Archie Smith: Boy Wonder

Part Three

"We are from a secret society called 'The Mights'," began Piff. "And Daisy and I are the leaders. We think you are one of us."

It was all too much for little Archie to take on. "You do not know anything about me," began Archie, but before he say the rest, Piff rudely interrupted him.

"We know more than you think, Archie. We know all about your father, and your family, and your friends. We know you go to school at Maple Wood and have Ms. Nelson as your teacher. We know all about your two friends, Will and Hope, and all about their lives. We know more than you think ." Archie stood there paralyzed after Piff listed the few things he knew in his life. Actually, he took that back. Piff knew everything about his life,

"I am sorry Archie. I know it's a lot to take in," Daisy began weakly. She had lost all of her energy after screaming at Archie. She looked like building blocks about to fall over. She could barley stand up. "Your father is in the Marines. We know that. He left because he got deported to California after promising he wouldn't leave again. We know that. Will's brother, Kyle, got deported too. We know a lot of things. We know everything about Hope too, and how she lost everything in that fire," stated the delicacy flower child.

Archie was horrified. Do these people spy on me? Am I safe? Is my family safe? Are Hope and Will safe? Is anybody safe from these beasts? Tornadoes whirled in his mind. He thought about Hope, whom he met 5 years ago, before her parents' death in a house fire. She ran a family of 4 now, and Archie wondered how she did it. He had only met her parents once, but he knew they were the nicest and kindest people he ever met. Now they were gone.

Will was a different story. Archie had only met his parents a couple of times, even though he knew Will for 9 years. His parents were always hard at work, holding on to the tiny sliver of survival. Will's brother was everything to him. He picked both the boys up from grade school. He made toys and built tree forts it the woods. He was practically Will's father. And yet, he left. Will started to change after that, but Archie knew what he was going through. Only because he was going through it himself.

"What about you guys?" Archie stated. He wanted to steer the conversation away from him. "I haven't heard anything about you besides what little club you run."

Piff scowled at the boy who scowled back, as if it was a game. Daisy's threatening coughs interrupted them."Anyways, yes you barely know us. And yet we are all on a flying sailboat together," Daisy said.

Archie remembered where he was. How is this possible? he thought. The small, blue, wooden sailboat his father gave before he left was now the size of an airplane. Sailing through the sky.

"Piff, tell Archie all about Mights," ordered Daisy.

Piff sighed but began his story again. "The Mights. It's a secret society for people with powers, and like we said, we think you're one of us. But about that later. Our headquarters was destroyed. Gone. Bam. Missing in action. Well, it's not missing 'cause it's a big pile of ash now. Whatever you want to say, but it got blown up by 'The Backstabbers'".

Archie couldn't help the questions that exploded from his mouth NASCAR fast. "How did headquarters get destroyed? By a middle? A bomb? And who are the 'Backstabbers'"?

Daisy answered this one. "They are people who left our headquarters to use their powers for evil. They have been looking for you, but,thankfully, haven't reached you yet. Their powers are wonky know a days. We need our Crystal to survive. But they BLEW IT UP!!!" Daisy's face turned bright red and Archie swore he saw steam come out of her ears.

"We need the Crystal to survive. It keeps our powers from disappearing, like yours," Piff explained. "Little Ms. Angrypants over here hasn't developed her powers yet and now thinks she never will."

Daisy finally calmed down and began the story. "Explosives. And lots of them. We lost 75% of our society. Gone. Dead". When Daisy said dead, it sounded as if she was swallowing a sob. "How does anything survive that Piff?" Piff ignored her question and continued his story.

"They said they were going to take you and that we would watch everything we loved fall apart. Archie, you're kind of a legend were we come from," admitted Piff.

Archie couldn't afford to stare in awe. He had more questions that needed answers. "Daisy told me 'Piff' was a nickname, so what does it mean?"

Piff answered the question as simply as he could. "I can teleport. Piff is the sound it makes when I do."

Daisy started the story again. "We need to get back home. Fix the Crystal. Stop the 'Stabbers. Do anything that will let our people live safely. We need you to come with us soon to help us."

Archie's next question popped into his head. It reminded him of the corn his father would pop on the stove. "Wait, Piff said he could teleport so can't you just teleport back to headquarters?"

Piff shrugged m. "The Crystal is broken, remember? Our powers haven't been working in days. We were lucky enough to become an Orb. Don't know how, but the Crystal might be reforming," boomed the deep voice.

"Our goal is to go back to headquarters and fix the Crystal. Your goal is to get some shut-eye before school," demanded the little girl.

Archie realized he was back at his house, near his window. He was about to jump back in when Daisy took his arm and placed something into his hand.

"It's a dog tag," whispered Daisy, her voice fragile and small. "There's a little button on the back. Press it to contact us. When we contact you, there will be a high pitched beep. See us immediately," she demanded.

Archie nodded as he climbed into his window, to close his eyes, and dream about his father coming home.