Radium Halos: Part 2

by May, W. J.

  He smirked. “’Ow, much you want to bet?”

  Chapter 7

  The night in the chamber changed everything.

  My perception of sound became, in a way, controllable. I could focus on the noises I wanted to hear, and shove the other sounds into the background. It took a couple of days, but by Monday I was able to centre myself and listen – or not listen.

  Whatever happened inside the chamber enabled my brain to muffle all the annoying: like electricity running, the wind howling, people shouting when they were only whispering. Somehow the extra oxygen or whatever else cooled the over-firing synapses with my hearing. Or something along those lines as Heidi explained when I’d asked her. I could zoom in when I wanted to and tune out when I needed to. The best part – I could sleep. Only once in a while I’d wake when a strange sound startled me.

  Sleep became a dream, no longer a nightmare. Amazing how letting the body rest made everything so much better… and clearer. Hard to believe a few nights of decent kip felt like three months to my body. Heavenly.

  “Space-case… Yo, Zoe. Are you going walk the beam or just keep standing there staring into la-la land?”

  Seth’s teasing brought me back to the present. Barefoot, I spun on my right foot, which had less balance than my left, and ran across the beam to finish with an ariel. I landed on the mat in a perfect gymnastic finish. “Ta da.” I stuck my tongue out at him.

  “Show off.” He winked at me. “It’s about time. I was wondering when the girl from the water tower planned on coming back.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I jumped back on the beam to try and do a handstand. Balance seemed so incredibly easy now, I craved to challenge it.

  “Don’t take this wrong or get all girl-mad on me but…” he stared as I held the handstand and watched him upside down. “Zoe, can you flip over? I’ve never looked at you as more than a little sister but your shirt’s showing off a rockin’ body that’s distracting.”

  I started laughing and lost my balance. My feet fell backwards but instead of wiping out or breaking my neck, I turned in the air to land on my knees and hands just in time.

  Seth ran around the beam to see if I’d hurt myself. “You’re like some freaky cat.”

  “Thanks.” I stood and pulled my shirt straight. “Now, what were you saying before I distracted you?”

  A confused look crossed his face before the light bulb went on. “Oh yeah. After the mine you seemed you but you also seemed kinda cocky.” He held his hands out in front of him when I crossed my arms over my chest. “I mean that in a good way. Like, confident. You seemed confident. And daring. Which is totally cool.” He nodded his head. “You kicked Brent’s ass at the water tower—”

  “I heard that,” Brent called from the plyo boxes and walked over. “She barely beat me.”

  I laughed. “Ha! I kicked your butt.”

  Brent rolled his eyes. “Barely, and if I hadn’t given you that head start…”

  “Whatever!” Seth and I said at the same time.

  “Anyways,” Seth continued, “You were all tough and daring and then the mouse came back and you went all timid.”

  “I’m not timid.”

  Brent put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “I think Seth means tired. You look great now.” He dropped his arm and stepped back. He cleared his throat. “Is that what you mean, Seth?”

  “Yeah, something like that.” Seth looked around the gym. “Dude, I can’t believe how much money your dad has. This place is unbelievable. My dad would be yelling to put the all the toys away every night.”

  Brent shrugged. “He comes in the place, but I doubt he ever looks in the gym.”

  I didn’t say anything but I could tell Brent didn’t want to talk about his dad, or his money or stuff like that. He hated it.

  Seth didn’t get it though. “How much money does your dad make? It’s got to be in the millions.”

  “I’ve no idea.” Brent started walking to the punching bag.

  Seth followed a step behind him. “He’s gotta be doing stuff under the table, like cash deals. I bet he hides it, buries it in the yard somewhere or hidden deposit boxes all over the place.”

  Brent didn’t answer. He began hitting the punching bag with a sort of vengeance.

  I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation and figured Brent was imagining Seth’s face on the bag.

  “He’s paying for your university education, right? No way the rest of us are going to get that easy ride. Except maybe Zoe. Her dad’s loaded as well. Not like yours, but he’s the doc.” Seth held the bag so Brent could punch it harder. “I bet your dad’s pissed you’re into music.”

  Brent stopped punching. He held his arms at his sides, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Seth, I’m only going to say this once. Shut up. Or I’m going to use you as my punching bag!” His face burned red and his lips pressed into a thin, tight line.

  Kieran brushed my shoulder as he passed by and marched over to Seth and Brent. “Why don’t we give this a rest? Call it a day, shall we?”

  Seth glared at Brent. “Fine. I’m outta here.” He turned to go and then spun back around to Brent. “You’ve got it made. You have all the money, all the means to do whatever you want, and of course you then have to get the best ability. You never have to work for anything. It’s annoying as hell sometimes.” He huffed and stormed out of the gym.

  All of us stood, open-mouthed, watching him leave. I heard his car door slam and the stream of swear words fly out of his mouth as he drove off. I’d never seen him act like that before. He was competitive by nature but this wasn’t that. He seemed… jealous.

  I walked over to Kieran and Brent. So did Heidi and Rylee.

  “Ignore him,” Heidi said. “He’ll be fine tomorrow.”

  “I hope so,” Rylee mumbled.

  Kieran shoved his hands into his pockets. “How ‘bout we just give ‘im some space?”

  “Yeah, I could use some myself.” Brent grabbed his hoodie and headed out of the gym without looking back.

  I hated the frustrated look on his face. Brent never acted like he came from money, and the whole music and university thing was a sore spot between him and his dad. I couldn’t believe Seth had brought it up. Part of me was tempted to go after Brent and talk to him. I held back, unsure if he would want me around.

  Hopefully whatever had irritated Seth today would be gone by tomorrow.

  Chapter 8

  “We’re going shopping for costumes?” I tried not to snort. Could Rylee really be serious? I checked my blind spot and changed lanes. “It’s impossible to find a good parking spot downtown. We’re going to have park at the parking garage and walk to—”

  “Block up the road, car just pulling out, and the meter’s still got fifty minutes on it,” Rylee shouted, or it seemed that way to me. She popped her head forward from the backseat of the Bug. “See that car pulling out just past the lights?”

  “Quick, Zoe.” Heidi turned to Rylee. “Put your seatbelt on, girl. You’re going to get in an accident one day and there’ll be nothing there to stop you.”

  Rylee collapsed against the backseat. “Fine! But hurry, some dude’s going to steal it otherwise.”

  I laughed. “There’s no one in front of us, and the car’s barely pulled out.” I sped up anyway and then had to brake hard to let the humungous old car, with a tiny elderly lady driving, have enough space to pull out. One little tap from that car and my Bug would probably land six streets over. Manoeuvring an easy parallel park, I finished the skill by yanking the parking brake and cutting the engine.

  “I’ll feed the meter. I’ve got loads of change.” Heidi jumped out of the passenger seat and flipped the back of it over so Rylee could get out. She ran to the front of the Bug and tried to pop open the hood. “It’s stuck, Zoe.”

  Rylee crawled out the backseat. “It better not be. My school bag and purse are in there.” The ancient Bug had its trunk in the front and the tiny eng
ine in the back.

  “It’s locked.” I jingled the keys. “No super-hero or outfits required.”

  Rylee rolled her eyes. “We’re not going to buy stupid capes or anything like that. Think about it though.” She bent forward and grabbed her purse after I’d unlocked and opened the hood. “We need flexible clothes, like when we’re training.”

  “Seth warned me: nothing in hot pink,” Heidi called from the meter. “Though he did say he’d like a Superman shirt with an “S” for his name. And as for a cape, he’s ok with that.” She giggled and swung her purse over her shoulder. “So where are we going?”

  I dropped the hood and had to push it hard to get it to click shut. “Which way, Rylee?”

  “Maybe Value Village? We can find matching black pants or tights online or at the mall. Something from Under Armor or Nike or whatever, but we need to find some tops.”

  “Or,” I offered, getting a little excited despite my initial hesitation, “we could try the comic book store. The back part’s got shirts and paraphernalia.”

  “Awesome idea! If they’ve got nothing we like, at least we can brain storm and I’ll find the perfect outfit. I’ll find what we need.” Rylee grabbed both Heidi’s and my shoulders and swung us around to walk in the opposite direction. “It’s left at the corner and up the block a bit. Shorter than walking to Value Vil—”

  SLAM!

  Someone raced from around the corner of the building and banged into us. All three of us crashed to the concrete with the boy falling with us, his backpack tumbling and thumping to a stop against our parking meter.

  Ignoring the sharp, burning pain on my elbow, I cocked my head to see if I could hear anyone else coming. The grunt and heartbeat of the boy sounded familiar. I couldn’t see his face as I’d fallen with my back to him.

  All three of our senses must have picked up at the same time. “Kieran!”

  “Oye!” He pushed himself to standing and held out an arm to Rylee as Heidi and I sat up. “I’m sorry. I didna’ see you.” He reached for my hand and helped me up. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just scraped my elbow a bit.” I lifted my arm and touched it. Just my luck it was the same elbow that I’d banged at the water tower. Luckily no blood.

  He turned to help Heidi. “Why were you running so hard?” she asked.

  Kieran glanced behind him and did a full turn. “Where’s me bag?” He found it and raced over to grab it.

  “What were you running from?” Heidi repeated, louder.

  “Running from?” Kieran blinked and then smiled. “No. I saw the Bug drive through the lights an’ figured I’d try and catch up with you. Didna realize you were that close. I wanted to catch up, not catch you and send you flying. Sorry ‘bout that.”

  Rylee went to stand close to him. Very close. “Oh, did Seth tell you we were going to get some outfits?”

  “Outfits?” Kieran asked.

  “Costumes,” I muttered while Rylee rambled on.

  Heidi giggled and nudged me. She licked her lips and a weird look came over her face. “What’s up?” I whispered, even though it sounded like a shout to me.

  “I just got a weird taste in my mouth. Salty and ick.” She licked her lips again and swallowed.

  “I’ve got a water bottle in my bag. I’ll go grab it for you.” As I walked to the Bug, a loud ee-unn—ee-unn noise filled the air. I had to cover my ears from the noise. Police. That was probably where Heidi got the bad taste from. Using my shoulder to cover one ear, I popped open the front hood with my free hand and dug into the side of my backpack.

  Kieran came beside me. “D’you mind if I put me bag in here as well?” He glanced up and watched two police cars with sirens flashing race by us. “You okay?” He seemed pale.

  Cute, he’s worried about me.

  Rylee slipped her sunglasses on. She’d mentioned the other day that flashing lights bothered her eyes and gave her a headache.

  “You okay?” Kieran repeated, his lips close to my ear.

  I shivered. “It’s like a dog trying to ignore a dog whistle being blown inches from him. Toss your bag in. Did Rylee rope you into coming with us?” Spotting the water bottle, I grabbed it and leaned behind Kieran and tossed it to Heidi. “The bad taste is probably from them,” I said to Heidi, nodding my head back toward the direction the cruisers had raced.

  Kieran tossed his bag into the Bug and it landed with a clunk. “Here, let me get that for you.” His hands covered mine as he reached to close the hood. “Ow. Your elbow looks a wee bit rough. You mighten’ need a plaster.” His finger traced down my forearm but didn’t touch the scrape.

  “Plaster?” I sounded like a parrot. Stop staring into his eyes. I blinked several times but didn’t look away. I couldn’t think properly when I got lost in their oceans.

  “Band-Aid.” He corrected and winked at me.

  ”Oh. I’ve got some in the glove compartment.” Thanks, Dad, I owe you one.

  “I’ll grab you one.” He took my hand and led me over to a frowning Rylee and water-guzzling Heidi.

  “Can you grab me one as well?” Rylee said. “I’ve hurt my finger.”

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “I hope so. My nail broke right near the skin.” She wiggled her finger close to my face. “It’s going to hurt like a son-of-a-gun if I snag it.”

  Kieran returned with two Band-Aids and administered them to both of us. “So where were you girls going to when I bowled you over?”

  “Comic Book Store,” Rylee said, linking her arm though his. “I was thinking turquoise tops with some kind of superhero design. What do you think?”

  Heidi rolled her eyes and the two of us walked behind Rylee and Kieran. “We need something dark or unassuming. We want to go unnoticed, don’t you think?”

  Rylee crossed her arms. “I figured it’d be cool to have something blue. You know, like how we were all blue the night in the mine.”

  Kieran chuckled. “Nice idea. However, I think eventually we’re going to git noticed no matter how blue the color is.”

  “Why not a dark blue?” I thought of Brent and wondered how he was doing. He had acted normal at school today. So had Seth. Maybe they had talked and worked things out? Guys were so complicated to figure out.

  “Hmm… with dark blue, I could figure out some fancy design to do on the arm or over the wrist. Maybe we want a long sleeved and short sleeved shirt.” Rylee quickened her pace, looping her arm through Kieran’s again and pulling him along.

  We walked single file into the Comic Book Store, following Rylee’s lead. She went straight for the back room and started flipping through the clothes on the racks. Kieran leaned against the back wall, flipping through some comic book while Heidi and I checked the other rack. We had no idea what to look for, trying not to giggle too loud as we held up the ugliest tops we could find. We only showed each other, and Kieran.

  “I know what you guys are doing,” Rylee warned. She forced a hanger back onto the rack and shook her head. “We need a lightweight, maybe nylon or some kind of stretchy material.”

  “Like Spiderman’s?” Kieran held up the comic he was reading.

  Rylee snapped her fingers. “Exactly! That’s brilliant.”

  Heidi’s eyes shot my way and she mouthed the word “Brilliant?”

  I stifled back a giggle and had to pretend to sniff my nose and look for a Kleenex as I sniffed loudly again to try to cover myself.

  “Let’s go.” Rylee headed for the exit, her head down as she tapped with crazy fingers into her phone. “Can you drop me off first?”

  We all followed her lead. “What about costumes?” I asked.

  “They’re uniforms. Outfits,” Rylee corrected. “I’ve got the perfect thing.”

  “What is it?” Kieran asked.

  Rylee pressed a long, manicured finger over his lips. “Shhh…”

  I smiled when Kieran went cross-eyed as he stared down his nose at her finger.

  “It’s going to be a surprise. I just ne
ed to email Seth and Brent to find out their measurements. You guys email me yours as well. Everything, like height, leg length, shoe size, bra size.” She clapped her hands and squealed. “This is going to be so awesome!”

  I had a feeling it wouldn’t be, but held my tongue.

  Chapter 9

  Thursday after working out I rushed home, changed, and drove to Kieran’s. Training had gone well and the tension between Seth and Brent had disappeared. They had definitely worked things out, or had just simply ignored it the typical way only guys could do.

  I pulled my dilapidated Bug into his drive. You couldn’t miss the fresh cut grass and cleaned off walkway. Pulling the bag of groceries out of the car, I glanced around again. The cabin actually looked like a house now.

  The recently swept porch had a new swing set up. The front door was open with only the screen door closed but not locked. I knocked and opened it. Small town, everyone did it. “Hello? Kieran, it’s me.” I stepped in and looked around. The living room was empty. Sort of.

  The place had gone through major transformation since the last time I’d been there. The three-legged table was gone, a new wooden one sat in its place. All the litter and crap covering the floor had been cleared away. Kieran must’ve polished the floor. It shone like an ice rink. The TV was on, so Kieran had to be around.

  I jumped when a thundering filled my ears and crashed around inside my head. Shivering, my fingers pressed instantly to my temples to calm the noise. Down the hall, water began running. Pipes. Water pushing through the pipes to the faucet. If I wasn’t prepared, surprise noises still shocked me.

  Eyes closed, I listened to the sound of a pair of jeans dropping in a hamper and a shower door sliding open. Streaming water splashed against naked skin. Swallowing hard, I slipped into a now spotless kitchen and forced myself to block out the noise. I’m eavesdropping. I pulled out the tomato sauce Mom and I had canned over the summer and a bag of noodles, and set them on the counter. The onions, mushrooms, and peppers got stuffed into the fridge, along with the hamburger mince I’d bought. It was too early to start chopping and cooking dinner.