Cape

by Kate Hannigan

  “He’s going to turn left up ahead and drive along the park pathway,” Mae shouted, using her telepathy power. “He thinks he can get rid of Akiko that way!”

  “Don’t say our names out loud,” I reminded her. “We can’t let our real identities slip out!”

  “Then we’d better come up with some names, Greenie! Now do your thing before he gets away!”

  The wagon pulled to the left, just as Mae said it would. Only, the Hisser’s route turned crazy as he popped the vehicle over curbs and scraped into a few park benches. Then, still trying to shake off Akiko, he sped up even more and raced past a pond toward the center of the park, where a low fountain was spraying water.

  I stared up ahead at the stone statue that stood in the middle of the fountain. It looked familiar—a marble warrior, one arm raised in battle. Using all my powers of concentration, I imagined the statue ripping off its pedestal and hurtling into the path of the Hisser’s oncoming car.

  As soon as I thought it, the statue followed the direction of my eyes and soared through the air, landing just in front of the Hisser’s wagon. Brakes screeched, but there was no time for the Hisser to stop. The wagon’s front end crumpled like an accordion.

  “Well done,” cheered Mae. “He’s stuck now!”

  The wagon’s horn blared into the night. With Akiko back in her superhero form now, the three of us rushed to the scene and opened the driver’s door, ready for more battle.

  But the Hisser was still stunned from the crash, and before he could act, Mae slammed the door shut. Suddenly rain began to pour inside the wagon, over the Hisser’s head.

  “Snakes hate rain.” She smiled. “This should keep him miserable and powerless long enough for the cops to arrive.”

  With Mae covering the Hisser, Akiko and I raced to the back and flung open the wagon’s rear doors. We snapped Emmett’s ropes as Kay, Jean, and all of the computers and puzzlers climbed out.

  “You guys are amazing,” said Emmett, catching his breath as police sirens grew closer. “Who are you?”

  I shrugged, barely able to keep myself from throwing my arms around Emmett’s neck and giving him a big hug. He was safe, finally!

  “Who are we?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t give away my identity. “We’re still working on that.”

  Emmett nodded excitedly, running his hand over his wrist where the rope had been tied. “I wish my friend Josie were here to see this! She doesn’t shut up about superheroes! Josie’s never going to believe me when I tell her that some kids saved us.

  “And not just any kids. Girls!”

  Thirty-Eight

  THE POLICE ARE HEADING OVER,” whispered Mae a short time later. “I think we’d better get out of here. We don’t want to have to answer too many questions.”

  “Plus,” added Akiko, “I think I see your mom and brothers over there, getting out of that police car.”

  The night was lit up with the red lights of police cruisers, fire trucks, ambulances, and what must have been FBI cars. As we leapt into the night sky and circled over the leafy park, a cheer erupted below us.

  Baby Lou’s voice rose above the murmur of the crowd. “Look at those thupers! Vinnie told me he watched them earlier tonight, flying right over our apartment building!”

  Vinnie was pointing up at us, beside Lou. “The radio report called that bright one the Orange Inferno,” he shouted, always ready with the facts, even when he’s half asleep and wearing his pajamas. “And the other one was called the Violet Vortex—I think the reporter said he’d seen her stir up a hurricane and everything!”

  We circled through the treetops until we found an isolated place to land around the far side of the pond. Once we were on the ground, we transformed back into our regular selves and tried to catch our breath.

  “Did you hear Josie’s little brothers?” asked Akiko with a gravelly laugh. “The Orange Inferno. I like the sound of that!”

  “It’s not bad,” said Mae, smoothing down her hair and keeping pace with Akiko as we headed right back toward the growing crowd at the fountain. “But let’s face it, the Violet Vortex is pretty inspired. It sounds kind of dainty, like a flower, while at the same time intimidating.”

  “What name did they give you, Josie?” asked Akiko. “I didn’t hear Vinnie say anything about you.”

  I was walking in between them, but my steps were faster. I hadn’t heard Vinnie mention me either. But it didn’t matter, because I’d already made up my mind.

  “You could be the Green Guard,” suggested Mae, giving me an encouraging look. “What do you think of that? Though maybe that sounds more like a big shrub for a garden rather than a superhero.”

  “What about the Mighty Gardener?” said Akiko. “You know, you’re green like a garden, and you’ve got the superstrength. . . . It’s fitting. Or maybe the Mossy Boss? Or—”

  “Or maybe we should focus on Emmett and Kay and the ENIAC machine and what’s left of the basement,” I suggested, unable to hide the edge in my voice. We’d just battled one of the worst supervillains to hit town in years, and all they cared about was playing a name game? We needed to make sure the cops took the Hisser away and check on Kay, not to mention sort things out with Mrs. B.

  “Anyway,” I said, stiffening my spine and throwing my shoulders back the way I’d seen Mrs. B do earlier today, “I think I should name myself. Why let some strangers do it? If true power comes from inside us, like Hauntima said, then that’s where my name is going to come from: me.”

  We rounded the corner and headed for the cluster of familiar faces. Emmett and the puzzlers were talking with the police. My family had moved away from the Hisser’s wagon and was standing off to the side, far from the rest of the crowd. Mam was looking worried as she pulled Vinnie and Baby Lou closer.

  “Josie, where have you been?” she called, relief washing over her as we raced to her side. “There’s been a terrible incident with Kay and the people she works with. I’d just gotten home when the police called. They sent a car around to get us. The boys were asleep, but you were gone. . . .”

  I’d forgotten about that little detail—how to explain why I’d left my brothers alone in the apartment. I moved my mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

  “Please don’t be mad at Josie,” said a voice. “She’s a good kid.”

  I looked up and saw Harry Sawyer—make that Bill Sebold—standing there. His face looked exhausted, but his eyes glowed with a sort of hopeful glimmer.

  “She works hard at the diner for Gerda Gutler and me,” he said. “And when Josie isn’t busy with the tables and the dishes, she’s helping me with the accounting. She’s very smart, your daughter. She tells me all the time about her dream to study math like her cousin. What’s her name? Cousin Kay?”

  And just then Kay and the other women computers emerged from the police huddle. Mam stepped over and clasped Kay’s hands, clearly overwhelmed with relief. Vinnie raced to her side, throwing his arms around her hips and practically knocking her over with his boisterous affection. Baby Lou ran too, though the green blanket wrapped around his shoulders made it hard for him to keep his balance.

  “Josie,” came Emmett’s voice as he joined Harry, Mae, Akiko, and me, “you should have seen who was here earlier. Superheroes! Real ones!”

  I smiled awkwardly and pretended disappointment that I’d missed them. But with the boys busy hugging Kay, Harry wanted a moment to talk. He turned to me, his expression somber.

  “Josie, I spoke a little bit with your brothers. They told me all about your dad,” he said. I had to remind myself he was Bill now, not Harry. “To have fought so bravely at Pearl Harbor and the other battles, saving his men. I wish him well. Truly, your father is a hero.”

  I wanted to break away, to race over to Kay’s side like my brothers and get lost in a hug. But I couldn’t make my feet move.

  “Not is,” I said softly. “Was. My father was a hero.”

  My eyes stung, and I could feel Mae, Akiko, and Emmett starin
g at me.

  “Dad was killed about ten days ago on an island in the Pacific. Mam got the telegram on Monday.”

  My throat was so tight, I could barely get the words out. Emmett put his arm around my shoulder. Akiko and Mae held my hands.

  “The truth of it hurts so much—that someone we love more than anything is gone. Forever. We wanted to tell Vinnie and Lou, but Mam couldn’t do it. And neither could I. So I kept Dad alive in our bedtime stories. He’s like a caped hero now, someone from our comic books.”

  I shifted self-consciously as Kay and my family approached. We all have our ways of protecting our families.

  This was mine.

  “But we’ll have to tell them about Dad tonight, before Toby Hunter does it. Toby saw the telegram delivered that day,” I said, wiping at a tear. “When the priest comes round with the Western Union deliveryman, it’s never good news. Everybody knows that. So now Toby’s in on my secret, and he wants to hurt me with it.”

  I thought about those stolen bikes we’d left in his room. When Toby’s dad found them tomorrow, he was going to explode. And Toby would be in big trouble. Which meant he’d come looking for revenge. He wouldn’t care how much it’d hurt Vinnie and Lou to hear about Dad.

  I couldn’t go on. The words got knotted up in my throat. Emmett squeezed my shoulder, and Bill bowed his head. We stood together in the silence, and for the first time in a long while, a weight lifted from my chest. Mam and I were going to have to be honest with Vinnie and Lou, and it was going to hurt. But at least Toby Hunter wouldn’t have power over me anymore.

  When Kay finally stepped over to our circle, I flung my arms around her. And even though my body ached from battling with the Hisser, it was the sight of my cousin safe and sound that brought the flood of tears.

  “I’m okay, Josie. Please don’t worry. I can hardly believe tonight,” Kay said a little breathlessly. “You’ll read about it in the papers tomorrow. But let me say that I am fine and so are my colleagues. We were ready to do what was necessary to protect ourselves and our project. But the amazing part—we were assisted by the most remarkable superheroes. You would have loved it!”

  I reached over to Baby Lou and tugged on the green blanket he’d wrapped himself in. There was enough of it to throw over Kay’s shoulders and Vinnie’s, too, on the other side of her. And even Mam, pressed in on the far end. They stepped closer into the circle with Akiko, Mae, Emmett, and me, and Bill, too, holding tightly to one another.

  And to my blanket.

  “That reminds me of your cape,” whispered Mae, pointing. “As if—”

  “As if it’s protecting your family,” interrupted Akiko.

  And that’s exactly how I saw it too. No matter what was ahead for us—battling Nazis and supervillains, defending top secret projects like the electronic computer, even saving innocent lives from evil—it all came down to these people. I would do anything to protect the people I loved. And I knew Mae and Akiko felt the same way.

  “Were they brave, Kay, these superheroes?” asked Akiko, eager to hear more. “Brave and bold? Courageous and strong?”

  “Yes, of course,” Kay agreed. “One had amazing powers to create wind and rain—”

  “Atmokinesis,” announced Vinnie. “Just like Zenobia.”

  “Right, and another had the ability to produce fire and flames, which was stunning—”

  “Pyrokinesis,” interrupted Akiko with a nod to Vinnie, “like Hauntima.” They both seemed to live for the times when they could show off their knowledge of random facts. I didn’t know which of them was more annoying. And endearing. “That’s the name for it, or so I’ve read in comic books.”

  Vinnie nodded his approval.

  “There were some truly terrible goons in the room,” Kay said, “real meanies, as Lou would say.” And then, for the first time, she seemed to notice Harry Sawyer standing in our circle, and she flinched. “You! I thought you were one of them. But the FBI says you’re on our side. Harry or William—what was your name? They said you were a double agent.”

  “Double agent?” exclaimed my mom, nearly jumping out of her shoes. “FBI? Kay, what else happened tonight?”

  Thirty-Nine

  I THINK I’VE MET YOU BEFORE, through Josie,” Kay continued, as if not even hearing Mam. “You’re her friend from the diner. Isn’t that right, Josie?”

  “Josie knew me as Harry Sawyer,” he said, looking a little embarrassed, “but as you heard the agent say earlier, my real name is William Sebold. Please, call me Bill.”

  I smiled at Harry—Bill—and acted as surprised as Mam. But really what I felt was relief. When I thought he had been dishonest all this time, the betrayal hurt like a beesting. But now that I knew the story behind it, I could understand.

  “Yes, Josie has been a good friend to me,” Bill went on. “When so many people had harsh words for Germans, Josie showed me kindness. She saw me as a human being first and not as a foreigner to be feared.”

  I shrugged, embarrassed by the attention.

  “Sure there are Germans who are Nazis,” I explained, talking more to my feet than to their faces. “But there are plenty who are just like you and me—good people who love their families and want to, you know, live their lives.”

  “But only a few who are double agents,” said Akiko, smiling at Bill.

  Suddenly I noticed a flashbulb pop behind Mam as a newspaper photographer snapped our picture. Two more joined him, and a handful of reporters, too. Their notepads were out as they fired off questions toward Kay and Bill and the rest of the women computers—the ENIAC Six—gathered in their own circle just beside us.

  They were even taking pictures of the wrecked wagon.

  “The statue doesn’t seem to be damaged,” said one of the photographers. “But I wonder what it will cost to move it back onto its pedestal.”

  “Kind of fitting, don’t you think?” asked a reporter. “That this Zenobia statue is what finally brought the Hisser’s fiendish career to a crashing halt? If I recall right, he’s the one who nearly destroyed her sister’s leg in one of their battles.”

  My jaw dropped, and Akiko and Mae looked just as stunned. That’s when it hit me where we were: at the same park as yesterday when we took Mae’s oath of secrecy. We stood on our tiptoes to get a better look at the white marble superhero that was now resting before the crumpled metal hood. Across the base was etched a single name:

  ZENOBIA

  I couldn’t stop the smile that broke out across my face. I glanced at Mae and Akiko, who had plenty of questions for my cousin.

  “What was the other caped hero like?” Mae asked eagerly.

  “You talked about two of them,” added Akiko. “What about the third one?”

  Kay’s face lit up. “Right-e-o! The third one wore a cape of the deepest green. She seemed to have superstrength, and she used it to protect the six of us from harm.”

  “And the power to move things with her mind,” interjected Bill. “What is that called?”

  At the same time, Akiko, Vinnie, and now Mae answered: “Telekinesis.”

  “That’s right,” Bill agreed. “She used it smartly, not in a violent manner. More, as Kay says, to protect than to lash out.”

  The reporters began to holler to one another, and more cameras lit up the night. “Did you hear that, fellas?” shouted one of them off to the left of me. “The Green Do-Gooder! She protects while she pummels!”

  “That’s not her name,” shouted another reporter. “The Emerald Equalizer sounds more like it. She crushes the enemy with her superstrength.”

  “You’re wrong,” I said, turning to the reporters, my heart banging in my chest. I didn’t want to give anything away about Akiko, Mae, and me, but I just had to set things straight. “I know about the green one.

  “She’s called the Emerald Shield. She wants to do good in the world—fight for justice and fairness and protect the innocent, just like her friends the Violet Vortex and the Orange Inferno. They might look differ
ent, but they’re a trio, you know. Three apart, one together.”

  “Triple thuperheroes,” said Baby Lou, leaping out from under the blanket. “With a million, jillion, infinity powers.”

  Vinnie joined him as they pretended to soar into the air. “They’re three of a kind—a trinity. With powers to infinity!”

  Forty

  THE HEADLINES AT BREAKFAST WERE impossible to miss:

  INFINITY TRINITY SAVES CITY

  FBI WRAPS UP SPY CASE WITH HELP OF INFINITY TRINITY

  NAZI PLOT UNDONE BY INFINITY TRINITY

  Too excited to sleep late, we were sitting in a booth at Gerda’s Diner and devouring our usual milkshakes and pie, even though it was so early that the breakfast crowd hadn’t even arrived. We ate up the news, too.

  “This story says the doors and windows will be replaced at the Moore School today,” said Akiko, pointing with her milkshake spoon at an article on the front page of the Inquirer. “Sounds like Kay and the other ENIAC Six will hardly have to miss a day of work.”

  “Which means the Duke and his spies didn’t stop Project PX,” I said, pausing to take a slurp of my brown cow. “And the Nazis won’t get their hands on the electronic computer after all.”

  Mae rolled her eyes and dabbed her napkin to her lips. “Okay, okay, you can talk all morning about the FBI and breaking up the Duke’s spy ring and saving the entire metropolitan Philadelphia area,” she said in that patient way of hers. “But seriously, are neither of you going to say anything about this?”

  She held up the front of the Record. Splashed across the top half of the page was a photograph of the three of us battling the Hisser. It was probably taken over the naval shipyard yesterday afternoon, which felt like a hundred years ago.

  “Check out our form,” croaked Akiko. “We’re as dangerous as any squadron of bombers over Europe. I just wish these pictures were in color, so everyone could see my orange cape!”

  “You are pretty good fliers,” came a voice, “for novices. But you’ll have to work on some of the other powers. Especially when sneezing.”