The Dominion Key (18 page)

We piled our muddy shoes and wet socks on the front doorstep and followed the men into the farmhouse. When I reached the doorway, I froze. The living room was a serious case of sensory overload. On the walls were framed photos, paintings, taxidermied fish, clocks, collector’s edition spoons, and about a million other things. An unruly mob of knickknacks crowded on the mantel. Eight different rugs overlapped across the hardwood floor.

Once I stepped into the room, though, certain things began to stand out. A faded poster showing a superhero and his sidekick in old-fashioned uniforms. Black-and-white pictures of the same heroic duo shaking hands with long-ago presidents and foreign dignitaries. A framed issue of
Super Scoop
that looked like it had been on the newsstands around the time that dinosaurs went extinct.

Milton’s wide-eyed gaze moved from the figures on the magazine to the two men standing in front of us. “The people on the cover,” he breathed. “They’re you! I mean, you’re them! I mean … you two are …”

“Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid!” Cassie finished, sounding just as amazed.

That was why they looked so familiar! Mr. Marvelous was the original celebrity superhero. He’d become famous for flying around the world, fighting evil, punching dictators.
He was joined everywhere by his trusty sidekick, Whiz Kid.

Of course, that was a very long time ago. Nowadays, you only saw Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid in vintage comic books and old newsreel footage. To be honest, I’d forgotten they were still around.

And yet here they were. The guy with the white hair who’d pulled a gun on us—he was obviously Mr. Marvelous. He’d put on about fifty pounds—and fifty
years
—since his heyday. But there was no mistaking his wavy hair and square jaw. The smaller man with glasses was Whiz Kid. Although now, Whiz
Geezer
was more appropriate. Or maybe Whiz Senior Citizen.

“I can’t believe I’m standing in the same living room as Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid!” Milton gushed. “Just wait till I tell my grandmother! She used to have such a crush on you guys!”

“That’s very nice to hear.” Mr. Marvelous chuckled. “Although we retired a few years ago—”

“More like a few decades,” Whiz Kid cut in.

“These days, we go by our real names. You can call me Marvin.”

“And I’m Gus,” said his former sidekick.

Cassie turned to Sophie. “Where do
you
come into all this?”

“Remember what I said about my dad being Captain Justice?” Sophie asked.

“Uh … yeah.” Cassie shot Sophie a
no duh
look. “Not the kind of thing you forget.”

“Well, when my dad was just starting his career, he appeared at the Superhero Spirit Awards with Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid.”

“He won Newcomer of the Year,” said Marvin.

“And we were there to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award,” Gus added.

“We got to know each other over the years,” Marvin said. “Captain Justice was on his way in, we were on our way out. He was looking for guidance, advice—”

“He was looking for mentors,” Gus said.

“And we knew from the moment we first met him that Captain Justice was the future of superheroism. A new generation. We wanted to pass the mantle.”

“Plus he had much cooler gadgets.” Gus’s eyes crinkled behind his glasses as he smiled. “And when Sophie was born, Justice asked us to be her godfathers.”

“Once we left the superhero business, we moved out to this farm, looking for a little privacy after fifty years in the public eye,” Marvin said. “I guess you could say we don’t save the world too often anymore.”

“It’s hard enough finding the car keys when we want to go grocery shopping,” Gus said.

“But it’s always a highlight whenever our goddaughter comes to visit.” Marvin patted Sophie on her shoulder, raising one eyebrow. “Even if those visits usually come with a little more advance notice.”

“Sorry to show up so unexpectedly,” Sophie said. “We didn’t know where else to go.”

“You can drop in on us anytime.” Gus laughed at his own joke. “Now let’s find you kids some dry clothes.”

Sophie had a few spare outfits at the house that she and Cassie could wear. And Gus let Milton and me borrow some of his old T-shirts and shorts. His clothes were a couple of sizes too large, and my T-shirt read
SUPER SENIORS CARIBBEAN CRUISE
. At least they were dry.

Cassie called her dad on the landline to let him know she was okay but that Miranda had gone missing just beyond the island shore. Her distressed voice mingled with the background noise of our soaked clothes tumbling in the dryer.

The rest of us settled around the living room. Gus handed each of us a bowl of steaming soup. I burned my tongue while eating it but was so hungry I hardly noticed.

Marvin and Gus tried to lighten the mood by showing off some of the gadgets they’d once used.

“Today’s superheroes act like big shots with all their fancy devices,” Gus said, “but in our day, we had some impressive technology too. Like my patented Whiz-Watch.”

Gus rolled up his sleeve to show off the biggest watch I’d ever seen.

“This watch comes equipped with all kinds of tools that a superhero might need,” he went on. “There’s a compass, a calculator, a thermometer, glow-in-the-dark functionality, and a tape recorder—
all
built into a single watch!”

Gus’s proud grin faded a little when Milton pointed out that his Captain Justice—themed watch could do all those things too.

“And I got it for free after buying ten boxes of Frosted Fuel Flakes!” Milton added.

While Gus grumbled, Marvin picked a clunky aluminum cylinder up off the coffee table.

“Well, you won’t be getting
this
with any boxes of cereal.” Marvin clasped the bulky device around his forearm like a cast. “The one-of-a-kind, patented Marvelous-Grab. Still comes in handy around the house. Like when I realize I left my tea on the counter and don’t feel like getting out of my chair.”

Raising the arm that was shrouded in the Marvelous-Grab, Marvin pressed a big red button. The gadget let out a metallic
splink
, a rusty
groooan
, a sharp
ping
, and then … nothing happened.

“Darn thing gets jammed sometimes.”

Marvin banged on the device a few times with the palm of his hand. The third time he clobbered it, the Marvelous-Grab burst open and a metallic claw on an extendable spring shot across the room. It missed his tea mug by about ten feet, and instead knocked a stuffed fish off the wall.

“Well, you get the idea,” Marvin muttered, once the claw zoomed back into the Marvelous-Grab.

When Cassie was through talking to her dad, I got up to call my parents. But before I reached the phone, lights flickered in the darkness outside the windows. We were
out in the middle of nowhere—no other houses or paved roads for miles. As the lights grew nearer, fear gripped my chest and I heard the familiar rumble of motorcycles getting louder.

“Uh, guys …” My voice shook. “We’ve got company.”

For a second, nobody moved. Then the realization hit the living room like a bomb.

The Cyclaurs were headed our way.

Everyone snapped into motion.

“Come with me.” Marvin tossed the Marvelous-Grab to the ground and rose from his chair. “We can go out the back door.”

“Then what?” Sophie asked. “We can’t outrun those guys.”

Marvin answered without slowing down. “I know a way to get you kids out of here.”

We were nearly to the back door when Milton called out, “What about our shoes?”

“I’ll get them.” Gus turned and raced across the house at a speed that seemed impossible for a guy his age—or
any
age. He shot to the front door like a bolt of lightning.

Seeing him move like that brought back to mind a news story I’d seen a few years ago, a tribute to Mr. Marvelous and his sidekick, who got the name Whiz Kid because of his power to whiz from point A to point B at remarkable speeds. Of course, halfway through the show, my parents made me turn it off. “You know we don’t allow this kind of thing in our house!” Mom had snapped. Grabbing the remote, Dad had shut the TV off, saying something about how “good guys are a bad influence.” After that, I’d forgotten about Whiz Kid and his superspeed.

Until now.

By the time we reached the back door, Gus came rocketing across the room, a pile of shoes bundled in his arms. While my friends and I laced up, Gus leaned forward with his hands on his knees, red-faced and wheezing as he caught his breath.

“Been a long time since I moved like that,” he said.

Out the door, we hurried through the darkness until reaching a barn. The entire structure looked tilted and ramshackle. Clumps of weeds grew out of the storm drain, and paint peeled from the walls. It made me wonder what was hidden inside and whether it would really do us any good in our escape.

“Just need to find the key,” Marvin muttered, jangling through keys of all different sizes and shapes. “It’s gotta be one of these.”

“Need some extra light?” Sophie held out one glowing hand.

In the background, the roar of Cyclaurs was getting louder and louder. Marvin’s trembling fingers flicked through the keys as he shook his head in frustration.

“Ah, forget it,” he said finally. He shoved the keys into his pocket and grabbed the door. With a single pull of the handle, the lock burst apart and the door flew off its hinges, landing about fifteen feet behind us.

All I could see was darkness. The growl of motorcycles sounded like it was coming from right behind us.

“Time’s running out,” Gus said. “Everyone inside.”

I trailed the others into the barn, Sophie’s glow lighting the way. Along the walls of the barn, tables and workbenches were covered in tools and equipment. But it was the center of the space that caught my attention. In front of us was a car. And not just any car either. It was …

“The MarvelousMobile!” Milton exclaimed. “I can’t believe it still exists!”

Neither could I. The car looked like something that should’ve been in a museum. It had a long front end, with bulky, rusted fenders and M-shaped headlights. A jet turbine bulged from the rear, with two enormous tail fins on either side of it. The entire thing had been painted red, white, and blue.

The MarvelousMobile was the car that Mr. Marvelous and Whiz Kid had used to save the world too many times to count. Of course, that had been many, many years ago.

“Does this thing even
work
anymore?” Cassie stared skeptically at the old-fashioned car.

“Of course!” Marvin said in a defensive tone.

“Except when it breaks down,” Gus added. “Which is pretty often.”

“Don’t listen to him. I’ve spent the last decade fixing up the MarvelousMobile. Replacing the engine, retooling the jet boosters. This beauty’s as good as new.” Marvin gave the rear bumper an affectionate pat. The rear bumper groaned and fell onto the floor in a heap of metal. “Well,
almost
new.”

I was having some serious doubts about our getaway. But with the sound of the Cyclaurs getting louder with each passing second, we didn’t really have a lot of other options.