BLEEEHHHh!


The Yorkes Residence...
2:49 A.M.

The group backed away slowly.

"What the FUCK!" Gert shouted.

"Nobody move! They...They sense motion!" Alex cautioned.

"That's only in movies, You Douche!" Maggie shouted as Chase grabbed her shoulders to pull her back.

"What is that thing?" Nico couldn't take her eyes off of it. But then again, no one could.

"It's a...a Velociraptor!" Alex blurted out.

"That's impossible, Alex! They're not-." The Velociraptor sniffed Karolina. "Aah! Get away!"

"Chill, Karolina," Chase grabbed a lamp, "C.G.I. or whatever. I'll prove it."

"No! Put it down, you psycho!" Maggie snapped.

"Don't!" Alex ordered.

"You're gonna get us killed!" Nico shrieked.

"Look, it's nothing but..." He slammed the lamp onto the dinosaur's head; breaking it in half. It turned and glared at him before jumping on top of him.

"STOP IT!" Gert shouted.

"...art in Heaven, allowed be thy name..." Chase prayed as the Dinosaur looked up from Chase.

"Down girl," Gert moved forward cautiously. Surprisingly, the Dino moved away from Chase. "Uh, heel?" It sat down.

Maggie blinked. "What just happened?"

"How…how did you…?" Alex asked.

"I. Have. No. Idea." Gert answered slowly.

"What just happened?" Chase cried; sitting up.

"Um…" Nico said. "Is this a dream? This is too weird to be real."

"I don't know, but we have to go now!" Karolina cut in, grabbing Nico's arm

"Quiet, we're gonna wake Gert's psycho parents." Alex said. "I can't deal with them and a… a whatever that thing is." He finished, pointing towards the Dinosaur.

"Well, it's obviously a mutated Kitten." Maggie cocked a brow.

"Must you always be so…catty?" Karolina rested her hand on her hip.

"Meow." Maggie waved her hand as if it were a paw with a smirk.

"It's okay, Alex." She said. "I told you, my folks sleep like the dead and they're three floors up. They can't hear-"

"Hello, Gertrude." A voice said. The group froze and turned around to see Gert's parents standing near the stairs.

"Oh, fuck." Maggie whispered as she backed up.

"Mom? Dad?" Gert asked in fear.

"Run, everyone!" Alex ordered as he ran towards Gert's parents. "I'll hold them-." He swung, but instead of hitting them, his arm went right through her parents. "-Off?"

"Holograms," Maggie said as she pointed at them. "You fail, Alex."

"Hey, you thought they were real, too. I heard that 'oh, fuck'." Alex commented.

"Wait, the dinosaur was real, but her parents are C.G.I.?" Chase wondered as Nico helped him up.

"Hey squirt," Gert's dad continued. "I'm sorry, but if you're watching this projection we recorded…your mother and I are probably dead."

"What?" Gert asked, obviously confused.

"I think this is their will…or something." Maggie pointed as she stood next to Gert.

"Hopefully, we were able to get this secret chambers access code to you before we died." Mrs. Yorkes stated.

"Don't be absurd, Stacy. If we didn't get her the code, how would she be able watching us now? You think she just accidentally stumbled onto all of this?"

"Well, actually…" Gert tilted her head to the side.

"Presumably," Mrs. Yorkes continued, "I see you've met your new pet."

"Don't be scared, she doesn't bite…unless there's something you want her to bite." Mr. Yorkes added.

"Before our 4-D time portico was destroyed, we traveled to the 87th century and had her commissioned. Cost us a pretty doubloon, so I hope you're grateful." Mr. Yorkes explained.

"Hold up," Gert said as she patted the Dino, "What century?"

"She's been genetically engineered to respond to only your mental commands." Mrs. Yorkes informed; completely ignoring Gert's questioned.

"I think they're the type of holograms that don't answer back." Chase whispered.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Mr. Yorkes declared, "but I'm sure you'll find all the answers you're looking for inside our Abstract, the sacred text that guides our organization."

Mrs. Yorkes pointed at the book on the stand inside the open wall that the Dinosaur had first came out of. "It will explain everything we've ever done, and everything you need to do now that we're gone."

Maggie walked over to the book and picked it up. She turned back to Gert, "You sure you wanna read this?"

"Of course." Gert held her hand out.

Maggie opened it as she walked towards Gert. She cocked a brow. "What the-?" She started. "The hell is this?"

"What's what?" Gert asked as she grabbed the book. She flipped a couple pages and looked up. "Is this some kind of joke? It's written in some foreign language."

"It may seem like gibberish now, but it'll all make sense after you've deciphered it." Mr. Yorkes assured.

"Just use the decoder ring Mr. and Mrs. Dean gave you when you turned eighteen." Mrs. Yorkes informed.

"No, honey, it's the Hoffa's who have it." Mr. Yorkes corrected.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Yorkes looked up. "I thought it was the Deans?"

Mr. Yorkes looked up. "Well, whoever gave it to you, use the decoder ring. I'm pretty sure one of them gave it to you."

"Our parents gave you a ring?" Karolina asked as she leaned forward.

Maggie placed her hand on her forehead and sighed.

"I'm fifteen! And I have no idea what they're talking about!" Gert snapped.

Maggie blocked out the rest, not caring about what else they had to say, she was still trying to take this all in. Before she knew it, the hologram shut off with a soft click.

"Okay, um…Huh?" Gert asked.

So can we go to the police now?" Nico asked, "Please?"

"With what?" Alex asked. "We've got Gert's parents claiming to be time travelers, but nothing to show they helped kill that girl."

"Are you nuts?" Chase yelled. "They've got psychic raptors in their basement!"

"Yeah, and Siegfried and Roy have white tigers in theirs." Gert answered. "It doesn't mean they're criminals, just...odd."

"How the hell are gonna explain that we found a Velociraptor in Yorkes' basement? I mean, sure we're onto something, but that's all we have: A lead." Maggie shrugged.

"Maggie's right," Alex agreed, "We still need a smoking gun to put away our parents for good. Without it, they'll probably just Shapiro their way out and kill us as soon as they're free."

"What about that not-so-little black book of theirs?" Nico asked. "Didn't they say it's got info on all they're crimes and stuff? Maybe that'll tell us where they hid the girl's body."

"Yeah, and all we have to do is either go to Karolina's and my house to fine that decoder ring or whatever." Maggie finalized.

"My house?" Karolina inquired as she put her hand to her chest. "But...My parents can't really be part of this. They might be a little eccentric, but they're not evil. They don't even eat meat!"

Yeah, well neither did Hitler..." Gert said; trailing off.

"Karolina, if you'd seen what the rest of us saw back at my house, you'd understand." Alex said. "I'm with Maggie. We should press on to your pad next. First we've got to decide what to do with this...thing." He pointed at the Dino.

"Sorry girl. Guess that means its back to the dog house for you. Don't worry, I'll be back for you when this is all over, okay?" Gert said softly as she led the Dino back into the trapdoor. It whimpered softly at Gert.

"And I thought my life was weird yesterday." Chase mumbled.

The Dean Residence
4:14 a.m.

The house was enormous. Sure Maggie had been over a couple times, but every time she saw it, she couldn't help but admire it for a while; inhaling the smell of strawberries and fruit cake. She continued onward; digging through Karolina's mother's jewelry chest and in certain drawers.

"This room's clean. Any luck up there, guys?" Alex called.

Maggie walked out of the master bed room with Karolina in tow; they stopped at the staircase railing. "Nope, I got nothing."

"No, Maggie and I have been through every jewelry box and trinket drawer in the house. No offence, but I seriously don't think my parents are like the rest of yours. They're good people." Karolina declared with furrowed brows.

"Well keep looking for some kind of switch or keypad thing." Alex ordered.

"Why? Just cause one of our houses is tricked out doesn't mean this place is." Gert said as Alex placed his hand on the painting on the far side of the wall.

"You never know, Gert." Maggie said as she walked down stairs.

"Never fear kiddies," Chase called from the back room, "Chase is on the case, and he just hit the pay dirt."

"Did you find the ring?" Gert asked.

"Nope, but I was rummaging through Mr. Dean's den and I scored his last will and testament." Chase informed.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Alex asked.

"It's basically what we found at Gert's place, right? Instructions on what to do if her parents kicked the bucket?" He shuffled through the papers.

"That's right, that's where we got our last lead from." Maggie pointed.

"Hey! That's private!" Karolina shouted.

"Karolina, don't you think it's a bit weird that your father had a Will even though I'm pretty sure he's in perfect health?" Maggie questioned with narrowed eyes.

"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, it's still rude to read someone's last Will." Karolina argued.

"Relax, it's pretty boring; they didn't leave you any dinosaurs or anything." Gert informed as she shuffled through the papers.

"Yeah, but check out the last page" Alex said, pulling said sheet out of the pile. He started reading off of it. "And to our beloved daughter Karolina, we bequeath the following, may she use it wisely." He pulled a picture up. "And then there's just a picture of this." It was a picture of a winged pole encircled by two snakes that were crossed out.

"A caduceus? Well, it is the symbol for-."

"Yeah, yeah, we've all been to the hospital, showoff. But why's it got the Ghostbuster's symbol around it?" Chase interrupted.

"I don't know, but that snake thing is carved on my MedAlert bracelet." Karolina asserted as she pulled her hand up and pulled her sleeve down. The silver chain gleamed in the lights that hung above her.

"Maybe your parents were trying to tell you not to wear it anymore?" Nico suggested.

"Why? I've had this thing on since I was four. My parents told me never to take it off. I'm like, deadly allergic to penicillin."

"Do you know you're allergic to penicillin, or is that just what your parents said?" Alex asked.

"Why would they lie about something like that?" Karolina took the will paper.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because they've lied to us our entire lives." Maggie crossed her arms.

"Look, how about you prove us all wrong and take off the bracelet?" Alex tested.

"You're crazy! This picture probably meant that they didn't want me to go to…Med School!" Karolina alleged.

"Good Logic!"" Maggie retorted.

Karolina glared at her and pulled her wrist up. "FINE!" She snapped as she grabbed her bracelet and yanked it off her arm; small shards of metal flying in the air. "If you want it so bad, have it! It's nothing!" She chucked the bracelet away from her.

"See!" She shouted. Just as she did, her body exploded with neon colors; flowing off of her like soft tuffs of smoke. Her hair; which had been tied up, had been released and was now flowing behind her; defying gravity. The colors were so bright, but she looked so…beautiful.

"Whoa," Magie gasped.

"Oh no." Karolina whispered as she looked at her hands.

"It's beautiful." Chase complemented. "Like a burning painting, or-."

"GET AWAY!" Karolina screamed.

"What's wrong with me? What am I?" she cried, voice raised in fear.

"An angel." Chase suggested.

"A...a mutant?" Gert offered.

"She can't be." Nico said. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but...she's too old to just turn into one isn't she?"

"Way too old." Maggie agreed. "But what else could she-?"

"Hold on, let me think," Alex interrupted, "Didn't my father say something with Karolina's parents dealing with…with off world enemies?"

"An alien?" Maggie offered. "No way, that's-."

"An alien!" Karolina repeated with panic in her voice.

"Maybe being on this planet gives your parents and you these…powers or whatever, and that bracelet is made of some mineral that blocks those abilities, sorta like Krypto-." Alex suggested.

"You've been watching too many WB shows, bro. that's ridiculous." Chase denied.

And then she felt it again. Heartbeats. They were booming. Maggie couldn't even hear what the hell Gertrude was saying until she was able to grab her head and close her eyes. Everything was coming to now. She took a deep breath and looked up; Karolina was still freaking out.

"So I'm the daughter of some kind of…space invaders?" Karolina asked in disbelief. "God, first you tell me that my parents are evil, and now I find out I'm not even human?" She shook her head and cupped her head with her hands. "I wish I never learned about any of this!" She began to cry. "I was so much happier being kept in the dark! I…I hope our parents do kill us!"

"Karolina!" Maggie shouted. Unbeknownst to Karolina, she began to float as she cried. "You're floating!"

Karolina looked down and gasped. "I can fly?" Her face suddenly lit up and the tears dried instantly as she looked down to see that she was beautifully flying in the sky. "I CAN FLY!"

Maggie gawked at her. "Wow."


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