Ember placed her hand on my cheek. “Look.”
My vision swirled, and then I was no longer in front of her on the top of a mountain, but in a small classroom at James Oglethorpe High School, looking through the memory-eyes of Ember.
I heard my voice, but it didn’t sound like how I heard it in my head. Instead, it sounded how Ember heard me—a little higher than I was used to, and strong. Confident. I stood to her right, staring at Patrick with fierce hostility. I felt Ember’s appreciation and admiration.
The memory shifted, and we were sitting on trash cans at the mouth of an alley. Ember was relieved I was with her, chatting the hours away. The vision changed to a little later, while she watched me taunt a mugger. Fearless…
I was standing in a drenched library, holding a wire and ordering Patrick to surrender or die. He sank to his knees and I smiled.
We stood in a dingy living room in front of a knife-throwing target. I placed a knife in her hands and patiently corrected her stance.
I hung my head and apologized for trying to sneak books into the house and hide them from my friends. My shame was written all over my face. Ember could hear my thoughts, all my self-abuse and doubt.
I waved while Ember and Reid flew away in a Coast Guard helicopter. Though I grew smaller in the distance, she could hear my relief that my team was safe.
As quickly as she’d entered my mind, she was out. We were back on the sparse mountaintop, the men none the wiser about what had just happened.
I shivered, though not from cold.
Ember squeezed my hands. “I want to see that Jill again. That Jill had plenty to fear, but she faced those fears, and she defeated them.” Her brown eyes glistened with the vehemence in her words. “You’re Battlecry. That’s a rallying shout before waging war. Fury and boldness are built into your name.”
“No, it was an allusion to my grandmother’s power. She had an ultrasonic scream that could shred metal.”
Ember just shook her head and pecked me on the cheek. “Get some rest, and then think about what I said, okay?” She let go of my hands and walked inside the shelter.
She might as well have asked me to drink the ocean.
Marco ducked out of it and began collecting dry twigs and branches. I joined him.
Marco peered toward the deep pink western sky. “The sun’s going down. Benjamin’s going to have trouble tonight, even with the blankets. Has he ever spent a night outdoors in winter?”
“I… Crap. I don’t know.” We had plenty of blankets, but even I knew that outdoor living took some getting used to. Benjamin, tough and strong as he was, was in for a long night. “Just keep the fire going, and I’ll make sure he’s warm.”
“Oh, I bet you will.” Marco snickered. “Cuddled up under the blankets, who knows what will—”
I whacked him on the head with a stick. “Go soak your head in the creek.” I turned on my heel and walked back toward the campsite, warm under my collar.
Ever since Benjamin and I had officially started dating in July, we’d always kept our physical relationship fairly chaste; kissing on the couch in front of a movie was the extent of our “activities.” However, when I’d developed a nasty cough on Thanksgiving, he’d been all too eager to give me a check-up in the sick bay.
I’d been led to believe all my life that civilian men, having grown up without the principles and traits, were wild, almost animalistic, in their sexual behavior. One visible bra strap would drive them into a frenzy. Benjamin had only been a superhero for a few months, so I expected him to seize upon any opportunity for fooling around.
Yet, when I coyly asked him on that Thanksgiving afternoon if he wanted me to take off my shirt so he could listen to my heart with his stethoscope, he’d paused, cleared his throat, and told me that I was going to be fine. He’d left me in the sick bay, confused and humiliated.
The next day I’d pulled Ember aside and asked her, with my hands in my pockets, if Benjamin was really attracted to me.
“Are you… Are you serious? You’re really asking me this?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Jill, if you could see what I’ve seen in that boy’s head, you’d… No, I’m not even going there. Yes, he’s attracted to you. When I was dying on the floor at the convenience store, he healed me, then actually took the time to admire your chest.” She glared at Benjamin’s door.
I’d thought about asking her what his fantasies were, but backed away when I saw her face.
So, I knew he was attracted to me, but why had he turned me down?
Perhaps it wasn’t a flaw in my physique—I had to admit, I looked good in my underwear—but a flaw in my personality. Plenty of boys in this very camp had said as much. I’d gotten into yelling matches with my father, mother, cousins, and Matthew plenty of times over the years. I’d challenged the other trainees to competitions of strength, speed, and agility just to watch them curse when they lost.
Or maybe Benjamin found me intimidating? I was nearly six feet tall, built like an ox, and had nearly beaten my former leader to death. Benjamin had practically hyperventilated when I’d straddled Patrick and aimed blow after blow to his bones and organs, deliberately drawing out his death.
It was probably a combination of all of those.
I dropped my sticks and twigs into a heap by the shelter and started to look for rocks to make a fire circle. I’d considered every possible reason Benjamin could’ve rejected me. Each reason sat in my chest, heavy as the rocks in my hands.
What had gone wrong over the last few months? We’d all been so happy. I’d been so happy. Ember was right— something was off about me. I used to be so… so…
A hawk soared overhead, circling for a meal. I put down the rocks and followed it until I reached the overlook.
Northern Georgia stretched out before me, visible for fifty miles in all directions.
The lights of the campfires in the valley flickered like stars, beckoning me toward their warmth. The various meadows and training areas seemed so small from my vantage point, like pieces in a grassy patchwork quilt. The large obstacle course, tucked in its own meadow, looked like a set of structures for dolls.
The voices of my fellow campers, occasionally audible on a still day, were lost in the roar of the December wind as it whipped through the mountains and stirred every tree as it went.
Beyond the ugly wall, the hazy lights of Chatsworth, Georgia winked at me. The first question I’d asked the man who drove Marco and me to Saint Catherine had been the name of the town I’d seen from my lofty perch for so many years. I loved to hike to the overlook. Marco, my eternal shadow, had often joined me.
Our last sunset in the camp had been spent at this very spot, speaking in wonder of what life in a civilian town would be like. We couldn’t conceive of a true city, as none were visible from Fort Mountain.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, inhaling the smoke, moisture, bark, decay, and unnamable scents of the moment. The wind raised each hair on my arms, teasing me with its strength. For all the adventures I’d had in my sunny seaside home these last few months, it was here on the jagged peak of a mountain that I felt truly alive.
My city was eternally on my mind, but my heart was a mountain range.
I stepped back from the edge and ran into the woods. A few minutes later, I finished building the fire circle and arranged the kindling in the usual little stacked formation.
A gust of wind nudged the smaller twigs and caused a shiver to shoot down the back of my neck. We needed to get the fire going. “Marco! I need you!”
Silence.
Sighing, I stood up and poked my head into the shelter, where the others were arranging blankets and backpacks to form a makeshift bed. Benjamin was in the process of putting on a thermal undershirt, giving me a glimpse of his flat abdomen, with its light smattering of hair that I liked so much. I grinned.
Ember gave me a look of exasperated disbelief. “Whatever gets you smiling.”
“I’m goi
ng to go find Marco. Who wants to come with me?”
They all agreed to come, and we flew on the rock toward the main meadow, which was now dark and lit by the jumping, ghostly glow of dozens of campfires.
Marco was sitting with his parents and sisters, talking with great animation. The younger two girls hung on his every word. I focused on his words and gathered that he was sharing a story about an armed robbery he’d foiled. When he reached the part about the robber pointing a gun at his head, Melissa hid her face in her mother’s shirt.
People everywhere were cooking dinner over their fires. Warm aromas of soup, vegetables, and meat wafted under my nose, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in hours. When we returned to the shelter we’d eat some of the food we brought in the duffel. The boxes of supplies had been left with the ones from the charity truck.
My team dispersed and wandered away from me. I searched around for a friendly face with whom I could visit.
At the far end of the meadow, a few teenagers danced around a fire, holding hands and singing an old song about the first superheroes. I watched their feet move in the intricate, quick movements I knew well.
While I watched the happy dancers, a large gust of freezing wind caused every campfire to gutter and throw burning embers high into the air, where they lit up the night sky like glowing, fiery confetti. Like sparks from a flint.
Without consciously deciding to move, I walked toward the dancers. As I neared the group, they stopped and stared at me as I approached.
One of them, a boy in his late teens, wore the red sash of a future leader. I recognized his face, but I couldn’t recall his name. I stepped into the circle. None of the teenagers moved or spoke. Instead, they watched me, the planes of their faces lit up in ghostly oranges and yellows.
“Ma’am, how can I help you?” the future leader asked politely.
“Trainee, what’s your name?”
“Noah St. James, ma’am. When I enter service next year, my codename will be Python.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Noah. I’d like to dance with your group, if you don’t mind.”
Noah faltered. “I… I don’t think that’s allowed, ma’am. I don’t think we’re supposed to fraternize with the teams who came for the tribunal.”
I held out my hands to the girls beside me. They hesitated, then took them. I looked Noah in the eye. “You’re a future leader. You’re going to dance with heroes like me whether you want to or not.”
Noah’s brow furrowed as he tried to work out the meaning of my words, but he joined hands with the boy and girl beside him. The girl to my right flashed me a shy grin and began to sing again.
I closed my eyes and let the old tune carry me away, away from the tribunal and the judgments, away from cold and hunger. We sang about great teams of the past who’d sacrificed their lives to keep innocent people safe, and when the music swelled we raised our hands above our heads to clap twice, I opened my eyes and smiled at the stars.
Mercury shone above us, beautiful and bright in the darkness.
Another gust of wind threw an ember into my eye.
With a cry I fell to my knees and covered my eye with my hand. It wasn’t agonizing, but my reflexes wouldn’t let me open it. A burning, prickling pain spread across my lid—I’d have trouble seeing for a while.
Everyone stopped dancing. Noah kneeled down next to me. “Ma’am, what should I do? I can get a wet cloth for you, if you want.”
“Get my teammate Mercury. Tell him his leader needs him.”
Noah stood. “Mercury! Your teammate needs your assistance!”
Benjamin was there in the blink of an eye. “What’s wrong?”
A few people gasped. Before I could answer, his fingertips brushed my cheek. The burning faded into nothing, and I let go of my eye.
“You’re a healer? I mean, sir, you’re a healer?” Noah asked. “And you can run fast?”
“This is Noah, a future leader,” I said to Benjamin. “He doesn’t think he’s allowed to dance with me.”
Benjamin glanced at Noah, clearly unimpressed. “Yeah, I’m a healer and I can run fast.” He paused, then relaxed. “Cadet, go find every person in the meadow with an injury, and tell them to come to me.”
Noah nodded quickly and ran off toward the rest of the people in the meadow. The other teenagers crowded around Benjamin and me.
“Sir, how long have you been in service?”
“Sir, what camp are you from?”
“Sir, what’s your family name?”
Benjamin held up his hands to shush them. “I’m afraid I don’t have time to answer all your questions, since I’m sure Red Sash will be back soon with a crowd in tow. Please refer all questions to my leader, Battlecry.” He gave me a warm smile. “She’s the reason I’m a superhero.” He walked off toward Noah, who’d already found half a dozen people who needed healing.
The teenagers turned their attention to me, and I began to tell them the tale of how I’d met Benjamin Corsaro, the man who’d been born with fabulous powers, but had never had a chance to learn how to be a superhero.
As word of Benjamin’s ability spread around the meadow, a large throng began to form around him. I fell back and watched Benjamin work his wonder, and the thrilled reaction of the crowd each time someone shouted to the sky that they’d been healed. Several people burst into tears when their oozing wound, hideous burn, or severely fractured limb was made new.
A man from the far side of the camp, Mr. Mukai, came up to me and pulled me aside. I’d played with his daughters Lillian and Rosie when we were small, before they’d died of illness in the same year. His only surviving child, Florine, was fourteen. “Jillian, what family is that man from? Is he courting?”
I covered my smile with my hand. “I’m sorry, Mr. Mukai, but Benjamin and I are courting. And he’s not from any camp. He’s from one of the obscure families, the Corsaros.”
Mr. Mukai balked. “How did you find him?”
I watched Benjamin heal a preteen girl with a patch over her eye by pressing the tip of her nose. She collapsed into hysterical giggles, then pulled off the patch. “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”
“We were at a café at the same time. He met a girl there who’d been injured in a bomb blast. He healed her and thought I wouldn’t notice.” It occurred to me that Mr. Mukai wouldn’t know what a café was.
“Jill!” Isabel’s voice came from behind me.
I excused myself from Mr. Mukai and hurried toward her. She was sprinting toward us, clutching a stitch in her chest.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“Ran… too fast… Mr. Dufresne is… setting up… the watch.” She finally caught her breath. “I ran to get the other injured people from the south end of the camp. Caroline is going to get the people from the west side.”
“What happened with Mr. Dufresne?” Sidney Dufresne was the watch commander.
Isabel beckoned the rest of us to come closer. “I, uh, overheard him talking to Elder. There’s going to be another trial before yours. I don’t know who’s in trouble. But the big news is that they’re putting you guys on the watch bill at weird times. I think they want to keep you apart. Benjamin’s on watch tonight. Marco, Jill, and Reid have watch tomorrow night after the tribunal. Ember, you’re going to be on the hunting team all tomorrow, except when you’re testifying.”
I swore. “What are they worried about? Do they think we’ll start trouble?”
Isabel nodded fervently. “Yes. They think you’ll fight their judgment at the tribunal.”
“That sounds like they’ve already decided,” Reid said, his eyebrows knit together. “They haven’t heard Jill’s defense.”
“How did you hear all this?” Marco asked sternly. “Have you been eavesdropping again?”
Isabel gasped. “Of course not.”
Her wide-eyed innocence fooled nobody.
“Isabel St. James, what have I told you about listening in on conversations?” Marco said, his voice sudden
ly deeper. “One day you are going to get into serious trouble. Elder will not be understanding if you’re caught spying on him.”
“How do you spy on the elders?” Reid asked.
Isabel flashed an impish smile. Her light brown skin, black hair, and pink clothes faded into the darkness, making her nearly invisible in the low light of the night. My sharp eyes could make out her reedy figure in the air, but to an average person who wasn’t looking for her, she would’ve been practically invisible.
“Wow,” Ember and Reid said in unison.
Isabel reappeared. “Okay, yes, I’ve been listening. But a lot of weird things have been happening lately, and I want to know why. For example, some men in a white truck came a few nights ago while I was on watch. They gave something to Elder, who put it in his house. I’ve never seen that truck before.”
“What did the truck look like?” I asked.
“Forget that. Elder gets stuff all the time. Why were you on watch?” Marco asked, a deep frown twisting his features. “You’re fifteen.”
Isabel blinked at him. “You were seventeen when you left, weren’t you? They decided I was old enough to be on watch. I don’t mind doing it. I get a lot of time to think and stuff. And I can talk to Timmy when we patrol together.”
Marco launched into a full interrogation of Isabel about “this Timmy guy,” and I knew my part in the conversation was over.
Reid and Ember wandered off hand-in-hand to watch Benjamin heal the ever-growing crowd. I sat down on a tree stump, trying to ignore the clawing emptiness in my stomach.
I watched the ebb and flow of the people flocking to Benjamin. Every few minutes he had to turn away someone with sickness, and in the glow of the firelight I could see the genuine regret in his eyes when he explained that he could only heal injuries.
I marveled that Benjamin was from a forbidden family. Though my understanding of the world had widened to accept that the camps could produce villains and that villain families could produce heroes, it was a mystery to me how he had sprung from two parents who murdered and robbed.
And now that I thought of it, how had Eleanor turned out so well? Wherever she was, I was certain she was the same happy, chirpy person who’d locked her brother in a room with a superheroine so they’d have to make up.
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