Villainous

by Matthew Cody

  They crossed to the other side of the courtyard to get a better look at the spire and found a fountain surrounded by students on break. Everywhere, teenagers lounged on the grass or sat on benches chatting, loose ties around their necks, sport coats slung over their shoulders. Most of the girls wore skirts. It was a prep school scene out of a movie.

  “Hey, Mollie,” Daniel said, looking at the students. “Over there.”

  “What?” said Mollie. “They look like morons.”

  “No,” he said. “Not how they’re dressed. Look harder.”

  Mollie squinted hard for a few seconds. “Whoa,” she said.

  It wasn’t obvious at first, and if someone simply glanced at the courtyard while passing by, it would look just like a bunch of kids hanging out. But taking a closer look, Daniel noticed things, like the boy sitting on the edge of the fountain who was staring at the water, concentrating on it, and as Daniel watched, the water began to shimmer and shake. Eventually, it would rise up six or so inches, as though it had a mind of its own, and form itself into shapes: horses, a hand, a miniature Eiffel Tower. Each time the water took a new shape, the boy would wave his hand ever so slightly and it would fall away, only to re-form itself into something new.

  No, the water wasn’t re-forming itself. He was doing it.

  “Do you guys know him?” Theo whispered, but Daniel and Mollie shook their heads no. Then Mollie pointed to a couple lying on the grass on the far side of the lawn.

  “We know him, though,” she said.

  The boy was blowing smoke rings over his head, as tiny fireballs flitted in and out of his mouth. Every now and then, the girl on the grass next to him would reach up a finger and flick the smoke rings away.

  “Drake,” said Daniel.

  “Jerk,” added Mollie.

  “Let’s not get any closer. I don’t want to be seen.”

  “Where are the teachers?” asked Theo. “Smoking can’t be allowed on campus.”

  “He’s not smoking,” said Mollie.

  “What?” asked Theo. “Then how’s he … Oh.”

  “Yep,” said Daniel. “Just like a dragon. Spooky, right?”

  Before Theo had any time to answer, however, Drake called out, “Hey, Jack! Incoming!”

  Then he took a deep breath and blew out a jet of bright orange flame. It arced over the kids’ heads, but just as Daniel was afraid it would come down on someone, an equally long plume of water erupted out of the fountain and collided with it in midair. With a loud snap, the two elements exploded in a chemical reaction, bursting into a cloud of steam. Several of the students looked over at Drake and shook their heads disapprovingly as they gathered their things and fled the courtyard. The boy next to the fountain was wearing a huge grin. The girl on the grass clapped.

  “Awesome, Drake,” the boy was saying. “Awesome.”

  “Did that seem to you …,” Theo started to say, cocking his head toward Mollie.

  “Totally dangerous and stupid and the kind of thing an idiot show-off jerk would do just to impress a girl and who cares who might get hurt?” Mollie asked.

  “I couldn’t have put it better,” said Theo.

  “I dunno,” said a girl’s voice from behind them. “I think he’s kinda dreamy.”

  Daniel and his friends turned slowly around and saw Skye, Hunter, and Mutt standing mere feet away from them. Actually, Skye and Hunter were standing; Mutt was crouched down on all fours again. How the three had managed to sneak up on them was another mystery, but there they were.

  “Hello, Skye,” said Daniel. “Hi, Hunter. Hey, Mutt.”

  Oh well, thought Daniel. If he was going to get his butt kicked, he might as well say hello first.

  Of the three of them, only Skye was smiling, but Daniel wished she wasn’t. There was nothing warm about that smile.

  “You two, I know,” said Skye, her eyes moving over Daniel and Mollie and coming to rest on Theo. “You, I don’t know.”

  Theo gave her one of his roguish grins, but Daniel noticed he was keeping his eye on Mutt.

  “I’m Theo,” he said, holding out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, eh, Skye, was it?”

  But Skye was apparently immune to Theo’s charm offensive. She shied away from his hand like it was covered in open sores.

  “I don’t know you,” she said. “You one of us, or are you peasant folk?”

  “What?” asked Theo.

  “He’s like me,” said Daniel. “So I guess he’s a lowly peasant.”

  “Hey!” complained Theo, but Daniel waved at him to be quiet.

  “Thought so,” said Skye. “Mutt here smelled it on him, didn’t you, boy?”

  “Yip, yip,” said Mutt. “Pant, pant.”

  That boy really is disturbed, thought Daniel.

  “So, what are you doing here?” said Skye. “Other than spying on us, again.”

  Theo opened his mouth to speak, but Mollie stepped in front of him and tapped her visitor’s badge. “We’re visiting,” she said. “Is that a problem?”

  “Not at all,” said Skye, smiling prettily. “I was hoping we’d run into you. In fact, Mutt here’s been dreaming about a rematch.”

  “Anytime,” said Mollie. “Hope he brought a change of underwear.”

  “That’s it, girlie,” said Mutt. “Keep it up.”

  “Whoa, whoa,” said Theo, stepping in between them. “Why don’t we cool it a bit, okay, buddy?”

  “Let’s just go,” said Daniel. Theo was trying to be chivalrous, but he was going to get himself hurt. Mollie could at least handle herself, but Theo had no idea how dangerous these kids could be.

  “Want me to go through you to get to her?” said Mutt. “Be happy to.”

  “Move, Theo,” said Mollie.

  “Look, just because I’m a Plunkett doesn’t mean I’m a coward,” said Theo.

  “Wait a sec,” said Skye, putting a hand on Mutt’s shoulder to restrain him. “What did you call yourself?”

  “Plunkett,” said a new voice, and they all turned to see a tall man strolling down the lane toward them.

  Daniel recognized the silver hair and close-cropped beard. And those vivid blue eyes that were at once so clear, yet ringed with lines and wrinkles. In some ways, the eyes looked older than the face. He recognized the man, but seeing him here in the school was such a shock that for a moment Daniel didn’t believe his own eyes. He closed them, opened them again, yet it was still him.

  “Theodore Plunkett Jr. is his name, to be precise,” said the man. “I would have joined you all earlier, but I was swamped. I hope Ms. Starr’s tour was educational?”

  “Uh,” said Theo, glancing at the others. “Yeah, yeah, it was great. And we were just headed back—”

  “To the parking lot,” said the man. “Which is that way.” He gestured back the way he came. “Maybe you got turned around?”

  The man looked all of them over, but took care not to make eye contact with Daniel. It wasn’t surprising. The last time he’d been face to face with the man, Daniel had punched him in the jaw.

  “Lester, don’t slouch,” said the man, and the boy Daniel knew as Mutt stood up straight while grumbling under his breath.

  “Well, it’s a good thing I came along when I did,” said the man. “Because I’m on my way to the front and can show you all back to your car. If you’re done visiting with these fine students, that is.”

  “Thanks,” said Theo. “Thanks, Mr.… Sorry, I didn’t get your name, sir.”

  “Apologies,” said the man. “I’m Jonathan Noble, and I’m the principal here.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Principal Johnny

  “As Ms. Starr surely told you numerous times, the academy is the most technologically advanced school ever built,” said Johnny. “And the spire there is a monument to that achievement.”

  Johnny was pointing up at the metal spire standing in the middle of the courtyard. It was easily as big around as a car, and taller than any of the surrounding buildings.

/>   “If you look close, you’ll see a platform up top. From there the whole town is visible below.”

  “But how are you supposed to go up?” said Theo. “Even if there’s a stairway inside, there’s no door.”

  “Exactly,” said Johnny. “As a work of art, the lack of a door is supposed to be part of the aesthetic message. A tower that cannot be scaled by conventional means. Or at least that’s what they tell me.”

  He smiled at them. “I think it’s a bit silly myself.”

  Johnny was walking them back toward the parking lot, seemingly casual, but Daniel could tell he was keeping a sharp eye on them. They weren’t going to get the chance to slip away a second time. He wondered if his own face betrayed just how shocked he really was at seeing Johnny again. And what must Mollie and Theo be thinking? To Mollie, Johnny Noble had been a legend—the first Super. To Theo, he was probably little more than a cheesy character from his crazy granduncle’s comic books. But Daniel had met the man before, hero of Noble’s Green in the flesh, and he still hadn’t gotten over the disappointment.

  “So are you the real Johnny Noble?” asked Theo. “I mean, the guy in the tights and all?”

  Johnny laughed. “I haven’t gone by Johnny since I was a much younger man. And I’ve never worn a pair of tights in my life. But, yes, I am the Jonathan Noble they named this town after. Now I’m the principal of this school. Funny how life turns out, isn’t it?”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way,” said Theo. “But why haven’t I heard of this before? I mean, the academy would have no problem attracting students with the one and only Johnny Noble on the website.”

  Johnny sighed. “Yes. I’m told the board of directors feels just like you do, and I suppose it’s bound to get out sooner or later. But for a while at least, I’d like the academy to be the story. Not me.”

  “The students don’t know who you are? The staff?” Daniel said.

  “They know I’m Principal Noble,” said Johnny. “But most of the kids just think my name’s a coincidence. And the staff has been good about respecting my wish for privacy.”

  Johnny looked Daniel in the eye. “I haven’t lied to anyone, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  That was exactly what Daniel was asking. Next to Herman, there probably wasn’t an adult alive who Daniel trusted less than Johnny Noble.

  “Well, here we are.” Johnny stopped outside the front building next to the parking lot.

  “If you wouldn’t mind coming inside for a few minutes,” said Johnny. “I’d like to have a word with Daniel here.”

  Theo shot Daniel a look of alarm. They were already busted, caught trespassing on campus after they’d been asked to leave. But that didn’t explain why Johnny Noble would want to talk to Daniel alone. Mollie snapped out of her shell shock at seeing Johnny up close. She hadn’t said a word since Johnny had introduced himself, but Mollie found her voice now. “Don’t go,” she whispered to Daniel.

  “It’s all right,” said Daniel. “You guys stay here and I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “There’s a reception area inside,” said Johnny. “I’ll show you.”

  The waiting room was stocked with expensive overstuffed chairs. On a tray table someone had left a few bottles of water and a bowl of fruit. It looked like they’d been expected.

  “If you need anything else, just buzz that button over there and someone will come,” said Johnny, gesturing to an intercom panel set into the wall. “I’d ask Ms. Starr to keep you company, but … she’s got her hands unexpectedly full at the moment.” Johnny paused just long enough that it was clear he knew exactly what Ms. Starr was doing and, more importantly, why.

  Theo plopped down on one of the chairs and grabbed a banana. If meeting a century-old folk hero had fazed him at all, he didn’t show it. Mollie, however, watched Daniel with an expression of clear worry as he followed Johnny out of the waiting room and into the hallway beyond.

  They traveled through brightly lit corridors bustling with people. Most hurried past, mumbling hellos at Johnny and not bothering to spare Daniel a second glance. Despite the breezy, relaxed design of the place—the floor-to-ceiling windows, walls hung with brightly painted works of abstract art—there was a definite tension in these halls. Everyone was hurrying to and fro, and they had that overworked look that Daniel sometimes saw in his parents. He felt guilty for fooling poor Ms. Starr the way they did. Probably gave her an anxiety attack.

  They stopped outside a tall office door marked PRINCIPAL, and Johnny stepped aside, allowing Daniel to enter first. The office had been designed with the same cheerful modernity as the rest of the school, but the effect was hampered in there somewhat by the shelves of dusty old relics and knickknacks—an antiquated typewriter with a few missing keys, a baseball yellowed with age, a dented infantryman’s helmet. Johnny’s office looked more like a flea market.

  Johnny offered Daniel a seat, but Daniel didn’t take him up on it. He wasn’t planning on staying long enough to need a chair.

  “It’s a little cluttered for an office, but it helps me feel at home,” said Johnny as he walked around the back of his glass-topped desk and eased himself down into his chair, smoothing out his suit coat as he did so. Sitting there, he looked strangely elegant, like a character from one of those old black-and-white detective movies. A man out of time.

  “Come on, Daniel,” he said. “Sit and hear what I have to say. And try not to throw any punches this time.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I broke my hand last time I tried,” said Daniel. His gaze came to rest on an old rifle mounted on a plaque behind Johnny’s chair. The barrel was rusted with age and the wooden stock was blackened as if burnt.

  “Strange thing for a teacher to put up in his office,” said Daniel.

  Johnny glanced over his shoulder at the gun and smiled. “Yes, it’s gotten me a few looks, but I explained that it’s a family heirloom and a part of history.”

  “Yours, isn’t it?”

  “I was carrying that rifle the night in 1934 when the Witch Fire Comet appeared over the mountain. I still remember every detail. I was coming home late after checking my traps. I remember what the sky looked like when it lit up with green fire. The trail of light as the meteor came crashing down to earth. And the screams from St. Alban’s as the orphanage caught fire.”

  Johnny’s eyes had grown distant, like he was seeing something Daniel couldn’t, hearing things Daniel couldn’t. His grandmother used to get that look sometimes when she’d talk about her childhood, about old friends dead and gone. Herman had that look too, when he’d first told Daniel his tale of the comet, of how a young Herman had been the only child to escape the fire that night unscathed, and unchanged, because he’d been hiding in the outhouse when the meteor hit.

  Daniel’s grandmother used to say that when you’d lived long enough, your whole life bore down on you, the good and the bad. It got so heavy at times, you just had to stop to catch your breath.

  Whatever moment was weighing Johnny down passed, and his eyes focused once more on the here and now, on Daniel.

  “You and your friends got curious about the academy, decided to do a little investigating, is that it?” he asked.

  Daniel nodded.

  “I should’ve been expecting that. Must be slipping in my old age.”

  Despite what had just happened, Daniel would never have described Johnny as old, not in the way his grandmother had been old—frail and sickly. Johnny was from a different era perhaps, but he was solidly built and moved with the grace of a young man in his prime. Still, if Daniel did the math, he figured Johnny was close to a hundred.

  “So, Theo Plunkett, and the girl with you, that’s Mollie Lee—the flier, right?”

  Again, Daniel nodded. He didn’t bother lying since he was pretty sure Johnny was asking questions he already knew the answers to.

  “You don’t look happy, Daniel, and I had thought that when you finally figured out that I was here, you might actually be pleased. Are
n’t you the one who scolded me last year for not getting involved?”

  “Yeah,” said Daniel. “But you missed your chance. All those years that Herman was preying on the kids in this town and you could’ve stopped it. You think you can make up for that by taking a job at the school?”

  Daniel forced himself to look right into Johnny’s eyes. There was something in that stare—a power that made Daniel keenly aware of just how small a person he really was. It was hard to stare into the eyes of a giant and not look away.

  Taking a deep breath, Daniel said, “The last time we talked, I told you to leave us alone. I meant it.”

  To Daniel’s surprise, it was Johnny who broke their staring contest. Looking up at the ceiling, as if he could see past it and into the sky, he let out a tired sigh. “Do you know what this place is?” asked Johnny.

  “We were told it was a school,” answered Daniel.

  “Oh, it’s a school all right,” said Johnny. “There’s nothing insidious going on here, if that’s what you were hoping to find. No secret labs. No sacrificial altar hidden away.”

  “You’ve been reading too many of your own comic books.”

  Johnny chuckled. “I never liked those. Herman’s tales of caped heroes and masked villains never interested me. I’ve seen too much of the real world.”

  “So what?” asked Daniel. “Are you here to share your wisdom, then? Tell us all about the real world?”

  “In part,” Johnny said simply. “And to protect you from it.”

  Daniel nearly laughed in his face. “What do you mean? Protect us from who?”

  Johnny stood up and walked to the window. His office overlooked the campus common, and beyond that were the verdant slopes down the mountain. It was a breathtaking view.

  “I guess you’ve seen what’s been going on down there in the town,” said Johnny. “The incidents.”

  “You mean the attacks? Sure.”

  “It’s exactly what I was worried would happen,” said Johnny, and for the first time the smile dropped out of his voice. “I told you that the last time we talked.”