Chapter 41

Family Drama

As Leo entered the kitchen, two girls screamed obscenities at each other from the living room. It was the news. “Before last Friday, I wouldn't have thought these girls knew what those words meant,” an announcer said. “Though we've been unable to reach the girls, or their agents, for a comment, we did reach the boy, Terran Lupine, who was apparently the cause of Friday afternoon's little ruckus. He had a few words to say.”

Curious, Leo peeked into the living room. On TV, an attractive older boy of maybe 15, with artfully tousled long black hair, stood in front of the small crowd. “I was just staying in character, guys,” the boy said. “After all, I'm a big bad werewolf.” He smiled and winked at the camera amid cheers and a number of loud boos.

“Wereloser,” Lydia grumbled.

“For the thousandth time, Lydia, mind your own business,” Mom said with a sigh. “You'd think the news would have more important things to talk about.”

“Leo. Have a seat. Now,” Dad motioned for him to join them.

Mom and Dad were both holding the usual cans of their favorite Bio-Blessed energy drink, but there was no food on the table.

Why couldn't he just fight a monster or something? He wanted to turn around and make a run for it, but instead, he pulled up a chair and sat down at the table. This was going to be bad.

“Leo. How are you feeling?” Dad asked.

“I'm fine,” Leo said.

“Good. Considering the circumstances, I thought it best to let you sleep. What the hell were you thinking? You know people have died from unsupervised use of VR pods? And the VR pods you were using haven't even been safety tested. I really thought you were growing up, Leo.”

Leo looked down at the table. “Sorry.”

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“That being said, what were these new Grapefruit Technology pods like?” Dad asked.

“Don't you dare encourage him,” Mom snapped.

Dad took a sip of his energy drink. “I just have to know. I tried a demo-pod, years ago, and it was like I was a ghost. You could kind of push things around, but you couldn't feel them and everything smelled like hand sanitizer.”

“These pods were amazing,” Leo said, suppressing a smile. He might get out of this alive after all. “You could feel, you could smell. It wasn't perfect, but it was close.”

“Sounds like you had a blast. You're lucky we don't ground you for two weeks,” Dad grumbled. “And onto the more pressing concern, Lydia is convinced you are an alien pod person.”

“He is,” said Lydia. “Ever since last Sunday.”

Dad sighed. “Leo is growing up. He's trying new things. He's changing. You need to deal with it and quit going through his stuff.”

“Leo always kicks his stuff underneath his bed when he cleans his room. Last Sunday he cleaned underneath his bed and even swept his floor,” Lydia said. “And he's writing weird stuff on his calendar.”

Shit!

Leo had hoped stashing his calendar on his bookshelf with the rest of his reading material would protect it from his sister's snooping. She wasn't stupid. What if she made the connection between him and his future predictions?

“She has a point. That is strange,” Mom said with a yawn. “Sweeping under his bed? He must be an alien.”

“I think he's taking Serpent Jelly,” Lydia said. “My friend's older brother took some, and he forgot a bunch of stuff, took off his clothes, climbed to the roof of his house, and tried to fly away. I saw Leo climb to the top of our elm tree and jump off.”

“I climbed to the middle of the tree and jumped off, to accustom my body to falling from heights, and I will point out I had clothes on.”

“You need to stop doing that, Leo,” Dad said. “I'd rather not become accustomed to paying large hospital bills when you break something.” Dad stood up. “I'm already late for work. Lydia, you and your brother are spending the day cleaning the garage.”

Lydia started crying. “You're the worst parents ever. I hate you.”

Dad started shaking and pounded the table. Leo winced. Dad was taking too much Bio-Blessed and getting too little sleep, a bad combination that was making him unstable.

“For god's sake, Lydia, quit being a little brat!” Dad stormed out of the kitchen, the front door slammed, and the car started.

Mom yawned again. “You heard the man. Move. The garage had better be clean by this evening.”

“I need to eat first or I'm passing out from hunger,” Leo said, going to the pantry. “Ramen. Great.”