NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56: Signs
Pamela Isley:
"Here," I say, smiling as I hand over some bread to a little girl. The little girl smiles as she takes the slice of bread and immediately bites down on it.
"Thank you," the mother says, wiping a tear as she watches her daughter eat.
"Don't mention it," I say, standing back up. I give the mother and her daughter a quick nod before leaving their small room. As I leave their room and enter the hallway, I see Selina and Harleen in the hallway with me.
"You know," Harleen says, "I really, really hate Mr. Sunglasses. I mean, come on, a freaking genius with superpowers and advanced technology, and yet, you don't build an elevator that goes past the 5th floor. Why!"
"Why are you complaining," Selina asks. "You used your rocket boots to fly all the way up here. If anyone can complain, it's me. I'm the one that had to take the stairs."
"Hey you two," I say, waving at Harleen and Selina as they walk toward me. "How are the families doing?"
"Well besides being a bit exhausted due to the lack of elevator," Harleen starts, "They're fine. Sunglasses fixed them up and sent them to their room. There, they're eating whatever they can find in the fridge, and quite frankly, what's in those fridges isn't too bad. I'm starting to get a little hungry myself."
Rubbing her stomach, Harleen licks her lips.
"I wonder what we're having for dinner tonight."
Harleen starts listing off a bunch of things she hopes The Man would make. As Harleen starts to drool, I turn my head and see Leonard standing outside the apartment building.
"Hmm. What is Leonard doing out there? He should be helping the families cope with their new surroundings."
Stepping over the drool puddle, Selina looks out the window beside me.
"Maybe he's done," Selina suggests. "I mean, he was with Barry. Knowing Speedy, he probably ran from room to room."
"Yeah, but Speedy was a regime. I imagine most people remember that, and that not many of them will be happy to see him."
As Selina and I keep watching, I see Leonard uncrossing his arms. He uncrosses his arms and taps her wrist. A second later, something happens in front of him.
"What is he doing," I ask. "What is that?"
"From the look of it," Selina says, leaning closer to the window. "He's checking his suit's features."
"His suit's features," I repeat.
"Yeah. You didn't know. Here, watch this."
Holding out her hand, Selina taps her wrist, like Leonard. The second she does, a futuristic, hologram screen shoots up.
"Son of a---," I shout, jumping back. "What is that?"
"It's some sort of fancy floating screen," Selina answers, tapping a few things on the screen. As she taps away, the screen switches over and over again. "It shows off a list of things our excellneno suits can do."
"I did not know about that," Harleen says, wiping her mouth. Raising her hand, Harleen taps her own wrist, and a screen shoots up. "Oh my god! This is awesome. What's the jelly doughnut feature?"
As Harleen reads over her features, I look out the window again. From where I'm standing, it doesn't look like Leonard is checking his suit feature. It looks more like he's checking something, but what? While wondering what Leonard is checking, ringing and flashing lights grab my attention.
I turn around and see Harleen's and Selina's screens flashing red. A few seconds later, The Man's face appears on the screen.
"Attention everyone," The Man shouts, "There's something I need to check on so I'm going to leave the city. Just stay here and watch over the families for now. Bye."
The Man's face disappears, and both screens return to normal. Looking out the window again, I see The Man rush out of the city's 'hospital', heading toward the stone elevator.
"What was that about," Harleen asks.
The Man:
Running as fast as I can along Central City's rooftops, I jump into the air before firing an arrow. My arrow sails through the night sky before sticking into the wall. As my arrow sails, it leaves behind a cable that I use to pull me toward the wall. At the last second, before I can slam into the air, I reach into my jacket and pull out two kunai.
Stabbing the wall with my kunai, I start climbing up. It takes me only a few minutes to reach the top of the building. Once I'm there, I take off my backpack and start unpacking everything I brought.
I lay out all the spell books and ingredients and quickly assemble my telescope. Once it's set up, I look through it. While checking the position of the planets and the stars, I shoot out my hand and, using his own powers, telekinesis grab a book.
The book shoots itself into my hand. I open it and flip through the pages, reading it all before throwing the book into the air. This book hovers open in the air while I telekinesis grab another book. I repeat this process over and over, going through every book I brought, reading every page, and comparing what the books said to what the planets and stars are doing.
"I knew it," I say, adding the last and final book to the floating collection. "This shouldn't be happening. Not now. It's too early."
Bringing up my hand, I turn it over and look at the Mark of Skath. Burnt right into my hand, it glows a dark bright.
"The planets and stars are aligned, and the Mark of Skath has appeared. Two out of the three signs have happened. Only one last thing must happen for Trigon to cross into this world. Raven must sacrifice herself at the ritual ground. We have to stop her."
Waving my hand around, all the books floating into mid-air fly into my backpack. While this is happening, I quickly disassemble my telescope and put all the parts into my backpack too. Once everything is safely tucked away, I pull out my cell phone and input a code. A minute later, I see something shining in the sky.
A few more minutes later, my small, black, nearly invisible plane can be seen. It flies through the night sky before hovering near the ledge of the rooftop I'm on. The glass cover opens and I jump and land into the pilot's seat.
"Night Bird activate," the screen reads, coming online.
"System check," I say, flipping some switches and pushing some buttons.
"System check," the screen repeats. "Engines? Check. Weapon? Check. Cloaking? Check."
"Satellite links established?"
"Satellite links established."
"Awesome."
Pushing one last button, I place one hand on the steering wheel while using my other hand to pull the gear shift into place. Mini rockets coming on, I fly at high speed to New Metropolis.
"There's no doubt about it," I tell myself. "The Lords of Order are forcing the prophecy. They want to unleash Trigon. I guess I pushed them too far. I have to stop Trigon from crossing over and to do that, I have to kidnap Raven from them."