Tatiana and Sebastian groaned and covered their faces in mortification. Marco and I just laughed, jumping up and taking the plate and glasses from him.
Lawrence settled down in an armchair and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “So, what brings the city’s finest to our humble abode?”
I sipped my water. “We intervened in the hostage situation at your neighbor’s. We can’t give the details, but we need to wait for the cover of darkness to leave.”
“But don’t worry,” Marco said quickly. “You guys aren’t in any danger. We’re in a funny situation right now. Just team drama, personal stuff.”
“Is it about Atropos?” Tatiana asked.
There was a long silence.
I cleared my throat. “Why, uh, why do you ask that?”
Tatiana gaped at me. “You mean you haven’t heard. It’s all over your team’s forums.”
Lawrence frowned. “Sweetie, what are you talking about? What forums?”
Tatiana jumped up. “Hang on, let me get my laptop. I’ll be right back.” When she was in the hallway, she yelled, “Don’t go anywhere!”
Sebastian smiled apologetically. “She’s been obsessed with you guys since you stopped Mr. Harrison from burning down our school during the assembly a few months ago. She’s got fan art of you up in her room. If you hang out here long enough, she’ll probably ask you to sign it.”
I was still trying to figure out the appropriate response to that revelation when Tatiana rushed back into the living room with her laptop, its power cord still plugged into it and dragging behind.
“Here, let me show you. It’s all anyone talks about at lunch these days.” She was almost breathless.
Lawrence caught my eye and mouthed an apology.
Don’t worry about it, I mouthed back.
Tatiana tapped on the keys and concentrated at the screen. “I’m a member of the biggest fan sites, and this one person, AtroposHater101, joined them all a few weeks ago. They posted identical threads on the same day. The main Atropos fan club banned her right away, but some of the other sites allowed her to stay. Here, look.” She turned the laptop towards me. “Before I show you the post, have you seen your site?”
The website’s banner was an artful depiction of five black silhouettes, obviously my team and me, in front of a black and white panorama of Saint Catherine. Bold text below our silhouettes read:
THE HEROES OF SAINT CATHERINE
THE FRONTLINE IN THE WAR ON CRIME
Marco put down his drink. “That is freaking awesome.”
Tatiana beamed. “I like the banner too. I hope you don’t mind the silhouettes.”
“We don’t mind,” I said quickly. “Now, what is this post you were telling us about?”
“It’s right in here.” She clicked a link to a subsection called All Things Atropos. The top discussion thread in the subsection was titled Atropos is a Jerk!!!! There was a little image of a flame next to it.
She opened the thread. “Read it.”
“Listen up, because I just found something out about Atropos that you all need to know,” I read aloud.
With growing horror, I realized I was reading Jasmine's account of the conversation I'd had with her so many weeks ago at the convenience store in Northside.
While I had forgotten the conversation almost immediately, she’d told everyone she could.
My friends and I ran into Battlecry at a store today. She was acting super weird, and when we asked her some questions about Atropos, she freaked out on us and told us that he’s a jerk. Turns out, he beats and abuses his teammates! Battlecry didn't even want to talk to me because Atropos might beat her until she couldn’t walk. Those were her exact words!!! An asskicker like her was afraid to talk to some random chick in a store!!! We've all been worshiping this guy as a hero and behind closed doors he's the real villain. She told me to tell everyone—so spread the word! F**k Atropos!!!!
My heart rate increased. Never once had I considered that my furious parting comment to Jasmine, to “tell all your Atropos-worshiping friends”, would inspire her to tell everyone in the world.
I didn’t know much about the internet, but I understood that it was large and easily accessible to civilians. I had to assume that every civilian in Saint Catherine knew that Patrick wasn’t as pleasant as he pretended to be. He’d be furious with me…out of his mind…
Marco stared at me, disbelief and anger warring for dominance on his face—he knew I’d messed up.
I turned the computer away from me, unwilling to read the replies to the post. "They’re really talking about this at your school? Everyone?”
Tatiana nodded, eyes wide. "Yes, and that’s not all. The post happened, and then you two disappeared from the public. Now there's rumors that Atropos killed you for telling someone."
“Nobody actually believes that, though.” My voice was higher than usual.
“Miss Battlecry, are you alright?” Sebastian asked. “You don’t sound good.”
Tatiana nodded again. “A few people believe it. I heard that last week Atropos was booed at the scene of a car crash.”
“Honey, where are you hearing all this?” Lawrence asked.
“I told you, on the forums. We can’t take pictures of you guys, so whenever someone sees the team in action, they get on the forums and make a post about what happened. Last week someone made a post about how when Atropos showed up to help at a car crash, a whole bunch of women booed him and told him to leave.”
“What else is on this forum?” Marco asked, sterner than I’d ever heard him. He understood the ramifications of what Tatiana was saying even if she didn’t.
“Um, each of you guys have your own website, though Atropos’ is the biggest. The team website is the most popular general forum, though. It has sections for sightings, fan fiction, a ‘thank you’ section where people can express gratitude for rescues and stuff, and smaller sections dedicated to each of you. Oh, and this one section about sex and romance and stuff, but the moderators won’t give you the password unless you can prove you’re over eighteen. We can’t post fan art, though.” She sighed. “Hey, by the way, can you sign my pictures?”
Both Marco and I had covered our mouths.
The doorbell rang. Penny yelled down the stairs for nobody to answer because it was a delivery she'd been waiting for.
Tatiana closed her laptop. “So, is it true, Miss Battlecry? Is Atropos really like that?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “I guess there’s no reason to deny it anymore.”
Marco put his head in his hands. “Dammit, Battlecry. He probably would’ve let us live in the shed in peace if you hadn’t gone and told someone. Now it’s only a matter of time.”
Lawrence's face was grim. "Battlecry, Helios, if this is true, I'm going to call the mayor's office. I voted for Saint Catherine to have a superhero team brought in because crime in the city was getting out of control, but I don't want a man like that in charge.”
I heard Penny open the front door. "Why, hello! My goodness, what a surprise. Can I help you?"
"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Atropos, your city's superhero leader."
I froze.
"I'm looking for two of my teammates, whom I believe are in this neighborhood. Have you seen them?”
22
I wrung my hands. “He can’t know we’re here.”
Lawrence grabbed Marco and me by the hand. Tatiana and Sebastian watched, hands over their mouths, while he pulled us towards a door off the kitchen.
“In here.” He opened the door to the garage. “The car’s unlocked. Get in, stay low.” He closed the door behind us.
Marco and I opened the door to the car, a blue SUV, as quietly as possible. We lay down on the floor, still and straight as statues.
“Jill, I am going to burn your hair off when this is over. I am so angry at you, I…I.…” Marco trailed off, breathing heavily. “God, do you ever stop and think?”
“Stop talking so I can listen,”
I whispered, concentrating as hard as I could on the conversation in the foyer. The low rumbling sound of two male voices were interspersed with a higher, female one. After a few seconds, the front door closed.
I hardly dared to breathe as the minutes passed. Why was Lawrence taking so long? Was Patrick inside the house?
Finally, the inside garage door opened, though I couldn’t see who it was from my angle on the car’s floor. Lawrence’s face appeared in the window and he slid the door open. He held a pile of clothes.
“You can sit up. He’s gone. I told him you two ran through my yard and headed south. My wife wanted his autograph, which is what took so long.” He handed us the pile of clothes. “These are from our closets. I can drive you anywhere you want to go, but since he’s looking for you, I figured you needed to be in disguises for a while. You might, uh, have to take off your masks.” He put his hands in his pockets, shame-faced. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “You’re right. The masks have gotta go.”
Marco shook his head. “And what about the rules that you were so concerned about when Victoria wanted to see your face? That was, what, an hour ago?”
I pulled off my mask. “You know what? If this rule makes it so I can’t get away from Patrick, then it’s one rule I could do without. Everyone in town recognizes me anyway.”
Marco paused, but then pulled off his mask.
Several emotions flitted across Lawrence’s face, chief among them surprise. “You’re so young.” He glanced back and forth between us. “You guys look like you’re still in high school.”
“I could be,” Marco admitted. “I think I’d be starting my senior year this fall.”
Lawrence made a noise of disgust.
Tatiana ran down the steps into the garage, a sparkly blue headband in her hands. She opened her mouth to say something to her father, but when she saw my bare face she stopped, simply gazing at me with undisguised wonder.
“You’re so pretty,” she murmured before giving her head a little shake. “I brought you my favorite headband.” She thrust the accessory at me.
Blushing, I accepted it and took my hair tie out of my hair, shaking my ponytail loose. I placed the headband on my head. “How do I look?”
“Like a woman with a headband,” Marco snapped. “We’re wasting time.”
I was going to have to make up with Marco somehow, though I couldn’t envision any kindness that would undo the damage of a civilian turning people against Patrick because of something I said.
Lawrence peered out the small windows in the garage door. “Helios is right. I can’t see Atropos, but we need to assume that he’s still looking for you nearby. My wife doesn’t know you’re here, so you’ll have to get changed out here. We’ll leave in five minutes. C’mon, Tati, let’s give them some privacy.”
They went into the house, and Marco and I started putting on our new clothes. My new pink ruffled blouse and denim knee-length skirt fit well and were cute, though they clashed loudly with my boots.
Marco’s clean-cut appearance in his new jeans and white collared shirt triggered a childhood memory, and I giggled before I could stop myself.
He scowled. “What could you possibly be laughing about right now?”
“You look like the charity people who came with the boxes when we were kids.” I gestured to my own conservative outfit. “We both do.”
Marco’s lip twitched, but he crossed his arms. “I’m still mad at you,” he muttered.
I leaned over and hugged him. “We’re going to be okay. I don’t know what we’re going to do, or how we’re going to do it, but we’ll get away from Patrick and this whole thing will smooth over.”
Marco sighed and returned the hug. “I guess I’m not really that mad at you. I’m just kind of scared of Patrick. I know he’s pissed at you for making his fans turn on him.”
A few seconds later Lawrence returned to the garage, this time clutching car keys. Tatiana and Sebastian hung back in the doorway, grim-faced. “Are you guys ready? I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”
I hadn’t given any thought to where we should go. The shed, tucked away from witnesses, was an unsafe choice. If Patrick were to somehow track us down, I wanted the confrontation to be public.
Perhaps there was some place in the city where we could bide our time until nightfall by studying the forums. “Is there somewhere we can use the internet?”
Lawrence nodded. “The public library has free internet terminals. Which branch would you like to go to?”
“Is there a small, out-of-the-way branch anywhere? I don’t want to deal with a lot of people.”
My father once told me that libraries were “temples of false knowledge.” Now here we were, unmasked in front of a civilian, hiding from the leader I’d beaten up, and considering doing online research—another privilege reserved for leaders—at a temple of false knowledge.
Lawrence smiled. “There’s a smaller branch about five miles from here, the John Mosby Library. It’s where the kids go after school. Lie down again and I’ll take you there.”
We obeyed and laid on the floor of the SUV while Lawrence started the ignition and opened the garage door by pressing a button on the visor. He backed the vehicle out into the road, and then we were on our way.
Lawrence scanned the street as he drove. “I don’t see Atropos anywhere. Hopefully he went south, like I said you guys had.” The SUV accelerated. “We’re on the freeway now. You guys should probably sit in the seats and put on the seat belts, unless you’re invulnerable to car crash injuries.”
After we clicked our belts in, Marco leaned forward. “We’re really grateful for everything you’ve done. If there’s anything we can do to repay you—”
“This is repayment. The twins were in the auditorium at the middle school when Brian Harrison set that fire. The fire marshal said that if Battlecry and Firelight hadn’t acted so quickly to stop him and evacuate the school, people would have died. The way I see it, you saved my children’s lives.”
I reached forward and put my hand on his shoulder. “That’s what we’re here for.”
Lawrence took an exit off the freeway into a pleasant, affluent neighborhood with large, stately homes, manicured lawns full of brightly flowering bushes, and wooden swing sets in the backyards. Women walked down the sidewalks with small dogs, and a man stood in his driveway, waxing a shiny black sports car.
A lightness flooded through my chest—as a general rule, wealthy areas had little street crime, so we were less likely to be recognized.
We finally pulled into the parking lot of a small two-story stone building with lush weeping willows on the grounds and a bench with a colorful flowerbed arranged around it. Sculptures of children sitting and reading books were arranged here and there around the greenery, forever frozen in childlike contemplation. I’d never been to a library before, but if they were all like this, I wanted to go more often.
Lawrence drove to the main entrance and turned around in his seat, his eyes sad. “I’ll let you guys off here. Are you going to be okay?”
My heart was beating harder now that I had to get out of the car. “Yeah. We’ll hang out here for a while and then go back to where we’ve been holing up.”
His expression darkened. “I’m calling the mayor’s office and telling her what you guys told me. If that doesn’t work, I’m calling my representative in Washington. I know you don’t want me to, but I’m not going to have a scumbag like Atropos lead my city’s superheroes. From what I’ve seen, you’re the better candidate, Battlecry. ”
Marco smirked.
My face was warm as I offered my hand. “You’re very kind. I hope to see you again, though I hope it’s in a safer situation.” I paused. “And you can call me Jillian.”
Marco stuck out his hand, too. “And I’m Marco. Marco St. James.”
For some reason, giving our names just felt right.
We climbed out of the car and waved to Lawrence as he drove away.
When his car disappeared into the neighborhood, we turned and went through the swooshing double doors of the library.
The cool, quiet atmosphere of the library wasn’t what I expected of a temple of false knowledge, though I honestly couldn’t have said what I did expect. Something threatening, maybe.
Instead, middle-aged women sat behind low desks with computers, scanning piles of books and chatting quietly with each other. An elderly man pushed a cart stacked with books and movies, humming quietly to himself. In a corner marked Imagination Zone sat a dozen small children at the feet of a man holding up a picture book. He read a line from a page with dramatic flair, and the children gasped and tittered. Their mothers sat behind them, all absorbed in their own novels.
There were rows upon rows of books in every direction. I stood rooted to the floor, slack jawed.
To my right were a dozen waist-high rows, above which hung a sign that said Reference. To my left were ten-foot high stacks with black lettering, each word a different subject, or so I assumed. On the far left wall was a section called Biography, and even though I didn’t know what ‘biography’ meant, energy surged through me—I could find out what it meant. On the far right wall was a long shelf with magazines and newspapers, and the energy doubled in strength.
There was so much information available to me. This was what it was like to be Patrick. No, this was what it was like to be Elder St. James.
A child’s laughter from above caught my attention, and I remembered that there was an entire second floor of possibilities. If this was a small branch, what was a big one like?
A large stairwell in the middle of the first floor ascended to the second, leading to a small area that overlooked the larger first floor. I could see a section marked Fiction, and beyond that a sign that read Computer Room.
“I’m going upstairs,” I said to Marco, who also hadn’t moved. He nodded and continued staring at the shelves of books.
I squared my shoulders and headed for the stairwell. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Marco wander into the stacks and pause at a shelf marked Arts and Crafts.
Battlecry Page 16