Betty Ross Junior was not the nicest of teenagers at the best of times. When she was agitated and liable to smash down a wall at the drop of a hat, she was much more of a handfull. In this particular instance, however, she was accompanied by her younger half-sister, who was far more patient and, as much as Betty hated to say it, far more clever.

"Look, see, we found it," Betty said with a huff. She was red in the face, but she was red pretty much everywhere. "We found stupid Dr. Flame's house, just like we're supposed to. Go say hi to your stupid dad, and now I'm going to go find mine, okay?"

While they were only on the porch, Betty's voice had a tendency to carry...