Super (27 page)

At least that was Daniel’s hope.

And it wasn’t just Noble’s Green, though that had the highest concentration by far and was the ground zero of what would become known as the Blackout Event. After that night Supers appeared all over the globe, but each and every one of them could be traced back to that lonely little
Pennsylvania town. All of them had spent a part of their childhood there. Noble’s Green became home to the world’s superheroes.

Of course the scientists showed up. Biologists, archaeologists, physicists—academics of every stripe came to Noble’s Green to study the phenomenon. Some of the Super townsfolk even volunteered for their tests, though very little actually came from it. The source of their powers, as well as how they worked, remained a mystery. Now that the Shades were gone, Theo and his father let the university continue its archaeological dig, but other than the very impressive cave paintings that Daniel already knew about, nothing interesting was discovered. Herman had been thorough in his own secret excavations, and every bit of meteor rock that could be found had been. The fragments that had once been his pendant now were no more remarkable than simple limestone. Daniel’s ring represented the sum total of all the Witch Fire meteorite rock that was left on earth.

For now.

“I’ve thought about dropping it into the bottom of Tangle Creek, but who’s to say it wouldn’t wash up again?”

Daniel was standing in the middle of the tree fort—the newly rebuilt and improved tree fort complete with a second floor connected by a climbing ladder—addressing the Supers. Standing in a circle watching him were Eric, Rohan, Mollie, Louisa, Rose, Michael, and Simon. Separate from the group, leaning on the rebuilt door, stood Theo.

And on the floor in front of them, resting on a flat rock the size of a dinner plate, was the ring. Everyone kept their distance from it, even, or perhaps especially, Daniel.

“So that’s why I settled on the sledgehammer,” said Daniel, gesturing with the heavy mallet in his hands. “I’m sure it’s perfectly safe to get close enough to destroy it, and you won’t have to actually touch it.”

“We don’t want to destroy it,” said Rohan.

“I’m sorry … what?”

Rohan took a step forward and pushed his glasses farther up on his nose as he studied the ring.

“Everyone knows how you feel about this,” he said. “Your … relationship to this ring. And everyone agrees that it’s dangerous—”

“It’s the most dangerous thing on the planet!” said Daniel.

“Maybe,” said Rohan. “Or maybe Noble’s Green is.”

“Wait a minute!” said Daniel. “What are you talking about?”

Eric placed his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “We knew this would be hard for you, which is why we already met in private. We talked it over, the Supers with … superpowers.”

Daniel scanned the faces of his friends.

“So you had a secret meeting and decided what?” asked Daniel. “I mean other than to go absolutely crazy?”

“For the record, I didn’t get a vote,” offered Theo.

“Hear us out,” said Rohan. “For years there was only a small group of Supers, a manageable group. But now, as of
last count, there are two hundred and three people in the entire world who possess superpowers, and most of them live right here. Now, it appears that many of them have faded in strength over the years, along with many of their stolen memories. So you are looking at the most powerful Supers standing right here—”

“And Georgie!” said Rose. “He’s stronger than Eric! I saw it!”

“Only sometimes,” said Daniel. “Hopefully it stays that way for a while.”

Georgie’s super-strength that he’d displayed in the battle with the Shroud hadn’t returned since, but Daniel knew it was only a matter of time. He was big brother to a powerhouse toddler.

“And Clay,” said Simon. “Forgetting about him was the only good part of being Shroud food.”

“And Clay,” agreed Rohan. “Bud too—although not as obviously powerful, he’s still potent.”

“I’ll say!” said Simon, waving his hand in front of his nose.

Mollie punched him in the arm. “Let him talk.”

“The point is,” continued Rohan, “that most of the adults and teenagers out there with powers are weaker than us, but we still don’t know what they are going to do with those powers.”

“I heard Janey Levine is shopping around a reality TV show,” said Simon. Mollie glared at him, but he threw up his hands in protest. “Seriously! No joke. Just contributing
useful information to the discussion like a useful Super should!”

Daniel took a deep breath. It hadn’t taken long to get sick of Simon all over again.

“So you guys want to keep this ring around as a … weapon?” asked Daniel. “Your own personal contingency plan?”

“No,” said Eric. “We want
you
to keep it. And don’t think of it as a weapon. Think of it as insurance.”

“Yeah,” said Louisa. “We trust you to make the right choice. Only you.”

Daniel wanted to argue the logic of this, but the truth was that he’d had some of the same thoughts. It was why he’d kept the ring in the first place. Why he hadn’t told anyone about it, and why the very idea of keeping it now made him sick to his stomach. It was all too familiar.

“Things didn’t turn out so well last time,” he said.

“That was because Herman manipulated you,” said Rohan. “He used his powers to influence you. But his power’s gone. With his pendant destroyed, he’s just an old man. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

Daniel wasn’t convinced. Herman would always be dangerous, powers or no. Daniel had learned that the hard way, and it was a lesson he wouldn’t forget.

“Take it,” said Eric. “Hide it. Keep it safe. Hopefully you’ll never have to use it.”

There was still one person who hadn’t spoken.

“Michael,” said Daniel. “Do you agree with these guys?”

Michael looked around the room. He’d changed since getting his powers back. He smiled more, he was friendly and warm, but there was still something slightly haunted in his eyes. He’d been through too much to come out of it unscathed.

“I want it smashed into a thousand pieces and buried in every corner of the earth,” said Michael. “I want that thing gone and I don’t want to talk about it ever again. Not ever.

“But,” he continued, with a look at Mollie, “being Supers means we decide things together, and we trust each other. So I trust my friends, and I trust you, Daniel. After all, you brought us all back. You’re the hero, man. Your choice.”

Daniel nodded. “My choice.”

Then suddenly, and without further discussion, Daniel lifted the sledgehammer with both hands and with a yell brought it down on the ring. The black meteorite exploded in a puff of black dust and green light. A flash, then nothing but bits of broken, harmless rock.

No one said anything until Daniel spoke up.

“You guys put all the faith in the world in me,” he said. “But I don’t deserve it. Not if I keep this thing around. If I did that, I’d be keeping hope alive in Herman’s withered old heart, and he wouldn’t stop, not ever, until he became the Shroud again. You’re my best friends in the world, and this is how I’ll protect you.”

His friends just watched him, expressionless. All but one.

“Good call, Daniel,” said Theo, smiling. “Good call.”

Daniel nodded at the new kid. “No more Shrouds,” he said. “Never again.”

T
he Mountain View Home wasn’t a sanitarium, exactly. There were no straitjackets or padded cells, but it wasn’t a day at the spa either. The grounds were lovely, with well-kept lawns trimmed with bright flower beds that gave the place a soothing garden feel. That was, until you wandered past the flowers and bumped into the high-walled perimeter fence with cameras that followed your every move. The security guards all wore neatly pressed suit coats instead of officers’ badges, and at least half a dozen rooms actually had a view of the mountain, but these were reserved for only the most special guests. It was one of these rooms that Daniel
found himself standing outside—the topmost room actually, with the very best view.

Herman Plunkett, locally famous philanthropist, had been presumed dead right until the moment when he was delivered to the Noble’s Green sheriff’s station by a group of young Good Samaritans who’d found him roaming the streets the morning after the Blackout Event. Herman Plunkett, who was no longer presumed dead, was now simply presumed insane.

Mountain View was a place for healing, but Daniel would have preferred Herman to be in a place where the walls were just a little bit higher. They really didn’t know who they had in there.

The visiting room was just off the main floor, but due to Herman’s unique position within the town, he was allowed special privileges. He was allowed to take visitors in his private room, which was at the end of a long, secluded hallway. At one end of the hall was a nurses’ station, which was currently unattended. At the other end was Herman’s closed door. And seated in one of the chairs just outside was a familiar, well-dressed gentleman with a graying beard.

He was watching Daniel.

The man smiled, but it was all Daniel could do to swallow down the hot pit of anger that had risen in his throat. He suddenly wished he hadn’t destroyed the black ring, wished that he had the power to make this man sorry for all
the things he
hadn’t
done. For all the kids who’d suffered at the hands of the Shroud.

Powerless to actually threaten the man, Daniel had to settle for calling him the first word that came to mind.

“Coward,” Daniel said.

The man’s smile cracked just for a second, but it didn’t break.

“I can understand why you’d think that,” he said. “But it’s a little more complicated.”

“What’s complicated about it? The people here have been worshipping you for decades, they’ve built monuments to you, they even named the town after you, and you left their children alone with
him
!”

What happened next shocked even Daniel. Without thinking about it, without meaning to, he punched the man square in the face. He’d never hit anyone out of anger before, but his face felt like it was on fire, and the more he talked, the hotter he got until he couldn’t help himself. He just struck.

It was like punching a cold marble statue. He was pretty sure he broke at least one finger, if not two. He doubled over, clutching his fingers to his belly as the pain in his hand shot up his arm. It hurt so much, the room began to tilt under his feet.

Someone took him by the shoulder and sat him down in one of the chairs. The man was saying something, but Daniel could barely listen. It hurt too much.

Strong hands took his broken fingers in theirs, and there
was a flash of light that left spots in Daniel’s eyes like a camera bulb had just gone off. But the blinding pain was gone. He flexed his fingers experimentally and found that they were a bit stiff and sore but definitely no longer broken.

“I wouldn’t try that again,” said the man. “I’m hard to hurt.”

“You … healed me? You can do that?”

The man stood up and smoothed his beard where Daniel’s fist had connected with his jaw. The tousled hair was the only mark Daniel had left.

“I can heal small things,” said the man. “Although it’s not really healing—more like
sharing
my own body’s healing power with you. I can only do it for a second, but a second is usually all it takes.”

Daniel took the opportunity to get a good look at Johnny Noble. He’d only ever gotten glimpses before, and then he hadn’t even been sure that this was the fabled superhero. The statues and few surviving photographs were all of Jonathan Noble as a young man, around the time of the St. Alban’s fire. Though this Johnny was older, he didn’t seem decrepit like Herman. Something had preserved him so that he looked maybe sixty, and a very healthy sixty at that. Remarkable, considering the man standing before him had to be nearly a hundred years old.

But if there was any doubt as to his identity, all you had to do was look into his eyes. He had Herman Plunkett eyes, only less reptilian. The two men shared the same brightness, the clarity. Those eyes had seen much.

That and the fact that his skin was as hard as stone. That was pretty much a dead giveaway.

“So why are you here?” asked Daniel. “Visiting your friend the Shroud?”

Johnny’s face darkened slightly at the mention of that name.

“I could ask the same of you,” he said.

“But I asked first.”

Johnny smiled again. “All right then, far be it from me to argue with a child’s logic. I’m not visiting, but I like to check up on him now and then. He never knows I’m here, but I like to make sure he’s keeping out of trouble.”

Daniel laughed at this. He actually laughed out loud. He couldn’t hit Johnny again or else he would have. The situation suddenly became so absurd it was funny.

“Out of trouble? What do you call the Shroud? What do you call what he’d been doing to those kids for all those years?”

“Necessary, I guess,” said Johnny. “I called it necessary.”

Daniel stopped laughing. “I hate you.”

“I know. But I need to explain as best I can. I doubt it’ll change your mind about me, but I need you to hear it.”

“Fine,” said Daniel. “Explain.”

Johnny took a deep breath. He looked suddenly uncertain. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at his shoes rather than at Daniel directly. He looked a bit … childish.

“Herman and I fought, you know,” Johnny said as he looked at the door to Herman’s room. “When I first caught
wind of what he was doing here, I confronted him and we fought. Johnny Noble versus the Shroud, just like in one of his stupid comic books.”

“He told me,” said Daniel. “He said that you won, but I wasn’t sure whether he was telling the truth. It’s impossible to tell with him.”

Johnny nodded. “Oh, he told the truth all right. It was close, but in the end I was just a little bit stronger and a little bit smarter. And that little bit can make all the difference in the end.

“Beaten, Herman begged for mercy. I couldn’t destroy the source of his power, that meteor stone, without risking losing my own powers, but I made him promise to stop using it. More than that, I threatened him.”