Chapter 9

  Luna was quiet the entire ride home. Solomon kept glancing over at her, worried for her, but her face was turned away from him. A few sniffles came from Luna's side of the SUV. Solomon grabbed a soda from the cooler, popped the lid, and took a sip, but his heart wasn't in it. It was impossible for him to be his usual cheery self when his beloved twin sister was so sorrowful. Some pairs of twins - Or is is married couples? - described each other as their better half, and while Solomon wouldn't say Luna was his better half, she definitely completed him. He wasn't sure what he'd do without her serious attitude grounding him in dire situations.

  The twins were dropped off right in front off their house. The sun shone just above the horizon as the black SUV revved its engine and drove off into the distance. Solomon picked up both of their school backpacks, one in each hand. "Come on. Let's get inside. I'm sure Mom and Dad are worrying themselves half to death."

  Luna sighed, but she obediently walked up the driveway with him. Solomon ducked into the open garage, making his way toward the side door that connected the garage to the mudroom. He twisted the handle, and the side door creaked open, allowing warm light to spill into the cold garage.

  "Solomon, Luna, is that you?" Mrs. Peterson called worriedly from inside the house.

  "Yup, it's us!" Solomon pushed his way into the mudroom, dropping the backpacks on the floor for the time being. He figured he had bigger things to worry about than where his backpack went. "Sorry we kept you waiting so long."

  "No problem, kiddo," Mr. Peterson's deep voice said. "The school told us all about what happened."

  Solomon followed his father's voice through a doorway and into the kitchen right next to the mudroom. His mother had obviously been keeping herself busy, as the kitchen was so clean it seemed shiny. A tall mountain of washed dishes sat by the sink, dripping wet. Having run out of things to clean, his mother stood by the kitchen island casually. Her hands were fiddling on the island counter, indicating that she was more nervous than she let on.

  Solomon's father stood on the other side of the kitchen's large island with his hands in his pockets. He was still in the suit he had worn to work that day, and his briefcase was sitting on the island. He gave his son a friendly nod, but beside that, his face was a mask. Solomon couldn't tell if his father's expression was one of disappointment or pride, or even something else entirely. He had never been the best at understanding people. Luna had crept in quietly and was watching from a corner of the kitchen in silence.

  Solomon's eyes flickered between his two parents. he did some quick mental calculations. If Dad's home already, that means it's either later than I thought, or he was called out of work early. Based on the sunset and the clock above the fridge, I'd say it's due to the first reason. Mom and Dad were both waiting for us, so they must need to talk about something important. All of our important family conversations happen around our kitchen island. What follows next could vary greatly, depending on what the school told them. Might as well get it over with. Taking a deep breath, he blurted out, "It's not what you think it is! We were forced to get in the car!" That sounded bad, even to him, so he quickly changed his tune. "Uh - I mean, the people in the car were friendly! No need to worry!"

  His mother frowned and leaned forward, resting her elbows on the island. "What on earth are you talking about? Of course we weren't worried! The school assured us they had everything under control, despite the suddenness of the situation. I'm just surprised by how long you were gone."

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  "We're proud of you, Solomon." Mr. Peterson gave him a confident smile. "And you too, Luna-bear. It's an honor for us to be the parents of such fine children."

  Solomon’s mind was racing, trying to frantically figure out what he'd missed. Mom and Dad are proud of us? They're not mad that we were at a secret government facility for hours on end? And without permission, too! He glanced at his sister for help, but Luna was looking at the ground, her arms tightly hugged around herself. He sighed. Well, no help coming that way.

  "We always knew you two were special, but this...? You've exceeded all our expectations!" Mrs. Peterson wiped a tear out of one eye and smiled at the twins. "We never anticipated that you would be nominated to receive the Students of the Month award. And to have the award tweaked so you could earn it together! My goodness! It's unbelievable!" She blinked a few more happy tears away and seemed unable to continue. And yet it's believable enough for you to believe it, Solomon thought, feeling a bit of shame for his parents' gullibility.

  "So? How'd it go?" Mr. Peterson looked at Solomon expectantly.

  "Um, it went great, I guess, but the other nominees turned out to be better students than us, so we didn't win, but the decision-making process took forever and that's why we're home wo late, and I think Luna’s feeling really down about losing the award, and I'm going to take her to her room so she can relax after a really long and exhausting day, okay? All right, sounds good! See you later!" Solomon nudged Luna upstairs and managed to get out of sight before his parents could question him. Luna went into her room, and Solomon followed, locking the door behind them. Solomon collapsed backward onto his sister's bed, oddly relaxed by the lavender-painted walls. Luna slouched in her spinning desk chair and buried her face in her hands.

  Solomon heard the remnants of a hushed conversation from downstairs, but then the voices faded away, and near-perfect silence fell upon the room. The silver wall clock ticked away the seconds. The potted plants swished their leaves in a draft from the open window. The house's heating system hummed. The window latch clicked as Solomon gently closed the window. The clock continued to tick.

  Luna peeked through her hands. "Are they gone?"

  Solomon stared at her, astounded by her quick recovery from the depths of sorrow. "Is who gone?"

  "The people in the SUV, of course. Can't risk them snooping around." Luna moved to look out the window, re-opening it as she did so. Solomon let out a huff of annoyance. "Okay, it looks like the coast is clear," Luna said. She sat in her chair again and flipped up the lid of her silver laptop, which was conveniently waiting on her desk. Out of respect, Solomon closed his eyes while she typed the password, even though he'd known the password for over three years. After ten seconds, he slowly opened one eye, then the other. His seat on Luna's bed afforded him a great view of her computer screen as she clicked on the file explorer. She clicked again, this time on something called a "USB Cache" in the bottom left corner.

  The Cache took a strangely long time to load in its files. The loading icon just kept on spinning and spinning. Solomon his eyes in boredom. Why does Luna have so many files in her cache, and why are they important enough to look at right now? Finally, the files loaded, filling the whole screen. He perked up in excitement, but it was only a bunch of folders with weird names. "S.A.M. Initiative," "Project Lepidoptera," as well as long words that he couldn't even begin to pronounce.

  Solomon paused for a moment. Wait, I've heard these names before! Derek mentioned S.A.M. and Project Lepidoptera right before we left! He leaned forward and gripped his sister by the shoulder. "Luna, what did you do?" he asked in a low, warning tone, his eyes glued to the list of folders.

  Luna spun around in her chair and gave him a sly smile. "Isn't it obvious? I've successfully stolen top-secret government intel."