In the morning, Cyllia went to visit the Science center. She was a little disgusted at the state of the rusty, decrepit building. If only the family had stayed in Lunar Lakes, the science center of the universe, instead of this money-obsessed city! In reality, the science building wasn't even worth visiting. It was the Matlapin Mental Institute behind it that mattered.
While Cyllia's parents were at work, those whose jobs started later in the day taught their daughters to drive. It was still a little awkward between them, of course.
Kylara wasn't able to tell what her mother was thinking, which was more disturbing than the rest put together. She had
always been able to read Mist's mind, but now she was just blank and smooth.
"Hey! Cyllia!" Jumping out of the car, Kylara raced towards her niece. "How is everything? Has Treasure . . . you know . . . cracked yet?"
"Oh, she's fine for now," Cyllia assured her. "I stopped by the Institute this morning and set up a twice-weekly appointment for her. I've talked to Dad, too, and he'll drive her."
"Ky!" Aliya hurried off the street to join them, giving both girls a hug. "How's Grandma? Mom thought she'd be on the warpath."
Ten minutes later, the girls sat around a table at the Bistro, busily eating. "No, Mum's fine right now," Kylara said. "I think she finds the whole thing kind of funny, actually. But she might not think it's so funny when she realizes we actually mean to enforce these rules."
"How are we supposed to punish her, anyway?" Cyllia asked. "There are two things that would make it very difficult to discipline her: Mist is an evil diabolical mastermind, but also an old lady."
"Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it," Kylara muttered, chomping down on her egg roll.
Aliya nodded understandingly. "Well, it's pretty obvious that my mom's completely on board, which is a nice change from the rest of the adults. Treasure is in a passive rage, Mist is only compliant 'cause she thinks it's funny, Blake is a pushover, and Jason--"
"Aliya?"
The pink girl sighed, pushing her chair back to face her father. "Yes, Jason?"
"Grace called and asked if I could finish giving you your driving lesson, since she's at work."
Aliya turned around and made a pained face. "Sure, Jason. Meet you in the car."
Aliya is normally a cheerful, sunny young woman who gets along with just everybody, but she shares contempt for Jason with the forum. She could dimly remember him teaching her to talk when she was a toddler, but she could also recall how he never so much as looked at her again after the big fight.
"So, would you like to go somewhere after this?"
"Sorry, I have homework."
"What about just a quick trip to the Port-a-Party Warehouse? I've wanted to go since I was a kid, but there wasn't one in Bridgeport."
"Score!" Jason shouted, quickly pressing buttons.
"Hey, no fair!" Aliya laughed. "Do you want to go to a movie after this? Kylara and I are seeing
Cyborg Goat Herder. It's supposed to be really good."
"Sure," he answered, and the two exchanged a look over the table. Then Jason slammed his hand down on the button, sending his armies swarming over Aliya's. "If that was an attempt to distract me, it shall fail! I am the conqueror!"
"Bring it on!"
After Aliya roundly defeated Jason several times, they drove out to the movie theater. "Aliya!" Kylara sighed in relief. "Where were you? The movie's about to start!"
"Jason's coming, too," she said cheerfully.
"What? No! That's your cheating, so-called dad, remember?"
"He's getting popcorn . . ."
"Tell him we'll save a seat."
"I've come up with a name for us," Aliya told the other girls as they chatted in their room that night. "The Powerpuff Girls. You know, like that kids' show. Except I'm more like Bubbles, and Ky's more like Blossom."
"Sounds fine to me," Kylara agreed, standing. "I'm going to go take a shower. Be back in a few minutes."
Aliya waited until she had left, then glanced over at her half-sister. "Cyllia? Mom and Blake are up to something."
"What do you mean?"
"I
mean that they went into the bathroom together and didn't come out for a really long time."
"What is it?" Cyllia asked. "Are they just flirting, or kissing, or--you know."
She waited as Aliya shrugged. "It was a
really long time."
"Well, then, they're breaking the rules," Cyllia said firmly. "We said no cheating, and he's cheating, and she's helping him. What are we going to do?"
"Wait," Aliya interrupted. "What if it's not really
cheating? We know that Blake and Mist haven't--you know--in ages. I think she's bored with him. Mist always knows everything that goes on, so she definitely knows about this. I think she just doesn't care."
"Either way, the auditions for the New Jason are open," Cyllia grumbled. "Our dad got around a lot, but Blake might just end up taking the cake."
"How are your parents doing, Cyllia?"
"Oh, they're fine. Mother's not exactly normal, but Dad's good at keeping her stable."
