Theo hears a pen click and the creak of a chair before Jolly replies, “Of course, I always have time for you Theo.”
I get the distinct impression he just winked at me through the phone...I’m just going to leave that alone for now.
“I appreciate it. First thing’s first, how long have we been out for?”
“A few hours, you and Kat went down around nine last night, it’s 2 a.m. now,” Jolly clicks his pen again and starts scratching something out.
Theo sighs, “Well, at least we didn’t miss any classes, we don’t want to stand out any more than we already do. Second question, though it’s more of a request, is that okay?”
“I need to speak to you in person about your recent Water Awakening as well as my Fire Awakening a month ago. When works best for you?” Theo feels the ruby pendant warm up for a second, but when he touches it with his hand it’s cold. Theo dismisses it, he has more important things to worry about than his jewelry.
Jolly laughs. “A Class 2 Cape who doesn’t hesitate to call the head of the RSC FSA into a meeting, some would say that was career suicide...I’ll be there.” His laughter fades from a guffaw to a chuckle. “I know we’re more than that. I’ll be down in five minutes or so, I have to fill out the incident report about how a Cape teleported straight into the Ops Center, which is supposed to protect against that sort of thing. Also, I have to call in a Ritualist Cape and have them rebuild the wards said Cape crashed through.”
Now it’s Theo’s turn to laugh. “Sounds good, see you in a few minutes. Hopefully I can figure out how to leave her on the bed when I get up.”
___
A few minutes later Jolly goes up to his room and finds Theo seated on his couch, dressed in a robe. Kat’s head is draped across his thigh like it was a pillow, her form curled up in a ball beside him. She is also wearing a robe, just like Theo’s.
“Couldn’t get out, even with super speed?” Jolly asks. “Also, are those my robes?”
Theo sighs. “Oh no, I got out. After I sat down to wait for you, she appeared and snuggled in. Not much I can do. Also, yes, these are your robes. It was the most clothing I could cover Kat up with and not wake her up. I just like it.” He strokes her hair, grinning a bit.
Jolly walks over to his fridge, grabs three cold water bottles, and meanders over to his chair. He smiles. “Can’t argue with that logic, plus who would hate that situation?” Jolly sits down and sets two of the bottles of water onto coasters on the coffee table.
Theo waits for Jolly to settle in before he starts to speak. “So, how did your third Awakening go?”
“It was a rush, I also got almost three months with Ripple, my Water mentor. That’s so much longer than I’m used to, thanks for that. She was mostly focused on my use of liquid water as a conduit for delivering larger lightning strikes, well that and how to create shields. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I would have been better served by using a shield instead of my swords or cannon, but she was adamant that I learn how to use them to cover myself and allies.”
Theo nods. “Excellent, I believe that Kat may need a bit of your guidance on those matters, I don’t believe she will be receiving an Awakening Quest due to a few complications, so do what you can for her please.”
Jolly cracks his knuckles. “Sorry, I’ve been writing reports since you guys fell into our laps and my hand is a bit cramped. However, there was something interesting in there that I did see. Brigid’s report says that your skill level has jumped up years overnight, how curious.”
“Cut the shit Jolly, ask your question,” Theo snaps.
“How long was your last Awakening Quest Theo?” Jolly’s grin is gone, leaving the shark-like visage he shows on the battlefield.
Theo stares Jolly in the eyes, his own eyes glowing red a bit. “Three years and change, It would have been much longer, but Kat came along for the ride.”
Jolly slumps back in his chair. “Shit, I thought you might say a year or something, but you dragged Kat in with you and still got three years? You’re something else Jinlong.”
“Cinder was as surprised as you were, she almost killed Kat on the first day I was in there.”
“I take it that Cinder was your Fire Mentor?”
“Correct, we grew close.” Theo’s glowing eyes soften a bit.
“Cinder must really be something else if you like her this much.” Jolly attempts to bring some levity back into the conversation.
Theo’s eyes dim. “She is, I miss her every day, so does Kat. Years of time together in close quarters, will bring together even people who have nothing in common. We found out that she had a quirky side, so we spent a lot of time pranking each other. I’ll never forget when she removed all of the padding from our couch, Kat tried to sit down on it and wound up sitting in a hammock made of couch seats. Her legs ended up by her head!”
“She sounds like more of a friend than a mentor.” Jolly holds up his hands when Theo growls at him. “I’m not saying that a mentor can’t be a friend, just that you haven’t mentioned how much you learned from her. You’re only talking about how much you miss her.”
“She taught me about my powers, but I mostly had a handle on those a month in. Most of what she showed me was about how to deal with difficult situations. She showed me memory after memory of Cape and Cowl battles, winning and losing, especially losing ones. She made me experience the loss of comrades over and over again. I can’t even tell you how many times I spent the night training, just to drown out the pain.” Theo’s face falls into a sad smile.
Jolly sits back in his seat. “That sounds like a lot. I guess you would benefit more from that than years of how to blast someone. The only person you’ve personally lost was Brandon correct?”
“Yeah, Mom cried for weeks after that, so did everyone in the Orphanage,” Theo replies, though his mind is a million miles away.
I’m going to take Necro down for what he did to my family. Mom deserved to keep her husband and I deserved a Dad to go with my Mom.
“Mom now? Iris has to be ecstatic! She was insufferable in meetings when talking about you, I hope you know about that. Always going on about how smart you were, how you were going to change the world with your designs and code.” Jolly opens his bottle of water and drinks the whole thing in a second or so.
“Yeah, she was pretty happy the first time I called her Mom. I didn’t know she talked about me at work, I’m a little bit embarrassed now.” Theo blushes a bit. He runs his hands through Kat’s hair to settle down. “By the way, how did you do that with the bottle? It didn’t even crinkle.”
“Oh, that? I did this with a bit of the water inside.” Jolly holds up the bottle and shows a hole around the size of a quarter in the side of the bottle. “Water can be destructive, if you know how to use it.”
“Makes sense.” Theo nods and drinks a bit of his water like a normal person, crinkling the bottle as he finishes it in one go.
They sit and talk for a couple of hours about their Awakening experiences, Jolly’s focusing more on power control, and Theo’s focusing more on understanding who he is and what is needed of him.
“It’s getting late, or should I say early? Do you need or want a lift home? I can drive you if you want,” Jolly stands up and takes his and Theo’s bottles and recycles them.
“I think I’ll take you up on that. If she could shift into her scaled form it would be okay if I ran, but like this she’ll be too exposed, both physically and publicly.” Theo looks down at Kat and sighs. “I’m going to have to figure out how to do this without waking her up.”
Jolly laughs, a bit louder than Theo would have liked. “Sounds like a ‘you’ problem. I’ll get the car ready, take the left elevator down to B2.”
With that, Jolly sweeps out of his apartment like a breeze.
“How am I going to do this?”
Chapter 54: Mr. Reliable
“Thanks for giving us a lift, I can handle it from here.” Theo nods toward Jolly in his black
Allano Alpha, a sports sedan. He adjusts his grip on Kat, trying to make it so that he can open the door and hold her steady at the same time. Theo and Kat are still in their stolen and borrowed, respectively, robes.
Jolly waves as he speeds away, the electric motors accelerating him out of sight in moments.
Damnit, I’m going to need to get an assist on this, aren’t I?
“JEN, what time is it?” Theo asks quietly as he hustles up the stairs to the door of RSCA.
“It is 5 a.m.,” JEN curtly replies.
“JEN, call Dante.”
“Calling Dante.”
After a few moments, a groggy Dante answers the phone.
“Theo, it’s five in the morning, why are you calling me?” Dante’s voice grows more intense as he realizes something could be wrong. “Nevermind, what do you need?”
This is why I call Dante, he always answers and is usually willing to help.
Theo tucks up against the door to get Kat out of the wind, “I need you...to open the front door of the school and let me in.”
With a scoff, Dante hangs up the phone.
Well, that didn’t go so well.
“JEN, call Dante.”
“Calling Dante.”
Dante answers immediately, “Just fly your happy ass to the roof, it’s not like you can’t hide who you are.”
Theo sighs. “If it was just me, I would, trust me. However, I’m standing in a robe, holding Kat, who’s also in a robe, at the front door of the school. She’s passed out and I don’t have a way to hide her identity.”
“How the fuck did that happen!?” Dante yells.
Theo starts answering before Dante cuts him off. “You know what, I don’t want to know. I’ll be down in a few.”
“Thanks Dante, you’re a real friend.” Theo’s tone is soft. “Sorry about earlier this year, I hope we can go back to normal.”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll see you in a sec,” Dante snorts and ends the call.
If it was just me, he would have left me. I’m going to have to work on building our friendship up again. I thought we were good, but I guess we're not.
Theo tucks behind the statue of Gentle-Man and waits for Dante to open the door. He doesn't have to wait long, Dante arrives less than two minutes after he hung up the phone.
“Explain later, get her inside now,” Dante says as he holds the door open.
Theo ducks under Dante’s arm. “Thanks,” he says and then shoots off at super speed, sheltering Kat’s body against his own as he speeds up the stairs.
“Dork,” Dante laughs. “I might as well go and work out at this point.”
Dante shakes his head, walks back to the elevator, and heads back to his dorm room.
___
I can’t believe that Theo had the gall to call me to help him with Kat in that state of undress. How reckless is he?
Dante gets off the elevator and pads down the hallway as quietly as possible.
I still can’t believe they police the Juniors and Seniors as strictly as they do the rest of the school. We’re almost adults, we should get some benefit of the doubt. I guess Theo and Kat do kind of make all the precautions make sense though.
A small thumping sound from behind Dante makes him jump.
Damnit! That stupid security hare knows someone’s out of their room. I need to get back before it sees me. I still can’t believe I used to worry about the automated vacuum bots, their pattern is so easy to avoid. Plus their cameras’ night vision is awful. That hare, though. Claw tech designed it to act as a guardian for young Capes, it has top of the line everything.
Dante slides into his room with a sigh, “Theo owes me big for this.” He walks over to his Claw Technologies Super Trainer and gets to work.
“I guess it’s leg day. Man, I hate leg day.”
Chapter 55: RAINBOW is in the Forecast
The rest of the August goes by without anything major occurring. Theo, Kat, and Dante attend their classes and training as usual, though Kat has separate training from the pair of boys. Kat spends most of her free time away from the boys during this time as well.
“Kat, we have Monday off right?” Theo asks as he and Kat ride home on Friday afternoon.
Kat shakes her head, “What? Sorry, I was daydreaming. Yeah we do.”
“No worries, though you’ve been doing that a lot lately. Are your training sessions too intense? I can talk to Brigid if you need me to, I’m not scared of her,” Theo looks over his shoulder and sees Kat’s enraged face.
“I don’t need you to protect me, you know. I can handle myself!” Kat spits. “Frankly, I’m surprised it took you this long to ask about how I was. Brigid won the over-under by a country mile, I had you asking within a week, it’s been almost three, so much for that link we share.”
Theo and Kat cruise up to RAINBOW, both of them grab their vehicles and stow them as they enter the front door. Theo folds his bike and sets it to charge on a high shelf, though, at this point, he doesn’t really need the assistance of the electric motor. Kat hangs her longboard up on the hook Theo installed for it, for Kat's 12th birthday.
With a huff, Kat storms upstairs without letting Theo respond. The smell of cinnamon rolls cooking fills his nose as his gaze follows her retreating form.
What’s with her? I just asked a simple question. Should I call Brigid and ask?
Nah, I’ll ask her one more time, if she doesn’t respond I’ll look elsewhere for answers.
Theo's ruby necklace grows warm for a second before going back to normal, Theo doesn't seem to notice.
Theo goes to his room and finds that while his bed looks just as he left it, his game controllers have all been moved, and there are soda cans littering his floor.
Theo sighs and then raises his voice. “Wow, this room is a mess. I’m going to grab a snack and chat with Mom. I hope it’s clean when I get back. If not, no promises!”
Theo tosses his bag up on a hook and ditches his school uniform in favor of cargo shorts and a graphic tee with a Chinese dragon on it. A wide grin fills his face.
Hiding in plain sight.
Theo keeps his holo-PC rings on. It turns out that if you move at inhuman speed while typing, most people don’t question it, they just think you’re way better than they could ever be at coding or something similar.
Theo walks out of his room while humming an old tune about cleaning up and everyone doing their share, all with a stoic face. He flashes out his holo-PC and starts his fingers flicking at super-speed, filling the black screen with white text faster than should be possible. As he turns the corner to go toward the kitchen he hears three doors open and slam shut, along with four pairs of feet running, then another door opening and closing. His serious face cracks into a smile.
Good, my room should be clean in a half hour or so, though I’m inclined to leave it to them at this point, I never hang out in there anymore.
The smell of fresh cinnamon rolls fills Theo’s nostrils even stronger now. He walks into the kitchen past the still hot double ovens and finds Iris coating four trays of pastries with icing.
“Hey, Mom,” Theo says before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Want some help with that?” he says as he banishes his holo-PC and picks up the second pastry bag of icing.
“Teddy! I didn’t hear you coming in, how have you been?” Iris motions for Theo to stoop down a bit and he obliges her request, which nets him a kiss on the cheek in return. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d appreciate it.”
“I’m good, Mom, school is the same as ever. Of course, I’ll help you with this, any time,” Theo replies before smoothly applying icing on the remaining three trays at super speed. He watches as the icing flows down the fresh pastries all at the same time. As he watches the fruits of his labor, Iris finishes up her last roll.
“Wow, that has got to be satisfying. I can only fly fast, never got the land speed thing down, I kept crashing into stuff. Is your training going okay? Nothing too dangerous, but feeling challenged?” Iris’
tone implies that she’s heard at least a bit from someone with inside knowledge.
The corners of Theo’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at his mom, though his danger sense goes off a bit. “Who’s your source? Who narc’d on me?”
Iris doesn’t even bat an eye. “Jolly and I have been having lunch together once a month for almost 20 years, he can’t keep something as big as that from me. Though it took until lunch today for me to wheedle it out of him, so he lasted longer than usual.”
“Mom, school’s only been in session a month; he cracked immediately. I’m inclined to say you may have cheated a bit on this one.”
“I may have used means unavailable to other parents to get information, but how is that different from a rich parent using money to get information?” Iris bats her eyes a bit. “Plus, I just had to know about how my darlings were doing. On that note, where’s Kat? You two were closer than ever last time you were here.”
“Fair enough, though it does strike me as cheating still, I can respect your reasoning.” Theo sigh., “Kat’s been off for about a week, she’s been avoiding me outside of class. She won’t even train with me anymore, I’m starting to worry.”
“It’s not polite to talk about someone behind their back you know,” Kat says from behind Theo and Iris.
“Theo, we need to talk.”
The blood drains from Theo’s face and his back starts sweating. “When and where?”
What happened? I knew she was mad about something, but I thought we were okay. I hope we are at least.
Iris steps between Theo and Kat. “Whoa there, both of you, into my office. NOW.” The last word wasn’t shouted, but there was something in it that made Theo and Kat comply immediately.
Theo reaches for Kat’s hand reflexively as he walks toward Iris’ office, but she pulls her hand in like she was slapped. Kat walks faster, though she doesn’t run. She turns her head to avoid seeing the look of hurt on his face. Iris steams along behind them, obviously aggravated.
After the three of them get into the room Iris seals the door with a whooshing noise.
Riverside City Chronicles | Book 1 | Riverside City [Capes & Cowls] Page 28
