Ocean tried to force a smile. For some reason, he felt like he should try and match the lively atmosphere of the café. “How… are you holding up?”

Liliana stared back at him from across the table. “I’m okay.”

He knew more than anyone that she wasn’t. She was at the hospital all night. She hadn’t slept. He hadn’t either.

It all felt like a dream.

He ended up going home after some detectives showed up at the hospital. Of course, his parents tried to be reassuring, saying that he would get better. They wouldn’t admit it, but he knew they were just happy it wasn't their child. They already lost North. They wouldn’t be able to stand losing him too.

But that thought wasn’t going to stop him from finding the one that did this to Cory.

“I created the page we talked about last night,” Ocean took out his phone.

“Really?”

“It took me a while to figure it out, but it’s set up so that anything with tags related to the stops downtown will show up,” he said, turning the screen toward her. “I also posted this…”

“We are friends of the victim in the April 2nd attack,” Liliana read aloud. “We want justice. Please contact us with any information you have regarding the identity of the perpetrator.”

“That’s not all,” Ocean said. “John Doe even shared the post. We’re getting a lot of attention already. Well, we’re sandwiched between some posts about Sadie Quasar’s autograph session coming up… but it’s better than nothing.”

“Sea Barnacle,” Liliana smiled weakly. “You’re amazing.”

“This is all stuff Cory taught me how to do,” Ocean put the phone back in his pocket. “And it’s not like I could have predicted that someone so popular on Clock Link would share us so quickly. It’s all dumb luck.”

“Well…” Liliana started. “Never mind. Do we have any leads yet?”

“Nothing yet,” Ocean shook his head. “It’s still really early though. Even with the exposure, it’ll probably take a while for us to get anything. We’ll ask around today and see what we can find.”

“Did you set it up so that your phone buzzes when you get a message?”

Ocean squinted at her. “As if I know how to do that.”

“You sound like an old man,” Liliana frowned. “Are you really a junior in high school?”

“Just show me how to do it later if it’s that big of a deal.”

“I mean, I guess you don’t have to do it,” Liliana said. “It’ll just make it so that you don’t need to open up Clock Link to see if you got messages.”

“Huh.”

Liliana rolled her eyes. “Anyway, what’s our next move?”

Ocean glanced around the room. “Well before we can do anything, you need to eat. You haven’t had anything all day, have you?”

Liliana shook her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“I know,” Ocean sighed. “But you really need to eat something if you’re going to walk around town with me today. I don’t need you passing out on me.”

“Passing out on you, huh?” Liliana glared playfully. “You’d like that. You perv.”

Ocean’s frowned. “Get over yourself…”

“Hey,” a voice came to the right of their table.

Walking over from the line was Jaden Porter. Ocean felt his face reflexively cringe in disgust.

“You on a date or something?” Jaden grinned, running his fingers through his wavy hair.

Ocean felt his face go hot. Not from embarrassment, but from rage. He knew Jaden couldn’t have known about Cory, but he didn’t care. He was ready to jump out of his chair and punch him across the face. How was such an asshole the twin of someone as wonderful as Fae?

“My brother’s in a coma,” Liliana said.

Ocean looked at her in shock. He hadn’t expected her to say it so easily, but it was like she turned into a cold machine in an instant.

Jaden’s stupid smile didn’t fade from him face. It looked like he was taking what she said as a joke. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m sure you saw the news. You know the person that was attacked yesterday?” Liliana asked, anger forming in her voice. “Well that was Cory.”

Jaden looked over at him, but Ocean kept his expression dead serious. He could see the truth finally starting to dawn on Jaden through the awkwardness of the smile still plastered on his face.

“I’m saying someone froze time and attacked him,” Liliana said.

Jaden looked down at his hands, then around him. “I... uh, I gotta go,” he finally said, and walked briskly out of the café.

Under any other circumstances, he would have loved to watch Jaden make an ass of himself. However, this was a lot for someone to take in all at once like that. Still, Jaden was someone that claimed to be Cory’s friend. Storming out like that only solidified Ocean’s judgment about his emotional maturity.

When he was gone, Liliana turned back to him. “So what were you saying?”

It took a few seconds for Ocean to collect himself again.

“I was saying you need to eat something and I’m not taking no for an answer,” Ocean got up from his seat. “Hold tight for a minute.”

He knew she would fuss, so he moved up to the counter before she could even respond. He was greeted by Sebastian’s usual disposition: a strange mix of love for his job and hate for the customers.

“Coffee?” Sebastian glared.

“Yeah, two coffees,” Ocean said. “And two turkey clubs.”

Sebastian looked directly into his eyes for what felt like minutes. “Two… turkey clubs?”

“Hey!” Manami slammed her fist on the counter behind him. “He’s getting coffee too so I don’t want to hear it!”

Sebastian took a deep breath and seemed to relax. “Coming right up.”

Ocean paid him, glancing over across the counter at Manami. She shot him a quick smile as she hurried back and forth preparing drinks. He returned the look as best as he could.

He waited near the counter instead of sitting down. He took out his phone, opening up Clock Link and logging in with the new account. The John Doe boost was in full force. There were already over four hundred people following the page. There were a few messages in his inbox too, but they were either words of encouragement, doubts about the pages authenticity, or obvious trolling.

He put his phone back in his pocket. It was going to be difficult to get anything of worth from the page. Tips were likely to be things already released to the public, or something completely unverifiable. If the page got big enough, the police would probably demand that they shut it down. If they were going to kill the one that did this, they were racing against the clock to do so.

“You look lost in thought,” Manami giggled across the counter. She set down a tray in front of him.

“Just tired,” Ocean said.

Manami pointed down at the steaming cups of coffee. “Well this should wake you up.” She turned to walk away.

“Hey, Manami,” Ocean spoke before he mentally prepared himself to do so, making his voice come out shaky. “Do you have a minute?”

Manami turned back to him, glancing over at the line of customers. “Sure, I have a minute. What’s up?”

“Manami!” Sebastian pointed to the people waiting and spoke in Japanese. “Zatsudan suru hima wa neenda yo!”

“Urusai! Dorei nano ka yo, watashi!?” Manami shouted. “Sorry Ocean, can it wait?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Ocean picked up the tray. “Actually, don’t worry about it. It’s nothing important.”

Manami looked apologetic, then went back to working after grumbling something unintelligible in Sebastian’s direction.

It was for the best. She didn’t know Cory, and she certainly didn’t know that he was yesterday’s victim. If possible, he didn’t want to drag anyone else he cared about into this. He carried the tray back over to Liliana.

“Coffee and a sandwich,” he said, putting it down on the table.

“Coelacanth,” Liliana pouted. “I don’t like coffee.”

“I don’t care. You’re drinking it,” he sat back down, pouring cream from the table into his cup. “And what the hell is a coelacanth?”

“It’s like a super old fish,” she took a bite out of the sandwich, then continued speaking as she chewed. “They thought it was extinct but it’s not.”

“Huh…” Ocean took a gulp of his coffee and felt its warmth spread through his body. “Why do you always seem to know so much about the sea anyway?”

“I want to be a marine biologist.”

“Seriously? I never knew that about you.”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

“Just kidding,” she picked up her cup and stared suspiciously at it. “I actually just like looking up stuff so I can have different names for you.”

Ocean tried to look annoyed, but ended up laughing instead.

“Finally gone crazy?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Ocean didn’t stop. “Maybe I have.”

Liliana smiled back at him, and before they knew it, they were both laughing. People around them seemed to be annoyed, but he didn’t care. They laughed even louder, and with each passing second, it felt like a weight was removed from Ocean’s heart. He knew it was the same for Liliana.

Finally, they calmed down, both heaving to catch their breath. Liliana had laughed so hard that there were tears in the corners of her eyes. Ocean realized that it was the same for him.

Liliana sniffed, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. She picked up the turkey club, stuffing it into her mouth. Ocean grabbed his too, taking a huge bite out of it. They gulped it down, finished their food in what felt like seconds.

“I needed that,” Liliana sighed, drinking down the last of her coffee.

“I did too.”

They left the café, and entered the mass of people walking along the side street.

“So where do we start?” Liliana asked.

“Let’s start here and make our way toward the mall,” Ocean said. “It’ll be slow, but we’ll have to just try asking people one by one.”

“Why don’t we just yell things out and have people come to us?” Liliana crossed her arms.

“I’m not doing something like that,” Ocean frowned. “We already made a fools out of ourselves once today.”

Liliana cupped her hands around her mouth. “We’re looking for the one that froze time!” She shouted. “If you have any information about yesterday’s attack, please tell us!”

Ocean jumped back. There were already people passing by giving them weird looks, but that wasn’t stopping her. She yelled out the same thing over and over again as she made her way down the street.

Ocean reluctantly followed after her. There was no way this was going to work. He would just have to wait for her to tire out so that they could do it his way.

“Hello young ones,” someone with a deep voice said.

Two people approached them. One was a tall dark skinned man wearing what looked like a plain color kimono. The other was an expressionless woman in a pizza delivery uniform. Not exactly the kind of people that blended into a crowd.

“Hello…” Ocean and Liliana said together.

“People call me Xavier,” the man chewed on a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. “And the little lady’s name is Quinn.”

“Hello,” the pizza delivery girl said.

“We couldn’t help but overhear you,” the man grinned. “You have quite the voice on you.”

The all stood quietly for a moment. Most of the people that heard Liliana yelling had passed, so people weren’t staring in their direction anymore.

“Do you… know something?” Liliana asked.

The woman opened her mouth, but the man threw his hand up first. “Just a minute Quinn,” he said. “It’s common courtesy for a warrior to give their name after someone has told them their own.”

It took Ocean a moment to understand what he meant. “Warriors?”

“That’s right. You’re young, but I can see that the spirit of Portland flows within you.”

“I wasn’t even born here,” Ocean said, glancing over at Liliana in an attempt to tell her that they should get out of there. She didn’t appear to notice.

“The Portland spirit isn’t something you’re born with,” the man clenched his fist. “It is something you earn, my friend.”

“I… see,” Ocean scratched the back of his head. “Who are you again?”

“We’re with the KPW,” the woman said. “I apologize for Xavier. He is a bit of an eccentric.”

“The KPW!” Liliana looked over at him.

The KPW? As in the urban legend? Were these people honestly expecting him to believe that they were some from some kind of super hero group?

“What’s with the delivery outfit?” Ocean asked.

Quinn looked down at herself and then shrugged. “Something has to pay the bills.”

“Who cares about that!? I’m Liliana and this is Lobster,” Liliana said, visibly upset. “Did you see something yesterday?”

“Your name is… Lobster?” Quinn rose her eyebrow.

“It’s Ocean,” he sighed. “My name is Ocean.”

“Before we answer, I’d like to know why you’re interested,” Xavier scratched the hair on his chin.

“The victim yesterday was my brother,” Liliana said. “He’s in a coma.”

The two in front of them gave each other a look. Ocean could already tell that they were looking down on them. Like Luca and Pietro, they were probably going to tell them to stay out of it.

“Don’t underestimate us just because we’re kids,” Liliana went on. “We’re serious about this.”

“I see,” Xavier said. “I knew I had two warriors in front of me the moment I heard you shouting. A battle cry, if I ever heard one.”

“Anyone has the power to be a hero,” Quinn said. “Don’t worry. We’re not underestimating you.”

Ocean was surprised to find that they seemed genuine.

“As for what we know,” Quinn said. “I’ll need you both to promise me that whatever you do, you’ll be careful.”

“We promise,” Liliana said.

Quinn nodded her head. “I encountered a dark figure last night while on patrol.”

“A dark figure?” Ocean asked. “Like in a cloak?”

“No, I was in the cloak,” she said.

“Oh… Okay.”

“It was like it was made of darkness,” she said. “And then I met a girl with telekinesis.”

“…Okay,” Ocean narrowed his eyes. These people were even stranger than he thought. People always said not to judge a book by its cover, but Ocean found that his first impressions were usually spot on.

“Were they near the mall?”

“No,” she said. “They were in a residential area. I can show you if you would like.”

“Oh, no, that’s alright,” Ocean said.

“You don’t believe us,” Xavier took the toothpick out from between his lips and flicked it to the ground.

“Oh, no, of course we believe you,” Ocean said. Despite his best efforts to sound like he meant it, he couldn’t even convince himself.

“There’s more to this world than you know,” Xavier pointed over at Quinn. “Try to pick her up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just pick her up, she doesn’t mind,” Xavier sighed.

“Like… flirt with her?”

“No! Physically!” Xavier grunted. “Do it like you would a princess. Support her at the bottom of her back and just above the back of her knees.”

Quinn took a step forward, and then turned around, pressing up against Ocean.

Ocean looked over at Liliana who looked just as confused as he did. What the hell had they gotten themselves into?

“What will this prove exactly?” He asked.

“It’ll prove that there are more to people than you think,” Xavier smiled.

“Just do it,” Liliana said. “You’re not making me jealous, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Ocean shrugged. He wasn’t the strongest guy, but he could probably handle someone her size.

Quinn wrapped her arms around his neck from the side, and he bent down slightly to place his hands where Xavier told him to.

“Okay, I’m lifting you now,” he said. He straightened up, bringing her with him. The second he did, his face went red. This was how people held each other on their wedding day.

“Notice anything?” Xavier asked.

Now that he mentioned it, the woman was light. Really, really light. “I can hardly even feel her,” Ocean said. “It’s like I’m carrying nothing.”

“Let me down and try to pick me up again,” Quinn said.

He did as he was told and readied himself to carry her. When he bent down, a terrible feeling suddenly struck the inside of his chest. Something was different.

With his hands in place, he moved to lift her. However, this time she didn’t even budge. It was like he was trying to pick up a statue nailed to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Liliana asked.

“She’s…” Ocean struggled. “She’s really heavy…”

Liliana glanced at Quinn, then back at him. “Oceania! You can’t say that about someone! It’s rude!”

“No, I mean it,” Ocean gave up before he hurt himself. “She’s impossibly heavy. I could throw out my back if I kept going.”

“I can change my weight as I see fit,” Quinn said, patting him on the back. “Do not be embarrassed.”

“This is insane…”

“Do you see now?” Xavier asked. “We’re the real deal, and when Quinn says she saw something crazy, she means it.”

Ocean was in shock, but he managed to mumble something that sounded like agreement.

“I’m afraid that’s all I have for now,” Quinn said. “I know it’s not much, but it’s clear that something big is happening in the city.”

“And you’d be wise not to underestimate the number of people involved in it,” Xavier added, his eyes dead serious.

“I’m sorry,” Ocean said.

“Add us on Clock Link.”

“Huh?”

Xavier took out his phone from inside his kimono. “Don’t you have an account? Everyone’s doing it.”

“I’m just surprised to hear that the KPW is using social media,” Ocean said, finally regaining his composure.

“Of course we are,” Xavier laughed.

“I mostly post pictures of rabbits,” Quinn said. “So I hope you like rabbits.”

Ocean and Liliana exchanged another look before taking out their phones and swapping contact information with them. They made sure they knew to contact them through their new page if they learned anything.

“Well we should really get going,” Quinn said, pointing at her shirt. “I’m on my way to work, as you can see.”

“One more question if it’s okay,” Ocean said. “Why ‘KPW’? How exactly are you ‘keeping Portland weird’? Aren’t you just keeping it safe?”

“Think about it this way,” Xavier said. “Every city in the world has crime, violence… and murder, right?”

“Sure,” Ocean said.

“Wouldn’t a truly weird city be one without these things?”

“I… guess so.”

Just then, he felt his legs quake as something down the street exploded.