I was so stunned that I didn’t do anything for a moment (although I’m pretty sure I didn’t kiss her back). After realizing what was happening, I reached up and took her arms from around my neck and stepped back.
“What are you doing?” I whispered harshly, looking around to see who – if anyone – had seen what had just happened. (Judging from the emotional vibes I was picking up, almost everyone present had.)
“What – too soon?” Vestibule asked, seemingly not put off by my tone. “Come on,” she said, reaching out and taking my hand. “Let’s go.”
“Go where?” I asked woodenly, still trying to make sense of what was happening.
“My place, of course,” she replied.
“Your place?” I repeated, not sure what she was talking about.
“Not my place,” she clarified, giggling. “My park – where I go to relax. Remember?”
“Huh?” I muttered, giving her a perplexed look.
“Come on,” she said again. “Let me take you.”
I felt something akin to a light tugging, like someone had pinched a bit of material from my shirt and was gently pulling on it, but on a metaphysical level. After a moment, I recognized what it was: Vestibule trying to teleport me.
One of the great things about being a teleporter is that you can go anywhere you want. However, a corollary of that rule is that you don’t have to go any place where you don’t want to be. For instance, if a teleporter is on a mountaintop and you manage to immediately transport him to a valley, his own power would take him right back to the mountain as if he never left. In short, no one – not even another person with the same power – can teleport a teleporter against their will.
At the moment, Vestibule was trying to take me some place, and I had to decide whether to allow it. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t do it. Not that I had reason to suspect Vestibule of something nefarious, but I had once recklessly teleported myself into a trap. If I could do something like that to myself out of sheer carelessness (and I generally thought of myself as a cautious individual), then others could do it to me as well. It also didn’t help that Vestibule was acting in a manner that could be described as overfamiliar, to say the least. It was if we had spent a bunch of time together and miraculously become best…
Oh, no, I thought as my mind abruptly latched onto a new idea, one that I prayed I was completely wrong about.
Suddenly eager to speak with Vestibule, I gave Smokey and Myshtal a telepathic heads-up that I had to leave for a minute. After getting their acknowledgment, I released the hold I usually kept on my teleportation ability and allowed Vestibule to spirit me away.
Chapter 50
We popped up in a public park – a scenic venue with acres of lush green grass, majestic trees, and pathways lined with beautiful flowers that were just starting to bloom. There weren’t many people around, but I noted that those present were mostly dressed in shorts and T-shirts. Given the fact that we were outdoors and seemingly in a temperate clime, I assumed that we were on the West Coast.
We had actually appeared near a lake, and I caught a picturesque view of a beautiful swan elegantly gliding across the surface of the water, followed by several of its young.
“They’re called cygnets,” Vestibule said.
I turned towards her to find that she had taken a seat on a nearby wooden bench.
“The baby swans,” she explained. “They’re called cygnets.”
“Oh,” I muttered. “That’s interesting.” Then I frowned. “So you read minds now?”
She let out a peal of laughter – a sound that was so pure in relaying her mirth and amusement that I was almost taken aback, as it bespoke of a depth of personality that I hadn’t suspected.
“No,” Vestibule said, still smiling as she shook her head, “but I saw you looking at the swans – everyone does – so it was a safe bet that ‘swan babies’ was running through your head at some point.”
“I was actually thinking ‘offspring,’ if you want the truth.”
She laughed again and then gently patted the space next to her on the bench. Taking the invitation, I walked towards her and sat down.
She didn’t immediately say anything, merely spent a few seconds glancing around the park. As she did, I detected a surprising serenity in her, a calmness and tranquility that caught me somewhat by surprise. I had always considered Vestibule to be vapid and vain, but there was apparently more to her than met the eye. However, I didn’t come here to ponder the depths of her soul. I was here for information, and was about to ask a question when Vestibule spoke.
“So,” she said with a sly look, “couldn’t wait for tonight?”
“Tonight?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yeah – our date.”
I blinked in surprise. “We don’t have a date for tonight.”
“Ha-ha,” she quipped. “You’re funny.”
“I’m serious,” I stated firmly. “We don’t have plans for tonight.”
“Sure we do,” she insisted. “You asked me out again last night, right here in this park.”
“Again?” I repeated in surprise.
“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Did you get hit on the head or something? After you wimped out on me yesterday, you actually showed up at my house later, saying that you wanted to keep your word.”
I gave her a stern look. “Listen to me, Vestibule. We didn’t go out yesterday. I didn’t do anything last night except go home and go to bed.”
She bit her lip nervously. “Okay, this isn’t funny anymore.”
“It’s not supposed to be,” I said. “There’s a guy – presumably a shapeshifter – going around pretending to be me.”
“What?!” she nearly screeched.
“You’re not the only one he’s fooled,” I assured her. “He’s been careful to avoid certain people who’d know he’s a fake, like my girlfriend Electra, but–”
“Wait…no…” she muttered, shaking her head. “Your girlfriend? But…you broke up…you told me…”
“I’m sorry, but it wasn’t me.”
Now clearly on edge, Vestibule stood up, practically wringing her hands.
“But I…” she began. “We…I mean…the two of us…”
She continued mumbling, but wasn’t particularly coherent. Hoping to make sense of what she was trying to convey, I took a telepathic peek inside her mind and saw much of what had happened: my evil twin taking her out, her showing him this park, him asking her on another date. I also noted several images that made it very clear why she had felt comfortable kissing me and holding my hand.
As I withdrew from her mind, she turned to me with a forlorn look and teary eyes. Emotionally, I sensed that she was coming undone to a certain extent and was on the verge of being completely distraught. The only thing she was holding onto at the moment was a slim hope that perhaps this was a cruel joke on my part.
I merely shook my head, not saying anything.
Vestibule’s mouth opened, and she let out a piercing, undulating scream that carried across the lake like a train whistle, frightening the swans and making numerous people look in our direction. It was a sound of inconsolable distress and unsettling dismay, the resonant tone of a tortured soul wallowing in anguish.
And then she vanished.
Chapter 51
I stayed on the park bench after Vestibule teleported, the sound of her scream still ringing in my ears.
My heart went out to her. Unlike Sarah and Smokey, my double hadn’t just pulled the wool over her eyes – he had completely hoodwinked her.
Needless to say, I felt particularly bad because Vestibule hadn’t been on my short list of people to talk to about my evil twin. Frankly speaking, she and I weren’t close. Thus, I hadn’t pegged her as someone the fake Jim would try to get close to because she really didn’t have much info to impart (assuming, again, that my double was after details about me).
I frowned as my thoughts turned in general to my evil twin. It was one thing for him to home in on people in my
inner circle – people who were expected to know me intimately. His actions with Vestibule, however, indicated a certain callousness and disregard for common decency. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call what he’d done cruel.
Once again, I found myself pondering what my lookalike’s endgame was. What was he after? Also, given what had just happened with Vestibule, were there other people I needed to add to my list and have a conversation with? Kane perhaps, or maybe Gossamer? My cousins? Other teens in the Alpha League?
I shook my head in frustration. I couldn’t run down everyone with a tenuous connection to me. My gut told me that would probably be a waste of time. I needed to work smarter, not harder. I needed to–
“Penny for your thoughts,” said a voice that was oddly familiar as someone seemingly appeared out of nowhere and took a seat next to me on the bench.
I glanced at the speaker and then did a double-take.
It was my evil twin.
Chapter 52
He looked like me, of course, except he looked exactly like me: same hair, same eyes, same face. More to the point, I could tell that this was him. And by that I mean that this was his normal, natural appearance – no augmentation, no shapeshifting, no nothing. I don’t know how I knew that; I just knew. In essence, the guy really was my double.
I could also perceive other things about him. For instance, I would have known without being told that he was a super. In some way I can’t explain, I could sense that – like me – he had a wide slate of powers, although I couldn’t immediately tell what they all were. (I did note, however, that he wasn’t a telepath.)
I spent a moment trying to figure out what to do. In a perfect world, I’d just teleport him – whisk him off to a nullifier or someplace that could neutralize his powers, or hand him over to the proper authorities. But he was a teleporter, so that wouldn’t work. A world-class telepath could go inside someone’s head and incapacitate them, but I had limitations in that regard. (Plus, despite his lack of telepathy, I could tell that this guy had first-rate mental shields – even a preeminent telepath would have trouble boring into his mind.)
Without many options, I decided to grab the low-hanging fruit and simply try to get as much info out of my doppelganger as possible. Shockingly, he actually offered to help in that arena.
“I suppose you have questions,” he said unexpectedly, after sizing me up the same way I’d done him.
“That would be an understatement,” I replied, although it felt bizarre to hear someone else speaking with my voice. “Who are you?”
“I would think that was obvious,” he replied nonchalantly. “I’m you, of course.”
“No, you’re not me,” I insisted. “But you’ve been doing a good job of convincing others that you are and framing me for things I didn’t do.”
“Is that what you think I’ve been doing?” he asked, eyebrows raised. Plainly amused, he let out a short bark of laughter that was cut off almost immediately as he winced and laid a hand gingerly on his midsection.
“Stomach issues?” I queried dryly, suddenly remembering that he had taken a laser shot to the gut earlier in the day.
He gave me a knowing look, one which telegraphed the fact that he knew that I knew the source of his discomfort.
“I’m on the mend,” he declared. “Anyway, as to framing you – that’s the last thing I had in mind.”
I was incredulous. “Really? You run around with my face, doing everything from attacking people to dating, all while trying to convince them that you’re me, and you don’t think that’s the same as setting me up?”
“First of all, it’s not just your face,” my double stressed. “And second, with respect to the dating thing, I thought I was doing you a favor. You’ve got your hands full these days in the romance department, so I was just trying to take some things off your plate.”
“And help yourself to some off-menu items while you were at it,” I added angrily. “Did you ever consider how Vestibule would feel after she discovered that it wasn’t me who she went out with? That I wasn’t the guy holding her hand or kissing her?”
“Will you relax?” the fake Jim said, brushing off my concerns with an indifferent wave of his hand. “She’s a big girl, and can take care of herself. Besides, it’s not like we did anything R-rated. It was PG-13, max.”
“I know,” I practically hissed. “I saw it in her head. But that still doesn’t erase the fact that you humiliated her.”
“Okay,” my lookalike conceded, “you want to defend Vestibule’s honor out of a sense of chivalry? I get that. But the same can’t be said of the others.”
“The others?” I repeated. “You mean the ones you attacked when they were helpless in their cells?”
“They needed to be punished,” he responded.
“They were being punished,” I said. “That was the whole point of them being locked away.”
He shook his head, like a parent having a tough time explaining a simple concept to a child. “You don’t understand.”
“I understand that my brother Paramount was probably on your hit list,” I retorted. “So what happened? You got there and found out that he wasn’t in a nullifier – that with his power set it would be almost impossible to hurt him?”
“No,” my evil twin stressed emphatically. “I got there and figured he wasn’t worth the trouble.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that someone else got there first. Whoever blasted away his brain saved me the trouble, because at his current mental stage, doing anything to him would have been like harming a child. I mean, he’s just a hair above being the village idiot. What a re–”
My double’s words were cut off as he suddenly found me standing over him, with one fist holding a handful of his shirt and the other cocked back, ready to punch him in the face.
“Say it,” I hissed. “Say it. I dare you…”
His statements about Paramount had completely infuriated me. I was so enraged that I actually didn’t recall exactly how I came to be looming over him. I didn’t know if I had teleported, shifted into super speed, or just jumped up and grabbed him. I just knew that if he finished labeling my brother with the word he’d been about to say, I was going to beat the stuffing out of him.
My doppelganger smiled and held up his hands defensively. “Okay, okay. I was going to say what a recovery he’s made, despite any current limitations. Nevertheless, I can see now that maybe I crossed a line, so I’m going to go while we’re still friends.”
A moment later, I was holding nothing but empty air in my fist. I lowered my arm, and began reflecting on the conversation I had just had. However, before I could figure out whether I had truly learned anything, my phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID and mentally groaned.
“Gray,” I said as I answered. “This can’t be a coincidence.”
Gray laughed. “You’re right about that, but you still don’t know Jack. That said, how’d you like to learn?”
Chapter 53
“A clone???!!!” I roared. “Are you kidding me?”
“Unfortunately not,” Gray replied. He was dressed, as usual, in a gray suit. I didn’t know his actual age, but he had iron-gray hair that gave me the impression that he was in his sixties. However, despite his apparent age, he wasn’t anyone that I would have considered feeble in any sense.
We were currently in the backseat of a chauffeured SUV, with a soundproof partition between us and the driver. After receiving Gray’s call, I had teleported back home – to a downtown intersection Gray had identified. When I popped up, he was already there in the SUV, waiting, and I had climbed in. He had then proceeded to inform me of why the fake Jim was less of a fake than I’d assumed.
“What’s wrong with you people?” I asked rhetorically. “Not only is it morally and ethically problematic, last time I checked, human cloning was illegal.”
“Murder’s illegal, too,” Gray countered. “Unless the right people give you the green
light – such as by, say, declaring war. Then you can blast the enemy to smithereens without anybody trying to slap cuffs on you. They might even give you a medal.”
“That’s different and you know it, but I concede your point. Some higher-up authorized this.”
“That’s usually how it happens.”
I rubbed my temples. “This is all I need right now. I’m already dealing with things most sixteen-year-olds don’t even think about.”
“Oh, yes – you’re engaged to a girl with money, beauty, personality, and powerful political connections. Must be torture…”
I gave him an evil look, but chose to stay on topic rather than respond to his barb.
“So why me?” I asked. “There are plenty of other supers out there who you could have cloned. Why single me out?”
Gray didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he just stared at me with a blank expression, and a moment later the truth dawned on me.
I let out a depressed sigh. “I’m not the only one, am I?”
Gray made a vague gesture in response. “You have to understand the position of the decision-makers. There are a number of supers out there with the ability to destroy this entire planet – or maybe just conquer it, if that’s what they decided to do. Something was needed to keep those individuals in check, should the occasion arise.”
“I get it,” I said with a nod. “Your enemy develops nuclear weapons, so you race to do the same thing.”
“Pretty much.”
“So what, you’ve got clones of every super growing in a lab somewhere?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Gray said, giving me a disparaging look. “Just those who might be considered a global threat.”
“So what does that mean – every member of the Alpha League except maybe Mouse?”
Gray snorted in derision. “Ha! Your friend Mouse is the most dangerous one of all.”
I had trouble hiding my surprise at this. He was absolutely brilliant, but as far as I could tell, Mouse didn’t have any discernable super powers.
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