The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer Read online

  The Wanderer

  By: Danny Giancioppo

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Prologue:

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  For my parents:

  For being the constant love, dedication, and inspiration that let me see the good in myself.

  “A hero is someone who, in spite of weakness, doubt, or not knowing the answers, goes ahead and overcomes anyway.” - Christopher Reeve

  Prologue

  “Enough!” Haltz shouted, rising far above the planet now littered with destruction. Colonies, homes, millions of Lanteeyns scattered dead throughout the ruins of a once great species.

  Malek waited just a ways away, watching as Haltz came closer, just recovering from a massive blast to the head, chest, and neck. Malek bled; it was a sight he had not seen in years. One which gave him great hope– a feeling that perhaps he had, at long last, found his other; his equal.

  “Not quite,” he said. “You’ve yet to entirely prove yourself worthy. Further than most, yes, but we have a ways still to go, you and I.”

  “I will not play your games any further, weaver,” Haltz warned. “I am the Wanderer! Defender of good, protector of the weak, and guardian of life itself! I will not be toyed with by your kind!”

  Haltz flew after Malek, and tackled him back toward his home– Cortraxia. They soared further and further to the ground, Haltz batting Malek’s attempts to fight back away with every swing. They burst through a building, right into the well of sacristy, and down toward the planet’s core. Many of the mines and shafts leading to its center were already collapsed from the hours-long battle, and those that weren’t found surviving Lanteeyns hiding from the violence.

  The heat intensified, and with every inch forward, Haltz clenched harder onto Malek’s chest and neck; he had no intention of letting him live, were it at all possible.

  “You– your people– you feed on the dwindling need of your existence from the rest of the galaxy!” Haltz yelled, his words booming thunderous cries throughout the planet; the suit enhanced it– made him all that more menacing. “You scoff at peace if it does not fit your ideals, and you torment people– my people– for centuries, just to find an equal!”

  “D…Does it bother you so to have such an integral role to play?” Malek said, still holding Haltz off as best he could.

  “A selfish need for acceptance! An abhorrent cry for help, exacted as punishment to the innocent lives of this galaxy!” Haltz continued.

  He grabbed Malek by the leg, and swung him into the core: a massive ball of light and energy, powering the planet’s Lanteeyn-made sustainability, cocooned by the very world itself.

  “I protect the worlds of the many, the lives of the few I can stave your twisted games from! I lose faith, and hope, and pride! All because you decide it is time for my test!”

  Malek caught himself midair, and reoriented himself, staring back at Haltz calmly. He checked his left leg: bleeding still– in fact, now more than before. His head was throbbing, and his right arm felt bruised. Surely, this was something new.

  “I will not let it continue!” Haltz shouted, dashing toward Malek, headed directly for the blazing cosmic center of his home.

  He was getting closer. Closer to his goal, to his dream. That much nearer to the life his siblings had deprived him of. That Lucilo so brashly chose was Malek’s own burden to bear, much like his. No equal, no partner. No peace. No sanity.

  Still, this wasn’t it. Something felt wrong about it all. Haltz was strong, yes– easily the strongest of his kind yet to take the mantle of the Wanderer. He carried heart, and far more emotion than the rest of his people. But it wasn’t enough.

  He wasn’t present enough, not driven. He thought too much on his past actions, and the potential for the future. As a weaver, he’d need to look at life only as it occurred. Doing otherwise only held him back. Clearly, these emotional outbursts were just that– outbursts; he had no intention of driving his life with them, his people never had. Without such a drive, the full potential of Malek’s creation could not be unfurled.

  So, he’d just have to try again.

  “No,” Malek said. “Neither will I.”

  He held his hand out, and in an instant, Haltz stopped just in front of him– his hand reared back to blast Malek into the burning inferno of his planet’s core. Now though, the core stayed still, as did the strong winds wisping throughout the core just moments ago.

  Malek turned around, and quickly– almost instantaneously– flew around the cosmic globe of energy some few hundred times. When time clicked back into place, the force of his movements in locked time would blast back into place, causing an overload of energy from the core, ultimately destroying the planet. It was unfortunate, but not terribly awful. It was time to find a new successor to the title as it were.

  Time still paused, Malek grabbed ahold of Haltz, and burst through the other side of the planet. He zipped past planets one after another, making his way from one solar system to the next in a matter of minutes. With every second, time slowly slipped back into place, and Malek could feel Haltz’s resistance begin fighting against his grip.

  He chose randomly; the closest solar system at the moment of time’s resumption was Sol. In it, there was only one planet which held hospitable, sentient, somewhat intelligent life: Earth. He floated just above its stratosphere, and held Haltz by the throat.

  “W…Where–?” he stammered, choking in Malek’s grasp. Malek himself seemed unamused.

  “It was a solid effort, Haltz the Wanderer, I will give you that praise,” he said. “But you just aren’t what I’m looking for. Your people are gone now, the planet too. I imagine it was quick, and I do hope you realize I took no pleasure in doing so; it’s simply the tying of loose ends.”

  “What…!? What are you–!?”

  “The title will in all likelihood find a host, after you’re gone. I do hope so; it would be a shame to craft another from scratch– the first time took enough of a toll on me as it was. Do try your best to land somewhere populated, if you can help it.

  “Malek…!” Haltz muttered.

  Malek lifted his free hand, and sliced through Haltz’s chest, his arms, his legs. He punctured his lungs, and when he was finished, he placed his finger on Haltz’s head, and pressed him down, sending him hurdling toward the earth.

  With every passing moment, Haltz’s bloodied, broken body fell faster to the ground below him. He’d failed. He’d failed everyone. Malek won again.

  “Now,” Malek said to himself, glancing behind him one last time as he flew back off into the cosmos, “let’s see what kind of a Wanderer the Earth will provide.”

  1

  A Warm Welcome

  “Jason Rhodes, 16 years old,” the police officer said. I was sitting behind some cold, old, rusty steel bars in what you could call a waiting pen. Or a jail cell. Whatever. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, bad attitude.”

  “Officer Clements– what, like, 60?” I guessed. “Bald head, brown eyes, too old for this ‘stuff.’” He shook his head, not giving me enough attention to even glance up from his notepad.

  “Legal guardian: Vincent Stollio; great uncle,” he continued. “Where’s uncle Vinny tonight, Jason?”

  “Shot in the dark? Probably up in his bedroom, wasted off his ass,” I said. Officer Clements stifled a small chuckle, and nodded.

  “He’s not coming
to bail you out then, I assume?”

  “If anyone bothers to come, it’s not going to be the ‘great’ uncle Vinny, I can tell you that much for certain,” I said. Clements nodded again, and finally put his notepad down.

  “You’re lucky it wasn’t one of the other officers who caught you, you know; most of the squad wouldn’t be as soft on you as I am… Why’d you do it, Jason?” he asked. “And are you going to tell me the truth this time?”

  So, right, you’re new here. I’m Jason, I’m 16, and I just got arrested for robbing a mini-mart in my hometown. It’s a small place, and an even smaller store, so really what harm was done? I’d argue little to none, but the lawmen didn’t really see it the same way.

  It’s not like I really needed to do it. As much of a deadbeat as he was, great uncle Vinny made good money– at least, at one point he did– so we lived in a good house, always had food, never struggled. It was more like a coping mechanism, I guess. Anxiety’s a bitch, right?

  Which, for the record, is more what Officer Clements was asking about. This would be, if I had to estimate it, probably the tenth or eleventh time I’d been nabbed for this kind of thing in the last… I don’t know, two months or so?

  “I don’t know… Mr. Giardino’s gotta stay on his toes, right?”

  “That doesn’t exactly explain why you had to push him into the pretzel-maker; you know it’s broken now, shattered glass everywhere.”

  “He’s alright though, isn’t he?” I asked. I really meant it, too; I didn’t want anyone getting hurt just because I needed to vent. Clements nodded, and I relaxed a little. “Good… Well, I mean he doesn’t really like me anyway, right? Not a fan of the Rhodes-style charm.”

  “Right, well, your specific brand of said charm leaves a lot to be desired,” Officer Clements said. I scoffed, and leant back in my seat. This was the same old game we’d been playing for a good few years now. Like I said, it was a coping thing; recently, I’d had a lot to cope over.

  It was something like January– January 23, I think. It was cold, I remember that much. Christmas was just a few weeks ago, and Sam– my best friend– and I were still in our whole “we’re not talking” phase.

  We got into this colossal fight over this tiny, trivial thing. It wasn’t even worth yelling over, let alone writing off your best friend, basically-brother over, but you know, here we were.

  “So is that a no, then?” Clements asked. “I know it has something to do with you and your friend Sam; you already told me that much, would it really be that hard to elaborate a little?” I just glanced down at the ground and shrugged, and Clements sighed. “You know Jason, your parents wouldn’t have wanted you–”

  “Wanted me to be a criminal, degenerate, low-life, loser. Yeah, I’m sure they had wicked high-hopes,” I interrupted. “That’s why they’re still here, right?”

  “We don’t know what happened, Jason. It’s still a missing person’s case, you know,” Clements said. “They didn’t necessarily just–”

  “Missing, dead, or runaways– I don’t care. I don’t give shi–”

  “Hey,” Clements barked. “Watch it. You’re supposed to be playing nice with me here; seems like I’m your only friend at the moment.”

  And then, at that moment, Officer Clements was no longer my only friend. My other friends: Alex, Will, and Julia, all walked into our little local police department, and were escorted over to me and Clements.

  “Hello everyone,” Officer Clements said, noticing.

  “Evening, Officer Clements,” Julia greeted, smiling wide. “How’s your Friday been?”

  “Up until now, pretty easy actually, thank you,” he said. “It’s awfully nice of you three to throw your own evening away on your friend again.”

  “Well, someone’s got to keep him him in check, right?” Will joked. He winked at me– which Clements totally noticed– and I just shook my head, trying to hide a smirk. “Plus, who are we without our wildcard?”

  “Where’s Alannah?” I asked. “Shouldn’t she be with you guys?” Will’s joyful expression turned awkward real quick, and he turned to Alex, who just shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. Julia glanced at them, confused as to their weirdness. Because, you know, the bro-code and everything.

  “She’s out… with Sam,” Alex said.

  “Just hanging out or whatever, though, probably,” Will added. Alex nodded.

  “Oh…” I replied. Officer Clements looked down at me from beyond the bars, and I think that despite having little understanding of our whole group dynamic, he got the gist of why this was a problem.

  “Alright, well, what’ll be this time, officer?” Alex asked, already pulling out his wallet. Will and Julia began to do the same.

  “Well, the bailout for robbery still tends to be… let’s just say a lot more than three teenagers can afford,” Clements said. “But even with the typical ‘Rhodes tax…’ I can see that there’s something going on tonight, and you’re good kids– all of you– so I’ll just keep it to a warning this time. A strong warning.”

  “Oh, thank you so much, officer, really. I promise, we won’t let him do it again,” Julia said. I shrugged, and she shot me daggers through the cell door. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t been so scared all night. “Right, Jason?”

  “Right…” I muttered. Julia smiled once more, and I stood up from my seat, stretching as Officer Clements opened up the cell door.

  The others all turned to leave, following the same pattern we’d been playing the last couple years– and again, especially the last month or two– when unexpectedly, Clements put his hand on my chest, stopping me from walking out.

  “You three head on out, Jason will join you in a minute,” he said. “I just need a word.”

  They hesitated, but after I nodded that everything was alright, the gang complied, and made their way outside the police department.

  “So, pep-talk or verbal beat down?” I asked.

  “Listen to me, Jason. You have got to stop acting out like this,” Clements said.

  “Beat down, alright.”

  “You’re a smart kid, a good kid. You’re worth a lot more than this; I hardly even know you, and I can tell that much. Blame your parents, your uncle, or some other, higher power, but it doesn’t change the fact that you can still be better than this. You should be. You’re only doing yourself a disservice by not acknowledging that.”

  “Right… got it,” I muttered, trying to move past him. He wouldn’t let me. I glanced up at him, and he stared right back. “Okay, don’t got it…”

  “I’m letting you go without even paying bail money, so do me a favor,” he continued. “Stop putting yourself down so much; have some faith in you. And instead of robbing a mini-mart, why don’t you just go for a walk if you need to clear your head?”

  “Is that an order, sir?”

  “Yes, it is.” I saluted him, and finally, Officer Clements let me walk away. “Have a good night, Jason; I don’t want to see you back in here, alright? Please, just, try to make a good decision for once.”

  “Sir, yes sir.”

  I left the building, and joined my friends in Alex’s car. He, Alannah, Will, and Sam all had their licenses already, but Alex was a bit of a control freak, so he always drove around if we were together.

  As a small aside, Sam is only a week older than me, so yes, I should have my license by now, but guess which great uncle never paid for driver’s ed?

  “So, what’d you even steal?” Will asked as we left the parking lot. “Anything good for once?”

  “Will, it’s never good to steal,” Julia scolded. “Don’t encourage it.”

  “Sorry ma’am,” he said. Alex and Julia chuckled from upfront.

  “Just some candy, and a drink,” I said. “I also broke the pretzel machine, by accident.”

  “How did you manage to do that?” Alex asked.

  “I shoved Mr. Giardino into it,” I muttered. Julia slung herself around from the passenger seat and glared at me.


  “You what?” she said. “Jason, he’s like 90 years old!”

  “He’s only like in his seventies, at best,” I argued. “I didn’t want to, Jules, he just got too close is all. He’s totally fine.”

  “Did Clements take everything from you?” Will asked. I reached into my sweatshirt pocket, and pulled out a small thing of Tic Tacs. I tossed it over to him, and he happily popped it open, and released a tidal wave of mints into his mouth.

  “So…” I began, gazing out the window at the winding road we sped along, the small town’s houses, food-chains, and tiny stores and gas stations passing us by, illuminated by streetlights and the occasional neon sign. “What are Alannah and Sam doing? Just like, hanging out at her house, or… what?”

  “No… they’re at Sam’s,” Julia said. She didn’t understand the delicacy of the topic beforehand, like Alex and Will did, but they all knew about Sam and I’s little gigantic spat; it’s hard to hide things like that in a group of six. My point is, she sounded a little nervous now, herself.

  “Oh,” I said. “Alright, cool.” I glanced back at everyone, and saw Alex peering at me through the rear-view.

  “Uh, look Jase, you wanna go back to my house? We were all hanging there– I’m pretty sure those two were gonna join in a little bit, too.”

  “Yeah, come on, it’ll be fun!” Will insisted, his mouth still full of mints. “We’re gonna use the hot tub tonight!”

  “No we’re not,” Alex shut down. “But still, it’ll be a good time, man; you should come.”

  “No I’m…I’m good.”

  “Come on, Jason, please?” Julia asked. “I really want you there. I can only handle the others for so long.” the others chuckled, and she kept that warm, loving smile on her face the whole time. I just shook my head.

  “No, I’m fine. If you could just bring me home, I’m sure my uncle’s already worried sick about me.” Everyone chuckled a little, and Alex just nodded.

  “Okay, man…” he said. “If you’re sure.”

  No, I was not sure. At the moment, I wasn’t really sure of anything. Hearing that my best friend– or I guess possibly ex-best friend– was hanging out with my… with Alannah, was kinda nerve-wracking. It was kind of like fomo, but instead of missing out, it was fear of whatever the hell it was those two were doing.