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“Good evening, boils and ghouls, your old pals Doctor Yuki and her assistant are just moments away from the fourth part in the on going ‘New Family’ series. A head’s up though, we’re gonna try something different in lieu of the holiday weekend coming up.”

“We’re gonna have a Halloween party!”

“That’s right, and you all are, of course, invited. Please do wear costumes, that part is mandatory.”

“Even if it is just a pair of cat ears and a tail.”

“Plenty of games and treats and a couple spooky viewings to cap off the night. And speaking of viewings, it’s time to get tonight’s show on the road!”

***

START OF RECORDING

Subject: Nicole Weathers (ALIAS)

Date: 05/25/99

Location: CLASSIFIED

 

(You’ve made a hell of a mess of things…No one is supposed to know any of you exist.)

A bit of cleaning up for you?

(Too much. We’re working on a way to handwave this to the people in the town that you know casually.)

We keep to ourselves.

(Small town’s gonna notice a single working mother with four school-age children not going to class. No real opportunity for homeschooling is there? So why don’t you cut the shit.)

…They went to the local school.

(Any clubs, afterschool programs? A goddamned slumber party?)

No. They went to class, came home and that was it. Quiet and heads down. Don’t make an impact, not even in the neighborhood; we kept to ourselves.

(We’ll see about that.)

 

Emails (encrypted fragments retrieved):

The retrieval team sent to the girls’ school as health and safety inspectors following the fertilizer plant explosion reported no evidence of them even attending. As strange as it sounds, there were no files for Jaden, Annabelle, Riley, or Zelda. The team searched through the lockers and classrooms–nothing. No photos of them in the yearbook club–not even so much as a mention.

Obviously, the team leader needed to investigate further. They pulled Principal Elrond aside from the other administrators and started up a casual conversation after the details of the “safety assessment”. He made up a similar situation that took place a decade prior across the country, in which a school collapsed after not being examined properly–part of the building collapsed in the middle of a school day which killed quadruplets and injured scores more. The principal only remarked how horrible that was and did not at all bring up at all the similarity of the situation. Even if they did not know every single student in the school, the rarity of quadruplets would have generated a buzz and made their presence known.

If the girls did go to this school, there is no evidence of it. I don’t know what this means…but considering what they are already capable of…it can’t be good.

 

RE:

The school bus route will be staked out next. Details are going to be gathered of the other kids that would have been on with the girls. We’ll send out another one of ours as a local cop and ask the parents and kids if they’ve seen any quadruplets that are deemed missing and last seen around the area.

 

RE: RE:

Six stops were staked out, covering the broad range of the route. None of the children questioned, nor their parents, ever recalled seeing the girls. In fact, two students advised us they only knew a pair of twins (boys) that attended their school.

 

RE: RE: RE:

I have personally combed through the recordings and transcripts of Nicole and the old woman, both corroborated that the girls did get picked up around 8:00AM and were dropped off around 4:30PM during the week. Definitely no after school activities.

What does this mean?

 

RE: RE: RE: RE:

The next step we’re taking is to actually interview the girls. One-on-one, not in a group. We have to find out why no one in the school can remember them, why there are no records of them.

The Smiths Grove barracks is being prepped for our arrival.

 

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE:

The barracks was unable to comply! The girls are currently being moved to our Louisville facility. We don’t have all the details yet. Current ETA: 1 hour 27 minutes.

 

From The Smith Grove Gazette (06/02/99):

START OF RECORDING

Audio log (cassette):

 

(Is it on?)

Yeah, it is. We’re rolling.

(Hiii!)

Alright, Riley. Go on with your sisters. Just gotta do this little bit and I’ll be with you.

(Ookay.)

(Car door opens and shuts)

Moment to myself. Thank fuck! Don’t get me wrong, guys, I’m glad my daughters are safe and we’re back together, but holy shit!

Anyway…

Far as the girls know, I’m making an audio scrapbook for the kiddos. (Sighs) Quick and to the point, please, Nicole.

I meant to get this down while we were Still in Pleasant Grove. Hindsight bein’ 20/20 and all, I’m glad I was too preoccupied to start that journal–me n’ the girls would have been scrapped for sure.

Alright, no more stalling…

The girls–all four of ‘em–have psychic abilities. And I’m not saying “they may have” or “they’re showing signs of”. No. These. Girls. Are. Fucking. Psychic.

That wasn’t part of the plan, folks. Not at all. And I get that there needs to be more context, especially if I ever send these out to ruin the motherfuckers–

Jesus, sidelined again.

These tapes are for my record as I watch over my girls and track any further development. I look at them now and wonder what they are truly capable of. Will more abilities come about? How powerful will they be? Can they control their powers? If not, what then? I don’t know what I’d…if I could…

Fucking Christ…I sound exactly like them.

Get a hold of yourself, Nikki.

You’re their mother–fucking act like it and protect them.

Sorry to myself for that little breakdown there. Tears are gone and the girls are asleep. I was just finishing up on a perimeter check before I settle in myself.

What I was trying to get at earlier was the details of the psychic abilities of my girls. There’s no mind reading, I can tell you that. I got each of them to try to read my thoughts. Nada. They weren’t lying about it either. Not one of them so much as cracked a smile with the immature bullshit I made sure was swamping my brain.

But they can definitely manipulate what a person perceives. I learned that shit the hard way–after I already threw down the money for the fake IDs, birth certificates, and medical records.

We can thank Jaden for that happy accident.

The girls came with me while I was running errands and I needed to drop off all the info to the school. They followed me like a line of ducks through the parking lot to the main office just past the front entrance. No problem at all when Mrs. Anderson, the middle-aged woman at the front desk, greeted us with an ear-to-ear smile and the obligatory “wow” when four more of me entered the cramped room. We made some small-town small talk and had a couple laughs and I was about to get all the required papers from my bag when the principal, Mr. Elrond, came out of interior office.

He was a friendly enough guy, don’t get me wrong, but he was massive–pro-wrestling sized. Easily six and a half feet tall, at least three hundred pounds, with short-cropped hair, and in full business dress, with the exception of his jacket. He was adjusting his tie as he lumbered to the secretary’s desk, very much looking the part of an unforgiving authority figure.

Mr. Elrond smiled at us and asked a broad question to the room: “New students today?”

The secretary and I said “Yes” and I could see the girls nod shyly in my periphery.

“Well, alright then, let’s get ‘em signed in!”

I started to bring out the forms and Mrs. Anderson looked over her shoulder to the large man, “Already finished. Xerox’d and filed. Waiting on the shopping lists for the kiddos and the tuition receipts to print.”

“Good to hear, good to hear.”

I was confused to say the least, but let the documents rest on the packet of tissues and the deodorant in my handbag.

“If ya’ll want, you can have a look around the school,” Principal Elrond offered. “Marcy,” he said, addressing Mrs. Anderson, “I’m going for some lunch. Want anything?”

“No thanks, I’m all set here,” she replied, taking the freshly printed papers from the tray.

“Alright,” he smiled and turned to me and the kids and nodded politely. “See you here soon, ladies.” And off he went.

Mrs. Anderson stapled the pages together and circled some bits with a red ink pend and handed them over. “Like he said, have a look around if you’d like. I’ve circled the homerooms the girls have been put in to.”

“Oh, you’ve done that already?”

“New program; it fills up the classes automatically for us.”

I looked down at the six pages…

All of them were blank, with the exception of the four red circles on the last sheet. I tried not to look confused and looked up and smiled politely. “Thank you, we’ll do that now.”

I herded the girls out of the office and the tap-tap-tap of the computer keyboard resumed. We skedaddled down the hall, out of earshot for anyone. The doors around us were closed and the lights to the rooms were off.

Cautious still, I turned to the kids and whispered, “What the fuck was that?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

None of them so much as uttered a peep.

Deep breath. “I promise I ain’t mad. Not in the slightest. This might help us…a lot.”

Jaden, tugging at the bottom of her shirt, had her toes and knees pointed together in her best awkward teenager impression. Shyly, she help up her other hand at her side.

“Jay, what did you do?”

“Nothing… I mean, I didn’t try to do anything. That man came out–he scared me–”

“Me too,” Zelda interrupted.

“–all I did was hope that everything would work…that they’d let us in and no one would be able to find out about us.”

In case they hadn’t seen, I showed them the blank papers and thumbed through them.

“Dude…did you Jedi mind-trick them?” Riley asked quietly, totally sincere.

I laughed harder and louder than I should have at the moment. “I think,” I said, composing myself. “if one of you can do it, maybe you all can.”

“Do we get to practice?” Zelda asked.

“Yeah, we’ll try.”

“On people?” she followed up.

“No. Not on people–not at the start. I’ll think of something.”

Annabelle had been quiet this whole time, but she asked an important question. “Mom? If those pages are blank…what classes do we go to?”

“Oh shit…let do something about that.”

***

“Man, I can’t wait to see where this is going, Yuki.”

“Sadly, you’re gonna have to…just a little longer. There’ll be some quality horror next time though!”

“I–”

“I know, I know, horror’s not your forté, but hey, plenty of other stuff to do. You wanna be in charge of the tunes?”

“Yeah?”

“Sure, go wild. Mix it up. Some classical, soundtracks, dance, metal, et cetera.”

“Awesome! I’ll get started on that tomorrow.”

“And with that, everyone, that’ll be it for this evening. Have a good night! We’ll see you all for the Halloween party!”

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