Villainous (16 page)

This lonely section of the junkyard was like that cemetery. The rusted-out cars here weren’t shaped like modern cars—the corners were too rounded and they possessed none of the sleek curves of today’s automobiles. Daniel spotted cast-iron stoves built for burning wood, and there was even what looked like the metal skeleton of a horse-drawn wagon. And like the old section of the cemetery, there was a feeling that Daniel didn’t belong. The shadows were too dark, and everything was too old to be welcoming.

Clay carelessly tossed Daniel to the ground, and then started pacing back and forth beneath the stacks of antique junk.

“You know, the first time we met, I treated you fair,” said Clay. “Since you weren’t from around here, I thought you might be all right. Thought we might even be friends.”

Daniel remembered. He also remembered that Clay’s way of making friends was to threaten and laugh at them. Daniel had watched the way Clay treated Mollie and Rohan, so of course Daniel had sided with them. Now, however, was probably not the time to correct Clay’s memory.

Luckily, Clay didn’t seem interested in whether Daniel agreed or not. He just kept on talking.

“From that day on, you caused me nothing but trouble. Things were simple in this town until you came along.”

Again, Clay’s version of events was skewed in the extreme. The Supers of Noble’s Green had been preyed upon by the Shroud until Daniel came along. Clay had even joined
them, fighting alongside them the first time they battled the villain. But conveniently Clay skipped that part.

“You got everyone so confused that they didn’t know which way was up! All of a sudden there’s shadow monsters everywhere, and the next morning—boom!—everyone and his aunt Petunia has powers.”

Then Clay stopped pacing. He turned slowly and pointed a long, calloused finger at Daniel’s face. “You even got Bud so mixed up that he’s wishing he didn’t have powers anymore. We were a team, him and me, and you went and ruined that too!”

So that’s what this was really about— Clay blamed Daniel for losing his best friend.

“If you care about your friend so much, you really have a weird way of showing it,” said Daniel. “I heard about what you did to him in the lunchroom today, Clay.”

It probably wasn’t wise to antagonize Clay like this, but if Daniel was going to get beaten up, he’d at least like to get beaten up for something he really did, and the truth was he had nothing to do with the break in Clay and Bud’s friendship—that was solely Clay’s doing.

“Bud used to be able to take a joke! It’s not my fault he got his panties all twisted and stank up the place.”

Clay might have claimed that his “joke” was no big deal, but Daniel could see in his eyes that not even he believed his own lie. Clay knew what he’d done. He’d watched as a cafeteria full of students laughed at his only friend because
of something he’d done just to impress a bunch of kids who thought they were better than him. Better than everyone.

“Now this stupid school,” Clay spat, tearing his tie off and throwing it to the ground. “Drake and his stuck-up friends! And that principal. Ain’t that a kick in the pants! Man, I know strength when I see it, and that old dude is
strong
.”

Clay took a step toward Daniel. “And here you are, mixed up in it all just like always.”

“Clay,” Daniel said, scrambling to his feet. Maybe he could get through to him. He was obviously upset about Bud, even if he didn’t want to admit it. If Clay actually felt guilty about what he’d done, that might give Daniel an opening. “I don’t know what you’re thinking of doing, but let’s talk about it, okay? You said you wanted to talk.”

“Answers,” said Clay. “I want answers, but instead of talking, you know what I think I’ll do? Beat the answers out of you. More fun that way.”

Daniel could run. Clay wasn’t super-fast, and he couldn’t fly (in fact, he was scared of heights), but where to run to? Clay had him cornered against a stack of old-fashioned iceboxes. The wood had been eaten away in places, and the holes stared down at Daniel like eyes. They were the only witnesses to what was about to happen. Eric wasn’t here to save him this time.

“Bud came to us,” said Daniel. “He came to the Supers because Eric stood up for him when you wouldn’t. But it’s
not too late to get your friend back. You said it yourself: Drake and his friends think they’re better than you. Bud doesn’t. He’s a real friend.”

Clay cracked his knuckles, but he didn’t come any closer. His tiny eyes were all scrunched up as if he was struggling with something painful. A thought perhaps.

“Did you talk to Bud—” Clay started to say, but before he could finish, there was a blue flash, followed by a sound like a whip crack, like lightning. Clay’s whole body went rigid, his eyes opened wide in surprise. Then he collapsed, the air stinking of ozone and burnt hair.

“Well, well,” said Simon, emerging from the shadow of one of the tall towers of junk. “I always wondered if Clay was vulnerable to electricity. Now we know!”

Daniel looked from Simon to Clay’s fallen body and back again. He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.

“You … you did this?” asked Daniel.

“Been practicing,” said Simon.

Simon walked over and carefully nudged Clay with his toe. “He’s out. Good thing too, ’cause after a shock like that, I think I’m gonna need a while to recharge.”

Despite Simon’s assurances that Clay was out, Daniel stepped carefully past him and quickly put several yards between him and the unconscious bully. He was relieved that Clay wouldn’t be pounding him anytime soon, but on the other hand, Daniel had hoped he could talk his way out of it. And if Daniel had to choose between reasoning with a conscious
Clay or running from an unconscious one, he’d always choose the latter.

“How’d you find us?” asked Daniel.

“I saw Clay dragging you out of there, and since hanging around didn’t seem like such a good idea, I followed you.”

“Did you see what happened next?” asked Daniel. “What did … Principal Noble do?”

“The last thing I saw was Drake hanging his head like a whipped puppy as Noble lectured him. No way was anyone gonna tangle with that guy. It’s like Clay said, you can practically feel that dude’s power. It’s creepy.”

At this, Daniel allowed himself to breathe a small sigh of relief. He’d been afraid that the Nobles might try to fight Johnny, and heaven only knew how that would go. Not even Daniel was really sure what Johnny was capable of, power-wise.

“C’mon,” said Simon. “I don’t mind zapping Clay when his back’s turned and can’t prove it was me who did it, but I don’t want to be here when he wakes up.”

That was the smartest thing Daniel had heard all day. He and Simon walked quickly past the ancient stacks of the old junkyard. For some reason Daniel didn’t feel comfortable talking any more than they had to until they were well clear of it. Just like a cemetery, it felt wrong to disturb the silence.

“The way out’s through there,” said Simon once they’d reached more familiar ground.

“I want to go back to the clearing,” said Daniel. “I need to see if my friends are okay.”

“Are you nuts? If the Nobles catch you there, you’re toast.”

Daniel wasn’t afraid of the Nobles now that Johnny was on the scene.

“I’m still going,” Daniel said.

Simon shook his head. “You’re something else, you know that? Why’d I bother saving your butt in the first place?”

“I was wondering the same thing, actually. Why did you?”

“I owed you, remember?”

Daniel did. “I figured you’d blame me for what happened,” he said. “Because I didn’t save you from the Shroud.”

“But you tried,” said Simon. “Even though I was kind of a jerk to you, you still tried. Even broke your arm trying, didn’t you?”

Daniel nodded. He’d fallen out of Simon’s window that night just after catching his first glimpse of the Shroud.

“Look, it’s not like we’re best buds now,” said Simon. “You and Eric and all that do-gooder nonsense still make me want to puke, okay? But I owed you one for that night, and now I don’t. We’re even.”

“So all that stuff you said back there,” said Daniel. “All that stuff about not being a Super anymore, that was just talk?”

“Nope,” said Simon. “I meant every word of it. Being a Super is worthless now. Drake showed everyone that. And
you should still take my advice: This isn’t your problem anymore. Leave it to the academy. Johnny will straighten those kids out. You just need to go home.”

With that, Simon waved goodbye and headed for Clay’s back door, the giant hole in the fence. Daniel walked in the opposite direction, picking his way through the stacks until he reached the clearing. As he went, he listened carefully for any sounds of movement. Who knew when Clay would wake up, and if he’d been mad before, he’d be furious now.

Daniel didn’t want to think too hard about that possibility. He needed to check on his friends and get out of there as quickly as he could. But he knew even before he reached the clearing that he was too late. It was quiet—only the whistle of the wind blowing through the junk stacks. As he rounded the corner, the exact spot where Clay had grabbed him, he saw that it was empty. Whatever had taken place here after Johnny arrived, Daniel had missed it.

Footprints crisscrossed everywhere in the garbage-strewn mud, but eventually they all led off in the same direction, toward the front gate. The air here still smelled faintly of smoke, but all of Drake’s fires had been put out. A few charred scraps of paper floated on the wind. There was no other sign of what had become of his friends, but Daniel suspected that if he followed those footprints, they’d lead him all the way back to the academy.

There was nothing more to be done here, and it was getting late. There was a trail near Clay’s back-door entrance
that would take Daniel on a shortcut through the woods and to home. He’d just started for it when he heard a new sound that could not be mistaken for the wind. He heard a girl, crying.

It was soft and muffled, like the sound you make when you cry into your hand or your pillow at night, and it was close by. But Daniel was alone. Unless …

“Rose?” Daniel asked cautiously. He didn’t want to risk calling out any louder than he had to.

“Yeah,” answered a small, sniffly voice from nowhere.

He was right. “What are you doing here?”

“They all left. After the fighting was over, they all left and they forgot about me.”

“And were you invisible? Like you are now?”

“Uh-huh.”

Daniel sighed. Of course she’d been left behind; no one had even been aware she was there. “You know, Rose, it would be really great if I could, you know, see you when I talk to you.”

“Uh-uh. Don’t wanna.”

Daniel sighed again. It was pointless to argue. “Then can you at least tell me where you’re standing? So I could face you?”

He nearly jumped when he felt a tiny hand give his arm a tug. She was right next to him.

“Great, thanks,” said Daniel.

Rose was quiet for a moment. Daniel listened for the
sounds of anyone approaching. It wasn’t safe to stay there for much longer, but he didn’t want to scare off Rose again. If she got lost while invisible, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to find her.

“Daniel,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Why was everyone fighting?”

Daniel opened his mouth to say that Eric was standing up to bullies and that his friends were helping him. That the Supers were helping people like they always did.

In the end all he could say was “I don’t know.”

“I saw Johnny Noble, Daniel,” she said. “I saw Johnny, and he took everyone back to the academy.”

Daniel remembered that Rose had seen Johnny once before, back in the Old Quarry when Johnny had secretly healed Eric after his fight with the Shroud.

“Johnny looked real mad,” she said. “He made that one kid bring Eric back from wherever he’d disappeared him to. Iowa, I think he said.”

Well, at least Eric was back unharmed. Not like he had been in any immediate peril, apparently. Hunter might have been able to teleport him anywhere—over a live volcano, Antarctica. Iowa wasn’t so bad.

“What’s Johnny doing here?” asked Rose.

“He’s … he’s the principal.”

“Huh?”

“C’mon, I’ll explain everything to you, but we need to
get going. It’s not a good idea to hang around here, even for invisible girls.”

Eventually, Rose slipped her invisible hand into Daniel’s, and the two of them snuck out through the back of the junkyard. There wasn’t any sign of Clay, although whether this was because he was still unconscious or because he’d already fled himself, Daniel didn’t know.

What he did know was that it had been a long day full of confusion and frustration, and that the only clear thing to do right now was to make sure Rose got home safe and sound.

The rest could wait.

Daniel did make sure that Rose got home safely, but his courage nearly failed him when they reached her house. After all he’d been through that day already, the thought of facing Louisa again was almost more than he could handle. In the end, he figured it would be worse to have Louisa know that he’d walked her little sister home but had been too cowardly to actually see her to the front door. And maybe Louisa wasn’t even there. Maybe Rose would just say goodbye and Daniel could slink away, pretending that his dignity was still intact.

But it was not to be. As soon as Rose opened the door,
she shouted, “Mom, I’m home!” followed quickly by, “Louisa, come see who I brought with me!”

Rose’s mom appeared in the hallway, clutching a phone to her ear, her face pale with concern. “Rose!” she cried. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick!”

She had thrown her arms around her youngest daughter before remembering that she still had a phone to her ear, and said, in a considerably lower voice, “Oh, sorry, Sheriff Simmons. No, she’s just walked in now. Yes, yes, I will. Thank you.”

“Hi, Mom,” said Rose.

Daniel saw Louisa hanging back at the end of the hallway, watching.

“Where have you been?” said Rose’s mom, her relief swiftly turning to anger.