Mind Over Easy (11 page)

Ted got the feeling Erica was holding something back, but he wasn't sure if he should pry. His girlfriend would tell him everything he needed to know to protect the town and his friends, wouldn't she?

"Beth didn't seem like herself, right?" Dhiraj asked. "Maybe something was controlling her. Like the same kind of thing you did with the sheriff."

Erica stared at the stir-fry stand to their left for a second.

"Erica?" Ted put down his fork. "Are there creatures from another world who can do what you can?"

"Usually they aren't powerful enough to take over a person's mind for any extended period of time." Erica munched on a celery stick slathered in peanut butter. "Sometimes, when the living soul crosses over, the power used in the process can be harnessed."

Ted narrowed his eyes at Erica. He wondered why this was the first he'd heard of this.

Dhiraj broke the silence. "Like a turbo button in a video game."

Erica laughed. "Sure."

Ted smirked at Erica. "Hey, you guys were the ones who picked a couple of nerds to keep the world safe. Would this turbo charger thing be in Page's?"

As Ted watched Erica, he couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to determine what to tell him and what to hold back.

"There's a chance the power could have been trapped on paper. Leaving some kind of magic book."

"The books on the walls." Ted began to nod. "Of course. I think they're at the library now."

Dhiraj looked as happy as a kid in a candy store. "Turbo buttons, magic books. I love how this is all turning into some kind of video game."

"Please." Ted grimaced. "Please do not try to adapt this investigation into some kind of playable app or something."

Dhiraj grinned. "You know, I hadn't had that idea until now, but I appreciate you contributing to the think tank."

Ted shook his head.

"As long as you don't try to sell it on YNN." Erica sighed. "Good interview yesterday, by the way."

As Dhiraj thanked Erica and began to speak about his experience, Ted noticed something from across the room. Bringing up the GHA chat made Ted glance at the designated GHA clique table. It seemed to have gathered a few extra people since the previous day.

When he saw the unmistakable black hair of his ex-girlfriend at the table, he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach.

Ted turned back toward Dhiraj and Erica, but he couldn't hear any of the words they were saying. The room spun as he thought back to the previous day in the freshman cafeteria.

Was I the one who pushed her to hate me?

This time, Erica was the one who noticed something was off with him. "You don't look so good, Ted."

"Then why are you going out with him?" Dhiraj asked.

"I meant right this second. In general, Ted is very cute."

Ted looked down at his hands. They were shaking.

Dhiraj leaned in toward him. "You need some water, man?"

Ted shook his head and stood up. He left his lunch bag on the table and walked toward the exit. He felt like the room was closing in and the only way he could get any oxygen was by getting out of there. The collection of orange lunch trays rattled as he walked by, and several students shrieked when their backpacks started to shudder. Ted tried to pick up the pace of his stumbling walk. As he neared the exit, he heard a voice calling to him.

"Hey, Finley." Travis looked over his shoulder at Ted from the seat next to Natalie. "You look a little pale."

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.

Her expressionless face made Ted feel even worse.

Chapter 18

Erica felt the role reversal as she took her turn staring at Ted during Mr. Redican's English class. Ted didn't want to talk about the way he'd acted during lunch. He didn't want to say why he'd started to lose control of both his emotions and his powers. But Erica knew exactly why and it made her feel jealous, angry and frustrated. Unlike her, Natalie was who she said she was. Erica admired how willing Natalie was to speak her mind and take on the challenges of life. Meanwhile, Erica continued to hold back information from her boyfriend and the living soul she'd be willing to give her life to protect.

I can't tell him. It could ruin everything.

He may not have been ready, but he was doing his best to keep his cool in 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?"

Erica knew the answer Redican wanted. If she'd raised her hand and told him that Hal's time with the common people gave him a more direct connection to those he was going to govern, he would've raised her participation grade and thanked her for her contribution. But Erica was too concentrated on Ted to add to the conversation.

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. Before the internet, she would use the first days after she crossed over to brief herself on the last few years of history. She appreciated the convenience of the point and click, but there was something about printed words, the feeling of the paper between her fingers and the ever-present danger of a germ-infested cut that made her feel a sense of accomplishment. 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 the 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 guard 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?"