Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2) (8 page)

‘Call the cops on the way. My bad feeling is getting worse.’

~~~

‘No,’ Andrea said. She grabbed onto Twilight’s arm with both hands and the widening gap stopped growing. ‘Not that.
Never
that. We stick together.’

There was a shudder and the space between them narrowed, slamming shut, but not sealing itself entirely. The dark figure took a step forward and screamed. It was a sound unlike anything Andrea had ever heard before; a howling, animal sound rang across the expanse of space and sent cold driving through her bones, but she held onto Twilight.

‘No! We stay
together
!’ Andrea screamed back and the ground split again, but this time it was between her and the dark figure in the distance. The ground shook and the crack widened rapidly, driving back the darkness and throwing the figure out into nothingness…

~~~

The summons to the Shadow Chamber had come as something of a surprise and the overpowering sense of anger he felt as he entered the room was unnerving. The cold, when it wrapped around him, was more biting than usual. Something was very wrong.

‘The girl,’ the voice said, its tone colder than ever, ‘something has happened to her.’

‘Is she dead?’ Durant asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His fingers were already beginning to go numb in the biting cold of the shadowed room.

‘She lives. Her shadow has consumed her and yet it has not gained control.’

‘There may still be time then…’ He stopped as the air froze in his lungs. The darkness wrapped around him like a suffocating cloud.

‘She must be found, and secured, and brought here. She is a threat to everything. See to this personally. Bring her to me!’

Durant collapsed to the floor, the darkness releasing him so suddenly that it was all he could do to keep breathing. His breathing ragged, he crawled toward the door and the light.

~~~

Bright light. Too bright. She wanted darkness. She wanted shadow. But at least she was warm now and…

Andrea sat up in bed with a gasp. She was in one of the guest rooms in Penny’s house, the one which had been more or less allocated to her whenever she stayed over. She recognised the decoration, the large bed, fitted wardrobes, and the desk which Penny was sitting in front of.

‘You’re awake,’ the little brunette said, a little redundantly.

‘I died,’ Andrea replied.

‘No, we found you in the freezer with Jacob. Heather took him to hospital, but your suit must’ve protected…’

‘No,’ Andrea interrupted. ‘I died. They gave us both Excelsior and it killed me. I died. How am I here?’

‘What do you remember?’

Andrea frowned and pressed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. ‘There was darkness. Isn’t there supposed to be a light? And Twilight was there with me…’

‘You are Twilight,’ Penny pointed out.

‘I’m… It felt like there was me and Twilight, and another me, a darker me.’ She looked up. ‘I don’t… I don’t feel like me anymore. The darkness did something. I feel like I’m broken. I feel like I’m not quite all here.’

‘Oh,’ Penny said. ‘Well… I, uh, I guess that explains…’

‘Explains what, Penny?’

Penny pointed across the room to a mirror on one of the wardrobe doors. ‘Maybe you should see for yourself. Just… try to stay calm, okay?’

Andrea slipped out of bed and walked over to where she could see herself. ‘You know, that is
not
a calming thing to–’ She stopped as her face came into view in the mirror. She looked just the same as she had before, except for her eyes. Her eyes were black, totally black. ‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Well, there goes my secret identity.’

~~~

‘She seems to be taking it pretty well,’ June commented. ‘I think I’d be freaking out, screaming, running around the house tearing my hair out…’

‘I can hear you, y’know?’ Andrea said as she walked into the lounge. ‘And don’t stare; it’s rude.’ She was dressed in a wrap and rubbing at her hair with a towel.

‘Sorry. I was the same when Penny first… changed. And you’re kind of, um, more exotic.’

‘Still not into girls, June.’

June giggled. ‘That’s what she said too.’

‘Yeah…’ Penny mumbled. ‘What are you going to do about Lena?’

Andrea’s face fell. ‘Oh, damn. I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘Wait a minute,’ June said, ‘there
is
a girl?’

‘You’ve met her, remember,’ Penny supplied. ‘Lena Tonaldo.’

‘She’s my information source inside the family,’ Andrea went on. ‘As far as she and her father know, Andrea Morgan makes some extra money working as a prostitute. Her father doesn’t want it known that his daughter’s a lesbian…’

‘Yeah, she kind of mentioned that when we were talking,’ June said. ‘I hadn’t thought that kind of attitude still existed.’

‘It does. Believe me, he’d lose face if it became widely known. Whatever, it was a useful way of getting into their apartments and the pillow talk kept me up to date on what was going on in there, but… David Tonaldo isn’t going to let his daughter sleep with an obvious Ultra.’ She looked down. ‘It’ll break her heart. I didn’t want her finding out like this. Then again, it was getting harder since I hooked up with Jacob. What’s his condition anyway?’

‘He was suffering from severe hypothermia,’ Penny told her. ‘I haven’t had an update since early this morning.’

‘I’m going to see him,’ Andrea stated, turning back toward her room. Then she stopped. ‘Um… does anyone have any dark glasses I can borrow?’

~~~

They found Heather standing in front of the window of a room which seemed to have a lot of electronics in it as well as a bed. Generally, things which went ‘bleep’ a lot in a hospital room were not good signs.

‘How is he?’ Andrea asked.

Heather looked around and frowned. ‘Twilight?’

‘That’s me.’

‘We figured civilian clothes were a good idea,’ Cygnus pointed out.

‘Yeah, but why the dark glasses?’

‘I’m having some trouble with my eyes. Jacob?’

‘He’s… improving, but they’re having some trouble getting his body temperature back up. They don’t think there’s going to be any permanent damage.’

‘But he’s not awake.’

‘No,’ Bryant shook her head. ‘They’re keeping him sedated until they get him back to normal temperature. Current theory is that the drug did something to his metabolism.’

‘We seriously need to get that shit off the streets,’ Cygnus muttered.

‘No arguments from us,’ Bryant replied. ‘It’s just a question of how? Are you two up for it?’

‘She is,’ Andrea said, her tone sullen. ‘I’m… I have a few things I need to take care of and I’m not fully recovered from freezing to death.’

‘Almost. Almost freezing to death.’

‘Yeah… that.’

26
^th
March.

Roger looked up from the Brightstar comic he was reading and frowned. He generally liked the girls who worked in his shop to dress in a manner that geeks and nerds had trouble ignoring, and Andrea generally obliged. Today she was standing in front of him in dark glasses and a hoodie. Then again, she had been sick over the weekend and he had not been sure she would be in at all.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked. ‘You over your cold?’

‘Kind of,’ Andrea replied, ‘and I got cold, but not
a
cold. I need to talk, Boss. Privately.’

Frown deepening, the aging hippy got to his feet. ‘Zoe, keep an eye on things for a few minutes,’ he called out.

The blonde girl currently in the stacks looked around, saw no one to keep an eye on and called back, ‘Sure, Roger.’

He led Andrea into the back room and then turned around, one eyebrow raised. ‘Okay, kid, what’s the problem?’ Andrea took her glasses off and pushed back her hood and he added, ‘Oh.’

‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘I’ll come clean. I’ve been sneaking around at night since I came to New Millennium. I’m Twilight. This… this is new. Something happened and… Well, I can’t exactly keep a secret identity with jet-black eyes. I’d understand if you don’t want me to work here anymore.’

‘You are joking, right?’ Roger drawled. ‘I run a comic shop. You think I’d pass up having a real, live heroine working here?’

‘It might not be entirely safe,’ Andrea replied. ‘David Tonaldo put a price on Twilight’s head. He might come after me here if he knows.’

‘He won’t come here. Too public, too obvious. And it’s a risk I’m willing to take. I mean, I might take out more insurance, but if anyone does come I’ll have Twilight in the shop.’

‘Okay. I think you’re nuts, and I think we should ask Zoe if she’s okay with this.’

His eyebrow went up again. ‘Seriously? You think she’s going to think knowing Twilight is a bad thing?’

‘Well… no, but we should ask. And I need the rest of the week off.’ She sighed. ‘I need to get used to this, and I’m going to Boston.’

‘Your parents don’t know?’

‘Not yet. Can’t say I’m looking forward to that conversation.’

~~~

‘You know,’ Cygnus said, ‘this isn’t really me.’

‘I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’!’ The man she was suspending by his ankle from the top of the Americas Trade Tower was a relatively minor drug dealer. Nothing very far up the Tonaldo family tree, but she was hoping for a little more than bad grammar.

‘Where did you go to school?
Did
you go to school?’

‘I don’t know nothin’!’ the man squeaked.

‘Now, if that were true, that would mean you didn’t need to tell me that you weren’t going to say anything. That’s “not going to say
anything
.” Double negatives make you sound like an idiot.’

‘I ain’t scared of you!’

‘The urine stain on your pants suggests otherwise. When’s the next shipment coming in?’ She let her grip slide a couple of inches and he let out a screech.

‘Friday! We were told t’ expect new merchandise Saturday.’

‘Very good. You see? I knew you knew something.’ Then she let him go.

He was still screaming when she grabbed the back of his jacket at about seventy feet, straightened out the dive, and lifted him onto one of the lower rooftops nearby.

‘You’re out of the drug peddling business,’ she told him as he sat, shivering, against the roof access door. ‘If I see you on the streets again, I’ll tragically fail to catch you.’ She took off from the roof, heading south toward North Beach.

Scaring street dealers made her feel dirty, and Twilight was better at it anyway. She needed a shower, but at least she had a date for the next shipment. Friday. Andrea was going to be out of town by then, telling her parents about Twilight. That was going to be a tough conversation; Cygnus did not envy her at all.

There was still a light on at the house and she was not entirely surprised to find Andrea in the lounge, reading a magazine which really did not suit her. It was one of the fashion mags June kept around the house and Andrea did not seem like the type to follow fashion too closely.

‘How’re things on the street?’ the brunette asked as her partner walked in, looking less regal than usual.

‘Tonaldo has a shipment coming in on Friday. Any guesses where?’

‘Watch the docks. With your eyes, you’ll probably spot the wake from the boat. I could delay my trip…’

‘I can manage on my own, and you need to tell your parents before they find out from some news broadcast.’

Andrea scowled. ‘I hate this. I should be out there with you, but…’

Cygnus walked over and sat down beside her friend. She seemed to have a need to talk, and what else was a partner for? ‘But what? You need some rest, and you need to get used to… whatever it is you can do now.’

‘I know, but… I’m scared of going out there, Cygnus. I think I’ve lost confidence in myself. I got caught. I
died
. I don’t want to do that again. But Twilight does.’

‘You
are
Twilight.’

‘No.’ Andrea grimaced at the look of worry on Cygnus’ face. ‘I always thought of Twilight as… as a mask I wore. I’d put on the cowl and I had one goal: take down Tonaldo. It let me have a life outside of that. Now it’s worse. I hear her, in the back of my head. I think
she
knows what we can do. She’s as confident as ever, but I’m scared to put the mask on. I’m scared I won’t be able to take it off again. I’m scared of finding out what we’re capable of.’

‘I don’t think split personality disorder is supposed to work like that,’ Cygnus replied.

‘There aren’t that many studies on Ultrahumans with the condition, but I agree.’

‘When you get back from Boston, you’re going to see Hugh. If there’s anything wrong with you, I think it’s best we find out sooner rather than later.’

Andrea sighed. ‘I guess you’re right. If he’s willing to check me out…’

Cygnus giggled. ‘Are you kidding? He’ll be as enthusiastic about it as he was about me.’

27
^th
March.

‘You’re looking a better colour,’ Andrea said as she looked down at Jacob.

‘Still feel like hammered shit, but they tell me my temperature is more or less normal.’

He did still look sickly, even if she had said he did not. His normally healthy, black skin had a distinctly blue sub-colour and his eyes had a rather sunken quality. Of course, her eyes were not doing so well either.

‘How are you doing?’ he asked.

‘Health-wise, I’m good, but… You know you have this problem with Ultras?’

‘I have a problem with some Ultrahumans who seem to think having powers…’ He stopped. ‘What happened? And now I think about it, why are you wearing dark glasses?’ Andrea sighed and took her glasses off. It seemed to take him a second to realise what he was seeing, and then he said, ‘Oh.’

‘Yeah. The drug… The Excelsior triggered some… alterations. I’d be dead without it. Maybe. If you want to keep your distance…’

He gave a weak laugh. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be up to any athletic activities for a while anyway. I think you were not exactly unpowered
before
this, right?’

‘I could teleport. It’s how I could always get into your house.’

‘I’d come to the conclusion it was that, or walking through walls. If you suddenly start craving camera time I’ll dump you. Barring that, I don’t think this is going to be a problem. If it was, I’d probably have said something before now.’