Twinepathy (Part 28): Monopoly And Bingo

Hullo, everyone! For once, I actually remembered to post an extra part on Friday like I wanted to! How awesome is that? Enjoy, my friends! Check out part one if you’re new.

After I recover from my laughing fit, I head upstairs to check on Brooklyn. The door’s still closed, but I’m pretty sure I hear her moving around inside, so I knock softly. “Brooklyn?”

I hear a muffled “come in,” so I open the door cautiously. Brooklyn’s shuffling through her drawer, trying to pick out her clothes. Her eyes are surrounded by dark shadows.

“Sleep good?” I ask, concerned.

She shrugs. “Good enough, but my head still hurts. I hope we’re not doing anything strenuous today.”

I smile. “Monopoly?”

“Mmm…” Brooklyn pauses, considering. “I don’t think that’ll be too strenuous, but I do think Denver will have a better chance of beating me than usual.”

“Actually, he already left with Ezra,” I say. Brooklyn’s expression darkens, and I hurriedly move on. “But we started a game, and Maddie seems to be a master already. I’m not sure you’ll be able to beat her.”

Brooklyn gives me a doubtful look, but I think she picks up on the challenge. She grabs her clothes and heads towards the door. “We’ll have to play, then.”

I grin to myself as she leaves and sit down at the computer. I pull up the same search I used to find Genesis and type in the name Keller. Generally, that’s not a common name at all – I’ve never met anyone with that name – but since I don’t have a last name, there are still a lot of options. I scroll through the list. Hundreds of people. How will I ever find the right Keller? I need more to go on. How can this guy be connected, anyway? It doesn’t help that this person could live anywhere. Genesis could know someone named Keller who lives in England, or India, or Russia, or some tiny country no one’s ever heard of.

Besides, how do I know that Genesis is telling the truth? Maybe she is the person, and the Keller idea is just a stupid red herring. I rest my chin on my hand, glaring at the computer. I feel like I’m missing something. Maybe… could Genesis be on some social media?

The instant the idea hits me, I flip over to a social media site and search for Genesis, only hoping that she’s on there under her real name and not some crazy username. No luck. But I do notice that you can search by location, so I do that. White Bluff is pretty small, so maybe…

Yes, it’s small, but pretty much everyone in town has a social media account, apparently. A lot of them can be ruled out, but it’s still not good enough. What am I supposed to do? I grab my hair and growl to myself.

Maddie wanders into the room. “Whatcha doing?” She peers over at the computer.

I shrug. Nothing really incriminating on the screen. “I’m trying to find someone, but all I have is their first name and the name of one of their friends. I’m not sure where they live, either.”

“Who is it?” she asks.

I tap a finger on the desk. “Someone named Keller.”

Something sparks in Maddie’s eyes for a second, something I haven’t seen on her face before. But it disappears, and she frowns at the computer. “I don’t know. You could ask Data or Volt to find it for you.”

She catches on quick. I shrug again. “I don’t want to bother them. It’s not that big of a deal. I just need to find him.”

Maddie pauses, and it looks like she’s struggling to think of something. “It… might not be a him,” she finally says, giving up. “Keller doesn’t have to be a guy name.”

I hadn’t considered that before. But that strikes another idea in my head. “What if he’s her husband? Or a relative?” I mumble, quickly returning to the search I used to find Genesis and add “Fabel” to the name Keller. A minute later, I growl and bang my fist on the table, immediately wincing. No results again.

But then I see it. A small link at the bottom of the search, where things are listed that are close, but not exactly right. It’s an old-ish newspaper article. I click on it. In the main picture, two women stand holding a trophy, smiling happily for the camera. One is clearly Genesis – same raven black hair and face. The other has bright red hair and a face that looks almost familiar, but I can’t place it. I look at the caption on the photograph.

Genesis Fabel and Keller Stone…

Bingo.

Twinepathy (Part 14): It’s A Mystery

Hullo, everyone! How crazy is it that we’re nearly to part fifteen? I’m so glad for all of your support, and enjoy!!! If you missed Part 13 on Saturday, check it out, and if you’re new, check out Part 1.

“She can stay,” Mom finally says, looking at Dad for confirmation. He nods, pleased.

I’m shocked. Mom never changes her mind like that. And I thought it would be way harder to convince them. What did Blaze do?

“Okay,” Brooklyn agrees, confused. “We’ll take her upstairs and get her set up in our room.” She looks around the living room pointedly, hoping that Blaze gets the message – we want to talk to him. Now.

We head upstairs with Maddie while Mom and Dad go into the kitchen. I drag my sleeping bag out from under my bed for Maddie, but that’s not what we’re really doing up here. Brooklyn puts her hands on her hips. “Blaze, we know you’re here. Come out.”

Blaze appears, an annoying grin on his face as he leans against the wall. Maddie goes over and – to my surprise – hugs him. “You were right that they would agree,” she told him.

“Of course,” Blaze says, attempting to look offended that she wouldn’t trust him, but his eyes sparkle a little. “Everything worked out fine.”

“Fine?!” Brooklyn squeaks. “I don’t know what you did, or how you did it, but you messed with their brains! That is not fine!” If she was a cat, she’d be hissing and spitting.

Blaze’s eyebrows lift. “Who, me? I didn’t do anything to your parents.”

My eyes narrow. “Then what did happen? Obviously something happened to change Mom’s mind, and it had to be something in her mind.”

Blaze laughs. “Ohhh, you mean that! That was all Nudge. And he did an amazing job, let me tell you.” He grins impishly.

Silence.

“Nudge?” Brooklyn gives him a skeptical look.

Blaze nods. “Yeah.” He motions towards the closed door, and a boy appears. He looks like he’s only about fourteen or fifteen. He gives us a small smile and an awkward wave.

“Nudge,” I say icily. I’m probably getting that look in my eye that Brooklyn calls my “dangerous” look.

“Yeah.” Blaze is smirking at me. “’Cause he nudges peoples thoughts in different directions. Get it?”

“Yes, I get it,” I say. Brooklyn steps between me and Blaze. Calm down pops into my head, so I sink grumpily onto my bed.

“Please explain what you just did in detail,” Brooklyn says firmly.

Blaze shrugs. “I thought you two would need more help, so I got authorization from Data to bring Nudge in to help out. Which, I might add, was a very good decision. You may have noticed that.”

Data agreed to this? That makes me feel a teensy bit better… but just a teensy bit. “Well, then I guess your work here is done,” I hint, crossing my arms.

Is it my imagination, or does Blaze’s grin fade a little? He tosses a shrug. “Sure, sure, we’ll leave. But be careful, and don’t hesitate to contact us. We don’t want anything happening to… to you guys.” His face turns serious. “Something’s up.” He motions over to Nudge and the two of them disappear. Brooklyn and I double-check to make sure they’re actually gone before we sink onto our respective beds, facing each other. Maddie sits down next to Brooklyn.

“Well, what are we going to do?” Brooklyn asks softly. It’s only been a couple hours, and everything has changed so drastically.

I look over at Maddie. “It’s a mystery. And mysteries need to be solved, one way or another.”

So Albany’s stating the obvious a teensy bit, but they’re finally jumping into action! Woohoo! Can’t wait to see what happens next…

Next Part –>