by Kai Strand
“Okay, okay, you’re right, son,” Frank said. “I’ll make the calls myself, and I’ll do it right away.”
Jeff nodded and stood to leave.
“But, son, I don’t know that I’ll get anywhere. We really don’t have any leads,” Frank cautioned.
Jeff balled his fists and closed his eyes. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Promise me that you’ll do everything you can.”
“Sure. I’ll do whatever I can. That’s a promise,” Frank said.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Son,” Frank said when Jeff was at the door.
“Yeah?”
“The manners at home, well, your mother likes that. But I’d rather you skip them here.” Frank eyed Jeff.
“I’ll do what I can, Dad,” Jeff said. He was pretty sure he couldn’t stop himself from apologizing and thanking people; it was suddenly as natural as breathing.
“That’s all I can ask.” Frank picked up his phone to make a phone call.
Chapter 11
That evening, Jeff had just finished explaining Oceanus’ abduction to Sandra and Sarah when Frank walked into the kitchen.
Sarah’s face was flushed red with anger and blotched a sickly grayish-yellow with worry. “Frank, did you find any leads? Do you have any ideas where Mystic might have taken Oceanus?”
Frank shook his head. “Just a lot of dead ends.” He picked up a chicken taquito from the baking sheet, popped open the tub of sour cream, and dunked the taquito in.
“Dad, that’s so gross,” Sandra said, her lip curled.
Sarah sighed, got a plate from the cupboard, and snatched the taquito from Frank’s hand. She tossed it, along with five more, onto the plate and dropped a dollop of sour cream next to them. “You checked with Mysty’s mom, I assume?”
Frank nodded and took the partially eaten taquito off the plate, dipping it into the pile of sour cream while Sarah plopped a spoonful of refried beans onto the plate as well. With the last bite of the taquito, Frank scooped up some beans, dipped into the sour cream, and then popped it all into his mouth. He spoke with his mouth full. “Annie says hi. She’d love for us to get together over the summer. Maybe we could take a lake trip. She wants to meet the kids, now that she can.”
Jeff squinted at his parents. Had he just missed something? “Who’s Annie?”
“Mystic’s mother,” Sarah said.
“Wait, you know her mother?” Jeff looked between Mother and Dad.
“Annie?” Sandra said. “You mean, she’s a hero?”
Jeff hadn’t even picked up on that, but his sister had to be right. If she was a villain, she’d have a nickname.
“Nope,” Frank said. He took another smothered bite of dinner. “Have you guys already eaten? Is that why I’m eating alone?”
“Yes; I thought you were going to be late again tonight,” Sarah said.
“Hey! Let’s get back to you being all cozy with Mystic’s non-hero mom, please,” Jeff yelled.
“Jeffrey!” Sarah scolded. “Keep your voice down.”
Jeff felt the characteristic tingle of fire in his fingertips and looked down at them in surprise. Certainly he wasn’t going to lose his temper with his own mother, was he? He went over to the sink and pushed the spigot on with his arm. He shifted the handle so that water was as cold as it could get and put his hands under the stream. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, enjoying the cool sensation coursing over his hands. When he felt calm again, he turned the water off and dried his hands with the hand towel hanging over the handle of the oven door. His temper flair had gone unnoticed by his parents, but Sandra had an eyebrow raised at him in silent questioning. He shrugged and shook his head as if it had been nothing more than washing off residual taquito grease. Sandra frowned, but let the moment pass unchallenged.
Jeff realized his parents had continued the conversation and that he’d missed it.
“…a shame, really. I would have done it differently. But, who am I to judge?” Sarah said.
“What are you judging now?” Jeff asked stepping back into the conversation circle.
Sarah sighed. “Oh, I’m sure I’m wrong, but I can’t help but think the reason Mystic is so rebellious is because Annie’s never admitted who her father is. Though, I think it’s obvious who it must be.”
“You got that right,” Frank said.
“Who?” Jeff and Sandra asked at the same time.
“Mystic is the spitting image of…” Sarah’s gaze swept over each of her family members. She bit her lip and rubbed the back of her neck.
“Who?” Jeff cried.
“Vietato,” Sarah whispered.
Sandra and Jeff blinked at her.
Sarah’s eyebrows rose up under her bangs. “You’ve never heard of Vietato?”
Jeff looked at Sandra. She shook her head at him, and he turned to Mother and shrugged.
“What do they teach you in those academies?” Sarah asked, leveling a meaningful look at her husband, who simply shrugged. “Vietato is only the most dangerous psych around, and what he can do to a poor, hopeless human… well, Annie’s proof. Or, rather, Mystic is.”
Sandra curled her lip. “Come on, Mom. You don’t have to be a super bad villain to get a girl pregnant. It happens all the time.”
Sarah pursed her lips and shifted them from side to side. She did that when she was thinking hard about something. “Well, you’re correct about that, Sandra, but I wasn’t referring just to the pregnancy. Annie was… um… well it took her a long, long time to crawl out of the dark hole she’d fallen into when Vietato left her. Or, I’m guessing it was him, based on his reputation and her state of mind.”
Jeff didn’t want to talk about this soap opera anymore when his girlfriend was missing. “Regardless, do we have any ideas besides Annie in order to find Mystic? Why do the bad guys disappear so well after they kidnap someone?”
“If you’re referring to Source’s abduction, that was us, not the bad guys,” Sandra said.
“Oh, yeah,” Jeff said. He’d spent so many months thinking his friend, Source, had been taken by villains that he still forgot his sister had staged the abduction, with a lot of help from Mother.
Jeff looked at his dad, who was fully concentrated on happily dispatching his meal. “You know what? Forget it! Looks like I’m on my own. Again!”
With that, he stormed out of the room.
Chapter 12
Jeff paced. He hoped that he’d be spotted walking past the house and wouldn’t be forced to walk up to it, but he’d ‘walked past’ several times and figured that if any neighbors were watching, they’d probably want to call the police by now.
He stopped at the end of the walkway leading up to the porch and examined the house. The angle of the sun didn’t allow him a glimpse through the windows, even though the curtains were wide open. He saw no light and no movement within. Maybe nobody was there.
With a deep sigh, Jeff surged forward and strode up the walk. As soon as he hefted up onto the first porch step, his nerves lit up. His stomach churned and twisted in an ominous way. Jeff peered through the window next to the front door, but only the reflection of the porch glared back at him from the glass. He stepped up onto the second step, and his stomach pitched and danced some more. He paused and considered what he might be walking into. If this were a Mystic hold, he could be greatly outnumbered.
He remembered Oceanus being dragged across the lawn by the dogs, and he found the strength to step up onto the porch and stride to the door. Before he could consider his way out of it, he raised his hand and knocked.
Jeff thought he heard shuffling inside of the house, but nothing happened. He waited. All was quiet. More shuffling, and then finally the door opened a crack.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the tall, clumsy guy.”
“Savannah, let me in,” Jeff said.
She opened the door a little more, but blocked the entry. She wore silky pajamas, the thin straps of the low cut top threatening to slip over her shoulder
s. The silken pants floated over her curves. Jeff hadn’t thought about how early it was when he’d decided to come over.
“How bold he is to expect a poor innocent human, like me, to just give in to him.” She smiled up at him with no hint of innocence in her expression whatsoever.
“Savannah, I know she’s here. At least Mystic is, if not Oceanus. Let me in.” Jeff pushed through the door.
Savannah leapt in front of him, her palms pressed against his chest. “Wait.”
Jeff heard a new pitch to her voice that made him pause. Was it fear?
Savannah masked it well, though. “You can’t just come in here and spout about people I don’t know and expect me to just step aside for you. I don’t care who you are.”
“Look, Savannah, Big Bad Voodoo Mysty took my girlfriend yesterday and I aim to get her back. Being that you are only human, I’d think you’d be more willing to cooperate.”
“I told you, I don’t know who or what you’re talking about,” Savannah said.
“Vannah,” a voice Jeff almost recognized drawled from what was probably the living room. Savannah flinched as if she’d been jolted by a shock of lightning. “Let him in.”
Savannah closed her eyes and muttered as if issuing a silent prayer. Then she spun on her heel and led Jeff to the living room. He followed cautiously. When he turned into the living room entry, he found himself toe to toe with the last person he expected to see.
“Seems we finally have something in common,” purred the unexpected villain.
“Set?” Jeff blinked. “You stole Oci?”
“No, you idiot. You lost her.” Set’s deep voice rumbled like thunder. He scanned Jeff from head to toe. His upper lip raised in disgust. “Not that I wouldn’t have stolen her fair and square, given enough time.”
Jeff rubbed his face while Set crossed the room and settled into an armchair with all the arrogance his over-inflated ego could support. “What? You didn’t take her?”
“No. Why do you think I did?” Even sitting, Set managed to look down his nose at Jeff.
Jeff studied Set. It had only been a few months since he had last seen him. Set attended Super Villain Academy and had once organized his little posse of followers to beat Jeff up pretty thoroughly. Set had stellar villain skills; he was able to create and control weather inside or out, was getting ready to graduate and go out into the world, and was Oceanus’ ex-boyfriend.
“Are you in-line with Mystic now?” Jeff asked.
With a dramatic sigh, Set crossed one leg over the other. He made a big production of being in control, even though thunder rumbled and a mysterious wind tossed Jeff’s long hair around. “Would you please explain what you are talking about before I’m forced to zap you with a lightning bolt?”
“You can’t throw your villain skills around for no good reason. We’re all supposed to be balanced now,” Jeff said.
“Who says I don’t have a good reason? You’re trespassing,” Set’s bored expression didn’t change.
“No I’m not!” Jeff squinted at Set. With an unexpected feeling of kinship for Set, he asked, “Didn’t the balancing work on you?”
“Of course it did. I’d have Savannah get help after I torched you,” Set said with his lip curled with antipathy again. “It was a balancing, Polar. I got an equal amount of good for my bad. I had a lot of bad! I’m just not very good at the good.”
“Okay, I don’t get it. Why are you here with Savannah? Obviously you’re using her to get to me, but why?” Jeff growled. All feelings of kinship evaporated, and he fought the urge to wipe Set’s look of revulsion off his face with a fist. He squinted at Savannah, who crouched in the corner of the room like a servant awaiting instruction. She stared at Set with a simpering, swooning expression on her face that made Jeff’s stomach lurch.
“That isn’t important.” Set waved his hand dismissively. “What is important is finding Oceanus.”
Jeff narrowed his eyes and glared at Set. “Why would you want to find her?”
Set rolled his eyes and shook his head. “We just went over this. Are you always so slow? I got an equal amount of good. Now it seems, I…” Set’s lips twisted and contorted as he tried to continue, “…care.”
The realization hit Jeff so hard he rocked backward. He and Set had a common goal, which meant he and Set were suddenly in league. What was that phrase? Frenemies? No. “No! No chance in hell am I gonna work with you!”
Jeff spun toward the front door, and a gust of wind blasted through the house, slamming all of the doors closed at once. Jeff jumped at the noise and immediately cursed himself for showing any weakness in front of Set.
“Before you stomp out of here, tell me something,” Set said.
Jeff stood with his back to Set, clenching his fists, refusing to turn and face him.
“What’s your plan? I’m sure with all of your contacts in the super world, you know where they’re holding her. How are you going to extract her? I hear you have a habit of collecting ‘friends,’ which I’m sure will come in handy when it comes time to form an extraction team.”
Jeff was glad he wasn’t facing Set, otherwise his flushed cheeks would give him away. How did Set know Jeff had no plan, or knowledge, or contacts? Yet they both knew that Set, having grown up knowing he was a villain, had access to all sorts of knowledge, contacts and intelligence. Didn’t matter.
“Oh, go play in a hurricane!” Jeff said, and stomped out the front door.
Chapter 13
“What’s the point of being super royalty if I can’t get action!” Jeff mumbled to himself. A fraction late, he registered that the traffic light was red and slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt halfway through the cross walk. If the pedestrian hadn’t leapt backward, she would have ended up underneath the car. Jeff and the pedestrian gaped at each other for a long, heart-pounding moment before she finally made an extra wide berth and walked in front of his car to the opposite curb.
Jeff’s heart rate slowed to a more normal pace and dropped out of his throat. He rubbed his face and raked a shaky hand through his hair. The car behind him honked, and Jeff saw a green light looming overhead. “Crap. Get a hold of yourself, Tohler.”
He accelerated through the intersection. “Focus.” The remainder of his drive was uneventful, but he was relieved nonetheless when he pulled into visitor parking at Mother’s work.
Since he hadn’t known she was a white hat until a few months ago, he’d never been to her work before. The building was just one of many in a business park. Jeff was surprised at how utterly nondescript the place was, but supposed they had to hide in plain sight so that no one figured out what they were and what they did.
He pulled open the glass door stenciled with HUMAN EQUALITY RETAINMENT ORGANIZATION. This was the nonprofit cover for the HERO network. His grandmother had founded the nonprofit to assure that heroes were able to afford to devote their lives to fighting injustice in the world. Mother was one such hero, but apparently she didn’t need the financial backing of HERO because his dad had made so much money in his villain days that they were an extremely wealthy family, not that they lived like it.
An elderly gentleman sat behind a desk. He had a newspaper folded on the desk in front of him and seemed to be working the daily crossword. Jeff stopped in front of the desk and stared down at the man engrossed in his puzzle. Jeff cleared his throat, but the man didn’t look up.
“Excuse me,” Jeff said. The man still didn’t look. Jeff leaned over trying to catch the man’s eye and said louder, “Excuse me.”
The man finally glanced up and then grinned at Jeff. “Oop! Didn’t know you were there.” The man fumbled a device into his ear. “My hearing aid has been whining all morning, so I took it out. Sorry ‘bout that, son.”
Jeff couldn’t help but grin back at the jovial old man. “No problem.”
“What can I help you with today?” the man asked.
“I’m here to see my mom,” Jeff said.
“You are, are y
ou?” The man looked slightly confused. “We don’t have many people in the office, and I thought I knew all their families. I’ve been volunteering here for twelve years, ever since my Edna died. Yep, after I lost my Edna, the house was too quiet. Those two days I was home were the longest days in my life. On the third day, I walked into the HERO office—that’s back when they were above the bakery over on 20th—and I’ve been coming twice a week ever since.”
Jeff smiled politely at the man, but didn’t know how to respond to the random info dump.
“Oop! Sorry. Got off task, didn’t I?” The man chuckled, and Jeff was worried his frail body would shake right out of the chair. “Who is your mother, then, son?”
“Sarah Tohler.”
The genial expression on the man’s face clouded with suspicion and anger. “Son, we wouldn’t have anyone by that name here. You must be in the wrong place.”
Jeff frowned, wondering about the man’s Jekyll and Hyde act. “Oh! I meant to say Sarah Mean. Sorry.” Jeff rolled his eyes and flashed an apologetic smile.
The man looked confused again, but then his eyebrows shot up toward his receded hairline and his mouth formed an “O” of surprise. “You’re the… oh my!”
The old man picked up the phone and punched in a three-digit number with his craggy old pointer finger. His hearing aid whined and he winced, holding the phone away from his ear. When it stopped, he put the receiver next to his ear again and said, “Ya still there?” He looked up at Jeff as he spoke into the phone. “The Balancer is here, and he wants to see his mother!” He nodded. “Yep, that’s what he says.”
The man nodded again in response to whatever the person on the phone said. Jeff was struck by the shrewd expression in eyes so washed out by age.
“Right,” the man spoke into the phone before hanging up. As soon as the receiver settled into its cradle a cacophony of sound erupted, making Jeff duck and look around. All at once, a metal gate rolled across the front door, barring entry or exit. A wall of thick iron bars rolled down, blocking access to the hallway that led deeper into the office building. The old man moved with such speed that Jeff barely registered the movement before his arms were yanked behind his back and bound together with what felt like really strong tape.