by Jon Davis
She looked around the hilly area with the winding paths, and then back at the library. She said, “Funny, back in the 1930s, Lyle Graettinger wanted this place to be about more than just books. He wanted it to be a place of joy for the mind. Where people could take a break from everyday toils and look at art, music, knowledge.”
Dana looked at me with a wistful sadness. “I wonder what he would think of it now.”
If she expected me to be philosophical, Dana was in for a disappointment. Still, something did come to my mind, and I said, “That it was used to save lives? It was used in the right way.”
Her expression of surprised joy was more than enough to make my morning. But she brought me up short when she asked, “So who were those kids you were yelling at? I heard a bit of it, but I was busy. The girl looked familiar…”
We started walking toward her SUV. I waited a moment to answer her, trying to gather my thoughts. Then I said, “I don’t know; I think they’re, like, Avatar junkies or something. Angela Tursow—remember her? That’s who the girl was. The tall guy was her brother. Seriously, they wanted to tell me about how Alex had changed things for them. Like I said Avatar junkies…”
Dana sighed. “I knew that was going to happen. For all his good intentions, Alex really opened a door that I wish could have remained closed.”
Now, that was the understatement of the year. But as bad as running into fanatical fans of the Avatar was, I had to wonder what other sorts of doors Alex had opened. This was about more than Alex just showing off his power. I may have been asleep in that chair for a while, but I had had time to think about this. It could hardly be a coincidence that after Alex showed his powers, I would develop them, too.
I started to consider how it could’ve happened when my mind drew a blank. I realized that I was too tired to think that deeply about things. But one more thing popped up in my thoughts. Was it possible that Alex might have done the same to others? Maybe…
Then someone called to us. “Mr. Hagen! Ms. Sinclair! Can I speak to you, please? It’s very important!”
I groaned. I knew that voice; weeks had passed since I’d heard the unctuous, snide tone of it, but I knew that voice all too well. We stopped and turned to see Dane Eisenhawk walking from around the corner of the library. He was with the same two FBI agents who had been with him at the hospital. I said softly, “Please tell me the feds didn’t put this guy in charge of investigating what happened here.”
Dana growled. “Eisenhawk.”
“You know him, too?” I said, startled. She nodded and, with a turn, she started walking away. I joined her.
“Hold it!” Eisenhawk called out. He had a strong note of authority in his voice, which was surprising for someone so young. With a glance to each other, we stopped and turned back.
Dana put on a false smile and said, “Mr. Eisenhawk! How goes the job? Pray tell, what is one of the lead scientific advisors to the President doing here? This was an act of terrorism, not anything to do with the Avatar. Where’s Homeland Security? Or is the FBI actually going to take the lead this time?”
I did a double take. I said, “Wait, what? He told Brand and me that he was an FBI agent!”
Still walking toward us, Eisenhawk gave me a casual glance and said, “No, I let the FBI agents with me infer that as I felt the interviewer would go quicker. My apologies…”
He stopped and said, “However, I do find it interesting that the two of you were involved. That’s twice now that you’ve shown up around odd events. Would either of you care to speculate why?”
With a tired-sounding voice, I said, “Wow, yeah, we’re involved all right, silly us for living in a town of fifteen thousand people. Oh, and we were in front of the one thing on Main Street that stood out like a perfect target for a terrorist. Oops.”
Eisenhawk glared at me for a second and then looked suspicious as he said, “It’s interesting, especially where you’re concerned, Mr. Hagen. I’ve been to the impound yard where Nathan Jessup’s car is being held. I found the damage extremely interesting, and inexplicable.”
I stiffened. That was too close for comfort. And worse, he wasn’t finished. In the same accusatory voice, he said, “And it’s very interesting that the destroyed memorial wall looks as though it was hit by a sandblaster and not concussive explosives. You were directly involved with both occurrences, Mr. Hagen. Are you sure you have no idea of what’s going on?”
I shrugged. I was edgy about his mention of Nathan’s car. But at this point, he really had nothing to go on. “Sorry, pure coincidence. That’s all it is.”
Eisenhawk looked at me for a moment. Then he said, “However, while the damage may go unexplained, I have to wonder if, perhaps, you’ve become paranoid about certain people in your town? Maybe to such an extent that you’ve decided to deal with them in a more forceful manner. It’s not unheard of to have domestic attacks perpetrated by those embittered over how they’re treated…”
I snarled and said, “You son of a—”
Dana stopped me with a hand on my arm. I looked at her. She distinctly shook her head and looked at Eisenhawk. She said, “Enough of this. Vaughn is not the center of your investigation. Jessup hit a pole; that’s what is in the police report. The memorial wall was already falling apart from whatever exploded near it. And given that we were seen by a fair number of people at the time of the blasts, I would say that you’re insane.”
Dana’s eyes narrowed in speculation then. She said, "Except that’s why you’re here, isn’t it, to investigate these strange explosions? After all, cars don’t blow up on their own, Doctor. And my father has already confirmed that whatever caused the blasts came from a single point outside the vehicles. But there was no sign of any evidence to suggest the use of rockets. He was told that it came from something extremely hot and energetic, which fits, given the intense amount of power in all those explosions.”
Eisenhawk blinked. He said, “Does your father usually tell you about national security issues, Ms. Sinclair? I’ll have to talk to him about discussing government secrets so liberally.”
Dana didn’t rise to the bait he was throwing her way. Instead, she shook her head and said, “I was there when he received the first reports. They came to him here, in the library. Before your people swooped in and declared the attack to be in the national interests. So now, you need to go find out what could have caused this kind of damage, and then leave us the hell alone! Better yet, go back to investigating Alex. I’m sure that’ll get you absolutely nowhere.”
Eisenhawk’s eyes widened as he said, “Ms. Sinclair? Do you think that the Avatar had something to do with this?”
Glaring at him, Dana said, “Yes, he did.”
Huh? I stared at her. So did Eisenhawk. After a moment’s pause, he said, “How? He’s dead. Unless you think there’s something he may have done before he destroyed Yama.”
Dana’s voice tightened when she said, “I’d say he saved the world. And thanks to that, someone has gone insane and started blowing up the town he came from. As a thank you, I suppose. Now, go away and do your job. We’re going home and back to living our lives—such as they are.”
Eisenhawk said, “Oh, no. Sorry. It doesn’t work that way. The FBI will be interviewing all witnesses. Don’t doubt that! But look, since you did bring it up…you were his friend, Dana, and so were you, Vaughn. I need to know what you both know about Alex Shaw. No one on Earth has ever shown this kind of power. How could he have hidden it so well, and for so long?”
I took a step forward and then stopped when the two agents that came up with him stiffened and stepped in closer to Eisenhawk. They looked at me through mirrored sunglasses. They also looked tense and ready to grab me. I settled on just staring at the man in charge.
I said, “Eisenhawk, Alex didn’t say anything. He never told me. He never told Dana. He never let anyone know that he could do any of the things that he did. Don’t you get it? This has been one hell of a mystery to everyone. Not just for you, but for me
, too! Hell, not only did I lose a friend in Alex, I lost a friend because of Alex. Now I have to grieve for two people. So do me a favor and fuck off. I’m done with this crazy shit!”
Eisenhawk started toward me, but stopped when Dana stepped between us. Without another word, she turned me and we continued walking to her SUV. She looked at the man over her shoulder and said, “We’ve been up all night saving lives, Dr. Eisenhawk. You weren’t here. You were somewhere thinking esoteric things about how someone flew. Fine, go do your thing. But right now, we are leaving.”
We left him and his bruisers behind and walked stiffly away. No, really. I was stiff and sore from standing there, even just for a moment. My whole body ached. Coming down from adrenaline can do that to a person. At least this time I didn’t feel that pressure like ache in my head.
I said, “Good job. You might have a future in speech writing—or even politics.”
Dana grimaced at the idea and said, “No, I’d rather be consigned to Hell first.”
With a click of her remote, the doors of her SUV unlocked. Climbing in, I said, “I know what you mean. Politics is creepy. I’m not even sure how someone as young as Eisenhawk even got the job. Seriously, he’s a scientific advisor to the President of the United States?”
She was about to put the key in, but then, she hesitated and looked at the retreating trio of feds. After a moment of thought, she said, “Hmm? Yes, he is, I did a little research. He’s in charge of the Avatar situation. He has ties to DARPA and the International Sciences Council at the UN. As for his age, I don’t know about that. He seems about the right age for someone in his position.”
I glanced back at the three. Just then, Eisenhawk glanced back, and our eyes met. I looked at him. He looked to be at most on the low end of his thirties. Brown hair, high cheekbones, and a chin beard, with close-set ears and brown eyes.
No, I couldn’t see this guy in the position he was in. That kind of thing only happened in movies or television shows, where they needed a good-looking actor to be the ‘smart and sexy scientist.’ This was reality. Hmn, I’d have rather been in the movie world. Then I would be the smart and sexy lead.
Yeah, right.
Dana turned the engine over. With a shrug, she said, “Well, he may call himself a scientist, but he’s more of a bureaucrat than anything else. He probably hasn’t done any real scientific work for years.”
I couldn’t see how anyone could get that jaded, but if he lived in Washington D.C. and worked with politicians, then maybe, that was the answer. Yep, politics is creepy. I sighed, “I just wish he’d leave the whole thing about Alex alone.”
She sighed. Then, with a shrug, Dana said, “He’s an obsessed idiot. He wants to know how to do what Alex did so he can use it as a resource. Bastards like him…”
I caught the anger in her voice and said, “Sounds as though you’ve met his type before.”
Dana gave me a shrug and said, “Sadly, yes I have. With what I used to do, sometimes we had issues with the authorities.”
I grinned and asked, “What did you do, take part in political activism? Picket outside nuclear power plants and stuff?”
She said, “Teach people how to control their psychic talents and not get caught.”
My jaw dropped. Dana's eyes widened. With a sigh, she said, “Ugh, well, that was a bit revealing. Yep, I’m tired. But it’s out now.”
Dana pulled out of the parking space. As we sped down the road, I tried to stay quiet. This wasn’t the time to get into what she did, and I knew it. But it was out, and I had just inadvertently lied to Eisenhawk. And if Dana had trained people with psychic abilities, that meant she had trained Alex. She had to have known him. No, I didn't want to ask.
Once we got away from the damage, things began to look nice and normal. People were starting their day, getting cars warmed up and brushing off the snow that was covering them. The snow last night hadn’t lasted for long, but there was a fresh covering now, with almost two inches of the stuff. No, winter wasn’t quite done with us yet. Before last night, it had seemed to be almost gone. Not anymore. Recovery from the attack was going to be that much harder. And I was just pushing away the big question, wasn’t I?
With a sigh, I said, “You did train Alex, didn’t you?”
Dana nodded. We drove on in silence for a couple blocks.
Then, I asked, “You lied to everyone, then?”
Dana continued driving. We crossed Main Street. She was tense. I was tense. This was stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything. We were both too tired. But now, well, I had to confront it.
I said, “Look, sorry, Dana. It’s not as though we’ve been friends for years. Hell, I’m angry over the fact that Alex never said anything. All those years of comic book reading and not once, did he mention that he could do some of the stuff that superheroes can? Yeah, no, I’m not happy.”
The SUV continued for a couple more blocks. Then, as we neared the edge of town, she slowed down and pulled into the lot of a long-closed gas station. The owners had stripped everything out to leave an empty building with broken glass doors, wood-covered windows, and an empty, locked icebox. Pulling up near the sidewalk, she parked and let the vehicle continue to run.
Turning to me, she said, “All right, Vaughn, I did train Alex. When I first met him, Alex had a low-level, but controllable ability. Alex told me that his talents were active since he was four years old. He came to me about it when he was fifteen.”
I nodded. “For the last two years, then. Why come to you? Wait, how did he know to come to you anyway?”
She sighed. Outside, the sun was beginning to show on the street, and a couple cars passed while we talked, kicking up a slight spray from the slush on the road. After a moment, Dana said, “Alex was a telekinetic and an advanced cognitive. It’s hard to explain. He’s never been a telepath, but think of it as a sort of psi-based information gathering talent.”
“Hyper-cognition—that’s what the fans call it when it happens in the comics. Most just see it as a way to let writers put in knowledge, a ‘deus ex machina’ sort of thing.” I said. She looked at me and laughed.
I chuckled and said, “Guess some things have a basis in reality.”
Dana said, “Well, that’s how he found me and asked me to help him. His abilities started to get out of control because of adolescent growth spurts. It’s only natural I suppose. Hormones can wreak havoc on a psychic.”
She looked bemused as she said, “It’s not for nothing that my coven describes hormones as killers of psi powers and the source of poltergeists at the same time.”
Okay, there it was. All those fantasy games, comics, and movies had a reality behind them. But I was tired. And I really needed to relax my brain. I was feeling way too much tension from the fires, the twins…
So I quipped, “You know, I don’t believe in that stuff. The ‘magick with a k’ stuff, like ghosts, and psychic talents—they just don’t exist. Obviously, what I do is something totally different. It must be that I’m an alien or something, ‘cause it’s the only explanation.”
She started, and then stared at me for a moment. Then she said, “I will make this as clear as possible. Psychic, cognition, psychometry, mind over matter, spiritualism—all of it, even the idea of what people call ‘magick’—is all very, very real.”
Then Dana finally noticed the lighthearted way I had said it. She said, “Heh, okay, you got me. For a second there, I thought you meant it, though!”
“Um, you mean the alien bit didn’t clue you in?” I said, grinning. For a few moments, we just looked at each other and then we both just started laughing. The momentary tension fell away.
Dana said, “So, would that make you from the planet Krypton, or are you secretly Metro Man?”
Laughing at the idea, I said, “Oh gods, no! I’d rather be Mega Mind, anyway, big blue head and all!”
That got us laughing more, but we quickly calmed down, realizing that mental exhaustion was pushing this whole thing. But I found
myself relaxing with Dana. She seemed a lot more easygoing, too. That made it easier to discuss this without the feeling of melodrama or the straight out surreal feeling that felt before now.
After a moment, I sighed. “Okay, I admit I didn’t believe in the stuff previously. But Alex didn’t exactly pull those powers out of a hat. I mean, they had to come from somewhere, right?”
She let out a sigh. Then she said, “Yes, they do come from somewhere. But, in all honesty, there’s barely any serious research. There has been in the past, but right now, no. Psychic flashes and coincidences are what most people have. But on occasion, some develop a controllable talent. And no matter how weak those gifts are, we train them. I can only guess that someone like Alex might come along, oh, once in a millennium.”
I nodded, but this wasn’t only about Dana training Alex. What Alex had done was literally off the charts in any sense of scientific reality, yet he had done it. And now I could say the same for myself. But if Alex had gotten help from Dana, didn’t that mean I could do the same? I asked, “Can you train me, too? I mean, I don’t want to lose control again.”
Dana considered my questions. She put the SUV in drive and slowly pulled out onto the road. She said, “I think I can. Alex’s biggest gift was telekinesis. As to how he changed you so you have powers is something else altogether. Did you ever show psi gifts before this?”
I shook my head. I said, “Never. I mean, my Aunt Cassie claims to be an empath, but as for me, nada. I’ve never had anything like that show up.”
She said, “What about your sonic abilities? Anything connected with that?”
I raised a brow and thought about it. We drove underneath a small railroad trestle and I saw the top edge of my house. Mom and Dad would be there now, sleeping. I wondered if I should tell them. Yeah I would, soon enough. Finally, Dana looked at me for an answer. I said, “I have a sort of odd talent of remembering what I hear.”