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“IT STILL STINGS,” I muttered as we walked away from the marina.
“I already healed it,” Raiya said. “Stop being a baby about it.”
“You know I don’t like blood.”
“You mean, unless it’s animated and coming from one of your video games?”
“Yes,” I said. “Exactly that.”
“We had to call St. Brendan,” Raiya said. “Star blood is powerful, and having both of us call him might get the Meallán here faster.”
“That’s the only reason I agreed to give you some of my blood,” I told her.
I don’t think I was actually that upset about it. I was just overwhelmed. From all I’d found out in the last week, I was almost waiting for the curtain to drop, to awake from sleep, to only just blink, and be back in a world where it was me, me, me, all the time, like a radio station of my emotions and thoughts running all the time.
After a life like that—one I didn’t want to return to, even as tired and frustrated as I was—I was exhausted. And now, there was an evil organization to dismantle, a hole in Time to patch up, and a pair of my own children to rescue.
How did I manage to juggle everything so well in high school? I wondered.
“We should see if Logan has any of Rachel’s coffee,” I said. That seemed to be one missing ingredient, at least.
“We’re almost there,” Raiya said. “Look.”
I followed her gaze and, despite everything I was feeling or not feeling, smiled. Lakeview Observatory, unlike the rest of the places in Apollo City I remembered, seemed to have only grown in polish since I left.
Recalling how Grandpa Odd—or rather, Draco—had run a whole foundation dedicated to finding fallen Stars and other mysteries of the universe, I supposed it wasn’t something I should’ve been so surprised about.
“This place has certainly been upgraded,” I said.
“I’ll say,” Raiya replied as we walked into the doors, staring as we passed through the newly renovated observatory.
There was new tech gear jammed into more of the rooms, bulletin boards full of information on bachelor’s and master’s and doctorate level work; new project schematics and blueprints.
“I wonder how much of Rachel’s inheritance went here,” I said.
Raiya slapped my arm. “Come on, this isn’t a bad investment. The student programs look like they’ve tripled in recent years.”
“Several times over, actually.”
At the familiar voice, we both turned. Standing behind us was Rachel’s brother-in-law, Logan. Before I could see all of the different changes, he came up to Raiya and embraced her. “I’ve missed you, cousin,” he said.
Raiya grinned. “I suppose Rachel told you I was back, Dr. Reynolds?”
“It’s always been just Logan, to you. And yes, Rachel did tell me. But I knew the instant I saw the reports of new superheroes in town,” he said with a grin. “It’s nice to see you again, Starry Knight. I’ve missed your visits.”
Raiya and I exchanged shocked glances, before she asked, “How did you know?”
“I never believed much in coincidence,” he said. “Despite the several theories of that cosmology will present, I’ve found that things are often more simple and more complicated than we can know or understand. So far,” he added, seeing my skeptical look. “After Starry Knight and Wingdinger both died and you went missing, I found that to be too coincidental.”
He adjusted the wire-frame glasses on his nose, peering through them at her. “I also thought it was too much of a coincidence that Starry Knight happened to know so much about me, including my favorite selections from Rachel’s.”
Raiya blushed. “I don’t suppose you’ve shared your thoughts on the matter with anyone?”
“No,” he said. “Remember? I keep to myself quite well. We were always alike in that regard.”
I used to think Logan might’ve had a crush on Starry Knight, and I knew that she had great respect for Logan. And even though I knew she loved me, I couldn’t help but clear my throat impatiently.
“Oh, Hamilton,” Logan said. Instantly, he held out a hand to me. “It’s nice to see you again, too.”
Before he could bring up my part of the town’s superhero past, I said, “We didn’t just come to reminisce about the good old days. We need your help.”
“We need to know if your radiation device still works,” Raiya explained. “We don’t have a demonic enemy this time—”
“More like a devilish one,” I explained, unable to resist chiming in.
“But they have the two new superheroes, the ones that the news reported on,” Raiya said. “We need to find them and rescue them.”
Logan rolled up the sleeves of his lab coat. “Alright,” he said as he began walking forward. “Let’s see what I can do to help you out. Come with me.”
We hurried after him, and soon found ourselves in the same room we must’ve visited a thousand times before. The large telescope was off for the night, but the persistent hum of energy in the large computers and the other equipment buzzed about, almost making a lively sort of music.
“This place hasn’t changed much,” I said.
“No, not really,” Logan said. “Dr. Harbor and I oversee this place, and we are more often hampered rather than helped by new technology. And it’s expensive, no matter how much we’ve had coming in from grants and endowments. Plus the new student interns we get always seem to get more careless as the years go by.”
I thought of some of the younger students I met in law school. “I can sympathize.”
“Here,” he said. “We haven’t been as diligent about identifying patterns in the radiation forms over the last few years—there’s always a bit of haze around somewhere, but we’ve been collecting it since Mayor Mills asked us to, back when he was in office.”
“I heard he lost his reelection campaign,” I said.
“Well, after he was hospitalized, a lot of his supporters found about some of his scandals and more of his half-truths on things,” Logan said. “Dunbrooke is far from likeable, but people at least know they’re getting someone who tells the truth.”
“I can see why that would be appealing,” Raiya said. I met her gaze, and I knew she was thinking about the battle at City Hall, where Elektra, the Sinister of Greed, had managed to get a good hold on him.
“There.” Logan pointed to a screen. “These are the tracking patterns we’ve seen since the beginning of the month. Watch carefully,” he said.
“There’s nothing big there,” I said.
“It’s coming,” Logan assured me. “There,” he said as he pointed at the screen. “This is the one from the other day, when the local news station picked up your new superheroes.”
There was a cloudy pattern dotting across the area just above Shoreside Park, a blue-violet storm waiting to break loose; surrounding it was a pattern of high-intensity black stripes. Glancing over at Raiya, I knew there was no mistaking her abuse of power.
“I see it,” I said. “Can you show me what the machine’s picked up today?”
“I’ll play it in slow motion,” Logan said. “I’ll keep my attention on the controls. You tell me if you need me to stop.”
“Will do,” Raiya said.
We watched the screen for a long moment, before the blue-violet cloud returned.
“There,” I said. “Slow it down some more.”
“How’s that?” Logan asked.
“Can you center it?” I asked. The blue-violet cloud was moving away from my parents’ home in Lake County Heights, toward the middle of the city.
I watched as another black blip appeared in the woods between the house and the marina. Starry Knight’s dark power, I thought again. I watched as it gradually lightened up to gray, and then became more of a maroon color.
Maybe that was when we were together, in the Realm of the Heart, I thought. I could really only guess. Considering we were both more worried about Lyra and Lucas, I turned my attention back to the blue-violet blur.
“It’s moving toward the Time Tower,” I said. I groaned. “I should’ve guessed.”
“Why would SWORD take them there?” Raiya asked.
“It was owned by the Skarmastad Foundation,” I said. “Chances are, it’s still pretty clear of any activity. You heard Rachel the other day. She got everything settled recently.”
“I suppose. I still don’t see why it would make much of a difference.”
“This isn’t the first time that SWORD has been hanging out there,” I said.
“I know they borrowed it when they captured you,” Raiya said. “But I didn’t think it was special to SWORD so much as the Skarmastad Foundation.”
“They’ve been hanging around there at other times.” I thought of the time that Mikey went to go and see Dante there. “I guess even if she hated him, Rosemary wants to make sure she can top Draco at every level.”
“That would be something she would do,” Raiya said. She turned to Logan. “You can stop the machine now.”
He complied with the ready ease of a faithful pet. “Is there anything else you want me to do?” Logan asked.
“That’s it,” I said. “For now.” I noticed the time on the screen. It was getting late. In the winter weather, it was already dark outside.
I glanced uneasily over at Raiya. I was about to suggest we confer together when Logan laughed.
“I see you two haven’t changed much in the last several years,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Raiya asked.
“I’ll leave you alone,” he said. He glanced over at me. “I can tell you have things to discuss.”
He was right, of course. So I stepped up. “Thanks for all your help, Dr. Reynolds,” I said.
I was truly grateful for all his help.
“It’s just Logan to you, too. And I like helping you guys with this stuff. I’ve forgotten what a rush it is; sometimes, with science, you forget that it’s more like solving a mystery than it is just collecting data,” Logan said as he headed out of the room. “Come and visit me again soon.”
“We will,” Raiya said, before he shut the door. She rolled her eyes after my irritated expression. (Did she have to be so nice to him all the time?)
“Come on, Hamilton. He’s been really helpful, and I would like to come back to see if he can show me what else he’s found about my supernova and the meteorite from before.”
“Uh-huh.” I shook my head. “We don’t need to worry quite so much about that anymore. We just called St. Brendan earlier.”
“Still, this place would be a nice idea for a family outing. It’s educational, and there are plenty of things for the kids to enjoy here.”
“All you need is the minivan, by the sound of it,” I said as I walked over to stand next to her.
“The sooner we get the kids, the sooner we can do just that,” Raiya replied.
I almost asked her if she was serious. But since she was right about getting the kids, I decided not to bother her about it. There would be plenty of time to argue about that later (because there was just no way we were getting a minivan).
“They’re at the Time Tower,” I said. “And they haven’t moved.”
“Did Mikey return your call?” Raiya asked.
“No,” I said. “But then he’s getting married this weekend, and he’s got to get through work yet before the break.”
“School should be out already, shouldn’t it?”
“I’m sure the students feel that way. But there are still teacher work days.” I shrugged. Now that we knew where the Lucas and Lyra were being held, there wasn’t much that Dante’s assistance, forced or not forced, would do. In fact, recalling the several times that Dante had been “helpful,” I ended up being Tasered or something else. “It doesn’t matter. We don’t need Dante’s help.”
“I agree.”
“I know you would agree to that.”
She frowned. “Well, if you’re going to be like that, I can always say I told you—”
“Okay, okay.” I gave her a quick grin. “You know I can’t take that.”
“When do you want to go?” Raiya asked.
“Now,” I said. “But it’s probably not the best idea. We should probably—”
“I think we should go now, too.”
“Good. That’ll save me some time, because there aren’t any really good reasons to wait.”
Raiya took my hand. “Let’s go then,” she said as she pressed the mark on her wrist.
Wings sprouted from her back, her armor flickered on over her body, and the Starry Knight I’d come to know as she was now appeared before me.
I looked down at my own mark and, for the briefest moment, I hesitated.
But then I thought of Lyra’s smile and Lucas’ smug expression. I thought about how much I liked them, and how much I even loved them.
It was time. To honor my past, to prepare for the present, and to protect my future.
I pressed the mark on my wrist, and for a long half-second I wondered if anything would happen at all. Lucas was so sure that I’d turned my back on my power, and even Raiya, in her amnesiac state, was able to tell it had been years since I trusted the power I had inside of me, and that I trusted Adonaias to guide me.
But in the heart of that half-second, I felt the power rekindled inside of me. My heart seemed to let out its own power flare, as blood pulsated and my wings once more spread out from behind my shoulders. I felt the rush of power, the glory behind my sense of self, as it returned home.
The truth will set me free, I remembered. I marveled as my armor appeared, as my hands were half-gloved, and my tunic was made over my regular form.
I even smiled as I felt the once-familiar flutter of wingdings tickling onto my forehead.
Glancing down, I was a little surprised to see Starry Knight wasn’t the only one with a color change. My red and black armor was still dark, but the colors were even more muted. In some ways, I saw this as an appropriate change; I had accepted the truth of the evil in the world, and still staunchly stood against it, despite its perverse persistence.
Raiya came up to me. Her hands reached up and stroked my feather-crown. “I’ve missed your crown of fire feathers.”
I groaned. “Did you know Elysian was the one who named me Wingdinger? Apparently he told that lady, Patricia Whats-her-name, that that was my name when she was having that city superhero contest.”
“I knew,” she admitted. “But not until our last year. He told me once when we were patrolling the city looking for Draco. I decided not to say anything, for very valid reasons at the time.” She laughed, no doubt at my annoyed expression.
I was about to reply, quite angrily, when she leaned in and kissed me. “I still fell in love with you,” Raiya reminded me. “Even with your goofy name. Which I happen to like.”
“I’ve heard that love is blind, but I never thought it would be deaf, too,” I muttered.
She giggled. “Your name’s not that bad.”
“Come on, I need a new name. Starry Knight is a timeless name. Wingdinger is just lame now.”
“Maybe we can work on it while we head over to the Time Tower,” Raiya said. “But I doubt it will be easy for a city superhero to rebrand himself.”
“Come on, Robin became Nightwing in the DC Comics,” I said.
“Do you really want to be on the same level as Robin?”
As we argued and fought and discussed all of these things and more—partially to relieve the tension and the fear we now faced as we raced to get our children back, and partially because it was a valid argument—we made our way out of Lakeview Observatory and headed out for the Time Tower.
☼21☼