Arc Angel (26 page)

“I know it is. And that’s what makes you so special: that it does bother you. Honestly, I have to wonder what would have happened if Arc Angel had chosen someone else Thursday night. Someone who didn’t feel uncomfortable with the power and the responsibility that comes with it. We could have had a new villain on our hands, or at least a new star on the celebrity circuit. Somehow I can’t imagine you wanting to go on the talk show circuit. ‘Why yes, Doctor Phil, I’d be happy to demonstrate exactly how I stopped that mugger.’”

She leaned up enough so that when she punched him in the arm it would actually sting. He groaned dramatically.

“Oh hush. You should be glad I’m so virtuous and prefer to fight with my hands, not my ‘hands’.” She held up her hands, both of them crackling with blue light.

An urgent buzzing filled the room. Miranda leapt off the bed like a startled cat.

“Oh my god, what did I do? Are you okay?”

Bryce’s shoulders shook, and his eyes were tightly closed.

“Bryce? Bryce, answer me! Oh god, should I call Matthews?”

At that, Bryce’s eyes popped open, and his laughter rang out.

“Miranda, you didn’t do anything to me. Your phone buzzed. You must have gotten a new text.”

Miranda pulled the offending item out of her pocket and checked. Sure enough,
One New Message.

“Dammit, Bryce, you scared the hell out of me! I thought I’d shocked you!”

Bryce slid off the bed and wrapped her in his arms.

“Darlin’, you couldn’t hurt me if you tried. Ouch!”

Miranda pulled her hand away from his ear, into which she’d just sent a small pulse.

“Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to take a woman for granted?” She reached up and soothed his sore ear with gentle fingertips. “Now let go of me so I can see who sent me the message.”

“I’ll give you even money on Detective O’Hara and Gavin Brooks.”

Miranda checked her phone and read the short message.

“That’s a bet you’d lose.” She held up her phone for him to see. “Dr. Harris. The test results are in. He wants us to meet him at his office at two.”

For a minute neither of them could move. Miranda’s stomach lurched in anticipation. So much was riding on these results.

What if the tests had discovered a way for her to get rid of her powers? Her life could go back to normal. She could return to her apartment, to her old solitary life. No powers = no police. No powers = no bad guys. And most importantly, no powers meant she could stop worrying that Arc Angel might end up permanently in control of the Mirandamobile.

She looked at Bryce, his eyes shining with hope. Or maybe the tests would show a way for her to rewire his heart. Then his life could go back to normal, like he wanted. He could get his friends back and start hitting the convention scene again, not to mention the social scene…

Suddenly, everything going back to normal didn’t seem like such a good thing.

Her heart sank. If Bryce’s life returned to status quo, why would he stay with her? Sure, maybe if she still had her powers, he’d feel obligated to continue to keep an eye on her, but his regular life was bound to intrude. And what if she got rid of her powers? Without the tangible link of Arc Angel, the connection between them that Bryce kept referring to would disappear in a heartbeat, no pun intended.

She couldn’t bear the idea of not helping him if she could, but by helping him, would she lose him?

And what if they only discovered a way to get rid of her powers and not a way to help Bryce? She might be able to relax a little, and get out from under her current problems with the police and Mr. Brown, but she would also be taking away Bryce’s last hope for a normal life. Sure, if he still had his heart condition, he might stay with her. After all, what better options did he have? He’d made it clear that he refused to face the idea of a normal life with his condition. But without the presence of Arc Angel in their lives to tie them together, Bryce would probably just drift away completely. Maybe he’d even blame her somehow for getting his hopes up and then dashing them to the ground.

She’d lose him either way.

She tried to push her worries away. They didn’t even know what the results were yet. And if her problem was indeed supernatural, maybe modern medicine wasn’t going to be any help to them at all. Maybe neither of them would be “cured,” and everything would stay the same between them. No sense in wasting time with what-ifs. But the doubts continued to creep around the edges of her resolve, prodding her with their sharp edges.

Bryce checked his watch, seemingly oblivious to the dark turn her thoughts had taken. “It’s almost 11 now. That gives you plenty of time to meet with O’Hara.”

She tried to refocus on the present. Physically, she was in danger, but emotionally, it was the only place she was safe.

“Alright. I’ll text her, and see if she wants to talk. But I don’t dare go down to the police station or the coffee shop where we met yesterday—it’s much too close to the station, and I don’t want to give her any ideas. And I haven’t been anywhere else in… oh, a few years. Any suggestions on a good meeting place?”

“Let’s see. We’ll need something close enough that it’s convenient without being so close that you could be followed. I know! There’s an old diner, Benny’s, a rundown little place that serves the best coconut cream pie you’ve ever tasted, about 6 or 7 miles from here. You could walk to the edge of my property, and I’ll call a cab to come pick you up. Don’t worry, I won’t use your usual company, even if I am planning on sending your last driver some hazard pay. Anonymously, of course.”

She gave him a quick squeeze. She might be stronger than she gave herself credit for, but the same could be said for Bryce and his compassion.

“If you head out the backdoor here and cut across the property parallel to the lake, you’ll come out right near where 8
^th
Street intersects with Rutherford. That’ll be easy for you and the cab driver. Then once you’ve had your meeting, you can take the cab over to Dan’s office for those test results.”

Miranda didn’t have to be touching Bryce to know that his heartbeat had sped up at the thought of the test results. Her concerns slammed back into the forefront of her mind.

What she and Bryce had right now was so fragile. How could it possibly stand up to the imminent changes the results could bring?

She didn’t dare talk to him about it, despite their new agreement not to keep secrets. This wasn’t a secret; it was a potential death sentence.

She kept her voice cheerful and light. “Sounds like a plan. I’m texting O’Hara now, and then I could really use a shower.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll go check in with Matthews, see if he’s learned anything new in his research. Maybe we can find a spell or ritual or something to help you, just in case Dan didn’t find anything for you. We’ll get things back to normal one way or another. Let me know what time the meeting’s set for, and I’ll call the taxi.”

“Good. Yeah, that would be good. I’ll talk to you in a little bit.”

As he walked out of the room, his words echoed in her head: “get things back to normal.” He’d been talking specifically about her powers at the time, but surely that comment included his own situation too. And “back to normal” meant a healthy Bryce getting back out in the world and a powerless Miranda retreating from it.

She wished it had taken Dan a little longer to get the results back. She may be wanted by the police and the criminal element, but that was definitely better than not being wanted by Bryce Campion.

***

Mr. Brown watched the video of last night for the twentieth time, marveling anew at the opportunity he’d discovered.

He couldn’t wait to finally have the chance to sit down and talk with Miranda, to learn more about how she came to be, why she had been chosen. And to see firsthand if he was indeed ready for her.

Oh, he had no doubt that he was more than a match for anyone, superpowers or not. His vast resources and access to the latest in science and technology coupled with his preternaturally strong intelligence guaranteed him success in all his endeavors, and this time would be no different.

A knock sounded on his office door, and John immediately stepped forward to answer it, returning seconds later with a small metal case the size and shape of a child’s pencil box.

Mr. Brown breathed deeply, savoring the anticipation of the moment. The prototype, finally. Then he opened the box and picked up the slender metal rod nestled inside. It was beautiful, clean and sleek. And full of power.

It had been tested extensively, of course, and he’d been reassured it worked perfectly. But he was never one to take the word of another. Especially when the opportunity to try it out lay before him.

He held up the rod and flipped the small switch on its side. In seconds, he had his answer.

“It’s time.”

Mr. Brown spoke to John without taking his eyes off the metal rod.

“Bring them in. We’re ready.”

Chapter 19

“What exactly are we looking for, sir?”

Bryce considered telling Matthews not to call him sir, but it hadn’t worked the first 648 times, so he doubted it would make any difference this time either. He leaned his elbows on the library desk and looked over at his companion where he sat, ensconced in one of the armchairs, computer balanced on his lap.

“I’m not sure. It’s just something I thought of when Miranda and I were talking earlier.”

“Talking? Is that what happened to the elevator?”

“Yes, talking. And she said she’d fix the elevator. Anyway, I told her about how when I created Arc Angel, it didn’t necessarily feel like I was the one doing the creating. It was more like the character jumped into my head and demanded to be written. Not quite as intense as what Miranda’s going through, but still definitely odd.”

Matthews nodded.

“So I got to thinking. What if Arc Angel, or whatever she’s really called, actually exists, or existed, or something. What if she’s some type of spirit, or ghost or something, and she used me to create her, and she’s using Miranda to live in? If we could figure it out, it might give us a clue how to get her to go away. Hopefully Dan’s science has figured out the answer, but just in case, I thought we could look into the supernatural.”

Matthews frowned and leaned forward in his chair, pinning Bryce with his sharp gaze.

“I thought you wanted Arc Angel to stay, sir. After all, she’s the only one who might be able to adjust your heart, right?”

Bryce got that sick feeling in his stomach he’d been getting every time he thought about what might happen when they got the test results.

“I do want Miranda, er, Arc Angel to try. Absolutely. I’d do anything to regain my health. But you should have heard Miranda talking about what it’s like. She said she feels like she’s losing herself, that Arc Angel is taking over, pushing her out. I don’t want that for Miranda.” When Matthews continued to look at him funny, he added, “Hell, I wouldn’t want that for anyone.”

“There’s no shame in it, you know.”

“Wanting my health back? Of course there isn’t.”

“Caring about Miss Miranda.”

Bryce squirmed in his seat like a student caught with the test answers written on his hand. He tried to bluff his way out of it.

“Well, of course I care about her. She’s a good person. Nice. Helpful.”

“When you first met her, all you could talk about was your plan to lure her in and use her to fix your heart. And here you are, trying to help her get rid of the power needed to save you without thinking about it. She’s special.”

Bryce thought about the hours he’d spent with Miranda that morning. Sure, they’d been problem solving, trying to figure out what to do next about their crazy situation, but they’d also simply been. They’d talked, opened up to each other, in a way he hadn’t done since… He wanted to say since before he got WPW, but had he really opened up like that
ever
? Even when he’d been healthy and surrounded by friends and women, he hadn’t ever felt as relaxed and accepted as he did with Miranda after only a few days.

And leave it to Matthews to see straight to the truth.

Bryce exhaled and relaxed back in his chair, surprisingly at peace with his feelings. Whatever happened, he’d be there for Miranda, for as long as she’d let him. Hell, he’d force her to let him stay around if he had to.

As long as they were together, nothing else mattered. Not even fixing his damn heart.

“She is special,” he said simply before turning back to his computer. “Now let’s see what we can do to help her.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll start with a little more research on Elder’s Grove. Why don’t you look a little more closely at your own family. After all, Arc Angel picked you too. Aren’t you curious to know why?”

***

Bryce’s plan worked well. Miranda made it to the intersection and hopped in the waiting cab. She steeled herself to give the driver the address, but he pulled out without a word. Bryce had thought of everything. She smiled, and then smiled even bigger when she realized that she could have talked to the driver if she’d needed to. It would have been hard, but she could have done it. Maybe something good was coming from all this mess after all.

The ride to the diner took only a few minutes, getting her there a bit before the scheduled meeting. Miranda hopped out of the cab and entered the diner. The bored hostess waved her over to the booths that lined the back wall and Miranda scurried over to the last one in the row. She slid across the seat, able to see the entire interior except the short hallway to the restrooms, which lay behind her.

She pulled the torn plastic menu from its rack near the ketchup bottle and forced herself to pretend to study at it. Bryce had said something about pie, but the thought of eating made Miranda nauseous.

A dowdy middle-aged woman in an apron headed toward Miranda’s table just as Detective O’Hara pushed open the front door. Miranda lifted her hand a few inches in greeting, but O’Hara had already seen her and strode briskly toward her. No need for a physical welcome then. Miranda prepared herself for the verbal greeting she knew would be coming next.