MAXIM: A New Type of Human (Oddily Series #2) (15 page)

“I don’t give a damn! Where is my sister?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”

Maxim snapped and lunged for Zaylyn, but she was quicker and got away.

“How dare you!” she frowned, while dodging his second attempt.

“What have you done with my sister?!” He went for a third try and failed.

“Calm down Maxim. I’ll let you speak with her.”

Zaylyn crossed her arms over her chest. “Go ahead. Make your telepathic connection with her.”

Nexa, can you hear me?
Maxim spoke in the language that the two had made up as children, so Nexa did the same.

Maxim, where are you? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for over an hour.
Why were you blocking me?

I wasn’t. It was Zaylyn that created the barrier between us.

That bitch! After she pushed me into the grave meant for her, she shoveled dirt in my face. Paul intervened and tried to stop her from throwing more soil on me, but she threw him in as well. Thankfully, I transported myself home before he fell on top of me. I don’t know what kind of powers that girl has, but you need to stay away from her. She is insane.

What do you think happened to Paul?

He probably experienced the same thing I did, and is now at home.

All right, listen to me sis. I don’t know how much time we have to talk, so I’m going to make this quick .Willa is in my room with Oddily. She has a new body so don’t be frightened when you see her. I’m here with Zaylyn and…!
Before Maxim could continue,
the connection between him and Nexa came to a halt.

Maxim turned to Zaylyn. “I have no feelings towards you Zaylyn. It’s just not there for me and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“That’s not true Maxim. I can do plenty and I already have. I’m tired of chasing after your ass, so I’m leaving you with a situation. When you figure it out, you’ll hunt me down and give me what I want.”

“What are you up to?” Maxim’s questioning mind began to race. “What have you done?”

“You’ll see. And by the way—don’t wait too long because it’s not going to be easy to find me.”

“Wait!” Maxim tried to stop Zaylyn from leaving but he was too late.

* * * * * *

Back at the house, Nexa feared for her brother’s safety knowing he was with Zaylyn. She dried off from the shower, got dressed, and then ran to the opening of Maxim’s bedroom. Just as he had said, an android unlike the Willa she remembered was standing over the bed next to Oddily’s sleeping form.

When the new and improved Willa spotted her, it hurried over to where she stood. “Nexa, I can’t believe it’s you! You have grown into such a beautiful young woman.”

Nexa brushed the compliment aside. “Listen to me Willa. I just heard from Maxim, and I’m worried because he’s with Zaylyn.”

“Sweetheart, Nero knows Zaylyn well. He is friends with her father. Go and hear what he has to say about this girl.”

“You’re right. I’ll leave right now.” Nexa stepped away from Willa and the energy surrounding her began to intensify. Then, like magic, Willa watched Nexa disappear within a beam of light.

16

The next morning, Oddily opened her eyes and stretched until she spotted Willa. ”Oh, I didn’t know you were still here.”

“Good morning.” Willa tried to sound like a typical android.

Oddily glanced around the room with blurry eyes. “Where is Maxim?”

“He isn’t here.”

“
Geez
…what time is it?” She sat up, throwing off the covers.

“It is nine-fifteen and thirty-two seconds.”

Oddily climbed out of bed on unsteady legs and headed for the bathroom. “I wonder why Nexa didn’t come in and wake me up.”

“Why are you wobbling Oddily?”

The fact that Willa had asked a question was surprising, but she answered it anyway. “For some reason, I feel really weird today.”

“Explain in what way you feel weird.”

Oddily paused. “I don’t know. I have this strange feeling in my head.”

Willa took a step forward. “Have you ever felt this way before?”

Oddily scratched her head. “No, but I’ll be fine. Umm…I really need to get dressed now.”

Oddily got dressed and said goodbye to Willa, but the android had followed her downstairs. Sweeper came and scanned her body as usual while she searched for Nexa.

“Nexa is not home.” Willa spoke again.

“Oh darn, she left without me. How am I going to get to school?”

“I will drive you today.” Willa volunteered, concerned over the paleness of Oddily’s skin.

Oddily wasn’t sure if she understood what Willa meant. “You’re programmed to drive a car?”

“You are correct.”

Oddily wasn’t convinced. “No, that’s okay. I’ll just go ahead and take my car. I can drive well enough to get me to school and back.”

“Are you sure?”

Oddily took note of Willa’s concern. “I have my driver’s permit. I’ll be fine.”

Willa realized that she needed to keep her mouth shut before Oddily got too suspicious of her. For fear of sounding too motherly, she had to back off and allow Oddily to do as she pleased.

Oddily hopped into her green Smart car and began to drive slowly through the lush landscape to the underground tunnel. She was wondering about the mystery of her surroundings and was curious to know what would happen if she ever told someone about this place. It didn’t matter though, because her lips were sealed. She didn’t need to be told that there was something very strange, but special, going on around there.

Then her thoughts drifted to Willa—the android that wouldn’t stop staring at her. It was beginning to make her uncomfortable, which was why she attempted to drive herself to school. She needed a break from her.

Oddily turned up the volume to her favorite song and listened as she drove through the tunnel. Neither Maxim, nor Nexa, had bothered to explain the reason for the crazy route they all had to take to get to the main street. It was as if they didn’t know what to say, so they said nothing

Finally, Oddily had safely made it to school and was rushing through one of the empty halls when Starla poked her head out of the girl’s bathroom.

“Oddily, come here!”

Oddily paused while remaining where she stood. “What do you want?”

“Do you see Kip anywhere?”

Oddily glanced up and down the hallway. “I don’t see him…why? You look upset.”

“My dumb-ass boyfriend is driving me crazy!” Starla snapped with daggers in her eyes.

Oddily listened politely to Starla’s whiny voice and then said, “It couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl. Well, goodbye—I’m late for class.”

“You little bitch!” Starla yelled as Oddily hurried away.

Inside the classroom, Oddily took her seat with her mind still on Starla. A short time ago, it would have been nearly impossible for her to say something that would anger Starla; but now, it was no big deal.

Oddily was savoring these thoughts when her attention went to Paul. Was he staring at her? Yes he was, so she gave him a polite smile.

In response, he leaned towards her and whispered. “Are you all right?”

“Paul, there will be no talking during class.” The teacher warned him.

Oddily took out a piece of paper from her notebook and wrote, I’m fine, and showed it to Paul. He nodded. Then, after she glanced at Nexa’s vacant seat, she wrote, have you seen Nexa this morning?

He shook his head slightly, and wrote her a message back. Try calling her on your cell phone after class.

Oddily had completely forgotten about the phone she had tucked inside her pocket and when class was over, she speed dialed Nexa.

“Good morning, Oddily.”

“Good morning, Nexa. Where are you? How come you didn’t show up for school today?”

“I had some things I needed to take care of, but I’ll pick you up after…hey, wait a minute. How did you get to school?”

“I drove my car, but don’t worry. I was careful.”

The tiredness in Oddily’s voice weighed heavily on Nexa’s mind. “Is Paul with you?”

“Yes, he’s standing right here.”

“Could you put him on the phone, please?”

Paul took the phone from Oddily and said, “Hey Nexa, what’s up?”

“Does Oddily seem okay to you, and has she mentioned anything about what happened last night?”

“No and no, but something’s up.” Paul glanced at Oddily’s weary eyes.

“Is Oddily listening?”

“Yep, you got that right.”

“Should I be concerned? I can come right now if you think I should.”

“Nah, there’s no rush…but check with me later.”

Paul hung up with Nexa and entered his phone number before trying to hand Oddily’s phone back to her, but she was preoccupied with Pepper and Carrie.

“Hey, what’s with the disappearing act girl? We had to ditch three hot guys to look for you!”

“Yeah, that was rude!” Carrie, once so worried became irritated. “Why did you ditch us?”

When Paul saw the bewildered look overshadowing Oddily’s face, he stepped in. “Sorry guys. Maxim had me pick her up and I was in kind of a rush.”

“That’s no excuse,” Pepper complained. “I even had my mom go to the police station to fill out a missing persons report; but because of your age, we were told we had to wait for seventy two hours.”

“She’s right Oddily.” Carrie jumped in, “and you could have at least taken your bags with you. We had to drag them around with us the whole time we looked for your ass.”

“I’m sorry.” Oddily became so confused, she didn’t know what to think; but her instincts told her to go along with Paul’s charade the best she could.

“Are Oddily’s bags still in your SUV?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, they’re stuffed in the back seat.”

“Why don’t I take them off your hands after school, and I’ll owe you guys a dinner for your trouble.”

“How about getting together tonight?” Carrie began to flirt as usual when a cute boy was around.

“Great. I’ll meet you guys at Woodland Cuisine at Seven o’clock.”

Pepper’s eyes lit up. “Wow, that’s an expensive place.”

Paul smiled. “You guys deserve it after what I put you through, and please don’t blame Oddily. She wanted to let you know she was leaving, but was an ass and rushed her.”

“That’s okay.” Carrie gave him a playful wink, and then turned to Oddily. “I’ll forgive you this time, but don’t do that again.”