Cherry Blossom Girls 8

by Harmon Cooper

  “I understand.” And in that moment I felt a true kinship with the man, guilt spreading over me for ever thinking he was working against us.

  “We have this as well,” I said, pointing at Kenneth’s phone and the tracking device that Vince had sent us in Beijing.

  “And this Kenneth guy, he had a superpower?” Father asked, taking the tracking device and opening the box, impressed by its size. “He was the one in the hotel in Nepal, right?”

  “Yes, with sludge-like forearms power. I don’t know. His power kind of reminded me of Swamp Thing, if that makes any sense.”

  “Fascinating,” Father said as he turned his attention to the phone, not daring to touch it. “It appears Damon Lord’s skill has improved.”

  “According to the Emperor of Japan, Kenneth Thompson was the one funding Damon Lord; I’m guessing he got a superpower for his efforts.”

  “Possibly. The answer may be on this phone. We have to be careful, though. If we make too many mistakes trying to open it, it’ll lock for good,” Father said.

  “Aware, which is why we powered it off.”

  “Good.” Father took the stairs to the kitchen and returned a moment later with a plastic bag. “Place it in here for now, and I’ll think of some ways that we can crack it. I already have some ideas, but I will need to do a little bit of research first.”

  “I’m sure we can figure it out, I just haven’t had time to wrap my mind around it, and now my parents…”

  “I get it, Gideon. You need to save your family. I suggest going upstairs and resting with the others. It’s important that you are at a hundred percent once you reach Vermont. There’s no telling what could happen when you arrive.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six: Tunnel Vision

  We sped through Dorian’s teleportation tunnel as we had countless times before, the punk rock teleporter at the front, Michelle running circles around her.

  We still had four hours to get to Vermont, plenty of time, all of us a bit more rested than we were just a few hours ago.

  The anticipation was killing me, but I tried to keep it down, tried to focus on running, ignoring the cramps in my stomach.

  It was a pretty big leap, but visiting Connecticut first would give us a moment for Dorian to recharge, for us to prepare for the assault. And as a portal opened up in front of us, purple energy radiating all around our bodies, I found myself yet again in Wooster Square, in New Haven, not far from Yale University.

  There were just a few cars moving up a side street, none of which would have spotted us because of the shadows provided by the ancient sycamore trees in the square. It was cool out, and I instinctively turned in the direction of my basement apartment, just remembering how many times I’d walked through this very square.

  “So this is where you met Grace,” Michelle said, her hands on her hips.

  “It is; she showed up at my doorstep right over there.” I pointed to the apartment building in question, a few of the CBGs following my finger.

  “I think it will only be fifteen minutes,” Dorian said.

  “No, you need to take longer than that. You just jumped almost two thousand miles; let’s make it at least half an hour,” I told her. “Please, relax, I’ll heal you.”

  I stepped away from Grace, leading Dorian over to the park bench. She sat and I placed my hand on the side of her neck, ignoring the channels that opened up.

  I’d replaced Grace’s shifter ability with Veronique’s metal manipulation. I knew things were going to get hairy once we got to Vermont, and at least this would give me the ability to drain someone.

  My uncle lived in a home outside of Brattleboro, on the other side of I-91, not far from a quaint, one street town known as Putney. It was a peaceful place, quiet, and it pained me to think that Natalie had violated my uncle’s sanctuary, the home he had moved to so that he could escape it all, to be himself.

  I dropped my hand from Dorian’s neck and took a few steps away, looking over toward Wooster Square’s cherry blossom trees. They were just regular trees now, no sign whatsoever that for a week or two every April, they turned into beautiful acts of nature with their white and pink flowers.

  The start of my story.

  My real story.

  And as I looked over at them, I figured this would be a good way to kick off the follow-up to Mutants in the Making. That was where it all started, how we got here, what we were going to do next, and why it had come to this.

  But now wasn’t the time to plot even if an idea had come to me. I sent the thought to the back of my mind, my eyes closed, hoping that I would remember it later.

  I’ll help you, Writer Gideon.

  I smiled at Grace’s voice inside my head.

  And I can help you in other ways too; I can help you focus more, she thought to me.

  That would be nice. I may need to escape in my own fiction for a while, to process all of this.

  Understandable. But let’s just save your parents first.

  “This place is pretty cool,” Michelle said, appearing to my left.

  “Did you run all the way around it?”

  She nodded. “What was it like to live here?”

  “It wasn’t bad,” I told her. “My life wasn’t great, but you’re right, New Haven is nice, plus the best pizza in the world is just down the street.”

  “Sounds nice,” Michelle said.

  Once Dorian was ready, we teleported to a small farm not far from my uncle’s place. There was a chill in the air, Vermont several degrees cooler than Connecticut.

  “I can go right now…” Michelle started to say.

  “No, it’s going to be a trap,” Grace told her. “We’ll go together; remember, our main goal is to save Gideon’s parents.”

  “My uncle too,” I reminded them. “Uncle Brandon. It’s his home.”

  I turned to the west, taking in a deep breath as I did so. The air was different here, cleaner, smelling of nature. Everything was a midnight blue, but there were signs that the sun was close to coming up, a warmth radiating from the horizon.

  “I can check to see if there are people there,” Michelle said.

  “You will,” Dorian assured her, “but only after we get closer.”

  “And what if we’re attacked here?” Michelle asked.

  “There’s no one here,” Chloe told her. “Aside from some livestock in that direction,” she said, pointing off to the right. “Some llamas.”

  “What’s a llama?” Michelle asked.

  “I’ll show you a picture later,” Ingrid assured her.

  “Enough banter. Everyone stay alert as we move closer,” Veronique said.

  We were still a little too far from my uncle’s house to pull off an all-out assault; there was a chance that we could fly over the place for a headcount, but we didn’t want to be spotted in this way.

  Grace was monitoring any thoughts that might be projecting, in case they had their own telepath, Chloe was using her echolocation ability, and I knew that Stella had a shield around us.

  If something did come at us while we made our way through this field, we would be able to respond in force.

  “Remember, if Damon Lord is here, you need to place a tracking device on him,” I told Michelle.

  “I’m ready; just like we practiced back in Colorado.”

  If Michelle ever got out of the business of superhero work, there would always be a job for her as a magician. She had great sleight-of-hand, not so much because of her finesse but because of her speed.

  The small tracking device that Vince gave us could be affixed to anything, flesh or fabric. And as it turned out, Michelle was fast enough to make it happen without the person feeling her action.

  Dorian looped her hand into mine. “We have to be ready to leave,” she said, a nervous look on her face.

  “Are you sensing something?”

  “Look, I don’t have the power of the others, but something is off here, I can at least tell you that. I don’t know if it’s going to be a f
ight or what, but it’s off.”

  Silence spread over us as we made our way to the end of the dewy field, coming to the start of a small forest, powerlines off to our left. There was another house or two in this patch of woods, and my uncle’s was the one on the end, along the two-lane road that led from 91 to Putney.

  “You’re up, Michelle,” I told the young speedster.

  She was just about to take off when Ingrid stepped in front of her. “You’re only gathering surveillance,” she reminded the younger girl. “It’s important that you move as quickly as possible, don’t stick around, and return to us once you have seen how many supers are there, and where they’re holding Gideon’s family.”

  “I know, I know, we went over this.”

  “If something starts to happen to you, or you sense something is about to happen, shout in here,” Grace told her, tapping her temple.

  “I will, I promise, just trust me,” Michelle said, agitation rising in her voice. “Please, just trust me. I may be young and a little crazy at times, but I care about Gideon’s family too. I’m not going to let them die.”

  And as she said those words, Michelle disappeared, a low-hanging branch trembling in her wake.

  “Here we go,” Grace said, her eyes flaring white.

  “I’m ready when you are,” Veronique told Dorian.

  “Only if something happens,” the punk rock teleporter reminded her.

  “Once we get a headcount we’ll circle the home,” I said, “and then we’ll strike.”

  “I’ll get your parents out, as planned,” Chloe said.

  “And I’ll assist her,” Grace told me.

  “Good.”

  “Smiley is mine,” Ingrid said, and while she said this in her normal voice, I could hear something tinting it, a hint of Tulip.

  “What’s taking her so long?” Veronique asked after a few more seconds. “She’s usually faster than this…”

  “Just give her time,” Stella told her.

  Confusion spread across Grace’s face. She started to open her mouth, like she didn’t know how to form the words.

  And before Grace could say anything, Michelle appeared in front of us, terror in her eyes.

  “This is bad,” she started to say.

  “What is it, Michelle?” Dorian asked, practically running to her and grabbing her by the shoulders.

  “They… I…”

  “Dammit,” Grace said, collapsing her face into her palm.

  “No, I can tell them,” Michelle said, taking deep breaths now, on the verge of tears. “They killed them, Gideon. Your parents and your uncle. Smiley killed them.”

  Tunnel vision.

  That was the only way to describe what I experienced next as I reached into my side pocket and pulled out my phone, seeing that we were well within the time given to us, several hours early to be exact.

  They… they…

  “They…” I swallowed hard. “They lied to us. She… Natalie lied.”

  Michelle nodded, her eyes welling up. “There’s no one there, just the bodies. You don’t want to see it. You really don’t want to see what they did to them.”

  “We have to check it out,” I finally said. “We have to confirm.”

  Michelle brought her hand to her mouth for a moment. “It’s really bad. It’s not a nice death. I’m so sorry, Gideon.”

  I turned to my uncle’s home and took one lumbering step forward.

  I knew between the time it took me to get from here and there that I would go through a change, that I would come out a different man on the other end.

  I felt a sense of calm come over me, and knowing exactly what it was, I turned to Chloe and asked her to stop.

  Tunnel vision.

  I needed to feel this, I needed to come to grips with what had happened, I needed to understand what we were up against.

  Even if it killed me.

  The end.

  Back of the Book Content

  Reader,

  Your reviews are what keep this series alive, and it’s why I pump them out so quickly.

  So here’s your chance to continue Gideon’s twisted tale by showing support with a review.

  Thanks, and really, thank you. It means the world to independent authors like me that you actually take the time to review our books. I believe the ninth book will be out in October, and if you’re really jonesing for it, the tenth could be out in December…

  Merch.

  I now have Cherry Blossom Girls posters and other swag available on my online store. I’ll continue updating merch going forward!

  You can get a Cherry Blossom Girls button (yes!) by joining my Patreon, where you’ll also get to preview book eight a month before other people are able to read it. There are also great tiers, each with exclusive benefits. For the cost of a cup of coffee, you can get all sorts of exclusive content on my Patreon.

  Other cool places.

  You can find out about more Harem Lit books (like this book) on the Facebook page.

  What’s that? You have a page too Harmon Cooper? YES. You can also join the Proxima Galaxy here to see how all my books are connected, see previews of upcoming releases, and get early copies of my new works as well as audiobooks.

  Need some more LitRPG? Then check out the LitRPG Books page, or the GameLit Society page, run by some great dudes.

  So join the group, and thanks again for reading, for the support, for making this weird series a possibility!

  Yours in sanity,

  Harmon Cooper

  (My new series is in the same vein as CBG–fun, wild, crazy superpowers, just… read the blurb.)

  https://geni.us/WeCouldBeHeroes

  Not everyone can say they met their new girlfriend while being detained for impersonating a superhero.

  Hell, not everyone can say they have a superpower.

  But Sam Meeko can, and this is the story about how he discovered his strange power (hint: through police brutality), the people he met immediately after (hint: three beautiful women), and the kick ass team they formed once they realized there was a vampire outbreak descending upon their city.

  Hate your job. Win the lottery. Get a superpower. House of Dolls.

  https://geni.us/HouseofDolls

  A fantasy harem adventure inspired by Pokemon Go!, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, and the Persona family of video games. Check out this Amazon best seller!

  https://geni.us/MonsterHuntNYC

  Tokyo, Japan meets online fantasy gaming and South Park-styled humor. Yakuza, goblins, action, intrigue - add this book to your inventory list!

  https://geni.us/FICK

  What if Ready Player One was a multi-part epic? Gritty LitRPG action, gamer humor, fantastic fantasy worlds, and a killer MC. Read now!

  https://geni.us/TheLoop

  And now… A book by LUKE!

  If you didn’t know, “Luke” in this book is based on a real Canadian writer, Luke Chmilenko, who is a friend of mine, and whose book above is a beloved LitRPG series.

  Please check it out if you haven’t already!

  Get connected with other LitRPG readers

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