Carrie Vaughn - Dreams of the Golden Age

Teia disagreed. She crossed her arms and glared.

Anna soldiered on. “You don’t go vigilante for the publicity, you do it because it’s the right thing to do. Because you can help people, save lives—”

“ And for the publicity,” Lew added, a roguish glint in his eyes.

She just couldn’t win, could she?

Teddy pointed. “You should listen to Anna, she knows what she’s talking about better than anyone.”

“Because of her famous grandparents?” Sam shot back. “Because of her dad? They haven’t done anything in forever. Maybe if you could knock down walls I’d be more inclined to listen to you.”

The bad arguments tended to come back to that. The others had flashy abilities, powers you could see, that could actually do something. Powers that looked good on camera. Hers, not so much. When she tried to explain to them how useful her power really was—who was going to be the one to track them down if they ever got in trouble, after all?—she sounded lame and whiney.

And in the end, Teia was right. All of Anna’s credibility rested on her family name, and what did that really mean in the end? She couldn’t defend herself.

“I’m right,” Anna said. “Give it time, you’ll see that I’m right.”

“And I say we won’t know until get out there and do something,” Teia replied, pointing into the vague darkness of the city.

They had arrayed themselves, Teia, Lew, and Sam on one side; Teddy and Anna on the other. They’d all settled on their places in the argument, and nobody was going to change anyone else’s mind.

“So much for teamwork,” Anna muttered and walked away.

“Anna—” Teddy called after her.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” she said, turning on him. “We can’t even remember to call each other by our code names. How are we supposed to keep our identities secret?”

“I’m sorry, I forgot—Rose, wait a minute.”

Her code name was Compass Rose. It had seemed so clever a few months ago when she came up with it. “Just give me a minute,” she said and kept walking. Teddy didn’t follow.

She needed to think—by herself, before anyone could say anything more awful.

What she really needed to do was figure out if this was all worth it. Of course it was worth it, she told herself, as she always told herself. Otherwise their powers were nothing more than circus tricks. The powers had been more than that to her grandparents.

She wandered to the fountain, almost by habit. It was the park’s main gathering point. This late, the park was quiet. The sky overhead seemed heavy, and the trees surrounding the fountain’s wide plaza were still. The setting was right for having a long serious think, but she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

She’d planned on spending a few minutes sitting here at the fountain, with its graceful, stylized lily spouts, shut off and quiet for the night, the water in the marble pool still, until the argument had been forgotten and they were ready to go home. But someone was already there.

The man crouched on the rim of the fountain, perched like a cat who’d casually leapt there and might casually leap off again at any moment. He wore a dark green skin suit that showed off a lean body with well-defined muscles. His rigid helmet-type mask hid his appearance and made guessing his age difficult. He was older than she was, but he didn’t seem old.

“Who are you?” she asked, trying to sound suave and confident rather than worried. In truth, she felt a touch of panic. They’d expected to find muggers in the park, not a strange vigilante.

The guy didn’t seem at all worried. In fact, he donned the hint of a smile. “I’m Eliot.”

Like this was some kind of normal introduction and they weren’t both wearing masks.

“That’s it? No superhero name?”

“Not yet.” His expression turned chagrined. “Having trouble deciding on one.”

“Have you been watching us? Following us?” Wouldn’t it figure, all they’d done was practice and someone had already found them out.

“I saw the flash and came to check it out. That’s all. Don’t worry.”

Blaster’s bolt, the flames on the tree. So much for being subtle. She gave a sigh and couldn’t find the motivation to stay angry. The guy was just being polite.

“It’s kind of embarrassing. We don’t know what the hell we’re doing.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

This guy seemed to have it down pat. His uniform was slick. “So. You new in town or just getting started?”

“I’m—”

“Hey, Rose, what are you—” Teddy came trotting up from the jogging trail and stopped to stare at the man on the fountain. “Whoa. Who’s that?”

The man twitched but remained in place. Nervous, despite his calm manner. He almost ran, but didn’t.

“It’s okay, we’re just having a talk,” Anna said.

“Yeah. Okay. But Sa—Blaster’s ready to take off. We gotta go.”

“Give me a sec.”

He regarded her, uncertain.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll scream if I’m not. Then you can practice rescuing me, right?”

Her confidence was possibly not well founded, but Teddy backed away and left her alone with the guy. She was sure he hadn’t gone far.

“Rose?” the man asked. “That’s not your real name, is it?”

“I’m Compass Rose,” she said. She felt ridiculous, but she stood tall, refusing to let it show.

“Your superhero name.”

“That’s right.”

“What’s your power, then? Perfect sense of direction?”

She blushed, because it was hard to explain, and compared to people like Teddy or Sam, hers wasn’t a real power anyway. “I find people. I know where they are.”

“That’s handy.”

“Sometimes.” Her sour expression told otherwise. Her power worked only on people she knew well, friends and family. But she didn’t have to tell him that.

A car horn honked half a block over, where Sam had parked. “I have to go. See you around?”

“Probably.”

“Okay—” She’d been about to say good-bye when he jumped, straight up, muscles in his thighs rippling as they launched him a hundred or more feet into the air. He didn’t fly but sailed over an arc that would carry him to the other side of the park.

Hell of a power.

“He’s gonna get pissed off when the blogs start calling him Frogman,” she murmured.

She’d been fourteen years old when her power awakened. The books and biographies about superhumans and their powers said they often manifested at puberty. It had for her grandmother and father. Anna had started to assume she wouldn’t get powers at all, like her mother. But she woke up one morning, and her brain ached. Aspirin didn’t help. It was like her entire mind cramped—she’d had her first period the year before, and this felt like that, only in her head instead of her gut. Then she seemed to fill up. Her mind expanded, taking on an extra sense. Because of who she was, who her family was, she’d known exactly what was happening. Her awakening power was probably mental, like her father’s. Was she developing telepathy? Telekinesis? Clairvoyance?

But no, after a couple of months of testing, trying, and thinking way too hard, the cramps settled, the extra sense lodging firmly in her hindbrain. Her mind felt full, but the information was limited. Shortly after the cramps faded, she came home from school, started for her mother’s office like she always did after school, and realized before she got there that Mom wasn’t there. She was in a meeting at the West Corp offices ten floors down. It felt like a light in her mind, bright as a flashlight turned on in a dark room. And her father was in his office, and her grandmother was in the lobby, coming home from a lunch outing. Without calling, without checking, she just knew. Their presences were glowing spots in her mind. She was a human radar. A homing device.