Super Powereds: Year 3

by Drew Hayes

  Alice kept walking, back toward Melbrook, where she would undoubtedly tell everything to Mary. Even she wasn’t certain what her movie date strategy was meant to accomplish. She merely knew that it was intolerable to be aware of Nick’s presence and not try and reconnect with him. Maybe it would turn out to be a bad decision. That was okay; Alice had spent her life being a dutiful, proper daughter. She had more than a few bad decisions saved up.

  Back by the dorms, standing under the shade of a nearby tree, Nicholas looked again at the ticket in his hand. His pulse was slowing, and he was returning to a normal state. This was of little comfort, though, since it didn’t explain his strange reaction in the first place. Nicholas was not an emotionally predisposed person, however, that was not to say he was ill-versed in common emotions or their effects. In fact, he had quite an in-depth knowledge of such things, years of training and practice making the information readily accessible. Therefore, Nicholas knew that every symptom he’d just exhibited all hinted at having serious feelings for the person he’d come into contact with.

  It just didn’t make any sense why he’d had them upon meeting Alice Adair. Nick’s notes never mentioned anything of the sort, aside from her crush on him. Never had it been hinted that he might return such sentiments.

  “What have you done,” Nicholas muttered, words directed at a version of himself that no longer existed. He stuffed the ticket in his pocket and headed off toward his apartment. He clearly needed to reread the files.

  63.

  Alice walked into Melbrook’s common room to discover the rest of the residents were already gathered there, as was Dean Blaine and, surprisingly, Chad.

  “Excellent timing,” Dean Blaine greeted her. “We were just about to call you.”

  “What’s up?” Alice asked.

  “Not sure yet,” Vince told her. “Mr. Numbers and Mr. Transport came and got us from our rooms, and when we came out, Dean Blaine and Chad were here. Maybe we’re throwing a party?”

  “I won’t say this couldn’t result in a cause for celebration, however, that is not the primary reason Chad and I are here,” Dean Blaine told him. “As your guardians have informed you, it was decided earlier in the year that, should a suitable and willing candidate appear, Mr. Campbell’s former room would be reoccupied.”

  “Well, yeah,” Hershel said. He looked between the two men and comprehension dawned across his continually less-pudgy face. “Wait . . . are you saying Chad wants to move in?”

  “I do,” Chad replied. “If none of you have objections, that is. I feel like my current life is a bit too ordered. The solution to that is a bit of chaos here and there. You are, with all due respect, easily the most chaotic bunch currently in the Hero Certification Program.”

  “I don’t know that I’d go that far,” Alice muttered.

  “Kidnappings, beach weekends, mind-jackings, and former-Powered-status-revealing ambushes, just to name a few examples off the top of my head,” Chad countered. “I’m not insinuating that these things were all your fault, I’m merely stating the simple truth that your lives are somewhat more unexpected than an average person’s.”

  “That’s probably the nicest way anyone has ever called me a weirdo,” Hershel said. “I’ve got no qualms, and I doubt Roy does either. Just don’t be shocked if he’s all over you about gym-time and sparring.”

  Chad allowed a small smile to run across his face. “I would expect nothing less.”

  Mary sighed audibly. “Great. So I trade the guy who was constantly masking his thoughts for the guy whose thoughts I can’t read in the first place.” Then she grinned, because she and Chad had been on excellent terms ever since co-chaperoning last year’s river trip, and they both knew it. “I look forward to living with you.”

  “All I’m going to say is this,” Alice chimed in. “Don’t leave a mess in the kitchen or the common lounge. Seriously, I’ve almost got Vince and Roy trained, and I don’t want to start over from square one.”

  “What about Hershel?” Chad asked.

  “Hershel is the gold standard in cleaning up after one’s self,” Alice told him. “Follow his lead on all things, and you’ll be fine. Welcome to Melbrook,” she added at the end, just so he knew she actually had no real objection to his moving in. It was still slightly hard for her to imagine another person living in Nick’s room, especially so soon after seeing what amounted to another person living in his body.

  All eyes turned to Vince, who was the final resident to give his opinion.

  “Are you sure about this?” Vince asked. “Chaos aside, we live with more observation and scrutiny than anyone else on campus. Some of that is bound to spill over onto you.”

  “I’ve got nothing to hide,” Chad replied immediately.

  “And then there’s the part about us being prototypes. We’re holding together well, but there’s always the possibility something could go wrong, and we could lose control.”

  “Vince, you have my solemn word that if that should happen, not only am I unafraid to be here, but I will personally be part of the effort to stop you.” From almost anyone else, in nearly any other situation, Chad’s words would have been a threat. To Vince, however, they represented a promise that Chad would use his tremendous power to stop Vince from hurting anyone else. Aside from keeping the bathroom clean, that was the most desirable trait he could have asked for in a dormmate.

  “I appreciate it,” Vince said sincerely. “And I welcome you to our—sorry, your—Lander home. Do you need any help moving?”

  “It’s been handled,” Dean Blaine interjected. “Chad’s things will be moved in on Friday, while you are all in class. By the time your day is done, he will be set up as a Melbrook resident.”

  “That’s awesome,” Hershel said. “We should do a dinner or something.”

  “Definitely,” Vince agreed.

  “I’m on board with that, but could we maybe do it Saturday instead?” Alice asked hesitantly. For the first time, some of the others noticed how nicely she was dressed, and curiosity bubbled up in the corners of their minds.

  “That’s right, Alice and I already made plans,” Mary jumped in. “We’re off to do some spa treatment she insisted on. It’s already booked and paid for, otherwise, we’d move it.” She resisted the urge to lock eyes with Alice. By this point, they’d been friends long enough that her blonde dormmate would know to roll with the lie. It wouldn’t fool Mr. Numbers, and it likely wasn’t enough to trick Dean Blaine, but that was fine. They weren’t the people she was trying to keep in the dark. Nick’s return to Lander was a delicate situation; it needed to be handled with care.

  “Saturday would be fine with me,” Chad said, “if we do anything at all. I don’t require any fuss.”

  “Chad, didn’t you say you were moving in specifically because your life needed more fuss?” Hershel asked.

  “Not in those exact words . . .”

  “It was still the gist,” Vince agreed. “Okay, so everybody make sure to get Saturday off, and we’ll do a dinner, or something like that, to welcome Chad properly.”

  “We’re good,” Mary told him. “Until we’re more experienced, they won’t let us work weekend evenings, since those are the biggest business times.”

  “Same here,” Hershel said. “Well, for Roy and Chad.”

  “I’m not scheduled, although, we’re allowed to come in whenever we want to work, even if we’re off,” Alice said. “Isn’t it that way for you guys?”

  “There are only so many positions at a bar to be worked,” Chad told her. “No such limitation exists on aesthetically pleasing women who walk the area and sell alcohol.”

  “He hit the nail on the head,” Hershel agreed. “No bar has ever suffered from too many hot girls in attendance.”

  “I’ll try to remember that,” Alice said. She might go pick up a shift or two before the weekend. It certainly wasn’t like she needed the money, but it would keep her occupied. The more she thought about her upcoming event with Nick, or
Nicholas, or whatever, the less she wanted to dwell on it.

  64.

  The foggy landscape billowed on as far as the eye could see. There was nothing, not land, not foliage, not even light, only white fog curling about. The fallen cloud danced and swirled despite the lack of wind, sometimes as low as the knee, sometimes as high as the hip. It stretched in every direction, an endless sea of smoky white mist.

  “Well, this is obviously a dream,” Nicholas declared as he surveyed his surroundings. Even if the surroundings hadn’t made that fact obvious, he actually remembered going to sleep. After his unexpected run-in with Alice, he’d had Jerome and Eliza over to talk strategy, done a few hours of work, and then gone to bed. It was impossible to know how long had passed since he’d slipped into unconsciousness, but to him, the transition from waking to fog-world had been instantaneous.

  “Of course it’s a dream,” said a voice that was perfectly familiar, yet hauntingly different. Nicholas turned around to find a person sitting on a chair next to a coffee table, despite the fact that neither had been there moments prior. He wore unassuming garb: shorts and a t-shirt that would have been uncomfortable had this been an actual place instead of a mental image. The only remarkable things about him were the sunglasses on his face and his mirror-like resemblance to Nicholas.

  Nicholas arched an eyebrow, and then made his way over. As he approached, the fog swirled upward, and moments later, another chair waited. This one was leather, with fine craftsmanship. It resembled the chairs Ms. Pips kept in the more prestigious areas of the casino. In contrast, the sunglasses-clad young man sat in an overstuffed green one that Nicholas recognized, yet could not place.

  “It’s from the Melbrook common room,” said the young man, clearly reading something on Nicholas’s face.

  “I see.” Nicholas took his own seat, enjoying the sensation of a well-crafted piece of furniture. After a moment of savoring, he leaned forward and set his eyes on the man before him.

  “So,” Nicholas Campbell began, keeping his expression inscrutable. “What is all this?”

  “You act like I’ve got all the answers,” Nick Campbell replied, eschewing inscrutability in favor of a wickedly wide grin.

  “This is too lucid and logical for a dream, which leaves hallucination or mental invasion. I’m confident enough in my self-awareness to know whether my mind has been compromised, and must therefore conclude that this is something triggered from within.”

  “Don’t be too cocky about that self-awareness,” Nick warned. “Rich swept the rug out from under me last year.”

  “Yes, I read that in your notes. Forgive me, but I feel perhaps that happened because you were a bit . . . unfocused,” Nicholas retorted.

  “Jesus, is this what it’s like talking to me? No wonder we didn’t have many friends.”

  Nicholas scowled. “We do not have friends. We have marks and the Family, nothing else.”

  “Aren’t you just a breath of fun,” Nick remarked. “Here’s the deal, Mr. Serious. From what I can tell, I’m a vestige of your memories, of the self you became in your two years at Lander. I have all the memories you can’t access, and I’m a different person because of that. Now, the plan was for me to get wiped out, but it seems there was a small, metaphorical crack left in the wall around your memories. Hence, me.”

  “Unexpectedly sloppy work from a Lander professor,” Nicholas noted.

  “No, you should assume it was intentional,” Nick corrected. “The staff here are not the sort of people that should be underestimated.”

  “Very well then, that begs the question of why.”

  “My best guess is they figured I might know something they’d be interested in, so they kept it accessible.”

  “Don’t be daft, that much was obvious,” Nicholas scoffed. “I meant, why you are only now appearing? The procedure occurred months ago.”

  “Look who is calling whom daft,” Nick scoffed right back. “Why am I now appearing? That is the question with the obvious answer.”

  Nicholas let out a long breath, watching the fog at his feet dance from the breeze. “The girl. Alice.”

  “Ding-ding-ding, let’s give me a prize!” Nick declared.

  “You’re something of an ass,” Nicholas informed him. “So, the girl triggered your appearance. What does that tell us?”

  “It tells us that my coming here is either based on intense emotion or meeting back up with our friends,” Nick ventured.

  “Emotion . . . yes, we need to discuss that. I cannot help but feel that your notes were somewhat lacking, given my unexpected reaction to Alice Adair.”

  Nick’s face grew serious, his smile vanishing as easily as the fog drifting across his legs. “Are you surprised? Did you really expect me to put something like that down? Our vaults are secure, but nothing is impregnable. If it got out that I was indulging in such sentiment, what do you think would have happened to us?”

  “Point taken,” Nicholas acquiesced. “Are you sure you weren’t worried about someone using her to get to us, though?”

  Nick’s smile returned, bringing with it a small wave of nostalgia. It swept across the table between them, washing over Nicholas and filling him simultaneously with longing and confusion. “Alice can take care of herself. On top of being the daughter of a man with more wealth and power than some countries, she is a powerful Super. No, someone would have attacked her through us long before they’d ever successfully endanger Alice Adair.”

  “I’ll have to take your word for it,” Nicholas grumbled. This version of him was irritating. It had his mind and his training, but it was clearly clouded with attachments and emotions. No wonder it had decided to self-terminate and reset to a more efficient model.

  “On her strength, yes, but not on everything,” Nick said. He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a small, glowing orb. “The rest you’ll have to earn, but the first one is always free.”

  “What is that?”

  “You know what it is. Something I smuggled over from across the divide. A clue to the puzzle I left you with, or perhaps a trap to lead you away from the answers. It’s a memory.”

  “One of my memories,” Nicholas said, eyes wide as he stared at the orb.

  “No,” Nick told him. “One of mine.”

  Nicholas felt the urge to reach forward and take it, but he pulled himself back. “How do I know I even want that thing?”

  Nick laughed at him, clear and hearty and with far more exuberance than Nicholas believed he’d be capable of managing.

  “Of course you want it,” Nick said, still chuckling lightly. “Curiosity is our biggest weakness. We always want to know more than anyone else, to be a spider in the center of a web spun from information. You want it so badly that you're suppressing the small twitch in our right eye we get when we’re excited. Even though you know it might be dangerous to have, you still want it. And guess what? It’s all yours.” Nick reached out, setting the golden orb on the table between them.

  “You’re trying to goad me into action,” Nicholas accused.

  “I’m trying to cut the bullshit,” Nick countered. “We both know you’re going to take it, and seeing as you’re the only person here, there’s no need to pretend you’re resisting.”

  Nicholas contemplated debating him, then realized Nick was right. He would take the orb; all he did by delaying was burn time. In certain situations, that was a valid tactic. This was not one of them. Nicholas reached his deft fingers forward, pausing inches from the orb’s surface.

  “You said I’d have to earn the others.”

  “Only the first taste is free,” Nick confirmed. “You know how these things work.”

  “Should I be worried about what that will entail?”

  “You’ll worry no matter what I say. Take the damn orb.”

  Nicholas grabbed it in his fist, surprised at the unexpected warmth flowing from it. His world began to melt away, the fog replaced with sand, emptiness with twinkling stars, and sile
nce with the sound of crashing waves.

  “See you next time,” Nick called from an unseen location. Then he was gone, and Nicholas fell completely into a memory of him and Alice walking along a beach at night, and the conversation that followed.

  65.

  That Friday, Vince’s Close Combat trial was the final first-round test for any of the Melbrook students. Mary and Alice had both placed exceptionally well in all of theirs, with Mary dominating Focus and Alice easily crushing her adversaries in Control. Vince had fared decently in Ranged Combat, however, his imprecise and somewhat slow shots had left him well-outstripped by the quicker students. Aware of his need to impress those watching, Vince walked into Friday’s class ready to fight the devil himself if needed.

  “Vince Reynolds,” Professor Fletcher called, pulling him from the observation room. “I want to see you against Murray, Riley, and Castillo.”

  Vince walked out to the center of the room, followed closely by Jill, Adam, and Thomas. He moved to the middle of the battle circle, while the others took their places in a triangular pattern around him. All of them wore serious expressions, though Thomas seemed to be visibly nervous, unlike the others. This was all well within the expected standard of HCP attitudes pre-battle, though, with the exception of two slight variations. Thomas’s hands were shaking ever so slightly, and Vince’s expression had grown uncharacteristically stoic. Few noticed these oddities, but the ones who did were keen enough to deduce the implications almost immediately.