Interlude V — The Sister

  It was Friday, October 26th, around eleven o'clock at night, and Margaret Bensen couldn't sleep.

  She'd gotten into a fight with her best friend Kelly at lunch. It was such a stupid fight, and now twelve hours later, Meg was going back over every single sentence she'd said… or yelled. Wishing she could change them, so that she and Kelly could be best friends again. She had no idea how she was going to face her on Monday. They hadn't messaged each other even once since lunch.

  After the video of Hailey had gone up the night before, leaping out of a burning building with Jessica in her arms and landing in front of the crowd of people she'd rescued, everyone at school was buzzing about it. It happened so close to home that a dozen kids were claiming they'd actually been there and seen it. All liars, obviously, but they got their five minutes of fame anyway.

  Meg knew better. She'd never claim to have seen it, because Hailey wouldn't want the attention. Heroes didn't do stuff for the attention, and Hailey was supposed to be in hiding. Meg played the skeptic, agreeing with all the commentators that it was probably fake. No one could jump out of a building that tall without any equipment and land like that. It was special effects. Maybe viral marketing for a movie. It'd be totally Hollywood to already start pushing a movie of Rallsburg, some made up found-footage horror movie or something else lame like that.

  Hailey had better stuff to do than get a bunch of nosy whiners in her business over trying to save people. Meg would do her part, just like Hailey asked. She saved the video to her phone though, in case it got taken down or something. She'd watched it probably two dozen times that day.

  The window exploded outward in a burst of flames and smoke, then a tiny black shape followed. They descended so fast it looked like they were going to splat, but the smoke billowed away as they tumbled into the dirt. The girl let go of her passenger and rolled over, and her face caught the camera for just a second. Then they leapt into the sky in a burst of wind, overwhelming the poor cell microphone. There was a bit of murmuring from the onlookers, trying to figure out what they just saw, then the video cut to black.

  It was so cool. If Meg didn't know better, she'd totally see it as a hype movie trailer for next summer.

  But she did know better. She knew Hailey was out doing dangerous stuff—and sometimes, Meg's brother went with her. Like tonight.

  It was eleven-thirty, and they still weren't home. Meg tossed and turned in bed uncomfortably. She'd been warned about using her phone this late more than once, and even though her parents weren't likely to actually check on her, she still felt bad about breaking their trust.

  I gotta know.

  She grabbed it from her bedside table, wincing at the bright screen popping into view. Why does every single app have to be all white? Meg pulled up the news, starting with local. Nothing notable happened in Kent today, just the usual election stuff with November right around the corner. Their state wasn't really competitive, plus she wasn't old enough to vote anyway, so she skimmed right on past.

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  Wait, I added that police scanner thing to my feed. Maybe something on there?

  North Tacoma. Active hostage situation. Men with guns.

  It was the right address.

  Meg sat straight up in her bed, tossing aside the covers and two of her pillows wildly. She leapt to her feet and rushed out the door.

  Three steps down the stairs she slowed to a halt.

  What am I supposed to do…?

  Meg couldn't do anything to help. She didn't have any special powers or cool skills. She didn't even know how to drive. What was she supposed to do to help her brother, who could die any minute in some no-name bar in Tacoma doing who-knew-what?

  I shoulda been the one who got awakened. You could have given me some better directions, Zack!

  Since she was up, and her heart was racing too fast to even think about laying down again, Meg finished walking down the stairs, though each dark step felt a bit more ominous. She decided to risk waking her parents and turned on the kitchen lights when she got down. It was too scary to be in the dark, not while she was frantically refreshing the police scanner feed with one hand while she walked. She nearly tripped over a stack of books next to the couch.

  Eat something. Maybe it'll make you feel better.

  Ten minutes later, she was sitting on the couch with a bowl of orange sherbert, wrapped in a blanket and streaming old comedies on the TV, but not hearing a single word. She was only half-watching, keeping an eye on her phone and the police feed. There were updates every few minutes. Apparently the big FBI agent guy from the Rallsburg case was on the scene and had taken over.

  That's bad, right? I think that's bad. They probably don't want him around.

  Meg wished she had someone to talk to about all of this. She had the coolest secret in the world, but she couldn't share it with anyone. Not even Kelly—and after today, Meg wasn't sure she'd ever want to share it with Kelly. That stuck-up fraud didn't deserve to know about magic. Not after what she'd said about Hailey.

  Hailey's out there saving peoples lives! Who's she to call it reckless and dangerous? And then to post stories about it online!

  Meg just wanted to rant about it, but she couldn't. She didn't have anyone who'd understand her point of view besides her brother, and Alden had disappeared within minutes of her getting home from school. He'd driven out to pick up Hailey for another mission that night, with just a few words to her about where he was going and when he expected to get home. The usual.

  And Meg would tell the usual lies, keep their parents busy if anything came up. Alden was out with friends tonight, obviously.

  What friends?

  How was Meg supposed to know? They weren't her friends.

  Last time it had been job hunting. The time before that, he'd been visiting a college campus. Meg was running out of stuff she knew nineteen year olds out of college might do with their time. She'd have to start getting new excuses online soon.

  It was all worth it though, every time Hailey dropped by. True to his word, Alden made sure Meg was invited to all their meetups at the house. Meg got to watch her fly in, late at night, and it never got old. Not even once.

  Tonight, sitting on the couch in her pajamas, staring at her phone while the TV quietly droned in the background and her ice cream slowly melted away, Meg wondered for the first time if they were going to make it home.