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The line at H&M was way too long for a Monday morning, in my opinion. I sighed haughtily, looking down at the glass face of my watch. A picture of myself and my uncle stared back with stoic expressions, as if they were agreeing with me.
Who the fuck even shops at 9:30 am on a Monday?
The sleepy people around me yawned. I was about to fall asleep on my feet, too, when I suddenly felt a familiar pull. Abdo appeared at my side, hoisting up the sweatshirt I almost dropped.
“Phina, why are you awake at this hour?” he asked. He hoisted the sweatshirt I had onto his head like a shawl.
“It’s 9:30 am,” I replied, smiling. “Not too early for college kids.”
I could feel the weird stares from people around me, making my pale cheeks blush. I hastily attached headphones to my dormant cellphone, then continued to talk to Abdo (who had a smug look on his face, the little shit).
“You always seem to be awake at odd hours,” he replied, his English accented a bit. “And it’s very warm in here! Why in the world would you need this?”
He lifted the sweatshirt from his head, dramatically feinting heatstroke, and waved the sweatshirt around like a flag. I laughed, mostly because Abdo was a very interesting child, but also because only I could see him.
“Abdo, please, stop performing. You know only I can see you.” He continued his acrobatics around the racks and display tables, sticking out his tongue to me and throwing the sweatshirt in my face. The other patrons of the store didn’t seem to notice, and the line still was barely moving.
I clutched the dress I had closer to me, a pretty blue that would definitely match Selda’s eyes. I had to text her beforehand, though, since she once said “Seraphina, I swear you fucking ask monks and hobos to dress you. Jesus.” Kiggs, however, didn’t really care, since he dressed sensibly as I did (“You two have no sense of style. GOD. It’s like I’m living with apes.”). In my defense, though, I had Blanche pop in a few minutes earlier to help me choose.
“Seraphinaaaa,” she sang, slipping through the colorful clothes like a fairy. Her long white crepe cardigan flowed after her like a trail only I could see. Losing her in a store was kind of impossible with the way she slinked around.
She examined a pretty blue sundress, smiling. “Selda would look absolutely iridescent in this dress.”
Art majors and their big words, I thought. “Are you sure? Is it too bright?”
She examined the fabric and then she rubbed it on her cheek. “Nope, it’s perfect. She has super bright eyes anyway.”
I frowned, which she noticed immediately. She threw her hands in the air, making her cardigan ruffle like exasperated butterfly wings. “Who here has an eye for color? Fine, Phina, don't trust me. But when you text Glisselda in two minutes, I’m coming back with a big bowl of I Told You So.”
I rolled my eyes when she tossed the dress into my arms. I had a suspicion she had a few puffs of weed before she popped in. (for good reason, though, because she has a lung disease that hurt like a bitch) (I would know, I’ve been where she was during one of her bad episodes once)
Abdo yawned after trying to pickpocket some woman, to no avail. “Phina madamina, it seems like real time is catching up to me…”
“Oh god, Abdo, don’t stay here because I’m lonely. Go get some sleep!” I cried, shooing him with my hands. Even more weird stares from other shoppers.
Abdo smiled sleepily and saluted me. “Aye aye, captain.”
And he was gone.
I smiled contentedly to myself. Abdo’s appearances were unexpected, since he lived in Mumbai while I was here in San Francisco. The time difference was large and hard to get around, but we always made time for each other (since he was my favorite little kiddo) (no, I’m not biased) (okay mAYBE).
A few racks were knocked down, but I didn’t pay any attention. It’s early. Ignore it. Just let these people get what they came for, early morning—
“This is a robbery! Everyone get the fuck down and hands up!” Three armed men appeared at the front. The main man who spoke, a big guy with biceps the size of my thighs, announced, “We would like it if all of you would cooperate, since we also have a reward for taking some of you ransom. Gang related reasons. No biggy.”
We all kneeled down docently, while one of the men mimed putting our arms behind our heads. A woman somewhere behind me started to wimper. A smaller henchman pointed his gun at her. “Shut up!”
They began to raid the cash registers, while more thugs filed in. The men coming in started to pick people, smiling as if they were looking at a gold mine. Then, one of them saw me, and stalked towards me kneeling form, grinning like the cheshire cat. He talked into his earpiece. “I got the target.”
Oh fuck.
I tried not to panic, but I was scared. Who wouldn't be? I whispered, “Help me, someone, help me.”
“Did someone call for help?”
I turned to my right, almost gasping in relief when I saw Camba. Her long hair was braided back sensibly, showing her glinting earrings as she was kneeling in my position.
“Oh my god…o-oh my gOD, Camba! What am I supposed to do?!” I half whisper-shouted, but it ended up sounding like a squeak.
She chuckled. “Sit back and let me do the work.”
I quirked my head to the side. “What?”
I soon was looking at Camba, in my place, disarming the man that was about to grab my shoulder.
“Hey, snow bunny, you’re coming with us,” he said, smirking.
Camba gave him a vicious smile (I probably looked constipated). “I know how to break every single bone in your hand in 13 ways.”
His smile dropped and he looked startled. “W-what…?”
Camba instantly grabbed his arm and made an intricate move, twisting his arm and body at an impossible angle until she heard a crack. The other men noticed quickly, aiming their guns at her, but she held his body in front of her like a shield. “Come on, wussies, you can do better than that!”
The tried to shoot her without shooting the man, but she let him go and ducked behind a rack. I was right next to her, breathing hard. Suddenly, I was in my body again, but Camba still sat beside me.
“What the hell have you kids gotten into?!” Dame Okra screamed all of a sudden. I wanted to rub my ears because she fucking screamed and I’m panicking, okay?
“Dame Okra, this would be a really good time to use your premonition,” I said aloud.
Her voice went silent in Camba’s brain as well as mine, judging by the quizzical look she gave me. It came back all of a sudden. “I’m in a middle of a meeting with other ambassadors and you two keep screaming—DUCK!”
I’m not sure how I was supposed to sink even lower while sitting, but I did as bullets whizzed above my head. Camba gave me a worried look. “We need to get out of here. Now!”
She grabbed a jacket from the rack and threw it to her left then running out the doors to her right. Two men followed us out, but I knew we couldn’t outrun them.
Camba gave me a solemn look and smiled grimly. “I’m sorry, Phina, but I can’t outrun—“
“Did someone say outrun?!” two people called to our left and right. Camba gave me a smile and wave, disappearing.
“Gaios! Gelina! Oh my god, thank you so so—“
“No time to explain,” Gaios said. He glanced over at his twin sister, Galina. “I have a math test right now, so Galina…?”
She rolled her eyes as Gaios immediately. She smiled at me. “Don’t worry, I got this!”
She suddenly was the one sprinting through the mall like the athlete she was.
BANG BANG
We both felt a great pain in our left shoulders, red blooming instantly. I clutched at my shoulder, gasping for air. Galina almost tripped, but she managed to round the next corner, barely clipping the wall with the injured shoulder.
“Seraphina…oh my—“ Galina let out a string of curses in Egyptian. I understood her pain.
“Galina, get..out….of….” I collapsed.
- - -
I tried to wake up, but it was like walking through thick soup in heavy-ass clothes. I moaned and then hissed, the pain in my shoulder waking me. I jumped, pulling on my injured shoulder again. I wanted to cry out, but deep down, I knew it was probably a bad idea.
Assess the damage, I heard a memory of Kiggs say in my mind.
Okay. Assess. I checked my surroundings: dark van, my left arm cuffed to the bottom of the van, left arm also has a bullet hole, and I was alone.
Now’s the part where I cry, I thought mournfully to myself. I closed my eyes, mentally wanting to call for help, but I was too exhausted (Camba and Galina are, like, 100% more active than I am; let me live).
I felt a gentle hand touch my shoulder. I looked up and saw Nedouard touching my shoulder. I winced, but he gave me a soft look.
“Phina, let me look at it.”
“It feels fine.” He gave me a you just got shot with a bullet and it might be septic, dumbass look. I sighed, obliging. “Okay, please make it quick…”
He chuckled, and we suddenly were in his office at a hospital somewhere in France. Peeling off my shirt and my captors’ makeshift bandage, he brought a flashlight out of his pocket, peering at the wound from the front and the back. He checked my other vitals for good measure. He studied my face, then nodded. “The bullet when clean through, and since you can still bend your fingers, nothing bad was severed. They did a piss job at bandaging it, but the entry and exit area look clean enough.”
Back in the van. He glanced around. “Now we just have to find you a way out.”
Back in his office. I puffed my breathe through my lips. “Yeah, not shit.”
He glared at me like I was a little child. “I know you’re in pain, but I think I know someone who can help you escape.”
Pain and haziness still blocked my brain rom moving as fast as it did, but I caught on quickly. “Lars?”
He nodded. I was back in the van, alone. But suddenly, Lars was sitting next to me. I felt light-headed, from loss of blood and all of these visits in one day.
“Phina, I heard you needed some escape,” he said. I nodded, but it was more like a bobble head motion. He chuckled. “I know how to help.”
Our places were switched. He immediately grabbed hold of the handcuff, his buff arms ripping it effectively out of the floor. A guard suddenly rushed into the space, pointing a gun and flashlight at in my face.
I was suddenly back in my body, my hands raised as in an act of pacifism. As terrified as I was, I tried to look as pitiful as I could (injured shoulder and dirty, blood-soaked clothes? I got half the job done).
“P-please don’t sh-shoot me,” I begged. I felt my heartbeat racing up my throat. “I don’t want to die…”
“And why shouldn’t I?” he sneered.
I heard a voice in my head, suddenly. My lawyer fee is $500, but I’ll do this consultation for free. I recognized the sassy tone and instantly related it to the stout little lawyer woman.
“Phloxia!” I gasped. “I don’t need a fucking joke right now.”
My captor gave me a confused look as Phlox chuckled. Don’t worry, kid, I got this persuasion down to an art.
I then saw Phloxia in my place, wearing her normal suit and skirt, complete with short pumps. She cleared her throat. “You know I’m probably worth more alive than dead.”
He cocked his head. “No shit?”
Phloxia nodded. “Shit indeed. Plus, you can raise the ransom price higher if I’m not as injured.” She gestured to her shoulder, wincing for effect. “Too late.”
He put his gun down, cautiously. He knew what I (or Camba) did earlier, and I could see he was trying to be careful.
He walked closer towards Phlox when the car suddenly lurched. We both hit the wall, but the gun made a loud clatter as it hit the floor. I took my chance and lurched for it, holding it at shoulder level in both my hands.
“Don’t. Fucking. Move.” I grit through my teeth.
The man raised his hands, but he also kicked his friend sitting in the driver’s seat. His friend looked back, exclaiming “Oh shit!” before Camba was by my side again.
She scoffed. “Amateurs.”
She quickly dismantled the gun in two pieces, throwing the handle part at the nearest man. The other part hit the wind shield as we opened the back door. She glanced back, sneering, and rolled out gracefully into the night. Before running to the sidewalk, however, I glimpsed the side of the van through the inky darkness. Censors Bio Inc.
I was about to breathe a sigh of relief when a truck honked its horn and flashed its lights at me. I squeaked and hopped neatly onto the sidewalk.
I didn’t have my phone, but I knew someone who had my number, so I called out, “Phloxia! I know it’s like 12 noon in Detroit right now, you probably are eating lunch or accusing some gangsters, but do some research on Censors Bio Inc. They’re the guys that kidnapped me.”
I was suddenly in her office building. She had neat stacks of paper everywhere, files from cases or something of the sort. She sucked in a breathe at my appearance. “Seraphina! You look even worse in real lighting.”
I resisted rolling my eyes, since she could probably sue me out of all my money. However, I had more pressing business. “Phlox, please call Kiggs and Selda. I’m in the middle of nowhere and I’m freezing my butt off and—“
She rounded her desk and rubbed my arms. “Say no more, kid. I’ll call them right now and I’ll recruit Ingar to research these bastards that hurt you.”
She gestured me to sit down and typed a little on her computer. Without looking up, she said, “Now, go back and be brave, okay, kid? Go somewhere bright and relatively safe looking. I know you have a moral compass a mile wide, so follow your gut. Or contact Dame Okra for that.”
She winked at me, smiling reassuringly. I tried smiling back, but honestly? My shoulder was hurting like a bitch.
- - -
“Oh my god! Phina!” Glisselda cried, crashing onto my hospital bed. Kiggs was hanging around the doorway, knowing I was probably in shock from this experience. He was a cop, he knew his stuff. “Do you know how long you’ve been gone?!”
I looked at my imaginary watch and back at her. “Uhm, about a few hours…?”
Glisselda looked like she was about to burst into tears. “It’s 1 am right now, Phina! You were gone all day and Kiggs and I started to think you died, since you were always home before us and—“
I quickly kissed her nose, hushing her. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Look, my fingers still move!”
I pinched both her cheeks with both of my mobile hands. She laughed and I felt like sunlight was shining through my ear drums. I felt the bed dip to my left as someone kissed the crown of my head. I felt myself leaning closer to Kiggs, my over solid rock in this stormy sea.
“I’m so, so glad you’re okay, too, you know.” His voice suddenly turned serious. “I’m going to investigate, just so you know. Possibly gonna kidnap them myself and hurt them for what they did to you.”
I looked at him, feigning seriousness. “Dude, I thought you were The Law. The Law doesn’t disobey itself.”
He chuckled. “I’m joking.” I knew he meant so much more than that, but it was hard for us to show feelings. I knew he meant it though. “Or am I?”
“Oh hush,” I replied, laying my head on his chest while Selda smiled.
They smothered me for a few more minutes before a nurse called them out, telling them to give me a break. I smiled sheepishly as they walked out, Selda blowing kisses and Kiggs winking.
I sighed, content, but still a little stunned by today. All of my cluster was soon piled into my hospital room. They all gave me hugs and pats on the head (though not the left shoulder), telling me how I was a badass today. Phlox then cleared her throat, and everyone listened.
“So,” she started. “Phina said she caught a glimpse of her kidnappers. Censors Bio Inc., right?”
I nodded.
“Well, they’re a company dedicated to some weird medical research, but—“
“I did more research,” Ingar (the old-man C.I.A. agent in our cluster) continued fluidly from Phloxia like a rehearsed script. “I dug into MI6 and a few other countries’ intelligence banks. I came up with information that basically leads to our kind of people. Apparently, they’ve been doing this for ages. You know, hunting us.”
I heard the twins gasp. I felt kind of shocked, too. Who are these people? Why the hell do they wanna hunt us? My mind conjured up the worst kind of experiments. I can feel a dread settle over our family of 17.
Luckily, Phloxia kept going. “Good news, though. They find us through medical records, or if we do big acts that pop up on their radar, whatever the hell it is.”
“Are you suggesting we all stay inside all day?” Camba questioned. “Because I’m probably gonna go outta my mind staying in my dingy apartment.”
Ingar waved his hands, waving away the notion. “None of us besides Phina have been caught by them yet, though they are probably actively seeking us out. So stay vigilant.”
Too late, I thought bitterly. Everyone glanced around at each other. “How did they find me though? And why did I get away easily? Is getting away supposed to be harder?!”
Everyone became suspicious, and the air in the room changed imperceptibly.
Abdo leapt up. “Wait! Remember Orma saying there were 17 of us originally?” We all nodded. He swallowed slowly, seeming scared for the first time since we all have seen him. “Well…there’s 16 of us here. Where is the 17th person?”
Everyone glanced around, counting. Lars called out, “Everyone’s accounted for…”
Everyone wavered. No one wanted to say it. Dame Okra got tired of the silence. “There’s a traitor. Never here, but probably always listening. My bet is on that she’s being held by the Censors.”
We all heard a voice in our heads, none that we’ve heard before. Blanche, our most psychically sensitive, screamed.
Well, it took you long enough.