Chapter 3

"Vanessa?".

I opened my tired eyes and looked up to see my cousin Rachel standing at the doorway of the guest room.

"Your Dad is here to pick you up".

"Thanks for letting me know, I'll be out there in a couple of minutes" I replied, before I slowly got off my air mattress bed and put the last couple of my things into my duffle bag.

It's one pm in the afternoon and I'm drained from getting home late from last night, tired enough to fall asleep while packing. I slung my duffle bag strap over my shoulder, grabbed my pillow and headed towards the front door, where my foster dad was waiting patiently.

"Thank you for watching her while I had to go out for a couple of days," said Joe, handing my cousin two twenty dollar bills.

"You're very welcome. I had fun hanging out with her".

Then he turned to me with a smile.

"Ready to go, kiddo?".

"Yeah".

After saying goodbye to Rachel, me and my foster dad walked out the door and got into his grey Ford truck, with me getting into the front passenger seat after I put my luggage in the back seat. Joe hopped into the driver seat and started the vehicle.

"Well, did you have a good time with your cousin Rachel?" he asked, as he pulled out of the driveway and onto Busy Street.

"Yeah, I did,".

"Even last night?".

"How did you find out about last night?" I asked, as I turned my head in his direction, with eyes as big as baseballs.

"Rachel told me while you were finishing packing up your duffle bag, and I heard it on the news".

"On the news?!?! The party was on the news?!".

My foster dad slowed the truck down to a complete stop, a few meters from a red stop light and flicked on his right blinker light.

"Oh yeah. From what I heard, a rich teenage girl hosted a party at her house last night and unexpectedly a large muscular female infected with rabies 2.0 showed up and crashed the party" explained my foster dad, before the green light flashed and he turned the vehicle onto Theater Road.

"Then on social media, I saw some clips of that mystery hero girl saving four teenagers, and she had black octopus tentacles coming out of where her arms and legs should've been, as well as some emerging out of her sides".

I turned my gaze to the packed road in front of us.

"Crazy stuff, isn't it?".

Joe nodded his head in agreement.

"Indeed it is. However I've heard that the authorities are starting to think that she could be a threat to Manhattan".

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"But she saved people from threats, and doesn't the government have bigger problems to worry about?".

"That's true. But at the same time, she can shapeshift. If she wanted to wipe out Manhattan, she could turn into a dragon and burn it down or turn into a blue whale and crush us all at once".

"But Dad, if she wanted to wipe out all of Manhattan, wouldn't she have done it already?" I replied, making a fair point.

My foster dad turned on his left blinker and made a left turn onto Mystery Street, where our small house is.

"Good point. I guess the government is afraid that the MARVEL movies might become a reality". Joe parked the truck on our side of the street and turned to look at me.

"Anyways, Vanessa can you go pack 10 more outfits? I didn't tell you this, but I bought a trailer for us at a camp to stay in for a few weeks".

"Why are we going to a camp?" I asked curiously. My foster dad sighed.

"I'll tell you more when you get back".

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I got out of the truck and walked into my house, going straight to my bedroom to pack another full bag of clothes.

Meanwhile my foster dad was sitting in the driver's seat, waiting patiently for me.

I have to tell her the truth about what I've been doing before she came into my care...and maybe why her foster mother left the house in the first place.

But will she react to the news like Sherry? Joe took a few deep breaths in and let each one out slowly.

Oh, please no.

I can't afford to lose my foster daughter too.

After a few more moments of silence went by, Vanessa opened the front passenger door and hopped into her seat again.

"I put my other bag of clothes in the back" I said, as I clicked my seatbelt into its buckle.

Then I looked at my foster dad and I could instantly tell he was nervous about telling me whatever he was going to share with me.

He turned his head to look at me with his soft blue eyes and swallowed hard.

"I've got to tell you a secret that you absolutely cannot share with any of your friends; even your closest ones".

"Is this big secret just between us?" I asked, thinking that this could be a family secret.

"Kind of. It's between us and my colleges".

"So, you know that I'm a free Methodist pastor, right?".

I nodded my head.

"Yeah".

"Well before you came into my care, I got a second job in another company called the SRC, where I have brung back special items from people who aren't supposed to have".

"So you're like a spy that recovers lost artifacts?".

"Yes, I was. My position has recently changed due to my ageing. Now I do the research on the items that come in".

"The SRC center is at the camp that we'll be visiting for the summer; It's a big trailer park and I've heard it's a fun camp," concluded Joe, before starting up the truck again.

He pulled out onto the road and started driving out of Manhattan.

"Did Mom know about your second job?" I asked, after a long pause.

"Yeah, I told her about it and...she was okay with it" lied Joe, as he kept his focus on the road ahead of him.

Settling into my seat, I slipped off my shoes, tucked up my legs and rested my head on the right top corner of the front passenger seat, just underneath the headrest. From there, I gently closed my eyes and drifted away to a peaceful rest.