I stumbled off the bus. My mind was half gone from having to listen to Jessica's choir of off-key children singing a song she invented on the fly for ten or twenty minutes... don't ask how that happened... I don't know.

  Looking around the school I surveyed what must have been the playground. It was like a miniature amusement park, though I doubted one could get MUCH amusement out of such primitive equipment. The children around us started moving towards a building not far from us. Some ran full speed, bursting through the glass doors of the one-story structure, while others chatted for a while with their friends. I watched as several buses dropped off more and more children. I looked around for adults. There were a few older people here and there, but they were like some five or six goats in a sea of lambs. "What are they gonna herd them like sheep?" I asked. "Is it really a good idea to put this many little kids together- I mean young as they are and all?"

  "Probably not," said Jessica with a half-smile. "One or two could wander off completely unseen..."

  I was concerned but quickly filed the concern away, after all, these people were still around, so their systems for child care couldn't be as crazy as they looked. "Let's go," I said, taking out our DNA tracer.

  "I do wanna know what they learn about in school when they're so young."

  To be honest, there was not a single cell in my brain that was even slightly curious about that. They were so young I doubted half these little people could even read, let alone were they on a learning level that could challenge me. "Probably something stupid," I shouted, already heading for a patch of grass across from the playground. The tracer indicated this was the latest trace of young Thomas in the area. I looked around the field and surrounding roads. "This is the last place he was. No one here has a trace of him on them later than about nine days ago. Guess that rules out the bus drivers."

  "Good guess," said Jessica next to me.

  "Ya think? Well here's another one. Even if our perp does return to the scene of the crime, he probably doesn't frequent it. He's probably gonna come around sometime when there's less activity or at least something to watch, like the cops checking around."

  "So we gotta stakeout for a while eh?"

  "Somehow," I said, scratching my head and looking around.

  "We could just go to a class."

  "My guess, nothing they're learning is even close to our level. You hear how half the kids supposedly my age talk? We'll stick out like sore thumbs in there. We won't even know where we're going. Are you out of your mind?"

  "Kinda."

  I smiled. "Yeah, walked into that one. If our experience on the bus is any indication, putting you in a small space with a lot of kids isn't exactly a recipe for subtlety. Remember we're trying to keep a low profile right?"

  "Yeah... did it already occur to you that I'm a really bad partner for that kind of thing?"

  "At some point, I figured it out," I said with a nod and lowered eyebrows. "Look, let's just hide in those bushes over there."

  (***)

  Jessica and I hid in the bushes in a small forested area across from the school. Our small stature made it easier to hide in low vegetation, but I was still nervous about our brightly colored clothing. I started to wonder if we would have been better camouflaged in our birthday suits. Heck... aside the embarrassment, everything around us was so filed down and comfy, even outside, we could do it.

  I looked to my left, noticing a strangely familiar vehicle. "Allen," Jessica whispered. "He must have followed the bus."

  "Hm... well good," I said. "Think we're gonna need a little help here. Did you notice everyone went inside the building when that bell rang? I don't think you and I are still supposed to be out here. However, I just thought of something."

  "What's that?"

  "Well we could wait around in the bushes till we're discovered or the kids come back out, or we could find a way to talk to these police without them getting suspicious."

  "And you think Al might know a way to help us with that?" Jessica asked. I nodded. I had no good ideas of my own at the moment. "Good idea, I'll get his attention." She grabbed and rock and threw it, beaming the poor man directly in the forehead.

  "Jess!" It was all I could do to not yell at her. I shook my head though, Allen was now looking right at us and motioning with his foot to some small bushes beside the parking lot. Jessica and I made our way over. Allen waited by the bushes and lit up a cigar when we arrived, as he spoke, to those who couldn't hear him, he probably looked like he was just puffing the cigar.

  "So, you making any progress?" he asked.

  "Do you really smoke?" I asked. "I hear it's bad for you."

  "So is hanging out with a crazy person, but that didn't stop you from practically marrying one now did it?" he asked, rubbing his head. I just smiled, holding up a finger to indicate he had a point. "Ya know, throwing a rock over my shoulder would have had the same effect," he said, looking at Jessica.

  "No it wouldn't," she replied, Allen, glaring at her. "In any case, we need to talk to the cops, any ideas?"

  Allen shrugged, still rubbing his head. "Really there shouldn't be a problem if you just speak to them during recess. I can't hang out forever, it'll call attention. When all the other kids come running out, that's recess, I suspect Jessica already knew that of course. Ask around then. I just followed the bus so as to not lose track of you two. I'll be off now."

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  "Wait, how do we hide till then?" I asked.

  Allen looked around. "I don't know... shoot... find an unlocked car and hide in it till you hear a bunch of screaming kids come running out."

  "And if someone wants to drive that car while we're still in it?"

  "Up a creek without a paddle then I guess."

  "That's the best you got?"

  Allen shrugged. "Next time you want to pick my brain don't throw rocks at it." He thus walked away, giving a small snicker as I sat back and glared at Jess.

  (***)

  We managed by basically moving from tree to tree any time an adult came out. It wasn't the best, but it was all we could come up with. We were actually lucky no one was seriously looking for two children running stealth. There was a part of me that suspected there was a reason for that, but I only had suspicions as to what it was.

  A long time passed but sure enough, eventually, hundreds of children came running out of the building, once again the ratio of adults to kids must have been one to a hundred. I had no idea how there was anything but chaos on that playground. I ran out of the bushes, as everyone else seemed to be running. Jessica outran me and almost slammed into the leg of one of the patrolmen. "Hello!" she shouted. The officer took notice of her, a slight smile on his face. "I saw a couple of you guys around. What are ya doin' here?"

  The man had white skin and was dressed in a blue uniform. He regarded Jessica and answered, "We're just on the lookout. Seems one of your schoolmates went missing. Don't worry too much. We're just seeing if we can learn anything here."

  "It's a school, that's what it's for," Jessica said back.

  I shook my head, trying to be subtle about the gesture. "How many of you are there?" I asked.

  "A couple," said the officer. "There's a small group of us on the other side of the school too. The missing boy's name was Thomas, did you know him?" Wow, he was loose with information. I had an idea.

  "Tommy... didn't we see someone grab him?" I asked.

  "You... you did? We have another witness too... I gotta go get my captain." The man left us quickly, going over to another officer not far away.

  "What are you doing?" asked Jessica.

  "Moving things along," I replied. "It's working too, you see we already know there's a witness."

  "We're witnesses now!" Jessica almost shouted.

  I chuckled, giving a cocky grin. "Jess these guys are incredibly naive. They think we're helping and really that's not too far from the truth now is it?"

  "If we give them false information..." she said nervously.

  "We won't. We know someone grabbed him, that's not false. Now we can confirm what the kidnapper looked like. Really it should be a matter of well-placed words to make them reveal what the original description from the real witness was." She sighed nodding. I was thus playing everyone like a fiddle, including a senior!

  A tall skinny man in a uniform walked over to us at a quick pace. "Hello," he said in a friendly tone. "So you say you saw Thomas taken about a week ago?"

  "Was that how long it was sis?" I asked Jessica.

  "Um... yeah... I think so,"

  The man took out a sketch pad. "Is this what the man looked like? The one who took Thomas I mean."

  Surprised that I didn't have to plant questions at all, I studied the picture. It was a black and white pencil drawing. The man shown looked to be in his thirties. He had dark hair and I supposed white skin. His nose was rather large and he had firm cheeks. I looked at a few notes below the picture, denoting that he had brown eyes and his hair was actually light brown. "I don't remember," I admitted.

  "You're sure?" asked the man, focusing my attention on the picture by tapping it with his finger several times. "How about you little girl?" Jessica shook her head.

  Jessica took out our tracker.

  "What's that?" asked the officer.

  "It's a toy... actually I think I do remember that man," she said. I looked at her with wide eyes. "But I think you got a few things wrong."

  In my head, I thought, 'Jess, leave the manipulating to the professionals- what are you doing?'

  "Did we now?" asked the officer. He stood up. "Alright, do you mind telling us what at the station?"

  "No, why not?"

  "Come with me," said the man, moving to one of their black and white cars.

  "What are you doing?" I asked Jessica quietly as the two men walked away.

  "That man has traces of Thomas on him that are only three days old," she replied. I paused, nodding. "Let's get going. I'll take care of his partner. In the car you get answers."

  I ran over to the two officers as they opened the doors of their vehicle. The senior officer we had been talking to opened the driver's side and got in as his subordinate opened the back seat for me and Jessica. I saw a set of metal fencing separated the front from the back and realized I couldn't get at him from there. I quickly moved around the subordinate and to the passenger side door. "You really should get in back." The man commented as I opened the door. Just then Jessica tugged on his coat. "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing," she said, she offered her hand to shake. "Just thanks for helping to find my friend."

  "Sure," he replied, taking her hand. That instant electric energy shot into his body and she threw herself at him, forcing his unconscious body into the back so no one would see it. She didn't hit him with a lethal shock, but he would probably wake up with a... doosey of a headache.

  "The heck is going on here?" asked our perp as I jumped in beside him. I quickly grabbed a small service pistol on his side and pointed it at him.

  "Where's Thomas?" I demanded. The man slapped his right hand into the air and grabbed the gun before I could even think.

  "Not a smart move!" Jessica said in a low tone behind me. She pulled the hammer back on another small pistol in her own hands. "Now where is he?"

  The man smiled. "You are the strangest children I have ever met. How could you have possibly known I took him? I arrived five minutes ago to oversee things and not a single piece of information to indict me has come into circulation. So what do you know? Child heroes... something I always dreamed of as a boy." He laughed. "Very well, I'll give you your chance to shine. I don't know where the boy is now, but there is a chance he is in a basement on the corner of 5th and Chance."

  Jessica grinned. "You have no idea what you're into my friend," she said. Jessica ejected a small metal chamber from her weapon, grabbing mine and doing the same. She threw both weapons at the man and grabbed me by the hand, leaving the man.

  This was SO easy!

  The officer shouted at us from the car. "It will be sheer chance if you find him, girl. I didn't give you the answer I was only playing with you. You search 5th and there's a chance you'll find him. But then again, you don't know anything about guns, so chance wasn't on your side today. You'll have to do it without your little brother there."

  I turned quickly as the man picked up one of the guns Jessica left and pointed it at me. I shot electric energy into my feet, forcing myself to the side with incredible speed as I heard a loud blast go off into the air. When I stopped a few meters away I saw electric energy visibly travel up Jessica's form as she threw her hands forward. Three bolts of lightning flew out of her hands into the officer and forced him through the driver-side door of his vehicle, ripping the door off as he continued to travel several feet and finally roll in the dirt. In that moment, I couldn't be certain, but I was pretty sure he was dead.

  "I think you just blew our cover... sis..." I turned around, forcing energy into my legs, and shot for the bushes we had hid in earlier.

  I quickly ducked into the brush meeting Jessica inside. "How many do you think saw us?" she asked.

  Well... things just got less easy. "I don't know Jess, you lit that guy up like a star, we'll be lucky if the whole school doesn't know you have powers now!"

  "We didn't stick around and no one got photos of us so it doesn't matter," she said with a nod. "If no one is sure what we look like, this will just become a local myth."

  "Jessica you lead the entire bus in song, they know who you are."

  "Well... maybe the same kids didn't see."

  "Jessica you and I both know what this means. We can't be in public for the next year at least! Not in this city anyway."

  "No one will believe the kids."

  "Even if they all have the same story?"

  "No, not if it's not something the adults wouldn't believe in the first place."

  "D- these people are amazing." Even with all the silliness, I had seen from these people, I wasn't sure how much I shared Jessica's confidence in how easy covering up THAT would be.

  "For us, I guess we just hide for a few hours until we can find a way to get through to Allen." I bit my lip, hoping for the best as we continued to hide.