Chapter 11

Becky and I walked into the Wendy’s and got in line, waiting for Edward to walk through the door. The school day was long and hard and all I was really looking forward to was going back to my room and taking a nap since I finished all of my schoolwork in class.

"Are you sure you told him to meet today?" Becky asked, studying the door to probably look for Edward.

"I know I told him to meet today. He even confirmed it this morning!" I said, sighing heavily. "He probably has to talk to his uncle about it."

"He’s staying with his uncle?"

"Yeah."

"Sorry I’m late." Edward apologized, walking into the restaurant and getting in line with us. "My uncle was having a crisis, so I had to help him deal with it."

"What kind of crisis?" Becky asked.

"Kitchen pot was bubbling over."

"That sucks. Kinda had to deal with my own family crisis last night too. Granted, I know that they are completely different, but still. Had my own crisis last night too."

"Was it the fact that your parents were fighting or something else?" Becky asked gently.

"It talks."

"What talks?" Edward asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"The thing my mom brought me yesterday."

Becky’s eyes widened. "It talks?"

"It talks."

"What is this it you two keep referencing to?" Edward asked exhaustedly as the person in front of us ordered their food.

I unlocked my phone, going to my gallery and pulling up a picture of Koda to show to Edward. "It talks."

"You have a talking-"

"Yes, now shush. I’m trying to keep it as lowkey as possible so it doesn’t get experimented on."

"What do you want?" Becky asked, turning towards us. "I’ll pay."

"Vanilla Frosty. Doesn’t matter what size." I said, shrugging as Edward gave me a look of disdain. "What now, Edward?"

"You’re one of those people?"

"Meaning what exactly?"

"You actually think that vanilla counts as a Frosty?"

"In so many ways, yes!"

"Edward, I’m assuming that you want a Chocolate Frosty?" Becky asked exhaustedly.

"Yes! I want the real Frosty flavor!"

"Vanilla is a real Frosty flavor!" I argued back as I sat down at a table, Edward right next to me at the small table.

"I beg to differ-"

"Well, you are wrong!" I argued back.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!"

"God, you two are so loud." Becky said, rolling her eyes as she plopped down next to Edward. "Anyway, have you briefed him on the reason we have gathered at this Wendys today?"

"No, because I thought that we were gonna do that together."

"Right… Sorry. I forgot that we talked about that in English." Becky said nervously, laughing as she looked over at Edward.

"So… What exactly did you gather me here for?"

"What do you think about Herbstreit? Weird, cool, what’s your opinion on the guy?" I asked, Edward readjusting in his seat.

"He’s definitely not Brain Dump, that’s for sure." Edward said, rolling his eyes.

"How do you know that for sure?" Becky asked, shaking her head with surprise.

"Because the real Brain Dump is a family friend." Edward said, shrugging as he looked at the cash register, waiting for the Frosties.

I felt my eyes widen. "You mean you actually know the guy?"

"Yeah. His son is my best friend." Edward said casually.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Damian and I are close. Why are you two asking?"

"Well… Do you know who Mr. Herbstreit is?"

"Nope. All I do know is that he’s pretending to be someone he’s not and I’m not a fan of him." Edward said, shrugging again as Becky got up and grabbed the three Frosties and an order of large fries. "How did you two find out about this anyway? I thought that I was the only one who knew."

"Becky has been keeping notes on it since last year, and I found out yesterday watching a video and realized that his dominant hand was right instead of left."

Edward nodded approvingly. "Never would have thought to look at what hand he writes with."

"Neither did I until my history teacher put on a video with Brain Dump in it yesterday."

"Of course it was freaking history."

"I didn’t think that things were so bad in England." Becky said, pointing to the TV in the corner that was showing a protest against Alexander Winchester’s recent anti supers laws. "Not to sound rude, but is that why you left England?"

"No, my parents had to leave on a business trip, and since I didn’t have any other family members in England, I got sent here."

"What do you think of everything going that’s going on right now?"

"Alexander is obviously lashing out because his parents aren’t there right now." Edward said bitterly.

"What do you mean?" Becky asked cautiously. "Doesn’t everyone in the royal family have powers?"

"Not exactly." Edward admitted. "Ever since King Reginald the Twelfth was the first monarch to have powers, it’s been a tradition to have the powers run in the family. Even if you’re the first born child, you’re not guaranteed the throne unless you have powers. Technically, the throne is supposed to go to Prince Braylen, the second born in the family because he was the first one born in the family with super powers, then the throne goes to their younger sister, Princess Camille, and then the throne goes to Prince Alexander since he wasn’t born with powers."

"Wait… Alexander doesn’t have powers? But he has the ability to calm down crowds..." Becky said uneasily.

"That’s Princess Camille’s power, and she doesn’t calm down crowds. She has the ability to influence people’s emotions. Camille is always hiding behind a wall and she’s the one who sways the people to Prince Alexander’s side. He’s using her against her will."

"Edward, are you good?" I asked gently. His voice was getting angrier and angrier as he kept talking.

"Why wouldn’t I be fine?"

"You just keep getting angrier and angrier as you keep talking. Just concerned, that’s all."

Edward sighed heavily. "Fine… So, you guys asked me here to see if I wanted to join your little spy group or something?"

"We’d make a good triangle..." Becky said happily.

"Are we gonna have a code name?" Edward asked, ignoring the triangle comment.

"The Unmaskers?" I suggested jokingly.

"I like it!" Becky said happily, dipping a french fry into her Frosty, which Edward turned up his nose to. "It says our goal pretty clearly."

"Yes, but is that too clear? I feel like people will catch on rather quickly if that’s our name." Edward criticized.

"You mean, you’re in?" I asked cautiously.

"Obviously."

"Koda can be our mascot!"

"Koda? Who’s Koda?"

"It." Becky said simply.

"Oh..." Edward said cautiously. "At any rate, I’m in."

"I’m in too, obvi." Becky said, rolling her eyes.

"Let’s do this!" I said excitedly.

The three of us spent at least another hour theorizing about things we could do or times to meet until we all got up and walked towards the door. Becky and I both waved goodbye to Edward as we piled into Becky’s car and drove back to my house. Becky drove off and I cautiously walked up to the door, opening it up as I saw Mom and Dad sitting at the kitchen table as Koda came running towards me from upstairs.

"Let me guess," I said, gripping the strap of my backpack and looked at Mom and Dad, Koda jumping around my legs. "Because of you two’s constant fighting, you two are taking a break. Mom is going to live with Aunt Peggy back home since it’s closer to work and Dad is staying here for his job with me and Koda? Do I have it all right?"

Dad blinked a couple times. "What did you do, time travel to the future?"

"No..." I said quickly, trying to mask my shock at how closely Dad had guessed to my other power. "I just figured that that was gonna happen eventually because you two have been at each other’s throats recently."

"Honey, are you gonna be okay?" Mom asked cautiously.

"Yeah. I’m gonna be just fine." I said, picking up Koda and walking to my room. "Now, if you will excuse us, Koda and I are actually going to unpack my room entirely since I haven’t had the chance to do that yet."

"Anna, honey-"

"I’m good Mom, seriously." I said, closing the door to my bedroom and setting Koda down on the ground. "God, I hate how predictable they are sometimes."

"You know that this-"

"Yes, Koda, I am aware that this isn’t my fault. God, I wish people would stop saying that."

"I’m sorry." Koda said sadly, laying down on the ground as I dug into a box by my bed. "I didn’t mean to make you angry."

I sighed heavily. "You didn’t, Koda. I’m just frustrated with them. I expected this to happen eventually."

"How’d you know?"

"When people start arguing in the way that my parents argue, then you kinda start to expect things. More arguments, taking a break, leaving the house, and eventually, divorce where you have to figure out who you want to live with until you finish high school."

"Is that really how divorce is like?"

"From what my friends back home have told me, yes."

"Humans should be like wolves." Koda said suddenly.

"Bloodthirsty creatures that live in the woods and do lots of hunting?" I asked, growing confused with what Koda was trying to say.

"No. Wolves are pack animals, just like dogs. Only difference is that wolves, when they mate, they mate for life. If humans were like that, then maybe things wouldn’t be so complicated."

"Why don’t dogs do that?"

"I don’t know! I’m three months old! I barely know anything!"

I laughed a bit, bending down and scratching Koda behind the ears. "Well, you may not know a lot, but you sure do know tons of information for your age!"

"Am I a good boy?" Koda asked excitedly, wagging his tail as he rolled onto his stomach. "Did I make you feel any better from what I think is a bad situation?"

"You made me feel great." I said excitedly. "That reminds me, how do you feel about being a group mascot for a group of teenagers trying to unmask a guy?"

"I’m cool with that!" Koda said excitedly.

"Awesome!" I said happily.

"I’m so excited!" Koda said, barking as he jumped up and down.

"Okay, okay, I get it." I said, laughing as Koda quieted down. "Now quiet down, I gotta finish unpacking."

"Right. Sorry." Koda apologized. So far, maybe Mom going away for a while wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It’d give me more chances for self training and give Koda more chances to talk. One thing was for sure, these next few weeks were going to be interesting.

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