The Gravity Keeper (14 page)

That Sunday morning, Simon waited until his parents left for their offices (they were admitted workaholics, but because it was Sunday, they waited until almost ten in the morning before heading in). He then used three-way calling to speak with Alysha and Owen at the same time and make plans for the day. Part of that plan involved going outside without getting spotted by Sirabetta or Mermon Veenie.

Simon was holding his baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses. “Alysha, are you sure about this? It's not much of a disguise.”

“Trust me,” Alysha said. “Famous people do the same thing all the time when they go out in public.”

“Big deal,” Owen said. “They're only hiding from paparazzi, not people who can blow things up by pointing at them!”

“Do you have any better ideas?” When Owen didn't answer, Alysha said, “Then just wear them.”

“So where should we go?” Simon asked. “I think your neighborhood's off-limits now, Alysha.”

“What neighborhood? You guys blew up most of it. Well,
she
did, anyway.” Alysha paused. “The woods are probably a bad idea, right?”

“If you guys can find a way over here, my place might be good,” Owen said. “It's pretty far from Alysha's; if Sirabetta is checking for us around there, we'll be safe. Plus, there's a junkyard a few blocks away. It'll be empty: it's closed on Sundays. Maybe we can practice there.”

They agreed on a time, and Alysha had her father drive her over. They picked up Simon along the way. Max Davis glanced from Simon to his daughter, both wearing a cap and sunglasses. “Are we expecting reporters, kids?”

Alysha turned to Simon in the backseat. “See? I
told
you we'd look fine!”

Simon mustered a brief smile and then went back to staring out the window. Each time they passed a car or a house, he had to wonder…
Are they there? Are they watching for us?

After Alysha's father dropped them off and Owen came out to meet them, Simon said, “Alysha, why don't you use your formula and start storing up random energy?”

“I did before I left home. I even drained a little electricity from my house just in case.” She frowned. “I wonder what my parents' electricity bill is going to be.”

The three walked down Owen's street in silence, alert for any sign of danger. Five minutes later, they arrived at the junkyard unscathed.

The gate in the chain-link fence was closed and padlocked, but the trio climbed over easily. There were heaps of old, rusted-out metal. Pipes, tools, dishwashers, refrigerators, many other appliances, and even cars were spread out around them.

Owen spread his arms. “What do you think?”

Simon pulled off his cap and sunglasses as he looked around. “This is it.”

Alysha wrinkled her nose. “This is what? Dirty? Smelly?”

“The perfect training ground.” Simon let out a whoop and ran toward the nearest pile of abandoned appliances. He used friction control on his feet to glide across the dirt ground and then used his gravity command to make the nearest old washing machine weightless. He restored friction and slid to a stop in front of the washer, then reached down and grabbed hold of its sides.

He tried to lift it, but it was harder than he thought; although it weighed nothing, it still had the same mass and was thus difficult to move. He heaved and slowly raised it until he held it over his head. Once he had it up there, he felt like some sort of superhero.

“This,” he shouted, “would be a great place for a battle.” He started to run toward Owen and, after a few steps, threw the washing machine as if it were a huge metal soccer ball. “Owen, catch!”

It moved through the air in a straight line, going a little faster than Simon had been running. Owen closed his eyes for a second, then smiled and opened them. “Got it.” He spoke his formula, and the washer stopped in midair above his head; he'd robbed it of its velocity. He concentrated and rephrased his formula, sending the washer hurtling toward a pile of car engines.

They heard a loud whirring sound as a hubcap sailed through the air like a Frisbee, only this hubcap was glowing. It struck the machine with a loud
BOOM
; the appliance was knocked out of the air before it could hit the engines. It crunched to the ground in two pieces.

Simon and Owen stared with their mouths open. They turned back to Alysha as she smacked her hands together. She saw their looks and shrugged. “What, didn't you know? Metal is a great conductor of electricity.”

They played with their formulas for hours, finding new ways to use them and steadily improving their control. They also practiced fighting in reduced gravity while sliding in low friction, or while being launched by velocity. Alysha found she could drain old car or appliance batteries for energy. She even found a small generator in a toolshed and drained some of its power.

“That's
so
tingly!” Alysha said with a giggle. “I could keep a good charge going for a while with this thing.” She looked around. “We should do it.”

“Do what?” Simon and Owen asked.

“Use this place as a battleground,” she said. “Find a way to lure Scare-a-betta and Mermon Sleazy here and take 'em down. There's a generator and spare batteries, plus all this metal for me to electrify. And there's plenty of junk for you two to throw or use as shields against attack formulas. We could really kick butt!”

Simon nodded. “Not a bad idea. And I just got another one. Book, can I handle any more formulas?”

A glowing answer appeared. “‘Only one until you have more experience and stamina,'” Simon read aloud. “Okay,” he said to his friends. “What do you think of this? We somehow get the bad guys here where we're hiding so we can ambush them!”

“Hiding where?” Owen asked. “It's no good to be behind a pile of junk if Sirabetta is flying overhead.”

Simon grinned. “No, but what if she can't see us? Flangelo said it's easy to become invisible; what if I find a formula that keeps us out of sight?”

Owen shook his head. “Sounds like a bad idea, being invisible. What if we can't become visible again? What if we can't see ourselves? What if we're crossing the street and a car that can't see us zooms by and smacks into us?”

“Relax,” Alysha said. “We could just wait here, sitting comfortably; maybe Simon can friction-slide to lead Mr. and Ms. Evil in. And then,
bam
! You and I jump out and get them! The perfect plan!”

“Book,” Simon said, “can you show me what to do to make us invisible?”

The Book answered, and Simon read it aloud again. “‘There are several ways to do so, mostly through bending of light or shifting of color for camouflage. Each has its own drawbacks and advantages.'”

“Wait, Sirabetta can become invisible,” Owen said. “What if she can sense when others are, too? Maybe she can see invisible things!”

“Owen, anyone ever tell you that you worry a lot?” Alysha groaned.

“Actually,” Simon said, “he makes a good point.”

“Fine,” Alysha said. “Simon, what about that color-camouflage thing, then?”

“Book? Can you show me that?” The Book flipped to the chapter dealing with the visible spectrum. “Wow,” Simon said. “There's a lot of detail here. Maybe I'll just experiment a bit.”

Owen gasped. “Not again! Simon, the last time you just experimented, we almost splatted into a big hole! And before that—”

“I know, I know. But I'll test it on myself, and I'll be holding the Book. If something goes wrong, I can just reverse it.” He put his finger on the symbols he planned on using. “You guys stand back. I'm going to blend in with the colors around me, like a chameleon.” He scratched his head. “I think,” he muttered.

Simon read the words, and there was a bright burst of light. Owen jumped back, and even Alysha flinched away.

“Did it work?” Simon asked.

Owen squinted. “I'm really not sure.”

“Something happened,” Alysha said. “But what?”

“Is it just me,” Simon asked, “or do things look kind of funny?” He wasn't even sure if his eyes were open or not. He couldn't tell anything apart; either everything around him had disappeared, or somehow it all looked the same. “Tell me what you see.”

“Everything around you is…” Alysha trailed off.

“Why didn't you listen to me?” Owen moaned.

“What he means is…” Alysha began.

“What?” Simon screamed. “Just tell me what you see!”

“
Banana
!” Owen yelled.

Simon groaned as he realized what Owen meant. Everything around him was a painfully bright shade of yellow. “I can't even see myself!” Worse, he couldn't see the Book and thus couldn't undo the formula. “Are you guys yellow, too?”

Owen and Alysha stared at the field of yellowness, like a huge blotch of paint had poured out of the sky and splattered that one spot. Owen tiptoed over to the edge of the yellowness and gingerly stuck his hand across the border. As he did so, his fingertips and then his whole hand disappeared.

His hand wasn't invisible but rather as yellow as everything around it and thus impossible to distinguish from its surroundings. He yanked his hand back, and it looked normal again. “No, we're fine unless we get too close to you.”

Alysha whistled in amazement. “Try just walking out of it,” she suggested.

Simon followed the sound of her voice. “Keep talking so I can—ouch!”

“Are-you-okay?” Owen hollered.

“I'm fine—I'm trying to follow your voice, but I tripped over something.”

Simon slowly emerged from the field of yellow to the sound of Owen's steady chatter. Simon reversed the command, returning the junkyard to normal. Then he saw the problem.

“Oops. I guess I read it right in front of that shed.” It was the same shade of blinding yellow, and he'd accidentally changed the whole area to blend in with it. “Maybe we should forget about camouflage.”

Alysha and Owen murmured in agreement. Alysha leaned against a dishwasher. “Is anyone else feeling wiped out?”

Simon and Owen nodded. “It's from using your formula too much,” Simon said. “Trust me, we just need food and sleep to recharge.”

Alysha reached into her own book bag and took out a paper sack. “Good thing I brought snacks.”

They ate sandwiches and chips in silence for a while. Owen took a swig of apple juice and cleared his throat. “You know what the problem with the junkyard plan is? Let's say we lure the bad guys and beat them. What do we do then? I'm not going to kill anybody!”

Alysha held up her hands. “Whoa, Speedy! We just have to catch them.”

“I see what you mean, Owen,” Simon said. “We can't exactly bring them to the police.”

“No,” Alysha said, “but we can turn them over to someone from the Order of Physics. They must have their own jails and stuff.”

They heard a loud chirp and turned in time to see Flangelo change from bird to man behind them. “Bad idea, little spark plug. A very bad idea.”

Alysha folded her arms. “Were you watching us the whole time?”

“If you're not a spy, what do you call that?” Owen demanded.

“My, aren't we confrontational,” Flangelo said. “Power trip, hmm? Trust me, mini-motormouth, you're going to be glad I've been flapping those wings around town. Not only did I see your big brawl yesterday”—he clapped a few times—“but I found out some very bad news.”

Flangelo told them about that morning's meeting in Dunkerhook Woods. “So you see, you do
not
want to be chatting with those Physics fellows. I promise you, they will not be warm and cuddly with you. And hiding in a patch of yellow just won't cut it.”

Simon frowned. “What can we do?”

Flangelo looked away, and his voice lost its usual lilt. “I wish I could tell you. I really do. I definitely can't contact Gilio now. If he came alone, he'd probably get ambushed by the Physics members. If he came with the rest of the Order of Biology, it would lead to a war. Frankly, I'm terrified just flapping around. If they recognize me as a Bio member, they might tear me apart.”

Owen, distressed, spoke extra quickly. “That-woman-Eldonna-if-we-talk-to-her-she'll-make-things-okay-withthe-others!”

Flangelo just stood and stared for a moment. “I'd swear that was English in fast-forward. Isn't there a medication for him?”

“Leave him alone,” Alysha said with a frown. “He's right. We should explain things to this Eldonna. She might help us.”

Flangelo shrugged. “That could work. She seemed pretty rough, with her megaphone trick, but you never know. She's probably at the hospital.”

“Then let's go,” Simon said. “Once she knows it's not Biology's fault, you'll be safe, too.”