Mind Over Easy (24 page)

"I guess we don't call 'em speedsters for nothing."

Ted heard a scream behind him. A human woman and her two children were backing away from a pack of three men dressed in black. It didn't take him long to realize he knew the trio causing the commotion. It was Nigel, Stucky and Tank, seemingly back from the dead. He flew over to block the three of them and used his powers to push them away from the woman and her kids.

When he tried to move them back, Ted saw Nigel swat away his powers as easily as he had when they first met.

"Why are you fighting?" Ted clenched his fists and prepared to use them.

Nigel let out a belly laugh. "Isn't it obvious?"

Ted couldn't tell if his heart was pounding from flying so long at top speed or the fear from facing his adversaries one more time. "If it were so clear, I wouldn't have asked you."

Nigel, Stucky and Tank moved to surround him. The leader held up his hand and the trio locked into position. "We're fighting because you haven't stopped us."

All three of them came running at Ted. He used a backhand blow to knock Stucky down as Tank grabbed a hold of his arm. Ted felt his shoulder pop out of joint. He used his powers to slam it back into place and threw an uppercut to put his assailant through the roof of a nearby shop. Nigel kicked Ted in the back before he could turn away from Tank. The dark soul jumped on his back and put his arm around Ted's neck. He strained to get oxygen as the thug squeezed with superhuman strength. Ted attempted to stand and fly to knock Nigel off, but his powers had no effect.

"It's a shame, Ted." Nigel tightened his grip. "You could've been so much more."

Ted tried to pull Nigel's arm away from his throat, but it was too tight. The lack of air set off every alarm in his body as his sight grew more and more dim. He felt himself collapse to the ground until his face was pressed against the dirt.

"Don't be a pawn, Ted." Nigel whispered the words into his ear. "If you don't embrace your powers – all of them – you'll just be one more dead hero."

With that, Ted's consciousness slipped away. 

Chapter 40

Natalie woke up beside the car, which had seemingly coming back into view when she'd been knocked out.

What the heck happened?

The second thing she spied after the car was Ted's lifeless body. Natalie watched him for a few moments to see if the air was inflating his lungs or not. After a few motionless seconds, she threw patience to the wind and shook her friend. She held her breath until Ted made a low grumbling noise.

"My head." Ted opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Natalie. "I'm alive. No more shaky."

Natalie obliged. "Good."

Natalie remembered their attacker. She looked back to see if Redican was still approaching. There was no sign of him, and everyone else on the street was moving around as if nothing had happened at all.

"It doesn't make any sense." When Natalie stood up, the blood rushed to her head, causing a wave of dizziness. "If he wiped Erica's brain, why didn't he do anything to us?"

"Performance problems?" Ted stood up and almost collapsed.

If it weren't for Natalie's quick move to the side, he might have gone back to the ground.

He looked into her eyes with a sheepish grin. "Thanks."

Natalie hoisted Ted up by his arms and leaned him on the car. "Don't mention it."

She wasn't sure why, but Ted's scent started to wash over her. The aroma led to memories of them together that she'd rather push back to the recesses of her brain.

"What's wrong?" Ted rubbed Natalie's arm as if it were the most natural thing. As if they were still together.

Natalie pulled away. "It's nothing." She unlocked the car. "Can we go home now?"

They headed back to Ted's house. She couldn't help but think of the dozens of times she'd taken the roads that led to the Finley residence. Natalie would test out different paths to see which would get her there faster. Once she'd found a seven-minute set of directions to beat all the eight-, nine- and 10-minute paths, she stuck to it. For some reason, she opted to take the 10-minute drive.

"Redican knew that we were there." She glanced at Ted. "He couldn't have gotten there so quickly otherwise."

Ted caught Natalie's eye and smiled. "Do you remember when we broke into that practice facility?"

Natalie had the day burned into her brain. It was an encounter she looked on as one of the highlights of their relationship. "Of course. It was fun."

Ted looked almost goofy as he turned toward her. "We make a good team. I'm really glad we get to do this together."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it would be exactly the same if your girlfriend didn't have selective amnesia."

Ted put his hand on Natalie's leg and moved it down to the knee. "I'm not thinking about her right now. I'm thinking about us."

Natalie felt her cheek twitch. "Oh, yeah? And what is it you're thinking exactly?"

Ted leaned over from the passenger seat, as if to deliver his message as a whisper. "I think I'm ready to tell you that 'I love you' back."

Natalie's heart began to pound and it took an unintentional jerk or two of the wheel before she steadied the car. Ted removed his seatbelt and moved his lips to Natalie's neck. She took in a deep breath and inhaled the familiar scent. She wished the words had come several months earlier. Everything could have been different. As Ted moved his lips up to her ear, Natalie could only think of one problem with her current scenario. None of this was real.

As she was about to pull onto Ted's street, Natalie yanked the wheel all the way to the left, sending Ted bouncing away from her and back into his chair. She slammed into a mailbox and gunned the accelerator up the lawn of one of Ted's neighbors.

"What are you doing?!" Ted's voice cracked as he attempted to gain control of the wheel.

"Just a little reality check." Natalie gunned the accelerator.

They bore down on the front windows of a two-story home. Ted screamed and covered his eyes.

And then, nothing happened at all.

The car didn't have a scratch on it as Natalie sat alone in the vehicle. Ted had disappeared and the neighborhood had been replaced by a dry wasteland.

Natalie was more shaken by the fake declaration of love than she'd been by the fake crash into the house. She closed her eyes to shake it off before stepping out of the car. Her feet landed on a crack in the dusty earth. Everything around the vehicle was desolate and hopeless. Though she had a distinct feeling that she was being watched.

"I know you're here, Redican."

The teacher appeared without hesitation on the other side of the car. He looked different than he had when the man had approached them in the parking lot: he appeared stronger, and an inch or two taller. Natalie figured it was some kind of projection of his ideal self. Maybe he felt like a real man when he was invading people's minds.

"I'm impressed, Natalie." Redican walked around the front of the car before he leaned against one of the headlights. "Maybe the light souls picked the wrong champion."

Natalie crossed her arms and glared at this supposed authority figure. "You're in my brain. I guess you can do anything you want while you're in here, huh?"

Redican smiled. "That's correct. Some people put up more fight than others, but that's generally the case."

"Then why even talk to me?" Natalie asked. "Why not just have me go blow up a bridge or whatever the heck you're controlling me for?"

Redican pouted. "It's easy to control someone. I'd rather convince you that what I'm doing is right."

Natalie took a few steps away from the car. She could feel the heat from the fantasy world beat against her exposed neck. "I guess you have a captive audience. What do you want to convince me of?"

Redican walked up to Natalie and looked off into the endless view of cracked, vacant ground.

"This is what your world will look like if Ted continues down this path. Erica and the light souls are using him as a weapon, but he's meant to end the war and bring peace to all the worlds it's affecting."

Natalie looked at Redican. He seemed sincere, but it was impossible to tell what was fact and what was fiction in this place. "You realize that goes contrary to everything Erica's been telling us."

Redican sighed. "You say that I'm the one with the mind control, but Erica is the one brainwashing all of you." He paced, each step kicking up more dust than the last. "It's not her fault. She's a pawn for the light soul regime. Just like Ted, she never chose this. But she's here to keep the living soul on their side, preventing him from his true destiny."

Natalie thought for a moment. "You're saying he's powerful enough to be king of all the worlds, not just a hero of our world."

Redican eyes seemed to glow with her response. "He's not just strong enough to rule over all the realms. It's his true destiny."

Natalie couldn't even think of Ted as the student body president, let alone some Grand Poobah of worlds they'd never even heard of. Then again, that was the old Ted. The new one had stopped an apocalypse and saved her from the clutches of a semi-evil cult.

"And what am I supposed to do about all of this?" Natalie kicked at the dirt.

Redican lifted Natalie's chin up, allowing them to look eye-to-eye. "You're his friend. You can help him to see reason."

Natalie growled. "And if I don't, you'll warp my brain back to kindergarten, right?"

Redican stepped back and smiled. "No. You'll die. But not by my hand – by somebody stronger than me."

Natalie put her hands to her face and ran them through her hair. She looked away from her mental captor.

Redican continued to back away. "You can think it over, Ms. Dormer. But time's a wastin'. I think it's time to wake up."

Before she could say a word to the man walking away from her in the wasteland, Natalie's real eyes fluttered open.

Chapter 41

Ted reached for the arm around his throat the moment he woke up, only Nigel wasn't there. Gone were the inner wall of the castle and the collection of humans and non-humans who surrounded him as he lost his last bit of air. Even though it was apparent that he'd been in some kind of dream, he could still feel the squeeze of his enemy's grip around his neck. Natalie woke up at the same moment, and they looked at each other for several seconds before speaking.

"We need to get out of here," they said in unison.

They picked themselves up off the pavement and drove for several minutes of silence before Natalie broke it.

"So. What'd you dream about?"

Ted was still trying to process all of it. Erica had told him the basics about the other worlds, but there was so much that had gone unsaid. He'd seen creatures beyond explanation and a massive castle straight out of a King Arthur movie. He also knew there was no way to tell if what he saw was accurate without talking to his protector.

"I saw a possible future on another world." Ted scratched his head. "Aside from you, nearly everyone was there. I was some kind of leader."

Natalie grimaced at the last word but only for a moment. "Were you a good leader?"

Ted rubbed his neck. "I suppose. Until I got choked out by a twice-back-from-the-dead Nigel. What did you see?"

Natalie sighed as if there were a part she wanted to leave out. "Redican tried to recruit me. He thinks you could bring peace to all the worlds."

Ted raised his eyebrows. "The real Nigel said something about that before I killed him. About being a weapon. What does that even mean?"

Natalie shook her head. "Parts of it make sense, but without Erica, it's hard to be sure."

Ted's face lit up. "In my dream, Erica said that I fixed her."

When they reached a stop sign, Natalie changed her turn signal from left to right. "Just what I wanted to do today. Go to Erica's house twice. I hope she left you an instruction manual."

Mrs. LaPlante's cheeks turned red with happiness when she saw Ted at the door to Erica's house. "I'm so glad you're here." She gestured for the two of them to enter. "Erica was talking about graves and death and who knows what. I could barely stand to listen to it."

Ted and Natalie shared a look and inhaled the aroma of potpourri.

"Where is she?" Ted asked.

"In her room." Mrs. LaPlante flattened out her dress. "She hasn't made a peep for hours."

Ted left Natalie downstairs for some small talk as he bounded his way up. He walked into Erica's room and immediately felt the draft from the open window. Ted noticed something out of place. He moved the dollhouse to its usual location, but he put it back when he saw the giant hole in the wall.

"She's gone." Ted touched Mrs. LaPlante's shoulder. "I'm sure she's just waiting at my house."

Mrs. LaPlante sniffled briefly before the waterworks started. She fumbled around for a tissue until Natalie found the box and handed her one.

"Thanks, dear." She rubbed away a fair bit of makeup from her eye. "I've failed as a mother. I lost her once for a month. An entire month! Can you believe that?"

Natalie gave Ted a look like they should get out of there. Instead, he gave Erica's mother a big hug.

"You haven't failed as a mother." Ted felt Mrs. LaPlante's tears start to wash onto his shoulder. "You were practically my co-mother growing up and I turned out half-decent."

The reassurance seemed to help, and within a few minutes, Mrs. LaPlante had stopped crying and the two friends were back on the road. Ted explained what he'd seen in the room.

Natalie let out a short laugh. "Great. So our little alcoholic realizes that she used to be dead and that she has super-strength. I wish we had a police blotter right about now."

Ted leaned back in his seat. "I think I know where she is, but I should probably go alone." He put his hand on Natalie's arm. "Besides, you haven't even seen a bed in two days."

Natalie shook her head. "You mean a shower, Ted. I haven't seen a shower in two days. That's what's bothering you."

Ted ignored her. "You're coming to prom tomorrow, right?"