Apparently, the United States’ great president, Stephanie Wallace, was in town. That explained why the city was bleeding red, white, and blue. That also explained why McLeod had decided to pay a visit. Nothing like burning up the country’s leader during her campaign mission. Just your regular Friday in election season. Between the two of them, McLeod was probably the second most hated person in the country by a good chunk of the population.
I found her and her Secret Service all hiding away in an alley, which annoyed me, but I couldn’t blame them for their basic survival instinct. Whether you liked any of them or not, the president of the United States was generally more effective alive than dead. The Secret Service staying hidden probably made me madder than anything else. I was pretty sure their jobs were to protect the president and other national leaders. I understood that the military couldn’t do anything to McLeod, so they wouldn’t have been able to do anything either. Still, maybe a grow a pair.
“Ma’am,” I said when I came across her. “Are you hurt?”
I stood there, trying to recall any details I could about her. From what I remembered, she was about forty-five years old. She had a lot of similarities to Abigail and Shelly with how she carried herself, that distinct calm, cool confidence rolling off her like it did those two women. Her appearance betrayed some of the stress she dealt with. Her black hair had spots of gray at the roots, telling me she was probably a day or two away from a touchup. After all, our president wouldn’t dare be seen with something as dire as a little gray hair. She had a narrow frame, more than making up for it by keeping her posture good. She felt bigger than she actually was. Exactly like Shelly.
A stone appeared behind her and hit my cheek, leaving a wound I didn’t even flinch at. If Heavy Green and Sven’s beatings weren’t going to keep me down, a pebble wasn’t going to make me spare a second glance. Behind the president was a little boy, no older than Megan. He was trembling, his shaky little hand wrapped around another stone, ready to toss. “Stop hurting us!”
“Adam, enough!” President Wallace’s voice echoed in the tight space, even getting me to jolt slightly. When she determined the boy wasn’t going to throw more rocks, she looked me over. Her eyes were full of life and an unnerving danger. I knew she was looking at me to find any weakness in me that she could exploit. She was the president, she absolutely had the power to do so. “Engaging with Dii Consentes violates federal law. Are you aware of that?”
I wasn’t, but what I was aware of was a limo with two little American flags stuck to the back windows. I pointed to it and sighed. “Is that your car?”
“Yes, it is, but-”
I created a massive hammer, a new toy I wanted to try out on something, and crushed the car completely flat. Bits of glass and metal soared through the air at us, but I put up a barrier without even turning my head. President Wallace’s jaw hung open a little, the closest thing to a sign of surprise I was going to get from her. We stood in silence while the impromptu shower of car bits died around us.
“That’s what I think about your federal law.” Her Secret Service all collectively grew a pair and trained their guns on an unarmed nineteen-year-old who just saved their lives. “Simmer down, I’ve been gone for a while. I was just making a point.”
“And what point was that, young man?” Wallace took a step toward me, knocking some dust off her pantsuit.
“That instead of saying I broke a law, maybe you should try thanking me, because I have the same ability to kill that McLeod does.” I probably shouldn’t have implied I could easily kill the president and the Secret Service when I was just a few feet away from them, especially with who I assumed was her son behind her. I wasn’t in the mood for silly, power-tripping games. I had places to be and people to see again, and none of those people were cooking in the desert with me.
“Very well, thank you. We wouldn’t have survived without you.” It didn’t look like it hurt her pride to say, which did soften my disposition some. “What’s your name and who’re the ones that helped you?”
“Need to know and need to know.” They were little things to keep secret—well, one was. The other was very much not a little thing. It felt outstanding to be able to hold information back from the president. A fire started to burn in her eyes, and that told me she didn’t care for that answer and that wasn’t used to being defied by teenage boys. She just pursed her lips and shook her head.
“Well, this will certainly make for a good story. How about we consider today even? I’ll forget you broke a federal law and you forget that you’ve been withholding information from the commander-in-chief.” She smirked at me, and for a second, she reminded me of Lizzy. She had her prey right where she wanted it, but instead of being a goodhearted and kind girl, Wallace was coiling around me like a snake.
“How about you tell me why it’s a crime to fight that guy? It looks like I saved the city.”
“The city that was largely evacuated when he arrived, quite efficiently as well. Please, tell me, how will the taxpayers of Glendale feel when it’s their money that will be used to repair their home while you get to slink back away to hiding?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted with a shrug. “How will they feel knowing their money pays your salary, and you condemned their city to be burned to ash while hiding in an alley like a scared little girl?” I didn’t even know if the president’s salary was paid by taxpayer money. It seemed like the kind of thing that would be.
Wallace did something unexpected and broke out into raucous laughter. Even the Secret Service looked a bit unsettled by it. “I like this man! I know what people think about me. I know what kind of death threats my family receives. And yet, when put in the position to strike back at me verbally, not many would take the chance. People are a lot of talk, nothing more than idle words to wave away with a hand. It looks like you might just be more bite than bark.”
“You’re dodging.” I was getting impatient and the heat from the sun wasn’t helping my agitation. “Why is it illegal to fight McLeod?”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You really don’t know?”
“Like I said, I’ve been away for a while.”
“Interesting. Must have been quite the trip.” She studied me and the pjulsen that had surrounded Sven to check on him, her eyes narrowing in suspicion on the latter group. I was terrified she knew they were aliens and that she would cause a whole scene. I stood firm and tried to give nothing away. “Well, we came to the decision that it was best to avoid having these kinds of messy fights in major cities where people are liable to get hurt or killed. No one has touched that man or his cronies in fights, so we stopped taking the risk. If he wants to have a bunch of evacuated buildings, then we’ll concede them for keeping as many lives as possible.”
“You don’t seem to talk like a president,” I said. I was eager to get out of the sun and get home, but I wasn’t about to leave my alien friends with one of the most powerful people on the planet.
“And how are we supposed to talk?” She folded her arms and looked at me expectantly. I just shrugged and put my hands in my pockets. Wallace looked disappointed in my lack of response and I felt myself getting more pissed off. “Would you and your...friends mind coming in for some questioning?”
“Kick rocks,” I told her. “How about you and your rent-a-cops get out of here before someone gets hurt.”
“You like threatening the president, brat?” One of the Secret Service guys pointed his gun at me again, his face contorted in anger. He looked so shaken up that I almost felt bad for him.
“Are you upset about that or upset that I implied you guys are one rung below mall security?” I put my armor on, making the guy flinch. The others pulled their guns on me again, some not obeying proper trigger discipline. “Go ahead, it won’t do anything. Some pretty mediocre training you guys have.”
“Let’s all just settle down now.” Wallace lowered her hands, not that she looked like she cared all that much. “I’m sure this nice young man was just worried about the state of the city and wanted us to be safe.”
“Of course, ma’am.” It wasn’t a total lie. “Just looking out for the leader of our country.”
“See? Stand down, we’re all fine here.” President Wallace flashed a knowing grin and I swallowed down my nerves. Hopefully, they didn’t show too much. “I’ll find out who you are soon enough. After all, not everyone got out of here, so someone would have recorded the whole thing. I’d expect your identity to be public within twenty-four hours. You have maybe twelve hours with me.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” That was a risk I knew when I charged in. It’s not like my friends or family were going to be any more or less safe because of it. They were all pretty capable people. “Will that be all for today then?”
“Yes, I think it will, but one more thing. Thank you.” She stuck out her hand. Instead of shaking it, I created a Shimmer-Hand and put it there instead. “Well, you’re just sharp as a tack, aren’t you?”
When she pulled her hand back and I broke down the hand, a small device dropped to the ground. It was about the size of a dime, black in color, with a blinking red light. I couldn’t help but be impressed with that she was willing to try. There was no stopping the grin from growing on my face. “You’re welcome. Maybe that’ll work out better next time.”
When I was sure she left with the Secret Service, I finally went over to check on my friends. They still surrounded Sven who was finally sitting up under his own power. There were nasty burn marks all over his body, but the area he took that final blast was the worst. His outfit was melted to his skin. I nearly puked when I got close enough to smell him.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, getting down on one knee. I looked at my pink arms and was thankful for how lightly I got off. “I shouldn’t have told you to hold back. That was stupid.”
“I don’t disagree with your decision.” His voice was strained and he desperately needed a healer. “Keeping your people safe was part of our goal too. We don’t want to instigate anything between humans and pjulsen. You did well today.”
“Please, he left because I got a lucky scratch on him. Now he wants to burn me alive in front of the entire planet.” Miserably, I turned my head toward the sky. “If it gets out that I really hurt him, that man isn’t going to stop hunting me for anything.”
“He wasn’t going to anyway,” Magnus pointed out. I opened my mouth to counter but just nodded. He wasn’t wrong there.
“There’s not much point in staying here,” I said, deciding quickly. “You’re in bad shape and it’s a billion degrees here. Let me check around to make sure no one else needs my help.”
I left them in the middle of the street to look around and assess the damage. The ground where I had been fighting Heather was a whole mess. Gnarly spikes protruded unevenly across the asphalt and sidewalk, leaving deep cracks across the parts of the surface that remained somewhat even. Fissures that were made to either swallow me up or trap my legs scarred the street too. Some of them were only a few feet away from sizeable buildings. I sucked in air through my teeth, waiting for one of them to collapse and fall forward.
“Anyone out here?” I asked, hoping I was loud enough for someone to hear. The only response was some dusty wind blowing by. “I hope that’s a good sign.”
Careful to avoid all the damage Heather did, I made my way to the building that she had brought down on my head. The remnants and rubble stretched across most of the street, nearly pushing up against the opposite sidewalk. I had no idea what it would look like if someone had been crushed under there. Would I have been able to see any body parts? Would blood have been pooling out from under all the rubble? If I was in a movie, that’s how I would have known.
As gently and with as much precision as I could muster, I used a few Shimmer-Hands to move bits and pieces of the building around. I set them on the street, not wanting to bury someone deeper in there. Maybe it would have made the cleaning worse for the poor souls who were going to be stuck with the job. Oh well, they’d manage to deal with it. I was sure they would prefer picking up a few more scattered pieces of rubble than discovering a crushed human being that could have been saved.
“If anyone’s in there, can you make a sound so I know you’re there?” I asked, moving pieces of the rubble pile around.
I spent at least ten or fifteen minutes under that brutal sun, getting baked inside my armor. From all the heat and exertion, I was starting to get a headache. I was also getting frustrated. I didn’t want to see anyone under all that mess, obviously, but I didn’t feel good about leaving the area until I knew it was clear. I tried to sift through more of the rubble and destruction, looking for any sign of human life.
“Hey, I don’t think anyone’s there,” Magnus said, walking up from behind me. He clapped a hand on the shoulder of my armor. “Can we get Sven out of here? I’m sure emergency responders will be here soon enough. We can’t exactly have them look at him without blowing the whole secret, can we?”
Annoyed at him being right, I sighed. It was a small miracle the police hadn’t already shown up. I was already on the president’s neutral side at best, giving me something I’d have to worry about. I didn’t need local law enforcement adding to that mess. I needed to be in Nebraska, checking on my family and helping Sven, not getting thrown in jail by Glendale police. When I was barely satisfied enough that there was no one under the rubble, I followed Magnus back to the group. I kept my eye out for anyone who needed help on the short walk back.
“Do you know anyone who can help?” Gus asked, holding up his hands to all the pjulsen, doing the same thing he did to me when I arrived on Clamor. He just shrugged, like there wasn’t anything to worry about. That was a relief.
“There are a few people who can help. I’m not sure if they’re home.” I pulled out my phone and showed Sally where we needed to go. “But home is where I should have been four months ago, so let’s go visit some friends.”