by Dee J. Stone
She doesn’t say anything. Maybe she’s scanning the area, too.
“Should I go?”
“We’ve still got about five minutes.”
“I think the hero should be early.”
Maybe, but I’m not ready for her to go yet. I kind of want to avoid this altogether, but she’s right. This might be the lead we’re waiting for.
“I’m letting go now.” As soon as she does, she’s visible. She lowers herself from the tree and makes her way to the building. I take another look around to make sure everything is in order. Seems fine. Maybe Maddie’s wrong and this person really does just want to interview her. My gut tells me she’s right, but I don’t really want to listen to it.
“Hear me?” Maddie asks.
“Loud and clear.”
“Good.” She takes a deep breath and rings the bell of the first floor, where Bernie Wallace’s office is. Nothing happens. Maddie shifts from one foot to the other. The door opens and a guy stands there. He’s the same guy that was on TV—the one with glasses and no hair. As he stares at Red, he looks like he wants to dig all the info out of her.
He invites her inside with a warm smile.
That’s weird. Where are all the scientists? I expected Maddie to be pulled in, maybe captured or something. I’ve got my goggles on and can see all the way to the other end of the room. This place really does look like a typical office. It’s got a copy machine and files and computers and chairs. There are a few other people here, but they don’t pay attention to Maddie. Maybe the reporter told them not to, since this is his interview.
“Nick,” Maddie hisses as the guy leads her to the back of the office. Maybe for some privacy? “What’s going on?”
“No clue, but go with it. I’ve got my eyes peeled in case something goes wrong.”
“No. I think this guy was telling the truth. There’s no one else here. No one dangerous, I mean. I was wrong.”
A breath leaves my mouth. These people aren’t part of the organization. They’re not going to hurt her.
Bernie motions for Maddie to take a seat in a small room with a table and two chairs. She looks around for a bit before sitting down.
Bernie is still wearing that smile on his face. I hate those smiles. It’s the kind where the person thinks they’ve stolen something from you. I bet this guy is all excited to be the first person to interview Red.
But he didn’t interview me, did he? He claimed he did, but I can’t remember. I doubt he did, though.
The guy places a recorder on the table. “The Red Masked Hero, welcome.”
Maddie doesn’t say anything.
“Pardon me for saying this, but you seem a little…agitated. Is something the matter?”
“Play it cool,” I hiss to her.
Maddie sits up straight. “No, I’m not agitated.” Her voice modifier is doing its job. Good.
Bernie eyes her carefully and asks her his first question. I keep looking around to make sure nothing is going on. So far, everything seems okay.
As the interview goes on, I see something in my peripheral vision. It’s a guy dressed in black protective gear. He brushes up against the building with this weird-looking gun in his hand. There are many more such people, all sneaking up around the building. Now I see what those guns are. Tranquilizers. I quickly lift up my palms and send a force at the people around the building. They crash to the ground, and I smash their guns.
“Maddie! It’s a trap. Run.”
“What?”
“What?” the guy says.
But before she can move, Bernie leaps to his feet and throws a net around her. All these other people—the ones who I thought worked here—rush to the room and gather around Maddie, who’s thrashing in the net. Her powers don’t work. They don’t shoot the tranquilizers. Maybe only those with the protective gear had them. Maybe these people were hired to get Maddie here.
She was right. This was a trap.
I’m filled with rage as I zoom from the tree and crash through the window, heading toward Maddie. On my way to the back room, I throw down two people who get in my way. They can’t see me, since I’m still invisible and can’t shoot me down. These people definitely got paid to do this. No doubt about it. One guy seems to come out of nowhere and aims a gun at me, but I flick my hand to the right just in time and he smashes against the wall. I don’t know how he saw me. Maybe he has something on him that can make him see invisible things.
Before I reach the back room, I spread out my arms, then close them, sending a strong wave of energy at the room. A second later, I hear people banging against the walls.
Maddie is still under the net, rolled into a ball probably because of my strong blow. I rush toward her and am about to yank the net off, when something flies past my left shoulder. A tranquilizer. Bernie meant to shoot it at me. He’s on the floor, barely moving. I hold out my hand at him. I’m so pissed I could kill him. I could literally pull his limbs apart. I settle on twisting his arm. He cries out, rolling around on the floor.
I quickly pull the net off Maddie and she, filled with anger, stretches her hand out to the unconscious people.
“No,” I tell her. “Don’t kill them.”
“I don’t want to, but they deserve to be punished.”
“If you kill them, then you’re no different from them.”
She bites her lip. “You’re right.”
Grabbing Bernie by the collar I say, “Where is your headquarters?”
He just gasps and groans in pain.
“There’s more where that pain came from,” I warn.
Again, he just groans. I squeeze his broken arm, prompting more cries from him. “Please…” he pants. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Of course he doesn’t. None of these people are from the organization. They were hired. Just like the gunmen from the bank were.
“Who hired you?” I demand.
“I don’t know. They…sent an email, telling me to what to do. Paid me three million.”
Unbelievable. He pretty much caused all these people to get hurt, all for money?
“What’s that?” Maddie asks.
“Huh?”
“A beeping noise.”
I listen for a moment. After a second, I hear it, too. “It sounds like a…”
Both our eyes widen. A bomb.
“Get the people out of here!”
She and I grab all the unconscious people and zoom off, just as the building blows up. The force knocks us back a few feet.
“Holy crap,” I say as we gently drop the people in the forest.
“It was the organization. They hired all these people to capture us and now they blew everything up to cover it.”
“I can’t believe they would hurt them,” I say as I stare at the burning building. The flames are starting to die down. “Let’s get out of here before the cops come. The whole thing will be on the news and everyone will think we blew up the building, since we’re the only conscious ones here. We’ll be seen as monsters.”
“No, I’ll be seen as a monster,” she says as we fly away. “You were invisible.”
“Not when I demanded answers from that idiot.”
“No one will see that. All they’ll know is that the building blew up and the survivors were thrown in the forest. And only Red has fire abilities.”
“And if the survivors talk? What if they put the blame on us?”
She’s quiet for a bit. “We really will be seen as monsters. No one knows what we’re dealing with—about the organization and everything. The world will definitely hate us now.”
“We might go to prison.”
She’s quiet again. “Then we disappear,” she says after a few minutes.
I stop flying. She tugs my hand to go on, but she’s stuck here with me, since I’m the only one who can keep us invisible. “I’m not gonna be on the run,” I say. “We expose the organization.”
She snorts. “As if anyone will believe us.”
“Then we show them the documents.”
“I don’t know, Nick. These people seem to be good. Too good. We’ll probably have to be on the run anyway.”
On the run? Forever. “But what about my family?”
“You’ll write to them.”
“I don’t like this.”
“Me, either.”
I want to let go of her hand and circle around to try to clear my thoughts, but she needs to stay hidden. “You might not have much family left, but I do.”
“That’s not fair, Nick.”
“You might not care about your mom or about anyone right now. But I do. My family is my life. I can’t just…I can’t just vanish.”
She doesn’t say anything. I know I hurt her with my words. I can be such a jerk sometimes.
“Sorry,” I say. “That didn’t come out right.”
“No, you’re right. I don’t have people who care about me like you do. I’m sorry all of this happened.”
I search for her cheek, but end up poking her in the shoulder. “Sorry, that was for your cheek.” I rub her shoulder. “Let’s go home and see what happens in the morning.” Even though she can’t see it, I give her an encouraging smile. “Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
With her hand in mine, we fly home.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning, I’m woken up by someone jumping on me. A soft, furry thing is in my face and when I open my eyes, I see Kaylee’s stuffed penguin. She accidentally gets it in my mouth. I’ve got to spit all the fur out.
“Too early,” I groan, flipping to my stomach and crushing the pillow over my head. Why do little kids have so much energy?
All the memories from last night attack my mind and I shoot to my feet. I manage to catch Kaylee right in time before she topples to the floor. Is she waking me up because the news has announced to the world what happened last night?
As I look at her, I try to get a hint, but she just gives me her usual toothy grin.
“What?” I ask.
“Are you gonna play with me today? Hide and Seek! Or are you gonna be Blue? Does Mommy let you?” She fires more questions at me and I can’t think straight.
“Where are Mom, Dad, and Matt?”
She shrugs. “Sleeping.”
I peer at the clock. It’s seven in the morning. Seriously, this kid…
Or maybe I’ve got an advantage now. Maybe I can watch the news before my family gets up. Maybe Maddie and I can come up with a way to handle it.
I tell Kaylee to hide and I’ll find her, then dash out of the room and to the living room. After turning the TV on and flipping through the news, I notice that no one seems to be talking about what happened. There are regular news stories, but nothing about a burning building or the survivors. Is it possible no one found out about it? But how? The news is usually all over that sort of thing.
I check some more channels, but once again get nothing.
“Nick!” Kaylee calls from upstairs. “How long does it take for you to count to ten? Or are you looking for me?” She giggles. “It never takes you this long.”
I can’t leave my family. Who will Kaylee have to play with? Who will Dad have the talks with? Who will watch over me the way Mom does? Who will Matt tease in an older brother type of way?
How am I going to survive without them?
“Nick!”
I’m up the stairs and searching for her in seconds. I find her giggling under my bed. “Hmm…” I tap my chin. “I wonder where Kaylee is.”
She giggles some more. Her hand is sticking out a little and I grab it, sliding her out and throwing her onto my shoulders.
“Found you.”
She squeals. I go to her room and drop her on the bed. Sitting down next to her, I tickle her stomach. She laughs and rolls around, yelling at me to stop.
“Why do you always wake me up?” I ask as I continue tickling her. “Don’t you know how awesome the weekend is because we can sleep in?”
She giggles some more.
“Trust me,” I continue. “When you’re older, you’ll want to sleep in and I’m going to wake you up.”
She sits up, pushing my hands off. “You’re gonna be home when I’m older? Mommy said you’ll be in college or living on your own.”
“Then I’ll come over and wake you up.”
“Nu uh!”
“Yeah huh.” I continue tickling her.
“You’ll be married to Maddie!”
I stop. Married to Maddie? Could it be? I love her and can see myself with her forever. But being married? Someone’s husband? It feels weird. Good, kinda. But weird, too.
“What? You just got this funny look on your face.”
I tap her nose. “How about you mind your own business when it comes to Maddie and me, eh?”
She crosses her arms over her chest and lifts her chin. “No.”
My phone rings from my room. Kaylee’s ears perk up. “Is that Maddie?”
“Go back to sleep for another three hours.” I tuck her in, then go to my room to check my phone. I have a few texts and missed calls from Maddie.
Did you see the news?
Nick, call me as soon as you get up.
I guess you’re still sleeping.
Did she see something on the news that I missed? I call her. She picks up right away. “Hey.”
“Morning. Did you sleep well?” I ask.
“Not at all.”
Me, either. But I was so exhausted from all that energy that I crashed the second my head hit the pillow. But I kept waking up every so often, worrying about what’s going to happen.
“Did you see the news?” Maddie asks.
“I turned on the TV, but nothing was on.”
“Exactly.”
“Meaning?”
She takes a deep breath. “Meaning no one found what was left of the building and the people in the forest. If they did, they’re not releasing the news to the public.”
I swallow. “You think the cops or FBI are going to talk to us?”
“I don’t know. They know who you are, but they don’t know Red. Shouldn’t they have announced that they’re looking for me?”
I’ve got no clue how any of this works. “Do you not feel safe?”
“I feel fine. I don’t think anyone’s watching my house. And my mom’s acting very normal, so I don’t know what to think.”
I’m quiet before, “The organization must have dealt with the unconscious people, too.”
“Yeah. But wouldn’t the cops try to figure out who burned the building?”
“Let’s check it out.”
“Okay. All of this is giving me a headache. I just want to forget about it for a little bit. I want to have…fun. Feels like forever since I had fun.”
I can think of a way to get her mind off all this. “How about that date you promised me?”
“What?”
“I’m asking you out. Today. We can go flying. Check out the building and see what’s going on. Then we can maybe catch a movie. Get something to eat.”
“Really?”
“Why not? Or did you have something else planned for today?”
“No. And this can also celebrate our victory yesterday. I could have gotten captured. So thanks for saving me.”
I laugh. “We’re even now. Oh, wait. You saved me twice.”
“We’re a team remember?”
“Right. So I’ll pick you up around noon?”
“Okay.”
I don’t know if she says something else. I drop down on my bed and fall asleep.
***
I go invisible and fly up to Maddie’s room. I’m about to knock on the window, but her shade is up and I can’t help but notice that her mom just walked into her room.
I know I shouldn’t, but I listen in.
Maddie’s in the middle of scrolling through her computer. She doesn’t pay attention to her mom, who sits next to her. Heck, she looks like she doesn’t want to be in the same room with her mom.
No, like she doesn’t want to breathe her air.
“Maddie, can we talk?”
Maddie doesn’t respond, just continues to click. I try to take a peek at what she’s reading, but I can’t see from this angle. It’s probably general stuff, since she’s letting her mom see.
Her mom. I still can’t believe she’s involved with the organization.
“Maddie, I’m talking to you. Are you listening?”
Maddie rolls her eyes. “Can’t shut my ears, can I?” And she mumbles, “Unfortunately.”
Melissa reaches for Maddie’s hand, but Maddie pulls away. “What’s the matter?” Melissa asks. “I feel like we never talk anymore.”
Maddie snorts. “Maybe because I don’t want to talk to you.”
Melissa’s face fills with pain. She looks around the attic. “Is it because Ronald and I forced you to move in here? You know it was only temporary.”
Maddie crosses her arms over her chest. “I don’t think it’s temporary this time and that’s not the point. Why would you choose her over me?” I bet she’s thinking, “And how could you be involved with that organization?”
Melissa sighs, patting Maddie’s shoulder. “I’m not choosing her over you. It’s just that Stacey has had a difficult time adjusting to adulthood. She’s been in and out of apartments countless times.”
“Maybe she shouldn’t steal people’s boyfriends. Or was it for a different reason this time? Can’t remember.”
Melissa sighs again. “Maybe when you’re her age and have to fend for yourself, you’ll understand.”
Maddie shrugs, continuing to click. “She can always take the attic.”
“I wanted you to have the attic.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
Maddie finally looks at her. “Because why?”
Melissa doesn’t say anything. Maddie rolls her eyes and focuses back on the computer. Melissa takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Maddie, I need to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me.”
I shut my eyes. This is about Maddie and me, isn’t it? She’s come to give her the talk. The second she does, I’m out of here.
