The Last Hero (Book 2): Rise of the Ultras Page 8

  I watched the ULTRAbot lift its hand. But Spark spun around, sent a shot of electricity right into the ULTRAbot’s face. It made it twitch and shake for a few seconds, like a malfunctioning machine.

  But then it just returned to what it was doing before.

  Lifting its fist.

  Swinging at Spark.

  I saw Spark hold it off once more. And, standing there, I knew I couldn’t just watch. On Times Square, I could see dust kicking up where the other two ULTRAbots were emerging. One of them, I could take. Three of them at once? Not possible. I wasn’t strong enough right now.

  I lurched forward. I had to help Spark.

  But then I became aware of what I looked like. I wasn’t in my Glacies gear. I was just Kyle Peters, and if I did anything too crazy right now, the whole world would know I was an ULTRA, and I’d be top of everyone’s hit list.

  The ULTRAbot swung a fist at Spark’s face.

  Spark’s head smacked against the ground.

  I cringed at the sound of the crack. I couldn’t just stand here. I couldn’t just wait and watch this happen.

  I had to act.

  “Hey!” I shouted.

  The ULTRAbot looked up. Its fist was still hovering over Spark’s face, getting ready to deliver one final blow.

  “Catch this,” I said.

  I slammed my fists together.

  Flew in the direction of the ULTRAbot.

  Before we could make contact, I crashed into Spark’s body and teleported the pair of us back to my street with the last of the strength I had.

  I stood by the side of my home. Spark leaned against the wall of my house, gasping for air. He had a nasty cut on his head, a bruise under his eye. Clearly didn’t share my ability for healing.

  “Wait there,” I said, walking towards my house, my legs like jelly and the rest of my body not much better. “If I’m gonna help you, I need to look like Glacies.”

  Spark nodded. He clutched his stomach, leaned back against the wall. The sky had gone gloomy and cloudy over Staten Island, hiding that bright sun that had shone down earlier. The flakes of snow fell thicker, heavier.

  I disappeared into my bedroom. And then I opened up the drawers where I stored my Glacies gear. As I unlocked the final lock, I saw my hands were shaking.

  I looked up. Looked at myself in the mirror. And looking back at me, I saw Kyle Peters. Terrified Kyle Peters. Not Glacies.

  I saw the seventeen-year-old guy who wanted to live his normal life.

  I saw the seventeen-year-old unpopular kid who, more than anything, just wanted to get by.

  But no. I couldn’t be that kid. I had to be stronger than that kid. I had to protect my people.

  I threw on my Glacies gear. The black costume. The dark mask. And when I’d geared up in it, I looked back in the mirror.

  Every time I saw myself as Glacies, I felt stronger right away. More powerful. Because I was powerful—Spark had told me as much, as had Vesper back when we’d mysteriously met.

  I just had to embrace that power. I just had to believe that—

  “Help!”

  The scream was deafening. Ear-piercing.

  And it came from just outside my house.

  I walked over to my bedroom window, my feet as heavy as lead. I didn’t want to look outside. I didn’t want to see what I feared—the very worst.

  But I had to look. I had to see. I couldn’t just walk away.

  When I reached the window, what I saw was worse than I possibly imagined.

  Two ULTRAbots were standing in my street. Two I’d seen back at Times Square, not including the female one I’d first seen. They must’ve followed us, somehow. Traced my teleportation. Shit. Shitting shit.

  One of the ULTRAbots had Spark in its arms. He was struggling, trying to fire electricity at his captors. But the more that ULTRAbot held on, the weaker I saw Spark getting. The more terrified I saw his face turning.

  I wanted to go down and help him. To stop them taking him away.

  But then I saw the people in their houses. The people in their gardens. Standing there, applauding the ULTRAbots.

  And I saw right then that I was the villain. To them, I was the enemy.

  I wasn’t the one who kept them safe. Not in their minds. I was everything wrong with the world. I was the thing that needed eliminating.

  I watched the ULTRAbots walk away with Spark in their arms. He was bruised, his face was covered in scratches, and his outfit was burned on the chest.

  He was unconscious.

  I was about to step away from the window, go to the bathroom to throw up when I saw someone standing right outside my house.

  She was wearing a brown cloak.

  Blue jeans.

  She was looking right through my bedroom window and into my eyes with that dead-eyed stare.

  She wasn’t a she at all.

  It was the ULTRAbot from Times Square.

  And it was walking towards my front door.

  16

  I backed away from my window and wondered what the hell I was going to do.

  The ULTRAbot outside had looked at me, right in the eye. It’d seen me. And then it’d started walking towards my door. Soon, it’d be inside my home. It’d come face to face with my parents. It’d—

  I heard three heavy bangs against the front door.

  My heart raced. My head spun. As I stood there in my Glacies outfit, I’d never felt more defenseless as him. They were coming for me. The ULTRAbots were coming for me. I had to do something. Fast.

  “Oh, sure,” I heard Mom say. “Are you one of his teachers?”

  I didn’t hear the ULTRAbot respond. But I heard its heavy footsteps walking down my hallway, walking towards the bottom of the stairs.

  I held my breath for a few seconds. Focused on teleporting away from here, on flying out…

  But then I saw a flash.

  A flash in my mind that froze me to the spot.

  I wasn’t sure how to explain it, but a vivid image erupted in my imagination. An image of the ULTRAbot standing behind both Mom and Dad, demanding I come back. If I didn’t come back, turn myself in, Mom and Dad would both die.

  I saw the tears rolling down Mom’s face.

  I imagined Dad begging me, urging me not to go away.

  And then I snapped out of the moment and heard the creaky floorboards right outside my door.

  I stood still. Completely still in my bedroom. Outside, the street was silent. The only noise was my breathing and my thumping heart.

  I knew I couldn’t leave this place. Not after that dizzying image that flashed in my mind, gave me a headache. If I left this place, I was turning my back on Mom and Dad, leaving them for dead. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  I saw myself standing there in the mirror. Saw my reflection. And, feeling so afraid, I felt stupid. Stupid for being so afraid as Glacies. But also stupid for bringing Spark back here in the first place. I’d acted, tried to help, just like he told me I had to. And what had that done for me? It’d got Spark taken away, captured by ULTRAbots.

  And it’d got me hiding in my room from that same ULTRAbot I saw hovering over Times Square.

  But I had to do something. I knew that. I had to move, even if the very thought of doing so was painful. I had to brace myself for that ULTRAbot entering my room, and then I had to do something about it. It was too late for running away. I had to deal with it, head on.

  So I did the only thing a weak kid did when something scary lurked outside their bedroom door.

  I took a few steps back and hid inside my wardrobe.

  I held my breath in there. Tried to slow down the racing of my heart. It was so loud and heavy that I swore if the ULTRAbot listened closely enough, it’d hear my heart loud and clear.

  I crouched in the darkness. Bit my lip. Felt the fear inside bubbling to the surface.

  The ULTRAbot’s footsteps stopped, right outside my bedroom door. There was no sound.

  And then I heard a handle lowering.
>
  The door swung open, creaking on its hinges.

  I made myself smaller in the wardrobe. Curled up into a ball. I didn’t want to use any of my powers for fear of attracting the ULTRAbot in some way. I had to play this right. I had to go about this the right way. The only way.

  I saw the shadow creep across my floor. Downstairs, I noticed Mom and Dad were silent. I hoped they were okay, wherever they were, whatever they were doing. I pictured them on their knees, just like I’d seen them in that vision, tears and fear on their faces.

  I pictured them begging for their lives.

  I pictured them…

  No. No, they were okay. They were going to be okay. I had this. I had to have this.

  I watched the ULTRAbot walk slowly around my room. It moved in an unrealistic manner, its footing not quite even. My pulse still raced in my skull as I held my breath, watched the ULTRAbot go over to the window and stand in the exact spot I’d been in when I looked out at it.

  It stopped right there. Looked out of the window for a few seconds.

  And then it turned around and looked right at the wardrobe.

  I closed my eyes. I closed them because again like anyone terrified, I didn’t want to see what was looking at me. I felt like if I couldn’t see what was coming my way, then maybe the ULTRAbot wouldn’t see me as clearly either.

  But I heard the footsteps getting heavier as the ULTRAbot approached.

  I heard the floorboards creaking as it stomped across them, step by step by step.

  I held my breath and felt a warm tear roll down my cheek as I thought of Ellicia. As I thought of when I’d first mustered up the courage to talk to her at the soccer game. At everything we’d been through since. And now she was leaving. Now she was moving home. Now she was going away.

  I felt the tingling sensation in my body change to something stronger. Something much more powerful.

  I opened my eyes.

  The ULTRAbot opened the wardrobe door.

  “Hey, idiot.”

  I saw the ULTRAbot look through the wardrobe door at where it expected me to be.

  But I wasn’t there.

  I’d shifted outside the wardrobe and right behind the ULTRAbot.

  “See how you like being stuck in a box.”

  The ULTRAbot lifted its hand but I flew into it with full force. I grabbed it, and I felt electricity take over my body as I dragged it through space and time, as I teleported us both far away.

  When I finally appeared at the other side of whatever wormhole I’d transported us through, I realized it was still snowy. It was cold. Only it was a hell of a lot snowier and colder than it was where I used to be.

  I looked around. I was on the ground, on my knees. My hands stung. In front of me, I saw deep, thick snow. Flakes flew down with painful speed and intensity. If I spent any longer here, wherever here was, I knew I’d freeze.

  I stood up, battling every instinct in my body telling me to teleport back home. I saw my wardrobe in the snow ahead of me. It was face down. Underneath, I saw a twisted, broken mechanical arm. The wardrobe was shaking underneath, like something was trying to get out.

  I licked my dried lips, my face icy cold. I steadied my ground. Used my usual methods to build up as much energy in my body as possible.

  And then I fired a bolt of ice right at the wardrobe.

  The wardrobe smashed open before the ice made contact. The ULTRAbot flew towards me.

  I fell back. But I kept on firing the ice at it. I kept on pushing and pushing, making sure I took this monster down.

  The ice coated the ULTRAbot. Covered its entire body.

  I saw its arms getting stiff. I saw its face going gray.

  And then I dove out of the way as it landed right where I’d been lying.

  It smashed. Smashed and shattered limb by limb, like an expensive piece of pottery.

  I stood and looked at the smashed remains of the ULTRAbot. I gasped, catching my breath in this harsh, awful wasteland. And as I stood there, I knew right then that I hadn’t really achieved anything. This wasn’t going to get any easier. It was only going to get harder.

  This was just the beginning.

  I looked into the frozen stare of the ULTRAbot, and I shot myself back home.

  Explaining the wardrobe situation to my parents wasn’t going to be easy.

  As I disappeared, I didn’t notice the ULTRAbot’s eye twitch.

  17

  I walked through the school grounds and couldn’t feel relaxed about anything.

  The snow had stopped, but the cold had attacked stronger than at any point so far this winter. There was a bitterness to it as I breathed in, the kind of cold that stung your nostrils and your lungs. I had that groggy feeling at the back of my throat, too. The kind of feeling that came with not much sleep. Which didn’t surprise me. I hadn’t had much sleep at all these last few days.

  “You sure you’re okay, dude?” Damon asked. He frowned at me, much in the way he’d frowned at me a lot lately. “Swear you look more like a ghost every time I see you.”

  “It’s just this bug,” I said, fully aware that I was probably the most terrible liar in the world. I was training, though. Practicing, and trying to get better. I might’ve been good at being an ULTRA, but lying was still a trait I hadn’t honed.

  “Yeah. This mystery bug you keep goin’ on about that nobody else has.”

  “It’s winter,” I said. “Bugs are what happen.”

  “Right,” Damon said, sounding unconvinced. “The world’s falling apart, Ellicia’s left you, and it’s a bug that finally floors you.”

  I was partly pleased that Damon still thought it was the Ellicia thing that was getting to me. Of course it was. But I had way bigger problems to worry about right now. Spark. The ULTRA I’d watched get taken away by the ULTRAbots, right outside my house. I couldn’t escape the guilt I felt for what happened to him. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I could’ve done something more if I’d really tried.

  “You see the news from Paris last night?” Damon asked, as we made our way up the stairs towards Geography.

  I looked over my shoulder. I’d become increasingly panicky when I was in school–well, when I was anywhere–especially after the ULTRAbots had found their way into my school. It felt like wherever I was, I had to look over my shoulder, especially now I knew the ULTRAbots could detect who I was at a glance.

  I thought to the ULTRAbot I’d transported to the ice and the snow in the middle of nowhere. The one I’d frozen, then smashed and left behind. It took a lot to defeat it. To take it down. And that was just one of them.

  They were too strong for me to fight alone. I knew it would take a lot for me to defeat them. A lot of courage. A lot of strength. And a lot of people. So I was going to have to hope I could avoid them. Keep as low a profile as I possibly could.

  My life–both of my lives–depended on it.

  “Kyle?” Damon said. “You even listening?”

  I looked back at Damon. Everything seemed muffled, blurry. Every sound of a voice, every glance in my direction… It felt like they all knew I was Glacies. That the secret was out.

  I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I just couldn’t allow it.

  “Massive fight over Paris, anyway,” Damon said. “Three ULTRAbots, four ULTRAs. Some of ’em firing flames, others firing live bullets outta their hands. Man, it was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Took the top off the Eiffel Tower. But the ULTRAbots won, of course.”

  “Of course,” I muttered, a sinking feeling building in my stomach.

  “What?”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t let Damon clock on to my disappointment about the ULTRAs being defeated. I mean, should I be disappointed that ULTRAs were being defeated? There were rogue ULTRAs out there, of course. Who were the good guys? Who were the bad guys? Was there even such a thing anymore?

  I turned the corner, my thoughts and feelings still firmly rooted elsewhere, and I saw Ellicia standing outside my Geography class.


  I stood still. Like I’d walked right into a brick wall. She was standing there, and she was looking into my eyes, with a half smile on her face. Her brown hair shone, and her eyes twinkled. I felt like I was seeing her for the first time all over again.

  “You… aren’t in my Geography,” I said. And felt idiotic the moment after saying those words. I’d been together with this person for six months. Why was I acting like I’d never spoken to her before all over again?

  “No,” she said. “Nicely spotted. Hey, you’ve got five minutes, right?”

  I looked at my watch, which didn’t actually exist. “Maybe four. Or three–”

  “Kyle, I’m not moving.”

  It took my brain a few seconds to adjust to what Ellicia just said.

  “Well? Don’t look so terrified.”

  “No,” I said, my cheeks flushing. Shit. What was I supposed to say? Was this a dream? I’d prepared myself so much for this reality, and now Ellicia was staying? “That’s–that’s great. That’s really great.”

  Ellicia didn’t look convinced by my words. I wished I could sound more enthusiastic. Her staying was everything I wanted, after all. “Well, not totally great. Dad’s new job fell through. All to do with the ULTRAs. Luckily his old place loves him, so they were happy to take him right back.”

  “So you’re staying for good?”

  Ellicia smiled. “For now. And for a while. I hope.”

  I looked down at my shoes. I felt happy inside, I really did. But a part of me felt afraid too. Because I’d accepted my situation as Kyle Peters. I’d accepted that with Ellicia leaving New York, I had less to lose.

  But now she was staying, I had more in my non-ULTRA life to fight for.

  Was that a good thing? Was that a bad thing? I just didn’t know anymore.

  “Anyway,” Ellicia said, as my classmates starting jostling inside the Geography class. She looked down at the corridor. “I guess I just wondered if you wanted to go for a milkshake tomorrow? There’s a nice new place opened right by the harbor. They do Oreo shakes.”

  I smiled. I couldn’t believe I’d even questioned whether this was a good thing or not. “You had me at Oreo.”