No ordinary hero (Keepers of justice # 1) (11 page)

Nothing’s going into my head. Not math or science or this book I’m supposed to read for English.
The Great Gatsby
. If I do manage to get through it, I’ve got to write a paper on the book, something about symbolism and the American dream? Yeah, if not for me and my mission, there would be no more America or Earth or anything.

Ever since I left X’s room, I can’t stop thinking about Lindsay and what Premo
nition said. Apparently we’re going to do something. Is this something good or bad? Am I going to like it? Will I mess things up and cause Linds to hate me more?

Screw
this homework. I’m never going to get it done. It’s time to go back to X’s room and rethink the whole Lightning thing.

Even though we don’t have real proof or anything,
I believe X. He’s my best friend. So I’m off to his room. He and Stretch are sitting where I left them, X on the bed and Stretch rolled out on the floor. I walk inside and plop down on X’s bed.

“Sup?” Stretch says. “How’s the homework?”

I ignore him.

“X came to the conclusion that...
tell him, X.”

X is staring at the wall. He doesn’t talk, and the room gets quiet for a little bit. “What do you see?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Wasn’t looking at anything.” He finally turns to me. “I think Premonition’s been kidnapped by the Blades.”

I gape at him. Kidnapped? From right under the Tower’s security? But how can—oh, right. They have a spy. “How do you know?”

“Saw all his clothes in his room. Nothing’s missing, not even a suitcase. If he were going to take care of his brother like he told Samson, why didn’t he pack a bag?”

It’s a good question and I don’t know how to answer it. “Are you sure?”

He taps his eyes. “They don’t lie.”

I stand up and begin to pace. “Okay, let’s see what we know. Dad told us that Premo
nition had to take care of a ‘personal matter’ and will be gone for a little while. The Blades are going to kill all the normies, at least that’s what we think.” I swallow hard. “And Premonition is an inconvenience, right? He can have a vision and spoil everything.”

X doesn’t make any movement; Stretch nods. “But to kidnap an Elite member of the League?” I continue. “Isn’t that a little risky? Besides, he sounded okay on the phone. Not tortured or anything.”

X’s face hardens and his eyes get dark. “You don’t believe me.”

“I do. It’s just...
” I stop pacing and sit back down on the bed. “This is all speculation. We don’t have proof. My dad said—”

“
Go back to your girlfriend.”

“X, come on, man. Don’t be like that,” Stretch says.

It gets quiet again.

“I’m sorry, X,” I say. “Didn’t mean to call you a liar.
But what are we supposed to do? Tell Dad that Premonition’s clothes are still here?”

“No,” X says. “We can’t do anything.
We have nothing.” He rams his fist into the wall near his bed. Curses. Slams his other fists and curses some more. “Nothing.”

Robert’s
voice enters my head. He sends messages telepathically to all members of the League. Like if Dad wants to gather us all into the Assembly Room for an announcement, he’d use Robert to spread the message. He’s not a fan of phones, I guess.

Kale
, Robert says.
Your father wants you in his office
.

I tell the guys I’ll see them later and head to Dad’s office.
“Dad?” I ask. Is he still mad about the guys and me hacking Lightning’s laptop? He doesn’t look mad, not pissed, or upset. I tell him I’m sorry, anyway. He doesn’t say anything for a bit.

“You haven’t been spending a lot of
time with Lindsay,” he says. I’m not sure what to say. I mean, it’s not my fault we’re drifting apart because she’s got guys all over her. It’s not my fault I’ve got things to deal with here.

“She’s your assignment, Kale. Did you forget? I told you not to have any distractions. You are aware of the consequences if you fail your mission.”

Earth blows up. “Yeah, Dad, I know,” I mumble.

He nods, his eyes on me. “So why aren’t you with her right now? You’ve been here a lot lately. Is there something you’d like to talk about? You know I’m always here for you.”

I stop myself from laughing. Sure. Dad’s always here for me. If that’s the case, why won’t he believe us about Lightning? Or Premonition? How can he be so oblivious to what’s happening under his nose?

“I know, Dad.” I shrug. “And
I am hanging out with her. Just...” I close my mouth.

“Just what?” I hope he’s not thinking about Premonition’s vision. About Lindsay and me.

“Nothing,” I quickly say. Don’t want to tell him how cute she looks now and how she’s getting attention from all the other guys. “Everything is okay.”

Dad slowly nods. I hope he can’t see through my lie. “Okay, son. Go
back to your friends.”

For the last twenty minutes of class, Shifter
instructed us to split into groups of two to work on a report on the Hundred Years’ War. I would have chosen Lindsay, but some other guy got to her first. I don’t know his name, and couldn’t care less. Shifter eye-signaled me, asking me if he should do something, and I told him no. I mean, I don’t want Lindsay to suspect anything, right?

So I’m watching her flirt with her partner. Okay, maybe he’s flirting with her. She’s blushing and
giggling.

“Hey,” my partner
, some guy who’s stuck with me because he has no one else, says.

“Hey,” I say, keeping my eyes on Lindsay. Man, they’re not even working on their project. They’re just talking. Maybe I should ask Shifter to do something. I can’t stand
it!

“Are we going to do this?”
the guy asks.

Shifter
’s...different. I don’t know what it is exactly. His face is a blue-ish, purple-ish color, and sweat drips down his face. During the lesson, he looked really sick. Like he was about to collapse. I bet that’s why he gave us this report, so he could rest.

“Billy?”
my partner says.

“Huh? Oh yeah. Whatever you said. I’ll be right back.”

Shifter is even worse up close. His eyes are red and his fingers are blue and purple, too. “You okay, man?” I ask him.

He tugs on his shirt collar like he can’t breathe. “I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.” He points to
Lindsay and her new boyfriend, asking what the heck happened.

“I’m working on it,” I say.

“Work harder.”

“Okay,
geez. Maybe you should see a doctor. Everyone’s staring at you.” I return to my desk.

My partner
continues to talk. About the assignment? I’ve got no clue, because I’m busy figuring a way to get Lindsay back. Should I go over and say, “Yo, she’s mine?” No, because she’s not mine. That’s sexist. What about, “Hey, Lindsay. Want to do this report with me?”

Ah, who am I kidding? Lindsay likes this guy. Really likes him. Any moron can tell. But I
’ve gotta keep her close. She’s my assignment. So I get up and head over to the other end of the room where they work on their report. Lindsay sees me walking toward them, but pretends not to.

“Hey, what’s up?” I say. She looks up at me. Her partner gives me this face. “So
, Linds, I was wondering if you wanna hang out after school. Work on our Great Depression project.”

“We have plans,” her partner says. How can she dig this guy? He looks like a donkey,
and he’s got a funny laugh, too.

“Plans? Yeah?” I ask Lindsay. She doesn’t say anything.

“Yeah,” the guy says. “Plans.” Like a date?

I snap my gaze to him. “Wasn’t
asking you.” I turn back to Lindsay. “Wanna hang?”

“We really should work on our project,” Lindsay says. “Only two weeks left to finish it and we’re not even halfway done.”

“Yep,” I say, popping the p in the guy’s face.

“Whatever,” he says and walks over to another girl.

Lindsay says something in a low voice. I think it was “thanks.” Did I hear her right? “For what?” I ask, sitting down in the guy’s chair.

She smiles and her face gets red. “For getting rid of him.”

Rid of him? What the heck? “You mean you don’t like him?”

“No, he’s a jerk
.”

“Oh...” Huh? “But weren’t you...
I mean, not that I was looking or anything, but weren’t you giggling at everything he said?”

She
avoids me. “No.”

“Liar.”

Her eyes meet mine. “I only pretended to be into him.” She averts her gaze. “You know...”

“Not really.”

“Do you know anything about girls? I was trying to make you jealous...”

Make me jealous? She was doing it on purpose? “But why?”

“Because I like you.”

I stare at her.
She likes me?

“All those guys swooning over you—” I say.

“Are jerks. You’re the only one who liked me before I got this way. Prettier.”

Yeah, she’s right. Even though the mission forced me to spend time with her, I learned she’s really cool.

“You were the only guy who talked to me when I was ugly.” She smiles. Man, that smile. I really like it, because it’s not fake. Like I know I’m making her happy and it makes me feel good inside.

The room is getting a little too hot.

“Nah, you were never ugly.”

“See,” she says. “You’re the sweetest guy I
’ve ever met.”

This is making me feel weird. I’m not a sweet guy. Not even close. “Thanks, I guess.”

The bell rings. Shifter leaps to his feet and rushes out the door. Hopefully he’ll get back to the Tower and lie down. He looks like crap.

“Let’s cut class,” Lindsay says.

“Uh...”

“Come on, Billy! Are you chicken?” She laughs. “Chicken, chicken, chicken, bawk. BAWK.”

“Okay, okay.” I laugh, too. “To the park?”

“
To the park!”

***

When I always dreamed about hanging out with a girl, I never imagined lying with her on the grass in the park. The sun beats down on us. It’s a nice, warm day, even though it’s February. Lindsay spreads out her arms and tilts her head upward. Her face gleams in the sunlight.

I watch her. She’s smiling. Eyes are shut. Her face looks really smooth. What would it feel like to touch it? I want to run my fingers across her cheek, but I stop myself. Because the last time I touched her, she pretty much called me a pervert. I don’t know why she doesn’t like guys touching her, and I want to know why, but I doubt she’ll tell me.

She’s lying on my backpack. I gave it to her to use as a pillow. Will it smell like her when I get it back?

“Uh, so. The project?” I say.

She opens one eye, then shuts it. “Lie down. Enjoy the sun.” I do as she says. She’s close—our shoulders are almost touching. Her hand is less than an inch away from mine. When I turn to her, I see her gaze is on me. “Billy.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you...do you like me?”

“Yeah, you’re cool.”

Maybe that wasn’t the right thing to say. Her entire face changes and she sits up. She pushes her hair over her shoulder and threads her fingers through it. “Just cool?” she asks in a low voice.

I sit up, too. No, she’s more than cool. She’s nice and fun and understanding an
d she laughs at my jokes and everything. I don’t know. She’s Lindsay. Not just my assignment. My friend. Maybe even more...

“I want to kiss you.” Oh,
man. I said that out loud. Lindsay’s face gets deep red and she looks away. Plays with her hair more. “If that’s okay, I mean.” Why did I say that? I rub my palms on my jeans. They’re wet. And what’s with my heart? It’s pounding so hard it might burst.

Lindsay
brings her knees to her chest and hugs them. “I don’t really know anything about you.”

“Sure you do.”

She shakes her head.

“Okay, let’s get to know each other better.” I lie back down and fold my hands behind my head. “My mother is in a coma.” I stop talking when I hear her gasp. “It’s okay.” I try to shrug, but my shoulders are
as stiff as the park benches. Lindsay takes my hand in hers and pats it. I get this tingly feeling there.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “What happened?”

I hate that I have to lie to her, but exposing who I am can jeopardize my mission and the entire world. If Lindsay finds out about me, what I have planned, she’ll learn about the future and I’m pretty sure she’ll get so upset and scared she’ll blow Earth up right here and now. Not to mention she’ll accuse our friendship, or whatever it is, as being fake.

“Car accident,” I say. “A drunk driver crashed into her. It happened
eight months ago.”

“I’m so sorry, Billy,” she says.

“Thanks.”

Quiet.

“So you live with your dad?” she asks. I nod. “How is he?”

“A good dad. A really good dad.”

She smiles a little. “That’s great.”

“Yeah. He misses Mom too much.
The accident broke him.”

She squeezes my hand, and I think her eyes are starting to tear up. She’s making my eyes get watery.

“We should get back to school,” I say.

“I’m sorry I forced this out of you.”

I shake my head. “No, it felt good to tell.”

It felt good to tell her the truth about something for once. I hate all this lying. As I reach for my
backpack, I sniff it. It does smell like Lindsay.

We
stand up, and as we’re about to head for the exit, something black from behind Lindsay leaps forward and crashes to the ground. God, it’s two people. Rolling on the ground, punching the crap out of each other. I recognize an Elite League member called Slaughter. He’s on top of a villain. Soon a group of villains and some League members hiding in the shadows come out and start battling each other with powers.

Lindsay watches, eyes wide.
So does everyone else in the park. “Oh my God!” she says. “Superheroes and villains! They’re fighting
here
!”

Oh crap
. They were gonna snatch Lindsay from right under my nose. This isn’t good. I need to get her out of here, but where the hell are we supposed to go? Villains could be anywhere.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tranquility beckoning me from behind a tree. She points toward one of the exits of the park. A safe one. Animal is at my feet
in her rabbit form. Some other League members are undercover nearby.

“Come,” I tell Lindsay. “Let’s get the heck out of here.”

I hold out my hand to her, but she shakes her head, eyes excited. “No, let’s watch!”

“It’s not safe.
We can get hurt. Come, please.” I beg her with my eyes, hopefully showing I care about her. She places a hesitant hand in mine and lets me lead her to the exit.

She has no clue what could have happened.

“That was crazy,” she says once we’re out of the park. “But so cool.” I push us forward, far away from the action. Animal is still near us. “What do you think that was about?”

I force a shrug. “
Superheroes and villains doing their jobs.”

Lindsay’s eyebrows furrow
, and she looks back at the park. “Seemed like a big deal.”

“
We should get back to school.”

She’s still staring at the park.
I see sparks, lasers, beams, fire, water, and parts of the park flying all over the place. People flee.

I tug her
hand. “Come on, Lindsay. More might show up.”

She
watches for a little bit, then reluctantly says, “Okay.”

***

After school, Linds and I spent a few hours at my “house” working on the project. We didn’t talk about anything personal, just school and the thing that happened in the park. She was real curious about it, but I told her these things happen all the time, so we shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. It got on the news, and they said it was a usual Hero vs. Villain battle. When I called Dad earlier during my break, he told me the League took care of them, which means they’re either dead or locked up.

What happened was a villain was about to snatch Lindsay when
Slaughter acted quickly and tackled him to the ground. Then the villains and League members got into a battle until the League won, because you know, we’re awesome.

I get to the Tower and walk into the kitchen. There’s a commotion—half of the League is crowded inside, talking and yelling. X and Stretch are seated at the table. I go over. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Shifter,” Stretch says. “He came home from the school and collapsed in front of the doors. X found him.”

“He going to be all right?” I ask.

They don’t answer. From the looks on their faces, I can tell they don’t know. “It’s because of Lindsay,” X says. “She sucked his life out.”

He knew this was going to happen. He wanted to take that risk. When I tell that to the guys, Stretch says. “Yeah, we know. Sa
mson’s with him in the hospital.”

I kind of feel like this is all my fault. Even though I know it’s stupid to think that, I still do. I mean, while I was having a good time with Lindsay, Shifter was suffering because of her.

“Heard what happened in the park,” Stretch says. “Some serious crap.”

“Yeah, they could have kidnapped Lindsay,” I say. “Good thing Dad put people around to keep an eye on things.
Was freaky, man.” I swallow.

Stretch nods. Crap. Today was a crappy day. I’m drained. And scared. What if this happens again? And what’s going to happen to Shifter?