Chapter Ten

“Hey Maddie!” Brylee yelled, vaulting the wall.

Madeline shrieked, dropping the metal bird she was tinkering with. “Heard of knocking?”

Brylee rolled her eyes. “It’s a fence, Maddie.”

“Please don’t call me that,” she said, annoyed. “Only Varian can call me that.”

“Why Varian?” she teased, “is he your boyfriend?”

“Y’know what? Not gonna put a label on it,” she said, picking up the bird.

“LEE!” Kyler came crashing into her yard, trying to vault the fence but instead landing face-first into the grass. “Auntie is going to be SO mad-”

“Why?” Brylee asked, genuinely curious.

“Uh, it’s MIDNIGHT?!?!”

“You think she cares?” his sister retorted. “All she does is sew and sleep. We’re seventeen, it doesn't matter what we’re doing. Besides, Madeline’s up.”

Kyler rolled his eyes. “Fine. What are you doing up, anyway?”

“Couldn't sleep,” Madeline said. She examined the bird before saying, “Sorry guys. I have to do something really quick.” She placed the bird on her worktable, which was covered in varnish like the icing on a cake. It was a sixteenth birthday gift from Varian. Picking up a screwdriver, she twisted a few screws in.

“BOO!” Brylee screamed. Madeline shrieked and dropped the bird- again.

It started to shake. “Brylee!” Madeline exclaimed. “That was highly sensitive!”

“But… wasn’t it just a bird?”

“No!” she said. “It’s a highly sensitive supermagnet!”

“WHAT?!?”

“Everybody inside!” Madeline called, and the trio rushed inside her house. “Stay here,” she ordered, rushing back outside.

She sprinted to Varian’s house, banging on the door. “Vee!” she exclaimed, “it’s an emergency!”

He flung open the door. “Maddie?” he questioned. “What’s wrong?”

“No time to explain,” she said breathlessly, “get a countermagnet! NOW!”

He started at her, shocked by the yelling. Something changed in his eyes as he realized it was a true emergency. He rushed inside his house without another word, coming back with a bronze disk. It was the size of his palm and smooth as a coin, about an inch thick. “This should work. Let’s go!”

He let her drag him through the dark and into her yard. “Where?” he asked.

She pointed to the bird. “Right there.”

“I think I see it…”

“It’s my supermagnet.”

“Is anyone else here?” he asked, not even batting an eye.

“Kyler and Brylee. They’re inside.”

“Get with them!”

“But-”

He looked into her eyes. “Maddie, I love you. I don’t want you to get hurt. Please go inside!”

“It’s my invention!”

“It was my idea for you to build it!”

She stared at him for a moment before pulling him toward her and pressing her lips to hers, holding him tightly, hoping it would be okay. Finally she pulled away, nodding. “Stay safe.”