And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) (28 page)

9

“I’m sorry about that, John.”

I didn’t look up from my cereal. I knew what she meant, but I was pissed.

“I should have talked to you about it first.”

I kept eating.

“John?”

Nothing. I kept quiet.

“John?”

Still I kept quiet.

And then Holly decided to join the conversation, and my mind felt like it would split in two. Her beacon blasted on and off quickly, like someone blowing an air horn in my brain.

Ow! What?

Johnny, talk to Mommy. Why are you being such a turd?

There you have it.

I was a turd.

But Holly was right.

Rubbing my head, I finally answered. “Fine, yes. Mom, look. I would have appreciated a heads-up about Marcos. You know, it was a nice idea and all, but it just came out of nowhere. If you think I need help, it’d be good for you to, I don’t know, maybe tell me first.”

“You’re right, John. I was wrong to ask Marcos to come here without your approval. I’m sorry.” Her face told me she meant it.

My chest puffed up in righteous vindication. But that immediately felt wrong. Despite the fact that I was in the right, Holly was staring at me. And that was enough.

Holly could make me feel like the tiniest ant. It was a superpower of hers, but it wasn’t from her power, if you know what I mean. My sister simply owned me in that way.

All of a sudden, I felt like
I
had done something wrong.

How does that happen?

“It’s fine. It’s done. And besides,” I said, mumbling through munched cereal, “maybe he can teach me a thing or two, after all.”

Mom smiled. “Good, John. Glad to hear that.” She turned toward Holly and frowned. “Holly? What’s wrong, honey?”

Probably a casual observer wouldn’t even have noticed, but we were family, and, given Holly’s lack of vocabulary, we had become quite adept at picking up on gestures and smaller things.

Holly was scratching her arm. Not drawing blood or anything crazy, but not just lightly relieving an itch, either. I reached out to her mind again.
Okay, sis?

Yeah, Johnny. It just stings.

The sunburn feeling?

Yes.

Is it getting worse again?
Getting worse meant Gorgol Alpha was getting closer. And that was something we had to keep tabs on.

She nodded.

“It’s the feeling she gets, from the Gorgol,” I told Mom. “It’s getting stronger.”

“How strong?” Mom asked.

Is it changing quickly, Hol?

Yeah, I think. Maybe I’m just used to it by now, but I don’t remember even feeling it when I woke up this morning. Now, it’s really itchy. Really…

She searched for the word, so I offered a few.
Painful?
She shook her head.
Hot?
Holly just screwed up her face in a way I knew meant
No
. What other word could it be?

Intense.
Having found the word, she rocked a bit in her chair, satisfied.

That settled it. Alpha was coming, finally. “Mom, I need to show you something.” I went to my room, and Mom and Holly followed.

Using my computer, it wasn’t hard to get a general sense of where Alpha was, how far away she was and what direction she was heading. She was definitely coming for us. For Holly. “I need you to take Holly and leave town,” I said. Mom didn’t argue. We’d been through enough that she trusted me on this. Besides, she’d been the one to tell me to kill if need be. “Look.” I pointed to the spot on the map where Alpha was, drew a line to us, then kept drawing that line past our town. “Go this way, directly away from Alpha. I don’t want her to realize you’re getting away, so try to go as straight as you can. If she feels that sunburn thing, too, it’ll get lighter for her, but I think that will be gradual, so maybe she won’t really notice until it’s too late.”

Pointing out the obvious flaw in my plan, Mom’s eyes slid to the right on the map, until brown ended and blue began. “What do we do when we get to the ocean? We can’t keep going straight.”

No idea
. That’s what I thought, but I couldn’t say it. I realized that I was suddenly taking on a role my dad might have fulfilled in the past — the planner. It reminded me of the last vacation he ever planned. “Playa Beach.”

“Huh? Head north to Playa Beach?”

Sure, why not? It was either north or south, and at least if she went to Playa Beach, I’d know where to find her
. “Yeah, Playa Beach. If you reach the ocean and haven’t heard from me, go north to Playa Beach. I’ll come find you there.”

Mom turned Holly’s chair toward the hallway. “Come on, young lady. We need to pack.”

“Wait. One more thing,” I said.

Mom turned back. “What is it, John?”

I looked past her. “Not you. Holly.”

Yeah, Johnny?

Hol, I need you to try something, as hard as you can.

Try what, Johnny?

I spoke out loud so Mom would hear it, too. “Try as hard as you can to break the connection. The way you can turn on and off your beacon? Try to turn off your connection to Alpha.”

10

“Isn’t this the part where there should be a montage?”

“Showing what? It’s not like we’re building a sand pit or wiring a bomb. We’re just waiting here.” It was the truth. I had killed two Gorgols, and honestly I wasn’t all that afraid of the third. The hardest part would be getting up to the sensitive parts — her eyes, mouth, or maybe even her ears or nostrils. I winced. The idea of acting as a giant earwax swab or nose-picker wasn’t all that appealing.

There was, of course, one major difference in this fight: Jake. I really didn’t know what to expect from the Jake-plus-Alpha combo attack.

But I still wasn’t worried.

When the time came, I knew I would get mad. And then I knew what would happen to Jake and Alpha. My anger was deadly.

I’d resigned myself. Alpha wasn’t going to stop coming for Holly, and Jake apparently wasn’t going to stop coming for me. Mom, Bobby, probably Pip, too — wherever she was — all agreed. It was time. Maybe with them gone I could figure out the anger boiling inside me. Maybe.

Still, I didn’t want to do anything stupid. Bobby and I waited on the roof of a building just west of town, one that housed a bunch of doctors’ offices. It was the tallest building we could find, clocking in at 12 stories — 50 percent taller than old Mount Trashmore. That meant it was a bit more than half of Alpha’s full height. The idea was to attack quickly: draw the beast close and then launch myself from the rooftop. We figured that would take less time than jumping from the ground, giving her as little time as possible to react. Or Jake to tell her to react. Or both.

Bored, I sat down on the flat roof with my back to the low perimeter wall, dropping my black mask to one side.

“Did you call her?”

Bobby nodded, sitting beside me. “Yeah, but… I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Johnny. Pip’s not going to forgive you any time soon.” He scuffed his shoes on the white rubbery surface of the roof. “Do you like her, Johnny?”

“Yeah, Bobby, of course. I really am sorry about what I did.”

“No, I mean, do you
like
her? You told me before she was your dream girl.”

“Well, there was a time when the only way I knew her was from dreams…”

Bobby pursed his lips, thinking. “Which technically was from
my
dreams, right?”

“I suppose so, yeah. You actually knew her. I got the vision of her from your mind.”

Bobby nodded and made sort of satisfied little grunt.

“Why are you asking all this, Bobby?”

“Passing time, waiting for a monster to show up,” he said, grinning.

But he wasn’t just passing time. I knew Bobby too well to believe that. He was prodding for information, and sounded smug about what he’d found out. The whole issue boiled down to one thing, which was clear in teenage-boy parlance. Bobby wanted me to step aside. He was interested in Pip. And why not? She was beautiful, albeit in a sort of beautifully dangerous kind of way. She was smart. Fierce. Plus she was what my grandmother used to call “full of piss and vinegar,” which was basically a strange way to say she did what she wanted and said what she meant. Not sure which one of those things was the piss and which was the vinegar. Remind me to ask my grandmother some time.

Of course
, I thought.
Those
were
Bobby’s dreams. So when it seemed like Pip was my dream girl, she was really…

Yellow Fury had a thing for Red Hope?
What a tangled superhero web we weave.
Of course, the fact was he could literally be himself with Pip. No secrets about powers or where he went off to in the night, fighting Gorgols and evil villains. No lying about belts and being double-jointed.

I think it also explained the whole business with Bobby delivering the belt. She had gotten
me
a present. In a way, him giving it to me showed he was jealous.

Idly, I fiddled with the buckle of the new double-belt. “Did Pip get you anything?”

Bobby smirked and shook his head. “Nope.”

Bobby’s dream girl. Suddenly, remembering our times together, I felt like the world’s worst third wheel. And then I realized something.

I bet that’s how Bobby has felt the whole time.

11

“Oh shit,” I said, peering over the edge of the roof. “Wait here!” I ran for the door that led back to the elevator, then turned quickly back to Bobby and shoved my black mask into his hands. “And hold this!”

Inside, I pushed the only button there was — down — and waited. An interminable amount of time. Finally the elevator arrived, but even just the sliding of the doors — slowly opening, then after a healthy pause, slowly closing again — seemed to take forever.

I watched the number above the door blink on and off, counting down, at a pace that would have made a turtle tap its foot with agitation. Anticipating when “L” would light up and the lazy doors would open, I tensed. The moment the doors began to move, I took a quick glance into the lobby, saw no one, and willed my body to sluice through the thin gap.

This is what I had become. A guy who used amazing physical powers to get out of an elevator faster. Please, try to stifle your applause.

Sure, I could’ve just floated down from the rooftop. That would have been quicker. But someone might have seen
that
. Most likely the someone I was hurrying to catch: Carrie.

I called out to her. In the time it had taken me to get from the rooftop to the ground floor, she’d passed the building and was already a block and a half away. I called again, and she turned, giving me a little wave. There was an awkward moment. Would she turn back and walk to me? Should I walk to her?
No, stupid, you need to go to her. You’re the one chasing her down. Besides, she was ticked off about the belt thing. Go to her.
So I did.

“Hey, Carrie. What are you doing around here?”

“Dentist appointment. Just finished.” That’s all she said. Rather curt. She didn’t even smile to show off her professionally cleaned teeth.

“Your dentist took appointments today?”

She nodded. “Yeah, he says it’s impossible to be closed all the time just because something
might
happen. I mean, what are the odds, right?”

Pretty good, today
, I thought.
I looked around and didn’t see anyone else. “And you walked? Alone?”

“Yeah, my dad’s office is just around the corner. He’ll drive me home.” She looked like she was ready to leave, darting her eyes to one side.

“Carrie, I…” I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. I lied to you. This belt… It’s not from my mom.”

She rolled her eyes. My heart fluttered. A bit. It was distracting. “Well, duh.”

“I don’t know why I said that. It’s just a gift, from a friend, who is a girl. Not a
girlfriend
.”

“Maybe she thinks she’s your girlfriend.”

I had no answer to that. Maybe she did, but if so, my cutting off her hand probably put an end to that. Although I couldn’t exactly explain it that way to Carrie. “Well, I don’t think that. I have a girlfriend. Or at least, I hope so.”

Carrie was silent, raising both eyebrows. Waiting.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Wow, that sounded official. It also sounded incredibly lame and awkward. But she smiled. And, you know, her teeth did look whiter than I recalled. Dazzling, even. Nice work, Mr. Dentist.

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing for a while now, John?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” We shared that sort of sappy young-hearts look that is horrible and silly for anyone watching, but pretty awesome for the people doing it.

And then Bobby spoke in my mind.
Johnny. It’s go time. Gonna need you back here, pronto.

Crap.

I must have looked distracted. “Something wrong, John?” Carrie asked. The look she’d been giving me disappeared.

“Um, hey. Are you leaving this area soon?”

She furrowed her brow.

Yeah, that was a horrible way to ask. “Sorry, I mean, is your dad taking you home soon?”

“He was supposed to drive us home as soon as I got to his office.”

“Oh, good. Then, you should go.” Again, she gave me a strange look. “I mean, I don’t mean to keep you.”

“
Keep me
? Why are you suddenly being weird, John?”

A helicopter zoomed overhead. In the distance, there were popping sounds and a low rumble.

Need you back here, partner. Coming in hot.

Just a second!
I shot back to Bobby.

“Is something going on?” Carrie said.

“Yeah, maybe. I think it would be safest for you to get home, Carrie.”

A second helicopter flew over. Not the light, rounded news-chopper style, but the heavy, angular military kind, guns hanging off each side.

“Oh, my God, is that monster
here
?”

“I think so.”

Johnny! Where are you?

Carrie shivered. “John, I’m scared. You need to come with me to my dad’s office. We can take you home, too.”

John!

Another set of popping sounds, closer this time.

And then she roared. Alpha let out a shriek of rage that echoed off the nearby buildings. Carrie instinctively hunkered up her shoulders. “Come on, John!” She reached for my hand, turning to guide me away.

But I pulled out of her grasp.

“I can’t.”

“What are you talking about? We’ve
got
to get out of here!”

Okay, I guess I’m flying solo, Johnny. Please at least tell me you’ll bring flowers to my funeral.

I rolled my eyes. At Bobby, but Carrie didn’t know that.
Shut up, Bobby. I’m on the way.

Carrie reached for my hand again. “You’re scaring me, John. Come on.”

I took her hand in both of mine, not letting her lead me away, but holding on for a moment. “I can’t. You know my friend, Bobby Graden?” She nodded. “Well, he’s back there somewhere. I need to go find him. You go to your dad, quick. Get home. Bobby and I will get out of here as soon as I find him.”

It was a lie, but there were truthful bits in it. Like putting candy sprinkles on a dog turd. But it was the best I had.

“I—” Carrie started, but I had to interrupt.

“Go! I’ll call you later!” I released her hand and began to leave.

And in the split second before I turned away, I saw a look of confusion on her face. Maybe disappointment.

I thought that would be the thing that hurt me more than anything else that day. And it was, emotionally.

Physical hurt is another story.