Operation Tenley (5 page)

“What’s worse than becoming an Administrator?” Pennie asked.

“There are a few things,” Laraby said.

Pennie was about to ask what those might be, just before the Fair Force pushed her out the door.

Hadley Beach

Sylma Tylwyth, short as she was, could only just see over the huge stack of food she pushed in her cart.

Tenley Tylwyth pranced ahead of her mother down the Chips ‘n Snacks aisle. Her sash was still draped over her shoulder, “Vote for Me, Tenley T!”
on the front
and
“America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen!”
on the back.

“I thought we’d have lasagna tonight,” Mrs. Tylwyth said, taking the strawberry
Be Awesome
bar that Tenley handed her and balancing it on top of the pile.

“Mom, if I’m going to win the ANMIT nomination, I can’t eat lasagna. That’s made in like, Italy or somewhere.” Tenley plucked a jar of peanut butter off the shelf and handed it to her mother. “I have to eat only American food, remember? That was part of my pledge?”

Mrs. Tylwyth waited for Tenley to giggle.

But Tenley didn’t look like she was kidding. In fact, she looked like she was making a mental list. “So. This is what I’m thinking: Double-stuffed baked potatoes, those are like totally American, and sirloin tips and corn on the cob. Then for breakfast, pancakes, maple syrup, and Lucky Charms. All totally American.”

“It’s not the season for corn on the cob, honey.”

Tenley spun around. Mrs. Tylwyth had to swerve the cart not to hit her. A few cereal boxes and a container of marshmallow fluff landed on the floor.

“Anything’s possible, Mom
,
if you want it bad enough. You’re the one who told me that.” She leaned down to pick up the fallen items. “You’re going to be the mother of
America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen
.” She threw out her hands and pulled her mother in for a hug. “Hopefully.”

Mrs. Tylwyth blinked back tears. “You know what, honey? I think we can find some in the frozen food section.”

At the checkout line, the tired-looking but pleasant clerk dropped the magazine she was reading and nodded a warm hello. “I’m sorry, ladies, but this is for twelve items.”

Tenley pointed at their cart. “We have twelve.”

“Or less,” the clerk answered. “Aisle three is open.”

Aisle three had an old, bent-over cashier and a line four carts deep.

“Well, the thing is, ma’am, I’m trying to get nominated for
America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen
.”

“Oh, jeez, that’s great.” The clerk smiled at Mrs. Tylwyth.

“Thank you,” Tenley said. “And it’s on in, like, fifteen minutes, so I kind of need to get home to watch it.”

“You’re on TV in fifteen minutes?” The clerk flipped on her conveyer belt. “Well, what are ya’ doin here? Let’s get you out.”

“Oh no—” Mrs. Tylwyth waved. “Tenley, I think you’ve confused this nice woman. The voting isn’t for a few more days.”

The clerk stopped rushing and looked up. “Oh.”

Tenley grinned. “My mom’s right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to confuse you. I just really, really want to win so I watch every single episode from last year to try to learn as much as I can about how to be the most inspirational teenager that I can be.”

The clerk looked impressed. “Well, that’s something pretty great, then. What do you do to inspire your fellow teens?” She winked at Mrs. Tylwyth. “I got two of ‘em. One’s always on her what-not device. And the other’s crazy about that
Naked and Not Found
show. Can’t get enough of it.”

“Nail art,” Tenley said proudly. “I think it’s super important for girls to feel confident about their hands. I have a nail art tutorial on my YouTube channel.”

The clerk stared at Tenley.

“You’re very kind,” Mrs. Tylwyth pointed to the
Twelve Items or Less
sign.

The clerk looked at Mrs. Tylwyth. “Think nothing of it. You’ve got yourself a real go-getter here. I’ll be rooting for you …”

Tenley pointed to her sash. “Tenley T. Vote for me!”

At the exit, Mrs. Tylwyth stopped. A rainstorm was flooding the parking lot.

“Oh, dear. I think we should wait it out,” Mrs. Tylwyth said.

“I can’t, Mom. The show starts in seven minutes.”

“It’s dangerous to drive in this, Tenley. I’m sorry.” Mrs. Tylwyth backed the cart up and disappeared around the corner.

Tenley frowned. When she was sure no one was watching, she ran outside, glanced upwards, and blew. Once. Twice. The rain overhead began to subside. She blew a third time and the clouds broke apart, forming a clearing over the parking lot.

She hurried back inside and found her mother. “Mom, it stopped. Let’s go.” Tenley grabbed the cart and hurried out the door before Mrs. Tylwyth could protest.

Fair City

Room 71 was completely empty.

“Someone will be with you shortly,” the Fair Force said before closing the door and leaving Pennie alone.

Pennie stepped in farther. Without her tool belt, the bottoms of her robes were dragging and starting to gray.

A moment later, a very small Fairship stepped directly out of the wall and into the room. “Oh, goody. I heard you were coming.” Almost reaching Pennie’s shoulders, making her three feet tall at best, the Fairship’s white robes had splatters of color across them. They also had red cuffs. She was an Original Eight.

Pennie prepared herself for another cranky tone, but instead this Lady Fairship smiled. “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”

“Not at all,” Pennie said, admiring how the Fairship’s curly red hair hung loosely around her face. Pennie checked on her own tight bun.

“I’m
Tinktoria. Please call me Tink. And you must be Fair One
penn 1
?”

“Yes.”

“Follow me.” She waved.

Pennie hurried after her, but stopped when Tinktoria disappeared through the wall.

“Oopsie!” she heard Tink say before reappearing again. “I always forget that everyone else needs one of these too.” She slipped one of two quartz crystals in the shape of an eight from around her neck and handed it to Pennie. She tucked the other one back under her robes.

“This is beautiful,” Pennie said. The crystal was as big as her palm and glowing.

“Let’s try this again. Follow me.” Tink disappeared once more.

Pennie didn’t move.

“Come on now,” she called through the wall. “Take a step. You’ll see.”

Pennie wrapped her fingers around the crystal and stepped forward. Her foot disappeared. She took another step and found herself on the other side of the wall. “
Wow
.”

Assuming Pennie was impressed with walking through the wall, Tink nodded. But it was the explosion of colors Pennie was talking about. Easels and canvases littered the room. Paint splotches covered the floor. She had never seen these colors anywhere in Fair City. With the exception of the Fair Ones’ red hair, Fair City was grayscale—differing shades of black until the lightest black became white.

“Now you know what I do in my free time, which, between you and me, is most of the time.” Tink waved to the paintings, all of Earth: rivers and forests and oceans. “Oh. Crystal, please.”

Pennie dropped the crystal eight back into Tink’s hand. “I’ve never seen so much color in Fair City before.”

“Yes, well. We are grossly lacking in it.”

Tink led Pennie through the maze of art to a large hammock hanging from the ceiling. Two potted trees sat on either side of it. Built from space junk inside the asteroid belt, Fair City was nothing but bits of rock and debris. Pennie had never seen a tree in person before, but some Fair Ones suspected there were a few hidden in privileged places.

She reached out to touch a leaf, then stopped.

“Oh, go on!” Tink flapped her hand. “Let me introduce you; this is Hap and this is Happier.” She smiled at her little palm trees and repositioned the two sun lamps next to them. “Difficult place, Earth. But it does produce some gems.”

Pennie stroked the leaves gently. Velvet.

“Now, I was just taking a siesta,” Tink said as she dropped into the hammock and patted the spot next to her, “when they told me you’d be dropping by.”

Pennie sat gingerly. Tink didn’t seem bothered when they collapsed into each other.

“
penn 1
. I knew a
benn 1
once. Long time ago. Oh! I forgot the tea. And I forgot to ask, tea?”

“Okay, sure. Thanks,” Pennie said.

Tink hopped off the hammock and walked over to a purple square painted on the wall. “Let’s get down to business. I’ll need to know a few things.” After a quick tap on the square, a hologram screen appeared with a photo of Pennie standing very straight with a serious look on her face. Instead of robes, she wore a white shirt and big roomy bloomers.

“This was your official Fair One application photo.” Tink pressed another spot on the wall, a green square, and reached in for two mugs of steaming tea.

“I don’t even remember taking this.” Pennie studied the photo. She looked the same, except for the shorter red hair. Other than that, she had the same small nose, grayish-greenish eyes and full cheeks.

“We keep all Fair One information on Fairbook. Here you are.” She handed Pennie one of the mugs and placed her own on a small shelf that appeared on the wall as soon as she walked by it. “Now, I understand your client is to be erased?”

A hologram tablet, having appeared on the shelf next to the tea, started calculating something.

“No,” Pennie said. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Of course. You’re interested in The Right to Delete. Forty-eight hours to convince your client to delete her elemental power, which is …”

“Wind.”

“That’s a good one. Not the best, but good. Personally, I’d want the water element. Water is life, after all. But you get what you get, I suppose.”

Pennie smiled politely. Ever since the Super’s disappearance, some humans were born with weather powers. No one knew why. But once the Fairships realized these humans were in more danger than the average human, the original Protection Plan was rewritten to give each one of these clients their own Fair One.

“Now,” Tink said. “This
challenge
you are entering into is a little
dicey.
We have to make sure you understand this.”

Pennie looked at the corners of the ceiling. “Are we being recorded?”

“What
isn’t
being recorded in Fair City?” Tink clicked on the tablet. “Six months old when she discovered her element?”

“I know I should have reported it. But I was afraid of what you, I mean not
you
you, but what the Fair Force would do to her.”

“Exactly what they will do to her if she doesn’t agree to give up her element in forty-eight hours.”

Pennie looked stricken.

Tink realized her curtness. “I apologize, Fair One. It seems you care about your client a great deal.” She softened. “Why?”

“She’s my client. It’s my job.”

“Yes, exactly. It’s
just
a job. And if it’s proving too dangerous to keep your client where she is, then it’s your job to hand her over to us.”

Pennie squirmed in the hammock.

“What is it, Fair One? If there’s a skeleton in your closet, best to get it out now. I can find everything I need to know in our database anyway.”

Pennie hesitated. She’d never told this to anyone. “One day, when Tenley Tylwyth was about two years old, I wasn’t observing her as closely as I should have been.” Pennie struggled with her words. “I went on an unauthorized space trip. Anyway, my client must have been practicing her wind element because right when I got back to the ob-spot, the palm tree next to their house was swaying out of control. Violently. I tried to stop it, but I was too late. Skipper Tylwyth, Tenley’s father, was only inches away from it when it fell into their living room.”

“Her element had that much force at such a young age?”

Pennie nodded. “The thing is, after narrowly escaping death, he vowed never to live anywhere near palm trees, or any other trees, again.”

“Are you saying her father left?”

“A fishing rig. In Alaska. He’s never come back.” Pennie felt a sting in her heart.

“And still, even after that, you refused to report your client?”

“It was
my
fault. I should have stopped that tree from falling. I could have if I hadn’t gone with my friends.” Pennie looked down.

“I see. And your client,” Tink swiped at the tablet, “she’s interested in winning a beauty contest?”

Pennie tried to sit higher in the hammock, but slid back down again. “
America’s Next Most Inspirational Teen
, actually.”

“How serious is she about winning?”

“Very. Local nominations are in two days. If she wins that, she goes onto the national level.” Pennie lowered her voice. “I think she’s determined to get famous so her father will see her on TV.”

Tink looked suspicious. “Determined enough to use her element for the talent portion of this contest?”

“No. No way. She’d never do that.” But Pennie’s stomach flipped. If Tenley used her element on TV, Mother Nature would find her in an instant.

Tink looked unconvinced. “Let’s get you ready.” She took the tea from her, still untouched.

“My tool belt is checked at the front.”

“You won’t be needing that.”

“Great.” Fair Force technology was infinitely more advanced than Fair One tools. Monitoring a client through a 3
^rd
i-All was rumored to feel so much like standing on Earth that some Fair Force got queasy.

After struggling with the hammock, Pennie followed Tink past the canvases and paint, and back to the wall again. Tink handed Pennie the crystal eight, and once they were on the other side, Pennie handed it back to her.

“All clear,” Tink said stepping into the hallway. “Quickly now.”

Tink moved fast on her tiny feet. After a few twists and turns, the two stopped in front of a break in the wall.

“We try not to be obvious about where Command Center is,” Tink whispered at Pennie’s confused look. “Never can be too careful.”

“The
real
Command Center?”