“Nasty weather out, isn’t it?” A familiar voice rang through the open door. “Almost as if an atmospheric is bored. Or angry. From what I’ve heard….” the voice trailed off as the owner entered the room.

  Maybe it was just my imagination, now that I knew he was a clairvoyant, or maybe he really did see right through me. For a moment I felt like I couldn't move, and in a few seconds, all the miserable feelings from the past 24 hours flashed through my brain. Those piercing green eyes sliced through me, then opened wide in surprise.

  “Ms. Tyler.”

  “Mmm… Mm. Mr. Left.” In my head, that came out way better.

  “What a surprise to see you here. Almost like old times, isn't it?” His eyes left me to take in Ms. Higley’s face, trailing over it, reading it, almost like a book.

  “That’s what we were just saying, sir.” Ms. Higley didn’t seem to be as affected by those dang eyes like I was. She was steady, gazing back at him.

  “Well, it is just unfortunate that you dropped by today. Ms. Higley and I have somewhere to be.” He nodded gently at her and she bustled from the room.

  “Shall I just, go home, then?”

  “Do you really want to?” He turned back to me.

  “Well, no.” Not really. Not if Stenway was going to be there. “Can I just stay here?”

  Mr. Left laughed. “Absolutely not.”

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “It would be better if you came with us.”

  I eyed him. If I thought that going home to my sister and her on again, off again, jerk-of-a boyfriend was bad, I had a feeling this would be much worse. “Am I, you know, being kidnapped? It wouldn’t be the first time this week.”

  He chuckled, sending a ripple through the room, and I felt like I could relax a little bit. “I guess yes, technically, in the eyes of the law, you would be. But I can’t leave you here and I won’t let you go back to that valet, so I’m bringing you along.” He took my shoulder and steered me out of the room. “If you aren’t opposed to being left in the car, let’s pick out some books for the afternoon?”

  I wasn’t a big fan of the idea, but I had no reason to believe he would hurt me.

  I know. He’s the bad guy. We know this from, well, everything. But considering the alternatives, and the fact that I had no real idea how his super power worked and I was pretty sure that if I tried to run away, he would find me and probably not be as nice to me, I went along. I know, he’s the bad guy. But what would you do? This man had only ever been kind to me, straightforward, no lies. You couldn’t even say that he’d lied about being a Super- no one had asked him.

  Anyways. We picked out a few books together, in a study that was completely identical to (although much smaller than) the study at the mansion. I was amazed.

  Mr. Left took a firm grip on my arm and pressed a buzzer by the door “Ms. H? You ready to go?”

  “Of course sir! Just warming up the car, actually.”

  “How nice.” Mr. Left grinned down at me. “Thanks for going along with all of this.”

  “Yeah, um, sure.” We took an elevator down a few floors, or so it felt like. Ahead of us, in a big hollow room, was a slim black car with its headlights on. Ms. Higley scurried from one car door to the other, waving at us. I settled in the back seat, tucking the books under my feet. I really wanted to ask just how long I was going to be going along with all of this for, but I was scared to find out the answer.

  We drove for quite a ways through some tunnels; Mr. Left drove and Ms. Higley worked some kind of remote, clicking buttons and spinning knobs. Some of the tunnels looked (and smelled) like they were maybe used by the town for water or waste. Finally, we pulled out through a bricked out tunnel, and a metal gate lowered behind us. Mr. Left glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “Still doing alright?”

  “Yes sir.” I kicked the back of my heel against the books. “I can’t read or I’d get carsick.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Ms. Higley swiveled around. “Dear, I’ve got some nausea pills if that would help you.”

  “I don’t mind looking out the window.”

  “Unfortunately, that’s not an option.” Mr. Left looked at me again and fiddled with a knob on the dash, and the windows seemed to get darker and darker until I couldn’t even see out of them. Between the two headrests, a partition slid up until just below the level of the rearview mirror, dimming the backseat even more. “Thank you for being a good sport about this.”

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  “I don’t have a lot of options, do I?”

  Mr. Left chuckled. “No, you don’t.”

  “I just feel like I need to ask again, isn’t this essentially a kidnapping?” Rain drummed on the roof of the car, filling the silence.

  Mr. Left glanced back at me through the rearview mirror. “How does it compare to your previous kidnapping?” I looked away but I could still feel those green eyes pinned to my forehead. “Less emotional variety, it seems.”

  I jerked back up to look at him. “I don’t like that.” It felt like there was a very small balloon in my brain- not really painful, but taking up space that it wasn’t supposed to. I glared at him. “You could just ASK me how it went.”

  “Very well. Ms. Tyler, how was the previous kidnapping?” His eyes dropped from the mirror.

  “It was awful. But I got to meet a Super.” As soon as I said that I wished I could take it back.

  Mr. Left’s eyes snapped up to the rearview mirror and then dropped down again. “Sorry. Habit.” He shifted. “How was that?”

  I stared at the mirror, even though it only reflected back the black partition. “Weird.”

  “It can be weird to meet someone with different… skills than you.”

  “Not that. That part was amazing. She made stuff move with her mind.”

  “They can be scary.” Mr. Left glanced back at me, but not in the seeing through my insides way. “Can make you wonder if you’re going a little bit crazy. Did I leave that coffee cup there? Did I just forget to hang that coat up?” He saw my face. “Sorry, bad example. I do apologize about that coat. I didn’t think you’d realize it had been moved- I thought you’d just remember it differently.”

  I ignored it. It kind of felt like he was bragging a little bit. “She reminded me of someone. She was just so normal. Not like that council.”

  Both of them spun around to look at me, and Ms. Higley dropped the partition down an inch. “You’ve been in front of the council?”

  Mr. Left shook his head. “Really, Ms. Kelly. Don’t bring that up again. Alright? Don’t do it.” He stared at me through the mirror, not quite in my head, but frightening all the same.

  As soon as the car parked, all four doors were yanked open by some men dressed all in black. Mr. Left hopped out and all I could hear was his voice. “I know, I know. Unauthorized persons in the vehicle. I am thinking…” His voice dropped into a murmur as I heard footsteps moving away from the car. Ms. H came around and gently tugged me out of the car.

  “Put her back.” A voice rang out around the huge gray space we were in, sounding like it was coming over a loudspeaker. I looked around but before I could see much besides columns and signs, I was pushed back into the car by something I couldn’t see.

  “Was that really necessary?” Mr. Left’s voice came again, now on my side of the car. He bent over and looked in. “I’m so sorry about this, Ms. Tyler, but unfortunately I am going to have to blindfold you.” He held out a black lump of fabric. “If it looks like a cloth bag, that’s because it is. You’ll still be able to breathe fine. Put it on.” I avoided his eyes as I took the bag and held it. “Quickly, quickly.” I glanced up carefully to see him frowning a bit.

  "I... you said I would stay in the car and read." I folded my arms and leaned back against the seat. He frowned slightly and stared hard at me

  “Sir, I know she is just scared. You would be too.” Ms. H bent down to look in too. “Ms. Tyler, sweetie, we won’t let any harm come to you.” Mr. Left cleared his throat. She sighed. “Nothing serious anyway.”

  “That m-m-m-makes me even more nervous.” I opened the bag and looked into it. In the room beyond the car, a siren started going off. All three of us jumped.

  Ms. H took my hand. “You’re not valuable enough for them to do any long term damage to you, and they aren’t ready to draw attention to themselves by disappearing a young girl all together. We’ll leave later on this afternoon.”

  “We need to hurry, or we’ll lose what little advantage I have.” Mr. Left had turned to look around the room. “Please, Ms. Tyler.”

  With my one hand in Ms. H’s hand, I used my free one to shuffle the bag over my head, and wiggled out of the car. “Ok, I guess.”

  Ms. H started tugging me along and I heard the car door slam behind me. We walked for a long time, pausing every now and then for what I guessed were some kind of security. There were long pauses and lots of beeps. The floor changed a few times, from cold concrete to what felt like carpet or a rug, to something cold and flat, like a kitchen or lab floor. It got colder and colder as we went on.

  I was having trouble hearing through the bag. All I could hear was the occasional mumble, but then I realized that if Mr. Left was able to read minds and put thoughts in minds, he was probably choosing to do that over talk out loud, so that I couldn’t eavesdrop. I didn’t like it.

  Finally I did hear something. “In here, please.” A door swung open, pushing air at me, and Ms. H tugged me inside and onto a chair. Someone tugged at the bag. “You can take this off, for now.” I pulled the bag off and looked around the room. Grey, flat walls, a table, a chair, Ms. H, nothing else. “I have to go now, dearie. Someone will be in for you in a bit.” She took the bag with her as the door swung back shut.

  Just to see what would happen, I screamed. Ok, I was scared. Kind of a lot. And that scream had been stuck inside since I was shoved under the gazebo, so it went on for a good long while. Nothing happened. I leaned back in the chair and wondered if there was someone on the other side of one of these walls, that could see through walls. I stuck my tongue out, just in case. I took another look around the room, and the table, and the chair, standing up to move around some. The door handle rattled and I jumped back into my seat.

  A grey haired man stepped into the room, followed by a woman with all kinds of colored hair. The door stayed open. The man spoke. “Ms. Kelly? Come with us please.”

  “And what if I…” I cleared my throat. “And what if I saw no?”

  The man shrugged his shoulders. “We would make you.” The woman was staring at one of my hands; suddenly it started lifting, and waved at her. I stared at my hand, then back at the woman. She grinned, but it only showed a few of her top teeth, making her look like a dog snarling. “As you see. Please, come with us.” The old man turned to leave, and the woman stepped further into the room to get behind me. I felt a few muscles in my neck twitch and reached back to rub them- as soon as my hand got close, the sensation stopped. I spun around to glare at the woman, then decided I wanted to get as far away from her as possible. I hurried to catch up to the man and followed him through a doorway.