Secret Origins

by James Riley

  “This is pretty much exactly a mystery, and it shouldn’t be,” Owen pointed out as they passed by house after house. “It should be you admitting that you miss Kiel, and you miss jumping into books, so you’re looking for a way to make things right again.”

  Bethany stopped abruptly, accidentally yanking Kelly to a halt too. After a quizzical look, the dog started sniffing around in the nearest grass.

  “Can Kelly really kill someone?” Owen asked, staring at the dog cautiously.

  “A person, a charging rhinoceros, and in the series, even a T. rex at one point,” Bethany said. “And this isn’t about Kiel or not jumping into books, okay? This is about a bad guy knowing who I am, and coming after me and my mom. And I’m not going to let that happen. C’mon.” Before Kelly could do whatever business she had to do, Bethany clicked her tongue at her and they continued their walk.

  “I’m just saying, we could have called the police, maybe. Using a genetically engineered killer dog to track him down isn’t exactly the most logical approach.”

  “Kelly’s not just an assassin, Owen,” Bethany told him, her eyes back on the dog. “She’s too sweet to enjoy the killing, anyway. What she likes doing is tracking, and more importantly, she’s so advanced, she can pick up radio signals. Signals like the ones from the tracking bug I put on his car.” She sighed. “I’m being subtle, okay?”

  “Oh yeah, tracking bugs on cars are totally subtle.”

  Bethany turned to say something, but stopped as she felt the leash go taut. Kelly was pulling hard toward the house at the end of the street, a tall, thin house squished between two normal-sized buildings.

  Parked right in front of the tall, thin house was the man’s car.

  “Get down!” Bethany hissed, and yanked Owen to the ground behind some bushes hard enough to almost knock the wind out of him.

  “Oh yeah,” Owen wheezed. “No one’s gonna notice us here.”

  “I only care if he saw us,” Bethany said, slowly pulling Kelly behind the bushes with them. The killer dog gave her a happy look, settled into her lap, sighed dreamily, and drifted off to sleep.

  “That was quick,” Owen said.

  “She’s trained to go right to sleep whenever she has the chance,” Bethany said, her eyes on the house through the bushes. “Conserves her energy for when she needs to fight dinosaurs and such.”

  Owen absently reached out to pet Kelly’s fur while glancing at the car. “So what now? We wait until he comes out and then see what this guy looks like?”

  Bethany ignored him, her eyes on the house.

  “That’s all we’re going to do, right, Bethany?” Owen said. “Right?”

  “Quit joking, Owen,” she said. “That would accomplish nothing.”

  Owen sat back, his head falling into his hands. “We’re going to break into his house, aren’t we?”

  “Of course. It’s really our only option here.”

  “Our only option—”

  But Bethany shushed him by slamming a finger against his mouth. “Quiet! He’s coming out.”

  Owen pushed her finger away and leaned forward, parting the bush’s branches for a better look. He could just make out a normal-looking man in a brown hat and overcoat getting into his car.

  “Oh yeah,” he whispered sarcastically. “I’m totally getting a serial killer vibe.”

  “You’re going to feel terrible when that turns out to be true,” Bethany said, glaring at him. “Get ready.”

  “You know, I’ve been arrested before,” Owen told her. “In the fictional world. It’s not even remotely fun. Do you know how much less fun it’d be here, where we have to live? We’d be thrown in jail. Worse, they’d call our moms.”

  “You were fine,” Bethany said, her eyes locked on the car. “It’s not like you were arrested for that long.”

  “That’s because Moira, a supergenius criminal, broke us out.”

  “We don’t need her,” Bethany said, waving a hand. Owen heard the car start and slowly pull away. “Besides, she’s got a new series now. Her father sent her to Doyle’s boarding school.”

  Owen’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?”

  “He’s coming this way!” she hissed. “Be ready to move!”

  Bethany grabbed Owen’s shirt and dragged him around the bush, keeping the plant between them and the car as it passed them on the street. Bethany kept peeking through the branches, but whispered something inappropriate under her breath. “Couldn’t see his face. Who wears a hat anymore? So suspicious.”

  “Yeah, unlike tracking some stranger to his house and then breaking in. The hat’s suspicious.”

  Bethany responded by picking Kelly up and pushing her back into a page from a book. “C’mon, and don’t make a noise.”

  “Bye, Kelly,” Owen said, waving at the book page as he quickly followed Bethany, though at least he didn’t crouch along suspiciously like his clearly insane friend.

  The mystery man’s house looked like it’d been built on a much-too-small piece of land, given how narrow it was. If there hadn’t been a house in the spot, Owen wouldn’t have thought you could fit one. The three houses were so close that you couldn’t even see between them, which meant that getting around to sneak in the back was probably out.

  In fact, other than the front door and maybe the lowest window, there didn’t seem to be another way in.

  “Oh yeah, perfect,” Owen said as Bethany glanced around. “We’re definitely not going to get caught.”

  “Shh,” Bethany shushed, and strode confidently toward the front door. She held something up to the doorknob, and the lock clicked. “I thought ahead,” she said, showing him some sort of metal lock-picking gadget in her hand. With that, she turned the knob, pushed the door open, and went inside.

  Great. So not only had she broken her rule about going into books by borrowing a dog assassin, but she’d also grabbed a lock-picking device. Ugh. Why had things felt safer when Bethany was still looking for her father? Then, she’d had all kinds of rules to follow. But now, even without Kiel, she was getting completely reckless. He shook his head, then quickly hurried in after her.

  Just inside, Owen slammed to a halt to avoid running into Bethany. She had frozen in place not more than a few feet inside the door. Owen started to say something, then noticed what she was looking at.

  On the wall in front of them was a photo of two men and a woman, all three adults smiling at the camera as they stood behind a group of kids surrounding a birthday cake.

  And behind them all, a banner read HAPPY FOURTH BIRTHDAY, BETHANY!

  CHAPTER 4

  Those are my parents,” Bethany said quietly, staring at the picture. “I’ve never seen this photo before, but that’s . . . that’s them.” She pointed at two of the adults.

  “But how did this guy get the picture?” Owen asked. “Unless . . . is that him, there in the picture too?” He pointed at the second man in the photo. “That could be the guy we saw, right?”

  Bethany took a step closer, raising her hand to gently touch her father’s face in the picture. “This was when it happened,” she said, more to herself than Owen. “This was the night I lost my dad.”

  There was silence for a moment, and when Owen spoke, he startled Bethany, like she’d almost forgotten he was there. “Okay, well, I officially have to say I was wrong about this guy,” Owen told her, pulling her away. “He’s definitely been watching your house. But it looks like he’s a friend of your mom’s, so he probably has a good reason. We should just go and ask her. We can lock the door behind us, and no one will ever know—”

  “Are you joking?” Bethany said, giving him a shocked look. “We’re not going anywhere. Not until we find out who this guy is.” She yanked her arm out of Owen’s hand, and turned to face the rest of the room, while Owen sighed, then quietly closed the front door behind them.

  The narrow living room was cramped but cozy, with a large pillow-covered sofa taking up much of the space. Art covered the walls, most of it fra
med pencil-and-ink drawings, some of the drawings in little squares, while others took up the entire frame.

  “Are those comic book pages?” Owen asked, walking over to the nearest one. “Looks like the covers, too.” He pointed at a pencil drawing of the cover to something called Doc Twilight #1. Doc Twilight seemed to be a superhero in a red-and-purple costume with a cape that wrapped around him, and a mask that covered his entire face. On his chest was a yellow moon and three stars, which was supposed to represent twilight, apparently. “I’ve never heard of this. It looks pretty ancient, like from before we were born.”

  Bethany walked over to stand next to him and read from the cover. “ ‘Doc Twilight. He’s giving crime its proper medicine.’ ” She made a face. “Wow.”

  Next to the first issue cover were black-and-white drawings of a second, third, and fourth cover, where Doc Twilight went on to fight the Clown, a Joker-looking rip-off, and a few other villains. As they moved, Bethany pointed at the signature on the bottom of the nearest covers: Murray Chase. “That’s the artist, I guess,” she said. “Maybe that’s the guy’s name who lives here?”

  “Either that, or he’s a massive Doc Twilight fan,” Owen said. “Who else would own all of this art of a superhero no one’s heard of anymore?” He anxiously looked around, jumping at every little creak of the house. “Bethany, we should really get out of here. If he does draw comics, he’s by definition awesome. Let’s just go ask your mom.”

  Bethany shook her head and pushed past him. “He knew my father. I’m not done.”

  Owen sighed. “Of course not.”

  Bethany continued through the living room to a staircase leading both up and down, with Owen right behind her. Up seemed to lead to a kitchen, from what she could see. But down led to a closed door, and that seemed the more likely place to find . . . what? What was she looking for now? If this Murray Chase person, if that was even his name, had known her father, then was that why he was watching the house? Her mother must have seen him out there, so had to know. But why? And why had her mother not said anything to Bethany?

  Whatever the answers were, Bethany wasn’t leaving until she found out. And since basements seemed like a better spot for hiding secrets than kitchens, down she went. Owen mumbled something, but she could hear by his footsteps that he was following behind her.

  The door to the basement was locked, but Bethany quickly hit it with her lock-picking device, while Owen made pained noises behind her. She opened the door, cringing at its creaking, and found herself in front of a pitch-dark room.

  “You ever read those Five Kingdoms books?” Owen whispered. “Those kids went into a basement on Halloween, then got kidnapped and taken to another world. That’s, like, best case scenario here, Bethany.”

  “You want to wait outside?” she asked, turning back to look at him as she felt around the wall for a light switch.

  “Don’t turn your back on a dark room!” he hissed, twisting her around. “You’re just asking to be killed!”

  She rolled her eyes, finally locating the switch, and flipped it. Spotlights clicked on around the room, and behind her, Owen gasped loudly. “You’ve got to be joking me,” he said.

  Five glass cases, each five or six feet tall, stood around what looked like a manhole cover. Most of the glass cases held superhero costumes of such high quality that they looked like they’d been made by a movie studio.

  “That’s Doc Twilight,” Owen said, pointing past her at the first glass case, which held a costume that looked exactly like the comic cover upstairs. “Look at that thing! It’s even got little setting-sun throwing stars, like those bat-shaped ones that Batman uses!”

  Next to Doc Twilight’s costume were two smaller cases with mannequins, both wearing costumes. The first had a label: KID TWILIGHT, and the outfit looked like Doc’s, just smaller. The outfit in the second case was similar, but instead of a body suit, it was more of a dress. Both mannequins wore masks.

  “Who fights in a dress?” Bethany said, looking at the girl’s costume with disgust. “That makes no sense.”

  “All kinds of people,” Owen said. “Supergirl, and, um . . .”

  “Exactly,” Bethany said.

  “Looks like it’s a theme,” Owen said, pointing at the next case, which held another adult costume. This one had a skirt as well, and was also colored in bright blue and white. The label said NIGHT STAR.

  The last case was set off a bit from the others, and just looking at it made her shiver. The label read THE CLOWN, and the case held what looked like an elaborate clown costume, complete with joy buzzer, water gun, and a sword made out of long, thin balloons.

  “This guy’s really into this comic,” Owen said, stepping past her to get a closer look. He pointed down at the manhole in the middle of the room. “What do you think he’s got in there? The real Clown, like in that Stephen King book?”

  Bethany turned to look at the manhole cover, and realized that thin chains of silver interlocked over it, locking the manhole down like some kind of prison. The chains all came together in one corner under a number pad. Would her lock picking trick work on that? She kneeled down next to it and brought it close to try—

  “What are you doing?” Owen hissed, grabbing her hand and yanking it away. “You’re going to let it out?”

  “We have to open it,” Bethany said, her heart racing. Whoever this man was, this was what he was hiding. And there was no way she was leaving without knowing.

  “That’s it, Bethany,” Owen told her, shaking his head. “You’re going too far. This guy’s got some creepy secrets, yes, but how do you not know to never open a locked manhole in a basement? Especially the basement of someone who owns a clown costume like that? This is like Horror Book 101!” He crossed his arms. “I’m sorry, but if you do this, I’m leaving.”

  “I’m doing it,” Bethany said, pulling her hand out of his grasp and bending back down to the manhole.

  Owen blinked, then shook his head. “Fine! I’m leaving!” He began backing away.

  “Go then,” she said, running the lock pick over the number pad. The pad began to cycle through numbers too fast for her to see, and then the first number popped up, a one.

  “I’m gone!” Owen said from the basement door, not moving. “I’m not kidding!”

  “I know you’re not.”

  The second number appeared, a nine.

  “Bethany—” Owen started to say, then stopped as they both heard a lock click, this time not from the manhole.

  The front door opened, and they could hear footsteps on the floor above them.

  Owen quickly slid back inside the basement door and quietly closed it, turning the lock. “This is what happens when you break and enter!” he hissed quietly to her. “The person always comes home. It’s like a cliché, it happens so often!”

  A three, and then a nine, and the lock clicked open.

  Bethany glanced up at Owen with a wide smile, then tore the chains away. “I know where we can hide,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER 5

  Footsteps thumped on the stairs from above, then stopped at the door. The lock turned, and the basement door slowly opened.

  A man wearing a long coat stepped into the basement, moving toward the glass cases, only to stop right over the manhole cover.

  “No,” he whispered. “It can’t be.”

  He abruptly opened the glass case containing the Doc Twilight costume, then took the costume off the mannequin, gathering all the extra weapons and supplies. Finally, he turned around and ran back upstairs.

  A minute passed before Owen let himself breathe again from his hiding spot behind the Kid Twilight costume case. “I can’t believe he didn’t see us!” he whispered to Bethany, who was hiding behind the Night Star case.

  “I can’t believe we didn’t just jump into the manhole,” she hissed back at Owen. “He almost caught you!”

  “He never would have seen me,” Owen told her.

  “Your hair is peeking out over the m
annequin’s head,” Bethany said, pointing at the glass case Owen was hiding behind. “At least you didn’t hide behind the Doc Twilight costume. He definitely would have caught you then.”

  Owen blinked, not wanting to think about that. “Still. Thank you for not being completely insane and jumping in there.”

  Bethany sighed. “You weren’t entirely altogether one hundred percent completely wrong, Owen. I know I’m getting a little . . . stir-crazy, not visiting books for the last few months. And the last thing I want to do is just leap without looking. But that doesn’t mean we’re safe now. We still have to get out without him seeing us.”

  “He probably just wanted the costume, and now he’ll leave,” Owen told her, nodding at the door.

  The footsteps thumped down the basement stairs again.

  “Why did you have to say that?” Bethany asked him.

  “I don’t know,” Owen whispered, frantically jumping behind the same glass case again. He pushed his hair down as much as he could, but it refused to hide. “I will shave all of you off if you don’t stay down!” he told his hair, but that didn’t seem to help.

  Bethany glared at him from behind the Night Star costume case. “See?” she hissed. “We should have gone down the stupid manhole. We probably could have hidden somewhere in there, then come out when he’s gone.”

  Owen looked down and realized they hadn’t reset the chains. Oh great. A second chance to fix their mistake, and instead, they’d spent the time arguing. But still, why would he come right back down now?

  The door opened again, and this time Doc Twilight strode confidently into the room in full costume, his cape waving just above the floor as he walked. Owen would have laughed, if the situation hadn’t been so terrifying. He was really wearing the costume? The man dressed as a superhero strode to the middle of the room, then stopped, kneeling down, which took him out of Owen’s sight.

  Please don’t notice the chains. Please don’t notice the chains. Please don’t notice the chains.