Annalise Springster's a High School Dropout

Chapter 3

Cassie's POV

Annalise Springster turns on the news while waiting for everyone to settle into the living room. I get up from my seated position and begin to make my way to the stairs, but I am stopped in my tracks by a rumbling explosive roar emanating from the TV.

"Oh my­—"

"INCOMING NEWS," runs in red letters across the bottom of the screen.

Whatever this is, I really don't need to see it right now.

Above that, appears a pepper haired man in a suit. "This just in a were are receiving more information on the Winschester Inc. office building that exploded earlier today in Southern California. The building was left in shambles, but firefighters managed to recover an unscathed dark green box, about the size of a shoebox, that local authorities believe to have been the device used to take down the seventeen-story building. Federal investigators believe this is the same kind of device used to destroy a Lightwing law firm two years ago and they are in the process of calling upon some of the U.S.'s brightest tech minds to examine it. We have Jan Coplane on the scene right now. Jan?"

The screen switches over to a petite reporter standing with a balding man sporting sunglasses and a coffee. The tie he wears is loose and his shirt is unbuttoned.

Someone looks glad to be off work.

"Hi-ya Mark. Yes, I'm at the scene now and behind us, it's just total carnage. It may be difficult to see, but the explosion completely ripped apart the framework of the building. I'm told by eyewitnesses that the fire burned for three hours before firefighters could contain it. By then, however, the damage had already been done. The box that you mentioned is indeed peculiar, officials say they are unsure how the box operates as it is quite literally appears to have no openings, but is really just a smooth surface all around. I have here with me, John Duplin, an employee at this Winchester office, to give his account of the fire." She points the microphone towards the man with the coffee.

"Yeah. I-uh. I usually work pretty late at the office, and I don't know." He sips his coffee casually. "I was, I was actually on my way back from a bagel run when it happened. The fire, you know it was uh, it was pretty hot..."

"They never find the right people to interview, do they?" Annie says, her expression unreadable.

Deciding I have had enough, I stand and move towards the stairs.

"Oh, hey, Cass."

"Yeah?"

"When I came down to get Cole, Karla was at the top step. Looked like she'd shut down."

"Thanks."

I go with the intention of retrieving my brothers, but instead I decide to go to my room and give my dad another call.

I trust that Annie told him what happened, but I just want to be sure.

I reach the stairs and see a quick flash of movement from above. Karla is standing at the top of the flight stiff as if she had been shut down, but there is still a soft glow of red light in one of the bulbs on the base of her steel body.

"Nice try, Karla," I mount the steps a bit exhausted, "If you're going to play dead, at least make sure all your lights are off."

Springing to life, not without some screeching and grinding, and she says, "Was it really that bad, mistress?" I wince a little but try hard to control it. A human voice originiating from a metal shell is something I don't think I'll ever get used to. She sounds so natural. Daddy told me that the robots back in Louisiana had this odd techno voice, kind of like what you would expect a dictionary to sound like if dictionaries could talk.