The Mastermind ~ Cliche Chronicles ~ Book One

Chapter Nine

In Which the Hero Begins a Questionably Timed Quest

Jayda woke to the sound of glass shattering.

She had managed to sneak back into her house with much less trouble than she had expected. Her parents hadn't appeared to have heard her at all, despite the fact that she'd dropped her keys twice, run into a wall, and tripped over Snowball. After her exhausting adventure, sleep had been her highest priority.

And now someone was trying to break in.

Sliding slowly out of bed, Jayda crouched beside her nightstand and summoned her power. Whoever had planned on murdering her was about to get one hell of a surprise-

"Sorry about that," A familiar voice said, as feet thumped to her hardwood floor. Jayda straightened slowly and looked at the man- er, Pete- standing next her now-shattered window.

"I was going to throw pebbles at the window until you woke up, but that didn't exactly...well..."

"Oh, that's all right," She said, staring at the glass shards littering the floor. "My parent's probably won't even notice."

It sort of looked like he may have nodded in response, but Jayda was too busy watching the moonlight gleam off the broken pieces. (The thunderstorm had mysteriously vanished after she'd escaped the villain's lair).

Finally, after what Jayda estimated to be roughly ten years, (math had never been her strong suit) Pete said, "So... I have something important to tell you."

"Okay." She waited expectantly, and when he didn't say anything, she added, "What?"

"I know how to stop the villain," He muttered, sounding nervous. Jayda perked up this.

"Oh, really? That's- not now Snowball- great!" She beamed, pushing the little dog away from the shattered glass with her foot.

"It'll probably be dangerous," He cautioned, in the traditionally cliched way.

"Danger is my middle- Oh whatever. I've always hated that line. Why would someone give their kid the name 'danger'? That's fine. I'm sure I'll be all right." Jayda sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled Snowball onto her lap. "What do I have to do?"

Pete sat down next to her. "It involves you going to Vancouver and finding a rare element called Katatopium."

"Katapium?" Jayda asked, trying to sort out the weird word's pronunciation.

"Yes. Well, it's said Katatopium, but that's not important. You'll find it in the convention center, likely in one of the displays. It's a blue liquid. But be careful! There's a vill-"

Jayda leaped to her feet, dumping Snowball to the floor. "Do I need this stuff, like, now?" She asked, already running over to her closet.

"You should probably leave soon, yes," He said after a brief pause. "But you really need to watch out, because there's-"

"Do I look all right?" Jayda asked, stepping out of the closet and finger-combing her blonde hair. She was an expert at changing quickly; that tended to happen when you were constantly getting up late.

"Yes, of course. You look as beautiful as always, but you really might want to know-"

"Thanks for the help!" She interrupted again, snagging her backpack from the foot of her bed and kissing him briefly. "I'll try to be back in a day or two. Mom, dad, I'm going out!" She called as she charged down the stairs. Their bedroom door opened and she winced, remembering that it was something like four in the morning.