The big man wiped his mouth with a napkin and smiled. "Please, call me David," he said, pronouncing it in the Russian way with the stress on the second syllable instead of the first. “Well, I don't know if I would say that I was good, but I did well in a few competitions. I don't get to play much anymore, but I do have quite a collection of chess sets upstairs. Are you a grandmaster in the making?"
Rich shook his head. "I’ve never won a competition or anything, so you’d probably destroy me."
David laughed and pushed back from the table. "You never know, Rich. I am pretty rusty. Maybe after we clean up."
They all helped clearing the table and stacking the dishes in the sink. Nadia’s father swept, Nadia's mother wiped down the table, and Nadia loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. Rich asked if he could help, but it looked like they had the system down.
Rich felt a little awkward. These people were really nice, much nicer than he’d ever imagined, but it made him feel strange that Nadia wasn't saying anything. Was she embarrassed by her parents? Or did they just put on a nice face when other people were around? If so, they were really good actors.
After they cleaned up, Nadia motioned with her head for Rich to follow her. "Hey, Rich, can I talk to you? Wanna join me in the backyard? I don't really want anyone else listening in, and my parents will be distracted picking out the chessboard. Might be a while before they figure it out."
Rich followed Nadia to the backyard, which looked amazing. It had paths that wound up a grassy hill with a waterfall that fell into a pool. The top of the hill held a white gazebo that looked down on everything. "Let's head up there,” Nadia said. "It’s a nice place.”
Rich followed her, but he didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to being alone with girls his own age. Did Nadia think this was a date? It seemed the answer was yes if she wanted to hang out, just the two of them.
He suddenly had a mental image from one of his mom's favorite movies, The Sound of Music. The Nazi boy, Rolf, and the Austrian girl, Liesel, walked to a gazebo and broke into an elaborate dance number that ended with a kiss. He really hoped that none of those things were about to happen.
Or did he? As he glanced over at Nadia walking beside him, he realized she looked really pretty tonight. He didn't think she usually wore makeup at school, but now she was definitely wearing some, and her hair looked like she had spent some extra time making it nice. He didn't know what to call it—just that it looked . . . well . . . nice.
Rich already felt warm, but now he felt his temperature rising even more. What was he supposed to do if she wanted this to be romantic? That was definitely not his strong point.
They reached the gazebo and Rich turned back, looking out over the neighborhood with its winding rows of brightly lit houses. He stood close to Nadia, but not too close. He still wasn't sure what was going on. "So," he said. "Where’s your sister?"
"Off at summer camp," Nadia said, not looking at him.
Rich didn't know what to think about how Nadia was treating him. Was this anger or nervousness, or something else entirely? Then he remembered that he didn't have to look into her eyes anymore in order to get a deeper insight into how she was feeling.
Still looking away, she leaned on the railing. He didn’t have enough courage to take her hand, but he did gently touch her arm and ask, "Is something wrong?"
Before she could answer, a flood of images and feelings came over him. First, he saw a brief scene of watching him fight the Hydra, accompanied by a really strong sense of admiration and even a little jealousy. And then it switched to a few scenes of working with Bianca and how frustrated she had been. Over and over, she had tried to get Bianca to talk to her, but the little girl wouldn’t say a word. Then, he experienced feelings of intense sadness over learning the truth about the painful secret Bianca had been keeping inside.
Finally, he saw a guy from the community center, one of the guys who was in charge of the paintball guns at the obstacle course. She saw him stuffing supplies from one of the closets into a backpack and leaving through the front door. She called after him, but it was too late.
The connection vanished. Nadia finally turned to look at him, but to his relief, she didn’t flinch away. "I’m worried about something at the community center. The other day, I saw this guy named Trent stuffing things in his backpack before he left work. He knows I saw him and that nobody else was around. I don’t know why, but he’s stealing stuff."
Thanks to his vision, Rich knew exactly who that was. "Told anybody else about it?"
"No . . . I don't know what to do. Trent is the guy who got me my position there in the first place. The people who run the community center really like him, and I'm afraid that if I accuse him of something, they’ll believe him, and I’ll get kicked out."
Rich’s first thought was just to say, "Turn him in!" But before he said it, he thought about it again. Maybe there was a way he could help solve both parts of the problem.
"You need to make it more than your word against his," Rich said. "I can watch him, and if I catch them doing it, there will be two witnesses. Then we could go to the people in charge."
Nadia looked over at Rich as if seeing him for the first time. Often, she wore an expression that was supposed to show how tough she was. For the first time, he saw her without that mask.
"You’d do that? Yeah, that could work. On Monday right before he leaves for the day, he always stuffs things in his backpack. You can watch from the hall, and we could go to the director and…"
She stopped rambling, her mask returning. "Yeah, thanks, Rich. Sometimes you get so worried about a problem that you can't see this solution that's like, right there."
Rich nodded, starting to feel little better, a little more relaxed. "Yeah, no problem. I'll watch on Monday." Silence fell for a few moments, and Rich cleared his throat. "Want to go back inside now? I bet your dad’s found the right board."
To his surprise, Nadia laughed out loud. "Are you kidding? He probably hasn’t even has gotten through the first box. He sorts them by age, color, name, and country of origin. Kind of crazy."
She leaned back on the railing. "Besides, I gotta keep up appearances, right? My parents complain that I don't talk to them about boys, and you’re one of those, right?"
Rich nodded, though he couldn’t figure out something to say. Did this mean she was only pretending to like him to get her parents off her back? Maybe she really was still a bully.
Then he looked over and saw she was still wearing her real smile, which made him want to smile too. Girls were so confusing.
So they stood there for a while, looking out at the city and up at the many stars.
Chapter 11: Thick Skin
The next day at the community center passed really slowly. It was time for the Frisbee golf tournament, and even after he helped Angela set up the entire course, it had only been forty-five minutes. All day, he followed groups of kids flinging their Frisbees in every direction but the right one. Several of them managed to get their Frisbees stuck in trees or on top of the community center.
Rich’s imagination wandered. He saw himself as a Golden Retriever, playing fetch with a few dozen kids at once. He didn't see Nadia all day, but he did see Trent, who looked like he worked out every day for hours. Rich tried to keep an eye on him as much as he could during the day, but he didn’t want to watch too close or he’d tip him off.
At the end of the day, after the receptionist had gone home, Rich hid behind her desk in front. He waited for Trent, trying to make as little noise as possible and talking himself into not being so nervous.
This isn’t my nemesis, Rich thought. Even if Trent tried to punch me, I’d have my paladin powers to keep me safe. Not that he liked using his
powers in front of people who weren’t in the know.
Rich paused, holding his breath as he heard footsteps. He peeked out from under the desk to see that it was Trent coming. He was with one of the other girls who worked there. He sat talking to her for a while near the door, and Rich thought they would leave together.
Then Trent said good-bye to the girl and watched her go. Rich could see him looking left and right, placing his hand on the door handle. He hesitated only a few seconds before swinging it open and slipping into the supply closet, just as Nadia had said he would
Rich couldn’t see what was going on in there, but he could imagine just fine. In his mind’s eye, Trent wore black-and-white-striped clothing, and held a bag with a big dollar sign on front of it. A knot formed in Rich’s stomach as the moment of confrontation approached. It had been weird to see Nadia want something so badly from him. He really didn’t want to let her down.
The door swung back open, and Rich could see Trent stuffing some things into his backpack.
Rich took in a deep breath, wondering why this felt more difficult than trying to fight a dragon. He switched on his imagination, picturing himself as a police officer in uniform. He leaped to his feet and pointed a finger, wishing he actually had a Taser or something. “Hey, where are you going? Did someone say you could take that stuff?”
Trent’s mouth fell open, and it took him a moment to get any words out. “Uh…mind your own business. Who are you, a cop?”
Rich moved out from behind the desk, trying to take confident steps. “No, but you might be seeing the cops soon if you don’t give back what you took.”
Trent scoffed and threw the backpack over her shoulder. “Whatever, man. Nobody’s going to believe you. It’s just stupid stuff that nobody uses anyway.”
Rich’s mind spun, trying to figure out what to say. He didn’t want to mention Nadia’s name, but he did want to let Trent know he was serious. “I’m not the only who’s seen you, Trent. You’re not going to get away with this.”
Trent brushed him off and turned to go. “Yeah, whatever, man. Nobody cares.”
“Hey, Trent, why don’t we settle this another way? You and me, tomorrow, the obstacle course. If I win, you give back the stuff you took, and if you win, I’ll shut up forever and never bother you again.”
Trent turned, his annoyance becoming amusement. “You really think you can take me? Man, I’ve been doing this for four summers now.”
Straightening to his full height, Rich nodded. “Yeah, I can take you. Just give me the chance to prove it.”
“Okay.” Trent chuckled, shaking his head. “If you want to end up with a face full of mud, that’s up to you. I’ll go for it—if you let the rest of us use you as paintball target practice when you lose.”
Rich didn’t like that part at all, but instead of showing it, he only shrugged. “Sure. See you tomorrow.”
Trent turned again and left, and Rich thought he could still hear the guy laughing all the way.
* * *
Rich tried not to be nervous the rest of the day, but it was as if a black cloud followed him around, and the weather actually turned worse. Angela had asked him to stay a little longer for this special basketball camp they were doing. Most of the kids wanted to play outside, but when the lightning started up, Angela, Rich, and the others herded them back inside.
There was a basketball court indoors, but all the kids wanted to play at once, so that didn’t turn out well. Both teams were huge, and there were about forty-five basketballs in play at all times.
When it was time to go, Rich felt exhausted, and dreaded riding home through the storm. He thought about calling Aunt Laura and having her pick him up. He could put his bike in the back of her truck, but he thought it might be too much trouble.
Rich started off in the rain, taking things slow. His favorite part was about halfway home—a long hill that was a beast to get up, but was a lot of fun riding down. He could see from the top of the hill that the rainwater had pooled at the bottom, creating an enormous puddle.
He stopped, wondering if he should walk his bike down instead, but because he was already soaking wet, it wouldn’t matter if he rode through a big puddle. In fact, it might be kinda fun. He hopped back on and started forward anyway, but then his eyes grew wide. There reflected in the puddle at the bottom of the hill was Mallory’s grinning face. As he approached, she laughed and laughed in time with the thunder around him.
He tried to slow the bike, but the brakes weren't working. He picked up speed, water splashing all around him as he shot down the hill. On either side, the gutters ran with rivers of water.
He held on with all his strength and braced himself. It was either splash into the puddle or jump off, which he didn't want to try. After hitting the puddle at high speed, Rich flew free from the bike and sailed through the air. He could hear the rumbling, mocking thunder all around him.
Rich was just beginning to wonder how many bones he was going to break when something happened he hadn’t expected. His entire body went rigid, and was suddenly very cold. He hit the ground, but instead of landing on his soft skin and brittle bones, he bounced like a rock skipping over the surface of a lake.
A second after he hit the ground, his body returned to normal. He lay there on someone's lawn, sinking into the mud, surprised at how little he felt—practically nothing. He tried to stand, putting pressure on his legs slowly in case something was broken, but he felt totally fine. Once on his feet, he flexed his arms and legs. Nothing. He was in serious need of a shower, but not a doctor.
Still confused, he ran back over to his bike and saw that it had not done so well. The front tire was definitely flat, and the spokes looked bent out of shape. This was as far as it was going today.
He picked up the broken bike and started pushing it the rest of the way home. It would definitely take longer, but there was no way he was going to ride anywhere with a flat tire and twisted wheel.
The thunder died down, but in every puddle he passed, Mallory’s image came up again, smirking, laughing, or just staring at him in a really creepy way. He made sure to stamp in every puddle he could.
When he finally got home, Aunt Laura took one look at him and threw up her hands. She snatched some towels and wrapped him up, then had him take off his soggy shoes and socks before sending him to the shower.
As soon as he closed the bathroom door, Rich looked in the mirror, and his breath caught. Mallory stared back at him in the reflection. How was he going to take a shower now? She mouthed the words, "Hi, Richie!" and gave a little wave.
Completely weirded out, he hopped into the shower with his clothes on and undressed behind the curtain. Ever since the incident at the community center, he’d stopped letting his showers build up steam.
When he was done, he reached out with one arm and wrapped towels around himself before he climbed out. He ran past the mirror and up to his room.
After dressing, Rich went right for the golden chess piece that let him communicate with his grandparents and gripped it firmly with one hand. His grandmother's voice came into his mind after only a few seconds. "Yes? What is it, Heinrich?"
Rich told her about what happened, and how he hadn’t gotten hurt. When he was done, he waited for a response, which he only got after a long pause.
"My, my, that is interesting. It appears that one of your rook powers manifested itself before you completed your training. That can happen when you're working toward something and you’re in great danger. When you’re a full-fledged rook, you will be able to defend yourself temporarily by developing a stone skin. It makes it so that flames and falls won’t hurt you, as you discovered. Comes quite handy in battle."
"You mean I'll be able to do
that on command?" Rich asked.
"Yes," came his grandmother's voice. "In castling, too. When you see someone in trouble, you'll be able to trade places with them and get them out of harm’s way. All these things will serve you very well when you enter the Corridor again."
Rich nodded, thinking how much easier the fight against the Gigantaurs would have been with a few extra powers to back him up. Even then, he didn't know if he really had what it took to go back.
"Heinrich, I know this is a lot. We have never recommended someone for rook training so quickly, but these are not normal times, and you're not a normal person. You have the potential to be one of the greatest paladins who has ever lived. I know that's hard for you to see right now, so until it happens, you're just going to have to believe a proud grandmother."
Somehow, not only her words, but her love and affection for him came through the message. Rich smiled and held the grin a lot longer than usual. That was just the sort of thing he needed right now. Perhaps grandmothers had some sort of special sense about that. "Thanks, Oma," Rich said, calling her by the old German word for “grandma.” "I’ll let you know what happens next."
"Thank you. Good-bye, Heinrich. Get some good sleep and stay on your toes, but not at the same time. You never know what your nemesis is going to be up to next. Unfortunately, she's remarkable as well."
The connection ended. Rich settled in his seat, his smile trickling away. If they were both remarkable, the question had to be, who was the most remarkable? That had yet to be answered.
Chapter 12: Overcoming Obstacles
From the Quest Log of Phillip Witz
It was strange being so close to Jezreel again. She hardly looked to have aged a day. One thing was for certain—her crafty mind understood the maze. She solved many a puzzle that I’m certain would have kept me guessing for a long time.
When Mercurio awoke, he wanted nothing to do with Jezreel. I tried to convince him that she had saved our lives and had helped us progress much farther than I’d ever thought we’d get, but he would have none of it. He stormed off down a dark hallway and disappeared. I have not seen him since, though I tried to follow him.
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