by W. J. May
The only person who could answer those questions was unfortunately the last person I ever wanted to see again.
Zoe sighed beside me. "I wish we didn't have to go back. Reality seems to suck these days."
"Believe me, I don't either," I said. "We do have to go to school. Going to Mexico during a vacation is one thing. Going there when school is starting is another. I don’t want to spend any more time in high school than necessary."
Zoe made a face. "I know, but it's cold up there. I feel cold up there."
I knew she wasn't just talking about the temperature. The bad memories in Elliot Lake haunted us and made the mood gloomy even on warm sunny days. They gave chills to all of us. I know I rarely felt warm up there as well. "It's going to be okay." I reached for her hand and then let mine drop before touching hers. "It will get warmer. I promise. If not, we can take off to university soon."
She shook her head and then leaned her head on my shoulder, closing her eyes. "Hey, Brent?" she mumbled.
I swallowed, wishing we could stay like this forever. "Yeah, Zoe?"
"Do you think Dad will find a way to get rid of our powers?"
I looked down at her and realized she was completely serious. "Becoming normal again won't bring Rylee back, Zoe. Life won't return to normal just because your hearing does."
She was quiet a moment. "I know. Maybe it'll keep us from getting killed.” She inhaled a long slow breath before slowly letting it out. “I don't want to play superhero anymore. We were stupid to think we could."
“None of us are going to die. We're smarter, now. We'll be on our guard. Kieran’s not coming back for us. He won’t do that.”
"Being smart isn’t enough. We were careful and look what happened to Rylee."
"We weren't careful enough," I whispered. "Besides, Kieran’s gone now. No one else here is going to betray us."
Zoe hesitated before saying quietly, so only I would hear, "I don't think Kieran did it."
"He did," I said a little too vehemently, a little too loud. "There's no other explanation for it. He killed his father, and when Rylee found out, he killed her too."
"How does that even make any sense?" She pulled away from me. "Think about it, Brent. He didn't kill Rylee."
"He's not innocent, Zoe.” I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. "He knew something had happened to his father, didn't he?"
She hesitated for a second, looking down at her hands. "I don't know about his father," she said finally, "but there’s no way he killed Rylee."
I could see she had just as much proof for his innocence as I did for his guilt. When she looked at me, I knew she needed to believe he wasn't the one who killed Rylee. If he was, then she had lost her boyfriend forever as well as one of her closest friends, and she couldn't deal with that. I sighed. "He might be innocent," I said finally. "We'll let the police do their work and find him and solve the case. If we can, we'll help them."
Zoe shook her head. "I'm not helping them. Especially not for the murder of Kieran's father. Not in any role except that of a civilian."
The hatred in her voice made me think it wasn't just helping Kieran that made her so against solving the murder. "You met Kieran's father before, didn't you? What was he like?"
Zoe glared at me before turning in her seat to face the window, putting her headphones on, effectively ending the conversation. I faced forward and tried to read the magazine I had brought for the plane trip. Unfortunately, it was too hot to wear gloves and my hands kept touching the page so I could see my blue jeans behind the words on the page. After a while of trying to focus on the words and not whatever was behind gave me a headache so I put the magazine away.
"Hey," Seth said, tapping my arm. "What's with Zoe? She okay?"
I glanced at Zoe, knowing full well she could hear every word we were saying, even if she did crank her white noise app up to the highest volume. "She's fine." I pointed to my head. "Just has a headache."
"When we get back, we’re totally going to go back up to the mines." Seth rubbed his hands together. "That's the last spot any of us saw Kieran. There might be clues up there that can help us track him down."
I nodded absently. Maybe Zoe was right about Seth having a thing for Rylee. He had turned even more revenge-set than the rest of us after Rylee's death. I had a feeling it was blurring what little judgement he had. "We'll talk about it when we get back, okay? The police have already been up there, and they haven't found anything, have they?"
"The police are just civilians with badges," Seth said. "They don't have powers like we do."
"What’re you going to do, smell the ground?" I snapped. "Do you want me to see if he conveniently stashed a love letter to Zoe in a tree trunk that has his new address stamped on it? The police might not have superpowers, but they do have teams of people trained to solve crimes and find clues. What the hell are we supposed to do? Besides, I would like to remind you that we are not immortal."
Anger ignited in Seth's eyes and just as he was about to fire a retort, Heidi sat forward suddenly. "Guys," she hissed. "People are watching us. Right now. Seth, switch places with me and both of you calm the hell down. I can taste the testosterone between the two of you."
Seth's lip curled in disgust but he did switch places with Heidi, who gave me a reassuring smile. "It's going to be all right," she murmured. "We'll figure out what we should do after we get back to Elliot Lake. Not a moment before."
She was turning into the responsible one taking care of all of us. She always had been in a way, but now she was even more so. I pretended to sleep the rest of the flight and ignored everyone.
As soon as the plane landed, Zoe stormed off as quickly as she could, ignoring our calls to come back.
Her dad looked in the direction she went. "I'll talk to her. I’m not sure how much good it can do, but coming home is going to be hard on all of you." He went off to follow his daughter.
We just watched him go and stood waiting for our luggage. I was torn at following Zoe or giving her space.
"Let's all meet at Brent's in one hour," Seth said. "Without Zoe."
"Why without her?" Heidi asked.
"She dated Kieran and she's clearly still hung up on him. I bet she’s still in contact with him all this time and feeding him information to keep him out of harm's way.” Comic book guy’s mind had been running rampant. “I think it's best we watch what we say in front of her until we know she can be trusted."
"You're being ridiculous, Seth," I growled. "We grew up with Zoe. There's no way she's not trust-worthy."
"We thought Kieran was trustworthy." Seth threw his bag over his back. "Look how that turned out. We thought Elliot Lake was a safe place with very little crime and where no one dies of anything short of old age. Look how that turned out, Brent. We don't know anything anymore and we had better start acting like it."
I shook my head. "You're insane. I know what we thought and what happened. I’m not going to walk around paranoid all the time. That's no way to live."
"For people like us, that's the only way to live." Seth stared at me and then stalked off. Heidi reluctantly followed, probably to try and calm him down. With both of them gone, I was left standing alone, more sure than ever that Zoe had a point about our powers.
I had driven Seth and Heidi to the airport and waited to see if they needed a ride back. When I sent Heidi a text, she replied that Seth’s mom was coming to get them. I didn’t argue. The time alone seemed easier than arguing with them. I called out when I unlocked the front door to my house. No one was home. It didn't really surprise me, even though I had been gone for a week. Both of my parents were probably working or at some social event. Or maybe they were home and just didn't hear me come in. We did live in a mansion, after all. It wouldn't be the first time one of us didn't hear someone come in the house.
Of course, a big house had its pros and cons. There wasn't always someone disturbing you accidentally by going outside while you were doing your homework, but yo
u also didn't hear when a complete stranger came in the house. Unfortunately, Kieran took advantage of that and surprised my dad in his office one day, robbing him blind. At least, I think it was Kieran. My dad refused to talk about who had assaulted him that day, not to mention why he had so much cash on him to begin with.
"I'm home!" I shouted, feeling a little stupid as I went up to my room. I had just come back to Elliot Lake only twenty minutes ago and I was already ready to leave. I wasn't sure if it was because of the sour memories here or because of Seth's most recent insanity. He had always been a jackass, but calling Zoe a traitor was a new low. She was just as much friends with Rylee as all of us. She wouldn't do anything to hurt her, even if they had been competing for the same guy. "Stupid fucking Kieran," I muttered as I went to my room. How the hell would I ever compete for Zoe's heart with that smooth-talking Scot? I couldn't. That was it. He had everything I lacked. He was cool, confident, good-looking to the ladies, foreign. I had money, and a guitar collection. Real exciting. Shit.
I opened my guitar case and began strumming. Playing always relieved stress for me and put me in a better mood. At least, it usually did. Not today. As I played "Greensleeves" from memory, my cell buzzed in my pocket. I set the guitar carefully down on my bed and answered it. Caller ID showed Heidi. “Hello?"
"Hey, it's me," she said. "Can I come up?"
"Of course. Is it already time for the meeting?" I checked my watch. Only fifteen minutes had passed.
"No, but can I come in anyway? I'm sorry, but the front door's locked."
"I'll be right down." I put my guitar away. Heidi never came over on her own. We never hung out much unless we were with everyone. In fact, she usually hung out with people in a group setting unless she was with Zoe and sometimes Rylee. She had always struck me as incredibly shy and more comfortable alone than with people.
Heidi did not look calm when I opened the door. If her chewing on her lip with her arms tightly crossed was any indication. "Come in," I said, moving aside for her to come in. "What's going on?"
"I'm worried about Seth. He's really upset." She scurried in and stood, arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself tight.
“Rylee's death hit him hard." I remembered he was also the first of us to become friends with Kieran. "He feels responsible for it as well.”
"He does." Heidi nodded. "He was also in love with her. Can we sit down?"
"Let's go up to my room." I turned and headed for the stairs. "How do you know this?"
Heidi shrugged. "It’s really just a hunch, but I'm often right on my hunches. I don't know why, but I'm good at observation."
"Probably because you rarely talk. Much." I grinned.
She bit her lip. "Is it that obvious? I thought I was okay in group things."
"It's only obvious if you think about it," I said quickly. "And there's nothing wrong with being quiet. Sometimes I wished more people were quieter instead of being in love with the sound of their own voices."
She gave me a small smile. "I'm glad you don't care.”
I looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant.
Up in my room, she plopped down on the bed, where I quickly moved the guitar out of harm’s way. I sat down across from her. Oddly, I wondered why I had suggested my room and now we were sitting on my bed. No parents. No distraction. Heidi was crazy pretty. Any guy would be lucky to be in my situation right now.
"I'm worried about Seth."
And poof! There went the girl in my bedroom appeal. "You think he was in love with Rylee?"
"Half of his obnoxious personality was because he wanted to impress her. She never gave him the time of day because she was always chasing whatever new boy, or older guy, looked at her."
"Really?" I didn’t believe her gut feeling. Seth flirted with anything in a skirt. This was grade school talk. "If he was being obnoxious to impress her, then why is he more of an asshole than ever?"
"Because he's angry and he's grieving and he doesn't know how to deal with it because he never told anyone that he had a crush on her. He doesn't want to admit it now."
My brow furrowed. "How the hell do you know all of this?"
She smiled. "I don't own a smartphone, I need something else to do to entertain myself."
"How accurate are your hunches?"
"You tell me," she said. "You like Zoe. Why don’t you tell her?"
I flushed. "We've been friends for years, I wouldn't spend time with her if I didn't like her."
"That's not what I meant and you know it," Heidi said, her tone completely serious. "I've seen the way you look at her, especially after she started showing an interest in Kieran. I'm also pretty sure you almost told her and you stopped yourself just in time."
I sighed. "You are way too observant.” I was pooched. She would tell Zoe and then any chance of ever having anything was gone. “Why are you telling me all this? To make me feel like shit?”
"Because you’re one of the least biased persons here.” Heidi folded her hands in her lap. “I mean, we're all upset over Rylee's death and Kieran's betrayal. But Zoe was dating him and Seth was in love with Rylee and good friends with Kieran. You're in love with Zoe, but you're nice enough not to hold her affection for Kieran against her or Kieran. Then there's me. I'm friends with everyone but not particularly close with anyone. Dr. Landers is probably the least biased because he wasn't even in the mine with us. He doesn't even really know about the drama. I'm worried about Seth. I think he's going to do something stupid."
"Not much different than every other day.” The joke didn’t have the effect on Heidi that I had meant. “What do you think he's going to do?" I had a good idea what he was planning.
"I don't think he's going to let the authorities take care of this one. Brent, I can't stop him alone, but I don't want him to go to jail for murder. That's what I'm worried about."
My mouth went dry. I knew Seth's judgement was clouded. He was angry at himself and Kieran and he could be an asshole a lot of the time. But a murderer? It was hard to tell at this point. It was hard to judge anything at this point. Everything just had to keep getting more complicated. "I'll watch him. Seth and I have been friends since preschool.”
“If anyone can stop him, it's you.”
“Don't worry, Heidi. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
She smiled. "Thank you. I'm glad. I don't want anything else to happen to the group, you know?"
"I getchya.” Suddenly, I had a hunch of my own and I understood what she meant about not hiding behind electronics. "Heidi? Don't take this the wrong way, because I really mean no offense, but do you like Seth?"
She blushed but then she smiled at me. "That's none of your business.” She stood and turned toward the door. "I'm going down to the gym, if that's okay.”
“Need a little stress relieving before our meeting?”
She nodded.
Dad had forbidden us from using the gym after he saw that it was all rearranged, but he had been pretty lax on the rules since Rylee's death. Besides, he wasn't home, might not be home for a while, and never went into the gym anyway. "Go for it.”
She waved at me and then left, leaving me alone in my room with my guitar. A tapping on the window made me jump. I glanced over and rushed to open the window when I noticed Zoe hanging off of the branches of a tree near my bedroom. "What are you doing?" I hissed. "You're going to hurt yourself."
"I have excellent balance now, remember?" Zoe laughed. "Things that were dangerous before aren't anymore."
"You said yourself you want to get rid of your powers, so why get used to them now?"
She made a face. "Look," she said, crawling through the window and sitting on my bed. "I'm not working with Kieran and I'm tired of being accused of that by Seth."
Of course she had heard everything. For someone so obsessed with our super senses, he forgot easily about everyone else's. "I don't think you would ever betray us, Zoe. Seth's judgement is clouded. Heidi actually came here because she's
worried Seth is going to become dangerous." I hesitated, suddenly wondering if she’d heard the conversation between Heidi and I. Or how much had she heard? I swallowed, unable to look her in the face.
"I know," she said finally. "I heard. I'm not sure it's Seth Heidi likes, by the way." She raised an eyebrow at me.
I shrugged. If she wasn’t going to mention my feelings for her, then neither was I. "I've never been good at reading people. Except you. Sometimes. I know you're hiding something from me even though I know you're not betraying us."
"I'm not, really.” She bit her lip. “I do miss Kieran, okay? And I think he didn't kill Rylee."
I walked over to the door and checked to make sure it was locked at the same time I used my hand to check the hallway through the door. Nobody was about and all seemed quiet. Heidi was probably beating the shit out of a heavy bag in the gym and Seth hadn't arrived yet.
I went over and sat down next to Zoe. "You know," I said quietly, "you keep saying he didn't kill Rylee, but I'm not sure if I've ever once heard you say he didn't kill his father."
Zoe suddenly couldn’t look me in the eye. She seemed more interested in a spec of fluff on the duvet than talking. She was definitely hiding something about Kieran's dad. Either Kieran had told her something, or she had figured it out herself, but she knew something. "It's not really my place to say. Kieran didn't even want me to know."
I wanted to shake her. Why was she giving him the benefit of the doubt? He was guilty. "You can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone else, not even Heidi or your dad. Certainly not Seth. You know how Seth can be sometimes. It'll just make him want to kill Kieran more." I hated the fact that he had stolen Zoe before I even really had a chance to make her think of me as anything but a friend. But aside from that, I wanted him to be innocent. He seemed like a cool guy. I wanted Zoe to be happy, even if it wasn't with me. If Zoe believed him to be innocent of Rylee’s death, then somebody needed to help him.
Her words came out hesitantly. "Kieran's dad was abusive. Not just verbally. I saw the bruises even when Kieran tried to brush them off. His dad was a drunk who couldn't hold down a job and he beat Kieran. He blamed Kieran for his mother's death! She had cancer and his dad was in the military. He was gone and when he came back, he blamed Kieran. He was brutal!” Her face grew red as she got angry. “Kieran told me what happened to his dad. The night he died, do you know what he did? He forced Kieran in the trunk of his car and drove up to the mine in a drunken rage! Kieran thought he was going to kill him! It was self-defence!"