Super Heroes (The New Super Humans #4)

by T. M. Franklin

  “Huh,” he said. “I suppose that does make some sense.” He held the door open for her and Chloe walked in, trying not to let the shock show. The room looked exactly like her vision. The platform, the pad . . . the lights and control panels. No Gina, however, thank God. No one else, actually. Just Chloe and Dr. Garrett for the time being.

  “So this is the control room?” Chloe said, hoping her terminology was correct.

  “I suppose you could call it that,” he said, flipping a few switches. “We call it the Crosswalk.” At her confused look, he explained. “We call it Crossing,” he said. “Navigating the portals between dimensions. Our travelers are called Crossers. So this became the Crosswalk. Not sure who first came up with it, but it stuck.”

  Chloe approached the platform.

  “Don't touch anything,” Dr. Garrett said, his attention on a computer screen.

  Chloe kept her hands carefully behind her back. “So do you have a lot of these Crossers?”

  “Hmmm?” He looked up. “Oh, no, not really. About a dozen here in the U.S. although we're always on the lookout for more.”

  “I'd think people would be jumping at the chance,” Chloe said, turning to face him.

  “They would,” he said with a wry smile. “But only very few can actually navigate the portals. It takes those with a very specific DNA marker. You could say Crossing's in their blood.” He laughed at his own joke, and Chloe smiled.

  “As a matter of fact—” He stopped at the sound of the door opening. Gavin walked into the room, looking furious, and Chloe wondered frantically if there was another way out.

  Because Gavin James looked ready to kill someone, and Chloe was pretty sure she was high on the list.

  Dr. Garrett looked confused. “Gavin, we were just—”

  “Stephen, what is she doing in here?” Gavin pointed an accusatory finger at Chloe.

  “What? She's here for training. She said—”

  “Training? Here?”

  “Well, yes, she said—”

  “It's my fault,” Chloe interjected, unwilling to let Dr. Barrett take the blame for her. “I was curious about Interdimensional Travel and—”

  “You were curious,” Gavin said flatly.

  “Yes.”

  “About Interdimensional Travel.” He folded his arms and raised a brow skeptically.

  “Yes, well, I—”

  “So you snuck down here?” Gavin threw up his hands, and when Chloe opened her mouth, he pointed at her. “Yes, I was watching. And yes, I saw that trick in the elevator. I'll have to send out a memo about the lax security around here. Again.”

  Suddenly, Chloe felt a rush of anger and frustration sweep through her. “I wouldn't have to sneak around if you would be honest with me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Gavin threw up his hands. “I've been nothing but honest with you.”

  She glared at him, straightening to her full height, hands clenched in fists. “Where is Ethan?”

  Gavin blinked, surprised. “What?”

  “I had a vision,” she said, approaching him. “I had a vision, and it showed me Ethan is alive. And that this—” She waved a hand. “This room has something to do with him. So I ask you again, where is Ethan?”

  “Chloe, we've discussed this—”

  “No, we haven't,” she said. “You've discussed it. You told me what to do—to forget about Ethan, like that was even possible,” she spat. “I want to know what's going on. And if you want me—if you want the Order—to stick around, you better tell me right now.” She sat down on a rolling chair and nearly fell over, but she kept her chin up, her mouth tight, her eyes focused on Gavin.

  Dr. Barrett watched them both with wary eyes, but said nothing.

  After a long moment, Gavin pulled over another chair and sat down, facing her.

  “All right then,” he said. “The truth is, we're not exactly sure.”

  Chloe huffed in annoyance, but he held up a hand to quiet her.

  “The best we're able to determine, Ethan isn't exactly in another dimension.” He turned to Dr. Barrett. “Stephen, maybe you can explain it.”

  Dr. Barrett abandoned the computer he'd been working on and took a seat next to Gavin. Then, he seemed to think better of it and stood, briskly walking over to a white board. He picked up a marker and drew a circle.

  “Say this is our dimension,” he said, coloring in the circle so it became a large, black dot. “Everything we see, everything we know—the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe—it's all in here.” He glanced at Chloe to make sure she was listening. She wasn't sure where he was going with this, but she nodded in encouragement.

  “These are other dimensions. Some like ours. Some very, very different,” he said, drawing a group of circles around the first one. “As I told you, our Crossers are able, with the assistance of our technology, to access portals to some of these dimensions.” He drew lines from the big black dot to some of the other circles. “They're able to travel back and forth, and in some cases, bring people or items with them.”

  Chloe's curiosity got the better of her. “What kind of items?”

  “Not important to the topic at hand,” Gavin grumbled. “Stephen, stay on topic, please.”

  “Of course,” he said. “We have to be careful with the Crossers.” He drew X's through a few of the circles. “Not all dimensions are compatible with human life. It's like traveling to another planet, you know. We use probes first to monitor—”

  “Stephen,” Gavin interrupted.

  “Right.” Dr. Barrett shook his head. “Anyway. Ethan Reynolds, the best we can determine—” He drew a small dot between the big black dot and one of the circles. “—is here.”

  Chloe's brow furrowed as she stared at the little dot. “There. Ethan's . . . there.” She felt stupid, but she didn’t get it. “Where's there?”

  Dr. Barrett capped the marker. “Space between dimensions . . . a type of limbo, or void, if you will.”

  “Between dimensions?” Chloe looked from Dr. Barrett to Gavin and back again. “Is—is that even possible?”

  “Good question,” Gavin muttered.

  “Theoretically, yes,” Dr. Barrett replied. “And regardless of whether or not it's possible, all indications are that it is reality. That is where Ethan Reynolds is.” He stabbed a finger at the dot. “A void where the Chaos is contained, protecting all other dimensions, including ours.”

  “Which is why,” Gavin said, leaning forward, his arms on his knees and his hands clenched. “You cannot save him.”

  “But . . . with all this—” Chloe threw a hand up to indicate the room. “There has to be a way.”

  “There's not,” Gavin leaned back in his chair, obviously frustrated. “We are able to monitor the situation to a certain extent, and keep tabs on the containment. But there is no portal to this void. It is not a dimension, so there is no dimensional portal.”

  Chloe's heart sank and she looked to Dr. Barrett, desperately hoping for a different answer. He looked away, shoulders slumped.

  “If there's no hope, why am I having these visions?” she asked, chin thrust up stubbornly. “Why was I led here, to this room? Why did I see Dr. Barrett?”

  “You saw me?” He pressed a palm to his chest in surprise. “What was I doing?”

  “You jumped on the pad and disappeared,” Chloe replied.

  Gavin stood up and shoved his hand through his hair. “I can't speak to your vision,” he said, cutting off Dr. Barrett before he could ask any more questions. “From what I understand, they're not always literal. Maybe it was symbolic of something, I don't know. Or—” He looked away.

  “Or?” Chloe prompted, and he faced her again, his expression softening.

  “Or maybe,” he said, sliding his hands into his pockets as he met her gaze intently. “It led you here so you could finally learn the truth. And say goodbye.”

  Chloe took a breath, than another, letting the words sink in. After a moment, she sat back i
n her chair, deflated.

  Could it be? Could it be that all of this—the visions of Ethan bound by darkness, her visions of Dr. Barrett and of the Crosswalk—could it all have been so she could finally let Ethan go? Give up her quest to save him? Understand that it was impossible?

  Accept his sacrifice, once and for all?

  Tears clogged her throat as she got to her feet. “I—uh, I need to go,” she said. “I promised I'd meet my friends for lunch.” She glanced at Dr. Barrett, who was watching her with sympathy in his eyes.

  “Thank you,” she said. And that was all she could get out before she left the room and hurried to the elevator, tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks.

  Chloe was late for lunch.

  She wandered around town aimlessly, unable to stop crying. It was as if she was mourning Ethan all over again, the pain she'd pushed away in her goal to rescue Ethan flooding back in a torrent, piercing her heart until she could barely breathe.

  He was gone. Really, truly gone.

  And so was her hope.

  Chloe had no idea how long she drifted aimlessly before she found herself in front of the coffee shop. Her tears had finally dried, her eyes puffy and burning, but she swiped at her cheeks and made herself draw in a few deep breaths before she headed inside. Maia and Dylan were at a table in the corner and she sat down across from them, taking a long drink from the glass of water on the table.

  “My God, Chloe, what happened?” Maia asked, reaching for her wrist. “Are you hurt?”

  Chloe huffed. “No, I'm—” She shook her head. “I found the room I told you about, from my vision? And Dr. Barrett. I—”

  Chloe took another drink and got her thoughts together enough to fill them in on what had happened with Gavin and Dr. Barrett, what they'd told her about the portals, the Crossers, and where Ethan was.

  “And you're absolutely sure they called it a Void,” Maia said slowly.

  “Yeah.” Chloe picked up her napkin and blew her nose.

  “How do you even know you can trust them?” Dylan asked. “It's not like Gavin's known for his honesty and forthrightness.” He took an aggravated bite of his sandwich, then shoved the other half toward Chloe.

  She wasn't hungry, but she picked it up and took a bite anyway.

  “You can't trust them,” Maia said quietly. “They're lying.”

  Chloe choked on the food. She took a sip of water and wiped her mouth. “How do you know?”

  Maia smirked. “You weren't the only one doing a little sneaking around today,” she said. “I got a break and took a little tour of my own.”

  “Nobody saw you?” Dylan asked. “My team leader was on me like glue. He was even waiting outside the bathroom for me.”

  “Perks of invisibility,” she said. “I'm sure they could have seen me with heat signatures or whatever they have on the cameras, but people just walking around? They didn't seem to notice me at all.

  “I wasn't anywhere I wasn't supposed to be, anyway,” she said, picking at her salad. “If anyone caught me, I would've just said I was training. That's what we're there for, right?”

  She shoved the salad away and leaned forward on the table. “Anyway, long story short, there were these people talking—Crossers, from what you've said, Chlo—and I heard them mention Ethan. Not by name, but they were talking about the Void, and the Chaos. I mean, I suspected it then, but now I'm sure.”

  “What else did they say?” Chloe asked, her heart in her throat.

  “One of them said they'd found a portal to the Void—that's exactly what he said, a portal to the Void.”

  “Not a lot of ways to interpret that,” Dylan muttered, tossing a chip into his mouth and crunching loudly.

  Maia winced at his manners, but focused on Chloe. “He said he's going to Cross next week,” she told her. “If he's going to Cross, that means there is a portal. There is a way to get to Ethan.”

  Dylan frowned. “They just don't want you to know about it.”

  Rage unfurled in Chloe's chest. “He lied to me. He looked me in the eye and lied to my face.”

  “Big surprise.” Dylan shook the crumbs in his chip bag into his mouth and brushed off his hands. “The question is what are we going to do about it?”

  “I'm going to get Beck to kick his ass, is what I'm going to do,” Chloe grumbled. “But first, we need to get back to WARDEN.”

  “Really?” Maia asked as they got to her feet. “You still want to go back there?”

  “We have to,” she replied. “We need that portal. And we need Gavin James to think we've given up on it.”

  They walked out of the coffee shop and headed down the street. “We have to get everyone together tonight,” Chloe said.

  “Do you have a plan?” Dylan asked. “What am I saying? You always have a plan!” He bumped her shoulder with his own.

  “Well, no, I don't. Not yet,” she admitted. “But we'll come up with one. We're going to find that portal. We're going to save Ethan. And if Gavin James thinks he can stop us, well, he better think again.”

  “That's my girl,” Dylan said, offering her a high-five. She rolled her eyes, but slapped his hand.

  “You're forgetting one thing,” Maia said. “The Chaos.”

  “And Gina Talbot,” Dylan added.

  “I'm not forgetting anything,” Chloe replied. “But I'm convinced I'm having these visions for a reason. We're supposed to save Ethan. And there is a way to do it and keep the Chaos contained as well. Whether or not Gina is the way remains to be seen.”

  They turned a corner and the WARDEN building came into view.

  “But I'm done doing nothing,” Chloe said in a low voice. “And I'm done letting Gavin James control me . . . control us. It's time we took control.”

  The three of them climbed the steps and entered the WARDEN building, then split up to go to their own training areas.

  And as Chloe sat in her meditation room that afternoon, focused on a little silver ball cradled in her palm, she got a vision that told her, for once, they were finally on the right track.

  Chloe left WARDEN a half hour early, in part so she could avoid trying to convince Maia and Dylan to let her walk alone.

  She had to be alone.

  The sun shone brightly overhead, and people were out mowing their lawns, kids riding bikes and playing catch. It was a perfect summer day, but Chloe wasn't paying attention to anything around her.

  Only the sound of footsteps behind her.

  He was coming.

  Fear didn't rear its ugly head, however. Instead, a rush of exhilaration sparked along her nerve endings, and she found herself smiling as she turned the familiar corner. There was the little green house . . . there the barking dog . . . and the woman hanging out her wash.

  Which meant he'd reach her any second.

  “Chloe?”

  She froze mid-step, knowing who she'd see when she turned around. Knowing, because she'd seen this same encounter in a vision just a few hours before. Still, she took a deep, steadying breath before she faced him.

  “Hi, Dr. Barrett.”

  He eyed her over the top of his glasses. “You don't seem to be surprised to see me.”

  “Yes, well. Seer, remember?”

  “Ah, yes.” He nodded, his lips pursed. “I need to speak to you.”

  She took a few steps closer to him. “About?”

  Dr. Barrett hesitated, then appeared to make a decision. “About Ethan Reynolds.”

  Chloe's heart sped up at Ethan's name, adrenaline pumping wildly. “What about him? What do you know? Is he—” Her hands shook at the possibilities.

  He took her elbow and pulled her into the shade of an oak tree. “He's all right. He's alive.” He frowned and shook his head. “I should say, he's not dead.”

  “I don't understand—”

  “When I told you Ethan is in limbo, I don't only mean he's in a space between dimensions,” Dr. Barrett replied. “From what we can tell, he's actually in some sort of stasis. He doesn't eat
or drink. He doesn't age or feel anything. He simply . . . exists in a place of nothingness.”

  Chloe wrapped her arms around her, chilled despite the warmth in the air. “I've seen it,” she said quietly. “I've felt it in my visions.”

  Dr. Barrett nodded. “I'm sure it was . . . disturbing.”

  And wasn't that putting it mildly?

  The breeze blew a strand of hair across Chloe's eyes and she pushed it back distractedly. “What about the portal?”

  He had the grace to look surprised, but he didn't deny it. “You know about that.”

  “So it is true,” she said, the wheels already turning in her mind. “There is a portal to Ethan. We can rescue him.”

  “Possibly,” he replied. “But the Chaos must be contained. It cannot be released from the Void.”

  Chloe was about to tell him about Gina, but he continued before she could.

  “Which is why I needed to speak with you,” he said. “I have been working on an artificial containment system. It's unproven, still in the experimental phase—”

  Chloe grabbed his sleeve. “Are you telling me you could keep the Chaos in it? That we could free Ethan and not risk everyone else?”

  He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Possibly,” he said again. “The science works. Early simulations show promise, but it hasn't been tested in the field. There's no way to test it, really. Not without significant risk. So my research has been put on hold, for the time being.”

  This part hadn't been in Chloe's vision. She'd seen them meeting, saw herself with an excited smile on her face, but she hadn't heard the conversation.

  “But it's possible,” she said, shaking his arm a little. “If we can get to him, Tru could release the bindings and you could capture it in this containment unit.”

  Dr. Bennett looked distinctly uncomfortable. “It would have to be released from its current containment first, then imprisoned before it’s able to escape the Void. Timing is crucial. I'm not even certain—”

  “But it's possible,” Chloe pressed.

  He rubbed his eyes under his glasses, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yes, theoretically, it's possible. But you're overlooking the problem of getting to the Void in the first place. We'd need authorization for a Crosser. And Gavin James is not going to give you that.”