Super (8 page)

Daniel held up a hand and cut Eric off. “Okay, enough. I’ll try. Just shut up.”

Eric grinned like a fool, but he did, in fact, shut up.

Daniel concentrated. He felt nothing except a slowly building urge to sneeze. He gave a little hop. Nothing.

“See?” he said. “I’m a dead battery.”

“Give it a real try,” said Eric. “Arms up!”

“C’mon!”

“Arms
up
!”

With a sigh, Daniel lifted his arms and stretched his fingers skyward. Eric watched him expectantly.

“Up, up, and away!” said Daniel.

Nothing.

“Okay, then,” said Eric. “So the flight’s gone. What about the strength?”

“I tried it out already. Couldn’t even scoot a piece of bedroom furniture. Is that scientific enough for you?”

Eric rubbed his chin. Then he lifted up off the ground, just a few feet, and hovered there. Daniel couldn’t help but feel a little stab of jealousy, like something nipping at his insides.

“Your powers seem to have disappeared,” Eric said. “And mine are back. When the Shroud stole powers, they never returned. Ever.”

“Maybe mine’s just temporary. Like I’m a Shroud … lite?”

Eric shook his head. “I don’t buy it. If you’re a power thief, why aren’t you stealing my powers right now?”

“Doesn’t prove anything,” said Daniel. “The Shroud’s powers worked on touch.”

“Good point. Let’s try it out.”

Before Daniel could even protest, Eric reached out and grabbed him by the hand. Skin-on-skin contact.

“Don’t worry,” Eric said. “If I fizzle out again, I think I can handle a fall of eight inches.”

Daniel took a breath and waited. And again nothing happened.

“Really try,” said Eric, still holding Daniel’s hand. “Try to will my power away from me. Picture yourself flying!”

Daniel did as he was told. He visualized himself floating there, free of earth, free of gravity itself.

Still nothing. And for once Daniel was glad.

“Huh,” said Eric. “Well, I’d say my hypothesis still stands. Whatever you are, you are not a Shroud.”

“We don’t know that for sure. This is hardly a definitive test.”

“Eh, it’s good enough for me. So what else do we know so far?”

Daniel began listing the facts on his fingers. He was good at this part. This was about evidence—detective work.

“The first time you experienced any kind of power loss was at the bridge, right?”

“Right,” said Eric. “And you didn’t do anything super back there, did you?”

Daniel had been thinking about this. “I did push that car off you.”

“In the water,” said Eric. “That car was still full of air and might not have settled yet. That’s a maybe at best.”

“Okay, we’ll put that into the insufficient-data category.”

“Now you’re sounding like Rohan.”

“Speaking of, he might have some ideas about all this.”

“No!” said Eric suddenly. Daniel was so startled by his friend’s outburst that he actually took a step back. Eric noticed and immediately regained his composure.

“Sorry, I just—Until we know more, I’d like to keep this between us, okay? Rohan’s a worrier and Mollie … Just between us.”

Daniel nodded. The truth was that Eric was a hero to them all, and Daniel couldn’t imagine telling them that Eric was losing his powers and that Daniel might be the cause of it. Better to keep it a secret for now.

“Between us,” agreed Daniel. “So the second time you experienced a power loss was last night?”

“Yeah,” said Eric. “I felt fine right up until I squared off with Clay.”

“At which point
my
powers kicked in,” said Daniel. “Any other times you’re not telling me about?”

“Nope. Where’s that leave us?”

Daniel looked at his fingers. Two times now Eric’s power had failed him. And he’d been present on both occasions.

“Inconclusive,” said Daniel. “And our attempt to repeat it just now was a failure.…”

“So we wait and see.”

Daniel nodded, but he was frustrated. Daniel wanted to
be
doing
something—he was a detective, and that meant that he looked for answers. He didn’t just wait around. But what else could he do?

“We’ll stay in touch,” said Eric. “If I have another of my episodes, I’ll let you know. If you start flying around the treetops, you let me know.”

The two friends shook hands and said goodbye, and Daniel picked his way through the trees as Eric flew off into the distance. The morning so far had left Daniel with equal parts relief and frustration. His thoughts were a tangle, and he was at the same time disappointed and guilty at feeling disappointed.

The morning didn’t get any better when he returned home to find a smirking Theo Plunkett waiting for him. Eating Daniel’s lunch.

T
errific sandwich, Mrs. Corrigan,” Theo was saying, crumbs spilling out of his mouth as he talked. “Pastrami’s so thin, it reminds me of Manhattan’s best.”

“It was two for one on lunch meat at the local grocer,” said Daniel’s mom. “But thank you anyway.”

Theo Plunkett was sitting at Daniel’s kitchen table contentedly munching Daniel’s lunch. It was so surreal that for just a second, Daniel feared he might be back in his dream.

“Theo, what are you doing here?”

Theo shrugged. “You said you’d take me on a tour of Noble’s Green today. You forget? Your mom was nice enough
to let me wait here for you. She makes a terrific pastrami on rye.”

Daniel had forgotten. After yesterday evening’s events he’d forgotten about Theo Plunkett altogether. He seemed like such a minor concern now, a nuisance. And now the kid wanted a tour?

“Oh, yeah, right. And your dad’s okay with it?”

Theo snorted. “Heck, yeah. You made quite an impression on him yesterday. Thinks that it’ll be good for me to spend some time with a fine, upstanding citizen such as yourself.”

Theo must’ve caught the look Daniel’s mother was giving him, because he hastily dropped the smug smile and looked sheepish.

“I mean, I’d really like to make some friends around here too,” he said. “It’s hard being the new kid, you know?”

“So,” said Daniel’s mother. “Theo here tells me he’s the boy from the accident the other day? The one with the
car
?”

The way Daniel’s mom stretched out the word
car
, she might as well have been saying
life sentence without parole
. Of course she’d heard the story of the creek accident (the edited one, anyway—no need to mention the flying boy), and she hadn’t had much good to say about someone who made first impressions by stealing his father’s car and driving it off a bridge.

“Uh, yes,” said Daniel.

“But we’re going on a
walking
tour today,” added Theo. “I’ve sworn off, uh … other people’s cars.”

Daniel’s mother was unamused.

“I told Theo’s dad I’d show him around,” offered Daniel.

“Promised, actually,” added Theo.

“Right,” said Daniel. “I guess I promised.”

His mother eventually relented, but Daniel could tell that she was still wary. So was Daniel, for that matter.

Daniel’s mother shoved a pastrami sandwich and a banana into his hands and told him to be home before dinner.

Once they were outside, Theo gave him a good-natured slap on the back. Daniel grunted as he wolfed down the food. Theo was obviously misreading Daniel’s sour mood. It had little to do with Theo per se. Daniel just didn’t want to see anyone right now. He wanted to be up there in the sky.

“Hey,” said Theo. “Sorry about all this, but my dad was driving me crazy and I just had to get out of the house. He was on the phone with the mechanic and shouting about the cost of all the repairs to the Porsche. Like we don’t have the money or something. I think he was just trying to guilt-trip me.”

“So,” said Daniel, offering what he hoped was a slightly friendlier tone, “is your dad going to take it out of your allowance or what?”

Theo laughed. “Allowance? Good one, Daniel! That’s something I like about you, man—you’ve got a crazy sense of humor.”

Daniel smiled, but he hadn’t meant the question as a joke. He wondered just how rich Theo’s family really was.

“Should we get going?” Theo asked.

“Sure. We could go up to the Mount Noble Observatory. You can get a great view of the valley. There’s a bus that leaves from Main Street, and I don’t think your dad would object to us using public transportation.”

Theo held up a hand and shook his head. “Actually,” he said, “I had someplace else in mind.”

The Tangle Creek Bridge had a new temporary guardrail installed where Theo’s car had broken through—a short concrete wall capped by two orange plastic barrels. The whole thing looked out of place alongside the rustic old bridge. It felt wrong, but not nearly as wrong as Daniel felt standing there with Theo. They were suspects returning to the scene of the crime.

Theo stood at the edge of the rail, hands in his pockets, looking down at the creek below. The sun hadn’t reached this side of the bridge yet, and the greenish water looked black in the shade. Daniel stood a foot or so behind him. He was painfully aware of how casual he was trying to appear, and how badly he was doing it. This was the last place he wanted to be.

“You know,” Theo said, “you wouldn’t think that a person could survive a fall like that unhurt. Guess I’m lucky the car landed so … softly.”

“Yeah,” answered Daniel. “My gram would’ve called it a miracle.”

“Would’ve?” asked Theo.

“She passed away last year.”

Theo pulled his eyes away from the dark water. “Sorry. I’ve never lost anyone. Not anyone close anyway. I barely knew Uncle Herman.”

“Gram was great. She had a wicked sense of humor—you’d have liked her.”

“Bet I would have. We would’ve argued about one thing, though.”

“What’s that?” asked Daniel.

“I don’t believe in miracles,” answered Theo, slinging his legs over the guardrail. “I wanna get a better look.”

Daniel scrambled to keep up with the older boy. Theo’s long arms and legs made it an easy thing for him to swing over the side and climb down the scaffolding supports. Daniel was used to climbing up from the creek, and he found doing it in reverse both tricky and a bit scary. He wondered what would happen if he fell. Would it be the long drop to the water below, or would he fly?

“Watch yourself,” Theo said as Daniel’s foot slipped on the scaffolding. “Here, take my hand.”

Daniel did as he was told and proceeded cautiously until he found himself safely perched near the diving point, in the same place he’d been when he’d watched Theo’s car careen over the edge.

“So this is your gang’s hidden swimming hole, huh?” As Theo talked, he leaned as far as could out over the creek—one hand on the scaffolding and the other stretched out in midair, like he was trying to touch the distant shore.

“Well, yeah.”

“But I guess it’s not so hidden anymore. With all those fire trucks that showed up after my accident, I guess the secret’s blown, huh?” Theo looked over his shoulder at him, and as the two boys made eye contact, Daniel had a worrying realization.

Watching Theo dangle over that deep creek brought Daniel back to that afternoon a few days ago, when he’d watched the car plummet off the bridge only to be caught midfall by Eric. One moment in free fall, the next perfectly still, floating in space. It had lasted only a second, but it had been long enough for Daniel to lock eyes with Theo Plunkett and to recognize something in the boy’s face. Theo had known in that moment that something impossible was happening to him. He couldn’t see Eric, and in his state of shock he probably hadn’t been able to process much, but Theo had understood that he should have been falling and he wasn’t. He knew that much, at least. And that much was dangerous.

Daniel cursed himself for not thinking of it sooner. Of course Theo wanted to spend time with him, of course he’d brought him here, to where it had all happened. Daniel had been so caught up in his own extraordinary experiences of the past two days that he hadn’t seen what was really going on.

He wasn’t investigating Theo Plunkett. Theo Plunkett was investigating him.

“How’s your friend Eric?” asked Theo. “He back up and swimming?”

“Sure,” said Daniel, trying to sound unconcerned. “He’s fine. I think I told you that yesterday—”

“I’d like to see him,” interrupted Theo. “And that other kid, the Indian one.”

“Rohan.”

“Right. I’ve got a few questions about that day, you know? Keep playing it over and over again in my head. And there are parts I just can’t figure out.”

Theo was watching for a reaction, Daniel could tell. But Daniel had matched wits with another Plunkett a lot more wily than this spoiled rich kid. If he could handle Herman, he could handle anyone.

“What are you confused about?” asked Daniel. “I was here—I saw the whole thing.”

“Well, that wave, for one thing,” said Theo. “Where did that water come from? Certainly none of you could have made that splash from the creek thirty feet down.”

“There was a spot shower. We get those sometimes up here; they blow in off the mountain, but I wouldn’t call it a wave.”

Theo didn’t answer right away. But he smiled unconvincingly.

“That must be it. Still, I’d like to meet your friends. It’s hard being new and all, you know?”

“Sure. Of course. They’d love to meet you too.”

“Great,” said Theo. “That’s settled then. Tell you what—my dad’s going out of town in a couple of days, and though he won’t want me leaving the house, I can probably have
people over. Why don’t you all come over to our place? We’ll order pizza. You do have pizza delivery in this town, right?”

“Of course we do.”

“Awesome!” And with that Theo began pulling his shirt up over his head.

“What are you doing?”

“It looks like it’s going to be another hot day. Don’t know how many more of those we’ll have, so I’m not going to waste it!”

Theo dove, with perfect form, into Tangle Creek, leaving Daniel by himself at the top. He hadn’t invited him in, but then Theo seemed the sort who was used to doing things alone.