“I know,” Kat says.
“And that’s not my mom. She’d never be caught dead in public so… underdressed.”
I glance over at the picture. It’s Kat’s mom, trying on a big straw hat at the mall last month. She’s wearing a T-shirt and jeans, which aren’t anything fancy, but which I don’t think any sane person would call underdressed.
“I mean,” Katherine goes on, “Mom doesn’t leave the house unless she’s in designer everything.”
Kat looks at the picture. “My mom got that shirt at a department store.”
Katherine wrinkles her nose.
Kat scowls at her and grabs her phone back.
I very subtly tilt my head toward Katherine and wiggle my fingers, miming using my power.
Kat’s eyes widen, and she shakes her head.
“What?” Katherine asks, suddenly noticing our exchange.
“Nothing,” Kat says. “But you’ve seen proof. If you’re going to call security, then do it. Otherwise, we really need your help. Xavier’s going to do something really terrible, only we don’t know what it is, and… I know he’s your fiancé, and I know you have no reason to help us, but I also know what I would do in this situation. If I found out someone I cared about was about to do something horrible and hurt people, I’d want to know. I’d want to stop them. And even though there are some obvious differences between us, I’m betting you’d want to do the same.”
Chapter 27
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE really Son of Flash!” Katherine presses her hands to her cheeks, which have turned slightly pink. She’s also kind of staring at me with her mouth hanging open a little.
Which I guess means she believes us.
“That’s not me,” I tell her. “I’m from a different dimension.”
“But you must be on the show in your world, too, and I’m probably never going to meet the real Son of Flash, and I’ll never get the chance to tell him how much I love his show.” She laughs nervously.
“Seriously?” I make a face at her. “His show is stupid.”
“You’ve never seen it,” Kat says.
I give her a look. “It’s stupid, Kat. There’s no way it’s not. And I’m not on my dad’s show back home, so—”
“You did an episode.”
“Once, and she hasn’t seen it. And,” I add, raising an eyebrow at Katherine, “I thought you said you only watch it occasionally?”
“That might have been an understatement. You can’t tell anybody, though. It would ruin my reputation. And that show is stupid as hell—you’re not wrong about that—but I, um, don’t exactly watch it for its safety tips, if you know what I mean.” She looks me over, the pink on her cheeks turning red.
Kat laughs.
I sort of stare at Katherine, trying to come to terms with this. “You like him? That hero douche? And stop looking at me like that—we’re nothing alike!”
“Well,” Kat says, “you are both easy on the eyes.”
Katherine clicks her tongue in agreement, and then they both laugh.
I glare at them. “For the last time, he looks nothing like me.”
Katherine clears her throat. “Xavier hates that I watch your show.”
“Again, not my show.” And I’ll bet he does.
“He saw me watching it a couple weeks ago and started going off about how stupid it is. And I said of course it’s stupid, because, like, duh, but that I watched it because of Son of Flash. I admitted I’d always had a teeny, tiny crush on you—er, on him—because I didn’t think it meant anything. I mean, if I knew it was going to hurt Xavier and make him freak out, I wouldn’t have said anything. I thought we would laugh about it, but he got really upset. He started being a real jerk about it, and we’ve sort of been in a fight ever since.” She folds her arms across her chest and lets out a deep breath.
“He’s Son of Flash’s half brother,” I tell her.
“He’s… what?!” Katherine’s eyes go wide. “No way. That’s not possible. His mom would never—”
“But she did,” Kat says. “In our world, too.”
Katherine raises her eyebrows at me. “You’re sure?”
“I think I know who my own mom is, so, yeah. Plus, Xavier and Other Damien both confirmed it.”
“Wow.” She presses a hand against the edge of her desk, like she’s so stunned she needs to brace herself. “That’s… That would explain a few things. Like why he freaked out.”
Kat bites her lip, looking worried. “We ran into your dad on the way in here. He really wants you guys to get married.”
“I know.” Katherine nods. “I only started seeing Xavier in the first place because my parents wanted me to.”
“What? Really?” Kat looks appropriately horrified by that.
Katherine just shrugs it off. “That’s how it started, but now it’s more than that. We really get each other, you know? Well, mostly. Obviously we don’t agree on everything”—she looks over at me and sighs—“and I’ll admit I don’t like everything he does. His mom’s always pushing him to be more of a hardcore villain. As if he needs the encouragement. But he’s fun and adventurous and kind of wild. Everything that I’m not. And we both know what it’s like to grow up in a prominent villain family and all the pressures that comes with.”
“So,” Kat says, speaking slowly, “your parents told you to start dating him, and you did? Just like that?”
She shakes her head. “I was reluctant at first. We didn’t know each other, and I think I’d maybe met him once at some business function for, like, five seconds? But all the boys at Vilmore are just into me because of who my family is. At least with Xavier, I know that’s not a thing. He didn’t even want to date me, either, not at first, but his parents pressured him, just like mine did. And I figured I was going to end up with somebody from an important villain family one way or another, and the two of us being together made our parents happy. Not just them, but, like, everybody. Golden City can’t get enough of Xatherine.”
I cringe at that.
Kat’s gaping at her. “So you’re going to marry him? Just to make other people happy?!”
“When the two of us got engaged, stocks for Wilson Enterprises skyrocketed. I have to think about my future and the future of everything my parents have built. What I’ve helped build. They’re counting on me to do my part to make this company a success, and I could do a lot worse than Xavier Locke.”
I’m not sure that’s true.
“But you’re helping us,” Kat says, hesitation in her voice. “Or at least you haven’t kicked us out yet.”
“Like I said,” Katherine goes on, “I don’t agree with everything Xavier does. I like that he’s adventurous and a little crazy, but sometimes he needs to rein it in.”
“He’s a complete psychopath, you mean,” I tell her.
Katherine’s expression sours a little. She looks hurt by that.
“Damien,” Kat says through clenched teeth.
“What? He’s tried to kill me more than once. I’m just calling it like I see it.” Though maybe I should wait to call it like I see until after she’s given us the info we need.
“He’s not a psychopath,” Katherine says, though she doesn’t sound completely certain of that.
“Do you know what he’s working on?” Kat asks, trying to change the subject.
“I don’t—”
“There’s a crystal thingy. About this big.” I hold up my thumb and forefinger, trying to indicate the size of it.
Recognition sparks in Katherine’s eyes. “Oh! That.”
“You know what it’s for?”
“Nope. I know it was crazy expensive and hard to get, and that his mom said if he ever let anything happen to it, she’d legit murder him. But other than that…”
Great. That’s not really anything we didn’t already know. I sigh.
“Are you sure?” Kat says. “You don’t remember anything else about it?”
“Well…” Katherine purses her lips, her
forehead creasing. She taps a finger to her chin. “I think he said something about modding some portal machine?”
“The portal device?” I offer.
“That’s it!” Katherine snaps her fingers. “Something to do with going between dimensions? I kind of blocked it out, because it sounded crazy, but”—she looks over at us—“I guess it must have worked.”
Sarah looks at me, then over at Other Sarah, like she’s not sure which one of them I was talking to.
I say it again. “I need you to make something that will protect us.”
“Protect you from what?”
I look over at Kat. We’re back at Other Sarah’s house. Riley’s sitting in Other Sarah’s computer chair. He frowns, looking worried.
“We don’t know,” I tell Sarah. “Something to do with the portal device.”
“He’s doing something to it with that crystal,” Kat adds. “But other than that… All we know is that it’s dangerous.”
Sarah swallows. “I’m not the one who made the portal device.” She looks at Other Sarah.
Other Sarah adjusts her glasses, pushing them farther up the bridge of her nose. “Not knowing what we’re supposed to protect you from is going to make it difficult.”
“Some protection will be better than none.” Hopefully. “But I know you can come up with something.” I look at Sarah when I say that.
She sighs. “You were so sure I could make a working portal device in only a couple of hours, too, and look how that turned out.”
“All you have to do is come up with something. I’m not asking for miracles here, just… I don’t know. Something that will give us a chance against him.”
“I know you don’t like it when I say this, Renegade, but can’t you just…” She glances over at Other Sarah and goes quiet, like she doesn’t want to say it out loud. Instead, she splays out her fingers and pretends to zap someone.
Other Sarah frowns in confusion.
“I have to get close enough first,” I tell Sarah. “And we don’t know what he’s planning.”
“Alright,” she says, letting out a deep breath. “We’ll do our best.”
“Whatever you make, we’re going to need at least two of them. One for me, and one for…” I look around, realizing other me isn’t here. “Where’s Other Douche?”
Both Sarahs scowl at me when I say that. So does Riley.
“He went home just after you left,” Other Sarah says. “To make sure his family knew he was okay. But that was a couple hours ago, and he’s not answering his phone. I know it hasn’t really been very long, and maybe he got distracted, but with everything that’s been going on and after he disappeared for two weeks… I’m getting kind of worried.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea, X?” Riley asks me when we get to Other Damien’s house.
We’re standing outside the front door. I’m not sure if I should knock or just go in. It’s only the two of us, since Kat stayed behind with the Sarahs, partly because Sarah asked her to for moral support, and partly because Other Sarah said they might need an extra set of hands.
“You mean because his family might freak out if they see that there’s two of us?”
“For a start. We don’t know what he’s told them.”
I raise a knowing eyebrow at him. “Don’t we? I’m his evil twin from another dimension who was raised by his crazy mom and has lightning powers. There’s no way in hell he told them about me.”
“Well…” Riley scratches the side of his face. “You might have a point. But all the more reason why it might not be a good idea for you to be here. It only takes one of us. I could knock on the door and ask if he’s home. No need to—”
“To what, Perkins? Scare his family? Remind them that their perfect hero son has some villain DNA? Because they’re going to have to face the truth sooner or later.”
Riley scowls at me. “I was thinking it might be weird for you. They’re not going to be like your family. If they find out who you are…”
“You mean they might be letterist jerks.”
He shrugs and looks away. “Something like that. They’ll look like your family, but they won’t actually be them, and if they say something to you… Well, I just know that if I came here and Mom and Zach were different and said crazy stuff to me, that’s not something I’d want to go through, you know?”
I see his point. I consider how weird it might be to actually meet these people, but am I really going to turn back after coming all this way? “I’ll be okay, Perkins. I don’t care what these—”
The front door opens. Other Gordon’s standing there. “I thought I heard you out here.” He glances over at Riley, then back at me. “That was quick. I thought you said you were going to Riley’s house.”
“So, uh, I was just here?”
He squints at me, like he can’t understand why I’m asking that.
“I mean, I was just here. And I was going to Riley’s house.”
“But then I came over here instead,” Riley says.
“Did you change your clothes?” Other Gordon asks. Then he shakes his head, dismissing it. “I’m glad you’re here, Damien, because there are some important things we still need to talk about.” He glances up and down the street, like he’s worried about being overheard, then motions for us to follow him inside.
Their house looks really similar to ours. Except our couch is a medium blue and theirs is dark red with a floral print. And all the family photos have Other Damien in them.
“Weird,” Riley whispers. “It’s just like your house. Only… not.”
I nod.
Gordon looks at me, then at Riley. “I’m not sure your friend should be here for this.”
Great. Other Damien disappears for two weeks, and I’m the one who’s about to get yelled at for it.
Riley looks nervous. “I, um, I can go if you want, X—Damien,” he adds real quick, off the half-horrified, half-offended look Other Gordon gives him.
“Stay. Or, actually, maybe we should both go. We’ll be back later. You can talk to me then.” I move to leave.
“Damien, sit down,” Other Gordon growls, sounding an awful lot like the real Gordon back home. “We need to talk.”
Erg. Me and Riley sit down on the couch, which is kind of stiff. And seeing it up close, I really hate the floral print.
Other Gordon looks over at Riley, like he really can’t believe I’d want him here for this, then launches into his lecture anyway. “You were gone for almost two weeks.”
“I can explain. I was—”
He holds up a hand for me to stop. “I already told you earlier, I don’t want to hear it.” He holds up his other hand, too, like the first one wasn’t enough. “Whatever you were doing, I don’t need to know.” He flinches.
“What?” I glance over at Riley, who looks just as confused as I do. “What does that mean?”
“It means I know that you’re… not like the rest of us. I can accept that.” He says that slowly, like he’s trying to convince himself of it. “But just because I accept that doesn’t mean I want to know the details.”
“The details of what?”
Other Gordon swallows. “This isn’t the first time you’ve disappeared.”
“It’s not?”
He takes a deep breath. “There was that time you didn’t come home one night. You said you fell asleep at Riley’s and forgot to call, but…”
“But what?”
“But I don’t know what to believe.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “We’ve always known there might be manifestations of your… your other half.”
Riley sits up straighter.
An uneasy feeling squirms in my stomach. “I’m not a werewolf.”
“He was at my house that night,” Riley says. “He didn’t do anything.”
Other Gordon acts like he didn’t hear him. “And now you were gone for two weeks. I just…”
I gape at him. “You think, what? That I was off doing villain stuff?”
<
br /> Other Gordon holds up his hands again. “Damien, I don’t want to hear about it”
“But that’s not—”
“He was with me,” Riley says. “We went camping. It was a last minute thing. We thought we texted you, but I guess it didn’t go through.”
“Don’t,” Other Gordon says. “I saw you with Sarah last week. I know you weren’t camping.” He looks over at me. “She tried to cover for you, too, by the way. But I know you weren’t with either of them.”
“What do you think I did?” My voice comes out a whisper. I can’t believe this. I’ve known Other Damien for less than two weeks, and even I know that he’d never do whatever it is Other Gordon thinks he did. I mean, Other Gordon seems to think Other Damien’s brain was taken over by some wild villain urges and that he was off on some kind of maniacal villain bender, which doesn’t make any sense at all and is frankly super offensive.
“It doesn’t matter what you did. That’s not what this is about. The important thing is to focus on what we’re going to do next. We’re going to need to plan our strategy for the next few weeks very carefully in order to fix your reputation and make sure everyone knows you’re still a hero.”
“Fix my reputation? From what? I wasn’t even here—I didn’t do anything.”
“You were gone from the public eye for weeks. You weren’t on the show. Nothing. The people of Golden City were left to speculate. They think maybe you had some kind of breakdown, and there have been some reports in the tabloids of you supposedly appearing as a villain and terrorizing people downtown at night.”
“That wasn’t me!”
He doesn’t acknowledge my outburst, like maybe he’s not sure if he should believe me or not. “There were photos. Really grainy photos that don’t prove anything one way or the other.”
“It wasn’t him.” Riley’s eyebrows come together. “You should know that.”
The Rivalry of Renegade X Page 22