Comet Born 6: Warning Signs
by Grace Bridges

 

DWINYAMA, GHANA, 19th JANUARY 2021, 7:18 AM

 

Jamie awoke to find himself sweat-soaked, floating above his bed with a blanket draping from his knee. He forced long, slow breaths to calm himself while his mind chased the shreds of the dream. It was something about those kids he’d been messaging on the forum, and a great, dark menace to them all.

 

He cracked his knuckles. He was strong, and so were the others—and they could fly and even become invisible, so Liam said, though Jamie hadn’t managed it yet. All these powers—how could anyone be a threat to them?

 

Swinging upright, he wadded up the blanket and tossed it on the bed. His feet hit the ground running. He’d done some odd jobs yesterday and now had enough to return to the internet café for an hour this morning.

 

He threw on his clothes and scooped a handful of cold cooked rice from a pot as he passed through the kitchen. Outside, he swallowed the last of it down and washed his hands and face at the pump. Then, after making sure no one saw him, he shot into the sky.

 

At Toby’s, Jamie hurried to login to the forum and click on his message inbox. There was one from Liam with tips for attempting invisibility. One from Joelle remarking that no two of the physical powers seemed to work together. Aha! That could explain why he couldn’t break the branch in midair that time.

 

But what was this? A private message from someone he didn’t know, addressed to himself, Liam, and Joelle, plus another user called SilentKL. Warily he clicked on it and began to scan its lines.

 

 

Jamie leaned back and blew out a sharp breath. Comet gas? All these kids born in the same hour? He wondered how many were in Chicago. His mind reeled at the thought of having to run—not for his own life, but for his parents and siblings. And a current passport? He didn’t even own a passport. He’d have to borrow money and apply for one, then lay low until it arrived. And then what?

 

In a daze, he clicked back to the inbox. A new message from Liam blinked at him.

 

 

Peace! Hah! Jamie thought he’d heard the phrase before, but what a strange thing to say.

 

He spent the remainder of his online time in obtaining a proxy and an alias email address. He wrote to Liam’s dummy email, then deleted his account at the movie forum, together with all his posts. A few minutes remained to look up instructions on getting a passport in Ghana.

 

After his hour was up, he exited into the warm air, the familiar scenery before him far from his mind. His life had changed since he walked in that door sixty minutes earlier—and he didn’t think it was for the better.

 

~~~~~

 

EAST SIDE, CHICAGO, U.S.A., 19th JANUARY 2021, 9:38 PM

 

The supervisor’s large frame filled the doorway. “Any more activity from our Action Audience friends?”

 

“No, sir.”

 

“You better be telling the truth.”

 

Icarus said nothing.

 

The other man huffed, his breath turning to steam in the chill air. “You may as well go on back to the bunkroom, then.”

 

In silence, Icarus got up from the sagging desk chair and loped to the door. A glance back told him Marvin had taken a seat before the machine and was peering at it intently, the bluish glow lighting his face. A shiver ran down Icarus’s back and he prayed he’d covered his tracks well enough.

 

He stepped out into the hallway, his footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. Cold as it was, sweat gathered in his hands. Had he compromised his family’s safety? He took his time making his way through the underground maze to the makeshift dormitory.

 

Sooner than he hoped, its door loomed up before him. He pushed it open and surveyed the rusty bunks where superpowered kids lounged—playing cards, reading comics, rolling smokes. Just like a prison, except worse, because they’d committed no crime and there was no prospect of freedom.

 

This was his life now. He’d gotten used to it, but there was a lot of anger bottled up in this room. He made for his bunk to grab his towel.

 

Carl, in the next bed over, looked up from his girly mag. “Any progress?”

 

“Nah, that forum’s gone silent.”

 

Carl swung his feet to the floor and eyeballed Icarus. “Not the first time the action’s stopped during your shift, huh?”

 

Icarus stiffened, but shrugged and tried to look relaxed. “Maybe they’re all asleep when it’s my shift. They’re all over the world, you know.”

 

Damian wandered over and towered close above him. “You better not be slacking off on us, buddy. It’s all of our families on the line if we fail.”

 

Icarus harrumphed and waved them both away. “Just bad luck.”

 

“Maybe.” A female voice emanated from a corner bunk, then a hand shoved aside a shirt tucked into the mattress above to serve as a curtain. Icarus’s heart thumped. Angeline was as hard as nails. “But you better watch your back.”

 

Better do this, better do that. He was used to being ordered around, but still he sighed. He moved through to the crude shower room. At least the water was heated—slightly. He placed his hands on the wall and bowed his head to touch it. A silent, wordless cry tore out of him, and the water hid his tears.

 

~~~~~

 

GLENFIELD, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND. 20th JANUARY 2021, 7:43 PM

 

After staying late at school to finish a project, Joelle flew home through the summer evening. Ever since the message from The Lurker, she’d thought of nothing else. Though it pained her, she’d done as he said and deleted her forum entries. As for the other instructions...well, she had a current passport, thanks to a recent family holiday in Fiji. She laughed aloud—she could have probably flown herself there. Still, it was a long way, and she didn’t know how fast she could fly or if there was a limit to her airborne stamina. And what if there was a storm? Would she attract the lightning?

 

As she zipped in and out of the treetops, she heard a scuffle and shouting from a darkened alley below. It was a narrow shortcut between streets, one of those walkways she’d always been wary of before discovering she could fly.

 

She slowed and approached the altercation from around a tree in a neighbouring yard. In a moment when no one seemed to be looking her way, she touched down and walked up to the scene.

 

Three figures ganged up on a fourth, pressing him against a tall wooden fence.

 

“Hey,” Joelle said.

 

The three thugs spun to face her, allowing their victim to plant a solid right hook on one of them. The second struck back, while the third detached himself and made for Joelle.

 

She flexed her fingers. “I’m sorry.”

 

“I’ll see to—”

 

Her fist prevented the completion of his thought. Crunch. He slumped silently to the ground.

 

The other two were occupied with preparing to thump the victim again. Joelle stepped over their comrade and tapped the nearest one on the shoulder. She gave him a moment to take in the body on the ground, then socked him in the guts.

 

“Wow. You know martial arts?” A boy somewhat younger than herself moved towards her. The third mugger stared aghast for a moment, then took off at a run.

 

“Um...yeah. I guess.”

 

The boy whipped out his phone and started dialing.

 

“Who’re you calling?”

 

“The police, of course. My dad’s a cop.”

 

“Okay. Seeya.” Joelle began to back away.

 

“No, wait!” Into the phone he said, “Just a second,” then looked helplessly at Joelle. “You have to stay till they get here. What if one of these guys wakes up?”

 

We could both be long gone by then, Joelle thought, but on the other hand, why leave the chance that the thugs might remain free to do more mischief? She sighed and sank down to sit leaning against the fence. Soon the phone shut with a clap.

 

“So how long’d it take you to learn martial arts?”

 

Joelle shrugged, but he was still waiting for an answer. “Uh...not long.”

 

He blinked and looked at the ground. “Oh. Anyway, I’m Barney.”

 

She regarded the proffered hand for a moment before taking it. “Joelle.” Drawing her knees up, she rested her head on them. Barney—was anyone really called Barney these days?—seemed to get the idea, for he sat and said no more.

 

A car sounded in the cul-de-sac at the end of the walkway. “I’ll fetch them,” said Barney, and scrambled up. A minute later he was back, with two cops in tow. He jabbered and gesticulated as he told his story.

 

The officers peered at Joelle as they approached. “Martial arts, eh?” said one, as he bent to inspect the shiner on one prone criminal’s jaw.  Joelle shrugged again.

 

The other officer finished taking down Barney’s statement and proceeded with protocol. “Please describe the incident in your own words.”

 

Joelle rolled her eyes. “I was on my way home. I heard a noise. I came to help. I hit that guy, then that one.” She pointed to where the other policeman was wrapping plastic cuffs around the fallen man’s hands, then at the other, already restrained. “The other one got away.”

 

The policeman peered down at her. “And it is your opinion that they were in the process of committing a crime?”

 

Joelle stared back blankly. “Yeah. Absolutely. They were mugging Barney here. What else would it be?”

 

He penned more strokes in his e-notebook. “Many things. For instance, you might have attacked them.”

 

Barney exchanged a look with Joelle and pointed at the thugs on the ground. “Are you serious? Seen the size of those guys compared to us?”

 

The first officer straightened up, task complete. “And with martial arts, many things are possible.”

 

As the officer with the notebook opened his mouth to ask another question, the world shifted to slow-motion inside Joelle’s mind and she remembered The Lurker’s words: Whatever you do, don’t let them find out your real names. She squinted at the people before her. Could this be linked to superpowers? If someone was watching the news sources, her age and location would be a sure giveaway.

 

It might be time to try out that power of invisibility Liam assured her she had.

 

“Your name, please?” said the officer at last, looking down at his notebook.

 

Slowly, Joelle concentrated on the thought of vanishing from sight, the same way she would think about flying. The policeman lifted his head. “Hey! Where’d she go?”

 

She blinked and peered down at the disconcerting nothingness where she was accustomed to seeing herself.

 

The officer’s voice floated to her ears like the buzzing of a fly. “Darn kids. No sense of responsibility.”

 

“No fair,” Barney said. “She came to help me when she didn’t have to.”

 

Joelle didn’t wait to hear any more of the conversation. With care, she backed away towards a bend in the pathway. She must not make a sound. As soon as she rounded the corner, she tried to fly away. Nothing happened. Then she remembered that her strange gifts only worked one at a time. The voices of Barney and the policemen chattered on, and she made sure she was out of sight as she returned to the visible world.  She thought herself skywards and was gone in the blink of an eye.

 

       }
~~~~~ <~
       }

 Next stop, part VII...

Grace Bridges is a sci-fi author (Faith Awakened, 2007, and Legendary Space Pilgrims, 2009) and owner of Splashdown Books, an independent publisher of inspirational sci-fi and fantasy. She's a Kiwi of Irish descent living in beautiful New Zealand, and a chocaholic cat-lovin' Trekkie, Jesus freak, web designer, and all-round DIY gal who also takes care of the Lost Genre Guild blog. Tweets: @gracebridges - or visit www.gracebridges.com for more.