“If I did not know any better,” said Tex, “I might think you had some aggression to work out.”
“I told you,” said Lucy, “I don’t wanna talk about it.” She took a swig of hot chocolate. Anna Arkhipov had made a large batch when Lucy showed up at the door looking like something Errol had pulled out of a bog.
“Would you like more pretzels, Lucy dear?” Tex’s mother called from the kitchen.
Lucy inspected the empty party bowl. “Yes, please, Mrs Arkhipov!”
“And we will also take the leftover Halloween candy,” called Tex.
Anna poked her head around the door frame. “I told you, Alexei, only three pieces per day.”
Tex squeezed Lucy’s cheeks until she resembled a chipmunk. “But look at this sad girl. She needs sugar.”
Sighing, Anna disappeared and returned with a bowl of candy. “Do not tell Toli.” She gestured upstairs towards her youngest son’s bedroom.
“Please.” Tex grabbed a bite-sized chocolate bar. “His music can be heard a block away. He has no idea we are even here.”
Anna waltzed back into the kitchen, humming “Looking for Freedom” by David Hasselhoff.
Tex stretched his thumbs. “Time for a new game.” He picked out another cartridge and inserted it into the console.
Lucy pouted.
“Okay, seriously, what is up?” Tex plopped on to the couch beside her. “Is it Feesh?
Lucy grunted. “I don’t wanna talk about that dingus.”
“Aha. And why is he a dingus this time?”
The pair chose their cars and characters.
“The truth is,” said Lucy, “Fish and I have a fundamental incompatibility in the way we assimilate an ever-shifting reality.”
“That sounds serious.”
“Let’s go!” announced the game.
Tex and Lucy shimmied on the couch, thumbs flailing as they tried to beat each other to the finish line.
“But I thought –” Tex whooped as his car dodged the oil slick Lucy shot at him – “you guys were star-crossed besties.”
Lucy’s car hit a ramp and nearly careened off the edge of the rainbow-coloured road. “I think we’re just crossed.” She hammered the A button, activating the turbo boost. “And besides,” she said, slamming Tex’s vehicle into a wall, “you’re my bestie.”
“Eat this!” Tex shot a jet of fire in Lucy’s skeletal avatar’s face, leaving her to languish in a cloud of smoke as he crossed the finish line. This guy knows the meaning of true friendship.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!
Someone pounded insistently on the front door.
“Alexei,” yelled his mother. “My hands are soapy, will you get that?”
Tex hit pause and answered the door.
A bedraggled boy wearing what looked like a hazmat suit stood on the front porch, dripping with sweat and rain. His bike lay haphazardly at the foot of the porch.
“Is Lucy here?” Milo panted.
“Speak of the devil.” Tex glanced over his shoulder.
What on the round blue Earth is HE doing here? Lucy mouthed the word “NO” to Tex.
“Sorry,” said Tex. “She says she is not here.”
Milo shivered in the cold.
“But it is wet as an octopus disco out there,” said Tex. “Come on inside.”
“Sorry,” said Milo, “there’s no time. Can you tell her this is really important?”
Curiosity getting the best of her, Lucy came to the door. “What?” she asked flatly.
“I need your help,” said Milo.
“How did you know I was here?”
“You weren’t at your house. I figured this is the next place you’d be.” Milo spoke rapidly. “Listen, you have to come with me. Please.”
“Come with you? You said you didn’t trust me. And, you know what, I’m not sure I trust you—”
Milo grabbed her by the shoulders. “It’s Thingus.”
Lucy’s face fell. “What happened?”
“What’s Thingus?” said Tex, sifting through the candy bowl.
“It was my dad’s security team,” said Milo, his voice cracking. “They showed up in a helicopter with all this gunk and gadgets. Lucy, they took Thingus.”
“They took Thingus!” she exclaimed.
“What is THINGUS?” Tex asked again.
Lucy grabbed her damp parka, knocking over the chair it was draped over. “Thanks for the eats, Mrs Arkhipov!” she yelled as she shoved her rain boots on and ran out the door after Milo.
“Thingus schmingus,” Tex grumbled.
He turned round just in time to see Toli snatch the candy bowl from the coffee table and run upstairs.
“Come back with that, you fart dragon!” Tex shouted, slamming the front door behind him.
Lucy struggled to keep up with Milo as he raced ahead on the slick roadway.
“I don’t understand,” she huffed. “How did they catch him? Why didn’t he transform into a small creature and hide?”
“They surprised us,” Milo yelled over his shoulder. “Then they disabled Thingus with this horrible pink goo.”
Lucy gasped. The pink smoke at the geodesic dome. That’s what all the sap is for. Nu Co. is making a weapon against the Pretenders!
They flew round a bend. Lucy skidded on a patch of leaves, but she righted her bike before she slid into the trees. Milo hardly seemed to notice.
“What do you think they’re going to do to Thingus?” asked Milo. His face was lit by the ghostly red glow of his bike light, his brow tight with worry.
Lucy tried to push the word “dissect” to the back of her mind. “I really don’t know.”
“I just thought…” Milo trailed off. “You seem to know all there is to know about everything that’s happening around here.”
“You have no idea how much I wish that was true,” Lucy responded.
When they reached the top of Nu Co.’s driveway, the security gate was locked. Though the parking lot had a scattering of cars in it, the factory appeared to be shuttered and empty.
Lucy stuck her fingers through the chain-link fence. “I bet they took Thingus to the secret lab.”
“Secret lab?” said Milo.
“There’s a hidden entrance in the middle of the orchard,” said Lucy. “That’s where they’re taking all the sap.”
“Take me there,” said Milo.
Lucy scaled the chain-link fence, Milo scrambling after her.
They raced down the driveway, their breath fogging in the cold night air, the cascading sheets
