Not Your Villain

by C. B. Lee

  “Hmm. Your hair turned white for a second,” Abby says. “Guess that’s not what you were going for. Maybe you’re trying too much. Think of it as changing into another person, maybe? Or getting bigger? ”

  Bells can do that. He thinks about being tall and can feel himself stretch until he’s twice as tall as Abby and his head touches the ceiling. He laughs and waves at her.

  “Okay, do you think about different things when you shift yourself and when you shift your clothes? Because your clothes got bigger too.”

  “Yeah,” Bells says, but he’s done it so often it’s hard to tease out the differences. He shifts into what Abby’s wearing, a sleek black workout top and pants, and then, for the hell of it, shifts into Abby, complete with the same braided hairstyle.

  “Okay, very funny, you’re a taller version of me,” Abby says.

  Bells shrinks to her size so he can stick his tongue out at her.

  The door opens, and Jess walks in. “Hey, Abby, do you have—” She looks up from her DED, faltering at the sight of two Abbys. She blinks and freezes. “Um. What…”

  “We’re testing Bells’ powers,” Abby says.

  “Yeah, we think he can replicate what he did the other day, with the skin armor,” Bells says in Abby’s voice, mimicking her stance. She does a bit of a hip thrust, he observes, so he throws out his hip, and then, for good measure, tries to do a hairflip. Long hair is heavy. Good thing I’m not going to be like this forever. He watches Jess for her reaction.

  “Really funny. This looks nothing like skin armor and more like you guys were gonna play a joke on me.” Jess rolls her eyes at Bells and then smiles at Abby without hesitation.

  He shifts back to himself, pouting. “What? I thought it was a perfect copy!”

  Both Jess and Abby laugh, and then they look at each other, awkward and hesitant.

  “I was looking for you,” Jess says softly.

  Bells excuses himself to hop on the treadmill and watches as Jess and Abby, talking in close, hushed whispers, leave the gym. They aren’t even at the door when Abby shakes her head and throws her arms around Jess, and both girls laugh in relief.

  Brendan is convinced he can override the lock system on the exits, and Emma and Jess stockpile supplies so, when the moment is right, they can leave headquarters and get the Registry. It becomes a new routine, everyone working on their parts of the plan while Bells and Abby work on developing their powers together. Today Bells has an idea for Abby he wants to try, but she hasn’t taken to meditation well.

  Abby cracks her knuckles, concentrating hard.

  “Anything?” Bells asks.

  Her eyes are closed, and her fingers are pressed to her temples. The DED in front of her seems to flicker.

  “I know it’s there,” she says, frowning. “I can feel it, I just can’t— I can’t do anything!”

  Abby looks across the room, where Jess and Emma are deep in conversation.

  “She’s not going to think any less of you if you can’t get them back,” Bells says quietly.

  “I know,” Abby says. “It just… and I feel doubly guilty, you know, that I want it so bad.”

  “But you can feel your power,” Bells says. “How much is there? Is it the same as it normally is?”

  “I don’t understand.” Abby frowns. “What do you mean, feel your power?”

  “When I think about shifting, I imagine there’s a fire inside me—that’s my power. It changes, depending on how I’m feeling or what I’ve done that day, but if I think about it, I can see how much energy I have left before I’m tapped out.” Bells can see his power now, a tall flickering flame.

  “You can see your power? I’ve never heard of that—did they teach you that at the training center?”

  “Nope. Just something I like to do. At training, once they hand you your power rating, people pretty much stick to that, the four hours, two hours, one hour thing. No one really tries to last beyond that. Guess I just like to push the boundaries.”

  “But that made you stronger,” Abby says, eyes widening. “All right, I’ll try it. What do you do? Just—imagine a fire?”

  Bells is at a loss. He doesn’t really know how to explain it—it just is. He reaches for his power, and he can see his fire, but doesn’t know how to help Abby see hers.

  “You know the difference when you just woke up and you feel really refreshed and ready to go, right? Like you know how much energy you have? It’s kind of like that, and I just try to get a sense of how big it is, you know?”

  Abby takes a deep breath. “I just don’t know what I’m doing. This all feels very—weird.”

  Okay, so the fire imagery isn’t working for Abby. She’s logical and her power is all about connecting with tech, things flowing from one circuit to another…

  “Can you think of it like… If you’re a solar panel or something, like can you tell how much of a charge you have?”

  “I am not a solar panel, Bells,” Abby says flatly.

  He chuckles. “Okay, not a solar panel. What about a computer? I mean, you know tech better than I do, you know, the thinky part—”

  “Motherboard.”

  “Close your eyes, think about what you feel. Can you feel your power?” He feels silly saying it, but he doesn’t have a better way to describe it.

  “Yes, Bells, I can feel my power,” Abby says, amused. “Actually, yeah. Like I know I have it, I just—can’t do anything about it.”

  “Okay, don’t worry about that. I mean, we figured that the serum is doing something, like blocking your ability to access it. But you can still feel your power, that’s great!”

  Abby winces. “All right, so if I was a solar panel, it’s covered in dust, and I just need to clean it.”

  Bells grins. “Exactly!”

  “… and how do I do that? It’s not as simple as believe it and it magically happens. Maybe we should just focus on developing your new skills. I mean, this was interesting and all, but I don’t really see the point in having me imagine what my powers look like inside me.”

  “Hmm, but you know you still have them,” Bells says, smirking at her.

  She offers him a slow smile. “Oh. I guess I do.”

  Ch. 16...

  Genevieve crosses her arms. “You are children. You don’t need to be putting yourselves in danger. We are safe here.”

  Jess looks pointedly at her parents, who also nod, agreeing.

  “We need to focus on our job here, to keep meta-humans from falling into the hands of the Collective,” Li Hua says.

  “It sounds like you’re hiding.” Bells frowns. “We can’t just sit here and not do anything.”

  “We need more information,” Genevieve says.

  This devolves into more arguments, and more adults get involved.

  Jess rolls her eyes and jerks her head for them to follow, and they go to Bells’ room they’ve claimed for themselves.

  “This is going to take forever. We’ve already spent more time here than necessary. Orion could have the Registry already.” Her brow furrowed in thought, Jess paces the room.

  Bells grins. “You know what? Why do we need their permission? Brendan, you were working on making new ID’s for us so we can get on a train…”

  “Oh, that’s done,” Brendan says.

  “We were waiting to ask the Guild for help,” Abby says. “But it doesn’t look like they’re going to want to risk it. We’re on our own.”

  The door opens, and Christine smirks at them. “How are you gonna get out without getting caught, though?”

  “Oh, yeah…” Brendan says. “Yeah, I mean, Abby and I made this.” He holds up a small device. “And it’ll scramble the locks, but if my mom is there she could pick us all up with one hand and bring us back.”

  “What we need is a distraction,” Bells says. “For everyone to thi
nk we’re somewhere else, or maybe to see us go toward the other exit…”

  “If only we had multiple Bells, and they could all shapeshift into us and fool the adults into chasing us in the opposite direction,” Abby mutters.

  Christine wiggles her fingers. “I mean, this isn’t an exact replica, but, at a distance, it’ll do.” A sweatshirt and sweatpants rise from Bells’ clothing pile, and the fabric does a little dance. One of the arms waves back at them.

  “That’s brilliant,” Emma says.

  “I know,” she says.

  Bells hugs her. “Great. You can distract them and then join us—”

  Christine shakes her head. “I’d love to, but it’s going to take a lot of effort and I’ll be too tapped out to go anywhere for a good long time.” She winks at them. “Honestly, I’m looking forward to it. This is gonna be the most fun I’ve had while I’m here.”

  Abby nods, her jaw set in determination. “We ready then?”

  Jess pulls out several backpacks from under a sleeping bag in the corner. “Do we need anything else?”

  “I think we’ve got it,” Bells says. “Let’s go.”

  The hovertrain in Bitterroot is a gleaming monstrosity; the exterior is covered in dust and who knows what. Emma scans the datachips that Brendan loaded with their fake tickets, and they all hesitate, watching the turnstile process it. It beeps, and they move through the gate. There are people milling everywhere, getting on trains headed in various directions: New Bright City, Nuevo Angeles, and even as far south as Guadalajara.

  They find their seats on the train: a small compartment with benches and a table. The scenery passes by quickly: snowcapped peaks and rugged terrain, thicker and thicker forests. Sometimes Bells thinks he can see the remnants of a pre-Collective town, filled with nothing but ghosts now.

  On the overhead radio a woman speaks in a tour guide voice. “And we have just passed what used to be the border between Canada and the United States… we are currently in the Northern Cascades, and if you select tracks 3B you can learn more about the history of the Northern regions… approaching New Vancouver and will arrive in one hour.”

  Emma and Jess whisper about the plan, what to expect. Abby is asleep. Brendan is hyper-focused on reading a newsholo he’s borrowed from the people in the next carriage. Bells watches the sun set in the forest; it looks unreal, like a movie set.

  They pass through New Vancouver; Bells was asleep on this part of the journey the last time he was here, and he’s now impressed at just how green it is. Plants grow everywhere, up the sides of buildings and on balconies and rooftops; gardens sprawl in all directions.

  He doesn’t see the telltale sparkle of solar panels, but maybe the city doesn’t use cheap ones as Andover does. The fancy panels can look like anything: rooftop shingles or glass windows.

  “Where do they get their power?” Jess says.

  “Tides,” Emma says without looking away from the holobook she’s reading.

  The ocean looks like an endless sky, if the sky was alive and rolling with energy and might. Tidal-power plants stick out from the ocean. These bright-orange towers dot the coast, and, if Bells squints, he can spot people scurrying back and forth on the closest ones.

  “That’s cool,” Bells says. “Guess they never have to worry about storms causing power outages. Tides go on forever, right?”

  “Powered by the moon. And natural magnetic fields,” Emma says.

  The train hurries up the coastline, and soon they’re arriving at Aerial City. Bells is struck again by its constantly shifting nature: the kids on hoverboards, the lifts rising into the trees like clockwork. With Bells retracing his steps and Jess’ direction, they find their way to the great forest. Here their luck runs out; where the League sent lifts to the training center, the five of them have to travel by foot.

  The first hour is a grand adventure, walking through the trees, smelling the fresh mountain air, and gently teasing about what it must have been like for Bells to spend the entire summer up in the trees. Above them, the track the lift took across the forest is visible; they’ve still got a ways to go.

  The air is damp, and the mist whirls around the trees, as though it has a mind of its own. Bells shivers. He remembers how scared he was. The lift terrified him. It scares him still, just thinking about it.

  Jess was the only one who liked hiking, who liked seeing those edges, who dared to go farther. The most daring thing Bells was able to enjoy? Going fast on his motorcycle, and that had taken practice. Up? Up is a different story. Because inevitably, someone is going to go down, and they’re likely to be in pieces at the end.

  Bells is not a fan of that idea.

  A tendril of mist lingers around a neighboring tree, as though it can’t decide which direction to go. It swirls up and down and then disappears.

  Bells misses the heat of the desert, the bright colors of the sunset, and the endless sun shining down. This … it’s beautiful, but it reminds him too much of the time he spent in training, when he had to pretend to be someone else every day.

  They eat a quick dinner of protein bars, and night falls around them. He can’t see the stars , just looks into endless darkness and hears the rustling of the leaves.

  Emma is fluffing up her jacket.

  Brendan scowls, turning over and over on a patch of moss. “Everything is wet! We’re going to wake up soaked!”

  “Let’s just deal with it, Bren-Bren,” Jess says, yawning. “Bells says we’re halfway there, and on the way back we can hack the lift to bring us back to Aerial City.”

  “But how can I sleep with no pillow?” Brendan whines.

  Jess sighs and pulls her little brother close. “Here, use my shoulder.”

  Emma is already trying to find the bright side. “It’s like a sleepover, but more… exciting!” she says.

  “Sure it is,” Bells says. The moss is indeed quite wet.

  “Here, there’s more room on my coat,” Emma offers. “We can use it as a pillow.”

  “Goodnight, goodnight,” Abby says, closing her eyes. She’s curled up on the other side of Jess.

  Emma yawns and leans back, and Bells very carefully lies down as well and listens to the sounds of his friends slowly drifting off to sleep.

  Emma is still asleep when Bells wakes up. Her snores are a soft, rhythmic rumble, a comforting sound Bells has known since middle school. She turns over, a soft smile on her face, at peace in her dreams, whatever they may be. Bells admires the curve of her nose, the way her hair has leaves in it, the ease with which she’s able to relax.

  It wouldn’t be new for him to reach over and throw an arm around her, pull her close and keep her safe. Awake, Emma is a constant strength. Years of volleyball and track and field have made her compact and determined—a force to be reckoned with. Asleep, though, she splays like a starfish, with arms and legs akimbo, completely relaxed.

  A lock of hair drops in front of her nose, and her breath makes it shiver. Bells tucks the curl behind her ear.

  The touch stirs Emma, and she murmurs, “Bells, where are you?”

  “Here, I’m here,” Bells says softly. He’s not sure if she’s dreaming.

  Emma throws an arm out, finds Bells’ waist, and drags him closer.

  Bells lets her sleepily maneuver him into spooning and watches as she tucks her head into his neck and shoulder. She snuggles closer: a warm, solid weight, and absolutely beautiful.

  The sun is rising, although it’s hard to tell. Pinpricks of light appear through the treetops. Pine needles scratch his arms and legs, and the ground is damp with dew.

  He can taste the tang of salt, and the forest seems like another world, still waking up. Already birds chitter away and leaves rustle as animals move about. It might be alarming, well, it was last night, when Bells was trying to fall asleep, but, in the light of day, Bells finds it pleasant to think a
bout all of the creatures getting ready for their day.

  Jess and Abby are curled up together, and Jess is snoring loudly. Bells meets Abby’s eyes, and they share a smile. Abby shrugs, and Bells mouths, “It can get louder.”

  Jess lets out a particularly loud snort, which sends Abby and Bells into giggles.

  “No, not the penguins,” Emma mutters, which sends Abby into fits of laughter.

  The movement startles Jess, who sits up suddenly. “Wh—what?”

  “Morning, sleepyhead,” Abby says, kissing her quickly on the lips.

  “Ew, have some morning right back at you.” Jess makes a face, but kisses her again, and they look into each other’s eyes as if infinite conversations are taking place.

  Bells looks away. They’re lost in their own little world, and he’s happy for them. He tries to forget about the situation they’re in and the crick in his neck and focuses on the warmth of Emma tucked under his shoulder.

  Breakfast is dry protein bars, and Abby makes a face when she hands them out. They talk about the day’s plan as they start the last bit of the hike. It sounds simple enough. Hike to the training center, where one of the lifts goes down to the outdoor arena. Brendan says he should be able to hack it to take them up. Then, as Barry, he’ll access the entrance doors, they’ll go in, and Jess will lead them to the Registry documents.

  The way to the training center is eerie. Surrounding them are remnants of pre-Collective buildings that have long been abandoned; the forest grows around them. Rusted metal coils around ancient redwoods that continue to soar skyward. The spires shift and groan, making creaking noises in the wind, and he marvels at the audacity of building in the forest canopy.

  They pass more than a dozen broken pieces: steel cables and rigging and other unidentifiable debris that fell to the ground.

  “There!” Brendan says, racing ahead to a wide tree with metal tracks leading up to an inoperative lift waiting high above them. Walkways and the shadowy buildings of the training center rustle in the misty shroud of the forest canopy.

  Bells shivers. They’re here.

  Brendan pulls a set of diagrams and a screwdriver from his backpack, unscrews a panel, and peers inside. “All right, this will take me a minute,” he says.