Primed: A Kayla Madison Story

Primed Part 23

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: UNWANTED LUNCH PEST

I woke up early the next morning feeling a bit queasy. I had thought about Jake all night. I tried the think of possible ways to fix things with him, but my ideas came up short.

It was still dark outside, but I noticed there was a light coming from under the door. With my enhanced hearing, I could pick up snoring coming from the direction of the living room. I went to investigate.

Dad and Michael had both fallen asleep again while working on this case. They had even more papers surrounding them and the mysterious box from Wu's.

I could actually read some of the small writing on the papers from across the room. It was a small consolation prize for messing things up with Jake. Still, I wondered when I would get my enhanced speed and strength. I fought the urge to go run outside to see if either had kicked in yet.

When I glanced at Michael, I saw he was wearing glasses; well, sort of wearing them. They were slightly ajar from Michael bumping them after having fallen asleep. Apparently, his vision needed help on this world. He was cute—like he was a college student disheveled from an all-nighter instead of his normally composed and dignified self.

I picked up the box that had caused me so much grief. It was made out of several different metals inlaid on yet another metal. I assumed the Periodic Table of the Elements was the same on both Earth, so the boxes appeared to be layers of bronze, copper, and tin among others. The result was a sturdy box exquisite in the design and details. The piece felt smooth even with all the designs—various small geometric shapes repeated on every side—created by so many different inlays. I turned it over and over again but could not find the top.

"It is similar to a Japanese puzzle box but made out of metal instead of wood." Michael stretched, ran his hands through his hair, and straightened his glasses.

"How do you open it?" I turned it over again.

"If we knew that answer, you would be seeing the inside and not the outside of the box." Dad yawned and stood.

Michael sorted the massive papers that were strewn around. "The traditional boxes are rated in difficulty according to how many steps it takes to solve the box." He nodded his head toward it. "This one appears to have created especially for Mr. Wu. Note how the shapes appear to spell out Wu in block letters throughout the box."

I examined it and, sure enough, there were dozens of Wu's on the box, but they were not obvious due to the various tones of metals used—even within the letters themselves. I frowned at the box—not that it cared.

"We have only found the first slide here." Dad walked over to me and pointed to a portion of the box that looked exactly like everything else, so I handed it to him. He slid a small section of the box about an inch. "That move should have made another move possible, but this box is such a high quality, we cannot determine where the next slide is located without already knowing that information."

Michael pushed up his glasses on his nose and scrutinized each piece to determine where to put it. "It is a much more complicated puzzle box than the usual ones. Considering the size, it would not be unreasonable to expect a hundred moves or more to get this box opened."

"Kayla, if we were not in a hurry, Michael and I could figure it out, however, we are under a time constraint to find out what Mr. Wu is doing. We need someone, like Todd, who can help us find the pattern to open the box as quickly as possible." Dad put his hand on my shoulder. "Do you think you can convince him to help us?"

"I'll try." At least it would help me to take my mind off of Jake.

"Have him join us afterschool at my place. I wrote the directions for you." Michael looked up from his organization frenzy and handed me the paper.