PENNY CAUGHT THEM AT ONCE and rocketed down what had to be a sewer tunnel, judging from the smell. Dee clutched her waist, once again holding on desperately as Penny dodged and weaved through the narrow tunnels, shooting through the endless miles of sewers beneath the city. They flew for what seemed like hours, until finally they landed on a ledge next to a ladder up to the street.
“Damn,” said Dee. “I thought it would be the subway. Sorry.”
“That luck of yours!” laughed Penny.
“It wasn’t that this time,” said Dee. “Just a guess.” It occurred to her that she hadn’t heard her luck song since Mandolia.
“Whatever it was, I’m glad for it,” said Penny.
“Any ideas where we are?” Dee asked.
“Nope,” said Penny. “I think we went under the river. But I can’t be sure.” She put a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “Nice work back there. Really. I thought she had us.”
“I did, too, for a moment,” said Dee. “But I could see through her. I… I didn’t get angry.”
“No,” said Penny. “But she sure did.” She looked at Dee with new eyes. “The most powerful living extrahuman?” she asked.
“Oh,” said Dee, embarrassed. “I was trying to scare her.”
“It worked,” said Penny. “And I think it’s true in any case.”
Dee climbed and Penny levitated up the ladder to a manhole cover. Penny pushed the cover off, and they emerged into the cool evening. They were on a side street, and thankfully no one was around to see the two ripe and exhausted extrahumans crawl out from the sewers.
“Where are we?” Dee asked.
Penny looked around. “I think we’re out near Beechhurst. Good. We came up near where we want to be. We must have gone in circles.”
They checked around to try and orient themselves. “This way,” Penny said, leaning on Dee. “Wish I still had my chair.”
“We’ll get you a new one,” said Dee. “Can you fake it?”
“Sure,” said Penny, moving her legs as much as she dared without quite letting her feet touch the ground. “I can try, anyway.”
They made their slow, deliberate way to a residential neighborhood full of small, low-rise houses. Penny checked the map on her battered pocket pad, then pointed to a tiny blue house surrounded by ancient-looking trees.
“There,” she said.
They crept closer and hid behind the trees, concealed from anyone inside the house.
Three people sat on the back deck: a plump fortyish man with a mustache and graying hair, a rail-thin woman with a careworn smile, and a boy of about twelve. Penny grabbed Dee’s hand.
“Oh, it’s him, it’s him,” she said, voice quivering. “Oh, Dee. He looks like his father.”
He did, too. The dark hair, the expression, the way his hands moved, all reminded Dee very strongly of Sky Ranger. And yet, Dee could see something of Penny in him, too. The eyes, maybe, and the nose.
“He’s so beautiful,” Penny said, every word full of impossible yearning.
They were talking, there on the deck in the gathering twilight. They laughed, then they went inside. Dee and Penny could see them through the windows, eating dinner, just like a normal family.
“He’s not like us,” said Penny. “Celeste said. He’s not like us. He doesn’t have powers.” She started to cry again. “I can’t. Oh, Dee. I can’t. I can’t take him away. Maybe he doesn’t even know yet!”
Dee didn’t know what to say.
“All this way. And here I am. I thought I’d storm in there and take him, but I just can’t!”
“He deserves to know his mother,” said Dee quietly.
“That woman in there’s his mother,” said Penny through her tears. “Not me. Never me. I’m no mother. I could never be. Oh, Amos, I’m so sorry.”
For the second time that day, Dee held Penny as she cried.
They stayed on top of a roof somewhere in Brooklyn that night, under what might even have been the stars, visible above the light pollution of the city.
“What now?” asked Dee.
“I don’t know,” said Penny. “I thought I’d find him and rescue him, and we’d live together again like it was in the old days. But now… how could we? Sky Ranger’s gone. My legs aren’t the best. And I feel… I feel so worn out since First Landing.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I know that this is the right thing, to leave him where he is. We’re strangers to one another. Maybe… I want to see if there’s any way I can be part of his life. I’m glad I saw him, I want to see him again, but… maybe I can’t. I don’t know. Maybe it’s all for the best.” She sighed, and it seemed like a great weight had been lifted from her. “I think I just wanted to see him again. He’s safe, and he’s happy. He wouldn’t have been, if he’d stayed with us.”
“No,” said Dee, shaking her head. “Probably not.”
“Thank you,” said Penny. “For coming with me. It seems so silly now, doesn’t it?”
“Of course not,” said Dee. “And I’m glad I came. I couldn’t not.”
“You’re a good friend,” said Penny. “You are. You’re more my daughter than he is my son. I’m sorry I was so angry with you.”
“You had every right to be,” said Dee.
Daughter.
It had been so long since she’d been anyone’s daughter. She rested her head on Penny’s shoulder.
They said little after that; they just watched the lights of the ancient city glow all around them.
They parted ways the next morning, on a street corner somewhere in Queens.
“Where will you go?” asked Dee.
“Back there,” said Penny. “To see what I can of him. Maybe I can even talk to him a little, be a small part of his life. And then, who knows? There’s lots to do. Sky Ranger’s still trapped. I want to see him again, too. Maybe someday… ”
“Maybe,” said Dee. “If you need me, come find me. Get in touch.”
“Where will you go?” asked Penny. “Back to Valen?”
Dee shrugged. “Someday. But not right away. I do have a lot of promises I want to keep. But for now, I think I’ll go back to the mission,” she said. “I can help people there, and it seems like something I want to do for now. I just have to steer clear of Major—Captain—Palekar.”
Penny chuckled. “I’d be shocked if she or any of them mess with you now.”
“I wouldn’t,” said Dee seriously. “They don’t stop, not really. The Temple can help keep me out of sight for the time being, but I’ll have to deal with them again and again, most likely. But I want to go back to Valen and Mandolia someday. I want to go to Bailey Island, and keep my promise to Kristy, and to Clearfield to find Torres again. And then… I want to find some way to tell our story. I don’t want it all to have been for nothing.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” said Penny. “Someone should.”
“I think I have a better idea, now,” said Dee. “Of me. And of the story I want to tell.”
Penny put a hand on Dee’s shoulder. “I’m glad. You were looking for so long.”
Dee gave her a hug. “All right. So long. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Penny hugged her back. “Stay safe, kid.”
With that, Penny Silverwing walked off into the fresh New York day. After a moment, Dee picked up her few possessions and started determinedly off down the street, into whatever future was her own.