Lady Superior

by Alex Ziebart

  Asking more about his dad didn’t seem right; she didn’t even know how she would approach it if she had wanted to. For the moment, she pretended she hadn’t heard it. She made a mental note to bring it up with Jane later. “Not painting this time, I’m guessing.”

  “No.” Todd rubbed his bearded chin and looked away. Kristen recognized the look in his eyes: shame. She’d seen the same look in her father’s eyes before the divorce. Whenever money was tight, whenever he couldn’t do something everyone expected him to do, he got that look and wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. He’d turn away to hide the shame. “She needed me to steal a ring. She told me it would make me a king.”

  “I’m going to be honest with you, Todd. This lady sounds evil as hell.”

  “That didn’t matter. It still doesn’t matter. Right or wrong, I have a wife and three little girls I need to provide for.” His mouth hung open to say more, but nothing came out until he asked, “Mind if I take another beer?”

  “Go ahead. All yours.”

  Todd made a slow walk to the fridge. Too slow, Kristen thought. She figured he was using it as an excuse to think. Sure enough, when he had his beer, he started talking again.

  “If you’re being honest about not blackmailing me, then I appreciate your help, but you wouldn’t understand.”

  Kristen’s gut twisted second he said those last words and she fought down a flash of anger. You wouldn’t understand were words she’d heard all too often as a woman; everyone liked to pretend their problems were unique, and from the mouths of men, that statement nearly always implied a woman couldn’t understand their woes. She took a breath to force down the rage and had to remind herself she still needed Todd to talk. He’d mentioned the ring.

  Open up a little, Kris. You have to do it first.

  She slouched on the futon and rolled her bottle between her hands, running her thumb over the label. “My parents were an old-fashioned couple. Which never made sense, because they aren’t old. Well, I guess they’re old now, but not old enough to try reenacting the fifties. Anyway, they were intensely old-fashioned, completely buying into that whole breadwinner, housewife situation. My dad made all of the money. He believed with all of his heart that it was his responsibility and only his. And that was fine with my mom; she refused to ever get a job whenever the topic came up. She actually used the words women shouldn’t have to work.”

  Todd snorted, but said nothing. Kristen couldn’t tell whether he was agreeing with something or categorically denying it.

  “And if that worked for them—and trust me, it didn’t—then whatever. But they enforced it on us kids, too. My brothers all had jobs at fifteen years old. My parents told them they were men and men should work. Me and my sister, though? We weren’t allowed to get jobs. My brothers hated us for it. They didn’t think it was fair we didn’t have to work, and we didn’t think it was fair we couldn’t work. And the fucking thing about that? After my parents divorced, my mom kicked us all out at eighteen. Every single one of us. Even me and my sister. You know what happens in a situation like that? When you’re suddenly on your own with no money and no experience? That’s an honest question. Do you know?”

  Todd shook his head. “No, but it doesn’t like a good spot to be in.”

  “You find the first asshole with money and get down on your knees and pray he’ll take care of you, because if he won’t, you’re homeless and probably dead. It doesn’t matter how badly he treats you. You don’t have anywhere else to go.”

  Wait, Kristen told herself, stop. This isn’t about you. It’s about him.

  She took a shuddering breath. “Anyway, dad lost his job after 9-11, and I was too young to understand why. I still don’t know the economics or any of that. But he couldn’t find another job for a long time, and it broke him. He was losing his mind and taking it out on all of us, and the whole time, he was still telling my brothers that men don’t ask for help. Men don’t ask for money. And never offer money to a man; that’s an insult to his pride. If you do anything, you offer him work. You trick a man into taking your money. Eventually, it got so bad that he was ready to enlist and go to Iraq. Right before he did, he got a job offer from a construction company. They signed him on as a foreman. A month later, the company announced they were moving to Minnesota.”

  Todd winced. “I know how that goes.”

  “He ended up going with them. My mom divorced him before that, though. While us kids were having nightmares about our dad being killed by IEDs like they talked about on the news, my mom was fantasizing about being an army wife. She called him a coward. I haven’t seen him a long time.

  “Moral of the story is this: men are taught they need to do everything on their own. Women are taught they can’t—and shouldn’t—do anything at all. So if you think I can’t possibly understand you deciding to do something wrong to support your family, you’re wrong. We live on the same planet. We live the same shit. It isn’t unique.”

  Todd rubbed his bruised face. “I’m not sure what you’re driving at. Is this just a takedown?”

  “No. It’s your family, do what you want to do. I’m saying don’t tell someone you wouldn’t understand. You don’t know shit about what someone would understand. I don’t know if your family is as conservative as mine was—probably not—but every family feels the same things to one degree or another. You can talk to me, Todd. I get it. I really do.”

  “What do you want me to say?”

  Kristen dropped her face into her hands. What did she want him to say? She’d gotten too caught up in her ranting; the entire point of the exercise slipped her mind. The point of everything seemed to have slipped her mind. Why had she invited him over? Why go after him in the first place? Kristen suspected Jane wanted her to recruit him, but she had no intention of doing that. Regardless of whether or not what Todd was told about Temple was true, she hadn’t been a part of the organization long enough to do any such recruiting. She wasn’t sure she even considered herself part of the organization. They paid her to do a job and that was as far as her loyalty went. She needed the money, just like Todd did.

  She brushed all of those thoughts aside and focused on one question at a time: why did she go after Todd to begin with? Because he stole a car? No. The police could have handled that. Kristen went after him because he was different. Like she was different. When she saw him, she knew she wasn’t alone. She’d found someone else in the world who might understand.

  Kristen looked up at him. “My entire life, I was terrified of this thing I have. It stopped me from doing everything I’ve ever wanted to do. I decided I was sick of being afraid, and that’s why I’m doing what I do now. I want to use it to help people. On the phone, I said we have two halves of the whole story. We’re on opposite sides of something neither of us understand. If you and I don’t come together and talk to each other—openly and honestly—chances are good we’re going to stay on opposite sides.”

  Todd’s back straightened. He growled like a bear. “Don’t threaten me. Or my family. Do you understand?”

  “I’m not threatening you.” Kristen stood and approached him. She understood it was the wrong move; it put him on edge, his body tensing. She continued anyway. “I want the two of us to be on the same side. That side needs to be whichever one isn’t out to hurt people.”

  He jabbed a finger toward her and started yelling. “You’re with Temple. We’re never going to be on the same side. I’m here because you helped my family. That’s the only reason. I owed you that much. Don’t ask me for anything.”

  Kristen snapped back. “I’m not with Temple, and even if I was, use your brain. You’re working for a person who brain-fucked you into stealing a ring. Meanwhile, I saved your ass, and then I saved your family. Where was she while you and your family were in trouble? Think about the situation and tell me who looks better.”

  “You said you understood.” Todd’s voice lowered, but he spoke through his teeth. “Clearly you don’t. At this point, I don’t care what
Temple did or didn’t do. I don’t care if Delphi is good or bad. I need to provide for my family.”

  “And some crazy woman is going to do that for you?”

  “If she’s good to her word.”

  “The museum doesn’t have the ring. Temple doesn’t have it. The changelings don’t have it. Does she have it?”

  “Of course she does.”

  “Then why aren’t you sitting on a throne instead of standing in my living room in a stolen sweatshirt? Why were your daughters being held at gunpoint instead of wearing tiaras? Did Delphi try to help you and your family at all?”

  Todd worked his jaw before he answered. “No. She told me my family was my responsibility. And she was right.”

  Kristen rolled her eyes. “That’s such bullshit. The changelings went after your family because you stole the ring. They want it, too. She got you involved in this. It’s her responsibility to help you. But she didn’t. I did. So give me some credit and let’s talk.”

  Todd remained silent. Kristen watched him, imagining his thought process. She knew he was in denial on some level. Whoever Delphi was, she’d offered him everything and gave him nothing but trouble. Delphi had told him Temple killed his father, but was there evidence? Kristen hoped it was just talk.

  Breaking his silence, Todd whispered. “She told me the changelings worked for Temple. That’s the one thing that didn’t make sense. You work for Temple. You stopped them from killing me. You got my family back from them.”

  “That shouldn’t have made sense from the beginning. They attacked Temple Financial. Whether I showed up there or not, why would Temple attack Temple?”

  “That was them?”

  Kristen eyed him. “Yeah, obviously. Who else would it be?”

  He shrugged. “Anyone. I saw the news. They were just guys with guns.”

  She considered that and decided she couldn’t blame him for not knowing. She hadn’t even known until one of them went wolf-mode in the warehouse. “Okay, fair enough. If she told you the changelings work for Temple, then she’s definitely a liar. The only thing Temple has asked me to do so far is go after those guys to get the ring back. What does this ring do, anyway?”

  “Honestly? I don’t know.”

  “You have to know something. You said she’d make you a king? King of what? How?”

  Todd tapped his fingers along his beer bottle as he thought it through. He shook his head and looked Kristen in this eyes. “What happens if I tell you everything? Clearly I’m on the wrong side. I get it. But Delphi at least offered something for my family. What can you offer me?”

  “Temple pays me twenty-five dollars an hour to sit at a desk. I’m not going to make you any promises about whether Temple is right or wrong or if they had anything to do with what happened to your father. But if you were willing to ignore right or wrong for Delphi, then do it for Temple, too. I can talk to my uh…contact at Temple. I’ll see what they can do.”

  He squeezed his eyes shut and nodded. “Alright. She said the ring would let her make a new land. When she dug around in my head, she showed me. Not pictures, just thoughts—feelings. It felt like the day we moved into our home for the first time, knowing it was mine.”

  “A new land?”

  “Yeah.”

  Kristen tried to dredge up what she could remember of Jane’s crackpot theory. Something about lost continents—land moving from one place to another. Could a ring do something like that? It seemed so farfetched. Then again, her existence was farfetched.

  “You believe she can do something like that?”

  “You don’t?”

  “A ring with magical powers creating a brand new land?” She shrugged. “Not really.”

  “Knowing what you and I can do, you don’t believe there might be a ring that can do something like that?”

  “Honestly?” Kristen offered a lopsided smile. “I’m not sure I believe I can do what I do.”

  Todd set his bottle on counter. “You can. Accept it or stay out of it.”

  “I can’t just stay out of it.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m supposed to stay out of it when there’s hostages on the news? I’m supposed to stay out of it when there’s a pileup on I-94 and people are dying in burning vehicles? I’m supposed to—”

  “Then you believe it. You saw something, you knew you could do something about it, and you did it. No one jumps off of a building to find out whether or not they can fly. They jump because they believe they can.” Todd leaned his head back, looking down at her. “You look like you’re going to puke. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said too quickly. She pressed a hand to her forehead to calm a sudden dizzy spell. “I’m fine. You should go home to your family. I’ll look into some things and call you later, okay?”

  “Yeah,” he echoed in the same tone, “sure.”

  They looked at each other one more time before Todd turned away. Long legs carried him to the door in only a couple of strides. He gripped the knob, paused, and looked back. “I just remembered something.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Delphi said we only needed one of them to do what she wanted to do. She probably meant the ring. I’d guess that means there’s more than one out there.”

  Kristen swallowed and nodded. “That’s good to know.”

  “Yeah.”

  He opened the door.

  “Wait!” Kristen called out.

  He closed and turned back. “What?”

  Kristen went to him and grabbed the security tag on his sweatshirt. She reached beneath the garment, grabbed the other side of it, and pulled it apart. Taking his hand, she put the pieces in his palm. “Toss those in the dumpster on your way out. You really shouldn’t be wearing a security tag if police are hanging around your family.”

  He squinted at the pieces in his hand. “You can just pull these things off? My parents always told me there’s ink in them.”

  “Seriously? Think about that. A retail establishment is going to put doohickeys full of ink on their merchandise? Would you put a self-destruct button your car in case someone stole it?” Kristen shook her head. “Those things are glorified, oversized thumbtacks.”

  “Huh. Well, thanks.”

  She flashed Todd a you’re welcome smile and watched him as he left. Once he was gone, Kristen blew out a nervous breath, dug out her Temple phone, and dialed Jane. While it rang, she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She didn’t know why, but she always felt the bathroom was the most secure place in a house. Maybe it came from being part of a big family, she supposed. Closing a bedroom door was only a suggestion to keep out. Closing the door to the bathroom meant I might be pooping in here, stay out or woe unto you. Kristen sat on the edge of the tub when Jane answered. “Hello?”

  “Hey, it’s Kris. Got a sec?”

  “Kind of in the middle of something. Is it world-ending?”

  “Uh, maybe?”

  “Seriously?”

  “I said maybe.”

  “What is it?”

  Kristen laid it all out: Todd, his father, Delphi, the ring, and the promise of a new land.

  “Is that everything?” Jane asked.

  “That’s it? You don’t think this warrants a little more than is that everything?”

  “I told you, I’m a little…” Jane cut off; Kristen heard gunfire in the background.

  “Jane?” Kristen asked in a panic. “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah. Busy. I’ll look into it when I can.”

  More gunfire. Kristen gripped her phone more tightly. “Where are you? Do you need help?”

  “Nope. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Try to take a day off, yeah? I’ll call you when I know something.”

  “Someone’s shooting at you and you want me to take a day off? Seriously? How are you so calm right now?”

  “I said I’m fine, but if you keep distracting me, my chances of getting shot go through the roof.”

  “Uh, yeah. Okay. By
e, then?”

  “Bye!”

  Kristen looked at her phone in equal parts shock and wonder before jamming it back into her pocket. She pushed off of the tub, but her eyes lingered on the trash can beside the toilet.

  A pregnancy test. Facedown.

  Kristen moved with slow, trembling motions. She wrapped a hand in toilet paper, bent over, and grabbed the plastic stick from the trash. She turned it over in her hand.

  Negative.

  She threw the stick back into the trash, shook the toilet paper from her hands, and washed them in the sink.

  She knew what she’d do with her day off.

  Chapter 10

  Kristen pushed through Otherworlds’ front door and glanced at front counter. She surprised herself by hoping to see Jack there. Apparently he was a Monday through Friday guy, though, because the store appeared bereft of him on a Saturday afternoon. Another guy, Tom, waved at her from the counter. He’d been working at Otherworlds for almost a year.

  “Hey Kris!” he called, far too excited. She knew he had a thing for her, too. In his case, it didn’t bother her, but neither did she reciprocate. He was too young—not yet nineteen—and honestly not at all attractive, as far as she was concerned. Short, round, and with hair in all the wrong places. He’d cleaned up a little in recent months and really was a nice guy, but Kristen couldn’t shake knowing Bernice once needed to have a take a shower every day or you’re fired chat with him. He beamed a smile. “What’s up?”

  She waved back. “Hey. Bernice is in, right?”

  “Yeah, she’s in the office. Did you see the news yesterday? Crazy, right?”

  Uh oh. She forced a curious arch of her eyebrows. “No. What’s crazy about it?”

  “You seriously didn’t see it?”

  “I’m working the graveyard shift these days. I’ve been out like a light since yesterday morning.”

  “Oh, man. That’s brutal. Well, anyway, superchick was on the news again.”

  Superchick? Seriously? Kristen feigned surprise. “Yeah? She take down some terrorists or whatever again?”

  “That’s what they’re saying. Apparently they can’t ID the guys, but they say the gear matches what the guys who attacked Temple were wearing. They took a lady and her kids hostage. Everybody’s going wild trying to figure the whole thing out. They won’t show the bodies because she popped one of their heads open, I guess.” Tom pantomimed an explosion with his hands.