And I highly doubted we were going to find Samantha in London.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got my eye on her,” a voice behind me said, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.
I looked up and saw no-one in the mirror. I turned around, and standing in front of the door, was Athena. “What are you doing here?” I asked. I looked at her and back at the mirror. Her reflection still hadn’t appeared. “Are you a vampire or something?”
Athena let out a beautiful, warm laugh. The kind that made me feel proud, as if I’d just told my parent a joke that I came up with, and they were genuinely laughing at it. “No, Kane, of course not,” she said. Her tan skin was flawless. I began to wonder how old she was. She looked like she couldn’t have been any older than forty.
“How come you’re not in the mirror?” I asked.
“It’s taking quite a lot out of me to appear to you in a vision like this. I can’t waste unnecessary strength by making sure I show up in a reflection,” she said with a chuckle.
“So this is all in my head?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m appearing in your mind. I could hear that you were thinking about Samantha. Don’t worry, I’ve got an eye on her. She’s fine,” Athena said. I could tell she knew more than she was letting on, but I also knew that there was no way she was telling me what that was.
“Well, we’re in London like you asked. What now?” I asked, leaning back against the bathroom counter.
“Yes, you’re doing excellent so far, Kane. You’re living up to our deal.” Athena took a step towards me. “I just wanted to let you know that you need to be careful,” she said.
“Careful?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “About what?”
“Careful that you don’t lose sight of what I want you to do. You’re constantly worrying about Samantha, I need you to not worry so much about her. Don’t let her get in the way of doing what I ask of you.”
I didn’t like what Athena was saying. She wanted me to not worry about my best friend that was missing? What kind of request was that? “I’m sorry,” I said. “I want to do what you’re asking of me. I want to live up to the deal that we made. But I can’t just not worry about my friend.”
Athena smiled. “That’s one of the things I love about you, Kane. The care and compassion you show for your friends is astounding. But don’t be too trusting. After all, if you put all your trust in someone, they’re bound to let you down.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Athena smirked. “Just be careful, Kane. Stay on guard, even when you’re amongst friends. You never know when there’s a wolf amongst you.”
I shook my head. “Was your goal in coming here to confuse me? Because you’re not making a lot of sense right now.”
Athena’s form flickered, and I thought I heard someone calling my name. “I think I hear someone calling for me, I should go see who it is.”
“Yes, I must be going as well. My energy is waning. I can’t keep this form up for much longer.”
I was about to walk away, when something came to mind. “Oh, before you go,” I said, stopping Athena. “Who was it that took control of me the other night? Right after you got taken away, I saw a man with green eyes, and when I woke up mine were glowing white and I had no control over my body.”
Athena’s gaze went cold. “Do not fret, Kane. I am taking care of that situation as we speak. You just worry about getting rid of Jigsaw and his gang. Once that’s complete, I will tell you exactly what you need to do in order to repay your debts.”
With that, Athena disappeared, and I was left alone in my bathroom. I shook my head and scoffed with frustration. What was the point in Athena even appearing? All she did was talk nonsense for a few minutes, tell me I shouldn’t care so much about Samantha, then only leave two seconds for me to ask about what the hell even happened a couple nights ago.
I walked out of the bathroom and to the front door, opening it up to see who was calling my name earlier. I saw Selena walking away, and called out to her. “Hey, were you calling for me?” I asked.
Selena turned around and shook her head. “No, I was walking to try and find something to eat.”
“Oh, I’ll come with you,” I said as I walked out of my room, locking the door behind me. Selena stood there and waited for me to jog to her side.
We walked down the hallway, neither one of us speaking. We really didn’t have the chance to in the past couple of days, even when we flew from London to Texas and back to get our luggage. I just couldn’t find the right place to start.
We turned left down another hallway. This was a short one that led to a large open area where people were sitting at various booths and tables, looking at papers or chatting to one another over a cup of coffee.
“Looks like there’s a cafe over there,” I said, pointing to a small coffee shop and cafe that had a small line leading from the cash register. We walked over and stood in line, waiting for our turn to order.
“This feels so weird,” she said, breaking the silence.
“What does?” I asked.
“This,” she said, gesturing in front of her. “A line. Standing in it. Trying to decide what food I want to order. It feels so…normal.”
I hadn’t thought about it, but now that she mentioned, a strange feeling washed over me. Almost nostalgic, really. She was right, it did feel very, very weird. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m used to eating food we find scavenging, or when Drew goes out hunting.”
“He’s a really good hunter,” Selena said with a smirk.
“Yeah, he’s not that bad. He used to come over to my parent’s farm all the time and hunt coyotes on the land behind our house. I’d go sometimes, but it never really was my thing.”
“I don’t blame you,” Selena said as we stepped forward in line. “Hunting was a huge deal where I grew up in Texas. I never really got into it.”
We stood there for a few moments. I wasn’t sure what to say next. I knew what I needed to, and I knew what she wanted me to, but I wasn’t sure how to do it. I’m not sure why I was expecting Selena to get mad. I mean, why would someone get mad at an apology? I guess it was just my guilt and shame getting in the way of what I needed to do.
Finally, I just blurted it out. “Look, about the other ni—”
“—Kane,” Selena said, interrupting me. “I get it. You weren’t in control. It wasn’t you. I understand. I was just really pissed off because you messed up the house, you were hurting Drew and Eddie, and you were hitting me. My adrenaline was still running high by the time you woke up, and when you turned out to be okay, I needed an outlet for my emotions. So that’s why I was being so stand-offish towards you. But I get it. I know that wasn’t you.”
I didn’t know what to say. After all that time I thought she was being pissed off and avoiding me, when really she understood what I was going through. “Well, thanks for understanding. And I totally deserved anything you dished out at me, so it’s totally fine.”
A smirk appeared on Selena’s face as we stepped forward in line. “That was a pretty good fight though. I think it’s safe to say I was winning it.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, right. I was about to stick you with that fence post, and that probably would’ve been the end of that one. That hurt like hell, by the way. I couldn’t heal properly with that thing skewering me.”
Selena let out a laugh. “Good! You deserved it, asshole.”
It was our turn to order, and we both got a sandwich and a water. When it came time to pay, however, we both realized that we didn’t actually have any money. Paying for things with cash was a concept we’d abandoned surprisingly quick.
“Don’t worry about it, you guys have done plenty of good,” the young lady cashier said, her accent thick and voice quiet.
“Thanks,” I said.
“We appreciate it,” Selena followed.
We both found a booth to sit in and began eating our food.
“Did you see what some of the s
oldiers are carrying around?” Selena asked.
I shook my head as I chewed my sandwich.
“They’ve got a ton of Eximus rifles.”
“Really?” I said, shocked. “How’d they get their hands on Eximus gear? Did The Legion bring it over?”
Selena shook her head. “Drew was talking to Ellie about possibly getting his Eximus implants removed, and she said that they’ve gotten a bunch of gear from the STF, so their scientists know a lot about the stuff and think it might be possible.”
I didn’t know what to say. There were so many topics I wanted to know more about. “So Drew is really thinking about getting his implants removed? Why?”
“I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it came from people that want all of his friends dead. Besides, who knows what kind of health effects that stuff has.”
“Well, I hope they can remove them if that’s what he really wants,” I said. “But that’s strange that The STF is sending gear. You’d think they wouldn’t want to help a government who has Supers as a part of their arsenal.”
Selena nodded, taking a sip of water. “Yeah, it’s kinda strange. At least we know that they’re still around and active. Apparently, even have operating boats and planes if they were able to get gear over here.”
“Which means that if they’re still active enough to be doing stuff like that, then their bases are still safe, which hopefully means my parents are as well,” I said, staring down at my plate. A pit appeared in my stomach, swallowing my appetite. I didn’t want to think about what my parents could be going through at that moment. They could either be perfectly fine, or doing really, really bad, and I had no way to find out.
“Kane and Selena, please report to Ellie Montgomery’s office immediately,” a voice said over the speaker.
Selena and I exchanged a glance as we stood from our booth, and walked down the hall towards Ellie’s office.
17
THE LIBRARY
We stepped into Ellie’s office that was only a little bit wider than her desk. The place was crammed, as Drew, Avery, and Ellie were already in there, with Avery behind her desk and the other two sitting in chairs across from her. With me and Selena, it was packed in pretty tight.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“We’ve received reports of Jigsaw and some of his soldiers being seen entering a nearby library,” Ellie said. “We’re going to check it out, and maybe even put an end to this.”
“That sounds good to me,” Drew said, clapping his hands together.
“First off, however, we need a plan,” Avery said. “Avery, you’ll use your invisibility to get close and listen in to anything you might hear that’ll help us figure out anything we can about them and what they’re doing here.”
Avery nodded her head, a smile breaking across her face. “I think I can handle that.”
“Good. You’ll be given a set of Eximus handcuffs to use and detain as many people as you can. Don’t accidentally set them off while you’re holding them.” Ellie’s gaze shifted from Avery to the rest of us. “That goes for all of you. We don’t want anybody to go down in the middle of this.” She looked up at Selena and I. “The two of you will be with me. We will wait for Ellie’s signal, and then we’ll attack, trying to take as many Supers as we can in custody.” Ellie looked at me. “Kane, we’re going to let you handle taking down Jigsaw. You have the most experience with these sorts of things. If you need help though, let us know and we’ll try our best to get to you.”
I chuckled. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn pretty quick this isn’t a one man show.”
Ellie ignored my comment and turned her attention to Drew. “You’ll be given an Eximus rifle. Your job is to shoot as many Supers as you can—that aren’t us of course. Stay a safe distance away, though. We don’t want to have to babysit you,” Ellie said with a smile, knowing she was pushing a button.
Drew’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to worry about any babysitting.”
Ellie paid no attention to him, and stood from her seat. “Alright, if you’ll all follow me, we’ll get out there. Let’s be quick about it too, we don’t know how long Jigsaw is going to stay.
****
We landed in front of the towering library that looked like it could’ve come straight from a fantasy novel. The outside was intricately carved with various designs depicting Britain’s history.
“So do we just walk in the front door and hope they don’t see us?” Drew asked.
“I’ll walk through the front door,” Avery said with a smirk. She suddenly turned invisible, and despite all the things I’d seen and done, was still taken aback. “But they aren’t going to see me.”
We could hear her bound up the steps to the front door of the library. They were probably the loudest thing around, since the streets were absolutely empty. There weren’t even any cars out now, and there definitely wasn’t anybody walking around. The sky was overcast and a cold breeze nipped at me. I wore a light jacket, and stood bouncing up and down waiting anxiously for Avery’s return.
A few minutes later, the large brass front doors to the library swung open seemingly on their own. Avery became visible as she leaned out of the doorway. She waved for us to come on, and so we ran up the steps.
Drew’s gear banged up and down on his back, and the handcuffs attached to our pants jiggled around. I was nervous about using them, seeing as we weren’t really shown, only told as they were shoved into our hands. We didn’t really get the chance for a demonstration, but as far as I was aware, once they were clicked on there was a three second delay before they activated so that you’d have a chance to get your hands away before the Eximus energy began flowing.
We reached the top step, and Avery held the door open for us as we entered the library. The place was dark, and the smell of old books assaulted my nose. It took everything I had in me not to go into a sneezing fit. A dull light came in from the windows around the tall ceiling, and among the walls.
“Stay here,” Avery said. “Keep an eye out while I go look ahead.”
We nodded as Avery turned invisible once again and went off searching for the location of Jigsaw and his men.
I sighed in frustration. I wanted to hurry up and get out there, start taking care of business. My adrenaline was pumping, ready to go. But yet, I had to sit here and wait. I guessed this was how things were going to go. Avery moves forward, we follow, she moves forward, we follow again. Over and over again until we found out where Jigsaw was. If it were up to me, I would’ve just flown around until I saw them, and then we all would’ve started kicking their ass. But kicking ass wasn’t the only part of this mission. Ellie and her superiors needed information. They needed to know exactly what Jigsaw’s plans were. And Avery being amongst them invisible, listening in to their conversations was our best chance.
“Is this how it usually goes?” I whispered to Ellie. “Do they normally attack libraries?”
Ellie shrugged. “Not really. It’s pretty random. I’m surprised they didn’t make more of a ruckus when they were coming in. The way they’re trying to be sneaky about whatever this one is, it makes me anxious.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely strange. I’ve never known The Legion to be subtle,” I said.
We stood there in silence for a few more moments before Avery came back. “Okay, they’re on the third floor,” she said, pointing up to the third floor balcony. The ceiling in the middle of the library went all the way up to the roof, but along the way in rings were different floors. I counted six of them in total. “They’re towards the back it sounds like, and they’re searching through a bunch of books. I’m going to go back up and listen in. You guys can go ahead and get in position though.”
Ellie nodded and turned to us. “Alright,” she whispered. “Selena, Kane, the three of us are going to fly up and be waiting on the fourth floor on the opposite side of the library. We’ll be watching as best we can from there, waiting for Avery’s s
ignal.” She turned to Drew. “You go up and wait on the third floor. Avery will find a good vantage point for you. Wait there, and when you see the three of us move in to attack, you start shooting.”
Drew nodded his head, tapping on the Eximus blaster that slung across his chest.
“Alright, let’s get in positions.”
Avery, Selena, and myself all flew up to the third floor fast enough to not be seen, just in case any of the people with Jigsaw were looking out across the balcony. We hunched down behind the balcony wall, peaking our heads over to watch the scene unfold.
After about thirty seconds, I saw Drew appear from the stairwell, led by—I assumed—an invisible Avery. He got into position behind a bookshelf diagonal from where Jigsaw and his crew were going about their business.
It was hard to see back into the third floor thanks to the harsh angle we had, but from what I could see, the sight was both amusing and confusing. A bunch of hardened members of The Legion of Richter, with god-knows-what type of powers, were standing around, flipping through a bunch of books. I couldn’t understand why they were, but I knew there had to be a reason. Hopefully in the small amount of time she had to listen in to their conversation, Avery would be able to find out.
After just a minute or two of sitting there, anxiously watching, I saw the closest Super’s, to the edge of the balcony, hands go behind his back.
“What th—” he began to say, but then the Eximus cuffs activated, and he fell to the ground, convulsing.
“I think that’s our signal,” Selena said.
“About time,” I said as I jumped off the fourth floor balcony, and flew into action.
18
JIGSAW’S SUMMER READING PROGRAM
The Secret of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 4) Page 7
