Lightning Girl Read online

  I breathed a sigh of relief as Aunt Lucinda caught my eye in the wing mirror and winked. While we all waited patiently in the car for her to do her lip liner, Clara decided to pass the time by giving Alfred’s wing a friendly scratch. Unfortunately, her gesture of kindness towards him backfired as he began to thump his leg, just like Kimmy does when you get the right tickle spot on her belly, which is really cute.

  But ostrich legs are much bigger and more powerful than dog legs, and when Alfred started kicking his leg clumsily in appreciation at the scratch, his foot slammed right down and dented the floor of the car. Clara immediately stopped scratching his wing and looked from the big dent in the car to me guiltily. I put a finger to my lips, nodding at a completely unaware Aunt Lucinda, still perfecting the outline of her lips. Clara giggled.

  “There’s that boring bald teacher of yours,” Aunt Lucinda said, tearing her gaze from her own reflection. “I think he’s coming over to say hello. Helloooooooo!”

  She wiggled her fingers at Mr Mercury, who was walking out of school with a pile of marking. He winced when he saw her and I sank lower into my seat.

  “Ah … hello, Ms Beam. Nice to see you again. And your … um … pet.”

  Alfred ruffled his feathers and looked Mr Mercury up and down with his large, beady eyes.

  “And you, Mr Jupiter!”

  “It’s Mr Mercury,” I hissed, my cheeks burning.

  “I hear the Natural History Museum trip was quite the success,” she continued, ignoring me. “Very heroic of you to take the children. I couldn’t handle so many of them running about.”

  “Well, it is my job, I suppose,” he replied, standing by the car awkwardly. His eyes suddenly bulged out of his head as he spotted the blue diamond round her neck. “That’s a very pretty necklace.”

  “So sweet of you to notice!”

  I rolled my eyes. You could hardly miss it.

  “Is that the Dream Diamond?”

  “It is! How refreshing to meet someone who appreciates fine things.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him and Alexis glanced back at me in horror.

  Was Aunt Lucinda FLIRTING with Mr Mercury?

  Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me n—

  “I don’t know much about it, I’m afraid. Only that the properties of that particular diamond are really quite fascinating. I’m a science teacher, you see.” He blushed.

  MR MERCURY BLUSHED. AT AUNT LUCINDA.

  This was worse than when Mum showed up at parents’ evening with an ice block on her head.

  “I’d love to hear all about its properties. Perhaps you could tell me over dinner?” Aunt Lucinda practically purred.

  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

  “Um… I … well I… ”

  A flush of red rose from his cheeks all the way over Mr Mercury’s bald head.

  Even the top of his head was blushing.

  “W … won’t I see you at the stone?” he finally managed to say. “I mean, launch! I mean, stone launch. Precious stone launch. At the museum? I assume you’ll be wearing it then?”

  “You’re going to the launch?” Aunt Lucinda blinked at him in surprise.

  “I know, it seems silly that I got an invitation to such a prestigious launch; me, just a lowly science teacher,” he mumbled, jostling the books in his arms. “But I was telling Professor Beam on the school trip to the museum how fascinated I was by those priceless stones, and he was kind enough to offer me an invitation. I’m very unprepared for that sort of thing; I’ll have to track down a tuxedo!”

  Brilliant. Thanks, Dad. Invite my TEACHER to your big event. Not that that is as embarrassing as my aunt inviting that same teacher on a date. Or the ice-block thing with Mum.

  Seriously, what is wrong with my family?

  Mr Mercury must have been thinking the same thing as he suddenly cleared his throat nervously and asked in this high-pitched voice, “Will all the Beams be there?”

  “Oh yes, we’re all going,” she confirmed, nodding. “It’s a family affair!”

  “Ah, how – ” he searched for the word “– lovely.”

  “Of course! Well, I look forward to seeing you there, then.” Aunt Lucinda smiled, flashing her pearly white teeth framed perfectly by her freshly applied red lipstick. “I’ll wear the diamond and you can tell me all about it properly.”

  Mr Mercury gulped. I genuinely felt sorry for him, despite the fact that he (a) gave me detention, (b) yells at me any chance he gets, and (c) hates me.

  As I literally tried to bury myself in Alfred’s feathers – who promptly wiggled his bum to bump me back out of them – Aunt Lucinda turned on the ignition and flicked her designer sunglasses from where they were resting on the top of her perfectly coiffed hair down on to her nose.

  “Toodleoo, Mr Neptune!” She waved, before putting her foot down and speeding away from him.

  Her exchange with my teacher, on top of everything else going on, had made school practically IMPOSSIBLE for the next few days, because every time I sat in his class I couldn’t make eye contact with him. I think he felt the same way because every now and then in his lessons I’d catch him staring at me but then he’d look away really fast. I had never looked forward to a weekend more. I just wanted to lock myself in my room and be invisible.

  On Saturday, Dad was at the museum putting together the finishing touches, so Mum took us out to a café for a big breakfast. Clara filled her in on all the new projects she was working on at school, whilst Alexis explained why he’d decided it would be a good idea to try and hack into a video-game company’s software. Dad had been sent a strict warning from the company’s lawyers.

  “I was trying to get to the next level,” he shrugged, with a mouthful of waffle.

  “Can’t you just play the video game, like everyone else does?” Mum asked, passing him more syrup.

  “Where’s the fun in that?”

  Mum shook her head at him sternly but I noticed that when he turned away, a smile crept across her lips like she was secretly proud. Her phone rang just as she finished paying the bill and she excused herself to take the call, before returning to the table with a worried expression on her face.

  “That was the office,” she explained, giving me a knowing look. “I have to go.”

  “We understand,” I said quickly before the other two could protest. “We can walk home, it’s not far.”

  She nodded gratefully before giving us each a kiss, grabbing her coat and racing out so fast, that she became almost a blur. Alexis raised his eyebrows as she disappeared around the corner.

  “Anyone else ever noticed that Mum is weirdly fast? It’s almost like she’s got superpowers.”

  “Ha ha, good one, Alexis! So funny, what a comedian!” I replied, maybe a little too enthusiastically judging by the shocked reaction on both of their faces. I quickly changed the conversation by asking Clara to explain her caterpillar project to me again, but noticed Alexis watching me curiously on the walk home.

  “Strange how Mum never talks about her job,” he commented suddenly. “Dad won’t shut up about his.”

  “Mum’s is a boring office job whereas Dad’s is quite cool,” I reasoned. “Well, I’m not sure weird ancient stones are cool. But, you know, his is an unusual job.”

  Alexis didn’t look convinced but thankfully he didn’t say anything else. I felt guilty about lying to him and Clara, but there was nothing I could do. When we got home, he shut himself up in his room and Clara went to read her book, so I was left on my own with Kimmy downstairs. I sat on the sofa and let her jump up to sit next to me.

  “I wish that everything was back to normal, Kimmy,” I admitted.

  She looked at me with her large, pointy ears up and placed her right paw on my lap in solidarity.

  “I can’t talk to my brother and sister because it’s all a big secret.”

  She tilted her head.

  “And most people at school don’t know the truth and the ones that do th
ink I’m a big weirdo.”

  She tilted her head to the other side.

  “And Mum and Dad are sad all the time because they’ve separated.”

  She leaned forwards and nudged my nose with hers.

  “But they’re both too busy to make it better again.”

  She inhaled deeply.

  “Plus, my aunt asked my teacher out on a date just in case I wasn’t already the biggest freak in school.”

  She exhaled deeply.

  “I feel like no one understands and I have no one to talk to.”

  She barked.

  “Apart from you, Kimmy, of course,” I laughed, leaning forwards to give her a hug and bury my face in her fur.

  As she nuzzled my neck, the doorbell rang, making her immediately jump down and rush to the door.

  “I’ll get it!” I yelled up to Alexis and Clara, dragging myself off the sofa.

  I pulled Kimmy back and opened the door. Standing on my doorstep were Fred, Suzie, Georgie and Kizzy.

  “W … what are you guys doing here?” I stammered as Kimmy barged past me to greet Kizzy with a big lick on the chin. It had been a while since she’d seen her.

  “You’ve been avoiding us again,” Kizzy laughed, stroking Kimmy’s ears. “So we thought we’d come to you.”

  “Look, you don’t need to worry,” I said in a hushed tone. “I know you think I’m this big freak and I swear I—”

  “Why would we think that?” Georgie asked, coming forwards to pat Kimmy on the head.

  “Because … because of … what I told you,” I explained, wondering if she’d had a knock on the head recently and somehow forgotten everything.

  “We don’t think you’re a freak,” Kizzy said sternly.

  “I do,” Suzie muttered under her breath before receiving a sharp jab in the ribs from Georgie. “Ow! Not a freak in a bad way.”

  Georgie smiled and rolled her eyes at her friend. “We wanted to tell you that we won’t be telling anyone anything. Your secret is safe with us.”

  “It … it is?”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks. That’s really nice of you.”

  “Whatever, this is the coolest thing that has EVER happened to me,” Fred said. “I can’t believe we’re friends with a superhero.”

  “You want to be friends with me?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Why else do you think we’re here?” Georgie laughed. “We’re in this together now.”

  “We couldn’t let you deal with this on your own,” Kizzy informed me stubbornly. “No wonder you’ve been distant lately.”

  “I’m so sorry, Kizzy, I didn’t want to keep letting you down. I’ve just had so much on my mind and I couldn’t talk about it.”

  “You can now,” Fred insisted. “Because we’ve formed a superhero club.”

  “You’ve WHAT?”

  “A superhero club,” Suzie repeated, flicking her hair behind her shoulders. “It’s clear that you need a lot of help.”

  “Wait, what do you mean a superhero club?”

  “What did you think we were going to do?” Suzie raised her eyebrows. “Sit back and let you mess up everything? The world doesn’t stand a chance with people like you protecting it from bad guys. No offence.”

  “What Suzie is trying to say in her own way –” Georgie laughed “– is that we want to help.”

  “We’ve all got our own roles to play in the club, you know, should evil strike,” Fred informed me, with a serious expression. “Suzie is going to help you with movement and gymnastics—”

  “It’s a necessary skill for a superhero to have,” she said pompously.

  “Georgie is going to help with your superhero costume.”

  “I have some great ideas for accessories.” Georgie smiled.

  “Kizzy is in charge of research, and will be the brains of the operation.”

  “I’ll just help where I can.” Kizzy blushed modestly.

  “And I’m president of the club and simply a genuine genius,” Fred concluded.

  “Who made you president?” Suzie huffed.

  “The club was MY idea. Naturally, that makes me president.”

  “Wait a second,” I said quickly as Suzie opened her mouth to argue back. “I told you guys that I’m giving up my superpowers.”

  “Yeah, you said that, but the thing is,” Kizzy smiled up at me, “you can’t really stop being who you are.”

  “So, we’re all agreed on superhero club then?” Fred asked as the others all nodded. “Good, we’ll think of a name later. Shall we give her the gift now?”

  Georgie opened her backpack and pulled out a box, handing it to me.

  “What’s this?”

  “Duh,” Suzie sighed. “Open it and see.”

  I lifted the lid of the box and inside were the coolest pair of trainers I’ve ever seen. They were multi-coloured, with silver glitter toes, and as I lifted them out, I saw that on the heel of one it said “Lightning” sewn on in glitter letters and on the other, “Girl.”

  “They’re the latest ones,” Georgie said quickly, scrutinizing my face for a reaction. “My mum works with the brand.”

  “Georgie personalized them, though, so they’re much better now,” Kizzy grinned as I traced the letters of Lightning Girl with my finger. “It’s the start of your costume.”

  “Every superhero has a costume,” Fred said knowingly, “and every superhero has to have a superhero name. Kizzy came up with it and we all agreed it suited you and your powers perfectly.”

  “I came up with the name, but the trainers were all Suzie’s idea in the first place,” Kizzy said.

  “Very thoughtful, don’t you think?”

  “Whatever. You can’t be a superhero in the kind of shoes you wear,” Suzie sighed. “Again, no offence.”

  “Do you like them?” Georgie asked hopefully.

  “Do you like the name?” Kizzy added nervously.

  I didn’t know what to say. I just stared at them, my eyes welling up with tears of gratitude.

  “Let’s take that as a yes all round,” Suzie decided. “Can we come in now? I’m getting kind of cold and Kizzy said you make a good hot chocolate. With walnuts or something weird.”

  “Hazelnut,” Georgie corrected, following Suzie past me through to the kitchen.

  “I’ll get things ready for the first superhero club meeting,” Fred said, filing after Georgie, with Kimmy trotting in behind him. “Your dog can be part of the club too.”

  Kimmy licked his hand in agreement.

  “Thanks so much, Kizzy,” I said softly, putting the trainers carefully back into their box. “I’m so happy we’re friends again.”

  “Like Georgie said, you’re not in this alone any more. We’re in it together.”

  She gave me a hug and we went into the kitchen where the others were all laughing at Kimmy dropping her slimy tennis ball into Suzie’s lap, causing Suzie to scream at all the slobber.

  “Every superhero needs a sidekick,” Kizzy whispered to me with a smile. “Or five.”

  15

  Dad’s precious stone exhibition launch was a lot posher than I thought it would be. Everyone was dressed in black tie and there were all these coloured spotlights round the main gallery of the museum making it feel like a Hollywood party. There was even a violin quartet, and lots of waiters strolling round topping up champagne glasses. The precious stones were on display on a plush purple velvet cushion in a big, thick glass cabinet right in the middle, with a red rope cordoning it off so you couldn’t get too close.

  Who knew that a bunch of weird rocks could cause such a party?

  Dad was really in his element too, standing by the cabinet in his bright red bow tie with his chest all puffed out like a proud peacock, greeting anyone who wandered over with a long lecture about their discovery. In the end, I was glad I’d listened to Aunt Lucinda when she told me that trainers weren’t appropriate for this kind of event, no matter how glittery and amazing they were. I put them in my bag th
ough, just in case the shoes Georgie lent me to go with my long green dress started rubbing.

  Even though Aunt Lucinda was right about the trainers, I’m not sure I should be taking fashion advice from someone who thinks it’s appropriate to wear a bright pink ruffled ballgown wider than a car. When she came to pick us up – Mum was meeting us at the museum and Dad had to be early to make sure everything was in order – Kimmy was so freaked out by Aunt Lucinda’s get up that she would not stop barking at her, and then when Kimmy approached the dress very carefully to check it out, she genuinely got lost in all the ruffles and couldn’t find her way out again for two minutes.

  It was lucky that Kizzy had been there helping me get ready as we needed the extra muscle to pack Aunt Lucinda into the taxi. In the end we had to order two taxis as Alexis, Clara and I couldn’t fit in with Lucinda’s dress AND Alfred. I’m not sure how happy the taxi driver was at first about having an ostrich in his car, but considering Alfred was wearing a top hat, monocle and bow tie, he soon realized that he wasn’t your average ostrich and let it go.

  “I wish you could come,” I said to Kizzy, slightly out of breath from shoehorning Aunt Lucinda into the car.

  “Me too. But I’m excited to get going with all these.” She gestured to the box of files on the ground next to her that she was taking home.

  Once I’d explained to Mum that the superhero club knew the truth thanks to the school trip, she allowed me to swear them to secrecy and fill them in on her real job of saving the world. Georgie sat there in amazement, Fred almost passed out on the spot from excitement and Suzie remarked, “Well, that explains the ice-block hat, I suppose.”

  And when Kizzy got over the shock of that particular reveal, she begged my mum for permission to look into her previous cases. She was totally fascinated by Mum’s secret life, plus she thought it would be excellent research for the superhero club. “You know,” she said eagerly to Mum, who was listening to her with this bemused expression, “to learn about what Aurora might be up against in the future.”

  Mum eventually caved and let her take home all the files and newspaper clippings she’d collected over the years detailing her previous adventures.