The Indestructibles (Book 3): The Entropy of Everything (9 page)

      "We've had some bad days," Jane's older self said. "We've experienced some terrible things. But that day. We haven't had one like that before or since."

      Emily stood silent for a moment, her eyes expanded, her hands played with her functionally useless steampunk goggles. Finally, she said, "I have a request."

      "I'm almost afraid to ask," younger-Titus said his head still buried in his hands.

      "Can we officially stop saying 'you' when referring to the stuff Evil Emily did? Because, like, separate people," Emily said. "I also think we need a way of telling the Tituses and Janes apart."

      "I'm even more afraid to ask," younger-Titus said.

      "If you suggest 'Old Jane' I'm going to punch you to the moon," younger-Jane said.

      "Okay, I'll think of something else instead," Emily said.

      "Solar and Jane," younger-Titus said softly.

      "What?" both Janes said, echoing each other.

      "We'll call you Solar," he said, pointing to the elder Jane, "and you Jane."

      The Janes glanced at each other, nodded in a perfect mirror image, then nodded again at Titus.

      "And how will we tell you two apart?" Jane the younger said.

      "Whispering," Titus's older self said.

      As always, the entire room turned their attention his way.

      "By talking softly?" Emily said.

      "No," younger-Titus said. "You're the Whispering. That's your title."

      "I'm Titus still," the older werewolf said in his rumbling, monstrous voice. "But you can call me Whispering, and we'll call you Titus. I haven't felt like simply Titus in a really long time. You should keep that name."

      The two werewolves, young and old, looked at each other with a strange and sorrowful stare, as if they suddenly knew each other's secrets.

      "I'm Titus, and you're the Whispering," the younger werewolf said.

      "Well, now I'm twice as confused," Emily said, throwing her hands up and walking away.

Chapter 18:

Twitterpated

      After hours of trying to get their bearings in this alternate future passed, the younger Indestructibles had been told to get some rest and were sent off to take their pick of dorm-style rooms scattered throughout the building.
Some of the Whispering's pack had taken up residence on one floor, and though they did seem friendly enough, the young heroes settled in elsewhere down the hall.

      Jane lay down on a cot and stared at the ceiling, attempting to piece everything together. Nothing about this future was untroubling, but Doc's nonchalance about being dead made her more anxious than she could possibly explain. What did he mean when Doc said this wasn't the first instance that he had learned he'd died? On how many occasions had he traveled through time before?

      And then there was the Billy situation. Billy's reaction: now that was how someone should react after finding out they were dead. The poor kid was having a meltdown. She heard him talking to himself through the walls of her room, and she'd even seen him banish Emily, his constant companion, because he wanted to be alone. Or as alone as one could be with an alien living in his brain.

      And her reflections didn't even begin to address the fact that they'd been in some kind of romantic relationship, she and Billy. That made no sense to her at all.

      "So what do you think about the whole, you and Billy sitting in a tree thing?" Emily said from Jane's doorway, startling her.

      Jane sat up and scooted her legs off the cot.

      "How long have you been standing there?"

      "I've been bubble-of-pacing up and down the hall for a half-hour," Emily said. "I'm waiting for Case to chill out so I can bother him, but he's all twitterpated in there."

      "Well, he found out he died," Jane said. "Twitterpated is just the beginning of how he could be feeling."

      "You and Billy Case. How about that?" Emily said. She flopped down on the bed beside Jane, making herself right at home, arms flailing above her head.

      "Is it weird for you?" Jane said.

      "Weird for me? It has nothing to do with me," she said. "You're mourning him. Like, your older you. Solar. Mourning. She's heartbroken."

      "I mean is it weird for you now?" Jane said. "I mean you and Billy are . . . right?"

      "We're what?" Emily said.

      "Aren't you a thing?" she said.

      Emily sat back up, stared at Jane for a second, then started to roar in laughter.

      "What. What did I say?" Jane said.

      "You think Billy and I are a thing?" Emily said.

      "You're attached at the hip. You never go anywhere without each other."

      "Jane, Billy's my bro," Emily said. "He's my boy. My best bud."

      "Isn't that what couples are?"

      "You've never had a boyfriend, have you?"

      "Have you?" Jane said.

      "No, but I've watched a lot of daytime television," Emily said. "Seriously, you really think Billy and I are a couple?"

      "You've just been friends all this time?"

      Emily laughed again, this time so hard she choked on her own saliva and caught herself in a coughing fit. She wiped tears from her eyes and put a hand on Jane's shoulder.

      "First of all, no, we're not a thing, we have never been a thing," Emily said. "We hang out all the time because we like each other. As human beings."

      Jane nodded.

      "And also, Billy is so not my type in ways I cannot even get into right now," Emily said. "We'd never be a thing. Not gonna happen."

      "You're just friends."

      "We're not just friends. I'd commit murder if anyone ever hurt him, don't get me wrong. He's my bro. I'd do anything for him. But the idea of us being a thing is hilarious. We're not even like brother and sister. We're buds. Bert and Ernie are more romantic than us."

      "I really hoped we were through with weird conversations today," Jane said.

      "Yeah no, we're not done by a long shot," Emily said. "So now that the myth that is Billy and Emily is out of the way . . . what are you thinking of the whole thing?"

      Jane threw her hands up.

      "Is it weird that in this timeline I clearly fell in love with Billy and in our timeline I have absolutely no romantic thoughts even remotely having to do with him?"

      "I don't think that's weird at all," Emily said. "I think I'm getting the hang of this timeline thing. Butterfly effect. One little thing changes, everything changes with it."

      "I like him," Jane said. "No, I love him, the same way I love you and Titus and Doc and even Kate, you're my family. I'd throw the moon into the sun for any one of you."

      "But you don't think of him as someone you'd like to snog."

      "So much so that the image actually just grossed me out a little bit," Jane said.

      "Plus you have Broadstreet," Emily said.

      "Him either," Jane said. "Em, I just don't think about it at all. It's not important to me. I have more significant things to freak myself out about."

      "Not even like, movie stars?"

      "I'm not a robot," Jane said. "Can I tell you something serious and not have you make fun of me?"

      "I make no promises," Emily said.

      "Come on."

      "I'll try."

      Jane sighed.

      "All I do is worry," Jane said. "That's it. I worry. All day. About you guys. About Doc. About the Children of the Elder Star. About catching Megalodon or about if I should have killed Plague or not. I worry about climate change. I worry about my parents, and if I'll be there if they need me when they get older."

      "Dude, you should try thinking about boys a little bit, it might help you out."

      "Em."

      "Or girls. Both. Whatever. That's cool too. Whatever you need to do."

      "Em, seriously."

      "This is me deflecting because the idea that you're awake at night worrying about all of us is making me sad and I don't want to process it."

      "It's okay," Jane said.

      "No, it's not," Emily said. "You're a teenager. You shouldn't be... whatever, married to your work."

      Jane smiled and put an arm around Emily, who headbutted her shoulder affectionately.

      "So you don't think the Billy thing is too weird?" Jane said.

      "Oh, completely," Emily said. "But only because I think he's not in your league. He's my best friend and even I think you're too good for him."

      "You really are the meanest friend in the world," Jane said.

      "It's my job, and you all love me for it," Emily said.

Chapter 19:

The Straylights

      A gray dawn rose on the outskirts of the City, and Billy Case was still awake.
He hadn't slept all night, and at this point even Dude was annoyed with him.

      You realize the only time I rest is when you sleep
, the alien said.

      Dude, I consider you a combination of my soul mate, my Jiminy Cricket, and my dad, Billy thought. I could really use a little bit of friendly consolation here.

     
Heroes die, Billy Case,
the alien said.
Some day you'll die too. You can only hope that you do so with dignity and grace.

      I'd rather live cowardly forever, Billy thought.

     
No you wouldn't,
Dude said.
I would never have picked you if you wanted that.

      "Tell me you slept last night," the new Straylight, Jessie, said as she walked into Billy's room uninvited. She was young, Billy noted, just a bit older than he had been when Dude first found him, and she swaggered not unlike himself. Dude must prefer people who fake an outward sense of confidence, Billy thought.

      "Not even a little bit," Billy said.

      "Because you're still freaking out about being dead," Jessie said.

      "Everyone keeps acting like I shouldn't be messed up by this," Billy said.

      Jessie shrugged in a way Billy found vaguely annoying until he realized he shrugged in a very similar way almost all the time.

      "Y'know, everyone talks about you like you were some kind of amazing hero," Jessie said. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "I figured you'd be . . . cooler. Bigger. Tougher. Not such a wuss."

      "Tell you what, you travel through time and find out you died horribly and then we can talk," Billy said.

     
It's strange, being this close to another host,
Dude said.

      Stop talking, I'm sparring, Billy said.

     
Ask her if it's really me she's hosting. I can't tell. My ability to read her Luminae isn't quite right.

      What do you mean, not quite right? Billy thought.

     
I can't explain it. It's a connection we share. It's how we find each other. It doesn't feel normal.

      "You don't know if you died horribly. Nobody's told you how you died. Also it's rude to have a conversation with your symbiotic alien in front of a stranger," Jessie said.

      "We're hosting the same symbiotic alien. We're practically the same person," Billy said. "How did I die, anyway?"

      "You really want to know?" Jessie said.

      "'Want' is a bit of a stretch, but I'm curious."

      Jessie peered out the doorway into the hall to see if anyone else was around.

      "I'm sure I'm breaking some kind of time travel rule by telling you, but who cares," she said. "You died trying to put California back together again."

      "Well that sounds absolutely horrible."

      "Well, I didn't see it. I was just a kid," Jessie said. "But the way Jane tells it, you tried to fight against the force pulling California into the ocean, hoping to buy people enough time to evacuate. I've seen footage. You lit up the sky like a star."

      "Did I look cool?"

      Jessie snorted.

      "You really aren't very heroic, are you?" Jessie said. "But yeah, a human comet pushing against the coastline as helicopters were falling from the sky trying to get footage of you . . . it was pretty boss."

      "I don't get it," Billy said. "Wouldn't I have just fallen into the ocean? What killed me?"

     
If she's telling the truth, I did,
Dude said.

      "Oh, I can't wait to hear this explanation," Billy said.

      Jessie shot him a quizzical look.

      "Dude says he killed me himself."

     
I did not say that,
Dude said.
Take it back and explain it to her before you frighten her.

      "Dude said I just scared you by saying that," Billy said.

      "He's saying the same thing inside my head. Also he says you were a really unpleasant young man before you grew up," Jessie said.

      "I was. I am," Billy said. "Dude, how'd you kill me?"

     
The human physiology can only withstand so much of the power my species can share,
Dude said.
I am very careful how much I give you access to. Used carefully, I can extend your lifespan and keep you alive. But like an overworked engine, I can burn you out if I'm not careful. If I ever let you use too much of my power, you'd evaporate like parchment in a flame.

      "That is . . . horrifying," Billy said.

      "What?" Jessie said.

      "You don't want to know," Billy said.

      "I don't believe you," she said.

      "So did I save many people? In the end?"

      "In the end? I don't know. Probably not," Jessie said. "The other force, the thing tearing the earth apart, was too powerful. There was only so much you could do. But people remembered that, y'know? They remembered the man who burned away trying to save them. Straylight, the boy who became a star."

      "I always wanted to be a star," Billy said. "Just more, like, movie star, not an exploding cosmic anomaly."

      "It's not a bad way to go," Jessie said. "And anyway, a few hours later, I hear this weird voice talking in my head, and it's your alien, telling me he needs a new hero. And I said, hey, maybe I'll be brave enough to do something that stupid some day."

      "Sorry I let you down," Billy said. "I know I'm not what most people would want in a superhero."

      "You're new yet," Jessie said. "Got plenty of time to prove me wrong."

      They heard a knock at the door, and Titus, the younger version of the werewolf, let himself in.

      "What the hell happened to you?" Titus said, looking at Billy.

      "No beauty sleep," he said. "What's up?"

      "News from the frontlines," Titus said. "Old me and Solar want us all to meet down in the war room."

      "Well then," Billy said. "Let's go be heroes."