The view was fantastic. Even I had to admit it. But that wasn't too surprising; we'd just rented the entire penthouse suite of The Robison, a hotel on Madison Avenue. It wasn't the best hotel in town, but it was close.
Sure beat living on the streets.
I kept remembering back to the image of the wheat field. The more I thought of it, the more I was sure I wasn't from New York. I don't know how it happened, but somehow, I got snatched from a farm and got dumped in one of the world's biggest cities.
I leaned back in my seat.
At least we weren't roughing it anymore. The penthouse of The Robison was as good as you could get. The apartment had six bedrooms and an open plan living area with leather lounges and television in every room—including the bathrooms.
Renting it was easy, though I can't say I felt relaxed during any part of it. We simply went up to the front desk, and Dan asked for the best apartment in the building. The man looked down his nose at him before Dan produced a wallet full of imaginary money and handed him a wad of equally imaginary notes.
They'd later check their takings and find they were down by several thousand dollars. I didn't feel good about it. Neither did Brodie, but it was better than another night in the warehouse.
Room service had already delivered pizzas, chips, and cold drinks three times. That's after we'd already cleaned out the contents of the minibar. Dan suggested sampling the extensive range of alcohol, but I vetoed it. We needed to be clear-headed in case guys with guns come knocking at the door.
Of course, Brodie and Dan were both super-powered. Brodie was super-fast, strong, and had martial arts abilities. As well as what we already knew of Dan, he also seemed to be able to eat huge amounts of pizza and guzzle copious amounts of Coke. Oh, and play a computer game called Planet of Hell while lying horizontally on the sofa and carrying on a coherent conversation.
'Is this the life—or is this the life?' he asked.
'This is the life,' I agreed.
'But is it ethical?' Brodie asked.
'What does that mean?' Dan said, frowning as he killed a demon and took another quick bite of pizza.
'Ethical. Moral. The right thing to do.' Despite having broken the law herself over the last few days, she looked more than a little annoyed. 'Aren't we supposed to be using our powers for good?'
'No one gave me an instruction manual.' Dan looked at me. 'How about you?'
'No,' I admitted, although I wasn't technically in the superhero club. 'I don't think there's anything wrong with doing this for a while. Then we can look at our options.'
'Which are?' Brodie asked.
I sighed. It was a good question and one to which I didn't have a good answer.
Where to from here?
We'd found nothing at Cygnus Industries. Brodie had told us she had an image in her head of a city near a harbor, but unfortunately, half the cities in the world were next to water.
She could be referring to Sydney. It was on a harbor. She even had a memory of the Sydney Harbor Bridge, but she could have gotten that from a tourist brochure.
We seemed to have hit a dead end.
I pulled out the blank book again and leafed through the pages.
'What's that?' Dan asked.
I explained to him about the book. He examined the pages without comment before checking the spine. His eyes narrowed.
'There's something in the spine,' he said.
He was right. The spine was thick. A lot thicker than any regular hardcover book. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed before.
'Get me a knife,' I said.
A moment later, I was cutting carefully along the edge of the spine with the others huddled around. An object slipped into my hand.
'What is it?' Brodie asked.
I'd never seen anything like it. It looked vaguely like a memory card, but much thinner. When I held it up to the light, it sparkled like an opal, flashing shades of red and yellow and green.
'I have no idea,' I said.
At that moment, room service arrived with more pizza, so I put the object into my pocket and decided to give it more thought later.
We sat and ate and watched a rerun of The Simpsons.
After a while, I wandered out onto the balcony where the day was giving way to evening. Clouds had swallowed the sky again, and I hadn't seen the stars since—well—I didn't know when. As the sky darkened, the city lights slowly came to life. It was a beautiful sight.
I wondered about Brodie and Dan's powers. It seemed strange that they'd inherited abilities, but not me.
I'd asked about the needle marks on their bodies. Like me, they'd both ended up like human pincushions with hundreds of pinpricks all over their bodies. Unlike me, they had superpowers.
Those pinpricks had disappeared now, but they had to mean something. I pointed to one of the planter boxes.
Rise, I thought.
Nothing happened. A sound came from behind me, and I turned to see Brodie bent over with laughter at my efforts.
'Laugh all you want,' I said. 'I will have my revenge.'
'Good luck with that.'
Leaning on the railing, we looked across at the city. She was so close her arm was almost touching mine. I wanted to touch her hand, but I knew it would freak her out. Instead, I gave her a small smile, and she smiled back.
'Aarrgh.'
The yell came from the living room.
Dan.
He stumbled onto the balcony; his hands clasped tightly over his ears as if trying to shut out the noise.
'What is it?' I asked.
He looks at us fearfully. 'I can hear voices,' he said. 'Two kids like us. They're screaming.'
Brodie and I exchanged glances.
'They're screaming,' I echo dumbly.
Dan nodded. 'Yes,' he said. 'They're being tortured by that man Ravana.'