I am currently on a bus bound for Philadelphia with fifty seven of my peers. For them, it's an innocent field trip, but for Taylor and me, it's a potentially fatal mission. It's great to be different. This being my first assignment and all, I'm extremely nervous and feel like I'm riding to my doom, which might not be that far from the truth.
"You may leave your belongings on the bus," Mrs. Jones tells us when we arrive. I set my Harry Potter book on the seat; yes I am still reading it after last night. Why stop at this point? As of now I have only one page left, but as I get off the bus I have a sinking feeling that I might not live to finish it.
In Philadelphia, my group consists of Taylor, thank goodness, Shelly, oh dear, and me with Shelly's mother as our chaperone.
"Where do you girls want to go first?" Mrs. Baker asks cheerily.
"Let's go to the mint!" I exclaim overenthusiastically.
"Okay," Mrs. Baker says slowly, "then let's see the mint!" I can tell she thinks I'm weird. So I made a bad first impression with my chaperone, right now that's the least of my worries. As we begin to walk towards our destination Taylor comes up behind me.
"Tone it down a little," she hisses in my ear, "We're undercover, remember?"
"Sorry," I answer sheepishly.
"It's fine, but who are we looking for again? I didn't get a chance to read the whole file."
"Uh," I murmur as I pull the snapshot of BOB from my pocket and briefly explain our goal as we continue to follow Shelly and her mom. Taylor takes the paper from me and studies it for a moment, then hands the picture back. I fold it up and once more stuff it in my pocket. Looking up I find we've made it to the mint. Mrs. Baker leads the way to the main doors only to discover the sign taped to the inside. It reads: not open to the public. Apparently they're not giving tours today.
"Do you think BOB's behind this?" Taylor wonders mutedly. I shrug.
"I don't see him anywhere, you?"
She hesitates before answering, "Nope. Don't you think he'd try to stay hidden though?"
"Yeah, I guess that's true."
"Well, sorry girls. Looks like the mint is closed today," Mrs. Baker announces.
"Yeah, too bad," Shelly pipes up, but she doesn't sound very sincere, "why don't we go see the Liberty Bell instead?" Since I'm too nervous to care and Taylor doesn't object it's off to the Liberty Bell we go. There is a huge line to get into the place, but we're in no hurry (according to Mrs. Baker. For me, every second that passes just makes me more of a nervous wreck). When we finally reach the building, there is a security check and then a hallway full of historical facts about the bell before we finally get to it. It's in the center of a cylindrical room in front of a huge window that takes up one fourth of the curved wall and is surrounded by a ring of railing. About ten or twelve average looking people of all ages inhabit the space, all taking pictures and video. One guy in particular standing just outside catches my attention, though. He has dark hair and is wearing a black overcoat. I recognize him immediately and my heart skips a beat.
"Taylor!" I hiss, tugging on her sleeve and pointing at the man.
"What?"
"It's BOB!"
"What? Where?"
"Right there," I motion to the man who is now answering his ringing cell phone, "The guy on the phone."
"Oh, oh man, you're right, but stop pointing or he'll notice us."
"Sorry," I apologize, lowering my hand, "what do we do?"
"I don't know."
Meanwhile, BOB's eyes widen and he nods into the phone. "Should we try to talk to him?" I suggest nervously, mostly hoping for Taylor to lead the mission. Before she has time to answer, BOB suddenly ends the call and takes off running, right in front of everyone.
"Now we just have to catch him, come on!" Taylor exclaims before jogging outside and then speeding up in pursuit. Seeing no other choice, I follow. A few people turn to watch us, but they don't do anything more. Once out of the building I glace back and through the glass see that Mrs. Baker and Shelly haven't even noticed our absence. Good, part of me thinks, the other part hopes Mrs. Baker will come and stop Taylor and me. When I turn back around I barrel forward and quickly pass Taylor almost without trying to, remembering Jenna's revelation about me being a generator.
When BOB gets to the mint, he stops and inspects it. I stop on the edge of the sidewalk and watch him on the opposite side of the street as he finds a black cord now hanging from the roof. He grabs a hold of the rope and starts climbing. While I'm still immobile Taylor catches up, but she doesn't wait with me. Instead, she runs up to the rope and starts to climb after BOB. When I realize this I start after her, but she reaches him.
"Huh? Go away, kid," BOB growls when he looks down and notices Taylor.
"No, stop!" she shouts at him. In response, he kicks her in the shoulder. She is left hanging by one arm above the sidewalk.
"Ah!" she screams. Bob closes his fist on the rope above her hand. I'm too far away to see what he's doing. All I know is that within a few seconds, the rope snaps. All at once, Taylor plummets toward the concrete below. I shriek. Time seems to move in slow motion and I can't seem to make my body move. The blood pounds in my ears and the fact that Taylor might, no would...die echoes through my mind. The friend that I'd known since second grade was going to lose her life now, right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do. We would never get to have another instrumental lesson together again, or obsess over books, or be equally annoyed by Shelly. All I see is a blurry flash of a girl as Taylor falls, nearing the sidewalk.
Somewhere between falling and hitting the ground the blur forms the shape of my friend again as Taylor slows to a stop. Her body is suspended in mid-air. At first I'm confused; my eyes must be playing tricks on me. I suppose my denial is making me delusional, only it's no trick. She's really floating, and since there's no other explanation, I realize that I must be making her float! Maybe Jenna was wrong, apparently it is possible to make people levitate. I push my overwhelming emotions aside long enough to move her slowly down to the ground, and then run across the street to meet her.
"Taylor, are you alright?" I ask in a rush.
"Yeah, I... I think so, how? I was falling, and then..."
"You, I...I think I made you fly, with magic," I struggle to explain. She shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose.
Only after this do I notice the little kindergartener watching us. His skin is a dark, rich shade of brown and he has close-cropped curly black hair. His dark eyes are wide and his jaw is unhinged. A lady that must be his mother comes up and scolds him for running off.
"What are we going to do about BOB?" Taylor reminds me, gesturing upward as the man disappears over the edge of the roof. A feeling of hopelessness settles in me. Taylor nearly died just a few seconds ago at the hands of just one man; how are we supposed to defeat the whole gang? Just when I think our position can't get any more disadvantaged, Shelly comes running with her mom at her heels. I guess they finally realized we were missing.
