by J L Ender
“What if we pretend we’re delivering a pizza?” Katrina asked.
“What? Wouldn’t they know they didn’t order a pizza?” I asked.
“Well, we could tell them we must have the wrong apartment,” she said.
“Not bad… that gets us to the door,” I said. “But it doesn’t get us inside.” I glanced at Katrina and Iron Wraith, the beginnings of a plan forming in my mind. “That gives me an idea, though. Does anyone know if there’s a thrift store nearby?”
- - -
The old lady walked up to the door, raised her hand, and knocked twice. When no one answered, she knocked two more times. Still no answer. She was about to knock again when the door swung open.
“What is it?” Sandman had the distracted look and sharp tone of someone interrupted in the middle of their evil plans. Evil bank robbing plans to steal more stupid junk, if I had to guess.
“Pardon me, young man, have you seen my cat?” the old lady asked. She had long, gray curls. She wore a flower print dress and leaned on a battered mahogany cane with a handle molded to resemble the glaring head of an eagle.
“Um… no.” The Sandman moved to close the door, but the old lady held out a wrinkled hand. Well, the hand wasn’t really wrinkled, just coated in makeup.
Iron Wraith and I were hiding behind the giant pot near the elevator, watching.
“Could I… come in for a minute?” Katrina asked in her best old lady voice. She’d had to practice it for nearly an hour to get it to the right level of scratchy and withered. We’d chosen Katrina for two reasons.
1. She was a girl
2. Sandman had never seen her before
I would have preferred to try myself, but I was worried that Sandman would more easily see through any disguise we might create for me.
“If I could just rest my weary bones for a minute,” Katrina continued, “I’d really appreciate it.”
“Sorry, I’m busy right now. Maybe one of my neighbors will let you sit on their couch.” He started to close the door again.
“Wait just a minute, young man!” Katrina cried, her normal voice slipping through a little bit as she grew frustrated. She stuck her leg out and the door bounced against her foot. “I— um— ow! Gosh, you banged my foot, you brute!”
“Ok, this is getting ridiculous,” Sandman said. He reached into a pocket and blew silver dust at Katrina. Nothing happened.
Unfazed and doing her best to maintain her old lady guise, Katrina slowly inspected the foot in question. “I think you broke my toe,” she sobbed, her old lady voice perfect again.
Was Katrina immune to Sandman’s dust? That was very interesting. We still hadn’t figured out why I wasn’t affected. Maybe it ran in the family?
“Alright, alright. Come in,” Sandman growled. He stepped out into the hall to usher my sister inside. When he did, he took a glance in both directions. Iron Wraith and I pressed ourselves against the wall and curled up as small as we could, so we couldn’t be seen. We stood when the door latched closed.
“So… now what?” Iron Wraith asked in a loud whisper.
“Now… we wait.”
- - -
We didn’t have to wait long.
Five minutes later, the door opened again. Old Lady Katrina hobbled out.
“Oh, thank you, son,” she said. “You’ve got a kind little soul, I can tell. Why—”
The door shut in Katrina’s face. She shrugged and ripped off her gray curls.
“Hey!” I hissed in a whisper. “Peephole!” If Sandman was watching her go, he would still be able to see her through the peephole in his door. I stood and began to approach her.
“What did you find out?” I was careful to keep my voice low.
“Probably nothing too useful,” Sandman said.
He’d opened his door and was standing there watching us.
“Quite the performance. You almost had me convinced till you resisted my sleeping dust.” He turned to smirk at me. “Only met one other person so far who could do that.” He waggled a finger between us. “Guessing you two are related? Isn’t that just adorable!”
“What are you up to?” I asked. Sneaking around wasn’t working. What did I have to lose by asking directly?
“Something amazing.” The smug look dropped off his face, and I heard something like awe in his voice. “You’ll just have to wait and see. Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.” He sighed. “Knowing what I know about you, I’m guessing you and your uh… sister?” He glanced between us. “You’ll have a front row seat. But I can’t have you meddling anymore. That’s why I called Elephant Butt to come up here and escort you out.”
The hall was quiet for a moment. “You shouldn’t say ‘B-U-T-T,” Katrina said, breaking the silence.
“Ok, you’re right!” Sandman rolled his eyes and smirked. “I’m sorry. Elephant Bottom. Is that better?” The elevator dinged. Everyone turned to stare at the doors as they slid open.
A very large boy stepped off. He looked a little like the monster we’d fought the other night.
So… not a bluff.
“Hey, Elephant Bottom! Time to take the trash out!” Sandman cackled in laughter and closed his door. The deadbolt locked with a decisive click.
Iron Wraith tightened and relaxed his fists. He hadn’t said a word during the whole exchange.
“We doing this the easy way?” As Elephant Boy spoke, his skin grayed and his ears stretched, then returned to normal. Tusks sprouted from his mouth then shrank back. “Or the hard way?”
“We’ll go,” I said. There was no point in pushing a fight now. If Elephant Boy cut loose here, innocent people might have their homes destroyed.
“Shame.” Elephant Boy grinned, mouth full of thick, elephant-y teeth. “I was hoping we could have some fun.”
“I’m up for some fun.” Iron Wraith’s fists were still clenching and unclenching.
“I think we’re going to take a fun elevator ride downstairs,” I cut in. “And ride it to the fun outdoors.”
“Sounds good to me!” Katrina’s voice wavered, betraying her nerves.
“Alright then.” Elephant Boy waved a hand at the elevator. “After you guys.”
Since that day, I have at various times ridden in an elevator with space aliens, a monster sandwich with sharp teeth, and an older version of myself from the future, but at the time, that ride down was by far the most awkward, tense elevator trip of my life. Elephant Boy watched us carefully the entire way, waiting for one of us to slip up so he would have an excuse to start a fight. I could tell he was itching for a rematch. He would get one, but not just then.
We stepped out of Sandman’s building, once more leaving with an air of defeat. Elephant Boy leaned against the wall next to the door, no doubt wanting to make sure we stayed away.
“Did you see anything new?” I asked Katrina when we were out of earshot of Sandman’s henchman. Henchboy?
“Nothing Iron Wraith didn’t tell us about.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“It’s ok,” I said.
“Well, I didn’t see any brass junk. Is that something?”
I nodded. “I’m not sure what that might mean, though.”
“I’ll be on patrol tonight,” Iron Wraith said. “If Sandman gets up to anything, I’ll find out about it.”
I nodded. It would be reacting again. So far, all we’d done was react. Our efforts at being proactive had ended in failure. We still didn’t know what the Sandman was up to. He hadn’t hurt anyone yet— that we knew of at least— but we couldn’t know if that would last. He was robbing banks for a reason, and he was threatening violence on the people (us) who were trying to figure out what he was scheming. Those were strong signs he was planning something bigger, something far worse than petty theft and fighting.
We had failed to get ahead of the game.
I could only hope we wouldn’t be too far behind when Sandman’s plans unfolded and the real trouble began.
Chapter 13
I wo
ke up late.
I groaned and rolled over, grabbing my alarm clock and squinting to read the ordinarily vivid green numbers.
Blank.
Was there a blackout?
I noticed then that not only was the room dark and the clock off, but the city outside was black and quiet. No rattle of trains, no rumble of cars and taxis. I grabbed my watch. It was 3:17 a.m. Any minute, the late night train should roar past. It often woke me around this time of the night.
I lay in bed and waited.
Nothing.
I got up and started to get dressed. I had overslept by over half an hour. We were supposed to meet Iron Wraith and find out what, if anything, he’d learned.
All of this had a distinct air of not good.
When I opened my closet to grab a fresh shirt, my armor was there waiting for me. I didn’t hesitate. Somehow I knew I was going to need it. The deep quiet of the city outside seemed to suggest more than a simple blackout. I put on everything but my helmet and moved as lightly as I could to Katrina’s room.
She was asleep, sprawled out on her bed with her covers kicked into an awkward tangle hanging halfway off the bed. I walked a few feet into the room and then slipped on a magazine that had been left on the floor. The next thing I knew, I had fallen to the ground with a bang so tremendous I was sure the whole building must have heard it.
Falling in a high-tech armor suit is loud.
Like…
CRAZY LOUD.
Katrina shot up in bed and clapped a hand over her mouth. I pushed myself up to a sitting position. We both froze like that, listening. Any second, Mom would come in, and she would see me wearing my armor.
But… nothing happened.
I started to stand. Still nothing.
“We need to go,” I whispered. “Get dressed.”
Katrina nodded, rubbing at her eyes. I stepped back out into the hall, then decided to check on Mom. It seemed a little odd that she hadn’t woken up and I wanted to make sure she was okay before we left. I crept down to her room and peeked inside. She was sleeping peacefully in her bed, mouth hanging slightly open. One arm dangled over the edge of the bed, fingertips almost brushing the floor. Apparently she was fine, just sleeping like a rock. I wouldn’t have minded being able to sleep that deeply. Even with the little extra sleep I’d gotten missing my alarm, I was feeling the effects of not getting enough rest the last several nights.
As we emerged onto the street, it became even more obvious that something was wrong. Cars were stopped in the middle of the street, and people lay around here and there. Some were slumped on benches or at bus stops, others were just lying on the sidewalk.
Asleep.
We tried to rouse an older man sprawled face up on the sidewalk just outside our building. I shook him, I called out. Nothing. He didn’t look hurt. In fact, he seemed… content. As though he were having a good dream.
We kept walking and we found more of the same everywhere we went.
The city had fallen asleep.
Everyone, everywhere, seemed to be sleeping. It was as though the world had been put on pause, like one of Iron Wraith’s video games. Traffic was stopped. Shops were open with lights shining bright, but the workers inside were sleeping sprawled out on the countertops. Whatever had knocked out power to my street hadn't effected the rest of town.
We made our way down the now familiar route to Sandman’s apartment building. Iron Wraith wasn’t answering his cell phone. This in and of itself wasn’t necessarily alarming; he was always terrible about answering his phone.
Along the way, we continued to encounter scenes of a world gone to sleep. A few cars had wrecked, but most were just stopped. Lights were still turning from red to green but most cars were sitting at intersections as though the change had never come.
I sneezed as we stepped onto Sandman’s street. My nose had been twitching since we’d left home. Katrina had already sneezed several times, and now I had apparently decided to join in. I looked up at a streetlight above and noticed that there was something glittery in the air.
I kept squinting at the sky and finally realized what it was.
Silver dust.
Exactly like what the Sandman used to make people fall asleep.
Not good.
We found Iron Wraith near Sandman’s building. He wasn’t hard to spot. He must have been running when the Sandman’s dust got to him. He’d stopped so suddenly that he’d crashed right through a postal box. The blue metal had folded around him. Envelopes were flying everywhere, fluttering on the wind. One small envelope hit me in the face as we stood there, staring in surprise. Iron Wraith was no longer metal; his powers must have protected him just long enough for him to come to a half.
I darted forward to check on our friend. His chest was moving with slow, even breaths. He was ok, just asleep. I shook him and called his name, but it was no use. This attack was much stronger than what the Sandman was usually capable of.
“Marcus!” I tried one last time. I looked up at Katrina, who was watching us and biting her lip anxiously. “It’s no good,” I told her. “He won’t wake up.”
“We should move,” she said.
I nodded. I lowered Iron Wraith’s head to the ground as gently as I could. I took the cell phone out of his pocket and stood up. We might need this, I thought. Certainly more than Iron Wraith would.
I slid my helmet on and looked up at Sandman’s building. Seeing what happened to Iron Wraith had made me realize something. My mom wasn’t just sleeping. She wouldn’t be able to wake up, either. The world was truly asleep. My friends… and my family.
We needed answers. One way or another, we were getting into that apartment. We’d let Sandman scare us off before, but this time, I wasn’t taking any kind of no for an answer.
I couldn’t afford to.
- - -
Katrina and I stepped out into the musty hall together. It was empty save for that same sad, giant planter next to the elevator. It occurred to me that in the three times we’d been here, we’d never actually seen anyone other than Sandman, Elephant Boy, and the mystery kid in the hospital bed.
I walked right up to Sandman’s door. After staring at the faded wood and the glass of the little peephole, I decided to try something new. I glanced at Katrina, who had been watching me watch the closed door. “Stay behind me,” I told her.
I raised a foot and kicked the door as hard as I could.
It banged open, wooden splinters flying. Some of the locks broke away from the wall, some broke away from the door. The end result was what mattered to me, though. An open doorway.
I strode inside, tensed and ready for a fight.
Nothing. The apartment was empty. There was a filthy kitchen to the right as we stepped inside, and a living room straight ahead. A hospital bed, an old TV, and a worn orange and brown recliner occupied most of the latter. The piles of brass I’d been told about were gone. There was a hallway to the right as we entered the living area. Bedrooms, I assumed.
A large window by the TV had been left open. Curtains waved in the night breeze. A little golden man stood on the windowsill watching us. As soon as my gaze landed on the figure, it turned and leapt out the window, tearing the screen as it went through.
“Um… was that…?” Katrina asked, her voice trailing off.
“Yeah, I think it was.” I ran to the window and looked at the ground, half expecting to see gold-colored splatter where the strange little man had fallen. No such luck. It was running like mad across the street.
“We need to get down there and go after that thing,” I said. I handed Katrina Iron Wraith’s phone. “I’ll call you,” I said.
Before she could ask why I would need to call her, and more importantly, before I could second-guess my terrible decision, I jumped out the window.
Chapter 14
I landed lightly, now practiced enough with my jet boots to not crash myself into the street or the sidewalk or anything else. I was tempted to pump my fists as I lande
d, but I knew that any celebration at improving with my suit needed to wait. The little golden man was getting away.
As my feet gently bumped against pavement, I barely caught sight of a flash of bright yellow as it slipped around a corner. I ran as hard as I could after it. I wanted to glance up, to see if Katrina was still up there, watching me and staring through what was now a very large hole in the window screen, but I needed to focus. My little sister would be okay. Even on a normal night, she wouldn’t have had much to worry about, with her karate skills and the adults’ tendency to leave kids alone.
