Cara Walker strolled into the living room and flopped down onto the couch, turning on the TV. She wore a bandage around her ankle where the strange, spider-like machine had bitten her. She pulled up the latest ‘idiots in cars’ video on YouTube as her mom sat in the kitchen, eating a slice of cake and texting.
“Mom, have you seen Elion?” Cara asked.
“Hmm? No I haven’t seen him. Go to channel 7, Dad’s going to be on TV.”
Cara watched a sedan drive straight over a roundabout, catching air and then sliding along a concrete barrier. She moved to start changing the screen, but had to watch the next clip of a truck trying to drive under a too-low bridge, tearing off it’s top.
“Cara honey, change the channel,” Cathy said.
Tearing herself away from the carnage and destruction of the next clip, Cara flicked through the channels.
Corbin Walker’s face came up on the screen, his official ‘US Senator’ photograph. A reporter was talking.
“—attack on the Walker family home yesterday has lead many to question whether an expanded Secret Service might be necessary. Others are calling for a crackdown on extremist groups—”
“Mom, this is boring,” Cara said. “I’m going to—”
In a flash Mom crossed the room and snatched the remote out of Cara’s hand. Cara sighed and looked down at her phone.
The screen changed, showing both Corbin Walker and the President. Dad looked furious, and the President was wearing her trademark ‘concerned leader’ look.
“Yesterday,” Dad said, “Extremists wearing hoods and black robes broke into my house and attacked my family. This kind of attack cannot be tolerated in our country, for any reason. An attack on any of us is an attack on all of us.”
“He’s too worked up about it,” Cara said. “It sounds fake.”
“He’s really upset, honey,” Cathy said, eyes glued to the screen. “Just wait for it.”
Cara kept looking down at her phone.
“My daughter was injured by these freak,” Dad said. “And I will not stand by. I will not be frightened. They thought that they could make me drop out of this race, but my resolve is stronger than ever!”
Cathy clapped her hands, grinning at the line she’d helped write the night before.
Cara rolled her eyes. “When is Dad going to come back?” she asked. “If he really cared about me, he’d have come home to see me first. Instead he’s hanging out with Madam President.”
The news cut to blurry images of actors dressed in black robes, chanting ominously.
“While no groups have taken credit for the attack,” the anchor droned, “police have identified several suspects—”
“That’s not even what they looked like,” Cara protested. “And what about those machines they had?”
“Shh,” Cathy hissed, shushing her daughter. “This is going to play so well with suburban women. We’ve been struggling in that demographic.”
Cara rolled her eyes even harder.
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Cathy’s phone rang, and she answered it. “Uh-huh. Yes, I know. I know. Seriously?”
Kyle walked into the room. “Hey, it’s dad,” he said. “When is he coming home?”
“That is amazing news,” Cathy said into the phone.
“Never,” Cara said to Kyle. “He’s married to his office and we’re going to be orphans.”
“I’m so mad I wasn’t here for the attack,” Kyle said. “That would have been so cool.”
“Kyle have you seen Elion since then by the way?” Cara asked.
Cathy hung up the phone and squealed. “They’re getting some preliminary polling numbers,” she said. “It’s only been a day, but early numbers are showing as much as a 5 point bump, can you believe it?”
“That’s great, mom,” Kyle said.
“It’s amazing,” Cathy said. “I should have thought of something like this before. If I had known it would work so well…”
“Are we really talking about intentionally planning a terrorist attack against ourselves?” Cara asked.
On TV, the President looked directly into the camera. Cara looked away, not meeting the woman’s dark, piercing eyes. “We will not be intimidated,” she said. “We will fight on!”
The broadcast cut to the Walker family photo, the one they’d sent out with the Christmas card last year.
“Please no,” Cara groaned. “I look like I’m being held hostage!” Her phone pinged, and she saw a message from a friend on the soccer team. The notification showed a partial image, a picture someone had taken of Cara on TV. She didn’t open the message. Instead, she chucked her phone away from her.
Standing behind the sofa, Kyle snorted. “You’re a meme now!” He shoved his phone in Cara’s face. Someone had cropped in close to Cara’s face and added the caption “When you voted for the other guy.”
Cara scowled. “That’s not even funny.”
“There are more, look,” Kyle said, flipping through images. Cara pushed his hand away.
“Stop tormenting your sister, Kyle,” Cathy said.
“Isn’t anyone wondering what happened to Elion?” Cara said. “He just disappeared!”
“Cara, have you ever heard the saying ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’?” Cathy asked.
“Shouldn’t we at least tell the police he was here and now he’s missing? He could be in trouble,” Cara said.
“Listen,” Cathy said. “The election is in two weeks. These crazies have done us a huge favor, and I don’t want to dampen that by digging up baggage that might be distracting! As soon as the election is over, we’ll make sure to find him.”
“If he’s still alive,” Cara grumbled.
“I’m sure he is,” Cathy said. “He’s probably just with Zev. They’ll turn up asking for money or whatever soon enough. We don’t want to do anything that will detract from the momentum we’ve got right now!”
“Whatever,” Cara said, folding her arms.
“If I can think of a way to get some more sympathy from people, then maybe I’ll spread the word. I just want to make sure the next two weeks go smoothly. Early voting has already started, you know.”
Cara snatched the remote from where Cathy had tossed it on the couch, and changed the channel back to ‘idiots in cars.’
Cathy made another phone call and wandered off. “Another idea for you. Could we throw some out some suggestion that Corbin’s brother’s death might have been related? I know there were a couple of unanswered questions about that car accident. At the very least, we’d get a lot of sympathy from people if they knew— Yes, that’s a great idea. I’d love to see a huge pile of flowers there— A commemoration…. I can hardly believe what’s happening. We’ve got this election in the bag!”
Kyle dropped down onto the couch beside Cara. He tried to grab the remote but she was faster.
“You don’t think this whole think is weird?” Cara asked. “Why doesn’t the news talk about the machines and the magic and stuff?”
“There wasn’t any magic,” Kyle said. “That’s not real.”
“I watched a man in a robe use a wand. He made a purple bubble of light and floated the security guard into the air,” Cara said. “It was magic.”
“You were stressed,” Kyle said. “You probably weren’t thinking straight.”
“It was magic. You weren’t there. They had some big sticks, and made a big swirling ball of light on the lawn,” Cara said. “I think I saw Elion jump into it.”
“If it was magic then why isn’t any of the stuff you’re talking about on the security footage?” Kyle asked. “They only blocked out parts of the footage to hide their magic?”
“Maybe,” Cara said. “I don’t know. They were doing magic though. And they kidnapped Elion.”
Kyle shrugged. “Well, as mom says, maybe that’s for the best.”
“I keep having bad dreams,” Cara said. “Those creepy guys are trying to drag me away, pull me into their portal. I hate it.” She felt tears in her eyes.
“Did you tell mom? She’d love it if you could tell the story and cry on camera.”
“No way,” Cara said. “And promise me you won’t tell her.” She grabbed Kyle’s arm, pulling his phone away so that he was forced to look at her. “Promise me?”
“Yeah, fine, I promise.” Kyle said, pulling his arm away. He gave Cara an odd look then got up and walked out of the room, leaving her alone to watch ‘idiots in cars.’