QUESTIONS

By David Brashear

Connor Ellis didn’t know what was going on.  After waking from a weird dream where he’d conversed with someone named Danny, he’d found himself floating above his bed.  As he fought to keep from panicking, he fell to the bed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Before Connor could blink, Bart was at his bedside.  “Are you okay?” Bart asked.  “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Connor said as he sat up.  “Just some weird dream about some guy named Danny.”

“Danny?” Bart asked.

“Yeah,” Connor said.  Suddenly something clicked in his sleep-addled brain and he turned to face his friend.  “How did you get over here so quick?”

Bart pulled up a chair, spun it around backward, and sat down.  He slumped over the back and thought a moment.  “It’s something I figured out a couple of months ago,” he finally confessed.  “Remember that day I was running late for calculus class?”

“Yeah,” Connor said.  “You’d spilled something on your shirt and had to change.”

“Right,” Bart said.  “I’d had trouble finding another clean shirt.  Anyway, I put it on and got my tie back on and started out.  I was crossing the quad and saw I was going to be late so I started running.”

Bart thought a moment.  “It was incredible.  It was like everything slowed down but me.  I was running across campus and everybody was standing there like statues.  I was in my desk in my class in under a second.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Connor asked.

“I was kind of freaked out when I figured out what was going on,” Bart explained.  “So I’ve been trying to practice a little on my own when I could get away.”  A smile crossed Bart’s face.  “Of course, now we’ve got you, the Amazing Flying Boy, along with me, the Spectacular Running Guy.”

“How come I’m a boy and you’re a guy?” Connor asked.

“You come up with the names next time, then,” Bart said.  He thought a moment.  “What was your dream about?”

“That Danny thing?” Connor asked.  “I don’t know.  It was really weird.  I was in the quad and this guy kept talking but I never saw him.  Then he told me to wake up and the ground.”

“Opened up beneath you and you fell in,” Bart said quietly.

“How did you know?” Connor asked.

“I had the same dream,” Bart said.  “And as soon as I woke up there you were floating away.”

“This is getting weirder by the minute,” Connor said.  “We need to find out if we’re the only ones who dreamt this or what’s going on.”

“I agree,” Bart said.  “We can check with the others tomorrow.  Nothing we can do tonight.”

“Right,” Connor said.  “Just make sure the window stays locked so I don’t go flying out of it.”

Bart smiled and patted Connor on the shoulder before returning to his own bed.  The rest of the night proved uneventful for them.

The peace only stretched as far as the security complex in the administration building.  Merlyn looked as if he hadn’t even been asleep as he walked into his command center. “What’s going on?” he demanded.

A tech turned and spoke.  “We had a manifestation, sir.  Connor Ellis.”  At Merlyn’s order the tech pulled up video from the hidden cameras in Connor’s room showing him floating in mid-air.

“A flier.  Interesting,” Merlyn said as he rubbed his chin.  He leaned forward as the tape continued to play and Bart seemed to teleport across the room.  “It appears that Allen is learning to control his speed better, too.”

“Yes, sir,” the tech said.  “What do you recommend?”

“Reclassify Ellis as class B from class C.  Maintain observation on Allen.  Notify me if the situation changes.”  Merlyn turned and walked out of the room as techs scrambled to obey his orders.

The next morning Donna Troy was walking across campus and fought back a yawn.

“What’s the matter?” Roy asked her.

“Just weird dreams last night,” Donna said.  She didn’t notice as Bart and Conner fell into step behind them.

“You too?” Connor asked.  Donna and Roy turned with surprised looks on their faces.

“What do you mean, too?” Roy asked.

“Name Danny mean anything to you?” Bart asked.  Roy paled.

“What is going on?” Donna asked.

“What’s this about Danny?” Duela Dent asked as she and Charlie joined the group.

“Wait a second,” Bart said.  “We’ve all been dreaming about this Danny guy?  That’s not normal.”

Connor folded his arms.  “Then there’s just one thing to do,” he said.

“What’s that?” Donna asked.

Connor smirked.  “We find him.”  He gestured around the quad at the academy’s buildings.  “He’s got to be in here somewhere.”

“Count me out,” Roy said.  “I’d love to help you guys, but I’m already on Merl’s radar.  I need to lay low for a while.”  He leaned closer.  “Of course, if you want to know where to look, I’d start in the basements of the old lab building.  They’ve buttoned that place up tight.”

“All right,” Connor said.  “We go tonight.”  The six of them looked at each other and nodded.

“Good luck, you guys,” Roy said.  “Just be careful and don’t get caught.”

Cissie Jones stepped onto the school’s archery range and raised her bow.  She effortlessly sank a bulls-eye and then fired another arrow that split the first in two.  She turned as she heard applause.

“Well done, my dear,” Merlyn said as he stepped into the range while clapping.  “Excellent form.”  He walked to the target and inspected it.  “Direct center.  You appear to have a true gift for archery.”  He smiled and picked up a bow of his own, then selected an arrow before returning to the firing line.  “Perhaps I could offer you some personal instruction.”

“I don’t know,” Cissie said as she lowered her eyes.  “This is just something I do for fun.”

“Fun,” Merlyn echoed.  He inspected the distance to the targets and selected two more arrows from the quiver beside Cissie.  “I understand the desire to have fun.  But sometimes fun can push us too far.  Your friends might need to remember that the rules of this institution are in place for a reason.  I’d hate for them to break the rules and wind up hurt.”  In a blur of motion Merlyn raised the bow, notched all three arrows, and fired.  All three arrows thudded directly into the center of three targets at the end of the range.

Merlyn placed the bow on the ground and looked deep into Cissie’s face.  “I trust we understand each other.”  He turned and walked away without another word, leaving Cissie to wring her hands nervously behind him.

That night Connor, Bart, Duela, Charlie, and Donna assembled in the shadows of the lab building.  All wore black clothing and the girls had tied their hair back.  “This is the window I thought looked loose when I walked by this afternoon,” Donna whispered.

Connor bent down and effortlessly slid the window open.  “Ladies first,” he whispered.  The five quickly entered the window.

“Now what?” Duela asked.

“We find Danny,” Connor said.  “Come on.”  The five walked out of the room.

“What is it?” Merlyn asked as he walked into the security command center.  An alarm was sounding.  “And I want that noise off now.”

As the alarm shut off, a technician swiveled in his chair.  “We’ve had a breach in the black building.”

Merlyn’s eyes widened and he walked over to inspect the readout.  “How many?  Who is it?”

“No idea,” the tech said.  “Apparently we’ve had an equipment failure in the camera system in that building on the ground level.  We’re completely blind right now.”

Merlyn gritted his teeth.  “I’m taking a squad to check it out.  I want whoever was responsible for those systems gone before I get back.  And I expect those cameras operational now!”  Merlyn ran out of the room as technicians scrambled to obey his orders.

“Hang on,” Bart said as the five entered a stairwell.  “Let me check this out first.”  A burst of wind filled the room as he disappeared.

“Don’t worry,” Connor said as the others gaped.  “I’ll explain later.”

“Surprised that Merlyn isn’t after us yet,” Duela said.

Donna looked up.  “None of the cameras we’ve gone by have been moving and they’ve got dark lights on them.  Maybe they’re having problems with them.”

Another burst of wind signaled Bart’s return.  “I’ve knocked out their cameras in the hall ahead.  We should be clear.”

Charlie’s head jerked up.  “Somebody’s coming after us.”

“How do you know?” Connor asked.

“I can hear them,” Charlie said.  “Can’t you?”

“We get caught in here and we’re done,” Donna said.

“We’ll take care of this,” Duela said as she pulled Charlie up the stairs.  “You guys find this Danny and find out what’s going on.”

Donna, Bart, and Connor watched as Duela and Charlie ran into a hall upstairs.  “So, ready to meet him?” Connor asked.  “Let’s go.”
*
Duela pulled Charlie into a room and pushed the door halfway closed.  “Get your shirt off,” she said as she pulled her own above her head and threw it across the room.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Charlie said.

“We’ve got to make this look good,” Duela said as she quickly unbuttoned Charlie’s shirt, then pushed him onto a table, hopped on top of him, and started passionately kissing him.

“Well, well, well,” came the expected voice a few moments later.  The two broke off their kiss and tried to look guilty as Merlyn stood in the door of the room with his arms folded.  “It looks like we’ve found our intruders.  Get your shirt on, Miss Dent.  You two have an appointment with Mr. Flag.”

Connor, Bart, and Donna stepped from the dirty stairwell into a spotless hallway paneled with stainless steel.  Dim lighting shone down from overhead that illuminated the hall but left shadows around the edges.

“That’s weird,” Donna said.  “This place looks like it was used yesterday.”

“It looks like we’re right.  They are hiding something down here,” Connor added.

“That’s not all,” Bart said.  He started leading the way down the hallway.  “There’s something else down here you need to see.”

They stopped before a door.  “The other doors were unlocked and the rooms were empty,” Bart explained.  “This one’s locked.  I couldn’t get through but I heard someone moving around inside.”

Connor nodded.  “Number keypad?” he asked as he inspected the pad on the wall.  “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”  He pulled the handle and grunted as the door swung open.  “See?  It was just stuck.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Donna said.  She pointed at the mangled handle and the shattered lock which dangled from the door.

“How?” Connor started to ask as he looked at his hand.

“Not a good time,” Bart said as he put a hand on Connor’s shoulder.  “We’ve got to see who’s in here.”

“You’re right,” Connor said.  “Let’s do this.

The three walked in and saw a young man sitting in a chair with his back to them.  Flickering coils along the ceiling cast an eerie reddish light down into the room.

“Danny?” Connor asked.

The young man turned around and smiled.  “Actually, the name’s Cameron,” he said.  His smile grew sinister.  Ice flowed out of his pores and began to cover his skin.  “Thanks for opening the door for me and dropping the temperature in here.”  He stood and kicked the chair aside.  “Now get out of my way.  Merlyn and Flag are already on my list and it’s time for them to stop breathing.”

“We’re not letting you out of here to hurt anyone,” Connor said.

“Then die with them,” Cameron said as he raised his hand and fired ice spears at them.

NEXT: Donna, Bart, and Connor find themselves in a fight for their lives against the mysterious Cameron, and Donna’s secrets are revealed.