Villainous (12 page)

That was exactly what Daniel was asking. Next to Herman, there probably wasn’t an adult alive who Daniel trusted less than Johnny Noble.

“Well, here we are.” Johnny stopped outside the front building next to the parking lot.

“If you wouldn’t mind coming inside for a few minutes,” said Johnny. “I’d like to have a word with Daniel here.”

Theo shot Daniel a look of alarm. They were already busted, caught trespassing on campus after they’d been asked to leave. But that didn’t explain why Johnny Noble would want to talk to Daniel alone. Mollie snapped out of her shell shock at seeing Johnny up close. She hadn’t said a word since Johnny had introduced himself, but Mollie found her voice now. “Don’t go,” she whispered to Daniel.

“It’s all right,” said Daniel. “You guys stay here and I’ll be back in a minute.”

“There’s a reception area inside,” said Johnny. “I’ll show you.”

The waiting room was stocked with expensive overstuffed chairs. On a tray table someone had left a few bottles of water and a bowl of fruit. It looked like they’d been expected.

“If you need anything else, just buzz that button over there and someone will come,” said Johnny, gesturing to an intercom panel set into the wall. “I’d ask Ms. Starr to keep you company, but … she’s got her hands unexpectedly full at the moment.” Johnny paused just long enough that it was clear he knew exactly what Ms. Starr was doing and, more importantly, why.

Theo plopped down on one of the chairs and grabbed a banana. If meeting a century-old folk hero had fazed him at all, he didn’t show it. Mollie, however, watched Daniel with an expression of clear worry as he followed Johnny out of the waiting room and into the hallway beyond.

They traveled through brightly lit corridors bustling with people. Most hurried past, mumbling hellos at Johnny and not bothering to spare Daniel a second glance. Despite the breezy, relaxed design of the place—the floor-to-ceiling windows, walls hung with brightly painted works of abstract art—there was a definite tension in these halls. Everyone was hurrying to and fro, and they had that overworked look that Daniel sometimes saw in his parents. He felt guilty for fooling poor Ms. Starr the way they did. Probably gave her an anxiety attack.

They stopped outside a tall office door marked
PRINCIPAL
, and Johnny stepped aside, allowing Daniel to enter first. The office had been designed with the same cheerful modernity as the rest of the school, but the effect was hampered in there somewhat by the shelves of dusty old relics and knickknacks—an antiquated typewriter with a few missing keys, a baseball yellowed with age, a dented infantryman’s helmet. Johnny’s office looked more like a flea market.

Johnny offered Daniel a seat, but Daniel didn’t take him up on it. He wasn’t planning on staying long enough to need a chair.

“It’s a little cluttered for an office, but it helps me feel at home,” said Johnny as he walked around the back of his glass-topped desk and eased himself down into his chair, smoothing out his suit coat as he did so. Sitting there, he looked strangely elegant, like a character from one of those old black-and-white detective movies. A man out of time.

“Come on, Daniel,” he said. “Sit and hear what I have to say. And try not to throw any punches this time.”

“Don’t worry about that. I broke my hand last time I tried,” said Daniel. His gaze came to rest on an old rifle mounted on a plaque behind Johnny’s chair. The barrel was rusted with age and the wooden stock was blackened as if burnt.

“Strange thing for a teacher to put up in his office,” said Daniel.

Johnny glanced over his shoulder at the gun and smiled. “Yes, it’s gotten me a few looks, but I explained that it’s a family heirloom and a part of history.”

“Yours, isn’t it?”

“I was carrying that rifle the night in 1934 when the Witch Fire Comet appeared over the mountain. I still remember every detail. I was coming home late after checking my traps. I remember what the sky looked like when it lit up with green fire. The trail of light as the meteor came crashing down to earth. And the screams from St. Alban’s as the orphanage caught fire.”

Johnny’s eyes had grown distant, like he was seeing something Daniel couldn’t, hearing things Daniel couldn’t. His grandmother used to get that look sometimes when she’d talk about her childhood, about old friends dead and gone. Herman had that look too, when he’d first told Daniel his tale of the comet, of how a young Herman had been the only child to escape the fire that night unscathed, and unchanged, because he’d been hiding in the outhouse when the meteor hit.

Daniel’s grandmother used to say that when you’d lived long enough, your whole life bore down on you, the good and the bad. It got so heavy at times, you just had to stop to catch your breath.

Whatever moment was weighing Johnny down passed, and his eyes focused once more on the here and now, on Daniel.

“You and your friends got curious about the academy, decided to do a little investigating, is that it?” he asked.

Daniel nodded.

“I should’ve been expecting that. Must be slipping in my old age.”

Despite what had just happened, Daniel would never have described Johnny as old, not in the way his grandmother had been old—frail and sickly. Johnny was from a different era perhaps, but he was solidly built and moved with the grace of a young man in his prime. Still, if Daniel did the math, he figured Johnny was close to a hundred.

“So, Theo Plunkett, and the girl with you, that’s Mollie Lee—the flier, right?”

Again, Daniel nodded. He didn’t bother lying since he was pretty sure Johnny was asking questions he already knew the answers to.

“You don’t look happy, Daniel, and I had thought that when you finally figured out that I was here, you might actually be pleased. Aren’t you the one who scolded me last year for not getting involved?”

“Yeah,” said Daniel. “But you missed your chance. All those years that Herman was preying on the kids in this town and you could’ve stopped it. You think you can make up for that by taking a job at the school?”

Daniel forced himself to look right into Johnny’s eyes. There was something in that stare—a power that made Daniel keenly aware of just how small a person he really was.
It was hard to stare into the eyes of a giant and not look away.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel said, “The last time we talked, I told you to leave us alone. I meant it.”

To Daniel’s surprise, it was Johnny who broke their staring contest. Looking up at the ceiling, as if he could see past it and into the sky, he let out a tired sigh. “Do you know what this place is?” asked Johnny.

“We were told it was a school,” answered Daniel.

“Oh, it’s a school all right,” said Johnny. “There’s nothing insidious going on here, if that’s what you were hoping to find. No secret labs. No sacrificial altar hidden away.”

“You’ve been reading too many of your own comic books.”

Johnny chuckled. “I never liked those. Herman’s tales of caped heroes and masked villains never interested me. I’ve seen too much of the real world.”

“So what?” asked Daniel. “Are you here to share your wisdom, then? Tell us all about
the real world
?”

“In part,” Johnny said simply. “And to protect you from it.”

Daniel nearly laughed in his face. “What do you mean? Protect us from who?”

Johnny stood up and walked to the window. His office overlooked the campus common, and beyond that were the verdant slopes down the mountain. It was a breathtaking view.

“I guess you’ve seen what’s been going on down there in the town,” said Johnny. “The incidents.”

“You mean the attacks? Sure.”

“It’s exactly what I was worried would happen,” said Johnny, and for the first time the smile dropped out of his voice. “I told you that the last time we talked.”

“People are just getting scared.”

“They’re scared. And worse, they’re jealous. It didn’t take them long to go from ‘Wow, they are amazing!’ to ‘Why can’t I do that?’ It’s dangerous that there are so many of us.”

“You sound like Herman.”

“Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day,” said Johnny. “But I’m going to try and help as much as I can.”

“With this school?” said Daniel. “Was this place your idea?”

“No,” admitted Johnny. “But when I heard what they were up to, I knew I needed to be here. If I can … control the out-of-control ones. Teach them to use their talents in a responsible way. Not to show off. Not to frighten people. Well, then, maybe we can avoid the worst of it.”

“The worst of what?” asked Daniel. “Just what are you afraid will happen, exactly?”

Johnny studied Daniel quietly for a moment, as if weighing something about the boy. Finally, he slumped back into his chair.

“I’ve been alive for a long time, Daniel,” he said. “In all those years my powers haven’t weakened. If anything, they’ve grown. Changed.”

“You healed me,” said Daniel. “When I … broke my hand against your jaw. You used your power to heal me.”

Johnny nodded. “I wasn’t able to do that at first. It came with time. The point is, I’ve changed over the years, but as best I can tell, mankind hasn’t. Fear is still the strongest emotion, and it can make people do terrible things if it’s unchecked. All those years in hiding, I watched wars come and go, governments fall, and catastrophes wipe out thousands, but I chose this moment in history—now—to get involved. That should give you some idea of how serious I am about this.”

Sometimes listening to Johnny was like listening to the class know-it-all who didn’t realize someone had taped a
KICK ME
sign to his butt. Just when Daniel was about to be taken in by all that supposed wisdom, leave it to Johnny to remind him why he couldn’t stand the man. He had such a self-important view of himself, of a person who’d spent the last century doing
nothing at all
.

“That’s supposed to impress me?” said Daniel. “A list of all the times you
didn’t
give a damn?”

For a moment, just a moment, a dark cloud passed over Johnny’s face. Daniel had gotten to him, pierced that marble-hard skin with a little bit of truth telling. Good. Let him be angry. Anything to get rid of that arrogant smirk.

“You should watch your language, son,” said Johnny. “You are in the principal’s office after all.”

“But I’m not your student,” said Daniel.

“Look, Daniel—I’m here to teach. To help these kids
find their way so that people will have nothing
to
fear. But if it comes to it, I promise you this—no one will hurt these children while they are under my protection. They’d have to get through me first, and you and I both know that’s a very hard thing to do.”

Daniel looked at Johnny’s face, trying to spot the lie there. But Johnny looked earnest enough. He probably believed it himself.

“You may hate me for letting the Shroud steal those children’s powers,” said Johnny. “And maybe you’re right to do so, but ask yourself this—in all those years, did a single child die? And why not? You saw how unbalanced Herman had become, what he was capable of.”

“Are you really trying to convince me that you weren’t AWOL all that time? That you were some kind of secret protector?”

“I helped when I was needed,” said Johnny. “Ask Rose. She watched as I saved your friend Eric’s life.”

It was true that in their first battle with the Shroud, Rose had hidden invisible while Johnny breathed strength back into Eric’s wounded body. But Daniel had wondered, if Johnny was so all-powerful, why hadn’t he simply stopped Herman himself? Last year he’d figured out the answer to that question. Johnny had been afraid the Shroud would steal his powers too. Johnny wasn’t some mysterious savior helping from the shadows; he was a coward.

Now, thanks to Daniel, the Shroud was no more, and
there was nothing to be afraid of. Johnny was truly invulnerable at last. What courage did it take to come out of hiding now?

“I don’t know why we’re having this conversation,” said Daniel. “You keep saying you’re here to protect
us
. But I’m not even one of them. I’m not a Super.”

“I think we both know that’s not true. You’ve proved it, time and again.” Johnny stood up. “You and your friends don’t think you need me,” he said. “But I can help. Mollie out there is, what, thirteen?”

“Fourteen.”

“Growing up. And her powers, are they growing up with her?”

“How did you know?”

Johnny smiled. “It’s not mind reading to guess that as their bodies are getting stronger, so are their abilities. I can help them control them, just like I’m already helping the rest of these kids. You tell them for me.”

Daniel shrugged. Eric and Rohan would be there soon enough, but they would be none too happy when they learned that Johnny was a part of all this.

“Theo and Mollie will be wondering what’s taking you so long,” said Johnny. “I’ve pleaded my case, and I hope you can come to trust me, in time. The academy can be the answer to this town’s problems. We can make it a better place. We can make the world a better place. I just wanted you to know, I really am one of the good guys, Daniel.”

“Whatever,” said Daniel. But as they walked to the door, he stopped and said, “Oh, about your students Drake Masterson and his buddies …”

“The ones you were talking to. Yes, what about them?”

“You’ve got your work cut out for you, Mr. Principal.”

“If I’d known he was the principal, there’s no way I would’ve signed up,” said Eric.

“It doesn’t really change the mission,” said Rohan. “We’re going to be there to keep an eye on Drake and his friends. Johnny doesn’t actually matter—”

“He matters to me,” said Eric.

If Daniel disliked Johnny, Eric hated him. For most of his life Eric had idolized him as the first Super, the comic book hero of countless stories and Eric’s own imagination. When Daniel had learned that it was all false, that the character of Johnny Noble was nothing like the real man, he’d
felt disappointed, but Eric had felt betrayed. Another father figure had let him down, and Daniel knew that Eric had a thing about deadbeat dads. After his own father had passed away, there had been a string of men in his mother’s life who’d promised to look after Eric and her, but each one turned out worse than the one before. He’d actually discovered his powers the day he threw one of them through a window.