Secrets: The Hero Chronicles (Volume 1) Read online

“Nicholas, Coach Miller is here to see you,” Cora yelled up to me. I was in my bedroom lying on my bed, daydreaming about Elle, who had gone home. He had told me that he was going to visit during the summer, but I wasn’t really expecting him to show up the first week of football tryouts.

  “Coach Miller, would you like something to eat or drink?” Cora offered as I walked down the stairs.

  “No ma’am, I’m fine. Please call me Aaron.”

  Cora smiled and walked into the kitchen, leaving both of us standing in the hall. I felt awkward around him. I still felt so guilty for faking my injury last year. It was like I let him down, even though the team won the state championship.

  “Son, can we talk?”

  I walked him into the family room. I sat on the couch and he took a seat across from me.

  “So, how has your summer been?”

  I eeked out a “Fine.”

  He nodded his head as if to say he understood and that we didn’t need to continue. “I hope you’ve considered my offer. The team and I really need you.”

  How could this legend need anything from me? I’m just a quitter.

  “You would be one of my varsity assistants, if you agree to it.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  “You know, this is the first time I have ever asked a student to help with the team.” He paused and took a deep breath. “After everything with Oliver, they need a real leader, one they can look up to.” Coach Miller’s voice was quieter when speaking of Oliver. Did he feel sympathy for him? He was staring at me, waiting for an answer.

  “Okay, Coach, I will think about it and let you know in the next couple of days.”

  He smiled as though I had said yes. “Great, Nicholas. And remember—if you ever need to talk about anything, I will always be here for you. We have more in common than you know.”

  What did that mean? I smiled and he stood. I walked him to the door and he left.

  Later that evening, I joined Cora on the front porch. She was doing a crossword puzzle, and I was daydreaming again about Elle, which was always my favorite pastime. I tried to picture what it would be like to have no secrets at all, just to live a normal life with her. We would go off to college, get married and maybe even start a family. It felt so good to just sit there with these thoughts comforting me, allowing me to forget about everything that had to do with Thusians, Seekers or Xavier. The sun had already started to set, sending in a cool, calming breeze that welcomed in the night. It was refreshing after the long, hot day. I closed my eyes and listened to the wind moving through the trees, rustling the leaves on its journey by.

  A loud, wrenching sound shattered my peace. It was like a lawn mower going over a piece of concrete. I sat up to see where it had come from. Then the sound happened two more times. Our porch lights flickered and then were extinguished, along with all the lights in the house. The loud noise had come from somewhere out by the street. Cora and I both walked down off the front porch to see what was going on. We saw the problem immediately. One of the large work trucks from next door had backed into an electric pole, knocking it over and sending it into the street. The workers were all scrambling around. One of the workers saw us and hurried over.

  His tool belt bounced along with his belly. He was very out of breath by the time he reached us.

  “Ma-ma’am,” he stuttered, taking off his white hard hat. “I am so sorry for this inconvenience. We have already called the power company and they are on their way to resolve this situation.”

  Cora didn’t say anything; she just politely smiled. He put his hat back on, tipped it and hurried back to the mess.

  “Well, I guess we’ll be without power for a while,” Cora said.

  I went upstairs to relax in bed. The Illinois Power & Electric trucks’ lights were flashing through my window, illuminating everything in my room with a yellow glow every couple of seconds. It was soothing. The pulsing light put me into a hypnotic state.

  I could hear Cora busy preparing something in the kitchen. My stomach was growling relentlessly. When I went down to the kitchen, I was shocked to see that Cora had not actually fixed anything. She had gotten take-out from a restaurant. She must have slipped out while I was in my room.

  “Cora, what are you doing?” I asked, dumbfounded. She always made everything we ate. She prided herself on her delicious, gourmet meals.

  “Oh, Nicholas, I didn’t feel like cooking tonight. Besides, the power being out made it too difficult, so I just went out and got food.” She never made eye contact with me; she just continued to set out dinner.

  The power outage was just an excuse. She could cook a gourmet meal with a couple of matches and paper plates. About a month ago, she mentioned that I was getting to the point where I didn’t need her anymore. She thought she was becoming useless. I tried to convince her that she wasn’t, but I knew what she meant. She had spent so much time over the years keeping me hidden and protecting me, but now there was no real need for that. Ester Theasing had told us we would be safe from any more attacks, which reinforced Cora’s thoughts of not being needed. This had to be the reason for the slow decay of Cora’s vibrant personality.

  The flickering candle light couldn’t hide her depression at the dinner table. Her eyes looked sunken and hollowed, and her always perfectly-styled hair was falling down in several places. There was a knock at the door, snapping Cora out of her trance. When someone unexpectedly came to our house in the past, she would have normally become focused, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal to her anymore. I knew Ester said we were safe, but I still kept up my guard.

  “Nicholas, are you expecting anyone?” Cora asked.

  I wasn’t. Elle was at church and my friend Eric was over at his girlfriend’s house. “No,” I said.

  Cora slowly walked toward the door.

  “Nicholas, could you start cleaning up the dishes for me?” she asked when she was almost to the door.

  I had gotten up and began to clear the plates when Cora rushed back into the kitchen, scaring me.

  “Nicholas, run!” Cora said, in between yelling and whispering. I didn’t know what to do. I was stunned.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “There’s no time to explain—you’re in danger. I will keep whoever they are busy at the front door. Go out the back and run straight to the Theasings’ house. Tell Ester what’s going on and then call Chase.”

  “Who’s out there? What’s going on?” I whispered urgently.

  “There are Seekers here for you.” She shoved me toward the back door. “Move, and when I open the door, you run for it,” she yelled louder because I was still standing there stuck to the floor.

  I dropped the plates onto the table. Both of them fell off the side, shattering on the floor. She crept to the front door and I ran to the back. I looked at Cora, and from where I was standing, I could see a woman peering into our window next to the front door with both hands up framing her face. It was too dark to see who it was. Cora was at the door, getting ready to open it. Then two loud thuds rattled our front door. Cora pulled away, startled, and then moved back into position.

  What was I doing? I couldn’t leave her. Cora was scared for me but I didn’t feel anything. There was no fire in me warning of danger. But I still couldn’t trust that feeling and leave Cora to face whatever was on the other side of that door alone, just in case I was wrong. Even though the fire was absent, I couldn’t leave her defenseless.

  Cora looked back at me and mouthed the words, “Go now.” Before she had time to fully open the door, I was next to her. My fear of something happening to her made me get there faster than normal. She had the door a quarter of the way open. Realizing I was now standing next to her, she grabbed my arm and tried to pull me back. She started to slam the door with her free hand, but I stopped her.

  “Cora, it’s okay, I know them,” I said, recognizing the two people in front of us. “Riley and Genevieve are the ones who saved me in the park.”

  C
ora still had a tight grip on my arm and on the door knob. I opened the door all the way so we could see both of them on the porch.

  “Wow, you guys have a funny way of answering the door. How about a little gratitude?” Genevieve said sarcastically.

  “I’m sorry for scaring you, Cora,” Riley said. His Irish accent was less obvious than last spring. I had never really gotten a good look at Riley before. He was tall and slender. He reminded me of a greyhound with his narrow face and wiry frame. Genevieve looked like a movie star, dripping with sex appeal. Her radiant skin was still lightly tanned. She was tiny but not like a little girl. Her brown hair was pulled back in complex braids. The nurturing way she had spoken to me in the park last year had been replaced by sarcasm, which sickened me.

  “My name is Riley and this is Genevieve. We are fellow Thusians like the two of you. We have been searching for you both for many years, Cora. We caught up with you a year ago in Tatesville, and we followed you here so we could watch after you both. Luckily we did, because we were able to save Nicholas.”

  I looked over at Cora. The light had returned to her eyes. She was the Cora of old, vibrant and in control. She was in her protecting mode; she had a purpose again—to keep me safe.

  The four of us just stood there in silence, waiting for the next person to make a move. Cora wasn’t impressed by what Riley was saying or willing to let them get any closer to me. She had somehow managed to get her foot in front of me just in case.

  “Maybe we could come in so we can talk,” Genevieve urged.

  Cora didn’t budge. She wasn’t going to let them into the house under any circumstances.

  “Cora, can we invite them in?” I asked, but it was like I wasn’t even there. Riley tried this time.

  “Cora, you are right not to trust us, but please just give us a chance. We would like for you and Nicholas to come to dinner tonight at our house. We still have power. I thought it would be the neighborly thing to do since our workers knocked out your power.”

  Neighborly? The house I had watched being built all this time was theirs. The fresh start I dreamed of having belonged to these two.

  “We have had dinner already,” Cora said, showing her contempt. They weren’t winning her over tonight, that was for sure.

  Riley smiled. “Of course you have, but please come next door in a half hour, even if it’s just to talk.”

  Cora’s gaze was cold and hard.

  I glanced at Genevieve, who was staring at me just as intensely. A sparkle appeared in her radiant green eyes that restored her beauty for a split second, but then it vanished. Riley grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

  Cora turned to me. “We have to go now,” she said, shutting the door and locking it, still watching them as they vanished next door. Not this again, I thought. I wasn’t going to run from the very two people who had rescued me. If I was going to eventually die anyway, I wanted to at least spend as much remaining time as possible with Elle.

  “Cora, I’m not going anywhere. You know this. What’s gotten into you? They saved my life—that has to count for something. They’re not the bad guys.”

  She turned to me. “I’m grateful they saved your life, but that’s where it ends. I have a bad feeling that being around them will lead you into more danger or maybe something worse.”

  “Worse than my Thusian Final Sacrifice? You know, the one where I’ll most likely die for a complete stranger? Cora, I am not moving and I am going over to their house to hear what they have to say, with or without you.”

  “Nicholas, if that’s your decision,” she paused, collecting herself, “I will go with you, but I want you to know that I don’t support this at all.”