Sorry, what?

“Well, not exactly NOW. But today, I found out something about the guy. Since my dad made me walk home, I had to pass his… lab.”

He has a lab?

“Yeah, it’s pretty big. Anyways, he saw me passing and recognized me. He told me to come in, and I thought, why not?”

Luke, who had been silent all this time, spoke up, interrupting her before she continued. “You went into his lab? He could’ve- he could’ve dissected your brain or something! Why would you do that?”

At first, I was amused, but then I realized the concern on Luke’s face was genuine panic. He was worried about Crystal. How pathetically sweet.

“Shut up,” they both said, turning around to glare at me.

Whoops. Forgot they could read my mind.

“Luke, I was scared. Trust me, I regretted it the moment I walked in,” Crystal said nervously.

“So what did he do?” Luke said with a scowl.

“Nothing, if you can believe it. But...when I walked into his personal area…” Surprisingly, she shuddered.

“Crystal! What did he do to you? Why have you been hiding it all this time?!” Luke exploded.

“Nothing! It’s just... the things in his lab…” She looked at Luke, and then at me. Taking a deep breath, she continued.

“He had all sorts of things. Creepy things. They were all alive. Mutated gerbils, dissected frogs, anatomized snakes… but here’s the thing. It wasn’t the kind of thing a madman would do. These were all neatly organized into containers and boxes, and there were showcases. And inside the showcases, there were all types of animals, but they weren’t...normal.

The snakes had legs. The frogs had wings. The gerbils were giant, and had these weird elephant trunks. I didn’t ask where that came from. I was too freaked out. But the animals were in perfect health. Cooperating with one another, jumping through obstacles. He was explaining about them in these fifteen foot long words that I didn’t know even existed.

So I figured...if anyone can figure out Specs, it’s him. What do you say?”