Infiltration (32 page)

I woke up a few hours later feeling famished. Despite my absence for the past few days, Mom had continued cooking dinner for three each evening, so there were a fair amount of leftovers in the refrigerator. Switching into super speed, I devoured them in less than a minute and then drank half a gallon of water.

It was early evening at that point, so I decided, uncharacteristically, to call Alpha Prime. He was my father, after all, and he’d apparently been worried about me. Needless to say, he was overjoyed to hear from me, mostly because the phone conversation seemed to mark a change in our relationship: it was the first time I’d ever made an unsolicited call to him. On every other occasion that I had dialed his number, it had been because I was returning a phone call
from
him. Never before had I initiated such a call. Thankfully, he didn’t dwell on the subject for long; he just told me that I’d done well and he was proud of me (which inexplicably made me happy, since I’d decided long ago that I didn’t care about having his approval). We agreed to talk more later and hung up.

Next, I called Electra. Based on what Mouse had said, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but he had apparently exaggerated her irritation with me.

“Mouse said I was upset with you?” she asked, laughing. “And you believed him?”

It turned out she was more worried than agitated by my absence. I asked if I could come see her but was rebuffed.

“Just stay home and get some rest,” she said. “We’ll catch up tomorrow after school at Jackman’s.”

And with that (and a quick kissing sound), she hung up. In all honesty, I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t a little more flustered with me (or demanding that I come see her), but it did give me an opportunity to address some other issues.

Now that I’d had some time to unwind and relax, a few other questions had occurred to me, and at the moment, there was really only one place to get the necessary answers. Ergo, I teleported to Alpha League HQ, right outside Rune’s room.

The door was open when I arrived.

“Come on in,” I heard Rune say from inside. “I’ve been expecting you.”

I hesitated a moment, remembering Mouse’s warning that Rune’s room was protected by magic, but then accepted the invitation and entered. (I was only slightly surprised when the door closed behind me of its own accord.)

The first thing that struck me was how clean and orderly everything was. For some reason, I had garnered the impression that Rune’s quarters were going to look like a hurricane had struck, with trinkets, baubles, and whatnot everywhere. Instead, although there were a few shelves containing curios, the place was exceptionally neat. In a corner I saw the Diabolist’s staff, which Rune had obviously confiscated and added to his collection.

Rune himself was seated in an easy chair, reading a book. He motioned for me to sit on a couch across from him.

“I guess you’ve come up with a few more questions,” Rune said.

“A few,” I agreed. “Your powers, for instance.”

“What about them?”

“They go way beyond what’s needed for your role here as a member of the Alpha League.”

Rune’s eyes narrowed as he seemed to consider my statement.

“You’re more perceptive than I gave you credit for,” he finally said. “In truth, I have responsibilities that go well beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. The importance of the Alpha League — this entire planet, in fact — is minute, infinitesimal, compared to the duties I’m tasked with. My powers — and I say this with respect — are intended for purposes and obligations beyond your ken.”

“So why are you even here then?”

Rune exhaled softly before responding. “I find this world…relaxing. Something about being here soothes me, removes the pressure that goes with being an Incarnate. I like the rich diversity of culture, the food, the arts…”

“Basically, you’ve gone native.”

He laughed at that. “That’s close, but it’s probably preferable to say that I feel invested in what goes on here.”

“In that case, why not use your power to make things better, like getting rid of all these supervillains who come up with doomsday weapons every other week? Or maybe end war, disease, or poverty?”

Rune was silent for a moment, and then asked, “How old are you, Jim?”

“Sixteen.”

“So tell me, at your age, how would you like it if your mother still felt the need to feed you? Bathe you? Diaper and change you? Walk you to school?”

I frowned in distaste at the imagery his questions brought to mind, saying, “I wouldn’t like it at all. To the extent that it’s necessary, I prefer to do all that stuff myself.”

“Exactly. The same is true of the world at large. I could fix all the problems you mentioned, but it’s far better if the people of the world find ways to address those issues themselves.”

I didn’t want to admit it, but he actually had a very valid point. If world peace, for instance, were going to be meaningful and lasting, it needed to be something that people achieved themselves, as opposed to having it thrust upon them.

“Alright,” I said after a few seconds. “I can accept that. However, there was another issue I wanted to address: the love spell.”

Rune nodded. After he had mentioned it earlier, I was sure he’d made a mistake. The Diabolist had mentioned a
loyalty
spell in the castle, so I had been convinced that Rune had simply made a Freudian slip. That being the case, I hadn’t questioned it when we had returned to HQ initially. However, having slept on it, so to speak, I was convinced there was more to the story.

“Are you sure it wasn’t a
loyalty
spell?”

“No, it was a love spell. No doubt about it.”

“But I recall the Diabolist saying that he checked everyone in the castle and we were all under a loyalty spell.”

Rune guffawed. “Diabolist Mage was an idiot and a hack, even when he had my power. He didn’t really look to see if you were under his spell; he only checked to see if you were under the influence of magic.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” I said.

“Basically, he only probed to see if there was a spell on you. When he saw that there was, he moved on without checking what the spell was specifically meant to do. Plus, even if he had delved a little deeper, I doubt that he was discriminating enough to have noted the difference. A love spell and a loyalty spell look a lot alike. They both engender similar emotions in the person under the spell: admiration, devotion, adoration, and so on.”

“So, who put the spell on me?”

Rune shrugged. “Who knows? Could be anybody. But whoever it was did you a favor, because again, when the Diabolist looked, he saw that you were under a spell. I’m not saying they saved your life, but being under that spell probably kept you from blowing your cover.”

“But I didn’t feel like I was under a love spell. Wouldn’t I have known?”

“Not in most instances. To a bewitched person, their own actions and compulsions always seem normal. However, the spell on you was somewhat asymmetrical — not exactly top-of-the-line. Being a little rough around the edges, it probably worked best with constant reinforcement.”

“You mean someone put the spell on me more than once?”

“No. I mean that the enchantment was probably most effective when you were around the object of your newfound affection. You might be your normal self at any other time, but the minute you set eyes on them, the spell would kick back into high gear. Do you recall acting oddly or out-of-character around anyone recently?”

As a matter of fact, I did recollect several instances of inexplicable behavior on my part. And along with that thought came a certain insight as to who had put the spell on me.

Chapter 43

I found him on his way to school the next morning. Actually, I knew which school he attended and simply waited for him along what was the most direct route from his house. I wasn’t exactly hiding, but he was so wrapped up in his own little world that he didn’t notice me until we were only about twenty feet apart. When he saw me, he came to a dead halt, looking almost fearful.

“Pronto,” I said.

Something in my eyes must have indicated that I was annoyed with him, because the next second I was looking at a dust trail. I took off after him, choosing to fly rather than hoof it on the ground. This gave me an advantage, as he had to follow the contours of the ground, as well as deal with the principle of friction.

Still, it was a merry chase (and under other circumstances would probably have been a lot of fun), with him showing not only impressive reflexes and cutting ability as he turned corners and zipped around objects, but also phenomenal swiftness — even for a speedster. In fact, it occurred to me that, had he stepped on the gas like this during the exhibition, he would have won the thing hands down. (Of course, he also had a powerful motivator at the moment: the thought of what I might do to him if I caught him.)

On my part, there were a couple of ways to end this quickly: I could simply teleport him. I could also telekinetically lift him off the ground or trip him up. Or do a couple of other things to end this pursuit. Instead, I chose to let it play out on Pronto’s terms, and stuck to simply trying to catch him.

It didn’t end the way you might have expected, with me gradually closing the distance and then bringing him down. Instead, we had made it outside of the city limits and were dashing down a dirt road in a lightly forested area when Pronto unexpectedly threw in the towel.

Breathing heavily, he just started pulling up, like a runner who had just crossed the finish line of a race. He walked over to a nearby tree stump and sat down on it as I landed nimbly nearby and walked over to him.

He was silent for a moment, and then asked, “When did you figure it out?”

“Yesterday,” I answered, “with a little help from a friend.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his eyes. I felt intense shame in him, as well as remorse. “I guess you want to know why.”

“I already know why: you have a crush on Electra.”

He nodded, providing confirmation. In retrospect, however, it hadn’t been too hard to deduce. When Rune had asked if there was anyone I’d been acting weird around lately, the obvious answer had been Atalanta. Then I remembered — just before I saw Atalanta for the first time — Pronto had tapped me on the shoulder, resulting in an odd sensation. Once I had an idea of who placed the spell on me, the “why” of it was elementary.

“But wouldn’t it have made more sense to put a spell on Electra?” I asked. “Make
her
fall in love with
you
?”

“Love spells are too fickle,” he said. “They’ll make you fall in love with the next person you see, or the next person you kiss, or the next person who wrings a chicken’s neck. Basically, there would have been a chance that she’d fall in love with somebody else if I wasn’t in the right place at the right time and so on.”

“So you cast the spell on me instead.”

“Yeah. It was supposed to make you fall head-over-heels for the next compatible female you saw — other than Electra, that is.”

“‘Compatible’? What does that mean?”

“The next female you saw who was your type.” When I continued shaking my head in confusion, he went on. “You know how they say that, if a person hypnotizes you, they can’t make you do anything you wouldn’t normally do?”

“Yes,” I said, nodding. “They can’t make you smoke, go cliff diving, or eat worms if those aren’t things you’d do when
not
hypnotized.”

“Well, love spells operate a little bit the same way. They work best when they focus on making you fall for someone you’d probably date anyway. Someone compatible. If you try to go against a person’s natural inclinations — like make the head cheerleader date the biggest nerd in school — the spell’s effectiveness is compromised.”

“How do you know all this stuff?” I asked.

“My father’s an enchanter, and love spells are his specialty. He’s going to be furious if he finds out about this; I’m not supposed to mess with his spells.”

I took a moment to digest that fact before continuing. “So your plan was to have me fall in love with someone else and then break up with Electra.”

“Or have her get so angry that she’d break up with you.”

“And then you’d be there as her rebound guy.”

He shrugged and looked at the ground, not saying anything.

I stood there for a moment, debating what to do. I had been upset with him, of course, but hadn’t planned to beat him up or anything — just let him know that I knew what he’d done and didn’t like it.

I could also rat him out to the Alpha League, make sure Mouse and the others knew what he’d done. But what would that accomplish? He was just a stupid kid who made a stupid mistake. From what I could sense of his emotions, he’d learned his lesson and — hopefully — wouldn’t do it again.

“We should be getting back,” I finally said. “School’s going to be starting soon. I’ll teleport us.”

Chapter 44

Electra was far more understanding than I thought she’d be regarding the love spell.