Sidekick

by Auralee Wallace

  “I did good, huh?” I asked feeling pretty beamy.

  Ryder’s eyes widened.

  “What?”

  “You let the bomb go off,” I saw her mouth. “Why didn’t you cut the green wire?”

  “Because there was no green wire,” I said, squinting my eyes to focus on her moving lips.

  “Underneath the secondary panel?”

  “Secondary panel? How was I to know there was a secondary panel!”

  “If you don’t know about secondary panels then perhaps you shouldn’t attempt to disarm bombs!”

  “You were busy!”

  “I was coming!” she said loud enough for me to hear through my ear fog. “I told you not to—”

  She cut herself off and took a breath…she may have even been counting to ten.

  Suddenly she spun on her heel and ran for the stage exit leading to the stairs.

  I took off after her.

  I couldn’t help but feel like I was getting a bum rap. I had done a good job, all things considered.

  A huge boulder of plaster crashed down in front of me.

  Fine. There was some damage, but it could have been a whole lot worse.

  I leapt over the plaster, blinking dust out of my eyes.

  Bremy St. James didn’t give up that easy. I was going to help Ryder subdue the Sultana and that hair-pulling clown…and she was going to thank me for it.

  I chased Ryder to the roof of the opera house.

  Five helicopters hovered over the building. The circus-bots were already climbing into them with suspended rope ladders.

  We were too late.

  I stared dejectedly up at the underbelly of one of the whirring machines. I spotted something. It didn’t register at first. Then it clicked. Someone had made a mistake. Stamped on one of the metal plates, almost too tiny to see, was a little orange happy face. That was it! Proof! My father was bankrolling the Sultana’s organization.

  I had to tell Ryder.

  I moved towards her. She stood a few feet from the edge of the building emanating rage.

  “Hey Ryder!” I called out, actually hearing my own muffled words this time. “It’s not a total loss! I’ve got something to tell you!”

  She didn’t turn. What the heck was she doing? The helicopters rotated in the air to leave.

  I walked towards her practicing my better luck next time speech. At the end, I’d throw in a little pat on the back. She looked like she needed it.

  Then I saw Ryder’s muscles tense.

  In a flash, she was running. No, sprinting. Straight for the edge of the building!

  “Ryder!” I screamed.

  Right before she went over the edge, she leapt into the air, arms outstretched.

  No way! No freaking way!

  I watched her long beautiful form fly through the air. The building was gone from underneath her…nothing but a dead drop to concrete.

  Oh God. She wasn’t going to make it!

  I couldn’t watch! I had to watch!

  I peeked through my fingers. Just as she reached the arc of her jump, her fingers brushed the landing gear of the helicopter.

  Got it!

  She had made it! She had freaking made it!

  I jumped up and down on the gravelly rooftop of the building. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen.

  She was nuts! Absolutely nuts!

  But that was…AWESOME!

  Chapter Twenty

  It took a while for me to stop jumping.

  I watched Ryder’s dangling form disappear into the distance. I should have been worried for her. She wasn’t exactly in the safest of situations. Then again, she had just jumped onto a flying helicopter after fighting off a horde of dead-eyed circus performers. She could probably handle anything.

  I put my hands on my hips.

  Now what?

  I found myself looking around the rooftop for the after-party. Nothing.

  Going home felt anticlimactic, but I didn’t see any other choice. I would go to Ryder’s place first thing in the morning. By then the Sultana and her crew would probably be in custody, but I still needed to tell Ryder about what I had learned. I suddenly remembered her using my real name. She knew who I was. Doubts swirled in my belly. Was that why she had given me a chance? To get closer to my father? I quickly banished the thought. It didn’t matter. She needed me.

  I climbed down the fire escape. Hopefully the alley wasn’t cordoned off. I still had to avoid the coppers. Next time I would come better prepared with a change of clothes.

  I dropped to the pavement and tiptoed to the corner where the alley met the street. I peeked around the building’s edge. Empty. Excellent. I pulled back. The police had taped off the road by the opera house’s main entrance, leaving the side streets clear. I would just take one more look, and—

  POW!

  Knuckles connected with my nose.

  “Son of a bitch!” I screamed, cupping my face. I blinked away tears to get a look at my attacker.

  “Queenie?” I asked through my hands.

  “Horrible neighbor?”

  I peeled back my mask.

  “It is you,” she said with a bit of surprise, disgust, and something else I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Going to the opera.”

  “Dressed like that?” I questioned, once again taking in her outfit.

  “I enjoy making rich people uncomfortable,” she said, face deadpan. Then her bored voice turned slightly mocking. “Look! An Asian in a kimono! Where do we look? What do we do?”

  Wow. This was the most Queenie had ever revealed about herself. Maybe I could use the opportunity to bond.

  “Ha! I get it. They must look at you like you’re Godzilla or something.”

  “What? You think all Asians are Japanese? I’m Korean.”

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Was that racist?”

  Queenie sighed with distaste. She lifted her hand in front of her, curled two fingers, and hopped them through the air. Then she made an explosion sign with the same hand. “Bunny. Too easy.”

  “Right,” I muttered.

  “How are you working with Dark Ryder?”

  “There are many things you don’t know about me, Queenie.”

  She considered this.

  Do you want a ride home?”

  Whoa. What had just happened? Was Queenie seriously offering me a ride? I had to be on guard. It could be a trap.

  “Um…sure,” I said. “Where’s your car?”

  She pointed down the street away from the opera house. Under a streetlamp was a silver Smart Car.

  “You don’t drive that,” I said laughing.

  “What did you think I would drive?” she asked.

  “Oh I don’t know…a tarantula?”

  Her mouth twitched a little, almost like a smile, but more like the scary thing that ate the smile.

  I followed Queenie to her car. I was terrified, but at least I wasn’t walking.

  ***

  Queenie drove us home and, at no point did she try to eat me. She didn’t talk either though. I nearly exploded with the need to spew nervous babble, but I also wanted to prove myself un-bunny-like, so I kept my mouth shut.

  When we got to our respective doors, Queenie stopped and turned to me.

  “Give me your suit.”

  “I’m sorry, what?” I asked.

  “Give…me…your…suit.”

  “Why?”

  Her fake eyelashes fluttered closed. “Sometimes when you talk, I imagine pushing my thumbs into your eye sockets until the balls pop.”

  “I see…Ha! Get it? I see? I can be very punny—”

  Her eyes shot open. “Last time. Give me your suit.”

  “Just a second.”

  I grabbed the spare key hidden under the mat by my door. Queenie let out a disgusted sigh. What? Like anyone would want to break into my apartment.

  I ducked behind the door and peeled off my
outfit. It took a bit of skin with it in places where the fabric had melted. I then reached around the door and passed the suit to Queenie.

  She grabbed it.

  “Um…thank y—”

  Queen’s door slammed. A second later electronica music blared through the wall.

  I hoped she meant my suit well, but part of me suspected she had plans to stuff it with hay and burn me in effigy. Either way, I was suddenly too tired to care.

  I fell into bed.

  Before I knew it, I was dreaming of helicopters, bombs, and Godzilla-sized tarantulas.

  ***

  I woke up energized.

  I had almost died the night before, but something about the whole experience had felt so right—like I was finally, truly, alive.

  Like I had a purpose.

  I needed to get to Ryder’s.

  As I hurried to pull on some jeans, I wondered briefly if Ryder had a morning ritual. She probably ran twenty miles before drinking her first cup of twigs.

  I grabbed my phone off the toilet to put in my pocket. Again, I had to fight the urge to text Jenny. What would be the point? I still couldn’t tell her everything, and anything less would leave her, once again, hurt and angry.

  But I had to talk to someone.

  Just then my phone rang.

  I looked at the number. Pierce. How did he keep doing that? Hopefully he couldn’t read my dirty thoughts too.

  “Hey!” I said flopping onto my bed.

  “Good morning Brenda.”

  “Who?”

  “Brenda,” he said. “You’re going by Brenda.”

  “Right, um, thanks!” I hit myself in the forehead with the heel of my palm. “How are you?”

  “Good. Good. Busy. Did you hear about the bombing at the opera house? The details are pretty sketchy, but apparently someone working with Ryder blew it up.”

  I swung up so quickly I hit my head on the toilet.

  “Brenda?”

  “Sorry, yeah, I’m here,” I mumbled rubbing my forehead. “That’s not what I heard.”

  “No?”

  “I heard there is this really awesome girl working with Ryder—you know kind of like an up-

  and-coming superhero? Apparently she saved everyone at the opera house from certain death.”

  Pierce paused a beat before saying, “Really? We’re getting reports here of a crazy person with wild hair.”

  My hair. My hair!

  I jumped towards the mirror.

  It was too much horror to take in all at once. My hand moved to the cloud of hairlike strands hovering above my scalp, but I pulled it away. Touching it would make it real.

  “Anyway, this might be my chance to expose Ryder for the danger she truly is.”

  I sighed. “I really think you’ve got this Ryder thing all wrong.”

  “Perhaps we could fight about it over dinner?”

  “I could be enticed,” I said in my purry voice. Then my memory swatted me with a rolled up newspaper. “Wait. Crap. I have to work.”

  “Oh? Where do you work?”

  “Um.” I heard the words The Pink Beaver in my mind, but what came out was, “The Children’s Hospital.”

  “Uh, there isn’t a children’s hospital in the city.”

  “Really? I thought I was pretty safe with that one,” I said before biting my lip. “Wait…did I say that last part out loud?”

  “You did.”

  “Oh.”

  A few moments of awkward silence passed. The same sad feeling I had on our last date resurfaced.

  This wasn’t going to work. There was too much against us. My secret identity. Ryder. My dad.

  We had undeniable chemistry, sure, but how many lies could one man take? He was going to get tired of it all…tired of me.

  The silence went on for so long, I thought maybe Pierce had hung up. Then I heard, “Brenda, are you some sort of spy?”

  “No!” I blurted out. “But it is absolutely terrific that you would think that!”

  “Not really. I was going to say that you’re not very good at it,” he said before quickly adding, “That came out wrong. I mean I have been worried about you. Those men at the press conference…I want to help.”

  Aw, that was kind of sweet…and insulting. Then again, I probably could work on my ability to inspire confidence a smidge.

  “Look, I only need to know one thing,” he said slowly.

  “What’s that?”

  “Will you eventually tell me the truth?”

  “Oh yes, definitely,” I said quickly, not at all sure if I meant it.

  “I can live with that.”

  “Really?”

  He paused again before answering. “Reminding me that I’m crazy probably isn’t a good idea at this point.”

  “Right. Of course. I’m going to quit while I’m ahead. What about an early dinner?”

  We made arrangements before hanging up.

  This was good. Really good. Sure, I had a lot of plates in the air, but I hadn’t dropped one yet.

  It was going to be a good day.

  ***

  The walk to Ryder’s wasn’t as horrific as I remembered.

  The sun shone brightly and a strong wind blew away some of the city’s stench. It helped me see the silver lining to almost every situation going on in my life.

  First, Pierce. Here I had been feeling guilty about lying to him, but then I remembered that he knew I was lying. So it wasn’t really lying.

  Next, in importance, my hair. Maybe it did make me look like I had been in a chemical explosion, but on the bright side, even scary people were now crossing the street to get away from me. It was almost like a new secret weapon.

  Next came Bart and Queenie. It was starting to look like they were out to help me more than hurt me. That was good. In fact, it was almost like having my own Scooby Gang!

  Things were definitely looking up.

  Now, technically, I did still owe money to two psychopaths, and the person I loved more than anyone else in the world wasn’t speaking to me, but I had to believe even those issues wouldn’t be able to resist the momentum of positivity I had going.

  I was on the right path. I knew it, and soon, everybody would know it.

  I really believed that…until I got to Ryder’s.

  Then all my good feelings vanished.

  The world shifted.

  An unthinkable had happened.

  I stood in the empty lot by Ryder’s building and tried to force my brain to work.

  It must have all happened in the last few hours. So where were the ambulances? Fire trucks? Police cars?

  Half of the building had been reduced to smoldering rubble…and old newspapers skittered across the pavement like it didn’t matter at all.

  Ryder.

  Where was Ryder?

  She couldn’t be in there. No. No way. Ryder didn’t lose. Bad things did not happen to her. She was in charge of every situation. Bad things ran from her.

  I don’t know how long I stood there. The same questions tumbled over and over in my mind without catching the answers.

  I was so lost I didn’t see the homeless man stumbling towards me until he was a few feet away.

  “This is for you,” he mumbled through his tangled beard.

  I looked at him, not comprehending.

  His hand reached towards me. It held something, a folded piece of paper.

  Everything about him looked uncared for, forgotten, but something in his eyes forced me to pay attention.

  I took the paper and opened it up. An address.

  “What is this?” I asked looking up, but he was already walking past the other end of the lot.

  My blood suddenly felt like it was on fire.

  I was running before I even realized it.

  I needed answers, and now I knew where to find them.

  ***

  The address led me to a building that looked a lot like Ryder’s.

  Of course, that was it! She had more than one
hideout.

  The thought cheered me. I knew nobody could touch Ryder, not really.

  I strode into the run-down building confidently this time. Even the layout of the empty lobby was the same. I walked straight to the elevator, pressed the button, and got in.

  As I rode up to the top floor, I discovered my anger returning.

  My father was behind all of this. I knew it.

  When the doors opened, I found myself in an apartment that could have doubled for Ryder’s. Plush tropical plants waved softly in the breeze coming from the massive open windows and a string of prayer flags waved on the balcony.

  “Ryder!” I called out. “I got your message. I’m here!”

  Silence.

  “Ryder?” I walked into the room. “Where are you? There’s something important I have to tell you. I probably should have told you sooner, but—Wah!” Suddenly the bald man from the bank was standing right in front of me.

  “You!”

  “Yes,” he said quietly.

  “Of course, it’s you,” I said, trying to still my racing heart. “Finally it’s all making sense…actually…it’s not at all. I have no idea who you are.”

  The man dressed in loose-fitting garments smiled gently.

  “You may call me Choden,” he said, moving towards a carpet in the center of the room. “Please come in.”

  “Where’s Ryder?” I asked as he sat cross-legged on the floor.

  “Please,” he said again.

  I lowered myself across from him. All the bad feelings I had been trying to will away returned.

  We sat on either side of a low table staring at one another for a moment before he spoke.

  “Destiny is calling you, my child. Are you ready to answer?”

  I looked dumbfounded into his smiling face. I opened and shut my mouth a few times before I found the words, “Um, not until you tell me where Ryder is.”

  “She is here.”

  “Why…why isn’t she coming out?” Tears suddenly pricked my eyes.

  “Much has happened in the last few hours.”

  I took a steadying gulp. “The last I saw of her, she was hanging from a helicopter. Did…did she fall?”

  “No, my child. Indira—the one you call Ryder—was able to discover the location of the Sultana’s whereabouts. She then returned to her apartment to make plans.”

  “Who are you? How do you know all of this?”

  He gave me the same gentle smile. “Ryder was orphaned as a small child. I found her and named her Indira…for she was full of splendor even then. She calls me Uncle.”