Curious Minds

Chapter 15

Dak

"Oh! Red-heads are soo adorable, and your freckles are so cute!" the young woman, Paige, said.

The blasted freckles she mentioned shouldn't have been visible since my face had to be scarlet by now.

"You two have grown so much! How old are you and your friends?" Susan, the step-mom asked.

When Caleb just threw his arm around my shoulders and the twins stared at Paige, I realized it was up to me to talk. "They're 16 now. Caleb will be 18 in a few weeks and I'm a few month younger at 17."

"When's your birthday?" Paige asked with a flirty smile that honestly creeped me out.

"February 16th."

"Hmmmm. I think I can wait that long."

Caleb's hand tightened on my shoulder. Sinking into Caleb's side, I could feel his silent laughter.
****
Nearly two hours later, I had finally convinced Susan and Paige that no, we didn't need anything and yes, we would ask if there was. Once they were gone, I flopped onto the only couch in the spacious living room, exhausted.

"Non of you were helpful," I complained.

"She was so pretty," Drake murmured.

"Beutiful, you mean," Jpsh giggled back.

Caleb picked up my feet and sat down with them in his lap as I was craning my head to try and see if the twins were as star struck as they sounded. "I have to admit it was fun watching your discomfort."

His words had me sitting up and moving to the opposite side of the couch. I watched as the twins headed towards the hall where the stairs to the bedrooms hid.

"I take it you don't like Paige. Why?" Caleb had apparently caught on quickly, but it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure out I didn't like the twins' step-sister.

"I don't know," I said defensively. "There's just something about her."

Shrugging, Caleb suggested, "Ask the twins to dig on her."

Blowing out a breath, I said, "I'll give it a day or two to see if I can figure it out, then I'll ask them."

The smirk on Caleb's face let me know he understood. Distracted twins were not the best hackers.

Standing, I milled around the room, picking up random objects for a moment before setting them back down. After about ten minutes of my pilfering, I murmered just loud enough for Caleb to hear, "When will we be able to enjoy freedom?"

"Hopefully soon," Caleb responded as he stood and walked over to a fake plant near the front window I had just walked away from. He tugged on a few leaves before finding the black metal speck I had seen.

He looked at me with eyebrows raised. I nodded and turned the picture of a young twin, I couldn't tell which it was, so he could see the same speck on the back of the frame. Neither were twins' work, which blended seamlessly with what they attaches to, but they were obviously listening devices.

Caleb's eyes flicked to the TV near the large front window twice, drawing my attention to it as well. I glanced at it as I set the picture frame down from where I had picked it up from.

The TV's power light was on amd the screen was black. Now that I was paying attention, I could make out a faint static hum. Thanks to the twins and their Spying 101, I knew what that meant. We were being watched.

"Covet?" Caleb coughed harshly. 'Covet' was Caleb's way of saying 'government' in situations he felt it best to not outright say it.

I shrugged, “I’m heading to my room.”

“Me, too,” Caleb said, walking to the stairs ahead of me. Damn him and his long legs.

Caleb’s room was the last door on the left and mine was directly across from it. Each of us disappeared into our rooms and began searching. In my room, I found one and Caleb found three in his. Once we had done a second sweep of my room, we stood there, looking around. I was glad there wasn’t a television in my room.

"We should check the twins' rooms,” Caleb said.

“One or two?” I asked him.

After a confused second, he responded, “Two.”

Leaving my room, Caleb knocked on the first twin's door. When there was a muffled reply, he went in.

At the next door, I knocked but there wasn't an answer. Assuming both of them were in the other room, I pushed the door open and found Drake asleep on the bed. He looked exhausted so I went hunting alone not disturbing him.

Searching around, I started finding a bug and nearly every corner. Some time later I ran out of places to look other than where the twin was sleeping.

There wasn't a TV in here for some reason, just like my room. Looking at the boy on the bed I realized there were stress lines is near his eyes. I had known Drake was having issues since he had woken screaming a few days after the mission. Josh had calmed him and as far as I new neither knew I had heard him. Nor had I told Caleb. Whatever had happened to the twins while on the mission had damaged Drake's mind.

As I watched, he began twitching faintly and whimpering began coming from his throat. Sweat beaded on his forehead and bare chest.

When he began thrashing around, I walked over and pinned him before he could hurt himself.

“Drake,” I said trying to bring him around. “Drake! Wake up.”

His struggles got worse and I was genuinely concerned. I thought about calling for Caleb but remembered the morphing technology. Acquiring had a calming effect on the target.

Focusing, I began acquiring my friend. It took a few minutes, longer than usual, but he finally calmed and quieted.

Panting from the effort of holding him down, I took my chance and check the bed and found three more bugs stuck underneath it. Someone was watching my friends very closely.