Age of Power 1: Legacy (13 page)

Erick Ryan turned to me. He had a smile on his face. “Thank you.
I think you said everything perfectly. I’m something of a Futurist, myself, and
all this was making me edgy. Hopefully, you’ve at least given people some food
for thought.”

“Hell, he nearly brought the house down,” Chief Sinclair said as
he looked at Ryan and me. Then he leaned down to kiss Dana on the cheek.
Straightening, he said, “And your song was absolutely beautiful, Dana.”

Dana smiled at her father. Then my mom came up to me with this
strange look on her face. She was looking at me as if it were for the first
time. I tensed slightly and asked, “Mom?”

She continued looking at me that way for a bit longer before she
said, “I’m sorry. I thought my young son came up here to talk, not this very
intelligent and mature adult that I am very, very proud of."

I felt like a kid again as we hugged. I guess I always would.

CHAPTER SEVEN

If I had been expecting rave reviews of my speech, I was in for
a disappointment. Oh, I did get compliments during the reception, many of them.
And there was one person who left me speechless. There weren’t that many VIPs
in the crowd. And I had largely dismissed most of them before the memorial had
begun. But when one of the biggest names in pop music history appears in front
of you, it makes for an interesting moment of…of…something.

Okay, honestly, I lost it. I didn’t have the words. From the way
he behaved, I think he understood. He probably had tongue-tied fans all over
the world.

Give me a break. He was my first superstar. He talked to me
about Alex and plans he was continuing with in his efforts to help Africa. I
smiled and nodded. Yes, I was so good at talking to the rich and famous. After
more talking, he thanked everyone in the room and left the reception with a
couple of the other VIPs. All music stars, they had come here together and were
now leaving together. I looked around and saw that now only town people were in
the room. Looking back as the music stars walked out the front doors, I saw
that the reporters were yelling questions to them.

One gave the reporters an interview on the spot. I shook my head
and let it go. It was only natural for people to want to know what the rich and
famous thought. At least the reporters had someone to talk to them.

Me, I didn't plan to talk to the reporters at all. Let somebody
else discuss his or her passions to a camera. No, I wanted a touchstone of the familiar,
so I started walking through the crowd, taking in the general talk. I passed
one group or another, shaking people’s hands and being told that I had said the
perfect thing. When people talked about my speech, though, I got the distinct
feeling that they missed my point.

Taking a break from the congratulatory handshaking, I went over
to Brand where he was talking with friends about cars and motorcycles. For
once, I wasn’t bored at all. It was something normal. And after the past few
weeks, I so needed that ‘normal.’ I listened, I smiled, and I laughed at jokes.
Brand was at his most relaxed when he talked about cars, and it felt perfectly
mundane. But when I saw a certain redhead, I looked at Brand and nodded toward
her. He gave me a look and chuckled. I shrugged, smiled, and walked away.

As I headed towards her, I got more compliments. I thanked them
and moved on. I saw my parents talking with Chief Sinclair as I made my way
toward the refreshments table. There Dana was pouring soda into a glass. She
smiled and handed me the glass when I reached her and she poured herself
another.

She said, “Drink up, Vaughn, talking to a crowd makes for a very
thirsty speechmaker. And congratulations, you’ve made quite an impression.
People are talking more about what you said than about the memorial itself.”

I gave her a half-hearted smile. Dana looked at me with concern
and said, “What’s wrong? Have people been telling you they didn’t like it?”

With a grimace, I said, “No, they’ve been complimenting me. But
I don’t think they saw it the way I’d hoped they would. Too many praised me on
telling them about who he was before he became the Avatar. They act as if he
changed into something completely different. From what everyone is saying, it
was as though ‘Alex’ was some kind of disguise and the Avatar was his true
self."

Dana said, “Vaughn, I hate to say this, but think about Alex’s
personality, then take into mind exactly what he did. It 
is
 difficult
to put the two types of behavior together. You see him as a friend, and you saw
past the dark personality he projected. But the Avatar part is what everyone
else saw. So, to them, it is as though he were two different people.”

She sighed. “And I have to say the same thing to you that I told
my brother. People need heroes.”

Dana gestured to the room. “And right now, human or otherwise,
Alex Shaw is the Avatar to these people—the hero who saved the world.”

Glancing at the grimace on my face, she said, “Sorry, it’s just
how things are right now. But people will listen after a while. They’ll want to
know about the man behind the…glow, so to speak.”

I looked at the room, taking in all the people quietly standing
around and talking. Some were laughing while others were debating about Alex
and things they knew he’d done. Unfortunately, from what I heard, most of the
people here barely knew him. How could they have? Alex had definitely gone out
of his way to keep them at a distance.

And now, it was going to be up to the few of us who had known
him to keep his memory alive. And to do that, I had to make the hero back into
a man. Now, thanks to Dana, I was I beginning to see how hard it might be.

I sighed. “That’s going to be the thing, isn’t it? Legends,
myths, and made up stories.”

I felt her touch my arm and I looked back. She said, “No,
Vaughn, I think we can keep Alex human. Never forget that, Vaughn. I won’t
forget him. BJ won’t forget him. Alex always had such wondrous potential, and,
for one moment in time, it showed. And what he did was all too human. Even if
he wasn’t—”

Dana stopped talking and put on a smile, looking over my
shoulder at someone. I glanced over my shoulder and saw my mom coming up to
join the two of us. To Dana, she said, “
Dana, that
was
such a beautiful song. So poignant and sad—wherever did you get it?”

Dana gave my mom a smile tinged with sadness and said, “The song
was something I came up with while I was grieving for Alex. Somehow, it didn’t
feel right to use something from a book.”

I nodded. I had to agree. My mom said the same, and then the two
started talking about Alex. But I began to feel out of place as they went from
talking about him to talking about general stuff going on in Riverlite. The
courthouse was still a mess, while the library needed volunteers to help until
a few of the librarians returned. But I held myself there when I realized that
while the talk was completely mundane, it was also something that I needed
to hear. Again, the normal was working to keep me grounded from the odd
feelings I’d been having all day.

I could’ve stayed there until the end of the reception,
listening to them. But then my stomach growled. I looked at the munchies on the
table. They had put out plenty of potato chips, cookies, and sodas. But what I
was looking for was something like hamburgers or pizza; I was edgy, and I
needed something more solid than what
was being offered
here. I decided to walk around to get past the hunger growls. I nodded to my
mom and Dana and passed by dad as he spoke with Jim Houseman about, of all
things, Dungeons and Dragons. Jim waved me to come closer.

As I went up to him, he asked, “Vaughn, have you ever heard of a
tunnel existing under the school? When I was going to school here, I looked for
it. But nothing came of it. But I hoped somebody had found something after my
time here. I wanted to show these guys what a ‘dungeon tunnel’ might look like
to give them a feel of the game.”

I stared at him for a moment. Jim Houseman, big time Marine and
football fan, was also into Dungeons and Dragons. Wow, this must be the day for
me to discover new things about people. I considered his question. After a
moment, I shook my head and said, “Uh, it’s a rumor I’ve heard, but from what’s
been said, I don’t think anything ever came of it. Sorry.”

He gave me a disappointed shrug and then went back to talking about
dungeons and fighting in magical lands. I smiled and moved on with a shake of
my head. Poor Brand, he was going to be mortified.
Heh.

I walked a circuit around the room, but I still felt unsettled.
I think I was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop after I made that
speech. It didn’t help that my head was starting to buzz incessantly. I decided
to lean against one of the large columns near the hallway leading towards the
atrium and rest for a moment. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and let my
thoughts settle.

Dana commented to my Mom, 
“Amazing, after the Day, I
found myself drinking a Mountain Dew and thinking how much like nectar it was.
Not because it was, mind you.”

“But it was something you never expected to do
again?” 
Mom said with an amused voice. I heard her
open a can of soda as Dana did the same. With a clunk of the cans, they toasted
to caffeine and carbonation and then laughed.

I opened my eyes and looked over towards the food table. I never
realized that the acoustics were so good in the room. Then to my surprise, I
heard even more. To add to it, along with the sudden change in my hearing, the
buzz in my nerves increased from a low level tingling, to a strong thrum of
power.

“I just don’t see how the Avatar, that gift
from God himself, could have been gay! Why it’s not possible!”

“Oh Maude, maybe it’s time you got past the
fact that Charlie was gay and he turned you down in college…I’ve never
understood your fixation against gays!”

“Did you really see the way she moved when she
sang? Man, if I could have her sing like that in my bedroom…ooh.”

“Dude.
 She’s
the Police Chief’s daughter! Cool it down or your next traffic stop will end
with you in a jail cell! And that’s just for having a bad brake light!”
 said
one of Brand’s friends to another. Next to them, I could hear Brand talking
about an engine to a 1957 Thunderbird.

I winced as more voices hit my ears. I didn’t know what was
going on, and I was starting to get frightened. I rubbed at the side of my
head, trying to ignore what I was picking up. But it didn’t go away. Instead,
every person, I looked at, began talking at a higher volume. I was beginning to
feel like a satellite dish picking up television signals. And it got worse.

“You think Andrews really did abandon the
Avatar?”

“Well, they never did accept the boy, he was a
bastard of Claire’s after all…and he did move in with Brian when she died…why I
talked with Brian Shaw myself—”

“You know, if I put the glaze on first, I
think I can get the orange taste to stay in a little longer, otherwise if I do
it after the roast cooks—”

“Damn but when do the vultures go away? This
is a memorial! And man! Did you see Andrew’s face when Hagen stuck it to him?
Wow! That’s gonna blow his plans for Avatar Day!”

“No it’s not. It’s a cover-up! Shaw’s family
left him behind! Now the old man has to keep his son-in-law from burning for
it! That’s what all this crap is about—”

“Think if we went around to the front we can
get a pan shot of the redhead when she comes out? Damn but it is cold out
here!”

“Tell me about it. Middle of freaking February
and they have to keep us out! What’s that about?”

“Trust me; you don’t want to go in there. A
big guy in there would… yeah, no.”

“Apples it’s great for hemorrhoids!”

“—coming soon to a
theater near you!
 This movie has not yet been rated!”

“Hey babe, Lonnie just texted about the
memorial and it seems that one of Shaw’s friends did a major number on the
people who threw the whole thing together. Lonnie says it’s all over the
Internet. I wondered if Andrews had pulled a ‘jump the shark’ moment. I guess
they did—”

“You know, I talked to Shaw at the store all
the time, he was just a nice kid is all, quiet, but nice—”

Explosions, screeching tires, big helicopters
flying over—

“Yah!”
I yelled.

Sweat popped out on my forehead as I pushed myself up against
the column. The muscles in my body tensed against the white noise. It didn’t
stop either. A 
metal on metal ripping noise, a car engine turned over
and roared, two girls talked about waking their mom for cookies, a man asked
for his hamburger without tomatoes, an old sounding woman wondering where her
teeth were.
Someone swearing revenge.
Someone yelled
in orgasm, a baby cried, suddenly a shot rang out, a maiden screamed—

“Vaughn!” A clear voice cut through the chaos in my head and the
world snapped back to normal volume. My eyes flew open and the world
around me collapsed back to the here and now. Dana had a hand on my shoulder. I
shook my head, confused and wondering what had just happened. I found myself
the center of attention—again. And it was not in a good way.

Dana asked, “Vaughn, are you all right? What happened?”

My mom was right behind her. She looked me over for a moment,
and then said, “Damn it. You’ve only been out of the hospital for a day. We’re
going back there right now. Kirksten needs to run more tests!”

I raised a hand and stepped away from the column. I didn’t
collapse, and I was surprised that I didn’t. But my mom was worried, so I
covered up my own fear by casually waving the idea of the hospital away. I
said, “I’m fine, Mom! I just got dizzy. I’m sort of hungry, so
maybe…”

Brand walked up to me with my dad, Jim, and his friends behind
him. He said, “Hey, I had some dizziness earlier, too. Did you take your pills?
That’s what got me back on track.”