“Thanks for meeting me,” Kimona said, going in for a hug. “How have you been?”

“Don't worry Kimmy. It’s not a problem, anything for you." Terri sighed. "And yeah, I’ve been alright thanks.”

Kimona looked at her unconvinced. “You don't sound sure Terri? It’s been a crazy few months for you.”

“Oh you know… nothing I can’t handle.” She smiled and brushed her hair behind her left ear. Kimona knew that was one of her tells when she wasn’t being honest about something. “Anyway, is everything alright with you? This seemed like something more than a FaceTime could solve.”

It was Kimona's turn to sigh. Since her last confrontation with Iron Lung, she had been beating herself up over how she handled it and didn’t deliver results by bringing him in when she had the chance.

She had also been keeping all the news about where Iron Lung came from and what The Secretary had told her to herself, except to Adam and Raj of course.

She proceeded to bring Terri up to date on everything that had been going on. “...And I just feel awful about lying about why I didn’t bring Iron Lung in, despite knowing deep down that he will just carry on killing! But I kind of believe him.”

“Ok look…. I wouldn’t beat yourself up. You’ll get him another time if he does.”

“But I know what people will say is true- that I’ve given him a free pass to keep killing. Innocent people, only so that he can wait for his friends to turn up... which could also be for years!” she ranted.

“Or they could've already resurfaced?” Terri suggested, not helpfully. “Maybe he’s already… eaten them? And he’s making you think he’s waiting for them so he can carry on his... killing.”

“Oh God, that's not what I want to hear. But yes...that’s a possibility, isn't it? Which I guess is doubly why I need your help then. I want to go and meet with Grady Stone.”

Terri's face dropped and she looked gravely at Kimona. “As in the former Old Glory? Does The Secretary know you want to meet him?”

“No, because then I’d have to tell her I found Iron Lung and left him in the sea.”

“I don’t know Kim,” Terri said. “He was an icon back in the day but since his retirement he’s publicly spoken out about his time in the Bureau of Altered Persons. I don’t think he’s going to want to speak to you. He's very against anything like that.”

“I have to try Terri. Please, will you help me?”

Terri huffed and stroked the quartz chunk on her wrist. “Well it’s been years since I’ve been to Hawaii.”

***

“How are you feeling?” Terri asked. Her and Kimona had got out of the taxi that parked at the end of the long drive leading up to Grady Stone’s paradise home.

Set in the shadows of Ka'ala, the house was hidden amongst the lush green trees. The start of the drive wasn’t gated, so they didn't find themselves faced with the possibility of being turned away prematurely.

“Eager. I feel eager to meet him. I’ve read a lot about him since I spoke to you about it.”

“Well just don’t be surprised if he’s not very welcoming,” Terri cautioned.

“Sure. Let’s go.” Kimona started walking up the drive with Terri following.

The driveway was gravelled and snaked for two hundred metres until it opened into a lavish courtyard that the house wrapped around.

Kimona continued to the front door and knocked. No answer.

“Can I help?” a gruff male voice asked from behind them.

They both turned, to see a man in his sixties stood there in navy shorts and white polo tee shirt. “Hi, urm, I’m Kimona Jones and this is Terri Turlingston. Are you Grady Stone?”

“I think at this point in your travels all the way here, that you know full well that I am Grady Stone ma'am. What I’m wantin’ to know is why in the darned hell you made the journey in the first place!”

Terri gave Kimona a side eye which smelt of ‘I told you so’, which she tried to ignore and pushed on.

“I’ve come... I've come to ask you some questions. A-about the storm you came through?”

“Oh hell no. I’m n-”

“Please, it happened to me too. I disappeared in a storm in 1939.”

“Yeah, I know all about you Agwé. I’ve seen you on the news and shit.” Stone turned and started to walk off.

“I just want to know what you remember, if anything, about your storm. I’m still piecing it all together. See, I thought I was the only one.”

“What’s to know? Me an’ my crew went missing and two of us has come back through already. But life moves on. You have to leave that shit behind because there’s nothing I can tell you ‘bout a Goddamn storm that will make it not happen. You gots to learn that girl. Now, sorry to have wasted your time but I’d like you to go.”

“But I’ve met Iron Lung a few times. He’s still out there,” Kimona desperately blurted out.

Grady Stone’s stare hardened. “Iron Lung was a name given to him in the day. I never liked having to use it. His real name is Bobby Hood. He was. Now he’s a monster. Surprised to hear he’s still around but I wants to keep my nose out of that sorta thing now and it makes me want you here even less.”

“If you change your mind then-”

“Not a chance. I have a wife and daughter to protect now and this is not a can of worms I want to be reopening.”

“C’mon Kim, let’s go. You tried,” Terri whispered taking her elbow.

***

The girls turned and walked in silence down the drive to where they started.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Terri decided to break that silence. “Maybe he’s right? Look, no amount of talking about it will change or improve anything. Why not just leave it and get on with how things are? Hear me out, you wouldn’t have been any wiser if Isaac hadn’t said anything in the first place. And now, at least now you know you’re not the only one, and there’s still two more new friends to look out for.” Terri smiled to further soften the reality check she was delivering. “Sometimes you just can’t explain things...”

“I suppose,” Kimona grumbled, fishing for her cell in her bag. “I’ll call us a taxi.”

“Sorry! Wait, please!” a voice called out from the drive. A young woman in a flowy white knee length dress came running towards them. She must’ve been Grady’s daughter he mentioned, as she shared his West Indies heritage.

“Hi, thanks for waiting up! I’m Emele. It’s an honor to meet you both. Sorry about my father.”

“It’s alright. I caught him off guard. It’s understandable,” Kimona reasoned.

“Have you already called a taxi? Have you got time for us to talk? The beach isn’t far.” The pair agreed and Emele led them off. “My papa is very against discussing his old life anymore. We’re used to it now of course, but when it does come up, he shuts it down. When he’s watching the news… and when you’re on it,” she added, sheepishly looking at Kimona.

“Me?”

“Yeah, I’m afraid.”

“Because I came through a storm?”

“Yeah, because it just brings memories back. And then how you have joined The Enhanced Beings Collective, it's like he’s seeing what happened to him all over again and he hates it.”

“But times have changed since the seventies and eighties. The way Enhanceds are seen has changed. I know what happened to your dad was awful, and I know that a pardon from the President only goes a small way to make up for things, but I’m certain it wouldn’t happen again,” Terri assured.

Terri was referring to an incident in the in the early eighties in which Old Glory fought to save Oakland against the threat of a dirty bomb which just ended up being a distraction for another bomb on the Oakland Bridge, which ended up detonating and killing hundreds.

In the aftermath, Grady was blamed and the public and even key Government officials turned their back on him. He then retired and moved to Hawaii. In the early noughties the newly elected President issued an official apology for the way he was treated, but the damage had already been done and Stone rejected it.

“Times have changed, right?” Emele asked rhetorically, pulling a face which suggested she actually thought otherwise.

“Regardless, we have to respect your father’s wish to protect you. I didn’t mean to upset him,” Kimona said.

“His idea of protecting me is making sure I don’t become inclined to use my own enhancements. I don’t actually need protecting from anything.”

“Oh, you have enhancements too?” Terri asked, her curiosity piqued.

“Yeah,” Emele said excitedly. She turned to face the water, lifting her arm up and facing her palm out.

From the sea, a giant water statue of herself started to emerge, head first. Then the shoulders, torso and then the legs until it stood a hundred feet tall on the water. Not only that, it was etched with distinguishable features and within the giant water statue were fish swimming.

Kimona and Terri looked up at it in awe. And as quick as it had gone up, it was released and the water rained back down onto the sea.

“I can do other things too. Like heal, breathe under water, and I can control sea animals. I have tough skin too. I’m kinda like you, Kimona,” she said, smiling shyly and blushing.

Kimona found herself blushing back.

“Wow, that’s... amazing, isn’t it Kim?” Terri gushed. Kimona simply nodded, a little lost for words.

“Emele! What the hell are you doing?!” her father could be heard yelling, as he marched down to the beach. “What have I told you about using your enhancements?!”

She sighed. “That you don’t want me to do it.”

“Too right! And I thought I asked you two to leave… No, that’s right! I did!”

“Dad, I wanted to speak to them!” she argued back. “To show them what I can do. I’m just like her. Like you.”

“I’ve told you Emele, I don’t wants you to use your enhancements. It’s too dangerous and I’m not going to have that life for you. Now go back to the house!”

“Dad, I’m in my twenties! Don’t talk to me like I’m a child!”

“Then stop acting like one, and listen to me!” he shouted back furiously.

“We’ll go,” Terri quietly urged.

“Damn right!” Grady spat, turning to her and Kimona.

“No, wait. Sorry Mr Stone," Kimona said somewhat foolishly or bravely. "Before we do, I do just want to apologise for coming here. I just wanted help to find some answers about what happened to me. And I’m really sorry for what happened back to you in the eighties. You didn’t deserve that. But don’t take your anger of the situation out on your daughter, who clearly has an amazing talent.”

“Kim, don’t do this,” Terri whispered, pulling at her arm.

“No, I’m not finished. It’s just that I know my Dad would’ve been very proud of me and what I can do if he could see me. He wouldn’t want to hold me back. That’s all I wanted to say. Come on Terri, now we can go.” Kimona took her friend’s hand and walked the out to sea where Kimona created a platform of water that took them off and along the coast.

“What about a taxi?” Terri asked.

“I just wanted the quickest way out of there.”

“It was so brave saying all that just then. Stupid, but brave too.”

“It just sucks. She has her dad around and he’s squashing her potential and her uniqueness. It feels like a waste.” Terri looked at her friend sympathetically. “But I’m going to drop the storm stuff now. If anything’s come out of today then yeah. Fuck it. It happened, and nothing’s going to change that. I just have to focus on living in the now.”

“Amen to that, Kimona. Amen.”