The Love Interest, page 8
Did he hit his head on the wall, or break something when he fell? My insides feel like acid. What if he died and the last thing he did was argue with me?
I hold my breath as I reach the bundle and fall to my knees to gingerly tug the material away. His black, puffy jacket appears first, and then his face. A bright pink burn is scorched on to his cheek and his eyes are open, unblinking.
‘No,’ I whisper. His eyes flick up to find mine and I’m so relieved I could burst. ‘Are you OK? Can you sit up?’
The silky material pools around us as I get him free of the banner. He’s unstable, but immediately tries to stand, so I grab his hand to help. His palm is hot in mine. Am I holding it too tight? It’s strange to have all this relief pooling with the anger and hatred from earlier. It’s like oil sitting on the top of water. It shouldn’t feel good to help Blaze, but it does.
King Ron and the security team are all busy with darts, and I can’t take my hand back yet. Blaze is swaying; I think he’s in shock.
‘You should go to the hospital.’
Blaze gives me an odd look, but before he can reply a shadow falls over us.
‘Found him!’
Above us, on a hoverboard, is another Villain in a blue boiler suit and helmet. His helmet tilts towards me. ‘You should go, Jenna Ray.’ He points at Blaze. His voice is distorted, but he sounds like he’s enjoying himself. ‘But not you. We want to talk to you.’
Is this the moment when Blaze gets a nemesis? Like King Ron and Diamond Joe, or the Controller and – wait, did the Controller not have a nemesis either? I don’t have time for this. I should be running; the last thing I need is to be stuck in the middle of a super-powered fight, but Blaze is just holding my hand, staring up at the boiler-suited Villain, and still swaying. Maybe he has a concussion?
‘Let’s go somewhere a bit more private.’ Boiler Suit flicks another grenade into his hand. Blaze still doesn’t react. My free fingers curl around the apple juice in my pocket and, using all my strength, I fling the small bottle at Boiler Suit. It bounces harmlessly off his chest. His helmet points in my direction. ‘Um, ow?!’
In a flash of black, Boiler Suit is knocked off his board.
He falls.
He stops.
He rises back to his feet.
He casually adjusts his sleeves.
My forehead furrows as I try to make sense of what I just witnessed. Boiler Suit should have crashed head first into the ground in front of me, but the impact never came. He stopped a few inches off the ground and rose back to his feet to land a few metres away. It didn’t look like he was flying, like Blaze, but like he’d been picked up by a huge hand. Do the Villains have an invisible giant on their team?!
Boiler Suit swings his helmet towards the hero that hit him. The man in black has landed in a crouch, one palm on the floor, one arm in the air: the perfect hero landing pose. His black balaclava obstructs everything but a glint of grey eyes.
‘The Secret Ninja!’ I whisper. I’m fizzing with adrenalin but can’t help being a little impressed. The Secret Ninja is one of the HPA’s more elusive heroes. He doesn’t do press. He doesn’t have a social media account. No one knows anything about him, except that he can fight.
Blaze is still hurt, he must be, but he drops my hand and strides towards Boiler Suit. ‘What do you want?’
‘A chat, Blazey-boy, that’s all. Perhaps you could get rid of him? No one likes a third wheel.’ Boiler Suit jerks his thumb towards the Secret Ninja, who springs into action and launches a flying kick at him. Boiler Suit dodges jerkily; it still looks like he’s being manoeuvred rather than moving under his own power. The Secret Ninja rolls to a stop right next to me.
This is really happening: a multi-hero face-off which I am far too close to. I stagger back. I know how this goes. I’ve seen footage of the heroes in action. First there’s banter, then hand to hand, then suddenly there are buildings collapsing or some poor woman in a deadly situation. I back slowly towards the exit. Blaze is alive and the Secret Ninja is now up to a tally of two flying kicks. I’ve almost been grabbed by the Villains once already, I don’t need to stick around and be collateral damage.
Boiler Suit regains his balance and puts a hand on his hip. ‘It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Mr Ninja. I brought you a gift.’ He snaps his fingers.
For a moment, nothing happens, and I’m about to turn and run when a blue flicker catches my eye. A silver ball with flashing blue lights has appeared above the Secret Ninja.
‘Look out!’ I throw my arms up to protect myself from another blast, but this one doesn’t explode. It fires a weighted silver net at the Secret Ninja, who drops like a stone. Mother Earth, if the Secret Ninja is down, do I need to stay? I’ve already thrown my only juice bottle at this bad guy, I’m not sure what my next move would be.
Another silver ball appears beside Boiler Suit. This one has red blinking lights, and it fires a flurry of darts at Blaze. The last thing I need is to get hit by one of those things. I put another few metres between myself and the action, before slowing again to check on Blaze. He is a smudge of black as he dodges the darts. Then he’s in front of Boiler Suit landing a punch. I almost cheer as the Villain goes flying.
The invisible giant is back. Boiler Suit stops mid-air by the Greatest Battles stall. His helmet lolls like he’s ashamed or asleep. I think Blaze might have knocked him out. The hoverboard races to meet Boiler Suit and he is dumped on to it. There’s a clack as his helmet hits the hoverboard and his arm drops to hang limply off the side. Definitely unconscious. Blaze is winning! The hoverboard shoots across the court and Blaze blurs after it.
That’s it. It’s time for me to get out of here. I leap over forgotten bags and broken hero merch and race towards the door. The marble floor and glass ceiling of the Great Court echo with the sounds of a hero battle. The whoosh of a hoverboard. The zap of King Ron’s power. The clatter of the net as the Secret Ninja frees himself. The screams of the crowd. There are even sirens drifting in through the crowded exit. I am deep in the action. If my family could see me now, they’d lose it; even I’m angry at myself. Why didn’t I just run with everyone else?
As I pass the front of the stage, another blinding flash makes me stagger and stop to shake away the dots dancing in my eyes. I can’t stay here. Darts are raining down on the stage and King Ron is drawing power from the rig to shoot blasts of white energy at the silver balls. The Secret Ninja is with him, spinning a mic stand and using it like a sword to take out the darts.
This is bad. This many heroes and Villains in one place means something super-dramatic is about to happen. The thuds of action echo under the stage as I pick my way past. Some other non-hero types are watching from beside the exit, ready to dash out if it gets too serious. They are safety. I’ll become part of the crowd, make my way to the door, grab Joy, go home and never get involved in this nonsense ever again.
There’s a whoosh behind me and I drop to the ground as the hoverboard flies over my head, pursued by Blaze. Boiler Suit’s arm is still hanging limply as the board dodges the hero. If Boiler Suit is unconscious and security have taken the other, captured, Villain away, then why are those balls still coming? How is there still so much chaos happening?
I don’t care.
I shouldn’t care.
But it doesn’t make sense.
All the heroes are so busy fighting, they haven’t stopped to think. Imagining an invisible giant was ridiculous, but there’s definitely someone else here. I rock on my toes. There’s a clear path to safety ahead of me. I just need to climb over a broken stall, and it is a short run to the exit. I can escape this madness, but there’s someone orchestrating all of this and I know where I’d be if I was in charge of this mayhem. I can’t stop myself. I look up.
On the truss up above the stage, there’s a cluster of speakers and, behind them, another figure in a blue boiler suit and helmet crouches. He moves his hands like a magician and, down below, the hoverboard changes direction, evading Blaze. I feel the hot flush of something that might be pride at figuring it out.
There was never a giant.
There was a telekinetic.
Not bad for a teenage girl from Nine Trees.
Feck. The telekinetic has frozen with his helmet angled down towards me.
He’s seen me.
He leaps up, raises his arms and one of the glass panes in the sweeping roof of the Great Court lifts.
‘Blaze, up there!’ I shout.
Blaze looks up and sees the new boiler-suited figure, but in the split second he is distracted, a net from one of the silver balls drops on to him and he crashes down from mid-air on to the stage. There goes my pride. All I am is a distraction. Finally free of Blaze, the hoverboard and unconscious Villain shoots up and out through the gap in the ceiling.
Two bad guys are down, one’s captured and one’s unconscious. The net clatters on to the stage as the Secret Ninja frees Blaze and a moment later, Blaze is back in the air and speeding towards the final Villain. The telekinetic floats towards his escape, but Blaze arrives in front of him, blocking the way.
High above me, the two of them are in a stand-off. The telekinetic is floating with his hands angled towards the ground, and Blaze, still in the air, has his hands on his hips. Are they talking? Is Blaze using his highly trained hero voice to tell the Villain to give up now and come in quietly?
I’ve done my bit and I don’t need to stay and watch Blaze finish up. I climb over the fallen stall and my foot snags in its tattered pink tablecloth. ‘Feck!’ I wriggle free of the Love Interest display and leap over the shattered picture of Kate, but instead of landing back on the marble floor, my feet hang in the air. There’s pressure under my arms, around my waist and pushing at my feet. I’m being held up. This must be how my dolls used to feel.
‘Let her go!’ Blaze’s distant voice is full of fury.
I am twisted slowly round to face the stage. The telekinetic’s hand is stretched out towards me and Blaze is up there next to him. I can tell from all the way down here he has no idea what to do next. Feck. I try to flail my limbs and break the telekinetic’s hold, but I can’t move. I should have escaped. I should have left Blaze to it and then maybe it wouldn’t be me taking the part of woman in mortal danger.
The telekinetic flicks his fingers and I drift slowly up above the stage. Too far above King Ron and the Secret Ninja for them to help me. Too high for anyone to do anything other than watch. I can’t imagine what I must look like drifting slowly above the mess of BLAZECON, in my leggings and hoody. I almost laugh as I float higher. Perhaps this is only fair. Everyone else seems to be flying. Gravity feels like a plug sucking at me, desperate to drag me back to the marble ground, but the telekinetic holds me tight.
There’s nothing to grab, no way to stop myself, and I’m so high now I wouldn’t want to break free, even if I could. Blaze locks eyes with me and I want to shout—
‘SEE! This is what happens when you lie on social media!’
But if I open my mouth I’m going to throw up, so I glare at him instead.
Blaze’s frown is determined as he turns to shout something at the telekinetic, leaving me dangling in mid-air without even his eyes to tether me.
I hate him.
I hate all of them.
I hate myself for staying to help.
I’m going to come back as a ghost and haunt them. I’m going to steal Blaze’s socks and his keys and the lids off all his skincare products. I’m shaking. Maybe it’s laughter. Who knew floating by the ceiling of the National Museum of Hero History would be this funny?
The telekinetic tilts his head at me. I want to look into his eyes and see what he’s planning. His helmet is in the way, but it turns out the telekinetic can communicate fine without facial expressions. He gives me a wave that turns my insides to ice.
An almighty shove hits me in the back and then everything is a blur; the sun shining through the roof, the screams bouncing up from the floor. The telekinetic is no longer holding me. It’s just me, flying, about to crash into a wall or plummet down to meet the polished marble floor.
I’m in mid-air and slowing down.
‘Feck, feck, feck.’
My stomach rises to my mouth as gravity takes me and I hurtle down towards the broken stalls of the Great Court. There’s nothing I can do. For the second time in a week, I’m about to die. Not the roaring fire this time, but the empty air and the cold hard earth.
‘Ooof!’ Blaze says as I land in his arms, and we drop another few metres together.
‘Sorry,’ I manage. My heart is thudding in my ears.
Blaze shifts the arm that he’s hooked under my legs and holds my torso tight with the other as he regains control. ‘I’ve got you.’
It feels odd to be in his arms again. An uncomfortable heat is being generated in my core. I don’t know if it’s hate or relief. As my arm moves automatically around his shoulders, my hand brushes the soft skin on the back of his neck. Above his sore-looking burn, his cheeks flush pink and he won’t meet my eye.
There’s no sign of the telekinetic. He must have got away when Blaze saved me. Maybe Blaze is angry – more angry – with me, but, beneath the terror of the last few minutes, I’m still angry with him, even if he did just save me. Being held by Blaze is confusing.
We land in front of the stage to a smattering of applause from the die-hard fans who are wandering back into the court. Blaze lets me down and I take a wobbly step away from him. He shakes out his arms. ‘Feck.’
‘All right, I’m not that heavy,’ I say.
‘Everyone is heavy when they’re falling,’ he snaps.
‘Technically, this was your fault—’ Someone bumps into me.
‘This is Sydney Jones, on the scene, and I’m here with Jenna Ray, who, as you will have just seen, was heroically rescued by Blaze.’ Sydney grins at me and a camera is thrust towards my face. ‘Jenna, how did it feel to be snatched away from certain death by Blaze, again?’
I look at Blaze for help, but he just gives me a little smile. ‘Gotta go.’ And then he’s gone, flying up and out of the gap in the roof.
I look back at Sydney. ‘I—’
I what?
I’m going to throw up on you?
I’m going to curl up in the foetal position?
I’m going to have a panic attack on live TV?
‘Yes, Jenna?’ Sydney says.
‘Ms Jones.’ King Ron jumps nimbly from the stage to land between me and the camera. ‘I think we should let Jenna go and recover. That was quite an ordeal for her.’ Behind his back he motions for me to escape, but the floor isn’t solid any more. King Ron continues regardless. ‘I, however, have a plea for information. We have been attacked by the Villains in the most cynical way. They waited for a celebration of lives saved and crises averted and then put hundreds of innocent people at risk. If anyone knows someone who has been acting suspiciously or spouting anti-HPA nonsense, we need to know. We do the right thing; that’s what the HPA do. And we need you, the public—’
A hand grips my arm and yanks me away.
‘Joy?’ I stumble after her. My heart is hammering and the BLAZECON banners and white columns are spinning and blurring together. Someone has put the classical music back on; it sounds like a violin is screaming at me.
‘Joy.’ I find her hand. ‘Are you OK?’
‘I’m not the one walking like a drunk person. Come on, it’s not far.’ Joy grips my hand and pulls me forward.
We pass through the columns, go down the wide white stairs and I’m helped into the timo.
‘So,’ Mia says as the car pulls away. ‘How did it go?’
CHAPTER 9
The timo is silent as it passes the now-familiar press circus outside the museum.
‘They’ve just started arriving,’ Mia tells us. ‘I’d say you two got out in the nick of time.’
The windows are tinted, but I still slide lower in my seat. Getting out in time is not how I’d describe what just happened. Why did I stay in that mess? The backs of my legs where Blaze caught me must be slightly bruised; it feels like I’m still in his arms.
‘Anyway,’ Mia continues. ‘I thought we could take the Safe Road back to Nine Trees. It’ll give you time to decompress.’
‘Decompression is probably a good idea,’ Joy says. I’m not going to look up. I can feel her eyes on me and I don’t know if I’m ready to talk yet. ‘Do you need some juice, Ray? Or something else sweet?’
‘There’ll be some cereal bars back there somewhere,’ Mia calls over the clicking of the indicator.
‘Aw. You do care.’ Joy rummages through the drinks cabinet and a moment later a cranberry-and-raisin cereal bar is slid into my hand. My stomach gurgles. I didn’t realise I was hungry. I take a tangy mouthful that’s so big no one will expect me to speak, and look up at Joy’s worried face.
‘So.’ Mia catches my eye in the rear-view mirror. ‘What happened in there?’
My mouth is full, so my answer stays safely in my brain. Talking about it will make it all too real. What happened in there? Well, I should have run, multiple times. Instead, I stayed and got attacked by the Villains, almost died and got rescued by Blaze, again. Yes, the Villains were there, and the Secret Ninja, and Sydney fecking Jones.
I shrug and slump back in my seat.
‘Are you OK?’ Joy slides closer to me.
I nod and take another big mouthful. The words ‘Not really. I think that I’ve just made everything much worse’ stay safe behind the cereal bar.
‘What did you see, Joy?’ Mia asks.
‘Well.’ Joy closes her eyes to compose herself. ‘Imagine this.’
I roll my eyes. Here we go.
‘Jenna and Blaze are having a little chat and Jenna is absolutely schooling the kid.’
I swallow. ‘I don’t know if that’s what happened.’
‘Are you telling this story, or am I?’ Joy lifts her eyebrows at me.
‘Fine.’ I wave her on.
‘So, Jenna has basically got Blaze in tears and then a grenade rolls in. And to his credit, Blaze dries his eyes and tries to catch it. He misses and gets blasted across the court. Don’t worry, he’s fine. And Jenna is all, “I hurt his feelings, I should probably see if he’s dead now.” He’s not, he’s fine, like I said, so Jenna helps him up and basically fights a Villain for him. She threw a juice bottle at the bad guy.’
