I shook my head and pulled my new friends closer, out of sight from any passersby on the dock. We stood so closely, I could feel the puffs of air from Akiko’s heavy breathing and smell Mae’s soapy fragrance. I caught the electrical thrumming now too, only faintly.
Then, the moment our shoulders pressed in tight to form a sort of triangle, the crackling current suddenly grew louder. I knew Mae and Akiko heard it too, because their eyes bulged in surprise.
“I don’t think it was just the costume pieces that gave us our strength yesterday,” I said, trying to be heard over the pulsing in our ears. “When it happened, I think there were other things too.”
“Was it my Hauntima bag? Do you think it’s magical? Like it has powers that can make us transform?” croaked Akiko. She raised her bag’s wide strap in the middle of our triangle and began chanting. “Oh, magic bag—”
Mae rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t your bag stuffed with junk!” she said, grabbing hold of Akiko’s hand and letting the bag drop. “It was us. Like we talked about before—the three of us.”
“Three to one,” I added like a countdown. “Somehow connecting to each other and to the superheroes.”
I reached in and clasped their hands, all of our fingers intertwining like the roots of a tree. Suddenly the familiar rush from yesterday whooshed in my ears, and the crackling electricity jolted through my body. The wind kicked up, lifting our hair, though it wasn’t the hurricane we felt yesterday.
“But we’re not transforming!” shouted Akiko. “Why isn’t it happening this time?”
“It’s not strong enough,” answered Mae, though I could hardly hear her. “We’re missing something.” She flung one arm over my shoulder while her other clung to Akiko’s hand and my own in the center of our triangle. Akiko and I did the same.
“Speak up,” I shouted. “Say something that connects us to the superheroes!”
“Seriously?” asked Mae. “Josie, that doesn’t seem—”
“My mask!” Akiko blurted. “I want to protect innocent people like Hopscotch in her awesome mask! And like Hauntima with all her powers!”
And suddenly a faint beam of golden light shot into the air from our clasped hands. The thrumming was louder than ever, and the same electrical surge I’d felt back at the Carson Building rushed through my body.
“Your turn now, Mae!” hollered Akiko. “Go!”
“Those boots!” she called. “I want to wear those boots again so I can fight for justice like Nova the Sunchaser and the Palomino!”
The light grew more dazzling, shooting higher into the air as the wind kicked up. Our hair whipped in all directions now, and from what I could tell of Akiko and Mae, the electrical charge was pulsing through their veins too.
“And I want to wear the cape again,” I hollered, “and do good like brave and bold Zenobia!”
In a flash, the golden light burst brighter than before and began to spin faster and faster until it was swirling around us. I had to squint as the wind funneled up like a tornado, whipping our hair, our clothes, even our shouts. I felt our bodies lift off the ground just like yesterday, and we hovered suspended in the air a few feet above the dock. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the pulsing in my ears nearly deafening, suddenly I saw a burst of green, then violet, then orange.
And when we fell apart from one another, we tumbled backward and collapsed onto the dock, transformed.
“We did it.” Akiko wheezed as she propped herself up on her elbows. “I can’t believe you were right!”
“Thanks for the boost of confidence,” I replied. “I can’t believe you’re orange!”
Akiko’s fiery orange cape blazed brightly against the drab gray of the shipyard, and Mae’s shimmering purple one snapped in the wind like the flags on the battleship behind us. As I scrambled to my feet, I grabbed hold of the emerald cape that fell from my shoulders and ran my hands over its silky material.
I kicked out a foot and gazed down at my incredible green boots. Again, we were clad in the same black bodysuits as yesterday, our masks and boots matching our magnificent capes.
“We can do this,” I whispered, turning to Mae and Akiko. But really, I said those words to convince myself. My hands were trembling as I thought of Emmett. Who would be next? Kay? And what about Mam and my brothers? I’d keep Toby Hunter away from them, no matter the cost.
“The time to act is now,” agreed Akiko, her voice low and serious.
“We can’t wait for one more person to get hurt,” added Mae.
Throwing my arms above my head, I leapt into the air. It wasn’t as graceful as diving into a pool, but who cared? The wind lifted my cape and my body, and I was flying again. It was the best feeling in the world, and I could hear Mae and Akiko soaring with me on either side.
“Those dynamite-stuffed rats may be dead, but they sure tell us a lot,” I shouted. “Mr. Hissler and the Duke must be planning to carry out their terrible scheme!”
“But how can we find them in a crowd this big?” wondered Akiko. “It’s nearly impossible to tell one person from the next up here.”
Mae pointed to the clock tower we’d passed as we came in. “It’s nearly one o’clock,” she warned. “We only have a few minutes to stop them, Josie!”
“Don’t use her name,” shouted Akiko. “Nobody can know our true identities. It’s too dangerous—for us and for our families!”
“Now we’re really like the superheroes.” I grinned. “Just think of Zenobia and the Palomino. Nobody ever found out their real identities either!”
Suddenly the crowd below us erupted into shouting. From where we flew above them, we could see the commotion. Along the edge of the pier closest to the battleship, three different men were spilling canisters of a clear liquid.
“That must be gasoline,” Akiko said. “I bet they’re going to light a match and set it on fire.”
Mae’s voice was full of outrage. “And the flames will race to where the dead rats are waiting. With all the dynamite stuffed inside them, those rats are going to explode!”
“This whole place is going to be blown to bits!” I said frantically. “What should we do? Where do we begin?”
“Remember what I told you,” came an eerie voice. “Whatever strength you need dwells within you.”
It was Hauntima—or rather her ghost form! Thank goodness she was back!
“This villain is so vile,” Hauntima said angrily. “He wants to harm hundreds of innocents! We must stop him.
“Hauntima wills it!”
I circled closer around her form, feeling suddenly both inspired and a little scared at the sight of her angry skulled face. “If I concentrate hard enough,” I said haltingly, “do you think my power of telekinesis might be able to knock the gas cans from their hands?”
Hauntima nodded her approval, then turned to Mae.
“Scan the crowd,” she said, her expression angry. “Use your telepathy power to find the fiend!”
“Right,” Mae answered, “then maybe I can catch their thoughts and find out what else they’re plotting to do!”
And finally, Hauntima gazed over at Akiko. “The stuffed rats,” she began spookily, pointing with one nearly transparent arm. “Can you think of something to transform into? Something that will knock them into the wa—”
But Akiko was too eager to find out more about Hauntima to focus on the current danger. She fired off questions like she was a newspaper reporter.
“Why are you a ghost? Where have you been since you disappeared? Where are the other missing superheroes?”
I wanted answers too, but this was no time for an interview. We needed to act!
“Hey, Orange!” I hollered in Akiko’s direction, careful not to say her name. “Get moving already, would ya? Leave the chitchat for later!”
Mae, Akiko, and I took off in different directions. I hovered in the air above the battleship and studied the ramps leading on board. I tried to push the panicky fear about Mam and my brothers asi
de. But thoughts of Emmett in Mr. Hissler’s clutches made me nearly dizzy with worry. Focusing my mind on the gas canisters, I counted them—one, two, three. I flicked my head to the side—once, twice, three times. But instead of popping out of the bad guys’ hands, the canisters just knocked into their noses.
“Ouch!” I heard one of them holler to another lunkhead. “What’d you that for?”
I flew a quick circle, then hovered over them again. I focused my eyes on those gasoline cans, this time using all my powers of concentration. Again I flicked my head—once, twice, three times. I heard three loud bangs and saw the metal canisters crash to the ground behind them.
I punched a fist into the air. It felt good to finally be useful!
Thirty
WE FLEW OVER THE CITY for what must have been hours, searching for Akiko down every street, sidewalk, and alley we could find. Each time we spotted even a hint of orange below us, Mae and I swooped closer to investigate.
“She must be unconscious,” Mae said, “or else I’d be able to use telepathy to read her mind and learn what’s happening.”
“The Hisser must have whisked her away to his hiding spot,” I said, feeling heavy with worry. “We’ve got to figure out where that is. I bet he’s locked up Emmett there too!”
I was mindful of the sun dipping below the horizon to our right. With the war on, the city was under a blackout order. Businesses, homes, streets—everyone had to turn out their lights for the night. With each passing minute, our chances of finding Akiko—and Emmett—were slipping away.
“And we’ve got to find the Hisser before he strikes again,” Mae said, her usually upbeat voice replaced by a quiet sadness. “He could be anywhere.”
We flew on in silence, the only sounds the wind whipping in our ears and our capes snapping behind us.
“Let’s go over it all one more time,” I began, though I could tell Mae was growing frustrated. “Where else would the Hisser plan to strike? We’ve flown past the ammunition factory three times, past Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell twice, and we’ve even checked on the battleship again. There’s no sign of the Hisser or the Duke.”
“At least your cousin Kay’s building has been quiet,” Mae added, “all four times we checked on it. I don’t think the Hisser knows about Project PX and what the human computers are doing there. At least not yet.”
I thought about that blond woman Ursula, whom we’d seen with the Duke. What secrets had she already spilled? And what had they both passed along to the Hisser?
My heart was in my throat, making it hard to speak anymore. There was evil moving about the city, evil that could hurt hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives—including the people I loved.
And we had no idea how to stop it.
Where was Mrs. B when we needed her? And why did Hauntima have to leave us? I tried to work out the answers on my own, but I was growing angrier by the minute. We were just kids! We could use some help from real superheroes like Hopscotch or Nova the Sunchaser, not just some ghost. Where was Zenobia? And her sister, the Palomino?
Had they all abandoned us? Had they really quit?
“Come on,” I said, adjusting my mask and plunging toward the rooftop of a building below. “Let’s go back to my apartment before our arms fall off. We need to sit down and think things through.”
Mae agreed, saying she’d never felt more tired. “But I know I won’t sleep tonight. Not when we need to solve the most important puzzle of our lives.”
We landed on the roof of my building and transformed back to our usual selves in the snap of a finger. Slipping down the fire escape, we managed to climb through an open window and into the kitchen of my apartment without getting caught.
The radio was playing as Mam emerged from the bathroom, tying a scarf around her hair. She greeted us as she passed by, rushing to get ready before heading off to another night shift at the shipyard factory.
“I didn’t hear you girls come in,” she said, throwing a curious look at the usually squeaky apartment door. But thankfully, she was too busy to ask questions, focusing instead on the clutter we kids had left everywhere. “Where’s your friend? The sniffly one?”
“Akiko?” I asked, trying to sound cheerful though my heart was breaking. I winced at the thought of her out there in the city somewhere, like Emmett, in the clutches of the horrible Hisser. “She couldn’t come—she got held up a bit. But I was hoping Mae here could spend the night again. We’re making real progress on that puzzler research.
“If it’s okay with Mae’s grandmother, can she stay?”
Mam gave me a questioning look.
“Let’s go down and call her together, shall we?” she asked. “Boys, I’m making a telephone call downstairs at the phone booth in Mr. Hunter’s barbershop. I’ll be right back.”
Mae and I trailed after Mam, making silent faces and wild gestures about what Granny Crumpler would say when she heard from my mother. Mae tugged on her curls, whispering that a loud “NO!” was coming. I held out hope that my mother might win her over. What else could we do?
While Mam stood in the telephone booth and talked to Mae’s granny, Mae and I found ourselves face-to-face with the horrible Toby Hunter’s equally horrible father. He was a whiskered version of his bullying son. Mr. Hunter ran his barbershop on the first floor and lived above it in the apartment on the second floor, right below ours.
“Haven’t seen you in a while, Miss O’Malley,” he said, and I knew he called me that because he couldn’t remember my first name. “But I’ve heard a good deal of you. You walk like an elephant. You and your mother and your brothers, too. A whole pride of elephants.”
“Herd,” said Mae softly. “Sir. Lions travel in a pride, elephants in a herd, hummingbirds in a charm.”
Mr. Hunter glared at us.
“My son knows all that,” he began. “He’s the smartest kid in his class. Toughest, too, like his old man.”
Immediately my mind jumped to Toby, his team of bullies, and the stolen bikes. I winked at Mae and started a new conversation, making sure my voice was loud enough for Mr. Hunter to catch every word.
“Oh, Mae, did you hear? They’ve got extra patrolmen out to catch those bike thieves. Seems the chief of police’s kids had their bikes stolen just last week. Can you imagine the trouble somebody’s going to face when they get caught with all those stolen bicycles?”
“It’s never a good idea to steal from the police, is it?” said Mae with a nervous chuckle. “That doesn’t sound too bright.”
I peeked over at Mr. Hunter, who was staring at me and cleaning his scissors. I wasn’t sure exactly what my plan was to get Toby to return my brothers’ bikes, but I figured it probably took big talk to intimidate a bully.
Suddenly Mam was pushing out of the phone booth and beaming at Mae. “Your delightful grandmother says yes,” she said. “And she knows my dear friend Millie, who’s a librarian across town. What a small world.”
As we climbed back up the stairs, Mam was saying something about Spam hash for dinner and bedtimes for the boys. I could barely focus on any of it. My thoughts were on Akiko and Emmett and where they would sleep tonight.
“Pardon me, Mrs. O’Malley,” said Mae, timidly taking a step forward. “I apologize for being so bold. But we were hoping to visit with Cousin Kay. Do you happen to know what time she’s coming home?”
Mam smiled and shook her head, stepping into our apartment. “I’d love to catch up with Kay myself, dear. But I don’t think we’ll see much of her this week. She said something about a new project she’s been placed on. Called it important, I think.”
Project PX.
Mae and I looked at each other knowingly.
“Two things before I go,” Mam said, taking both my hands in hers. “First is that the boys and I saw the most remarkable thing today at the shipyard—we were at the dedication ceremony for the new battleship. And three superheroes were fighting with what seemed to be a supervillain, a real viper. It’s been ye
ars! Your brothers can tell you about it. But, Josie”—and she looked deep into my eyes with that familiar sadness—“that terrible viper. I can’t bear to think of any harm coming to you or the boys. Please. Be safe. No trouble.”
And she kissed my forehead.
“I get it, Mam. I really do,” I said, choking the words out. I wanted to move us off the topic of superheroes as quickly as I could. “What else? You said two things.”
“Right,” she continued. “Mr. Hunter’s son stopped by an hour or so ago. That Toby boy. He said something about wanting to talk to you. Vinnie and Baby Lou looked upset by the mere sight of him. Is everything okay?”
Panic surged through my veins, and I couldn’t help but look at my little brothers. Toby had been here, inside our apartment? He’d been acting like he knew about the telegram. What if he knew Mam’s secret? Our secret? I wanted to grab my family and flee, to someplace where we wouldn’t have to deal with mean people.
“Thanks,” I replied, keeping my voice as calm as I could. “I’ll look for him.”
With one more quick hug and kisses blown to my little brothers in the living room, Mam left for work.
“We’re playing a game,” announced Baby Lou as he bounced over to us. “I’m winning, but I think Vinnie might be letting me. I can tell he’th paying attention to the radio report more than our Parcheethi.”
“Mae and I are going to sit down for some dinner. Want to join us?” I said, knowing he and Vinnie would stay as far away from Spam hash as they possibly could.
Baby Lou scampered back to the living room and tackled Vinnie. And as Mae and I headed for the kitchen, we could hear them wrestling and knocking into the coffee table.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said as I scooped Mam’s dinner onto our plates. Though the Spam smelled disgusting, I was too hungry and tired to care. “We’re just kids, after all. We could leave this work to somebody else—somebody bigger or older or . . .”
I let my voice trail off. Because I knew quitting wasn’t the right option.
When the world needs a hero, that’s what you become. Isn’t this what Mam was always telling us?
Cape Page 12
