by Alesha Dixon
Ever since mine and Mum’s superpowers had become public knowledge, Mr and Mrs Crow had enjoyed giving exclusive interviews to gossip magazines about the trials of living next door to some superheroes. According to these interviews, Mrs Crow believed we were descended from aliens.
“Playing with your dog, eh?” Mrs Crow sniffed, peering over the fence to eye up Kimmy.
“Yep,” I replied, cheerily. “Watch this.”
I closed my eyes and focused on my superpowers. My hands began to tingle and grow warm before they were bathed in a gentle glow and sparks flew from my fingertips. Suddenly, glittering beams of light shot from my palms horizontally and Kimmy barked with joy. She pounced into the air, snapping her jaws at the light and barking until I did it again and again. I laughed, shooting them in all directions across our garden and Kimmy happily snapped away at thin air.
I stopped the display and, ignoring Kimmy’s whines to keep going, I turned back to Mrs Crow.
“Cool, right?”
She was watching me with a disturbed expression on her face. There was a moment’s silence before she spoke.
“You’re a very … strange girl, aren’t you?” she said very slowly.
“Um, I guess I’m a little different.” I smiled, tracing the swirled scar on my palm. “But maybe you’ve just seen me in a bad light.” I laughed at my joke. “Get it? Bad light?”
I wiggled my fingers so that sparks shot from the ends. Mr and Mrs Crow did not laugh. I quickly stopped laughing and put my hands behind my back. Kimmy exhaled loudly and lay down with her head on her paws.
It’s a real low point when even your dog is embarrassed by your attempts at comedy.
“Never mind,” I said hurriedly. “Sorry again for the bird house. I promise I’ll be more careful.”
“I should say so,” Mr Crow said sternly, his hands on his hips. “Otherwise I’ll be making a phone call to the local council.”
My phone beeped loudly, and I fumbled for it in my pocket. Mr and Mrs Crow didn’t take their eyes off me as I read the message.
Time for a conference call? Got JJ ready and waiting. C xxx
“Ah, I’d love to stay and chat but I’ve just got to go and ring my friends. Nice to see you, Mr and Mrs Crow!” I said chirpily, waving goodbye to them and then tripping over my feet to get back into the house.
I ran upstairs to my bedroom and got my laptop out, quickly opening the call app and then waiting for it to dial. Cherry’s face popped up on to my screen.
“Hi!” I said, waving at the camera. “I love your hair!”
“Thanks,” she laughed, combing her fingers through her newly dyed purple tips. “I took inspiration from Nanny Beam. Hang on, let me get JJ up.”
I waited as she typed at her keyboard and suddenly the screen split, and JJ’s face loomed into view.
“Hey, team,” he said into his camera, leaning back in his chair. “What’s been happening?”
I met Cherry and JJ during the summer at the Superhero Conference and even though we’d only spent a few days with each other there, we’d become close friends and they extended their stay in England so they could come to Nanny Beam’s with my family and the Bright Sparks at the end of the holidays. Cherry was from Malaysia and JJ was from Nigeria. I felt sad they lived so far away but we made sure to video call each other at least once a week.
Before the summer, I’d never encountered another superhero, except for my mum. There were quite a few scattered across the world and it was amazing to meet everyone at the Superhero Conference and witness their cool powers. JJ, Cherry and I had been the only children at the conference, and they had helped me to escape when I’d been falsely accused of stealing the Light of the World and locked in a room.
Stuff like that makes you friends for life.
“What time is it where you two are?” I asked. “It’s four p.m. here in England.”
“It’s eleven p.m. here,” Cherry said, before yawning widely. “I’ve been up reading, hoping I’d catch you after you’d got home from school.”
“Thanks, Cherry,” I said. “Next time, I’ll make sure it’s normal time for you! What about you, JJ?”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Aurora?” JJ said, raising his eyebrows. “Nigeria and London have no time difference. It’s four o’clock here as well.”
“Oh yeah! I keep forgetting. It’s just weird that you’re so far away but we’re in the same time zone. How have you been? How’s the football going?” I asked, knowing that JJ was still desperate to join the Nigerian football team, even though he was only fourteen years old.
“To be honest, I’ve been concentrating more on karate recently,” he admitted. “Nanny Beam was the best teacher and I’ve been trying to remember everything she taught me in Cornwall.”
“Nice.” Cherry nodded approvingly. “Have you been getting better?”
“Are you kidding? I’m basically a pro,” JJ announced, causing me to burst into giggles as Cherry dramatically rolled her eyes at the screen.
JJ wasn’t exactly modest when it came to his abilities.
“The only thing is, I’m not allowed to practise anywhere but outside now,” JJ continued. “I was trying out my high kick the other day and I accidentally kicked the wall and knocked the entire thing down. Luckily, it wasn’t a wall that was holding up the house or anything, and Mum is now saying she kind of prefers the open space look. And,” he added with a grin, “she said it was one less wall to walk through.”
Cherry and I laughed. JJ’s superpowers were super speed and super strength, like his dad, so it made sense that he’d be able to take down a wall with one kick. His mum was also a superhero with the ability to walk through walls.
“How’s everything with you, Cherry? Any premonitions?” JJ asked.
Cherry shook her head. “No, none recently. I’ve been practising my sun-gazing, like Nanny Beam taught me, and I definitely feel calmer, but it hasn’t brought on any premonitions.”
She sighed, fiddling with the headphones that were always around her neck. Cherry had supersonic hearing and the headphones were specially designed just for her and her powers so that she could put them on and then drown out any other sound except the one in the distance that she wanted to hear. It was incredible to see her in action. If she tried, she could hear something as quiet as a candle burning in a house a few doors down.
She also had premonitions. She couldn’t control when she’d have them, and she didn’t always know what they were about, but she could feel that something big was about to happen. Usually something bad. The night before the Light of the World vanished, she had a dark premonition, but no one would listen.
“How’s everything with you, Aurora?” she asked.
I hesitated. “Not great, actually.”
“What’s wrong?” JJ asked, leaning closer to the screen.
“I can’t concentrate on anything at the moment,” I complained. “Everyone around me seems to be capable of just getting on with normal everyday life, even though the Light of the World is missing, but I can’t focus on anything else. It’s too important.”
They both nodded in agreement.
“That’s understandable. I mean, the Light of the World could be in the hands of the most dangerous person in the world, for all we know,” JJ said. “If they destroyed it or something, who knows what could happen to you? Do you think your powers would just … explode or something?” His eyes widened. “That would be so cool.”
“Thanks very much for that super helpful input, JJ,” Cherry frowned. “And anyway, whoever has it clearly doesn’t want to destroy it or they would have done that already. Chances are they have other plans for it, whatever those are.”
“It’s so frustrating sitting here and being expected to do maths and history homework when Mr Mercury is out there somewhere. He’s the key to finding the Light of the World, I’m sure of it.”
“Yeah, but Nanny Beam and the British Secret Service are on the case, right?” JJ rea
soned. “He’s got no chance up against them.”
“Everyone is involved except me.” I leaned back in my chair and sighed. “Even Alexis is allowed to help.”
“Alexis?”
“Yeah. You remember I told you he was interning at Vermore Enterprises?”
“Oh, yes!” JJ snorted. “How many times a day does he hear that stupid tagline?”
“Is he enjoying it?” Cherry asked, ignoring JJ.
I nodded. “He’s working on a top-secret project for Darek and it’s taking up all of his time. Since he started interning there, we’ve hardly seen him. He’s very dedicated. And he won’t tell me anything about it. I think he’s helping MI5 locate Mr Mercury. It has to be something to do with that.”
“Not necessarily. Vermore Enterprises develops a lot of technological equipment. I’m sure almost everything they do there is classified, when you think about all their competitors,” Cherry pointed out.
“I just feel as though everyone is helping, apart from me.” I looked down at my hands. “And I’m supposed to be Lightning Girl.”
“You are Lightning Girl,” Cherry said. “Look, maybe there is something you could do.”
“There is?” I asked, looking up.
“Remember in Cornwall, your friend Kizzy was reading that book about criminals and she read out that passage about the Blackout Burglar? Didn’t she say that the lead detective on that case had ended up leaving the police force when no one would believe his suspicions that Mr Mercury was working for someone higher up?”
I nodded slowly. “Yes, his name was Detective Inspector Bumble. But that was back in the 1980s and he moved to Canada.”
“And in Canada they don’t have phones?” Cherry said, with a mischievous smile. “Surely you can track him down and give him a call. Ask him what he knows about Mr Mercury from all those years ago. Maybe you’d get a clue about who he’s working with now.”
“Cherry,” I said, brightening, “you’re right! How have I not thought to do this before now? You’re a genius! All I have to do is find where this DI Bumble is and get anything I can from him. Thanks, guys!”
“You are very welcome. Even though technically that was Cherry’s idea, I believe I inspired her just by being my awesome self.” JJ grinned, giving me a thumbs up.
Cherry shook her head. “Tell me why we stay in contact with him, Aurora?”
“Purely for entertainment value.” I smiled, waving at the screen. “I’ll let you know how it goes!”
After saying our goodbyes and the screen going blank, I opened my internet browser feeling a hundred times brighter and more hopeful than I had just moments before. I didn’t need to mope around waiting for something to happen any longer.
Finally, I had a new lead.
7
I was extremely pleased with myself.
I came down the stairs the next morning feeling very smug because I’d managed to track down DI Bumble’s skateboarding business in Canada along with its phone number. It had taken me a LOT of trawling through Facebook and googling the many “Bumbles” out there, but I had finally uncovered THE DI Bumble, the detective who had headed up all of the Blackout Burglar’s cases all those years ago.
Even though it was late, I had dialled the number straight away and left a voicemail for him asking him to call me back as soon as possible. Vancouver was eight hours behind, so I wasn’t surprised he didn’t ring back last night as it would have been the middle of the day for him. He must have been working and also he might not have wanted to disturb my sleep. But he would be sure to return the call this afternoon when it was his early morning.
I just had to be patient.
“You’re in a good mood,” Clara commented as I skipped into the kitchen.
She was sitting at the table with several broadsheet newspapers open in front of her.
I shrugged, crouching down to give Kimmy a big fuss. “It’s the weekend. Where’s Alexis?”
“At work,” Clara replied without looking up. “I don’t know whether he’s mentioned it to you, but he’s got an internship at Vermore Enterprises.”
“Yeah. I think he may have mentioned that maybe once … or five hundred times.”
“Did you hear him leave this morning? I heard the front door shutting at about four a.m.,” she said breezily, returning to her newspapers.
“What? He left at four a.m.? That’s insane! Why did he go so early?”
She shrugged. “He’s really dedicated to that new research project of his. He told Mum and Dad he was going to work early, but I don’t think they were expecting him to leave that early.”
“I didn’t even know Alexis functioned that early,” I said, scratching Kimmy’s chin, making her tongue loll out the side of her jaw in happiness. “It’s pretty impressive how hard he’s working.”
I stood up and put my hands on my hips as Clara moved to kneel on the chair so that she could lean across the table to reach the newspaper furthest from her and pull it across.
“Clara?”
“Yes?”
“What are you doing?”
“Reading.”
“All the newspapers … at the same time?”
She blinked up at me with her brow furrowed as though I was the one being weird.
“It’s good to get a wide perspective of opinions on the same news topic,” she explained, gesturing to the papers scattered on the table. “That way I can make my own mind up with all the facts and bias laid out in front of me.”
I nodded and she returned to her reading.
“Clara?”
She frowned, slowly turning to me. “Yeeeees?”
“When you win the Nobel Prize before even hitting your teens, will you mention me in your speech?”
She hesitated and then simply said, “I’ll see,” in a very matter-of-fact tone.
I laughed and turned to put two slices of bread in the toaster.
“Do you know where Mum and Dad are?”
“Out.”
“Both of them? Where?”
Clara gave a long, drawn-out sigh.
“Mum is busy saving the world, as per usual. A man in Brighton has built a huge machine in the shape of a crab and is roaming the beaches threatening everyone with its pincers. Mum’s gone to sort it out.”
“And where’s Dad?”
“He’s next door, helping Mr Crow put up his new birdhouse; he said he’ll be back in a minute,” she said tiredly, gathering together all the newspapers in a pile and hopping off the chair. “I think I’ll go and finish my reading upstairs. In peace.”
I shook my head at her as she left the kitchen and went up the stairs. My sister was eight, going on eighty.
I hummed while I opened the fridge and searched it for the dairy free-spread. I found it at the back of the bottom shelf and grabbed it, shutting the door.
“Hello, Aurora.”
I screamed, and the spread flew out of my hand as I jumped about a mile in the air. Aunt Lucinda was standing right behind the fridge door as I closed it, wiggling her fingers at me in greeting.
“What are YOU doing here?” I cried, my heart thudding against my chest from the fright. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
She chuckled. “Oh, darling, you know I love to make an entrance.”
Aunt Lucinda was Mum’s twin sister, but they were total opposites. Mum was calm and sensible, while Aunt Lucinda was completely bonkers and never took anything seriously.
She had powers, too, like all the Beam women, but she was not a fully-fledged superhero and certainly didn’t want to be one. She preferred to use her powers to get free tickets to the most exclusive VIP events around the world and the best tables in the most upmarket restaurants. She spent all her time on holiday and would spontaneously show up without any warning that she was coming our way.
Aunt Lucinda was great fun (or “irresponsible” as Mum put it) but she also had the extra perk to her powers of being extremely charming and persuasive, something I’d been victim
to before, when she’d easily coaxed me into helping her with one of her jewellery-stealing schemes.
As well as our light-beam superpowers, all the Beam women have an extra ability or quality that they excel in above the ordinary – not an extra superpower, just something we’re really good at. Mum is very speedy and strong, Aunt Lucinda can charm her way out of anything, and Nanny Beam has a connection with animals that makes them trust her completely.
We were still waiting on my “extra” ability to show itself. It was taking its time.
I picked the spread up from the floor as Aunt Lucinda slid on to a chair at the kitchen table and then we heard a loud CRASH! from the hallway.
“What was that?” I asked, stumbling back.
Aunt Lucinda sighed, smoothing out the creases in the trousers of her bright pink suit. “Just Alfred,” she said.
I went to the hallway and saw Alfred, my aunt’s ostrich and sidekick, standing proudly in the middle of a pool of water with shattered glass and flowers strewn across the floor.
“He knocked over Mum’s flowers and broke the vase!” I pointed out, as Alfred began pecking at the hallway mirror with his sharp beak. “And now he’s trying to break the mirror!”
“Yes, I’m afraid he’s proving a point,” Aunt Lucinda said, rolling her eyes. “He’s still very angry at me for lying to him, you see.
When I last saw you, Nanny Beam had sent me and Alfred on a little mission abroad for her. Knowing that Alfred hates going anywhere except on holiday, I told a little white lie about our destination and what we were doing there. He still hasn’t forgiven me; he was terribly excited about snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef and now wherever we go he breaks absolutely everything in revenge.”
I watched in horror as a large crack appeared across the mirror.
“Alfred! No!” I said firmly.
He stopped pecking at the mirror and craned his neck slowly round so that one beady eye stared at me. He was sporting a very large hat in the shape of a beaver and a hockey jumper with the Canada red maple leaf on the front.
