Page 99 of No Capes
There.
I insert the CD and Phil confirms the date, three years ago, two weeks before my mother’s death. Phil would have been in the middle of the campaign. This time, the disc recorded a conversation with two other people. “She isn’t buying it,” says Phil’s voice. “You said you’d fix this.”
“We talk to her every day,” a woman on the CD interjects. Her voice hits me like a block of icy betrayal. It’s Elaine Levine, Fox’smom.“But when Meredith is onto something, she doesn’t quit.”
“Do whatever you need,” says Phil. “You’re her best friend. She trusts you.”
“What happens if she doesn’t listen?” a man asks. Jonathan Levine. “We can’t kill her.”
“If it comes to her or me,” says Phil, “would you honestly choose her?”
I grip the desk for balance. The metal holds sturdy and strong, despite how I want to rip it apart.
Mr. and Mrs. Levine were working for Phil. Actually working for him. Not pretending, like Dark Static. They tried to keep my mom from figuring out the truth: that Phil is a Super.
I remember the autopsy report. My mom was dead before the crash, but the Levines weren’t. I had dismissed the possibility that they’d killed her and the car then hydroplaned, perhaps on purpose; it seemed both impossible and too easy.
Phil could have used his powers on them,I think.It might not be their fault.
We have to take them out.
Fox doesn’t know. This whole time, while he worked against Phil, he thought his parents had too. Arielle couldn’t have known either—she would have told Fox.
An earsplitting scream comes from the grounds and I sprint over to the window. I know that voice. I’ve heard it my whole life.
Arielle splays on the grass, barely sitting up. A small ring of fire surrounds her and my dad, who lies on his stomach with his legs underneath him. I crane to see more: Flare and Phil leer over them; Dark Static and Materio are nowhere in sight. With little wind left from the lightning vortex, the ring of flames seems contained enough that it won’t hurt my family, but tall enough that it will keep them captured.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I lift the window open, forcing its screen as high as it will go.
Dewy humidity spatters the fresh air, spreading like fog over the yard. Perfect.
Phil and Flare, so far, are unaware of my position in the tower. For once, my invisibility is my greatest asset. I need to attack without using the rain clouds, since a little water won’t stop Phil.
Arielle’s garden.Dark Static said irrigation pipes are built under the grass.Maybe…
I don’t have time to think of other options. My stamina is almost at full strength and imagining the copper pipes below Arielle’s tacky tulips comes easily. The main issue is that I don’t know how deep the pipes are—not being a sustainable gardeningexpert like Fox, apparently. If I underestimate their depth, my plan won’t work. Overestimate, and I could kill someone.
With shaking hands, I point to the grass behind Phil and close my eyes, summoning all my power. Fluid flows under my skin and I let it build until my chest feels like a dam blocking a waterfall. I imagine heat, then steam, until my chest boils. Now for the hard part, containing the destruction.
BOOM.
BOOM.
CRASHHHH.
Like usual, smoke obscures the aftermath of my super-heated explosion and I have to wait for it to clear. Flare’s shrieks ring through the yard, and I quickly pull out a new gel pack so I can be ready for action.
The garden remains a mess of sticks and empty hedges. Trunks from the trees outlining the garden collapse over flower beds and now-exposed irrigation pipes, except for the willow tree, which is unscathed. A humongous crater bubbles on one half of the garden, which Phil has fallen into, now lying on his side. A sharp pipe landed in the space where Flare had just been standing. Dirt and dust cakes both Arielle and my dad, but with Flare being forced to go on defense, the ring of fire no longer traps them. Golden Ace still lies near the house, out of commission but alive.
Where is Dark Static? Or Materio?
Someone needs to contain Phil.
As the smoke clears, Phil rolls onto his shoulder and sits up. He glances around to catch his bearings until his menacing gaze lands on me.Uh oh.I gulp and begin to back away, but it’s too late—he’s seen me standing in his secret lair.
In a single swoop, Phil leaps from his smoky crater and shoots upwards, flying to the top of his mansion.
Straight toward my window.
