Turbulence (38 page)

Uzma stuffs the Koh-i-noor back into her pocket.

“You think they might be telling the truth?”

“It’s possible. We have no idea why this happened to us, or who or what was responsible. We’ve barely had time to breathe since it started. But whatever did this to us is still out there. We need to find out so much. We need to learn what else is going to change. If this isn’t some giant hoax, it happened all over the world. Rio. Istanbul. Abuja. Shanghai. Wellington. Kabul. New York — which I suppose was inevitable. Maybe we were only the first wave.”

“Well, we need to get these people together!” Uzma covers her mouth with her hands and starts walking in no direction in particular, the enormity of Aman’s revelation threatening to swallow her up.

“I don’t know,” Aman says. “Maybe we should let them sort things out for themselves.”

“Aman, they’ll need help. There’ll be more Jais. There’ll be more people like Bob. This needs to be the first case we look into. Write to them! Bring them to… wherever our headquarters will be?”

“Yes, headquarters. Third order of business in today’s team meeting.”

Uzma stops pacing about and looks Aman in the eye.

“What’s wrong now? Why don’t you want to talk to them?”

“They could be lying.”

“What if they’re not?”

“Then they’ll find their own answers. They have superpowers, that’s a start. We need to help humans first. Lots of them. Soon.”

“That’s not it, is it?” Uzma crosses her arms and smiles grimly. “Come on, out with it.”

“I don’t think they should meet you,” Aman says. “Don’t be angry.”

“I’m not,” she says. “You’re right, maybe they shouldn’t. But let’s take a vote on this at the meeting. It was Vir they thought they were talking to, you know. He should decide.”

Aman takes a deep breath. “Uzma,” he says.

“Yes?”

“We both know I’m not going to that meeting.”

Two children, a boy and a girl, run down the path towards them. Uzma pulls out the Koh-i-noor and hands it to the girl. The new ruler of the world grabs the diamond and runs away from the crazy adults and their staring contest.

“Why won’t you trust me?” Uzma asks. “I can control it now. I’d never make you do anything you didn’t want to.”

“I trust you,” Aman says. “I don’t trust your power. I’d want to please you even if you weren’t trying.”

“You just said my power was a part of me and you loved all of me.”

“I do,” Aman says. “But like you said to me once, you have really creepy powers.”

“But I trust you,” Uzma says. “When you told me you wouldn’t listen to my calls or go into my mailbox, I believed you.”

“Well, you shouldn’t have,”

Uzma’s face turns white.

“You looked at my mail?”

“Yes. And listened in on a few phonecalls. Before I met you. And the day you arrived. I was afraid you might be working for whoever was killing people like us. You would have been perfect for the job — we’d all have loved you on sight and gone anywhere you wanted us to. Anyway, I haven’t looked since then, of course. And I hated myself for doing it even then, but lives were at stake. Whatever the reason, I did it. And you shouldn’t have trusted me.”

“Well, I forgive you,” Uzma says. “Don’t leave us, Aman. Don’t leave me. I don’t want to do this without you.”

“I don’t either,” Aman says. “But it’s not just about us, is it?”

Uzma stares at the ground. Aman takes a step towards her, reaches out, but doesn’t touch her. When she looks up again, her face is composed. He has never loved her more, but he watches her eyes harden and knows he’s lost her.

“I like how you assume that everything I might want to do with the world is somehow not good enough,” she says. “And that you’d always have a better plan. And I’d not let you do it.”

“I didn’t —”

“You’re right. We can’t work together, Aman.”

“I should go,” he says.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to take my armour and wander around the world beating bad people up and giving away their money. I want to go off to some small island and build a lair. And build a robot army and hatch plots to change the world. You want to come with me?”

“No,” Uzma replies. “I like it here. I think I’ll try being superhero team leader for a bit. The world needs changing, I’ve heard. And I think I have a better chance of actually getting things done than anyone else.”

She watches Aman’s face crumple.

“Don’t be an idiot,” she says. “I love you. And when you come back and beg me to let you join my team, I’ll probably say yes. I might even take you back if I don’t hook up with Johnny Depp. That’s
might,
not
will.”

Aman’s eyes light up.

“Maybe I could be your arch-nemesis,” he says. “When I mess up the global economy again, you could all come smash my den. And when you people end up becoming the pawns of large companies and other people who want to keep things exactly the way they are — and you will — I’ll be around to introduce a little chaos. We can keep each other in check.”

“Sure. Of course, we could have stayed together and fought like normal couples, but I suppose this is nobler. More self-sacrifice. Good for you. Too bad you still only get to be the villain.”

He’s smiling now. “You want to meet up sometimes in luxury holiday resorts for dirty weekends?”

“No. I’m very busy. You can keep asking, though. Are you going to send the new superheroes to me?”

“No. Are you going to give me my armour?”

“No.”

“I just deleted all your new emails.”

“Harsh. Slap yourself.”

He does, hard, and rubs his cheek afterwards, looking wounded.

“That was mean,” he says.

“Arch-nemesis, remember?” She steps forward, grabs him and they kiss.

“Take care of yourself, all right?” she whispers. “Now get out of here.”

He nods, and takes a few steps back down the path, trying to persuade himself to leave, not wanting to stop looking at her.

“I could make you stay,” she says. “I could make you forget you ever wanted to leave.”

“I know,” he says. “But will you?”

He turns and walks away.

Uzma watches him go, words poised on the tip of her tongue, a small smile playing over her perfect lips.

The world of
Turbulence
could not have been saved, or even created, without the dashing deeds of the following super-squadrons:

The Daily Saviours: Cleo Omega and Josh the Bold

Titans of Industry: Cathwoman and The Grand Sophie

The Zeno Agency: Trusty John and Zesty John

Home Base: Grasshopper Girl, Sister Sinister and Zombie R

The Arthouse Horrors: Brutal Banerjee and the Karachi Killer

Assorted Toughs: The Tadpole Mafia, iBultu, Mr Thames, The Not-so-Old Brewer, Pu the Pugilist, Earthlight

Wren and Martin Private Investigations: Eagle Eye Sarkar

Samit Basu
is one of India’s most talented and prolific young writers. He is the author of
The Simoqin Prophecies, The Manticore’s Secret
and
The Unwaba Revelations,
the three parts of The GameWorld Trilogy, published by Penguin Books India, and
Terror on the Titanic
, a YA novel published by Scholastic India.
Turbulence
is the first novel in a new series — the sequel,
Resistance
, is coming soon from Titan Books. Basu is also a comics writer, columnist, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist writing on travel, film, books and pop culture. He currently lives and works in Delhi, India. Find him online at
samitbasu.com
and on Twitter
@SamitBasu
.