Winter (Hero Society Book 5)

by Jessica Florence

  “I started getting an upper respiratory infection before I left. Esme checked me out and told me it was most likely caused by the algae, because when it dies near the shore, it breaks apart into the sea mist and air. As soon as I was away from it, the coughing stopped, and I started getting better.”

  Now that she was back, she would probably get sick again. There were already four elderly patients that were in the hospital with pneumonia, all of whom had started out with this odd respiratory infection.

  Things were not looking good at all, and we’d yet to find a solution.

  “What do you want, Gwendolyn?” I whispered, wanting to hear her goals, her dreams.

  “I want everything to be all right.”

  “I know that, but what are your dreams? Your desires for your life?” Hopefully some of them were things I could actually control and do for her.

  “I want to have my cozy robots available all over the world to those who need them. I want to get a tattoo before I die. I want to get married someday, and I don’t know how I feel about kids. I’m freaking out about having a pre-teen. The thought of a baby makes me wanna pass out.” I couldn’t help me chuckle at her statement. Pre-teens were harder than babies, in my book. Babies slept, ate, shit, and slept some more. Pre-teens had a working mouth, and an attitude to go with it.

  “What else?” I wanted to know everything, and the more she talked, the more her body relaxed.

  “I’ve always wanted to fly, maybe I should create myself some wings, help at least one person survive a life-threatening condition, and be part of a family. Which I’m starting to feel like I am, with the Hero Society. And you. You make me feel like I’m home, like I’ve found that place where I fit in and am loved for just being me.”

  If there wasn’t a young kid in the room next door, I would show Gwendolyn exactly how perfect she was as herself, and how much she fit with me.

  “I like your wants.” I settled into the couch and held my woman in the safety net of my arms while we both drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Gwendolyn

  I was in charge of another person’s life.

  Someone who didn’t know I even existed until just a few days ago.

  When the social worker asked me if I wanted to become her guardian, I just didn’t even need to think about it. She was alone, like I was, but we could have each other.

  Our parents didn’t have a will, or anything set up in case they died together. But the records showed they had two children, and one was over eighteen.

  There was already so much on my plate, and now I had a sister who was living with me.

  I’d woken up in Arthur’s arms and decided to make a list of things I wanted to do for the day. Some structure in my life made me feel like I was in control, even though I knew that was mostly an illusion. He kissed my head and offered to get up and help me make breakfast, but I told him to go back to sleep. He truly seemed exhausted. After everything he said was happening, the more I felt the need to stabilize my life.

  It was quiet in my room, so Emily was probably still sleeping, but I cracked the door open to check on her.

  She was up and reading one of my books about nephrology. Maybe she wanted to get some in-depth knowledge on kidneys.

  Her head popped up to see me, and she set the book down, cool as a cucumber. Emily had been holding things together very well for a ten-year-old. I expected tears and outburst of emotions from someone who had just lost her parents and was now living with a stranger.

  “Um. Do you need anything? I just wanted to check on you.” I was so out of my element, but I was trying.

  She shook her head.

  “Okay. I was gonna work on clearing out my office, so you could have a room. I know my room is pretty basic. No colors. But we can decorate your room however you’d like. We can look through pictures on the computer today too, if you want.”

  I was nervous and rambling, something I should probably work on, but I couldn’t help it right now.

  “I’d like that.”

  The room fell silent, and I was about to walk away when she spoke up, stopping me.

  “Can we talk?”

  My whole body sagged as she uttered those words. I wanted to talk. I wanted so much to talk with her, but I didn’t know how to start it or what I should or shouldn’t say. The situation was driving me insane. I nodded and closed the door behind me.

  I sat on my bed next to her and tried to look calm on the outside, like the adult in the room.

  “What do you wanna talk about?”

  She shrugged, but that didn’t seem like an appropriate response for someone who verbalized she wanted to talk to me. I guess I would need to start, then, and hopefully not mess it up.

  “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been meaning to try to contact you for a while now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I mean, I’m sorry about Mom and Dad, and that you had to leave Florida and your school. I bet you had a lot of friends, and now you’re here. But like I said, I’m glad you’re here.”

  Everything just rushed out. The more I thought about it, the guiltier I felt about moving her here. She probably had a good life in Florida, and I took her away from it. While I didn’t want to move there, I would if that’s what she needed.

  “I didn’t like Florida anyways. It’s always hot, and being so pale, I would get sunburned all the time.”

  So mature for a little girl. I felt her pain, though. I was only there for a few days, and I thought I was going to melt. SPF 50 had been my best friend during my stay.

  “Maybe we can invite some of your friends from there to visit. I’ll pay for it.”

  Money was not an issue for me, fortunately. I had so much from work, and I had no life, so most of it went right in the bank and sat there. Her fingers started playing with the strands of her white hair nervously. It was like what I was doing with the screw in my pocket currently. Both of us were fidgeters. I found that observation comforting, seeing something from me in her besides looks.

  “I wasn’t liked very well at my school, either. The kids always made fun of my skin, or hair.”

  Feelings of hurt from my own school experiences came to the front of my brain. I remember those days vividly, and my heart ached that she’d gone through it too. My parents had the perfect non-Asperger’s child, and had put her in an elite school. I walked in to get her paperwork and felt the eyes around me staring. But I was a grown-up now who was used to that behavior—Emily was not.

  “Then you’re okay here. Do you wanna talk about Mom and Dad? Or have questions for me?”

  The fidgeting with her hair stopped, and those brown eyes looked up at me with what I could only guess was defiance.

  “I don’t wanna talk about them.”

  Okay, got it. Mom and Dad were not to be talked about right now. Keeping my mouth closed, I waited until she seemed to calm her thoughts away from the subject.

  “But I do wanna know about you.”

  I could talk about me. So, I told her everything I could think of: my history with school, college, working at Griffin Enterprises, making Cora and Pops. She thought that was the coolest thing ever, having robots as friends. She liked Arthur, and said she would like to see his warehouse with all the art. Emily liked art. She’d taken a photography class in school and said it was one of her favorite subjects. It made me happy that she liked Arthur because I was pretty sure I was never letting him go after having him here for all of this. He was vital in my life now.

  We talked about how I was part of the Hero Society, using my gifts of metal manipulation. I showed her a few of my tricks with the metal ball next to my bed, and she confessed she hoped when she turned sixteen that she got a cool power, too. That made me laugh—it was cool, but it was hard at times, too. But we could discuss it if and when the time came. All I knew is that I would be there for her if it did. No one should go through their transition alone.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Arthur />
  The girls ended up talking all morning.

  I’d woken up to the tales of Gwendolyn’s past and sat by the door to listen. She’d told me most of these things, so I didn’t feel like I was eavesdropping. I’d mostly stayed there because I loved listening to her talk and was appreciating the easy connection she seemed to make with her sister.

  After a while, I decided to make everyone some breakfast and delivered it to their bedroom so they could continue talking. Of course, I got dragged into the conversation, but that was fine with me.

  The air in the room felt easier than before. Gwendolyn seemed to have relaxed around Emily, and Emily seemed to be genuinely interested in knowing about her new sister.

  The things Emily wanted to keep from her previous home were in two large suitcases next to the bed. One would think that she would have wanted to bring everything, but she’d told them that was all she needed.

  Closer to lunchtime, I needed to go check on Teddy and my artwork at home, so I left the girls to get to know each other more and took care of business.

  Teddy was sitting by my bed when I got home, looking quite grumpy, with his narrowed LED light-up eyes.

  He was annoyed with me; the little asshole was quite testy. A chuckle bubbled up from inside me—the whole situation felt like Teddy was a disgruntled wife that stayed home all day to clean, and I was the cheating husband.

  “Sorry, dear.” I laughed, not being able to help myself after catching him glaring.

  Maybe he just needed a mess to clean up. It was his life’s purpose, after all.

  I changed out of my clothes, littering them across the floor as I walked to the bathroom. If robots had the ability to come, I swear Teddy would have orgasmed right in his little robot pants. He liked messes, and I hadn’t been home to make any. He rushed over and started picking up after me. After I changed clothes, I spent about an hour painting, and he was like a kid in the candy store with all the splatters I’d intentionally made.

  A call on my communicator told me to meet Phillip at HQ. I heaved a sigh. I’d gotten a few hours’ reprieve from the knowledge of Earth’s imminent devastation. I refused to feel guilty about the time I spent doing what made me happy, but now it was time to focus.

  The restaurant above the secret headquarters was busy, as were the rooms below. So much had changed for the Hero Society since their new beginning—it was their second chance to do things right. Up until this point they had been succeeding, but now we faced a challenge that seemed impossible to overcome.

  Phillip was waiting for me inside the room that had been dubbed the “containment” room. It was soundproof, and somehow power-proof. I wasn’t able to call the moisture in the air to me, for example, or manipulate the water in the glass on the table.

  “Interesting room to meet in.” There was no one else in here but Phillip and me.

  His face was pinched together with stress; actually, his whole body seemed to be lacking the normal confidence and swagger of someone who knows all the futures.

  “It was the only place here we could talk; I don’t trust us being seen in my office.” He sat at the chair across from the desk, looking like a criminal ready for interrogation.

  “All right, lay it on me.” Whatever it was, I doubted it would be good. I pulled the chair out and plopped my ass on it, bracing myself to hear whatever he had to say.

  “I see three futures; all have their own set of consequences. I don’t like to share what I’ve seen—normally it never works out well—but I know you, probably better than you think I do, and you are a true hero. You chose to fight for mankind in the battle and made the ultimate sacrifice.” He ran his fingers through his blond hair, and I sensed this was where he would get to the bad part.

  “And you might have to do it again. I’ve yet to see someone gifted in the world that could fix this, and all the resources we have now can’t. The only thing we can do is make sure it doesn’t happen in the future. The algae is going to hit the current tomorrow, and that will be it. People will get sick and die as it spreads, plant life will perish, and within ten years Earth will be a wasteland. Completely uninhabitable.”

  The weight of what was coming settled on me.

  “What do you mean, I might have to do it again?”

  “I’ve seen a future where you go into the water, manipulate it to go through you like osmosis, and essentially use your body as a filter, taking the toxins into your body, which of course will begin to fail. There are multiple futures where you die.”

  My throat tried to close up, and I felt like the world slipped out from under my feet like a rug.

  “But I would save Earth, and…” I couldn’t get the rest of my sentence out, but he knew what I was going to say anyway. Save Gwendolyn, and now Emily. They were my family, whether it was documented or not.

  “Yes,” he agreed, but his face looked grim. This was obviously not an easy thing to tell me, but the fate of the world seemed to be literally in my hands.

  My throat felt dry, and when I spoke, it came out completely hoarse.

  “Any futures where I live?”

  “One, and the likelihood is small.”

  I wanted him to go into details, but then again, I didn’t. If he told me, then it would only make me focus on that one hopeful future instead of taking in the likely reality that I would die.

  “I’m sorry this is on you. I had hoped we could find another way. There had been many chances to stop this before, but this was the future that came to be.” His voice broke, and his shoulders slumped forward.

  Maybe if I’d joined them as soon as he had asked, I could have helped stop this, or helped contain it. But I didn’t. I’d been too afraid to be a part of the Hero Society to give in and accept that I was one of them all along—too afraid to die again.

  I snorted, finding the irony in this moment and acting on the sick humor.

  Phillip’s head tilted to the side as he looked at me, curious to my reaction.

  “First time I died, I stayed to fight, to save mankind. I guess it’s only fitting that this time I die—on the same day, I might add—to save mankind again, but mostly to save the people I love.”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Gwendolyn

  I went shopping with Emily and managed to get her some new clothes for the winter weather, some decorations for her room, when it was ready, and some toys. Emily, while growing up was still into dolls, and I wanted her to keep being a kid as long as I could. Of course I already had plans to make her a companion robot like Pops at some point, but for now, we would just have to be there to play with her when we could.

  Arthur asked if he could come over for dinner, which of course I said yes. Emily wanted pizza, so I asked if he could pick it up on the way over. I was hopeful for the future for now. Lynn confirmed that Emily had some pent-up emotions that she didn’t want to deal with, but that they’d eventually come out. She’d start at her new school next week, and I prayed the kids here would be nicer to her. I had no advice to give on that front since even now my coworkers didn’t bother to get to know me past my seemingly cold exterior, but I would try to give her the best pep talk I could.

  When Arthur came by with the pizza in his hand, he said hello to Emily, who was sitting on the couch watching some cartoon movie I hadn’t seen before, then set the pizza down and scooped me up into his arms. I missed his touch, the soothing effects he had on me when I felt like I was losing it.

  “Welcome back.” I kissed his cheek, and his arms squeezed me a bit tighter. When my feet touched the ground again, he brought his forehead to mine and just breathed us in. It was a stolen moment of peace, and from his stance it seemed he needed me to soothe him like I needed him.

  “Everything okay?” I inquired, pulling back to look over his beautiful face.

  “Yeah. I’m just happy I got another chance at life, so I got to be with you.”

  My face grew one of those smiles that I knew he was so fond of. I was beyond grateful to have him i
n my life. A year ago, before the change, I was a completely different person. Arthur came into that diner and my whole world has been transformed, beyond my imagination. He brought me out of my shell, taught me to love, and that I was so much more than I thought I was.

  “I love you.” Those words held so much power for me, and I had hope that with love we could do anything.

  His face fell for a quick second before he leaned in to kiss my lips softly.

  “I love you too, more than anything.” His breath tickled my mouth, and I smiled. I’d known he loved me, but now I had the words to go with the actions.

  After those sweet words were said aloud, we broke apart and got plates out for pizza.

  Emily was quiet while we ate, and Arthur kept conversation going about some of the art he’d done recently that she might like. They ended up talking about photography, and her eyes lit up when he mentioned that Draco, from the Hero Society, was a famous photographer. Had his own darkroom and everything.

  She was eager to meet Draco and learn about the darkroom.

  “Any news on the algae spreading?” I had hoped he’d heard something new about the situation. I hadn’t gotten any updates or been called to help. Which made me think about what I’d need to do with Emily when I got called out. Does a ten-year-old need a babysitter?

  I made mental notes to download some books on parenting and age-appropriate stuff for girls.

  He choked on the water he was drinking and set it down quickly, coughing over and over until he could speak without his face turning red.

  “Phillip thinks he has an idea of how to fix the situation, but he’s still working on it.” He was staring at the pizza in front of him like he’d never seen it before.

  “We’ll figure it out. Together.” My back straightened, and my chin lifted in confidence. His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but he agreed with me nonetheless.

  “I think it’s cool,” Emily said, and we both turned toward her.

  “You guys being superheroes and all. It’s cool.”