The Shrink Program

Chapter 25

Secret.

Trick?

Apollo paused in his dramatic departure, turning slowly to face the sheepish Nigel.

"So?"

Nigel bit his lip, looking bashful. "I'm not really supposed to tell anyone except my successor...."

"Do I look like a patient person to you?" Apollo asked pointedly, sending a meaningful glance towards me.

"Are you as curious as I am to see what sort of noises she will make if we were to shake her jar? "

My jaw dropped, and I couldn't stop the small sound of outrage from escaping. Apollo's lips quirked at my reaction, and he almost like he was... Teasing.

"Ah...." Nigel visibly flinched, his eyes a little too wide with panic. "Not really?"

I sent him an affronted look.

That wasn't a NO.

"Then you best start explaining." Apollo pointed out darkly.

"Right! Um... Don't tell anyone else okay..." He winced guiltily. ".... but the truth is, they may have... made... two Joker Cards."

Two...?

"What?" Apollo snapped, but before he could demand an explanation, Nigel hastily continued.

"But only one of them is real. The other one is a doppelgänger." He laughed to himself ruefully. "They did it as a joke... I guess..."

"You're lying," Apollo said in a bored tone, his calm returning like a chilling breeze. "I would have known if there were two."

Where is this guy getting his information...? To be so confident...

"What's this I have here then?" Nigel reached into his sleeve and pulled out another Joker card.

We all stared at the card, speechless.

Even Apollo had a stunned look on his face. When nobody answered. Nigel tilted his head.

"Do you want to know how to tell them apart?" He smiled cheekily. " It's simple, really. On the real card, the word Joker is a mirror image."

He turned the card to look at it with a raised eyebrow.

"Luckily me, it looks like you've drawn the doppelgänger."

"Your hands..." Apollo breathed.

For Nigel to be holding up the card, his hands couldn't be cuffed behind his back.

"Yea." Nigel agreed simply to Apollo's unspoken observation, a brilliant grin breaking out across his face.

"Being sleight of hand makes me the best cheater."

Still crouched, Nigel spun full circle, kicking the legs out from beneath the guys holding him.

Before they hit the ground, he was gone, leaping past them and towards Apollo.

There was nothing the pale boy could do when faced with that speed and power. He stood completely frozen, even as Nigel came towards him.

And brushed past him without a word.

Nigel didn't even pause to confront the mastermind. Instead, he headed for us, crossing the gap in an instant.

My jar shifted as the guy holding it did the only logical thing a person can do in this sort of situation.

He got rid of what the monster was coming for.

Without so much as a see you later alligator, my jar was thrown violently up into the air.

My entire world spun around me as I hurtled up... Then down, towards the ground trapped in my glass cage.

I couldn't help a small whimper.

This was going to hurt.

With a sharp jolt, the jar froze mid-air, inches from the ground.

I was thrown against the glass beneath me with a painful clack, staring down at the giant hand that had placed itself between me and death.

Shaken, I turned my head to see Nigel staring at me through the glass, a terrified look on his giant face.

He had thrown himself forward onto the ground to catch me in time. Nigel now lay panting, one hand holding the jar.

When he saw that I was looking at him, he gave me a cheerful smile.

"That was close."