unrelated, and it doesn’t have much in common with any of the memory thefts. There’s a small chance, though.”

Memory thefts. That makes it sound so trivial. But I’m glad that Ezra most likely won’t have amnesia. She might make Brooklyn grumpy sometimes, but she’s not all that bad. Not to mentions what Denver would do if Ezra got amnesia… “That’s good.”

“For Ezra, yes,” Jen says. “But if we had some clue that this was related to the amnesia situation, it would help us a lot. Now we have two mysteries.” She narrows her eyes slightly and leans towards us. “Although this one shouldn’t have involved you two.”

I lower my eyes. I really, really just want to pin this all on Blaze, but I have to admit that it’s not all his fault. He didn’t make me go after the guy. That was my choice. “But it’s good that we got involved, right?” I ask. “We saved Ezra.”

Jen rests her elbows on the desk. “Yes, you did, but there was a lot that could have gone wrong. For instance, if Blaze hadn’t turned the two of you invisible, or if someone had started shooting. I really like you, Jazz, but you need to work on controlling your impulsiveness. A little self-control would go a long way.”

I gape at her. “Self-control? Ezra could have died!”

“You could have died, too,” Jen growls. “Blaze could have died. There are reasons that we have things set up like we do. The better, safer choice would have been to come back here right away, and Blaze could have grabbed one of our agents with physical powers to take him down.” She pauses. “We might have also been able to bring the guy in.”

Ouch. I hadn’t thought of that. So much for Anvil messing up missions – here I am, destroying one of my own. “I’m sorry,” I say quietly.

Jen nods. “What’s done cannot be undone. Blaze… you should know better than to take another agent into the middle of an assignment. You know that there will be consequences… but for now, I’ll let you two go see the others.” She holds up a hand. “But you are not allowed to speak of what happened to any of them without prior permission from me.”

My heart sinks. I can never keep secrets from Brooklyn. Well, I can, but it always hurts, especially when she knows that I’m not telling her something, unlike the whole Keller and Genesis incident. And she will definitely know I’m keeping a secret from her now. “Can I have permission to tell Pop?” I ask. I think I’m getting the hang of these code names now. Maybe.

“Why?” Jen asks, studying me.

I shrug. “Because she’s going to pester me and bug me and be grumpy until I tell her anyways, so I figured I might as well get your permission to tell her so I don’t have to go through all of that.”

I may be mistaken, but it looks like Jen’s struggling to hold back a smile. “All right. You have my permission to tell Pop and only Pop.” I get the warning and nod in thanks. “One more thing. I’m moving the two of you to active status, since you have an agent, Maddie, at your home.”

I tilt my head. “Maddie’s an agent now?”

Jen nods. “And since you’re both active, you’ll need to come to an orientation meeting here.”

I try to see if she’s joking, but her face looks natural. “You’re… serious?”

She nods. “The next one is tomorrow evening. Are you open then?”

I shrug helplessly. “I guess?”

“Good.” Jen hands me a thin, spiral bound stack of papers. “This is your list of rules to look over before the meeting, both you and Pop. Be prepared.”

Well, then. I look at Jen and sigh. “This is absolutely…” I shake my head. “What happened to Lava Java?”

Jen frowns. “What?”

“We tried to go there this afternoon,” I begin. “Maddie and I did. It was closed and empty, and it was as if it was never there.”

“That’s because it wasn’t,” Blaze says with a grin.

Jen gives him a look. “That’s a long story that can wait. We’ll get to that later. In the meantime, I have some important things to get to…” She motions towards her computer, and she doesn’t even have to say another word. Blaze and I both nod and leave her office.

“Well, this has been a long day,” I grumble as we step out of the office. Thank goodness I don’t get tackled by Brooklyn – in fact, she and the others are nowhere to be seen.

“Ready to head home?” Blaze asks.

I pause, my eyes widening. “Home! Oh no, Denver’s going to be freaking out…” We are in big. Time. Trouble.

Twinepathy (Part 41): A Bit of Trouble

Hullo, everyone! Well, look who missed two parts… I didn’t mean to hold you in terrible suspense, but… it kind of happened. Sorry (sort of)! 😉 New? Part one is here.

The fuzziness clears – will I ever get used to this? – and I look around in surprise. A light breezes waves little strands of loose hair off my face, and palm branches flutter slightly overhead.

I jump in surprise as cool ocean water splashes against my ankles, soaking my tennis shoes. The water pulls back and buries my feet in the wet sand. It’s nearly impossible to get my feet out of the sand without my shoes coming off, but somehow I manage and slog over to where Blaze is. He’s laying Ezra out on the hot sand and is checking her over.

“Why are we here? Shouldn’t we go to headquarters?” I ask grumpily. My hands ache like crazy. My shoes are fairly new, and now they’re covered in mud. I may not be a girly-girl like Brooklyn, but unnecessary waste like this is… wasteful.

“We will be going to headquarters,” Blaze growls through gritted teeth. “I just want to make sure she’s alive.”

The blood drains out of my face. I hadn’t considered the fact that Ezra might be dead. I’d just assumed she was unconscious. I’m suddenly very grateful that Denver’s not here. What would he say? Probably nothing, he’d probably be hyperventilating. My legs get weak and wobbly, so I kneel down next to Blaze. “Is she okay?”

He nods, sitting back on his heels. “Her pulse is fine, I think, so she’ll probably be okay. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but I’m not a doctor or anything.”

No, he’s not. Neither am I, but I can tell that something’s wrong, from her unconsciousness and pale, bruised face. I really hope she’ll be okay. “So let’s go to headquarters.”

Blaze nods, and after a second, we’re kneeling on the icy floor of Jen’s office. Jen is heading towards the door, but she stops in surprise when she sees us. She recovers almost instantly and hurries over to us, kneeling next to Ezra. Jen’s hand flies to her ear. “Com, cancel the call for Trav and bring in Medic. Volt is here, 33. Tell Pop and company that Jazz and Blaze are back.”

Jen closes her eyes, inhaling slowly, deeply, calmly, and places her hands on Ezra’s arm. I notice a few small flashes of blue light where her hands are touching Ezra, but that might be my imagination, since nothing else changes. Jen removes her hands with a frown on her face.

The door opens, and a boy enters. He’s skinny, which makes me think of Maddie, and I’d guess he’s about her age, too. He kneels down next to Jen, only giving Blaze and me a passing glance.

“Thanks for coming so quickly,” Jen says, smiling at him encouragingly and ruffling his hair. I’m shocked by how casual and laid back she is with Ezra lying unconscious on the floor in front of her. I’m about to give some kind of snippy remark when Blaze nudges me and gives a pointed look in the boy’s direction. I get the message: this is for the boy’s benefit, for whatever reason, so I keep my mouth shut, for once.

“She just has some chloroform in her system,” Jen begins. “If you can get that out, and heal the bruises, that would be great.”

The boy nods and places his hands on Ezra. Her face gets a little less pale, and the bruises disappear. He removes his hands and looks at Jen for approval.

“Great job, Medic,” Jen says in a fake solemn voice with a smile. “You’re free to go.”

“Wait,” Blaze says, gently grabbing my wrist. Medic pauses, looking between the two of us, and Jen lifts an eyebrow. Blaze turns my hand over, revealing my raw, bloody palm. “You might as well take care of Jazz’s hands while you’re here.”

Medic hesitates, but a nod from Jen is enough to make him come over. He gently touches both of my palms, as if he thinks I’m going to break. The torn skin moves back into place and fuses together in a slow, mesmerizing pattern that should be disgusting but really isn’t. He also touches my knuckles where I punched the guy, and the bruises disappear. He gives me a shy, adorable smile and hurries out of the room after another nod from Jen.

Ezra shifts slightly on the floor, her eyelashes fluttering as a soft moan escapes from her lips. Jen lays a gentle hand on her arm. “Now that that’s taken care of, we can talk.”

I have a feeling this might not be pleasant.