Joshua Dread (20 page)

Reaching forward with both hands, Dad grabbed hold of Vex’s cane and yanked it away from Sophie’s head. Vex spun around, growling with anger and surprise. Dad tried to keep hold of the cane, but Vex overpowered him. In the next instant, Vex had the cane in his grip again. He was aiming it at my dad’s chest.

The skull’s eyes glowed red. I watched it all happening as a horrible understanding dawned on me. Vex was going to kill my dad. There was nothing I could do. There was nothing any of us could do.

But that didn’t stop me from trying. Flinging out my hands, I lunged forward. A surge of power rippled across my entire body.

And then everything just …

Stopped.

Or at least, that was the way it seemed. The scene in front of me was like a photograph. My vision focused on Vex, and from my hands a wave of light appeared.

Even as I watched it happen, I didn’t believe it. A ribbon of pure, white light traced from the tips of my fingers into the air in front of me. I had the feeling I couldn’t have stopped it even if I’d wanted to. It was as
though I weren’t the one controlling the power, but the other way around.

The power was controlling me.

When the light reached Vex, time started up again. Sound poured into my ears. Everything burst into motion. A sudden jolt hit me like a train, knocking me off my feet and propelling me backward.

The last thing I saw before my feet left the ground was Vex. The light must’ve had the same effect on him, because he went flinging in the opposite direction. He lost his grip on Sophie and went catapulting backward into a metal column. The force of the impact was enough to knock the column loose, along with the section of the ceiling it was supporting. The ceiling collapsed, burying Vex in a mountain of steel and stone.

I slammed into the ground. My lungs ached. My brain felt like it had been dropped into a blender and set on frappé. A blurry figure approached, speaking to me in Milton’s voice.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. I think so.”

Milton was suddenly talking very quickly, his voice rattling in my ear. “Man, that thing you did with the light. That was awesome! And the way you catapulted backward. I’ve never seen anything like it—”

“Sophie,” I interrupted. “Is she all right?”

“I’m fine,” came Sophie’s voice. “Your dad’s okay too.”

“And my mom?” I turned, trying to spot her among all the fuzzy shapes in the distance. “Is she—”

“We can talk more once we’re outside!” Captain Justice’s voice called out. He brought a hand down on Sophie’s shoulder. “But for now we need to get out of here. This entire room is going to collapse.”

Captain Justice had a point. Climbing to my feet, I glanced up just in time to see another huge section of the ceiling falling away. It landed on the ground just a few feet from where the white-robed villains were lying.

“What about them?” Sophie pointed to the group of villains. The rest of them were awake by now. They climbed to their feet, looking around at the burning chaos like they’d just entered a bad dream. “We can’t leave them here.”

Captain Justice stared at the group, unable to hide his disgust. The ground shook. More of the ceiling crumbled to the ground, falling perilously close to several semiconscious villains.

“Dad,” Sophie said. “Please.”

Captain Justice heaved a sigh. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do.” He pointed his hand upward. “Engage Protective Umbrella of Virtue!”

A blue holographic umbrella emerged from his wristband. It looked like the kind of thing you’d see on a beach, except a whole lot bigger. Enormous chunks of
stone and steel fell from above, but then stopped in midair when they made contact with the umbrella. The villains looked up, amazed.

“Okay, everybody,” Captain Justice announced in an unenthusiastic voice. “An emergency exit is located next to the launchpad. Please make your way out of the underground lair in a quick and orderly fashion.”

The villains began to stagger dazedly toward us. I caught sight of my mom among the group.

“Mom!”

I ran to meet her. With Milton and me on each side, we helped her across the room. When she reached Dad, they fell into each other’s arms.

“Ahem. The Protective Umbrella of Virtue won’t last forever,” Captain Justice called out. “I suggest everyone evacuate the underground lair as soon as possible.”

It was definitely one of the strangest things I’d ever seen: A hundred of the world’s most dangerous villains stumbling in the same direction, all wearing identical white robes and looking confusedly at the collapsing lair and the giant holographic beach umbrella overhead, as Captain Justice ushered them toward the exit.

B
y the time the Carrolshire Fire Department arrived, the Ocean View Hotel had completely burned to the ground.

“Nice job today,” the chief of police said to Captain Justice. “But I don’t know if there’s room in the jail for everyone.” He gestured to the group of confused-looking villains standing nearby. “We might be able to bus them over to the federal prison. It’s only about thirty miles away from—”

“That won’t be necessary,” Captain Justice said.
“They’re free to go.” He winced as he spoke, as if it caused him physical pain to say the words.

“But, Captain Justice,” the chief said, “you’ve got some of the world’s baddest bad guys out here. You can’t just let them go.”

Captain Justice sighed. “They didn’t do anything wrong. Not this time, at least.”

“Yeah, but it’s only a matter of time until they’re out on the streets, wreaking havoc again.”

“I know. And when that time comes, I’ll be there.” Captain Justice looked up at the sky. “Worry not, human law enforcement officer. I shall be there—when evil rears its ugly head, when the world cries out for help, when—”

“
Okay
, we get the point.” Sophie rolled her eyes.

The chief shrugged, then used his walkie-talkie to contact the rest of the police force. The villains were free to go.

Gradually the villains regained their senses. Most of them wandered into downtown Carrolshire in their flowing white robes, looking for rides home and freaking out the locals.

It felt like days had passed since my friends and I had first set out that morning for Carrolshire, but it was only
early evening. The sun was hanging low in the sky. Heat from the burning hotel cut through the October chill like a gigantic campfire.

My mom brought her hands to rest on my shoulders.

“What you did back there was so brave,” she said. “We couldn’t be more proud of you.”

“It wasn’t such a big deal,” I said. “If Dad hadn’t snuck up on Vex like that, I doubt any of us would’ve survived.”

Dad twisted at the sleeve of his robe and looked away. I could see the conflict on his face. For years, he had admired Phineas Vex. And now Vex was buried somewhere under the smoking mountain of rubble where the hotel used to be. This was just one more confusing event in a day full of confusing events. In the past twenty-four hours, my parents had been attacked by smoke creatures, teleported to an abandoned hotel, dressed up like giant babies, and rescued by their greatest opponent.

It had been a pretty weird day.

“I just stepped forward at the right moment,” Dad said to me quietly. “You were the one who made all the difference.”

I glanced back at the burning building we’d barely escaped. “I don’t even know
what
I did. Something happened back there. I’ve never done anything like that before. It was like …” I searched for the right words to describe what had happened. The tide of light shooting
out of my fingertips, time standing still. “It was like my Gyft took over.”

“You remember what we said to you? On the night we told you about your Gyft?” The glow from the nearby fire flickered across my mom’s features. “We told you that you’re Gyfted beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. You have an extraordinary power, Joshua. But that power is volatile. There may be times when it seems as if you aren’t in control of your Gyft, when it seems almost as if—”

“As if it’s in control of me,” I said.

Mom nodded, a steady look in her eyes.

I turned away from her, staring down at the gravel around my feet.

“Cheer up, Son,” Dad said, jostling me by the shoulder. “You saved the day, remember? Without you, we’d probably all be buried under that.” He pointed at the heap of flaming rubble nearby. “You should be proud of yourself.”

No matter what he said, I still felt uncertainty kicking around inside my chest. What would happen the next time I lost control of my power, or the time after that?

My mood lifted a few minutes later when I glanced over and saw Sophie and Milton in the crowd. They squeezed between a group of firefighters and walked toward us.

“Hello, Milton,” Dad said.

Milton stared at my parents like he’d just forgotten how to speak. All this time, he’d known them as my mom and dad—two ordinary grown-ups who lived down the street. And now here they were, the Dread Duo, standing right in front of him. It probably didn’t help that they were wearing matching white gowns.

“I’m sure this comes as a bit of a shock,” Mom said. “We would’ve told you sooner, but, well, secrecy is a necessary part of our job.”

“Er—that’s okay,” Milton stuttered. “At least now I know why I’m never invited over to Joshua’s house.”

Mom and Dad both laughed at this. But their laughter died away as soon as their eyes moved to where Sophie was standing. Dad stared at her the way he looked at microorganisms he was studying in his lab. Mom crossed her arms and did her best impression of a stern professor.

“Mom, Dad,” I began, “this is Sophie—Sophie Justice. She’s my—uh, project partner in class.” I looked from my parents to her. “And my friend.”

My parents examined Sophie in their unwelcoming way for a little longer, and then a polite smile finally showed on their faces. I guess after everything else they’d been through over the past twenty-four hours, nothing could shock them anymore. The three of them shook hands. I looked on, hoping my parents wouldn’t do anything too embarrassing or life-threatening.

“It’s nice to meet you, Sophie,” Dad said.

“You did a great job back there,” Mom added, glancing from Sophie to Milton. “Both of you. We can’t thank you enough for coming here to rescue us.”

“I’m just glad everyone’s okay,” Sophie said. “And you should’ve seen Joshua. The way he stood up to Vex back there. You would’ve been impressed.”

I could feel my parents gazing proudly at me. I caught a glimpse of Sophie’s smile.

“Well,” Dad said, “we might go see if we can help out a few of our … er—colleagues. Some of them seem to be having a little difficulty coming out of their comatose states.”

He pointed to a couple of white-robed supervillains who were trying to pick a fight with a telephone pole.

“Taste my wrath, you do-gooding nincompoop!” one of them said to the pole. The other attempted a karate chop and instead flopped onto the ground.

Once my parents had headed off in the direction of the confused villains, I turned to Milton. “You saved my life back there. You really
are
a superhero.”

Milton shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could tell from his smile that he was secretly excited about the compliment.

By now, the Ocean View Hotel was nothing more than a smoldering pit. Firefighters sprayed the few sparse flames that were still burning.

“Do you have any idea what happened to my dad’s car?” Sophie asked.

“What do you mean? It’s right—” I pointed to where the red convertible had been parked when we’d arrived. In its place was an enormous crater. The only evidence that the car had ever been there was a charred license plate lying nearby. It had been split into two pieces. One half read JUST and the other, ICE.

“Your d-dad’s car,” Milton stuttered, “got blown up?”

“Apparently so.” Sophie scratched her head, gazing at the crater questioningly. “Any idea how that might’ve happened?”

All of a sudden, I thought about the rocket we’d accidentally launched while randomly choosing apps on the cell phone. It definitely could’ve caused a crater like this.

“Nope,” I said. “No idea.”

“So, anyway, my dad made a call and had Stanley reprogrammed so he can come pick us up in the SUV. And …” Sophie paused. “And he invited you and your parents to come along too.”

I stared at Sophie, hardly able to believe what I was hearing. “You think
my
parents should carpool with
your
dad?”

“After what they just went through, it beats the heck out of flying all the way back on hover scooters. Especially the way they’re dressed.” Sophie gestured toward my parents in their flowing robes. “I bet the wind gets
pretty chilly at night. Besides, we’re all going to the same place.”

I wasn’t sure how my parents would feel about sharing a ride with their greatest enemy.

On the other hand, a ride home
would
be nice.