The Nameless Hero (8 page)

“If he can’t join, then I’m not joining either!”

I heard my own voice echoing across the room before I realized that I was the one who’d spoken. Gavin swung around to stare at me. His genial grin dropped away, revealing a sharp glare. For a short, bald man, he could be really intimidating when he wanted.

The look lasted only a second before his features returned to what they’d been before. As he opened his arms, his eyebrows rose over a glowing smile, making him look like an amused uncle.

“It’s admirable to see such loyalty for your friend! But I assure you, Milton wouldn’t fit in this group. He doesn’t possess the same … abilities as the rest of you.”

My eyes darted over to where Milton was standing. “If Milton leaves, I’m out of here.”

Gavin continued smiling, but I couldn’t miss the vein throbbing on his forehead. “You know, there are plenty of other Gyfted children out there. Perhaps I should contact one of them instead—”

“I’m not joining either!” Sophie interrupted.

Gavin blinked at her as if she’d just spoken in another language. “What?”

“The only way I’m staying is if they stay.” Sophie pointed at Milton and me.

The strain of keeping his smile going seemed to be turning
Gavin’s face a shade of purple. “But the boy doesn’t have a Gyft! And if he doesn’t have a Gyft, that means he’s—” Gavin stopped speaking suddenly. His hand clenched into a fist, like he’d just grabbed an idea out of the air beside him. “If he doesn’t have a Gyft, he’s
just like everyone else
.”

Rubbing his stubbly chin with his hairy hand, Gavin paced back and forth in front of us. His feet clicked against the hard white floor.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner.” He spoke quietly, mumbling the words as if talking more to himself than us. “This may be precisely what this group needs. Someone ordinary children can relate to. Someone who’s just … average. Yes, it’s perfect!”

Gavin spun around and faced Milton.

“Welcome to Gyfted and Talented, my boy!”

The look of relief on Milton’s face was instantaneous. He still didn’t know
what
Gyfted & Talented was, but at least he knew he got to be a part of it.

The dark-haired girl—Miranda—spoke up. “Would you mind telling us what Gyfted and Talented
is
?”

“Of course. Perhaps we should all take a seat.”

Gavin reached into the front pocket of his shirt and pulled out a black remote control. The device was small, about the size of his thumb (but much less hairy). He pressed a button on the remote, and I heard a whirring noise under my feet. Several panels of the floor opened like trapdoors. Chairs rose into the room, forming a semicircle around our group.

Once we were all seated, Gavin began speaking again.
“With the exception of our friend Milton here, each of you has been selected because you are uniquely Gyfted.”

“How’d you find us?” Sophie asked. “I mean … how do you know that we’re Gyfted in the first place?”

“I had my employees seek you out,” Gavin replied.

“Employees?”

“There are many individuals working for me,” Gavin said. “You will get to know some of them very well. Others you’ll never meet. A few of these employees have the power of Tracking. To put it another way, they can detect the powers of others. They created a database of the Gyfted and their powers. From there, we narrowed it down to only the unique and most talented. And after all of this research, you are the result. You are the chosen.”

The phrase echoed in my mind.
You are the chosen
. The same words on the first slip I’d found a week earlier.

Sophie’s voice rose up to speak the question that was ringing in my mind. “Chosen for what?”

Gavin paused, his eyes passing over all of us before answering the question.

“You have been chosen,” he said, finally, “to form the greatest superhero team of all time.”

I gripped the edge of my chair more tightly. He wanted me to become … a superhero?

I could think of about a million reasons why this was a crazy idea. Superheroes were supposed to be popular and athletic. I was neither. Not to mention—I was just a kid. Shouldn’t you at least be old enough to get a driver’s license before you signed up to fight evil?

And then there were my parents. They’d devoted their entire careers to becoming two of the most feared supervillains in the world. If they discovered that I was even
thinking about
joining a team of superheroes, they’d probably ground me for life.

Gavin’s voice cut through my thoughts.

“The team will be called the Alliance of the Impossible,” he said, holding his hands out in front of him like an imaginary sign. “As a part of the group, you’ll have the chance to refine your powers in an environment that’s been engineered to help you understand
who
you are and
what
you can do. We’ll also put you through an intensive training process. Although, by the way you each handled your tests, I have complete confidence in your abilities—”

“What do you mean
tests
?” I interrupted.

“Before sending out my final invitation, I arranged a minor … challenge for each of you. As a way of evaluating your skills.”

A flash of realization burst through my mind. The library, the attack …

“
You
were the one behind the mutant librarian?” I said, rising from my chair.

“Yes,” Gavin admitted. “But keep in mind that I also sent you a warning beforehand.”

I recalled the note that we’d found just before the librarian had come after us.
Prepare yourself. You are in danger
.

Some warning.

“The Alliance of the Impossible is a very exclusive
group,” Gavin explained. “Before allowing you to join, I had to make sure your skills were adequate.”

“So you sent a bloodthirsty mutant to attack us?” Sophie said disbelievingly. “That’s your idea of a test? What about you?” Sophie turned to face Miranda. “What kind of test did you get?”

“Zombie janitor tried to eat my brain,” Miranda said.

Sophie’s attention turned to nFinity. “And you?”

nFinity shrugged. “I got a call from my agent.”

“But still.” Sophie’s glare shifted back toward Gavin. “Someone could’ve gotten hurt.”

“I assure you, the attacks were carefully coordinated,” Gavin said. “The mutant that attacked you and your friends was well trained
not
to cause any major injuries.”

Milton gulped. “Could’ve fooled me.”

“If you think our little tests were upsetting, just wait till you get out there in the real world. You will face ruthless enemies, deadly weapons, and challenges you can’t even imagine.”

Gavin’s words echoed in my mind. He was right. Danger was lurking at the edges of my life, a threat that was far more terrifying than any mutant librarian. Phineas Vex.

“With my help,” Gavin said, “you will have the opportunity to sharpen your skills and gain real-world experience that will help you control your Gyfts.”

Gavin rose from his chair and paced in front of us. If we joined the Alliance of the Impossible, we would spend the next two months training in the headquarters, where
we would eat, sleep, and spend pretty much every spare minute of the summer. There would be plenty of trips aboveground too. And there might even be opportunities to test our skills against real villains. This part caused my stomach to twist into a knot. What if some of those “real villains” included my parents?

“As I said before, anyone who wishes to leave is welcome to do so at any time. Although it would be a shame to miss out on your chance to become a part of history.”

When nobody made a move to leave, Gavin said, “Good! We’ll be spending the morning getting you measured for your uniforms.”

“Uniforms!” Milton looked like he could barely contain his excitement. “Like, real superhero uniforms?”

“That’s right.
Real
superhero uniforms.” Gavin smiled down at Milton. “Even those of you without any
real
superpowers. I’ve hired the top uniform designers in the world specifically for this occasion. Trace will be picking them up from their hotel in a little while, won’t you, Trace?”

A man’s voice spoke. The same voice I’d heard coming from the empty driver’s seat on the school bus this morning.

“That’s right, boss. I was about to leave.”

The air shimmered in front of my eyes, and out of nowhere, a figure took form.

He was maybe thirty, with cropped brown hair. He had the pudgy body of someone who’d spent several years working out and several more letting all his muscle turn to flab.

“This is Trace,” Gavin said to us. “I suppose you never had a chance to properly meet.”

“One of them properly met my eyeball with his grubby little finger back on the bus.” Trace glared at Milton.

“I requested that Trace keep himself invisible this morning,” Gavin said. “If any of the wrong people were to see him with you, it might raise suspicions.”

“Right,” Sophie mumbled. “Because an out-of-control bus without a driver is
way
less suspicious.”

“It’s very important that my employees are never seen outside headquarters with any of you,” Gavin went on.

“Why?” Miranda asked.

“Because there are people out there—dangerous people—who would like to put a stop to what we’re trying to do. That’s why Brandy is constantly in disguise whenever she’s in public. It’s the same reason I had Trace deliver our notes to you.”

So that was how all those slips of paper had appeared out of nowhere. It was Trace the whole time. We just couldn’t see him.

While we were waiting for the designers to arrive, Gavin showed us around more of headquarters. All the rooms looked the same: white floors stretching toward white walls, with enormous white ceilings far above. And
everywhere we went, security cameras swiveled to follow our movements.

There was
one
thing that stood out, though. As we passed through yet another identical white room, I glanced to my right and noticed a very long corridor, stretching so far that I could barely make out what was at the end. A black door.

“What’s in
there
?” I asked, pointing.

“Oh, that.” Gavin’s face twitched in a funny way. “That’s—nothing. Nothing at all. Let’s keep moving.”

The others kept moving, but I stayed where I was for a moment longer. I counted at least twenty security cameras between me and the door. Whatever was behind it, there was more to it than Gavin was letting on.

“Joshua?” Gavin’s voice echoed across the room. Everyone was looking back at me. “You coming?”

“Be right there,” I called, jogging to catch up.

Our next stop was the dining hall, where a steaming breakfast buffet was already waiting for us. Elliot’s charred slice of toast had gone uneaten in my duffel bag all morning, and the sight of so much food made me realize how hungry I was.

Once I’d piled my plate to capacity, I took a seat at the end of the long dining table. I’d just sort of assumed that Sophie and Milton would join me. But they’d struck up a
conversation with nFinity on their way through the food line, and as they emerged with their trays, the three of them were so caught up chatting with each other that they never once glanced in my direction. Instead, they settled at the other end of the table.

I felt a flash of annoyance toward my friends. A few seconds with nFinity and it was like I didn’t exist. Not that I could really blame them. nFinity was famous; he was a superhero. Even without his uniform, he looked like a teen pop star.

“Mind if I sit here?”

Miranda was standing beside me, balancing her tray with one hand and flipping an apple into the air with the other.
Great
, I thought.
First my friends ditch me, and now I get stuck with weird Ms. Know-It-All
.

She snapped the apple out of the air. “Fine, then! I’ll sit somewhere else.”

Miranda turned to go.

“Wait! I’m sorry. Of course I don’t mind if you sit here. I was just …” I went quiet all at once, hitting the rewind button in my brain. Something didn’t make sense. “Hold on a second—I never said—”

“That you think I’m
weird Ms. Know-It-All
?”

All of a sudden, my chair felt a lot less steady beneath me. I stared up at Miranda as the events of the morning all clicked into place. The knowing look she’d given me on the bus. How she’d been so sure my name was Joshua. Finishing my sentences, as if she knew what I was going to say before I did. “You’re a … mind reader?”