The twins were amazed, as the two big balls (they couldn't be called little ones, since they were the same size, as the twins) came out from the rock wall. Their hands were alone, but didn't cry at all. Conrad was the braver one, and went closer to them. The spheres hummed and rolled closer to the boy. As he caressed one of them, they started bouncing, and the other one rolled to Valerie. She patted the giant, and tried to sweep the remnants of the rock from that. The big one hold her hand and pulled into the water. It was cheerfully whirling in the water, cleaning itself. After finishing, the big sphere rolled to its back, and pulled Valerie to the top. It released the hand of the girl, and she slid into the water. Valerie was laughing, and the sphere repeated the fun. The other sphere joined to them, and after taking a few pictures, and sending them to Sister Electra, Conrad also joined to the fun. It was like playing with seals in the ocean. The strong chirping of the hand device ended their enjoyment.
"Catch them with your hand device, and don't let them out! NOW!" red Conrad the nun's message.
"It seems serious. Do you want to come with us?" asked Valerie, and since the big giants didn't protested, she pushed the catching button.
The two big sphere moved into their hand device in a blink of an eye.
"Just in time!"
"Who is the idiot who lets these two silly kids roaming alone?"
The twins turned back, and they saw two men, sitting in the sand, panting heavily. One of them was old, like K.O., the other one was young, about the age of Sister Electra. They both wore the same summer clothes, palm-patterned short-sleeved shirts and multi-pocket knee-length pants. There were sandals on their feet, without socks, so they looked like a bit flashy. But they didn't look likeable. Despite the older one seemed familiar to the twins. The children stared at the two adults with tilted eyes, and vice versa.
"Well, well! Who do my eyes see! You are the failure Bond twins, aren't you?" came a familiar voice from behind the men. When they looked up, they saw a girl in summer clothes, beautifully breaded long hair, but without glasses. Despite of the lack of glasses the twins immediately recognized her.
"Class rep..." they said with a resigning emphasis, to tell her, that this meeting was not an enjoyable one.
"And they even said that this island is quite large ..." grumbled Valerie.
"One unlucky day after the other..." joined Conrad.
"Be glad, that uncle Gus and grandpa have saved your life!" she replied in her usual manner. "You could show a little more gratitude. Although this is not your habit anyway!"
"Hey Evie!" warned her the younger man (probably uncle Gus). "Don't be rude! They saved themselves. We didn't do anything, but running here."
"So, give us the Francium atoms, and go home, idiots, before you die of stupidity!" The class rep picked up her hand device.
That device was a new, fashionable one, with a girly design. Valerie was secretly dreaming about such devices since she saw the advertisements on the screen of the central office, but now she thought their refurbished device is much more better, than the flashy ones. But one thing caught her attention on the device of the class rep. A small ornament, made of beads, with the letter E. Valerie turned pale and snatched their device from her brother's hand. She put into her pocket of her skirt, and she also pulled the zipper of the pocket hard. The class rep noticed her movements, and put away her own device.
"Don't worry! We are going!" said Valerie.
"Who would want to be with you and your family?" asked Conrad.
"One is plenty of you during school hours, not to mention three on vacation!" replied Valerie, and caught her brother's hand. She wanted to pull him toward their shoes and socks, but Conrad went with her willingly. He also didn't want to spend more time with the class rep and her family. So they tried to put on their socks and shoes quickly. But they weren't quick enough.
"Where are you going?" asked an old woman from them. She resembled to the class rep, and the kids hated her for the first sight too.
"It is not your business!" Conrad refused her.
"Maybe not mine, but his!" she pointed back to the old man.
The children shrugged at once.
"We don't know him." said Valerie.
"Mom! Who are these kids?" came there a younger woman, who looked exactly like class rep.
"Bernie's grandchildren!" she replied with a smile.
Later they all were sitting in the caravan of the Nobles. This car was a very big, shiny one, and was equipped everything, what could be imagine to be comfortable. It wasn't an easy process to bring people together to the table. The twins, Bernhard Noble, and class rep was also against the idea, but it was only the twins whose protest turned into action. The three similar women went willingly into the car, but Gus and Bernhard had to drag the twins in. The resistance was faithfully showed by the bandage on Bernhard's ankle, the adhesive patches on Gus' arm, and the red spots on the twins' faces. So they all remained silent in the end. Grandfather and grandchildren were staring at each other.
"I can't stand you!" they all blurted out at once.
"Hey, hey! Everyone calm down!" ask the oldest woman. " Let's eat something, since the lunchtime is over! And a satiated person is less willing to quarrel."
She put down a tray with full of muffins. The twins were amazed, and didn't dare to pick one.
"Have you seen this kind of energy?" asked the oldest woman, and the twins shook their head.
"I told you that they were stupid!" stated class rep with full mouth.
"Evie!" cried the woman, but Bernhard Noble cried back.
"Don't blame the kid, she is right! These are definitely stupid."
"Then why did you invite us to you?" asked Valerie.
"I didn't invite you!"
"But you were the one, who invited us, we saw the telegram!" cried Valerie.
"I didn't even send a telegram!" cried back her grandfather.
"So how are we here?" asked Conrad calmly.
No one answered, or said a good word for the twins, so Valerie and Conrad lost their appetites.
"Could you give us our suitcases?" asked Conrad his grandfather.
"No."
"Why?" asked Valerie. She was outraged, but she managed somehow not to show her emotions.
"Cause I don't know where they are." shrugged Bernhard.
"Come, let's go to the water!" told Conrad to his sister.
"Don't you want to know where are they?" asked the surprised Bernhard.
"Why? Like granddaughter, like grandfather." Valerie shrugged.
"What do you mean?!" stood up the old man from rage.
"That we got the most out of everything. Even from family." said Conrad, pushed his sister outside, and slammed the door behind him.
The twins spent the whole afternoon at and in the sea, alone. They were swimming a bit, and when they were tired of swimming just laid on the sand. They ate candies and chocolate bars, and repeated the cycle. Nobody disturbed them, but that shiny caravan stood still in place, although the twins had hoped they would be bored, and going away soon. Unfortunately their family was still staying there. In the evening the young woman invited them again into the caravan, and gave voice to the hope that the twins would neither kick her nor bite her.
Valerie and Conrad followed her. The inside of the caravan looked the same, as it was in midday. However, as it began to turn gray outside, the lights were turned on. The others were sitting at the table, and they asked the kids to take a seat.
"The family council discussed your situations. It seems your parents misunderstood something, and sent you here. We also aren't glad, that you are here." their grandfather started. "However, you could not be left alone, so you could stay with us until your parents come home."
The twins remained silent. They didn't want to stay with their family at all. They thought they had gone to harvest with K.O. or asked for a job in one of the churches instead of going to the sea. All work would have been better than being with their family.
"Let me introduce the family to you!" smiled the young man. "The old lady is my mother, Eve Noble, who is the mother of that young lady, Eve Date, and my little niece, Evie Date is known to you. None of the Eves are related to you, only me. Bernhard is my father, and I am August Noble, your uncle. Call me Gus."
"You are very nice, but we don't want to stay with you." replied Valerie in a friendly tone.
"You have no choice, and we have no choice. We are also not happy about this solution, but you would easily get into trouble alone." replied their grandfather.
"Because you are so stupid!" Evie added.
It was a mistake on her part because the twins' nerves had endured so far. They fell on their newly found relative. Even the uncle and the new aunt could barely separate the three children. When they succeeded, a big part of Evie's hair stuck between the twins' fingers. Bernhard grabbed their collars, and throw then them out of the caravan.
"You sleep outside tonight. Maybe you can figure out how to behave in other people's homes."
They sat down to the ground at one of the wheels, and they were listening the class rep's heartbreaking crying, and the adults' consoling. The air cooled down, as the sky turned to dark. The twins were used to sleep under roof, or at least K.O.'s caravan's seat, so the were cold. The door of the shiny caravan opened, and their newly found stepgrandmother came to them.
"Don't you want to say something?" she asked, and didn't smile at all. The kids didn't answered. "Here you go. Use it. It would only be a problem if you got a cold." She said, throwing a blanket at them.
It took a long time when their family fell asleep. The twins were wide awake despite the events of the day. There weren't complete silence, the warble of waves of the sea were heard everywhere. But this monotonous sound couldn't soothe the upsetted twins. They were wrapping in the blanket, and watching the sky.
"Do you want to stay with them?" asked Conrad quietly.
"No, not at all."
"So let's go!"
"We can't! We have to stay with them!"
"Why?"
Valerie didn't answer. She didn't know the answer at all. They hate each other. Why would they want her and her brother to stay with them? There was no answer. Maybe they were after her, and Conrad's money. Neither of them said a word about their income in the Noble Race, but they would be famous. Their family could have read about the prize.
"What could they do to us if we left?" asked Conrad. "They couldn't be angrier."
"You are right. Let's go! There's no meaning to stay."
"Okay, be careful!"
They piled up sand at the wheel of the car, and covered with the blanket. They begin to escape as quietly as they can. The god of luck was surely with them, they managed to reach the road, and a few minutes later their forms were covered by the forest. Walking in the dark was frightening. The little ones at the forest didn't sleep, and sometimes they scared the children. Their noises reminded Valerie and Conrad to the horror movies they had seen, and these memories didn't make the escape easier. When a noisy loud something approached them, the hugged each other, and screamed. They could help. But the noise was belonged to a four-wheeled vehicle, and a familiar shadow got off the seat.
"Valerie, Conrad! I finally found you! Are you all right?"
The shadow turned out to be Sister Electra. The kids ran to her and hugged her tightly.
"Help us!" cried Valerie.
"Please, get on the quad, turn back, and drive as far as we can!" begged Conrad.
"Hurry, please! Hurry!"
The nun realized the kids' fear, so she gave them helmets without saying a word, got on the quad, and as soon as the kids joined her on the seat, she turned back the vehicle, and stepped on the accelerator pedal. They soon reached the first camping site, but the kids refused to stay there. There wasn't even an empty tent, so they had to find another place. They found a free tent at the third camping site. It was high time, according to Sister Electra.
The kids were already trembling, when she had met them, but their trembling got stronger due to the cold wind. The tent had four beds, and the nun wrapped the twins in three blankets. Both Valerie and Conrad was still trembling after the color had returned to their faces, and couldn't speak. They just wanted to hide. It seemed something more serious to the nun.
"You should drink some tea, to warm up inside!" she told them cheerfully. "How?" she asked, as Valerie began to articulate a word, but wasn't successful.
"You could bring some things from the real word, when you are a CEO!" she winked at them. "Not a lot of things, but enough to feel some luxury."
She grabbed her device and called out three cups, cubed sugar and a box of filtered tea. She asked the kids, which ones were their favorites, she selected one for herself. She called out a big bottle, and stood up. The kids were frightened immediately.
"Don't worry, I am just getting warm water! Okay, not water, it will be just energy, but in the end it would feel like tea! I promise!"
When she returned, Valerie and Conrad were looking at her, like lost puppies to the owner, but they still didn't speak.
"I told you, I was bringing hot water!" The woman smiled at them, and poured the liquid-like thing into their cups.
It really looked like tea.
"Do you want sugar?" she asked the kids, and since neither of them could speak, she put two cubes into their drinks. "If you visit the VI. A line one day, you would learn how it works."
She helped them drink the tea, and the twins warmed up inside. They started to tell her about their family problems, but fell asleep in the middle of the incoherent speech.
"Hey! Good morning!"
A harsh, but familiar, cheerful voice woke the twins up. They were a bit frightened at first, but as they realized who the speaker was, they began to smile.
"Aunt Ille!" they greeted the old lady.
"How do my favorite twins feel themselves?" She asked, and hugged the children.
They felt groggy, sleepy, and there was some strange taste in their mouth. They were not feeling well, but they definitely felt better, than with their family.
"Hello! Good morning!" Sister Electra came into the tent.. "I have a surprise to you!"
She took her hand device out and called two suitcases.
"Our luggage!" the kids cried.
"How could you get them?" asked Valerie.
"I have had a serious talk with your family, and in the end your uncle gave them to me. He was the one, who sent the telegram, and the train tickets to you."
"I hate him." Conrad said grimly.
"Well, they also don't love you, but they will cover your expenses, while you are here and send you train tickets back to home."
The kids were tying to jump out of the bed, to and hug her, but they simply fell out from the small height. The world was whirling around them, and when the nun helped the back to the bed, they both hugged her. They were moved, but still couldn't voice their gratitude. After eating breakfast, the kids were over with the grogginess, and wanted to change, so the adult left them alone.
"What did you give them yesterday?" asked aunt Ille. " They were as ditsy as the drunks."
"They got lithium bromide. They were so shocked, that I had to give them some soft tranquilizer."
The kids came out, and wore jeans, t-shirt and big smile.
"It feels really good wearing normal clothes!" Valerie smiled at the nun, and hugged her again.
"Okay! Let's go and bring back the Franciums to their place in the nature!" cried aunt Ille and lifted her fist up to the air.
"Don't worry, your family has already left that beach!" said Sister Electra with a smile.
They traveled back to the abandoned beach on the quad. It was a big vehicle, it proved almost small for the four of them.
"Don't call out them!" asked aunt Ille the twins.
"Why? They are so friendly!" asked back Valerie.
"They are sure friendly, but they live for a short period of time."
"Do they die?" Valerie's eyes filled with tears. Conrad also looked at aunt Ille with sad face. They both really liked the Francium atoms.
"Yes." stated Sister Electra without sugarcoating.
"But when they die, they will give life of other atoms."
The kids looked puzzled.
"You will see. How many minutes were you play with them?"
"A half of an hour..." said hesitantly Conrad.
"We don't exactly know..." said Valerie.
"The thirty minutes could be roughly right." said Sister Electra.
"So we have roughly fourteen more minutes. They only live for 44 minutes, and they will be emitting harmful radiation, and the little ones, that being born will also be wild. We have to hide under a special cover to watch the process, but not being hurt."
Aunt Ille erected a bubble-like thing at the rock wall, and told to the twins to release the Franciums. The atoms were popping out from their device, and cheerfully greeted the children. They all went back to play in the sea. Sister Electra were watching them with a smile, while aunt Ille recorded the behavior of the Franciums with the children. When the surface of the Franciums began to wave, she called the twins under the shield.
They were observing as the Franciums were trembling, shrinking to a much more smaller size, and growing a second hand. The hand device of aunt Ille wrote the names of the new atoms. They were called Radiums. The new atoms began bouncing, and they soon vanished in the forest.