I sighed. I HATE giving out information, but now felt like an appropriate time. I thought for a minute. “You know when I went to see Donny the other day about that book? He gave me some articles to look up. For our Supers books.” I paused to glare at Stenway, who held up his hands. That settled, I went on. “The articles were something about the whole Reckoning Blue thing.” Stenway flinched like he’d been slapped.

  “You shouldn’t be talking about that.”

  “They already know I know. I’ll try to talk about it as little as possible, but…”

  “What’s Reckoning Blue?” Sydney leaned forward with her elbows on the table.

  I’ll spare you the recap of the last 6 months of my life. Finally I got back to the part about the library and the articles I’d found, and Stenway asked for the list so he could go look at them. In case you’re wondering, I did leave out the whole “I invited a group of boys over into a mansion uninvited and we drank some of my employers tea” part. I hoped to be able to use that bit again.

  Stenway frowned. “You said this was 7 years ago? She was so young. Maybe 12 or 13.” He wiped a hand over his forehead. “It must have had something to do with her schooling.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, right, like the heads of the Super school would let a 12 year old get arrested.” Stenway didn't say anything.

  Sydney looked up. “They did basically kidnap you.”

  “You kidnapped me,” I shot back, before I could help it.

  “I don’t think it counts if I’m the one who’s responsible for you when…”

  Stenway cut in, glaring at us both. “Can we focus on the current kidnapping, please? I think Briony missing has to have something to do with Reckoning Blue. I think?”

  “Do we know what that is, exactly?”

  Stenway shook his head. “I don’t. I imagine someone does. But there’s no way you and I are getting that information.”

  I held up my hand and counted on my fingers. “These are our options, as I see them. 1- it's personal to you. Mr. Left is going to get you to do something so he is taking a hostage. 2- it's something that she knows, or participated in. 3- it’s none of the above and is totally unconnected.”

  Stenway folded his arms. “I’ll rule number 3 out.”

  I nodded. “Me too, especially since the phone call made it very clear that Mr. Left wanted you specifically to know.”

  Sydney turned to look at him. “Sten, what could you possibly know? Or have?”

  “Access to the Left mansion, fortune, research at the lab… I’m legal executor and handler of all things Left right now.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I raised a hand. “How recently did the rest of the Left family pass away? Like all the people that would get money or like property and stuff?”

  He frowned. “I’m not sure. Why?”

  “Is Mr. Left the only one that gets all the money? The b something?”

  “Beneficiary.” Sydney chimed in.

  “Yeah I guess.”

  Stenway tapped his chin. “I believe there are a few cousins, his parent’s brother’s kids, that have a fund set up for them. But otherwise, yes, he’s in charge of all of it.” He sat up straight. “Maybe they took her to get me to do something? Like as leverage.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe. Tell us about her.” Sydney smacked my leg. I turned to her. “Okay, I get that he’s sad and also scared. But. He should tell us about her. It could help us find her quicker.” I didn’t know if that was true or not, but I said it and turned back to Stenway. “So, her power is electricity? That doesn’t explain how she moved my nametag.”

  Stenway grinned, a small little grin. “What was the clasp on your badge?”

  “Some kind of metal? But… oh. Electromagnets.” I sat up straighter. “That’s way cool. I have to tell the fellows.”

  Stenway nodded. “I think I want to help you with that. I know the doctor told us to leave it alone. But. She’s my sister. I can’t just leave it alone.”

  “Electricity and magnetism. I wonder if that was what got her into the whole car thing. Cars are metal, right?”

  Stenway was staring at me. “You said you were going to tell the fellows. Your little band of Super sleuths?”

  “Yeah, this is something big. I’d fry if I didn’t tell them. Plus I haven’t even told them what I found out at the library.”

  Sydney slid her eyes over to me, not moving her head. “How were you going to tell them?” I paused. It felt like we had bigger things to wrestle with here, but I still didn’t want to give anything away. Thankfully, she filled in the blank on her own. “Tyler. Have you been using the phone here? That is so unprofessional.” She turned to Stenway to apologize.

  I rolled my eyes as they talked for a bit. Nothing was really said. She apologized and he said “think nothing of it” and so why did we waste all this breath on something that didn’t seem to matter in the end? “Can I go use the phone now?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Stenway stood up and stepped back from the table, but I was already out of the room.

  “Thanks, I got it!” I practically ran down the hall to his study and shut the door. Flipping the lock over, I raced around the corner of the desk and yanked up the phone. I couldn’t hear footsteps down the hall, but they’d be coming soon. “Hi, yes, is Donny there? No, that’s ok, can you just tell him that I have that book, the Blue one, and I need to return it to him as soon as possible? Okay, thanks, please tell him as soon as you can. Please. Okay thank you!”

  I hung up the phone and went around to unlock the door. They were standing just outside. Sydney had just started to say something, but she closed her mouth as soon as she saw me. Stenway was grinning. He turned to face her, as if I wasn’t there. “I see where you’re coming from, but Tyler doesn’t strike me as boy crazy yet. She’s more… singleminded than that.” If I had the ability to shoot lasers out of my eyes, I would have turned Sydney into that sad little french fry that gets dug out of the fryer after like an hour- shrivelled up, ugly brown, burnt, crispy… you get it.

  “Hopefully one of them will be coming soon.”

  “That was quick.” Stenway led Sydney into his study and settled her into the chair across from his, then sat behind his desk. I looked at the clock and gave myself 10 minutes before Donny could possibly show up.

  “He’s not going to like coming in here and finding you two. I mean he’s used to talking with me about this kind of stuff, not adults.” They looked at each other and Stenway shrugged. “I guess there’s a lot more on the line this time.”