Airhead: Being Nikki Part 14

You know what? Christopher had turned around in the front seat and was looking back at us through the plastic barrier. It was clear he could hear us, after all, despite the tinny music urging us to Soniya dil se mila de and Just chill. Dont worry about it. If shes alive, Felixll find your mom. Just sit back and relax, all of you. Its taken care of.

Which was exactly what a supervillain would say. Especially as he was taking you to your execution.

But wouldnt a truly threatening supervillain have been waving a weapon of some kind at us?

Yeah, no, not so much. Considering we were all heading into this of our own volition. Well, more or less. I guess I didnt have a choice, really. It was help Steven find his mother or let him go public with what he knew, which Id started strongly to suspect last night was the direction Nikkis brother was heading. I could just see it nowSteven on the national news, making appeals for help finding his mom, and then casually mentioning, And by the waythe girl currently occupying Nikki Howards body isnt really my sister. I dont know who she is, but somebody please do an exorcism to get her the h.e.l.l out, okay? Thanks.

Thatd go over real well with Stark, I bet.

Lulu was on her cell phone next to me. No, she was saying to someone on the other end. You have to make sure the caterer knows to deliver everything through the service elevator in the back. Last time they made a few deliveries from the front and they scratched the bra.s.s in the elevator, and the building management got really mad. Understand? Good. She hung up.

Is this party all you ever think about? Steven asked. He sounded really irritated.

Lulu looked past me and over at him. Her expression was stunned.

No, she replied. Of course not!

Its just a party, Steven said. I throw parties all the time. You get a keg and you pour out a couple bags of pretzels. You put on some music and you invite your friends. Its not that big a deal.

Lulu threw me an incredulous look. Since I wasnt exactly the worlds greatest expert on parties, I was unable to contribute to the conversation. Ive been to some parties with Lulu, its true, and they seemed a bit more complex than getting a keg and pouring out a couple bags of pretzels. The last one we went to involved a fire-eater. But I figured Id let her handle the situation.

This isnt just an ordinary party, she explained carefully. Sus.h.i.+ chefs from n.o.bu are going to be making hand rolls on the spot. Theres going to be every type of call liquor you can imagine, with bartenders who are also expert astrologists. Im having a chocolate fountain installed on that little outside deck. And DJ Drama is going to be spinning.

Steven just shook his head. Why? Why are you doing all that? Who are you trying to impress?

Impress? Lulu said the word as if it were foreign. Im not trying to impress anyone" Which wasnt exactly true. Lulud been spending a lot of time lately trying to impress Steven. Still, not in a bad way, the way Whitney Robertson and the rest of the Walking Dead try to impresswell, me. Everything Lulu does, she does from a motivation of a hundred percent goodness. No one who knew her well could ever say otherwise. Steven, Im sure, was just upset with the way things were going, and nervous about his mom.

I hurried to intervene. Lulu likes to entertain, I said. Shes compensating for a less than satisfactory childhood. Shed really like it if you could be there.

Steven hesitatedthen saw my expression, which was beseeching"I was sending him a telepathic message that read, Come on, dude. She has a huge crush on you. Dont diss her. Just say youll come to her party. I dont care if shes not your type. Just say youll come. Come on, throw the girl a bone.

He shrugged and sank more deeply back into the seat, as Cosabellas panting made a steamy spot on the window beside him. Sure. Of course. I appreciate the invitation. It sounds great.

Lulu wriggled all over with excitement. Its going to be great! she enthused. Were having some of the trapeze artists from Cirque du Soleil, you know? Theyre installing trapezes, because our ceilings are so high. Its going to be freaky! People should be able to see them through our windows from all over Manhattan!

Lulu went on about the party almost the entire way to Felixs house, which we finally pulled up in front of about twenty minutes later. It was a nondescript attached home in a pleasant-looking middle-cla.s.s neighborhood. Christopher paid the cabdriver and we stepped out into the cold, miserable rain, which disturbed Cosabella so much"she looked up at me with a perplexed expression, like, Why, Mom? Why would you do this to me?"that I had to lift her and stick her back in the tote, where she happily snuggled down again.

Then, ducking his head against the steady mist of rain, Christopher led the way down the walk and up the stoop to the front door, where he lifted the American eagle-shaped door knocker and let it drop.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this? Steven asked me as we waited for the door to be answered.

Itll be fine, I said. Though I didnt actually believe this. Especially, I suspected, when Steven saw who wed come to visit.

I wasnt wrong. A minute later, the door opened, and a plump middle-aged woman wearing jeans and a Stark brand sweater with a sparkly American flag on it cried, Christopher! What are you doing here on a school day?

Christopher smiled and said, Oh, they already let us out on winter break in the city, Aunt Jackie.

Aunt Jackie beamed and said, And you came to see Felix? And brought your friends? How sweet of you. Arent you a nice boy?

If only she knew.

Well, dont stand out there in the cold, Aunt Jackie cried. Come in! Come in.

Felixs mother shepherded us inside, where it was warm. And decorated in everything you could buy at a Stark Megastore. Im not kidding. I recognized a Stark brand shelving unit, a Stark sofa and love seat arrangement, a Stark entertainment set, even a Stark brand television. Felixs family had the complete Stark living room, down to the matching green Naugahyde Stark brand love seats Christophers aunt and uncle evidently sat in to watch the Stark Shopping Network at night.

I could even smell Nikki perfume emanating from Aunt Jackie, a fairly noxious combination when added to the fact she had something baking in the oven back in the kitchen. Nikkis perfume didnt go well with food. Or anything, really.

Youre just in time, Felixs mom was saying, confirming my suspicions, as she bustled around. Im about to take a batch of my world-famous brownies out of the oven"

Gee, thats great, Aunt Jackie, Christopher said. Maybe later. Right now we have to talk to Felix. Is he downstairs?

Of course, Aunt Jackie said with a laugh. Where else would he be? She kept looking nervously at Lulu and me. At first I couldnt figure out why, then I remembered: We were Nikki Howard and Lulu Collins. Shed probably seen us before on Entertainment Tonightnot to mention my face on the tag of just about everything shed ever bought. Maybe she couldnt place how she knew us, but she knew we looked familiar.

On top of which, it couldnt be every day girls came over to visit her little Felix. Or, more like, ever.

Well just go say hi to Felix, Christopher said, nodding his head for us to follow him as he made his way across the orange s.h.a.g carpeting toward a nearby door. Well only be a minute. We wont stay long.

Ill tell you what, Aunt Jackie said. Ill bring the brownies down to all of you. Would you like some milk with them? Or, I know! Hot cocoa! Its so cold out.

Felixs mom apparently hadnt noticed one of us was in his twenties.

Thats okay, Aunt Jackie, Christopher said. Well be fine. He yanked open the door and I saw it led to a long, narrow staircase into the bas.e.m.e.nt. Christopher started down the stairs, and, glancing over my shoulder at Steven and Lulu apprehensively, I followed him.

This, I knew, was it.

It wasnt as scary as heading into the Bat Cave, exactly. Unless posters from Scarface, the movie, were scary. Which were what greeted us as we descended into Felixs parents bas.e.m.e.nt. They were everywhere. They covered almost every bit of wall surface, giant blown-up posters of Al Pacino, who starred in the movie, in all sorts of different costumes and poses.

Someone, I was beginning to suspect, had a bit of a gangster complex.

It wasnt really very hard to figure out who. I mean, I was guessing it wasnt Christophers aunt Jackie.

The bas.e.m.e.nt apparently served as a laundry room as well as an exercise room. There was a set of weights"which looked as if they hadnt been touched in ages"as well as a treadmill, from which bits of laundry were hanging to dry. At least down here, though, you couldnt smell the sickening scent of Nikki. The air smelled crisply of Tide.

A corner of the bas.e.m.e.nt had been converted to a media center. Well, of sorts. Computer monitors that appeared as if theyd been scrounged from other peoples garbage cans hung suspended from the ceiling by what looked like bungee cords. Some of them also sat on milk cartons or perilously leaned on entertainment consoles (Stark brand, of course).

Sitting in the middle of this construction was a thin, hunched figure. The figure wore baggy jeans, a green velour s.h.i.+rt, and multiple gold chains. He was playing an online game involving a stick s.h.i.+ft.

Die, he was saying to one of the many computer monitors in front of him. Die, die, die, die, die!

Behind me, I sensed rather than saw Steven freeze. Lulu crashed into him.

Oh, she said. Excuse me! Steven didnt react. He was too stunned.

I didnt blame him.

The figure in front of the computer monitors turned its head. I recognized Felix from the other day. He smiled. I half expected to see that some of his teeth were capped in gold. But they werent. Just braces.

Christopher, he exclaimed. My man! And youve brought visitors His voice trailed off as he saw just who his visitors were.

I thought there was a strong possibility Felixs eyes might bulge so far out of his head that theyd detach from his retinas entirelyespecially when he saw Lulu. At the last minute, however, he pulled it together.

Then he said, Ladies! h.e.l.lo. Welcome to the Mens Den. Good to have you here. How thoroughly excellent of you to come. Did the matriarch offer you brownies?

You have got to be kidding me. Stevens voice, behind me, was wooden.

Just give it a chance, I said to him quietly.

I will not give it a chance. Steven sounded like he was strangling. That is a child.

Au contraire, mon frere. Felix, evidently overhearing him, pulled up a pant leg to reveal an evil-looking black plastic device attached to one"surprisingly hairy"ankle. Does this look childlike? I a.s.sure you, its anything but. This is a state-of-the-art house-arrest tracker system. Tamper-resistant. Communicates wirelessly to the docking station upstairs in the kitchen. Its connected to a transformer and the phone line. It will notify the police the minute I step outdoors. Hardly something your average fourteen-year-old boy would wear, now, is it? But then, Felix added, with a pointed glance in my direction, Im extremely mature for my age, as Im sure you ladies can tell.

Steven tensed up and looked like he was about to slug the kid. But Lulu laid a gentle hand on his arm, murmuring soothingly, Oh, Steven, come on. Listen to Nikki. Just give it a chance.

Christopher, meanwhile, was leaning up against a support post, a small smile playing across his lips.

Everyone, he said. My cousin, Felix. Felix. Everyone.

This, I said, pointing, is Steven"

Christopher held up a hand. I think its probably better if we keep it anonymous, he said. I mean, as anonymous as we can, considering there are celebrity superstars among us.

Dont think just because youre famous, Ms. Howard and Ms. Collins, Felix let us know, that Im going to treat you any differently than I would if you were any other attractive ladies. I actually know some celebrities"some of my best friends are celebrities, though I cant mention names of course, because Im too chill"and I know how upset they get when people make a big deal out of their fame. So you dont have to worry. Im cool about the celebrity thing.

Lulu and I exchanged glances. Then I said the only thing we possibly could say, under the circ.u.mstances, which was, Umgreat. Thanks.

The truth was, people said this kind of thing to me a lot. Everybody wanted me to know they werent the kind of person who was impressed by celebrities, and that they were going to treat me like a normal person.

Except that just by telling me that, they werent treating me like a normal person.

Christopher"who had to know his cousin was a bit of a tool but was mostly keeping his gaze averted, as if he wanted to avoid the whole situation and escape off into his own little world"asked, Nikki, do you have that information we asked you for?

Oh. I was startled. Christopher was the one whod always treated me like a noncelebrity. To the point where hed almost treated me like a nonhuman at times. Yeah I still wasnt sure how I felt about ratting out Stark to Christopher and Felix. On the one hand, I honestly didnt think their plan was going to work. I mean, we were talking about Stark, which according to Christopher was the largest corporation in the entire world. Were two teenagers really going to be able to take it down with their little hack?

Yeah, so not.

On the other hand, they were so going to get caught. One of them was already wearing an ankle bracelet and, from the looks of things, living in a bas.e.m.e.nt, playing video games, and eating brownies served by his mother all dayon the surface the most ideal of existences for a kid, but in reality actually kind of horrible, with his obviously made-up relations.h.i.+ps with celebrities and delusions of grandeur. Was that really the sort of future I wanted for Christopher?

No, of course not.

But if that were true, would I have gone to school this morning, pulled him out of cla.s.s during finals week, and dragged him all the way out to Brooklyn to his cousins house?

I wasnt sure. But I had to do something. Because my days of doing nothing but running around with a bug detector in my pocket were over.

Its Dr. Louise Higgins, I heard myself saying. Thats the user name.

SEVENTEEN.

FELIX DIDNT WASTE ANY TIME. HE TURNED around and headed straight for his computer chair in the center of all his mismatched monitors.

And her pa.s.sword, I said, remembering the way Dr. Higginss fingers had flown over her keyboard, is Miss Kitty, one word, all lowercase.

Sweet, Felix said, typing.

What, Steven said, taking a few steps forward so he could see what was coming up on the computer screens flicking before us, does any of this have to do with my missing mother?

Its just, I said, what I had to do in order to get them to look for her.

And were men of our word, Felix said. Behold. He reached for a bunch of papers that had been spitting out of one of his many printers while wed been standing there, then waved them in the air. The last known whereabouts of Dolores Howard, also known as Dee Dee, also known as your mom.

Steven s.n.a.t.c.hed the pages from Felixs hand as Christopher came over to watch Felix, who, completely uninterested in any of us anymore, entered the information Id given him.

Does it work? Christopher asked his cousin. Are we in?

Oh, yeah, Felix said, sounding pleased. Were in.

Wait a minute. Steven was looking down at the papers in his hands, shuffling through one after another, peering at each one. This doesnt say where she is. This just says her Social Security number hasnt been used to register for any new jobs or credit cards or places to live since she disappeared.

Thats right, buddy. Felixs fingers flew over the keyboards in front of him, while the various monitors flickered with information that, to me, just looked like jumbles of numbers and incomprehensible data.

But. I felt my blood run cold on Stevens behalf. Christopher, you said Felix could find her.

Unless shes dead. Christopher didnt even bother looking over at me. He pointed at one of the computer monitors and said to Felix, Look. Look at that.

I know, Felix said.

Lulu crossed the room, her high heels clacking on the cement floor, and came to stand very close beside Steven. Then she reached for his hand, the one that wasnt holding the pages of information about his mother. She didnt say anything. She just reached for his hand, then squeezed it.

He didnt seem to notice.

So you think his mother is dead? I demanded. I didnt mean to sound harsh, but I was angry. Not so much at Felix, because for all his brains, he was just a kid who thought he was a gangster, and didnt know better. But Christopher. I knew he knew better"he should have been showing more concern for Steven.

But all his attention was completely glued to those stupid slapped-together computer screens. I hadnt any doubt he was eager to get started on his diabolical scheme to bring down Stark Enterprises and avenge the wrongful death of Em Wattsa girl he had never even bothered to kiss while she was legally alive.

But he could at least have looked over at us. He could at least have said he was sorry. A mans mother was dead!

What? Christopher must have felt the intensity of my gaze, since he finally glanced over. What are you talking about?

Felix looked over at us, too.

Dead? he echoed. I didnt say she was dead. Did I say she was dead? No. No unidentified bodies fitting Dee Dee Howards age, description, or dental records have turned up anywhere in the past few weeks in any of the databases I tappedwhich was all of them, by the way. Felix shrugged as he turned back toward one of his keyboards and started typing again with lightning speed. Its possible, of course, that someone corked her and then threw her in a lake somewhere. Floaters dont usually pop up to the surface until spring when the temperatures rise and the gases in the bodies start the decomposing process"