“Are you sure we’re supposed to be down here?,” asked Money. She looked up and

down the corridor.

“The Mark said we had free rein to explore except his personal quarters up at the top

of the place,” said Eleanor. “Usually you’re the one who wants to adventure.”

“I know, but this place is really creepy,” said Money. “That guy in the coat knew this

was the Mark’s place. That’s why he directed us here in the first place.”

“The Mark knew him, so he can’t be all bad,” said Carrie.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Eleanor. “It’s more like they know each other but work

in different places like neighbors.”

“But the Mark is letting us live here now,” said Carrie. “So he did look out for us.”

“We’re going to school,” said Money. She stamped her foot. “I thought we ran away

so we wouldn’t have to go to school.”

“We ran away so we could stick together,” said Eleanor. “You know that.”

“And the Mark has been cool about things,” said Carrie. “He probably couldn’t adopt

us. The government probably frowns on superheroes having kids around.”

“We should ask him,” said Money. “I bet he would if we ask him.”

“And what do we do if he says no?,” asked Eleanor.

“We’re no worse off,” said Carrie. “Money is right. We should ask. If he adopted us,

he’s not likely to put us off on another family, or split us up.”

“And I think he is waiting for us to leave on our own,” said Money. “He’s waiting on

us to say we want to stay.”

“You don’t know that,” said Eleanor.

“I’m positive that’s what’s going on,” said Money. “At very least, he likes having us

around to take care of Spiffy.”

“Who doesn’t need us to take care of him,” said Eleanor.

“That doesn’t change things,” said Carrie. “You’re being contrary.”

She pushed on a door with her hand. A room full of stuff stood on the other side. She

stepped into the room and started looking around. The other girls paused in their

argument to follow her into the room.

“What is all this?,” asked Money. She waved her hand at the displays on stands and

shelves as far as the eye could see. Models even hung from the ceiling.

“There are labels,” said Carrie. “Red Mark and Rocket stop Dr. Sybil’s siege of Los

Angeles, 1941.”

“There are books back there,” said Eleanor. “I wonder what’s in them.”

“I think we have stumbled on a batcave,” said Money. She spun in place.

“This does look like a museum,” said Carrie.

“Who’s the Red Mark?,” asked Eleanor. “Who’s Miss Mark?”

“Girls!,” called the Mark. He appeared in the door and froze. He took in the museum

silently. “I thought I had this sealed up.”

“What is all this?,” asked Carrie. “It’s great.”

“This is Will’s room,” said the Mark. “I have to go deal with an emergency. I don’t

know when I’ll be back. Get something from the kitchen, or go over to Cassie’s. Just

put it on my tab like usual.”

“Wait,” said Money, holding up her hand. “We had a question.”

“Really?,” said the Mark.

Money froze. The look on his face showed impatience to go, and a small amount of

irritation over the room.

“Would you adopt us if you could?,” asked Carrie.

“Sure,” said the Mark. He looked at the three girls. “It would be dangerous for you,

and there would be problems with the system. I could call Barry, and ask him to help

out, I guess. Are you sure you want to be adopted by me? It would make you three

targets.”

“Barry?,” asked Eleanor.

“My lawyer,” said the Mark. “Remember what I said about dinner, and stay out of this

room. Some of the things may still work. Will wasn’t always careful about that.”

He vanished before they could ask him any more questions.

“Barry the lawyer?,” asked Eleanor.

“Who’s Will?,” asked Carrie.

“Is the Mark gay?,” asked Money. “That would explain so much.”

“Let’s talk to Cassie,” said Carrie. “She’ll know something about this.”

“She might not tell us,” said Eleanor.

“He said he would adopt us,” said Money. “I knew he would. Why does he have a

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lawyer?”

“He never talks about any of this stuff,” said Eleanor. “He never said anything about

a Red Mark.”

“Maybe he thinks we already know,” said Carrie.

“He is famous,” said Money.

“Everyone knows about the Mark,” said Eleanor. “How many people actually know

him?”

“How many people know there was more than one?,” asked Carrie. She thought about

Spiffy. She remembered when they had met the Mark the first day, he had said

Spiffy’s owner had died and that’s why he was keeping him. “What about Spiffy?”

“What about him?,” asked Eleanor.

“How do you get a Mark Gopher?,” said Carrie. She waved in the direction she

thought Spiffy’s grassland was from the museum room.

“Hey, guys!,” called Money. “Look at what I found.”

Eleanor and Carrie joined their younger sister. She stood in front of a display of

statues. Each had a label with a name and two dates on it.

“The other Marks,” said Eleanor.

“They all died the same year,” said Carrie.

“How do you know?,” asked Money.

“The second date on the plaques are the days they died,” said Carrie. She pointed at

the dates. “It looks like they died within days of each other.”

“We can talk to Cassie about this,” said Eleanor. “She’s the Mark’s friend. She’ll

know about these other Marks.”

“The Mark did say we could eat at her place,” said Money.

“Let’s go before he gets back,” said Carrie. “Emergencies don’t seem to last that long

once the Mark is on the scene.”

The girls hurried from the room. Eleanor made sure to shut the door as they left. Why

hadn’t the Mark said anything about the room? She had a suspicion he hadn’t wanted

them to find it despite giving them free rein to roam the tower.

He might have thought he had sealed it off after Will had died.

Who was Will?

The girls made their way through the maze that was the Mark’s tower. Cassie would

know what was going on, or know how to find out. She and the Mark seemed to be

friends. She must know something.

Eleanor wondered how they met. Cassie was strange in her own right. She always

wore a glove on one hand, and carried a large knife in a sheath at the small of her

back.

“Do you think this Will guy was Spiffy’s owner?,” asked Money.

“Maybe,” said Carrie. “Five dead Marks. Any of them could have been Spiffy’s

owner.”

“I thought the Mark was invincible,” said Eleanor. “Our Mark acts like it. Maybe

there is something out there tougher than him.”

They pushed out of a door in an alley a few blocks from Good Eats. The sign was still

half lit. Eleanor frowned as she thought about what they could say to Cassie. The

woman was trustworthy, but they had no idea what to ask, and how much of an

answer would be helpful.

“We should just go in and ask for advice,” said Carrie. “Cassie won’t mind talking

to us.”

“There’s the guy,” said Money. She pointed at a man in a coat walking by the diner.

She ran to catch up. He turned when he heard her approach. He smiled when he saw

Money. He waved his cigar in greeting.

“You fibbed to us,” said Money. “We almost got sent back to the orphanage.”

“But you didn’t,” said the man in the coat. He looked up at Eleanor and Carrie

bearing down on him. “I think things have worked out okay for you three.”

“Who are you?,” asked Eleanor. She glanced at Carrie. The middle sister was trying

to catch her breath from the brief sprint.

“I’m just a nobody, Eleanor,” said the man in the coat. He took a puff of his cigar. “A

bit part in how the world works.”

“What do you know about the other Marks?,” asked Carrie. Her sisters looked at her.

“He knows. You can tell.”

“I don’t think that’s my tale to tell,” said the man in the coat. “Have you asked the

Mark about it?”

“We just found out, and he had a job to do,” said Eleanor. “You can give us

something. You owe us for the lie you told us.”

“Do I?,” said the man in the coat. He seemed amused.

“Yes, you do,” said Money. “You owe us for almost sending us back to the

orphanage.”

“You had a choice,” said the man in the coat. His face took on a dark expression.

“You made things work out for you. I don’t owe you anything.”

“You owe me, bud,” said the cheerful voice of Cassie Troy. She leaned against the

door frame of her diner. She smiled at the confrontation.

“I don’t owe you either, Cassandra,” said the man in the coat. He pulled on his

cheerful expression a little slower than when he had taken it off. “Remember girls,

you all have a choice in what you do. It’s up to you to make it work out for the best.

Nobodies like me don’t even have that.”

He turned and walked down the street, pulling on his coat.

“Don’t worry about him,” said Cassie. “He doesn’t like to explain himself, and he

doesn’t like to state some of the choices he hands out aren’t really choices at all.”

“He’s a good guy, right?,” asked Carrie.

“Most of the time,” said Cassie. “He’s known enough that people that deal with him

expect there’s more to the problem than what he says. What can I do for you, girls?”

“We would like to ask you some things about the Mark,” said Eleanor. She looked

down the street, but the man in the coat was gone.

“I can talk to you after the rush is gone,” said Cassie.

“We got sidetracked,” said Carrie. “We also came to get dinner. The Mark said to put

it on his tab.”

“Come on in,” said Cassie. “I’ll rustle you up some grub and we’ll talk after things

settle down some.”

The sisters settled in the big booth in the back. Eleanor stared out of the window. She

tapped on the table lightly.

“What’s eating you?,” asked Money.

“That guy,” said Eleanor. “He knows everything we need to know. He wants us to

find it on our own. He didn’t just show up. We’re looking at one of his choices.”

“I think he wants us to take over from the Mark,” said Carrie.

“I don’t think we can,” said Money. “For one thing, the Mark isn’t just going to hand

us powers.”

“He did in the past,” said Eleanor. “But they all died. He probably won’t do it again.”

“So what’s the choice we’re being shown?,” asked Carrie. “And why won’t he tell

us?”

“It’s not a choice if someone tells you this is the future,” said Eleanor. “It isn’t the

same kind of choice as what he offers. He wants us to make a good decision, but he

can’t tell us for whatever reason. He was really ticked when we said he didn’t give

us any way to handle things.”

“He probably thought just sending us to talk to the Mark would get him what he

wanted,” said Carrie.

“But it hasn’t,” said Money. “The Mark doesn’t want to give us powers, and doesn’t

need our help to go about his business. There are plenty of other heroes out there he

can depend on instead of us. We don’t have any experience capturing some villain

and his masked monkey.”

“I think we need to know what happened to the other Marks,” said Eleanor. “And I

don’t think our Mark is going to tell us.”

“Here you go, girls,” said Cassie. She arrived with three different drinks, and three

different dishes for the sisters. “Give me a few minutes to settle things, and we’ll

talk.”

“Thanks,” said Carrie.

The girls ate their meals in silence. Eleanor watched the street. She felt the Mark

would show up any second and interrupt their talk with Cassie. The fact that he didn’t

said he was facing something serious wherever he was.

What happened to them if he never came back from one of the jobs he went on?

Eleanor thought the three of them could keep the tower if they fended off anyone

trying to break in to use it for whatever reason.

And Spiffy would help them. She had no fear he wouldn’t use his powers to do things

to protect the maze around his spot.

Eleanor noted the dining room slowly emptied out as they waited. She thought Cassie

was seeing people out just so they could talk. She didn’t know what to say to that.

Cassie locked the door and joined them at the booth.

“So what’s the problem?,” she asked.

//