City Without Heroes

by Tanya Lisle

  “We’re still on for it, though, right?” Esther continued. “It sounds like so much fun. I wouldn’t want to be left behind.”

  “You’re still in,” Penny said. “If we can even do it. We’re going to need a little bit of help pulling it off if we can get it. It’s going to be a little tough, what with Matt getting himself roped into helping out with this whole thing. Unfortunately, he seems to think he’s too nice.”

  “Look, it’s not like that,” he said. “It should be fine. They aren’t going to keep me there the whole night.”

  Penny and Esther both looked at him and shook their heads. Indira watched them, all of them disappointed, but Penny more nervous about these events than anyone else. She was worried that whatever the plan was for the night was going to fall through if she wasn’t careful about getting Matt out of the love triangle between himself and Laura and Brittany.

  Indira gave in at last. “Fine,” she said. “What do you want?”

  Penny smiled at this and looked very happy about the turn of events. She found herself a bit at a loss for words. She wanted to be very specific, but knew better than to say anything about it out loud. Esther kept shoving costumes into her arms when she was about to say anything. “Don’t,” Esther said, pushing Penny back towards a changing room with the costumes. “Think about it before you say anything. We can’t see a damn thing in this place and I’m not dealing with that on my shift.”

  “Should you really be helping us this much?” Penny asked her. “Is there even anyone else working here right now?”

  “Nope,” Esther told her. “Joe fell the hell asleep again, so I’m on my own for at least another half hour. And somehow the door happened to lock behind you three. But look, I know what’s on the walls and trust me, we can’t find everything in this place. Try those on. I think you’ll like a couple of them. And a few are in there to make me happy,” she added, drifting back to the chairs outside of the curtained off stalls in the back. “Matt, you fill in the new girl.”

  “Who’s in charge of this thing?” Penny demanded, obviously changing behind one of the curtains.

  Esther grabbed one of the other costumes, shoved it at Indira, and pushed her into one of the stalls as well. “You are, Penny,” Esther assured her. “I just can’t leave the place locked for too long without getting in shit. So have the conversation quick so I can still get paid this weekend. And by keep it quick, I mean Matt doesn’t talk around as much as you do. Plus, it’s his fault you need her in the first place.”

  “It’s not – ugh,” Matt muttered, the sound of him flopping into a chair on the outside of the change rooms obvious. “Fine,” he said at last. “Indira, can you distract a few people for us?” he asked. “Penny and I are going to need to slip out a little early and she thinks that I’m going to be held up at the door.”

  “We all know you’re going to be held up at the door,” Penny countered. “Like, I don’t know what you can do, but maybe-”

  “Let her figure that out for herself,” Esther cut in. “It can be a surprise that no one who might be listening in will ever know about. Really, you’ve been living in town for this long and you aren’t nearly as careful as you need to be. Every time there’s someone new you want to go and tell them everything.”

  Indira looked down at her costume, finding that she’d been given a sexy angel that she would never be allowed out of the house in. At least, not with that neck line. Still, she slipped it on and gave it a try, finding that it was much too big for her small frame as she looked herself over in the mirror. She let them talk around her and considered the request.

  “Couldn’t you get literally anyone else to do this?” Indira asked. “It’s just distracting them long enough for you to slip out. You could get literally anyone other than me to do it.”

  “They’re a little sneaky,” Penny told her. “They’re not going to be together and they’re going to be keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t leave without one of them. We’re just going to need to know when it’s safe to make a break for it and they aren’t going to be watching.”

  “You could get any two people.” Indira walked out of the dressing room with the angel costume, holding onto it on the sides to keep it from slipping down too far. “Two people with phones who can text you when the coast is clear. That is not a suspicious text to receive at a party. You really don’t need me to do it.”

  “Please?” Penny asked, already out of her room. She was not the most convincing person right now, dressed as a fairy and looking like she had been poured into the outfit. Esther looked pleased from her spot on the couch, but otherwise said nothing as Penny looked pleadingly at Indira. “I swear it will be just the once.”

  “It will absolutely not be just once,” Esther said darkly from the couch. She got up and shoved a second costume in Indira’s arms, Indira hugging it close to keep the angel costume from slipping. “But this time I think we’re going to need a hand with it. There’s a bit of a reason these two have been trying to get the upper hand on one another, you understand.”

  Indira got it almost immediately. Esther was thinking it at her as loudly as she could and Indira caught it off the surface of her thoughts. Brittany and Laura were passing a spell between the pair of them, one that none of them understood, but one that was giving them problems. Indira shook her head and let out a sigh as she went back to the change room.

  “Fine,” she said. “You could have just said so before, you know!”

  Esther sounded pleased with herself. “Wow, you’re good,” she said. “I don’t know what Penny saw in you, but nice work. I’m gonna go unlock the front door now.”

  “How did you figure that out?” Matt asked.

  Indira came out in the sorceress costume, unhappy once more with the neckline and the sheer amount of leg that she was stuck showing in it. Next to her, Penny came out in a superhero costume that showed far more than any real superhero would ever actually show if they wanted to survive the night.

  “I’m very good at figuring people out,” Indira said. “Smart like that, you know?”

  Penny glared at Matt until his face lit up with the realization. “Oh,” he said.

  “You guys have a twin thing, right?”

  “Do I need to close the store again?” Esther said loudly over all of them. She shoved a costume at Matt and pushed him in the direction of the last changing room. “My god, people, shut up about that. Now, model for my amusement!”

  No one else came in while Esther kept shoving costumes at them and kept them from talking too much about Saturday night, but Indira could still glimpse the thoughts of the people around her. There was something happening that Penny and Matt were nervous about, but Esther was perfectly calm. She was cool and almost excited for it, though more in that way someone is excited for cake at the end of a meal.

  Of everyone in this town, Indira was finding herself liking Esther more and more. She was less inhibited, more clear than anyone else, and very good at calling people on their bullshit. It left Penny more than a little stressed dealing with her, given that she appeared to be organizing several people at the moment, but it was refreshing for Indira.

  As much as she didn’t want to be a hero herself, she liked hanging out with them back in Iverson, and Esther reminded her of that. She was willing to jump in and take risks, hand people costumes they didn’t like, and say whatever was on her mind without filter. She was honest and wore herself in the open.

  They left after an hour, the three of them with costumes and the three of them having seen a lot more of one another than they expected to. Not that she minded. They were both in very good shape from all the stress they seemed to be under and she was always happy for a bit of a show. She would have to see if Esther was willing to return the favour one day.

  Plus, Indira found a costume that was the perfect combination of alluring and, with a couple slight modifications, acceptable to go outside in if her parents saw it. All that was left was to make those chan
ges and learn whatever Brittany and Laura were about, but she could handle it. A little distraction would be simple enough and she could be done with it.

  For tonight, though, she had something else she had to do. After all this talk about everything, she was now worried about whatever everyone else was doing on the weekend. She needed to talk to Uncle Ness.

  Chapter 12

  Checking In

  Uncle Ness had his phone off, which was usually a sign that he was off in costume looking for someone to punch in the face. Indira left a message for him to call her back, though she knew from experience that it might take weeks for him to resurface from whatever he’d gotten himself into. She wasn’t worried about him, knowing full well that there were people who would call them if there was anything that suggested he was in serious danger of not coming back. Her concern was entirely selfish, that she wanted someone with more experience in this area to talk to.

  She’d used her powers to help friends out before, but this felt different somehow. This was more like what Uncle Ness did, and what she had avoided doing all her life. She didn’t know what made her agree to it. Maybe it was the place giving her nerves. Maybe it was some kind of magic from Penny and Matt. Maybe Esther really could do something. Somehow, this was getting out of hand and Uncle Ness was supposed to be there whenever they needed him for things like this.

  Brushing out her long hair at the end of the day, she let her mind wander away from herself. The last time she had seen Uncle Ness, Shiraz seemed to be picking up his very imminent death, so it was unlikely he would stick around here. Still, after only a few moments, she felt something faint and familial lurking right at the edge of her psychic reach.

  He wouldn’t.

  She poked and prodded at the mind, making her presence known until Uncle Ness acknowledged she was there. Why are you out here? Indira asked, trying to look around and figure out where he actually was. I thought you were on a mission or something.

  Come in and tell me what’s up, he said.

  Uncle Ness tugged her up into a white, featureless room. He waited for her, dressed in his regular polo shirt and jeans instead of the costume, concern on his face as she gave herself a physical presence to speak to him with. “I wasn’t expecting to see you around for a while. Did something happen?”

  “Didn’t you leave town? What are you doing back?” Indira watched his face. “Does Mom know you’re back?”

  “You are not telling your mother I’m back,” Uncle Ness told her. “What’s up?”

  He was avoiding her questions, but Indira let it drop. He was here and she needed someone to talk to about all of this that would listen to her. “You know how you said something weird might be happening in town?” she asked. “Something kind of weird happened. And is happening. And I’m not really sure what to do about it, or if I need to. Please tell me I don’t need to.”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. You might need to. What’s going on?”

  Indira frowned and shook the white world around them in warning. Indira kept her arms crossed, head shaking as she crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her knees. Her shoulders slumped, trying to pick just where in this to start. “One of Raz’s friends died.”

  “Oh,” Uncle Ness said, his face changing to one she’d seen him use on grieving victims when he needed information out of them. “Is he okay?”

  Indira shook her head no. “He could have been, but there’s a problem with it. Like, it’s Raz, right? Someone dies and he’s usually the first one to bounce back after it happens because he saw it coming for a while. He’s gotten used to it and it wasn’t a surprise at all to him. But this time, it was weird.”

  “Weird how?”

  “Weird like no one remembers the kid,” Indira said. “He was pretty outgoing and helpful and all that classic stuff. He pretty obviously used to be a hero. He talked like one. You know the sort. The kids who are out to save the world and really don’t know how to keep their mouths shut about it.”

  “All kids, you mean?” Uncle Ness asked. He was trying to lighten the mood and sat across from her, trying to meet her eyes. Indira looked up at him, her expression unimpressed as she started to weave her fingers through her long hair, and Uncle Ness let out a breath. “We’re still trying to keep those kids from the tights, you know.”

  “Chris should have done that,” Indira said. “He died, apparently. I haven’t seen him again since Raz told me he was gone. Thing is, no one else noticed he was gone either. Apparently Raz says no one even remembers the kid ever even existed, and I think he’s right. He’s just gone forever and there’s no trace of him left. I checked a few people who might know him and no one has even heard of him before.”

  “That’s not normal,” Uncle Ness said, frowning. His thumb started to play with his bottom lip. “But that might have just been him. Some people have charms or other things that happen when they die that let them go without a trace. It’s always a bit weird for our family, since we’re a lot more immune to that sort of psychic disruption than other people, but it might have just been this kid and nothing to do with whatever the town is at all.”

  Indira knew he was trying very hard to rationalize it, and did nothing to stop him. She wanted it to be true, but there was much more to it than that. There were bits and pieces of things that happened since they got to Whitten and what she had seen in Penny’s dream, not to mention what she was worried might be coming this weekend. She didn’t even know what she thought might happen, but she was involved now.

  “Penny said something about the radio towers too,” Indira offered. “Apparently there’s something about them. She and a couple other people were going to go see about taking them down over the weekend.”

  Uncle Ness stopped and let his hand drop, looking carefully at her. “And who is Penny?” he asked, though the intent of his question was clear. He wanted to know if she thought Penny was capable of doing something and Indira wasn’t about to lie to him.

  “Penelope Choi,” she told him. “I go to school with her. She’s magic. I think she’s pretty powerful with it, though. Her and her brother might have turned back time before and I remember you mentioning that doing that sort of thing was pretty heavy lifting, right?”

  He blinked at her and straightened up. “Brother Matthew?”

  “You know them?”

  “I knew their mother,” he said. “A bit before your time. She was a friend of mine when I was still getting started. Gertie quit for good a little while after she had kids, but she was a damn fine sorceress in her day. She said she was moving out of town a few years ago, but…”

  “Their father thinks that she ran off,” Indira said. “She hasn’t been around in a while, apparently. Penny said that she thinks their mom went off to try and take out the towers herself and they don’t know where she is anymore. I get the feeling they’re going to try and get some people together to try and rescue her, but they don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

  “And how do you know all of this, Miss I Don’t Have Any Powers, Really I Don’t, You Don’t Need To Check That, I am Completely Powerless?” Uncle Ness asked. There was a joking edge to his voice, but a biting one as well. After all the efforts Uncle Ness had made to make sure kids didn’t go getting into the superhero game, he didn’t want to see her doing the same.

  “I’m not going,” Indira said, putting up her hands in her own defence. Her legs unfolded underneath her and she walked away, crossing her arms as the white space contorted around her and sharp edges formed. “I don’t want anything to do with that hero stuff. I’ve seen what happens and I want nothing to do with it, even when I’m older. You know that. But they asked me to help them get out of a party so they could go do whatever they’re going to do.”

  Uncle Ness let out a breath. “You need to get out of that city,” he said. “ But your father isn’t moving out of that city unless someone comes in and takes it over. And even then, he might not.” He shook his head. “When’s the party?”
>
  “On Saturday. I should back out.”

  “Don’t. Let them go. I’ll make sure they’re okay. I owe Gertie that much.”

  “I thought you were all about talking people out of this stuff.”

  “I have a few questions, and somehow I don’t think they’re going to talk to your Uncle Ness.”

  “What are you going to do?” Indira asked him, looking him over carefully.

  “I’m going to hang out in town and try to figure out a few things. It sounds like Whitten could use a little bit of hero interference after all. Even if it’s the plain clothes sort.”

  “You’re going to get yourself killed if you aren’t careful. Raz was-”

  “So I’ll just be careful. You get to sleep. I’ll stop in on Monday.”

  Indira shook her head, but she turned and went back to herself and her very well-brushed hair. Uncle Ness was determined and looked a little angry at the mention of Penny and Matt. She wondered how good friends he was with Gertie and if it wasn’t better that he stopped in and visited the two of them instead of trying to look into the towers. He might be able to talk them out of whatever their plans were. Either way, she was just hoping that everyone was going to make it to Monday. And that she would remember all of them.

  Chapter 13

  Halloween Party

  The streets were littered with small children running around in costumes, all of them laughing and trying to find the houses with the most and the best candy. Their guardians lingered on the sidelines, debating when they could call it a night so they could get on with their own plans. With Raz still out of sorts, he offered to hand out candy at the house while Indira left in her car to pick up Penny for the party. She hoped Penny knew where this was, since she was still not used to Whitten.

  Indira was pleased she had been allowed out in her costume, despite her father’s misgivings and that look in her mother’s eye like she knew. Esther had convinced her to try a steampunk ensemble, complete with a skirt and stockings that covered enough to get her out of the house. Once she was out of the car again, it would be simple enough to pull the more modest underskirt off to show off her legs to anyone she wanted to make an impression on. The shirt could also show a little more up top, but Indira knew she didn’t have nearly as much as some of the other girls around here, and opted to stick to what flattered her best.