Curse of Arachnaman (26 page)

"I know,” he said, laughing. “That's why I'm glad it's happening to me instead."

I shook my head, grinning. He got me, as usual. “So what's gonna happen to Arachnaman?” I asked.

"He's going to be locked away, but I'm not going to be so confident yet. He's incredibly smart and much more dangerous than everyone else. I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to escape even with all the security measures we used on him."

"You're too cynical!"

"I'd rather be cynical and prepared for the worst, than walk into things with my eyes shut. We'll be busy for the next few days, by the way. I won't be able to talk to you at all. We'll be combing the city for devices he might've planted in different shops and residences."

"You know which ones to go to then?” I asked, amazed. “You figured out the common denominator?"

"It was so obvious, we didn't see it,” he replied, his voice hard. “He's a flaming bigot, Eric."

With the Sentries still busy working with the heroes and their workload doubling now that they had Arachnaman in custody, I was given one more day off from school. I spent my time really hunkering down and working on my take-home essays. I finally got into the swing of things after a few moments of struggling with inspiration, so that by the time everyone started coming home, I only had about one left to do. I just did everything in the dining room, so I could drink a soda and munch away at stale tortilla chips without having to go anywhere for sustenance. Of course, I felt a little bloated once I was finished, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and if the combination of carbonated sugar and stale tortilla chips helped with my inspiration, I'd take it, gas and all.

I went to Olivier's with Liz after dinner, who was feeling kind of restless. She also called Scanlon to meet us there and hang out because, well, she was totally into him, yanno? I said nothing. Just listened to her chatter away like a prepubescent girl who was on the phone with the hottest boy in school. Yikes.

The rain had stopped, but the sky remained overcast. It was also a little on the warm side, which was weird, but I figured that the greenhouse effect simply did that after the rain sometimes. For that night, the shopping strip enjoyed larger than normal pedestrian traffic. Maybe people needed to get out and expend all that nervous energy from so many days of waiting and then getting attacked by Arachnaman. With his mocking “confession,” or whatever it was called, last night, I wouldn't be surprised if people just wanted to forget that we had a psychopathic bigot in our midst. Hey, whatever worked, right?

My sister and I spent a good bit of time browsing for books, but we ended up with nothing because we're just too high-maintenance that way. Scanlon eventually materialized from somewhere, actually tiptoeing up to Liz, whose back was turned to him, while signaling me to keep quiet, and then covering her eyes with his hands.

"Guess who?” he chirped.

"Hmm,” Liz said, grinning behind his fingers. “Is it Christian Bale?"

OMFG.

"I can be!"

Commence loud giggling and lots of tickling between a couple of lovebirds. I just stared at them blandly and waited for the Hallmark moment to pass, hoping that it'd pass real soon before I puked my dinner all over them.

"Hiya, Tiger!” Scanlon said, reaching out to tug at my cap. Good thing he didn't do it too hard so that the visor came down to my nose. He'd done that before, and I could've kicked him for almost tearing the visor off my favorite flat cap. Besides, it was embarrassing. Then again, when was I not embarrassed by Scanlon Dorsey?

"Yeah, yeah, hi,” I grumbled, pulling off my cap and setting it back on my head after inspecting the visor. “Looks like you survived yesterday's drama."

"I did, yeah! Wasn't it crazy? I couldn't believe it!” Scanlon shook his head, speechless shock on his face. “I'm just glad that you guys didn't get hurt, considering how close it was to where you live."

Liz looped an arm around his and gave him a quick tug. “I'm not in the mood to go over crazy stuff like that,” she said. “Come on, let's just hang out somewhere.” She looped her other arm around mine so that we wandered downtown arm-in-arm, looking like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man. I'd rather not guess who was whom in that scenario. All we needed to do was sing and skip around like the total dorks that we were.

"Man, I'm bored,” I whined after about half an hour later as we window shopped, taking our damned sweet time the whole way. “I'd go for some big-ass ice cream right now, but I'm not hungry for dessert or anything edible.” Okay, that sounded pretty mental.

"Want some?” Scanlon asked, looking a little too eager. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I'm not going to that kiddie ice cream place, bucko,” I said. “I'm all about adult stuff now, in case you haven't heard."

"Sure thing! Tell you both what. I'll go to that gelato place a block down and get us all something. What flavors would you like?"

Okay, so I wasn't about to bite the hand that fed me, so I told him that I wanted a two-scoop deal with half dark chocolate and half espresso. I hoped I didn't salivate too much when I gave him my preference. Scanlon listened, that loopy grin on his face the whole time, and then bounded away with a “Be right back, yo!"

I blinked as he vanished in the crowd. “Man, Liz, you sure know how to pick ‘em."

"What now?” Liz demanded. “Are you going to go off about him again? Christ, Eric! What's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean, what? You've seen how he works! You've seen how he treats me like some kind of ten-year-old!"

Liz stared me down, her hands on her hips. It was a little bizarre, getting yelled at by someone who stood a good eight inches shorter than me, but she was my older sister, so...

"You know, I've always been down with your boyfriend, Eric. I've never said anything bad about him even though I think he's a little too serious and nerdy for you..."

I raised a hand. “Whoa, whoa! Hey, you don't even know Peter!"

She raised her brows in answer. “Have you ever listened to yourself?"

"What're you talking about?"

Liz rolled her eyes but didn't budge. We were in the middle of a busy sidewalk, yelling at each other while people had to bump into us to get by. We acted like the rest of the world didn't even exist. “Are you really that dense? Man! I don't know enough about your boyfriend, and you sure as hell don't know mine! Who do you think you are, going around and judging him the way you've been, making all those faces at the dinner table and giving me all kinds of sarcastic crap about knowing how to pick ‘em? You know jack about Scanlon, Eric, and it's no one's problem but yours! Yeah, you know, he's been doing everything he can to try to bond with you. I don't give a flying rat's ass if you get embarrassed by what he does because as far as I'm concerned, he's got bigger balls than you do, risking your attitude and emo snarky bull just to be friends."

I looked around. People were staring when they walked past us. “Okay, okay, point taken. Time to end the conversation."

"No, it's not time, you big diva! It's not! I'm not done with you yet!” Liz retorted. “You're so selfish, you know that? Everything revolves around you and what you want! You think you've got the perfect boyfriend who shouldn't be criticized or whatever, and everyone else is fair game if they don't happen to fit your standards. Well, guess what! I happen to like Scanlon, and he happens to make me feel special, and I happen to like making him feel good about himself. Wow, what a concept, huh? Suddenly, it's not about Eric Plath! Whoa! How'd that happen? In short, little bro, I don't care what you think! Lay off Scanlon, deal with the fact that we like each other, and get snuggly with your boyfriend. If I lose Scanlon, it's because of us, not you. Got it?"

I just stared at her. Jeebus, what the hell was that? Talk about taking things a little too extreme! Liz must've read my mind because she calmed down with a long sigh. She continued to scowl at me, but when she talked, her voice was quieter and more even.

"You know, when I told Scanlon that you're gay, he didn't even bat an eyelash. In fact, he told me that he'd like to get to know you more because he's never had a younger brother before.” She looked away, finally, shaking her head. “Just think about that the next time you decide to make fun of him."

Liz walked off to check out a display window, leaving me to squirm and look stupid in the middle of pedestrian traffic. I looked around and didn't see Scanlon, so I figured that he must be in line or something. I adjusted my cap again and walked up to Liz, hovering behind her as she gaped at shoes.

"Are you kidding me?” she presently blurted out, pointing at a pair of painful-looking high-heel shoes. You know, the ones with the toes that sharply converged to form this super-dangerous-looking point, with heels that rose high enough to make the woman move on tiptoes? Yeah, that kind. “That's about three days’ worth of work for me!"

"I guess some women don't mind paying for torture,” I noted, appalled. I felt my toes curl in empathic pain. I followed her to another display window, hoping that we were friends again. The display was on novelty toys. For a moment, we fell silent and watched a group of fake puppies sleep in their beds. “Man, this is consumerism for you.” I sighed and stifled a yawn. “I'm getting tired, too. There's really not much to see out here, is there? Same old stores, same old stuff."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Looks like we won't be having much drama around here, though, with Arachnaman in custody."

I chuckled. “Dude, I'd rather be bored than terrorized by a crazy freakish spider type.” I glanced across the street and spotted a shop that looked new. “Hey, is that an African store?” It was, judging from the really awesome wooden masks that were on display behind the main windows. “Come on, let's check it out."

"What about Scanlon?"

"I'll keep an eye out for him. I mean, look—the gelato place is just right there. He can see us.” Sure enough, when the crowds momentarily thinned, I spotted Scanlon standing in line, craning his neck as he searched for us. I took care to make eye contact with him and then wave, pointing at the store across the street. He got it and smiled, nodding and waving back.

"Okay, cool. He'll follow us,” I said.

Liz didn't seem too keen on it, but she let me drag her across the street. We stared inside the window for a few minutes, with me salivating over the masks. They sat on their stands, some long and narrow, some round, all of them distinctive with their painted accents and details. Each piece had a little card that explained what the mask was made for. When I looked up to scan the store's interior, I saw that it was an African home decor shop. The place was nearly packed with all kinds of furniture and statuary, shields and wall art, among others. They were all beautifully painted with some pretty cool patterns and colors against dark wood. If this had been a second-hand shop, I'd have blown every penny I had, and my sad little attic room would be this fantastic African oasis sort of thing.

"Hey, I want to check out that shadowbox over there,” Liz said, pointing at something inside. “It's got daggers or something in it."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be there.” I was actually half-listening to her the whole time because my attention had been diverted completely. I'd just turned around to scan the area for our next window-shopping stop, when I spotted that redheaded kid again, moving through the crowd. He looked a little nervous or on edge, like he was waiting for something or looking for something. He was alone like before, and the longer I observed him, the more I grew aware of something unusual about that kid. He seemed to thrum with a nervous energy, like all tightly-coiled inside him and about ready to be let loose. Something in my gut told me that he could be dangerous, even though he looked like the least dangerous person on the planet.

He stopped several feet away, staring and frowning, his head bowed. He was in the middle of the sidewalk, blocking people's way, but he didn't seem to care. In fact, he didn't seem to be aware of anything else but what it was he was thinking about. Was he concentrating? He glanced up and tipped his head back a little. I could see his nose crinkle, so I guessed that he was sniffing the air. For what, though?

Then he froze—or stiffened. The look on his face changed from cautious alertness to wide-eyed fear.

"They're here!” he suddenly cried.

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Sure enough, just as he spoke, the lights went out inside the African store and a few other shops up and down the street. No one outside noticed right away, but they did a fraction of a second later. The doors to those shops—those that stood open—slammed shut.

I realized then that Liz wasn't with me. The African store was pitch-black, and from inside, cries of panic started to rise.

"Oh, my God! Liz!” I yelled, lunging for the door and yanking at it. It was locked. I banged at the glass, hoping to break it, but it was too thick. “Liz! Help! My sister's in there! Someone help!"

It was useless. Up and down the street, panic rippled through the crowds as they responded to screams for help from inside those shops. People pounded on glass doors and windows.

"No! It's too late!” someone cried out. It was the redheaded kid. “Get away from those doors! Get away!” He started running toward me, waving his arms frantically.

As he ran, a kind of white aura appeared around him, like a silhouette of hazy light. People who saw it fell back, all freaking out. He raised one arm and pointed at me, yelling something. There was a quick, sharp flash of light, and all of a sudden, I felt myself and a couple of other people standing next to me encased in something.

It was a bubble. No, a force field. A quick scan confirmed it. I could barely see the faint silhouette of a gigantic bubble that surrounded me and the others. I was stunned. I could still breathe and move around, but the sounds outside were a little more muffled.

Just as I was about to reach out and touch the force field, the door to the African store exploded, sending glass shards and bits of metal flying all over. I dove to the floor, crying out and covering my head, but I felt nothing. The force field saved me and the other two guys, both of whom had thrown themselves onto the pavement as well.