CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
LIFE OF THE HALCYON
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Another two weeks went by, making it three weeks since Arkanis’ attack on the city. In that time, there’d still been no sighting of the shadow monster nor had Daedalus’ scanner picked up on his signature. It was almost like he’d vanished off the face of the earth which, if he was being honest, Dante really hoped he had.
Daedalus was spending all of his time upgrading the computer and hooking up to satellites to boost the reach and efficiency of the anomaly scanners but so far, this had turned up no signs of either one of Arkanis or the thief they met at the museum. Whenever the scanner picked up something, the signal would almost always fade instantly. They’d deduced that this was the effect of the thief using his abilities.
Wombat and Tiger had been assigned to AnomalyWatch and each time there was such a thing with the scanner, the two would go in search of the thief. They never ever found him. It seemed like the thief was doing it on purpose too, deliberately trying to annoy them since nothing had been reported missing in all that time too. And the jewels he’d stolen from the museums hadn’t yet popped up elsewhere, which meant he hadn’t tried to sell them yet. Chances were that he was stealing for the fun and thrill of it, which Dante supposed was better than doing it for malicious reasons.
Dang, on the other hand, had been taking on gig after gig since the battle against Arkanis. Much of the money he got went to helping those who’d lost stuff during the fight. He’d even volunteered a few times to help with clearing up some of the debris from the battle. Dante and the others had offered to help with this but Dang had politely declined. He’d said it had to be him who did it but Dante knew his doppelganger simply wanted to be left alone.
On a level, Dante suspected something was off with Dang, and it had been since the fight. Once, he’d peeked into the bathroom at the observatory and had seen Dang shirtless and drenched in sweat, standing right in front of the mirror, a slightly concerned expression on his face. Dang had seen him and had left the bathroom without saying anything. He’d spent the next three days out of the observatory.
It turned out he’d spent those three days at the shelter, which was now packed full following the fight with Arkanis. Most shelters across the city were but Dang had gone out of his way to refer as many people as possible to Helping Hands and so it was the most occupied shelter of the lot.
Anyways, with Wombat and Tiger dealing with smaller crimes and searching for the thief around the clock, Daedalus focused on preparing them for future anomalies and Dang seemingly bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders, Dante needed to figure out his own thing to do.
The whole vigilante-slash-superhero gig thing Daniel and Megan were doing didn’t exactly interest him, although he had lent them a hand a few times, not that they’d really needed him. And though it was for a good purpose, he didn’t exactly think he could do what Dang did and essentially put himself up as a superhuman for hire.
So, he decided he might try to do something in this world that didn’t need him to flame up or anything. Something that required him to just be ordinary. He chose to get a job as a lifeguard at a hotel, watching over the pool for most of his afternoons.
The interview had been pretty straightforward. The last lifeguard had decided to hightail it out of town after witnessing the destruction from the fight with Arkanis. The hotel manager had said Dante had the right build for the job.
The hotel was pretty impressive. In fact, Dante wasn’t sure “hotel” was the right word for it. It was more a resort, complete with a golf course and archery range, and a pristine, natural environment. The pool was adjoined to a bar and lounge, and that meant it was busy quite a lot. Most of the older men and women preferred to stay in the bar or lounge, passing away the time with glasses of whisky and vodka. This meant that the pool was largely occupied by the younger ones, mostly teenagers like Dante.
He quite liked it that way, he had to admit.
There were five other lifeguards he worked with, making six in total, and it was evenly split between boys and girls. For the boys, there was Scott and Sam Cletus, two twin brothers who could not look any more different if they tried. For example, Scott had a sharper, more chiseled edge to his face. His hair was in a buzz cut and had been dyed blond, and his eyes were a light brown, as was his skin. He was of pretty average height, about a few inches shorter than Dante himself.
Sam, on the other hand, was much taller than Dante was. Where Scott was stocky, Sam was lean–a real swimmer’s build. Sam’s hair was brown and shoulder-length, his skin olive, and his eyes - a cloudy gray.
In fact, the only reason Dante believed they were twins was because he’d met their dad, David Cletus, who happened to be the manager of the hotel, and David had corroborated the claim.
The two brothers were eighteen, months away from their nineteenth birthdays. In Cali, this was very much below the legal drinking age but neither of the brothers seemed to care, since they were constantly in possession of cans of beers and liked to try to convince Dante to share a drink with them.
Dante always turned down their offers. Of course, he’d had his fair share of liquor before. After all, his superhuman metabolism meant it took a lot longer before he felt the effects of intoxication. But he just wasn’t certain drinking on the job was the sort of impression he wanted to give.
“Life’s short,” Sam would say whenever Dante refused to drink. “You can never have too many drinks.”
The female lifeguards were older than the boys. There was Sarah, Valerie, and Molli–yes, with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’; he’d chosen not to ask why that was and had just assumed it was some weird thing this world had that his world didn’t. The oldest of the three was Valerie who was twenty-two and in her senior year of college. The lifeguard gig was a part-time thing for her, one she had to balance with waitressing.
Sarah and Molli were a year younger than Valerie was, and attended the same college she did.
Dante’s role was pretty easy. Whenever people came to the pool, he just had to point out the marker that highlighted where the pool’s danger zone began.
“It’s not recommended for anyone younger than fifteen or anyone shorter than five-eleven,” he’d say robotically, considering it was a line he’d uttered more than he could remember. Afterward, he’d just hang around by the pool, clad in the lifeguard shorts, a towel slung across his neck, the glow of the sun hitting his bare chest.
The job for him, was a way for him to get his mind off stuff. Back at the observatory, all he could think about was getting back home. If at all there would still be a home for him to return to. Here, however, he could just lay back and relax.
There were days when the pool was incredibly busy and others when it was just alright. Today was one of the just alright days.
He watched from his chair as Sam gave instructions to a little boy who didn’t know how to swim and was clinging to the edge of the pool, unwilling to let go like his mom had so tenderly asked him to.
Scott was over by the deeper end of the pool, crouched at the edge of it, grinning at a group of girls who’d been shooting him flirtatious looks all day.
Dante had gotten those looks too but for obvious reasons, he’d had to ignore them and remind himself that someday, he’d get back home…to her.
Sam joined him a few minutes later, hair soaked wet after the boy he’d been talking to had splashed him. He sat right next to Dante, combed through his hair with a hand and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pockets.
“You smoke?” he asked, waving the cigarette in Dante’s face. “I mean, you gotta smoke, right?”
Dante shook his head. “Nah. That stuff’s bad for your lungs. I mean, it’s written right there on the pack.”
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“It’s just propaganda,” Sam waved it off. He pulled a cigarette out. “You know my granddad smoked a lot?”
“Uh-huh,” Dante nodded. “He still around?”
“Nah,” Sam shook his head, lighting the cigarette. “He died a few years back.”
“Oh, sorry to hear that,” Dante replied. “How’d he die?”
“Oh, cancer,” Sam answered. He fit the cigarette between his lips and drew a long inhale. A moment later, he puffed out some smoke and coughed lightly, his eyes watering. “Nasty thing, really. He didn’t stand a chance. But hey, it was a long life, so it’s fine.”
“Right,” Dante nodded.
“What do you like, Dante?” Sam asked, a curious expression on his face. “You don’t seem to like beer, and you’ve been sitting here all day ignoring the looks from those girls so I take it you don’t like girls either. And you won’t smoke, so I’m guessing maybe you don’t like fire?”
Dante scoffed at that last bit. “Oh, I like girls. And I like fire too.”
“Well, if you like girls, what’re you doing just sitting here?” Sam nudged him with his elbow. “You are aware that the real benefit in being a lifeguard is all the girls, right?”
Dante looked down. “I thought it was in all the lives you get to save?”
Sam snorted. “Come on, man. It’s a pool. No one’s life is in danger here. If it was the beach, it’d be different. But here? I mean, there’s no smoking signs everywhere and here I am, slowly killing my lungs and no one’s batting an eye about it.”
At that moment, David Cletus emerged from the lounge. Sam spotted his father and his eyes went wide with fear.
The boy cursed under his breath, hastily extinguishing the cigarette and tossing it into his pocket. He shifted in his chair and cleared his throat, doing his best to appear innocent.
Mr. Cletus walked right toward them and Dante dreaded the conversation that was going to follow.
“Sam, where’s your–,” the hotel manager’s voice trailed. He sniffed the air. His expression darkened. “Was someone smoking here?”
Dante exchanged subtle looks with Sam. Dante craned his neck around as though scanning the surroundings. He looked back to the manager and shook his head. “Uh, no, not that I’ve noticed. Why? Do you smell smoke?”
The pudgy manager frowned. “You don’t?”
Both Dante and Sam shook their heads.
“Huh,” Cletus said. “Ah, maybe it’s something with my nose. Might have to get my sinuses checked again.”
“Right, probably,” Sam nodded. “Anyways, what was it you were about to ask me?”
“Where’s Scott?”
Scott then joined them, throwing an arm around his dad’s shoulder. “What’s up, pops? You’re looking for me?”
Scott had a lipstick smudge on his cheek now.
“Ah yes,” Cletus glanced at his son. “I just got a call from that school you applied to. They’re inviting you to a physical meeting tomorrow; they were impressed with your application and portfolio.”
“Sweet,” Scott grinned like it wasn’t all that big of a deal, although Cletus looked to be brimming with pride.
Cletus looked at Dante. “He’s going to Sparkview University,” he boasted. “Can you believe it? Best university in the state. And he could get a free run too!”
“Oh, that’s incredible,” Dante said, even though he’d never heard of a Sparkview University–partly because most universities on his world had long since been obliterated. “I didn’t think you were the academic sort.”
Scott shrugged. “Eh, what can I say? I try sometimes.”
“He’s a nerd,” Sam rolled his eyes. “College at eighteen, it’s ridiculous, really. Me? I’m taking a gap year, need to really connect with my soul, you know? I’m in no rush for a degree or a doctorate like little quantum physicist here.”
“Anyways, I just thought to tell you,” Cletus said. “Meet is scheduled for noon tomorrow.”
“Woah,” Scott frowned. “Noon? Can’t it be shifted? I’ve got a date with Jessica. Or was it Monica?” He glanced at the group of girls he’d been with moments earlier. “Actually, I think I’ve got a date with both of them.”
At the end of Dante’s shift, he headed to dressing room to change back into his clothes, along with Scott and Sam.
“Say, Dante, I know you don’t like to do fun stuff, but we’re probably going to have a party tomorrow,” Sam said. “That’s if Scott gets into this school, of course. Seven o’clock, our place.”
“I don’t know where you live,” Dante said with a straight face.
“I’ll text you the address,” Sam replied, nudging Dante in the shoulder playfully. “You should come. It’ll be fun. All of our parties are.”
“And your dad’s going to be there?” Dante asked, unsure whether or not he wanted to attend a party where his boss would be present.
“What, no, we don’t live with our dad,” Sam snorted. “We’ve got our own place. Pretty sick.”
“Yep,” Scott agreed, nodding. “Really, you should come. You can come with your friends too. The more, the merrier. Wait, you do have friends, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose I do,” Dante shrugged, although he wasn’t entirely certain he wanted the others and the multiversal stuff they had going on right now to mix in with a personal life he’d just acquired. He slipped on his shirt. “You know what, sure, I’ll be there. Just text me the address and I’ll pop by.”
“Cool,” Sam nodded. “See you tomorrow then.”
Much to Dante’s surprise, he found Daniel and Megan waiting for him at the hotel reception on his way out. Daniel had on a flannel jacket covering his white T-shirt and blue denim trousers. He completed his outfit with white sneakers.
Megan had on a red top, black jacket, black pants, black shoes.
He half-frowned at the sight of the two of them and looked around to be sure the hotel hadn’t somehow been blown in half without him noticing.
“What are you guys doing here?” he asked them.
“Daedalus mentioned you’d be here,” Daniel answered, rising to his feet, a playful smile on his face. “See, Meg and I wanted to go have fun at the Cheshire Arcade, we go there a lot. We figured we’d make it a group thing, you know, for bonding. But Dang’s off doing Dang knows what and Daedalus is hunting for a shadow monster and a passionate thief, so we figured we’d check with you.”
“An arcade?” Dante asked. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d played video games.
“Yeah, it’d be nice for us Fire Bros to hang out, right?” Daniel extended a fist for a fist bump. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging.”
“Doesn’t the city need the Heroic Heroes tonight?”
“Even the good guys have to have fun sometimes, right?” Megan asked. “Besides, things have been pretty quiet for the past few days.”
“That a good thing or a bad thing?” Dante asked.
“Probably a bad thing,” Daniel shrugged. “Usually, in this line of work, when things get quiet, it’s almost always because something incredibly loud is about to happen. But hey, if we handled a shadow monster, we can probably handle anything else that comes our way, right?”
“Yeah, sure,” Dante nodded. Remembering the fight with Arkanis annoyed him for a lot of reasons, the most significant of which was that he was certain that if he got a chance for a do-over, he could have handled things better. The pressure from that moment had gotten to him. And it’d taken an insane show of his power from his doppelganger to save him. He didn’t want that ever happening again.
“Great, so arcade then?” Daniel asked, his fist bump still on offer. “Just so you know, you’re still leaving me hanging, dude.”
“Alright, sure,” Dante smiled, bumping Daniel’s fist. “Let’s go to your arcade.”
“Haha, yes!” Daniel punched the air excitedly. “Also, I saw a couple cute girls leaving here some minutes ago. I think they came for the pool. You wouldn’t happen to have any of their numbers, would you?”
“You’d have to ask Scott for that but something tells me he won’t be willing to share.”
“Who’s Scott?” Daniel pursed his lips together and tilted his head.
“Long story.”
The arcade was little more than an arcade. It had an entire bowling section and a darts section too, which was where they warmed up. Megan obliterated both Dante and Daniel in both of those, and Dante deduced that there’d been some dodginess to the defeats, especially since he’d seen a bowling ball suddenly lift itself.
“You’re using your wind powers,” he said, narrowing his eyes at them.
“The game is the game,” Megan shrugged, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Wind’s not going to save you in Mortal Kombat,” Daniel said.
“Mortal Kombat?” Dante queried. “What’s that?”
“Wait, you didn’t have that on your world?” Daniel stared at Dante in disbelief. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope.”
Mortal Kombat turned out to be a pretty gory yet deeply addictive fighting game, and it turned out Dante had a natural knack for it. He went unbeaten after fourteen games–seven with Daniel and seven with Megan.
Afterward, he stepped aside and let Daniel duke it out with Megan. Daniel emerged victorious after another seven rounds of which he won five.
After this, they went and grabbed ice cream.
“Your world had ice cream, right?” Daniel asked as they emerged back out onto the street. “It’d be depressing if it didn’t.”
“Yes,” Dante snorted. “I’d like to believe every world has ice cream. It’s just one of those inventions I imagine the human race would naturally arrive at in every world. Kind of like smartphones, or at least, some form of instant communication.”
“But no arcades?”
“Most of my world got screwed during a multiversal invasion so you’re going to have to pardon us for that,” Dante said.
“I guess protecting the arcades in this world is a good enough reason to fight back against an invasion,” Daniel said. He turned serious then. “Do you guys really think it’ll happen? What Daedalus and Dang say, that the invasion could be coming here?”
“There’s an established pattern that sort of says it will happen,” Dante shrugged. “It’s only just a matter of when, and how. But I think it should be fine. There’s a whole lot of us around, ready to fight.”
“Yeah, but you have to get back to your world, right?” Megan asked. “When Daedalus isn’t working on the scanners, he’s researching quantum physics and trying to figure out how to recreate multiversal displacement to get back to his world. If you two are back on your worlds by the time an invasion starts, that just leaves Dang and the two of us to fight it. I don’t think I like those odds very much.”
“Eh, you’ll probably be fine,” Dante said. “You two did solidly against Arkanis, I figure you’ll have more than enough in you to blow up a few hundred thousand murderbots. Besides, we don’t know anything for sure just yet. All I said was there’s a pattern…for all we know, Bellum just might decide to skip over this world.”
“Nah, I want him to come,” Daniel grinned. “I’d like to punch him in the face for destroying all the arcades on your world.”
All three of them exchanged looks and then burst into laughter.
They continued down the street, quipping and bantering and in that moment, there was nothing in the world that bothered them.
In fact, the only things they spoke about the rest of the way were arcades, bowling, and ice cream.
And Dante, perhaps for the first time since he’d wound up on this world, actually felt quite at peace.
He felt happy.