The Trouble With Heroes.... Read Online Free Page B

stared at him. "You expect a blighter to
leap out of the pavement?"
    "You never know." But then he smiled. "I'm
just not ready to go to bed."
    Tension ricked her shoulders, but she said,
"Oh, okay then. Thanks."
    He touched her arm. "You're feeling the
effects of the music, aren't you?"
    "No. Yes, but it was okay. It was good." She
might as well tackle it. "Did you make it happen?"
    "I helped." He turned her, and they walked
on. "I am the town's fixer, after all."
    "What were you fixing?"
    "The closing of the gates upset a lot of
people."
    How often did he do things like that? Could
he, did he, fix people's moods? Fix hers? They were on her street
now, a tall terrace facing a small park called Surrey Green.
    "It's a bright burning night and I'm not
ready for sleep," he said. "Do you want to walk around the park and
talk some more?"
    It was the dead hour on a chilly night and
Jenny felt drained, but she couldn't not go. Something important
hovered here. They walked through a gap in the hedge, but as soon
as they were away from the sparse street lights, she couldn't see
what was in front of her feet.
    She stopped. "I'm likely to break a leg."
    Dan put an arm around her. "Then you're with
the right person. Come on."
    "It'll still hurt." It came out light as
she'd hoped, but her entire skin was jumping as she let him lead
her forward. "Night vision, too?"
    "Right."
    And what else?
    There was talk about fixers and sex, for
example. Yas spoke about Dan in a way that suggested things. But
this was Dan. They'd played in the sandbox here together. Say
something, Jenny. Something light and normal.
    "The anthem really is terrible, isn't
it?"
    "Awful. But you know, that used to mean full
of awe. And terrible might not be a word to toss around these
days."
    No talking about terror or awe. "Perhaps we
should write a new one."
    "I don't think you can do that with an
anthem. It has special powers."
    No talking about special powers. "Do you
think Yas'll resign over not getting that promotion?"
    "No, she'll sabotage her rival and get her
way in the end."
    "Poor rival."
    "Some people are forces of nature."
    Jenny knew then that he wanted to talk about
forces of nature, about powers, about blighters. Was it because
she'd admitted to sensing things, revealed that perhaps she had a
bit of whatever it was made up the fixers? She'd rather bury that
in the Surrey Green sandbox.
    Distant street lights glinted on bits of the
playground, and she grabbed onto the past. "Remember the hours we
used to spend on the swings here?"
    "And the high slide."
    "You certainly kept the fixer busy."
    "I sometimes wonder if that caused it. If
it's infectious."
    She stiffened, on the edge of pulling away.
"Really?"
    He laughed and snagged her tight. "No. I
could do weird stuff when I was young. Mum and Dad tried to get me
to hide it, but testing sniffs it out anyway. Remember that time
you caught the cricket ball funny and thought you'd broken your
finger?"
    "Yes."
    "You did."
    Jenny remembered the horrible pain that had
suddenly eased, so that when some adults came running they thought
she'd been making a fuss about nothing. They'd been -- what? --
eight? Dan hadn't even touched her. He'd just stood there saying
stupid things like, "Are you all right, Jen?"
    She knew he didn't glow or anything, but
she'd thought he had to touch. She tried to remember whether
there'd been a tingle. She'd probably been in too much pain.
    "We're lucky, aren't we?" she said.
    "You and me?"
    She bumped him with her hip. "Gaia! The
perfect planet. Healthy, fruitful. Rare earths to pay our way, and
fixers to mend almost everything."
    "And blighters," he pointed out.
    "Perhaps every grail has to have a
python."
    "I'd rather have the fluffy bunny. But
blighters aren't too high a price to pay."
    Jenny thought of the refugees. "Still? Could
the price become too high?"
    "When there's no choice, the price can never
be too high, can it? Earth's recovering, but it’s still trying to
ship people out.