The Superpower Project (13 page)

Cam immediately spotted the problem. There were small splashes and bubbles just a few metres from the jetty's edge – someone had fallen in. Only half sure of what he was going to change into, Cam dived into the murky water.

To stay unnoticed, Megan half-ran, half-flew closely behind. She arrived at the water's edge just as Cam disappeared. “Cam! No!”

Cam was usually a rubbish swimmer. Even with armbands on he flailed like a broken octopus. But today he was sleek, swift and determined.

He could see the boy, struggling, caught in the reeds. Cam tore and chewed his way through the tangled plants, trying to free him. The current was against them, pulling them both further down, but Cam nudged the boy urgently.

Panicking, the boy understood enough to know what he had to do. He pushed himself upwards, arms flailing, trying to grab at anything. And then something grabbed him. Megan flew low, dragging the boy quickly onto the jetty. He coughed and spluttered, blinking in the sun.

“Are you ok?” asked Megan, reflecting how little first aid she remembered from that one time she went to Guides.

The boy nodded, still coughing.

“What's your name?” she asked.

“Richard,” he spluttered. “I'm Richard. I slipped and then… How did you…?”

Back in human form, Cam pushed himself up onto the jetty. “I think we should get you home, Richard,” he said. “Sounds like you might be in shock or something.”

“An otter rescued me,” said Richard.

“Of course it did, Richard,” said Megan. “Come on, let's go.”

As they walked Richard through the small crowd of BMXers that had gathered around, Megan couldn't stop smiling. She knew you were probably supposed to look all serious after rescuing someone, but actually, she was totally delighted. She stole a look at Cam, who was also grinning from ear to ear.

***

At the other end of the dam, just out of sight, a girl stood watching them lead Richard away. She bit her nails nervously the whole time. When the drowning boy and his rescuers were out of sight, she began absent-mindedly twirling her fingers through the air in front of her, and as she did, tiny waves and whirlpools appeared in the nearby water, then gradually calmed.

Even though they were up the hills behind the town in a cave hidden by forest, there was still a fair chance that people could have heard Megan shouting.

“John, it was amazing! We totally saved someone's life!”

“I think that should count as today's training session,” said Cam, rifling through John's cupboards, hoping for chocolate digestives.

“We have run out of biscuits,” said TJ, handing Cam a stale-looking pink wafer.

“How did you both do it without being seen?” asked John. He looked as pleased and excited as they were.

“I sort of hovered,” said Megan, “flying really close to the ground like you showed me!”

“Brilliant,” said John, beaming with pride, “and what did you change into?”

“Otter,” said Cam, spitting wafer crumbs everywhere. “It's basically just a soggy hamster.”

“This is great,” said John, “two real-life superheroes!”

TJ brought Megan a cup of tea and some chocolate digestives. Cam frowned at his pink wafer.

“John,” said Megan, “see what you were saying about something in the river? I remembered my gran left me this old clipping.” Megan handed the newspaper to John. “Was this what you meant?”

“Not the fish or the eels,” said John, reading the page, “but this was the start of it all for us.”

“What's in the river, John?” she asked. “Why is it so important?”

“Ok,” said John, sitting down in his torn chair, “I'll tell it to you as it was told to me. Almost three hundred years ago, not long after the very start of our little town, there was a storm. Strange lights filled the sky and a great meteorite crashed to earth, right into the Clyde. A few of the folk who had seen it from the shore rowed out to where it had sunk, and a green glow surrounded their little boat, bubbling and boiling. They were terrified. The wind stirred up again and their boat capsized, dropping them into the green, broiling depths.”

“Did they drown?” asked Megan.

“No, they didn't,” said John. “Somehow, much later, all five of them found their way safely back to shore. Though they were alive, they were changed.”

“They got superpowers?”

“You could call it that,” said John. “Back then people displaying superpowers would have been accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Nowadays people would probably explain it as genetic mutation caused by whatever element fell to earth in that meteorite – hence all the freaky mutated fish monsters that kept washing up on the shore. Either way, those who had been in the green glowing water knew they had to protect the source of their powers from being discovered and misused by others. They became the first guardians, and their gifts and responsibilities were passed down through their family lines.”

“So where do the sigils fit in?” asked Megan.

“Well, the son of one of the first folk out on the wee fishing boat was James Watt, the famous inventor.”

“The James Watt that made TJ?” asked Cam.

“The very same,” said John. “He inherited his father's super-intelligence, and he began to realise he had a talent for invention and engineering. He also understood that unless they guarded that power under the water, it could be used for terrible things. He took a diving bell out onto the river, and plunged down to try and discover the truth about what had fallen from the sky that night, and what he could do to protect it.”

“What did he find?” asked Cam.

“He never revealed it,” said John. “But whatever it was, Watt decided to build an unbreakable shield around it. It took him years: his life's work, his most amazing invention, carried out in secret. And to make sure his shield could only be opened by the guardians, he created a locking mechanism for it; one that needed five keys.”

“The sigils?” said Megan. “Are the sigils the keys?”

“That's right. One was given to each guardian, and passed down through their family. Only all five together would ever be able to unlock the shield. Finally, Watt built a guardian to take his and his children's place,” said John.

“Why?” asked Cam.

“Because people had started to talk in the town. He knew someday his family might be in danger, and while super-intelligence was one of the easier powers to hide, it doesn't make you very strong in a fight. He wanted his descendants to live lives as normal as possible. So he poured his knowledge into a machine that he hoped would stand guard for centuries in his family's place. A machine that had to be kept secret because it was so advanced.”

Megan and Cam looked over at TJ. Because he was a bit forgetful and clumsy, it was easy to forget just how amazing he actually was. Like he had always said, he was built to protect.

“Does that mean Watt's descendants are off somewhere, completely unaware that they are super-intelligent?” asked Megan.

“I suppose so,” John paused, sipping his tea and nibbling a chocolate digestive. “Of course, while the responsibility is always passed down, the actual superpower isn't always needed, so sometimes it lies dormant for generations. Like your parents, for example.”

“Wait,” said Cam, pointing at John and then back at himself, “we have the same powers.”

“That's right,” said John, shuffling uncomfortably. “I'm guessing that you must be the son of Mildred's girl?”

“Mildred, my gran…”

“Right. Well, I'm Mildred's big brother.”

There was a long pause. Cameron looked like he really wasn't up for this news. “She never mentioned a brother,” he said.

“Well, she wouldn't,” said John darkly. “I ran away y'see. Relatives didn't talk as openly about things in those days. Anyway… happy families!”

John attempted an awkward side-hug. Cam patted John on the shoulder, looking like he would rather be anywhere else in the world than so close to John's coat.

“So what relation does that make you?” Megan laughed.

“Great-uncle Catman,” said John, “the black sheep of the family. Quite literally, if required.”

“Is that everything?” asked Cam. “Or does it get even worse? Is TJ my second cousin or something?”

“Almost everything,” said John. “When your gran and I were growing up, there was a big fuss about the river being contaminated, because of all those strange fish washing up on shore. This new company turned up in town…”

“Clutha Chemicals?” said Megan, pointing excitedly to her newspaper clipping.

“Yes. They tested the water, then they tested all the children in the town, ‘for our protection,' they said. That's how me, your gran and the others all met. Jimmy told us all the story I've just told you, helping us understand what was happening and find our way as guardians.”

“Why was TJ there?” asked Cam.

“On a government placement,” said TJ. “Mr Watt donated me to the government to do classified work. That's why I helped in the world wars, and then after that, top-secret cover ups – such as children being tested for ‘exposure to lethal chemicals', who were really being tested for ‘abnormal abilities'. When their powers were detected I knew they must be guardians like me; I helped them escape.”

“Who were the others?” asked Megan.

“Tam Ash and Hannah Glass.”

TJ's eyes flickered. “Ash, Stone, Glass, Bone.”

“And Tin,” said John, tapping TJ's head, “don't forget Tin.”

TJ stared. “I am… trying.”

“I know,” said John, “sometimes I wish I could forget too.”

It was a cold clear early evening, and up on the moor, away from all the streetlights and houses, the stars were all the brighter. Megan couldn't stop herself from flying up towards them.

“This is beautiful!” she said, floating on her back, staring up into space.

“It is, but that's not why we're here. Tonight is all about stealth,” said John. “Yes you should run towards trouble when your help is required, but you also need to be able to move between places unnoticed, quickly and carefully. I want us to get from up here down to the river's edge at Lunderston Bay without being seen.”

“Does that include TJ?” asked Cam. “Only that squeaky wheelbarrow we sometimes have to push him round in isn't very ninja.”

“I am invisible to radar,” said TJ.

“Are you invisible to eyes?”

Megan shushed them both as she glided back down.

John tapped TJ on the shoulder. “You get a head start, Jimmy,” he said, “and it's that way, remember?”

TJ nodded and then began slowly plodding back down the hill.

“Right Megan, do a few loops and we'll give you a head start too,” said John. “There's something I need Cam to try.”

As Megan whirled above them, John turned to Cam. “It's good that you can change into different animals now,” he said. “You can imagine much more than when we started.”

“Thanks.” Cam blushed slightly; compliments were usually something that happened to other people.

“But if you want to avoid turning into a grumpy old man living in a cave,” he glanced over to where Megan was laughing and spinning weightlessly, “and if you want to help her, then there's more to do.”

“Ok,” said Cam carefully, “like what?”

“You need to move with the landscape, become part of it.”

John gestured to Megan, who was flying upwards in a graceful spiral. “She understands it perfectly, without even thinking. So did Sarah. It's harder for you and me. But we can do it.”

“You're the boss,” said Cam.

“Ha,” said John, “I'm not the boss of anything. Never have been. I'm not even the boss of myself any more. That's what this power can do to you if you're not careful.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't stay in a cave because it's cool, Cam.”

“I dunno. Peace and quiet, no one bothering you. Seems great.”

“I stay up there so I don't scare or accidentally hurt people. You saw what happened the first time you and Megan came in. The more time I spend as an animal, the less human I can be afterwards. It's addictive being an animal – you've felt the rush – but it's a lonely thing to be forever. And I don't want you to ever get like that.”

Cam nodded slowly and John gave him a pat on the back.

“Ok. Before we change, let's take a few minutes to listen quietly to what's around us.”

Cam nodded, and listened.

“Can you hear it?” asked John.

“What am I listening for?”

“Everything. The motorcycle on the hill miles away, the lambs bleating and running…”

Cam was frowning, concentrating hard. “I can hear Megan breathing up in the sky! That's amazing! Animals under the ground digging, water running downhill!”

“Good,” said John, gently. “Now, let's run.”

Megan watched as Cam and John turned into rabbits and bounded across the open fields, weaving over bogs and marshes, following the water downhill. She realised she had just lost her head start and, laughing, flew after them.

At the lochside, without pause, two rabbits dived in, turning effortlessly into trout and plunging down through the reeds.

Next they splashed out of the loch onto the muddy shore as frogs, leaping twice into the long grass before sliding swiftly onwards as snakes. When they reached the tree line, they scuttled into the forest as squirrels, leaping from tree to tree, freefalling then catching the next branch. And the next one. And the next.

Out from the forest onto the roadsides, they each ran on four legs, canine paws pounding the pavement, a blur of grey fur against the grey tarmac. On and on, running down the hill. The wide firth of the River Clyde lay ahead, and with it new sounds: the scuttle of crabs in rockpools, the frantic paddle of gulls' feet beneath the surface of the water, the banging of a boat engine. And something else – a pounding, rhythmic thud. TJ was close by too.