by Kai Strand
“I pretended to be a scout offering Mystic a high profile job,” Set said. “I called her mom and made some excuse about losing Mystic’s contact info. She gave me what she had. The email address was no longer valid. All social media accounts had been removed. I was pretty excited when the phone number was still valid, but it was answered by an ex-roommate who gave me another number. That was answered by someone else, who referred me to another number, etc, etc, until I finally got a disconnected number.”
“That blows,” Jeff said, burying his knuckles in his tired eye sockets. He sighed and leaned against the wall. “What’s next?”
“There were a couple places mentioned during my many conversations that I’m going to check out.”
Jeff yawned.
Set held his blink closed slightly longer than normal. His eyes fluttered open and his pleasant tone sounded forced. “You look exhausted. Go home. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
It had been a long, stressful day. Jeff nodded. “It’s late.” He didn’t mention that Mother was likely going to have a conniption fit if she caught him sneaking in through his window.
On the way home, thoughts jumbled together in Jeff’s head. Why hadn’t they gotten a ransom request from Mystic? Images from the melee downtown tangled through his thoughts. He relived his cowardly crouching in the parking structure, only to have the day Oceanus was stolen twine up into it. He suspected his snarled thoughts were his guilt over not having saved Oci combined with having to cower over grease stains.
Every time he thought about Oci’s situation, he felt there was a big huge clue he was missing; something obnoxiously obvious. However, that didn’t make sense. Trained supers were working to find her. How could they have missed something obvious? Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was jumping up and down, waving its hands, trying to get his attention.
“Hey, buddy!”
Jeff blinked. He sat at a red light. His eyes darted upward to confirm it was still red, before he looked around to see who was yelling. A guy with wrinkled and stained clothes stood on a sidewalk outside a 24-hour diner, waving at him.
“Yeah, you! Aren’t you the kid the police are looking for?”
Jeff forced his expression to remain neutral. “No.”
“You sure look like him.”
He shook his head and called out, “That dude’s bigger than me, with longer hair.”
The guy whipped around to stare through the plate glass window of the diner. Jeff glanced at the television sitting on a shelf high above the counter. There, for all to see, was a picture of him in what Source would call his Incredible Hulk pose; arms curled forward, muscles flexed, veins popping out of his neck, mouth open in a scream. It wasn’t the most flattering look in the world.
The light turned green, and Jeff stomped on the accelerator. At the same time, the guy whipped around and yelled, “It is you!”
Pedestrians turned as Jeff squealed past. In his rearview mirror, he saw the guy hobbling up the sidewalk, yelling and waving his arms widely. Jeff didn’t breathe again until he turned several corners and knew no one was following him.
He spun the dial of his radio until he found a news station. As he suspected, the top story was the riot, and, as he feared, the top related story was the search for him.
Police are looking for a young male, 16—20 years in age, approximately 6’2”, brown hair. Last seen wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans. A picture of the subject can be found on our website. If you have seen him, police ask that you call Ransom Police Dept’s investigative unit at 208-555-1212. Do not engage. He may be dangerous.
“6’2”? Give a guy the credit he deserves. 6’4”, morons,” Jeff barked at the radio. “At least they got the dangerous part right.”
He pulled to the curb in front of his house and cut the engine. He did his best Spiderman impression up the trellis and through his bedroom window. He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and had just unbuttoned his jeans when he heard footsteps in the hall approaching his door. He dove under the covers of his bed and pulled the comforter up under his chin.
There was a light knock on his door just before it cracked open.
“Jeff, honey?” Sarah whispered. “You awake?”
Jeff debated a fake stretch and yawn, but decided to continue to pretend to be asleep.
“Jeff?” she whispered again, slightly louder. After a few moments, she pulled the door closed.
Jeff let out a long sigh. If Mother had known he’d been gone, she wouldn’t have let him sleep. He’d dodged at least one bullet in a day full of them. Without getting out of bed, Jeff kicked off his jeans and curled up under the comforter again. Sleep soon followed.
Chapter 21
“Get up, bro,” Sandra leaned against the doorframe.
Jeff squinted in the morning light. “Go away!”
“Cops are here,” Sandra said as casually as if she were announcing that Mother made pancakes.
“What?” Jeff pushed to a sitting position and rubbed sleep grit from his eyes.
“Someone recognized you and told them where to find you,” Sandra shrugged. “Could have been anyone, really. Neighbors don’t like you. There are plenty of supers who hate the balancing. So many possibilities.”
“Thanks for your concern.” Jeff flung the covers back and swung out of bed.
“Yo! More than I want to see!”
“Feel free to leave.” Jeff ran his fingers through his dirty hair and sniffed his shoulder and cringed. “Tell them I have to freshen up.”
“Take your time. I think Dad’s chillin’ ’em.” She pulled his door closed.
“Sweet.” Jeff picked up a pair of jeans from the beanbag in the corner and pulled a fresh shirt from a drawer.
In the bathroom, he jumped into the shower and washed himself and his hair in record time. When he was dressed, his ran a hand through his towel dried hair and shook it until it fell the way he liked it, then jogged downstairs.
“I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Officers,” Jeff said as he entered the living room. He smelled the telltale ocean scent of his dad’s superpower in action and did his best to keep most of his body out of contact with it as he leaned in to shake hands with each policeman.
He sat on the loveseat next to his dad. “What’s this about?”
“Weren’t you aware that the police have been looking for you?” the troll like officer whose stomach rolled over his belt buckle asked.
“No, sir!” Jeff widened his eyes in mock horror. “Why?”
Both officers seemed to relax. The tall one with the broad chest spoke in a rumbling voice almost as deep as Jeff’s. “You were downtown during the riot yesterday, weren’t you?”
“Yes, sir.” As Jeff pumped his polite vibes full force toward the policemen, he watched their muscles visibly loosen. Smile lines appeared around their eyes. The short officer settled back into the couch and crossed a leg over his knee like they were watching a football game together. “That was one crazy scene.”
“Why were you down there in the first place?” Tall Cop asked. He grinned like he anticipated an exciting explanation and he slipped his notebook into his front pocket.
Jeff realized his dad had stopped chilling their guests. That was a huge compliment to Jeff’s skill that his dad trusted him on his own. “Actually, it was a complete fluke that I ended up down there at all. I was shopping for a birthday present for my mom when things escalated. I was a block or so away, and was going to leave, but then I heard a lady screaming. I ran over and saw a kid being trampled in the crowd, and the mother was just getting pushed around as she tried to get to her. I knew I stood a much better chance, being so tall and all, so I waded in to get the little girl out. Got kicked a couple times.” Jeff showed the officers a bruise on the inside of his bicep. “Thought I was gonna end up hamburger meat.”
“Some people reported a strange occurrence shortly before the crowd scattered. They thought you might have had something to do with it,” Tall
Cop said.
Jeff continued to pump ‘good boy’ vibes across the room, but the tall cop seemed a little more resistant than short cop, who was polishing his belt buckle with his shirt. “What? That weird magnetic-like thing that happened?”
“Yeah,” Tall Cop said.
“It was so weird. It was like suddenly I couldn’t move. Well, not my feet, at least. It was like they were stuck to the ground. Then I noticed that everyone seemed stuck, too. It really freaked me out. I think I yelled or something. Shortly after that, we all were able to break free.” Jeff ran his hand through his hair and knit his brow. “I just ran out of there. Whatever forces you guys used to disperse the crowd, it worked.”
“Yeah,” Short Cop leaned forward. “I bet it was S.W.A.T. They have all the fun toys.”
Tall Cop blinked at his partner and then at Jeff and Frank.
Jeff knew the cop had finally lost his original train of thought. One more nudge. “It would be so cool to be S.W.A.T. I want to be a police officer.”
Tall Cop puffed out his broad chest and Jeff knew he had him. “Are your grades good?”
“Kind of.” Jeff looked apologetic.
“Get those grades up, and stay out of trouble.” Tall Cop stood, and his partner followed. “Two of the most important things.”
They shook hands and left as if they’d been there to recruit Jeff for the squad instead of interrogating him.
“Good job, son!” Frank clapped Jeff on the back. “The bruise was a great touch!”
Jeff looked at the inside of his arm where he’d pinched until the bruise had blossomed. Already, only the slightest remnants of yellow and green were still visible.
“And the power you were resonating was off the charts. I had to keep fortifying my defenses so I didn’t get swept into it.”
“Thanks for your help, Dad. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Sure you could,” Frank said. He chewed on his pinky finger as he walked into the kitchen. “Sure you could.”
Jeff followed him. Mother stood at the counter, stirring a pitcher of orange juice.
“Birthday present, huh? You really think ahead,” she said.
Jeff crooked a smile and kissed Mother on the cheek. “Actually, wouldn’t it be late from your last birthday?”
“Could be, but that was before the balancing, so I’m assuming my new and improved son will actually buy me a birthday present this year.”
Jeff chuckled, but his stomach clenched. There was nothing new or improved about him since the balancing. Why hadn’t anyone noticed that? If nothing else, he felt like his villainy side was experiencing a re-emergence.
Sandra walked into the kitchen and straight to the pantry. “I didn’t think they were ever going to leave.” She pulled out the cereal and moved to the cupboard to get a bowl.
“Thanks for covering, Frank.” Sarah always had difficulty telling a lie; even though Jeff had witnessed Mother spin a few white lies recently, he knew covering for her son during a riot would be far outside her comfort zone.
“Not a problem, love.” Frank eyed Jeff warily. “I only kept them cool until Polar came down. He took it from there. Completely charmed them.”
Frank studied his son so intently that he missed the glower Sarah gave him.
“Son, are your abilities still growing?”
“Sure. That’s normal, isn’t it?” Jeff shoved half a croissant in his mouth. “I haven’t even known I’m a super for all that long.”
Frank squinted. His arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the counter.
Jeff glanced at Sandra, who reclined in the doorframe of the open pantry, scooping cereal from her bowl. “Your abilities are still growing, right?”
Sandra stopped her spoon halfway to her mouth, milk dripped back into the bowl. She shook her head. “No, they’re not. I discover something new now and again, but the ones I know about stay the same.”
Jeff’s eyebrows shot up, and he swung back toward his dad. “You mean it’s not normal?”
Frank glanced at Sarah and frowned. “No, it isn’t. Have they ever stopped? Like maybe they stopped increasing after the balancing, but started again after the incident with Oceanus?”
Jeff looked at Mother, whose brow was knit with worry. She still held the wooden spoon she’d been stirring the orange juice with and it dripped onto the floor in front of her. Jeff gnawed the inside of his cheek. “Um, no. They’ve never stopped.”
Frank flashed a smile that he probably intended to calm the anxiety in the room, but his family stared back at him anxiously. “I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just part of his unusual polar abilities thing.”
“I wonder if Source would know,” Sandra mumbled. The look on her face didn’t indicate she expected Source to know anything.
Jeff jumped on it as a possibility regardless. “Yeah, I bet he’ll be able to figure it out.”
Chapter 22
Super Villain lyrics blared in the kitchen.
Sarah raised an eyebrow.
Jeff blushed and walked out of the kitchen as he answered his phone, “Lo.”
“I came up short with that lead.”
Jeff frowned and held his phone in front of him to read the caller ID. It was Set. He jogged up the stairs to his room. “Nothing, huh?”
“Honestly, man, I don’t think we’re going to get very far on our own,” Set growled. His voice echoed as if he was in his desolate dining room, and there was a constant tapping of his fingers on a keyboard. It irked Jeff that Set had him on speakerphone. He rubbed his eyes, trying to let go of the ridiculous anger.
“What about the phone records? Anything?” Jeff asked.
“I’m researching the last few phone numbers from before the abduction now, but so far, nothing seems out of place,” Set said.
“What do you mean by researching?”
“I’m using reverse look-up online. You can key in the number and it will tell you who the phone number is registered to. So far, there are only two without a name. I’ll call those from a pay phone later.”
“Now what?” Jeff grumbled.
“I don’t know, man. I thought the phone record was going to be a hit,” Set said.
Jeff squinted at his fish, Pucker. Had Set just paid him a compliment? “Well, I’ll see if I can get any information from Mother.”
“You call your mom Mother?” Set droned.
Jeff slammed his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t in the mood to explain Mother’s pre-balancing cold as ice personality, or that he used to say it with extra emphasis on the M because her drill sergeant delivery of orders demanded a capital letter, or that he no long stressed the M because she was loads more relaxed now, but that he still couldn’t think of her as anything so chummy as Mom. “Long story.”
“Call if you come up with anything,” Set said. He sounded distracted, like his mind was on something and his mouth was forming words automatically.
“Yeah, let me know if any of those numbers leads to something, too,” Jeff said.
“Hmmm.”
The line went dead.
Jeff watched Pucker pluck at the scum at the top of the fishbowl. She closed her big fish lips around a bit of scum, then spit it back out and it floated slowly to rejoin the layer covering the top of the water. She did it again and again until Jeff finally pinched a few flakes of food out of a plastic container and dropped them onto the top of the scum. With the precision of a brain surgeon, Pucker snatched a flake and the scum under it into her mouth. She didn’t spit anything out, just swam over to the next flake and repeated the process until all four flakes were consumed. Then she swam in a swirl to the bottom of her bowl.
Jeff jogged down the stairs and found Mother stuffing her laptop into her briefcase. “Going to work?”
“Actually, I’m going out of town for a couple of days.” Sarah slid a pad of paper that looked mostly used with curled edges and coffee rings into another pocket of the briefcase.
&nb
sp; “Oh?” Jeff’s heart sank. He wouldn’t have access to new information about the investigation while she was gone. “Who should I contact to find out about Oceanus?”
“I’ll check on it when I get back in town,” Sarah said, clearly distracted by the pile of papers she was thumbing through.
“What’s the current status?” Jeff asked.
“Nothing new.” She didn’t even look up.
An explosion of anger flashed through Jeff. “Look, I know you couldn’t care less if they ever find her, but the longer this goes on, the colder the trail gets. I’m a super! Why won’t you tell me?”
Sarah stopped mid-search and raised her eyes to meet her son’s gaze. Her schooled expression made his anger swirl and twist like a petulant child. “There is nothing to tell, Jeff. The trail was already cold. Oceanus disappeared completely.”
As fast as the fire raged through him, ice froze it over. Every ounce of Jeff’s insides felt freeze dried. “Nothing?”
Sarah shook her head.
She maintained eye contact, but the continued lack of emotion in her expression stoked Jeff’s fire again and his internal organs thawed.
“Jeff, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I think you should accept the fact that you may never see Oceanus again.”
“What?” His breath came out in rapid pants. He clenched his fists, willing the fire to stay inside. “You can’t mean that.”
Sarah’s gaze fell momentarily to the pile of papers, showing Jeff what was truly more important to her at the moment.
“Be reasonable, Jeff. No trail, no ransom.” Sarah opened her mouth as if to say more, but then shrugged and shook her head.
“They’re giving up. Two days of looking, and that’s it?” Jeff drove a fist through the wall.
“Jeffrey!” Mother leapt to her feet, finally relinquishing hold of the spot she’d searched to in her beloved stack of papers. She stood in a defensive position, feet shoulder width apart, fingers splayed.