☼2☼
Ordinary
To be fair, most of my day was still “normal.” It just wasn’t any real fun.
To be really fair, I don’t suppose eleventh grade was really supposed to be fun. There’s good reason the proverbial “they” have a special category for “angst” when it comes to teenagers.
“What do you think, Dinger?”
I glanced up from my computer screen to see Evan, better known as Poncey to me and my friends, looking at me expectantly. “What do I think about what?”
“Come on, man, were you listening at all?” Poncey sighed. “I was just telling you that Jason totally failed at asking Laura Nelson to the prom.”
“Prom?”
“Uh, yeah, that huge party that we’re all going to next month, remember?” Poncey reached over and poked my forehead.
I frowned at him before turning back to my work.
“It’s that party you said you would even cancel your birthday party for since it’s the same weekend.”
It was very clear, at this point, I knew what he was talking about. I didn’t know if he was doing this shtick to get me angry or not. It seemed that of late, my friends had been more determined than ever to get on my bad side.
“I get it, Poncey,” I snapped. “I’m just trying to work. Give me a break.”
“Calm down, dude. Anyway, Laura was flirting with him like she was just hoping that he would ask, and he did—”
“Yeah, that’s nice,” I grumbled.
“Hey, Mr. Gallows is out talking to the principal. You don’t have to worry about getting in trouble.” Poncey gestured toward the front of the computer lab, where I could clearly see Poncey was right. “Besides, it’s Mr. G. He wouldn’t punish us at all. He’s too nice.”
“Uh-huh,” I muttered. “I’m working on my project.”
Poncey shuffled himself in front of my screen. “No you’re not. You’re reading the local news!”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” I replied. “And I need some info for my project. That graphics project’s not going to make itself.”
“What do you need to know about”—Poncey peered closely at my screen—“the Flying Angels case?”
“I was looking for a picture,” I lied.
“Well, you’re going to get an A anyway. I don’t know why you worry about it.”
“Because I actually have to do the work to get the A,” I answered. I was tempted to remind him of all the times I’d been the one who did his work so he could get an A, too, but I decided against it. I had more important things to worry about.
Such as the Flying Angels v. Apollo City case. The D. A., my mother, had filed for an extension. The courts would decide in a few days if she could have more time to produce the suspects in question. Other than that, they didn’t give much information. Not that there would be a whole lot. Still, I nearly laughed at it. The media was clearly trying to appease the new mayor, since they’d taken out a lot of their commentary (they hadn’t held back any chances to blister about Wingdinger and Starry Knight before, when Stefano was sane and still in good health.)
“So who are you taking to prom?” Poncey asked.
“Um … what?” I turned back to face him after skimming through the rest of the article. “Oh, prom. I don’t know. I might not take anyone.”
“Come on, Drew’s taking Simeon’s younger sister, Phoebe, and I’m going to take Felicia,” he said. “Jason’s been shot down, and Mikey’s not likely to come, being hospitalized and all—”
“I don’t know who I’m going to take,” I said blandly. “I’ll worry about it later.”
Poncey frowned. “What’s wrong with you, man?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re just acting weird lately,” Poncey said. “I mean, you don’t seem that interested in what’s going on with all of us. Drew and Jason, and me, and all of us—we’re your friends.”
“Hey, I come to your parties,” I objected. “I was just at Jason’s last week, when he had that video game party all-nighter.”
“And you sat there and just played and commented about half as much as usual.” Poncey leaned back in his chair. “It just seems like you’re not really paying attention to us anymore. Don’t you care?”
“Of course I care,” I snapped. “But I have a lot to do.”
“You can tell us that,” Poncey said. “We won’t get upset with you for being busy, man.”
“Well, I’m busy right now. I’m not going to worry about getting a prom date. Especially since it’s a whole month away.”
“All the good girls will be gone,” Poncey warned me.
“I’ll survive,” I assured him. “But first,” I said, trying to soften my tone some so it didn’t seem like I was being so defensive, “I have a few things to take care of.”
“That’s right,” Poncey declared, the rush of remembering in his voice making me instantly suspicious, “we have the SATs coming up.”
I nearly groaned before I realized that was the perfect excuse for my moodiness. “Duh!” I said. “Why else would I be so on edge lately?”
“Yeah, I can’t blame you. I signed up for that SAT class and I’m just totally freaking out,” Poncey said. He continued talking to me about this while Mr. Gallows came back into the class.
When Mr. Gallows glanced my way, I gave him a rueful smile and shrugged. Mr. G was a good guy. He was one of those teachers that didn’t ask for much; he didn’t expect you to change the world with his imparted knowledge. He just helped you out as much as you wanted, and then let you be on your way.
He’s still one of my all-time favorite teachers.
Mr. Gallows seemed to get my message that Poncey was hopeless, and there was no point in trying to get him to stop talking.
After class ended, and Poncey was still talking to me, I almost wish I’d advocated harder for Mr. Gallows to come and stop him.
“Drew and I are rounding up some people to get another season of Ultimate Frisbee up again,” Poncey said. “You want to play with us more this time?”
“Well, I do love Ultimate,” I agreed. “I’ll pencil it in. Text me when you’ve gotten a time locked down.”
“Sure thing, Dinger,” Poncey said with a grin. “We’re going to meet up next week after school, in Shoreside Park.”
“Oh, cool.” It was on the way to Rachel’s at least. It was possible I would be able to stop by when I went to go see Raiya after school.
“Hey, Poncey, Dinger, wait up!” Jason, another one of my best friends, skipped up from behind us. “Can’t believe it’s not the weekend yet.”
“I know, really.” Poncey shook his head. “Not that this one counts for most of us, right?”
“Huh?” Jason looked confused.
“SATs, man. Where’ve you been?”
Poncey joined Jason in arguing over plans for the week, while I slipped out of the conversation.
The Flying Angels case’s extension would be decided soon. If it was denied, I would be free of Cheryl’s likely torture in court as of next week, even if I had to put up with her resulting tyrannical outbursts at home.
I prayed that it would be alright in the end. I was getting tired of that particular threat. Wanting to be a lawyer and getting caught up in the very system you want to learn how to manipulate didn’t sit well inside of me.
A sudden movement caught my attention; I saw a sliver of light flashing off a coffee thermos. It was Martha.
A sudden impulse struck me, and I was unwilling to let it go.
“Hey guys, I’ll see you later,” I said, waving while I was already sliding away. “Gotta talk to Martha.
Martha—or Mrs. Smithe, until I graduated (got to be proper about these things, you know)—had admitted to me she knew about SWORD, and she’d used to work for them. I knew that she knew about other things, too, not the least of which was that I was Wingdinger and Raiya was Starry Knight, and that we were dating.
Maybe, I thought, maybe I
can get her to help me. We need something to go on, after all.
Raiya and I were not going to succeed just waiting around for Draco to come crawling out of his hiding spot and announce himself. He’d been hiding out as Raiya’s half-ancient grandfather for decades. Who knew how long it would take him to show his creepy, scaly, demonic dragon face around Apollo City again?
If anyone would know, it would be SWORD.
Maybe Martha was my ticket to finding SWORD.
“Mrs. Smithe,” I said, as I inserted myself into her path. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“What it is?” she asked, stepping around me and indicating that I should follow. “Speak quickly, because I have another class in three minutes.”
“I was wondering if I could talk to you in private?”
“No.” Her dark eyes were hard as steel as she looked at me. “I told you, I have a class in three minutes.”
I sighed. “It’s about SWORD,” I said softly.
I should’ve known better than to ask her about that and expect her to be surprised. She narrowed her gaze even further, but her voice dropped its volume as she spoke.
“I’ve been expecting you to ask me questions for a while,” she said. “It’s about time. I would not have expected this long of a wait from you, Dinger.”
I blushed, flustered. “I’ve been … ”
“Distracted, bored, or busy?” she asked. “It’s always one or the other with you lately. I can’t believe Raiya dropping out of school has affected you this much.”
“It’s not just that,” I told her. “We’ve been … ” My voice trailed off as I realized we hadn’t been doing that much. We discussed things, Elysian and I took turns at patrol, and Raiya kept an eye and an ear out for any whispers from where we knew we could get answers. But we were at a dead end. “Okay, we’ve run out of options.”
“Waiting is generally the safe option,” Mrs. Smithe said, not in agreement, but more out of default. “What it is you want to know?”
“Can we talk about this later?” I asked. “We both have class.”
She stopped by her door, and then swiveled around. While she was shorter than me by a good deal, her gaze was sharp enough to make me straighten up. “Listen to me,” she said, “and listen well, Hamilton. SWORD has a lot of resources, and they know of my position here. It’s better if you don’t actively seek my company quite so much, or they’ll suspect you.”
“They probably already do,” I argued.
“That doesn’t mean I want to make it worse.” Martha huffed. “Now, we have a minute before class begins again. Ask your questions.”
“I need to find SWORD,” I said. “They’ve been hired by the city under the name Otherworld, Inc., but the Skarmastad Foundation is footing the bill. While I know where one of the agents is, I can’t always go to him, either.”
“You want to know where the business is?”
“Sort of. I’m not sure what kind of information would help.”
“Those are poor research skills right there, Dinger.”
“I know.” I shrugged. “I’ll fix it before college.”
“Ha! That’s a riot. But for SWORD, there’s no reason I would know where they are now,” she said. “I’ve been decommissioned, and for over a decade now.”
“Do you know anything that would help us?” I asked.
“I don’t know where their base is now, but I can probably find out,” she said slowly. “But I need you to tell me something.”
“Anything,” I agreed.
“What is your goal with all of this?”
I looked at her, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?” I asked. I felt like I’d been asking that question a lot since I’d found out about my superpowers.
“I mean, what are you doing? I’ve seen what you and your friends do.”
“We protect people.”
“But what else?”
“What else?” I echoed the question like it was in a foreign language.
“Yes, what else?”
“What else do we need to do?” I asked, my tone now exasperated. “We do plenty.”
“You’re on the defensive. It’s a losing position.” Mrs. Smithe shook her head. “You need to start going on the offensive.”
I suddenly understood what she was saying. “You’re right,” I admitted. “We don’t have much of a game plan. We don’t have a long-term plan, either.”
“Tell you what,” Mrs. Smithe said. “If I can get you the location of SWORD and its branches, then you have to do something for me.”
I sincerely hoped it had nothing to do with AP Government or Mock Trial. She was already mad at me for not signing up this year. But I nodded. “Okay. What is it?”
“You should never promise something that you don’t know you can fulfill,” Mrs. Smithe told me in her most serious voice. I balked at it, and I was wondering if that was what she wanted me to do when she said, “I want you to stop asking me about it after this. Like I said, they might suspect you. Or me.”
“Then why did you tell me about working for SWORD in the first place?”
She ignored the question. “Come back to me in a few days, just like this, in between classes when the hallways are full, and I’ll let you know what I’ve found for you.”
“Thank you,” I said. I smiled up at her, grateful. “Raiya says thank you, too.”
“Oh, really?” Martha smirked. “And I guess your dragon does, too?”
“Oh, yeah, you know it,” I replied with small laugh.
“Is he here to deliver that in person?” Martha gestured toward the window. I leaned over, peeking through the door of her class, and saw she was right. Climbing up the waterspout was my stubborn and belligerent changeling dragon.
“If he is,” I said, “I’m going to intercept.”
“Good idea,” Mrs. Smithe agreed, before she brushed past me, and turned her attention to her blissfully unware and waiting class just as the bell rang.
Well, it looks like once more, I will be missing my last period class.
Who was I kidding? I didn’t mind.
But I did mind Elysian sneaking around the school, and I was determined to remind him of that as I headed out to meet him.
It was getting easier to cut out of class, I noticed, as I walked through the hallways toward the locker rooms. There was an entrance I knew of from my swim team insider knowledge, and the upside to using it was that it was close enough I didn’t have to circle back around much.
That alone was probably the reason I managed to sneak up behind Elysian without alerting him to my presence.
“I’m going to kill you for this one of these days,” I said, picking him up by his lizard-neck.
“Ha!” Elysian looped his tail around my arm and clung to me; he knew that drove me crazy. “Sometimes you don’t even see me, you know. I was wondering if I was going to have to go inside today or not.”
“I doubt that,” I said. “Considering how you’ve been sitting around my house watching the news while no one is there, I’m willing to bet that’s just the story you’re telling to make yourself look good.”
“What other kind of story would you possibly know of?” Elysian huffed. “All your stories make you look good in the end.”
“That’s because I’m the hero,” I asserted. “And because I have a natural talent for getting out of tough spots.”
“I would only agree to that because everything that’s natural dies.”
“Just shut up,” I grumbled, finally getting tired of our argument. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“Your girlfriend asked that I come and get you once you were finished,” Elysian said.
“I’m not done with school yet! I have one more period to go.”
He shrugged. “What does it matter to me?” he asked. “You’re almost done, that’s close enough in my book.”
“Your book must be abridged for morons.” I slapped him off my arm and tucked him up behind my backpack. “I’m already
too late to get away with getting back in without being noticed. I might as well leave.”
“See?” Elysian sneered. “You’re already trying to make yourself out to be some hero for skipping school. Starry Knight’s enjoying herself at the moment, talking with Logan at the Lakeview Observatory. She’ll be fine while she waits.”
I paused. Dare I admit it to Elysian?
“I’m worried about her,” I said a moment later. “I had a dream about her the other night. She was alone and terrified and sad.”
“She usually is.”
“Hey!” I whacked him over the head. “She is not.”
“She doesn’t seem to have a lot of friends besides us,” Elysian noted. “And a member of her own family ended up betraying her.”
I thought about it, and then I remembered what I’d seen before, what I’d heard before. “Adonaias is waiting for her,” I said. “Surely, between us and him, that’s all she needs. Raiya’s much more introverted than either of us.”
Elysian shrugged. “I guess so.”
“She has Rachel, too,” I added, thinking of the pretty redhead who ran the café with her name on it. “And Letty.”
“Letty’s not what I would call ideal company,” Elysian said.
“I would’ve thought you’d like her,” I said with a grin. “She seems to smoke as much as you do.”
“Ha, ha, ha,” Elysian grumbled. “You’re hilarious.”
“She’s got some claws, too, come to think of it,” I added, starting to laugh at my own joke as we headed out of the school and toward the hill by the marina. Elysian snarled while I snapped, as we headed toward Lakeview Observatory.
☼3☼
Lakeview
Elysian eventually managed to ignore me properly as we walked through Shoreside Park and then along the pier, and I promptly returned the favor with fervor, thinking of possibly asking Raiya to take a walk by the water with me in a little while. It was still early, and the sun was still out, even if it was chilly. We would have the time, and I wanted it.