Monday Madness S1 P9

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"So first off," I said after the shock of what this random kid had said had worn off a little. "First off, I don't have any biological brothers. And second off, my name isn't Li." 

The kid shrugged, in the meantime, pulling off his hoodie. "Whew, it gets hot in there," he said. Then he turned back to me and grinned. "Sorry, if ya prefer Keilah, I can go with that. But if I accidentally call ya Li then it's just habit. As for comment number one, you do have a brother and he's standing right in front of you. Actually you've got a few more, but I happen to be the one who got to rescue ya."

"Okay, hold on. Can you either wake me up from this nightmarish dream or explain to me what is happening?" I said, irritated.

"Sure. But can we do it while we walk?" 

"If you tell me where we are walking to," I said, crossing my arms. 

"We are walking to a rendezvous point. I was a little early, which is why we took cover in this little cellar for awhile," he said. I turned back to him, intending to continue scowling at him, but was shocked instead. In a matter of a few seconds, he had entirely changed his attire. He now looked like a thorough nerd. I wondered if this was his normal look. He was wearing a black t-shirt that said, "I'm Tall for a Halfling", jeans, and glasses. He gave me a lopsided grin. "Okay, throw this on," he said, tossing me his hoodie. 

"It's sweaty," I said, thoroughly grossed out. 

"I took a shower yesterday. Plus, you'll need it. It's gonna rain." 

A crack of thunder shook the cellar, so I obliged begrudgingly. "What about you?" I said, after I had it on. 

"Don't worry about me. I like getting wet."

"And who says I don't?" 

"It is actually more of a disguise. So put the hood up, kiddo." 

I rolled my eyes and did so. 

We started off, and he said, "Okay, so fire away with your questions." We walked at a leisurely pace, as if we didn't need to really be anywhere, which probably took suspicion off of us, if the black hoodie I had on didn't.

"What's your name?" I asked. It was not the most pressing question, but it was the first one I could think of.

"Eli Tan. I'm eighteen last Tuesday, my favorite color is red, I like drawing, and came to the United States when Meng, your oldest brother, was old enough to take legal guardianship of us, three years ago. Next?"

"Why did I never know about you?"

"You didn't know about us.... Well, adopting a little, cute-as-a-button girl is much more popular an idea than adopting said little, cute-as-a-button girl with her four older, rowdy brothers, who'd already been in some...trouble. Therefore they listed you in the adoption agency without any ties to us." Eli's face had darkened at this. I bit my lip. He continued, "We only agreed because we needed you out of country."

"But why?"

Eli turned and looked me up and down. "Because they would have killed you if they found you." 

"But why? There's nothing special about me!" 

"You seriously don't know?" Eli looked shocked. "Gosh, we are going to have to go back to square one with all of your training! Otherwise we'll never get that password!" 

"What password?"

"To Dad's computer."