Curious Minds

Chapter 8

When we reached the beach house it was nearly noon. We ate in silence then headed in our different directions to shower. Once the dirt and sweat was gone, I fell into bed face-down. I don't know if I fell asleep after hitting the pillow or on the way to it.

When I woke, I had no idea what time it was, but I knew I needed the bathroom. Since each room had it's own, I didn't have to worry if there was anyone in mine.

Dealing with bodily needs one done, I had bodily needs two and three to deal with. I headed to the kitchen next since that was where I could sate the hunger and thirst plaguing me.

Passing the living room, I saw that the digital clock on top of the TV said 4:00. The AM/PM part was broken, so I assumed it was around 4 in the morning.

Wandering into the kitchen, I drowsily noticed a few things. 1) It was too bright to be 4 AM. 2) Caleb was up. And 3) He was cooking breakfast clothed in nothing other than a pair of sleep pants.

"Morning," he said as I reached a chair and flopped into it.

"Something tells me it's not morning," I grumbled. I knew I had a major case of bed-head, but seriously did not care right now.

Caleb sat a plate of waffles in front of me, "It counts as morning if you just got up. But yeah, it's afternoon." He sat down and snatched the syrup from my reach before I could grab it. I tried grabbing it back, but he held it out of reach until I got out of my chair.

"You seem to be feeling great even though it's only been 24 hours since you were attacked by a tiger," he laughed, finally giving me the syrup.

Oh yeah. As I sat back down, I leaned back and started looking over my arms. Since I didn't see anything I pulled off my shirt. When my still not toned belly proved to not have any marks, I looked at Caleb.

"What?"

"All the scratches are gone. I know it got me," I said, more than a little confused. "They burned like-"

"Whoo! A party!" Josh said, entering the kitchen and heading towards where Caleb had left the rest of the waffles.

"No shirts for breakfast!" Drake shouted, pulling off his yellow t-shirt and throwing it through the living room doorway. Josh's red one followed quickly behind it.

When I looked at Caleb, he just shrugged, then grinned. "Guys, no one wants to see all that jiggle "

"What," the twins said in mock outrage simultaneously. "Dak's not in shape, either."

True... But, "At least mine don't continue moving when I stop." My flabbiness was only a little extra weight that came from being born female, not sitting on a computer for most of my life. The twins weren't as big now as they had been when I first met them. Likely had something to do with the 'adventures' Caleb constanly insisted on.

"Hey!" Their unified voices were a weapon they used automatically. It usually worked on their family or strangers, but not me or Caleb.

I started laughing and it didn't take long before the twins had cracked up, too. When Josh's orange juice came out of his nose, Caleb started cackling, making us laugh harder from his strange soundining laugh.

It took quite a while before we had calmed down enough to finish our breakfast.

After we had cleaned up the kitchen, we headed to the living/community room.

"The two of you pulled off an amazing rescue," Caleb said, situating himself on the opposite end of the couch I had chosen.

"We what?" Drake said, feigning ignorance.

"Don't know what you mean," Josh added, stretching out on one of the sofas.

Caleb opened his mouth to argue, but I beat him to it. "The twins are superstitious. Remember?"

"Oh. Yeah," Caleb said. He picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels.

It wasn't long before the twins were arguing with Caleb as to what show to watch.

The twin's superstitious behavior was actually interesting. I had originally thought it was more of a game they played, but I never had really asked. I made a mental note to ask them about it after the week was up.

We didn't acknowledge the mission for two weeks, instead. In the meantime, our summer was normal; if surfing, playing video games, and hacking into businesses was normal.

The surfing part only Caleb was successful at. Neither Drake nor Josh could get close standing on the board. I did stand- once- and got flipped by a small wave.

Games were the twin's area of expertise. They tied each other, but smoked Caleb and me and it didn't matter the game.

The only businesses we hacked was the Domino's and Papa John's websites. We had a limit on how much food we could get. And all of us like pizza. Josh likes pineapple. Drake likes anchovies. I like everything but those two and Caleb just wanted the meat. We only had enough to buy two with nothing extra. What else were we supposed to do? Listen?

I kept an eye on the news stations while the twins and Caleb monitored various websites and social media. There had been a small story, but after a few days people stopped paying attention. Probably because there was no solid evidence to use to find those who had broken into the isolated government facility.

Caleb pointed out the small story was to build a confidence. "They're hoping that makes it look like they gave up. They want us to get lax and make a  mistake," he said this after I told everyone what I found at the end of the first week.

It was a good thing we weren't stupid, too. Professional-looking people began showing up everywhere. Some we saw in cars while wandering around town. Others were just walking around casually. Most were in suits, but there were a few that the twins caught on a tech scanner they had created.

Seriously, those two could take over all technology if they wanted to. I didn't know of anything they couldn't hack, open, or unlock as long as it had wires or internet connected. They were why I refuse to use my phone or computer.

All of the surveillance was making me feel constricted. We could go to the beach, hang out, and do all the normal stuff, but I wanted to test out the new morphing technology. I may have been against the mission, but now I had the tech I had wanted since information had come out about it.

Now that I had it I couldn't use it because there were so many people and cameras in this area. There were also things I wanted to know about the technology. What had happened to the claw marks? Nothing I had found said wounds healed by acquiring, only by morphing into a creature, which I had not yet done.

Now I was sitting on the upper back deck of the beach house, looking out at the dark beach. I could see rather far, even though there wasn't a moon tonight.

Wondering how well stripes would blend with the night was how Caleb found me.

"You know how dangerous it is, right?" Caleb said as he leaned against the railing next to me.

"Don't have a clue what you're talking about," I lied, resting my chin on my folded arms.

Caleb, with a heavy sigh, asked, "Want to mess with the twins?"

I didn't move, but waited.

"I caught one of them flying back to their room last night. Maybe we can bother them a little," suggested Caleb.

"How? Their morphs are small and simple. We have a Grizzly and a tiger," I pouted, wishing I could run and swim as the tiger.

He leaned closer to make sure he wasn't overheard, "I wasn't thinking about them."

I looked at him from the corner of my eye, "You don't mean..."

Caleb grinned and nodded vigorously.

"Won't it be weird?" I asked.

"Probably, but we can get adjusted to it I'm sure," Caleb replied, reaching out his hand.

Grinning, I took it.

*** Let me know in the comments how you liked this chapter.***