SuperNova: Heroes of Arcania (10 page)

“Good. Any mishaps?” His eyebrow raised an inch, the only hint in his question.
 

I glanced over at Pen, who was absorbed in the TV. I shook my head, hair falling into my eyes. “Nope. We had a good day.”
 

Dad nodded, pleased at the excellent report. He had a seat in the chair near the doorway, checking his phone, probably email. I couldn’t remember the last time he was without that phone in his hand. Dad asked a few more questions about school, making sure to bring Penelope into the conversation every so often. After a while, silence came over us. Penelope laughed at some sitcom.
 

I cleared my throat, hoping to sound nonchalant. “Hey Dad, you’re still talking to the Arcania Bank robbery witnesses, right?”
 

“Yeah.”
 

“Have you talked to a Mr. Benson yet?” I asked him.
 

He didn’t look up from his phone. “The District Attorney? Yes, why?”
 

“No reason.”
 

At that, Dad’s head shot up, his shrewd gaze on me. I tried not to flinch or otherwise buckle under the glare that made so many others confess their sins.
 

“Why?” he repeated.
 

“We met Nova Benson at school today,” Penelope said without looking away from the television, taking the heat off me.
 

Dad relaxed, a thin smile crossing his face at my embarrassed expression. “I’ve seen pictures, she’s a pretty girl.”
 

My face flamed red, but I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at me. Dad’s face crinkled with amusement.
 

“She’s obsessed with her sister’s murder,” Penelope said, killing the good mood in the room.
 

She shot us both a knowing smile and my jaw clenched. Penelope was no Telepath; she simply had a knack for reading people. I frowned.
Why does Penelope have to say crap like that?
 

Dad raised an eyebrow at us. “Is that so? I hope she’s not digging too hard.”

“Why not?” I asked.
 

“Because something tells me Fortune is gifted. That means he’s even worse news than we thought,” he said, sending a chill down my spine. “He wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her if she went looking for him.”
 

The idea made a knot form in my stomach. Dad’s phone buzzed, his attention immediately going to the tiny screen. We had maybe thirty more seconds with him.
 

“Daddy, what do you want for dinner?” Penelope asked.
 

He mumbled something about leftovers in the fridge. Penelope rolled her eyes at me; anything in that fridge was probably better off as a science experiment.
 

I sat up, snapping my fingers. “There’s a frozen lasagna up top.”
 

“I’ll make garlic bread!” Penelope said, instantly on her feet.
 

We made our way upstairs for dinner, having a quiet meal as Dad retreated back into work mode for the remainder of the evening. The phone didn’t leave his hand, fingers scrolling as he checked the news and more email.
 

“I’m going to go downtown and help Hao with the lights like I promised yesterday,” I said to Dad before he went into his office. He hummed, not hearing a word I said.
 

Penelope rolled her eyes at me as she loaded the dishwasher. “You’re such a nerd, hanging out at the planetarium for fun.”
 

“Hao’s paying me twenty bucks to help him out,” I said, trying to get her to lay off. It was a lie, but I hated when she made fun of me; my sister had a scathing sense of humor sometimes.
 

I left and headed to the science museum, which was just inside the city lines. Within fifteen minutes and with a nearly empty downtown, I’d parked and headed inside and up to the floor where the planetarium resided. The room was pitch-black, stars swirling above in the domed projector screen.
 

“Hao?” I asked, peering into the dark room.
 

“Hey, Cole!” another voice sounded from the back.
 

Hao turned the lights on, temporarily blinding me. I blinked hard, my eyes slowly adjusting. The tiny Chinese man waved at me enthusiastically from the control center.
 

“Thanks for waiting,” I said as I crossed through the sections of seats to him. “I know you usually close around five.”
 

“I am happy to stay open for you,” Hao said with a cheerful grin. “You are one of few kids who come to see me. You want to learn.”
 

The week I learned about Nova, I also discovered the local planetarium. When I’d read Nova’s name, along with her sister Starling, I guessed one or both of their parents to be astronomy nuts. I figured while I was exploring the museum, I’d catch the light show. Turned out, staring into the vast universe was oddly relaxing.
 

Hao and I spent the next half hour going over the lights. I’d picked up quickly on the controls. Impressed with the museum, I’d struck up a conversation about my interest to help. He’d gladly offered me a chance to volunteer. After spending some time here, I’d grown to really like Hao, the planetarium manager and only full-time employee on this floor.
 

“So did you meet her today?” Hao asked.
 

I glanced at him in surprise. “Who?”
 

“You know who, Nova. You ask about her on your second day. I know why you want to learn about stars.” Hao shrugged, but didn’t bother hiding the mischievous grin. “Now you go to same school. Did you meet her?”
 

Against my will, the corners of my lips turned upward. Hao chuckled, pleased at his correct guess.
 

“I might have, yeah,” I said.
 

 
Hao gave me the side eye. “I see her in papers. She doing okay?”
 

I sighed at that, gazing up at the galaxy spinning overhead. It disappeared as I pressed a button, a nebula coming up next on the screen. “I don’t know.”
 

“She a pretty girl.” Hao nudged me.
 

I laughed. “Yeah, she is. Maybe I’ll bring her here sometime.”
 

“I hope so.” He smiled again and changed the subject. We spent several more minutes testing the lights and finally I conceded to the late hour.
 

“Thanks again, Hao, it’s fun to learn that stuff,” I said as I shrugged on my jacket.
 

“No problem,” Hao said, walking me to the door. “You come anytime.”
 

“See you in a couple days, then,” I said to him with a grin.
 

On my way back to the car, a strange rustling made me pause. There were footsteps, coming from my left. I turned to look, seeing nothing in front of me.
 

“Hello?” I called out.
 

Nothing moved and I thought maybe I was going crazy. After another second of silence, I backed away, picking up my pace to my car.
 

Passing by a dark alley, I tried to act cool, like my heart wasn’t somewhere in my throat. I could maybe put off an attacker for a few seconds, but I didn’t really feel like getting mugged tonight. My hands withdrew from my coat pockets and clenched into fists.
 

A crash sounded, followed by a whispered curse. I froze in surprise, caught off guard by the unusually high-pitched voice. Was that a
girl
trying to rob me? Great, now I’d feel bad about punching whoever jumped out at me.
 

Instead, a dark figure scooted through the alley, fleeing in the opposite direction. She was clearly trying to get away from me.
 

“Hey!” I shouted.
 

My hands went up, thinking to use my gift, but the figure was faster than I’d thought. She was gone before I could pinpoint her location.
 

Continuing back to my car, I shook my head in disbelief. “I’ve gotta be losing my mind.”
 

For a split second, it looked like Nova Benson running around downtown at night in all-black clothing.
 

“How dumb is that?” I chuckled to myself. “I must have it worse than I thought.”
 

Another week went by without a hiccup. Classes bored us to tears, laughter and flash photography from cell phones filled the hallways, and all any senior could talk about was homecoming. I went out at night to downtown Arcania a few times; aside from giving a few bucks to the homeless, it’d been pretty slow on the superhero front.
 

I’d come dangerously close to accidentally bumping into someone a few nights ago, but Fortune was apparently lying low for the time being. His bomb scare had everyone on edge, so it was no wonder the city was so empty these days. I’d kept up preparation by lifting weights or seeing how long I could run on the treadmill (turned out I could run ten straight miles before even feeling the burn).
 

It seemed each lunch was now the four of us: me, Henry, Cole, and Penelope. Amber joined us a couple of times, but Henry picked on her so much I couldn’t blame her for sitting elsewhere. At least I liked the Warners. Well, I liked Cole. Penelope was okay, but something about her seemed a little off. She wasn’t really rude, but she always seemed to be on the lookout for a better conversation. Cole, on the other hand, was easygoing and funny. We’d even scribbled a few notes back and forth during class, though they were completely innocent.
 

On Wednesday afternoon, Henry began to panic about his editor position.

“You told Amber you had a great story already planned for the first issue!” I exclaimed.
 

“I lied.” Henry shrugged, unapologetic about fibbing to his ex-girlfriend.
 

We headed towards the gym, with exits to the parking lot. Past that were neighborhoods, including ours, and a small apartment complex. Beyond that, a drive to downtown Arcania.
 

“Explain to me again why you’re freaking out,” I said. Truth be told, I’d nodded off on the phone last night when he’d told me. Out too late in the city the night before, I needed a better night’s sleep.

“I’ve got nothing,” he said fretfully as we stepped outside. “I have to turn in a story in two days, something that has to go on the front page. What am I going to do without a real story?”

“You really can’t write about homecoming?” I asked, sidestepping a group of texting freshmen who sat on the steps by the gym entrance.

“I guess, but it feels so contrived,” he said. “It doesn’t belong on the front page. It’s like telling the news to run a major headline story about the Kardashians.”

“They’ve made plenty of headlines on every news station, even CNN,” I teased him. He shot me a look so I dropped the topic. “Where’s Cole and your new girlfriend?”

He rolled his eyes, but smiled. “She’s cute, right?”

“Yes, but she seems a little immature.”

“She’s almost seventeen,” he said, perhaps a little defensively. “They missed a year of school after their mom died.”

I looked at him in surprise. “How do you know that?”

“Penelope told me, duh. I’m not so big into research that I’d stalk her.”

Cole hadn’t offered that information, even after he’d learned about my sister. I bit my bottom lip, sad for him and a little upset I’d never asked. Then again, maybe that was why he hadn’t told me. He probably didn’t want sympathy any more than I did. Henry and I elbowed our way around a group of slowpoke texters, crossing through to the end of the parked cars.
 

“I dunno,” I said. “It seems hard to keep her attention, I guess.”

Henry started to shrug, but then gave a quick nod of agreement. “Yeah, I can see that. Guess I’ll have to find a way to keep it.”

I grimaced at his big grin at the suggestive comment. We reached the corner where we stood to cross the street. Our neighborhood sat directly behind our school, making it easy for many of us to get home within a few blocks. Lots of students lived nearby.