Dreams Of The Golden Age Part 8

She'd never been able to hide from him. "I'm just tired," she said, but even she could hear the lie in it.

"You've been 'just tired' before. This isn't it. When was the last time you went swimming?"

Celia's favorite sport and workout of choice was swimming. She'd even had a current pool installed in the penthouse so she could duck in for a few laps whenever she wanted. In her early teens, it had been the only thing she was good at, and she still enjoyed it out of a sense of nostalgia if nothing else.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd used the pool. Weeks-no, months. Maybe longer. Well, that explained a lot. But even now, the thought of swimming made her tired rather than inspired. She blinked up at Arthur, defeated.

"Please come." He held out his hand, and her further arguments faded. She took his hand because he'd asked, because he was himself, and she trusted him.

a.n.a.lise married a firefighter, which Celia always thought was perfect. They'd met at the rec center where a.n.a.lise taught swimming. Morgan was teaching a first aid cla.s.s. They'd hit it off, his fire to her water; they were opposites and a perfect match. He was methodical, she had a temper. He could always make her smile-it was a game, even, her trying hard not to laugh and him poking at her until she did. And he was a hero, without having a single superpower. He was living, walking proof that the powers weren't everything and that maybe she was better off without them. At least she could keep telling herself that, and in the meantime live vicariously through Morgan's exploits. He was tall, six three, with a great physique, dark skin, and close-cropped hair. Movie star handsome but down-to-earth, and his eyes lit up when a.n.a.lise walked into a room.

They had a small ceremony with a justice of the peace at City Hall. Just a few friends, no fuss, and they all went out to dinner after. Partway through the evening, Arthur graciously took baby Anna home-at six months, she was too wiggly and her attention span too short to last the whole evening-so Celia could keep celebrating with her friend. Somewhere in between all the drinking and dancing, Celia ended up sitting in a booth with a.n.a.lise, just the two of them slumped together shoulder to shoulder, and they talked.

"Have you told him about Typhoon?" Celia asked, her voice low.

"No," she said.

"Are you going to?"

"Why bother? She's gone now, long gone. No need to talk about her."

"What if he figures it out?"

a.n.a.lise turned a lazy, tipsy smile to Celia. "Cross that bridge when I get to it. It's not important anymore." She kept telling herself that.

Celia wondered what had happened to the sc.r.a.pbook a.n.a.lise used to keep, clippings of all the news stories praising Typhoon's exploits. Maybe she still had it, well hidden. Maybe, more likely, she'd thrown it out when her power became blocked.

Ten years later, when Teia and Lew were nine, Morgan was killed fighting a fire. The unit had been trying to keep a convenience store fire from spreading to neighboring buildings, and a hidden propane tank exploded and caught him in a wall of flying debris. He'd died instantly. After, Celia did everything she could to keep a.n.a.lise in one piece; it hadn't been easy. Arthur and Suzanne and the girls invited Teia and Lew to the penthouse for sleepovers, while Celia sat on a.n.a.lise's sofa, holding her friend while she cried and cried. Everything had been perfect there, for a little while, and now it wasn't, and would it ever be again? Well, maybe not. But things got better. You moved on because you had to, because you had kids and they needed to see you strong. Celia didn't talk much. Just held a.n.a.lise, as best she could.

"Typhoon could have saved him," a.n.a.lise sobbed the first night after the accident, curled up, barely responding to Celia's grip on her. "She should have been there, she could have saved him."

Except that was wrong, because Celia had read the medical examiner's initial report, and the fire hadn't killed Morgan, the explosion had. All Typhoon's rainstorms, all her floods and waves, however quickly she might have put out the fire if she had been there, a.n.a.lise still couldn't have guaranteed saving him from the blast. But Celia didn't try to tell her that.

The what-ifs went on forever, and your rational brain might try to shut them down, but your heart kept dwelling on the future that might have happened if you'd been a little faster, if you'd gotten free more quickly, if you'd sabotaged Mayor Paulson's apocalyptic weapon just five minutes sooner, so it had exploded and killed you before Captain Olympus arrived and s.h.i.+elded you, at the cost of his own life ...

a.n.a.lise collected Morgan's pension, gathered herself enough to comfort her children, put them all through counseling, and somehow mended the pieces of their lives enough to keep going. Their father was a hero, no one could argue that, and Celia knew that the knowledge actually helped. A little.

EIGHT.

TWO weeks left on Anna's punitive school escort. Soren, West Corp's backup driver, dropped her and Bethy off today. He was younger and more intent on the job than the amiable Tom, so he didn't smile at them over the backseat and actually scowled when Anna jumped out of the car on her own without waiting for him to come around and open it for her. Whatever. He'd learn. She left the car without saying good-bye to Bethy, slamming the door on the way out.

She was sure her face was burning. Her red hair and pale skin-she couldn't hide a d.a.m.n thing, couldn't stop the blood from rus.h.i.+ng and telling everyone that she was embarra.s.sed. p.i.s.sed off. Furious, really. Everything, all at once.

She was going to kill them. If she had Sam's laser beams, she would kill them. But all she could do was find them the minute she got to school. That was something: They could never, ever hide from her.

Teia and Lew were right out in front, off to the side of the steps. Thank G.o.d Sam wasn't with them, but only because he wasn't at school yet. The three of them standing together, they might as well have worn their costumes and waved a flag announcing their superhero ident.i.ties. They might still do that, because wasn't that their whole point?

They should have told her what they were doing. They should have talked to her.

The siblings leaned on the brick wall, side by side, waving at friends entering the building, looking pleased with themselves. Especially when they spotted Anna marching up the sidewalk. A double image of smug, arms crossed, beaming at her.

She couldn't even talk at first and just stood there, glaring at them.

"Hey, Anna," Teia said. Smugger than smug. Ultrasmug.

"What did you think you were doing?" Anna demanded. It was a stupid question, an unreasonable question. It didn't matter what Teia thought she was doing, it was already done, and Teia might not even know it. "You went out late, didn't you? Like three A.M. late so you knew I'd be asleep and not figure out you were running around."

"And you thought you were the brains of the operation, didn't you?" Teia said.

Lew laughed. "Just chill out. n.o.body got hurt, we saved some lives, and people love us. They're talking about us. It's great!"

Anna hadn't had a chance to gossip with anyone, but looking around, catching a phrase of conversation here and there-yeah, people were talking. New supers in Commerce City. Wasn't it exciting? A couple of girls at the foot of the stairs were bent over a smartphone, wondering aloud if the boys were cute under their masks.

Teia was grinning like an idiot. Who did she think she was fooling?

Anna stepped forward, lowered her voice. "It's too much publicity, you'll get screwed over before you even get started."

"You worry too much. This is exactly what we wanted-for people to pay attention."

"You've painted a giant target on your chest. All three of you."

Teia dramatically rolled her eyes. "That just means we're doing something right. While you're sitting on your a.s.s."

Anna leaned in close, looking for a big stick to poke with. "I notice you went for a fire. Very dramatic. Is it because of your dad, is that why you want to be a hero so badly?"

Teia's expression darkened in a way Anna had never seen before. She almost took it back, but Teia said, "It's got nothing to do with him."

Anna started to apologize for the low blow, when Lew waved at someone over her shoulder. She didn't have to turn around to know that Teddy and Sam were walking up the sidewalk. The gang was all here. Sam sauntered on over to join his conspirators.

"I guess you saw the news this morning," he said. If possible, he was more smug than the other two put together. There they were, just like in the picture in the paper, and Anna wondered if anyone else noticed.

No. The girls were still hunched over their phone, giggling at the picture online. n.o.body else saw it because they didn't expect to see it. The biggest component of any superhero costume was context.

"It's a mistake," she said, no matter how lame it sounded. "You'll see."

"Anna." Teddy grabbed hold of her sleeve and pulled. "Let's go for a walk."

She wanted to say something else to Teia. This wasn't over. She wasn't just angry, she realized-she felt betrayed. They were supposed to be in this together. She'd always thought of them, the whole group of them, as a team. Friends. Were they still? But she couldn't think of anything to say, so she followed Teddy and scowled at everything.

"They're going to get themselves killed," Anna muttered. "Why can't they just listen to me? Can't they see I might actually know what I'm talking about?"

"Maybe they want to get themselves killed. Go out in a blaze of glory," Teddy said, and Anna looked at him sharply.

"That's stupid. It's a stupid idea."

Teddy shrugged. "I have to admit, if that happened to me everyone would stop asking me what I'm doing after graduation. It'd save a lot of trouble. And I'd get the blaze of glory."

She stopped. They were almost at the corner of the building, at a stand of shrubbery. Beyond that was lawn, then the wrought-iron fence that separated the school grounds from the road and the city. Part of her wanted to just keep walking. It would feel good but wouldn't solve anything.

"Please tell me you're not going to go team up with them." That you're not going to stab me in the back, too ...

Teddy slumped against the stone wall. "No. They didn't tell me what they were doing, either. I wouldn't team up with them now. It's not just about getting themselves killed, they're likely to get everybody else killed, too. They've got all the firepower, and I don't want to get in their way."

"They should have told us," Anna groused. "We're supposed to be a team, why didn't they tell us?"

"Because you'd argue about it, and they didn't tell me because they knew I'd tell you." He shrugged, like it was that easy. He still had the lingering shading of a bruise around his eye from his previous encounter.

"Well, thanks for that. I think."

He chuckled, and the knot in Anna's gut eased a bit. Maybe she did worry too much. Maybe she was making a big deal out of nothing.

"I just wish I knew which of us was right," she said.

"You both are, probably. Here's the thing: I figure I've got powers for a reason. I don't just want to sit on my a.s.s pretending I don't. I want to use them. And you're right, there has to be a better way. I think that's what they're trying to figure out. What we all are."

"It's different for you," Anna said. She picked a leaf off a lilac bush, tore it apart. "I know you have to get out and use your powers. You can't keep them shut off all the time. But the thing about me is-my power never shuts off. I can't ever not use it." Bethy was at the middle school now, walking down the hall with a gaggle of friends. Mom and Dad were together in her office, talking presumably, which made Anna feel somehow warm and protected even when they were across town. Her grandmother had a charity board meeting at one of the fancy hotel restaurants downtown. She knew exactly where her family was, knew how to find them. She couldn't get away, and she would never be alone.

"But don't you want to do something with it?" Teddy said. "Not just have it sitting there?"

Right. That was the whole question. They could be heroes, if they could just figure out how. "We have to show Teia she's wrong," Anna said. "Getting on the front page of the papers isn't the way to do the most good."

Teddy said, "So, what? Does that mean you're finally ready to go out and do something, as long as we avoid publicity?"

She took a deep breath and said, "Yes."

They looked at each other, then back along the building to the stairs, to their rivals. A warning bell rang, summoning them inside. They'd have to talk about it later, but already Anna felt better. Like she had a plan.

Teddy said, "So when do we show them how it's done?"

"Tonight."

He grinned. He'd been waiting for her to say the word.

Back in front of the school, just a few minutes before the final bell was due to ring, a car pulled up to the drop-off zone. A latecomer, except that Anna recognized the car and the driver who stormed out, leaving the motor running: Ms. Baker, Teia and Lew's mom. She came around to the sidewalk, hands on hips, glowering in an expression of fury.

"Teia, Lew, get over here!"

They did so, because how could they argue with that? Warily, Anna and Teddy approached the twins.

"Mom, school's starting in a minute," Teia said. Her brow was furrowed, confused.

"You're not going to school today. Get in the car."

That should have been great, but something was wrong. Teia hung back, glancing at Anna.

"What's up with her?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. Okay, wait, I do know. She was all in a fit this morning and asked if that was us in the picture, and of course we told her no. But you don't think she suspects, do you?"

The words "I told you so" were on the tip of Anna's tongue, and she bit them back. "Even if she did, what has that got to do with school?"

"Teia, into the car, now!"

"I'll call you later," Teia said, running to climb into the car after her brother.

Teia and Lew didn't come back to school for the rest of the day.

Teia called that afternoon, and Anna hid out in her bedroom to talk so no one would overhear.

"What happened?"

"Mom's completely freaked out but she won't say why," Teia explained. "Something about Elmwood not being what it's cracked up to be, how we'd be better off in public school-"

"But she was so excited when you got the scholars.h.i.+ps," Anna said.

"I know, and I don't want to go to a different school! All my friends are at Elmwood! I'm thinking this isn't about the picture in the paper-she found out something about Elmwood."

"If this was about Elmwood, my mother would be freaking out."

"Then I don't know what it is. All we can do is play dumb until she cools down."

She was right-her only other option was to tell their mother that they had powers. Who knew what would happen then? Celia and Arthur could handle their kids having powers. They expected it. But Ms. Baker?

"Maybe you should cool it with going out. Lay low for a while."

"h.e.l.l, no," Teia said, vehement. "She's not going to stop us."

"Maybe ... what would she do if you just told her you have superpowers?"

"She would lock us up forever," Teia stated. "After what happened to Dad. You weren't totally wrong, we couldn't help but think about him. But it felt ... good. It felt right. But yeah, Mom would freak. She couldn't actually stop us from going out. But she'd never talk to us again."

That sounded about right, from Anna's experiences with Ms. Baker. Not an optimal outcome.

Teia went on, "If Dad were still here, I'd tell him. He'd understand. Convince Mom, you know?" More than sad, even, she sounded regretful, imagining that other life where he was still alive.

"Yeah, I know. What are you going to do?"

"Keep doing what we've been doing. Can't stop now."