Chapter 22
“I keep feeling like I’ve forgotten something,” Lily said to Landon who was buckled into the plane seat beside her. She rubbed her forehead racking her brain trying to think of what it could be, but she drew a blank.
“I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Landon said trying to sooth her. “Besides, if you really need whatever it is, I’m sure my father will buy it for you.” His voice dripped with contempt. Lily stopped rubbing her head and turned to him placing her hand on his forearm.
“I know you’re not thrilled about all this,” she said motioning around the plane. “But I think this trip will be a lot more fun if you would just suck it up.” After she had said it she instantly regretted it.
“Whoa,” Landon said surprised at her words. “I would have thought you would have been more understanding. You know him.” With each word he became angrier and angrier. “He’s a liar and a jerk, and you are just putting yourself in his hands. I’m not here on a free vacation. I’m only here because you’re stupid enough to fall for whatever it is that my father told you.” He had said the last few words too loud and people around them in the plane were beginning to stare.
“Landon, that’s not what I meant,” Lily tried to explain. “I’m sorry I said that to you. I should have worded it differently, or something, I don’t know.” She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
“What did you mean?”
“I know you don’t agree with what I’m doing, but we are going to New York. This is my dream Landon, and I don’t see why you can’t let go of your anger at your father for just a while and enjoy yourself.”
“The only reason I’m here is to protect you,” he spoke callously. He folded his arms snuggly across his chest as if that were the last word on the matter.
“So you’re not looking forward to wandering one of the most amazing cities in America with me? You don’t care that three of us are here with very little adult supervision. We can do whatever we want. Mostly anyway. This is a chance for us to have a great Thanksgiving trip, and you’re ruining it with your negative attitude.”
“If you don’t like my attitude then sit somewhere else,” he snapped.
“I can’t,” Lily said growing irritated with his childish behavior. “This is my assigned seat. It’s not like I can just skip to another spot. Oh, and by the way, this isn’t a free vacation. I have to work for it.” Landon flinched in his seat, but ignored her comeback.
“Fine, then just don’t talk to me.”
“Fine.” It was going to be a long flight. She turned as far away from him as she could, but it wasn’t easy even though they were in first class seats. Lily felt tears threatening to overflow. She blinked and held them back not wanting him to see her cry. Her heart hurt more than she thought it ever could. That was the first time they had ever fought. What had gotten into him? If he had been a girl, she would have sworn he was hormonal. He had been quiet the entire day, so it was hard to tell what he was feeling. Lily knew he still had some big issues with his dad. She had tried to talk about it with him many times, but he always shut her out. So often she had told him that he would be so much better off not letting what his father did continue to eat away at his life. His anger certainly wasn’t reaching his father, and it wasn’t doing Landon any good. All it did was make him unhappy. She wanted to help him get past his anger and hurt, but he obviously wasn’t ready to let go and forgive.
After a few minutes, Lily threw a quick glance in Landon’s direction. He had earphones on and his eyes were closed. He was completely checked out. Malaya was sitting in the seat in front of her flipping through a magazine. Lily reached around the seat and tapped her lightly on her shoulder. Malaya whirled around to look at her and nearly took out the flight attendant in the process.
“I heard everything,” Malaya mouthed to her. She reached out and took her hand for support. “Everything’s going to be fine. When we land and get out into the city I’m sure he’ll come around. Look at the bright side; at least you have a boyfriend.”
“I’m sorry you got stood up by your secret admirer the other day,” Lily commiserated.
“It’s okay,” Malaya said shrugging her shoulders. “It was nice just having a secret admirer.”
“I’m sure he’ll leave you an explanation note.”
“Maybe, but I’m not going to hold my breath.”
***
When they reached the entrance of the LaGuardia airport, Lily immediately spotted Mr. B. His wide, toothy grin was spread across his face ear to ear. He held a formal sign that read, “Harrison Group,” in large bold letters. Lily waved as they approached him, not bothering to wonder if Landon cared.
“Hello, Miss Harrison,” Mr. B said taking their bags and piling them onto a cart.
“Hi,” Lily said smiling. For some reason, Mr. B. just made her want to smile.
“I’ll be your personal chauffeur for the duration of your trip,” Mr. B. said. “New York can be exhausting, especially if you’re running around New York on crutches.”
“Oh, I think I’ll be alright,” Lily reassured him. “Physical therapy has helped a lot.”
“Mr. Turner has given me explicit instructions to show you around the city in style,” he responded kindly.
“I see,” Lily sighed.
“Mr. Turner,” Mr. B. said pleasantly nodding in Landon’s direction. Landon hardly so much as glanced at him. If he didn’t mind taking out his anger on Lily, it was no wonder he would do the same to Mr. B. However, the older man must have expected it, and it didn’t seem to bother him one bit.
“And this must be Miss Malaya Collins.”
“Hi,” Malaya responded.
“Welcome to New York,” Mr. B. said as he led them to the limo waiting outside.
***
“I think this is the softest bed in the whole wide world,” Malaya said diving superman style into her bed at the hotel room at the Plaza Hotel. She rolled around in the soft, thick sheets and giggled in delight. “I think I will be accompanying you on all of your assignments.” Lily smiled as she snuggled under the sheets of her own bed. The hotel Mr. Turner had gotten for them was exquisite, and probably the most famous one in New York. Lily briefly wondered where all this money was coming from. She knew that the agency was very lucrative, but the way Mr. Turner was throwing out money it might as well be toilet paper. Lily’s ponderings were interrupted by a pillow being slammed into her face.
“Wow,” Malaya spoke laughing at Lily’s stunned face. “Feather pillows are perfect for pillow fights.” Lily launched the pillow back at Malaya and hit her in the stomach.
“I think we’d better stop before feathers fly out everywhere,” Lily said out of breath. They had been at war for several minutes before she spotted a few feathers floating in the air. Apparently feather pillows weren’t the longest lasting weapons. Malaya’s last pillow launch knocked over the bedside lamp. Both girls gasped in response and lunged for the falling lamp. Lily caught it just in time before it collided with the floor. She set it gently back on the side table and plopped down on the side of the bed. Lily and Malaya stared at the lamp and then at each other and instantly broke out in laughter. They laughed until their sides hurt and then they laughed some more. It was infectious. If one stopped, the other one started up in a fit of giggles all over again. When they had finally calmed down, they got ready for bed and turned out the lights. They lay down on their soft, luxurious beds, and talked into the night long after the lights had been turned out.
***
“So what do you want to do today?” They were seated in a small café Mr. B. had taken them to. Lily sipped her hot chocolate and shivered as the cold wintery wind invaded them as someone opened the door next to their table. It was November, and the weather was freezing. She hadn’t realized it would be so cold. Lily had packed her warmest clothes and heavy coat, but it still didn’t seem warm enough. She was a Texas girl through and through, and she wasn’t sure she would be able to adjust to the freezing winter weather. Lily didn’t know if the weather should have an impact on her choice about joining Mr. Turner’s team, but at that moment she thought it might.
“I want to do the Empire State Building,” Landon said speaking for what seemed like the first time since they landed in the Big Apple.
“He speaks,” Malaya said playfully stealing a doughnut hole from his plate and popping it into her mouth. Landon’s expression was almost as icy as the weather. He stole one of Malaya’s strips of bacon and went back to his moody silence. It didn’t seem like his mood was going to change anytime soon. Lily decided she wasn’t going to let his attitude get in the way of her New York experience. She had dreamed of this moment for years, and she wasn’t going to let anyone take that from her.
“We can do that first, and then how about the Metropolitan so we can have somewhere warm to spend the day,” Lily suggested.
“Sounds good to me,” Malaya said happily. Landon nodded, but said nothing.
***
“Here, this is for the three of you to cover your activities for the remainder of your stay,” Mr. B. said handing Lily an envelope filled with cash. Lily glanced at the bills guessing the amount contained in the envelope.
“Are you sure? This seems like a lot,” she asked the smiling driver, but he was already in the driver’s seat of the limo, and pulling out into heavy traffic. Lily divided the money between the three of them evenly mostly for security reasons, and then they began their climb to the top of the tallest building in New York.
***
“This view is amazing,” Lily spoke in awe. The three friends stood at the top of the Empire State Building on the observation deck gazing out around the city. It was like they were birds perched on a cloud in the sky. They looked down on the urban jungle filled with skyscraper trees and people ants so tiny they were hardly visible. They stayed as long as they could bear the cold wind slapping their faces before retreating back inside the building. Lily thought it was odd that Landon seemed to be more on guard than normal. He kept glancing around himself using his peripheral vision to watch the other tourists milling around them. He had been acting odd for the last twenty four hours, so Lily pushed it out of her mind.
They climbed into the packed elevator taking them down to the gift shop. When the elevator doors began to close out of nowhere a hand reached in to stop the doors from closing. The doors automatically opened themselves again revealing a short, muscular man. He was dressed in a brown T-shirt with suspenders holding up his mud brown pin striped slacks. He wore black rimmed glasses and was holding a sleek cell phone up to his ear. He pushed his way into the elevator and the doors shut behind him. Everyone in the elevator was quiet for a moment, but resumed talking once the elevator was moving. The odd little man spoke nervously into the phone pausing to listen after every sentence.
“That would be a positive. Yes. No problem sir, I have it under control. No problem sir. Good bye.” He flipped the phone shut and stuck it in his pocket. He glanced around at the people surrounding him, hardly looking at Lily. When the elevator stopped everyone piled out and went their separate ways.
“I don’t care to go in the gift shop, do you?” Landon’s voice was hard and careful.
“Fine by me,” Malaya said, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.
“Let’s head to the…” Lily started but was interrupted before she could finish her sentence.
“Wait, I changed my mind. Let’s go to the gift shop. My mom wanted me to get her something.”
Lily looked at him questioningly. She searched his face for some sign of what was in that head of his, but found nothing. His mom didn’t want a souvenir from the Empire State Building. Lily knew this because she had been there when his mother had told him what she wanted.
“Now Landon,” Mrs. Turner had said wagging her finger at him. “You bring me home an ‘I heart New York’ T-shirt or don’t come home at all.” They had all laughed, including Mrs. Turner. Lily knew that all Landon’s mom wanted was a cheapo t-shirt off a street stand, so what was it that made him say otherwise?
Landon led the girls through the gift shop and all the way down to the glass front doors of the building that led to the sidewalk filled with people. He pulled them through the masses of people turning to look behind him every so often. When they had gone a few blocks dodging in and out of people Landon pulled them aside out of the flow of pedestrian traffic.
“Thanks for following me,” Landon said still glancing around him. “I know I’ve been kind of irritable lately.”
“Kind of?” Lily’s expression agreed with Malaya’s words.
“Sorry,” Landon said sincerely. “We can talk about that later if you want, but right now isn’t the time. I think someone’s following us.”
“Following us,” Lily said in shock. A tremor of fear ran threw her whole body. She tried to take in a breath, but her lungs wouldn’t cooperate. She placed her hand on her chest forcing herself to breath.
“Since the observation deck?” Landon quickly nodded and leaned in closer to girls.
“What do we do,” Lily spoke as a tear escaped from the corner of her eye. She was scared out of her mind, and in a strange city.
“We don’t panic,” Landon said resolutely. “We already know Mr. B. will be around to pick us up at eleven in front of Macy’s. That’s only fifteen minutes away, so I think we should head back that direction and wait inside the store. We need to be surrounded by people. People will keep us safe. And the employees will be there too.” The girls nodded in agreement and they swiftly submerged themselves in the mass of people and hurried to what they hoped was safety.
They were almost to the entry doors of Macy’s when Landon’s voice was heard over the rumble of the urban jungle.
“He’s behind us, I saw him. He’s following us again.”
“What does he look like?” Lily wanted to know who their stalker was.
“He has straight black hair, and is wearing black rimmed glasses. Oh, and the guy is wearing suspenders.”
“Is it that guy who pushed his way into the elevator?”
“That’s the one,” Landon confirmed. They had reached the front doors, and Landon held open the door for the girls to go through.
“Now that we’re inside, what do we do,” Lily mused out loud.
“We shop, of course,” Malaya said in a sparkly voice. Her eyes were wide as she gazed around the huge interior.
“Of course you would say that,” Lily said rolling her eyes. For Malaya, anytime was a good time so shop. The girl loved it more than chocolate cheesecake.
“Just don’t buy anything big,” Landon said as Malaya picked up a large leather handbag. Malaya didn’t seem to notice his comment. The only thing she saw was the big red “SALE” sign beckoning to her.
***
Landon tried to keep his eyes peeled for the man in glasses, and it was easier picking people out inside the department store than it had been on the street. Since they had entered the store a few moments ago he hadn’t seen the man again. Maybe he was waiting for them to go back outside. He hoped so anyway. Landon was finding out that two teenage girls and a stack of cash in Macy’s wasn’t a good combination. The last time Landon had been as excited as those girls were now, was the last Christmas his dad was with them when he was still in middle school. His dad had given him the skateboard he had been drooling over for months. There he was again. His dad always seemed to be popping up wherever he was and whatever he was doing. He had been out of his life, and Landon had accepted that, not happily, but he had come to terms with not having a dad around. Then out of nowhere this person who deserted him was back, and after his girlfriend no less. His father was out to ruin his life. He was sure of it.
They were about to ride Macy’s historic wooden escalator when Landon remembered why they were there in the first place.
“I almost forgot,” Landon said slapping his hand to his face. “Mr. B. is waiting for us.”
“Oh, no,” Lily gasped. “How long have we been here?”
“Thirty minutes at least,’’ Landon said studying the watch on his wrist.
“We had better go,” Malaya added sounding slightly disappointed. Landon wasn’t sure if she was saddened over making their driver wait, or because she had to stop shopping.
They checked out the few items Malaya and Lily had picked up and made their way out of the building. Landon searched the streets for Mr. B. and the limo. He spotted it parked several car lengths away from where they stood. He hurried the girl’s to the limo and knocked on the front window to get Mr. B.’s attention. Immediately Mr. B. emerged from the driver’s side door and scurried around to open the door for them. He took the shopping bags from the girls and stowed them in the trunk compartment. Being the gentleman that he was, Landon let the girls climb in out of the cold first, and he followed behind them. Once he was in his seat and had buckled his seatbelt, he noticed none other than the girlfriend stealer himself. Daddy dearest was back.
***
“Hello son,” Mr. Turner said speaking to Landon. “How was the flight?”
“Fine,” Landon responded tartly.
“Good, good,” his father said not acknowledging the spite in his son’s voice. “I thought I’d tag along with the three of you if you don’t mind.”
“Is that really necessary,” Landon said glaring at his father.
“No, I guess not, but I would like to.”
“It’s fine with me,” Lily piped in. There would be no father and son duel on her watch. She wouldn’t let their relationship issues spoil her trip. Lily thought Landon might put up more resistance to his father joining them, but instead he turned and stared out the window to pout. Mr. Turner didn’t seem to be bothered in the least by this, and took Lily’s acceptance as the final word on the matter.
“Where were you headed next?”
“The Metropolitan,” Malaya spoke up.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mr. Turner exclaimed. “You must be Malaya Collins. It is so nice to meet you my dear.” Lily watched as Malaya smiled and maybe even blushed a little. Her cheeks were already rosy from the cold weather, so it was hard to tell.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Turner,” she blurted out smiling sweetly.
“I don’t know if you’re aware of the kind of danger you have put us in,” Landon said to his father. “We were being followed.” They had only been driving a few moments when Mr. B. stopped the limo abruptly in the middle of the street. The limo door directly next to Landon opened wide letting the cold air rush in. The man with black rimmed glasses stepped casually inside. Lily stifled a scream. Her eyes darted from the man, to Mr. Turner who didn’t look too surprised, and then to Landon who appeared stunned and livid at the same time. Lily thought she might be car sick, and they weren’t even moving.
“YOU,” Landon yelled at the man. The man straightened his crooked glasses looking abashed. “WHO ARE YOU?”
“Calm down everyone,” Mr. Turner trumpeted catching their expressions of utter terror. “This is George Walters. He works for me.”
“But you were following us,” Lily said her voice cracking.
“I was instructed to,” the man said bluntly.
“I told you before,” Mr. Turner spoke clearly. “Lily is valuable to me, and I won’t let anything happen to her. So I’ve had security following you, but Landon was too smart and observant not to notice.” There was pride in his voice as he spoke. “In fact, if you are interested son, I might be able to offer you a spot on the team.” Landon’s face looked honored for the briefest moment, but turned just as quickly to hardened anger.
“No,” he said obviously holding back what he really wanted to say to his father. Lily was grateful he was at least trying to control his temper. “So let me get this straight, you are going to go with us everywhere the entire time we’re here.”
“No, just for today. Although, my team members will be keeping tabs on you, and we will give you each a tracking device to wear so we know where you are in case you need us. There will be a button on the device you will be able to push if you need help. For instance, if you were actually to be followed for real.”
“How will we know the difference,” Lily questioned.
“Tonight we are going to a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with all the team members, so you will meet everyone that would be on security duty. If you forget who is on our team, there will be some sort of sign you can give that they will have to give in return as a test to know if they are with us or not.”
“Okay,” Lily said not really sure how she felt about all the security guards following her everywhere and the high-tech devices, but she knew it was for her safety and that brought her a certain degree of comfort. She was relieved that they hadn’t been followed by someone who wanted to hurt her, her boyfriend, or her best friend. She decided to focus on how grateful she was to be safe and sound in New York with two of the people she loved best in the whole world.
The group that had gone from three to five, rode to a popular Italian restaurant for lunch and then to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The rest of the afternoon as she walked through the Met, she was filled with the same gratitude she had felt earlier. She was so thankful for her safety and for the little things in life she had so often taken for granted. She could walk with the help of her crutches, she could laugh with her friends, and she was in New York. What could be better than that?
***
Around six o’clock that night, Mr. B. pulled the limo up to an old warehouse. He drove around to the back side and clicked a button located on the dashboard. The gigantic loading doors slowly opened and Mr. B. drove into the dimly lit warehouse. He parked, let his five passengers out, and turned to get back in the limo.
“Why don’t you come in for dinner B.?” Mr. Turner nodded his head in the direction of a metal door several hundred yards away.
“Well thank you Mr. T. I think I will,” Mr. B. said as a huge, toothy smile exploded on his face. They all followed Mr. Turner through the door and into a large room. The room had been converted into a living room, full sized kitchen, dining room and game room complete with a pool table and foosball table. Each area was connected, but disconnected in some way. Lily knew there had to be other rooms beyond this one because it was such a large warehouse, but there wasn’t any evidence that there were any other rooms. There were no other doors than the one they had just walked through. Like Mr. Turner’s office all the lighting was artificial. On the drive up to the warehouse, Lily could have sworn she had seen windows, but from the inside there were none. Not one.
“Well it looks like everyone’s here,” Mr. Turner said shaking hands as he walked into the room. He walked to what seemed like the front of the room by the dining table.
“Hello team,” he began trying to get everyone’s attention. The thirty-five other people in the room turned their attention to him. “It looks like dinner’s ready.” He extended his hand to a spread of catering trays sitting on the kitchen counter. There was a ripple of chuckles, and Mr. Turner smiled along with them.
“I can tell Shazzi wants to do her thing, so I’ll let her take the stage,” Mr. Turner said motioning forward a tall woman with long golden red hair. She stood next to Mr. Turner and clasped her hands together. It seemed this was routine because everyone was still and silent. Some also had their hands clasped together, others had folded their arms, and others just stood respectfully and stared at the floor. The silence was broken by a lovely fluid voice.
“Dear Lord,” Shazzi began. “We are grateful this day for the food set before us, and we are especially grateful for the extra help we will have on our next assignment together. In Jesus’ name, amen.” When she had finished the short prayer everyone made a bee line for the food and the noise level returned to normal.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Mr. Turner shouted waving his arms in the air. Everyone went deathly quiet. “Everyone, this is Lily Harrison.” All eyes in the room fell on Lily. She felt her face turn a light shade of pink from the attention and waved her hand shyly at no one in particular.
“She will be helping us on the next assignment,” he continued. “These are her friends, Malaya Collins and my son Landon. Say hi, and be the friendly people I know you can be.” There were a few chuckles and then everyone went back to what they had been doing.
“Hi, Lily,” someone said from behind Lily. “My name is Shazzi and I would love to sit with you and your friends during dinner.”
“Sure,” Lily said seeing no reason why not. Lily, Malaya and Landon followed Shazzi to the buffet line. As she stood in line she looked around at the room full of strangers. She found the man with the black rimmed glasses sitting on a sofa hunched over a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes. Looking around her it seemed like everyone on the team was very comfortable around each other. They were obviously all friends, and Lily thought they seemed almost like a family.
“So where are you all from?” Shazzi’s southern accent interrupted Lily’s thoughts.
“Texas,” Landon spoke up.
“And your John’s son, right?”
“Yes,” he responded flatly.
“We all go to high school together,” Malaya added.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Shazzi replied. They had reached the trays of food and she was busy loading up her plate. “I eat like a horse, in case you hadn’t noticed,” she drawled when they had reached the dining table and taken their seats. “Always have, always will. I have to say, I’m insanely curious why John has brought you three here, and what exactly you will be doing, but…”
“But we don’t talk business at the dinner table,” cut in Mr. Turner. “You’ll find out tomorrow just like everybody else. Lily, I would like you to come to the team meeting tomorrow morning to introduce yourself better. Landon and Malaya are welcome as well. I’ll go over the assignment, and then you’ll be free until the actual assignment on Saturday. I’m not sure how long it will take, but it might take most of the day. Then you go home on Sunday evening. Not much to it. Enjoy your meal.” He continued on through the room talking to his team members as he went along.
“John’s a really nice guy,” Shazzi said after finishing a bite of turkey. “You’ll like working for him.”
Lily thought Landon would surely have something unpleasant to say about that, but he didn’t. In fact, he was watching his father who was across the room.
“I don’t know if I will be working for him,” Lily finally spoke up. “This is sort of a trial run.”
“That’s what he does for everyone,” she replied smiling kindly. “It’s rare for someone not to want to stay after seeing how great a job it is.”
“How is it great?”
“Well, first of all you’re a member a team, more of a family really. We all spend a lot of time together even when we’re not working. Most of us never really felt like we fit in anywhere until we came here. Then there’s the excitement of the job itself. It can be scary sometimes, but exhilarating. I think the part I like most is knowing how much good we are doing. Even though most people don’t even know it when we save their lives, it’s extremely rewarding. Oh, and then there’s the big fat paycheck. That’s certainly nice.” Lily sat with her fork in midair remembering the offer Mr. Turner had made her in Las Vegas. It was more than she had ever imagined she could make in any normal career field she might aspire to. At the time she had thought it was too much, but now that she thought of it, the amount was probably fair considering the risk involved.
They visited with Shazzi as they ate the remainder of their meal. They told her about life in Texas, and she told them about what she was like when she was their age. When they had finished their dinner, Landon gathered everyone’s plates and tossed them in the trash.
“Well, welcome to the team, even if it’s temporary,” Shazzi smiled and stood to go mingle with the others. Lily, Landon, and Malaya sat and talked quietly with each other. Every now and then someone from the team came up to introduce themselves. Lily would politely respond to them and then they would go on their way.
Everyone else seemed to be finished, and people started waving goodbye and leaving through the sole door in the room. The people who hadn’t had a chance to say hello waved from a distance and told her it was nice to meet her and her friends. Lily thought it was odd that they paid more attention to her than to Landon. She would have thought that being the boss’s son would have meant something, but apparently not here. Or maybe it did, but she happened to mean more at the moment. The man with the black rimmed glasses came up to them timidly.
“I’m sorry about scaring you so much earlier today,” he said with a troubled look on his face. “I was trying to be undercover, but I guess I’m not very good at it. I’m actually a desk job kind of guy, but I was available, so you had to put up with my inexperience.”
“It’s okay,” Lily said genuinely. “You were just doing your job.”
“No harm done,” Malaya added. Landon said nothing. It was getting on Lily’s nerves.
“Time to go,” Mr. Turner said. “You’ll want your beauty sleep. We meet at eight o’clock tomorrow. Are you ready Mr. B.?”
“I’m always ready, Mr. T.” Mr. B. chuckled and led the way to the door. The ride to the hotel was uneventful and silent. Lily welcomed the silence for once. Her thoughts were jumbled and she was unsure of so many things. First of all, Landon was still in a sour mood, and as much as she tried to ignore it, she was bothered by it. She needed to talk to him alone. Lily wasn’t sure when or where, but she knew she had to soon or the remainder of the trip was going to be miserable. Then there was the meeting tomorrow. What was this job that Mr. Turner wanted her so badly for? What would she be doing? She wasn’t worried about her ability failing her, because she had heard hundreds of thoughts since they had arrived in New York. Every time they stepped outside her head buzzed so much nearly to the point of a headache. With so many voices in her head she had to focus hard if she wanted to hear anything clearly. She would listen to someone here and there, but most of the time she didn’t really want to know what they were thinking.
Then there was the job offer itself. Was it really as good as Shazzi made it out to be? Could this possibly be something she would actually want to do? When she agreed to the trial assignment, it was mostly to get Mr. Turner to leave her alone, but maybe it really was something she could do to make her mark on the world. Maybe she could be a super hero. Maybe.