My mother’s impeccable style had remained intact, even after what I suspected was one of her twelve-to-fourteen-hour days. Her French twist was still glossy and pinned up perfectly, and there wasn’t a wrinkle in her pantsuit. She arched her perfect brows at me. I was about to confess a complete lie when she asked, “Are you ready to go?”
“Go?” I parroted.
“We’re meeting Stefano and his legal team tonight,” Cheryl said. “We’re drawing up the final indictment papers against those troublemakers, and we’re going to submit them to the city judges for a hearing.” She grinned. “It’s best if you can get it in before the weekend, so the news has the whole weekend to decide if the accused is guilty or not.”
“Oh.” I’d forgotten about that. Once I would have laughed right along with her, but I felt oddly discordant with her view all of a sudden. “Jury of peers, right?” I joked, the hollow feeling inside of me increasing.
She laughed. “You’ll fit right in with Stefano’s legal team. Let’s go.”
I walked beside my mother and felt the full weight of her years of authority and experience wash over me. I could easily see why my mother was considered the city’s top lawyer. She was always so confident, and if she said she was going to do something, she did it.
As much as I didn’t get along with her, I knew it was because I’d always wanted to be just like her. Fearless, certain, direct, right about a lot of things, and paid well for it.
It was as we walked down the hall that I felt more like a child than I’d ever wanted, as if I was playing adult. The differences between my mother and me became more sharply drawn, and I wondered, helplessly curious, what Starry Knight would say if she ever met Cheryl.
The thought sent a small smile to my lips.
“Are you ready for this?” Cheryl asked, beaming. “I need to get a picture of this. Your first indictment hearing.”
Too bad it has to be one where I’m technically the perpetrator.
“Just relax, please,” I almost begged. I might have felt childish, but I didn’t want my mother treating me like I was. “I don’t want to mess this up.”
“I know,” she told me. “I know you’ve wanted this for a long time.” She paused and said, “I was pretty surprised you didn’t sign up for the football team this year.”
“I do have to study for the SATs, and I have to have time to spend with Gwen,” I reminded her.
“I know. That is what really makes me know that this is something you have been working hard for. You know,” she said, “you remind me a bit of myself at your age.”
“Would yourself at my age tell you to focus?”
Cheryl laughed. “I think so.” Still, she gave me a quick hug and said, “I’m proud of you. I’m very happy to see you turn out so well, Hamilton. I can only hope you’ll remember your family when you’re famous.”
Shame, not pride, colored my cheeks. She probably wouldn’t be so proud if she actually knew the truth, I thought bitterly to myself.
Before I could respond, Dante Salyards appeared. “Hello, Cheryl,” he said. “It’s nice to see you again.” He turned to me. “Hamilton, was it?”
“Yes.” Answering to Dante made me nearly choke. Still, years of pretending to have respect for my teachers and other adults had prepared me for it. “How are you?”
“Doing well, thanks,” he said. “Stefano’s in there, waiting for you, Cheryl.”
“Great. We’ve gotten everything ready and triple-checked,” Cheryl assured him, even though I knew she’d only checked it once. She didn’t need to check it twice, and Cheryl did not believe in wasting time.
“Great. Hopefully, bringing these lawbreakers to justice will help stop some of the monster attacks.” He laughed. “And I can leave town again.”
“Are your accommodations not to your liking?” Cheryl asked.
“The hotel I’m staying at is comfortable enough,” he assured her. He turned to me. “You know how it can be. Anything for work.”
My smile left my face as I only nodded. I didn’t dare trust myself to say anything.
I knew he wasn’t staying at a hotel. He was lying. Dante was actually in residence just down the block from my house; I’d seen him and his car enough to know.
Unless that house belonged to a friend of his. Or, since Dante didn’t seem like the kind of guy to be allowed to have friends, maybe it was a coworker’s house.
Still, I wondered if my mother knew?
It didn’t seem like it. Cheryl and Dante chatted for a few moments on nothing important, while I tried very hard to control my temper.
“Well, good luck to you tonight,” Dante said with a suave smile, before he turned to go.
Cheryl entered into the court room, and before I could follow her, Dante called out to me, “Hamilton.” As I turned to face him, he asked, “Are you Dr. Mark Dinger’s son, by any chance?”
“Yeah,” I said, not sure if I should even answer. “Cheryl’s my mother.”
“I thought so.” He smiled. “You don’t look much like either of them.”
I raised my eyebrows, but said nothing. I’d gotten my brown hair from Cheryl, but since my superpowers showed up, my hair had gotten increasingly lighter and my skin was always tanned—not enough someone else might notice, but enough that I did.
“Mark and I were friends in high school.”
“Oh. He never talks about you,” I said, feeling glad to score an awkward point and even the scoreboard some.
Dante shrugged. “I’m sure Mark has a lot to do. I heard he won another award for his work at the Apollo City Hospital.”
“He wins lots of awards.”
“I imagine he does. He’s a good man, and a good doctor.” Dante shrugged, apparently out of things to say. Which was convenient for me, since I was out of things I wanted to hear. “Tell him I said hello and I’d love to catch up soon.”
I didn’t tell him that we were practically next-door neighbors. I just nodded. Before I could turn around and hurry after my mother, a sudden thought struck me: I could question Dante about his work at City Hall.
“So, what is it that you do around here?” I asked.
Dante looked surprised at my question. “I’m here as a consultant.”
“On what?”
“Security.”
“Security for what?”
“Things Stefano has asked me to take care of.”
This was going nowhere. I had to change the approach, I thought. “Are you from a private company, then?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
The gleam in his eye made me think he was starting to get suspicious. “I work at a company known as Otherworld, Incorporated. We do a lot of security consulting around the world.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said, but I took notes down of the name. I’d heard of more than one government-funded business use different names to try to make it look like they weren’t funneling money into the wrong places.
Ugh, this means I have to work through all those files again. I was ready to bleach my eyeballs at the very thought.
I shuffled that to the side as I entered the small council room.
The small judge panel of Apollo City was dignified. I took out my notebook and wrote down notes as I listened to my mother state her case and present her research. I wanted to make sure Mrs. Smithe knew I was taking a very focused interest in the judicial system. Maybe I could get extra credit for this, I thought, recalling how AP classes were all about going the extra mile on current events and relative topics.
As the judges began their questions, I began to doodle small pictures in the margins of my paper.
It was disappointing to admit I was bored.
It wasn’t that my mother didn’t have a commanding presence, or that Stefano didn’t make convincing points about how it was necessary for people to give up some of their rights if they were going to be safe. Part of my boredom was because I knew I was secretly hoping the judges would refuse to press charges.
r /> And the other part, well . . . I just got distracted. Thinking about AP Gov made me think of how Raiya would doodle on her own notebook papers, and that traveled over to how much better of a drawer she was than me, and . . .
“—security measures are already in place at Lakeview Observatory, thanks to satellite imaging available from the Skarmastad Foundation, and their combined efforts with Otherworld, Inc.”
Huh? I glanced up to see Stefano passing out a file of his own as he explained what was in them.
“Here you’ll see examples of how Otherworld, Inc. is already helping us to locate and isolate the radiation anomalies of these monsters and the superheroes themselves. This makes it much easier for us to anticipate attacks and take care of the problem in a safer, legal fashion.”
A judge spoke up with concern in her voice. “What measures are available to control these monsters once you’ve identified and isolated them? If it is one thing we cannot deny, it is that while police enforcement has cooperated with your efforts, Mayor, we have not seen any substantial results without the help of these so-called ‘superheroes.’”
There was a pulse where Stefano paused, and I even knew he’d been hoping they would not ask about that. “We’re working on it,” Stefano finally said.
“Until we have concrete solutions,” another judge stated, “it seems to be prudent to let this matter go. It would be similar to a private citizen with a concealed carry stepping in on a terrorist attack.”
“Which brings up the question of whether or not there are there any precedents that would support this indictment.” One more judge spoke up from the far end of the bench.
So Wingdinger and Starry Knight are still allowed to play, so long as they capture the bad guys at the end of the day.
“The people are demanding these figures be held accountable for their damages,” Cheryl stepped in. “There are surely legal limitations on city destruction that need to be addressed.”
“The city has declared a local state of emergency to counter this, Ms. Thomas-Dinger.”
I almost laughed at hearing my mother’s official name. I’d forgotten she hyphenated it when she married my father.
“The people of the city want to know more,” Stefano added. “We can’t be certain that these characters are protecting us. We should indict them and then question them regarding their roles. How do we know they are not the creators of these monsters without their testimonies?”
Fury flashed through me repeatedly throughout the course of the next twenty minutes, as the judges each asked questions and debated all their answers.
The judges then decided to take a recess and come back with their response at a later date, when their deliberations were finished.
I yawned as we were excused, finally. I pretended to straighten out my notes in order to hide it.
Cheryl stepped in stride beside me. “I know,” she said. “I’m disappointed, too.”
I recalled what Mrs. Smithe told me before: there were no supernatural provisions in the law. “I thought it was going to be much more scary,” I said aloud, and then, at Cheryl’s frown, I added, “since you let me help so much, I thought I was going to get a chance to argue. And public speaking is, of course, terrifying.” (Only if you’re an idiot.)
“You won’t get to present anything today,” she said. “You can’t do that without a license, and you’d need to pass the Bar Exam in Ohio to qualify here. I know you have your heart set on Pittsburgh though.” Her expression turned shrewd and thoughtful. “Maybe I should reach out to some of my contacts there and let them know your progress. I’m sure it would be a great resume builder.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. I didn’t tell her I was more worried about staying out of jail than I was about getting into college. “What did Stefano mean, about the satellite imaging?”
“That associate of his, Dante, has a company that’s been monitoring radiation signatures around the city. Apparently, it has an algorithm that can predict attacks.”
“Really?” I wondered if it could also detect if people gave off those signals. I could easily find Starry Knight, I thought. Of course, they might also be able to find me.
I decided I would worry about that if it happened when it happened.
In the meantime, I decided it was much more important to check on Lakeview Observatory again. If SWORD was setting up camp there, it was only prudent to check in on them.
“How did you like the meeting?” Cheryl asked me as we headed out the door.
“It was good,” I lied. “Very interesting.”
“Alright, good to hear. Do you want to go home with me?” Cheryl asked. “I brought the car over.”
I thought about it. “I think I’d like to go grab some coffee,” I said.
“Oh, you’re going to meet Gwen?” Cheryl asked. “Good idea. I know you haven’t had much time with her this week because you’ve been working on this. Yes, go out and celebrate, Hamilton.” She narrowed her gaze. “You still have a curfew.”
“Okay.” I laughed a bit, but I knew she was serious. And if I wasn’t sure she was going to go home and celebrate with Mark, I would have taken her more seriously myself.
☼7☼
Evening
I texted Gwen to let her know I’d be at Rachel’s within the hour; it wasn’t long before she responded, letting me know that she was on her way, even though I hadn’t told her I wanted to see her.
I mean, I did. But I didn’t, too.
When I got her reply, I slowed down, almost hoping Elysian or Aleia would come and interrupt my thoughts.
I was tired. I’d worked hard at City Hall, and at school, and at my supernatural duties. And there was more to do yet. But I was glad; even though life was tiring, I knew I had a life more than ever.
I made a mental note to check in on Lakeview Observatory soon, because “soon” was a difficult qualifier to place on any area my life.
Rachel’s Café was open and welcome, like an affectionate mother’s embrace. I headed over and looked through the window, glad to see it was back to business as usual; after the attack by Celaena and Maia, it had taken Rachel a few days to get everything sorted and cleaned. I was lucky she had been hired by Stefano to cater City Hall with coffee, or I would have gone stark raving mad.
I walked through the door, smiling when I saw Rachel’s painting, the one from her wedding, had been properly restored. Although I could no longer see the artist’s initials, I was glad to see it was back. It was another sign that life could be beautiful and restored, even after disaster and devastation.
Gwen waved at me from our usual booth, and I grinned as I hurried over.
“Hey, Hammy,” she greeted me warmly. “How was your case?”
“Oh, it was okay,” I said. “I’ll tell you about it after I get some mocha. Do you need anything?”
She laughed as she held up her own cup. “No, I’m good,” she said.
“Have you been here long?” I asked.
“It didn’t take me long to get here after you texted,” she assured me. “And I’ve been catching up on reading Mikey’s blog. It’s pretty interesting.”
“Wha—?” I didn’t even think I could finish the thought, let alone the word.
“Yeah. Did you know he writes about the city superheroes?”
“No,” I lied. “But I’m pretty sure he’s lying if that’s what he told you. I mean, this is Mikey we’re talking about. He’s never finished a writing assignment for school before. And he does like to lie to pretty girls,” I reminded her, glad to see my compliments had lost none of their power as she blushed.
“You’re terrible to him sometimes,” Gwen said with another laugh.
“You don’t actually think he’s writing a blog of his own free will, do you?” I asked. “I mean, like I said, this is Mikey. He’s all about sports and video games, and everything that’s not homework.”
“I have no reason, other than those, to doubt him,” she told me, much to my chagrin. “And
he was pretty convincing. He told me that Chatty Patty was even offering him a column in the newspaper and on air if he wanted.”
He’d forgotten to tell her about the book deal, I noticed. “I can’t believe he would lie to you so much and so extensively,” I said. “That scoundrel.”
Gwen chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t think it matters if it’s true or not. It’s just nice to see Mikey so happy.”
“Happy?” What in the world was he up to? I groaned inwardly. After a long school day and a long day at work, I would have to have a long conversation with Gwen that was sure to be even more unpleasant than the previous parts of my day combined.
“Hamilton, go and get your drink. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Okay.” I couldn’t argue with her logic on that point. I was going to have to discredit Mikey a lot more before the night was over though.
How stupid was Mikey to tell Gwen that he writes the most popular blog on Wingdinger and Starry Knight? I was astounded and confounded by his stupidity. He could be putting her in danger, I thought. Or worse, he could be putting me in danger.
I walked over to the bar area and leaned over, looking for Rachel.
“You want your usual?”
I turned at the voice, only to see Raiya sitting at the far end of the bar. “I can wait till Rachel comes,” I told her.
“She’s teaching Jason some more baking tricks in the kitchen,” Raiya told me. “She might be awhile.”
“It’s fine. I can wait. No need to interrupt your”—I looked down at the pile of papers in front of her—“math review?” I looked at her quizzically. “Didn’t your class just finish up this unit?”
She shrugged. “I’m not very good at math. Trigonometry is hard.”
“No it’s not.”
“Well, then I just hate it more than English or History,” she remarked.
“Maybe it hates you.”
“That’s a distinct possibility,” she agreed. “I do hate math, but only when I’m awake.”
“You can’t sleep all the time.” I snorted.
She rolled her eyes. “You know, I’m trying to be friendly. Can’t you ever just work with me?” She sighed. “Besides, that test the other day was hard. I studied for hours the night before and just barely managed a B.”