by Bryan Cohen
Natalie turned in his direction as well.
Travis put his arm around Ted's ex. "Feel better soon, OK?"
Ted tried to read Natalie's face, but it was completely void of emotion. He continued to exit the room and used his powers to open one of the hallway windows. At least, he tried to just open one window, accidentally opening an entire row of windows. The outdoor air felt good in his lungs.
Dhiraj and Erica reached his side just a few moments later.
"What is it, buddy?" Dhiraj asked.
Ted continued to breathe in the air through the window. "Natalie."
It was the only word Ted could get out. That was all it took for both Erica and Dhiraj to understand.
"I'm sure it's just a one-time thing, Ted," Erica said. "She's not a part of the group. There's no way she could ever hate you."
Dhiraj scrunched his nose and looked back toward the lunchroom. "I'm going to give her a stern talking-to later today about this."
Ted lifted his hands and accidentally backed both of his friends up a few steps. It took him a second to even realize that he'd used his powers. "Sorry, guys." He shook his head. "What did I do wrong?"
Dhiraj and Erica couldn't give him a straight answer, so they hugged him instead. Ted swore that of the many eyes watching the three of them embrace, Natalie's were among them.
16
Erica felt the role reversal as she took her turn staring at Ted during Mr. Redican's English class. Ted looked straight ahead and hadn't even glanced back at Erica once for the entire 40 minutes. She missed having his eyes on her.
She wondered how Ted would react when she told him the truth.
"Here's the big question." Mr. Redican scribbled something on the blackboard. "Is he ready to become the most important person in the realm?"
Erica's ears perked up. Redican seemed to glance at her as soon as the question ended, but Erica admitted that could have just as well been in her head. She'd been paranoid about the safety of her mind since the incident with Beth. Her friend's empty desk loomed beside her.
"Is Prince Hal ready to become the king?"
Erica watched as Ted's hand sprung up. A few of the students around him flinched. Ted's participation in class wasn't exactly a regular occurrence.
"Mr. Finley."
Ted's face remained stoic. "It's not like he has much choice."
Redican nodded. "That's a good point." He paced to the other side of the room. "When his father dies, he's going to be the man."
Several students chuckled. Erica didn't notice even a hint of a smile on Ted's face.
"The question is: is our bar-hopping, sword-fighting prince ready to become the leader of the people?"
In an instant, she thought about the possible future for Ted. If they all survived high school, which was no certainty, Ted would continue to find out about his other abilities. As his power grew, her control over the situation would diminish. There was a chance that Ted was the once-in-an-era hero who wouldn't let the burden and beauty of power turn him against the forces of good. If he wasn't, she knew exactly how Gan and Reena would alter her mission from the other side. Erica tried to suppress the tightness in her stomach.
Redican's question went unanswered as the bell rang. Ted came right up to Erica's desk at the end of class, and she felt some of the tension release from her stomach.
"I'm sorry." Ted's face contorted into an almost smile.
"You don't have to apologize." Erica pretended she wasn't judging his every movement as she put away her books.
"Yes, I do. Just because my ex-girlfriend has joined some kind of cult doesn't mean I should ignore you and it doesn't do me any good to lose control."
Erica tucked away her assignment book and zipped her backpack. "Apology accepted. How did it feel to be stared at all class long?"
Ted tightened the straps of his bag. "Kind of creepy actually. Does it feel creepy when I–"
"Yes." Erica grinned and the two of them walked stride-for-stride out of class. "Up for a trip to find some magic books?"
After last period, they hopped into Ted's car and took a trip to the Treasure Public Library. As they walked inside, the scent of books took her back to several of her past lifetimes.
They reached the librarian in charge of the special stacks. The woman wore a low-cut blouse and a lot more makeup than most librarians she'd known. Her bright orange scarf also helped her to stand out against the beige library walls.
"Hello," Ted said. "I'm–"
"Resident superhero Ted Finley?" The woman's perkiness hurt Erica's brain. "I know who you are. It's an honor."
Ted smirked back at Erica. She gestured for him to move it along.
"That's true, but I was going to say we're looking for the books that were donated from Page's."
The librarian let out a mini-squeal and pulled something up on her computer. "Of course." Her fingers clacked against her keyboard at a rapid clip. "It must be like a little trip down memory lane for you."
Her grin was disarming. The librarian couldn't have been much older than college age.
"I'm a sentimental soul."
"I can tell that about you." The librarian adjusted her glasses. "It'll just take a sec. The woman who used to run the stacks took off to Cancun with her dog all of a sudden."
Erica caught Ted looking dreamily at the librarian. She nudged him in the back.
"What?" Ted phrased the question as if he knew exactly why she'd bumped him.
"Focus."
The librarian got to her feet.
"Right this way, kids." She gestured behind them as two security guards walked over. "They're here to make sure you two aren't disturbed. Celebrity status and all."
Ted followed close behind the busty librarian as Erica eyed the guards. She wasn't so sure they were there to prevent autographs. The five of them went down one floor on the escalator.
Erica tapped Ted on the shoulder, but before she could say anything he took a defensive pose.
"It's just my thirst for knowledge," he whispered. "Librarians are like sexy nurses for me."
"Sexy nurses?" Erica recoiled. "This isn't about her."
"Oh," Ted said. "Forget I mentioned it."
She couldn't.
"I was going to tell you to be careful. Something seems–"
The librarian cut off her whisper. "They're just down this hall. Start getting excited."
The quickening of Erica's pulse had little to do with excitement. When the librarian took out her keycard to open the door, she gestured for Ted and Erica to go in first. Ted bolted in before Erica could get his attention. She'd been around long enough to detect the odor of a trap, but she followed him in anyway.
The room contained three bookcases filled with older works. Erica considered whether or not they could be used as weapons.
As soon as the door closed, the librarian turned primal and ran across the room shrieking. She jumped on Ted's back and attempted to choke him. Meanwhile, the two security guards closed in around Erica.
"Oh great, the superhero gets his version of a 'sexy nurse.'" Erica crouched down in a fighting stance. "And I get you two lugs."
"Them's the breaks." The first guard threw a punch at Erica.
She moved to the side to let the fist go by and wrenched the guard's wrist into an arm bar. When the second guard ran in for a kick, she pulled her first attacker into a human shield position. After the guard kicked his own partner in the gut, Erica pushed them into each other, resulting in a head-on-head collision.
She looked back over to Ted. Her boyfriend was now on the ground with the librarian on top of him. The woman swung wildly at Ted's face.
"Use your powers." Erica kept her eyes on Ted while easily deflecting a blow from one of the now-concussed guards.
"I don't want to hurt her." Ted's voice was nearly drowned out by the woman's shrieking.
Erica blocked another punch and sent one right back into the guard's arm. She swept his legs out from under him, and the guar
d stayed down.
"I'm sure that's the reason she's still on top of you."
When the second guard dove for her legs, Erica leapt up onto his shoulders and locked her knees around his throat. It didn't take long for her to choke him to unconsciousness. Before he could fall, Erica rolled backward and caught him. When she laid him gently on the floor, she saw Ted float the screaming woman off his body and into a chair across the room. He took the scarf from around her neck and used it to tie up her arms with his mind.
"Took you long enough." Erica rolled up the sleeves of one of the unconscious guards.
"I had the situation under control."
When the librarian began to shriek again, Ted used his powers to keep her mouth shut.
Erica pulled up the sleeves of the other guard. "They aren't dark souls. I think they were controlled, just like Beth."
Ted took a glance around the room. "I don't see the books from Page's here. I think they led us down here to keep us away from them."
Erica nodded as she picked up the librarian's key card from the ground. "Let her talk."
Ted waved his hand and the librarian let out another shriek. Erica dashed in front of her and the woman stopped.
"Tell us where we can find the books."
The librarian laughed. "Why would I ever tell you?"
"Because you're a librarian?" Ted shook his head.
The woman's face darkened. "You're never going to find them. There are hundreds of rooms here and millions of books."
Erica held her hands a few inches apart. A burst of blue lightning went between them.
"Mind control," Erica said. "It's a two-way street."
After the librarian gave Erica the exact directions to the books from Page's, along with her phone number, they attempted to sneak their way in there.
"Whoever messed with their brains might have done the same thing to anybody who works here," Erica said. "Tread carefully."
Ted proceeded to knock over a potted plant, though he caught it before it could completely tip over.
"Sorry."
Erica rolled her eyes and directed him into the elevator. When the door closed, Ted went back to his standard volume.
"Is this mind control guy like you? Is he a light soul?"
Erica shook her head. "I should be the only one on your world right now. But I have a theory."
Before Erica could share it, the elevator doors opened. There were five librarians and a security guard waiting for them.
Erica glanced over at Ted. "Looks like your fantasy come to life."
"One librarian gets you a little excited and people think you have a fetish or something."
Ted and Erica clenched their fists and sprung into action.
17
Jennifer opened the Daly file to a half-filled page titled "Leads." She dialed a number from the text.
"Hey, can I speak to Cheryl?" Jennifer affected a southern accent, though she wasn't sure why she chose southern. "Thank you, dear."
Cheryl picked up on the other end.
"Hey there, Cheryl." Jennifer had her pencil ready to take notes. "I just got a text that said you spotted my deadbeat ex-husband shopping at your store?"
Her father's office hadn't gotten far on the Daly case. She blamed the Nigel situation and the precinct attack for the lack of devoted resources. Jennifer had made much better progress on her own once she'd learned that Daly had a prescription medication for his thyroid that he couldn't live without. Working state by state, she'd been calling every pharmacy she could find. Several thousand calls later, she had her first lead, in upstate New York.
"I saw him, alright," Cheryl said. "We aren't really supposed to give out this kind of information, but you said it's been two years since he's given you a dime?"
Jennifer affirmed the lie. She couldn't very well tell people that she was looking for someone who murdered her friend when her friend was alive and kicking. The child support story seemed to elicit a lot of sympathy among female employees.
"Give me your number one last time, honey." Cheryl seemed to share Jennifer's pain over the phone. "He's using a fake name, but I'm sure it's him. I'll send you over his address right now. I hope you catch the bastard."
Jennifer hoped she would to. After she got off the phone with Cheryl, Jennifer plotted out the directions on her computer. As she did, she spied the last picture of Erica she had that wasn't sitting in a box on the top shelf of her closet. The framed photo was from just last year. Erica, Beth, Winny and herself were pretending to hold weapons as they tried to look cute.
Jennifer opened the same drawer the Daly file came from and reached all the way in the back. She took out a gun.
"I can get there tomorrow morning. Scope him out all Saturday. This could be all over by the end of the weekend."
Jennifer checked the magazine and put it back into place.
"Let's go for a little drive."
18
Natalie felt a little more comfortable at the next GHA meeting than she had at the first. After all, this one had a different vibe, with many of the participants preparing to join in some field games. When sports were around, she couldn't help but feel like she was in her element. The parking lot had been transformed into a carnival atmosphere with bright colors, games and life replacing the rows of cars she'd spotted last week.
Natalie tried to suppress the image of Ted shaking every tray in the cafeteria when he saw her with Travis. He hadn't so much as blinked when he saw over a hundred protestors earlier that week. She was the one who made him upset. Natalie knew it was proof that Ted cared about her, but she wasn't the kind of person to back down from her commitment. As soon as Natalie was about to join in on a game of horseshoes, Travis grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind a booth set up for a softball toss game.
Travis smelled like a man to Natalie. There was no hint of detergent or fruity shampoo, as there had often been with Ted. It was like the difference between white and dark meat. His scent was richer, somehow. More dangerous. She started to become self-conscious of how she smelled when Travis had them sit down on the concrete base of a tall lamppost.
"Can we play a game?" Travis had a crooked smile with a reputation. Natalie could see why.
"You mean like softball toss?"
Travis stood up and faced her. "This one is more mental than physical. I'm going to examine you and tell you exactly what you're looking for in a relationship, and then you'll do the same for me."
Natalie scrunched her face. "Okay."
Travis waived his hands. "No, I swear, it's going to be great. I'll start."
Natalie leaned back against the metal post and folded her arms. She gave Travis a look that said she was ready for his impending subpar performance. "While we're young."
Travis cleared his throat. "You want someone who can keep up with you, both physically and emotionally. You want a guy who listens to what you say and what you aren't saying. A person who is sweet, sensitive and strong all at the same time." Travis focused on Natalie's eyes. "And you deserve all of that and more."
Natalie tried not to betray how she felt, but her shallow sigh gave it away. Travis knew exactly what she felt like she needed in a man.
Words are easy. I'm not.
"Are you trying to say that you have all these qualities?" Natalie pursed her lips to suppress the laugh.
Travis opened his mouth wide. "I would never talk of myself so highly."
Natalie couldn't help the giggle from slipping. "Uh huh. I've only been here since 7th grade, Travis, but I'm not blind or deaf."
Travis blushed. Natalie didn't even know he was capable of such a thing. She hoped she hadn't gone too far.
"Fair enough." Travis shifted and straightened his shoulders. "But I'll tell you this much: I'm working on it. I want to be better, and I want to be this ideal guy. Both for myself and for you."
Now Natalie was blushing. She tried to look away and hide it, but it was pretty obvious that Travis spotted it. The smile on his
face declared victory.
"That was smooth, Travis." Natalie stood up and circled around her suitor. She gestured for him to sit down. "Now it's my turn."
Travis sat and took the pose of a cherubic angel.
"Alright. You want someone who will believe all your horsecrap and sleep with you on the first date."
Travis opened his eyes wide and Natalie sat back down next to him. After a few moments of silence, they burst out into laughter.
"That was good." Travis laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes. "I deserved that. Man, you're amazing."
Natalie wiped away the tears from Travis' face. "I'm not going to disagree with you."
Travis took Natalie's hand and leaned into her. He bent his head to plot a collision course with her mouth. Natalie felt her stomach flutter as she closed her eyes and waited for contact. It never had the chance to come.
"Hey!" The voice of Nick, the classmate from the other day, rang out. "You're wanted in the command center."
Natalie had given some dirty looks in her day, but none as angry and intense as the one Travis gave to Nick. Natalie touched his shoulder to try to lessen the ire.
"It's alright." Natalie looked at Travis' lips. "I'll still be here when you get back."
"No, they want both of you to come."
Natalie had been as relaxed as she'd felt in weeks before Nick told her what was coming. She held her breath.
"That's great." Travis gave Natalie's shoulder a squeeze. "You're in the inner circle."
Natalie scrunched up her face. "Just when I was getting used to the outer circle."
"Come with me." Nick waved them inside.
Natalie suppressed her nervousness and followed.
Going from the color and noise of the outdoor activities to the cold, lifeless interior of the command center felt like going from day to night. Something about it made her feel unwelcome, as if she should turn around and try to escape.
This is a bad idea. A really bad idea.
She continued forward anyway. When they reached the door, a pencil of a man held out a tray and collected Travis and Nick's cell phones.
