Текст книги "Alien in the Family"

Автор книги: Gini Koch

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Текущая страница: 26 (всего у книги 32 страниц)

“So, Kit-Kat, Chuck’s throwing this party for you but he’s not the guy you’re marrying?” Jeannine asked, semi-nicely. She was the only brunette in the group—our pledge class had run toward blondes, light browns, and redheads. Like all the rest of the girls, she was pretty and petite. We’d run to the short side, too.

“It’s not like that, JellyBean—” I started.

“I’m more upset that Caro Syrup’s not here,” Tamara said quietly. “She was your bestie, Kit-Kat.”

“She still is, Twix,” I said quickly. “She just couldn’t—”

“Get here in time,” Cathy said. “Yeah, Chuck told us.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you dumped Chuck.” Well, at least they weren’t discussing their concerns about me marrying a space alien. That was something, right?

“We weren’t an item, Wonka. We’re still friends. Same with Caro and me. She’s out of the country right now.” I was starting to get worried that this was going to turn into a nightmare fast.

“Chuck said Kit-Kat’s marrying a great guy,” Kay said, cheerfully, thank God. “Face it, this puts Chuck back on the market. I say hurray for that.”

Oh? This was news. I knew my sorority sisters loved him, but I hadn’t realized they’d considered Chuckie off the market. “Why so, Almond Joy? Not that I’m saying he isn’t on the market and all.”

Kay grinned. “Chuck was interested in one girl and one girl only, and that was you, Kit-Kat. He seems okay with you marrying someone else.”

Christie snorted. “He’s not okay with it. He’s just faking it the way he always did when she was head over heels over some guy who wasn’t good enough for her.” Guilt came over, drink in hand, to enjoy the party. Stress was already here, having a blast, and made room for its buddy.

“Skittle, have I mentioned that my friends Lorraine and Claudia are my fiancé’s cousins?” My voice was starting to head to dog-only levels. Not good.

Claudia shook her head. “I’m still sort of stuck on the nicknames. You’re all named after candies?”

“Or sweet things, yeah.” I felt my cheeks getting hot. It never seemed stupid until I was telling someone outside of the sorority about it. To a girl, my sorority sisters’ eyes narrowed.

“How do you keep all the nicknames straight?” Claudia asked. She sounded like she did whenever she was discussing something scientific: interested and serious.

“Um, just do.” I enjoyed winning the Lame Reply Award on a regular basis. Guilt and Stress both sniggered and got another drink.

Lorraine laughed. “I think it’s cute.”

Claudia grinned and nodded. “They do seem to fit you all. From everything Kitty’s said, you’re all very sweet, just like she is.” My sorority sisters seemed to relax; at least they weren’t glaring any more.

“And I think it’s great your sisters are going to be around to keep Jeff on his toes.” Lorraine nudged Jeannine. “Trust me, I’m with you. I think brains are the better option, too, but who can fight love?” I was tempted to ask Lorraine why none of the Dazzlers I knew were throwing themselves at Chuckie, but I had enough sense to know where that question would take this conversation, and things were already bad enough.

“Jeff’s not stupid.” The Dazzler brain-love was great, but not at the expense of Martini’s feelings.

“Where are your girlfriends from high school?” Tamara asked. She looked the most upset of the girls, but in a quiet way. I wasn’t sure why.

Claudia answered before I could. “They couldn’t come out, either, because Jeff and Kitty had to move their wedding date up.”

“Why?” Cathy asked. “Oh, my God, are you preggers already?”

“No!” This was devolving into that nightmare I’d hoped to miss. I scrambled for an acceptable reason for my wedding date and party being as they were and came up with nothing that was going to work.

A throat cleared behind me. “Nice to see you girls,” my mother said. She sounded pleasant and, as always, in complete control of the situation. But I wasn’t sure if I should relax or not.

The choruses of hellos and hugs took a while. When they were done, Mom went on without missing a beat. “We’re not talking about it, but Jeff’s family is quite politically connected. Religious issues meant they had to move the wedding up to ensure the head of Jeff’s religion could officiate. And Kitty didn’t have a lot of choice in her wedding party, either. She was hoping to have the five of you in, but we had to choose the wedding party based more on political expediency than the bonds of friendship.”

Mom sounded totally believable, and she looked it, too. Amazingly enough, Lorraine and Claudia didn’t give away that at least the latter half of this explanation was something of a whopper.

But it worked. My sorority sisters went from upset to commiserating instantly. It dawned on me that they were hurt they hadn’t been asked to be in my wedding party, which should have dawned on me much sooner. Of course, I’d been distracted with that whole saving the world thing. Not that it would get me a free pass, because it never did.

“Jeff’s a prince,” Claudia said conspiratorially to Christie.

“Chuck said he was a great guy,” Jeannine agreed.

“No, a real prince,” Lorraine said. My sorority sisters looked impressed.

“Does that make you two princesses?” Kay asked.

“No,” Claudia said with a laugh. “We’re too far away from the main bloodline.”

“Will that mean Kit-Kat’s a princess, sort of like Grace Kelly?” Tamara asked, perking up. Apparently if I was marrying royalty, all was going to be forgiven.

“Um . . .” However, I had no idea and no answer. I also didn’t think Mom wanted these details discussed, and I sure didn’t. But I was saved from any further journey down the Excuses Rabbit Hole by what had been saving me from day one with Centaurion Division—rock ‘n’ roll.

CHAPTER 64

WE ALL HEARD A GUITAR BEING TUNED and wild shrieking from the little kids. “Gotta get our girl into her seat,” Lorraine called to my mother and sorority sisters. Then she and Claudia zoomed us into the theater, and there I was, front row center. I stopped worrying about anything other than figuring out who the band was going to end up being.

Kimmie, one of Martini’s many nieces, came running to me. “Kitty! Kitty! The band’s going to start soon!”

I pulled her onto my lap. “Yeah, and I don’t know who it is.”

She grinned, and I saw the resemblance to Alfred and Martini. “Uncle Christopher said we couldn’t tell you. And Uncle Jeff said he wanted me to make sure to watch your face. He said it should be funny.”

“Your Uncle Jeff is going to get it when I see him again.”

“He said you’d say that. I can’t wait to see them—Uncle Jeff gave us all their CDs for Arrival Day.”

“He did? Why?”

“He said they helped keep you and him and Uncle Christopher alive. My mommy loves them too. Grandma does, too. Everyone likes them.” She looked very pleased. “I get to be your flower girl.”

I hugged her. “I know!” I could lie better than anyone when I had to. “And I’m so glad, too!” I was. If anyone had asked me, or, more importantly, it had dawned on me to think of it, Kimmie was who I’d have wanted. I reminded myself that Reader was the best friend in the world. He was also on the stage. “Why is James on the stage?”

Lorraine laughed. “He’s the emcee, silly.”

“Is there anything he can’t do?”

Claudia leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Turn straight. Otherwise, nothing.”

“True . . . true.” I looked around—the place was filled, at least the lower level. Looked up. Wow, we had Dazzlers up there, too. The entire A-C female population was in here. My sorority sisters were surrounded by Dazzlers. They seemed to be fitting in with no issues, and apparently they knew who the band was, because they looked as excited as everyone else.

I spotted Mom and the other mothers and grandmothers behind us a few rows. Chuckie’s mother was there, too, and waved to me. I waved back, relieved she didn’t look disappointed in my romantic decision. Mom didn’t wave—she was scanning the crowd, and I had a feeling she was doing a lastminute security check. She caught my eye and gave me a smile and a nod. Okay, we were secure. “So, you and Lorraine excited about the band?”

“Can’t wait, we love them.” Claudia started to bounce in her seat. Lorraine already was.

Reader flashed the cover-boy grin. I heard a lot of squeals. Yep, even bald he was amazingly hot. “Ladies!” More squeals, a few shrieks. “I know you’re all excited to be here. I’d make a big speech, but that’s what the reception’s for.” Laughter from all the adults. “But before I get out of the way of tonight’s entertainment, let me just congratulate our bride-to-be on her musical choices.” Lots and lots of screams.

I heard music starting in the background. It was low, just the guitar riff, just the first few chords, played over and over, waiting for the intro. But they were opening chords I knew really, really well. I hugged Kimmie tight. It was a hypnotic beat, rocking, but soothing at the same time. I started bouncing. The rest of the crowd was going easily as wild as when the Beatles first hit America.

Reader grinned again. “Kitty, from me, Tim, and all the rest of Alpha and Airborne teams, thanks for loving this band. Now . . . ladies, all the way from Bath, England, please welcome our very special guests . . . Tears for Fears!”

Okay, I admit it. I screamed. Loudly. Hey, needed to let the band know I was with them, right? It was only polite. And I was beyond excited.

Reader got off the stage, and the curtain rose. I was already on my feet, holding Kimmie up. The band opened with “Cold,” which meant Claudia, Lorraine, and I were already singing along at the top of our lungs. In between screaming.

I’d seen them before, and I had the T-shirts to prove it, but it was different seeing them here, and knowing they were here for, well, me. It was also a really neat surprise to discover that Martini had turned Dazzlers of all ages into TFF fans. I wouldn’t have to worry about finding someone to go with on their next concert tour.

They did song after song, and not just all the hits, but all the ones I liked the best. I assumed Tim had had a lot to do with the song selections. After me, he knew the music I liked to listen to the best, both when and why.

They did a full ninety-minute set without anything other than a water break. They were awesome, charming, and funny. But even great concerts have to end. They closed with “Goodnight Song.” The screams were deafening, and continued on.

I was shocked, but they came back out for an encore. “We had a special request for this encore, from the groom-to-be.” The band went into a slow song that I recognized in a few lines: “I Choose You.” There was a lot of sniffling in the audience. I did my best not to start bawling my head off.

The band let the end of the song hang on the air, then went into “Closest Thing to Heaven.” I was still trying not to cry. I felt someone watching me and handed Kimmie to Lorraine. Looked around and spotted him. No idea how long he’d been in the room—like the rest of the guys, he was in the shadows. He was leaning against a wall at the end of the row, watching me. I ran past the rest of the front row and jumped into his arms.

Martini caught me and kissed me as the band rolled into “Secret World.” He kissed me all through the song. I heard the band joke that the bride seemed happy with the encore, and I could tell from the way they were laughing and the audience reaction that everyone knew Martini and I were kissing. Didn’t care.

The band said goodnight, screams and thunderous applause were heard, concert was over, and we were still kissing. Best concert of my life.

CHAPTER 65

THE REST OF THE NIGHT WAS A BLUR. Got to meet the band, with Martini keeping a firm hold on me, just in case. How the guys in the band didn’t drop from exhaustion was beyond me—our crowd was pretty well-behaved, but I caught that the Dazzlers felt, particularly after this concert, that musical genius was almost as good as scientific genius, and we had to do some crowd control before we ended up with a mob scene.

Once the band was finally safe, we all went back to the main party. Martini was carrying me around on his hip, which earned us a lot of jokes, all of which he seemed to enjoy. I was just so happy to finally be with him that I didn’t care.

He grinned. “Nice to know you pine for me every time I’m in isolation.”

“Every single time, Jeff.” Had to make out a bit after that, which earned us more ribbing from the various family members.

“So,” I asked after we broke the latest lip-lock, “how long were you watching?”

“Oh, a while before you noticed. I didn’t want you to know I was there until the encore started.”

“And then you did?”

“Then I felt how much you liked it.” He sounded so happy, had to make out again.

“Do you two ever stop?” Christopher was laughing.

“Nope,” Martini said with a satisfied smile.

“Christopher, did you, um, have the wise idea to change viewpoints?”

“You’re trying to be secretive. So not your forté.”

I rolled my eyes. “I had cousins asking me if you guys were Mormons. My sorority sisters seemed clueless. I thought your father and Jeff and Paul’s parents had spilled the beans, so to speak.”

“Oh, you mean the total security breach that could cause untold ramifications?” He sounded as thrilled with it as I was. Thank God someone else saw this as a potentially bad thing. “It’s handled.”

“What did you do?” Martini asked, as he moved the three of us into a quiet corner.

Christopher shrugged. “It dawned on me a few months ago that Kitty was probably right.”

“Wow, I may faint. Right about what?”

“Genetic mutations. Between us and humans.”

“Serene is our poster girl.”

“Right. But Paul’s talents are normal, at least as far as we know. And Michael has no special talents.” Christopher stared at me.

“Um . . . this is a test? You’re testing me at my bachelorette party? Is it just ’cause I talked all smack about this and I’m right or is it because you like to torture?”

“Both.”

Made the exasperation sound. “Fine.” Thought about it. Thought about it some more. “Serene is more powerful . . . Paul and Michael are not . . . oh, wow, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Feeling left out and stupid here,” Martini said dryly.

“I’m guessing that Naomi and Abigail Gower have powers no one’s told anyone else about. Right?”

“Right.” Christopher looked around. I did, too. No one was paying us much attention. “Naomi has Paul’s talent, but it’s different, the way Serene’s an imageer but with expanded powers. Naomi can read dreams and memories, but she can also alter them.”

“Wow. That’s a scary talent.”

“If allowed to go uncontrolled, yes.”

“Does Abigail have a . . . mutation?” Martini sounded worried.

“Jeff, we’re not the X-Men.”

“Starting to sound like it,” Chuckie said as he joined us. “Not that I mind.”

Christopher sighed. “Yeah, we know. This is a great day for the C.I.A.”

“Abigail?” Martini asked, Commander voice on.

“She doesn’t need an implant to affect the gasses. It’s a combo dream-imageer talent, we think. She just moves them around without outside assistance. She can also pick up thoughts, but she feels them as emotions, sort of empathic but not quite. She can pick up if someone is thinking angry thoughts, because she feels angry when she’s near that person, as an example.” Christopher sounded only mildly worried.

“They must have been fun in puberty.”

“They were controlled by then.” Christopher sounded more worried.

“By whom?”

He shook his head. “They have no idea. They just know someone was helping them when they were little girls. They don’t know who, they never met the person, both think it was a man but aren’t sure.” He sounded full-on worried.

“I’m going to bet that when we ask Serene, it’ll be the same for her.”

“Probably.” Martini’s voice was brisk. “So Abigail’s altering what Kitty’s family and friends are seeing and will see?”

Christopher shrugged. “In a way. If she spots people who are afraid, angry, and so on, Naomi will alter their memories. The girls work well together.”

“How long have you been testing them without telling me?” Martini didn’t sound happy.

Christopher shrugged. “A couple of months. Jeff, you were too distracted.”

“With what?”

Christopher coughed. “Marrying Kitty.”

“Oh.”

“We’re going to run some tests on them,” Chuckie said. “Standard emotional and mental stability tests, long-term effects on both of them and those with altered memories.”

“Wait, we don’t know the results? So, what, you’re going to use my family as part of an experiment?”

Chuckie rolled his eyes. “Yes and no. You have a choice: We can let the Gower girls do their thing, or you can allow the security breach the four of us and your mother are all unexcited about. From what White’s told me, the tests they’ve already done are pretty comprehensive; we just want to be more sure.”

“The C.I.A. does not have the right to test any of our people on anything.” Martini sounded like he was heading toward angry with a potential stop at furious.

Chuckie raised his hand. “Look. This was being discussed before I had to assume control of Centaurion. Make a scene, start shouting up the channels? They’ll make sure I keep control of Centaurion. Shut the hell up and let us do the tests of your personnel with your permission, and everyone’s so pleased Centaurion is playing nicely with others that they won’t notice control’s returned back to you.”

Martini shook his head. “We don’t trust you.”

“Jeff, has he lied to you about anything yet? Not trusting the C.I.A. I can agree with. Not trusting Chuckie seems more like kicking the one guy who hasn’t done you wrong just because you can. Of course, if he’s really that evil and my mother and I’ve just missed it for fifteen years, we could just not go on a honeymoon, and you could fight the C.I.A. about this.”

Martini gave a martyred sigh. “I do have a job to do.”

“Yeah, Jeff, you do. And, right now, your job is to marry Kitty and go on your honeymoon. My job is to cover your job when you’re on vacation or out of commission, remember?” Christopher sounded somewhat annoyed, but not overly so.

“Oh, fine,” Martini grumbled. “You could have shared this sometime other than right now.”

“It was relevant right now,” Christopher snapped. He looked at me. “So don’t worry—the friends and family members who need to have a different memory will all have the same one, congratulations, you’re marrying into the Martini and Rossi fortune. The others will have a suggestion implanted that makes them loath to talk about Jeff’s side of the family except in nice, vague, very human terms.”

“Hope it works. Claudia and Lorraine told my sorority sisters I was marrying royalty.”

Christopher shrugged. “If they buy it and they’re happy with that story, Naomi and Abigail will know. If not, Martini and Rossi.”

“I hate being royalty,” Martini grumbled.

“It’s a better cover than being a space alien,” Chuckie said. “Politically and just from a common sense standpoint.”

Martini glared at him. I heaved my own sigh. “Chuckie’s right. Jeff, you done sulking and stomping and attempting to wreck my cool coed bachelorette party?”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

Christopher shook his head. “You get to go have a slumber party. I have to spend the night with him.”

“I’ll trade.”

Christopher snorted. “As if James will allow that.” He looked around. “Where is the drill sergeant, anyway?”

“Managing the photographer.” Chuckie sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

“What photographer?” I hadn’t seen any flashes.

“The one you were too into the concert and far too into making out with each other to notice,” Chuckie said, now openly laughing. “Ah, to be a rock star of any age. Walk on stage with a guitar, watch the women swoon.”

“Did the photographer take pictures of us making out?”

“Yeah,” Christopher said with a grin. “Glad Jeff’s been carrying you the whole time. You’re showing a lot of leg.”

“A lot of everything,” Chuckie added with an exaggerated leer.

Martini shrugged. “My arm’s covering anything you’re not allowed to see.”

“I hope.”

“Truth’ll come out in the darkroom.” Chuckie winked. “I paid for the photographer.”

“Oh, great.” I looked hard at Chuckie’s expression. He was definitely laughing at his own private joke. “Oh. No way. Is the photographer who I think it is?”

He grinned. “Yes. We wanted someone who was good at avoiding your notice while getting your picture at the same time.”

“Are you and James both high?”

Chuckie laughed. “No. We gave the World Weekly News the exclusive on the party. White’s team will alter anything necessary photographically, the rest of the paparazzi are shut out because the WWN people are keeping them out, and nothing’s happening here that would give anyone a reason to believe the A-Cs are anything other than what we’re saying they are.”

“While I can appreciate the brilliance in having one set of paparazzi in place to keep all the others out, Mister Joel Oliver is supposedly a photojournalist. How are we going to ensure the journalistic portion doesn’t get out of control?”

Christopher shrugged. “No one believes him, Kitty. And, frankly, it’s safer to keep him close so we can monitor what he’s photographing and who he’s talking to.” He grimaced. “I’ll take the risk Reynolds and James took with the photographer over the risk our parents took with telling everyone at this wedding who and what we really are.”

“I’m with White. Oliver’s thrilled to be getting the exclusive,” Chuckie added. “Believe me, he has a team of C.I.A. operatives and two A-C field teams assigned to guard him. Every person assisting him is either from my team, your mother’s team, or an A-C. His footage is being altered immediately, and the only conversations he’s catching have more to do with your clothing, or lack thereof, than anything else.” He flashed the exaggerated leer again. “From what Oliver’s already told me, he’s gotten some excellent shots.”

“Let me know if there’s anything really good,” Christopher said. “I’ll probably place a big order. Most of the guys want a shot of Kitty in her lingerie.”

“It’s an outfit. For clubbing. Like this is a club and I’m wearing it here, at a club. At a party at a club. Chuckie made me wear a jacket and everything.”

“Right. So, Reynolds, remember, pull out the good ones, and don’t let Kitty or Jeff see them. I figure we can charge, easy, ten to fifteen dollars a pop.”

“Oh, the shots of her butt? Those’re worth at least twenty-five per eight by ten.” Chuckie and Christopher were really cracking each other up. Of course, I knew my skirt was tucked between my bottom and Martini’s arm, and I hadn’t seen Oliver or a camera flash once this entire time, so I wasn’t overly concerned. If I’d really been showing that much, one of my relatives would have mentioned it.

Aunt Carla showed up, effectively breaking up our meeting. “So, Katherine, nice party. And, young man, you’re fine with her displaying everything she owns all over?”

Then again, maybe they were all just waiting for Aunt Carla to mention it.

Martini grinned. “Yeah. I like showing off what no one else is ever going to get to touch.” He walked us away, leaving Aunt Carla open-mouthed.

“Have I mentioned I love you?”

“More than the guys in Tears for Fears?”

“Yeah.”

“More than the guys in Aerosmith?”

I had to ponder. “Yeah. Even more than Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. Put together.”

“Wow. Guess I’d better marry you, then.”

“Well, only if you want to.”

Martini spent the next hour or so showing me that he really wanted to. It was a great party.