Petal's Problems (8 page)

As for Uncle George, now that we knew he was Mommy's brother, we could see the family resemblance. He had brown hair and eyes, just like Mommy and us, and he looked nice enough. We only hoped he wouldn't try to cook us anything.

We had to admit, we were surprised at how happy they were to see us. We didn't remember any relatives other than Mommy and Daddy loving us quite so much. Crazy Serena certainly hadn't. Why, she'd tried to Eightnap us!

"Eights!" Aunt Martha cried, pulling us all in for a hug. It was a bit of a tight squeeze for the cats, but somehow we managed. "I'm so happy you could make it!"

"Me too," Uncle George said, also embracing us. "But I'm so sorry Robert and Lucy couldn't come. Of course, as it turns out, a few other significant people couldn't come either."

Hug over, we did the polite thing and introduced them to the Petes, and then they did the polite thing in not blinking too hard when they learned the Petes' last name was Zero.

"You can just call us Pete and Jill," Pete said.

"We're so happy to be here," Mrs. Pete said. "Who ever would have thought of getting married in France?"

"I don't know," Uncle George said, looking surprised. "I suppose French people think of it all the time."

"Come along," Aunt Martha said cheerfully. "Let's get your bags. We've got a big car to take us all to the chateau. It's where the entire wedding party will be staying."

"What's a chateau?" Petal whispered. "Is it like a dungeon?"

"No," Jackie whispered. "It's a large country house or mansion in the French countryside."

That didn't sound so impressive to us. After all, we already lived in a great stone house almost as big as a mansion.

***

The chateau did turn out to be very large, with turrets and some sort of river running outside all the way around, but we were hardly impressed. We did have our own tower room back home, and we doubted this place had any seasonal rooms, which always come in handy. One thing that did impress us: all of the ceilings in the rooms were
incredibly
high, whereas back home we only had one room with a ceiling like that.

"I'll just show you to your rooms," Aunt Martha said, "and then I'll leave you to unpack. And perhaps you'd like to take a nap? You must be jet-lagged, and we are having a big party tonight. In fact, we're having parties every night this week, right up till the wedding."

Talk about overdoing a thing. We hoped she didn't expect us to give her a present every night. We'd only brought the one.

"Oh, and Petal," Aunt Martha said in a chipper voice before leaving us to our own devices, "I have a special surprise for you!"

"Not a special surprise!" Petal cried. "I don't want a special surprise! Why am I being singled out? And can't you tell me what it is now? I'll get a headache if I don't know."

"Oh, you'll like this surprise," Aunt Martha said. "And it has to be you, because you're the perfect person for the job."

"Job?" Petal cried. "You mean I have to work? I'm fairly certain there are child-labor laws against that!"

But Aunt Martha failed to hear that last part because she'd already disappeared down the long hallway.

Petal threw her little body down on the bed in misery. "Oops! Wrong position," she said, popping up again, after which she dived under the bed.

New country, new bed, same Petal.

A second later, Petal's cat, Precious, dived in after her. Now both girl and cat were cowering. Perhaps Precious had received her power and was scared of it too?

Of course she had. That's the way the world worked.

"Surely you've learned by now that this routine won't work." Annie sighed.

"Don't care" came Petal's muffled voice.

"New country, new bed, same Rebecca." Rebecca's eyes gleamed as she rolled up her sleeves.

"Hang on," Annie said, waving Rebecca away for the moment.

This was probably a mistake on Annie's part. Rebecca did
not
like to be waved away.

"Can you tell us why you're hiding under the bed this time?" Annie said. "You've already got your power, so it's not like you can avoid getting it by hiding."

"But I don't want to use it" came the muffled voice. "It's too scary. And I don't want whatever special surprise Aunt Martha has planned for me. That's scary too. I figure maybe if I stay under here forever, I won't have to deal with the special surprise, plus the muffling of the bed will keep me from reading people's minds."

"And how's that working out for you?" Georgia asked.

"Not so good," Petal admitted. "I just heard you think, 'Petal's a little idiot.'"

Georgia at least had the grace to look embarrassed at having her mind read. Rebecca smirked.

"But I'm sure I can get better at it in time," the muffled voice said forcefully, "if I just put my mind to it."

"Doesn't it take up lots of mental energy being so scared all the time?" Jackie asked in a kind way.

"It is tiring," Petal admitted. "Sometimes I exhaust myself."

"I know!" Marcia said. "Annie, why don't you make up one of those pro-and-con lists you do!"

"That's an excellent idea!" Durinda agreed. "Like that time I wasn't sure I wanted my power."

"Oh, I love it when Annie makes those lists," Zinnia said. "It's like playing a game."

"Very well," Annie said. "Where can I find a pencil and paper..."

She located the items in a desk drawer, which is just where a person would imagine they'd be.

"Right," Annie said. "Now, why don't we start with cons, since you're always so negative, Petal."

"Fine," Petal said, "although I don't appreciate being called negative, even if I am. Cons: One, it's scary. Two, it's scary. Three, it's scary. Four, it's—"

"We get the idea," Annie said, cutting her off.

"She does have a point, you know," Jackie said with a shrug. "If you can read people's minds, what happens when you hear something you wish you hadn't, like Georgia thinking Petal's a little idiot?"

"Ex
actly,
" the muffled voice said firmly.

"But what about the pros?" Marcia said. "Think how wonderful it would be in so many ways."

"You'd know what Durinda was planning for dinner," Georgia said. "And if you didn't like it, you could persuade her to make something different. You know, if what she originally planned was awful or something."

"Hey!" Durinda was outraged. "Nothing I make is awful."

We ignored her.

"I don't care about food anymore," Petal said.

"You'd always know in advance what homework assignment the teacher was going to give," Zinnia said. Then she got really excited. "Ooh, it could be like Marcia seeing the answers on that test that time with her x-ray vision. You'd be able to read the answers straight from the teacher's mind!"

"That's cheating," Annie said firmly. "We don't cheat anymore."

"Besides," Petal said, "it's summer vacation. Who cares about school right now?"

"You could read the minds of evil people," Rebecca said, "and then once you know what they're planning,
you
can plan an evil strategy to get them before they get you."

"That's exactly the sort of thing that terrifies me," Petal said.

We were getting frustrated.

"So much for your great pro-and-con lists," Rebecca said, sneering at Annie.

"I've got an idea," Jackie said, excited. "We're your sisters, Petal. What could be less scary than reading our minds? So why don't you come out from under the bed, just for a few minutes, and try your new power on all of us. Maybe that'll make it all less frightening for you."

We all thought that was a good idea, even Rebecca. Even Petal did, shockingly enough, because she slowly slid backward out from under the bed and got up, Precious slithering backward and out beside her.

We looked at Petal standing there, hair tousled. It was nice not to be talking to her feet anymore.

"Why don't you start with me," Jackie said gently.

Petal tilted her head to one side and stared at Jackie's forehead.

We waited to see what would happen, and a moment later we were startled to see a smile break across Petal's face.

"What am I thinking?" Jackie asked.

"You're thinking, 'I love Petal and only want to help her.'" Petal smiled some more. "Gee, that's not too bad."

"Do Zinnia next," Jackie suggested.

Petal tilted her head to the side again and this time stared at Zinnia's forehead.

"Zinnia's thinking," Petal said, "'Even though I never wanted one before and don't know what I'd do with one now, I wish I could keep the Deluxe Perfect-Every-Time Hamburger Maker/Manicure-Pedicure Machine we bought as a wedding present for Aunt Martha and Uncle George.'" Petal laughed. "That's kind of funny."

"And Durinda," Jackie said.

"Durinda's thinking, 'I'll bet dinner tonight won't be nearly as good as I could make it.'"

Durinda looked ashamed at having her immodest thought exposed.

"And Annie," Jackie said.

"Annie's thinking, 'Why am I letting Jackie run the show right now?
I
always run the show!'" Petal laughed again. "That's really funny. I was just wondering also why Annie was letting Jackie take over."

"And Marcia," Annie said, seizing control once more.

"Marcia's thinking, 'That drawer that had the pencil and paper in it—I wonder if there are any math workbooks in there. I could really use some math right around now.' Why, this isn't bad at all!" Petal said. "It seems most people just think nice, ordinary things. Maybe you're all correct. Maybe it won't be so bad having my power."

"And Georgia," Annie said.

"Georgia's thinking ... oh." Petal's face fell. "Georgia's still thinking, 'Petal's a little idiot.'"

"Don't mind Georgia," Jackie said.

"Yeah," Georgia said, "don't mind me. You know how I am. I get something in my head and it just sticks there for a long time, like it's attached to my brain by a piece of gum."

"And Rebecca," Annie said.

Petal tilted her head to the side one last time and stared at Rebecca's forehead.

Then she shrieked and dived back under the bed.

Precious, who'd been keeping pace with Petal, did the same thing with Rambunctious: tilted, stared, meowed loudly, dived.

"What did you read in Rebecca's mind?" six of us who weren't under the bed asked. The seventh didn't ask because they were her thoughts; she already knew them.

"It was so dark in there," Petal said, her voice trembling. "I could see almost nothing, no real words, just this vast darkness ... and cobwebs ... and a few spiders..."

Most people would be embarrassed to have the contents of their minds exposed in the way that Rebecca's had just been, and yet Rebecca looked rather proud of herself.

Poor Petal, though. Most of us were beginning to see why this power would be terrifying for her.

"And that's it?" Jackie said gently. "Nothing else but the darkness and the other nasty things you described?"

"Well," Petal admitted, "right in the center of it all, there was a giant can of pink frosting."

At least that was something.

***

It took all the powers of persuasion we had to get Petal to come out from under the bed that night so we could all make an appearance at the first party for Aunt Martha and Uncle George.

When we did finally get downstairs, we were greeted by a large roomful of people, none of whom we recognized, save for Aunt Martha and Uncle George and the Petes.

Then we saw someone who looked vaguely familiar from behind, something about her hair, which was long, the color of chestnuts.

She was standing in front of the unlit fireplace, and when she turned we could see that she had eyes the color of chocolate and was tall, like Mommy, and beautiful, like Mommy, and about ten years younger than Mommy.

We knew that woman.

Crazy Serena.

NINE

"What's she doing here?" seven Eights hissed.

To which Petal added, "I feel faint!"

"Read her mind, Petal," Annie directed. "Tell us what she's thinking so we know what she's up to."

But Petal didn't tilt her head to one side as we'd seen her do when reading our minds. Rather, she squinched her eyes shut and began mumbling nonsense words, stringing them all together so it came out sounding something like
sgfeuogfgevcsgel.
Nonstop.

She didn't tell us what she was doing—she couldn't, because she was too busy babbling nonsense—but we guessed she was doing it to drown out all sounds from other people's minds so that she couldn't hear whatever dark and terrifying thoughts lurked in Crazy Serena's.

In a way, we could understand her fear—who, except for maybe Rebecca, would want to travel into the heart of darkness?—but it was
so
not helpful.

So while Petal continued babbling with her eyes squinched shut, we dragged her over to where Aunt Martha and Uncle George stood talking to some guests.

"What's she doing here?" we asked Aunt Martha, not hissing the words this time and keeping our voices as calm as we could as we pointed to Crazy Serena.

But it wasn't Aunt Martha who answered. It was Uncle George.