Abnormals

Mandie was thrilled the eulogy was over. All those images and words from everyone. How was she supposed to survive that for much longer?

She stepped outside, immediately smelling smoke. The doors must be thick if they blocked it.

“I expected Catherine to come running outside, but I didn’t think you’d care about Pete enough to be overwhelmed,” Grace, Pete’s mother, said. It was strange how similar they looked. Grace was a little shorter, and definitely curvier than her son, but their faces were the same shape, and they had that same uncomfortable stare that made her want to spill her guts.

“It’s not exactly that—not that you really care. You’re just making small-talk, though saying I didn’t care about—” she stopped herself before venting to a woman at her son's funeral.

“Go ahead, hearing someone else’s problems helps me feel better about my own.”

“I’m not sure mine will be of much help.”

“Well if they’re terrible, I can be glad I don’t have them, and if they’re not, I can feel superior mine are worse.” she gestured for Mandie to come closer.

“I don’t do well with cigarette smoke, or smoke in general for that matter.” Superhuman senses made most addictive substances nauseating.

“Of course, Catherine mentioned you’re a sensitive. So sorry.” she pressed it into the wall to stop the burn.

Mandie leaned next to her on the wall, trying to untense. It wasn’t working.

“I know we don’t know each other that well—”

“We don’t know each other at all. Amanda, right?”

“I just go by Mandie. Amanda sounds stuck-up.”

“Ha! Just like Lenny. She hated the name Helena.”

“You knew my mother in college.” She’d forgotten. She didn’t like forgetting things about her mother.

“She was an old friend. Now, Mandie-not-Amanda, tell me why you ran out of the memorial.”

“Nobody listened to the eulogy.”

“Excuse me?”

“They half-listened, of course, but everyone was just remembering Pete in whatever way they could. It would be sweet if it didn’t give me a headache—guess it’s still sweet even with the headache.”

“So you’re psychic?”

She had just admitted that, hadn’t she? She really must be stressed. Maybe it was the smoke.

“Telepathic telekinetic, or telekinetic telepath. Some people just use TP or TK—”

“I raised Dr. Petruchio Gionelli. If I don’t know these words by now, I’ll never learn them.”

Mandie laughed, then covered her mouth.

“I don’t think I should be laughing at a funeral.”

“I’m not going to tell. Thanks for talking to me, Mandie. I feel a little better. If you can’t control people’s thoughts, why did I think I could control my son?”

“I think it might have more to do with the fact you knew you couldn’t.”

Why did fools manage to learn the most dangerous things before smart people?

Would she really have wanted the fire mage cultist to be intelligent enough to be dangerous?

“Why are you insulting me?”

This was the trade-off, people had far less defenses on their mind while they were asleep, but even barely unconscious, they would be aware of her presence, and anything she thought too hard about.

She held the memory of his realization out to him, and crushed it in her hands.

Despair turned to confusion as he forgot what she did.

“Now for the hard part.”

His mind connected things like stars, like thousands of constellations.

“Pretty, but confusing.”

How are you in darkness? The stars jumbled up again at Tetra’s interruption.

“I’m in his head, I don’t care how bright it is.”

She searched for the star that was Nightingale.

“What are you doing exactly?” Tetra asked, a little too close to her ear. Her body wasn’t externally responding, but she’d lost the constellations again.

She’d have to explain things before she could get this done. She mentally moved herself back into her body a little.

“I’m erasing the thought of Mandie Piec being Nightingale from his mind.”

“I thought you said you were great with memories. Shouldn’t you be done by now?”

She was great with memories. The Archivist said she could be a good interrogator. Memories weren’t the problem right now.

“It’s not just the memories. I have to take away their ability to make that connection again.”

“Is that part necessary?”

She could ignore it. She didn’t have to keep talking. She had to fix this problem.

“You recognized him, which means he’s likely to be a menace, if not in league with worse threats. One screw up, and I’ll have a cascade of inconvenient recollections. One enemy knowing enough.”

Great, now she was thinking about Diamond again. Diamond, stars, come on.

“Someone whose memory you haven’t erased?”

She was tempted to erase Tetra’s memories of everything, but her mind was several layers more complicated than this one, and Nightingale’s reason was too petty to implement.

“Someone whose memory I can’t erase, but maybe right now we could shut up so I could handle this one.”

She tried to return to the fire mage’s mind, but Tetra was thinking about her, thinking about Mandie to be more precise.

“Think quieter, please.”

She felt the distance increase as Tetra’s thoughts got less and less distracting. She reentered the mage’s mind, slowly, to decrease the amount of guards up, until she was physically yanked away.

The connection broke. She knew that much.

She squinted. Her eyes hadn’t adjusted to the light while she’d closed them. It didn’t help the oncoming headache from a sudden disruption of a psychic connection.

Disruption didn’t happen without feedback. She searched through her mind for any new information.

Quinton Irbach discovered his Magekal abilities as a teenager, never researched more than the requirement for willpower. Saved from a building he burned by Electron several years ago.

What did Quinton know about her now?

“Why would Nightingale be here?” Xer asked. He talked a little deeper in the mask.

“Maybe she enjoys Shakespeare.”

She took a deep breath, focusing her senses away from the raging headache.

“I do enjoy a good comedy.”

“I suspect the performance is over,” Xer said.

Seeing as they were the only people in the building, probably. She needed to check on Grace, but first she needed to be alone.

“We probably all want to change, and I prefer to be alone for that. We’ll talk tomorrow, your apartment?” she pointed at Tetra.

“Sure.”

“Great, see you then.”

She left for the bathroom, finding an empty stall almost immediately. Without concern for cameras, she focused on the threads of the costume, reweaving them back into the dress from before. Catherine was right to tell her to be prepared.

She tidied up her appearance in the mirror, then ran out, right into a security guard.

“Where were you?” she accused before stopping herself. What could he have even done?

“You seem to be safe, ma’am, please exit the theater, you will be reimbursed for your ticket.”

“I—” she was here as more than just a patron, “Is Grace Johnson okay?”

“She’s fine. She’ll be outside with everyone else.” Crazy Fangirl.

Oh he was so lucky Mandie needed to be a bystander right now.

“Then I’ll be outside.”

She found Grace with the other actors, and a throng of patrons all trying to speak with her.

Catherine says hi, and sends her apologies.

Come over here and say it to my face.

Mandie rolled her eyes, but pushed through the crowd.

“Mandie, so good to see you.”

“Catherine sends her apologies.”

“Of course she does. Harold didn’t come with you, did he?”

These guys had something to do with Pete.

“No, he had to go to sleep.”

How do you know Pete’s involved?

“Probably for the best given all the chaos.”

They said their Great One first appeared to save my life, sound familiar?

Mandie nodded.

May I read your memories of what happened?

“I should probably get going to check in on Catherine and Harold.”

Grace grabbed Mandie’s hands.

“Of course, send them both my best, and give Harold a great big grandma kiss.”

Mandie closed her eyes, learning in a moment all she had to know.

“You give him that grandma kiss yourself.”

“So, information on the table.” Mandie gestured at the room.

“I’m sorry, since when are you Nightingale?” Rex asked.

Not the information she meant.

“Since forever, or at least since Nightingale’s been a thing.”

“Why a Nightingale? They’re not a very scary bird.”

“Why Xer?”

Rex crossed his arms and shut up.

“The one with a knife threatening Ms. Johnson was probably a telepath,” Victoria answered.

“What?” Grace saw it too, but Mandie hadn’t had enough time to parse through the memories. Why didn’t they tell her there was a telepath when they met at the theater? If that telepath tried to save their friend, Quinton, they could learn Mandie’s secret identity, and possibly a few others.

“They at least sent a message to somebody,” Rex said, “Telepathy just seemed the most likely option.”

He wasn’t wrong. A telepath could be nothing, or it could be everything.

“Did you get an idea of how powerful a telepath they were?”

She was prepared for most power levels, most.

“They had to freeze,” Victoria said, “Or it seemed to me at least that they had to, in order to get the message out.”

“They did kind of freeze,” Rex confirmed.

“That’s genuinely reassuring.” No one who had to freeze to get a message out could get information out of Quinton, “We’re probably dealing with a low-level one. I can handle that.”

“What level are you?”

“None of your business, and it’s complicated.”

High enough that she didn’t have to freeze in the middle of something to talk to someone, as long as that something wasn’t someone else’s mind, too many layers.

“I caught the Fire Mage yesterday afternoon,” Victoria admitted, “But they aren’t from Magek, so I can’t send them to the proper kingdom to deal with it.”

Rex and Mandie nodded, trying not to get caught up in Magekal bureaucracy.

“Oh,” Rex said, “And our guy thought Grace was the—”

“First chosen until you told them otherwise. She showed me. Congrats on becoming a target.”

Rex looked away. Now was the time to broach what Catherine said he’d be hesitant about.

“Tesla Coil dealt with some Electron cultists with black cloaks.”

“No,” Rex said.

“No?” Victoria and Mandie asked.

Mandie didn’t expect a blunt refusal.

“I’m not going to work with one of the Electron freaks just to deal with more Electron freaks. How do we know she isn’t leading them?”

Victoria rolled her eyes, this was clearly a common subject.

“I can vouch for her,” Mandie said, “She definitely isn’t leading these guys. They were creepy with her too. You can even ask Blaster if you want a witness.”

“Blaster?”

That piqued Rex’s interest.

“You know him?”

“Yeah, Electron and I saved a drug store with him a month or so before E-Day; we had a good conversation. He’s a good kid, but also exactly who I’d choose as a witness if I wanted word to spread.”

“He’s a gossip?”

“Worse, a consultant for a reporter.”

That was much worse. Catherine didn’t generally like reporters.

“Well I’ll work with her,” Victoria said, “It cannae be worse than fighting them alone.”

“We’re not alone,” Rex insisted, “There’s three of us.”

“Catherine told me.”

Mandie needed Rex’s attention and trust with Tesla Coil. Only one person knew Electron better than him.

“Catherine told you what?”

“About what happened with Tesla Coil. She’s been helping her, like she used to help Electron. If you won’t trust Tesla Coil, trust Catherine.” They were, after all, one and the same.

Rex shook his head.

“I don’t actually trust Catherine, because with the exception of Pete, she’s a terrible judge of character.”

“She was right judging you as annoying,” Mandie muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Mandie’s cellphone beeped. She pulled it out.

“So those cultists have shown up again, and Blaster and I could use back-up. Are you still with Rex and Victoria?”

“I’ll get them there.”

Nightingale wretched at the sudden change of air, not to mention whatever of Tetra’s teleportation spell lingered. The day was bright. They were on top of a suspension bridge tower.

“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do much?” she asked. Tetra just threw out her cloak to show the shadow it produced.

“C’mon, dress.” Xer grabbed her hand, and slid them down the path of ice he’d made.

“The skirt is separate.”

“Whatever.”

Tesla Coil was handling someone with lightning. Blaster was herding bystanders away with forcefields Nightingale could barely see the shimmer of. Somehow, Berserker was there, keeping out of range of several of their fighters.

Nightingale held her arm out to block someone running toward herself and Xer.

“I can handle big groups, if you can handle the stragglers,” Xer said, weeds growing around his feet.

Nightingale gave a nod and started running. She focused her senses away from smell, sure it would only provide a distraction as she handled a single cultist with a knife, knocking their weapon away before directing them with her staff into a larger horde, which Xer quickly surrounded with a wall of thorns.

What even was their goal coming here? This seemed more like a distraction than an attack.

“Hey Birdy!” Berserker was suddenly at her back, a limiting position, especially when one used a staff.

“I heard you weren’t joining.”

“I thought you knew me better than that.”

“I do.”

She spotted another straggler, tripping them before they could cause major damage, holding her staff to their neck.

“I suggest you join some of your friends.”

They tried to spit at her, but she bounced it back telekinetically.

“I mean, you know I finish these things once I start them,” Berserker continued.

“So I’ve heard.” Straight from the horse's mouth.

She kept track of where he was behind her, so when her almost prisoner tried to get up, she pushed them his way. Berserker teleported with them just above Xer’s growing cage, and returned without them.

To their left, Tetra made landfall, holding her sword threateningly and directing more towards the cage.

After a few more stragglers, and Blaster finally getting civilians fully out of harm’s way, Tesla Coil was still busy with whoever she was fighting.

“Did you see anyone you recognized?” Nightingale asked. She hadn’t spotted Quinton anywhere.

Tetra and Xer shook their heads.

“Speedster wasn’t in there,” Blaster said, “I caught a glimpse of their face back when I stopped them in the grocery store.”

“Unless they want to get sliced up, they probably won’t be saving too many of their friends. In fact.” Xer made a whip of sorts out of water and tried to grab the lightning guy, getting thoroughly shocked for his efforts. He balled his fist again.

“Please don’t try that with a plant unless you can promise it won’t get set on fire,” Nightingale requested.

Xer stood down.

Do you want any help? Nightingale asked Tesla Coil.

I can’t get near him, and I saw what he did to Xer. Do you think Blaster’s forcefields can withstand lightning?

“How do your forcefields do against electricity?” Nightingale asked.

Blaster held his hand out, surrounding the electric fiend in a slight shimmer.

Tesla Coil descended at the same rate as the forcefield did, until both of them were on the ground.

“I wasn’t sure Nightingale could convince you two.”

“Happy to help,” Tetra said.

“I didn’t know it was you who asked,” Xer said in a threatening tone.

“I heard about the theater incident,” Blaster cut the tension blusteringly, “Do you think it was the same guys?”

“Different guys, same costume.”

The black shroud with holes cut in the same pattern as the symbol on Tesla Coil’s shirt.

“I don’t even think most of these people had powers,” Nightingale said. They were too easy to take down. “Or any kind of martial training.”

“Aside from their great chosen,” Coil said, pointing at their new prisoner.

Nightingale heard sparks behind her, then she smelled the slightest bit of smoke.

“Shit!” Xer said. The cage he’d made was on fire. He moved his hands in a calming fashion, and the flames died down, with the plants quickly recovering.

When she turned around, the Great Chosen was gone.

“How did he get out of the forcefield?” Tesla Coil asked.

“The fire startled me.” Blaster wasn’t making eye-contact.

“How long have you been in this game that a little fire breaks your concentration?” Xer asked.

“I was trying to make a forcefield over there to protect people! How was I supposed to know you were also a pyrokinetic?”

Xer scowled, and Nightingale felt him throw away his argument.

Then she heard reporters.

“If we’re going to keep talking, we should do it somewhere else.”

“I have to keep the cage up,” Blaster said, “I’m not leaving.”

“Tonight,” Tesla Coil said, “I have a meeting spot where we shouldn’t be overheard.”

“I didn’t agree to work with you,” Xer said.

“We’re both working on these guys anyways. It’s a better idea to pool our resources.”

Why don’t you just tell him? Nightingale asked

Not while Berserker’s around.

We’ll get him to leave. Then you can tell Rex.

If reporters aren’t around by then.

Her sister was far too precious about some things. There had to be an inside joke between the two of them she could use to at least tip him off.

“You staying, Berserker?” Nightingale asked. He would answer no, and disappear.

“I don’t have anything else going on today,” Berserker replaced his hands in his trench coat pockets, “So yeah, I might just stick around. Xer here could probably use the company.”

“I have Tetra.”

“Is this a new superhero team?” one of the reporters asked.

“No!” all of them replied.

“Xer and I are staying,” Tetra said, earning a nervous glance from Tesla Coil, “The rest of you head home.”

“I’ll let you know later where the meeting is.” Tesla Coil floated away.

“There goes my ride,” Nightingale noted. She'd have to wait until Tetra was free to teleport her again.

She caught some items thrown at her, the gauntlets Coil used for the hoverdiscs.

“Oh, thank god.”

Mandie leaned on the kitchen island, gritting her teeth. She didn’t normally get headaches, but being pulled away while in someone’s mind tends to mess up a person’s head. She probably wasn’t getting this resolved until she finished up with Quinton.

Catherine set a glass of water and some aspirin down in front of her.

“Why don’t you trust Tetra?” Mandie asked as she downed the meds. They didn’t generally do much for sensitives, but they could be an effective placebo. She winced at the lingering taste of the coating.

“Why do you think I left because of Tetra?”

“Because you left immediately after looking at her when she said she was staying with Xer.”

“Maybe I just don’t want the tension of those two.”

“It’s not actually that bad. They mostly just act like friends, or close coworkers.”

Catherine joined Mandie on the kitchen island.

“If I let her know I’m Tesla Coil, she’ll know Pete was Electron, and I don’t exactly want to spread his identity around posthumously.”

Catherine didn’t usually acknowledge Pete’s death. Mandie opted not to comment on the progress.

Instead she said, “I think she already knows.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I think Rex told her.”

“That scamp.”

“Who’s a scamp?” Harold asked. Mandie had been so focused on the headache, she hadn’t heard him. It had abated a little more by now.

“Your Uncle Rex, that’s who.” Catherine helped Harold jump onto the island.

“Why is he a scamp?”

“Because he let his friend Victoria know a secret that wasn’t his to tell.”

“Oh. I like Victoria, though.”

“I like her too,” Mandie said, “But we don’t tell people secrets just because we like them. We tell people secrets because we trust them, or because we have to, and we never tell someone else’s secret to another person, no matter how trustworthy they are.”

“Except in emergencies where keeping the secret could put someone in danger,” Catherine corrected.

“Yeah, listen to your—” The headache came back just as Mandie tried to stop resting on the island. Images flashed too fast for her to actually see anything, but she didn’t have to see for the knowledge to set in.

“I know where they are.”