Smithsonian

When I found out that my childhood best friend was our enemy, I was a bit upset. But later I saw in him a way out and a magnificent mole.

Lydia and Hypatia were engaged in a discussion about the book. They hadn't opened it yet and were waiting to go home, to Texas, to do so. They had run it through a portable detector to see if it had or possessed any locator, alarm or sensor capable of giving us away. There were none.

It would be half past nine or ten in the evening. They had a curfew. They had made the excuse that they wanted to show me the city. Lydia, if asked, would stick to reality and say that they had shown me the White House from the outside. Hypatia, more given to imagination, would tell a very believable story about our excursion to the most representative historical sites.

They left the first one at the hotel because it was the closest place to the Presidential House.

I didn't go up to the room. I waited for the car to disappear around the corner before I started walking to my favourite place: the Smithsonian. For me, it was the best place in the world. All museums were. They had information about thousands of interesting things. I love learning about new things. It momentarily quenched my desire to learn, to know as much as I could.

I remembered going there with my best friend. We would sneak out of the orphanage every now and then to go there. But we never went in. We would always stand at the door and fantasise about going in. I think that was one of the reasons I learned to hack into security cameras at a young age, trying not to get caught. I wanted to see the museum and fulfil our dream. But seeing it on a computer screen is not the same as seeing it in real life.

I kept walking until I reached the National Air and Space Museum. That's where I went with my stepbrother, the harpy's son. He was always good to me and took me to museums because he knew what I liked to learn.

I stood looking at the entrance from a safe distance. We didn't go in for fear that her mother would show up, we were forbidden to go anywhere without her. I was forbidden to leave the house. Every afternoon that my brother took me out, when he came home, his mother would wait for him to lock himself in his room to study after showering him with praise for trying to take away my supposed illiteracy. Once I listened to the music she put on to do my homework, she would come after me, scold me, hit me and occasionally, always, end up going over the line. Once her husband caught her. He didn't confront her. He did nothing to stop her because he knew it would be a waste of time. The next night, he helped me escape. It was the only time someone from inside the house helped me escape, encouraged me to escape rather.

I admired the outside of the building and shook my head to get all the bad memories out of my head. I had to get out of there if I didn't want to have nightmares that night, if I could sleep at all.

I started walking backwards and collided with someone coming from my right. We fell to the ground. He had been running with the music blaring and hadn't seen me start to walk. I jumped up to apologise and help him up.

When he stood up, he scratched the top of his head apologetically as I did. He started mumbling that he was in a hurry to go somewhere and wasn't looking where he was going. He took off his headphones and I heard some of what was coming out of them. It wasn't music, it was voices, a conversation.

He laughed in embarrassment at his clumsiness as we both started apologising at the same time. I looked into his eyes to calm him down and was speechless. My mouth opened wide.

"Styles?" I asked.

"Is that you? My little sister?" he scrutinised me as if I wasn't from off this planet. "Stella?

I raised one of my eyebrows and looked serious. We were the same age. I might have been a couple of months older than him. I didn't remember at the time, but I felt bad when he called me little sister.

"The same," I changed my expression and smiled at him.

He wrapped his arms around me without warning. He pressed me against his chest so tightly that it was hard to breathe. I was worried that the weapons on my back would show.

"I missed you so much," he pulled me apart, he was still a naïve. "You didn't have to run away."

My lips curved into a small, not very wide smile, I bowed my head and looked down at the ground beneath our feet. I put my hand on his cheek and raised my eyes again.

"No," I said, licking my lips. "I should have stayed at the orphanage."

"Why do you say so?"

"Your mother only wanted me for the grants. I should have listened to my friend."

"My mother told me that you used to run away from foster homes all the time. That you had experience of it," he looked at me apologetically. "She said you were a bit wild when I wasn't around."

I exhaled, pulling away from my stepbrother. I crossed my arms and waited to calm down from what he had just said.

"I've never, ever wanted to escape from a house as much as I wanted to escape from yours, Styles," he put his headphones back in his pocket to pay more attention to me. "I've escaped from seventeen houses full of abuse, hatred and slavery before yours. Don't get me wrong, you were without a doubt one of the best brothers I've ever had, you weren't the problem. Nor was my behaviour. I behaved even more respectfully around your parents than I did around you."

"That's impossible, the respect you showed me was the ultimate. There is no one who could show that much to anyone," he ruffled my hair, relieved that I wasn't a savage.

"They were older than me, I had to show it. It was in my DNA."

"So why did you leave? I loved you very much."

I hid him behind a bush and lifted my shirt slightly. Behind all the training marks and the wound from this morning, there was a very large, deep and malformed scar.

"It's the scar, the other thing was me. I'm a bit clumsy at skating," I made the first excuse that popped into my head.

"Who did this to you?" he brushed it gently with his middle finger.

I had to make an effort not to roll my eyes or make biting remarks. Then I remembered that he was Mama's boy, wrapped in roses from the day he was born.

I pulled down my shirt and tapped his shoulder to make him stand up. He was squatting down to admire my beautiful scar.

"My father? He can't be, he loved you very much... But he can always..."

"Oh, please, your father is a piece of bread! He was the only one in your house who treated me like a princess!"

He stared at the ground, embarrassed.

"I didn't mean it like that," I raised my head. "I'm sorry. You treated me well. I was talking about your parents."

He didn't buy it.

"Really, Styles, you don't know how much I loved you."

He turned his face away from my hand.

"How could I hate you if you were the only brother who didn't try anything? How could I not love you if you took me everywhere with you, even if your mother forbade it? How could I not adore you if you were the only brother who knew when I was sad and tried to make me happy? How, if you were a saint to me? How, if you really behaved like my brother?"

"You never told me."

"I was afraid your mother would take it out on you the way she took it out on me. It was always your mother. She kicked me out of your house."

Styles put his head on my shoulder and his tone of voice deepened.

"I'm so sorry, sis. I should have protected you."

"No. It's all right, Styles. If you had, I wouldn't have a life like the one I have now. I thank you for that. You taught me humility."

"You didn't need to learn it."

He raised his head and hugged me again.

“You've grown a lot," he whispered, "but I'm still taller than you.”

We parted and I looked at him with a smirk.

“Do you use any moment to pick on me?”

“You know perfectly well it's my favourite pastime, tadpole.”

“Just because you're taller than me doesn't give you the right to make fun of it, big guy.”

“Look who went to speak.”

We both laughed and he put his hand on top of my head, trying to measure me.

“Have you had dinner, dwarf?”

“No, Colossus, I haven't had dinner.”

“I'll take you out to dinner. I will invite you as many times as it is convenient to forget what happened to you here in Washington.”

“There's no need, really, I'm fine.”

He looked at me with his amber eyes, scolding me for trying to skip one of the day's meals. He had always taken care of me. My innocent giant brother had always stood up for me to his friends and those who bullied me at school. His problem was seeing the good in each and every person. No matter how bad they were.

“OK, you’ve won" I gave up, raising both my hands and smiling mockingly, "Don't even think of taking me to your house!”

“I would never think of it. Your well-being has always been my first priority.”

“If this is how you treat your sister, how will you treat your wife?”

“I would give her the world.”

“Not to me?” I pretended to be offended. “What a disappointment!”

“No, because you are my family. You already have the world I would give her. Besides, you're not my world, dwarf. You're too small for it.”

“You'd die for her," I stuck my tongue out at him. “You're a romantic.”

“You dislike it?”

“A little bit. But you know, I don't like that feeling.”

“Feeling loved?”

“It hurts. A lot. To know any kind of love, to get attached and to think that it will never end, that it will always be there... And then you come face to face with betrayal, death and heartbreak. That's not for me, I've lived through it enough and tasted the feast of bitter bile that goes with it.”

“Who do I have to kill?”

“No one. They are all dead or about to be.”

We started walking in search of a place to have dinner. A guy was following our same path at a safe distance, I assumed it was a coincidence. He didn't seem to be doing it on purpose, he was wearing his headphones and looking at the screen of his mobile phone.

“I'm just saying that loving someone and losing them in any way hurts too much. And I don't want any more suffering.”

“You don't love me?” he pouted jokingly and I nudged him. “Definitely not.”

We laughed a lot. I hadn't laughed like that in a long time. I felt good, free.

“Tell me, what about your friend from the orphanage?”

I nodded and denied at the same time. I closed my eyes and concentrated on giving him a normal answer. I wasn't going to blurt out about the group I'd joined to say I'd seen him a couple of hours ago. He wouldn't mind if I was in this one -I taught him to borrow things when he asked me what I'd learned in my years on the Street-. However, Lydia and Hypatia trusted me not to blurt out that we had set up a group.

“I guess he's fine. He hasn't written to me since his birthday, he hasn't returned my calls or even communicated with the head of the orphanage for three months. She says he's studying all the time, I don't believe it.”

"Do you mind if I break his face?"

"You don't have to, I have a bullet with his name on it."

With him I could laugh freely about anything. Hypatia was terrified of death and didn't like people killing each other, or being played with.

He clicked his tongue and fingers, unhappy with my decision.

"What a pity. I would have enjoyed it."

I turned my head to look back. I thought that the guy who was following in our shadow would have taken a detour by now. But it turned out he hadn't.

I grabbed my brother's arm and pulled him to the side of the pavement.

A guy had been following us for a few minutes after I bumped into Styles. I was a little nervous about the whole White House thing and my friend smelling the perfume. Plus, this guy was dressed trying not to be too conspicuous at night in that area.

"There are people following us. He's been listening to us for a while," I warned him. "Have you got into something, brother?"

I don't think you'd like to know what my life is like.

"Is he FBI or CIA?" I folded my arms, waiting for him to answer.

"Dude, she's my sister, don't worry," he shouted into the air, ignoring my question.

He came running up to where Styles and I were standing. He was tall, brown-haired and had coffee eyes. I wanted to scream my head off at that moment. Everyone I'd previously had half a head between me and my brother - he'd always been much taller than me - now had two heads between me and him. And I wasn't very short, I was five foot six. Lydia was smaller than me in stature, but she would take it much better.

"Are you Stella?" He grabbed my hand and spun me around on my axis. "Wow. I thought you'd still be taller than me. I see you're not."

"Kevin, if you don't want me to break your nose, shut up," I asked him and smiled as he turned away to continue watching me, not believing it. "It's good to see you too."

"Where were you going?" he asked as he pulled out a state-of-the-art iPhone. "Without me. You guys offend me."

Kevin was a shy guy when he didn't know people, but he took a lot of liberties with his friends and friends of friends. And I was one of them. The bonds that the three of us formed as kids could never be broken, or so I thought there and then.

"You look great," he stood next to me and took a selfie. "To remember that I've seen you. You know I'd never show it to anyone," he held up his hands before I could threaten him. I learned my lesson.

The last time he took my picture, I broke his camera because he scared me, not because I was upset that he took my picture. He misunderstood, he wasn't mad at me, Kevin wasn't a big fan of having his picture taken either. I used that misunderstanding to my advantage to scare him.

"Is it still just the two of you against the world?"

"There was no one who could take your place, haha," they ruffled my hair at the same time and I had to let it down so I wouldn't have to do the ponytail again on the same night. "But we've made two more friends. They go to the same school as us."

"Yes? I'm so proud of you guys," I watched as they didn't look back at me, "What are you guys up to?"

Kevin put the mobile phone away and gently pushed me into his house. We went into the basement without greeting his parents and he asked me to be quiet. He turned on the light.

I blinked several times in disbelief. There were thousands of models scattered all over the place, computer screens connected to the same CPU and a huge plan of the White House on one of the walls.

"My parents think I'm studying to get into MIT, which is partly true."

"What did you do tonight?"

"Nothing," Kevin sat back in the gamer chair. "We haven't done anything because what we were going to do didn't exist."

The tone of disappointment in his voice lit a light bulb deep inside me. The White House plans, the computers, Styles being out at night and Kevin spying on us.

"Did you try to get in at half past nine?" I pointed to the map.

"Are you sure you're not a mind reader?" Kevin pointed at me with a spoon on his desk. "Because I still can't believe you don't have powers."

"I told you years ago, and I'll tell you again, that I'm an intuitive person."

"Yeah. I'm sure deep down you're a mutant and you don't want to tell us. That's why you ran away from Styles' house," he leaned his elbows on his legs and looked at me with narrowed eyes. "Don't lie."

Styles shifted uncomfortably behind Kevin.

"I don't want to talk about why I left, Kevin. I consider you my friend, but nothing more."

"Zero trust?"

"Zero trust."

"Boy, what a bummer, and I thought your sister trusted me!"

"Don't take this the wrong way."

He shook his head unconcernedly. We were joking. He had been the only one who had really known what happened at home and why I ran away.

"I'll get it. I'll get you to tell me your secrets, mutant."

"I thought there was no one geekier than me. I see I'm wrong."

Kevin laughed and made me rotate on myself again. He couldn't believe I was there.

"Are you really that snotty-nosed Stella?" he joked.

"And you ask me if I trust you. Sometimes I wonder how I let you out alive."

"Yes, it's you," he stuck his tongue out at me. "Have you had dinner?"

I denied in response.

He bolted for the basement door. He shouted to his mother that there were two of us staying for dinner and to call Styles' parents so his overprotective mother wouldn't worry about his whereabouts. Then he came back downstairs and stared at me.

"May I?" he said, holding out his arms. "Please."

I rolled my eyes and threw my head back, smiling. I threw myself at him. Kevin squeezed me much tighter than Styles.

When we were six years old, Kevin had been a chubby little boy who introduced me to the wonderful world of comic books. Every afternoon when he'd come home and the three of us would have a snack together, we'd end up arguing about who was the best superhero of all. Styles would go for the military, Kevin for the mechanics and I for the former villains. He did notice what Styles' mother was doing to me. Many times he confronted me about it. I ended up dodging the issue. Now I was like every superhero I had ever admired, smart and with a great body.

"What is this?" he tapped the intersection of my shoulder blades.

I pulled out the diamond-edged knife and held it in front of his face.

"I found my biological family," they both froze, suspecting I might forget and abandon them. "They are dead."

"Were they gangsters?"

"No," I then reconsidered my answer. "I don't know for sure."

"That's great. We could ask you to help us with some issues," Kevin clapped his hands on the knife, "How did you manage to do it?"

"There are a few boulders bigger than the knife you are holding in your hands in my house. I just model them as they come in the instructions."

"Just following instructions?" Styles took the knife from Kevin to admire it. "No way."

"Said the man who can build a castle out of toilet paper. Without instructions."

"DINE!" There was a loud shout from Kevin's father, "DON'T MAKE MELODY WAIT!"

The three of us ran upstairs. Kevin's mother, Melody, was sitting at the table while her husband served the food she had prepared. She smiled tenderly at him and when she saw me, she got up. Kevin told her, probably after my escape, why he had done it.

"My child, how is everything?"

"All right, Mrs Miller, you?"

"It's Melody, I've told you a hundred times. Perfect," she kissed my cheeks and broke away to look at me. "If Kevin had told me that you were the third..."

"No, Mrs Miller, please, I wouldn't want to have been a bother."

"You would never be a bother. A better dinner would have been ideal, I thought the third one was another friend of these two. Besides," he grabbed my arm, "you're too skinny."

"Mum, leave Stella alone. She's fine."

"What do you know, my dear!" she sat down at the table, offering me the chair nearest her as a seat. "Everyone's all right for you."

"Tell me, Stella, what brings you back to the capital?" asked me the father, Henry, as he held out the salad plate for me to help myself.

"Some friends and I were thinking of spending the long weekend with them," I picked up the cutlery to pour my food. "They have family here and I wanted to see the city again."

He nodded.

"Where did you meet?"

"Styles threw me to the ground in front of the Smithsonian."

"He's a gentleman!" Kevin slapped my stepbrother's back hard.

"In my defence, I was running and she was behind a bush walking backwards."

"Alone?" asked the concerned mother.

"Relax, I was admiring the façade."

"Besides, she was well protected," Kevin winked, "weren't you?"

"Of course."

The dinner continued with questions and answers about my current life. About how I was doing or what I was thinking of studying when I got to university. I answered that I wanted to study medicine at Harvard, that I had already sent my application. I had also sent it to Stanford and John Hopkins. I hoped that one of them would accept me.

"Medicine... What speciality did you have in mind?"

"Legal and forensic medicine or traumatology."

"I'm sure you will succeed. You are smart."

Once dinner was over, I thanked them for their hospitality, said goodbye trying not to let Melody fill my pockets with leftovers and waited for the boys on the porch.

"Shall we meet up tomorrow? If you haven't made any plans with your friends, of course," Kevin put his arm around my shoulders, as did Styles. "We'll walk you to where you're staying."

I nodded and clung to them. We looked like a human sandwich. Two billets on either side of a girl two heads shorter than them. If we'd been like when we were little, we'd have looked like a nice ladder, not a gorge.

They were telling me about things that had happened in their class. It turns out that their new friend, who is a bit of a weirdo and a real brainiac, would disappear right after class for an hour or two and sometimes didn't come back for the rest of the day. Once they tried to follow him, but he gave them the slip after five minutes.

"You should meet him. He's more slippery than you, sis," laughed Styles.

"They would make an ideal couple," Kevin joked.

"Yes," my stepbrother confirmed.

"You are worse than a mother."

"But you love us."

"No," my sarcasm made them laugh, "What about the other one of your friends?"

"It's his girlfriend," Kevin blurted out.

I pulled away from Styles to look him up and down. I was still hanging onto Kevin, and I rested my hand on his chest, disgruntled. Styles had never had the courage to talk to any girl before, I hadn't expected it. I digested the news as best I could and then blinked.

"You have a girlfriend?"

"I told you if your sister found out she wouldn't believe it," Kevin squeezed my shoulders a couple of times. "You told me I'd be wrong. I thought you had more brains, but knowing who your girlfriend is and what you said about your sister ..."

I punched Kevin hard in the chest. He was cheeky when he wanted to be.

"Kevin! You can't go around telling people that his girlfriend is a..."

"Whore."

"Still no swearing? It doesn't hit you," I returned to the conversation. "A whore just because you don't like her."

"Thanks, sis."

I waved my hand to play it down.

"Why do you say that she's a slut?"

"She doesn't believe I saw her with the captain of the baseball team," he pointed at Styles. "And that's true."

"I didn't expect that from my brother. Not listening to your own friend? What did that..." I bit my tongue to keep from insulting her, "girl?"

"He is in love. And love blinds."

"Styles, if it breaks your heart, give me his home address. I've got a couple of instruments I'd like to try out."

"I want to see it," Kevin laughed. "I want to see you not kill her on sight."

"Who is her?"

"She's the Regina George of this town," Kevin stepped forward. "A very flat and manipulative Regina George."

Styles ducked his head.

"Kevin, that's enough. I have the final say in this," I broke away from him and went to Styles. If you've chosen her, it's probably for a reason," I smiled at him. "But if it turns out to be like Kevin says, get ready for a scolding. And tell your girlfriend."

He grinned.

"How about tomorrow after I run some errands with my friends?" He nodded softly and we continued walking to my hotel. "Can I have your phone numbers?"

The three of us took out our mobile phones and exchanged phone numbers. Then we put them back in our pockets.

It would be twelve o'clock at night when we arrived at the hotel. I took her hands, smiling.

"See you tomorrow, boys. Have a good rest," I kissed each of you. "Tomorrow you will tell me in detail how your visit to the White House went. I won't forget it."

"We know, mutant."

"Sleep well, little sister."

I opened the doors and waved goodbye to them.

They stared at me from the door until I got into the lift. When I went up to the room, they were still in the street, I could see them through the window. They were bumping into each other in a friendly way and laughing pleasantly. They said goodbye with a strange greeting and went their separate ways.

My mobile started ringing like crazy. Lydia was calling me.

"What's up?"

"Tomorrow we'll return the plans and books, you'll stay in the van, okay? We already know the interior, so we won't plan anything. Do you know how to handle security cameras?"

"Of course. You don't ask that question."

"You're a total genius," Lydia laughed over the phone, "We'll pick you up when?"

"Any time you want, of course. I really don't mind."

Lydia nodded in her voice and said seven o'clock. Then she hung up and I turned off my mobile phone.

Tomorrow it would be time to wake up early. I wasn't very sleepy, and I couldn't sleep. Of course, after seeing my best friend working for the president and not mentioning him to me in the letters... I felt a bit betrayed. Maybe that's why he hadn't written to me for months. He didn't even reply to his birthday letter, come to think of it. My heart seemed to sink deep in my chest. It felt heavier. At least I had a heart, betrayals hurt.

I turned off the lights and lay on my back on the bed. The ceiling seemed to have disappeared into the shadows and I was practically in an infinite space, black and deep. One that I could fill with the most unusual dreams I'd ever had.

I went over what had happened that day, projecting the scenes onto the darkness until I fell completely asleep. I didn't dream anything. I was still in that dark room when I closed my eyes. But I did hear the metallic sound of the clown's needles. It was a distant sound, very faint, but it existed.

I woke up a bit dizzy at five in the morning. I had the feeling that if I went back to sleep, the clown would sink his nails into my neck. I dressed in the invisible suit and over it I put on my normal clothes; black trousers and a T-shirt with a bloody feather print on it.

I gawked at myself in the mirror for as long as it took them to pick me up, remembering all those afternoons in the library with my best friend. The betrayal blinded me for the whole day. I was sure that if I had seen him that morning, he wouldn't have made it out alive.

Lydia and Hypatia appeared punctually at seven o'clock at the door of the hotel, not a second more, not a second less. I had already been down there for quite a while and I was waiting for them, gossiping a bit about the news that popped up on my mobile phone.

"Good morning," Hypatia crooned happily from the passenger seat. "This is Bob," she pointed to the guy driving. "Bob, this is Stella."

The guy didn't move. His eyes were fixed on the road and he didn't even turn to wave when I got into the back of the car. The man took his foot off the brake and went on to slam on the accelerator.

"At sixty, Bob, we don't want to attract anyone's attention," Hypatia gave the gentleman a couple of knocks. They sounded metallic. "This is Bob, the A.I. prototype that happens to be suitable for driving. We were testing it this morning when we ran out of time, and since we didn't want to be late, I had Bob bring it to us."

"How much time have you spent with this little boy?" I touched the skin, it seemed so real.

"The details on the outside are by Lydia, she is a genius with sewing. I built the skeleton with the help of my aunt. I told her that we wanted to make the inside of the robot and we would see about the rest."

"I really can't believe it. It's so realistic," I stroked the face, "How did you make it look like real skin?"

"Silicone and a lot of patience," Lydia held up her hands, there was a pair of plasters and a bandage on the back of her right hand. "I'm a bit clumsy and my cannoying cousin was on top of me."

I chuckled.

"When we park, we're going to turn it off, turn the car off and you control us from behind. All the computers are set up the way you want to use it."

"Let me guess, "We've watched you"."

"Yes," Hypatia bit her lip and smiled at the same time. "But you knew that, my dear, don't blame me."

Lydia interrupted to give an order to the robot.

"Bob, to the right, kid. 43 degrees."

The driver turned.

"You still have to teach him to talk. It's something you haven't had time to put in yet, his new chip," Lydia reminded Hypatia.

They were the smartest people I knew. They had two brains that were the envy of the world.

"I hope you are as quick with computers as you are reacting to external stimuli."

"I hope so too," I agreed, exhaling.

As soon as they parked, they disappeared into the early commuters. Many of them were in suits and ties, others were in more comfortable clothes, a couple of pedestrians were jogging and one of them almost ran Lydia over - she was wearing the special suit-.

"Hello?" I asked into the microphone.

"We are in the sewers, please guide us. The smell is blurring my vision."

I sat down on a chair with wheels at the back and stood in front of the computers. I had all the plans in alphabetical order and in order of importance, just like at home. Hypatia hadn't wasted any time on that.

I opened the one for the Washington sewers and two red dots appeared on the screen, much brighter than the rest of the map. I guided them through the filthy, pestilential canals of the city until they reached the desired location. Once they were out of there, moaning between short, grateful breaths, I switched on another of the computers as I changed the map.

The computer already had the security cameras hacked - courtesy of computer princess Hypatia. The security guards were not yet on duty and out of sight, so I gave them the green light to put everything in place as quickly as they could.

I heard and saw drawers open with no one there, maps fly out of nowhere - a bag with the same technology as the suits - and end up on the shelves they came out of.

A movement caught my attention in camera four. I looked closely, there were two security guards walking towards them. They did not move like guards, nor were they trained as such. Their unsteady footsteps made this known. Besides, the guards didn't have a shift until eight in the morning, and it was 7:45, fifteen minutes to go.

"Girls, two burglars are heading for the living room."

"We're done," Lydia whispered almost so softly that I couldn't hear her.

I noticed the robbers. One of them was blond and the other dark-haired. These guys were out of their minds. I had to stop them before they got into trouble.

"Please don't leave the room," I asked. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Of course," Hypatia managed to play down my concern with those long vowels and in a somewhat relaxed manner. "What do I do?"

"Take a piece of paper and write the following: "Stupid, do I have to save your asses?""

Lydia laughed as quietly as she could, barely managing to control the amount of air leaving her lungs. She laughed breathily, controlling the explosive guffaws that struggled to get out of her mouth.

"And put it in one of the guards' pockets, please."

"You got it, girlfriend. And stop saying please, you're like family," she raised her voice a little higher than necessary, and in the other chamber, the thieves froze momentarily.

"Keep your voice down, they think there are ghosts."

I could have said without hesitation that at that moment Lydia put both hands over her mouth. She laughed easily.

"Don't die before you get out of there, Lydia," I said, worried and ironic.

I heard her big, single "ha". The echo of that laugh bounced off the stone walls and columns of the place. The burglars were really alarmed and ran to finish their work as soon as possible to the room where my friends were.

I watched as the pen Hypatia had used disappeared into the folds of her suit and the paper flew up and floated magically in front of the blond thief's eyes. He took a big leap and almost stepped on Lydia, except that he moved to the right, because of the footsteps I could see on the Persian carpet.

"Who are you?" he whispered into the air.

"Tell him that his sister is very disappointed, that she thought she had taught him better."

Hypatia repeated the message gracefully and very close to my stepbrother's ear. He opened his eyes wide - he was facing the security camera in the room, I could see him-. He turned pale as paper and looked at Kevin with concern, who shrugged and looked at the cameras, taking off his hat and waving. Then he clapped his hands as if he were at a magic show.

"Great, Stella, you've outdone yourself. What do you want us to do?"

Hypatia took off her mask and headset and held it out to Kevin.

"I see you're the clever one," she waved the device in front of his eyes. "Take it and put it on, honey, because I'm not going to play the homing pigeon."

She laughed as she handed it to him.

"Thank you very much, darling."

Kevin winked and put the device on. He waited for me to speak.

"Hi, Kevin."

"Stella, my love!" he exaggerated.

"You're a pain," Lydia guffawed freely at my coment. "I'd recommend you all to go out."

Hypatia put her mask back on and followed Lydia back the way they had come, leaving the other two in the room.

"Forget what you came here to do, get out."

They did not move.

"NOW!"

Kevin grabbed Styles - who resisted leaving - and pushed him through the corridors to the exit.

"I wait for you in the only van in the street parallel to the one you are in."

"But if ..."

"Shut up, Kevin, and get the hell out. There's only one bloody van, it's not that hard to find."

"Definitely, it is you."

"I love you too, man," I turned off the comms and it wasn't until Kevin and Styles had left the compound that I turned off the cameras and reconnected the systems to the previous servers until they had left the house.

Lydia opened the van door and got in, followed by Hypatia. She looked at me as she took off her mask and put on clothes over her suit. She smiled mischievously at me and folded her arms.

"When were you planning to tell us that you have two hot guys as step-brothers?"

"The only one who's my step-brother is Styles," Hypatia raised an eyebrow. "The blond one."

"Is Kevin your boyfriend?" Hypatia asked.

"No, he's my friend. You can have him, Hypatia, all yours."

She laughed deeply.

"No, thanks," he held up his hands. "He looks like a train, but he's not my type."

"He's quite clever," I said, looking down at a notebook that suddenly seemed much more interesting than the rest of my surroundings. "Very clever."

When I looked up, Hypatia's ears were red. She had a soft spot for the smart ones, but they ended up being friends, nothing more, very good friends.

"Oh, please!" she shook her head emphatically. "I'm not that sort of person."

She was grinning broadly, trying to avoid it.

"Yes, I am. And I am the queen of England" to say that was like saying we were mermaids; there were no kings or queens in our time, that was in the past. Monarchies died out with the death of the last king of Spain, two thousand years ago.

We all started laughing like crazy.

Lydia put all her weight on my left shoulder as she leaned forward, looking at Hypathy.

""I'm not that sort of person". Have you listened to yourself?"

"It's not fair! It was Lydia who said they were so hot first."

"It's not fair," I repeated.

We couldn't see with the tears forming in our eyes.

"Exactly," Hypatia articulated.

A knock on the van door brought us back to reality. I cleared my throat and the smile fell off my face, unlike Lydia who was still smiling broadly and Hypatia who tried to wipe away any trace of happiness - and succeeded in record time-. Not a trace of tears on her face. She put all her clothes back on so quickly and so perfectly that I stared at her for a long time trying to understand. Perfect in every occasion, was her motto.

I opened the door. Styles and Kevin looked at us for permission to enter.

Before passing, Styles stared at Lydia disarmingly, unable to articulate a word. She smiled sweetly at the newcomers. His gaze slid forcibly to Hypatia, it was as if Lydia was a powerful magnet for him. I couldn't suppress the smile that formed. When he did get a look at Hypatia, he kept his distance - he wasn't much given to making friends right off the bat, especially not with people like Hypatia, who struck him as a braggart at first-.

"Guys, this is Lydia and..." I looked at Hypatía hesitating whether I should say it or not.

"Hypatia," she stepped forward and held out his hand first to Kevin, who gladly accepted it and kissed it, and then to Styles, who shook it hesitantly. "Nice to meet you. She hasn't told us shit about you."

The two boys, rather, Kevin looked at me with his mouth open, falsely offended by Hypatia's comment. Styles ducked his head and bit his lips.

"Well, I'm the unmentioned and brilliant Kevin, a computer whiz, an aspiring MIT alumnus," he gave himself a little cheer as he smiled charmingly at Hypatia and Lydia. "And this here," he grabbed Styles' shoulders and pressed them lightly, "is my best friend Styles, a great athlete and very skilled in any fighting art. He's all muscle, though he's got some brains."

"Please, Kevin..." he was really embarrassed about the introductions.

He had become more shy than I remembered. I didn't get to see him the day before because it was probably just the three of us, so he didn't show it.

"It's all right, I'm sure you have a big heart," Lydia's sweet, compassionate voice caught his attention. His eyes narrowed at the kind and tender smile she gave him.

Styles lowered his head to hide his blushing face.

"Thank you," he said in an almost inaudible whisper. "That's very kind of you."

"Please, sweetheart, she's just naturally like that, you don't have to thank her for anything," jumped Hypatia, who was elbowed by Lydia. "What?! It's true, woman! You don't need to hit me!"

I remember Kevin and Hypatia giving each other a knowing look for having two of the same friends. Kevin rolled his eyes, making Hypatia laugh.

"She did mention you guys, but she only said you were here in D.C. on holiday. She didn't tell us you were... Nothing. And I'm sure if she had described you, she wouldn't have done you justice."

"Kevin, stop embarrassing me."

"Whatever you say, mutant," he gave me a mocking bow. "By the way, what were you doing in there?"

"No. The question is, what were you doing in there?" Hypatia leaned slightly over Kevin as he sat down on the floor of the van and closed the van doors.

Styles looked at me pleadingly, to shut my friend up. Kevin beat him to it.

"Unfortunately for my dear friend, Stella," he took Hypathy's hand and made a sandwich with both of his, "we were stealing some plans to find out where the bathroom was."

Lydia tapped me lightly on the arm. I nodded and took out my phone to take a picture. As soon as I looked at the result, Hypatia and Kevin were still in the same position, but she was showing me her middle finger, having eyes only for my friend.

Lydia giggled lightly at the result.

"Kevin," he turned his head to me, "the truth. The White House plans of your house and the giant computer in the basement. I also want an explanation."

"We can't say it here," Styles interrupted before Kevin could open his mouth, he knew the effect I had on both of us when I asked for anything firmly. "I'll tell you, sis, but not here."

"Where?" asked Lydia, excited and impatient.

"My parents have an important meeting today," he looked at me, both sad and scared. "So Styles' house."

I rolled my eyes, begging for something else to come up.

"Perfect," Hypatia applauded. "Where is it?"

She took Bob out and put him in the driver's seat.

Kevin, as soon as he saw it, went crazy asking how I'd done it and how I'd got over something I didn't know about. The two of them started talking like a couple of computer geeks. He asked him about everything he had built. They answered each other the weirdest questions I'd ever heard in my life.

Meanwhile, the three of us were having a separate conversation.

"Do you still live with your parents?"

"Unfortunately for you, yes."

"What about your parents?" Lydia sat down on the floor next to Styles and looked at him with wide, curious eyes.

"My mother wouldn't tolerate Stella even if she was named," her eyes glazed over and Lydia and I cringed, more Lydia than I. "She abused her when she was at home. She abused her when she was at home."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I don't like to talk about something that wouldn't happen to me again. Something I've already been through. I thought that if I didn't say it and forgot about it, it would be as if it hadn't happened and maybe I could sleep in peace."

"I'm so sorry, Stella," she hugged me tightly and then forced Styles to join in.

We parted just as Hypatia literally shouted at us: "Here we are, you inferior beings".

How I longed to get the hell out of there. How I wished I was in the Smithsonian. How I wished we weren't walking up the driveway to the villa. How I wished Styles hadn't opened the door just as his mother was walking from the kitchen to the living room.