Dreams of the Golden Age Read online

  “Anna—” Teddy called after her.

  “See, that’s what I’m talking about,” she said, turning on him. “We can’t even remember to call each other by our code names. How are we supposed to keep our identities secret?”

  “I’m sorry, I forgot—Rose, wait a minute.”

  Her code name was Compass Rose. It had seemed so clever a few months ago when she came up with it. “Just give me a minute,” she said and kept walking. Teddy didn’t follow.

  She needed to think—by herself, before anyone could say anything more awful.

  What she really needed to do was figure out if this was all worth it. Of course it was worth it, she told herself, as she always told herself. Otherwise their powers were nothing more than circus tricks. The powers had been more than that to her grandparents.

  She wandered to the fountain, almost by habit. It was the park’s main gathering point. This late, the park was quiet. The sky overhead seemed heavy, and the trees surrounding the fountain’s wide plaza were still. The setting was right for having a long serious think, but she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

  She’d planned on spending a few minutes sitting here at the fountain, with its graceful, stylized lily spouts, shut off and quiet for the night, the water in the marble pool still, until the argument had been forgotten and they were ready to go home. But someone was already there.

  The man crouched on the rim of the fountain, perched like a cat who’d casually leapt there and might casually leap off again at any moment. He wore a dark green skin suit that showed off a lean body with well-defined muscles. His rigid helmet-type mask hid his appearance and made guessing his age difficult. He was older than she was, but he didn’t seem old.

  “Who are you?” she asked, trying to sound suave and confident rather than worried. In truth, she felt a touch of panic. They’d expected to find muggers in the park, not a strange vigilante.

  The guy didn’t seem at all worried. In fact, he donned the hint of a smile. “I’m Eliot.”

  Like this was some kind of normal introduction and they weren’t both wearing masks.

  “That’s it? No superhero name?”

  “Not yet.” His expression turned chagrined. “Having trouble deciding on one.”

  “Have you been watching us? Following us?” Wouldn’t it figure, all they’d done was practice and someone had already found them out.

  “I saw the flash and came to check it out. That’s all. Don’t worry.”

  Blaster’s bolt, the flames on the tree. So much for being subtle. She gave a sigh and couldn’t find the motivation to stay angry. The guy was just being polite.

  “It’s kind of embarrassing. We don’t know what the hell we’re doing.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

  This guy seemed to have it down pat. His uniform was slick. “So. You new in town or just getting started?”

  “I’m—”

  “Hey, Rose, what are you—” Teddy came trotting up from the jogging trail and stopped to stare at the man on the fountain. “Whoa. Who’s that?”

  The man twitched but remained in place. Nervous, despite his calm manner. He almost ran, but didn’t.

  “It’s okay, we’re just having a talk,” Anna said.

  “Yeah. Okay. But Sa—Blaster’s ready to take off. We gotta go.”

  “Give me a sec.”

  He regarded her, uncertain.

  “I’ll be fine. I’ll scream if I’m not. Then you can practice rescuing me, right?”

  Her confidence was possibly not well founded, but Teddy backed away and left her alone with the guy. She was sure he hadn’t gone far.

  “Rose?” the man asked. “That’s not your real name, is it?”

  “I’m Compass Rose,” she said. She felt ridiculous, but she stood tall, refusing to let it show.

  “Your superhero name.”

  “That’s right.”

  “What’s your power, then? Perfect sense of direction?”

  She blushed, because it was hard to explain, and compared to people like Teddy or Sam, hers wasn’t a real power anyway. “I find people. I know where they are.”

  “That’s handy.”

  “Sometimes.” Her sour expression told otherwise. Her power worked only on people she knew well, friends and family. But she didn’t have to tell him that.

  A car horn honked half a block over, where Sam had parked. “I have to go. See you around?”

  “Probably.”

  “Okay—” She’d been about to say good-bye when he jumped, straight up, muscles in his thighs rippling as they launched him a hundred or more feet into the air. He didn’t fly but sailed over an arc that would carry him to the other side of the park.

  Hell of a power.

  “He’s gonna get pissed off when the blogs start calling him Frogman,” she murmured.

  * * *

  She’d been fourteen years old when her power awakened. The books and biographies about superhumans and their powers said they often manifested at puberty. It had for her grandmother and father. Anna had started to assume she wouldn’t get powers at all, like her mother. But she woke up one morning, and her brain ached. Aspirin didn’t help. It was like her entire mind cramped—she’d had her first period the year before, and this felt like that, only in her head instead of her gut. Then she seemed to fill up. Her mind expanded, taking on an extra sense. Because of who she was, who her family was, she’d known exactly what was happening. Her awakening power was probably mental, like her father’s. Was she developing telepathy? Telekinesis? Clairvoyance?

  But no, after a couple of months of testing, trying, and thinking way too hard, the cramps settled, the extra sense lodging firmly in her hindbrain. Her mind felt full, but the information was limited. Shortly after the cramps faded, she came home from school, started for her mother’s office like she always did after school, and realized before she got there that Mom wasn’t there. She was in a meeting at the West Corp offices ten floors down. It felt like a light in her mind, bright as a flashlight turned on in a dark room. And her father was in his office, and her grandmother was in the lobby, coming home from a lunch outing. Without calling, without checking, she just knew. Their presences were glowing spots in her mind. She was a human radar. A homing device.

  She didn’t tell anyone. She didn’t want to have to explain it, and she didn’t want to hear what they’d have to say about it. Time passed, she grew firmly into adolescence, and her family stopped watching for what power she’d develop. She began to move furtively through the world, because she didn’t want anyone to guess.

  Her power—any power—had to be good for something, she’d thought then. She still thought. Otherwise, why have power at all? She just had to figure out how to use hers.

  And then her best friend, Teia, came to her with a secret, and Anna began to hope.

  * * *

  Teddy and Sam had another argument about getting paint all over the inside of his car, until Teddy finally stripped to his boxers and stuffed his outfit and Lew’s paintball gun into a couple of grocery bags and put them in the trunk. Teddy sat in the front seat, arms crossed, pretending he wasn’t shivering. Blushing red the whole time, with Anna trying not to stare at the curve of his bare shoulders. The three of them piled into the backseat, practically in each other’s laps. She thought about offering to sit in Teddy’s lap to warm him up, but that would embarrass them both, and they’d all had enough embarrassment for one night.

  Fortunately the drive wasn’t too long.

  “Who was that guy?” Teddy finally said. They’d all seen the stranger make that epic leap out of the park.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Was he checking us out?” Teia asked.

  “Probably,” Anna said.

  “You think he goes to Elmwood?” she asked.

  “No, he’s older than that. Maybe he goes to the university.”

  “So much for being careful,” Teddy grumbled.

  “He would
n’t have stuck around to talk to me if he was planning on giving us away,” Anna said.

  Sam looked at her in the rearview mirror. “You sure he’s a good guy?”

  “I don’t think he’s a bad guy.”

  “I don’t like it,” Teddy said. “Guy’s sneaky.”

  “Maybe you should give him a break until we know more.”

  “You think he’s hot, don’t you,” Lew said, grinning.

  Teia turned to her, disrupting their precarious seating arrangement. “Is he? Hot, I mean?”

  “I don’t know, he was wearing a mask. Don’t worry, if he blows our cover, I can track him down and blow his.”

  Teddy craned around to look in the back. “Can you do that?”

  “Sure,” she said, but she didn’t know if she could. She’d never purposefully looked for someone she’d met only once. She hadn’t even seen his face. But he’d told her his name. It was a start.

  “Well, no worries, then,” Sam said.

  The route took them past West Plaza first.

  Anna told him, “Sam, don’t go to the front of the building, pull around back.”

  They said good-byes and see you at schools, Teia leaned over to give her a hug, and she clambered out while a reorganization went on around her. From the sidewalk, she watched Sam’s sedan drive away. Teddy waved at her through the window.

  * * *

  The secret elevator took about twice as long to work its way back up to the penthouse than it did to glide down. Thank you, gravity. On the way up, the thing creaked, and Anna could feel each tooth of each gear catch stiffly in its sprocket as the old mechanism cranked on. She was sure she’d get stuck, but she didn’t, and finally she was in the stairwell, through the door to the real elevator, then up to the penthouse, and back home.

  The only complication: Her hindbrain sense located her father in the kitchen, not the bedroom. He was waiting up for her, and the only way to sneak into the penthouse was to walk right past him. Her first option: hide somewhere. Don’t go home at all. He couldn’t wait up forever, and as soon as he gave up, she could sneak in and pretend like nothing had happened. Except that her father wouldn’t give up, and he already knew she was here, dithering. He could feel it.

  Second option: walk in and face him. To do anything else would delay the inevitable. Fine, then.

  She let herself in. The place was dark except for the faint circles from a couple of night-lights in the kitchen and hallway. Enough to find her way to her bedroom, and she didn’t make a sound on the carpet. But the moment she crossed the kitchen, the lights came on. Her father was standing next to the light switch. She wasn’t surprised.

  “You’re out rather late,” he said, his English accent coming through strong. He did that for effect, when he wanted to intimidate. He wore a button-up shirt tucked into his trousers. He’d dressed for the occasion. Smiling wryly, he leaned against the wall.

  Her heart pounded, but she forced her mind to stillness. Don’t think of anything, or if she couldn’t go blank, think of the beige carpet or green grass, anything but what was actually at the front of her mind. Shove it far back, bury it, and maybe he couldn’t see it. She certainly couldn’t let her thoughts run wild, flailing, where he could read them on the surface without even trying. She’d had a lot of practice at this but couldn’t guess how successful she was. Arthur Mentis, the Olympiad’s telepath, never let on what he did or didn’t know.

  She had to assume he knew everything. But just in case he didn’t …

  She hated it. She could never stop paying attention around him, which often made her want to avoid him. Which wasn’t fair. He was her dad, she didn’t want to avoid him. But she didn’t want to tell him anything, either.

  Nobody else in the world had this problem.

  “Hi,” she said. “Um. Can I go to bed now? I’m kind of tired.”

  “I imagine you are. Aren’t you supposed to be grounded?”

  “Um.” He waited. “Yeah.”

  “I’m sure you had a very good reason for being out and about in the middle of the night.”

  “Um…” She tried to think about school, homework, the library. Maybe he’d think she’d been out studying. That was a good reason, right? As if he’d actually believe she was studying. There was no point in saying anything when he’d know she was lying, so she kept her mouth shut.

  “Can you at least tell me how you managed to sneak out of the building without alerting security?”

  “Why do you even bother asking? You already know.”

  “As a courtesy.”

  She swallowed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Fair enough.”

  God, he just stared at her, as if he could split her open by looking. And if she stood there long enough, with him hovering over her, she might spill it all. She inched away from him, down the hallway, hoping he’d just let her go.

  He said, “Anna. There’s no shame in asking for help. Or advice. Or for anything at all, really. We’re here for you.”

  She choked up a little on that but fiercely shut down the emotion, not thinking or feeling anything at all. “I know. I’m okay. Really.”

  “I know you are, sweetheart. But nothing will stop us from worrying.”

  “Good night, Dad.”

  “All right. Sleep well.”

  She scurried down the hall and to her bedroom, relieved. That could have gone so much worse. At least he hadn’t gotten her mother involved.

  FIVE

  ARTHUR came back to bed around three in the morning. Celia was waiting up for him.

  “Well?” she asked, as he closed the door and began unbuttoning his shirt in the glow of the lamp on the nightstand.

  “That girl has so much on her mind I can hardly make sense of it all. Poor thing.”

  “But she’s okay, she’s not hurt or in trouble?” She had reconciled herself to not learning the details. But she wanted reassurance. A basic, simple yes or no. Was it so hard?

  “She’s fine, for now. But she’s determined to have this secret life of hers.” Tension in his mouth, around his eyes, showed through his habitual calm. His anxiety made her even more anxious.

  Celia rubbed her face. She was exhausted, but there was no way she could sleep while worrying about Anna.

  “If you tell me she’s okay, not doing drugs or working at a strip club or anything, I’ll trust you. But I really wish you’d pry, just this once.”

  “It wouldn’t be just once, that’s the problem.” He finished undressing, switched off the light, and climbed into bed with her. His skin was chilled, and she shivered at his touch. They hunkered under the covers together to warm up, and he wrapped his arms around her. Only then did Celia start to relax. “She found one of the old Olympiad escape elevators and got it working. That’s how she got out of the building. May I recommend not sealing it up, at least not right away?”

  “Because if we know where she is we can keep an eye on her. Yes, I know. At least let me put a camera in there.”

  “If I may be so rude as to point it out, this was what you wanted: You wanted the children to find each other and help each other learn to use their powers. If they’re taking the effort farther than you’re comfortable with, you can’t complain.”

  “I just wish she’d talk to us. She’s never shown any sign of having powers—what could she possibly be doing?”

  “You should ask yourself if you really want to know,” he said, chuckling. “I’m sure it would appall us.”

  “I always hoped she wouldn’t have powers. That she’d have a nice, boring life.”

  “I don’t think she wants a boring life, love. At least she hasn’t roped Bethy into things. At least not yet.”

  Bethy was the sensible one, except she worried too much. Maybe superpowers made people crazy. Celia wouldn’t know. “Can you tell me that everything’s going to be all right?”

  “Everything’s going to be all right,” he said dutifully, with that sinister, studious look in his ey
es. Even Arthur had this weird, mad look to him sometimes, when he knew something that the rest of the world didn’t.

  “You’re lying.”

  “You didn’t even have to be telepathic to know that,” he said, kissing her forehead.

  * * *

  The next day, Celia had her weekly lunch date with Analise Baker. No matter how busy she got, she couldn’t miss this.

  Their preferred spot was a downtown diner. As usual, Analise had gotten there first and claimed a table in back. She stood, arms open, to greet Celia with a hug. The brown-skinned woman was tall and had filled out some in her middle age, but the extra roundness made her seem even more statuesque and impressive.

  She hugged the woman hard, and Analise laughed. They’d been friends for half their lives. Celia didn’t have many friends from her early days. Burned too many bridges back then. But Analise was still around.

  “What’s the news?” Analise asked, after they ordered their salads.

  Celia could feel the war-weary, startled look in her eyes. “I have teenage daughters, how about you?”

  “Twins, Celia. You will never one-up me.” Analise pointed with her fork. “But tell me the dirt anyway.”

  Celia tore a corner off her paper napkin and mangled it while the wheels in her mind turned. The impulse to keep secrets was strong. But few people would understand like the woman sitting across the table would.

  “I think Anna has powers, but she won’t talk about it. She won’t tell anyone.”

  Analise was quiet a moment, her expression still, like she hadn’t heard. Finally she said, “She setting pillows on fire or what?”

  If only it were that obvious. Then she could sit Anna down and wheedle it out of her. Turned out this was worse than the birds-and-bees talk. That had been easy compared to simultaneously wanting to treat Anna like an adult while learning all her secrets. Celia shook her head. “I think she takes after Arthur. Some kind of mental power, something nobody would know about unless she said something. I just don’t know how to get her to talk.”

  “You ought to bug the girls’ restroom at Elmwood if you want to find out their secrets.”

  Celia had considered it but ran into Arthur’s perpetual problem: How much did she really want to know? “This too shall pass, right? Arthur won’t pry, and he’s right not to, but anything he’s learned by accident he won’t talk about until Anna talks. That’s the right call, too, I’m sure. He says she’s fine, but…”