At least last time, Raiya was with me.
Thinking of Raiya calmed me down.
I hated our fight earlier, but maybe it was good that we fought earlier, or she would have been captured, too.
She said she had somewhere she needed to be, but I was more than willing to bet Raiya made that up just so she didn’t have to be around me. After I made her so upset, I could hardly blame her.
Looking around at the small, dark room I was trapped in, she would probably say that I was getting my comeuppance.
Mikey betrayed me, while SWORD captured me. Yep, that was some hardcore poetic justice.
And I didn’t even know if they did anything else to me, I realized. What if they put a monitoring chip in me? Or if they’re running my prints? Or if they took DNA samples to compare to my records?
All of the alien abduction shows I’d seen over the years came crashing into my mind, making one big pile-up of fear, panic, and madness. “Ugh,” I groaned. They were going to find out who I was. If Mikey hadn’t told them already.
My stomach rumbled. At least that was one question answered. I’d been stuck long enough I was hungry again.
Time passed slowly. It was worse than when I was stuck in the classroom for my SATs, but that might have been because I didn’t have a clock to count the seconds. Of course, that might have made it go faster, too.
“You’re killing me, Aleia,” I muttered. “Or is this Alora’s fault?”
“Blaming someone else for your problems? That’s not going to help you.” The door opened and a figure walked in. “It’s no one’s fault but your own that you’re in this position.”
I tensed up immediately at the sound of my mother’s voice.
I’d had nightmares about this very situation. And here it was, coming to complete fruition. My mother, the talented lawyer, was here, and she was going to get the legal right to whip me.
“Where’s Dante?” I asked.
Cheryl turned toward the door, where two SWORD agents appeared. “He’s not your concern,” she said. “You’re dealing with me now.”
I stood up (no need to look sloppy as I fell on the mercy of the court) and met Cheryl’s gaze. She would appreciate the courage, I thought. There was nothing she could respect more than a worthy opponent, and I was determined to give her one as her offspring, even if she didn’t know it.
Which brought me to my first goal: Establish what she knew, without giving away anything else. That was going to require a lot of bluffing.
“So,” I said, “nice to meet you at last, formally.”
Cheryl narrowed her gaze. She was going to try to break me by getting me to break me, I realized.
All I had to do was clam up. I knew I could outwait her.
Even if my stomach couldn’t.
“Hungry?” she asked me as my stomach gurgled loudly.
“Just a little bit,” I muttered apologetically.
“I can make arrangements.”
“No thanks. I’ve seen that trick before.”
“I can make other arrangements, if you’re interested,” Cheryl began. Her waiting had ended. She just wanted to get to a deal.
I remembered tonight was the deadline for her case. If I could hold out to midnight, she would have no legal right to keep me, since the assistant mayor had put an expiration on the case.
But that was only if I didn’t give anything away, didn’t admit to anything, and somehow managed to escape without giving her just cause to keep me for another felony.
That was going to be harder.
A small push behind my heart comforted me. Raiya is not here. We are both required to be here for any case to proceed.
Immediately I relaxed—slightly. No need to tip Cheryl off.
Ah, who could be immune to the rush of pleasure after realizing such profound logic, provided so divinely?
“I’m not interested in making arrangements right now,” I assured Cheryl.
“Why not?” Cheryl asked. “You and your friends are facing massive fines, possible prison time, not to mention the more unpleasant task of facing the press.”
“I’ve got a distinct advantage when it comes to dodging them,” I said, indicating my wings.
Cheryl frowned. “There’s no way you can run from the law.”
“I happen to know the law says that you don’t have much longer for your case to proceed,” I said. “So it’s not a matter of ‘where,’ so much as ‘when.’”
“Dante was right,” she growled. “You’re a troublemaker.”
“I’m a troublemaker who he is protecting,” I said.
“It’s easier to do that from a prison cell with round-the-clock surveillance,” Cheryl shot back.
I tried not to let the truth of that bother me. I shrugged. “I imagine you might think so,” I said.
Why was it so hard to be cool, like in the movies? But then, I supposed, I’d only been captured a few times. I needed to get more experience in before I judged my performance too harshly.
“That’s all you have to say for yourself?” Cheryl asked. “After the lives you’ve destroyed, all the damage you’ve caused, and all the trouble you’ve brought to the city?”
“Yep.”
Cheryl put her hands on her hips. She was prepared to do battle. “You seem pretty confident,” she said, trying to wheedle me. She was going the route of circumvention, it looked like.
“I’m a teenager,” I said. “I’m good at faking it.”
“And you’ve done this before? You’ve gotten in trouble with the law?”
“I have been accused of breaking the law,” I said. “It doesn’t mean that I actually broke the law.”
“Semantics,” Cheryl assured me. “A jury doesn’t want the truth; they just want to hear a good story.”
“Narrative fallacy is common enough,” I told her. “And it’s easily debunked with the truth.”
“There is no such thing as ‘truth,’ in this case,” Cheryl countered. “It’s only a matter of perspective.”
“If there’s no such thing as objective truth,” I said, “then there wouldn’t be a law for me to break, would there?”
She seemed taken aback. For a moment, I imagined my mother, a woman who would could give mannequins lessons in looking perfect, fluster as I easily parried her attacks.
“You think you’re clever,” she muttered, pacing the room in front of me. “Or you have a reason to believe nothing is going to happen to you. Tell me why.”
“Why?” I couldn’t resist teasing her. This was the most mother-son bonding we’d done in years.
“Because I’m interested. What’s the point in being brilliant if you don’t have an appreciative audience?”
“Is that why you want to prosecute me?” I asked. That seemed to make sense. There was no denying that Cheryl was very ambitious. Even the rest of her relatives, the little I knew of my extended family, knew not to get in her way.
With me, she’d always pushed me to get my law degree, get some practice in, and then run for public office. Maybe she was hoping, with her special D. A. appointment, she might get further assignment higher up one day, too.
It wouldn’t surprise me.
“We’re not here because of me,” Cheryl countered. “We’re here—”
“Because the city needs a scapegoat and you want to further your career.” I snorted. “That’s all.”
“You’ve been accused of disturbing the peace, for damages—”
“I’ve heard of it,” I said, silently reminding myself at the last moment not to let it slip that I helped write it. “And I know for a fact that Starry Knight is also listed on the lawsuit. You can’t file it without both of us present.”
“You’re not willing to renegotiate terms?” Cheryl asked. “We could drop the charges against her if you wanted to take full responsibility.”
I clenched my fists. “No,” I said. “Starry Knight and I are in this together.”
“You’d have her tried and sen
tenced alongside you?”
“We’re allies.”
“And lovers?”
My face felt hot all of a sudden. “We’re together,” I murmured, hoping that was enough to get her to leave that part of it alone. Superhero or not, I couldn’t imagine any teenager willingly having the sex talk with his or her parents. Or his butler.
“I saw that kid’s blog out there,” Cheryl told me. “He seems to think that you’ll confess, especially if it’s to protect her.”
“I suppose he was the one who told you who I am?” I asked. This is it! The moment of truth …
I held my breath nervously.
“He said he could get you here.” Cheryl tapped her foot against the floor. “He was right about that.”
“He was expecting Starry Knight, too, wasn’t he?” I almost laughed. “She’s busy today.”
“Hopefully she’s not too busy,” Cheryl said. “In the event that we are unable to come to an acceptable agreement here today, Otherworld, Inc. will be taking you into their full custody.”
“That’s fine with me,” I said. “Their mission is to protect me.”
Cheryl laughed, making me feel uncomfortable. “That might be part of it,” she said. “But they have other plans as well. They’ve assured me they have a great many cases on which they could use your help.”
Swallowing suddenly seemed beyond my capabilities. I thought about what Martha had told me before: SWORD would find a way to use people if they need cooperation. They weren’t above murder or torture if they needed it.
And, I had to uncomfortably admit, they might be tempted to see me as another agent, like Dante, if they had the right amount of leverage.
I decided the next time I talked to Dante, I would beat him up.
SWORD was in the business of power—power for themselves first.
This has to be why Raiya’s against them. They want to use us to save the world from threats like Alküzor and Draco, and then they want us to work for them.
They would likely be able to make us, too. Martha had been discharged, but not before she paid a hefty price.
What about Dante? I wondered. Was it possible he’d been coerced into service, too?
That would possibly explain his soft spot for Mikey. Of course, Mikey was actually his son.
“What do you know about Otherworld?” I asked. “Do you know they’re a front company for a shadow organization?”
“That sounds like a movie,” Cheryl said dismissively. “Weren’t you the one that was just trying to point out the shortcomings of narrative fallacy?”
“It’s true.” I pushed forward. “They’re a front for an organization known as SWORD.”
“SWORD?”
“The, er, Special World Organization and Research Division,” I said, hoping that I remembered it correctly (stupid acronyms.)
Cheryl cocked her eyebrow at me. “That’s the best you’ve got?”
Before I could answer, there was a resounding bang! from behind the door.
I could feel the heat of Elysian’s familiar fire, and I could hear Starry Knight calling out orders as they burst into the building.
I grinned as I saw familiar flickers of light casting new shadows underneath the door. The SWORD agents guarding us ran out of the room to help, and I grinned as I glanced back at Cheryl.
“No,” I said, “she’s the best I’ve got.”
Cheryl muttered a string of curses as she followed the guards out the door.
Before I could escape her, she turned to me. “You stay here. You’re in custody; as long as you cooperate, you’ll be safe. But if you put so much as a finger out this door, we’ll have no choice but to take action.”
“I’m getting used to being tasered,” I told her.
“I’ll take that to mean you need more practice with it,” Dante said. I realized he must have been waiting outside the door as I met with Cheryl.
Figures. He has to do to the whole creepy-stalker-spy thing.
“I’d hate to take up your time.” I shuffled back a few steps regardless.
“Maybe Starry Knight will give me the pleasure,” Dante said, pulling the weapon out of his coat pocket.
“You leave her out of this,” I warned.
“We’ll see.” He smirked, probably cheering at the thought that he’d managed to get me riled. He would be that petty.
More calls came from outside the room. As Cheryl ran out the door, Dante stepped inside.
“Watch him,” she ordered as she pushed past him.
Then I was left all alone with Dante.
It didn’t take me long to start taunting him. “I see you’ve let Mikey out of his cage,” I said.
“He called me himself,” Dante replied. “He’d seen reason. He told me the truth.” He pulled out a file from his pocket and unfolded it. “I’m guessing your mother doesn’t know the truth, Hamilton?”
“If you didn’t tell her,” I said.
“I thought I would leave that up to you,” Dante remarked. “After all, you’re a star, aren’t you? Figuratively speaking, I mean.” The leer on his face tipped me off; he was trying to be funny, and it wasn’t working.
He continued on when I said nothing. “Star of the swim team, top of the class, a favorite on the ‘Hot List’ of your high school elite, even Martha Smithe’s favorite student. How quaint. I suppose you’re the reason she came snooping around last week?”
Still, I said nothing.
Dante grinned. “You’ll have to pardon me. As the son of Cheryl, the city’s top lawyer, and Mark, my old best friend from high school, your tragedy is quite amusing to me.”
“Because I was under your nose the entire time?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest. “Or because you gave away information to me without a second thought? Or,” I continued, “is it because I was the one who helped Mikey go through losing his father when we were younger?”
From the expression on his face, stone silence wrapped in anger, I knew I’d hit a mark—and it stung.
“Leave him out of this,” Dante hissed.
“He seems to have implicated himself already,” I retorted. “Especially if he told you about me.”
“He said you were smart.”
“He wasn’t lying.”
“No, he wasn’t,” Dante agreed, and despite the fact he was my enemy at the moment, I felt a rush of pride. “He also told me that Starry Knight is your greatest weakness. He said you were in love with her.”
“Love is not a weakness,” I insisted.
“We have yet to see it as a strength.”
“You told me before that you’re here to protect me,” I said, changing the topic. I didn’t like it when he started talking about Starry Knight.
“And to do that,” Dante grumbled, “we need your cooperation.”
“Why are you helping my mother then?” I asked. “She’ll destroy me in court.”
“We have to cooperate with the city as well,” he said. “We’ve made deals with the media and we’ve kept up a façade of comradery with the city. Part of that includes helping Cheryl.”
“So you’re not just sucking up to Cheryl and Mark?”
“No,” Dante snapped.
I thought about it. Dante made me angry a lot, but he genuinely seemed concerned about Mikey, who, up until he brought me to the Time Tower, was a friend of mine. He also seemed to actually like Mark and, if nothing else, tolerate Cheryl. Maybe I could use that as a bargaining chip of sorts, to keep Raiya’s involvement to a minimum.
Before I could put forth some kind of proposal, there was a beeping noise.
Dante glanced down at his watch, and I noticed that there was only silence from the other side of the room.
While he was busy, I turned and burst the door open.
Only to see Starry Knight, followed closely by Cheryl, heading toward me.
“Starry Knight,” I called, excited to see her.
There was a rush of relief that radiated from inside her, one that near
ly bowled me over. On the outside, she looked bored and resolute.
I had a lot to learn from Starry Knight, especially when it came to self-control.
Dante grabbed me from behind, firmly holding onto my arm. “We have a meeting arranged in here,” he said. He glanced down at me. “Starry Knight has promised to surrender.”
“What?!” I balked at the very thought of her at the mercy of my mother. It was nothing short of ironic to me that I was born as the Star of Mercy, because I knew Cheryl had exactly none—especially when it came to her court cases.
“Come inside,” Cheryl instructed me and Starry Knight, as she gestured to Dante. He dropped me before heading over to a closet. From the shadows, two chairs suddenly appeared.
“What were you thinking?” I muttered to Raiya as she reached out and put a hand on my arm. “This is Cheryl we’re dealing with.”
“I’m happy to see you, too,” she said, her voice hushed. “Do you realize you’ve been missing for a whole day?”
“No.” I struggled to reorient myself to the time. It was strange that it was lost, even though seconds before I hadn’t missed it.
“I could feel your pain.” I noticed for the first time her hands were shaking slightly as she held onto me.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I wasn’t in any pain.” Not that I could remember, anyway. “Did you think Draco had gotten to me?”
Raiya ignored my question. “I was worried for you.”
“I’m worried for you now,” I whispered back.
“I’m the one with the plan right now,” she said, giving me a small shadow of a smile, one I could barely see in the dim light.
“Stop muttering to yourselves and sit down,” Cheryl barked. “We have business to discuss.”
Raiya moved swiftly around me. “Indeed we do, Mrs. Dinger,” she agreed. “You said this meeting would be in complete privacy.”
“Dante here is an agent assigned to protect me and support my mission to bring you to justice,” Cheryl replied. “He is an extension of myself. I will not send him away.”
Raiya frowned at Dante, and then glanced back at me. That was obviously not part of her plan, I realized.