“You went public first.” I fire back.
Mitchell leans closer and whispers. “Nice costume by the way.”
“You like it?” I ask.
“It suits you.” He says and winks at me. “And who’s Dino Costello?”
Yay, he likes my costume!
“Just some hoodlum who was involved in our kidnapping.” I reply.
“What?” Mitchell and Paul blurt out.
“You’ve been holding out on us?” Paul complains.
“It only happened last night, guys. But we have a new lead.” Beth replies.
“What happened?” Stuart asks as he sips his glass of water quietly.
“We found the police officer who lied to the coroner about our deaths. Well, he was paid by some gangster named Dino Costello.” I begin.
“Yeah, he’s some low life with the mob.” Beth adds.
“Whoa. The mob?” Paul asks.
“Yeah. Anyway, he was hired by some guy from another mob family, out west in Las Vegas.”
“This is getting complicated.” Paul moans and shakes his head.
“This is getting dangerous.” Mitchell adds.
“Guys, it got dangerous the moment that bomb went off in Washington.” I say.
Mitchell’s eyes close and he lets out a sigh. “Zack.”
“Exactly. We need to do this for them. Those who didn’t come back. Zack, Miss Wheeler, that poor scared man they murdered. They demand justice.” I say heatedly.
I see their shocked expressions, then look around.
Everyone in the canteen is staring at me. Was I shouting?
“We’re with you, Britney. All the way.” Paul says
Stuart nods. I feel Mitchell’s warm hand on my shoulder. “All the way.” He says.
“Okay. Then we work together.” I agree.
“Yo, Team Rock!” Paul says and holds his hand over the table.
“Why Team Rock?” Beth asks and raises an eyebrow.
“Because of the rocks, you know, the meteorites.” Paul answers and shrugs.
“What the hell. Team Rock.” I say and place my hand on top of Paul’s.
Everyone follows suit and Paul beams with pride.
“You realize that we’re going up against the mafia, guys?” I say as I take a bite of my cheeseburger.
“Hey, I’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse.” Paul replies in a mock-Italian accent.
Stuart chuckles while Beth rolls her eyes.
“Have you thought of a name yet?” Stuart asks as he finishes his soda.
“I was thinking of, Cosmic Girl.” I reply.
“Cosmic Girl? Why Cosmic Girl?” Beth asks.
“My favorite comic book store is Cosmic Comics. So the name just popped into my head.” I answer and drain my bottle of lemonade.
“How about you, Beth?” Paul asks. “You going to have some lame comic book name, too?”
Beth punches Paul in the arm. “It’s not lame. I like it, Britney.”
“Thanks.” I say.
“Well, don’t laugh, but I was thinking of, I-Spy.” Beth says.
I clap and giggle. “That’s perfect. I-Spy, I love it.”
Beth grins.
“I was thinking of calling myself, Warlock.” Paul says, gesturing with his hands in a mock magician’s pose. “And you’re Volt.” Paul adds and nods towards Stuart.
“Volt?” Stuart asks, then looks at his hands. “Volt makes sense. Okay.”
“How about you?” I ask Mitchell.
“Crash.”
“Crash?” I ask.
“Yeah, ‘cause I’m gonna crash the bad guy’s party.”
“I like it.” Paul says and chuckles as he high-fives Mitchell across the table.
“So, who wants to go to Vegas?” I ask as I take another bite of my cheeseburger.
“When?” Mitchell asks.
“This Saturday.” I reply. “That gives you two a few days to come up with a costume.” I say to Paul and Stuart, who look at me confused.
“You’re serious about this comic book stuff?” Paul asks.
“If you want the mafia to know who you are and what you look like, by my guest. But it might not be so safe for people who know you.” I reply.
“Right. I hadn’t thought about that.” Paul admits grimly.
“Well, you’ve got a few days to create your costumes. So don’t take too much time thinking about it.” I say.
“I’ll help you, okay?” Beth offers.
“Please, would you?” Stuart says.
“Sure, no problem.” Beth says.
“And no capes.” I fire at Paul in particular.
“Oh, man. But I love capes.” Paul complains.
“In the meantime, practice, practice, practice. Okay?” I tell them.
“Yes, mother.” Paul replies.
Beth is about to hit him, when the bell rings.
“Saved by the bell.” Paul says and hurries out.
“When does he go back to England?” Beth asks.
“See you guys later.” I say.
I finish off my cheeseburger and head for my next class.
My thoughts aren’t on fractions and algebra during class. I’m thinking about Miss Wheeler. I keep replaying the scene in my head of her being shot on television. Who’s pulling the strings? Who has the power and the money to hire the mafia? I try to knuckle down when Mrs Marshall glares at me from the whiteboard, but I’m beginning to cry now. I wipe the tears from my eyes with my sleeve and try to focus. Stuart taps me on the shoulder and points at my desk. I look down. Damn, my colored contacts. One of them has fallen out. I quickly pick it up and slip it in, but by now I’ve got Mrs Marshall’s attention.
“Miss Brookes, what are you doing?” Mrs Marshall asks as she walks to my desk.
“Sorry, just had some grit in my eye.” I reply and check that my contact is in properly. I blink a couple of times.
“There, got it.” I say and try not to look at her.
I begin making more notes in my textbook and she turns and walks away. I give Stuart the thumbs up and check the board again.
After school, I walk home with Mitchell. We walk the three blocks at a leisurely pace.
“Cosmic Girl, huh?” Mitchell says as we walk.
I look up at him. “Crash, huh?” I fire back.
“It will do for now. So, who’s in Las Vegas?” He asks as we walk.
“Tony Bardino. He’s the idiot who hired Dino to arrange the kidnapping.”
“Okay.” Mitchell says and then goes quiet for a while. “So, who arranged the bombings?” He asks after a few minutes of silence.
“I don’t know yet. Maybe this Bardino character will know.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” He says and stops.
“What doesn’t?” I ask.
“Bombings, kidnapping, the mafia. It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t sound like the sort of thing the mafia would do.”
“They are the sort of people who can plant bombs and kidnap people.” I say.
“Yes, but for profit, for money, or for revenge. This doesn’t seem like them. The torture, the meteorites, what happened to us. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“We’re going to get to the bottom of it all. I swear.” I say and take his hands.
“Look at me.” I say and look up into his troubled face.
He sighs and looks me in the eye.
“Whoever is responsible for the bombings, they will pay for it. I promise. Zack and Miss Wheeler will be avenged.”
“I don’t want any more people to die, Britney.” Mitchell says and closes his eyes.
“We don’t have to kill them. But justice will be done.”
He opens his eyes and looks at me.
“You’ve changed.” He says sadly.
“I won’t be a victim any more, Mitchell. We’ve been given a gift. A powerful gift.”
“What, so you’re going to abuse it?”
“No. Use it. For the greater good.”
/>
“You’re treading a fine line between right and wrong, Britney. Just remember who you are.”
“I know who I am.” I drop his hands and turn away. “Don’t you trust me?”
“I want to. I just have to know that this isn’t just about revenge. Tell me it’s not just about revenge, Britney.” He says and places his warm hands on my shoulders.
“It’s not just about revenge. I swear.” I grumble.
Hot tears begin to slide down my cheeks. His hands begin to stroke my arms, but I can’t handle this right now, so I take off like a bullet before he can say anything. Instead of going home, I take a detour and head to Graceland Cemetery. I speed through the streets while tears fly from my eyes. I stop beneath the old oak tree that stands near my Mom’s plot.
I hide my face in my hands and kneel on the wet grass in front of her gravestone as the tears flow freely. I’m shaking all over as my emotions threaten to consume me.
“Mom.” I say as I try to control my breathing. “I could sure use your guidance right now.”
I wipe my eyes and look at her gravestone. It’s looking a little grubby. There’s some moss growing on it. I can barely make out ‘Here Lies Barbara Mary Brookes.’ I reach out and rub some of it off and stroke the stonework.
“I miss you so much.” I wipe my nose and swallow a sob.
“Things have changed so much since you’ve been gone. I can walk now, Mom.”
I wipe some more tears from my face, as a few drops of rain spatter down on her gravestone.
“I wish you were here to see me walk again. I can fly too. I was experimented on and now I have weird powers. I’m so much stronger than I was, Mom. But so much weaker, too.” I hang my head as the rain starts to fall more. I can feel it now on the back of my head and shoulders.
“I get so angry sometimes, Mom, it scares me. I could do terrible things with these powers. I feel like I’m losing myself. I’m scared.”
There’s a peal of thunder and the clouds in the distance light up momentarily.
“I think I’m starting to scare Mitchell too. You’d like him, Mom, he’s nice.” I smile as the rain drips from my nose and chin.
I really like Mitchell. I wish he could trust me more. The way he looked at me troubles me. It’s like he doesn’t know me at all.
“I need to find the people who did this to me, Mom. I’m just scared about what I’ll do when I find them. This power I feel coursing through me, it’s like a wild animal sometimes. I scare myself with some of the things I can do now. I’m scared, Mom.”
“You don’t need to be scared, Britney.” A female voice says aloud.
I lift my head. My sister, Jessica, gets up from behind Mom’s gravestone.
“How long have you been there?” I ask and rub my nose.
“I’ve been here a while.” Jessica says.
She comes over and kneels down on the grass in front of me and takes my wet hands and kisses them.
“You don’t need to be scared, Britney. I know you. You’re a good person. No matter what happens, I know you’ll do the right thing.”
“Thanks.” I say, then look at her again. “You didn’t hear everything, did you?”
“You mean all that stuff about having powers and flying? Yeah, I heard that.” Jessica says and grins. “Don’t worry. I got your back, little sis.” She says and stands up.
She holds out her hand to me. I take it and stand up.
“I love you, sis.” I say and wrap my arms around her.
“Right back at you.” Jessica says as I slowly lift from the wet grass and rise up into the tempestuous sky.
“Wow. You weren’t kidding.” Jessica says as she looks down.
“I’m sorry I kept it from you.” I say as I fly higher and make a slow turn towards the sinking sun.
“It’s cool. I understand. I’m not sure if Dad would understand though.”
“What, the flying thing, or the lying thing.” I ask.
“Come on, you know him better than that, of course the lying thing.”
“How do I tell him?” I ask.
“Hmm. Not sure. But the timing has to be right.”
“Well, when you know when that is, you let me know.” I say.
I swoop down to the sidewalk near some large trucks and land gently. I take Jessica’s hand and lead her across the street to a coffee shop. I order us some coffee and take a seat in a booth near the steamed up window.
“How long have you been going to see Mom?” I ask, as I wring the rain from my long hair.
“I tend to go once a month. But I’ve been going more lately.” Jessica says and shakes the rain from her coat.
“I didn’t know.” I say.
“I miss her too, Britney. Sometimes, I miss her so much I can’t breathe.”
“I still hear the screeching tires, sometimes. In the dead of night, I hear the car horn, glass breaking and Mom screaming.” I say numbly and close my eyes.
“I want you to know, that I don’t blame you for what happened.” Jessica says calmly.
I gaze at her in shock. “What? I thought you hated me for it.” I say.
“I was angry about losing her, not that you survived.” Jessica says and reaches for my hand. “At the time….well…things were confusing. I was only nine years old, remember.”
“You don’t hate me?” I ask.
“No, Britney. Far from it.”
I rub my eyes and a contact lens comes loose and falls to the table-top.
“Damn.” I say and search for it.
“Whoa. Britney, your eyes…”
“Yeah, I know. They’re weird.” I say as I locate the lens and slip it back in.
“When did your eyes change color?”
“When it all happened.”
“Tell me what happened. All of it.” Jessica asks as our coffee arrives.
So, I did. I told her everything. About what happened in Washington D.C. Miss Wheeler, the rocks, our escape, everything.
“So it was you who stopped that runaway train last week.”
“Sort of. Stuart stopped it really. All I did was slow it down for a while.”
“Stuart Leung? The science nerd?”
“Yeah.”
“What did he do?”
“Stuart can create electricity. He short-circuited the train, then revived the driver.”
“Wow. Cool.” Jessica murmurs as she sips her coffee.
“You’re okay with all of this?” I ask as I finish my coffee.
“Sure. You’re not the only one who’s into comic books.”
“What? Since when?” I ask.
“I’ve been borrowing yours for years.”
“I just thought I misplaced them.” I say.
Jessica just smiles, finishes her coffee and sets her cup down.
“So, when do we tell Dad?” Jessica asks.
“Let me find the right time, okay?” I reply.
“Okay, sis.”
I pay the check, then we head back out into the rain.
“Can you outrun rain?” Jessica asks as she looks up at the deluge.
“You wanna find out?” I ask and scoop her up into my small arms. Before she can answer, or squeal in fright, I shoot off along the streets. I stop outside our house, in less than a second.
“Holy cow, that was fast!” Jessica blurts out in shock as I set her down on the paved sidewalk.
“That’s nothing. You should see how fast I can fly, when I really push it.” I say and giggle as she staggers up the steps to the front door.
I hop up the steps as Jessica opens the door and glide past her and walk into the living room. Jessica closes the door, while I switch on the large flat screen television. I flop into one of the brown leather sofas and channel hop until I find CNN.
“Hey, is that you?” Jessica asks as CNN show footage of me flying over Washington D.C.
I look up at her as she walks past and sits down on another sofa.
“What do you think of the costume?” I
ask.
“I like it. It’s simple, yet girly. But you still look strong.” Jessica replies. “But it is missing something.” Jessica adds and looks at me.
“No capes.” I say before she can say it.
“Come on, everyone who flies, has to have a cape.”
“Not me.” I retort.
Jessica sighs and looks back at the television.
“Ooh, what were you doing there?” She asks as they show me and Beth in the restaurant. Then Jessica chuckles as Beth starts shouting. “Who’s Dino Costello?” Jessica asks.
“He’s a small-time gangster for the mob.”
“The mob? You mean, like, the Mafia?”
I nod.
“Why were you looking for him?” Jessica asks.
“He was involved in the Washington incident. He paid a police office to declare us all dead.”
“Wow. So, did you find him?”
“Yeah, we found him.”
Cosmic Girl Rising Up Page 14