Chapter Three – Hyperactivity

“And then, we asked if we could have those sprinkles, and Step-Boss said yes, so we all got sprinkles, and they were so good!” Teddy said.

Athena was nodding next to her. “And Step Boss asked me how I was doing, and I said okay, and she said that if I ever had trouble I could tell her, and she was really nice.”

“Best Step Boss gave me three cones. Three!” Trinity said.

Emily stared at her sisters with mounting horror as they prattled on and on. Teddy, usually the most placid of the bunch, was bouncing on the bed, Athena was pacing in little circles in the centre of the room, and Trinity wasn’t even trying to hide how hyper she was feeling. The girl was, quite literally, all over the place, running around and bumping off herself. She’d crash to the ground, then spring back up and keep going.

“W-what did you do to them?” Emily asked.

Her mom looked far, far too satisfied with herself. “I did what I would do to any child I was only temporarily responsible for. I gave them sweets, loaded them up with nice things, and gave them all the attention they could want. Now they’re your problem.”

“Mom!” Emily hissed.

“Oh, don’t be that way. They’re going to crash any minute now.” She glanced at the sisters, who were clearly not crashing. “Any minute now.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I need to head back. I took the bus over from a stop close to the BnB I’m staying at. I don’t want to have to walk all the way back. I’ve done my share of walking today, I think.”

“We can walk you back, to the bus stop,” Emily said.

“I can take care of myself that far, Sweetie,” she said.

Emily shook her head. “It’s not a problem. And besides, I want these three to bleed off more energy. A lot more.”

Her mom hesitated, then nodded. “Sure, why not? They’re all still dressed up for it anyway.”

“It’s not too cold out, is it?” Emily asked. It was starting to get cooler out, but winters had been getting milder, and were starting later into the year besides.

“Oh, just you wait. Getting five little bodies into winter gear is going to be something else.”

Emily guided her little sisters out of the room, then to the elevator where her mom was waiting. Athena started talking to her mom while they waited for the elevator to reach their floor. When it did, a surprised Sam exited, pressing herself to the side of the corridor so that all of the little sisters could get by. Emily shot her an apologetic look. The girl from the room across from hers was nice, but Emily wasn’t sure if she could convince her not to tattle to the housing direction about all of her little sisters.

Another reason to find a better place to stay in a hurry.

They exited the dormitory and started down one of the colleges quieter roads. A few students were out still, but they were subdued, heading back home after a long day. Maybe if it had been the weekend, or Friday night, there would have been a more festive air outside, but as it was, the campus was cool and quiet.

“Did you find anything, while we were out?” Emily’s mom asked.

Emily breathed into her hands to warm them up. When she lowered them, they were both grabbed by Teddy on one side and Trinity on the other. She smiled. “Yeah, I got to dig into some things. I think I have… something of a plan.”

“That’s good. How much is something?”

“It’s not much, honestly, but it’s a start? I’ll know more tomorrow. I plan on heading out and looking into a few things in-person. It might be nothing.”

“You’ll be fine, I’m certain. And if you’re not, then your father and I will do what we can to help you out. You’re not in this alone, Emily.”

“Yeah Boss, you’ve got me,” Teddy said.

“And the rest of us,” Athena said. She shot a glare at Teddy.

“Thanks, all of you,” Emily said before that could devolve into an argument about who was the most useful.

The bus stop wasn’t as far as Emily remembered it being. Then again, she had mostly been walking all over the city. They had to wait for a few minutes for the bus to arrive, a few minutes that Emily’s mom filled with inconsequential chatter and gossip about the work and the neighbourhood and even a few old classmates of Emily’s. Athena stayed close and listened while Emily’s other sisters fooled around nearby, always close enough that Emily could keep an eye on them.

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The bus pulled in with a squeal, and Emily gave her mom a tight hug. That meant that all of her little sisters had to give her hugs too. The older woman ended up running into the bus while the driver looked on, unamused at the delay.

The bus moved on, and Emily let out a long breath that came out as a plume of steam. “Okay, let’s get back home,” she said.

“Dibs on the bathroom,” Teddy said.

“You can’t dibs the bathroom!” Trinity said. “I need it too.”

“I need it more,” Teddy said.

“I have three times more pee than you!” Trinity said.

Emily rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “Trinity, Teddy, keep your voices down, please. We’ll… figure things out once we’re back home.”

The walk back didn’t give her that much time to think, not when she had to wrangle her sisters. Her plan was still to head out in the morning and talk to the businesses that Cement had been involved with. Securing any sort of income would make everything else significantly easier.

They arrived back at the dorm, moved up to the fifth floor and were on their way to her room when Emily noticed the door to Sam’s room open and the girl stuck her head out. She noticed Emily and grinned. “Hey neighbour,” she said. “Can I, ah, have a word?”

“Um,” Emily said. “Sure, just give me, ah, a minute?” She unlocked her rooms door and let her sisters in. They started arguing over bathrooms and other stuff, so she figured they’d stay distracted for a few minutes. “Okay, what’s up?”

Sam chewed on her lower lip, then glanced up and down the corridor. “Want to talk in my room? It’s a little more private.”

Emily hesitated, but then Sam moved back and she didn’t have anyone to argue with, and the mounting awkwardness had her following the girl into her room.

The room was a mirror of Emily’s own. At least, the floorplan was. The decorations couldn’t be any more different. Sam had awards over her bed on a shelf. Soccer trophies in a neat, glittering row. There were posters for obscure bands on the walls, and a big desktop computer next to a desk much larger than Emily’s own.

There was also a lot of clothes on the floor and half-piled into a basket next to the bathroom.

Somehow, Emily’s room was cleaner, despite having her sisters occupying it. “S-so, ah, what did you want to talk about?” Emily asked.

Sam moved around her and closed the door. “Right, so this is a bit strange,” she said as she moved over to her bed and sat on the edge of it. She was still nearly as tall as Emily sitting down. “So, you’re a villain, right?”

Emily’s heart skipped a beat, then a second.

“Hey, hey, don’t freak out,” Sam said. “Look, we haven’t talked much, but you seem pretty cool. So, you probably don’t know this, but I’m majoring in psych. It’s been pretty easy so far, but I’m an ambitious sort of girl, you know? I don’t want to just be some two-bit small-town therapist, you know?”

“W-what?” Emily asked.

“I want to discover stuff, I want my name to be like, mentioned in some textbooks,” Sam continued. “So when I discovered that the girl across from me was a villain, I told myself that it was an opportunity.”

Emily shook her head and tried to regain her wits. She had a skill that would allow her to teleport a sister to her side, which would definitely alert the others. She had to pick which to bring over, though. Athena was the cleverest, she’d figure that something was wrong fastest when one of the others disappeared. Maybe Teddy? Trinity would run back to the room to get the others while also helping Emily though.

“That’s when I came upon this great idea,” Sam said. “I want to be your minion.”

Emily blinked. “Huh?”

“Yeah, see, I get to chronicle and test aspects of the psychology of an actual villain. It’s not perfectly scientific, but hell, it’s better than what anyone else has. And everyone knows that the best science is criminal.”

“N-no,” Emily said.

Sam pouted. “Don’t be that way. Come on, I’m great minion material. And I have a car!”

This was, Emily knew, an insane and terrible idea. On every level than an idea could be insane and terrible on.

***

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