The Light, the Dark and the Ugly (29 page)

Ted looked frustrated with Erica's line of questioning. "We're safe. And if I recall correctly, every second we spend here puts Dhiraj and Jennifer at more risk."

Natalie knew that Ted was right. She took Erica's hand. "We've gotta get back, Erica."

Erica gripped Natalie's fingers hard. "Alright." She gave Ted a stern look. "You need to tell me every detail after we get back, though."

Ted smiled. "Of course."

Erica removed the book and the two pieces of staff from her pack. Natalie could feel the power of the objects even from a few feet away.

She touched Travis' shoulder. "Is this going to hurt?"

Travis touched her side. "Since when are you worried about pain?"  

She flared her nostrils. "Ever since I got smacked around about a million times since I got here. Just wanted to know if I should brace myself."

He nodded. "Brace yourself."

They stood in a line. Natalie looked out into the world she was about to leave. She hoped that maybe if everything worked out, innocents like Razellia and Vella could leave in peace. Erica grabbed the book and the staff and took Ted's hand. He reached out for hers and she took it before linking with Travis. The energy that went through her was painful, but there was also a sort of serenity to it. Natalie didn't know if it was the joy of going home or the rush of endorphins from the pain, but she felt spectacular when the blue sparks crashed into one another and revealed the portal back to Earth. The four of them broke apart, except for her and Ted. He nodded to her, and she smiled back. She let go, and waved off a befuddled look from Travis.

Ted raised his eyebrows at Erica. "Think we should get a vacation home here?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure I'm ready to joke with you yet."

With that, she jumped in.

Travis stepped up to the edge. "This time, she's breaking my fall." He leapt in next.

Natalie took a step forward, but Ted pulled her back.

He looked pained and happy all at once. "I wouldn't have made it through this without you, Nat." He leaned into her face and kissed her on the lips.

Natalie's heart skipped a beat. She wasn't sure whether to kiss him back or not, so she just let his lips press into hers. It was a mix of wrong and good all at the same time.

Ted pulled back. A slight smile graced his lips. "Thank you."

She could still taste his kiss. She shook it off.

"Yeah, yeah. Likewise and all that." She gripped his shirt. "And, Ted?"

A grin crept across his face. "Mmm hmm?"

"Don't ever put me through this crap again."

Before he had a chance to respond, Natalie tossed Ted into the portal. He gave a light, satisfying scream as he went through. Natalie rubbed her hands together and dove through.

Before she knew it, Natalie could feel her shoes grip against the blacktop. Her comrades all appeared to be safe, but something felt different. She could tell she was in Treasure by the familiar sight of manicured lawns, but there was something else to it. That's when she saw the smoke. Natalie's eyes followed the billowing black cloud to a burning house. It matched several of the other houses on the block. Her breath quickened. She put her hand on Travis' back as he stared in awe.

"What happened?!"

Erica had a rasp to her voice when she spoke. "Adam."

Chapter 47

Dhiraj froze. He'd never seen so much fire and devastation in his life, and it was all happening in the place he called home. Van Housen split off with Beth and Winny to assess the damage of their houses. As soon as Jennifer shook him free of his daze, Dhiraj went running straight for his house. Seeing as it was the weekend, he knew exactly where his father would be: in the upstairs study. But there was no way to know how long the house had been aflame. Dhiraj pushed away all thoughts of fear and grief and put everything he had into action. When he turned the front doorknob with his sleeve, Jennifer stopped him momentarily.

She was breathing heavily. "Are you sure we shouldn't wait for help?"

He shook his head. "Help isn't coming. It's us or nobody."

She nodded in agreement and held the neck of her shirt up over her nose and mouth. He did the same as they went inside.

"Dad?!"

"Mr. Patel?"

There was no answer. The smoke grew thick, and as much as he tried, Dhiraj couldn't suppress his coughing. The fire was just starting to spread inside the house, and he watched as the wallpaper his mother had applied went up in flames. 

Jennifer spoke between coughs. "Maybe he got out already."

At once, both of them heard a coughing fit from upstairs. Dhiraj took the steps two at a time and tried to open the study door. It was locked. He tensed up his body hard and screamed as he lowered his shoulder. The door gave way. Mr. Patel was on the carpet inside, his coughing the only sign of consciousness.

"Dad!"

Dhiraj put his father's arm over one shoulder and Jennifer took the other half of his weight. As they traveled back toward the stairs, Dhiraj caught sight of his Wall of Fame, the list of all his greatest financial achievements. He knew all his computer files were backed up on the cloud, but this bulletin of achievement wouldn't last an hour.

Family beats fame.

It was tough going, but Dhiraj and Jennifer were able to get Mr. Patel down the steps, across the threshold and out of the house. Dhiraj's father wheezed for about a minute until the clean air refilled his lungs. The house, like many others beside it, started to show more smoke than siding.

Dhiraj touched his father's face. "You okay, dad?"

Mr. Patel gave a weak smile. "How could I not be? My son's a superhero."

Dhiraj and Jennifer shared a smile. Dhiraj felt a buzzing in his pocket and realized the disposable cell was ringing. There was only one other person who had that number.

He handed off his father to Jennifer, and took the call. "Erica?!"

She sounded pained on the other line. "We're back."

Dhiraj thanked everything that was holy, including the God from each religion. "Everybody accounted for?"

"All of us."

Dhiraj didn't have time to be happy, but he let a little bit slip through anyway. If there was any time for the gang to be back, it was right now.

* * *

Erica spoke into the phone, but the words rang hollow. Sure, they were alive, but they were anything but safe. In their absence, Adam had destroyed everything she'd known for the past year. She couldn't imagine what Ted and the rest of the gang felt as they watched their town burn.

"Have you seen him?"

Erica's hatred for Adam coursed through her. This time, she wouldn't rest until he was six feet under. Even if it meant the end of her life as Erica.

Dhiraj coughed into the receiver. "Not since Chicago. I think he snapped, Erica. He doesn't care about the media anymore. He just wants to turn everything to ash."

Erica looked over at Ted, Natalie and Travis. They watched the flames dance on the neighborhood rooftops. She knew she needed to take action now.

"Dhiraj, I'll call you back." She hung up and passed the phone to Ted. "Everybody see where your families are. Once everybody's in the clear, we need to go after Kable."

Ted got through to his parents on the first ring. "Mom? It's me, are you safe?" Ted's smile brought Erica some relief. "Good. I am, too. I'll call you soon. I love you." He hung up and tossed the phone to Natalie. "They were at brunch, they're fine. Shouldn't we put out the fires first?"

Erica shook her head as Natalie got the all-clear from her folks. "Putting them out won't mean anything if we don't take down the source."

Travis nodded after his short phone call and gave the phone back to Erica.

She gathered them together. "Ted, I need you to do an aerial sweep around town."

Ted's face looked like it was asking for forgiveness. Erica's heart skipped a beat. "What is it?"

Ted bit his lip. "I don't know if it was the book or the fight, but I'm totally wiped. I can't even read your minds right now."

Natalie mumbled something indecipherable. "Great. Could today get any better?"

Erica glared at Natalie. "Enough." She looked back at the group as a whole. "We need to meet up with the Sheriff's Department and see if we can't get a location on Adam."

Travis broke away from the group, as if he spotted something out in the distance. "I don't think we need to worry about that."

Erica and the others looked out toward the horizon as well. She expected to see Adam's ugly mug flying through the air, but instead, she saw a small break in the middle of the smoke clouds. "What am I looking at here, Travis?"

Travis pointed straight ahead. "As much as it disappoints me, look at the only building that isn't on fire."

Ted nodded. "Of course. He had to know we'd figure that out. He wants us to find him."

Erica sighed and pulled out the phone. She dialed Dhiraj's number again. "Hey. Meet us with all the firepower you've got. It's time to go to school on a Saturday."

Erica led the pack as they jogged toward the flame-free building. Ted was right beside her.

"Any luck on getting those powers back?"

Ted gave a negative response. "I don't know. Maybe he has a dark soul who's tailing me. I'm dry."

Erica grunted. "I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

As they entered the school parking lot, they had no problem spotting Adam. He was hovering five feet off the ground before the front door of the building. Both of his hands were coated in flames, and he had a supremely crazy look in his eyes.

His grin showed way too many teeth. "It looks like the whole gang's back together again."

Erica straightened her spine. "You don't have to do this, Adam."

The powerful Presidential candidate rubbed at his chin. "Of course I do. I wanted this to come full circle. You bring a building down on me…"

The sound of brick ripping apart from concrete filled Erica's ears. Pipes broke off and electrical wires disconnected as most of Treasure High floated up into the air.

"I bring a building down on you!"

Chapter 48

Jennifer felt the wind rushing through her hair as Dhiraj drove Van Housen's car at a breakneck pace.

A few minutes earlier at the lair, Jennifer had picked up one piece of equipment. The metal object was much heavier than it looked.  

"This is only for emergencies, Jen."

"Can you think of any situation that would qualify as more of an emergency than this?"

Dhiraj scratched his head. "Flying killer whale attack?"

"You drive, I'll read the instructions."

Van Housen agreed to let Dhiraj borrow the car, as long as he promised to keep it scratch-free. Jennifer doubted they'd fulfill the terms of the agreement, but she appreciated the speed and her wind-blown hair.

Adam was visible from a block away. The fireballs on his fingertips were like a visual homing beacon.

She put the weapon into position through the passenger-side window and smiled. "Thanks for giving me a target, Kit."

Her grin quickly gave way to terror when she saw Treasure High lift off its foundation. Jennifer had never thought of school as a weapon, but it was absolutely terrifying when compared to a handgun or a sword.

Dhiraj's jaw was on the steering wheel. "That's something you don't see every day."

Jennifer fought off the butterflies and spoke up. "Drive faster. Turn exactly when we planned."

Dhiraj complied, but his voice was hesitant. "Jen, that'll put us right under the building."

She armed the weapon. "Not if you drive faster!"

Dhiraj took the hint and pushed the pedal all the way to the ground. Van Housen's orange muscle car lived up to its drag racing potential as the world zipped by.

Adam appeared to be laughing as he slowly pushed the building forward. Erica and the rest of the gang were backing up, but there's no way they'd all make it unless Jennifer's plan was a success.

"On my mark."

Dhiraj screamed above the roar of the engine. "Okay!"

Jennifer trained the weapon straight out the side of the car. She knew she'd only have one chance at this.

"Now!"

Dhiraj turned the wheel and hit the brakes. Their timing had been perfect, as the car skidded to a stop with Adam directly in front of her.

"This is for my dad."

Jennifer pulled the trigger and the bazooka unloaded its contents. In the moment before the projectile made impact, Jennifer saw Adam's smile turn solemn. With a direct hit, an explosion erupted all around Adam. The sound was painful but satisfying. 

Jennifer tossed the weapon out of the car and pushed open the back door. "Get in!"

The rest of the gang dove in through the open door, and as soon as everyone had entered, Dhiraj stepped on the gas. Treasure High had been hovering directly above them in the seconds following the explosion, but the building couldn't stay floating forever. It plummeted straight down. With any other car, they'd be pancakes, but Van Housen's massive-engine-that-could pulled them free of the impact just in the nick of time. Adam hadn't been so lucky.

Dhiraj spun the car in a complete 180 this time. Jennifer looked straight ahead at the place she'd called school. Despite the lack of foundation, the building was more or less intact, though it sat at a slight angle on the steps leading up to where it once was. The spot where Adam had been used to be the Freshman Cafeteria. The man who'd orchestrated her father's death was nowhere to be seen.

The four backseat passengers had gotten all tangled up in the escape.

Natalie pushed Travis and Ted off her. "Think he's roadkill?"

Ted dusted some ash off his shirt. "More like schoolkill."

Jennifer could tell by the look on Erica's face that the fight wasn't even close to over.

Her best friend pointed toward the building. "No such luck."

Through one of the classroom windows, a ball of fire was clearly visible. It took Jennifer a few moments to realize that it was actually Adam himself. The flames washed over his body, though they didn't seem to be anywhere close to consuming him.