The Absolutely Insane Life of a Completely Normal (not really) Girl

It took 3 days...

 ...for me to completely annoy everyone that was helping to fix the tracker. If I wasn't doing summer work, eating, or at rehearsal, I was there working on the machine. I would push everyone to work harder, and never even stopped to rest. (I didn't have to. Since I couldn't physically travel back and forth all the time (Uston is on another planet after all) whenever I mentally went there it was like I was sleeping back on Earth.)

Luckily, we did make massive progress on the tracker. If we kept working the way we were, (which we will be if I have anything to say about it. Oh wait, I do.) then the tracker would be done by the end of the week. Hopefully, everyone's being kept in the same place Katie is, but if not Maria can get something of Eli's easily.

I can't wait for this all to be over. Even though physically I'm always ready, mentally I'm a wreck. I'm terrified to think what would happen to me if this happened during the school year. I wouldn't last a week. I'll admit there have been times when I think maybe I should take it down a notch and take a break, but every time I do I think of Katie, Sophia, and Eli trapped and in pain, being interrogated, in Eli's case for information he doesn't even know. That allows me to keep working.

®

"Lydia, we need to talk," Sally said one day.

"If this is about taking a break, you know what's going to happen," I replied, continuing working.

"It's not about that," Sally whispered, "It's about the license plate."

I stopped working and looked up at her. Before I started working, I told Jane about the decoded license plate. (Though it's not a very good code if a 13-year-old can decipher it in less than 15 minutes.) Jane and Sally started looking for agencies that had that slogan, but there were so many that it was going to take some time. Jane insisted that we keep it a secret. She's worried that people will leave and slow the work process down even more. And I do not want to fix that machine all on my own.

Sally and I walked into a giant council room. It looked like a smaller version of the capitol building, but there was a giant buffet table where the stage would have been. Jane was at the buffet table eating her emotions away. I joined her.

"Any luck," I asked as I devoured a cinnamon roll.

"For once, yes," Jane answered, "Years ago, there was a schism in the main agency that deals in paranormal experiments. Most wanted to just research paranormals from a distance without causing any confrontation, but some wanted capture paranormals do more... up close examinations. Eventually, these people broke off and started their own group known as the paranormal experimentation department, or P.E.D. for short. They believed that paranormals were monsters that didn't have any sort of "moral code", hence why there moto is-"

"-paranormals are evil," I finished, "Does this give us any indication on where they're located?"

"Unfortunately, no," Jane said as she stuffed down a chicken leg, "Say what you want about them, but the P.E.D. is very good at covering its tracks. The only way we're going to able to find everyone in reasonable time is with the tracker. But Lydia, that's not what we need to talk about. The P.E.D. is ruthless when it comes to paranormals. It's rarely to the point of killing them, but that's only because they try to keep them alive in "the name of science", but if they're not willing to cooperate, then..." Jane winced, as if simply thinking about it made her queasy. "They have this... serum. We don't know how it works, we've never been able to get close enough to finding them to collect a sample, but it changes anyone who's injected with. They become... these ghastly, ravenous, predatory creatures. They have little to no memories of their former lives, and they survive on only two primal instincts: hunt and kill."

Jane gave me a second to let the information settle in. I set down the piece of pizza in my hand, having lost my appetite.

"Do you think that they would do that to... to... the others," I asked, afraid of what the answer was going to be.

"Honestly, Lydia, I don't know," Jane answered, "We're pretty sure that the P.E.D. captured them for information, but if they don't get what they want, then they might."

"And what happens to someone who is technically human," I asked. While Katie and Sophia had paranormal blood in them (werecat and siren respectively) it wasn't enough to make them paranormal, and Eli is completely human.

"Theoretically, the same thing that happens to paranormals should happen to them, but there is a small chance that, since there are major differences in the DNA, that the... the serum could potentially... kill them," Jane answered, slowly choosing her words.

I felt like my heart sank all the way down to my chest. Kill them... It's fairly obvious that simply having Katie gone would cause me to have a mental break down, but Eli too... even Sophia... I don't know how I would even go on after that.

There was a knock on the door. A dwarf ran in and bowed to Jane before speaking.

"Your majesty, the machine has been completed. It's ready for use whenever you are," he announced.

Jane and I shared a look of unadulterated joy. "I'll get the scarf," I said before going back to Earth.