Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch(18)

“I guess it’s kind of like a tribute,” he said. “I can totally take it out if you think—”

“No,” I said automatically, not really hearing him, or myself. “It’s fine. Really.”

“It’s just that without your dad’s stories I probably would’ve ended up another loser grinding it out in the Bronx, you know? I mean, I must have read those comics a thousand times. I had the single issues and all the trades. And I wasn’t one of those poseurs who started reading after all the awards. I was there from the start! I’ve even got this guy in the city says he has a line on some of your dad’s scripts for what would have been Volume Five.”

“He’s lying,” I said. “There is no Volume Five.”

Gonzalez kept going—talking about Dad and how his Cardinal stories had inspired him, first to join the Guard and then to be an artist—but I was too distracted by a twisted-up feeling in my gut to really hear him anymore. It was a strange thing, Tenn, to wish you could see your father the way a stranger did.

Gonzalez was interrupted by a burst of static from his radio, followed by a muffled voice.

“Surveyor One, this is Homeland. We need you back at the line, over.”

“Ah, damn it. Duty calls.” He grabbed the mic clipped to his shoulder. “Acknowledged, Homeland.”

Gonzalez started gathering his things.

“Oh, hey,” he said. “I gotta ask.”

“Ask what?”

Gonzalez dipped his head and looked at me from beneath an arched eyebrow. “You get yourself a green-haired girlfriend and not tell me?”

Right. That. “She’s just this girl. I came across a couple of guys trying to run the lost wife scam on her.”

“So you strapped on your Cardinal wings and saved the day, huh?”

“Just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess.”

“What were you doing in town anyway?”

“Snow Cone needed meds for that rash,” I said. “Greer had enough to worry about.”

Gonzalez nodded. “So you brought the girl up here?”

“Didn’t see any other choice. That shelter of yours—”

“Yeah, I know. It sucks.” He took a breath. “I can cover for you on the girl. With everything that’s going on, Raney’s probably going to be too busy to give a damn for a while anyway. Just keep her out of sight. No more Buffy the Pedophile Slayer.”

I nodded.

“And for real,” he said. “You guys keep your heads down. Whatever Raney’s intentions are, tread lightly. You’re not careful, the Eye of Sauron’s gonna turn your way. Picture our Mr. Raney leading a platoon of orcs and wargs right up Lucy’s Promise. You got me?”

“Yeah. I got you.”

Gonzalez slipped into his backpack and helmet. I started to hand him the sketchbook but he waved it off. “It’s okay. Spend some time with them. I’ll be back before the pullout. You can give me your professional opinion then. All right?”

I nodded.

“I’ll owe you, man. Ten percent of my millions. For life!”

We said good night, and then his boots crunched through the trees, slowly fading out until I was alone in the dark. Or until I thought I was.

“I swear, Cassidy, you kill me.”

Greer was standing in a patch of moonlight on the other side of the stream, grinning. I set the sketchpad down and pulled my mask back on.

“Black River has always prided itself on being a diverse community,” he said, chuckling as he came through the trees. “I don’t care what everybody says, you’re funny.”

“Anybody else out there?” I asked.

“Few other Marvins looking around near the base of the mountain.”

“They see you?”

“Please. I got within five feet and they just stood there picking their noses. So! What did Lieutenant Supernerd have to say?”

“He can cover for us on the girl,” I said. “Thinks Raney’s probably too busy to worry about her right now anyway.”

Greer plopped down on the streambed across from me. “So he didn’t seem so bad, right? Raney?”

I looked over at him.

“What?” Greer said. “I’m serious. He said nothing’s going to change.”

“He said he saw no reason right now for anything to change,” I corrected him. “It was a threat, Greer.”

“Come on.”

“He was making sure we knew he could change his mind anytime he wanted. I mean, seriously, didn’t you think it was a little weird that he didn’t come down on us at all? Why not?”

“Fine. Maybe it’s weird. But the kids could use some fun. Not to mention new clothes.”

“We don’t know anything about him,” I said. “We start taking favors from him now, then—”

“I know, I know. He’s gonna turn out to be some kind of lizard person who wants to eat our faces off. But how about we deal with that after we get everybody some new underwear?”

Greer kept on chattering away, but his voice faded out just like Gonzalez’s had. The sketchbook had fallen open to a drawing of Black Panther. I went to close it but ended up flipping ahead until I came to the end again, to Cardinal. The way the moonlight washed out the colors, it looked like those early pages, the ones you and I shared as the snow fell on the fire escape outside our window. I could almost feel you beside me as I traced the curve of Cardinal’s wing with my fingertips.