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.