And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) (6 page)

9

Bobby tried to punch me in the arm, but of course, that didn’t work. He just rolled his eyes. “See? I
told
you we should have taken on the Gorgols!”

“She didn’t beat them,” I said.

“She?”

“Oh, come on, Bobby,” I said, rounding on him. “You know who that was.”

“Pip?”

“Um, yeah.”

“I thought that was just my imagination.”

“Nope, it wasn’t.”

“Then it’s even more important to go fight. Pip will need our help. I know she was a student of Sol and all, and that may make you not want to help her, but I was one of those students for a while, too. Besides, Pip was different. She was never mean, like the others could be. I honestly think she saw something good in what Sol was trying to do, and she wanted to stick around to make sure that came through.”

“Is that why she was the one he left in charge of Holly?” I asked, almost spitting the words.

“Yes, actually. She didn’t approve of that whole thing, but she stuck around to be sure that
someone
was taking care of Holly. Ask your sister.”

“I plan to,” I said.

“Besides, you… you had a thing for Pip, right?” Bobby said. His tone was off, softer than normal. He sounded unsure.

With Carrie still fresh on my mind, I bristled. “I never even
met
her, Bobby.” That was true, but the underlying secret was that I
did
have a thing for her. Having just been on my first-ever date, I suddenly felt like I was cheating.

Bobby shook off whatever he’d been feeling and smiled. “Somehow, for people like us, I don’t think that matters as much. You
know
her. She may even know you.”

I walked away. We were grabbing a snack in my kitchen after school. Kicking Bobby out of my house would be extreme. Walking into the other room was a mild but notable protest.

So I turned on the TV. And of course, the main topic of coverage was the Gorgols. Pip seemed to have disappeared, but the monsters continued to traipse through seaside towns, wreaking havoc. The newscasts were keeping a tally of the dead. It was getting worse. The Gorgols were beginning to push inland, and that really freaked people out. Folks who lived along the ocean had migrated to the hills, and now the hills suddenly were unsafe as well.

The funny thing, though, was how the people on TV tried to rationalize everything.
Rationalize
a couple of giant monsters from the sea, and a superhuman woman who had fought them. They pontificated on the origin of the Gorgols. Some said they were creatures from the distant past, dormant for thousands or millions of years, now awake. Like underwater dinosaurs that somehow had eluded our notice. Others said they were aliens.

And the news channels brought in martial-arts and sword-fighting experts who tried to analyze and define Pip’s technique. Despite the fact that you could see her body deform and sluice past Omicron’s attacks, they offered up video experts who tried to say it was something related to the speed of her motion versus the frame rate of the recording.
Blah blah blah
.

Almost immediately, Pip gained a cult following. They called her
Red Hope
. That was simultaneously hilarious and terrifying. If people knew about me, what would they call me?
Please, make it something cool
, I thought. I had to wonder if Pip was watching the news, hearing this name. What did she think of it? I didn’t truly know her, but those dreams were so real, full of people who were real. So I knew a little bit about this girl. I thought she’d be embarrassed by the name.

So Red Hope, aka Pip, got a fan base. People, especially those along the coast where the Gorgols were destroying everything, held rallies, begging her to come to their aid. She became a sort of mythical figure overnight.

I had to wonder what her plan was. She had done some damage to Omicron, but it seemed like there was still a long way to go to kill even one of the monsters. Pip against both of them seemed impossible.

I felt sorry for her. I guess that left me open.

“There’s no way she can do it alone, Johnny,” Bobby said, reading my mind as he entered the room munching on potato chips from a bag.

“I don’t think so either,” I said.

Bobby nudged me and held out the bag, so I grabbed a couple of chips. “See? We need to do it.”

“You still haven’t answered my question — how is this really our fight?”

Bobby crammed another chip in his mouth, dropping crumbs all over his shirt. “Johnny, think about it. If Sol had never taken Holly, would you have fought him?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Don’t forget when he was in the capital. People
died
. You would just let that happen? Especially knowing now that you
could
beat him. You’d just let him go on killing people?”

Damn it. Bobby had a point. “Well, I know
now
that I could beat him. That’s not something I knew before.”

“But you tried anyway. Because it was the right thing to do.” I couldn’t meet Bobby’s eyes. “But there’s one more thing. They’re coming. We can run, we can ignore them, but that doesn’t change the fact that some pretty big, pretty destructive monsters are stomping around, and people are getting hurt. Regular people. People who don’t have power, or the option to stand aside that we do.”

Bobby was serious. Crap.

“Plus,” he said, “Pip needs our help. We need to find her, make a plan. It would be three on two, Johnny. Decent odds.” Bobby offered me another potato chip. “Come on. Go with me. I’ll be your best friend.”

I grabbed the bag forcefully, in frustration and maybe mock anger. “No.” He gave me a long look. I didn’t change my answer. Though I couched it, a little bit. “Besides, I’d have to ask my mom.”

10

Bobby went home, and I figured that was the end of that. The creatures were across the country, and yeah, they were a problem, people had died. But everything can’t fall on my shoulders, right? That’s what I told myself.

Still, inside, I knew what I
wanted
to do.

Walking around the house, I daydreamed of fighting the Gorgols. Maybe I sashayed a bit. I was a swashbuckler.

Yes, it was ridiculous looking.

And it was just a fantasy. I wasn’t going to actually
do
that.

I envisioned myself stabbing into the heart of a Gorgol and standing victorious atop its giant, fallen body.

I kinda liked it. I kinda liked the idea of doing that. To save the day? Yes, to save the day, that was the reason.

Not just to show off my power. No way.

As I walked past Holly’s room, my head suddenly exploded with a sound like bells and thunder and chimes and a thousand gongs smashing into each other. I grabbed for my head. Was this a migraine? Were my powers finally killing me?

No. Holly wanted my attention.

Oh my God, Holly, stop!

She was sitting in her chair, looking toward me in the hall. I held one hand against her door frame as the sound continued to incapacitate me.
Sorry, Johnny. I just needed to talk to you.
Abruptly, there was silence.

Okay, okay. But you don’t have to blow my brains out to do it.

She looked indignant.
I said sorry. Just wanted you to come here.

All right. I’m here.
I shook my head.
What’s up?

I want to try again, Johnny.

I knew what she meant. The powers. Since we returned from the desert, since she came back to us more than she had in so many years, Holly had to get used to the idea that she had powers.

Given all the time we had trapped in our house, and the fact that we shared these abilities, I tried to train her.

Well,
train
sounds important.

What I mean is, every once in a while, we would spend a little time trying to see if she could exercise her power on purpose. That was the big thing —
on purpose
.

So far, no luck.

I pulled a quarter out of my pocket and placed it on the table in front of her.
Okay, Hol. Try to move it. And remember what I’ve told you. Relax. Just imagine the quarter moving, just a tiny bit. You don’t have to strain about it. Calm.

She tried.

And tried.

But honestly, I didn’t expect anything to happen. We must have tried this exercise three or four times before, with no success. I didn’t expect things to change all of a sudden.

Until they did.

The quarter didn’t shake. It didn’t slide a few millimeters across the desk. Nope. Not my Holly. That quarter leapt up onto one edge and started spinning.

Jesus, Holly, you did it!

She laughed, out loud, as the quarter spun and spun and spun. Gradually, its energy dissipated and the quarter slowed, then entered a loopy wobble before collapsing to the table. I watched it the whole time, grinning.

Holly could use her power.

Holly?

I turned to see that she’d lapsed into one of her fades. Not really all there.

Holly?

She blinked, and returned to me. What did that mean for her using her powers? Did they take too much out of her? Would using them put her at risk of falling back into the locked world she’d lived in for so many years?

I can feel them, Johnny.

Feel who, Hol?

The monsters. The ones on TV. I can feel them even now.

I could feel others with the power, like Sol or Bobby, even when they were far away. But I couldn’t feel the Gorgols at all, so how could Holly? Despite her struggles with control, I knew she was incredibly strong with her mental abilities, stronger than I could really comprehend. Maybe she could sense others with the power more than I could.

But if that was true, it meant the Gorgols weren’t just giant, ultra-strong wrecking machines covered in impenetrable armor. They were giant, ultra-strong wrecking machines covered in impenetrable armor,
with superpowers.

Oh no.

Holly gasped. “Johnny?” she said aloud.

Sorry, Hol. I was just connecting the dots. I can feel people with our powers — people like Sol. If you can feel the Gorgols, does that mean they have power, too? If they do, I don’t think I can stop them. I don’t think anyone could stop them.

You could feel Sol?
she asked.

Well, not really
feel
, but sense. Almost like I could hear him. It’s like each of us with power has a beacon. I’ve learned how to make mine quiet, but I can find others. Like I usually can tell where Bobby is. He’s not so careful about making his sound quiet.

Holly thought for a moment.
Do I have a sound like this?

Yeah, you do. But I almost never hear it. Almost like you have it locked deep inside and it only comes out once in a while. Like just now when you tried to reach out to me.

Oh. And that was painful for you. Is mine loud?

Very.

But I don’t hear you, or Bobby, or even HIM. Even when he took me. Ever. I never have.

I can’t explain that. Maybe it’s similar to how your beacon is usually completely quiet to me. Maybe the transmitter and receiver are connected somehow.

I don’t understand that.

I tried to come up with another way to phrase it. Sometimes it was hard to remember that, from a developmental standpoint, Holly had lost a lot of years. She was catching up, but sometimes things I’d say didn’t make sense to her.
I just meant that maybe the thing that makes your sound — that makes it so strong, but usually silent — is the same thing that makes others silent for you.

Again Holly paused to think.
But, Johnny. I can
feel
the monsters. Not hear them.

I shook my head.
I don’t understand.
Was this just phrasing that she didn’t get, or were we actually talking about different things?

Make your sound — your beacon — for me now. Can you?
Holly asked.

Okay, I can try. But if your receiver isn’t working…

Try.

I tried. Holly grimaced, twisting like she was trying to look over her shoulder.
Oh. Oh! Really?
She smiled and made a little giggling sound.
That’s you, Johnny? I’ve heard that before. I didn’t know that was you!

I laughed, too.
Yep, that’s me. I’m going to turn it off now.

Okay. I’ll remember that’s you in case I hear it again. But Johnny, that’s not like what I mean. I can
feel
them.

The Gorgols?

Yes!

Tell me what you mean by
feel the
m
.

Holly pursed her lips, thinking.
When I was little, before… you know. Well, I remember one time at the beach getting a sunburn. You know what sunburn feels like, right, Johnny?

Of course.
I was as pale as they come, like most of my family. “Sunburn” was our word for “tan.”

It’s like that. Like a sunburn, but really light. And it doesn’t stay in one place. It’s on the side of me facing the Gorgols. If I turn around, it moves over my skin, but stays pointing the same direction.

Okay, so Holly had a Gorgol tracker built into her body. Was that useful? They were 200-feet tall and kind of hard to miss, so I doubted we’d need to resort to complicated methods to find them.
Weird.
That was all I could think to say about it. I didn’t really know what other use her ability would have.

Then I noticed that Holly seemed scared.

“What’s wrong, Hol?” I said out loud.

“Johnny…” she said.
Johnny. The feeling. The sunburn feeling. It’s been getting worse.

I frowned, not sure what to make of that.
Uh-huh.

“Johnny!” she said again.
Johnny, I think something bad is going to happen.

What do you mean?

Holly’s eyes widened with terror. She crossed her arms, and with one hand began idly scratching the other arm.
I think I know what the monsters are looking for. I think they’re looking for me.

Why would they be looking for you, Hol?

Her voice in my head went quiet. Looking at her face, it seemed like she was trying to work out a math problem. Solve for Gorgol.

I think they’re looking for me because I brought them her
e
.

I blinked and pulled back.
Huh?

Those fires from the sky. When you and I flew and I nearly killed us. I tore open the sky and those things came out.