Powerless

by Matthew Cody

  Daniel hadn’t thought of that but, surprisingly, Rohan had the answer. “Well, if what Daniel says is true, then maybe he wants the powers he steals to be strong. He waits just long enough for the powers to ripen, so to speak, but still acts before they become a real threat.”

  Mollie shot Rohan a look that spoke daggers.

  “If,” he said, throwing his hands up in the air. “I said if!”

  “Mollie, I don’t want to judge Eric guilty without more proof, but I also don’t want to find ourselves unprepared if the worst happens,” said Daniel. “If it is Eric behind all of this, then it’s because he’s sick and I want to try and help him if we can.”

  Mollie kicked at a pebble with her shoe and stared at the dirt. She looked, for a moment, like a very little girl. It reminded Daniel of how out of their depth they all were.

  “Okay,” she said quietly. “What do you want to do?”

  “Well, first of all, you were right—we need more proof. If we’re going to confront him, then we need more than just conspiracy theories and a blurry photo to back us up. We need to find those missing issues of Fantastic Futures, the ones featuring the Shroud. If Eric has those in his possession, that’s pretty strong evidence that he’s been less than honest.”

  “Anyone up for a little breaking and entering?” asked Rohan.

  The three of them stood outside Eric’s window, trying to summon up courage that no one wanted to find. They were preparing to break into the house of one of their best friends. While they hesitated, a feral cat and her kittens skittered off under the house while a neighboring guard dog strained against its leash and barked a warning. Rohan pointed to a single beaten-up car in the driveway.

  “Looks like someone’s home,” he said.

  “Eric’s mom,” said Mollie. “She works the night shift at Norma’s Grill, so she’ll probably still be asleep.”

  Rohan gave Mollie a worried look.

  “It’s all right,” she said. “She sleeps with earplugs in.”

  They parked their bikes by the side of the house and went around the rear, careful to stay out of reach of the barking dog. The yard reminded Daniel of lots back in Philadelphia—mostly weeds and dirt.

  “Wow,” said Rohan. “I never knew that Eric lived … like this.”

  “They’re not rich, but they’re good people,” Mollie said. Even as she said the words, she grimaced. Daniel understood the struggle going on inside her—if they found what they were looking for, that would mean that Eric wasn’t such a good person after all. It would mean that he wasn’t even the person they thought they knew. This morning Daniel had taken Mollie’s entire world and turned it on its head.

  “Here,” she said. “That’s his window.” It was just a few inches above the grass itself.

  “He lives in the basement?” Daniel asked.

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds. You’ll see.”

  Mollie knelt down and pointed to a latch that dangled loose at the edge of the pane. “The lock’s busted, and Eric uses it to sneak out at night….”

  Mollie suddenly fell silent.

  “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said quietly. “That sounded terrible.”

  “We know,” said Rohan. “We all feel the same.”

  Nodding, she pushed on the window’s base, opening it inward.

  Mollie stood up and dusted off her knees. “After you, detective.”

  Daniel eyed the window suspiciously, wishing that he’d thought to bring a flashlight. The sunshine would give him enough light to see by, but it was still pretty dark down there.

  “Rohan, why don’t you come with me? And, Mollie, you keep an eye out. Eric said he was going to the fort, but just in case.”

  “Don’t worry. Just hurry up.”

  Daniel scooted through the open window, followed by Rohan. Both kids fit with no problem. Daniel noticed that the earth around the window was worn smooth. Eric must have used this exit a lot.

  It wasn’t as dark inside as Daniel had feared, and he took a moment to study the room. It was typical Eric—posters of superheroes and long boxes filled with comics everywhere.

  On the opposite wall there was a map of Noble’s Green and the surrounding countryside—one of those satellite photos taken from space. Daniel had seen the exact same kind in the observatory gift shop on the day that Eric had saved his life.

  The day that Eric had saved his life …

  There was that sick feeling again, the guilt knotting up Daniel’s stomach like rope. “Let’s hurry,” he said to Rohan. He didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to.

  Rohan began looking through the comics while Daniel studied the map. As he looked closer, he saw tiny pinholes dotting the entire area. There was one pin for the Tangle Creek Bridge and quite a few more for spots here in Briarwood. Daniel suspected that Eric was marking all the places where he had actually done some good, all the places where he’d been a hero.

  “I don’t think you should bother with the regular comic boxes, Rohan. At least not to start. He’d probably keep these comics hidden away, so we need to find a hiding place. Like a locked box, or a secret compartment or something.”

  “Sure, I’ll just pull on the candelabra and reveal the hidden passage that leads to his lair. The Shroud-Cave.”

  Daniel looked at Rohan.

  “Sorry,” said Rohan. “I’m a little stressed out.”

  “It’s okay. Let’s just get this over with.”

  They continued to search Eric’s room, looking under the bed and behind bookshelves, but found nothing. Despite the frustration, Daniel actually found his spirits starting to rise—maybe Eric was innocent, maybe this was all just the paranoia of a lonely old man who’d read too many pulp novels. He was just about to call it quits when Rohan returned to the map on the wall.

  “You looked at this?” Rohan asked.

  “Yeah. Looks like he’s using it to record his adventures.”

  “But why is it breathing?”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  Daniel joined Rohan at the map and followed his friend’s eyes. Sure enough, the map was moving, ever so slightly. The surface undulated in a slow rhythm, like a sail in a light breeze.

  “Hold on,” said Daniel. He grabbed the edge of the map where it was taped to the wall. Careful not to tear the paper, he peeled it back and exposed the air shaft behind the poster. A very slight draft issued forth, causing the edges of the map to ripple.

  The grating was missing, and the open vent went back into the wall before disappearing into a larger central shaft. Resting in the cavity was a small stack of comics wrapped in plastic. Daniel gently removed them from their hiding place and showed them to Rohan, who nodded. Then Rohan pointed to the window as Mollie, silhouetted against the sunlight, peered through it. Daniel held the books up to the light and showed her the dusty covers. There was no mistaking the shadowy figure drawn on the front.

  She said nothing, but the look on her face was unmistakable. Daniel couldn’t have hurt her more if he’d physically struck her.

  “Mollie!” Daniel shouted. “Wait!” But it was too late. Mollie stepped away from the window and was gone.

  That was when he heard the footsteps upstairs. Daniel looked at Rohan, who was shaking his head.

  “Oh man,” he said. “We are so grounded.”

  At that moment the door burst open and two policemen with flashlights appeared, brandishing pistols.

  “Freeze!” one of them yelled. “Hands in the air!”

  As Daniel put his hands up, he saw a woman peeking over the shoulder of one of the officers. She was in her bathrobe and had a cell phone clutched to her chest.

  “My goodness,” she said. “They’re just kids!”

  Yes, Daniel thought. I wonder if they have kid-sized handcuffs? Because it looks like we’re going to jail.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grounded

  Jail, thought Daniel. Jail would’ve been easy. At least in jail they don
’t give lectures. At least in jail you don’t have to see the disappointment on your parents’ faces. Sure, you might stare at bars all day, and your cellmate might be named Mad Dog, but all of that seemed like a pleasant alternative to Daniel. At least in jail he could hide from all the trouble he’d caused.

  As it had turned out, Eric’s mother wasn’t really a deep sleeper after all, and when a helpful neighbor called to tell her that some people were trying to break into her basement, she woke up in a hurry. The police were quick to arrive, and she even offered the handsome young deputies cookies before they hauled the two juvenile delinquents off in the squad car.

  As for Mollie, she had disappeared, and Daniel had a sinking suspicion as to where.

  Daniel’s mother didn’t say much to him when the officers brought him home, his little brush with the law being just one more thing to deal with. This made Daniel feel worse than any punishment would have; with all the grief she was feeling right now, she shouldn’t have to worry about him as well. She sent him to his room and said that they would deal with all this when his father got home, which was typical of the justice system around the Corrigan household. “Wait till your father gets home” was an old, familiar refrain.

  In his bedroom, Daniel found a box of Gram’s belongings that his mother had left for him. The last thing Daniel wanted to do right now was to go through a box of painful memories. But his mother wanted him to choose a few keepsakes and, considering the amount of trouble he was already in, he thought it wise not to push his luck.

  As the day gave way to night, Daniel opened one of Gram’s old scrapbooks. While he idly flipped the pages, dark thoughts took over and he found himself wondering if Rohan or Mollie would be receiving a visit from the Shroud tonight. Or would it visit Daniel instead? What would Eric do to him, now that there was no more need for secrecy?

  Daniel came across a page of old newspaper clippings, yellowed with age. The headline of one in particular caught his attention—“Meteor Shower Expected to Follow Recent Comet Sighting. Families Plan Comet-Watching Parties!” Dated October 12, 1934, it was practically ancient.

  Next to the article was a child’s drawing. Its colors were faded and the paper was wrinkled and torn, but Daniel could still make out the picture clearly enough. A girl standing next to a building on fire, stars falling out of the sky around her.

  It was not the drawing of a happy child.

  There was a knock at his bedroom door. “Daniel,” said his father, opening the door. He hadn’t waited for an invitation.

  His father wasn’t alone. There was a thick-necked police officer with him. Neither of them looked at all pleased. “Daniel, this is Sheriff Simmons, and he’d like to talk with you, son.”

  The tone of his father’s voice set Daniel immediately on edge. He had expected his father to be serious, but there was something more going on here. There was something new in his father’s eyes. Was it fear?

  “Hello, Daniel,” said Sheriff Simmons. “You mind if I sit?”

  Daniel gestured to the desk chair, and the officer lowered himself gingerly onto the seat. Sheriff Simmons was not a small man and the chair protested under his weight. Daniel’s father remained standing in the doorway.

  “So I hear you had a little run-in today with a couple of my deputies?”

  Daniel nodded.

  “I hope they didn’t scare you too much, but you know you can’t be going into people’s homes without their permission. Even the homes of friends. You understand that, right?”

  Daniel nodded again.

  “Answer the man, Daniel,” said his father.

  “Yeah. I mean, yes, sir.”

  “And you also understand that we’d be curious as to why you’d do a thing like that? Why you’d go into your friend’s room when he wasn’t there?”

  “I told your deputies. We were going to surprise Eric when he got home. We were just fooling around is all.”

  Daniel saw the sheriff glance over to Daniel’s father and noticed the deep lines of worry creasing his father’s brow.

  Daniel’s mouth had gone dry. “What’s going on?”

  “Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it?” said Sheriff Simmons. “We were hoping that you might be able to answer that question for us. You see, your friend Eric didn’t show up for dinner this evening and, well, after what went on this afternoon, his mother is understandably concerned.”

  “He’s … he probably just lost track of the time. I haven’t seen him, though.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Sheriff Simmons. “And how about your friend … Mollie Lee? That was her bike that we found with you two, wasn’t it?”

  “Mollie?”

  “She’s gone missing, too. She missed her afternoon piano lesson, and her parents expected her home hours ago. Any idea where she might be?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe she’s with your friend Eric? That possible?”

  “I guess it’s possible.”

  “Enough, Daniel!” snapped his father. Daniel had rarely heard his father raise his voice, but now his face was red with anger. “This is not a game! Those parents are worried sick, and if you know anything about what’s going on, you’d better tell us right now!”

  “I don’t know where they are,” Daniel replied. “I don’t.”

  Sheriff Simmons gave Daniel a hard, long look. “You know what, Daniel? I believe you. But I also believe that you’re not saying everything there is to say.

  “I’m on my way to Rohan Parmar’s house next,” said the sheriff, standing. “But don’t be surprised if I stop back for another visit before the night is through.”

  His father looked meaningfully at Daniel as he shut the door and said, “We’ll talk later. Until then, you are not to leave this room.”

  And just like that, he was alone again. Eric was missing. Mollie was missing. The police were searching for both of them, and apparently he and Rohan were the prime suspects. Well, he doubted they were actually suspects, but the cops could tell that they were hiding something.

  Were they ever. Well, Mr. Sheriff, actually Mollie could be anywhere since she can fly, and Eric doubles as a power-stealing super-villain, so the chances are that if you find her, he won’t be far off…. Glad I could help!

  It was all just happening too fast. He wanted to be doing something, to be helping Mollie or trying to stop Eric, but the problem was he couldn’t leave his room. Not only that, but he didn’t really know where Mollie was, or if she was even in danger. For all he knew, she might just be flying above their heads, letting off steam.

  Something else was bothering him, too. Something that he had been thinking about just before the interruption. He had been looking at Gram’s old scrapbook when a photo in there caught his eye….

  Daniel picked up the hefty book again and hauled it over to his desk. Under the light of his desk lamp, he could just make out enough detail in the rest of the faded old clippings to make reading them worthwhile. The book was oversized and a little unwieldy, with a cracked binding and dusty cellophane sheets protecting every page. As he thumbed through, Daniel’s attention was drawn first to a photo of what could only have been Gram as a little girl. She was wearing her Sunday best, standing between a kindly-looking couple. There was a certificate attached to it, brown and faded with age. It read, “The great state of Pennsylvania hereby acknowledges the adoption of Eileen Stewart, aged ten, by Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Lewis….”

  Gram was adopted? This was a startling fact, one that Daniel was shocked he hadn’t known before. But even more shocking was the newspaper clipping next to it. The article was dated October 14, 1934, just a few days after the strange comet had been seen in the skies over Noble’s Green. The headline read, “Local Trapper Leads Miraculous Survivors of St. Alban’s Fire to Safety.” There was a photograph accompanying the article, a photograph that Daniel had seen before, hanging on the wall of the Mount Noble Observatory. Though the photograph was hazy and the newsprint dim with age, Daniel could still pick out the
haunted eyes of the orphans of St. Alban’s, nine children with their faces covered in soot. Standing in the middle was the trapper, Jonathan Noble. Daniel tried to study Johnny’s picture in detail, but the photo was too old to glean much. This Johnny was bearded and even dirtier than the children he’d rescued. Still, there was something familiar about his face, the tilt of his head. Below the picture was a caption, which Daniel read with interest. It was a listing of all the surviving orphans. Daniel used his finger to scan the names, squinting to read each faded letter. There she was, standing just to the right of Jonathan Noble—little Eileen Stewart. It was remarkable to think that Gram had been an orphan, but to know that she had survived the St. Alban’s fire was almost too much to take in. Daniel supposed he could understand why she wouldn’t talk about that period of her life, but he still felt a little hurt that he hadn’t known until now.

  Daniel was just about to turn the page when something in the face of one of the other children made him pause. It was a little boy, smaller and scrawnier than the rest, and his eyes stared at the camera with an intensity that Daniel found alarming. Whereas the other children looked mostly exhausted and frightened, this little boy wore a strange, angry scowl. Daniel went back to the list of names. “Will Naughton … Mai Lee … Herman—”

  “No …,” whispered Daniel. “No …”

  But it was. Daniel knew those eyes, he knew that look. Herman Plunkett, aged nine, was looking up from the page and scowling at him. He was reaching across time, to scowl at the foolish, gullible boy who fancied himself a detective.

  Just then something moved outside his open window. The blinds stirred in the breeze, before exploding.

  Daniel just managed to duck out of the way as a shape came hurtling through the window. Pieces of plastic flew everywhere as the blinds came tearing down on Daniel’s head.

  The Shroud!

  But it wasn’t the Shroud. It was a girl—a girl who’d landed in his bed, who was covered in scratches and cuts. Her normally dirty clothes were even more filthy and torn.