Amped: A Kid Sensation Companion Novel Read Free Page A

son. It was a situation that, in some ways, we were still trying to work the kinks out of.
    On the maternal side of the equation, there was – as already noted – Esper. Although not really old enough to be my mother, she took the role seriously, and from day one was primarily the person who did everything for me, from arranging playdates to planning birthday parties to talking me through puberty. Moreover, she had always been fiercely protective of me, although you wouldn’t know it from the way she had mentally screeched at me in the teen lounge. (Apparently Esper had shown up, looking for me, and witnessed the end of my conversation with Vestibule.) Unhappy with what she had seen, Esper had told me in no uncertain terms that we were going home to have a talk.
    “Home” for me was a little bit of an ambiguous term. I had spent much of my early years actually residing at League Headquarters, which had a generous amount of space designated as living quarters. In fact, since members of the League’s teen affiliate occasionally had to stay in-residence at HQ for training purposes, I actually had my own room on the premises. In short, for a couple of years now, I’d been able to enjoy having my own space.
    That said, due to an attack on the League the previous summer, HQ had had to undergo extensive reconstruction, with the result being that my quarters there were unavailable until very recently. During the interim, I’d mostly been staying with Esper at a home she owned out in the ’burbs – a modest, two-story house in a quiet neighborhood. Most of my friends, including my boyfriend Jim, assumed that I had only started staying there after the attack on HQ, but in truth I’d spent lots of time there while I was growing up. It was one of the places Esper retreated to with me whenever she wanted me to have a taste of “normal” life, and it was here that we headed after my encounter with Vestibule.
    As I pulled into the driveway, I absentmindedly hit the remote for the two-car garage, thinking furiously about what I would say to Esper after we got inside. Being a telepath, she wasn’t really someone you could lie to (not that I had planned to do so). With her, it was really going to come down to the spin I could put on the situation.
    Once the door was up, I drove inside. Esper, who had followed me from League HQ in her own car, pulled in next to me. Hers was a foreign model – a luxury brand, but not overly expensive. Mine was a used domestic vehicle, probably mid-range on the scale in terms of both cost and appeal.
    Although I’d had my license for a while now, the car was a recent gift – something I’d received only within the past few weeks. Upon being given the keys, I had immediately recognized the vehicle for what it was: something to take my mind off Jim’s absence. Nevertheless, despite being something of a bribe, I had happily accepted it.
    I hit the remote and then got out of my car as the garage door was descending. I then headed inside, not looking forward to the conversation that was about to unfold.
    One would think that, being a telepath, Esper would have opened a dialogue while we were driving. She had nixed that idea, however; it was winter, and she wanted me focused on the road, which was icy in spots. Trying to have a mental conversation under those circumstances was the telepathic equivalent of texting while driving as far as Esper was concerned. And so the talk we were supposed to have had been put on hold until we got home. Once we crossed the threshold, however, Esper’s finger immediately came off the “pause” button.
    “What exactly were you trying to prove with that little stunt?” she asked, without preamble. She was clearly upset with me, as evidenced by the fact that she had telepathically shouted my entire name earlier.
    “I wasn’t trying to prove anything,” I countered. “Vestibule basically claimed that Jim was only staying with me out of loyalty.”
    “And you