Page 9 of A Secret Message

"Does the Book of Psalms count?"

The younger girl laughed. "You're a really sweet person, Vix, but I just don't see you enjoying poems."

"What about Aesop's—-"

Juno cut her off, asking, "Can we just talk about that?"

"But—-"

"What is it, really?" Juno insisted on asking.

Vixen gave up trying to convince the younger girl of her refined tastes in literature and reached for her notebook. "It's a set of clues, basically."

"For what?"

"A...missing person case?" That was not quite a lie, right?

"I get it..." Juno's tone was thoughtful. "You know I'm a comic geek, right?" She then pointed to the first line and read it out loud."It's wrong, lads."

Vixen looked at the younger girl blankly. "And?"

"If 'wrong' means X, then maybe 'lads'—-"

"—-could mean 'men'," Vixen exclaimed in surprise.

Juno grinned. "It's possible, right?"

Vixen was in disbelief.X-Men?These clues were based on theX-Men?She sent a text to Gabriel's friend and asked if he knew about Pedro Martinez being a fan of superhero comics, that sort of thing.

No. Why?

Vixen gnawed on her lip.Hmm.She texted Claire next, but this time asked the same question about her friend's aunt.

She was, actually. Her favorites were Justice League and the X-Men. Why do you ask?

"I knew it! I was right, wasn't I? It's all about the X-Men!"

Juno's words made Vixen realize the girl had been reading her messages over her shoulder the entire time."Juno..."

But the girl pretended not to hear this as well and grabbed Vixen's notebook instead. "Let's see...Anna Marie..."

Vixen wrinkled her nose. "The onlyAnnaI know is by Tolstoy..."

"You're hopeless, Vix."

"At least I'm trying—-"

"It'sRogue," Juno interrupted her in a confident tone. "Her real name is Anna Marie, and let's see..."

Vixen was already busy looking up 'Rogue' on the Internet, and as for where Rogue first learned about herself, which Vixen could only interpret as the place where the character discovered her mutant powers—-

"Mississippi!"

Vixen and Juno laughed when they both ended up blurting the answer out at the same time.

"What's the next line?" the younger girl asked excitedly.

"It's about a park in which the crooning one is on a black pedestal..." Vixen paused. Most people only thought of Graceland when it came to Elvis Presley, but the legendary crooner was actually born in Mississippi.