The Smartest Kids Alive (IN NEED OF REVISING)

Chapter XIV

AVERY

Music: Choco Mountain from Mario Kart 64

The last time I remember opening my eyes from sleep in a bed that wasn't mine, I was held captive by some kidnappers Mackenzie's (former) older brother had hired to abduct me. So it feels a little weird waking up in this lake house bed. The only major differences are that for one, I'm not kidnapped, and two, Eghosa's sleeping in the bed with me. The remaining girls had sleeping bags they could use, and the guys got their own room.

I crane my neck sideways and look at the digital clock next to our bed. It reads 8:21 AM. Since I have no idea where we are (Sam never confirmed that for certain), I have no idea what time it is in Lee's Summit right now.

I climb out of bed and immediately notice that two of the sleeping bags are empty: Elle's and Mackenzie's. Both of them are known to be pretty early risers in times like this. Being careful to not awaken Eghosa or Skylar, I make my way downstairs to the kitchen, where I find Elle, Mackenzie, and Sam.

"Can't say I'm surprised to see you up this early," I say to Sam.

"Eh, I actually would've slept in later if Mackenzie hadn't woken me up and told me she wanted to go over some things before we set out again today," Sam responds.

"Mm." I begin rummaging through the drawers to see what I can find to eat. I end up fixing myself a small bowl of cereal, As I'm doing so, I hear happy-sounding footsteps bounding down the stairs. I turn around and find Eghosa, wide awake as ever, and I notice Jack following closely behind.

"Mornin', losers," Mackenzie smirks, waving to them. Eghosa laughs and Jack jokingly flips her off.

"Well, aren't you just peachy today," Jack mumbles, following that with a small chuckle. I smile to myself and roll my eyes. These are the people I've chosen to waste my time with. Do I have regrets? A few, but not enough.

Eghosa and Jack join us as the tables, and a few seconds later, I can hear the laughter of Heath and Luke as they're walking down the stairs to join us. Skylar is also with them, although she's silent. She's usually one of the more tired people on these missions.

"Mornin'," Sam calls out to them. Heath and Skylar give Sam waves, and Luke doesn't respond. Instead, Luke chooses to take an available seat right next to me, although he doesn't say anything to me. Whether or not he chooses that seat by coincidence is beyond me, but I still decide it's better to try and ignore him.

"Everyone wide awake? The sooner we can get started, the better," Mackenzie tells us. I nod, and everyone else either does the same or mumbles something along the lines of, "Yeah, whatever."

"Alrighty. Off we go!" Mackenzie says cheerfully. A few of us (myself included) quietly groan.

Outside, I find that it's a little warmer than yesterday. Sam signals in the hovercraft, and while we wait for it to show up (it sometimes likes to fly off on its own and explore), he tells us, "Mackenzie and I already had a talk with Dr. Magdon. Still no word on where Wersaw might be hiding, so for the time being, we've just gotta keep doing what we've been doing."

"Fantastic," Skylar mutters sarcastically. By this point, the hovercraft has arrived, so we hop aboard and Luke takes over piloting this time.

But we only fly for about ten seconds before bumping into some large machinery.

LUKE

Music: Bowser Appears from Super Mario Galaxy

After hitting the machinery, the knockback the hovercraft receives causes all nine of us to fall off of it. While getting up, I take notice of the man in this machine. He looks no older than the age of 17, and is wearing a propeller-hat.