The Wanderer (Book 1): The Wanderer Read online

  “Hey! Where the hell were you, man?” Alex asked. “We’ve been here like, twenty minutes!”

  “Where’d you go?” Sam asked. “You disappeared once we saw that lady.”

  “I went… looking for help,” I said. “Tried to find some cops on the street or something.”

  “See! I told you that’s where he was!” Alannah shouted, scowling at Will and Alex.

  “Jason, you missed it! The Wanderer came and saved that lady!” Julia said. “He talked to her or something, nobody really knows. The cops ran up the building eventually I think, but he was there!”

  “Guess he deals with human stuff too, huh?” Sam noted.

  “Yeah, I uh… I guess so,” I said. No, he does not. He– I only did in this special occasion, because, you know… I’ve been there.

  “Did you guys see him take off his helmet-thing?” Will asked. “I swear, he took it off or something. I saw his head change!”

  “You cannot see that far up,” Alex said.

  “Yeah, I don’t know, Alex has a point, man,” Sam agreed.

  “I know what I saw!” Will insisted. “Come on, nobody else saw it!?”

  “I don’t know,” Julia said, “he might have. I think I saw something happen.”

  I just listened to everyone, glad the cover-up had worked. Glad to be back with my friends, my people– my family. All of them. Sometimes life got in the way of the people who really made it worth living, but nights like this were always a good reminder of why I’m still here.

  And then, much to my surprise, I felt a warm little hand go over my own on the cushioned seat, and looked over at Alannah, who smiled softly at me. And damn dude, that smile sent me soaring.

  “I’m proud of you,” she whispered, leaning her head onto my shoulder. I just smiled, and lightly put my head on top of hers.

  So, you know, I’d call it a pretty good night, all in all.

  9

  Making Waves

  A couple months had gone by, right? Training, fighting challengers, more training, more fighting challengers, school, friends, flirting, all kinds of stuff. Bentley pushed me a hell of a lot harder than the challengers, I’ll be honest; drones were sort of his forte, and the U.S.B. apparently had literally hundreds if not thousands to go around.

  Speaking of the challengers though, it really did get a lot easier to deal with them. What was once a genuine threat was quickly turning into a casual threat; I just had to be wary, and try my best to focus. The upside was that I was getting a lot stronger, and it showed, but the downside was… you know, it showed.

  That’s what Malek wanted, for me to get stronger and stronger, and I was doing it. We hadn’t interacted much lately– I guess his threats against my loved ones were a little more empty than I’d thought– but I knew he was watching me; every move I made, every fight I won.

  I tried not to think about, which Ox strongly cautioned against, but what did he know? He was just a collection of every single Wanderer to ever fight against Malek and lose, learning time and time again what wouldn’t beat him for centuries.

  Anyhoots, amongst the challengers and the training, I also saw my friends, like I’d said. I don’t really know why, but after that day saving Sam and the subsequent night in the city, we were getting along a lot better. I guess my words to him as the Wanderer did a number, and my own experience with Sharon just kind of opened my eyes to moving on. Suffice to say, we were all hanging out together more often, and things were slowly themselves picking back up.

  Not everything was perfect, and he and I were still a little weird– after all, the issue in and of itself hadn’t really been resolved– but we were working on it, I think. It was nice, I know that much; better than it had been.

  At least, it was.

  We were all sat in Alex’s house– his kitchen, to be precise, which had a window that peered right out into his little old backyard. I sat closest to it on one end of the island, and Will sat between Julia and I. Alex leant on the counter by the fridge, and Alannah and Sam sat on top of said counter, by the sink.

  It was midday, just a little after school had gotten out. Spring was rearing its head, cutting through all that gross winter cold and slush, and we were busy talking about absolutely nothing of importance: my favorite discussion topic.

  “What I’m saying is that wouldn’t know if it died until eight minutes after it happened,” Alex stressed, gesturing to both Will and the sky wildly with his hands. “That’s how science works!”

  “Yeah, and I’m telling you, you don’t know nothing,” Will scoffed. Julia and I snorted a little, and Sam and Alannah just watched curiously, observing the fascinating debate between two non-scientific minds. “We can see the sun, right? Right?”

  “Yeah, but we’re seeing–!” Alex tried.

  “Give him a chance,” Sam said. Alex shook his head, crossing his arms disapprovingly.

  “Right, so if we’re seeing it right now, all the way up there– right now– then why would we not see it if it went away?” Will continued. “We see it set, right? You telling me it sets eight minutes before we see it set?”

  “We are the ones moving!” Alex shouted. “Us! Not the sun!”

  “How did we even get here…?” Julia wondered aloud.

  “I believe we were talking about how, since it’s spring, the days are getting longer,” I said. “And then… we got here.”

  “We got here because Will’s an idiot,” Alex argued. “He doesn’t know anything about space.”

  “You don’t exactly sound like a genius yourself, Alex,” Alannah said. “You’re circling around a seriously limited source of material here.”

  “Oh, sorry I’m not devoted to the intricacies of the great beyond, and a little more concerned with the everyday,” Alex replied, hardly able to keep the scowl on his face the whole time without grinning.

  It was funny, hearing them talk about all this space stuff. I’d never really been a science-guy, myself– it was one of my worst subject, actually– but I knew so much more about things they’d never even imagined, let alone how light travels through space. Suddenly this stuff that was like rocket science to me was… well, not.

  “Hey so Alex, you planning on throwing a St. Patty’s day party again?” Sam asked, looking all around the house. “A little lacking in decorations so far, huh?”

  “Uh, no, not at all,” Alex said. “I already said I’d do the Fourth, I don’t want all the big ‘hey let’s get wasted and trash everything’ parties happening at my place. Have it at your house!”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Alannah said. “You’ve gotta a pretty nice bathroom; I can see myself puking in there, no problem.”

  “Shouldn’t you plan on holding your booze?” I asked, looking over to her. “Isn’t the whole point not to throw up?” Alannah shrugged, smirking.

  “I like to mix it up, what do you want?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know, we’ll see,” Sam said. “I don’t really know that my mom would want that many people in the house.”

  “How many is too many, though?” Will asked. “Like, what, twenty people?”

  “Well, we’ve got all kinds of mutual friends who probably have nowhere to go; as soon as they hear about it, I’m screwed,” Sam explained. “So there’s that, plus you… four.”

  Okay, so a couple things happened right after Sam said that, and they all happened pretty quickly. One: Sam winced, glancing over at me from the corner of his eye; he half meant that, half didn’t– I got it, things were still kind of weird, but regardless this wasn’t really the place for a comment like that– but four left out a one yours truly.

  Two: Everyone else winced, because they heard what he said too. Alannah looked at me, and Julia stared at Sam, upset he’d be so dickish.

  Three: I stared right through Alannah and Sam, because behind them, outside the window leading to Alex’s backyard, I saw Malek just before a patch of trees, staring right back at me. I got this really weird, twisted feeling in my c
hest, and we locked eyes for half a second. I guess that was his big “I’m still here” reveal, because as soon as we did, he just took off, and disappeared.

  Now here’s the problem: it looked like I was staring at Sam with this horrified expression on my face, and I immediately followed it up with shoving myself out of my chair and hustling toward the door leading to Alex’s driveway. All of this, mind you, was without any kind of explanation from me.

  “Jase, wait–!” Sam said.

  “Jason!” Will called. I just opened the door, and stumbled down the stairs, shooting my gaze all over the skies, trying to spot Malek from somewhere. There was no way he would just spot me out like that and then leave. Would he?

  I still felt that weird twisting in my chest– it was literally like my organs were all swirling around inside; like he literally unnerved my entire body just by being there.

  But it wasn’t just that. I felt it before I spotted him; they almost happened in accordance with each other. Like we had some sort of sync-up, and then he just booked it.

  Anyway, before I could really figure it out, Sam made his way out the door, and shut it behind him. He stood above the three steps behind me, and the others stared through the little window on the side of the wall.

  “Jason,” he said. I turned around, and looked him in the eyes. “Look, I’m sorry, that was–”

  “What?” I asked.

  “I… What?”

  “What are you talking about?” I said. “I didn’t… I don’t care, it’s fine.”

  “Okay, well you don’t have to be a dick about it,” Sam said. “I’m trying to say I’m sorry.” He looked over his shoulder, and saw Alannah and the others behind him. He took a step closer, and spoke softer. “It’s just, you know… I know you still like her, and I-I do too, and I just feel like it’d be weird if we were both at a party with her, you know?”

  “Sam…” I groaned, rolling my eyes. “Dude, now? Really?”

  “I’m trying to explain myself. What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Why are you acting so weird?”

  “Ugh, I don’t–! It doesn’t… Look, you wouldn’t get it, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Look, Jason, I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry I called you a freak. There’s no reason she wouldn’t like someone like you, alright?” Sam whispered, stepping another step closer. I held my hand out toward him, glancing back toward the window.

  “Sam, I’m really not talking about this,” I said.

  “Well I am,” he insisted. God damn… He really didn’t get what I meant, did he? “That was an asshole thing for me to say. You’re… You know I think you’re a great guy, and I’m sure she would too, but she might like me too, and I definitely like her. Maybe you don’t want to admit it, but I’m willing to, and I just don’t want things to be weird between us, alright? I don’t want to get into another fight about it. Someone told me recently… they said I should let the people I care about know it, and who knows what might happen nowadays? I just… I don’t want to fight with you anymore, Jason. You’re my best–”

  “Sam, for Christ’s sake, will you just drop it!?” I shouted. That was a mistake, I really didn’t mean to raise my voice like that, but I was stressing out, and he really had no clue why, but all the same he wasn’t helping.

  He made his way down the final step, and the others all backed off from the window.

  “What the hell, dude!?” he asked. “I’m trying to–”

  “You’re trying to be a good guy, I know!” I said. “That’s great Sam; you like Alannah, I like Alannah– you’re a great guy, I’m a not-a-freak! You want to throw our friendship on the line so you can end up with her, fine! I really don’t give a damn about whether or not you invite me to your stupid party right now, man. I…I’m trying to keep you safe!”

  “What?” Sam asked, stepping closer. “Jason, are you nuts? What are you talking about!? Safe from what!?”

  “What…?” Alannah said, standing in the doorframe.

  We both shot around and looked at her. I just stood there with my mouth wide open, I don’t know about Sam. The rest of the gang all stood behind her, back inside the house. Alex shut his eyes, and Will just awkwardly tried to reach out to pull her back in. Julia looked just as shocked as she did.

  “Ana…” Sam muttered.

  “Jason?” Alannah said, staring right at me. She looked like she was about to fall over. “What did you say?”

  “I…” I gasped. I felt like I was about to pass out, forget Alannah.

  Thankfully, it was just then that I got a call from Bell. I pulled my phone out, made a horribly shaky point to show I had to take it, and walked down the driveway. Once I got to the sidewalk, I started power-walking down it until I reached the top of the hill the neighborhood went up.

  “What’s uh… What is it?” I asked, my mouth dry and voice broken up. I felt like my whole damn face was on fire, and it wasn’t cosmic energy, unfortunately. “What’s up? What’s going on?”

  “There’s a challenger, in the harbor,” Bell said. “Are you alright, Jason? You sound a little… shaken up.”

  “I’m fine, I’m…” I trailed off. I glanced back down the road. I could still see Alannah and Sam standing in the driveway; it looked like he was trying to explain things to her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Okay… be careful,” Bell cautioned.

  “Kid, hurry the hell up already!” Bentley shouted somewhere off to the side. “This one big bastard, and you’re supposed to be here after classes anyway! Where the hell are–!?”

  I hung up, because that conversation was clearly over, and ran over to the woods nearby. I clicked the suit on, and took off into the sky.

  There was a lot to digest there, I’ll be honest, and none of it was particularly good. I guess on the one hand, Sam apologized, which was nice, but I immediately shot it down and probably made things worse. This was of course only after having just revealed to my wicked big crush that both myself and Sam– two of her closest friends– had these wicked big crushes on her. Malek gave me some kind of panic attack, or soul-link, or something, and then I made my insides churn all on my own.

  You know when you’re at the top of a rollercoaster, and you get that horrible anxiety in your everything right before you drop? Because after all, what if you die? What if you fall out of the seat and plummet? Right now, I was plummeting. I just swan-dived off the track, and headed for the dirt at a million miles an hour.

  Because of this, I was actually able to reach the city in just under a minute (58.79, you know me), since, as I’m sure you remember, strong emotions of just about any kind could really give me a big ol’ boost.

  I reached the U.S.B. headquarters, and didn’t even have time to greet Bell, Bentley, and the scientists, all standing outside staring out at the bay, because my challenger was oh so evidently making his way closer.

  This bozo, known in Code as a Gorlo-Vartum, or a Rough-Backed Hurler, was a solid hundred-fifty feet tall dickbag covered in rocky plating and prickly skin. It could reform armor wherever it needed, and it might not have been able to move crazy fast, but it had a mean swing, and the plating could reform in just a couple seconds.

  Without a word, I burst toward it, some several hundred feet across the bay, and slammed my fists into its chest. I hit some armor, but it did stumble backward. The waves this thing made splashing around alone were pretty crazy, I had to say. Made my cannonballs look like nothing.

  “Alright pal, I don’t really have time for this, and I’m really not in the mood, so you think we can just call this off?” I asked. It roared quite loudly in what I can only assume was protest, and I got hit with some spit and other grime. “Alrighty, probably a no, then…”

  The Gorlo-Varum swung down at me, and I tried to catch its massive forearm with my hands. It did not work, and I went blasting into the ocean. So, you know, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been, so what? I was stressed.

  I blasted back up out of the water, and t
ried to blast some cosmic energy at it, but nothing came out of my hands.

  “Ugh, come on!” I shouted. “Ox!” He appeared next to me. “What’s wrong! Why can’t I use my energy!?”

  “You are far too anxious, Jason. Your mind is racing over a litany of thoughts and scenarios, none of which seem very pleasing,” he explained. “We suggest you relax, and focus on your attacks.”

  “Wow, have you ever of going into therapy?” I asked, soaring away, and trying to get behind the Gorlo-Vartum. Ox just followed me, but whatever.

  I tried to swing down suddenly on the top of its head, but the armor appeared right as I did, and it reared back, throwing me off into the air.

  “Ox, second question!” I said, soaring around my challenger, trying to disorient it. “That feeling, with Malek, have any of you ever felt that before?”

  “Some,” Ox said. “Only those who Malek has kept around long enough.”

  “Well what is it?” I asked. I tried to sweep its legs, but more armor formed; more stumbling, but no serious damage taken. “I mean was I right about the synchronized thing?”

  “In a sense,” Ox confirmed. Well, confirmed in a sense. “You are further reaching his equal. You are tapping into the bar Malek has set which brings you closer to his rank– you are reaching a point which he finds sufficient for his partner, and thus one step closer to final challenge.”

  “What do you mean, he set the bar?” I asked, grabbing the Gorlo-Vartum’s arm, and slamming it back into its own face. It was pretty funny, but it only did so much. “God damn, what is with this guy!”

  “Have you not yet realized why Malek is so tied with the Wanderer? So fascinated?” Ox asked.

  “If I was, would I be asking you these questions?” I asked.

  “Use your gravity,” Ox suggested. I nodded.

  I took a breath, and held my hands out, trying to focus. I managed to get the Gorlo and a big swell of water to start floating up into the air, and I flew forward, grabbing it by the head.

  I had caught it off guard, so when it formed its armor, I’d already gotten a hand on it’s gross, kind of slimy skin. The plating locked around my hands, and I shot up into the air. It wasn’t easy, carrying all that weight, but I still managed to do it, much to my surprise.