The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (10 page)

“
I was hiding.” Cassie
responded plainly. “Sometimes I hide.”

“
When you don’t want
people to see you.” Zach finished Cassie’s thought for her. “Can
you do it again?”

“
Zach!” Binny almost
yelled.

“
What?”

“
Are you kidding?” Binny
reproached.

“
What? It’s a perfectly
reasonable question.” Zach defended.

Binny paused for a moment and turned
to Cassie. “Well, can you? Do it again I mean?”

Cassie took her siblings’ interest as
an indication that maybe it was ok after all. She responded in a
small voice. “I don’t know.”

§

“
It’s magic.”

“
It’s not magic. There’s
no such thing as magic.”

“
Then what is
it?”

“
I don’t know. A power
maybe.”

Binny and Zach had shuttled Cassie out
of public view and onto their front porch, which was mostly
shielded from the street. They argued back and forth while Cassie
practiced her jumps: up and down on the steps of the
porch.

“
A power? A power? What
does that even mean? Wouldn’t that be the same as magic?” Cassie
demanded of Zach.

“
I don’t know. I’m
thinking. I’m thinking.”

“
We should tell Mom and
Dad right now.” Binny asserted.

“
Cassie, could you hide
again? Just for a second?” Zach ignored Binny’s attempt to end the
discussion.

“
Don’t ask her to hide
again. You don’t know where she went or what it might do to her.”
Binny moved towards Cassie.

“
You heard her. She didn’t
‘go’ anywhere.” “We just couldn’t see her.” He turned to Cassie.
“You were just hiding, right?”

“
Yes.” Cassie really
wanted to please Zach.

“
No.” Binny moved in front
of Cassie to face her brother.

“
It’s ok. I’ll do it, I’m
really good at it!” Cassie offered.

“
You don’t know what will
happen!” warned Binny.

“
Do it Cassie.” Zach
instructed gently.

Cassie balled her fists and squinched
her face up tightly. Her eyes were closed. She stayed like that for
a few seconds. No glowing ivy. No going out of focus. No poof.
“Good?” Cassie asked.

Zach said, “Nothing
happened.”

“
But I
hid
.” Cassie complained.

“
We could still see you.”
Binny added, her desire to tell their parents momentarily set
aside.

Cassie scrunched again. And again. And
again. And each time she and her blonde curls remained distinctly
visible.

“
Maybe that’s the first
time it happened?” Binny asked herself more than anyone in
particular.

“
No. It’s not.” Cassie
replied with uncharacteristic authority.

“
Huh?” “How do you know?”
Binny and Zach asked her.

“
Makeup
Massacre.”

“
Makeup massacre?” Zach
asked.

“
That’s what I’m getting
for my birthday.” Cassie responded confidently.

“
What is a ‘makeup
massacre’?” Zach asked.

“
It’s a video game where
lipsticks and other makeup characters battle each other to paint a
girl’s face.” Binny answered impatiently and then turned to Cassie.
“What does Makeup Massacre have to do with your
‘hiding’?”

“
I snuck into their room
and saw it in the present drawer in Mommy’s dresser. It’s my
birthday present.”

“
You looked in the
present drawer
?” Binny
was scandalized.

“
Yes.” Cassie was beaming,
proud of her accomplishment.

Zach interrupted, a note
of impatience in his voice, “And what does Makeup Massacre have to
do with you
turning
invisible
?”

“
I was sneaking into their
room to look in the drawer. But while I was looking, Mommy and
Daddy came in, so I hid, and they didn’t see me the whole time they
talked about the apartment.”

“
The apartment?” Binny
interjected.

Zach didn’t seem to notice. “There’s
no place to hide near their dresser. She must have been invisible.
She must have.”

“
What apartment? Did they
say we were moving?” Binny sounded extremely worried.

“
How long were you there
for after they came in?” Zach was now quizzing Cassie on the
details of the incident, his mind calculating the possibilities and
dimensions of what had happened.

“
They were talking for
awhile. Talking about the apartment, and when Mommy was going to
move into it.”

“
Mom is moving into an
apartment?” Binny was more confused and nervous about this bit of
information than she was about anything her sister had
done.

“
And they didn’t see you
the entire time? Did you leave the room or did they?” Zach again
ignored Binny.

“
They left after awhile
and then I snuck out.” Cassie responded.

Binny shoved Zach in the shoulder to
get his attention. She was on the verge of tears. “Did she say Mom
was moving into an apartment? Just Mom? Without us?”

“
Ow.” Zach turned to Binny
and after a moment of indignation he shook his head subtly to
indicate that Cassie was obviously confused and had garbled their
parents’ conversation.

“
I’m bored. Can I go
inside and play now?” Cassie inserted herself between her siblings
wordless communication.

§

Binny looked over her shoulder until
Cassie was safely inside. “What did she mean about Mom moving into
an apartment?”

“
She’s seven. She has no
clue what she heard. Relax.”

“
Are you sure?” It was a
rare moment that Binny would look to her older for brother for
reassurance.

“
Yes. I’m sure.” Zach
responded. Binny didn’t seem quite convinced that Zach was telling
the truth, but he continued without giving her an opportunity to
pursue the subject. “Cassie can turn herself invisible.”

Zach and Binny just stared for a
moment, contemplating the weight of Zach’s statement.

“
Why couldn’t she do it
when you asked her?”

“
What happened yesterday
with your mirror?”

“
Can you answer my
question without asking me a question?” Binny sounded
irritated.

“
I’m trying to. Just tell
me what happened yesterday.”

“
Fine. She snuck into my
room without me seeing her, and then she took it outside. And when
I went to look for her all I found was my mirror sitting on the
sidewalk.”

“
She snuck into your room
without you
seeing
her.” Zach repeated Binny’s words, letting his emphasis sink
in. “And where was she when you found the mirror on the
sidewalk?”

“
How should I know? I
never saw her.” Binny paused. “Wait, I really never saw her?” Binny
realized the implications of her own words.

“
Where
wasn’t
she when you went to look for
your mirror?” Zach was in full detective mode now.

“
She wasn’t in the house,
but she wasn’t outside either. But that doesn’t mean
she…”

“
No.” Zach interrupted.
“It’s not proof that she was invisible, but she’s not usually
quiet, is she? You would have likely noticed her in the house or
somewhere outside if she hadn’t been ‘hiding’.”

“
Maybe.” Binny wasn’t
quite ready to concede, but she also knew what she’d seen just a
few minutes earlier. Of that there was zero doubt in her
mind.

“
OK. When Dad called us
for dinner last night. Where were you?”

“
I was outside getting my
mirror. And then I came in.”

“
Where was Cassie?” Zach
continued.

“
I didn’t see exactly. She
came in after me. But she came in from outside I think. Maybe she’d
gone further than she was supposed to. Like today.”

A cloud seemed to cross Zach’s brow as
he thought about Binny’s last statement.

Binny continued, “You think she was
standing right there when I took my mirror back?
Invisible?”

“
A secret. That man was
asking her about a secret.” Zach seemed to have moved on
already.

“
What secret? What
secret?”

“
The man with the dog was
asking Cassie about a secret. All I heard was him say the word
‘secret’ when I got there.”

“
I don’t like
him.”

“
Neither do I. Neither do
I.” Zach added shaking his head. “And there’s something
else.”

“
What?”

Zach paused for a moment. “He knew my
name.”

“
That’s it,” Binny started
standing up. “We’re going to tell Mom and Dad.”

“
Wait. Wait. What are we
going to tell them? That Cassie has a super power that she uses to
sneak around the house stealing your stuff and finding out what her
birthday present is going to be?”

“
We’re going to tell
them,” Binny was raising her voice now, stressed and scared, “that
there is a
man
in
the
neighborhood
who has seen Cassie go poof and wants to kidnap her so he can
find out the secret to how she does it!”

Zach was all set to dismiss Binny’s
statement, but the logic of her argument caught him by surprise.
“But…” Zach wasn’t sure how to continue the sentence.

“
But nothing. That man is
from the government. And Binny is like E.T. He’s gonna cut her up.
For science. I heard Dad say so.”

Zach finally composed himself. “You’re
being ridiculous. You heard Dad say that the man is going to cut up
Cassie?”

“
No, idiot. I heard Dad
explain
why
the
man from the government was going to cut up E.T. in the movie and
this is no different.” Binny’s hands were back on her
hips.

“
How do you know he’s from
the government?” Zach looked incredulous.

“
How did he know your
name?”

Again Zach was caught off guard by his
sister’s logic. He meekly added, “Well, that doesn’t mean he’s from
the government. It just means he has access to information.
Information that’s usually not publicly available.” Zach realized
that his own explanation wasn’t a really great argument for the man
not being from some shadowy government agency.

“
I’m telling Mom and
Dad
right now
.”
Binny turned on her heel.

Zach jumped after her and put his hand
on her shoulder.

“
WHAT?” Binny demanded
impatiently.

“
Look. I just think Mom
and Dad are very busy.” Zach tried being conciliatory.

“
So what. They’re always
busy.”

“
I’m just saying, Cassie’s
safe inside the house having her bath. The man is gone. Let’s try
and figure things out ourselves a little more before we tell
them.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
I’m saying, why don’t you
and I do a little detective work. The two of us.” Zach suggested
with a smile.

“
The two of us? You want
to do something with me? Do you have a fever?” Binny was being
sarcastic now, but she couldn’t help but feel flattered at the
interest from her brother.

“
Yeah. The two of us. We
just need gather some intelligence.” Zach’s hand was back to
stroking his chin.

“
Are you a spy now?” Binny
laughed, relaxing a little.

“
Yeah. Let’s be spies. If
only we knew where to spy on him.”

“
I do.” Binny said proudly
but with a little bit of smug satisfaction at knowing something her
brother didn’t. “I know where he
lives
.”

§

In their neighborhood, some of the
backs of some of the houses were situated on alleys. Their front
doors faced the street like you would expect, but garages and
garbage pickup were in the alley in back. The back of the man’s
house was on just such an alley.

Zach and Binny walked quietly for a
bit, still recovering from all the news they’d just absorbed. Binny
finally interrupted the silence, “Have you met the girl who just
moved in across the street? Penny is her name I think.”

“
I’ve seen her a couple of
times. But I haven’t talked to her.”

“
She seems like a
know-it-all.”

“
Uh huh.” Zach thought
better of reminding Binny that she herself had a knack for
lecturing.

After a long pause Binny added, “Have
you seen a dad around? I’ve only noticed a mom.”

Zach wasn’t sure he knew what Binny’s
point was, so he kept his answers short. “I don’t think so.
No.”