Ben Braver and the Vortex of Doom Read online

  ‘We could call the cops,’ I suggested.

  ‘And say what?’ Totes asked. ‘That a man who can open funnels of dark energy kidnapped a little girl who’s a walking atom bomb? And that they shouldn’t be too hard to find since there’s a giant lizard with them?’

  The goat was right.

  That’d be weird.

  Like, laughably weird.

  ‘I spent the day with a guy named Magnific,’ I said. ‘Maybe we can call him for help?’

  ‘Magnific,’ Duncan repeated. ‘I know exactly who that is, and he’s not the only one playing secret superhero. About a dozen have shown up in the past year. They’d be a huge help, but they’ve made themselves impossible to find, and we’ve got less than an hour.’

  ‘I can’t believe you don’t have a secret team of superheroes to call just in case something like this happens,’ I said, frustrated. ‘Haven’t you learned anything from the Avengers?’

  ‘Uh, no,’ Duncan said, like, ‘Duh.’

  ‘Then we have to be that team,’ I said.

  Noah suddenly slammed his hands on the table. ‘How can you talk about comics right now? Penny’s in real trouble, dude! She’s seriously gonna die if we can’t help her! Maybe you could see that if you stopped being immature for a single hot second!’

  Noah had been like this all day, and I was done with it. ‘What’s your problem, man?’

  ‘You’re my problem!’ he shouted. ‘None of this would’ve happened if you didn’t go off on your own all the time!’

  ‘You don’t know that!’ I said, even though he was probably right.

  ‘You make things worse by doing whatever you want. Screwing things up is the only thing you’re good at! That’s your real power!’

  ‘I was just trying to help!’

  ‘Help how? We’re supposed to have each other’s back, but it doesn’t work when you keep ditching us! That’s not how a team works! You don’t even care about the rest of us!’

  ‘That’s why I do things alone! Because I don’t want any of you getting hurt!’

  ‘No! You do it cuz you’re a show-off!’ Noah said, getting in my face. ‘You wanted powers so you could be a hero, but now that you have ’em, all you are is a stupid kid who can’t do anything right!’

  ‘No, I’m not!’ I said, shoving Noah away from me.

  That was a mistake.

  Noah snapped and started throwing punches.

  I’m not proud to say that I did, too.

  Totes and Dexter pulled us away from each other.

  ‘Dude, chill!’ Dexter shouted, holding Noah back. ‘Ben screwed up, okay? Can we just forget it and move on?’

  ‘What do you care?’ Noah said, jerking away from Dexter. ‘You and Penny aren’t even friends!’

  ‘That doesn’t mean I want her to die!’ Dexter said. ‘And in case you forgot, Vic is in trouble too, just like Penny!’

  ‘Victoria made her choice,’ Totes said.

  ‘No, she made a mistake,’ Dexter said, suddenly choking up. ‘I know she doesn’t want to be there. I could hear it in her voice.’

  Nobody said anything.

  Dexter sniffled. ‘All I’m sayin’ is, if Vic were here, I’d be hugging her to death. I wouldn’t waste time fighting with her because of a mistake she made.’

  Kudos to Dexter for bringing us all back to reality.

  Noah finally looked at me.

  ‘Sorry, bro,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Me, too,’ I said. ‘We’re better as a team, and I won’t make that mistake again.’

  We bumped fists.

  ‘So … we’re a team then?’ Dexter asked.

  Noah and I looked at each other and then back at Dexter. I held my fist up. Noah put his next to mine, and we both looked at Dexter, waiting for him to join.

  He did.

  A hairy hoof clapped down on top of our hands. ‘Me, too!’ Totes screeched. ‘I’m part of the team, too! Don’t like it? Fight me.’

  Everybody laughed.

  The TV screen across the room flashed bright red with the words BREAKING NEWS IN TIMES SQUARE, NEW YORK CITY! scrolling across the top. Suspenseful music played as a shaky camera followed a running news reporter down the street.

  We gathered around the small TV to see what was happening.

  ‘Good evening, Sara Conwell here with BNC News in Times Square, New York City, where three individuals have cleared out the area using supernatural abilities. One of the individuals appears to be wearing some sort of lizard costume that allows him to cling to the walls.’

  ‘Oh. My. Gecko,’ Duncan whispered.

  Sara continued. ‘One of the individuals, a young woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, is somehow summoning electricity through her hands, perhaps by a glove of some sort. And the third individual is a man, also in his early twenties, creating dark tornadoes over the square. The how and why of these individuals is still unclear.’

  The camera panned from the reporter to William, Delilah, and Matthew in the background. Penny, too. William waved when he noticed he was being filmed, and then he ran towards the reporter.

  ‘It appears that the young man is coming to greet us now,’ the reporter said.

  As William approached, he turned away from the camera for a moment. ‘Is there anything in my teeth?’ he asked Sara and then opened his mouth wide.

  ‘No, no, you’re fine,’ she said, and then faced the screen again. ‘You’re watching BNC News, where we’ve just made contact with the—’

  William snatched the mic and pushed Sara aside, then he got way too close to the camera.

  William turned the mic sideways and dropped it on the ground.

  ‘Thirty minutes,’ he mouthed dramatically.

  Sara picked up the mic and looked at the camera. ‘Who are the Abandoned Children? And who is Ben Braver?’

  Noah, Dexter and Totes all looked at me.

  ‘So … that’s not good,’ I said.

  ‘Those fools are using their powers on TV,’ Duncan sighed. ‘They said the name of the school.’

  ‘Plus Ben’s name,’ Totes added.

  My name was now scrolling at the top of the TV screen, along with the BREAKING NEWS! line. If Penny were there, she would’ve slapped my back and laughed about it.

  ‘There’s gonna be hundreds of mobile phones in Times Square,’ Totes added. ‘Damage control is impossible. Our secret’s out.’

  ‘But at least we know where Penny is,’ I said.

  ‘Yeah, but we’re in Colorado,’ Dexter said. ‘How are we gonna get to New York City in thirty minutes?’

  He was right. That distance was too far. Even if I had Nix on my head, it would be cutting it close.

  And that’s when Duncan perked up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  We were all back in the lab, er, spaceship.

  Nix was still on the operating table, but the lights above him had changed from a scary bloodred to a gentle, thirst-quenching blue.

  Archer was propped up on crutches, standing next to the table. ‘He’s feeling good enough to talk, Ben. He’s been asking for you.’

  I slowly approached my alien buddy. ‘Thanks for saving my life, dude.’

  Nix smiled weakly. ‘Don’t mention it, Beanie Weenie.’

  ‘Wait, why’d he call you that?’ Noah asked, but I ignored him. ‘Ben? Ben, why’d he call you that?’

  ‘I found your ship,’ I said to Nix with a shrug.

  Nix exhaled slowly. ‘I can go home now.’

  I don’t know if it was because of our E.T.–Elliott bond, or if it was because my face was as easy to read as a lying lion, but he knew something was off.

  ‘But I’m not going just yet, am I?’ Nix said, uneasy. He was worried about getting imprisoned again by humans, I just knew it.

  ‘No, you can!’ I said. ‘It’s just – we kind of, uhhh …’

  ‘What?’ Nix said weakly.

  Dexter interrupted us. ‘We need a ride, Squidward.’

 
‘We have to get across the country in fifteen minutes,’ I explained. ‘If you’re up for one more adventure before you go home, we could really use your ship to get there, and I could really use your help to—’

  ‘Get the people who did this?’ Nix said, finishing my sentence.

  I nodded. ‘They took Penny. She’s … one of my best friends.’

  Dexter smiled a sly smile. ‘C’mon … she’s just a friend?’ Then he made kissy lips.

  Noah and Totes laughed, making the same sounds.

  ‘Shut up,’ I said, and then I looked back at Nix. ‘Will you help me?’

  Nix looked at me like, ‘Duh, of course I will.’

  He was so small and feeble. I hoped he could help.

  ‘But I just need to rest a bit more,’ he said softly, rolling to his side and closing his eyes.

  Archer walked to the door, his face pale and his hands shaking. He was in pretty bad shape, too. That’s when I realised he wasn’t coming with us.

  ‘I don’t suppose I can talk you out of this?’ he asked. ‘You’re only alive because William let you live. I guarantee he won’t let you walk away from a second fight. Any of you.’

  I looked him straight in the eye. ‘We’re going to get Penny back,’ I said like it was the only purpose to my life, which, at that moment, it was.

  Noah and Dexter folded their arms as Totes huffed.

  Archer knew we weren’t messing around. He looked at Duncan. ‘Keep them safe.’

  ‘I’ll do what I can,’ Duncan said.

  And then Headmaster Archer walked out the door.

  I went to the front of the ship.

  Or at least what I thought was the front.

  ‘Where the heck’s the cockpit?’ I asked.

  ‘They’re usually in front of the window,’ Duncan said. ‘But there are no windows in here.’

  ‘Then how do you work this thing?’

  ‘Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never flown it.’

  ‘But how’d it get down here?’

  ‘Probably a semi or something. It was here long before I was.’

  ‘But haven’t you messed with it before? I figured you would have flown it all over the place by now!’

  ‘Hey, everybody,’ Duncan said to the group. ‘Between me and Ben, who’s the guy who’s gonna irresponsibly play with technology he doesn’t understand?’

  ‘Ben,’ every single person in the room said at the same time, Nix included.

  ‘Whatever,’ I said. ‘Nix, what do I do?’

  But the squid had already fallen asleep again.

  He woke up for half a second just to burn me.

  Nice.

  I waved my hand through different holographic interfaces, trying to make sense of everything. And then I came to a screen with a little Help icon, so like a noob, I clicked the icon.

  A strange keyboard popped up on the display in front of me, like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was strange. Alien. Creepy, almost.

  But you wanna hear something crazy?

  I knew how to use it.

  My fingers danced across the alien keys like they had little baby brains of their own. Different screens flashed in front of me, and I could even read the alien language.

  It must’ve been a side effect from having Nix in my head all day.

  How flippin’ cool is that?

  ‘So what’s happening right now?’ Duncan asked, eyeballing me suspiciously.

  ‘I get this thing! Flying it is gonna be easier than I thought,’ I said. ‘All I have to do is punch in our destination, and the ship will take us there on autopilot.’

  A holographic map zeroed in on our location in the Colorado mountains, highlighting the ship with a red triangle. I chuckled because the writing under the triangle said YOU ARE HERE, but it was in alien, so I was the only one who thought it was funny.

  The map worked exactly like a map on a phone. I zoomed out until I found New York City, and then I zoomed in on Times Square. I circled it with my finger, slid to another screen, and poked the Launch button.

  But nothing happened.

  ‘That should’ve worked,’ I said.

  ‘Maybe it’s out of petrol,’ Dexter said.

  ‘Do alien ships use petrol?’ Totes asked.

  ‘Doubt it,’ Duncan said. ‘This thing is just old. It probably hasn’t flown since the forties. Are you sure you initiated the launch sequence correctly?’

  ‘I mean, maybe?’ I said, scanning the display for something I might’ve missed. And then I saw the reason we weren’t moving. I pushed another button on the screen, feeling like an idiot. ‘The parking brake was on.’

  Noah burst out laughing.

  I hit the Launch button again, and this time the ship fired up, creaking and cracking against the rock outside.

  The black metal wall in front of me became blurry and then completely disappeared. I could see the secret tunnel right outside the ship.

  ‘It’s transparent,’ Duncan said, delighted.

  The ship shook loose from under the school and slowly crept upwards through the rock of the mountain, but also through some of the school building, crumbling the lower part of the west wing.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said, cringing.

  Duncan winked at me. ‘It’s not the first time you’ve destroyed part of the school.’

  The ship rose above Kepler Academy as the engines warmed up with clicks and clacks, making the same sounds a roller-coaster does.

  And then, without warning, in a smooth motion, the ship shot straight for the stars. Everybody inside tumbled on top of one another until we were all piled up in the back of the ship.

  Except for Nix. Somehow he stayed in place on the operating table. He was still asleep, snoring loudly.

  Through the transparent wall, I watched the horizon bend. We were high enough that we could see the curve of the Earth.

  ‘Uh, guys?’ Dexter said as he floated away from us.

  In fact, everybody was slowly floating towards the middle of the ship.

  We were weightless.

  Noah laughed as he spun in midair. Dexter and Totes kicked at each other, shooting themselves across the room.

  Penny would’ve loved it.

  Duncan wasn’t too impressed, but why would he be? He’s been a weightless ghost for over a year. ‘Been there, done that,’ he said.

  For fifteen minutes, we played in zero g, almost forgetting the battle we were flying into.

  Almost.

  Before long, the ship began its descent on New York City. Gravity gently pulled our feet back down, and we all stood in front of the invisible wall, quietly watching the city grow larger. A line of tanks was crossing one of the bridges into the city, on its way to Times Square, no doubt.

  ‘Great,’ Duncan said. ‘Now the army’s involved.’

  Nobody said a word, but from the looks on everybody’s faces, it was pretty obvious we were all feeling the same thing.

  Fear.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  ‘There’s nobody down there,’ Dexter said as our ship hovered over Times Square.

  He was right.

  It looked like we were landing in a postapocalyptic movie, where all of humanity had died or disappeared.

  The centre of the square was empty, the cars in the streets abandoned. I’d never seen it like that, but to be fair, the only time I’d ever seen it was when I stayed up late to watch the ball drop on TV for New Year’s.

  And then I saw where all the people had gone. They were grouped on the side streets, walled off by police officers and their patrol cars.

  I think all the smart people had hightailed it out of the city by now. The ones who stayed were the lookieloos, hoping to catch some excitement. Every single one of them had their phones out, recording everything they could.

  ‘Time to land this thing,’ Duncan said. ‘You think you can do it?’

  ‘Yeah, there’s literally a Land button,’ I said. ‘This ship is stupid-proof.’

  ‘Ben-pr
oof,’ Dexter smirked.

  Noah and Totes laughed.

  That’s fine. It’s funny because it’s true.

  ‘Go ahead then,’ Duncan said. ‘Right in the middle there.’

  ‘But that’s in front of everybody,’ I said. ‘The whole world is watching!’

  ‘We can’t uncrack that egg. Donald knew this day was coming, Ben. It’s sooner than he would’ve liked, but he knew it was coming.’ Duncan paused, putting a ghost hand on my shoulder and Noah’s. It was faint, but I could actually feel his fingers. ‘And he would be immensely proud of you boys for being at the front of it.’

  I looked at Noah. Of the two of us, he’s always been the levelheaded one. For the past two years, I’d been so distracted by my own stuff that I never even noticed what he had become … a leader.

  Noah did the ‘Aw, yeah’ nod, and then he said, ‘Let’s land this bad boy.’

  I touched the Land button.

  Our ship descended between the skyscrapers before finally settling on the ground. Through the transparent wall, I saw the Abandoned Children. William was standing close to the ship. Delilah, Vic and Matthew were behind him, posted up around a red table and chairs. Penny sat in one of the chairs, scowling. She looked like she was more annoyed than afraid.

  That’s so Penny.

  ‘Okay,’ I said. I was ready to try this whole planning thing out. ‘Two things could happen when we tell William that Donnie’s gone. Either he’s cool with it and sets Penny free, or he’s not cool with it and we have to rescue her.’

  Noah shook his head. ‘A million things could happen, dude. What if he thinks we’re bluffing? What if he never planned to let Penny go at all? What if this is all a trap? What if he’s just gonna kill all of us?’

  ‘Okay, yeah,’ I said. ‘I didn’t think of any of that stuff.’

  ‘No matter what happens, our goal is Penny,’ Noah said. ‘Her safety is our endgame, even if it means putting our safety on the line.’

  Dang.

  Noah was born to lead.

  ‘Don’t forget about Vic,’ Dexter said.

  ‘Vic’s a wildcard,’ Noah said. ‘I don’t know what she’s gonna do.’