The Shadow Read online

  Margo started scanning the loft for clues. She looked along the wall. The scooter was gone. As she passed the crate that served as their dining table, she noticed a scrap of yellowed stationery sitting on top.

  “Lamont!” She held up the paper. “Look!”

  Lamont grabbed the paper out of Margo’s hands. It was Maddy’s scrawl for sure. But with a very unexpected message.

  “Good morning!” it said. “Went to school.”

  CHAPTER 55

  “DID YOU GUYS miss me?”

  It’s my little joke. Or at least my attempt at one.

  I’m in the school courtyard, talking to a bunch of kids who couldn’t care less about whether I came back at all. So what? I can’t keep my mouth shut any longer. If the government took my grandmother, they can take anyone. I have to speak up. If I had a picture of Grandma, I would have found a way to print up some Missing flyers. But maybe I can at least recruit some people to help me search.

  But I’m not having much luck.

  “We got cleaning detail because of you!” said Lisa Crane. I can tell she’s really pissed off, and so are the other kids. Obviously, my daring escape had not gone unnoticed. And I know the whole class sometimes gets punished for one kid’s offense.

  “Look, I’m sorry,” I say. “But cleaning duty is the least of our problems. It’s getting worse out there. More TinGrins. More roundups. It’s only a matter of time before they come for everybody!”

  “This is a school!” says Lisa. “We’re safe here as long as we follow the rules—until somebody like you messes it up for everybody!”

  “Open your eyes, Lisa!” I say. “This isn’t a school. It’s a holding pen! Someday you’re going to wake up and realize that we should have done something while we had the chance!”

  I’ve never been much of a speech maker, but I had to warn people. Even people who think I’m a loner weirdo delinquent.

  Just then, I see a face in the doorway that leads to the courtyard. It’s Renny Zale, the politician’s daughter and permanent teacher’s pet. The last person I wanted to run into. Sure enough, two seconds later, there’s a teacher in the doorway too. And she’s pressing a button on her pendant.

  Shit. This is not good.

  I hear the pounding of boots from the hallways, heading this way. This time, they won’t give me a second chance. They’ll ship me off to a school where cleaning is pretty much the whole curriculum. Or they might just execute me on the spot, as an example.

  Guards rush into the courtyard from all sides, like an invading army. The other kids scatter, but the guards don’t even make a move to stop them. There’s only one person here they’re interested in, and that’s me.

  “Maddy Gomes!” I hear my name, but I can’t really tell who’s talking. The guards’ voices come through speakers in their chest plates and the words echo around the courtyard walls. “You are under arrest for inciting insurrection!” They always make a show of announcing the charge. It’s like a warning to everybody else. Inciting insurrection is no joke. It’s a capital offense. Coming back here was a huge mistake.

  The guards are closing in. I can hear their equipment rattling. I can see green laser sights pointed at me. My stomach is burning. I feel like I might throw up. Forget mind control. I can’t even think. And there are too many guards to control anyway. I see Renny standing with the teacher in the doorway. She gives me a sick little “bye-bye” wave. It’s like everything is moving in slow motion.

  Concentrate, Maddy!

  The rifles are almost touching my chest. I close my eyes. Ready to accept whatever happens. One of the guards reaches for me. Almost touching me.

  And then I feel it. A rush in my head—like I’m falling, then floating.

  The guards start spinning around like tops, pointing their guns every which way. I back away, but nobody’s looking in my direction. I’m expecting somebody to grab me and throw me to the ground. But nobody does.

  Then I realize why.

  Omigod, it happened.

  I’m invisible!

  There’s a light buzz in my brain, but my thinking is clear. Clearer than ever. Even my vision seems sharper. This is crazy!

  I pick up a stone and throw it against a window across the courtyard.

  When the stone hits the glass, the rifles all turn in that direction. The Shadow strategy!

  I can see my way out—right behind the column where Renny is hiding. She doesn’t want to get shot by mistake.

  I move across the courtyard on tiptoe, trying not to make any noise. Not that it would matter. Kids are screaming and the guards are shouting orders at one another. On my way out, I do one last thing. I can’t resist.

  I knock Renny Zale onto her skinny rich ass.

  CHAPTER 56

  AT THAT SAME moment, Margo Lane was getting her first taste of Manhattan in a hundred and fifty years.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said Lamont.

  As they wandered the streets beyond the warehouse, Margo was stunned by what she saw. It was worse than any slum her lowlife clients had ever taken her to. Worse even than Lamont had described. But one thing bothered her more than anything else.

  “Lamont,” she kept saying, “the smell!”

  From the warehouse, they had roamed west through the empty canyon of Wall Street and across Trinity Place to the new shoreline of the Hudson River. Margo remembered seeing the Hudson from the window of her first apartment, watching as it turned from green to blue-green to gray in the sunset. Now the color was dirty brown, and it stank like a sewer.

  Lamont kept his eye out for police and for anything that looked like a prison compound. Anyplace they might be holding Jessica. But it was a big city. He realized that she could be anywhere.

  As they rounded a corner, they saw what looked like a group of kids playing soldier. But as they got closer, they realized it wasn’t a game at all. The two tallest kids, maybe eighteen or nineteen, had three younger kids pinned against a wall. And the gun that one of the older kids was holding wasn’t pretend. It was real. The other kid was wielding a bat. The smaller kids had been carrying food in cloth sacks, maybe old pillowcases. But now everything was scattered on the ground. Bread. Apples. Rice. The older kids wore masks—a rabbit and a fox. Their victims were bare-faced and terrified.

  “See what I mean?” Lamont said. “In broad daylight!”

  He nudged Margo into the entryway of an abandoned store.

  “Wait here,” he said.

  He headed down the street toward the kids. Margo tried to grab him.

  But it was no use.

  “Lamont!” she said. “He has a gun!”

  “Not for long,” Lamont replied.

  Margo backed into the doorway, just her head peeking out. As Lamont walked briskly down the street, she saw him suddenly disappear into thin air. Her heart was pounding fast, and a little thrill went through her whole body. She was terrified and excited. It had been a long time since she’d seen the Shadow in action.

  “Oh, Mr. Bunny!”

  The kid in the rabbit mask heard a mocking voice. He turned, but there was nobody there.

  “Hippity hop!” said the voice. Now on the other side.

  The rabbit spun around, pointing his gun in the direction of the sound.

  Suddenly something knocked him backward. As he stumbled, the gun was ripped from his hands. Now it was floating in midair. The fox lowered his bat and watched, stunned. First the ammo magazine separated from the gun and flew into a water grate near the curb. Then the gun itself went spinning up onto a nearby roof.

  The little kids were still pressed up against the wall, shaking. No clue what was happening. Then the smallest kid heard a man’s voice, right next to his ear.

  “Go!” the voice whispered. “Take your food and go!”

  The kids scooped up their supplies and dashed around the corner. In seconds, they were out of sight.

  The fox and the rabbit were now back to back, turning in a slow circle, looking high a
nd low. The fox had his bat raised. But there was nothing to swing at.

  “What the hell is going on?” he asked, his voice dry and cracking.

  “Shut up!” said the rabbit. “Stay ready!”

  Suddenly the fox felt his legs being swept from under him. He fell hard on his back and heard his bat clatter onto the sidewalk.

  “Shit!” said the rabbit. Now the bat was in the air, coming at them, waving in a menacing arc.

  The fox scrambled to his feet and followed the rabbit at top speed down the street. Just as they reached the intersection, a four-man patrol of TinGrins rounded the corner.

  From her hiding spot, Margo watched as the two teens yanked off their masks and pointed back down the street. She saw the officers stiffen and raise their rifles, moving slowly in her direction. The rabbit and the fox ran off, leaving the masks in the middle of the street.

  Margo took a breath, composed herself, and stepped out of the doorway, having acquired a new accessory. She was now carrying a huge, orange-flecked tabby cat. When she reached the middle of the street, the four officers formed a cordon in front of her. She stopped.

  “We had a disturbance report,” said the lead officer. “Did you see anything?”

  “Nothing at all,” said Margo. “I’m just out for a stroll.” She smiled and waved her hand as if shooing flies.

  “Coming through, boys,” she said, stroking the cat gently between the ears. The cordon parted.

  “Have a beautiful day,” the lead officer said.

  Margo kept walking.

  “Go suck a lemon,” she said under her breath.

  Margo turned the corner and exhaled slowly. She stooped and put the fat cat down on the pavement. When she stood back up, Lamont was standing beside her and the cat was gone. Margo was incredulous.

  “Shape shifting?” she said, hands on her hips, eyes wide. “Where in God’s name did that come from?”

  “Not sure,” said Lamont. “Maybe all that time while you were just resting, I was evolving some new skills.” He took her by the arm as they walked down the empty street—toward the flooded plain that was once Battery Park.

  “Any other animals in your repertoire?” Margo asked. “Or is it just the cat?”

  “I thought you’d be more impressed,” said Lamont.

  “Lamont,” said Margo, “you know I hate cats.”

  CHAPTER 57

  LAMONT LED THE way through the alley between two warehouses as he and Margo headed back toward their makeshift abode. It was still the middle of the day. No sense in being out in the open this close to home. The path was a narrow obstacle course of puddles, trash, and broken bricks. At the end of the alley, the vista of the East River was framed like a picture—a picture of rot and desolation. A ghost barge floated past a half-submerged pier, where a few lonely souls hauled water out of the river with buckets. The water would need to be boiled, of course, and even then it would retain a tang of decay.

  Suddenly they saw a figure streak across the frame like a missile.

  Maddy!

  Lamont and Margo hurried to the end of the alley just in time to see her hop off her scooter in front of the warehouse. She turned and saw them at the same time.

  “Maddy!” yelled Lamont. “Are you all right?”

  “Lamont! Margo!” Maddy called back. She hurried over, trembling with excitement.

  “I have to tell you something!” she said. “There was this incident at school! But guess what? Guess what?” She didn’t wait for a reply. “I did it! I went totally invisible! That’s how I got out of trouble! It was amazing!”

  “What kind of trouble?” asked Margo.

  Maddy’s words spilled out, rapid-fire.

  “So I kind of snuck into school between periods without telling any of the teachers I was there, and I was trying to get kids to understand what we’re up against. I told them about the TinGrins taking Grandma and all the other roundups around the city, but nobody was really listening. And then the guards came and I almost panicked but then I just…”

  “Disappeared?” said Lamont.

  “One hundred percent!” said Maddy. “I couldn’t believe it!”

  “Maddy,” said Lamont. “You have to be more careful. You can’t just go around the city spouting off and showing off your powers. It’s dangerous.”

  “But you do it all the time,” said Maddy.

  “I’m experienced,” said Lamont. “You’re not.”

  Lamont’s reaction stung. Maddy thought he’d be proud of her. She definitely didn’t expect to be scolded. Margo saw the hurt in her eyes. She pulled Maddy close and put her arms around her.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked. “How do you feel? Any after-effects?”

  “I feel fine,” said Maddy, now subdued, her chin hooked over Margo’s shoulder. Suddenly, Margo felt Maddy tighten and push away. Maddy was looking at something in the distance. Margo and Lamont turned to look too.

  Coming down the row of warehouses, just fifty yards away, was a squad of TinGrins. The officer in front held a small video device, and the others were doing a visual sweep of every doorway and alley. This was no random patrol. It was a search party. The bucket people returning from the river froze in their tracks. The TinGrins ignored them and walked by.

  Margo stared at the officer with the video device. She looked at Lamont.

  “They’re coming for you,” she said.

  Maddy grabbed Lamont by the sleeve.

  “Lamont!” said Maddy. “Do it! Just disappear!”

  “No,” said Margo firmly. “Everybody act normal. For once.”

  The TinGrins were only yards away now. The lead officer had obviously locked on to the three figures in front of him. He raised his compact video screen higher. It showed a grid pattern over a frozen image from a surveillance camera at the World President’s Residence. Lamont’s image. The officer waved the device over the three people in front of him. The scruffy teenager. The slender blonde. When he reached Lamont, the grid on the screen turned from gray to red.

  “Match!” the officer called out. Behind him, a half-dozen rifles came up into shooting position. Margo linked arms with Maddy and Lamont.

  “Everybody just hold still,” she whispered. “And Lamont?”

  “What?”

  “No cats.”

  The lead officer stepped forward until his helmet was just a few feet from Lamont’s face. “Lamont Cranston?” he asked. “Is that your name?”

  Margo wedged herself between them and stared into the black visor. She couldn’t see the officer’s eyes, but it didn’t matter. She was close enough.

  “Lamont Cranston is not here,” she said. “Your device is improperly calibrated. You need to keep looking. Farther uptown.”

  The officer turned and circled one hand in the air. The patrol did a slow about-face and began working their way back up the row of warehouses.

  “Have a beautiful day,” said the officer as he turned on his heel.

  Lamont waited until the officer’s back was to them.

  “And you as well,” he said, lifting his middle finger.

  Margo put her arm around Maddy as they walked back toward the warehouse.

  “I’d almost forgotten,” said Margo, “mind control is a beautiful thing.”

  CHAPTER 58

  TWO HOURS LATER, I’m getting my first full lesson in superpowers.

  “Maddy, I need you to pay attention,” Lamont is saying. “This is important. Life or death, actually.”

  There’s a warm fire in the stove. Lamont and Margo are sitting in matching office chairs.

  “This is great!” I say. “I always wanted to be homeschooled!”

  “Be serious,” said Lamont. “No fooling around.”

  I straighten up and focus.

  “Sorry,” I say. I can never resist making sarcastic comments in class.

  But never in my wildest dreams had I ever imagined sitting in a class like this. I’m getting a lecture on invisibility, from th
e Shadow himself.

  “The first thing you need to understand,” says Lamont, “is that invisibility has a limited range of projection. For one thing, it can’t project through metal. All that stuff about the Shadow running around with matching forty-five pistols was nonsense. I never even wore a belt buckle if I could help it. Invisibility will project through clothes, as long as they’re not too baggy. Too much loose fabric can be a problem if it moves outside the field.”

  “Lamont usually wore a tux,” said Margo. “Ivory or Bakelite buttons. No zipper. Custom tailored.”

  “So what about all those pictures of the Shadow with a cape and scarf?” I ask.

  “Ridiculous,” says Lamont. “Way too much fabric. That’s all some artist’s crazy imagination.”

  “Speaking of too much fabric,” says Margo, looking at me. “Do you have anything in your wardrobe that’s a little more…form-fitting?”

  “Form-fitting?” I ask.

  “Tighter. Closer to your body. Less like a feed sack.”

  I tug on my shirt. It is a little baggy. That’s the way I like it.

  “I don’t know,” I say. “Bike shorts, maybe?”

  “Bike shorts?” says Margo. “You mean bloomers?”

  “What the hell are bloomers?”

  “Never mind,” says Lamont. “Margo’s right. Why don’t you go see what else you’ve got. It might make things easier.”

  “Okay, okay, I’ll go look.” I go back into my sleeping space. I’ve got a bag full of clothes that I brought back from the apartment. I dump everything onto the floor and start sorting through the options. Almost everything here is loose and baggy, the way I like it. Except maybe for the bike shorts. And one T-shirt. I do a quick change and walk back into the main room. But I’m walking funny. The shorts pinch me in all the wrong places, and the T-shirt is about two sizes too small. I feel like a sausage. This is a fashion disaster.

  “Well, my dear!” says Margo, “Don’t you look nice!”

  “I hate this!” I shout. “Nobody saw my clothes when I disappeared at school!”