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Chapter 31
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February had always been a short month, but this one flew by fast.

There was a moment when she encountered her father again, and she nearly stormed off. It would have made a scene, but she barely cared. Worse than that, it was her favorite ice cream shop, and she hadn’t paid yet when Patrick entered.

He saw her and put down the money in cash for a chocolate banana.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Judy said in turn.

“I messed up the other night, and I’m sorry.”

“Saying sorry isn’t going to fix it, you know.”

“I know. But, did you have to say that you were on your . . . you know?”

“I only said it because it’s true. I can show you proof if you want.”

“Uh, no, that’s alright.”

Judy insisted, “No, really, it would be really easy. I can just pull out my blood-stained pad, and . . .”

“Oh, God. My kid’s gone 'perfect 10 super villainy' on me.”

Meanwhile, the person serving them had a mortified look on his face over the course of their conversation.

Judy said, “At least I’m not an alarm clock. I’m pretty sure those are an 11.”

Meanwhile, the news stations were abuzz over a kidnapping that had happened at the same stadium and evening that Judy had gone to for the basketball game. When Judy saw the news, she recognized the woman whose daughter was taken, but couldn’t remember where or when she’d seen her.

The League gathered by chance after that, and they discussed the same kidnapping as well as another that had happened a couple days after the mass invasion. Walter brought up a point that, unfortunately, kidnappings were common, and that there was so far nothing to link the two instances together.

Judy’s school held its Valentine’s festivities on the thirteenth as it was a Friday. Denise, of course, asked Judy to dance with her, but she made it sound like an innocent dance rather than anything suggestive. It was the apparent innocence and purity that had caught Judy by surprise.

Judy obliged. It was actually fun and sweet between them.

The next day, while many couples were on their way to a romantic dinner in one crowded restaurant or another, a pair of alien ships arrived to invade the Earth. A pair of flying heroes used their powers to carve hearts all over the sides and bottom of each ship.

As they left, the aliens said something over their booming intercom speakers about having never been so humiliated before in their lives.

Of course, Pixeletta was among the few people who actually understood them.

["See your friends next week,"] she said, walking on.

A few days later, posters and flyers began to appear around the city for the Arachne Regime. Some declared a time coming for judgment and rebirth. Others beckoned for people to join in their cause.

Captain Patriot had to appear on the television and express his concern for everyone in Paragon City. Unfortunately, the stations all cut out before he could speak a single word. Judy considered looking for the iconic hero and asking him if he knew what had happened to the broadcast, but the man’s concern for the city made her think even more, as well, about the idea of seeing more of the world.

This eventually led to a couple of conversations in Judy’s memory.

“Hey, Wyatt?”

“Gah! You know, you and War are the only ones who do that. What’s up, Pixeletta?” He was referring to the fact that War Lagoon and Pixeletta liked to refer to their friends and allies by their first name.

“You’re going to see your brother and . . .”

“And his patient, yes. It’ll be next Saturday, the 28th.”

“Right. Are you going alone?”

“That was the plan since everyone else was doing their own thing. Why?”

“I’ve just been thinking over the last couple weeks about what it must be like outside of Paragon. I’ve never been, my father recommended it, and my mom has been getting more and more anxious to leave the city thanks to the Arachne Regime.”

“I see. I wish I could just take you with me, but you’re still a minor. There are laws about taking you across state lines.”

Pixeletta said, “I’ll talk to my mom about it then. I'm surprised Blaze didn't want to go sightseeing, or try to pick up the ladies in other states."

"That does sound more like him, doesn't it? I think he and Rampart were planning to buddy up and do something else that weekend. Anyways, if your mom agrees to come with you, then it would be a delight to have you both."

That night, over dinner, Judy sat with her mom, who must have suspected something. It wasn't until half of their homemade sushi had been eaten that Mai broke the silence.

“Alright, what’s up?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” said Judy.

“I’ve known you for over fifteen years now. I like to think I know when something is on your mind that you want to say. So out with it.”

“How would you feel about leaving town for the weekend?”

“What? Where did this come from?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking for a while. You need time away from everything that’s been happening lately, and I want to see what’s outside of the superhero capital of the world with my own eyes.”

“Oh, of course. We can go wherever you like. This weekend, though? This seems like short notice.”

“More like the 28th.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

“It’s because that’s when Wyatt is heading to Maine to see his brother and a doctor he’s been helping to recover since we saved her life. We don’t have to stay the whole day, or even go there if you don’t want to, but I would like to at least see the place.”

“Tell you what: there’s a train route that runs through the northeast and touches the Great Lakes before coming back this way. I think it would take us the better part of four days, but I think I can call your school to let you off for a few days, if you want to make a whole vacation of it.”

“Can we?”

“If you promise to behave.”

“Mom.”

Judy giggled while her mom ran a hand through her hair and played with it.

Denise pouted when Judy told her that she was going for a trip for a few days. Yes, Judy spent a lot of time being a hero these days, but she had always dedicated some time to being with Denise outside of school. This trip was going to take away from that.

Before Judy left school on Friday, Denise hugged her and kissed her on the cheek. She didn’t let go until Judy promised to bring something back.

One more entry was made inside Judy’s diary, and she grabbed her bags. The train left Paragon at Midnight, and she was curious to see who would fall asleep first while waiting for or riding it.

The curious thought stuck with her until she dozed off in her mother’s arms, the city shrinking in the distance.

Wyatt met them at the train station in Maine—he had driven there the day before—where Judy and her mom got off. He gave them a tour of the small town and surrounding area before taking them into the woods. It was there that his brother had a cabin that used to be a bed and breakfast before the owners passed away and had their property auctioned off.

“All the proceeds went to charity,” Wyatt explained. “I can only guess how he managed to win it from the other bids, but at least he uses it for a good cause.”

Judy could hear the gravel crunching beneath the tires even before the car stopped in front of the cabin, just across a short wooden bridge and a pond. She took her new luggage out of the trunk and rolled it across the bridge. The property was serene, she thought. Still, it felt like something was watching her.

Judy looked at the pond now that she was at the far end of it, and something moved in the water. Something big, or at least its reflection. It made her look all around again, wondering where the reflection could have come from.

Finally, a man stepped out of the enormous cabin. His resemblance to Wyatt was present, but not overbearing. That wasn’t including the fact that he missed Wyatt’s sideburns, a feature Psi Wizard covered with the type of mask and hood he used.

“Well, well,” said the man. “It’s about time my little brother arrived. What did you do, Wyatt, sleep in your car when you got to town?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” said Wyatt, who was bringing up the rear behind Judy’s mom. “I mean, sometimes I just need a break.”

The ladies just kept walking, carrying their things, and Wyatt’s brother showed no reaction.

“Eh? Anyone? No one?”

“Hm. I see he hasn’t changed,” his brother said. “Welcome to my abode, ladies. Would you like some help carrying anything?”

“I think we got it. Thank you,” said Judy’s mom. “And thanks for letting us stay the one night.”

His mouth twitched. “Of course. Anything for a beautiful friend or two of my brother’s.”

“So, Brad,” said Wyatt, “how have you been? Did you have a good weekend?”

“I stocked up on enough pumpkin spice for a normal person to consume for over a year, and then I ate it all in the course of a week. I feared I might have overdosed on it and achieved prescience, but then I remembered something. I’m already a psychic.”

Wyatt bowed his head with a sigh. “My car pun just got hoodwinked.”

“So, how is Doctor Crescent?” asked Wyatt.

Brad replied, “Luna is doing well. She is in the middle of a nap right now, but she should be happy to see some company when she wakes.”

“Luna? You’re on first name basis, then.”

“It is her name, brother.”

“So is Crescent, and she worked for the respectable title of Doctor, too.”

“Yes, but do you call your patients by their last names, or both of your friends here Ms. Tanimoto?”

“One of them, I do. The other has another title of her own, which is only used when it’s necessary to do so.”

Brad chuckled. “Is it necessary to still call Luna ‘Doctor Cresent,’ given the circumstances?”

“That’s up to her when I can talk with her.”

“Fair enough.”

He handed Wyatt and Judy’s mom each a beer.

Judy asked, “So do you just let her rest, or what have you done to help Luna?”

“You haven’t told her what I do, or why I’m in the middle of nowhere?” asked Brad.

“Well, you said it yourself that you’re a psychic. I kinda figured that with you being his brother and everything. But, other than that, he’s only called you a hippy.”

“Has he now?” He glared at a reddening and face-covering Wyatt. “It’s true, I don’t particularly care for a lot of modern advances. Really, it’s more like I’ve learned to live without a few of them, like television.”

“Didn’t stop you from installing wi-fi,” muttered Wyatt.

“We’re both psychics, Wyatt and I, but as you might have noticed he doesn’t like to venture too far deep into people’s minds, so he doesn’t practice anything to do with that. I don’t care for reading minds myself, but I can affect them as easily as a pride of lions might take down a gazelle.”

Judy thought she was in a living room, but suddenly she was in an endless field of long, dry grass where a group of lions scouted a herd of their pray. Then the image was gone, and she was back in the living room of the cabin.

“You do illusions,” said Judy.

“Yes, very good,” Brad said.

“It looked so real, even though I’ve never been there. It almost felt real too.”

“Almost? What made you so sure it wasn’t an illusion?”

“You have a computer upstairs. I could still feel it.”

“That’s impressive. What about you, Mai?”

Judy’s mom said, “Your vision separated us in sight only. After being Judy’s mother for more than fifteen years, I think it’s safe to say I know when she’s right there.”

Brad glared at Wyatt, who gave to him a look of his own. Judy wasn’t sure what it meant.

“The point I’m trying to make,” Brad went on, “is that it doesn’t take much for me to produce an illusion that can fill this cabin. Imagine how it must look or feel for people in a whole town when I am fully immersed in a book that I’m reading, or when I edit something so poorly written that I imagine all the fun ways to teach a writer how to do better.”

Suddenly, the room was eerily void of any speech, and everyone around the coffee table shifted in their seats as though trying to settle into the comfort that the silence could bring.

“Bradley?” called a woman’s voice. “Are you there?”

Judy journeyed through the cabin to have a look around. After a few rooms, she found the library. Each wall was practically caked with books, and more could be found in the few bookcases in the middle of the room. There, she also found a pair of comfortable chairs facing in opposite directions, and a table with a few manuscripts on it. Putting this entire collection together with what she’d seen and heard earlier about Brad’s illusions, she could only fathom a single word for it. Amazing.

A knock on the doorway stole her attention in an instant. It was Wyatt.

“Hey, Judy.”

“Wyatt, hi. What’s with that look?”

“Look?”

“There’s something sad in your eyes. Come on, you’re starting to creep me out here. I thought you were talking to Doctor Crescent.”

“You think you know how to read people’s emotions now, huh? heheh . . . I was talking to her, yes. She said very little until I brought up that I was here with friends. She grew more interested in you and your mother with every passing second.”

“OK?”

“She wants to talk to you.”

“Why would she want to do that?”

“I don’t know. But if we’re to find you anything about Stone or what he’s after, you will need to talk to her for all of us.”