Operation Tenley (15 page)

They were definitely running out of time.

Pennie finished helping Mrs. Tylwyth clear the table. “Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Tylwyth. I won’t ever forget it.”

“Well, I’ll make it again for you, Pennie. And listen,” she lowered her voice at the sink. “I told Tenley about her father’s letters. She claims she knew I was the one writing them all along. I’m not sure she wasn’t just saying that, but I didn’t want to press it. I thought you should know in case she brings it up.”

“That’s great, Mrs. Tylwyth.”

“Sylma. I feel so much better. It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I didn’t realize how exhausting it was to carry around such a big secret.”

“I know what you mean,” Pennie said quietly.

“Now go on up and help Tenley,” Mrs. Tylwyth said.

Pennie thanked her again and climbed the stairs.

“You still have your nail tips on, right?” Tenley asked as soon as Pennie entered the room.

“I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Tenley spun around. “
What
? Why? Have you told my mom?”

“No.”

“Okay, well, can you wait to tell her until
after
the nominations?”

“Tenley—”

“Good. Thanks.” Tenley turned away to set her cell phone up against a stack of books. “There. It’s gotta record this time.” She yanked Pennie over and began inspecting her nail tips.

Out the window, Pennie spotted a falling star. On Earth, a falling star lasted a millisecond, but in Fair City it lit the place up for a day or two. Even the grumpiest of Administrators brightened when they saw one.

“Listen, Tenley. I’m not who you think I am.”

“A ginger?”

“One of you.”

“Popular?”

“From Earth.”

Tenley dropped Pennie’s hands and lined up her nail tools. “As in
this
Earth, the one I’m standing on?”

“Yes, this Earth. I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this.” Pennie sat on Tenley’s bed.

“Are you okay? Do you need to take another nap or something? I guess I can prop you up against the wall. I’m going to need your hands, though.”

“I’m fine. It’s just the gravity.”

“Right.” Tenley said, busy rearranging the polish. “The gravity.”

“Tenley, I’m a Fair One.” There, she’d said it. She looked out the window again, expecting the Fair Force to drop down and arrest her on the spot.

“A fair
one
?”

“You’d know us as Fairies. What we were before.”

Tenley stopped fiddling with the nail supplies. “Okay, so wait. You’re saying you’re a fairy?”

“Shh. I don’t want your mom to know. Or anyone else. No one else can know this or I can get into a lot of trouble.”

“Where are your wings?” Tenley whispered.

“We don’t use them anymore. Those were our ancestors.”

“How do you get around?”

“Propellers.”

“Like a helicopter?”

“Exactly.”

“So where are those?”

“I didn’t bring them. Or my tools, which don’t work here.”

“On Earth?”

“Right.”

Tenley put her hands on her hips and considered. “Are you for realsies?”

“Yes. For realsies. I swear.”

“Fine.” Tenley grabbed her phone and hurried over to the window. “Is there like the mother ship out there?” she whispered, holding her phone up to the sky.

Pennie hesitated. “I thought letting you use your element early was doing my job really well. But it’s not. It’s put you in danger.” Pennie stood and showed Tenley the stopwatch.
12:30:09.
“This is counting down how much time we have left before something bad happens.”

Tenley’s eyes narrowed. “A purple dinosaur? Really?”

“It’s made to look like human technology.”

“That’s insulting, I guess. What kind of something bad?”

“There’s
a certain someone
trying to obliterate you, all of you.”

“Principal Frimpy?”

“This is serious, Tenley. You have until 8:00 a.m. tomorrow to sign an agreement saying you will stop using your wind element or you don’t even want to know what will happen to you.”

“I’ll be disqualified?”

“You’ll be … not here anymore.”

“Okay. So let me get this straight. What you’re telling me is that if I don’t agree to stop making a little breeze once in a while, then tomorrow at 8:00 a.m., I’m going to be destroyed by Principal Frimpy?”

“By someone much worse.”

“Who?”

“Mother Nature.”

Tenley crossed her arms. “Okay, you see how that makes
no sense
, right? That’s not a real person.”

“She’s not a person, but she
is
real. And she doesn’t want you or anyone else able to control the weather.”

“Why isn’t she after you?”

“Because I don’t have weather powers, Tenley. Only you do. Did. Soon.”

Tenley sat down on her bed.

“All you want me to do is tell you that I’ll stop with the wind? Fine. I’ll stop.”

“And you need to sign this.” Pennie tapped on her temple.

When the hologram form appeared, Tenley pushed herself off the bed so fast she tripped. “Omigod. How did you do that?” She poked it.

“It’s part of our Intel. It’s a chip. Manuals and forms. Boring things. After you sign, you won’t be able to use your element again. Ever.”

Tenley took a step back. “So what’s in it for me?”

“What?”

“What do
I
get out of it?”

“You
have
to sign this form otherwise you’ll be—you’ll go away.”

“Where?”

Pennie tapped on her temple again. “It says it here in the fine print.”

Tenley stepped up to the second hologram and squinted. “I’m not reading all this. It’s tiny.”

“I know. Basically, it says that if you don’t sign this, you get erased.”

“Like a photo?”

Pennie looked sorry about it when she nodded.

“Erased as in
dead
?”

“And we don’t want that to happen.”

“
Yeah
we don’t want that to happen.” Her phone pinged in rapid succession. “No!” She crumpled to the ground.

Pennie rushed to her side. “Does something hurt?”

“I’ve lost thirteen followers. I’m never going to get the nomination now.
Neve
r.” She showed the phone to Pennie. “Every ANMIT contestant has more followers than me. Even the little genius kid who builds electric rockets for his gerbils. Even
he
has more followers.”

Pennie turned back to the hologram forms still hovering in the air. “Tenley. Please. Sign this.”

“Have you no
mercy
? I’m in a serious
crisis
here. Take your cool little hologram tricks and show them to genius gerbil boy instead. I’m sure he could find a way to put them in every household in Hadley Beach.”

Tenley froze.

“Omigod.”

She blinked at Pennie.

“O-
mi
-god.”

“What?”

Tenley pointed to the holograms. “
Can
you beam one of these things into every house in Hadley Beach?”

“What?”

“Vote for me, Tenley T!” She raised her arms. “On a hologram billboard
in every
living room
in every
house in Hadley Beach!”

“I don’t have that Intel.”

“So program it.
Anything
can be programmed,
Pennie
.”

“I don’t have the access to do that.” Pennie looked out the window again.

“I’ll sign the form.”

Pennie blinked at her. “You will?”

“Give me a pen.”

“Just sign with your finger. Right here.”

Tenley lifted an eyebrow. “And you’ll send a hologram ad into every house in Hadley Beach? Tomorrow night at seven forty-five, fifteen minutes before the vote? Promise?”

That would be eleven hours and forty-five minutes
after
Tenley had been erased if she didn’t sign the form. So yes, Pennie would promise anything.

“Okay, but just so you understand, Tenley. You can’t use your element ever again, starting now. No wind. No matter what.”

“And just so
you
understand, all I’ve
ever
wanted to be is America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen. I’d give up
everything
to get it.”

“Then it’s a deal.”

They shook on it.

Tenley signed the hologram.

“There’s no
way
I can lose now.” Tenley grinned. “Right?”

“Right.” Pennie grinned back.

2:00:00

Hadley Beach

“Wake up!” Tenley nudged Pennie. “We’re can’t be late. Mr. Mingby’s gonna leave us if we’re not there by seven.”

Pennie sat up.

“I left some clothes for you on the bed. You cannot wear this tennis outfit again.”

Tenley walked out of the living room and Pennie looked down at the stopwatch. Two hours until the Fair Force arrived. She stood quickly.

And plopped back down again.

Tenley had signed the form! Which meant today, her last two hours on Earth, she could relax. She’d done it; The Right to Delete. The rest of it was up to the Fair Force. All she needed to do now was get Tenley away from as many people as possible when they arrived.

Pennie strutted into the kitchen. Even gravity felt like her friend this morning.

Sitting at the table, ignoring the eggs in front of her, Tenley was playing with her phone.

“Pennie.” Mrs. Tylwyth yawned by the sink. “We were worried you’d sleep right through the field trip this morning. Tenley tried to wake you three times.”

“Four,” Tenley corrected her.

“Four.” Mrs. Tylwyth opened the refrigerator. “Honestly, a field trip at seven in the morning.”

“Mr. Mingby said it’s because the tickets were half price or something if you went this early.” Tenley shrugged. “And we’re a public school so we’re lucky to even have pencils.”

“You all brought in your own pencils this year,” Mrs. Tylwyth said. “They cut the pencil budget.”

“Right. See?”

Pennie sat at the table.

“Now, Pennie, we’ve been discussing a new bed for you. We were thinking we could put two beds in Tenley’s room. Weren’t we, Tenley, dear?”

“Yup.”

“Please, Mrs. Tylwyth, don’t buy a new bed for me. I’m fine on the couch, really.”

“Who said anything about buy? I own an antique store, dear. I’ve got dozens of beds to pick from. And it’s
Sylma.
” Mrs. Tylwyth placed a plate of eggs and a glass of orange juice in front of her. “Now, do you have the permission slip I gave you? Mr. Mingby’s a stickler for that kind of thing.”

“Agreed,” Tenley said.

“I have it. Thank you.” Pennie took a sip of the juice. This would be her last real orange juice, not the instant orange mix they had in Fair City.

Tenley groaned.

“Tenley, you’re still having trouble with your phone?”

“It’s gotta be the Internet, Mom. I’m telling you, nothing is posting to my YouTube. Nothing.”

“I’ll make a call from work,” Mrs. Tylwyth said.

Tenley leaned into Pennie. “Wait, Pennie. Do you need the Internet for the,
you know
, thing we discussed that will happen at seven forty-five tonight?”

“No.” Pennie said quietly. “Not necessary.”

“Good. Hey, Mom, you can forget about putting my flyers up at the store today. Pennie and I have a
much
better plan.”

“Really? What is it?”

“You’ll see. Right, Pen?”

Pennie smiled halfheartedly. There was no way she could create a hologram ad for Tenley without her tools. She didn’t even know how to do that
with
her tools. But Laraby might, she thought. It was the least she could do for Tenley now that she’d signed the form. Once her element was properly deleted by the Fair Force, Tenley wouldn’t be needing a Fair One. This would be the last thing Pennie ever did for her.

“How exciting. It’s time to get going. Pennie, go on upstairs and change,” Mrs. Tylwyth said.

Pennie, heavy with guilt now, stood and turned for the door.

Upstairs, a pair of skinny jeans and a light-blue T-shirt were laid out on the bed. Two light-blue sneakers (three sizes too big) were placed below. Pennie undressed and redressed quickly, tucking Tink’s crystal eight under the blue shirt and stuffing socks into each shoe. She stepped into the bathroom, twisted her long red hair into a bun, and splashed cold water on her pale face. But what were these dark circles under her eyes? Gravity again, Pennie decided. It would be one thing she didn’t miss back in Fair City.

Twenty minutes later, Mrs. Tylwyth’s car stopped in front of the school.

“Funny. I still can’t seem to find that darn garage door opener,” she mumbled.

“Thanks, Mom. See ya.” Tenley jumped out.

Pennie leaned over the front seat. “Mrs. Tylwyth. I just want you to know, in case I don’t see you again.”

Mrs. Tylwyth swatted the thought away.

“That you are a great mom.”

“Well, thank you, honey.”

Pennie stepped out of the car. “Good-bye, Mrs. Tylwyth.”

“Sylma! And see you after school.”

Pennie shut the door and waved, knowing that she wouldn’t.

1:15:00

Hadley Beach

“Holden!” Pennie shouted to him as he crossed the street with his board tucked under his good arm.

“Hey, Pennie. You look so—un-tennisy.” He smiled. “Not that the tennis clothes didn’t look good, because those looked unreal, too.” He hesitated, not knowing whether he’d just said something insulting or not.
Girls, man. The wrong words could kill you.

A group of them, girls Pennie had never seen before, broke into a fit of giggles as they passed by.

“Hey, so, Holden,” Pennie said, glancing up at the early morning sky. Not a single cloud today. It wasn’t supposed to make a difference; good visibility wasn’t supposed to affect the 3
^rd
i’s, but the truth was, it did. Which meant that Laraby—if he were watching them now—would see and hear everything perfectly. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could make a hologram? Just a simple square with some words on it, let’s say?”

“That’d be cool. A hologram with
anything
on it would be cool.”

They started walking.

“Right,” Pennie agreed, looking at the sky. “Like let’s say that you’d just gotten someone to sign a form that you
really needed them
to sign and in exchange you
promised them
a
hologram ad
that would appear at
seven forty-five
tonight in every single house in Hadley Beach?”