The Slice Page 6

  Toby suddenly yawned, the long busy day finally catching up with him. He took off his glasses and flopped backward onto his bed. He lay there for a moment, then reached out for his notebook. There was one last thing he needed to check out. When he put his glasses back on, it was a pair of eyes that came into focus.

  Yeah, maybe there was a little bit of an obsession going on here, Toby had to admit to himself. After all, he had sketched Calanthe’s eyes on the page opposite the original recipe he had come up with for a Sweet Tooth Pizza. Turning the notebook to better catch the light, Toby stared at his version of Calanthe’s eyes. Dark. Haunted. Mysterious. At the same time that Toby scrutinized his drawing …

  Five hundred miles to the east of Hidden Hills, at 175 Fifth Avenue in New York City, in the basement headquarters of Killer Pizza’s MCO operations …

  Calanthe’s eyes finally opened.

  2

  OMPHHH!

  Before he could react, Toby was knocked sideways by a shoulder slam from a kid walking past him in the crowded Hidden Hills High hallway. Toby knew it was forbidden to glare or say anything to the guy, an obvious upperclassman, so he just kept going. Being a lowly freshman at Triple H meant Toby was a clear target for abuse, which he had learned to grin and bear. Fighting monsters was one thing, but being the new kid in a new school? Watch out!

  On guard against another possible body blow, Toby weaved through the stream of students coming at him like something in a really intense video game. The lunchtime bell had just rung, eliciting an explosive response from the students, happy to have some freedom after being cooped up in one classroom after another since early morning.

  Toby was on his way to the gym. Annabel had asked him to meet her there at lunchtime. She needed to talk to him about something. The topic? When Toby had asked, Annabel mysteriously declined to give him so much as a hint of what it was she wanted to discuss with him and Strobe. Toby was more than happy to meet with Annabel and Strobe. He rarely saw either of them during a typical school day.

  When Toby entered the gym, a group of students were playing basketball at one end of the court. Their lunchtime game was being supervised by a teacher dressed in too-short shorts and the official Triple H sports T-shirt. (GO, JAGUARS!) Strobe sat at the other end of the court, halfway up the bleachers, reading a book. As Toby approached, he recognized Strobe’s book by its tattered cover. It was Monsters of the World.

  “Think it’s a good idea to have that here at school?” Toby asked as he sat on a bleacher near Strobe.

  “Why? What’s the problem?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? Last I heard, we’re part of a secret organization.”

  “Toby,” Strobe said, in a tone one would use on a child. “If someone was to pick up this book … say, I left it here by mistake … what do you figure they would think it was?”

  Toby considered the question. “Probably a book that had been discovered in the fiction section of a used bookstore somewhere.”

  “Exactly.”

  Strobe turned his attention back to MOTW. It did have the well-worn look of a tome Strobe might have found in a local secondhand bookstore.

  “What are you reading about, anyway?” Toby asked.

  “I’ll tell you what I’m not reading about. Dekayi. Harvey wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t know much about them. They rate a brief mention in the appendix, but that’s it. As for the rukh? Doesn’t even get a mention.”

  “You know what’s kind of cool? Harvey’ll be able to use that information we gave him about the dekayi and rukh for the new edition of the book he’s been working on.”

  Harvey had asked the trio to write down everything they could remember about the dekayi and rukh before he took them out to JFK.

  “Which none of us will get credit for,” Strobe predicted.

  Just then Annabel appeared from the door opposite Toby and Strobe and walked across the court toward them.

  “Hey! Only athletic shoes on the court!” the teacher overseeing the basketball game boomed, punctuating his order with an intimidating glare as Annabel quickly changed course and skirted the perimeter of the court to get to her KP coworkers.

  “Idiot,” Strobe said, glaring back at the teacher. “The things people get themselves in a twist over.”

  Toby smiled. He knew what Strobe meant. Considering what they had just been through in New York, a few scuffs on a hardwood basketball court from street shoes didn’t seem all that important.

  “Any idea what Annabel wants to talk to us about?” Toby asked as she approached.

  “Nope. Didn’t tell me a thing. Just said, ‘Be there!’”

  When Annabel arrived at the bleachers she settled on a seat below her KP partners. Looking up at Toby and Strobe, Annabel wore an expression that was a mixture of … well, it was hard to guess what her expression signaled, what it was she was about to tell them.

  “So what’s up, Annabel?” Strobe asked. “The suspense boils over.”

  “Well, I have good news, bad news, and potentially exciting news.”

  “In that order?”

  “Yes, in that order. For starters? Calanthe has come out of her coma, or whatever it was she was in. Harvey said she appears to have weathered the ordeal as well as he could have hoped and seems to be in good health.”

  “That’s fantastic.” Toby was relieved, hearing this.

  “So what’s the bad news?” Strobe asked.

  “Harvey said Calanthe doesn’t want to have anything to do with him or anyone else at Killer Pizza.”

  “That’s weird,” Strobe replied. “I thought she wanted to come to KP. Does Harvey have any idea why she’s acting like this?”

  “Yes. He thinks Calanthe might be suffering a kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome. It took a lot for her to escape from her village, and now she’s feeling the aftereffects. Combine that with the shock of the new. This is something Calanthe obviously wanted, a new life, but now that she has it … it’s freaking her out. It’s so totally different from the world she grew up in, she doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

  “I still don’t get why she isn’t letting Harvey and the gang help her,” Toby said. “Like Strobe said, that’s kind of strange.”

  “Well, this is the interesting part. Harvey believes that maybe Calanthe has imprinted on us.”

  “Imprinted?”

  “It’s what baby chicks do when they come out of their shell. The first thing they see … they think it’s their mother. It’s called imprinting. We were the first people Calanthe met when she entered her new world. According to Harvey, from the little he’s been able to get Calanthe to open up to him, we’re the ones she wants to be with.”

  Strobe laughed. “So we’re the mother hens. Let me guess, the chief wants us to come back to New York to help jump-start the girl, get her up and running in her new world.”

  “Actually, no. What Harvey suggested is that Calanthe come here, to Hidden Hills.”

  Strobe and Toby were too surprised by Annabel’s answer to immediately say anything. “And this would be the potentially exciting news?” Toby ventured.

  Annabel nodded. “Harvey would set things up to make Calanthe look like a foreign exchange student. He’d give her a passport, prepare the foreign exchange program’s papers…”

  “Wait, wait, hold on a second … back up here.” Strobe didn’t look very excited about Annabel’s potentially exciting news. “What you’re saying is that Harvey wants us to take care of Calanthe? This much I can tell you. I didn’t sign up for the KP program to become a Monster Protection Program specialist.”

  “Don’t overreact, Strobe. We wouldn’t become MPP specialists. This is a temporary thing, just until Calanthe becomes oriented to her new life. Think about how exciting this could be.”

  “Where would Calanthe stay?” Toby asked.

  Strobe shot his KP partner a nasty look. With a question like that, it sounded as though Toby might actually be considering this.

  “If we de
cide to accept Harvey’s proposal to become Calanthe’s mentors, I’ll ask my parents if she could stay with me.”

  “And you think they’d go along with that?” Strobe looked skeptical.

  “There’s only one way to find out. What do you say, guys? Calanthe needs us. She’s all alone in her new world. Think about how that must feel. I really think we can help her.”

  Toby didn’t hesitate with his answer. “I’m in.”

  Annabel gave Toby a grateful smile, then turned her attention to the holdout. “C’mon, Strobe, you can do this. I know you’d be a great mentor to Calanthe.”

  Strobe knew there was absolutely no way he could wriggle out of this one. Not if he ever wanted Annabel to speak to him again. “You two heard it from me first. We’re going to come to regret this.”

  “No, we won’t,” Annabel insisted.

  Strobe hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. Annabel responded to the group’s collective decision to bring Calanthe to Hidden Hills by giving her KP mates a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

  “If you’d done that in the first place, I might not have played so hard to get,” Strobe deadpanned. Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he got up and headed for the exit. Annabel and Toby fell right in next to him. This time, instead of skirting the basketball court …

  Annabel and her two partners went straight across it, pushed through the double-exit doors, and disappeared into the hallway beyond. The entire way to the door, the trio had ignored the bellowing warnings from the red-faced teacher, who finally abandoned his students’ basketball game to chase down the belligerent rule breakers.

  3

  “I need you to record everything you can find out about the dekayi’s habits and lifestyle. Where they live. Where they’re from. Their legends, religion. Nothing is too trivial, understand?”

  “Calanthe didn’t give you any of that stuff?” Strobe asked. He, Annabel, and Toby were in Annabel’s bedroom, gathered around her computer having a teleconference with Harvey. Almost a week had gone by since the trio had agreed to take on the Calanthe assignment.

  “No, she didn’t. Calanthe was very distrustful of my entire staff.”

  Sitting closest to the computer, Annabel was frowning as she tapped a notepad with her pen. “Don’t you think it’s a good idea to get Calanthe settled in here first? Make sure she’s comfortable in her new home before we start grilling her about her home life?”

  Harvey’s expression was stern. “I’m afraid getting Calanthe comfortable in her new world could take some time, Annabel. Meanwhile, the more we know about the dekayi, the better we’ll be able to protect Calanthe. And the sooner we know it, the better.”

  Annabel managed a slight nod in response to Harvey’s answer.

  “Okay, that’s it for now. Calanthe should be arriving in Hidden Hills very soon. Good luck. And don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions.”

  “Hey, before you go, Chief?” Strobe said. “The three of us got detention a few days ago. Can you take care of that for us?”

  Harvey’s answer was a deadpan look, followed by the sudden disappearance of his image from the computer screen. Strobe shrugged nonchalantly. “Figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. The guy’s reach is pretty impressive, after all.” When Strobe stepped aside to allow Annabel to get up from her chair, he couldn’t help but notice her concerned expression. “What’s wrong with you, Annabel?”

  “I feel misled by Harvey. He said he wanted us to help Calanthe adapt to her new life. It sounds to me like he’s more interested in her as a specimen to be studied.”

  “It’s probably a bit of both.”

  “Well, I can tell you this. Calanthe’s going to be living in my house. That makes me in charge of this operation.”

  “Whoa, listen to the girl!” Strobe said with a smile, which was not returned by Annabel.

  “You know what that just felt like?” Toby said. “The three angels getting their assignment from Charlie.”

  “Last I heard, the angels were three women, dude.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I do. We now have our assignment. Let’s go greet our girl.”

  * * *

  A half hour later, the trio was still waiting on Annabel’s front porch for their girl to arrive. Even though Halloween was more than a week away, the houses on Annabel’s street—including hers—were already extravagantly decorated for the holiday.

  Leaning up against the side of Annabel’s house, Toby was checking something out on his iPhone. “I still can’t believe Calanthe didn’t want to take a plane.”

  “What’s not to believe?” Annabel replied. “She’s never been on a plane before. Just imagine how much that could freak her out. I’m not sure if Calanthe’s ever been in a car.”

  “She must have, at least to get to New York.” On watch for the car that would deliver Calanthe to Annabel’s doorstep, Strobe stood in the driveway, casually scanning the street.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask, Annabel, how’d you persuade your parents to do this?” Toby walked over to the porch bench and sat next to Annabel. “I was pretty surprised when you told us they were going along with it.”

  “It wasn’t easy. I had to do a little negotiating, mainly with my father.”

  “Yeah? What’d that entail?”

  “Well, I was going to tell you guys eventually.”

  That got Toby’s and Strobe’s attention.

  “I told my dad I would quit my evil KP job.”

  “That’s a joke, right?”

  “No, it’s not. For the time being, I’m going to become Daddy’s good little girl. Peace will reign in the household. I wouldn’t want it any other way with Calanthe here. She deserves that.”

  Annabel had genuinely surprised her kitchen cohorts. “But what are we gonna do without you?” Toby asked plaintively. “We’ll have to break in a new coworker.”

  “Either that or work a two-man shift.”

  “Don’t have a breakdown, Tobe,” Strobe said. “We’ll deal.”

  “Here she is,” Annabel said suddenly. A black sedan had appeared and was approaching the house. Gathering in the driveway near the porch, the trio resembled formal greeters waiting to welcome a traveling dignitary of some sort.

  When the car pulled into the driveway and braked to a stop, everyone was surprised to see Steve Rogers get out. “Hello, all,” Steve said with his usual warm smile. Always the sympathetic counterpart to the brusque, intense Harvey, Steve had been a very welcome presence during the trio’s exhaustive nose-to-the-grindstone tryout to become Killer Pizza MCOs.

  “Steve, how’d you get roped into this assignment?” Strobe received a sharp nudge from Annabel for his question.

  “I volunteered. After getting back from my south-of-the-border adventure, a nice relaxing drive to Ohio was just what I needed.”

  “Yeah? What’d you have to deal with down there?” Strobe received another jab from Annabel. “What’s with you, girl? Stop it!”

  “Now’s not the time to be asking Steve about what kind of monsters he battled in Mexico!” Annabel hissed.

  Steve had come around the car and now opened the passenger door for Calanthe. From where he stood in the driveway, Toby could see the outline of Calanthe’s figure in the dark interior of the car. She hadn’t yet made a move to get out the car. It was as though she was afraid to emerge into the light of day. When Calanthe finally did slide out of her seat, Toby experienced sharply conflicting feelings about what he saw.

  The last time he had seen Calanthe, her hair had been matted and dirty from her swim through the Central Park lake. Now her hair shone brightly, the beautiful thick black curls falling to her shoulders. Instead of her former eye-catching (not in a good way) thrift-shop wardrobe, Calanthe now wore a red hoodie sweatshirt, black T-shirt, blue jeans, and Converse sneakers. Even though she had a lot to learn about the modern world, Calanthe could definitely pass as a typical teen right now, which meant she would fit right in at Triple H.


  That was the good news.

  The bad was Calanthe’s entire demeanor. Quickly taking in the surrounding neighborhood, Calanthe’s eyes had a nervous, edgy look to them. She held her body stiffly, as though fearing something terrible, something unexpected might happen at any moment. To Toby, Calanthe looked … depleted was the word that came to him. She looked beyond exhausted. Hers was a condition that wasn’t just physical. It seemed to Toby that it went all the way to her soul.

  We have a lot of work to do here! was Toby’s concerned thought as Annabel approached Calanthe to welcome her with a hug. But as Annabel attempted to wrap her arms around her new houseguest, Calanthe instantly backed off.

  “I don’t believe that’s a dekayi custom,” Steve said softly.

  “Oh … sorry, Calanthe.”

  There was an awkward silence before Steve interrupted the moment by taking a brand-new suitcase from the backseat and handing it to Strobe. “Sorry to leave so quickly, but I’m needed back in New York.”

  “You’re not staying?” Annabel asked, surprised at Steve’s instant departure. “Don’t you at least want something to eat before you go?”

  “I’m good, thank you, Annabel. Calanthe? It was very nice to meet you. I wish you all the luck in your new home. I know these three will take very good care of you.”

  Calanthe responded to Steve’s words with a barely perceptible nod. Steve got back into the car and started the engine. “Okay, bye all. As I’m sure Harvey already told you, don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

  “Those were his exact words,” Strobe replied.

  After the three MCOs said their good-byes and Steve’s car disappeared down the street, Annabel led Calanthe toward her front door. “My parents wanted me to tell you they’re very sorry they couldn’t be here for your arrival, Calanthe. It’s a busy day for them at work. You’ll meet them this evening.”

  “Parents?”

  “Yes, my mother and father.”

  Calanthe’s expression was blank.

  “You … do know what parents are, don’t you?” Annabel asked with a cautious laugh.