Beverly Hills Mall

Beverly Grove, Los Angeles, California

"Dude, we've got to go," Brendan shouted at Kiawe, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of the video arcade.

"Just a minute," Kiawe said. His eyes his were glued to his game his, as Brendan and Alain watched from behind. "I'm not done yet."

"Yes, you are," Brendan said. He raised his hand and the video game popped loudly and its screen went black.

"Dude, I was up to level eighteen! Turn it back on."

"Yeah, right." Brendan said. "I fried the circuits. No one's ever turning that game back on."

"Thanks a lot," Kiawe said, standing.

"It's time to go," Alain said. "We're meeting the girls for dinner at the food court before Selene and I have to leave."

Alain and Selene were scheduled to fly out from Beverly Hills to Switzerland at midnight, while Brendan, May, and Kiawe would fly directly to Taiwan the next morning, which was why they had decided to make one last trip to the mall.

"You didn't have to destroy the game," Kiawe grumbled.

"You like that?" Brendan said as they walked out of the arcade, "Watch this." He raised his hand and pulsed. The entire arcade went dark. There was a moment of stunned silence; then everyone started shouting. Brendan grinned. "Do you have any idea how much it will cost them to fix that mess?"

Selene and May were already in the food court when the boys arrived. They were leaning against a wall near the entrance, comparing their clothing purchases.

"Hey, beautifuls," Brendan said to the girls.

"It's about time you guys got here," Selene said. "We're starving."

"We had to drag Kiawe away from Grand Theft Auto. Where do you want to eat? They've got sushi, Chinese, Mexican, Italian. . ."

"I'm getting Chinese," Kiawe said. "I gotta have tofu."

"You've got tofu for brains," Alain said. "You're going to be eating nothing but Chinese food for the next month."

"I'm getting a calzone," Brendan said.

"Sounds good to me," Alain said.

"And me," May said.

"Make that four," Selene said.

"I'm still getting Chinese," Kiawe said, walking off alone.

"Suey yourself," Alain said.

Brendan led the rest of them over to DiSera's, an Italian café squeezed in between a corn dog restaurant and a sandwich shop. "Do you know what 'calzone' means in Italian?" Brendan asked.

"Let me guess," Selene said. "Folded pizza?"

Brendan shook his head. "It means socks."

Selene grimaced. "You mean like the kind you wear on your feet?"

"Esatto," he replied.

"Makes you want the capellini instead," May said.

"Capellini means hair," Brendan said.

"Now I'm totally grossed out," Selene said. "The Italians don't know how to name food."

"But they know how to make it," Brendan said.

Brendan ordered four calzones, two capellini with sage and pine nuts, and six garlic breads topped with mozzarella cheese. After they'd gotten their food they walked out to the courtyard.

"There's no place to sit," Selene said. "This place is a zoo."

"No," Brendan said. "It's a chicken pen. And these chickens are too stupid to know they should scatter when hungry Eagles arrive."

"I can take care of the chickens," Alain said. "Where do you want to sit?"

"Ladies?" Brendan said.

"How about that table right there?" Selene said, pointing to a rectangular table crowded with diners.

"You got it," Alain said. He reached out toward the table. Suddenly everyone jumped up screaming and clutching their backsides. Nearly half the people in the food court turned to look at them.

Two of the people tried sitting back down, but after Alain burned them again, they grabbed their trays and left.

"Leaving so soon?" Alain said as he sat down at the now abandoned table.

Brendan sat at the head of the table, with Alain on one side and Selene on the other. It had taken a while for Alain to accept Brendan's leadership of the group but now that he had, he had done so completely, assigning himself the role of enforcer.

"It's good to get back to Beverly Hills," May said, sipping her Coke. "It feels like it's been years since I've been shopping."

"It's been a week," Brendan said. "If that."

"I mean real shopping," she said.

"As opposed to fake shopping?" Alain said.

"Don't mind them," Selene said. "I know what you mean."

"Enjoy it," Brendan said. "You're not going to get any shopping done in Taiwan."

"They have malls," Selene said. "I checked."

"You won't have time to shop," Brendan said. "We've got a job to do."

May frowned. "I don't even know where Taiwan is."

"It's an island a hundred miles off the southeast coast of China," Brendan said.

"Why are we going there?"

"To guard a girl the Lung Li brought to the Starxource compound," Brendan said. "Didn't you hear anything Dr. Cyrus said on the call last night?"

"I was thinking about something else."

"You were doing your nails," Alain said.

May glared at him. "You have a problem with that?"

Alain speared his pasta. "Apparently you do. You can't paint your nails and think at the same time?"

"Chill," Brendan said.

"I don't understand what's so special about this girl," Selene said.

"She's a savant," Brendan said.

"What's that?"

"It means she's smart. Like genius smart."

Selene's brow fell. "And why does this concern us?"

Brendan glanced around, then said in a softer tone, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but if you can keep it to yourself, I will."

"I can," Selene said. "May?"

She looked up from her cell phone. "What?"

"She won't understand what you say anyway," Alain said.

"You're such a jerk," May said.

Alain smiled. "Only to you."

"All right," Brendan said. "The Galactic scientists think this girl can show them how to make the MEI mass-produce Glows."

Selene frowned. "So what you're saying is that with her help her, they're going to make a lot more of us." Brendan nodded. "Exactly."

"And why this a good thing? If there's a million of us, suddenly we're not special anymore."

"Yeah," May said. "What if some of them have powers better than ours?"

"We're the pioneers," Brendan said. "We'll be their leaders. It's like when the Wright brothers invented the airplane. Within five years there were dozens of plane manufacturers, but the Wrights dominated aviation because they got there first. We're the firstborn. We'll be the leaders of the next generation."

"How do you know so much?" Selene asked.

"I'm smart," Brendan said.

Selene nodded in agreement.

"We won't be their leaders," May said. "Dr. Cyrus will."

"With us," Brendan said.

"So what if something happens to Dr. Cyrus?" May said.

"If something happens to him, we take over Galactic," Brendan said.

"You mean you take over Galactic," May said.

"Do you really think one person can handle all of it?" Brendan said. "We'll split up the world. Alain will take Asia, Selene gets North and South America, Kiawe takes Europe, and May, you get Africa, Australia , and Antarctica. "

"What do you take?" Selene asked.

"I'll oversee all of it."

Just then Kiawe walked up to the table with a tray of orange chicken and fried rice with chunks of tofu. "How did you guys find a table in here?"

"They gave it to us," Alain said.

"Why does Kiawe get Europe?" May asked. "That's where the best shopping is. And why would I want Antarctica? It's just ice."

"Then give it to Kiawe."

"Give what to me?" Kiawe asked, sitting down.

"Antarctica," Brendan said. "When we take over the world you get Europe and Antarctica."

"I'll take Antarctica," he said. "They've got penguins. And ice fishing. I can cut through the ice without a saw."

"Good for you," May said. "I still want Europe."

Selene asked Brendan, "Have you ever been to Taiwan?"

"Dr. Cyrus took me there once when I was nine. I don't remember much about it, except there was something going on in the street outside the hotel. Dr. Cyrus told me it was a Chinese opera, but it sounded more like an execution."

"Who are we guarding the girl from?" Selene asked.

"Ketchum and your sister," he said. "And the rest of the traitors."

"The next time I see Ketchum," Alain said, "I'm going to melt his brain his into a little puddle that drains out his ears."

"That would make a very little puddle," Kiawe said. "That guy's an idiot."

"If he's such an idiot, how does he keep outsmarting us?" Selene said.

"You suddenly a fan of his?" Alain asked.

"She's right," Brendan said. "The first rule of success is to never underestimate your enemy. Ketchum's no idiot." He shook his head, adding, "I hate that twitching little dork."

"Speaking of dorks," May said, "want to see something funny? Watch that fat guy over there." Everyone turned to see a smiling, overweight man on the other side of the courtyard walking toward a table in the middle of the most crowded section of the food court. He was dressed in a light beige suit and tie.

"The one with the tray?" Selene asked.

"The one who looks like he ate a tray," Alain said.

"He looks like he ate a stack of trays," Selene said. "What about him?"

May grinned. "Just watch."

The man set his tray on the table, then pulled out a chair to sit. As he began sitting, May reached out. "Wait for it, wait for it, now!" She magnetized, pulling the chair out from under the man. He fell back onto the ground, hitting his head on the chair and pulling the tray on top of himself.

The teens laughed. The man slowly sat up with Coke and spaghetti dripping from his face and chest. He was rubbing his head and looking around to see who had pulled out his chair. "You did him a favor," Alain said. "You helped him start his diet."

"I can do one better than that," Selene said. "I've learned a new trick." She held up her hand, her palm facing the man, who was now standing back up, his face bright red with embarrassment.

Suddenly several women standing next to the man screamed. One fainted. Almost everyone around him ran except a few who held chairs up, as if warding him off. Then people began pelting him with trays and food. The confused man ran from the courtyard. The teens laughed again.

"That was awesome," Kiawe said. "What did you do?"

"I made everyone around him think he's the thing they fear most."

"That's epic cool," Kiawe said. "You're going to give him an inferiority complex."

"He's a human," Brendan said stoically. "He is inferior."

"I know, right?" Selene said.

Brendan looked at her. "So how did you do that?"

"It's a trick I've been working on with Dr. Cyrus and the trainers. They say that fear is located in the amygdala region of the brain, but triggered by the hippocampus, so they taught me how to focus on it and trigger it. I can also make people think they're looking at anything or anyone. "

"What do you mean?"

"Watch." Suddenly Selene turned into Dr. Cyrus.

"Whoa," Alain said, sliding back.

"That's incredible," Brendan said. "How did you change?"

Selene turned back to herself. "I didn't. I just rerouted the part of your brains that recognizes images and made you see something else. I can prove it. You all saw Dr. Hatch, right?"

"Yes," Brendan said.

"What was he wearing?" She looked around at each of them. "What did you see?"

"A gray suit," Brendan said. "Red tie."

"No, it was a dark blue Armani," May said. "I would know, I love Armani."

"He wasn't wearing a suit," Alain said. "And I don't think the tie was red. I think it was gold."

"I don't remember," Kiawe said. "It could have been blue. Or black."

"So who was right?" Brendan asked.

"You were all right," Selene said. "Because the image came from your own minds. You saw what you expected to see."

"Fascinating," Brendan said. "So what did those people around the fat guy see?"

"That's the weird part. I don't know. It could have been a bear, a werewolf, a snake, a giant spider; it could have been their boss. Whatever they fear most. But I could have made him someone they like too. Like a famous movie star or singer."

"So you could make them think I'm the president of the United States?" Brendan asked.

Selene nodded. "I could make people think you look like anyone."

"That's very cool," Brendan said. "We'll have to play around with that."

Just then a large, muscular kid with bright red hair walked past their table. He smiled at Selene. "Hey, baby."

Selene rolled her eyes. "Did you really just call me baby, loser?"

He stopped next to her. "You have a problem with that?"

"Uh, yes, moron," she said.

"You think you're something special?"

"Please go away," she said.

He glared at her, then said, "Woof."

Selene's eyes flashed with anger. "What did you say?"

"I said 'woof,' dog face." He turned and began to walk away.

Selene turned red.

"I got this," Alain said. He shouted after the kid, "Hey, ginger, did anyone else survive the accident?"

The guy turned back. "Huh?"

"Dude, is that really your head or did your neck just throw up?"

He was flushed. "What did you say?"

"You're ugly and deaf? I'll use small words so you can read my lips. Beg my friend's forgiveness; then I might let you run away."

The kid's fist clenched. "I'm going to rip your head off."

Alain smiled and calmly leaned back in his chair, his arms his behind his head. "Show me."

The redhead took one step toward Alain, then froze. His mouth his fell open and he grabbed his head, which was turning bright red. Then the blood vessels in his eyes his began bursting. "Ah, ah, ah."

"Aren't you going to 'rip my head off,' tough guy?" Alain mocked.

"Ahhhh."

"What are you saying? Do you want me to stop?"

"Ahhhhhhhhh."

"I can't understand you, carrottop," Alain said. "I don't speak moron."

"That's enough," Selene said.

"Not for me."

The guy fell to his knees.

"You want to worship me now, huh? You better start praying."

"Stop it," Brendan said. "You're drawing too much attention."

Alain looked at him. "C'mon."

"I said now," Brendan said.

Alain pushed one more time, then lowered his hand. "Whatever."

The kid fell to his side his convulsing.

"What did you do to him?" Kiawe asked.

"Dude was a hothead, so I added a little more heat."

"You heated his brain?"

"It was a little hard to find, but yes." Alain smiled darkly. "Not all of it. Just parts."

May grimaced as the kid vomited. "Gross."

"Is it permanent?" Kiawe asked.

"Maybe. He might have had an aneurysm. Dr. Cyrus used to have me practice on GPs, but I melted too many of them, so then I started practicing on monkeys." He grinned. "One day I fried about a hundred of them in the Lima zoo. Scientists are still scratching their heads over that one."

"That was you?" Brendan said. "I read about it online. They're calling it the Capuchin Virus."

"That was me, bro. The virus."

Kiawe laughed. "That's epic, man. That reminds me of that time at the X Games when Zeus shocked that. . ." He froze, realizing his slip his. Everyone looked at him.

"Did you just say the Z word?" Brendan said.

Kiawe swallowed. "Sorry, man. It was an accident."

"You think?" May said.

"You're lucky Dr. Cyrus wasn't around," Selene said. "You'd be on lockdown for a week."

"Like I was in Peru," May said. "He needs to be punished."

Kiawe looked afraid. "Please don't tell him. Please."

Brendan looked at the others. "I'll let you off this time. But don't do it again."

"Oh, come on," May said. "No one let me off."

"That's because you were dumb enough to say it in front of Dr. Cyrus," Alain said.

"Thanks, man," Kiawe said. "Stupid mistake."

Brendan squinted. "You owe me a big favor. Don't forget."

"You got it. Thanks."

Just then an Asian woman knelt down next to the kid on the ground. "I'm a doctor," she said. She looked at Alain. "Did you see what happened?"

"Dude dropped to the ground like a fish," Brendan said.

"Will one of you call 911?"

"We're eating," Alain said, turning away.

The woman stared at him in disbelief. "He may be dying."

"Everyone goes sometime," Alain said.

The woman just gaped. Someone at a nearby table said, "I'll call."

As a large crowd started to gather, Brendan said, "We better get out of here. We've only got two more hours before we need to get back."

As they stood May asked, "Will you bring us back some chocolate from Switzerland?"

"Of course," Selene said.

"Better get a lot," Brendan said. "There won't be any decent chocolate in Taiwan."

"I'll buy twenty pounds of it," Selene said.

The five of them walked away. As they left the food court Brendan raised his hand and shut the place down.

2856

Sorry for the delay. I've been on a vacation in Europe and tomorrow visiting a Swiss chocolate factory. Looking forward to it.

Thanks for continuing reading this book and all who have been recently reading the first two books. Hope you get up here.