Sidekick Returns

by Auralee Wallace

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘Not evil enough. There’s more coming. I just know it. Besides, this is wrong, and even if it isn’t entirely wrong, it sends out the message that the city really is falling apart and that can only lead to one place.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Chaos.’

  ‘Chaos isn’t a place.’

  I frowned. ‘You are so not helping. Could you just pretend for a moment that you’re not useless, okay?’

  He sighed. ‘Fine. I guess, you could go over to the booth over there, behind the dais, and turn off the sound system. It’s hard to have an auction when no one can hear you. And it would give the cops time to get here.’

  ‘Good. Good. What else do you got?’

  ‘Seriously?’

  ‘Well, I just want a backup plan. Things don’t always work out for me, and—’

  ‘Would you like to meet my pterodactyl friend up close?’ Bart asked, pointing to the gently swaying dino-bird. ‘Because I’m about to throw you over for a meet and greet.’

  ‘I’m sorry. It’s been a weird night.’ I started to back away. ‘I’m going to go try the unplugging thing now. Sure you don’t wanna come?’

  Bart mimed something very unpleasant.

  ‘Right. Understood.’ I trotted down the stairs. I was half-expecting a security guard to stop me en route, but everyone was focused on the action. So far no one had started the bidding. Ricky was just teasing them all with tidbits. I made my way through the crowd to the dais subtly positioned behind the giant skeleton of the T-rex Bart had pointed out. The sound system looked a lot like the ones they used in clubs. I scanned the blinking lights and knobs. One of them had to be for power. Like that big red one! That had to be it! But just as my finger was reaching for the button, I noticed the crowd had gone completely silent.

  Ricky’s voice shattered the still. ‘What about you Atticus? I might have a thing or two in here about St. James Industries that deserves to be put on blast. Would you like to start the bidding?’ I popped up straight like a prairie dog and craned my head to see what was happening.

  Too many people.

  I crept around the sound table, eyes still searching the crowd. It didn’t take long for them to settle.

  ‘I don’t think so, young man. In fact, I think we’ve heard just about enough from you.’

  And there he was, my father, standing in the centre of the gallery, facing Rickie.

  I felt my heart rate pick up. This was it. Whatever he had planned. It was starting. I just knew it.

  ‘Now, now, sir. I’m just getting warmed up,’ Ricky replied. ‘Look at all the interested faces around the room. They’re all hungry for trade secrets.’

  ‘No,’ my father said. ‘I think you are done here. In fact, you could save us all a lot of time by handing over your little book right now.’

  ‘And why would I do that?’

  My father fixed his gaze onto Ricky. I knew that expression. Even though I truly believed the two of them were in on this together, I felt fear prickle over my skin for Ricky. ‘Weren’t you listening? To save time. Or perhaps I should have said to save me the time from asking someone to take it from you.’

  I darted forward through the dinosaur’s legs, jumping the velvet rope of the exhibit, to catch Ricky’s expression. He looked confused.

  ‘No?’ My father took his phone out of his breast pocket and poked it a few times. ‘As you wish.’

  I swear not a single person dared to breathe. Nothing happened for a good minute or so. Then I heard it. Helicopter blades.

  Yeah, go figure. My father had his own helicopter—a fleet of them, in fact—but I really didn’t see how that was going to help this situation. And since when did my father stage crimes only to stop them? Okay, actually, he had done exactly that with a circus troupe not so long ago, but that was neither here nor there. The helicopter sounded very close. I hopped over another velvet rope to join the crowd and peer up at the glass-domed ceiling of the museum that capped off the fifth floor.

  There definitely appeared to be a helicopter flying around up there, but it—

  THUMP!

  I jolted. A few people screamed. Something or someone had just hit the dome. People scattered back away from the centre of the room.

  We all waited again. I didn’t hear it at first, but then somebody asked, ‘Is that a saw?’ Then I caught the buzz of a small motor.

  I squinted up to the ceiling. It looked like … like maybe someone was cutting into the glass … wait, no, it was already cut and being lifted up and out. Then someone’s legs dropped through the hole.

  ‘It’s Dark Ryder!’ a woman shouted.

  A few happy cheers rose up in reply, but I didn’t join them. That wasn’t Ryder. Not unless Ryder now wore white. I felt someone come to my side.

  ‘Bremy,’ Pierce said. ‘Are you okay? Your father …’

  I nodded. I wasn’t exactly sure if I was okay or not. Being around my father usually meant a guaranteed not, but there was too much going on to think about it.

  ‘Any idea what’s happening?’

  ‘None.’

  All of us stared rapt at the figure coming from the sky. They were all probably thinking the same thing I was. How was this person going to get down?

  Suddenly the body dropped. Screams ricocheted skywards as the white-clad figure fell from the ceiling. Pierce and I clutched hands. Oh God, I didn’t want to see this! I squeezed my eyes shut. Then I heard a loud Snap!

  My eyes flew open.

  The falling person had suddenly grown wings! Or a cape! A cape that turned into wings! The figure circled the museum in a slow glide.

  A mantra had started up deep in my mind.

  It definitely wasn’t Ryder.

  Actually not a mantra … a name …

  The person swirled lower.

  The first name I had ever learned …

  Lower still, right above our heads.

  Most of the partygoers ducked, but I looked up. ‘It’s …’ I said, turning to Pierce, ‘it’s my—’

  ‘Jenny.’

  Chapter 31

  My eyes flashed to Pierce. There must have been something in my expression because he quickly said, ‘I wanted to tell you, Bremy. I just … couldn’t. I—’

  ‘Couldn’t what, Pierce? How did you know that was Jenny?’ I asked, stepping back from him. The way he had said her name. It was almost like he expected her to be here. ‘It’s not like that. It’s—’

  Suddenly my father’s voice interrupted us. ‘I believe you all know my daughter,’ he said as my twin landed gracefully at his side, ‘Jennifer.’

  Oh, my brain felt hot. So many thoughts. Jenny. Jenny who had lived most of her life in a wheelchair up until a few months ago had just parasailed down from the ceiling of a museum. In a cape.

  ‘Hey Jenny,’ Big Shot said, giving her a one-handed gun, ‘been a long time. How’s your sis?’

  I whipped my head around to catch my sister’s reaction. Except I couldn’t. A hard glossy white mask covered half her face.

  ‘Better than you’ll be if you don’t hand over that little book,’ she said with a pretty stunning level of authority.

  ‘Sorry, babe. It costs money to keep this party going.’ He gestured to his entourage. ‘And I’ve got a product the people want.’

  Emotion welled up in my chest. It wasn’t like the dread I had felt earlier. No, this was hot. I felt people gather close around me. I figured it was Bart and Queenie, and I knew Kevin was with them because a shadow fell over our group.

  ‘Bremy?’ Bart whispered. ‘Are—’

  I grabbed at his face without looking. I wish I hadn’t. I had forgotten about all that greasepaint, but at least he couldn’t ask me if I was alright, because I … was … fine.

  ‘This is your last warning,’ my sister said, ‘hand over the book and leave peacefully, or I promise you, you will be sorry.’

  Now she was talking like the movies. Talking like the movies was my thing. ‘Again, my apo
logies, but the party machine gots to be fed.’ He shrugged. ‘But if you have your daddy’s credit card number, maybe we can talk.’

  ‘I warned you.’

  My sister suddenly took two running leaps forward then soared into the air, fist outstretched straight for Ricky’s chest.

  I screamed and scurried forward. What was she doing? And how could she leap like that? She covered the twelve-foot distance in a single bound. When she hit Ricky, they both flew another good ten feet backwards before they smashed into the champagne table that exploded into a cloud of broken glass.

  I looked at Pierce, and then Bart, then swung around to Queenie and Kevin. Yup, they had seen it too. I knew because we all had fish mouth. Suddenly a storm of Ricky’s men scattered the crowd, heading for the busted champagne table. They were going for Jenny!

  Despite everything that had happened, she was still my twin, and there was no way I was going to stand there while a scrum of men landed on her.

  I let out a battle cry and took off after them, fist in the air.

  I couldn’t see Jenny or Ricky anymore, just the backs of the men surrounding them, so I did the only thing I could. I jumped into the air and landed on one of the suited backs.

  The man roared as I wrapped my arms and legs around him.

  ‘Get off my sister!’ I yelled into his ear.

  ‘You get off of me!’ the man yelled back.

  This talk was obviously getting us nowhere. I needed to take him down.

  I rocked his head back and forth between my arms, attempting to throw him to the floor, but he wasn’t moving. Actually, that’s a lie. He was starting to spin in circles, trying to throw me off with centrifugal force.

  My stomach lurched up to my throat as I had flashbacks to the wrestling ring. The man also groaned from underneath my arms.

  ‘Hey!’ I shouted. ‘Can we agree on no spinning?’

  The man stopped and nodded … and then he bit my arm!

  ‘Son of a b—’ I was interrupted by the floor knocking all the air out of my lungs. I forced myself up to a crab position. People were running and screaming now, making for the doors, and I guess all the chaos sent something careening towards my hand. I grabbed it. I needed a weapon against the big dude looming over me with his fist clenched. What did he have to be so mad about? He bit me! ‘Back off!’ I said, jumping to my feet and whipping the object in front of me. ‘Or you’ll be sorry!’

  We both looked down at what I was holding. It looked kind of like a flare gun slash firework launcher with one still in the hole.

  I repointed it at him with a quick thrust. ‘I said back off!’ He put his hands up.

  I hopped up on my tiptoes to look for Jenny. Again my jaw dropped. She was throwing men around. Literally throwing them! Okay, so she obviously didn’t need my help, but that didn’t solve the problem of what I was going to do with the dude I was holding up with a firework.

  I licked my lips. Might as well just go with it. ‘Now here’s what’s going to happ—’

  Suddenly he dropped to the ground and gripped the edges of a strip of red carpet I hadn’t realised I was standing on. He jerked it into the air taking my feet with it.

  At some level, I heard my sister’s voice shout, ‘Bremy, don’t—’

  But it was too late. ‘—Shoot!’

  A rocket shot from my hand straight into the air with a high-pitched whine. As I followed its trail, I thought, What’s the big deal? The entourage had already fired rockets, but then, just as the rocket lodged itself into the skull of an enormously tall dinosaur skeleton, it occurred to me that they had probably aimed. Uh-oh.

  The skull exploded in a dazzling starburst of green and pink. So pretty. So terribly, terribly bad for those of us below. I shouted the only word that seemed appropriate.

  ‘Timber!’

  Chapter 32

  ‘Run!’

  I jumped to my feet and ran with the herd of people towards the back end of the museum, away from the groaning monstrosity falling from the sky.

  Giant bones exploded against the marble floor with a deafening clatter, sending clouds of ancient bone dust into the air.

  Oh, this was bad. My bad. I clutched my hair with one hand and cast a furtive glance at the man standing beside me. Maybe nobody had realised this was my fault. It was Cravat Man who stood beside me, his eyes protruding a tad, his nostrils flaring. ‘I donated the money to buy that brontosaurus, young lady!’

  I swallowed hard. ‘I … I really like your cravat?’

  He ripped the silky cloth from his throat, threw it on the floor, and stomped away from me.

  I looked back to the ongoing chaos. Most of the screaming had subsided, but people were scurrying about in a thousand different directions. The brontosaurus skeleton had landed in front of the doors at the front of the building, making them pretty much unusable. But on the bright side, at least the auction was over, nobody had gotten hurt aside from Bronty, and we’d all get out of here sooner or later. Yup, everything would be f—

  ‘FIRE!’

  My eyes snapped up. A mural that ran down from the ceiling to floor against a length of wall blazed with flames. My rocket must have done it.

  Sprinklers had already gone off on the surrounding floors, but not in the main lobby. It was the dome. They couldn’t attach sprinklers to the dome! The flames were bad, but it was the smoke that was the real danger. Soon we wouldn’t be able to breathe, and people were fighting one another to get over the dinosaur bones. There were too many people. Too much debris. For those of us at the back … we were trapped.

  ‘Look!’ a lady shouted. ‘What’s that man doing?’

  I followed her finger back up to the mural. Except now there was someone reaching for the burning mountain of cloth from the fourth floor ledge …

  And that someone was Pierce!

  What was he doing? That thing was huge! And he couldn’t stop flames with his bare hands! But … if he did get it down, the flames might be smothered.

  I watched Pierce stretch his arm across the wall towards the mural, Bart standing behind him, wringing his hands. It was a horrific situation, but, part of me realised, it wasn’t completely dire. There was no way he could reach it. We all just needed to find another way to get out. Surely, Pierce would realise this any second, and just turn around and—

  NO! I watched Pierce hop up onto the railing as Bart had done before—except there was no pterodactyl safety net from where he was standing.

  Oh God. This was all my fault! All of it! Pierce stretched again, reaching his left hand towards the tapestry as his right hand gripped the fold of the wall to keep himself from falling. I had to do something. My eyes jumped around the room and fell on an antique-looking divan. I ran for it. It was the best I could do. If he fell, maybe it could break his fall just enough to save his life. I weaved my way through the crowd of coughing, weeping people, knocking them aside when I had to. I skidded to a stop at one end of the divan, planted my hands on the edge, and pushed.

  The freaking thing didn’t budge.

  I pushed again, my boots skidding on the marble floor.

  ‘Come on!’ I shot a glance up. Oh God, he was leaning even farther. He almost had a grip on the burning mural, but he’d fall for sure if he reached that last inch.

  I pushed again with everything I had. The sofa screeched across the floor half a foot. ‘That’s it,’ I muttered through my teeth, ‘Come on, you jerk!’ The sofa again inched toward the wall that led up to Pierce. He had the edge of the mural now. He hadn’t fallen, but he was yanking so hard. I rammed the sofa again. It moved a few inches. ‘Move!’ I only needed to get it a few more feet. I could do this. I looked up and—

  ‘Pierce! No!’

  I watched in horror as Pierce’s left hand yanked the fabric again. It gave, tumbling in a burning sheet towards the floor … taking Pierce’s balance with it.

  I was too late.

  I watched helplessly as the man of my dreams toppled into nothingness.

/>   Chapter 33

  ‘Pierce!’

  Time slowed. Falling, burning fabric forced me to back up, but I still reached my arms in the air. This couldn’t be happening. Please. Please, I begged all the powers of the universe, Save him.

  He twisted in the air, his frightened eyes latching on to mine. He reached a hand towards me … but I knew we would never touch. All I could do was not look away, and—

  Suddenly a white blur shot through the smoke—a human bullet. Pierce was mere feet from the ground when the form collided with him, scooping him up towards the sky.

  Jenny? I closed my eyes. Thank God.

  Wait … my sister could freaking fly … while carrying men in her arms?

  I watched as she gently set Pierce down back on the fourth floor beside Bart. She then jumped back into the cloud of smoke above the still-burning mural. I couldn’t see anything for a moment through the smoke, but then it began to clear. Mainly because she had dragged the massive tumble of fabric under the sprinkler. Before I could scramble together another thought, Jenny shouted in a voice louder than, I don’t know, God’s, ‘MOVE FROM THE DOOR!’ People scattered to the sides as Jenny started to run towards the largest pile of bones blocking the entrance. As she covered the ground, she picked up the speed to a pace no mere unaltered human could achieve, and smashed into the bones, shattering a hole into the pile, blazing a path directly to the door. People raced out behind her.

  A moment later, I saw her suited form hovering above the crowd, one foot pointed toward the floor, the other resting on her calf muscles. She had both fists planted on her hips, while her hair and cape rippled out behind her.

  A lump formed in my throat.

  She was so very beautiful.

  So very like … Ryder.

  Then the smoke beneath Jenny’s feet rippled, and she shot into the air, right through the hole in the cracked dome.

  Gone.

  The crowds of people rushed for the doors, and before I even realised what I was doing or where I was headed, I dragged my eyes from the scene and started walking after them. A few steps later, I bumped somebody’s shoulder. ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled.