Book Review: Blank Mastermind by Rosey Mucklestone

Guys, I’m so excited to be bringing you this book review today! I absolutely loved reading this book, and I couldn’t wait to share about it with all of you. So let’s get right into the review!

Blurb

Amnesia is annoying. The poor hero has to find out everything about his wonderful life again and re-meet all the lovely people he knew before, then go to stop the villain. But what if the life that starts showing itself isn’t wonderful, the people aren’t lovely and the villain is… yourself?

My Review

WOOOOWWWW!!!!! I was so excited to finally get to read this book in its full and final form! I got to read a lot of the parts on the author’s blog (you can check it out here, and I highly recommend it), but I got behind due to the craziness of school, so when I heard she was publishing it, I decided to wait and read the final product. And man, did it blow me away!!!

First of all, the idea of a villain getting amnesia is great, and the author executed it so well! Amnesia is hard to write, especially in first person, and she pulled it off! And with our amnesiac being a villain… well, that made the whole thing crazier. Not to mention that the name Wolfgang Dankworth is hilariously evil (apologies to anyone named Wolfgang Dankworth…).

And speaking of Wolfy, the characters in this book are amazing!!! I was so blown away by the character development. Not just Wolfy and his gang, but the superheroes too. Everyone seemed so real and normal and human. Like you could actually run into these people on the street. The little kids were also amazingly accurate and adorable, too.

The plot! I couldn’t put this book down! The twists and turns of the plot and the suspense were amazing, and aaaaahhhh it was so good!!! I hesitate to say much due to spoilers, so you just need to read it for yourself! I only had one minor issue in that I got a little frustrated that Charles didn’t tell Wolfgang why Wolfgang hated him when he was at their house. Communication is key…. But that was really minor and it was handled all right later on.

Favorite moments:
-Wolfgang finding out he was a villain. So. Much. Emotion.
-Ice cream and cake for breakfast. That’s one thing I haven’t done yet as a college student…
-Everything with Lucius.
-Cardboard. ❤ Like… everything she does.
-Schoolhouse Rock
-Old Tom
-Bad News’ “internal mother hen radar”

Favorite quotes:
-“What happened to your face?” “Dashing good looks happened to my face.”
-“Something held me back from asking who my sworn enemy was. I guess I was nervous it would turn out to be Mother Theresa or something.”

So, basically, read it! This book is soooo good, and now I want to get a paperback copy of it, too! I’m looking forward to reading more books by Rosey Mucklestone, and you should, too! This was a perfect first read for the year.

Here’s where you can find Blank Mastermind!

Amazon | Goodreads

About the Author

Rosey Mucklestone is the oldest of nine crazy kids and the daughter of two awesome parents. She lives with her family and two dogs in Missouri, spending her time writing, reading, baking and waitressing. Topics she’s passionate about include: the ocean, the Bible, mountains, fandoms, stories and characters in general. She’s never gotten amnesia and doesn’t plan on it, but life is full of surprises, so who knows? You can stalk her blog at: www.writefury.com.

So what do you think? If you’ve read the book, what are your favorite parts? If you haven’t… maybe you should! Feel free to comment below, I love talking to you guys!

 

Fun Friday? | A Twinepathy Fanfic

I have absolutely NO IDEA (haha, pun!) what to call these posts… so if you have any ideas, please let me know below! And this is also a day late, so apologies for that.

Hullo, friends! Good to see you again! For the first post of my new schedule, I thought I would post a wonderful fanfic written by Merenwen over at Shattered Fractals. This is the first fanfic anyone’s ever written for any of my stories, so it has a special place in my heart… plus, the feels. Enjoy, everyone!

The Finch wandered the park, hoping to distract himself. Why couldn’t he remember anything? It hurt almost as bad as getting hit with a truck. Not that he remembered having any such experience…

“Mathis?” The lightly accented voice sent a shiver through him. He turned. A lady with long hair and a surprised expression timidly approached. She had a death grip on the lapels of her jacket. “Mathis, is that you?”

He blinked. “Yes.”

“Oh, thank goodness! Where have you been?” She rushed up and bear-hugged him.

The Finch just stood there, arms awkwardly by his side. “I’m…I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”

The lady drew back but kept her hands on his arms. Her expression varied between cold shock and…was that fear? “Don’t remember me?”

“No, I don’t. What’s your name?”

She took a few steps back, her hand to her mouth. Tears brimmed in her dark eyes. “Oh, oh, oh…”

The Finch wanted to cry himself. “Who are you?”

“I’m, I’m…” She choked, and the tears fell. Through a muffle of emotion, he heard her say, “Eva.”

He held his breath for half a second, hoping. No memories, or even feeling, surfaced. He exhaled his earlier apology.

Eva cleared her throat, laying hand at its base. “You don’t remember me? At all?”

He shook his head. He must have some previous connection to her, though; he wanted to cry with her, hug her, something. “Do you want to talk?”

Eva nodded furiously, pulling her coat tight. She sniffled. “There’s a bench there.”

The Finch instinctively put his arm out. Eva gave a gasping laugh. “At least you’re still you.”

He helped her to the bench and winced. It was so cold. That didn’t seem to bother Eva. She leaned back and glanced at him nervously. “I…I’m not sure where to start…but, I’m your girlfriend.”

The Finch nodded. He could see that, even if he couldn’t remember it.

She relaxed a little bit. “We didn’t do everything together, but quite a few things. Skating, collecting, your usual hobbies…and a few weeks ago, you stopped responding. I was worried sick, literally. My mother had to come over and stay with me for a few days. Then I got a text from you—or your phone, at least—saying to come to the park.”

The Finch put his elbows on his knees. “It wasn’t me who sent the text.” It could’ve been Jen…

He thought. What should he say next?

Eva laid a hand on his arm. “You wouldn’t happen to remember what it was you wanted to tell me before you…vanished?”

He shook his head.

“What happened?”

He half-opened his mouth, then stopped. What could he tell her? IDIA hadn’t told him much, about either the accident or his relations. They had said it was too soon. Then why the text?

“I got into an accident at work.”

“But I checked the hospitals! And how can you get amnesia from unloading produce?!” Eva gripped his arm and gave him a little shake. He must have given her a negative look, because she abruptly let go and hunched over. “Sorry.”

He was going to say, “It’s alright,” but stopped himself. It wasn’t alright. Not at all.

Eva stood. “Maybe it would help if…if we went for a  walk? Where we usually do?”

The Finch rose. He supposedly had the afternoon off. May as well make the best of it. “Yes, please. I’m afraid you’ll have to lead the way.”

Eva looked like she was going to cry again.

The Finch wrapped an arm about her shoulders. “But don’t worry. I should remember soon enough.” He hoped. It was going to kill him if he couldn’t.

Isn’t it adorable??? Please, please check out Merenwen’s blog and also her awesome books! If you have a fanfic, fanart, or anything else related to Twinepathy that you’d like for me to post, let me know down below!

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 39): Signature Purple Hair

Hullo, everyone! I hope you didn’t miss the big announcement this weekend… if you did, check it out here! And read part one if you’re new…

In the past week, I’ve learned that teleporting makes me a little disoriented – at least, the few times I’ve done it, it has. But when I catch my bearings this time, I’m still confused. We’re on top of a building, and I look down on gray-tinted streets. The clouds hang low, and I can taste the moisture in the air. I turn to Blaze. “Where are we?”

He smiles, a strained smile. “London.”

London. Wow. I’ve wanted to come here for a long time. It looks just like the pictures. Foggy, distant, hurried. British. Yup, I’m in love. After I tear my eyes away from Big Ben in the distance, I scan the crowds for Ezra, looking for her signature purple hair. I finally spot her, chatting on the phone and strolling casually down the sidewalk.

“See, she’s fine,” Blaze states.

“What’s she doing?” I ask, ignoring his statement.

Blaze sighs. “I really shouldn’t tell you, but… she’s following someone.”

I scan the crowd, trying to find the person Ezra is following. “Who?”

Blaze throws his hands up in the air. “I don’t know! I’ve told you everything I know. It’s not my mission, after all, and it’s not yours, either.”

He has a good point, but I don’t mention that. I lean forward, trying to figure out who she might be following. I don’t see anyone who looks suspicious, or that she seems to be following. If I didn’t know she was following someone, I would never guess she was. “Do you know why this person is being followed?”

Blaze shrugs, giving up on me. “No idea. I think something’s been going on here in London, a threat or something, but I haven’t heard anything definite, just rumors.”

I nod, studying the crowd. I notice a man step out of an alleyway behind Ezra. At least, I think it’s a man. The person is bundled up a ridiculous amount considering it’s only a little chilly. His hat is pulled low and his collar up, and he walks with his hands in his pockets. I roll my eyes. Weirdo.

“What kinds of things have you heard rumors of?” I ask curiously.

He shrugs again. “A couple of unexplained cases of amnesia, mysterious disappearances… nothing that has any real proof behind it that I know of.”

“Have you asked Jen about it?”

Blaze pauses. “No… I guess I could. And Data, remember.”

Right, right, code names. So hard to remember sometimes. “She’d probably know if the rumors are true.” I look down at Ezra and notice that the bundled-up person is getting closer to her. A warning flag goes up in my head. I reach towards Blaze to get his attention but freeze. The man stops behind Ezra and puts a hand over her mouth. She stiffens and her eyes grow wide, but the next instant, she goes completely limp.

Twinepathy (Part 36): Finch And Anvil

Hullo, everyone! For those of you who were interested in Finch… you’ll get a better look at him in this part! And… we get to meet one of my FAVORITEST characters. *rubs hands gleefully* I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on them… oh, and look out for a special post some time this week with big news… Speaking of news, if you’re new, check out Part One.

The Finch looks at us and gives us a polite nod. He looks disinterested, but I can see the truth in his eyes – pain. I feel a pang for him. Maddie lost just eight, nine, ten years… how old is she?… due to the amnesia, but he lost so much more, probably over twenty years. I’m sure it’s changed him, hurt him. And he might never get that back. Maddie might not get her years back, either, and then what of her relationship with Keller? They were clearly close before, and yet I’ve seen Keller’s pain, too. And what of The Finch’s siblings, parents, family… girlfriend? “Nice to meet you,” he says, his voice flat.

Jen motions to some chairs that I know weren’t here the last time. They must have been brought in just for this occasion. We all sit down, and I notice Keller watching Maddie, her expression pained. “Now all we need is Anvil,” Jen says.

Blaze noticeably perks up at that. “Really? I get to meet the mysterious, elusive, efficient Anvil?”

Jen gives him a withering glare. “Don’t start, Blaze.”

Blaze leans forward, interest sparking in his eyes. “But I haven’t even seen this guy, Data! I haven’t! He’s been here for how long?”

“Three years,” Jen says tiredly.

“Exactly!” Blaze waves a hand in the air. “And I haven’t seen him once. Neither have any of the other agents I’ve talked to.”

“Blaze.” Jen’s voice is tight with warning.

“I just don’t get why this guy’s so special and secret,” Blaze continues, ignoring Jen. “I mean, it’s not like his powers are that different from other manipulators…”

“Hello, Anvil. Have a seat,” Jen says politely, tossing Blaze something between a glare and a smirk.

We all turn. Behind us stands a tall guy, probably close to Jen’s age, his posture forced casual and his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. I get the feeling he’s uncomfortable, but his face is a mask, not giving anything away. His eyes, though, have a spark of… danger. It makes me glad that Keller and Jen are here, in spite of Keller’s hostility and Jen’s secrets.

“I’ll stand,” he says, his voice quiet but strong.

This is probably the first time I’ve ever seen Blaze embarrassed, but he definitely is. Jen nods at Anvil. “All right.”

“That’s definitely him,” Keller speaks up, eyeing Anvil suspiciously.

“I assumed so,” Jen says with a small smile. “Ca… Anvil, why don’t you go ahead and report on that mini-assignment I gave you last week, so everyone here can know what happened?”

Anvil gives us all a suspicious once-over. “Trav dropped me off, and I headed over to the house. I noticed I was being followed. It was her,” he adds as an afterthought, nodding at Maddie. “She didn’t seem like much of a threat, so I stopped her and asked her to deliver the ‘package’. I watched her go up to the house and then slipped off to a safe observation point and saw her,” he motions toward me, “take it inside, so I figured the girl had dropped it there…”

“You?!” Blaze exclaims incredulously. “You’re the one who messed this up?”

Anvil‘s eye’s flash, but a warning look from Jen is enough to subdue both of them, at least temporarily. “No one messed anything up. In fact, this has turned out better than I could’ve hoped, except for Maddie.” Jen gives Maddie a sympathetic look and receives a shy look in return. She turns to Keller. “Does this satisfy you?”

Keller crosses her arms. “It explains how L… Maddie ended up where she is, but it still doesn’t convince me that you’re not responsible for her amnesia.”

Twinepathy (Part 25): Stupid Me

Hullo, everyone! I’ve been wanting to post an extra part for a while now, but it always seems to slip my mind. Not today!!! Feel free to slap Albany in the comments below. You’re welcome. New? Check out Part One.

“Albany!” Denver scolds me, grabbing my arm. “I’m so sorry,” he apologizes to Ms. Fabel. “I’m not sure what’s gotten into her. We should go.”

I pull away from him. “No. Ms. Fabel, we really need to talk to you. About our friend,” I add hastily. I pause, making myself get emotional. “She’s about ten years old, and we’re trying to find her family.”

Ms. Fabel pauses, confused. I’m not sure what kind of friend she thought we were talking about, but she certainly didn’t think it was a little girl. But still she stands guardedly in the doorway. “What’s her name?” she asks.

“Maddie,” Denver says, relaxing a little now.

I jump in. “Actually, we don’t know her name. We’ve just been calling her Maddie. She has amnesia.”

Her eyes narrow again at the mention of amnesia. I forgot that Jen’s probably talked to her. Amnesia would be a touchy subject after that, a warning signal. “And what does that have to do with me?”

I weave an elaborate story about looking for people in nearby towns, and how she seemed like a likely person. “I have a list of other possible people,” I lie. “But you seemed like the most likely, and I couldn’t wait to ask you about her. I thought you might know her, or have lost her, maybe.”

Ms. Fabel shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t.” But I can tell she’s just trying to get rid of us. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything, though.” She reaches for the door again.

“Wait.” I turn to Denver. “Do you have a picture on your phone that you could show her?”

He reaches for his pocket. “Oh, my phone’s in the car. Let me go get it.” He turns and hurries over to the car. I know for a fact he hasn’t taken a picture of Maddie, but this is my chance. He probably didn’t realize that. He’s so scatterbrained sometimes, just like Ezra. I immediately push her out of my brain.

I offer my hand to Ms. Fabel. “You are Genesis Fabel, correct? I’d feel really bad if you weren’t.”

She nods, setting the toddler down and reaching for my hand. “I am.”

The instant our hands connect, I dive into her brain. I’ve learned from Jen that some telepaths can guard their brains – at least, I assume that’s what Jen does – but getting into Ms. Fabel’s brain is as easy as getting into Denver’s head. The first thought that surfaces (I always refer to that as the “prominent thought,” because it’s what the person’s thinking the most about at that moment) is “I need to tell Keller.”

Ms. Fabel lets go of my hand too soon, so I’m left blinking and looking at her. “Who’s Keller?” I ask.

Stupid me.

Twinepathy (Part 19): Two People In My Head

Hullo, everyone! I know, it’s a Wednesday, and usually if I post an extra part, I do it on Friday or Saturday. But while I wanted to do an extra post this week, I wouldn’t be able to post again until Monday… unless I did it today. So I present you with an extra part, my friends! New? Check out Part One.

The darkness slowly clears, leaving pain as I press my hands to my eyes. “Sorry about that,” Blaze’s voice says from next to me. “I didn’t have time to adjust the light waves so they wouldn’t hit your eyes.”

I blink as my vision returns, leaving me with just a massive headache. I’m shocked to see that we’re in the middle of IDIA headquarters. Blaze is next to me and Brooklyn’s on the ground next to us. “Data!” Blaze yells, kneeling down and scooping Brooklyn up. He carries her towards Jen’s office, and I follow in a daze.

Jen comes out as we approach, her eyes taking in the situation. Immediately she grows serious and ducks back in, motioning for us to follow. I vaguely see Maddie peeking out, her eyes widening when she sees Brooklyn. Blaze lays her down on a couch that Jen pulls out of who knows where. Or maybe it was there before and I just didn’t notice it. I kneel down next to the couch.

“What happened, Jazz?” Jen asks gently.

It takes me a second to realize she’s talking to me. Code names are going to be very hard to get used to. I shrug helplessly. “I-I don’t know. I felt our connection snap, and then she screamed. When I got to her, she was already unconscious.”

Jen places a gentle hand on my arm, and I look at her, confused. A few seconds later she removes her hand, nodding in satisfaction.

“Do you…” My voice cracks. “Do you think she got amnesia, too?”

Jen frowns. “Maybe. This is different, though. So far, everyone’s just passed out, without any warning. Nobody’s screamed or anything. And you said you felt your connection snap…” She trails off, lost in thought. Then she snaps back. “Blaze, go grab some smelling salts or a wet towel.”

Blaze immediately disappears, and Maddie comes over to me, a solemn look on her face. “Will Brooklyn be okay?”

I take her hand and squeeze it. “I hope so, Maddie.”

“Squirt,” Jen says with a huff of annoyance.

“Squirt?” I look over at her, remembering the note from Blaze. “Who’s that?”

“Maddie,” Jen explains. “That’s the code name Blaze came up with for her.” She rolls her eyes. “We’ll work on it.”

Blaze reappears with two wet towels and some smelling salts. He hands them to Jen and then hands me a small bottle of ibuprofen. “I thought that might help your headache,” he says apologetically.

“Why did you do that light thing, anyway?” I ask grumpily, shifting closer to Brooklyn.

“It’ll help people forget about us, and confuse them,” Blaze explains. “And it also disguised our exit.”

Jen waves the smelling salts under Brooklyn’s nose. A few seconds later, her eyes open and focus on my face.

“Albany?” she croaks.

I squeeze her hand and laugh in relief. “You remember! No amnesia, oh, thank goodness.”

She tries to sit up, but falls back, exhausted. “What… happened?”

“We’re not sure,” I tell her. “You passed out at school. Do you remember?”

She closes her eyes, concentrating. Blaze appears next to me and offers Brooklyn a glass of water. Her eyes open and she accepts it. “I…” She stops and gulps down a little water. She turns to me, brow wrinkled in pain and concentration. “There were… two people. In my head… fighting.”

What? Who could be in her head? What’s going on, anyway? At least she doesn’t have amnesia…

Next Part –>

Twinepathy (Part 15): IDIA Headquarters

Hullo, everyone! As one of you so wisely predicted… yes, I am leading up to something big. And it has a terrible cliffhanger, as well, so… *prepares Captain America’s shield* And Vision’s on my side, too… he’s a big fan, and he’ll be laughing maniacally with me after the cliffhanger… Just kidding. 😉 But that’s in Part 17, so you must wait in suspense until then… New? Check out part one!

After we finish setting up Maddie’s sleeping bag, I coach her in some of the questions Mom and Dad will probably ask. She quickly catches on, so we go ahead and head downstairs.

Our parents quickly grow comfortable with Maddie. It’s still a little weird, of course, but they’re definitely making an effort to make her feel welcome. Denver’s not home when the three of us go upstairs to go to bed, but that’s typical. He and Ezra spend a lot of time together. He’ll probably be back around eleven.

Brooklyn falls asleep instantly – she’s a knock-out sleeper: once she’s out, she’s out. Maddie takes a while, but soon she falls asleep too, cuddling one of Brooklyn’s old stuffed animals. But I can’t fall asleep. It’s understandable, I guess, after everything that’s happened. My brain’s on overload, trying to figure things out. Not only is this the weirdest and most unusual day I’ve ever had, it’s a real-life mystery, too.

I’m still awake when Denver gets home. I can hear him come in, and Mom and Dad start talking to him, probably explaining about Maddie. Soon, doors close and I guess everyone goes to sleep. But I’m too busy trying to figure out how we can solve this mystery.

Tomorrow’s Monday, a school day. Obviously we can’t skip… and what’s going to happen with Maddie? Mom and Dad might try to get her into school, but we only have a couple months left. Then again, I don’t think we should leave her here by herself. Maybe she can go to IDIA Headquarters. I guess we can contact them and ask about that tomorrow… And I should probably try to find some information online about the others with amnesia…

Before I know it, it’s morning. I know it’s morning because Brooklyn and Maddie both jump on my bed, laughing. I would sleep forever if I could, but Brooklyn won’t let me. Stubborn. I certainly don’t need as long as she does to get ready in the mornings, so why won’t she just let me sleep in? After I finish getting ready, I help Maddie pick her outfit. When Brooklyn finally finishes, we all head downstairs. Mom already has a buffet of steaming bacon, eggs, and sausage out, along with some fresh, fluffy pancakes. She usually sets the food out like this since we all get up at different times. Mom and Dad get up at six, Brooklyn and I usually wake up around seven, and Denver… well, who knows when he gets up. His classes at the local college don’t start until eleven, and he usually stays up late working on who knows what.

The three of us eat quickly, and when we finish, Brooklyn notices a note from Mom on the fridge. Mom’s the co-owner of a small café close to our house, and she usually goes to help out at least every other day. Today’s one of her days, so the note asks us to take Maddie to the daycare facility owned by our friend Felicity’s mom.

The problem is that “our friend” Felicity was our friend about ten years ago. We haven’t talked to her in ages… and we have no idea where the “daycare facility” is. Plus, Maddie’s ten! She doesn’t need daycare.

So the only solution is to contact Blaze. He appears in our room only two minutes after I push the button. “Whaddya need?” he asks, scanning the room.

Brooklyn points at Maddie. “We have to go to school, and she needs somewhere safe to stay. We were thinking you could take her to IDIA headquarters.”

Blaze nods. “Sure.” A slow grin spreads across his face. “Why don’t you guys come, too? It’ll be quick and fun and you don’t have to worry about being late to school.”

I’m pretty sure my grin lights up my face. Brooklyn’s shaking her head, but I jump in first. “Definitely.” Curiosity killed the cat, and Brooklyn always says it’ll be my demise, too… but really, I can’t help it.

Brooklyn rolls her eyes, but Blaze grabs all of our hands before we can say anything else, and the next second, we’re in the middle of a completely different room. The walls are whitish, an odd texture that I can’t distinguish, and it’s a pretty large room. Jen is sitting at a huge desk, but leaps up when we appear. She relaxes and smiles when she sees who it is. “Hello, girls. Are you here for a tour?”

Brooklyn shakes her head firmly. “We’re just dropping off Maddie before we go to school.” She gives me and Blaze a pointed glare.

Jen nods. “Of course. Maddie, would you like to stay and help me?”

Maddie looks around cautiously, then at Brooklyn, then turns back to Jen and nods. “Sure.” She goes over to the desk.

“Come on,” Blaze says, grabbing our wrists. “I’ll show you the main room, and then we can go back.”

Jen walks around her desk and takes Maddie’s hand. “We’ll come, too.” She seems to be hiding a grin. Why?

Blaze leads us out a door and into a huge, huge, huge room. It’s like Kohl’s… except three of them laid out in a row. And the ceiling! It’s so high… and walls and ceiling are made of the same weird white texture. I’ve never seen any building, not even in pictures, that looks like it could be shaped like this. It certainly doesn’t look like any government building I’ve ever been to. Where are we?

“Where are we?” Brooklyn asks in amazement. Twin-ness, I tell you.

Jen grins. “Girls, welcome to Antarctica.”

Antarctica! Woo-hoo!!! I may like Antarctica… a lot… And if anyone thought that Jen doesn’t have a sense of humor… you’re wrong. 😉 What thoughts do you have, my friends?

Stay tuned this week for a special character interview with Jen! If you have any questions you’d like to ask her, comment below!

Next Part –>

Twinepathy (Part 13): Just A Stray Kid

Hullo, everyone! Before you get confused… no, it’s not Monday. But as I forgot to post on the week of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to give an extra post. And I couldn’t resist, anyways. Enjoy, dear friends! New? Check out Part One.

Brooklyn and I stand side-by-side by the door from the garage, waiting for Mom and Dad to come in. Brooklyn’s nervous thoughts keep leaking into my head – one of the negatives of our telepathic connection. When we get overly emotional, sometimes we’ll accidentally transmit thoughts. I push her thoughts back to her, and she blushes. “Sorry,” she apologizes.

I shrug. “Don’t worry about it.” She’ll probably get my double meaning… “It’ll all turn out fine.”

She sighs. “I hope so.”

The door from the garage opens, and Mom and Dad come in. “Did you kiddoes have fun?” Dad asks, grinning. He gives us side hugs as he drops his keys on the table.

Mom grabs a water bottle from the fridge, then turns and looks at us. Her face morphs into a worried expression. “Is everything all right?”

She’s always the perceptive one. And I’ll let Brooklyn handle this… because I am terrible at diplomatic type things. “Yes, everything’s fine. We just… need to ask you about something,” Brooklyn says.

Dad leans against the counter. “We’re listening.”

Brooklyn glances over her shoulder into the living room, then turns back to our parents. “Well, we have someone we want you to meet.”

Mom’s brow furrows. “What?”

Brooklyn grabs Mom’s hand. “Come on.” She leads her to the living room, with Dad following. I bring up the rear. Maddie’s sitting on the couch, but she looks much more cheerful than when we left. Weird. I thought she’d be worried and nervous. “Mom, Dad, this is Maddie. We were hoping she could stay with us for a while.”

“What?!” Mom and Dad exclaim in unison. I could have predicted that.

Brooklyn goes into the fake story about how we found her, doing a pretty good job. I add in a few necessary points that she misses. Maddie looks like she’s trying to tell me something with her eyes, but I don’t understand it. I glance back and forth between her and our parents. At a good time in the story, I move over next to Maddie and squeeze her hand. But I’m really just using that to read her mind. She’s thinking so hard, trying to make sure I get the message, that her thoughts explode into my head like a sudden scream. I pull out instantly, trying to recover so I can focus on what she was thinking.

“…so we were thinking she could stay with us,” Brooklyn finishes, looking back and forth between Mom and Dad.

Mom’s already shaking her head, but Dad looks like he’s still trying to decide. I see a faint orange-ish glow behind his head, but it disappears almost immediately. Mom opens her mouth to speak, but Dad jumps in first, turning to her. “I think they’re right. I don’t think she’ll be much trouble, and she already seems to like the girls.”

I give Brooklyn a surprised look, and she’s giving me one, too. She’s clearly not manipulating his emotions, and I’m not doing anything. I focus on Maddie’s thoughts as they come into focus in my head.

“What?” Mom says. “No way. We should turn her in to the police. I’m sure if she’s run away or if she’s lost, they’re looking for her.” She pauses. “But… well… I don’t know. Maybe you’re right.”

I grip the arm of the chair as I finally sort our Maddie’s thoughts, and I send a message to Brooklyn.

Blaze is here.

Oh, that interfering Blaze! What is he up to this time? We’ll have to wait and see, I guess. Strange… Comment below with your thoughts!

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Twinepathy (Part 11): A Great Big Sister

Hullo, everyone! How has your week been? I hope it’s been wonderful! Another part of Twinepathy today, and last week I joined in on the Beautiful Books Link-Up and I posted a character interview with Blaze. So much fun! If you didn’t get a chance to read those, check them out! And if you’re new, click here for the first post. Enjoy, my friends!

The Finch? What kind of name is that?

“Two weeks ago, one of our agents – as we tend to call ourselves – passed out on the job,” Jen explains. “He’s one of our best spies, nicknamed The Finch because he can morph into any type of bird, plus communicating with them.” He? A guy called The Finch. Ha! “Luckily, he was in human form at the time, and he had a team with him. When they brought him back to me, he woke up, but didn’t remember anything. I read him, but it was like he’d been wiped clean of all traces of memory.”

I glance at Maddie. This sounds an awful lot like what happened to her. “Has he recovered?” I ask.

Jen shakes her head. “No.”

My heart drops for Maddie at that. Will she end up being without early memories for the rest of her life? “Do you know why this happened?” Brooklyn asks, pulling Maddie towards her. Maddie does look like she needs a hug, with her eyes wide and scared.

“We’re working to figure out what happened,” Blaze says.

“There have been several cases of sudden, unexplainable amnesia in the news lately,” Jen says grimly. “Citizens. It can’t be a coincidence… But enough about that, we’ll figure it out soon.” She turns her focus back to us. “We can take Maddie back to headquarters, and we’ll find someone for her to stay with until we figure everything out. I can probably make room in my apartment if I need to.”

I don’t even need a look from Brooklyn to know what she’s thinking and what she wants me to do. After all, we’re sisters. We know each other as well as ourselves, even without a telepathic connection. “Can she stay with us?” I ask.

Jen gives me a surprised look. “Well, she could. Bu how are you going to explain it to your parents?” She knows how our parents act, what they’re like, their little quirks… which is pretty creepy, if you think about it. She knows so much about our lives…

I shrug. “Brooklyn keeps bringing home stray animals. We can probably pass this off as something like that.”

Jen rests her chin on her fist, deep in thought. Finally she nods. “Okay. That would be the best option. Let us know if there are any problems, and we can take her to headquarters. I’ll send Blaze to check on you regularly.”

Brooklyn nods, and Maddie relaxes a little. “Thank you,” Brooklyn says.

Jen shakes her head. “No, thank you.” She stands up. “Blaze, let’s head back now. Can’t be gone too long, or the world would blow up.” She rolls her eyes, but I can’t tell if she’s actually joking or not. I hope she is.

The five of us toss our empty cups and head outside. “We’ll see you two soon,” Jen says. “If we don’t hear from you again today, then we’ll assume that everything worked out.” She and Blaze turn to head down a nearby alley.

“Wait, are your headquarters here, in town?” Brooklyn asks, confused.

Jen smiles, her eyes twinkling. “Not even close. You’ll visit eventually. But Blaze can’t do his thing in the middle of the street.”

Brooklyn nods, and after one last wave from Jen, they disappear down the alley. I turn to Brooklyn and Madison. I manage to hold back my smile at the picture they make, standing there holding hands. Brooklyn would make a great big sister.

“You told Denver we were going shopping, so we might as well stop and grab some clothes for Maddie. Does that sound good?” I ask.

Brooklyn’s face lights up. If there’s one thing she absolutely loves, it’s shopping for other people. That’s why she picks out my wardrobe when we go shopping. “Awesome!” she exclaims, herding us towards a store.

Poor, poor Maddie.

Oh, great. Shopping. I wonder where these mysterious IDIA headquarters are… And will Albany and Maddie survive the shopping trip? XD Comment below with your thoughts!

Just a note: We’re leaving on a trip this weekend and this week is going to be crazy, so I won’t be on here very much. Apologies if I can’t get to your comment in a prompt and timely manner! ❤ Keep being awesome, guys!

Next Part –>