Dreams of the Golden Age

  She was absolutely sure that when she studied those figures, she’d find Anna under one of the masks. But she didn’t. In fact, she had a pretty good idea who these kids were. She continued on to the story.

  The fire at the south side tenement block would have been a tragic disaster, if not for the arrival of the three superhuman heroes—

  Celia looked up from the page. “They went after a burning building their first time out? Very traditional.”

  “Indeed. Keep reading.” Arthur seemed to be enjoying this. He wouldn’t have been if Anna had been one of the trio. But then, he probably would have known about it ahead of time. And he wouldn’t have told Celia. Was it too late to lock Anna in her room for the rest of her life?

  The article was breezy and admiring. Our young crime fighters, it called the trio, arrived shortly after the firefighters. While the firefighters were busy attaching hoses to water supplies, raising ladders, and whatever else firefighters did at the scene of burning buildings, the heroes had gotten to work: One had caused a rainstorm that soaked the fire, another had frozen the building to keep the fire from spreading, and the third had had some kind of explosive power that broke down walls and allowed people to escape. The fire department mostly stood around watching. Of course, someone called the newspaper, and the reporter and photographer arrived to snap pictures of the team before a backdrop of smoking brick façade. No one had died, no one had been hurt. They’d been smart, staying out of the building, stopping the fire first and not trying to rescue people directly from the blaze.

  But she wished they hadn’t done it at all. They weren’t ready, not yet.

  “Just trying to help,” said one of the intrepid heroes, before the team disappeared into the night.

  These stories never changed, not once in her whole life.

  “Lady Snow, Stormbringer, and Blaster,” Celia read off the names the vigilantes had given themselves.

  “Teia and Lewis Fletcher and Sam Stowe, aren’t they?”

  Sam Stowe was sixteen, one of the many grandchildren of Gerald Stowe. The Stowe family had produced more superhumans than any of the others from the laboratory accident—his oldest grandson was Justin Raylen, aka Breezeway, and his second daughter, Margaret Lee, had a career as the vigilante Earth Mother before retiring to have kids. Margaret’s son Cody was ten now. She wondered if any of the Stowes had ever sat down and figured out just how many cousins donned masks and fought crime. Probably not, that was what the masks were for. But Raylen had gone public years ago; Margaret Lee and other Stowes with powers had to be wondering. At some point, someone else had to make the genetic connections that Celia was keeping secret in her files.

  And then there were the other two in the photo. Out fighting fires at age sixteen, just like their dead father. They might have waited specifically for a fire to come along, so they could swoop in for a rescue in some kind of tribute to him. They must have thought they were following in his footsteps, not their mother’s. God.

  Celia sat back and sighed. “I need to call Analise.”

  “Probably,” Arthur said. “If she doesn’t call you first.”

  She studied the picture further, looking for other figures hiding in the shadows. Theodore Donaldson, maybe. Anna, who was sneaking out at night to do God knew what. She closed her eyes, squeezed the bridge of her nose, futilely willing the headache to go away.

  Arthur sat on the edge of her desk. “Celia, are you all right?”

  “I just … it’s just shocking to see the picture. They’re so young.” Ridiculously young.

  “I thought this was what you wanted.”

  “I wanted them to meet each other, to practice with each other so they wouldn’t feel lost, so they wouldn’t grow up alone, like you and Robbie and Analise and my parents did until you all met each other.”

  “You hoped they would work together.”

  A superhero team, even better than the Olympiad had been. “Yes, eventually. Not before they’ve even graduated.”

  “But the experiment is out of your control now. Alas.” He was laughing at her, quietly, at least. Nothing overt, just a wry smile and a flash in his eye.

  She leaned back in the chair. Was she getting a migraine? Was this what a migraine felt like? When she finally opened her eyes again, Arthur wasn’t smiling. That worried tension in his mouth had returned.

  “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “I’ve been working too hard. I need a vacation.”

  “So we’ll take one.”

  Easier said than done. As soon as the development plan went through the committee. She kept saying that, didn’t she?

  “Celia—”

  Her cell phone rang. Her personal phone, with Analise’s name on the caller ID. Too early to be facing this call. She hadn’t worked out what she was going to say. Arthur merely gazed innocently at the ceiling; he wasn’t going to be any help.

  Carefully, like handling dynamite, she answered the call.

  “Celia?”

  She tried to judge Analise’s mood by her voice—stressed, certainly. Sharp, edged with anger. And panic. Celia could guess her emotional state because she’d been living in that state herself the last week or so.

  “Hi, Analise,” she said, sighing.

  “Have you seen the Eye this morning? Are those my kids? Tell me those are not my kids.”

  She spoke slowly, trying to give so very little away. “Yes, I’ve seen the Eye. I don’t know if they’re your kids, they’re wearing masks.”

  “Don’t give me that bullshit, the masks don’t mean anything to you.”

  Celia first met Analise precisely because she’d recognized the woman in her civilian guise, without Typhoon’s mask. “Really, you’d know better than I would—have they been sneaking out at odd hours?” Like my kid has …

  “I don’t know, they’re being … sneaky!”

  “Analise, do you want to go get lunch? We should have lunch.”

  “No, I don’t think we should, because I need to yell, and I’m not going to yell at you in a restaurant.”

  I should have told her sooner, Celia realized. Right from the start, I should have told her. We should have been doing this together. “Have you asked them? Show them the paper and see what they say—”

  “I did, and you know what they said? ‘Mom, that’s crazy.’ In stereo, like they’d been practicing. But I’m not asking them right now, I’m asking you.”

  “Analise—

  “Back in my day I was the only black superhero in Commerce City, and now two black kids show up in costumes fighting crime and you’re going to tell me they’re not mine?”

  “Fine. You’re right. It’s Teia and Lew.”

  A long pause. Analise probably hadn’t expected her to admit it. Celia wanted to crawl under the desk. Arthur stood by, being very quiet, looking sympathetic.

  “You knew,” Analise said finally. During the pause, she’d obviously figured it out. “You knew they had powers, that they were planning something like this, this whole time.”

  “I didn’t know they were planning something, honest, I only thought … I guess I hoped that if any of them did have powers, they’d be there for each other. Help each other.”

  “They—this isn’t just about my kids, is it? My kids, your kids—that other kid in the picture. And who else? And they were only ever going to help each other if … The scholarships. That was you, wasn’t it? So you could put them right where you wanted them. Putting together your own little Olympiad.”

  “No, that isn’t—”

  “And you couldn’t tell me? Why couldn’t you tell me?”

  Keeping it secret seemed like a good idea at the time was a very lame excuse. “Analise, I’m—”

  “I can’t talk to you right now,” she said, flustered, and the phone clicked off.

  Celia tossed the gadget onto the desk and glared. The gnawing hole in her stomach seemed to be getting bigger. She probably could have handled that better. Starting about five
years ago, when she put together this crazy scheme.

  “That didn’t go particularly well,” Arthur observed helpfully. As if she needed it spelled out.

  “It’ll be okay. She’s been pissed off at me before. This is exactly how she reacted when she found out about me joining the Destructor. It’ll pass.” Eventually … Celia would call her later this afternoon, after she had time to settle down. After Celia figured out what she was going to do next.

  Arthur’s own worry grew strong enough to be evident, pressing out past his usual carefully maintained mental shields. All of it was directed at her.

  “What?” Celia asked.

  “Get your things together. We’re going for a ride.”

  “I don’t have time for a ride—”

  “Yes, you do. I’m clearing your schedule for the rest of the day, and I’m taking you to a doctor.”

  “What?”

  He repeated, offhand, “I’m clearing your schedule and we’re going to the doctor. Tom will have the car outside in a minute.”

  “But he’s supposed to be dropping off the girls—”

  “Soren can drop off the girls today. Tom is driving us to the doctor.”

  “Arthur—”

  “Celia, you’re not well.”

  “I’m fine—”

  “You don’t believe that. You’re worried. You’re ignoring it, but you’re worried.”

  She’d never been able to hide from him. “I’m just tired,” she said, but even she could hear the lie in it.

  “You’ve been ‘just tired’ before. This isn’t it. When was the last time you went swimming?”

  Celia’s favorite sport and workout of choice was swimming. She’d even had a current pool installed in the penthouse so she could duck in for a few laps whenever she wanted. In her early teens, it had been the only thing she was good at, and she still enjoyed it out of a sense of nostalgia if nothing else.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d used the pool. Weeks—no, months. Maybe longer. Well, that explained a lot. But even now, the thought of swimming made her tired rather than inspired. She blinked up at Arthur, defeated.

  “Please come.” He held out his hand, and her further arguments faded. She took his hand because he’d asked, because he was himself, and she trusted him.

  * * *

  Analise married a firefighter, which Celia always thought was perfect. They’d met at the rec center where Analise taught swimming. Morgan was teaching a first aid class. They’d hit it off, his fire to her water; they were opposites and a perfect match. He was methodical, she had a temper. He could always make her smile—it was a game, even, her trying hard not to laugh and him poking at her until she did. And he was a hero, without having a single superpower. He was living, walking proof that the powers weren’t everything and that maybe she was better off without them. At least she could keep telling herself that, and in the meantime live vicariously through Morgan’s exploits. He was tall, six three, with a great physique, dark skin, and close-cropped hair. Movie star handsome but down-to-earth, and his eyes lit up when Analise walked into a room.

  They had a small ceremony with a justice of the peace at City Hall. Just a few friends, no fuss, and they all went out to dinner after. Partway through the evening, Arthur graciously took baby Anna home—at six months, she was too wiggly and her attention span too short to last the whole evening—so Celia could keep celebrating with her friend. Somewhere in between all the drinking and dancing, Celia ended up sitting in a booth with Analise, just the two of them slumped together shoulder to shoulder, and they talked.

  “Have you told him about Typhoon?” Celia asked, her voice low.

  “No,” she said.

  “Are you going to?”

  “Why bother? She’s gone now, long gone. No need to talk about her.”

  “What if he figures it out?”

  Analise turned a lazy, tipsy smile to Celia. “Cross that bridge when I get to it. It’s not important anymore.” She kept telling herself that.

  Celia wondered what had happened to the scrapbook Analise used to keep, clippings of all the news stories praising Typhoon’s exploits. Maybe she still had it, well hidden. Maybe, more likely, she’d thrown it out when her power became blocked.

  Ten years later, when Teia and Lew were nine, Morgan was killed fighting a fire. The unit had been trying to keep a convenience store fire from spreading to neighboring buildings, and a hidden propane tank exploded and caught him in a wall of flying debris. He’d died instantly. After, Celia did everything she could to keep Analise in one piece; it hadn’t been easy. Arthur and Suzanne and the girls invited Teia and Lew to the penthouse for sleepovers, while Celia sat on Analise’s sofa, holding her friend while she cried and cried. Everything had been perfect there, for a little while, and now it wasn’t, and would it ever be again? Well, maybe not. But things got better. You moved on because you had to, because you had kids and they needed to see you strong. Celia didn’t talk much. Just held Analise, as best she could.

  “Typhoon could have saved him,” Analise sobbed the first night after the accident, curled up, barely responding to Celia’s grip on her. “She should have been there, she could have saved him.”

  Except that was wrong, because Celia had read the medical examiner’s initial report, and the fire hadn’t killed Morgan, the explosion had. All Typhoon’s rainstorms, all her floods and waves, however quickly she might have put out the fire if she had been there, Analise still couldn’t have guaranteed saving him from the blast. But Celia didn’t try to tell her that.

  The what-ifs went on forever, and your rational brain might try to shut them down, but your heart kept dwelling on the future that might have happened if you’d been a little faster, if you’d gotten free more quickly, if you’d sabotaged Mayor Paulson’s apocalyptic weapon just five minutes sooner, so it had exploded and killed you before Captain Olympus arrived and shielded you, at the cost of his own life …

  Analise collected Morgan’s pension, gathered herself enough to comfort her children, put them all through counseling, and somehow mended the pieces of their lives enough to keep going. Their father was a hero, no one could argue that, and Celia knew that the knowledge actually helped. A little.

  EIGHT

  TWO weeks left on Anna’s punitive school escort. Soren, West Corp’s backup driver, dropped her and Bethy off today. He was younger and more intent on the job than the amiable Tom, so he didn’t smile at them over the backseat and actually scowled when Anna jumped out of the car on her own without waiting for him to come around and open it for her. Whatever. He’d learn. She left the car without saying good-bye to Bethy, slamming the door on the way out.

  She was sure her face was burning. Her red hair and pale skin—she couldn’t hide a damn thing, couldn’t stop the blood from rushing and telling everyone that she was embarrassed. Pissed off. Furious, really. Everything, all at once.

  She was going to kill them. If she had Sam’s laser beams, she would kill them. But all she could do was find them the minute she got to school. That was something: They could never, ever hide from her.

  Teia and Lew were right out in front, off to the side of the steps. Thank God Sam wasn’t with them, but only because he wasn’t at school yet. The three of them standing together, they might as well have worn their costumes and waved a flag announcing their superhero identities. They might still do that, because wasn’t that their whole point?

  They should have told her what they were doing. They should have talked to her.

  The siblings leaned on the brick wall, side by side, waving at friends entering the building, looking pleased with themselves. Especially when they spotted Anna marching up the sidewalk. A double image of smug, arms crossed, beaming at her.

  She couldn’t even talk at first and just stood there, glaring at them.

  “Hey, Anna,” Teia said. Smugger than smug. Ultrasmug.

  “What did you think you were doing?” Anna demanded. It was a stupid quest
ion, an unreasonable question. It didn’t matter what Teia thought she was doing, it was already done, and Teia might not even know it. “You went out late, didn’t you? Like three A.M. late so you knew I’d be asleep and not figure out you were running around.”

  “And you thought you were the brains of the operation, didn’t you?” Teia said.

  Lew laughed. “Just chill out. Nobody got hurt, we saved some lives, and people love us. They’re talking about us. It’s great!”

  Anna hadn’t had a chance to gossip with anyone, but looking around, catching a phrase of conversation here and there—yeah, people were talking. New supers in Commerce City. Wasn’t it exciting? A couple of girls at the foot of the stairs were bent over a smartphone, wondering aloud if the boys were cute under their masks.

  Teia was grinning like an idiot. Who did she think she was fooling?

  Anna stepped forward, lowered her voice. “It’s too much publicity, you’ll get screwed over before you even get started.”

  “You worry too much. This is exactly what we wanted—for people to pay attention.”

  “You’ve painted a giant target on your chest. All three of you.”

  Teia dramatically rolled her eyes. “That just means we’re doing something right. While you’re sitting on your ass.”

  Anna leaned in close, looking for a big stick to poke with. “I notice you went for a fire. Very dramatic. Is it because of your dad, is that why you want to be a hero so badly?”

  Teia’s expression darkened in a way Anna had never seen before. She almost took it back, but Teia said, “It’s got nothing to do with him.”

  Anna started to apologize for the low blow, when Lew waved at someone over her shoulder. She didn’t have to turn around to know that Teddy and Sam were walking up the sidewalk. The gang was all here. Sam sauntered on over to join his conspirators.

  “I guess you saw the news this morning,” he said. If possible, he was more smug than the other two put together. There they were, just like in the picture in the paper, and Anna wondered if anyone else noticed.