Chapter 27
The next three weeks passed by quickly in the leadup to the first official challenge of the Top Seed competition. June and Ken spend most of their free time training, including many sparring sessions where they did their best to hide certain aspects of their powers while still pushing themselves, and each other, to grow. Often, Jax would join them only to sit on the sideline reading comics and heckling the losers of each match.
When he wasn’t with his sister and his new roommate, Jax enjoyed spending time with Bobby, Joel, and Bailey, playing video games, binging TV shows, and finding new and creative ways to fit Captain Crunch into meal planning for the dorm. Jax had had his time in college cut short, but hanging out with Bailey and Joel allowed him to relive at least a small bit of that experience, albeit in a far more high-stakes and competitive atmosphere.
Ashley spent most of her time alone. After her fight with Bailey, she retreated into her own head. She constantly questioned her instincts and worried that she might be rubbing the other Challengers the wrong way. The time alone did give her a distinct benefit, however: it gave her time to research new plants and botanical effects that she could explore during the rest of her downtime, potentially giving her an edge in the coming challenges.
The Top Seed production wound down as well. America voted on the rest of the All-Star team, and The Show announced their selections during a live broadcast a few days before the first official challenge. Aside from Ken and June, The Challengers were unfamiliar with the new crop of All-Stars, and none of them actually knew any personally. Their familiarity was based on articles they had read like “Top Heralds: 20 under 20” and “Up and Coming Capes: Whose Stock is on the Rise?” June wasn’t too worried by America’s choices, but Ken was a cautious man.
A few of the new All-Stars were particularly worrisome for Ken. He knew that Dark Devil was more adept than her powers let on. It wasn’t her ability to create a cloud of pure darkness that made her a threat; it was the fact that she had trained to be absolutely deadly in that darkness. Gluttony’s strength was already renowned, even at the young age of sixteen. Arsenal’s psychic weapons could not be blocked by physical means. And the brothers, Handimorph and Animatorch, had powers that were unpredictable, to say the least. Ken had concerns about the whole lot, but none were as powerful as his cousin, Horizon. She had taken great care to guard the secret of her powers, and Ken would not betray her by revealing that secret to anyone. If he was going to defeat her, he would do it honorably.
The night before the first event, it was announced that the challenge theme would be “The Healer.” It seemed that they were going to dedicate each official trial to one of The Council’s members. The current Healer of The Council was Aurora. Although she hadn’t been seen in public in nearly a decade, it was rumored that she was traveling in the far North on a mission to discover if her thermal control could be used to somehow cure cancer.
The Challengers all got together, on the eve of the trial, for dinner. It was the first time the entire group of twelve had spent any real time together. Most stuck to their already-formed friendships and bonds or just hung out alone or with their roommates. But on the eve of the big premiere, it just seemed right to get together, break bread, and discuss the coming test. It turned out that Connor, a 25-year-old Irish American bloke, actually lived in Meta-Eden. His father owned a motorcycle repair shop that was frequented by workers at Herald HQ and even by some of the Council members themselves. Spencer was an older Russian gentleman who was confined to wearing a fully contained Hazmat suit. Apparently, the PR consultant had reinforced the helmet with an indestructible glass-like material: the same material found in the windows of the HQ and Spire. Cecilia and Megan seemed to have hit it off as roommates, with the former being the more outgoing of the pair. Rounding out the group was Ralph. Ralph was an odd duck. He seemed to eat only cereal and spoke almost entirely in quotations from Sci-fi television and movies. He even claimed to have been abducted by aliens as a child, which was how he got his powers. No one believed the story but played along anyway.
The meal was surprisingly lighthearted, as was speculation about what the following day’s challenge would entail. Most thought that they would have to revive a dying civilian. Ashley seemed to be trying to speak into existence the idea that they would be tasked with resurrecting a dying rainforest or solving global warming, and Ralph eagerly joined her in that hope. The Healer was a tough concept to imagine as a combat trial, unlike The Armory, The Warrior, or even The Show. For his part, Joel was thinking toward the future, wondering what a challenge based around The Coin or The Tycoon would encompass.
As the evening wore on, The Challengers started to break off and began their bedtime routines. Ken found a quiet spot in which to meditate. Joel called his mom and dad to check in on them and remind them how to watch tomorrow’s live episode. Bailey and Ashley ignored each other while washing their faces, putting on their pajamas, and crawling into bed to read. Bobby put on his headphones to listen to his favorite music while he drifted off to sleep. Jax and June stayed up laughing in the kitchen and eating ice cream from the container.
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Eventually, the dorm went quiet and dark as The Challengers dreamt of victory or defeat, of fame and fortune, of narrow escapes and goals achieved. However, not everyone’s dreams were so simple.
***
Joel walked on the beach, sun in his eyes, soft sand between his toes. For the first time since Joel had gotten his powers, he was relaxed. At peace even. He sifted through the sand to find rocks to skip along the waves. Finally, he stood and smiled as he looked out at the water. He couldn’t think of the last time he was at a beach. Come to think of it, he’d only been to the beach once in his life, and that was when he was five. As he pored over his memories, Joel looked to his left and saw his roommate standing next to him. Bobby gazed hauntingly at the horizon. He looked as though a wraith had replaced his body, hollowing him out. Joel followed his vacant stare out to the water. Just then, the skies darkened, and a storm formed instantly; clouds rolled, and lightning crashed in the distance. The peaceful beating of the waves had turned aggressive and began to violate the beach combatively. Thunder sounded in the distance as the dark clouds erased the sun’s warmth and joy. The air conspired with the sun, and the temperature dropped to a teeth-rattling cold.
Joel tried to remain calm but was failing miserably. He had never experienced anything like this. Even the dangers of The Culling seemed like child’s play compared to this. He got the feeling that logic was no longer at play here. Joel turned to Bobby and shook him hard, and stared him straight in his dead black eyes.
“Hey man, we gotta get out of here.” Joel managed to sound calm and authoritative despite his fear. He couldn’t even hear his own voice over the combination of thunder and whipping winds, but his friend did nothing to acknowledge his presence.
“It's time,” Bobby said to himself in a monotone calmness as he tilted his head, still staring straight ahead. “The waters bring death. The Reaper is here. I can feel it in my bones.” Bobby walked to the ocean as if accepting his fate. A giant wave loomed over them both, ready to swallow them up.
Joel sprinted toward Bobby, attempting to summon his moon powers, secrets and training be damned, but to his surprise, he couldn’t. He was human again. Joel’s sense of inadequacy threatened to overwhelm him. He had worked hard to overcome these feelings of powerlessness. But he had no time to linger on these thoughts. He had to concentrate on saving Bobby. The wave was a split second from crashing onto land and dragging Bobby out to sea. Joel grabbed his new buddy by the shoulder, but it was too late. The wave swallowed them both, yanking them from the security of land and throwing them into the vast, uncaring sea.
Joel gripped Bobby’s arm as they both thrashed wildly under the waves, trying to break the water’s surface, desperate for air but sinking deeper and deeper into the inky black void of the ocean, the pressure crushing their bodies, making herculean tasks out of the simplest of movements. Something wrapped around Joel’s feet and ankles, seaweed reaching up from the depths and pulling Joel and Bobby further and further away from salvation. Between the darkness of the ocean and the tangle of seaweed, Joel was unable to find a way to free them from the growing kelp knot. Tendrils ripped Joel away from Bobby, yet still restraining them both. The darkness consumed them. A thunderous, bone-rattling voice boomed from the ocean’s deep dark floor.
“Bobby, you can not escape me. No matter how far you run, no matter where you hide, I will always find you.” It sounded ancient and dispassionate, as though speaking a simple truth.
Joel felt Bobby stop struggling. He couldn’t let him give up and accept this fate. Joel tried to break free, but the seaweed tightened, choking even more air out of him. His vision started to blur. Darkness crept in around the edges of his eyes. This couldn’t be the end. Joel reached deep within his core to summon his meta gifts in one last desperate attempt to save himself, but just as before, nothing happened. There was nothing more he could do. As Joel felt the life drain from his body, he was pulled into the void of the ocean's cold depths. Everything went black.
***
Joel woke up gasping for air and practically jumped off his bed. He grasped frantically at his own body and looked around the room in a panic.
“What the fuck, dude? You ok?” Bobby said groggily from his bunk while rubbing his eyes.
“Oh, uh, sorry. Yeah, I'm fine.” Joel said, eyeing Bobby up and down. “Just a bad dream, I guess.”
“No one wants to hear about your freaky dreams, buddy,” Bobby said nonchalantly as he turned over in his bed to get a few more hours of sleep before their big day.
Joel pulled his covers back over himself and stared at the ceiling. His mind raced as he pondered the nightmare. It didn’t seem contained, as though it wasn’t even his, somehow. Ugh, Joel felt like he was allowing the stress madness to take over when what he really needed was a good night of restful sleep. He closed his eyes and hoped that a peaceful slumber would take him until, eventually, it did.