I still had no idea what was going on, but in the few moments I’d had to think, all I could figure was someone had questions about Mr. Left. It was just pure luck that I’d brought my Super’s book today. Finally the door beeped and opened. The room inside was all pale blues and greens, with a high-backed grey chair set facing a long brown table. The table was packed with people, who all stood up when the door opened. Dr. Tellivar led me to the grey chair and motioned for me to take a seat. He glanced around the table, with his hand on the arm of my seat.

  “This is Tyler Kelly, and she also goes by T.J. She is here to answer some questions that you have for her.” I tuned him out as I studied the people standing at the table. A few of them were wearing a light grey uniform type thing, very plain, with a few strips around the collars and sleeves. The three people in the middle of the table, two men and a woman, wore regular business people clothes. The woman was very pale, almost like she was a little bit see through. The man in the very center of the table tapped the ring finger of his right hand during the entire interview, casting an occasional glint on the ceiling from the enormous white gem on that finger.

  Dr. Tellivar finished speaking, gave my shoulder a pat, and went to sit at the end of the table. The pale woman spoke up first. “Thank you for coming in today, Tyler. Which name do you prefer?”

  “Tyler is fine.” My heart was so loud in my ears that I had to focus on the speaker’s face. She went on to ask me a few more basic questions, then the man on the other side of the middle spoke up. He was short, like a barrel, and wore a bright purple blazer. Actually, his style reminded me of Stenway’s. I grinned and immediately swallowed it to answer his question. “I got the job feeding the cats because of my parents. They work at the lab that Mr. Left set up.”

  “No other reason?” The man barked his sentences rather than spoke them.

  “No sir. At least, not that I know of.”

  Then they began to ask questions so fast that I couldn’t see who said what. It was the most I could do to finish a sentence before the next person spoke up.

  “What was your relationship with Ms. Higley?”

  “Did you speak to Mr. Left outside of work?”

  “What was your parent’s participation in Left’s project in the lab?”

  “How did you happen to be at the house on the night in question?”

  “Tell us what you found about Ms. Higley and her address.”

  “What was…”

  “How did you…”

  “When did…”

  Finally the man in the purple blazer smacked his hands down on the table. “We know all this already. We’ve learned nothing new.” He leaned forward to shoot a glare down the table at Dr. Tellivar. “Your man gave us nothing new here.”

  I looked up, offended a little bit and wanting to get some of my own back. “You haven’t asked me about ‘Reckoning Blue’ yet.” Dr. Tellivar paused with his mouth half open, and the rest of the table froze.

  The man with the ring stopped tapping his finger. He spoke for the first time. “How do you know about that?”

  I had everyone’s full attention, now. I glanced at Dr. Tellivar, quickly. From the look on his face, this fact had shocked him too. Catching my eye, he clapped his mouth shut and nodded. I went on. “That’s what Mr. Left got upset with me about.”

  “How did you find out?” The pale lady snapped at me. My heart started racing again.

  A man in the grey uniform laughed sharply. “Not that big of a secret, was it, if a school kid found out.”

  “Quiet.” The man with the ring barked.

  “To be honest, I don’t know how we found out about it…”

  “We?” The man in the purple blazer howled. “What do you mean we?”

  “A… club. From school. We like Supers,” I finished lamely, glancing down the table at Dr. Tellivar. He nodded slightly. I held up my book. The pale lady cocked a finger at me and I slid out of the chair and handed her the book. A ripple of laughter ran down the table as she read off the title out loud, then the room fell silent as she read through the entry on Mr. Left. I wriggled in my chair; my notes sounded like an eight year old had written them.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  The room was silent as the pale lady finished the entry and closed the book. “We’ll need to keep this.”

  “But…” I leaned forward.

  “If I may…” Dr. Tellivar leaned forward.

  But the pale lady spoke right over us. “We may be able to return it to you. In fact, I will get someone to take this right now; since we only need the one entry, we may be able to return it to you today.” I nodded silently.

  “We must return to the important question, which I notice wasn’t answered in that book.” The man in the purple blazer glared around at anyone he could make eye contact with. “How, in god’s name, did you find ‘Reckoning Blue’?”

  “I don’t actually know that.” I answered truthfully. “The kids from the club I am in handed me a note one day with that name on the front, and information on it on the inside. I don’t have the note anymore, Mr. Left took it from me.” Purple Blazer rolled his eyes. “You know, he took it from me, before he tied me up and shoved me in the closet?” I glared back at him. “I don’t know where they got that information or how.”

  “So there are a bunch more kids running around out there that know about the project?”

  “No, just four, maybe five. I’m not sure if my sister knows.”

  The three in the middle of the table leaned their heads together and murmured for a few minutes. I sat there, crossing and uncrossing my arms. A couple of the other people at the table looked like they wanted to say something, but the room remained quiet. Finally the man with the ring signaled to Dr. Tellivar, who hopped up and came around to the front of the table, smiling at me encouragingly. I leaned forward to try to hear what they were saying.

  “... Do with her?”

  “... she’s in danger?”

  “I’m worried… Protect… comes back?”

  I slid down from my chair, my legs wobbling like crazy, and approached the table. Purple Blazer’s head shot up. “Here, now, you can’t…”

  “You’re talking about me and I want to know what you’re saying.” I glared back at him. I didn’t even know his name and here he was, making decisions about me.

  Dr. Tellivar sighed. “We aren’t sure where to go from here, Ms. Kelly. You didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t know, but you know as much as some of the people in this room. Which could put you in danger.”

  The pale lady looked at me, not unkindly. “We think it might be safer for you to stay here, for the time being.”

  “You can’t just do that, I have… people. Parents, and friends, you can’t just make me disappear.” What about Sydney? Would she leave here without me? My parents, I hadn’t seen them since Thursday night, what if… My legs were shaking so hard I had to grab onto the table.

  Dr. Tellivar put a hand on my shoulder. “I think that is a bit of a drastic step. Nothing has happened to her since that night, and if we do decide that she is in danger, a few days to come up with a foolproof reason is a fair trade-off.”

  The pale lady inclined her head. “You may be right. And we do have staff almost on the scene, at the mansion.”

  I sagged against the table in relief. The doctor patted my shoulder. I realized I was completely exhausted. I backed up to the chair and fell into it, pulling my feet up underneath me. My stomach growled loudly into the quiet room; I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d had that ice cream. The pale lady glanced up at me keenly, then murmured something to Dr. Tellivar. They continued their conversation for a few more moments, then the doctor returned to his seat.

  “We want to thank you for coming in today.” The man with the ring nodded at me. “We will be in touch. If you see or hear anything,” for a moment he seemed to grow and tower over the entire table, “You will let us know.” I nodded mutely. “Doctor?”

  Dr. Tellivar slid out of his chair and moved across to mine. “We will go,” he murmured, once again catching my elbow and bringing me to my feet. As we left the room, a low murmur arose from the table as the important people in the room began to discuss everything they’d heard. The door slapped shut behind us and I let out the biggest sigh of my life. The doctor glanced over at me. “You did well. You had one really good eye opener for them, you know. That bit about Reckoning Blue caught them all off guard.” He chuckled. “Does me good.” We were walking back down the hall towards the gate, with the blond lady. She was lounging against the wall, and when she saw us, straightened up, calling out, “You survived! Usually people come out of that room either on a stretcher or in handcuffs. You must be one tough character. Doc, do we need to look out for this one?”

  He frowned slightly, but it made me feel a little bit better.

  “Please, Briony, let us through.”

  She sighed. “You never let me have any fun.”

  He glared at her slightly. “If you remember, I suggested you take a position further up. Down here, I said ‘Briony, you will be bored, you may get into mischief’ and look now.”

  The girl, though, was not cowed. “Aw, live and learn. Working down here, I get to see some hard customers. Like this one here.” She nudged my shoulder gently. I grinned weakly, and my stomach let out another huge growl. “Geez, Doc, get this poor kid something to eat.” She winked at me and triggered the gate. I turned back to wave at her. She ran her fingers through her hair to stand it on end, and waved back. “See ya around.”

  I grinned. “I like her.”

  The doctor murmured. “I wondered.” We made our way to the elevator in silence, and rode it back, still silent. I was so tired, I swayed from side to side. At one point, the doctor caught me as I leaned over too far. Finally we slowed to a stop, and the doors slid open. The doctor put his hands firmly on my shoulders and steered me gently out the door in the waiting room where I had left Sydney and Stenway behind.