Charlotte Powers 1: Power Down (13 page)

xx48.11.29 / 04:12 / Tuesday

Can't sleep. It feels like my heart is still beating too fast, and I keep thinking I hear something outside. I've never been scared before. It's horrible. It's worse than getting hurt. Maybe I'll have another shower. That might help calm me down a little, anyway.

xx48.11.29 / 06:01 / Still Tuesday

Is it still too early to call C2? After six should be okay, right? But they're probably all still sleeping. I don't want to wake them up. I should wait a little longer. Maybe half past six would be acceptable. I hope so.

xx48.11.29 / 13:42 / Still Tuesday

I didn't make it to six-thirty before I called C2. I didn't even make it to ten past six. But I'm really glad I called her.

"Hello?" It was her father who answered.

"Hello, Mr Crescent," I said. "This is Charlotte Powers. Is your daughter awake?"

"Charlotte. Are you all right?"

I guess my voice must have been a bit shaky.

"I'm. I'm. Could I please talk to C2? To Charlotte?"

"I'll get her, just hold on."

So he went and he woke C2 up. By the time she said "Hello?" very sleepily into the phone I couldn't hold it in any longer and I just started sobbing. It took about five minutes before I could even talk properly. I could tell she was confused, but I could hear her father in the background saying something to her, maybe he was explaining that there was something wrong, but I think even C2 would've figured that out on her own.

"Charlotte," she said, after I'd managed to calm down a bit. "What's wrong?"

"I just need you to tell me everything's going to be okay," I blubbed. There was a pause, then she said exactly that to me:

"Charlotte, everything's going to be okay."

And then I started sobbing again. After that it was just basically me blubbing into the phone and C2 doing her very best, oh she's just so sweet I know it must've been so hard for her to even understand what was going on, but she was so good, she just kept telling me it was okay and it was going to be all right, and then I jumped, really jumped because there was a knock at my door, but then I heard Mr Crescent outside calling, he was saying "Don't get a fright, it's just Mr Crescent", and it must have taken me five minutes just to get the bar off the door and to unlatch it, then I kind of just collapsed into him and he took me down to his car and he drove me back to their house, and C2's mother had made pancakes and hot chocolate with marshmallows, she gave me a big hug when I went in and her gown was so soft, and C2 was in her pajamas, they have little robots on them, little red robots floating in a soft blue sky, and she hugged me too, I don't think she really knows how to hug but she tried, for me she tried, and then they all sat me down and we had pancakes and hot chocolate and Mrs Crescent chatted away at me until I stopped sniffing and hiccuping and Mr Crescent gave me a big brown dressing gown to wear because I was shivering, I wasn't cold but somehow it helped, and C2 just being there was enough.

I must've fallen asleep, because I woke up in C2's bed. She was at school, her mother told me. Her father had to go to work, too. Neither of them wanted to leave me. Guess what happened then? Yep, I started crying again.

Eventually, though, I got a hold of myself, and I ate some of the meatloaf Mrs Crescent had made especially for me, she remembered how much I liked it when I came for dinner that one time, and after that I felt a bit better. Just a bit. Sometimes 'just a bit' is enough, though.

Now I'm sitting in their tiny little friendly living room, writing this with shaky hands while Mrs Crescent puts the washing out. She once washed my uniform for me. Just now she looked in at me and smiled and said, "That's a gorgeous dress you're wearing".

That set me off crying again. But they're halfway good tears.

xx48.11.29 / 16:57 / Still Tuesday

I'm still at the Crescents' house. I felt a little bit better after writing that last entry, getting everything out, so I've been helping Mrs Crescent with the household chores. At home we never had to do much, we've got Botler and a lot of automated systems, it's amazing how much work goes into running a household without those things, though. We put on another load of washing and brought the last load in, then we folded and put away, then she washed and I dried the dishes, then there was vacuuming which is actually pretty fun and satisfying, come to think of it the floor of my apartment is getting a bit gritty, maybe I should get a vacuum cleaner. If I do, I'm getting one just like the Crescents', it's shiny and purple and small and light and it makes this 'vhirrrr!' noise when you push it across the floor.

Then C2 came home with her dad, he picked her up from school, and they brought ice cream for everyone. Mrs Crescent and I were preparing dinner together (roast beef!) but we stopped and went outside to their tiny little back garden and all sat on a bench and had ice cream together.

I think that was one of the best moments of my whole life.

I'm staying here tonight. I don't want to go back to my little apartment and be alone. I still feel a little bit shaky. C2 said Veronica asked about me at self-improvement—I mean she asked EVERYONE, a big general 'does anyone know where Charlotte Powers is?'. C2 didn't say anything, which was definitely the Correct Choice.

I still haven't told them why I was so upset. They haven't asked. I feel like I owe it to them, though. They've been so nice without expecting anything from me. Now I have to do something not just for C2, but for her whole family. It has to be amazing, it has to be the best most appropriate most fittingly incredible thing ever.

So far I've just said "Thank you". That's all I can do right now. It's not nearly enough, but until I figure out how to properly show just how deeply I appreciate everything they've done, it'll have to suffice.

I have to go now, Mrs Crescent is about to take the roast out of the oven.

Families, even families that aren't yours, are more than 'great'. They're
essential
.

xx48.11.30 / 11:34 / Wednesday

I'm still at the Crescents' house. It was funny in the morning, having to take turns in the bathroom. I went last, that was funny too because I was insisting I go last while they were all insisting that I went first (well, C2 wasn't, she's kind of practical and had her turn while her parents and I were insisting at each other). Eventually Mrs Crescent resolved things by saying "If Charlotte's going last then she can have a nice long bath, I'll get one ready for her", so that's what happened, I had a really long bath with all these nice bath salts and things, and candles all lit around me. I've never had a bath like that before, I was amazed at how calm it made me feel, and afterwards I noticed my hands weren't really shaking any more.

That's when I told Mrs Crescent about what happened. All of it, everything that Ray did. She listened very sympathetically, and when I told her about the bad part her mouth went all thin and her eyes went all hard, and she patted my arm and she said "Let's hope I never see the boy walking down the street, because big tough rugby player or not I'd punch him to the ground". I think she really would, too. She's lovely and laughy and kind of 'round', but I feel like Mrs Crescent is NOT someone you want to get on the wrong side of.

I felt better for telling her, though, and she gave me a big hug and told me not to worry, that I did well to take care of myself and that probably all I should regret was not giving him a proper slap. Which ... which I DO kind of regret, actually. He definitely deserved it!

One thing I've noticed, being here; my head is clearer. I can think properly. I've spent some time reading back over my recent entries, and it's pretty obvious there's something wrong. I keep mentioning how I should start investigating, but I never actually do anything. Being at the school is bad, that's clear. It's obviously the centre of whatever weird stuff is happening. I don't want to impose on the Crescents because CLEARLY they've already done SO much for me, but it's not just because I don't want to be alone that I'm reluctant to go back to the school.

Except ...

Except I have to go back. Because I DO need to investigate. Because I DO need to stop all of this. At the very least I have to find out what's going on, and maybe who's behind all of this. Even if I can't do anything to stop it myself, I could maybe find someone who can. There aren't any buses out of town but there IS a road, and eventually that road has to lead SOMEWHERE.

I feel bad about sneaking away, but now that I've realised all of this I can't wait any longer. I'm going to leave a note for the Crescents thanking them for everything, and then I'm heading to the school. This time I'm not going as a student, though. I'm going as a spy. There are too many secrets at Emerald Hill Academy. And I'm going to unearth all of them.

xx48.11.30 / 18:08 / Still Wednesday

Spying is going both better and worse than I expected. Currently I'm in a toilet, inside a cubicle. I'm
kind
of hiding. I don't think I'm ACTIVELY being chased, but it's pretty clear that I'm being 'hunted'.

There's something I have to get out of the way before going into that, though. It's about C2. This is so the wrong time for this to happen, but we had a huge fight. I had to warn her, that's why I grabbed her while she was crossing the grounds to get to self-improvement. She was happy but surprised to see me, and also happy that I'm pretty much recovered from The Incident, but a little bit less happy when I told her what I was doing here—this was after we were safely in one of the unused school buildings, of course.

"This is dangerous, too dangerous," she said. "Please stop before you get into trouble."

"I thought you didn't even believe that there WAS anything sinister going on?" I said.

"Even the possibility of danger is enough—"

"I can't do nothing! I realised it while I was at your house, that being here, that living at the school was the worst thing I could've done, it clouded my mind and stopped me from acting—but now that I know, I HAVE to act!"

"You don't have to," C2 said. "You're choosing to."

"Yes, exactly!" I said. "And you have a choice, too. It's between two things. Neither of them are wrong, and I won't think any less of you no matter what you decide."

That kind of caught her attention. "Go on," she said.

"The way I see things, it could get dangerous here," I said. "If the students are being controlled then at any moment they could get hostile or even violent. You can't just keep continuing like you are, just pretending nothing's wrong—"

"I'm not pretending that," C2 said. She actually sounded a little angry. "I know that something is wrong. I'm doing my best to get by despite this—"

"That's not good enough, 'getting by' isn't an option now. You have to DO something. So these are your choices, C2. You can either go home and stay completely out of this, or you can come with me and help me stop whatever's happening here."

C2 considered this, like she considers everything. Then she shook her head.

"Those aren't the only choices," she said.

"They're the only VALID choices," I countered. "I don't want you to get hurt—"

"I don't want you to get hurt either," she said. "I care about you and want you to be safe. Please stop this, I can't see it ending well."

But I can't stop. Why can't she SEE that? If I know something wrong is happening, how can I ignore that? How could ANYONE ignore that? I told her this, I tried to explain, I did my best but I could see I just wasn't getting through to her.

"Maybe there's a bigger problem here," she said. "You seem to be very ... passionate about this. You care about it deeply. Is that right?"

"Yes, that's one way of putting it—"

"But I don't share your passion," she said. "I care about you, but I don't understand you."

I didn't have anything to say to this. After all, it was true. C2 thought for a moment, then she said something utterly shocking:

"I need to read your journal."

NO! No one can read this, these are my secret private thoughts! I know I began this thing as a record of my rise to superhero glory (hah!) but it's become more than that, this journal IS me, I can't just let someone read it without EXTENSIVE editing, not even my best friend!

"Absolutely NOT," I said. "I can't believe you'd even SUGGEST that!"

"If I could read it then I could understand you better," she said. "My problem is that I can't tell what people are feeling. I can't read emotional cues. But a journal is a place for private thoughts and feelings—"

"EXACTLY," I said. "Private! Not for anyone else!"

C2 looked confused and sad and dejected. "But—"

"No! You can't read my journal, that's FINAL! That you even ... look, just go home, C2. Go home to your amazing family and be safe, just do that for me, please. I don't know what's going to happen here, but ... but whatever happens, you have to be safe. You just have to be."

With that I left. I was angry at her, and I still am, but that doesn't mean I want her to get hurt. And she clearly isn't interested in helping me stop this. It kind of hurts that she isn't. Even if she doesn't understand me, she DOES understand that this is important to me. And more than that, she's got to understand that something wrong is happening here, REALLY wrong, and that someone HAS to stop it. Right?

Well, anyway. I think she went home. I hope she did. I haven't seen her since then and I've been EVERYWHERE in this school. I did a lot of 'sneaking' and 'infiltration' courses in the training room back home (mostly, I admit, because they're so much fun), and even without super-agility and phase-shifting I didn't have any trouble getting around unnoticed, even in the gymnasium where they're rigging up a bunch of fireworks, I guess for tomorrow's 'big game'. Both the roof AND the floor retract to make it an open-air stadium thing with grass underneath, it's kind of neat actually.

Argh, I think the mind control is affecting me, my thoughts keep wondering. I have to focus. I have to concentrate on the task ahead. And most of all I have to be very, very careful, because they're after me, specifically ME, although I don't yet know why.

It was while I was exploring one of the disused school buildings that it happened. I thought it was empty, it definitely hasn't been used for a while and there's dust and mess everywhere, but while I was creeping down a corridor I heard muffled voices. It took me a while to figure it out, but eventually I realised they were coming from below ground-level—which was doubly suspicious because none of the school buildings have obvious basements. It was hard to make out what they were talking about, but I eventually found a good spot and listened really hard with my eyes closed, and although I couldn't make out complete sentences I got a word here and there, and one word that kept coming up was DEFINITELY 'psychic'. No question. Well okay FINE it was either 'psychic' or 'high kick' but I REALLY don't think whoever was in that hidden room underneath a disused building was discussing martial arts, do you?

Anyway, I was still trying to hear what they were talking about when I realised that they were coming up—just my luck, the secret entrance to the underground room was RIGHT by where I was lying. I got up as quick as I could and hid JUST as I heard the trapdoor or whatever opening, it sounded like hydraulics. Whoever they were—I didn't recognise their voices—kept talking as they came up, and what they said was pretty shocking:

"—certainly the most efficient solution, if not the most elegant. Until then, let's put those much-vaunted stamina enhancers to work, I don't want any more of the subjects dropping out. Do we have any progress on the Powers girl?"

I had to put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from yelping. 'The Powers girl', that's me!

"No sign of her since Monday, apparently the Ricardo kid couldn't keep his hands to himself and she freaked out."

I went all cold when I heard that—the guy said it in such a casual, uncaring way too, 'couldn't keep his hands to himself', that doesn't even BEGIN to describe how WRONG and AWFUL and HORRIBLE it was.

"Hm. Put her up to priority three then, I want her out of the way. Increase general security to level two also, and bugger the salience. At this point we can't afford any unknown variables."

"She's already at priority three."

"Then put her up to priority two, man, must I do your job for you? In fact, you could probably—"

They were getting further away now and I couldn't make out the next part, but I crept after them and managed to hear just a little more of their conversation before they left the building:

"—taken care of, she volunteered for advanced improvement, she's not—"

And then I couldn't hear any more. But what I'd heard already was plenty!

They want me 'out of the way'!

I'm a priority two!

Whatever that means!

Something sinister anyway, and putting that together with what I heard about something 'psychic' adds up to something really, really bad. I don't know exactly what, but I HAVE to find out.

I waited a bit after they'd left, then I tried to get into the underground room, but with the trapdoor or whatever closed I couldn't even see where it was. There must be some kind of key, without it I don't think I can get down there. Getting hold of that 'key' is my highest priority!

Well, not my HIGHEST priority. My HIGHEST priority is 'not getting caught', because after I left the actually-not-disused building it was like all these people had appeared from nowhere—mostly students but some staff too, all of them clearly 'searching'. Searching for me! I figured the admin building would be my best chance to get more information, so I headed that way. It took a while to get there but I managed it without being spotted, except once I got inside things kind of got trickier. There are cameras in the admin building, and they're set up so there aren't any convenient 'blind spots'. They've got 'staff' patrolling the building too, which just increases my suspicions and makes me even more determined to find what they're hiding there.

Except how can I? Without my powers there's no way I can infiltrate that place without getting spotted. Also, I think this place is really starting to get to me, the mind control I mean, I'm having trouble thinking straight and it's hard to remain focused.

I didn't want to, but I gave up on the admin building—just for now, just until I can think of a way to get in there without being seen. But HOW? If I could phase-out—but I CAN'T, I have to stop thinking like that, I CAN'T go out-of-phase, I wish I could but I just can't. Maybe I'll never be able to again. It's a sad thought and a lonely one, but it's something I have to face.

Right now, though, just keeping safe is difficult enough. After I gave up on admin I retreated to one of the school buildings, to one of my trusted safe-havens, a toilet stall. That's where I am now, writing this, trying to figure things out. I should take a deep breath and think this through logically, gather together everything that I already know and hope it leads me to some kind of amazing conclusion. So, what do I know? I know that they're looking for me, actively hunting me specifically, as well as guarding against 'unknown variables'. That means that whatever they're planning, it's at a critical juncture. Something important is happening, either now or soon. What else do I know? I know that whatever they're planning it involves widespread psychic manipulation, of an entire school (with residual influence spreading to the entire town).

Psychic manipulation. That's really the shocking thing about all of this—it's possible, of course, it's certainly not without precedent, but on this kind of scale, an entire school! I've never heard of anything like that, how are they doing it? Dark Judgement is probably the most famous example of a psychic manipulator (even though he wasn't actually psychic himself) but his 'little sages' only worked on one person at a time, and they had to be in direct contact with the skull to function at all. Also they needed a mutated hypermouse brain to work at all so yuck. Then there were villains like Triforks and heroes like Paradiso, they both had pretty much the same power, the ability to influence the behaviour and mood of others. Triforks used it to control people, Paradiso used it to heal psychic injuries. Gaia too, she was in Mum and Dad's group for a while, her power was a little different but she used it for good, to heal people, to help people. But this isn't helping people. This is definitely 'controlling' people, specifically the students here.

Getting distracted. Have to focus. The strangest thing here is the scale of all of this—wait, no, the actual strangest thing is that they're broadcasting at all. Has someone figured out how to broadcast psychic signals? How is that even possible? It's been proven that you can't reproduce psychic energy mechanically, I'm sure it has, in fact I'm CERTAIN it has because I remember Daniel getting really worked up about it when I suggested a 'happy ray' as something positive he might like to invent. You CANNOT artificially create psychic energy, it's just an impossibility. Except clearly it's not, because here we are.

That's something else, too. I'm now almost certain that C2 has some kind of superpower. Just being emotionally unreceptive wouldn't block psychic manipulation, I'm sure of it. Maybe she's like Dulleye—yes, he was a supervillain, but he had psychic shielding as his power, actually more than that, he was an 'anti-psychic', is that what C2 is? Is that her power? I really hope she listened to me and went home, I really hope she isn't still here. Already I've seen the students acting strangely, already I've seen evidence that this 'mood alteration' is far more than that, evidence of actual psychic control—but how? HOW are they doing this?

No, I'm focusing on the wrong thing here. The 'how' isn't important. Neither is the 'why', come to that. What's MOST important, RIGHT NOW, is 'where'. Where is this happening? If I knew that, then I

[ENTRY TIMED OUT]