“Hey,” I said upon answering, hopefully sounding more enthusiastic than I felt. “What are you up to?”
“On my way to a gala with Monique,” she answered. “Apparently there’s some kind of ‘no cell phone’ rule tonight, so I figured I’d call you now. Were you busy?”
“Not at all,” I said. “As a matter of fact…”
I trailed off as I suddenly heard a distinct sound echoing through the embassy – one that I knew, but had seldom heard: the doorbell.
Basically, the embassy sits on a walled estate, and the only official way in is through a gated entrance. (There are some secret entrances, but the number of people familiar with those is limited.) Typically, visitors drive up to the gate and either call or use an intercom located at the entry to reach someone inside the embassy. At that point, if they’re expected, they get buzzed in (and usually whoever they’re coming to see will meet them at the door).
In this instance, no one had called. No one had reached out via the intercom. Most importantly, I hadn’t buzzed anyone in. (Sure, people occasionally climbed over the wall – usually kids with too much time on their hands – but in those cases, they never rang the bell.) In short, hearing the doorbell was a little bit of a shock.
Once again reaching out empathically, I found myself surprised at who was at the door.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” I said to Myshtal, then barely waited for her acknowledgment before hanging up. As I did so, however, I noticed that Kenyon had responded to my message. I swiftly read the text from him, noting that he’d agreed to tackle the issue of the alarm first thing in the morning. I replied with a brief “Thanks,” before hastily putting my phone away.
Teleporting to the front door, I yanked it open and – even though I already knew who it was – found myself staring at who was outside.
Electra.
Chapter 24
She was dressed as she had been at dinner and was holding two large styrofoam cups with a straw in each.
“Here,” she said, thrusting one of the cups at me as she marched inside.
“What’s this?” I asked as I closed the door.
“Chocolate shake. Dad told me you had to take off, but I figured you shouldn’t have to miss dessert.”
“Uh, thanks,” I mumbled. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I wanted to,” she declared with a smile. Then, without waiting for an invitation, she sauntered into the living room and took a seat on the sofa.
“How’d you get in?” I asked.
“You opened the door for me,” she answered with a wink, then patted the seat next to her, indicating I should sit.
“Funny,” I muttered as I plopped down next to her. “I meant the gate.”
“Oh, come on,” Electra cooed. “You’ve seen me in action.”
As she spoke, she held up a hand and I saw an arc of electricity dance across her fingertips.
“So you overrode the code,” I surmised. “Or disrupted the power supply, or something to make the lock disengage.”
“Something like that,” she stated with a smile. Then she gestured towards my shake, saying, “Hey, drink that before it melts. I raced like the dickens to get that to you, so you’d better not let it go to waste.”
Snickering at her playful demand, I took a big sip.
“How is it?” she asked.
“Good,” I replied. “It’s got a little bit of an unusual flavor, but still tastes good.”
“Great. I’m glad you like it.”
Taking another sip, I declared, “I do, but like I said, you didn’t have to make a special trip for this.”
“Well, it wasn’t just for that,” she admitted. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the restaurant.”
“You mean Vir completely sandbagging me in the way he asked me to take a walk with him?”
“Hey!” she cried out, giggling as I continued to drink my shake. “Don’t talk about my dad like that! And for the record, he sandbagged me, too.”
“Except you didn’t have to get grilled by him.”
“Vir didn’t grill you,” Electra declared with a laugh. “That’s not his style.”
“Trust me, coming from the father of a girl you like, even ‘Good morning’ can feel like you’re being raked over the coals.”
As I finished speaking, I raised a hand to my mouth, stifling a yawn. I was obviously more exhausted than I realized.
“Nice to know that you still like me,” she said slyly, “but you getting sandbagged by my dad isn’t what I wanted to talk about. It was the kiss.”
I nodded as I began to yawn a second time. “Yeah, I figured that was it, but don’t worry – I didn’t read anything into it.”
“You didn’t?” she queried in surprise.
“No,” I sort of moaned as I drowsily stretched my arms out. “It’s like what you said on the phone: if we hang out, we’ll fall back into the habit of being a couple. That includes doing all the things that couples do, like when you held my hand for a second at dinner, or kissing each other goodbye.”
“So you’re saying I kissed you out of habit, not because I wanted to.”
“Well, I’m hoping you wanted to a little bit,” I said.
“Maybe I did,” she admitted sheepishly, “but I need you to understand that…”
Chapter 25
I woke to the feeling of an unexpected (but not uncomfortable) pressure on my side. Opening my eyes, I saw Electra snuggled up next to me, with her arms wrapped around my torso. We had apparently fallen asleep on the couch. (In fact, reflecting back on it, I had actually dozed off while she had been talking.)
Placing my hand on her wrist, I tried to gently disengage myself, but came across some unexpected resistance.
“No,” Electra firmly announced, tightening her arms around me without looking up. “I want you to stay right here.”
“But I can’t,” I said, finally breaking her grip and moving her hand away. “And neither can you. Your father’s probably going bananas by now.”
“No, he’s not. I told him I was crashing here last night.”
“You did what?!” I screeched, coming to my feet.
“Will you relax?” she murmured nonchalantly. “Dad trusts you. And more importantly, he trusts me.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” I blurted out, shaking my head. “That’s just something fathers say to find out what guy will be stupid enough to take the bait. I’m not that guy.”
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing,” she declared as she stood and stretched.
“Well, you can tell me all about how I overreacted later, but right now I’m teleporting you home.”
Electra gave me an odd look. “You sure you want to do that?”
Her question made me pause for a moment, but if she had a point, it wasn’t immediately evident to me.
“I don’t see what the problem is,” I said.
“Well, you’re trying to send me home, unkempt and ungroomed, the second I wake up,” she noted. “It’s tantamount to kicking me out in the morning after I spent the night here. Now that is the kind of thing that would set a father off.”
I simply stared at her for a moment, not believing what I was hearing. Obviously, she was just yanking my chain, but over-protective fathers wasn’t a subject I found humorous at the moment.
“Nothing happened,” I said, “so there’s nothing to report that would set anybody off.”
“Still doesn’t mean you get to kick me out.”
“Nobody’s kicking you out,” I insisted. “I’m taking you home.”
“No, you’re trying to send me home – and looking a mess, at that.”
Groaning, I wiped my face with my hand.
“Look,” she continued, “I’m not asking for much – just a toothbrush, a washcloth, and a bathroom I can use.”
I was on the verge of telling her she had all that at home, but was interrupted by my phone ringing.
I held up
a finger to Electra, indicating she needed to give me a moment, while at the same time pulling out my phone. It was Alpha Prime calling me.
“Yeah,” I muttered as I answered the phone – not an ideal greeting, but all I could muster at the moment. If he was put off by it, my father’s tone didn’t convey it.
“Hey,” he said in greeting. “Glad you’re awake. You ready to get started?”
“I suppose,” I replied without much enthusiasm. “Want me to meet you at HQ?”
“No, I’m on my way to you now.”
“Okay. How long before you get here?”
A second later, I heard the doorbell ring for the second time in the last twelve hours, while my father, chuckling, said, “Not long.”
“Great,” I mumbled, hanging up the phone. I looked at Electra and then gestured in the direction of the door. “Can you get that for me, please?”
“Uh, sure,” she replied with a nod. “But–”
“Great,” I stated, cutting her off. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Then I teleported.
Chapter 26
Popping up in my bedroom, I shifted into super speed and raced through my morning routine (including a quick shower). When I was done, I swiftly got dressed and teleported back to the living room. I’d been gone less than a minute.
When I appeared, Electra had apparently opened the door and let Alpha Prime in. At the moment, the two of them were looking at each other like they were having a staring contest. In fact, for a second, it seemed as though they didn’t even know I was in the room. There was an intense look on Electra’s face, and it occurred to me that maybe Alpha Prime, upon finding her here so early in the morning, had made a comment that reflected a misunderstanding of the situation.
Such a remark wouldn’t have been completely out of place. From the time she was an infant, Electra had been raised as an orphan by the Alpha League. Although she had recently found out about her real family (including her dad, Vir), Alpha Prime had been her primary father figure for most of her life. If he thought she had done something inappropriate, he’d probably comment on it.
I took a moment to clear my throat. “Ahem.”
The sound seemed to break whatever spell my two guests were under, causing them both to look in my direction.
“Oh, hey son,” Alpha Prime said.
“Hey,” I replied almost absentmindedly to him. My attention was focused on Electra, to whom I simply said, “Come with me.”
I turned immediately and began walking away. As expected, she fell into step behind me. Less than a minute later, we reached our destination: one of the embassy’s guest bedrooms.
“You can freshen up in here,” I told her. “There should be new toothbrushes in the bathroom medicine cabinet and fresh towels in the linen closet.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I should only be a few minutes.”
“Take your time,” I replied, then teleported back to the living room, where my father just seemed to be idling.
I stood there for a moment, waiting for him to speak, but he just stayed silent.
“Well,” I began, “aren’t you going to say something?”
“About what?” he asked.
“Electra.”
“What about her?”
I looked at him askance. “You’ve got no comment on the fact that she’s here early in the morning, looking like she just rolled out of bed?”
“Last time I checked, son, you were grown and capable of making your own decisions.”
“No, I’m not grown,” I countered. “I’m not even an emancipated minor. I’m just legally entitled to enter into contracts and make decisions for myself that would normally be left up to parents. But I still can’t vote, buy alcohol, or do other ‘adult’ things.”
As I spoke, I reflected on the fact that my semi-emancipation was one of the things my mother and grandparents had arranged before they left. It sounded cool on paper, but it meant that I now had to deal with things like paying for utilities, taxes, and so on. In short, their absence meant I had to grow up quickly in terms of certain responsibilities.
“However you style it,” Alpha Prime shot back, “you’re still entitled to make adult decisions in a lot of areas. In my opinion, who you let come over for a slumber party falls under that heading.”
I spent a moment absorbing this, then noted, “You have a distinct parenting style, that’s for sure.”
My father laughed. “Come on – you sound like you want me to yell at you. The truth is that I’ve known Electra her entire life, and you’re my son. There aren’t two teens I trust more on the planet.”
“Well, given the way you and Electra were eyeballing each other, I was under the impression that maybe you had said something.”
“No, I think you just caught us during a lull in the conversation.”
“If you say so,” I remarked with a shrug. “Anyway, what’s first on the agenda?”
“Honestly, I thought we’d grab some breakfast,” he answered, and for the first time I took real note of the fact that he was in civilian clothes.
“Um, okay,” I droned. “But I can just grab a power bar or something.”
“Nonsense,” my father shot back. “It’s still the most important meal of the day, you know.”
“Okay, fine,” I muttered, wondering why I was getting pushback this morning from everybody on everything. “So what’s after that?”
“There’s a spot where Mouse used to spend his time before joining the League. I thought we’d check that out.”
“Sounds good,” I said with a nod.
“Ooh!” I heard Electra interject from the other side of the room. “I want to go!”
I turned in the direction of her voice and saw, as expected, that she had rejoined us.
“Sure,” Alpha Prime remarked, causing me to give him a smoldering look. In return, he simply said, “It’s fine, Jim. There’s unlikely to be any danger, and another set of eyes wouldn’t hurt.”
“If we need extra eyes, we can get Li,” I replied. “He was supposed to be back yesterday.”
My father seemed to mentally chew on this for a second. Li was another member of the League’s teen affiliate. Unlike the rest of us, however, he wasn’t human. He was an AI – Artificial Intelligence – with an android body. He had been gone the past few weeks on an assignment, but should be done with that by now.
“Unfortunately,” my father finally said, “Li’s mission got extended. He’s out of pocket for the foreseeable future.”
Taking the news in stride, I looked back at Electra. “Don’t you need to go home, freshen up, and all that?”
“Well, if you teleport me there,” she noted, “you guys can go get breakfast and scoop me up afterwards. By that time, I’ll be ready.”
“Oh, so now you want me to teleport you home,” I groused, realizing in the back of my mind that she must have heard more than just the last part of the conversation between me and Alpha Prime.
“Quit being a grump,” she demanded teasingly. “Yesterday you’re complaining about wanting to spend time with me as a friend, now you’re acting like you don’t want me around.”
“What I don’t want is you getting hurt,” I corrected.
She suddenly gave me a serious look. “You’re not always going to be able to protect me, Jim – just like you can’t protect Li if he’s in trouble right now, or Smokey if he’s got his back against the wall someplace. This is the gig – walking headfirst into potential danger – and we all signed up for it.”
It was a good speech, probably one that every super has to make to friends, loved ones, and colleagues at some point. I’d probably given a variation of it myself on several occasions.
“She’s right, you know,” my father asserted, adding his two cents.
I let out a sigh and then asked Electra, “Are you ready?”
She nodded, and I teleported her home.
Chapter 27
My father had actually driven to the embassy, his vehi
cle of choice being a large black SUV. It was actually parked inside the gate when we left, and for a moment I pondered how he’d gotten it inside since I hadn’t buzzed him in. Maybe Electra hadn’t closed the gate when she came in, or maybe he had just picked the vehicle up and flown it over the wall.
In the end, curious as to whether the gate had been left open all night (especially in light of the alarm going off), I asked him about it as we were leaving.
“Basically, I just picked it up once I got to the entrance and jumped over the gate with it,” he stated. It wasn’t quite the same as flying the vehicle over, but close enough that I mentally gave myself a pat on the back for guessing correctly.
Of course, Electra’s car was still outside as well. When I teleported her home, I had completely forgotten about it, and I spent a moment mentally chastising myself for the oversight. Then again, if her own car hadn’t been top-of-mind for Electra herself, then I could be forgiven for overlooking it.
We ended up getting breakfast from the drive-through of a fast-food place that opened early. I hadn’t wanted to let on about it, but I was actually famished. Using super speed shifts my metabolism into high gear, so I usually follow up any use of that ability with some hearty eating. However, after zipping through the embassy looking for burglars, all I’d had the previous night was the shake Electra had brought me, and I’d eaten nothing since waking up. The end result was that I ordered at least one of just about everything on the menu: pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, and more.
In contrast, my father only ordered a sausage biscuit sandwich, which he ate as he drove. That said, I wolfed my food down in short order, using the sacks it had come in as trash bags when I was done and tossing them on the floor in the back, behind the driver’s seat.
“You know,” I began, “I could have just teleported us to the restaurant.”
Isolation Page 12
