The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 27 - The Packages

There were so many packages that Gabe didn’t even bother pretending that he could carry them all by himself. Between the five of them they managed to find a way to get them all balanced. Nobody wanted to make a second trip. Walking with them however proved to be slightly more difficult than they had anticipated.

“Ugh, I’m tired.” Cassie complained.

“You’re carrying the fewest packages.” Binny snapped.

“Not true. Zoe is.”

“She’s got one of the biggest!” Binny was getting frustrated.

“I don’t care. I’m still tired.”

“Let’s take a quick break. But then we need to keep moving.” Zoe intervened.

They continued in this stop-and-go fashion for awhile. It felt to Binny like each ‘go’ effort was getting shorter and shorter.

§

Morning felt like a month ago to Gore Grater as he drove the short distance from the Luce Laboraties campus to the Madrona neighborhood nearby. The revelation about super powers possibly being real was confusing and amazing to be sure. But what really had him energized was the confidence they’d shown in him. Not just Dr. Trace including him trusting him with the confidential information, but Luce giving him his signoff as well. Gore Grater’s usual beefy scowl had turned into an awkward smile.

Grater drove his black sedan slowly through the tree-lined Madrona streets. He’d started at the Jordan house and when he’d seen no evidence of the children, he’d driven in ever-widening circles around the neighborhood in hopes of finding them.

After a few minutes of this Grater found himself cruising along the main Madrona thoroughfare. He’d been so excited about his new responsibilities he’d forgotten to get lunch. He would run into the convenience store quickly and then continue his search. But just as he started to look for a parking space he spotted a gaggle of children out of the corner of his eye.

It was the Jordan children for sure with their friends – the girl who’d been at Luce Labs the previous summer, and the two new kids. The boy wasn’t there but Gore Grater had found his quarry. Lunch would have to wait. Grater slowed his car to a stop by the side of the road, took out his phone, and waited.

§

“I don’t think we’re even halfway there.” Binny said, glaring at her younger sister.

“It’s not my fault.” Cassie whined.

“It gets easier from here as it’s all downhill.” Zoe intervened between the squabbling sisters.

The group gathered up their packages and started on the next leg of their journey. Penny was bringing up the rear to make sure no packages were dropped and accidentally left. For some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on, Penny decided to look not just at the ground in front of her, but stole a quick glance over her shoulder.

“Hey Binny, come help me keep an eye out for drops back here?” Penny said.

When Binny was close, Penny whispered, “Don’t say anything, and don’t stop walking, but I think someone is following us. There’s a man in a black car back there that keeps creeping up in the direction we’re going.”

Binny stiffened but followed Penny’s instructions. “Can I look back?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think you could do your mind invasion trick and see what’s goin on?”

“Already ahead of you.” Binny would have winked if she wasn’t so scared at the prospect that someone was following them. Binny reached out to see what the person in the car was thinking.