“No, it was you. It went hovering up in the air for about ten seconds. Then it fell down.”
“So I did it?”
“Yes. You’re a natural. If I could I’d give you a pat on the butt. Anyway, I suppose we’ve done enough for tonight—”
Tires squealed in the distance, followed by the pop of gunshots. Lois saw a car streaking down Lorenzo Avenue about three blocks away. Apparently the armor amplified her vision and hearing as well. “Time to get my feet wet,” she said.
“I don’t think we’re ready for that—”
Lois didn’t stop to hear the rest; she was already springing off the roof.
* * *
Lois had never run so fast before. She had to resist squealing like a little kid as she raced along the street at probably thirty miles an hour. That still wouldn’t be enough to catch up to the car she had seen on Lorenzo Avenue.
“Go on and jump,” Percy said, easily keeping pace with her.
She threw herself into the air, unable to keep herself from screaming as she flew through the air. She reached out with one hand and caught a lamppost. She snatched it with her other hand and then spun herself around like on the uneven bars. Her short frame and big feet had made her good at gymnastics, at least until puberty. The armor made up for this as she spun around the lamppost to build up some speed and then launched herself again.
She used the city’s lampposts, ledges and telephone poles like a set of uneven bars, until she saw the car again. It was a black Cadillac going well over a hundred miles an hour. That it hadn’t killed anyone yet was only because the streets were pretty much deserted at this hour.
She caught a flagpole sticking out from the roof of a deli, the flag taken down for the night. She spun herself around and this time aimed herself at the Cadillac. She hung up in the air for what seemed like forever before rocketing down, landing hard on the trunk. The armor cushioned the blow so that it seemed as if she’d hopped just a few inches.
The Cadillac screeched to a halt right away, bucking Lois off. She rolled forward, over the roof and off the hood to land in a heap in front of the car. The front door opened and two men climbed out, both carrying pistols. One said, “What the fuck is that?”
Lois pushed herself to her feet and brushed imaginary dust from the armor. “Hey, boys, do you have any idea how fast you were going?”
“Fuck you, bitch,” one said and fired his pistol. She didn’t even have time to flinch before the bullet pinged off her chest.
“I was going to let you off with a warning, but now I’m going to have to beat some sense into both of you,” she said. She lunged forward, swatting the gun away from one goon’s hand. The armor didn’t slow her down at all; if anything it made her quicker. It also made her blows more powerful, so that when she kicked one man in the midsection, he flew back a good twenty feet. The other tried emptying a clip into her, not that it did any good. She spun around, using a roundhouse kick to send him through the Cadillac’s windshield.
She turned to Percy and asked, “How was that?”
“Good—for a beginner.”
“You’re a little stingy on the compliments, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
“I suppose Mom would have done it better, right?”
“I’m not sure she could have caught them. Tumbling wasn’t her forte.”
Lois nodded; Mom’s body had not been designed for gymnastics. “So what do we do now?”
That question was answered by the click of a safety being taken off. She turned and saw Detective Murphy standing behind the door of her car, pistol aimed at Lois’s head. “All right, freak, you’re coming with me.”
“Me? I’m the good guy, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Yeah, right. You’re just another thug to me.”
Lois shrugged. “Fine, arrest me.” Then she spun the cape around. The detective fired a shot, but Lois had already moved out of the way. She heard Murphy shout a curse word. She holstered her weapon and began tending to the men from the Cadillac while Lois shuffled off. Once she was safely in an alley, she let the cape drop.
“Is she always like that?”
“Pretty much,” Percy said. “Ingrate.”
“No kidding. I only gave those punks what they deserved.”
“You won’t get an argument from me.”
“What about Mom?”
“She did what was necessary. That was how she saw it.”
“That sounds like her.” Lois flipped the visor up and yawned. It was probably five in the morning; in a few hours she had to be back at the hospital. “I guess we’re done for tonight.”
“One last lesson. Now that the armor has shaped itself to you, you can remove it or summon it by saying the magic words.”
“Please and thank you?”
“Don’t be smart. It’s, ‘Bah weep granna hi nee ho.’”
“Are you fucking with me?”
“No. That’s the language of magic.”
“Right.” Lois felt like an idiot saying the made-up words. But then there was a flash of white and she was back in her street clothes. “Holy shit.”
“Indeed. Say it again when you want the armor again.”
“That’s convenient.” She checked her watch and saw that it was only four-thirty, which meant she could still get a couple hours of sleep. She didn’t bother looking for another abandoned building or a sleazy motel; the alley would be comfortable enough. Then in the morning she would have to have a serious talk with Mom.
Chapter 15
The moment she stepped off the elevator she sensed something was wrong. Dr. Pavelski looked on the verge of tears as she ran up to Lois and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thank God you’re here,” the doctor said.
“Why? Did something happen to Mom? Is she all right?”
“She’s sleeping—for now. I had to give her a sedative.”
“Sedative? What for?”
“I’m not sure. The nurse said Jessie was sleeping and then she went wild. She pulled some of her tubes out. I think if she could have she would have dragged herself out of here.” Dr. Pavelski shook her head. “I’ve never seen her like that before, so crazy.”
“About what time was this?”
“Three-thirty or so. Why?”
Three-thirty, about the time Lois had made it down to the subbasement and found the armor—Mom’s armor. Had she sensed what was going on? Had the armor tried to warn her that someone else was about to take it? “No reason,” Lois said, forcing a smile to her face.
“She’s going to be asleep for a few hours, but I think having you around might help to keep her from going off again.”
“I understand. Thanks, Doctor.” She patted the older woman’s shoulder. “Maybe you should take one of those sedatives. Mom’s not your only patient, you know.”
“That’s what everyone keeps saying.” Dr. Pavelski shook her head. “I’ve never been friends with any of my patients before. This is why.”
“I’m sure Mom appreciates all you’ve done. We both do.” Lois thought of their conversation the night before. “I know sometimes I act ungrateful, but I really do appreciate how you’ve taken care of her. I’m not sure either of us could have made it otherwise.”
Dr. Pavelski nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. “Thank you, Lois. I think I’d better get that nap now.”
Lois waited until the doctor had gone before she slipped into Mom’s room. As Dr. Pavelski had said, Mom was asleep, her entire body limp and seemingly at peace. She sat down in her usual chair to wait. The room was calm and dark enough that Lois couldn’t help closing her eyes too. Mom would be out for a while; a couple extra hours of sleep couldn’t hurt.
She woke up to someone squeezing her hand. Opening her eyes, she saw Mom watching her, smiling at her. “Hello, sleepyhead,” Mom whispered.
“Hi, Mom.” Lois glanced at her watch; she had been sleeping for five hours. “How long have you been awake?”
“You could have woke me up.”
“I like watching you sleep. It reminds me of when you were little and I could still tuck you in. Remember your turtle? Sloooooowey,” Mom said, saying the latter in a slow baritone she had used to make Lois’s stuffed turtle talk.
“I remember.” Slowey was probably still in Lois’s closet with her Barbie dolls and the rest of her childhood things. She had put him in there when she was seven, when she decided she was too old for stuffed toys, but she couldn’t bring herself to give him away; Slowey had been a baby shower gift from Aunt Betty, had been with Lois in her crib. “I loved when you did the voice.”
“I loved doing it for you. You always seemed so happy. I don’t know what happened.”
“Mom—”
“I tried my best. I wanted to be as good of a mother as mine was before she died. I couldn’t do it. I failed her and I failed you. I failed everyone.”
“Don’t talk like that, Mom. I’m fine. Maybe I’m not a department head like you were at my age, but I’m not a bum either. I’m the new Silver Seraph.”
She had blurted out the last sentence without thinking and immediately wished she could take it back. Mom took her hand away, tears coming to her eyes. She turned her head to bury it in the pillow. The pillow muffled her screams while she sobbed.
Lois could do nothing but stare down at her feet and feel guilty about it. “I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have said it like that.”
When Mom did take her head from the pillow, Lois saw the same crazy look Dr. Pavelski had seen. For the first time she heard Mom raise her voice, something that chilled her to her core. “I warned you! I told you not to go! You couldn’t listen! You never listen to me!” With far more strength than Lois would have thought possible, Mom seized her by the front of her shirt. “Don’t you realize what you’ve done? You stupid, headstrong little brat!”
Throughout the tirade Lois kept pushing her chair back until it was against the wall. If Mom had levitated up from the bed and started spewing pea soup, Lois wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised. “I’m sorry. Mom, please, you have to stop this. Dr. Pavelski’s going to be here any minute to give you another shot.”
Like turning on a light switch, the craziness in Mom’s eyes flicked off. Her body went limp, tears continuing to pour from her eyes. “Oh, Lois. Why did you have to do it?”
“It’s the only way to get the bastard who did this to you and killed Dr. Johnson.”
“I don’t need you to avenge me. Neither does Richard. We wanted better for you.”
“This isn’t forever, Mom. Just until I find this Set guy who’s behind it.”
“Don’t you think I told myself the same thing? But I couldn’t stop. Not even after I had you. The city still needed her.”
“It still needs her. Do you think Set is going to stop with you and Dr. Johnson? He’s going to use that little magic wand of his on a lot more people. I can stop him.”
“You can also be killed. Or wind up in a bed like this.”
“Would you just run away?”
“If I knew then what I did now, then probably.”
Lois glared at her mother. “Come on, Mom. You’ve never ducked responsibility. You can’t expect me to do the same.”
Mom shook her head. “Are you still trying to compete with me? You don’t have to. I’ve told you so many times, I just want you to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“How am I supposed to be happy when you’re bedridden and that creep is still out there?”
“Please, Lois. Don’t do this. I don’t want to lose you too.”
“It’s too late, Mom. The armor’s shaped itself to me. Percy’s started training me. I even nabbed two punks last night.”
“This isn’t a game, sweetheart. Look at me. This is what will happen in the end, if not something worse.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I have to do it. I’m not going to let him get away with what he did to you or Richard. When they’re gone—”
“Get out,” Mom hissed.
“What? Visiting hours aren’t over yet.”
“I don’t care. I can’t watch you go through it. It was hard enough for me to live through it once already.”
“Mom—”
“Get out!” Mom threw the only thing at her disposal, a plastic water cup. It didn’t hurt Lois physically, but inside she felt her heart breaking.
“All right, Mom. I’ll go.” Lois stood up. She knew better than to try kissing her mother goodbye. Maybe later Mom, after the shock abated, she would understand that Lois was doing this for her and Dr. Johnson. Until then she would be on her own.
* * *
She risked going home to take a shower and get some fresh clothes. She expected to find the house ransacked as Dr. Johnson’s office had been. When she unlocked the front door, she found everything where it had been; the dirty dishes were even still in the dishwasher. She turned the dishwasher on and then went upstairs to take a nice, long shower.
While she tried to shampoo out some of the stink and grime from the last couple of days, she kept replaying her conversation with Mom. She had never acted like that before, so angry. Why couldn’t she understand that Lois wanted to do this for her? Maybe she was worried Lois would be a better Silver Seraph than she had been. For the first time Lois had the upper hand in their relationship and maybe that was what really chafed Mom.
She showered until after the hot water had run out; cold showers had never bothered her before. When she figured she was as clean as she would get, she went back to her old bedroom. Thinking of her conversation with Mom, she opened the closet. The box of her old toys was on the top shelf, labeled in Mom’s neat handwriting.
Slowey was right at the top, looking none the worse for wear after sixteen years in a box. She squeezed his yellow stomach, pressing the green shell into her chest as she had when she was a child. She lay down on the bed, Slowey still pressed against her. When she closed her eyes, she remembered Mom doing the voice, making Slowey say, “Gooooood niiiiiiiight, Loooooois. I loooooove youuuuuuu.” Mom would make the turtle kiss her, followed by a real kiss on Lois’s cheek. Mom would whisper into Lois’s ear, “Good night, sweetheart.”
With her eyes still shut and Slowey tucked against her, she remembered something from when she was four. One night she had woke up and heard Mom and Aunt Betty arguing, something they never did in front of her. “Jesus Christ, Jess. What happened to you?”
“It’s nothing,” Mom said, but even to Lois’s ears her voice sounded strained.
“You’ve got to stop this. It’s getting too dangerous.”
“I can’t. I have a responsibility—”
“What about your responsibility to your child? Do you want her to grow up without a mother, like you did?”
“That’s not fair.”
“The hell it isn’t. She already doesn’t have a father. You want her to be an orphan?”
Lois rolled out of bed. She kept Slowey pressed to her chest as she toddled down the hallway. Mommy was sad; she needed help. Lois hurried as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, down the hall, into Mommy’s bedroom.
Mommy sat on her bed, slumped forward a little with a quilt over her body. Aunt Betty stood in front of her, a white box in her hands. “Mommy, are you in trouble?” Lois asked.
Mommy smiled and said, “No, sweetheart. Mommy is fine.”
“You and Aunt Betty are fighting.”
“We’re just talking. Why don’t I fetch you and Slowey a glass of water and tuck you back in?”
“I’m not thirsty.”
Mommy pushed herself off the bed and smiled. She patted Lois’s head and then Slowey’s. “I bet Slowey’s thirsty. Aren’t you?” Mom changed her voice to that of Slowey and said, “I suuuuuuuure aaaaaaaam.”
Lois’s cares had evaporated at this. She giggled and took Mommy’s hand. Mommy led her back to bed, tucking her in. Aunt Betty brought the glass of water, handing it to
Lois. “Why don’t you take a sip for Slowey?”
“OK,” Lois said. She took a sip and then handed the glass back. She closed her eyes, feeling Mommy stroke her hair and kiss her forehead.
The incident had seemed innocuous, but as she lay on the bed as an adult, she realized what she had missed as a child. Mom had been slouched forward on the bed and her face terribly pale. There was also the blanket around her that she hadn’t taken away even as she took Lois back to bed. That blanket had disappeared after that; Mom bought a new one a few days later. Then there was the white box in Betty’s hand—a medical kit. Mom had been injured and Aunt Betty was helping her tend to the wound.
Aunt Betty had tried to talk Mom out of it. She had wanted Mom to give it up and focus on being a parent. Mom being Mom couldn’t give up that responsibility. She couldn’t shirk her responsibilities, not as the Silver Seraph or as a mother. So she pushed herself off the bed and tucked Lois in, even though every step had to be paining her.
Lois opened her eyes and looked into the plastic brown ones of Slowey. “If she could do that, then I can do this, right?”
“Riiiiiiiight,” Slowey said. She couldn’t quite get the voice right, but it didn’t matter. She set the stuffed turtle on her bed and then went to get dressed. She had a lot of work still to do.
Downstairs she unchained the Kawasaki from the porch. She left the Spyder where it was; that was still Mom’s bike. For tonight at least Lois would use hers.
Chapter 16
When she got to the subbasement, she found Percy waiting for her. “Your mother didn’t take it well, did she?”
“Were you watching that?”
“No. I popped in on her later. She was a bit miffed to put it mildly.”
Lois nodded. Miffed was putting it really mildly. “Then let’s take out this Set jerk so she can rest a little easier.”
“I don’t think you’re quite ready for him yet.”
“I don’t care if you think I’m ready or not. We need to get started on tracking him down. I’m not going to let him get away with what he did to Mom or Dr. Johnson, understand?”
“Perfectly. But unless you have his home address, perhaps we should do a little other business.”
The Night's Legacy Page 16
