Shadow Boy

by R. J. Ross

  Maybe there’s something wrong with my heart, I think as I finish my shower. I still feel weird, and off-center. I pull on some clothes and head out the door, only to stop at the sight of Carla standing outside my room. “Carla—” I say, a bit surprised.

  “I uh—” she says, glancing both ways before shoving me into my room and stepping in. “I’m sorry, we can totally forget the whole crush thing because it was stupid and I’m over it now and we’ll both pretend it never happened and be happy as friends, right?” she says almost too quickly for me to follow. She gives me a hopeful look, and I find myself nodding stupidly, because that’s what she wanted.

  “Yeah?” I say.

  “Yeah,” she says, grinning at me. It doesn’t quite reach her eyes, but her eyes aren’t actually looking at me, anyway. They’re sort of glued to my shoulder. She jerkily sticks her hand out and I look at it for a second. She waves the hand. “Shake,” she prompts me.

  I hesitantly reach up, not sure I WANT to shake on this. I’m moving too slowly for her, I can tell, because she reaches down and grabs my hand, shaking it without letting me close my hand around hers.

  “Now we can NEVER mention this again, right?” she demands before racing away.

  I reach up, rubbing my chest with a little frown, wondering why it just started hurting again. Maybe I swallowed a bit of water or something, I decide. I guess a visit to one of the healers wouldn’t be a bad idea. Let’s see… Aubrey would be the best choice, but she’s in the apartments, next would be Bobby, I guess, since he’s a guy. Honestly, I should be healed by now, I think with a bit of frustration. It’s one of those few things my old man actually gave me.

  I blink at the sight of Max standing at the end of the hall, watching me with a hint of amusement. “What?” I ask.

  “Zoe sent me a text,” he says, holding up his phone. “She says you have to go to the other dorms.”

  I go still, thinking of who lives in the other dorms—the Superiors are gone, moved out to play guard to Mother. The only ones still there at the moment are the healers, that Jersey Devil woman, Doris, and— “No. Not going. Tell your girlfriend to play with someone else’s life,” I say, starting to go past him. I take another step, but I don’t feel the ground beneath my feet anymore. “Max,” I say irritably.

  “If you use your power on someone in the dorms, Morgan takes them!” Lance calls as a group walks past us, heading for their rooms.

  “Morgan isn’t back from North Hall, yet,” Max says, not lowering me.

  “It’s still against the rules,” Lance says.

  “Yeah, Max, it’s against the rules,” I parrot, glaring at him and crossing my arms over my chest. At least my chest doesn’t hurt as much, I notice. Maybe it was indigestion.

  “Why does Zoe want you to talk to Skystep?” Max asks.

  I stare back, just as stubbornly. We’re almost the same age, and we just got back from a month on the road together, practically. I’m not intimidated by the name “Maximum” anymore. In fact, he and I are pretty good friends—except for when he pulls tricks like this.

  “I will CARRY you all the way there if you don’t explain,” he threatens me.

  “You are so whipped, man,” I say, scowling at him. “Does she pick out your clothes for you, too?” I taunt him.

  “Why yes, she DID pick out this outfit for me,” Max says with a smug little grin. “She says it makes me look even hotter than usual.”

  I choke, barking with laughter as he poses. “You’re lying,” I accuse him.

  “You’ll never know,” he says. “Who knows, I might have been reading her mind at the time,” he adds a bit blandly, still subtly crowing over the fact that his telepathy is finally working properly. “Either way, you’re changing the subject, so if you’d prefer to talk about something else—I think Carla just went to play video games with Cisco. They’ve got the den all to themselves, too,” he taunts.

  I turn, wanting to go straight to the den and—and play chaperon. JUST play chaperon—

  “You’re so obvious that I don’t even NEED to read your mind,” Max says, snorting as he starts for the stairs. I have no choice but to float behind him, so I kick back, lounging in the air. It’s the closest I’ll ever get to flying.

  “If I’m so obvious, why don’t YOU explain?” I ask, digging through my pocket and bringing out my phone. I tap on the screen, sorting through the music I stole while out in the field. I bring up some fast dance music and streaming it through my ever-present earbud, intent on ignoring whatever he’s doing until we pass a shadow. The moment he gets me close enough to a shadow, I’m gone, I swear. And then he heads STRAIGHT through the den.

  Carla starts laughing her head off as she sees me. It takes me a few seconds to recover—I mean she’s sitting RIGHT NEXT to that freaking child of the corn kid, (why yes, I did call Vinny and check up on that team,) and my mind races. “Help!” I say, “I’m being kidnapped!” ignoring my ego shouting at me that I look REALLY stupid right now. And that Cisco kid is watching with a grin—okay, that chafes. But maybe if she comes and saves me, he won’t be grinning anymore, right?

  “Bye, Rocco!” Carla says, waving at me cheerfully. “Max, can I go next?”

  “Sure,” Max says, “after I’m done with my kidnapping job.”

  She’s about to reply, but she glances at the wall where their game is going on and lets out a yelp, instead. “No fair! I was distracted!” she says to Cisco, sitting down and focusing on the game again. Ouch.

  “Hey, at least invite Elidee and Olivia to play with you,” I call over my shoulder as Max drags me out the door. “I bet they’re bored!”

  “Oh! Good idea!” Carla says, racing away. I relax as we step out of the building, not sure why.

  “What, not going to mention that Jennifer girl, too?” Max asks dryly as we head for the other building. “Or better yet, the rest of the dorms?”

  “What?” I ask.

  “You’re so obvious, man.”

  “Elidee and Olivia still have that lost look—I haven’t actually talked to them, sure, but it’s pretty obvious,” I say. “That Jennifer girl has a lot more self confidence. She’s around our age, right?”

  “Mmhmm,” he says, heading into the second dorm building. I turn the music off, realizing I totally lost my chance to run thanks to his distraction technique. Before I know it, there’s a face right in front of mine. I jump slightly, shocked.

  “Hiiiii,” Skystep says, waving at me with a curious grin. “Is there a problem?”

  “Um—” I say a bit stupidly. “I—”

  “Hi, Skye,” Max says as she steps onto his shoulder. “We just wanted to come and visit!”

  “Visitors!” Skye says excitedly, pushing off of his shoulder and going through the ceiling. I can hear her from here, still, as she says, “Doris! We have visitors! And one’s a super villain, too! Maybe they can help you with your homework!”

  “I really doubt a kid super villain will know how to plot out a major bank heist,” I hear Doris say.

  “I figured it out when I was thirteen,” Max calls up at them. “I’d be happy to give you a hand—if Skye keeps Rocco company while I do it, that is,” he adds as I start to look for another shadow.

  “Deal!” Skye says, coming through the ceiling again with a cheerful smile.

  “Who IS he?” Doris demands, heading for the stairs and looking down at us.

  “Maximum, at your service,” Max says with a little bow.

  “Um… okay, fine, but you’re going to have to help me with the computer first,” she says slowly.

  “What’s wrong with it?” Max asks.

  “I’m not sure how to turn it on,” she admits.

  “This might take a while,” Max says to me. “Have fun with Skye!” he adds, heading up the stairs. I look at Skye, who’s watching me expectantly, a huge grin on her face.

  “Hi?” I offer, holding up a hand. What DO I say? “Hey, check this out, turns out we’re related?” or maybe, “I
’m not sure but my jerk of a dad thinks you might be my cousin, maybe a few times removed?” Yeah, that’d go over well—I drop to the ground like a pound of bricks as Max lets me go.

  “You can’t fly?” she asks, hovering over me curiously.

  “Nope,” I say, hopping to my feet and dusting my pants off. “I’m strictly ground—er, and shadow, I guess, based.”

  “Shadow?” she repeats, her eyes narrowing. “Like Shadowman shadow?”

  “Um, well… I guess?” I say, scratching the back of my head just for something to do with my hand. “He’s my dad—but I only met him like a week ago, or something. My ma raised me.”

  “You aren’t going to kidnap anyone, are you?” she demands. “Because I’m a super villain but I don’t like kidnapping!”

  “Nope, don’t plan to kidnap anyone—especially you,” I say, holding up both hands innocently. “Look, this was a stupid idea—I’ll tell Zoe that—”

  “Zoe?” she asks, getting excited again. “What did Zoe say?” she asks, grabbing my arm and dragging me into the den. She’s walking on air, but she doesn’t seem to notice. I bet she doesn’t even realize that she’s sort of short. Maybe Zoe’s comment about height and being able to fly is truer than I thought.

  “Ah, well—” In for a dollar, I think darkly, giving up. “Look, do you have a family line?” I ask, having heard a bit about the big family lines from our classes.

  “I’m a Superior!” she says.

  “You are NOW, sure, but what about before you were adopted?” I prompt. “Like, before you met Nico and them?”

  “Of course not, I’m one of a kind!”

  “Well, actually—according to my dad, you aren’t—not exactly,” I say, sighing and shoving my hands into my pockets. “You’re from the same line as I am—like, Shadowman thinks you’re his great, great niece or something—which makes us—”

  “Family?” she offers.

  “Yeah,” I say, shrugging, my hands clenched in my pockets. I feel like running right now, no lie.

  “But--but I don’t want to be related to Shadowman!” she wails after thinking for a long moment.

  “That makes two of us,” I say.

  “So can we toss him out of the family line?” she asks hesitantly.

  “Sure?” I offer. “I mean, the only reason I even admit to it is because it’s pretty obvious by my powers, but I’m ignoring it other than that.”

  “OKAY!” she says, hugging me happily. “We can be family! I LIKE family! And I’ll be the super good aunt that listens to EVERYTHING! I’ve got lots of practice being an aunt!” she tells me happily. “And I want to meet your mom and any siblings you have—”

  “No siblings,” I say, shrugging. “I was too much of a handful for Ma to want more. And you don’t have to be too worried about the whole aunt thing—I’m pretty much a pain in the neck—” she’s walking around me, and now she’s poking my hair. “Um, Skye?” I say as she gets in my face, grabs my chin and turns my head so she can see me from different angles. “Is there a problem?” I ask awkwardly, because she’s keeping me from opening my jaw enough.

  “You’re cute!” she says happily. “I like having cute nephews!”

  “Uh… thanks?” I say.

  “Oh, but Sunny’s a little bit ‘cute’ cuter—you’re more ‘handsome’ cute,” she decides. “It’s good either way!” she decides, hugging me again. “What was your name again?” she asks after a few seconds.

  “Rocco,” I say. “Rocco Stiltz. It’s my mom’s last name—I don’t even know Shadowman’s real name.”

  “I like it!” she declares. “So now you need to tell me EVERYTHING! That’s what you do with aunts, right? Like if you have a girlfriend and if she’s cute and if you want to be a hero or a villain and all sorts of interesting things!” she says, pulling away and looking at me expectantly.

  “Uhhh,” I say, my hands brushing against my phone as I desperately search for something to say. I mean, I’m perfectly fine hearing about everyone ELSE’S lives—oh! There is one thing I like to tell! “Well, I’m not decided yet—but I did break into Fort Knox! Twice!”

  “Oooooh,” she says. “I like Fort Knox. All the gold is so shiny and pretty!”

  Wait, what?

  I stare at her for a moment. “You’ve been there?”

  “Oh, sure! When I was about your age!” she says. “It was kind of boring after a while, though, and all the shooting was loud. I didn’t steal anything--I thought about it, though! But it’s not like I could do anything with a gold bar—I mean, I was going to be a villain, right? So it’s not like I’d actually BUY things! That’s just silly!”

  “Um… what DO you do, then?” I ask blankly. Think Marigold chased her around as much as she did me? Why isn’t SHE in the Cape Cells?

  “Oh, I stole a credit card from Century a long time ago,” she says, waving it off. “I buy all my stuff with HIS money! It’s the perfect crime!”

  Unless you know that credit cards can be canceled, I think, just staring at her. Slowly, though, I feel a little grin crossing my face. I mean, she’s actually pretty cute, isn’t she? And that explains why Marigold hasn’t caught her—Century likes her enough to fund her.

  “Absolute perfect crime,” I tell her, holding up a fist for her to bump. She looks at it curiously for a second before getting excited.

  “Oh! The fist bump thing!” she says, bumping her knuckles against mine. It almost breaks my fist, but I shake it off. “Oh, hey, hey, can you help me with something SERIOUSLY important?” she asks. “I want to talk to someone, but she keeps avoiding me every time, so I want you to distract her while I grab her, okay? Or maybe I’ll distract her and YOU grab her, okay? But be careful, ‘cause she might melt on you if you startle her too much. She did that to me, once, and then she turned into a cloud.”

  “A cloud,” I repeat.

  “Uh huh, a cloud, and then she floated away, and even though I followed her, she wouldn’t talk, so it was pretty frustrating,” she explains. “But she’s PERFECT for my super villain girls group—er, unless YOU want to be in the group, that is, then it won’t be all girls,” she adds, frowning. “But you’re welcome to join! You can be our dashing getaway driver!”

  “Yeah? Who all’s in the group?” I ask curiously.

  “Me and Doris! And maybe Ariel if I can get her to listen! And I’d LIKE to have Sandra, but she’s being chased around by all the Hall leaders.”

  “But… can’t all of you fly?” I ask after a second of thought. Well, other than Sandra, but she’s already written her off. Wait, when did Sandra come out? I miss so many things when out on mission, seriously!

  “So?”

  “Why would you need a getaway car if you can all fly away?” I ask.

  “Because if we fly away, we won’t have a cute getaway driver waiting for us!” she says as if that makes perfect sense.

  “Yeah, but I can’t drive, anyway,” I admit. “I never learned.”

  “I could—” she stops, as if abruptly realizing something, “I never learned, either,” she admits, frowning. “We’ll make Nico teach us!”

  “But I travel a LOT farther without a car,” I have to point out. “A lot faster, too.”

  “Well, yeah,” she says, pouting. I think she’s just intent on learning to drive, now—but can you imagine her behind a wheel? Wait—

  “Can you make other things phase through stuff?” I ask.

  “Sure!”

  “That WOULD be fun, wouldn’t it?” I say, just picturing it. “But I can’t,” I admit, sighing. “Technically, Max still has a few jobs left, and I’m still on his team.”

  “But someday?” she asks.

  “Definitely,” I say, trying not to laugh. “Now I should get going—I haven’t slept in a while, I need to crash,” I say. To my surprise, she drags me into a hug, holding on tight for a long moment.

  “Don’t tell people you’re a pain to deal with,” she says, softly, pressing my head against her shoulder.
“Don’t even think it. We’re different, but—but we’re not pains. We just need… stronger people than most, see? It’s not scary when they’re around.”

  I’m feeling a bit awkward, but I nod. “Yeah, I guess so,” I say as she lets go. “Night, Skye,” I say, stepping back a few times before heading through the nearest shadow and back to my room.

  ***

  I can’t sleep. Look, I spent the time between thirteen and seventeen on the run. I just knew that the moment I stayed too long in one place, Marigold would find me. She was like a massive bloodhound, intent on tracking me down. It’s a bit of a miracle that I wound up here instead of in the Cape Cells, if you ask me. I kept stumbling into things I shouldn’t be involved in—and a lot of it was my own fault.

  I want to be a hero—no, not the type that runs around in tights and has movies based on them. I want to be the guy that goes in and saves kids out of bad situations. I want them to feel safe because I never felt safe… I mean, even in the Shadowlands, where only two people in the world can go, I STILL don’t feel safe. There are things down there—living things. I’ve never seen one up close, but I’m positive they have sharp, pointy teeth and a lust for blood.

  I just got distracted. Whoops. Well, anyway, I think I might be a bit light-headed over having so many people around me now—people that NOTICE me, that don’t think I’m a freak when I go through a shadow, that I actually see on a daily basis. I LOVE being in Cape High. I’ve made it my goal to get to know everyone, to be the “big brother” figure, or just “brother” to everyone around. I want them to—

  I want them to need me, I think, staring at the ceiling. Like, if I disappeared one day, they would go searching for me, even if they AREN’T really worried. And, a little voice whispers, Carla is definitely in the top five of that list—as a little sister, or whatever. She was part of the group that accepted me first. Right now, though, the reminder of her fake smile and the hand held out is haunting me. What will I do if she keeps pulling away?