The gerbil-hole was already shrinking. In a second or two it would vanish. But Stellar had forgotten one thing. We were the same person. He’d risked everything for his brother.
Now it was my turn.
I backed up as far as I dared, rocked on my heel and took a running jump. I felt my knee buckle under me as I launched myself off the roof. Uh-oh. The gap between the comic shop and the hole was a lot wider than I’d anticipated. I wasn’t going to make it. But it was too late. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed Serge and Josh on the roof. I could tell that they were yelling at me, but all I could hear was my own terrified breathing.
And then not even that.
I crashed down on top of the bins in the alley behind the comic shop. Slithering down to the ground, I checked myself for damage. Surprisingly, I was in one piece, but that was the only good news. Stellar had spirited Zack away to his universe, while I was stuck here. I’d failed. Picking myself up I hobbled round to the front of the shop. Perhaps all was not lost. I’d regroup with S.C.A.R.F. and we’d make a new plan.
The smell of chips lingered. A customer exited the shop carrying a paper bag emblazoned with a logo I didn’t recognise. As he passed me the same aroma wafted from the bag. When he had crossed my path, I saw past him.
What should have been Dad’s comic shop was now some kind of fast-food restaurant.
Slowly I lifted my eyes to the shop front. Dad’s new sign had gone and in its place hung an unfamiliar name.
“Chicken & Pickle?”
In the space of a heartbeat I knew.
This wasn’t my world.
I’d made it. I was here, on Another Earth. My head spun faster than The Flash’s legs. Dazed, I stumbled into the road, ignoring the angry hoot of car horns. I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to find Zack. I stood there, not knowing which way to turn. I had no idea where to start looking. Frustration welled inside me.
This wasn’t helping me or Zack. I had to pull myself together. Closing my eyes, I attempted to contact him.
“Something something where am I?”
It was his voice! Zack was here.
“Something something look out he’s got an ocelot!”
It might not have been “ocelot”. Honestly, it was kind of hard to make out what he was thinking. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t make him hear me. It wasn’t like before when Stellar jammed the signal. This was different, as if someone had draped a thick blanket over Zack’s thoughts.
Not a blanket – a force field. If my hunch was correct, then Stellar was holding Zack a prisoner in the tree house, just as he had me.
There was the rattle of a diesel engine and the hiss of air-brakes as the 227 bus paused at its usual stop outside the comic shop. The 227 would take me home, and that’s where I’d find Zack. I jumped on board. Thankfully, my bus pass worked in this dimension. I settled myself into a seat by the window as the bus pulled away.
Last month I’d travelled into space aboard an alien mothership, but now here I was in a different universe. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing – there were no futuristic floating cities or people commuting by hover-car. It was basically Bromley. But then, like the comic shop, when I looked closer I could tell that I was somewhere else. Advertising hoardings displayed posters for films I’d never heard of, except for the latest Star Wars. I felt reassured to know that Star Wars remained a constant in all universes. However, here the yellow of McDonald’s arches was a slightly different shade. And stripy jumpers were seriously in fashion.
I was a stranger in a familiar land.
There were larger differences too. We stopped outside the library – or what used to be the library. It had gone. Not that it had been closed because of cuts or anything like that. It had been razed to the ground; all that remained was a deep crater. From my elevated seat on the bus I could see over a temporary fence plastered with “Danger, Keep Out” signs, which cordoned off the great scar.
The bus set off again, rumbling along its route out to the suburbs. We passed a terrace of white-painted houses with several missing, like a row of disfigured teeth. Where houses had once stood now lay only rubble. It was obvious to me what had caused the destruction.
Nemesis.
In my world Star Lad had stopped the killer asteroid in its tracks, allowing just a few small chunks of space rock to make it past him and collide with Earth. Stellar had been less successful in protecting his Earth.
It was raining by the time the bus pulled up at my stop. I jumped off and hurried the short distance to Moore Street. Stellar and I may have chosen different paths, but we still lived on the same street. Packs of stray dogs and cats roamed like rival gangs, weeds grew unchecked through cracks in the unmended pavement. It felt as if civilisation was hanging on, but only just.
I passed Lara and Cara’s house, glimpsing Lara through the upstairs window of her bedroom. Lowering my head, I walked quickly on. I didn’t want her to see me, since my presence would raise too many awkward questions.
My trainers slapped against the rain-slick pavement as I came to a stop outside my house at 128 Moore Street. Except, it wasn’t. Just like the library, it had gone. Where it once stood was a fence with a sign that read: “Danger – Keep Out.” Stellar had told me that the house was obliterated by Nemesis but seeing it in person was quite another thing. Shaken, I leaned against the gatepost to steady myself. The metal post came away in my hand. I wondered how Stellar must have felt in my world, seeing his home in one piece, just as it used to be in his.
I heard his terrible words again. Zack was dead. Gone. He wasn’t my brother, I kept reminding myself. Not my house. Not my brother. He was the Other One – the other Zack. They shared a name, a childhood, but not a universe. I clung to the thought that the last time I’d seen my Zack he was still very much alive. So what was this great lump in my throat? Why was I trying really hard not to cry?
One time when we were little, Zack was rushed to hospital with what turned out to be a broken leg. In all the commotion, I was forgotten and no one took the time to explain to me exactly what was going on. I could remember standing in Accident & Emergency, gagging on the smell of disinfectant. I’d watched as they wheeled him through a set of swing doors, and then I’d begun to sob uncontrollably because I thought it was the last time I’d ever see him. That’s how I felt standing there in the rain.
“Come on, Luke,” I urged myself. “Keep it together. Stay on target.”
I squeezed through the gap in the fence. I circled the rim of a shallow crater filled with rubble and bricks and bits of what I recognised as our former kitchen. Incredibly, one wall still stood. Halfway up it hung a shelf that I remembered Dad putting up. Most of his DIY didn’t last a week, but this one had survived a direct asteroid strike. I pushed a toe through the rubble, turning over a blackened object lying on the ground. It was my Green Lantern alarm clock, burnt almost beyond recognition.
In the wreckage of the back garden stood the solitary oak tree, and cradled in its protective branches was my tree house. One end sat lower than the other, presumably dislodged when the asteroid hit, but other than that it seemed intact. It also looked uninhabited. Bending down, I picked up half a house brick. If Stellar’s force field were in place, then a well-aimed projectile would bounce off the invisible barrier. I pulled back my arm and hurled the brick. There was a dull thud as it smacked against the tree house and dropped straight down. No force field. Which meant no Zack. So where was he? I was back to square one.
“Luke?”
I whirled round to see Lara emerging from the gap in the fence.
“I thought it was you,” she said, picking her way across the uneven ground. She flicked open an umbrella and studied me from beneath it. “I saw you from my window.”
She looked like my Lara, but I reminded myself that she wasn’t the same person. I had to be careful. It would be all too easy to give myself away by saying the wrong thing.
“How was Devon?” she asked.
/> “Devon?”
“Y’know, the multi-activity residential adventure centre?”
Stellar’s cover story. Of course. “Oh, it was great,” I lied. “We did abseiling, kayaking, uh…” What else did people do at those things? “Bull-riding.”
“Bull-riding?” She tilted her head and considered me through curious eyes. “You seem different.”
Uh-oh. She was on to me and I’d barely opened my mouth. “Well, after all that running about and climbing stuff my self-esteem is up here now,” I said, raising a hand above my head.
“No, that’s not it.”
“I’ve had my hair cut,” I lied.
“No you haven’t,” she said, walking round me, inspecting me from every angle. “It’s just as awful as it’s always been.”
“What’s wrong with my hair?” I knew it wasn’t important, but I couldn’t help ask.
She snorted. “Well, a wash wouldn’t do it any harm for a start. What is it with boys and soap?”
A small furry shape scurried out from beneath one of our old kitchen cabinets and ran between us.
“Ugh, a rat,” said Lara, jumping back, the umbrella spinning in her hand. She shivered in horror. “Disgusting things. This place has been overrun with them since N-Day.”
“End Day?”
She shot me a confused look.
N-Day. I realised too late that’s what she’d said. Nemesis Day, of course. We’d marked it in our world with a holiday and a made-for-TV movie, but something about the name suggested theirs had been a darker day than ours. Briefly I wondered if that’s how little kids in this world learned their alphabet. A is for Apple, B is for Book … N was for Nemesis.
There was a series of squeaks and the first rat was joined by a friend. They sat in full view, picnicking on scraps. They were taking a risk being here with all those cats wandering the street.
“Couldn’t you just ask them to move somewhere else?” I suggested.
“What are you talking about?”
“Use your superpowers, of course.”
“Oh ha-ha, very funny. The only person round here with superpowers is Stellar. And I don’t see him anywhere, do you?”
She was serious.
The earth rotates at 1700 kilometres an hour, and when Lara said those words I felt every dizzying spin. It meant that in this world she wasn’t Dark Flutter and she didn’t know about Stellar. I was dumbfounded. Lara Lee had no idea that her neighbour, Luke Parker, was a superhero.
It struck me then just how different this world was from my own. I’d hoped that I could operate here as normal, but normal was playing a kazoo and wearing a fish for a hat. I was adrift, on my own without S.C.A.R.F. If my mission were to succeed, then I needed help. I had to take drastic action.
“You’re right,” I said. “I haven’t had my hair cut, but I am different. I’m not the Luke you know. I’m an almost identical version from another universe.”
She sighed and began to walk away. “See you at school, Luke.”
Naturally, she didn’t believe me. I had to convince her, but how?
“Lara, wait. I can prove it.”
She paused. I could tell from the set of her shoulders that she was considering my outrageous statement. I held up my Lara’s phone. With a fleeting pang of guilt about roaming charges, I switched it on. “It’s yours. I mean it belongs to the version of Lara who lives in my universe.”
“Ooh, so Other Me has a smartphone?”
“Yes, you got it when—” I fumbled. “Never mind. In here is all the proof you could ever want. But—”
“No kidding. There’s a ‘but’?”
“It’s locked and I don’t know the passcode.” I offered out the handset. “Humour me.”
Reluctantly, she retraced her footsteps and with a bored flick of the wrist laid a finger on the fingerprint scanner. The phone unlocked and the Home screen appeared.
“OK, fine.” She crossed her arms. “But now I’m thinking ‘clever hack’, rather than ‘evidence of parallel worlds’.”
It took me a few seconds to find what I was searching for. I turned the screen to her. On it was the photo my Lara had taken in the tree house during Stellar’s welcome party, featuring her, Zack, Serge, Luke … and Luke.
Intrigued, Parallel Lara leaned in to scrutinise the picture.
“You knew as soon as you laid eyes on me that I’m not your Luke. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.”
I could tell she was wavering.
She straightened. “For argument’s sake, let’s say this isn’t some deeply astounding bit of Photoshop, and that I do believe you. In which case I have a question. Check that. I have many questions. But this one will do for starters.”
“Shoot.”
She extended a finger towards the photo. “Why am I wearing a superhero costume?”
My brother is a superhero … and so am I. My name is Luke Parker, I live in a mild-mannered part of London with my mum, dad and big brother Zack. OK, not yet. It would be a few days until I could reintroduce him, but soon Zack would be part of the family again.
In the meantime, he was safely out of sight in a location as secure as Gamma Base (which was designed to hold the Hulk). Chislehurst Caves were a local tourist attraction – more than twenty miles of twisting tunnels built under the countryside, with the main entrance little more than a mile from the High Street. According to legend, they were first dug out almost four thousand years ago by Druids who used them to perform human sacrifices, offering up the blood of their victims to the sun god. The atmosphere was an odd mix of foreboding and suburban – sort of ancient horrific rites with convenient access to Boots.
I ignored the main entrance, instead making my way through the car park and around the back of the café. In the middle of a clump of trees was a small rocky opening formed of two slabs, mossy and shaded, just far enough out of the way to be overlooked by most people. When I was younger, I’d briefly established a Batcave here, but gave up on the idea pretty quickly. It turns out that an underground Batcave is not an ideal HQ when you’re claustrophobic and quite scared of the dark. However, I was older and less easily spooked these days.
I switched on my LED lantern and plunged inside. Deep within the cave system, following a route known only to me, I found Zack in a large cavern. He was asleep, his back resting against a rough stone wall, legs stretched out on a blanket I’d thrown over the uneven floor. I studied his face by the lantern-light. The battle with Gordon the World-Eater had left his powers depleted, which suited me fine for now. A fully charged Star Lad would pose a question I wasn’t sure I had an answer for. I daren’t let him regain full strength until I’d convinced him that his new life was here. In my world.
He looked peaceful and he needed to rest, so I felt bad about waking him, but there were things we had to discuss. I rocked his shoulder.
He stirred, sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Where am I?”
“You’re home.” I opened a packet of glow-sticks and scattered a few of them for extra illumination.
He cast a suspicious look around the place. “This doesn’t look like my home.”
“Well, no, I couldn’t exactly rock up to Mum and Dad with you in tow. Not yet.”
“I’m in your world?”
“It’s your world now, Zack.”
I could see him absorb this new information and dismiss it. He mashed his lips together. “I’m thirsty.”
I reached into my backpack and pulled out a bottle of water. He gulped it down and when he’d drained the last drop he held the empty bottle, twisting and untwisting the cap.
“Luke was right – there never was a supervillain threatening your world.” His voice was a mixture of surprise and disappointment. “You tried to lure me here under false pretences.”
“I knew you wouldn’t have come if I told you the truth.”
“And what’s that then?”
I told him.
It was hard explaining that in this world he had be
en killed by Nemesis, and it was all my fault. His initial shock turned to anger, but I’d been prepared for that. Boy, was he angry. I’d only ever seen him this furious once before, and that was years ago when I’d used his prize-winning English essay to line my pet gerbil’s cage.
“Take me back to my world, right now,” he ordered when I’d finished my story.
That wasn’t an option. “Here’s a magazine and some sandwiches.” I handed him the magazine and a packet of cheese and onion on wholemeal.
“Model Train Enthusiast Monthly? Uh, I don’t think so.” He pressed it back into my hands.
“But you love trains. Ever since that trip we took to York to see the Flying Scotsman.”
“Never been,” he said. “We were meant to go, but then I got tonsillitis.”
“Oh.”
“And I don’t like cheese and onion sandwiches either.”
“But they’re your favourite.”
“Used to be, but I had a bad experience with some railway catering. Another reason why I’m not keen on trains.” He shoved the sandwiches back at me. “We’re not the same person.”
“Yes you are,” I snapped. Maybe it came out a bit harsh. “You’re identical. Quantum physics says so.” I’d expected some resistance, but Zack was even more unwilling to accept his new reality than I’d anticipated. I had to sweeten the deal. “You never wanted to be a superhero, did you?”
Zack was silent, which I took as an invitation to elaborate.
“Here, in this world, you don’t have to be. Forget about all that flying around and saving-people stuff. I’ll do that. You can just be you.”
As Star Lad he was unappreciated and tied down with red tape; the daily effort of concealing his identity exhausted him. I knew he’d had enough. What I offered was a release from that responsibility. I could tell he was thinking about it.
“I can’t stay here,” he said at last. “I have a life … my family. At home.”
“But we’re here. We’re all here, Zack.”
“It’s not the same. You’re not—”
My Evil Twin Is a Supervillain Page 12