Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It could have been a seven-hundred-million-dollar mistake. Thaddeus reminded himself of that as he turned out of the freeway and headed into Philadelphia. He gripped the steering wheel tighter. SCORA was nothing more than a fancy pile of silicon and circuits. The coders that programmed it had only a firm grasp on its input. The mathematicians that scribbled down numbers could only extend their algorithms so far. It was a machine, not alive but precise enough to pull numbers and theories and names seemingly out of thin air. An investment that calculated the possibility of a person becoming involved in magical incidents and nothing more.

No other name and location had been duplicated, no matter how long the lists got. Billy Batson had appeared three times. The names had first been apart only by six lines, before being repeated again nearly four-hundred lines later. Part of Thaddeus had expected his cell phone to ring and his secretary to tell him there had been another hit. Already, she’d called him twice that day to report on new findings and to discuss some new patients that had called in. One line of many was crossed off from the great cyber oracle’s list of predications.

The radio of his rented car was turned down low, and in the three hours that he had been driving, the sound only now reached his ears. It was an old song, a good forty years old or more. For a moment, he was a boy again, standing in a bakery eagerly eyeing a display of sweets. He shook the thought away.

Memories returned anyway. The city had gotten a face lift since he’d left, new stores and restaurants dotting the streets, but the skeleton was the same. It had been five years since he’d last ventured into the city, three since he’d sent his family a Christmas card. Now he was a teenager heading to the movies, only to be cornered on the sidewalk by Sid and a group of his friends. When he took a hard left, he was again a young man escorting his father to work, the two silent throughout the entire drive.

Thaddeus took a deep breath. The city housed over one million residents. So long as he stayed at a low-end hotel and ate simply, the chances that he would run into his father or Sid were lower than the Dead Sea’s shore. They certainly wouldn’t have been caught dead entertaining themselves anywhere near the part of the city that he was headed for.

Thaddeus ran the facts through his head again. Billy Batson, born 03 February 2003, was a four-year-old boy who had been in and out of three foster homes in the last seven months. The state was like a soccer player suddenly pulled out into the field, unsure of where to hit the ball. At this rate, he’d be halfway across the state in a few months. He’d gotten lost from his mother and the state had hit their limit trying to track her down. From what he’d read, the boy’s father had relinquished custody, and his records didn’t indicate he’d be able to win it back any time soon if he tried. Families were funny like that – sooner or later someone painted the paper trail red.

Still, tracking the boy down had been easy enough. Only three hours after his initial request, his secretary had brought him a pile of papers that he’d spent the night pouring through. Time had marched forward through a steady stream of phone calls and emails and faxing files. The flights to and from the city had been sparse, but necessary. Time was a luxury even he could not buy more of.

And then there was now. A day part of himself had never quite expected to come.

-

Billy twitched in his seat. Ms. Glover had been gone for five minutes, and in that time the silence of the room had seemed to crawl into his ears. His heart had been hammering since he woke up that morning. Did Ms. Glover really expect him to do this?

He looked down to the Magic Eight ball in his hands. Dr. Sivana had given it to him during his last visit. In the stream of toys and clothes that the man had bought him, something about it had stuck out. Maybe it was the chipped paint on one side, or the scratches near the end. Some nights, he would shake it for what seemed like hours, watching the blue triangle bounce up and down within some unseen ocean. He could decipher a few words from it. Since his last visit, Billy had read through the books Dr. Sivana had given him until the pages began to tear.

If he closed his eyes, he could still feel himself perched upon the man’s legs, hear his voice within his ear. He’d been insistent that they go to the library that day. A few times throughout that day, Billy had wondered if they would ever leave.

Billy looked to the Magic Eight ball now, to the floating “yes.” There was the answer but gone was the question.

“Keep it to remind you of me,” Dr. Sivana had said. As if Billy could ever forget. Ms. Glover was always eager to discuss him. Whenever the two were at one of their meetings, she always had some new tidbit on him.

Billy had smiled through those meetings. He grinned when Dr. Sivana had taken him to zoos and museums. Nor had he frowned when the man bought him ice cream or came to visit bearing a box of doughnuts. He smiled because frowns so far had gotten him nothing. Tears had only ever gotten him a face full of toilet water and bruises that dotted his skin like stars.

Billy ignored the way his stomach flipped and smiled when Ms. Glover and Dr. Sivana entered the room.

“Aren’t you excited to go home with your father?”

Billy’s smile was so large that it took up half his face. He nodded.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to hear you say that.” Dr. Sivana removed a pen from his shirt pocket and filled out one last form. As he and Ms. Glover fussed over that final form, Billy let his lips slip.

-

Billy awoke in a heap of stuffed animals. His face was buried into the stomach of a tiger. The plush was so large that he hadn’t quite believed it when Dr. Sivana – his father – had bought it for him. A number of other plush dotted his bed, including the entire cast of the Hundred Acre Woods and a zoo’s worth of safari animals.

Sitting up, he surveyed the room. The flight to California the day (night?) before had been the longest seven hours of his life. While the two had sat in the airport the afternoon prior, Billy had struggled to think of some way to escape, to get Dr. Sivana to reveal that this was all some grand prank. All the while, he’d scoured the airport in search of his mother. It was a habit that he had taken to whenever he went out. In the flurry of people, no one had stuck out.

“Are you scared, William?” Dr. Sivana had asked once they’d made it through security.

Billy had looked to the ground.

“Have you ever been on an airplane before?”

Billy shook his head. Where had he ever had to go?

“While I can’t say they’re the most pleasant way to travel, they are interesting to ride.” He put his hand on Billy’s shoulder. “Just think – soon we’ll be out of here.”

Billy hopped out of bed. Aside from his bed, his room had been sparsely decorated. A bookshelf near his closet was so tightly packed with books that Billy half wondered how it hadn’t broken through the wood sidings. A small desk sat next to it, bare except for the Magic Eight ball which watched over him like some misshapen eye. Next to his bed was a large window. Sunlight drifted in through the large curtains.

Outside, the sun was bright, and the world was green. A bicyclist rode past on the curving sidewalk. A flock of birds, some looking no larger than a comma, flew overhead.

His door pulled open. Turning, Billy met Dr. Sivana’s eyes, the only part of his face visible thanks to the large mug of coffee he was busily gulping down.

“I thought I heard you.” He smiled, but Billy didn’t return the gesture. “What do you think, William?”

Billy’s shoulders tensed. He’d never been wild about the name, and when Dr. Sivana had first started using it, Billy had thought that he was talking to someone else. Their handful of conversations about it had always been tense. Something would pass through Dr. Sivana’s eyes and his face would tighten.

“It’s…” He’d waved his hands around, as if the answer were hiding somewhere in this strange new room. How spacious it was! There were no foster brothers to share it with, no kids to push past whenever he wanted to do something as simple as walk down the hallway. The same could almost be said for their apartment. Aside from Dr. Sivana’s study, which was locked so tightly that Billy could barely even move the door handle, the whole place was his to explore and use. The night before, he had only seen glimpses in the dark. All he’d really noticed was the size and the faint outlines of furniture.

So many answers hung on Billy’s tongue, none that he could bring himself to voice. Dr. Sivana was a nice man. How could he not be, for putting up with Billy? But he wasn’t his father, no matter what the man and Ms. Glover insisted. All Billy needed was his mother, his real, true mother, and he wasn’t going to find her out here.

Before this, they had only discussed her once. It had been late, Billy had been tired, and he had been stupid enough to ask questions. Dr. Sivana had never mentioned her; for all Billy knew then, the man hadn’t known that she existed.

“Why does Ms. Glover say you want to adopt me if my mom will find me and take me back?” The words had tumbled out of him so quickly that at first he hadn’t been sure if Dr. Sivana had heard him. Just as he was about to repeat it, Dr. Sivana had spoken.

“That woman doesn’t want anything to do with you.” He’d heard it all before. It was a favorite talking point of Ms. Glover, and his older foster brothers had often said the same thing, albeit with a zestier wording. Something about the way Dr. Sivana had said it had made Billy’s stomach fall into the pit of his chest. “Since she left you, has she so much as sent a letter? Has she looked for you? Gone to the police and filed a missing person’s report?”

Billy hadn’t been sure how to reply. All he’d managed to muster up was a “B-but-”

“But what? Am I wrong?”

Maybe he was. For all Billy knew, ever since that day of the carnival, his mother had been looking. How would she find him now, though? Why would she think that he was all the way out here?

“It’s n-nice.” A hard lump had formed in Billy’s throat that he could barely push the words past.

“It’s all yours.” Dr. Sivana crossed the room and squeezed his shoulder.

Chapter Text

“I mean really, Thad, a leash? What do you think the kid is going to do, run straight into traffic?” Sid took a long sip of his coffee. He looked down, eyeing the offending backpack. It was orange and covered with black stripes, and came with a matching colored plush leash leading out of the end. Thad had been clutching it tightly ever when he’d helped the boy out of his Lexus that afternoon.

“If you’d listened to me earlier, you’d know he’s been diagnosed with mazeophobia.” Thad’s fists tightened. “Considering the circumstances, I can’t blame him.” His eyebrows wrinkled together. He looked as though he was on the verge of saying something but stopped. The two locked eyes together, but his gaze was cold and unreadable.

“When I heard the rumors running around that you got a kid, I thought Great Aunt Fiona was pulling everybody’s leg. I never saw you as the parenting type.”

“And you’re taking the job so well yourself, eh Sid? Did you stop at Woody’s after work or head straight out to do your Christmas shopping?”

Sid gritted his teeth. It would have been so easy to deck his nose and send those black-framed glasses flying. As a kid it had been fun, nothing more than Sid doing his part to enforce the laws of the jungle. Now, though, it would just get them a stern look from their father. Knowing Adelaide, she’d hear about it and use it as proof as to cut off visitation with Annabelle altogether. Wouldn’t that make for a merry fucking Christmas?

But hey, he reminded himself, if worse comes to worst, I can always cover the cost of stitches.

“Dad and I were a bit surprised that you sent back an RSVP.”

Thaddeus looked to the wall. Their childhood home hadn’t changed much beyond some renovations to update the entrance ramps and elevators six years back. The furniture inside was close to a century old. When Sid was a child, before Thad had been born, he’d wondered through the living room at night, desperate to catch some ghost lounging on the couch.

“I had time to stop by.”

“And your other holidays have been so busy?”

“Actually, yes. I’d like to think you know a thing or two about getting caught up in work.” He took a sip of his own coffee. At the rate they were going, the two were going to be refilling the pot the entire night.

Sid was suddenly desperate for the bottle. Most days it was a low urge, simple to ignore; the old screech of addiction had finally gone hoarse. Now, though, it was pounding at him, desperate and alive and hungry. “Could you at least tell me why you got him? I just can’t wrap my head around it. You’re not married. Until tonight, Dad and I had no idea it even happened.”

“What do you two have to do with it?”

“Like I said, we just never expected it of you.”

“Maybe I thought becoming a father would offer more meaning to my life. Or maybe I just felt sorry for him.”

Sid’s throat tightened. He thought of Annabelle, who seemed to grow taller the longer the two spent apart. Some weekends she’d call up demanding - demanding! - to stay at a friend’s house instead of coming over. Half the time he couldn’t blame her. Why would she want to spend a quarter of her weekend filling him in on his ex-wife’s new beau anyway?

“Parenting can be hard, Thad.”

“Don’t remind me.” He walked back towards the kitchen, Sid following behind. The oven’s electric clock read in big green type that it was a quarter past one. There were what, one, two days until Christmas? There was a light dusting of snow outside, so thin that it might all melt by the time morning arrived.

“His mother walked out on him.”

Thad might as well have hit him on the side of his head with a hammer.

“Poor guy.” Sid hadn’t seen much of William. Throughout the evening, he’d stuck close to Thad or hurried alone across the mansion. When Sid had offered him his hand earlier that evening, he’d looked at Sid as though he had two heads. “You don’t even remember Mom, do you?”

“Not particularly.” He refilled his coffee mug and then began another pot. “In retrospect, I can’t blame her for walking out. Who’d want to stick around here?”

“Jesus, Thad, you don’t have to be so mad all the damn time!” His words echoed along the walls. “You act like Dad and I chained you in the attic.”

“I bet you wished you did.”

Sid bit his tongue so hard that he could taste blood. “And that’s why you got the kid?”

Thad shrugged. “Was there any particular reason you got one?”

“I’m just trying to talk to you! You haven’t sent word to us in years. If I didn’t follow your papers, I’d probably think you were dead.”

Thad’s eyes widened. “You’ve read my papers?” He was white as a ghost, maybe even paler than that.

“Well, yeah. Can’t say I really know what the hell you’re trying to say in half of them, but they’re pretty good. I mean, they’re long and-” Oh, what the hell was he even trying to say? Neither his brain nor mouth seemed to know what they were doing.

“The university certainly has been keeping me busy.”

“You’re certainly doing… Something.” He paused. “All these years later, I’m still a little shocked that you told Dad no to his offer. We really could use a guy like you at Sivana Industries.”

“You already know my answer to that.”

“I worded that wrong. All I’m trying to say is that we don’t need to be enemies. You’ve got a good thing going on, but you don’t have to be alone, especially with your new kid. This is the first time he’s ever been around the place. Philly has some great private schools that you’d probably have no trouble getting William into. I’m sure Dad would be thrilled if you said you were moving back!”

After a long silence, Thad cleared his throat. “Is this your idea of an apology?”

“Thad, I-”

“Is it?” He slammed his mug down. “Did you just think that you could wave some opportunity at me and I’d come running to you all, suitcase in hand? Do you honestly think that I gain so little from my research that I’d throw it all away to come play house with you and Dad again?”

“Thad, that’s not what I was trying to say!”

“Well, what were you? Are you trying to say that you and Dad have changed? Now that would be a Christmas miracle! But if that were the case you wouldn’t have to write alimony checks.”

“That has nothing to do with you!”

“It doesn’t? And here I thought Dad spent half the night silently stewing over how he lost the offspring lottery twice!”

“Would you shut your fucking mouth and just listen to me for five minutes?”

“Bet you wish you could fire me.”

His fist met plaster. They’d need to cover that up before the party the following – make it that – evening, but right then Sid didn’t notice it, just as he didn’t notice the pain sliding up his knuckles. Right then, he was seeing red. Was this why he had come home for the holidays, to rub his face in Sid’s nose?

“Dad and I were so happy when we got the news.”

“I’d sooner be the first man to colonize Venus then let my son be raised five-hundred feet within the vicinity of you two!”

“You really mean that?” Thad never got the chance to answer him.

-

“Dad, are you going to be okay?” It was the third time that William had asked him that since they’d left the hospital that morning.

“You heard the doctor earlier. In a few weeks it’ll be like nothing happened.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Thaddeus shook his head. The last thing he wanted to think about was what had transpired early that morning. All he could really remember now was the crack of bone against flesh and the whir of his father’s motorized wheelchair as he hurried inside the kitchen. William had been close behind him, clutching a stuffed toy. He had said something when he arrived in the kitchen, but what?

Right then all Thaddeus could think about was getting a new flight. They’d spent half the day in the airport and judging by the wave of cancellations they’d be stuck in there far longer. Everyone wanted to be home for Christmas.

He wrapped an arm around the boy. The side of Thaddeus’s face that wasn’t numb still ached. And, thanks to the overhead music, this was his fifth time hearing “Silent Night” that day.

Thaddeus never had cared for the holidays.

Chapter Text

A doll draped in camouflage and flaunting rusted dog tags was still a doll. Thaddeus clutched it tightly between his hands, as if Sid might suddenly materialize and try to pull it away from him. Time had done little to honor this small soldier. The paint had faded, and dark dirt smudges seemed permanently glued to parts of his cheek and arms. His uniform was frayed near the edges, even torn on the right pants leg. Still, he smiled on, his painted blue eyes locked on Thaddeus’ own.

His father had never been one for luxuries, at least when they came to children. Of the handful of toys he’d owned, the majority could be found in the box sitting on his kitchen counter. There was his old monkey, its beady glass eyes locked on its gleaming brass cymbals which would never again clang together. A stuffed dog that had lost both of its ears sat limply against a worn teddy-bear. A toy car had lost its front wheels in some forgotten collision. Marbles, jacks, and dominoes weighed down the bottom.

There were two other soldiers. One, which was covered in scratches, was wearing a sailor’s uniform, while the other had lost one of its arms.

Sid had grabbed it from him and ripped the arm off as though it were easy as tearing apart a sheet of paper. There had been a sick pop as the joints disconnected, a sound so loud and sudden that it might as well have been a bomb going detonating. Thaddeus had stared at them with wide eyes. A protest had died inside of his throat, hardening into a lump that he tried to focus on as he hurried to push back tears. That was why his father had bought them for him, wasn’t it? To watch Sid rip it from Thaddeus’ hands with the same gaze and interest he might give to an afternoon television program, before averting his eyes back towards more pressing matters.

Oh, the other arm still had its kung-fu grip, but it wasn’t the same. He’d pushed it beneath a pile of old clothes in his closet with little ceremony.

It had been inside one of two packages that had arrived that afternoon, both with no return address. The other had been larger and stuffed to the brim with comic books. Was this Sid’s idea of a peace treaty? A late Christmas gift for when the anger and frustrations of the holiday had cooled? It just as easily could have been a warning. When he had moved out years prior, Thaddeus had taken about everything he owned with him. Maybe if he had dug deeper in the basement, he could have packed these along with him. Now, finally reunited, what use did he have to go back?

Thaddeus sighed. Tomorrow was trash day. Within twenty-four hours this all could have been lost beneath a pile of food wrappers and broken televisions at the city dump.

He shook his head. Though the old soldiers and sad stuffed animals brought an ache to his chest, there was someone who would probably be eager to have them.

Thaddeus grip tightened on the soldier again. William wouldn’t be home for another hour from his scouts meeting, maybe longer if the carpool driver got stuck in traffic. The day prior, he’d gotten home before Thaddeus had, wondering the house while his sitter babbled away on the landline and did who knew what else.

Perhaps he’d forgotten to pull the door completely shut, or he’d simply been moving so quickly that morning that he forgot to lock the door. Whatever the cause, William had pushed against his study’s door and for once it had opened.

What had he imagined when he saw it? Had he been excited or intimidated? Had he thought of pulling the door shut and hurrying away? Or had he just immediately run inside and begun grabbing whatever caught his eye?

It was likely the latter. By the time Thaddeus arrived home, William had scattered papers across the floor and begun playing with the stone figures by his laptop as though they were any everyday action figure. His heart had skipped a beat.

“Put those down, William! Those aren’t toys!” The neighbors probably could have heard him.

A stone gargoyle-like creature had dropped to the floor with a dull thud. William hadn’t said anything, just looked to the ground and the figures sitting across it.

Mass psychogenic illness or mysticism aside, he’d spent half the evening carefully rearranging the figures until they were again perfect. The stone wizard was the last piece he’d added. In that moment, as in now, he had replayed the afternoon’s events. He had hurried towards William, the rage so sudden and tight that he could have drowned in the sea of it, pulling William down into the dark depths with him. He almost had, his hands reaching for the boy’s red sweater but instead meeting with the stone temple’s walls on the floor.

Oh, how differently that could have gone. He could have picked the boy up and flung him like a rag doll. He was so light, one of the smallest boys in his class. Or the anger inside of him could have flown from his fists to William’s skin. How easy it would have been!

Maybe it was the look in William’s eyes, or perhaps it was the ache in his own heart, that had stopped him. Just as easily as the anger had come, so too it had passed, leaving only a blanket of confusion that even now Thaddeus struggled to pull off.

They’d hugged afterwards, and Thaddeus had gotten tissues to help the boy wipe tears from his eyes.

“Those aren’t toys,” Thaddeus had repeated. “One of my students designed the model based on shared reports we had received from multiple sources. We wanted to compare it with other’s claims, even show it to patients, but these take a good deal of time to make. If you had broken it, it would have been at least four months before I got another.”

He might as well have recited off the ingredients label on the back of a soup can for all William probably knew what he was saying. Still, anything had been better than silence.

Thaddeus shook his head and sighed. He’d locked the door tight that morning, checking it twice before leaving for work. William had happily dug into a plate of chocolate chip waffles, prattling on about spelling tests and friends that Thaddeus never could remember the names of.

Was this his own apology? The plea from twenty-four hours prior had been rushed, as sudden as the anger that had fallen over him.

Thaddeus sighed. Maybe William wouldn’t care for them, not when he had brand new toys decorating his bedroom floor. And if he did, what did it matter? Whatever Sid thought, Thaddeus didn’t need solid memories to weigh him down.

-

“Will the Avengers beat Kang or not?” William asked. His voice shook as he spoke.

“Oh, I’d think so. They couldn’t make more of these if the bad guy destroyed them all.” Thaddeus set the comic down. Perhaps he had the next issue, perhaps not. His comic collection was sporadic, just as his local drug store’s selection had been. The only thing these varied ten cent adventures shared were their yellowed pages and worn spines.

“Can we read the next?”

“Not right now. I was hoping you’d be asleep by now.”

“I’m not tired.”

“You told me the same thing last night.” Thaddeus ruffled his hair.

“But Dad, I’m really not!” Billy sat up, grabbing his arm. “Please don’t leave me. I want to hear another story.”

He chuckled. “I don’t. Some of us are sleepy.”

“Please?”

Thaddeus’ gaze fell upon the teddy bear William’s shoulder was brushing against. How many nights had he snuggled up with the same one, waiting for a sleep that never came?

“Fine, but only one more. I have to be up early tomorrow.” He paused, surveying the room. There were his old marbles on the floor, and his Joes decorating William’s dresser. “One night a young boy, only a few years older than you, vanished suddenly from his family. The world around him disappeared, and when he finally realized what was happening, he locked eyes with a wizard.”

Chapter Text

"And you don't have to worry about peanuts. Brandon is allergic to them too, so we don't have anything containing them in the house. My wife has the decency to keep her Reeses stash in her desk at work." Adriana chuckled.

"That's a relief." Thaddeus leaned his elbows against the kitchen table. "The last time he had a reaction was quite difficult."

"Oh, don't remind me. It's been years since Brandon's last reaction, but I still remember exactly how it felt to see him hooked to a bunch of tubes in the hospital. One bad cookie and my world just about fell apart." She paused. "I shouldn't have troubled you like that."

"William's allergy isn't anywhere near as severe. Still, I understand the sentiment. Sounds awful."

"Well don't worry. The worst thing that the boys will worry about tonight is running out of ice cream. You don't know how happy Brandon was when he heard William could stay over. I'll call you again later tonight to let you know how they're doing, all right?"

"Would ten work?"

"Yes. And I'll keep it quick. Unlike some people, I hope to sleep tonight!"

The world moved on when Thaddeus turned his phone off and sat it on the table. Ever since the refrigerator had stopped humming a few minutes before, the house had gone silent. Reaching down, he tapped his fist against the table. Once, twice, and twice again. He repeated the movement and listened to it bounce off the walls.

"We need you."

The lab was never quiet. Someone was always tapping away on a keyboard or asking a coworker a question. Machines whirred and buzzed mechanical melodies. Neither was the university silent. Students chattered and played music and scribbled into notebooks.

Coming home, William always had something new to prattle on about. A book he'd read, how his friends were doing, what he was learning about in school. His answer of what he wanted to be when he grew up was always changing, sometimes fantastical and other times honorable. Silly questions often came up as well. Did Thaddeus miss his hair? Why were grown ups always complaining? Why could cows make milk and not juice?

Right then, even the whirring of a fan's blade would have been welcome. Most anything could block out the sins' whispers, at least if it was loud and long enough.

"Where are you?"

One need only turn on the nightly news to see that the wizard and his former champion had not vanquished evil from the world. The sins could have been locked in statues or banished to the bottom of a volcano or the depths of space. It was all the same, for their footprint was forever etched into the world and locked into the hearts of humankind.

No, humans didn't need the sins. They could fuck themselves over all by themselves, thank you very much. But-

"We need you!"

They might as well have been screaming.

Though his fingers had never quite touched the silver globe, had some part of him been left on it? A piece of him for them to clutch tightly to when their own prisons ate into their flesh, and the wizard gazed ahead from his throne with contempt?

"I'm coming."

He'd said the same before and he'd say it again. Say it until his lungs collapsed like deflated balloons and his tongue became too heavy for his mouth to hold. Say it until it was the truth and he held the eye in his hands.

"Thaddeus."

"I'm coming!"

Each day new data came in. Patients phoned in, hits came up in searches, and colleagues sent news. The path of his life, the path he'd been walking since he was nine years old and the car suddenly vanished from beneath him, grew shorter. If he could just go a little longer-

"Thaddeus!"

He threw his glass to the floor, and his plate soon after. Shards flew across the paneled marble, and glittered beneath the overhead lights. Hurrying off the stool, Thaddeus rushed to grab a broom. Glass cracked beneath his shoes, a constant, strangely calming noise. With the way his night was going, it might as well have been Mozart.

-

"And so the wizard gave the boy great power, for he was pure of heart. A noble goal, but a mistake all the same."

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"I said the boy was pure of heart, not that the wizard himself. Before, the boy might have been unlucky enough to see evil in the world on television or in newspapers. Maybe he even saw it in his own family. Once, the boy could only keep to himself and hope that evil didn't turn its eyes towards him. Now, though, he looked directly at evil and remembered his promise to destroy it."

Chapter Text

The facade slipped almost as easily as the vanilla goop from his ice cream sandwich. The sun was beating down on his back, sending rivers of sweat down his sides. All the same, he hadn't wanted to go back inside.

"Are you sure we can't go back to the hotel?" His father pulled his glasses up with one hand and rubbed his left eye with the other. "We can always come back later for the fireworks."

Billy shook his head. Around him, the world was teeming with life. Lines for rides went on for what seemed like miles. People huddled in small groups outside shops and restaurants and took photos in what seemed like the park's every nook and cranny. Half the time he was bumping shoulders with someone, and for another fourth he seemed to be quickly darting out of someone's way. In his seven years of life, this was probably the most people that he had ever seen in one place.

Maybe it was the park's motto, or maybe it was just the smiles on everyone else's face, but Billy was grinning. The thoughts were there, but he didn't push them away. Most days, Billy saved them for the night, when he had the shroud of night and blankets to hide under. Now, though, what did it matter if his father could see the words written across his face, the glimmer of a hope that never could truly die in his eyes? If he could just find that same longing in the eyes of another...

Well, his wish could come true. He'd wished it silently each night in lieu of prayers, repeated it silently every time a comet crossed the sky, and thought of it each time he saw a birthday cake. It could happen anywhere. He knew that theoretically. Weirder things happened. Circumstances had torn them apart but could just easily put them back together again.

Billy could find his mother.

She may not have recognized the boy now, not with his height. Even as one of the smallest boys in his class, he was bigger than before. New clothes and a new name didn't help. But his heart was the same as ever. If they could just meet!

Some nights he'd wondered if she could stand going to places like this. Why would she? The barkers hawking stuffed animals and deep fried delights couldn't give her what she really and truly wanted. What she needed, what she had been searching for over years.

But then again, why couldn't she? She may have lost her son at a place like this, but they could just as easily find each other here again. A little slice of the world, almost every kind of person imaginable, was packed in that park on a muggy July day. So why couldn't she be there too?

"Oh, look at you," his father said. He sighed, reaching forward and dabbed at his chin with a napkin. His own pretzel lay untouched beside him. "Could we at least go inside somewhere?"

Billy only half heard him, but he nodded anyway. He chewed absently on his ice cream sandwich. It could have just as easily tasted like oatmeal or bologna. Taste was forgotten, smell suddenly elusive. All that mattered was the sight and sound of the voice of the most important woman in the world.

Billy continued to search for her when they went inside a store. Kids and tired eyed parents rushed past him, pushing strollers and yelling. Displays of toys went all the way up to the ceiling. Billy walked towards a wall covered in stuffed animals, his father close behind him.

He picked up one without really looking at it. All the dolls, action figures, and plush in the world couldn't avert his eyes from the surrounding crowd. Was she here, searching through hats or grabbing a new T-shirt? Had she just gotten off a ride or finished getting a meal?

"Is that what you want?" his father had asked.

Billy nodded. Just what had he been holding? A Tigger, probably, though the image was fuzzy. Did it really matter?

The memory jumped forward. They were in line, his father right ahead of him, his wallet held in one hand.

"Wait," Billy had said. He pointed to something (to a toy, a display, perhaps even the wall?). "Dad, can I get that? Please?"

"If you insist."

Maybe his father had looked ahead to the register, or maybe Billy had simply ran forward as fast as his little legs could take him. Either way, he was scooting past small groups of people and eventually racing out the door.

Wherever she was, Billy was coming.

-

Where is he?

It was rare that his and the sins thoughts were one and the same. Right then, though, Thaddeus couldn't tell where his mind ended and theirs began. All he could do was search the store.

"William! William?"

He was screaming. In the heavy din of passerbies, even he struggled to hear himself.

"William!"

Thaddeus dropped the toy and began searching. A few eyes were on him then. A woman, with a mouse pinned to her vest, came to his side.

"Sir, is there a problem?"

A problem?

"My son is gone!"

Find him. Find him!

"What does he look like? What's his name?" She practically had to run to keep up with him, her red ponytail bobbing as she moved. "I can get security."

"William!"

They were outside then, back in the cruel, blazing sun that shone on everything except who Thaddeus truly wanted to see.

"William!"

Another worker, this time a man in a black polo, came up to him.

"William Sivana, black hair, a bit under four feet. A red T-shirt and jean shorts." The words were mechanical, and as soon as they were off his tongue he was yelling again. "William!"

Maybe it was hours later, maybe minutes. Whatever it was, another worker clad in that same black polo appeared, his hand on the shoulder of his son. William was teary-eyed, his mouse hat askew. Tears dotted the sides of Thaddeus's own eyes, and he finally let them fall freely when he saw him. Grabbing him in a hug, he pulled him up and held him close.

"I got lost!" William seemed to say something else, but his voice broke and all Thaddeus heard was a squeak followed by more sobs.

"I know, William, I know. But I'm here, and I found you."

William said nothing else as they made their way back to the hotel.

Chapter Text

Billy didn’t take much notice of Brandon’s empty desk when he walked into class that morning. The flu was on the prowl, and it had already left a tenth of his classmate’s desks abandoned. Even his teacher was out that day, and in her place was a bleary-eyed substitute who was sorting through a stack of DVD’s at her desk.

That morning he’d eaten blueberry waffles drowning in syrup and freshly squeezed orange juice. By the time he left for school, the sun had been high, and it was seventy-four degrees. Once gym rolled around, he could only hope it hovered around that same number. He’d packed sunscreen in his gym bag, at least, though he hoped it didn’t leak onto his change of clothes like it had the week before.

They’d watched some documentaries about dinosaurs and the origin of numbers for half the day. A few kids had fallen asleep, but Billy was so engrossed in his doodles that he was able to keep his eyes open and ears half in-tune. All the while, one of the Ramones songs he’d been listening to on the drive to school with his father played on an endless repeat in his head.

Why these minute details about the day stuck with him even as the sound of his best friend’s voice slipped from his memory like sand between his fingers, Billy could not be sure.

With Brandon gone, he had to carpool home with Mrs. Verano. She was okay, at least as far as parents went. When she got into his car, she greeted him with a smile and a chocolate chip cookie. Though her daughter sat beside him, her nose was too deep in a paperback to notice him.

It was about three-fifteen when he got home. The phone rang about five minutes later. His babysitter was late, so Billy got the phone himself. Behind him, the refrigerator was left open.

The phone rang once, twice. By the fourth ring, he had it up to his ear.

“This is the Sivana residence. Who’s speaking?”

“William?”

Billy bit his lip. He recognized the voice but couldn’t place a face or name to it. “Yes?”

There was a heartbeat long pause. “This is Mrs. Andrews.”

Oh, Brandon’s other mom. She worked as a contractor for a construction company, with hours that varied by the week. They knew each other the way most kids knew their friend’s parents – in passing, only because social customs dictated they had to.

“Do you need my dad? Because he’s not here.” It was a stupid question (just what did she care about his father?), but right then Billy suddenly wanted to fill the silence around him.

“Look, Will - can I call you that?”

“Billy.”

“Billy, did you hear anything at school today about Brandon?”

He shook his head. “No, ma’am. He was out sick, right?”

“You could say that.” She took a deep breath. “My wife and I debated about calling you about this. Right now, it’s very difficult to say this. But I’d rather you know before some wild rumors get out. My son cared a lot about you, so at the very least you deserve the truth.”

Billy’s heart was hammering in his chest. “What do you mean?”

Another stupid question, though he wasn’t a stupid kid. Parents didn’t call their kid’s friends unless it was an emergency, unless they had a damn good reason to pick up the phone.

“Brandon died this morning, Billy.”

The phone hit the floor with a crack, pieces breaking off and bouncing across the floor. All the same, Mrs. Andrews’ voice came through from the other end of the line.

“Billy, Billy?”

-

He packed two changes of clothes, a toothbrush (but no toothpaste – right then his brain had been shut off to conserve energy), the whole of his allowance, and some comics. As he was about to exit, he noticed the magic eight ball sitting on his desk and shoved it into his backpack as well. Maybe he’d come up with some questions for it later.

He went out the apartment’s back entrance without looking back. Hurrying past the parking lot, he made his way to a trail that led to a nearby park. There were families out, but most were walking or jogging at a safe distance away from him to not notice the tears dotting his eyes. He rubbed them away with the back of his hands. This could all just be a mistake, maybe even some big joke. Brandon was a nice enough guy, but he could be an asshole when he wanted to be. Oh, and if it was, what a right hook Billy was going to give him!

But I’m not going to.

He knew that the way that he knew that he could never touch the moon no matter how far he stretched his arm. The way he knew that his father would sooner discuss the world ending then let Billy so much as say the word “grandfather.”

The causes ran through his mind. Car accident, cancer (just what that was beyond the big scary word adults used when discussing the end, Billy did not know), eating too fast and choking. There were too many possibilities, and right then none seemed as possible as Brandon simply stopping. Blinking and being no more. Being hit by lightning beneath a clear sky and vanishing in a stream of smoke.

If he walked a few blocks past the park, he’d reach Brandon’s house. Maybe Billy would find the answers there, or maybe even find Brandon himself. Would he look the way that bodies did in video games, all stiff and colorless, like mannequins left forgotten on the ground? Or would there be a whole pack of police cars around his house, their red and blue lights flashing?

Billy turned, heading down a different path. Trees rose overhead, temporarily shielding him from the sun. In the distance, he could hear children laughing, couples talking, and birds crying out. Bugs skittered beneath his feet. He clutched his backpack tighter, pushing the world and its sounds away until there was nothing but the path before him.

Wherever Brandon was (because he had to be somewhere, anywhere, even if Billy didn’t know where), had he seen Billy’s mother? He’d never enjoyed entertaining the idea, but anything could happen. How could be find a Marianne Batson if there was no longer one to find? The question screamed itself at him now. His mother had left the carnival and something could have happened to her too. One of those somethings that adults didn’t like to talk about. It could have happened to her, just as it had happened to Brandon, sudden and without consideration to Billy’s thoughts on the matter.

-

He was running down the stairs after his little sister, ready for breakfast. He’d been wearing slippers and hadn’t been using the handrail. As he was reaching for a step, his foot went a little too far out and he missed the next step and started toppling forward. At least that was what his other mother had told Billy. The rest was a crossword puzzle that Billy had to fill in for himself.

Had it hurt? Or had it been so sudden that Brandon hadn’t even been able to notice anything besides his face tumbling towards the floor?

-

The boy’s dead and now yours is too.

Even on their best days, the sins were never much help. Now, Thaddeus would have sooner had them rip off his toes one-by-one than say another word.

“Yes, William Sivana, ten years old, a fourth grader at Polk,” Thaddeus spoke into his cell phone. The man on the other end’s voice was clinical and detached, as if he spent eight hours every day listening to nothing but the same complaint. “I called home earlier after receiving word from his friend’s parent, but he never picked up. When I got back, he wasn’t home.”

His babysitter had actually been the one to call first. She had been screaming when he’d picked up, barely able to put one word in front of the other. The door had been unlocked when she’d arrived, and the house phone broken on the floor. William’s backpack was gone, as was the boy himself. By the time she hung up, Thaddeus had been out of his office as if the devil were at his heels.

The problem was that William could have been anywhere. A few blocks over or halfway across the city, in a neighborhood he’d never seen before in his life or at the bottom of a ditch.

He’d gotten the other call right as he was hurrying into his car. The area code was familiar but the number itself was not.

“Mr. Sivana, I apologize if you’re busy at work, but I figured if your son was going to know this then you might as well hear it too.” A nice of a hello as any. The woman on the other end of the line spilled the story, her voice cracking by the time she got to the end of it. “I just had to call him. It’s all so unreal, but I just had to let him know. I-I…”

“Have you seen him? His sitter called and said that he wasn’t home.”

“N-no. He didn’t even say goodbye when I called.”

“Did he say anything else to you after you told him?”

“No.”

Oh, what a champion Thaddeus was. Almost forty years of scratching symbols and no closer to discovering the power he’d almost grasped as a child. Oh, what he could have done if he’d had it then! If he’d just had it…

You’re racing home for nothing. He’s gone, and there’s nothing you can do to change it.

“Oh, could you all shut up for once?”

Thaddeus turned the radio up as he drove home, hitting the gas like his foot was tied down with cement blocks.

A policewoman was sent down soon after he called the police. She greeted him at the entrance to his apartment, a thin black woman looking to be in her early fifties. A small notebook was in her hands.

“I received word from dispatch that your son is missing.”

Thaddeus repeated everything he’d told 911. The more he said it, the less the words made sense. Individually the words had some definition but strung together he might as well have been reciting gibberish.

“Has something happened to him?” There was a desperate tone to his voice, a plea to the gods of the unknown to give light to the questions that ate away at his brain.

“So far I haven’t heard anything. I’ll call in to let the station know some more about it, and then go looking myself.”

Thaddeus straightened his back and bit down his tongue until he could open his mouth and speak straight again. “May I ride with you?”

-

William hadn’t said anything that night. His eyes looked down at his dinner, his fork moving mechanically through it, but the macaroni never reached his mouth.

They’d found him a few blocks away from the park near their apartment complex sitting between an alley. His face had been red and puffy, his clothes dirty. Some neighbor had called complaining about a youngster hanging near her house, sure that the kid was taking part in a gang initiation.

Thaddeus would have laughed at that in other circumstances. Now, though, he could only sip at his coffee and try to think of something to say. Something appropriate, at least. Right then, a million stupid answers fluttered through his brain but never reached his tongue.

Oh, Thaddeus could have apologized. But that would come in a few days during the funeral service. Why tell William that now when he could hear the same thing soon from countless strangers?

“You really scared me tonight.” He could have yelled. If he were more like his father, he would have. Thunder would have cracked with his every word. But just as the fear had melted from him when they’d found his son, so too had anger and just about everything else. Even relief was gone. With the sins quiet, there was barely anything left in him. “I thought you were-” He stopped himself before he could finish the rest.

“I,” Thaddeus continued when the boy met his eyes, “I can’t really blame you for what happened. If I found out something happened to you, if something did go wrong… Well, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Maybe he was just talking to himself while William sat in the same room with him. All the same, his shoulders felt a little lighter once the words were out.

“Thanks, Dad.” Billy ate one forkful of macaroni and threw the rest down the trash. He gave his father a quick, light hug, which Thaddeus returned much tighter. When he finally let go, William hurried down the hallway to his room, the door clicking shut behind him.

-

Funerals were a waste of time in Thaddeus’ opinion. They were nothing more than a way to shove grief into peoples’ faces. If William thought the same thing, he didn’t say it.

Following the burial, they skipped the reception. Thaddeus would have sooner eaten his own fingernail clippings than some well-meaning casserole. William was out of school for the day, and even if Thaddeus could find a sitter, right then he didn’t know what he’d do if he got to work.

“Why did Brandon have to die?”

Because someone with the great power to see everyone and everything in the world didn’t care enough to stop it. Because someone who would have prevented it, had he been able to, couldn’t.

“I don’t have an answer for you.” Thaddeus sighed. “If I did…”

Chapter Text

Of course the sins would think that this was a fantastic idea. They were at once both constant, steadfast companions and living migraines.

Give the boy what he desires.

That was easy for them to say, those backseat drivers in his life. As if they were the ones who had to sit and watch as their son spit all over their years of work and affection.

“Dad, I know you hate it when I bring this subject up. You probably wish that I’d never even think about it, and sometimes I do too. But I’m tired of pretending to not care about it, because it’s not working. You’re going to hate me for this, but…”

Thaddeus was no stranger to disappointments, but few were willing to try and sugarcoat what they said to him. All the same, he gripped the kitchen table like a life preserver. Oh, what a way to start out his Monday morning.

“Last night you asked me what I wanted for my birthday. It would have been so easy to lie to you, to just say money.” William gave a mechanical, almost practiced laugh. At this rate, by the end of the morning Thaddeus would need to call his G.P. to request a refill on his blood pressure prescription. “But all I’ve ever really wanted is to find out what happened to my mom.”

The color drained from Thaddeus’ face. He saw William but couldn’t quite keep his eyes on him. The edge of the kitchen table dug into his palm until it began to bleed.

Thaddeus Sivana may have been a different man than his father, but he was no doormat. “Your mother doesn’t even deserve the title.”

“I know this is hard to hear-”

“Hard to hear? I feel like I’ve been shot. I’ve spent more than half of your life raising you, doing more for you than that woman ever could! Do you really think she cares about you? That she ever cared about you?” He stood up. “If you care about someone and they go missing, you tear the world apart trying to find them!”

That was what he should have done then. Even standing right in front of him, his son suddenly seemed ten thousand miles away. There was a wall between them that he could not climb over or find a way around. A stranger was eating breakfast in his kitchen.

“Dad-”

“William, when you say that word, do you really mean it? If you even think of her as your mother, then what the hell am I?”

“That’s not what I’m trying to say!”

“Then what are you? Am I not enough? Did I fail somewhere along the line to make you want her? She threw you away like you were garbage!”

“We got lost! If I could just find her-”

“You’d what, walk out on me? Run headfirst into the arms of a woman who probably doesn’t even realize you’re alive?”

“Dad, I’ve heard all that before! You think the social workers didn’t say the same thing? But I know that if I found her, she’d be happy. I mean, it has to have been pretty hard for her. It’s not like she’s knows to look for a William Sivana!”

Thaddeus gritted his teeth. His heart was pounding in his ears. “Don’t you dare,” he said, his voice flat and low, “ever so much as speak of her aloud again. I care very deeply for you, William. I try not to breathe down your neck, and I want you to be your own person. But I mean it when I say that you are never to speak aloud about that bitch again! You are my son and no one else’s. Do you understand me?”

William glared at him. Maybe if puberty had hit, he would have looked threatening. But he was just a petulant little boy who couldn’t appreciate the world if someone were to hand it to him.

“Do. You. Understand. Me?”

William ran past him, racing to his room. Thaddeus ran after him, gripping the doorknob that refused to open.

“William!”

No sound came from the other side of the door.

If Thaddeus were his father, he would have ripped the door off of its hinges and-

Thaddeus stopped himself. Their earlier argument notwithstanding, he was not his father. His stomach tightened. Fighting was a rarity in their home. Growing up, as hard as it had been to watch his father’s face turn hard or feel his brother push him to the ground, at least it had been expected. This was another punch to the gut altogether. Just the night before everything had been fine. William had chattered on about the sets he was painting the next day for the school play and some new video game he’d started playing that weekend.

Thaddeus turned and headed for the living room. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he typed a quick email.

Something has come up, and I won’t be able to make it into work this morning. I’ll call into meetings through Skype as usual, but can’t guarantee if I’ll make it into the office.

Then he grabbed his laptop and pulled up some scanned files on the legends of Teth-Adam.

Were it not for the sins, it might have turned into a peaceful morning.

He has the right to know.

“He’s setting himself up for disappointment.”

Stop protecting him. Whether you like it or not, sooner or later he’ll find out the truth. All you can do is define your role in the matter.

“I believe I made that role quite clear earlier this morning.”

If he wants to hurt himself, you couldn’t stop him with all of the power in the world.

-

“Magic eight ball, will Dad ever let me find out what happened to my mom?” As if Billy needed his permission!

He shook it. Billy must have dropped it one too many times because it kept falling on the same answer: Outlook not so good.

Billy sighed, falling back against his bed. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but it hurt all the same. His dad was still his dad, but that didn’t mean he had the right to tell him to stop thinking about his mom. If his dad had his way, Billy would have forgotten about her and his old life altogether, something that time was making all too easy. How much longer until he couldn’t conjure up her face, when the carnival and everything before it was nothing but a hazy memory, if even that? Tears formed in the corners of his eyes, hot and salty, and he let them fall. There was no one around to see them.

Three short taps came on his door.

“Go away!”

“And here I thought you’d like the news I had for you.”

There was something in his father’s voice that made Billy sit up and hurry off of his bed. He unlocked the door, throwing it open with such force that he half expected to pull the knob off.

It was only when he and his father were standing face to face that he realized that he was still crying. Billy put his hands up to his eyes as if to shield himself. His father leaned down, holding him as the tears started anew and Billy’s whole body shook.

“Shh, it’s going to be okay.”

The tears came out faster. What did his father know?

“William, stop crying. I’d hate to tell you the news when you’re like this.”

Billy rubbed at his eyes with his sleeves. His father stepped away, then returned a few moments later with a box of tissues.

“What’s so important?” Billy’s voice shook when he spoke.

“I thought about what you said earlier. You’re right, it does hurt to do this.” His father stepped back, his eyes turning towards the floor. “But I’m not the first adoptive parent to have to do this, and I won’t be the last. I’m going to hire a private investigator to find your mother.”

-

It would have been easy to have his secretary look into the case, probably even a hell of a lot faster. But his life was his own business, and the last thing he needed was word of his home troubles getting around the office. Almost exactly two months after their fight, Thaddeus’ phone rang at eleven at night.

“Sorry to call you so late, but I’d rather tell you now, Mr. Sivana. I found her.”

Chapter Text

“The Franklin Institute looks interesting, but they have limited hours,” Thaddeus commented, his nose buried in a glossy brochure that he’d picked up by the hotel’s front desk. “We could stop there after lunch. Any idea yet where you want to eat?”

William didn’t respond. Thaddeus folded the brochure up and slipped it into his coat’s inside pocket. A wall could have offered him better conversation. Ever since Thaddeus had bought the plane tickets, William had talked about nothing else but the damned woman.

“I was so scared she’d died, Dad. I can’t explain why I thought she did, but until the detective called, I really thought she was.”

Oh, if only Thaddeus could have been so lucky!

“You said you wanted to get postcards for your friends at school, right?”

William was scribbling away in his notebook.

“William?”

He grunted, looking up. “Sorry, Dad, can you repeat that?”

Thaddeus gritted his teeth. He’d spent half the night tossing and turning, while the other half was spent staring at the ceiling, listening to the sins.

“We’re leaving in half an hour to get lunch at Moustaki’s before heading to the Franklin Institute. After that, we’re dropping by a shop to grab those postcards you wanted for your friends. Agreed?”

“Mm-hmm.” William sat forward. “And then we’re seeing my mom?”

“I suppose.” By some miracle, Thaddeus didn’t choke to death on his tongue trying to get the words out.

-

If Thaddeus had learned one thing in his almost fifty years of life, then it was that the universe genuinely hated him. There were no accidents or construction detours when driving to the woman’s apartment building, nor any ambulances hurrying past or flashing police cars racing in their direction. Save for a few potholes, the ride was genuinely boring. The radio snapped between stations while William bounced in his seat. If he moved any faster, he’d jump out of his skin.

The day had passed too quickly. Neither had eaten much that afternoon. William had moved his food from one side of his plate to another, while Thaddeus had stared down at it indifferently. His stomach was still flipping hours later.

“Dad, I want you to know something.”

Thaddeus’ listened to the pounding of his heart in his ears. “Yes?”

“Even though I’m going to meet my mom, I’m not going to leave you or anything.”

Really? Thaddeus wondered. His smile was all teeth.

The apartment building looked to be at least thirty years old, if not more than that. The fire escape was rusted, the lines in the parking lot faded. Though it was still sunny out, faded light bulbs near the front door were on.

Thaddeus parked as close to the front as he could get. Most of the cars looked to be at least five years old. A few had beaten fronts and heavy scratches that stood in stark contrast next to their paint jobs.

He could have put the car in reverse and driven away at twenty miles over the speed limit. It would have been easy, maybe even fun. Welcome to Dr. Sivana’s guided tour of Philadelphia. If you want to enjoy it, be sure to strap in that seatbelt tightly!

Instead, he parked the car and slumped against the seat. So this was it. Months (hell, years) of worry all came to this.

“Are you coming in with me?” William asked. His seatbelt had been torn off before Thaddeus had even parked the car.

Thaddeus unbuckled his seat belt and unlocked the car. “Don’t even think of going in there alone, young man.”

-

The front door was unlocked. Billy had been sweating when he first reached for it. What if it was like their own apartment, where they needed a special card just to get inside the main hall? But though the door creaked when he opened it, it took little effort to push it open.

His father walked close behind him as they entered the front entrance. There was a front office door decorated with a large closed sign on one side of the hallway, a row of small metal mailboxes on the other. The elevator was straight ahead, and to its sides were rows of doors. His mother lived on the seventh floor in apartment number fourteen.

Billy pressed the elevator button. While it lit up, the glowing lights above its entrance remained on the fifth floor. Billy pressed his finger against it a few more times, each time with just a little more force.

“Stop!” His father took his arm. “The last thing we need is you breaking that thing.”

“Too old for the stairs?” Billy grinned.

His dad glared at him. Sometimes Billy wondered if he had been born frowning.

When the elevator doors opened, Billy had to move out of the way to let an elderly woman out. She eyed the two momentarily before hurrying away, her hand against the wall.

“Are you ready?” his father asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Other than a slight whirring as it moved upwards, the elevator ride was silent. His father wouldn’t meet his gaze when Billy looked at him. In his hoodie pocket, he clutched his small globe keychain. It had sat for years in a corner of his sock drawer. Some nights, when Billy couldn’t fall asleep, he’d pull it out and toss it from one hand to another. The compass would bob with the movement before finally stopping at north again.

When the elevator finally stopped, Billy rushed out the doors before they were fully open.

-

Stop.

Thaddeus might as well have walked into an invisible wall. His leg stood outstretched, but he could not pull it up. Was this how his father felt? A light sheen of sweat dotted the back of his neck.

You shall play no part in this.

Before, the sins had been nothing more than running commentators on his life. Now Thaddeus could practically feel them gripping his body like a vice. There was a heavy weight in his legs and around his chest. His back was rigid, his eyes locked on the boy slowly receding from his vision.

Retorts danced across his tongue but never left his mouth.

Thaddeus’ heart was racing.

Three knocks echoed down the hallway. Less than five seconds later, the door opened.

Thaddeus’ throat was desert dry. So this was it.

He couldn’t make out much of the woman who stepped outside besides her mess of chocolate brown hair and faded green T-shirt. “If you’re selling popcorn, we already got some from the boys outside Klein’s last week.”

William paused. Thaddeus couldn’t make out his expression, but he did see the boy fish around in his pocket.

“Mom, it’s me, Billy,” he said, holding out something. “I found my way back.”

For a moment, Thaddeus was a little boy again home sick from school, surfing through bad soap operas because they didn’t play cartoons on the weekdays. Thaddeus had a tunnel vision so deep that he could barely force himself to breathe.

“Oh my god.” The door slammed shut with a bang that made a gunshot sound like a whisper.

The weight was still there, on his legs and tongue. William turned to face him, his eyes wide.

Just as quickly as it had closed, the door opened again. “I-I’m sorry. That was rude of me. I just didn’t expect this.”

“I wanted to call you, but I didn’t know your number.”

“Heh.” She was mostly hidden by the door. “Look, I have to get ready for work. I don’t know how the hell you found this address, but it would have done you good to maybe get my schedule too.” She moved to close the door, but William stepped closer.

“Mom, I’m so happy to see you! I know it was my fault for getting lost at the carnival, and I’m really sorry about that. But I looked super hard for you after, and even got help when that didn’t work. This is so-”

“I have to get ready for work.” Merilyn's voice was hollow. Yes, she was called Merilyn. The name had suddenly escaped him, but now the word echoed through Thaddeus' skull. “Look, I know you’re a kid and you probably don’t understand this kind of stuff-”

Then came a man’s voice. Thaddeus could not make out what he was saying, but the sound made his stomach fall all the same.

“It’s just some kid selling candy bars for his school, Travis!”

William’s shoulders slumped. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“No.”

Right then, the earth could have opened up and swallowed the two Sivanas whole, and neither would have complained.

“Look, that came out wrong, okay? I don’t know where you came from or why you’re here-”

“I’m here to see you!” Suddenly William was that scared little five-year old boy who refused to look Thaddeus in the eyes. “I’m sorry I got lost! I didn’t mean to! But I’m here now and we can be together again!”

So much for staying with me!

“Billy, you look like a good kid. Whoever has been looking after you obviously knows what they’re doing. Believe me, I really am glad about that. But…” She stepped out, forcing William to step back with her. One hand tightly clutched the doorknob. “But there’s no place for me in your life, and there never has been.”

“Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Of course not. Billy, I don’t know if you remember going to the police at the carnival, but I do. I saw you with them. They looked like the sort of guys who could take care of you.” She released an empty laugh. “Hell, just about anyone could have done better than I could. I didn’t even want you. But I was seventeen, and my dad wouldn’t let me get an abortion, but he wouldn’t let me raise my kid under his roof either. Your dad and I had just divorced two years prior, and I was working three jobs. You think I had time to do that and be a mom too?”

“M-mom…”

“I’m going to close the door and get ready for work. When I open it again, you better not be waiting for me.” She sighed. “Go home, Billy. Please.”

-

Billy could have set a world record with how fast he ran to the elevator. He just about ran into his father. All Billy could do was look at his shoes as he pressed the down button again and again.

When they got back to the car, the dam around his eyes broke. This was it, huh? His big moment, the one he’d been dreaming of every single night for as long as he could remember.

His father put his hand on his shoulder. “William, it’s going to be okay.”

“No it’s not!” he yelled. “You know it’s not!”

He could have yelled more, but the tears fell too quickly for him to focus on anything else. As a kid, his father had read him Alice in Wonderland before bed. Hadn’t she cried so much that she’d almost drowned in her own tears?

-

He needed this.

Thaddeus bit his tongue needlessly. The sins had a point. They’d been right a lot lately, after all. Maybe they always had been.

Chapter Text

“You know, whenever we go to these kinds of places, I always get plain vanilla with nothing else on it. I’m pretty boring, aren’t I?”

William didn’t so much as grace him with a huff. His eyes were glassy, and though his gaze was locked on the radiator, Thaddeus doubted he could see it.

“What kind do you want? I read some really good reviews online about this place. You ever tried Superman flavored ice cream?”

They’d driven halfway across the city. The tears had stopped, but not for William’s lack of trying. With the way things had gone down, maybe he now hated the city with all his heart too. Even born of different seeds, they still seemed to fall from the same tree.

Thaddeus parked the car. A smiling, glowing neon ice cream cone stared at him. Its stick arms were thrown up in joy. Next to it sat a flashing open sign that was almost as bright.

“Maybe I’ll just tell them to surprise me.” He pulled his phone out from his pocket. “Here, I’ll pull up the menu.” His hands shook as he pulled up the Safari app.

“I’m not hungry.” William’s voice was soft but clear.

“That’s a relief. Truthfully, I wasn’t feeling up to this either. But there’s always tomorrow.”

William leaned his head against the window. When Thaddeus looked into his eyes, all he saw was his face reflected back at him.

He sank further into his seat. “While I never knew the exact details, what your social worker helped me to piece together made me never want to come here.”

“You can say you told me so.”

“William…” He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Beneath him, William lay limp as a ragdoll. “This wasn’t your fault. It was stupid of me to think I could stop you from finding out about this.”

Oh, but if he only could have.

“I’m sorry I made you come here, Dad.”

How many times had he said something along the same lines? “Dad, I’m so sorry you’re in a wheelchair because of me. Sorry I couldn’t have been a better son.” Sorry this, sorry that, and what had it ever gotten him other than a slap so hard that his ears rang?

“Don’t think you’re free of me yet. I spent good money on those plane tickets. If I must drag you to the Love statue and the zoo, I’ll damn well do it.” That didn’t even get a grin. “There are some wonderful museums around here too. We went to some of them when you were a kid. About how well do you remember them?”

William shrugged.

“Oh, come on! I took the whole week off to come and do this. Don’t tell me you’re going to force me back into the office.” The smile was so quick that if Thaddeus had blinked, he wouldn’t have caught it. “There has to be something here you want to do.”

“I might have some ideas.”

“Like what?”

“Well…”

-

“Dad, if I fell into the tiger pit, would you jump in to try and save me?”

“Should I be nervous since you’re asking that question?”

Billy - William - laughed. “Just wanted to check.” He stepped forward, eyeing the sleeping tiger’s chest as it rose and fell. This was a new addition, though they’d seen the one from when he was younger earlier that day. According to a nearby sign, it had been saved from poaching when it was just a cub and brought here to recover.

“Can we get something to eat after this? I’m hungry.”

“As long as it’s not on the endangered species list, everything here is fair game.”

William rolled his eyes. “I was hoping we could get popcorn and go to one of the dolphin shows.”

“Sounds fine to me.” His dad wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

-

Thaddeus had to force his ice cream down. Superman ice cream was certainly something.

“Can I try some?” William asked. He was already halfway through his chocolate explosion.

Thaddeus pushed his bowl forward with his index finger and thumb. “Take as much as you’d like.”

It had been four days since they’d arrived in Philadelphia, and just then it almost felt like home again. Suddenly it didn’t matter that his father’s name graced one of the city’s largest employers. Nor could Thaddeus bring himself to think of what had happened the first night that they arrived. The sins were right – William had needed to face that, himself too.

This? Well, he could have lived without that aftertaste.

“Are you sad to be heading back home tomorrow?”

“Not really. It’s kind of cold here.”

Thaddeus chuckled. “The weather here has a mind of its own sometimes.” He pulled out his phone and absently flicked through pictures he’d taken over the last few days. “Hopefully this made for a halfway memorable spring break. It was either this or Florida.”

William’s eyes widened. “Can we go to the NASA station next year?”

“Sounds like a great idea to me!”

-

Thaddeus came back to a pile of mail and ten patient interviews to watch. He absently eyed a stack of envelopes as his messaging machine played back a week of missed calls. He was about to delete a sales call when the phone rang, causing the machine to vibrate.

He picked it up without checking the number, his eyes absently wondering his office. Little had changed since he left.

“Thad?”

His lungs suddenly emptied of all air.

“Thad, is that you? I’m hoping this is the correct number. I was just calling to say that I found out you were in Philly a few days ago. I couldn’t really believe it. You know, it would have been nice if you’d called.”

Thaddeus pushed the phone back into its holder and hurried out of his office.

Chapter Text

William waved the bread and can of beans at him, before placing them in the cart. "What's next?"

Thaddeus crossed off another two lines from his grocery list, then slipped the notebook and pen back into his pocket. "I need to grab some stuff from the frozen section. Do you need anything else?"

Need wasn't the right word. William could live his whole life without ever eating another pint of s'mores ice cream, but something told him it'd end up in the cart before they left.

He shrugged. "If I see something, I'll grab it."

The cereal aisle was on his left and pet foods on his right when Thaddeus pulled the cart back with a screech. A little girl, no more than six, stumbled forward, then quickly picked up her pace.

"Brianna, I told you to stay close to me!" A tired looking woman with thin blonde hair hurried forward. "My apologies," she said, pushing her own cart hurriedly ahead of him.

Thaddeus made a mental note to call his local Target later to ask that they start opening at six-thirty every morning. Though with his luck, he'd arrive to find a crowd of other eager early morning shoppers.

"Dad, if you had hit that kid, would you have gone to jail for manslaughter?"

"I probably would if I were stuck with you as my character witness."

Thaddeus parked his cart outside of the freezer section, then slipped past another cart and a tired-eye couple to grab some frozen peas. Just as he was about to close the door, he grabbed a bag of mixed vegetables as well. It wouldn't save William from rotting his teeth, but at least he could sleep easy knowing he'd eaten halfway healthy that evening.

Back at the cart, Thaddeus raised an eyebrow. "What's a cookie dough typhoon?" He picked up the ice cream carton and quickly scanned the ingredients label. No traces of peanuts or tree nuts. With that out of the way, Thaddeus placed it back down.

"What? It looked good."

"I don't understand how you don't make yourself sick from all of this junk."

"It's a secret I'll carry to my grave."

Thaddeus rolled his eyes. "Anything else you need?"

William's eyes widened. "Can we go look at video games, please?"

"Not unless you want this," he said, pointing back down to the ice cream, "to melt. Though I could always put it away."

William stuck his tongue out. "Fine."

Thaddeus handed it to him. "Go put this back. And remember to thank me forty years from now when your doctor isn't complaining about your blood sugar levels."

"Whatever."

As Billy hurried off, Thaddeus grabbed some more peas.

Chapter Text

Billy_Da_Kid has logged on.

Billy_Da_Kid: My dad about shit himself when I asked him to come to the football game.

Batmanatee: LMAO, “almost”

Billy_Da_Kid: Dude straight up forgot I was in the marching band. So I kind of, sort of mentioned it a million times to him again this morning.

Batmanatee: Think he got the point?

Billy_Da_Kid: Let’s hope.

Batmanatee: So how was it?

Billy_Da_Kid: Nothing special. We had cheese omelets with like lil broccoli pieces mixed in bc my dad is a health nut.

Batmanatee: nO the game!

Billy_Da_Kid: Oh duh

Billy_Da_Kid is typing…

Billy_Da_Kid: IDAK we played our number and then got the fuck out.

Batmanatee: I can’t blame you.

Billy_Da_Kid: Well, except Skylar. Her older brother is the quarterback, so she was stuck there. R.I.P.

Batmanatee: We remember and honor her sacrifice.

Batmanatee is typing…

Batmanatee: So what’d you do then???

Billy_Da_Kid: We all went and got pizza. Then ice cream. And then we had a mass orgy. Maybe not in that exact order.

Batmanatee: Haha you wish you did

Billy_Da_Kid: *middle_finger.png*

Batmanatee: I am speaking the truth and you know it!

Billy_Da_Kid: So that was my Friday night. What’d you do?

Batmanatee: I got dragged to Build a Bear at the mall after school let out yesterday. We spent like an hour in there and in the end she didn’t even get anything! Said the unicorns weren’t soft enough for her.

Billy_Da_Kid: Yikes!

Batmanatee: After that I just came home and played video games.

Billy_Da_Kid: Nice!

Batmanatee: Got my ass handed to me by Eugene, though. Never inviting him to play w/me again.

Billy_Da_Kid: Wish I could have been there to see it.

Batmanatee: I’ll have you know that it was a very close game.

Billy_Da_Kid: Like I believe that.

Batmanatee: *20_middle_fingers.gif*

Billy_Da_Kid: Owwww

Batmanatee: So did you ever see that movie I linked you to last week?

Billy_Da_Kid: I never finished it. It didn’t seem like your thing at all???

Batmanatee: That’s the point! That footage was totally doctored. All those “experts” they called up? I bet they’d say Superman was real if I threw enough money at them.

Billy_Da_Kid: Okay, but how is Superman not real?

Batmanatee: If you watched long enough, you’d know that the directors think superheroes are just a government plot to hide like… Bad shit. IDRK what that actually is supposed to be though.

Billy_Da_Kid: Wasn’t one guy saying Superman couldn’t be an alien because he didn’t look like one?

Batmanatee: That part was so fucking funny. You know if Superman had green scales or like 2 heads then he’d just be a guy in a costume to them.

Batmantee is typing…

Batmanatee: I’m actually thinking of making an episode about it.

Billy_Da_Kid: That’d be really funny.

Batmanatee: You should totally be a guest on it.

Billy_Da_Kid: WTF no!!! I’ve told you this a million times.

Batmanatee: I’m serious! I think viewers would really like to hear from you.

Billy_Da_Kid: Dude, last time I checked, I’m the ONLY one who listens to you!

Batmanatee: Fuck you, I’ve got like 7 other people.

Billy_Da_Kid: Your like 500 siblings don’t count!

Batmanatee: Fuck you, man.

Billy_Da_Kid: Look, I really do think it’d be fun. But, like, what if 10 years down the line someone recognizes me from it? It’d be weird and also probably bad.

Batmanatee: C’mon pLEASE

Billy_Da_Kid: No.

Batmanatee: PLEASE

Billy_Da_Kid: Still no.

Batmanatee: You’ve got experience.

Billy_Da_Kid: Reading the announcements at school doesn’t count!

Batmanatee: They do and you know it.

Billy_Da_Kid: What if my dad heard it???

Billy_Da_Kid is typing…

Billy_Da_Kid: Like, somehow

Batmanatee: Dude, your dad listens to my podcast?

Billy_Da_Kid: Of course not. Like he’d care.

Batmanatee: You never know.

Billy_Da_Kid: No, I know.

Batmanatee: If you could have superpowers, what’d they be? Invisibility or flight?

Billy_Da_Kid: Teleportation

Batmanatee: That wasn’t a choice.

Billy_Da_Kid: Yeah, but it’d be better than both. If I could teleport, I wouldn’t need a car. Plus I wouldn’t need to ride on planes or boats or anything either. Just think of somewhere and go there.

Batmanatee: Wouldn’t there be like limitations on it, though? Like you’d need to go there first? And what if someone saw you?

Billy_Da_Kid: You’re making this way too complicated.

Batmanatee: I get what you’re saying though.

Billy_Da_Kid: What’d you have?

Batmanatee: Flying would be cool, but I’d want super strength too.

Billy_Da_Kid: Would you have a costume and name?

Batmanatee: Of course! I’d have to go all in.

Billy_Da_Kid: Seems like too much trouble to me.

Batmanatee: Just wait until the feds break down your door bc they know you have superpowers.

Billy_Da_Kid: I wouldn’t wear a stupid costume, but definitely at least a ski mask.

Batmanatee: Honestly, that sounds awful.

Billy_Da_Kid: Who do you think you are, my manager?

Batmanatee: Look, if you ever get superpowers, let me know. I can work this all out for you.

Billy_Da_Kid: That’s what I’m afraid of.

Billy_Da_Kid is typing…

Billy_Da_Kid: I really should be getting back to this stupid paper I have due in two days. Message you later.

Batmanatee: Yeah, I probably should get to sleep soon. Probably. Maybe.

Billy_Da_Kid: Later

Batmanatee: See ya!

Billy_Da_Kid has logged out.

Chapter Text

Thaddeus got in just as the auditorium lights were being dimmed. He hurried to the third row of central seating, where seats were largely free and the view of the stage was unrivaled.

“Do not hit the button unless you are absolutely sure that you have the correct answer. Hitting before the question is finished being read means that you still must answer. Should you hit it, and we later read off the complete question, your team will be unable to answer unless the other team gets the answer wrong.”

Thaddeus searched the stage until his eyes landed on William. He was sitting at the far end of a table, his hands held close to a dull metal box. The matching polos and chinos that the trivia team was wearing did little to hide the fact of how young he looked. Having skipped a grade notwithstanding, at least three of the people on the team looked to be at least juniors. As the announcer spoke, the team was looking between each other, as if telepathically exchanging advice and commands.

“Now, parents, it may not be written in the official rule book, but we have some guidelines for you as well. No clapping until the end of the round, not even if your kid gets an answer right. The last thing we need is someone interrupting the audio in here.” The announcer turned back towards the group of students and nodded, before again meeting the audience with a wide smile. “With that said, let’s get started!”

The first question was on Norse mythology, and the opposing teams couldn’t hit the buzzers fast enough.

“Forseti?” a girl on William’s team asked. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick glasses.

“Correct!” The announcer pointed towards a group of students sitting in the front row. “One for Franklin!”

William and his teammates began exchanging high fives.

The next few questions might as well have been pulled at random from a hat. One minute they were discussing dog breeds, the next calculus and geography. William got his chance to answer two questions, both of which were correct. But while they’d been beaten to the buzzer at the first question, Palisades could be quick when they needed to be.

“Bendich Ahen!”

“Another point for Palisades!”

The round ended with William’s team ahead only by two points, which was lucky considering they’d gotten four questions wrong. The teams stood up and reshuffled, with two new players coming out. William hurried off the stage, heading first towards the very front seats before Thaddeus waved him over.

“Nice work,” Thaddeus said, patting his shoulder as he sat down. “Guess you really were awake during breakfast.”

Ever since William had announced his intention to join the team, he’d started lugging around huge packets of questions with him everywhere. Thaddeus had spent parts of breakfast, as well as a small chunk of each of his evenings, going over them. He’d even considered memorizing a few and texting them to William at random during the day, but had stopped himself when he had remembered the accursed Google.

The second round was slower than the first, if only because there were more math problems to solve. William had taken out a notebook and calculator from his backpack and was busily trying to solve them himself.

“Thirty-seven percent.”

“Correct!”

“Shit!” William muttered. Palisades was ahead by five points, and they were just past the halfway point.

“Young man!” Thaddeus hissed.

While Franklin was quicker getting to the buzzer during the last part of the round, Palisades still dominated. With their combined totals from this and the last round, they were ahead by nearly fifteen points.

William returned to the game in the third and final round. Just before it started, the auditorium was filled with the cries of parents, who seemed desperate to yell louder than the other adults around them, as if that’d change the course of the game. Thaddeus merely locked eyes with his son and shot him a thumbs up. All he got in return was a shaky smile.

The next round was full of French verbs, World War I generals, and geometric theorems. A mispronunciation was enough to get the question handed to the other team. Perhaps he was a bit too far out to be actually sure, but some of the kids actually looked like they were sweating. The teams were tied at the halfway point.

“Before it dissolved in 1993, the capital of Czechoslovakia was this central European city.”

William hit the buzzer with such force that it could have broken. A light flashed red and a screeching buzz filled the auditorium.

“Prague!”

There were five more questions after that. While both sides missed a few questions, there were enough points to edge Franklin into victory. They won by a grand total of four extra points. Perhaps their reactions following the final count announcement was undignified, but Thaddeus couldn’t help but grin when the team threw their slips of paper into the air and cheered. Certificates were passed out, and teammates hugged.

“Dad, Dad, Dad!” William pulled him into a tight hug. “Dad, coach says we really might have a shot at state this year!”

“I believe that!” That could only mean he’d be shooting even more rapid-fire questions at him every day. Back when he was in high school, he had been lucky to get his father’s permission to join the chess team. How William managed to balance this and the swim team, as well as marching band in the fall, while keeping a 3.8 GPA still amazed him. “Though I was a bit surprised that both teams missed that question on the capital of Markovia.”

He shrugged. “I remember that one. I was still trying to calculate the answer from the previous question.”

This time Thaddeus was the one to pull William into a hug. “I’m quite proud of you.”

“You mean that?”

Thaddeus ruffled his hair. “Of course.”

-

His hand ached so badly that Thaddeus was surprised he could even pull the doorknob open. He’d meant to go to sleep some hours before, but flashes of inspiration and insight rarely took into consideration his need for eight hours of sleep at night. The electric clock on the microwave read 4:07.

Find us find us find us find-

“You’d think after countless millennia of being trapped with that damn wizard, you’d know the correct order of symbols to get inside his fortress.”

Oh, what a great help those sins were! Still, them aside, he’d gotten some great work done. Hours of drawing had led to him being able to draw the various symbols alleged to have been engraved on the Ring of Solomon from memory. He’d taken to varying what he drew. Just as different (if often un-simplified) equations, if used correctly, could calculate the same answer, so too could different symbols potentially lead to him opening the Wizard’s door. If he could just get the correct order…

With each passing day, his back grows more stooped. Soon he will no longer be able to contain us.

“Delightful. Drop me a call when you get out.” Then, for good measure, Thaddeus continued. “Find me, find me, find me, find me!”

“Dad?”

Thaddeus about dropped his empty coffee mug. “William, what are you doing up?”

He yawned. “I woke up about fifteen minutes ago and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I came down to get some water.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

Thaddeus bit his lip. What was he supposed to say? “Just talking to myself,” he explained, turning back towards the coffee maker. “I’ve been so packed with projects lately that I can’t bring myself to leave work at the office.”

“Okay.” There was something in his son’s voice that made Thaddeus tighten his grip on his coffee mug. “You sure you’ll be able to go back to sleep drinking that?”

He had to force back a smile. “Some of us need more than warm milk to survive.”

“Whatever you say.” William puttered around the kitchen for a few more minutes, then returned to his room.

-

Batmanatee has logged in.

Batmanatee: It’s not even fucking Halloween and they’re already playing Christmas songs on the radio!!!!

Billy_Da_Kid: Well happy early holidays to you too!

Batmanatee: Fuck you, you aren’t stuck listening to your little sister sing Jingle Bells while she sews her Halloween costume!

Billy_Da_Kid: *shrug.jpg*

Billy_Da_Kid is typing…

Billy_Da_Kid: IDK man, my dad and I don’t celebrate Christmas.

Batmanatee: Wait, you’re Jewish???

Billy_Da_Kid: No, my dad just hates it. Says it’s like commercialized tripe or whatever.

Batmanatee: Oh, I get that. Wait, so do you not celebrate Halloween either???

Billy_Da_Kid: My dad has always been fine with that. He never really has to do anything for it besides buy candy. Though one year he legit passed out raisins.

Batmanatee: FUCK!!!

Billy_Da_Kid: I know. I wanted to like do the equivalent of divorcing your parents to him when he did that.

Batmanatee: So you’re still up for Skyping on the 31?

Billy_Da_Kid: Wouldn’t miss it. Besides, my school’s Halloween party for some local kids is the Friday before.

Batmanatee: Nice! You said you were helping to run the haunted house, right?

Billy_Da_Kid: Yeah, “haunted”. There’ll be a lot of 5 year olds there, so we aren’t wearing anything scarier than a cereal mascot’s mask.

Batmanatee: IDK, those 500 million calories ARE pretty scary.

Billy_Da_Kid: :P

Batmanatee: So did you catch the episode I uploaded yesterday?

Billy_Da_Kid: Sorry, I’ve been busy with stuff. What’s it about???

Batmanatee: I interviewed some guy who met Wonder Woman!!!!

Billy_Da_Kid: Dude!

Batmanatee I know! It was the coolest. Man, I was so jealous. God I wish that were me!!!

Billy_Da_Kid: Okay, but if you met her what would you even say to her???

Batmanatee: Beats me.

Billy_Da_Kid: Also, can’t she like flick her finger and break your leg in 3 different places?

Batmanatee: Okay, yeah.

Batmanatee is typing…

Batmanatee: But that’s like -really- not a thing I’m worried about her doing.

Billy_Da_Kid: IDK man, I’ve known you long enough to know she might have a few good reasons to do it.

Batmanatee: You’re a really nice guy, you know that?

Billy_Da_Kid: Guilty as charged.

Batmanatee: Ah shit, my dad’s calling me for dinner. Talk to you later tonight?

Billy_Da_Kid: Yeah. I should get back to homework.

Batmanatee: Yeah right

Batmanatee has logged off.

-

Freddy had freaked when Billy had messaged him about nationals.

Batmanatee: What do you mean they’re in Philly??? I’M from Philly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have GOT to meet up IRL.

Billy_Da_Kid: Okay, but why should I trust you? For all I know, you’re an axe-murderer.

Batmanatee: Dude, you’ve seen me over Skype. Do I LOOK like a serial killer?

Billy_Da_Kid: The whole point of being a serial killer is to not look like a serial killer.

Batmanatee: I’m serious. Dude, I’d love to actually meet you!!

Billy_Da_Kid: I would too. But like, my team still has to fundraise and stuff. Maybe we won’t get enough money.

Okay, so that had been a lie. But bake sales and car washes were easy compared to talking to his dad. Their family vacation a few years back aside, his father rarely mentioned his home city. Really he didn’t mention his family at all. Save for some vague memories of a Christmas almost a decade ago, when his dad had still bothered to acknowledge the holiday, Billy had never met his extended family. He’d Googled them once, almost considered trying to email his uncle, but had stopped himself. Something about it had seemed wrong, though he hadn’t been able to place his finger on just why. If his dad didn’t want to talk about it, that was his own business. Who was Billy to tell him he was wrong?

Still, they were all going to be flying to Philadelphia. There was always a chance his father could put his foot down. Already, Gabby Almanzar’s parents had said she couldn’t go because there was a family event going on that same week.

Billy chewed on his fingernail. His dad had just left his study, locking the door firmly behind him, and headed for the bathroom. Knowing the time, he was going to start dinner soon. When he’d gotten home, Billy had already done his share and tossed a salad. His phone sat forgotten on the couch, a paused PS4 game on the TV.

Just how was he supposed to word this?

Oh, hey Dad, we found out today that after that little mix up at the last game, we really do qualify for nationals. And it’s in Philadelphia! You love Philly, right? It’s not like you have to go, though. There are enough parent supervisors signed up already. But I’d really love to go with the team! Please?

Okay, he’d probably have to add a million more pleases.

His dad exited the bathroom and headed for the kitchen, passing Billy as he walked.

“Hey, Dad!” Billy got up and followed up after him.

“Yes, William?” He opened the fridge and began digging through it.

“Turns out that the trivia team actually qualifies for nationals!”

“That’s great! You’re competing for scholarships, aren’t you?”

“Yeah! That’s the great part. And we’re all really excited to fly out for it.”

Just say it!

“Yeah, last year nationals were in Washington, DC. The year before that it was in Boston. I’m kind of hoping they ask us questions on that!”

His father pulled some chicken breasts out of the fridge. “And?”

“And this year it’s in Philadelphia.”

“Sounds exciting.” He didn’t look away from the cabinets he was sorting through.

“So I can go?”

“Of course. Now what dates will it be on?”

Billy quickly filled him in. Then, he hurried out to the bathroom himself, grabbing his phone as he went.

Billy_Da_Kid: My dad said I can go!!!!

Batmanatee: Yes yes YES YESSSSSSSSSSSSS

-

Billy_Da_Kid has logged on.

Billy_Da_Kid: Look, I just went past security. Soon we’ll all be on the plane and flying over, so I can’t talk much.

Batmanatee: I wouldn’t message you if it wasn’t important.

Billy_Da_Kid: You expect me to believe that?

Batmanatee: I’m serious. Look, there are some things you need to know about me before you actually meet me.

Batmanatee is typing…

Batmanatee: You never see them when I’m Skyping you, but I need crutches to walk around. I have cerebral palsy. It’s like, not a big deal or anything, but I guess I just never wanted to bring it up. Guess I didn’t really have a reason to. You should know. And, uh, I hope you’re not mad at me for not mentioning it.

Billy_Da_Kid: Why would I be mad? I can’t judge anyway, my grandpa’s in a wheelchair.

Batmanatee: Dude, everyone’s grandpa is in a wheelchair!

Billy_Da_Kid: Okay, but my grandpa has been in a wheelchair forever. He’s like old enough to have polio or something.

Batmanatee: LMAO

Billy_Da_Kid: So don’t worry about that.

Batmanatee: There’s something else you should know. My family doesn’t actually look like my family.

Billy_Da_Kid: ????

Batmanatee: I’m a foster kid, and so are all my siblings. We’re not related at all. But like, they still ARE my family.

Billy_Da_Kid: Again fine. And also I still can’t judge.

Batmanatee: Huh?

Billy_Da_Kid: I never had a reason to mention this, but I used to be a foster kid too. My dad adopted me.

Batmanatee: Nice!

Billy_Da_Kid: Yeah. So, uh, do you like have any more deep shit to spill before I get on the plane?

Batmanatee: Nah. But thanks. I was really worried about discussing this.

Billy_Da_Kid: No problem. Anyway, they just called us. GTG

Billy_Da_Kid has logged off.

-

“Billy da kid, in the flesh!” For a guy on crutches, Freddy could move fast. The only person faster than him was a girl who looked to be no older than seven. She pulled Billy into such a tight hug that he couldn’t breathe.

“Hey,” he choked out as Freddy joined the hug. Soon, a boy no older than ten joined in as well. To the sides stood a guy he couldn’t quite place the age of, as well as an older looking girl who could have passed for one of the trivia team’s contestants.

“So this is the guy you’re always talking about?” she asked.

“Yes, Mary! Billy’s great.” Freddy pulled out of the hug, dragging the little girl with him. Billy took in a deep, much needed breath. “We’ve been talking for like two years now.”

“I thought it was three.”

“What does it matter? You’re here now!”

“I told you talking to strangers on the internet was dangerous.”

Freddy poked the side of Billy’s leg with one of his crutches. “Does he look dangerous to you?”

Mary rolled her eyes.

The little girl stood on her tiptoes and stuck her hand in Billy’s face. “Hi, I’m Darla!”

“William, er, Billy,” he replied, taking her hand and shaking it.

“I’m Eugene!” the little boy said. He pointed towards the other guy. “That’s Pedro.”

Pedro momentarily locked eyes with Billy but said nothing.

“So welcome to Philly! What do you think so far?”

Billy bit into a muffin. “I haven’t been out of the hotel since the team and I arrived last night, but it’s cool.” Truth be told, he couldn’t imagine leaving the hotel. This was Philly, after all. Her city. As a kid, he’d searched countless crowds for his mother, certain that he would one day find her among the crowds of people. Now that she knew he was still alive, now that it really was a possibility… Billy took a long sip of orange juice to force the muffin down.

He gestured towards a nearby table. “C’mon, let’s sit down.” Hotel breakfasts weren’t fantastic, but right then he was hungry enough to tolerate it. “I’ve actually been here a couple times before. My dad has family here.”

“Nice! You visiting your grandpa while you’re here?” Freddy asked.

A lump rose in Billy’s throat. “No, uh, he’s…” Busy? No. Freddy had dropped some truth bombs to him before he arrived, so he might as well return the favor. “Truth is, I haven’t seen him in years. My dad and his family don’t really get along, and almost never talk.”

“Ah, that’s sad!” Darla bounced in her seat. “Hey, can I get something from up there?”

“Darla!” Mary cried.

“Hey, it’s fine.” Billy winked. “After all, we are all guests here, right?”

“Right.” Freddy got up, a few of his siblings following behind him.

“So, Billy, what brings you here?” Mary asked.

“The student trivia national tournament,” he replied. “I’ve been studying like mad for it.”

Her eyes lit up. “Hey, I used to be on that. We lost at regionals this year. You’re lucky.”

He smirked. “Due to some rule book junk, we almost didn’t make it ourselves.”

“You nervous? We almost made it to nationals last year too, but lost during state.”

“I can’t stop thinking about it. The first game is tonight.”

“I’ll cross my fingers for you. Where’s it being held?”

He filled her in on the address and time.

“We’ll be there.”

“Ah, you don’t have to do that.”

“We don’t have to do what?” Freddy and the gang were back with plates full of food in tow.

“You guys! We just had pancakes this morning.”

“Yeah, but that was earlier. We got hungry again.” Freddy shot Mary a grin. “So what’s happening?”

“I was just telling Billy how we’re going to his trivia match tonight.”

“Dude, that’ll be so fun. Let’s bring Victor and Rosa!”

“Yeah!” Darla agreed.

Billy’s face flushed. “Look, I really appreciate it, but you guys don’t have to come.”

“Oh no,” Mary responded, leaning across the table. “While you’re here, you’re stuck with us.”

“Yeah!” Freddy agreed.

“Well,” Billy said, grabbing his backpack from the floor and digging through it, “if you’re going to be here, you might as well make yourselves useful.” He handed Mary a giant packet of paper. Freddy pulled it from her hands and began to flip through it.

“So, uh,” he said, scratching at his chin. “Billy, what’s the national GDP of Kahndaq as of 2016?”

-

“Man, this sucks,” Billy said over the phone. “I mean, the ice cream we got afterwards was great. But this still sucks.”

“Yeah, that was not fun to watch. Darla started crying when the final scores were called.” Muffled voices spoke in the background. “Mary says you can’t always win, but that you really should have.”

“I know.” Billy looked out at the city across his hotel balcony. “The coach has already gotten us early flights back home. We’re checking out at seven in the morning.”

“Yuck.”

“I’m not excited for it.” He paused. “You know, I still haven’t called my dad about this.”

“Is he going to be mad?”

“Oh no, not at all. But he was really excited about us going.”

“There’s always next year.”

“Yeah, we have to rank back into nationals for that again.”

“Hey, I believe in you!”

“Heh, thanks. Cross your fingers that it’ll be held in Philly again, then. You know, I really appreciated your family coming. They’re great.”

“They have to be with a guy like me around.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “It was great meeting you too. It’s a shame we didn’t really have a chance to do much besides practice for the competition though. Too bad it didn’t get us anywhere.”

“Man, you were a winner to me.” Freddy paused, the muffled voices behind him continuing to speak, though Billy couldn’t make out what they were saying. “Look, I’ve got to get off, but I’m so glad I met you. I really hope I get to see you again sometime in person.”

“Me too, but I can’t make any promises. Thanks again, Freddy.”

“No problem.”

-

Thaddeus was about to put away his phone and be done with all of this nonsense, but he typed out the number once again. Or, rather, they typed it out. These days the sins were doing quite a bit. Right then, his arms were at once weighed down with lead but light enough for him to pull his phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Sid, I thought that you would never pick up.” The voice that spoke was Thaddeus’ own, but for once he himself did not recognize it.

There was a long pause. “Thad, is that you?”

“Of course. I was just calling to say that I got your invitation in the mail.”

“Oh, yeah? A-Are you coming?”

“That’s just what I was calling about. William and I will be over for Christmas.”

“That’s great! Dad has been wanting to see the kid.” He paused. “Look, don’t be mad at me for saying this. I only sent that card to be polite. I didn’t think you were going to accept it. Is… Is there a reason why you’re coming?”

“To celebrate Christmas,” Thaddeus responded. “Why else?”

“The party’s going to be big this year, so be prepared for that. Dad’s going to be having a ton of investors and just about the entire board there, not to mention who knows how many other people. He actually wrote most of the invitations.”

“But not mine?”

“That… That isn’t what I was saying. Look, it’ll be great to see you and Will!”

“William.”

“Yes, William. I’ll get the guests room cleared out and-”

“Oh, don’t trouble yourself. I’ll get a hotel.”

“Really, it wouldn’t be an issue.”

Thaddeus cleared his throat. “We are getting a hotel.”

“Okay, your choice.”

“Now,” Thaddeus continued, “is there anything specific you want me to bring?”

The rest of the call had largely involved exchanging pleasantries. Now, with the grip of the sins off of him, he suddenly felt like a deflated balloon. They’d been so confident. What was he supposed to do now, call back and say there was some huge misunderstanding and that the two couldn’t make it?

No, they wouldn’t let him do that.

With shaking fingers, he pulled up William in his contacts list.

“Dad, are you okay?”

“Hello to you too.”

“Sorry, you just don’t usually call me right now. Give me a sec, I need to leave the band room.” The indistinct chatter of students filled his ears. “Okay, I’m out. What’s happening?”

“I was just calling to ask if you had any plans for the holidays. Any school events or visits with friends that I wasn’t already aware of?”

“Uh, no, why?”

“Good. We’re going to your grandfather’s for Christmas.”

“But-”

“But what?” Thaddeus could feel his heart beating against his neck.

“We never do anything for Christmas.”

“Well, we are this year. Does that cause any problems?”

“Uh, no.”

“Good. I’ll be buying our hotel room and plane tickets tonight. I just called because I thought it would be better to tell you now than dump it on you after finals.”

“Thanks?”

“William, there’s no need for you to worry about it. I have everything under control. Yes?”

“Yes.”

“Good boy. See you tonight, all right?”

“Yeah. Love you.”

“Love you more.”

Chapter Text

"Dad! What happened to your eye?"

Thaddeus pulled his finger quickly away from the bandage he'd been rubbing at. In the three hours since he'd put them on, they were already loose.

"It's my eyelid," Thaddeus responded. "Some infection I just discovered this morning. I've already scheduled a doctor's appointment for this afternoon. I imagine he'll prescribe an antibiotic and it'll be gone within two weeks. It's certainly nothing that you should be worried about."

He had enough to deal with already himself. Even without the bandages, he couldn't keep his left eye open. The skin around it was bumpy and warm, practically a magnet to his fingers. He'd spent the morning squinting one-eyed at his emails and simultaneously moving his hands towards and away from the blemish.

"Are you sure?" William poured a bowl of corn flakes and sat down. "Will you even be able to drive?"

"Not if I want to keep my license." He stood up, heading towards the medicine cabinet sitting above the dishwasher. "You can take an Uber to school. I'll pay you back for it."

"Is that how you're getting to work?"

"I'll be working from home today." He pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen and swallowed two dry. "I'm serious. The only thing you should be thinking about today is that American government final of yours."

William laughed. "As if! Dad, I've already memorized the study guide." He swallowed a large spoonful of cereal, milk dripping down his chin. "I'll text you after it, okay?"

Thaddeus nodded, then motioned towards the bathroom.

-

Thaddeus awoke with a jolt. There was a pulsing burn around his eye. A few bandages had come loose, and now lay curled against his pillow.

He frantically dug through his sheets until he found his phone, flicking it on and hurriedly pulling it to his ear.

"Dr. Sivana, did you get my email?"

Thaddeus blinked. "Gloria, what's going on? I thought I told you that I was out today."

"I know that, sir, and I apologize if it was a bad time. But our newest patient says she forwarded you something last night and needs you to see it. She's been calling me about it once every hour."

Thaddeus' brow furrowed. "What did she send?"

"She never specified it, beyond saying that it would help with her treatment. As soon as you're able, I'd suggest looking at it." His secretary cleared her throat. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, I'm about ready to gouge my eye out." He sat up, checking his bedroom's electronic clock. "I see the doctor in two hours."

"Feel better. And do check her email when you can."

"Of course."

As soon as he hung up, Thaddeus hurried to his email. He'd only skimmed it early that morning. Right then, when the back of his eye felt like it was being held against a fire like a marshmallow on a stick, reading hadn't been his top priority. Now, though, the message from 10:30 p.m. the night before, with its large attachment, caught his eye.

When he clicked it, a thirty second video appeared. It buffered momentarily before starting.

Pictured was a messy bedroom, complete with clothes and fast food bags strewn across the floor. An electronic clock, not too different from the one on his own nightstand, read 7:38. Judging by the lighting, it was morning.

It glowed a steady green for a few moments, even changed to 7:39.

Thaddeus' heart was pounding in his ears even before the clock began flashing yellow. The crack beneath a door at the far edge of the video screen glowed with a golden light. An unseen inhabitant screamed.

Thaddeus narrowed his eye. Whatever the yellow stuff was, it was hard to make out, even though he had his suspicions.

With a shaking hand, he hit the pause button.

There it was.

The seal of Solomon.

-

Thaddeus bit his lip until it bled. The pain was sharp and immediate, enough to pull his mind away from his eye for the first time that day. He held the knife out in front of the study door. Carefully, he leaned forward and began carving.

Seven symbols repeated seven times - it was so simple that a grade schooler probably could have figured it out. All those years of searching for patients and digging through millenias old legends and this was the key back.

Sometimes he half wondered if his life began when the wizard sent for him that cold Christmas night. Had it been paused again when he returned or pushed onto fast forward?

Suddenly the years didn't matter. Now he had the key. Now he was going to fulfill a decades old promise.

Wood shavings decorated the floor. A few crunched beneath Thaddeus' feet.

As soon as he pulled his knife out from the last symbol, the etchings began to glow with a golden light. Smoke flew in from the surrounding cracks, caressing Thaddeus' face.

Just as quickly as he reached for the doorknob, he pulled it back. It was cool as ever, not the inferno he'd suspected, maybe even colder. Taking it again, he turned it and pushed the door forward.

Gone was his hallway and the doors and framed photos that lined its walls. Stepping forward, Thaddeus' foot met stone instead of carpet.

The surrounding air was damp and chill. His coat forgotten on a chair in his study, he shivered. He turned around, eyeing the doorway and the familiar room beyond it. How many hours had he spent pouring through a book in there or reviewing a day's worth of notes in there?

Thaddeus took another step forward. When he'd first arrived here years before, he'd never seen this part of Shazam's fortress. It was a room full of doors, big and small, square and round, and every color imaginable (a few, he noted, were shades he'd never imagined, let alone seen). Vague images from a movie William had watched countlessly as a child flashed through his mind.

Keep going.

The voice pushing him forward was his own. The sins had enacted radio silence sometime since he woke up early that morning and never quite fell back asleep. He held his hand against a grey rock wall. Even here, his eye ached.

The next room he came to was vaguely familiar. Smashed glass littered the floor, while surrounding plants drooped (as if, he noted, finally withering from seemingly decades without light). Whatever display had once stood was now forgotten to history.

The throne room was still further down. Thaddeus' throat was dry. He'd envisioned himself facing the wizard countless times, always with a righteous word on his tongue.

He shook his head. No, right now he needed the eye. Fading power or not, he was still a wizard. Compared to him, Thaddeus was a magician who was almost out of tricks. The wizard would sooner chop out a silver tongue than Thaddeus' head.

It was only when he was almost to the sins' that the wizard finally noticed him. He stood up from his throne, hobbling forward on his staff.

"Who are you?"

Thaddeus rushed towards the eye. He could hear the sins again now, first all at once and then individually. In another situation it might have been perplexing. In his brain, they had whispered as one. Now, it was hard to hear what one was trying to shout above the other.

Had Thaddeus not stumbled on a rock on the way towards the eye, then he might have been hit by a bolt of lightning. He crawled forward on his hands and knees while his eye remained locked on the wizard.

I'm not going to die like this.

Not here, not now, not when so much was at stake. This was his life, his goal, his meaning.

The glowing globe surrounding the eye vanished like a fog when he held his hand out towards it. The tips of his right index and middle fingers rubbed against the eye's cool metal surface.

"You have no idea what you are unleashing, Thaddeus Sivana!"

Ah, so the wizard did remember him. He smirked as his hands wrapped fully around the eye. Old as the wizard was, he wasn't senile.

-

The pain in his eye was gone, almost as if it had never existed. Thaddeus ran his hand against the cold lump where his eye had been, sending a stream of sparks from his fingertips.

Hurry, he will awaken soon.

That was Lust or, perhaps, Envy. Thaddeus turned from the smoky figures surrounding him to the crumpled figure on the floor. He hadn't even had to think about attacking the wizard. As soon as the eye had floated into his head (funny, he hadn't felt a thing as it no doubt ripped through his flesh), sparks had ripped out from his fingertips.

There was an Eagles song about that.

Thaddeus grinned. All that power and the wizard couldn't even duck out of the way. He hurried towards the body, his steps sure.

"Is he-?"

He will be soon enough. That is no longer your concern.

"I want to see him dead."

You will!

That sounded like Gluttony.

We must go, champion.

The sins were one again.

"Of course." Thaddeus took one last look at the wizard, then hurried back towards the hall of doors.

Chapter Text

"Wake me up when the dinner cart rolls through," Thaddeus said as he positioned a satin eye mask over his gauze bandage.

With his ear plugs already pushed in, he could only guess at William's response. Judging by how relieved he'd been to finally get on the plane and sit down, Thaddeus might not be the only one settling down to sleep.

Well, at least one of them really was.

Since he'd returned from the wizard's lair, he hadn't slept a wink. Night would come and work would continue unabated. Come morning and Thaddeus wouldn't even bother to turn on the coffee maker. The little he'd eaten over the past few days had been ceremonial. A piece of toast there, some salad elsewhere.

"Are you sure you don't need to see the doctor again?" William had asked.

"It's probably nothing more than a side effect of the medication I'm on."

Had he even believed that when he'd said it?

No matter. At least for the next few hours, William would have a reason to be silent.

And Thaddeus could lay back and think.

Thinking - it was about the only thing that had kept him going over the years. Even when Sid seemed to be waiting behind every corner to pounce on him, or his father's wrath moved from his face to his fist, Thaddeus had had his mind. Elaborate fantasies and equations alike filled his hours. It was the only place his family couldn't reach, the one wall they could never surmount.

And oh, what his mind had done! Broken through enigmas and answered long-held curiosities while his own brother could barely pass as a bean counter.

But now his thoughts were focused. There was little to debate, few paths to cross. Now it was time to cut ties.

Oh, he'd thought of it before. When he was a boy, it hadn't been so macabre. He'd merely dreamed of making some grand scientific discovery that would have rocketed him towards a Nobel or digging up the remains of some lost civilization. Other times he pondered over the fantastic inventions that he would one day patent, devices that would so fill his pockets that the rest of the Sivanas would seem like Victorian urchins in comparison to him.

He couldn't remember exactly when his thoughts began to change, but he knew it had been before the accident. Finally, there had been a place where Thaddeus could reign supreme. In his mind, Sid's eye could bleed for hours before finally turning tar black. His father's teeth would come out, one after the other in a stream of coughs, his chin stained red with the blood and saliva that he could barely keep himself from choking on. Bones cracked, skin turned every color of the rainbow, and screams came easy.

Could those thoughts have helped turn the wizard against him? Many nights after, he'd lain awake in bed wondering if the force of his own mind had sent his father flying through the windshield.

Some days he'd considered buying a gun and making his dreams come true. Aiming the scope straight at Sid's quivering face and pulling the trigger. Listening to his father scream and sob, watching tears slip from his eyes as Thaddeus reloaded.

But no, he was no common criminal. That would have been too kind of a death anyway, if only in how ordinary it was.

No, what Sid and his father truly needed... What they truly deserved, they would soon get.

Chapter Text

Everything went to hell when Cissie Sommerly asked William to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

The night started out with William about choking himself trying to put on his necktie and didn't improve from there. As the two headed towards his car, Thaddeus swallowed repeatedly. Yet no matter how much saliva he forced down, his tongue remained limp and his throat hard and dry.

It wasn't as though his father had done this with him. Thaddeus had to piece things together himself based on what the other boys at school said. Crude as he was, Sid was no help in that department either. Despite the piles of magazines buried under his brother's mattress, the people inside had nothing that Thaddeus didn't see on himself.

William was clutching a cheap bouquet that he'd bought at the grocery store that afternoon. The rainbow hued flowers, still wet from the plastic vase he'd stuck them in, looked as though they'd fall apart if he clutched them any harder.

Thaddeus started his car. The rumble of the engine and the soft whirring of tires against the pavement momentarily filled the silence. Thaddeus let the sound wash over them, embrace them. Then, when he could bear its touch no longer, he spoke.

"William, it's time you and I had a discussion." Really, he should have done it sooner. But just when could they have done it? It wasn't as though there was a guide or rule book that laid out how and when these things should happen.

William sat up straighter in the passenger seat, eyeing him. "Yeah, Dad?"

Thaddeus cleared his throat. "Son, what do you intend to do with this girl tonight?"

"Dance? Eat her pizza? Girls always complain about food."

"I suppose I can't fault you for that." He gripped the steering wheel tighter. Maybe he was just digging himself into a hole. For all he knew, William already knew everything. That was how it was with kids these days, wasn't it?

No.

It was a comforting, if foolish, thought. Quitting now wouldn't sign away the future and its consequences. Quitting would only multiply his embarassment down the line.

"That may be all you two do tonight, and I truly hope it is. But you'll be a man sooner than I'd like, and that means you'll go through some changes. Someday that won't be all you want to do." He took a deep breath. "Because eventually a man finds a woman, or a man finds a man-"

Or a woman finds a woman almost slipped from his tongue, but Thaddeus quickly stopped himself. There was enough to deal with already without mentioning something completely out of William's realm of possibilities.

"And I don't mind who you ultimately end up with. Actually, I do. I hope you have good taste, but that's beside the point." Pausing, Thaddeus cursed that damn SCORA and all of the code scrawlers and math junkies who birthed it.

"Dad..."

"Yes?"

"How come you never got married?"

If William could have heard it, the only reply was Thaddeus' own heartbeat.

"I'm the one who should be questioning you."

What did the kid need, the truth? Oh, you wanted a second parent, William? It's the twenty-first century, you can only get married if you find someone to say yes.

And just what did he need someone for? Hormones and infatuation were fleeting, but his goal was forever. Romance didn't excite him the way rage did. Since he was young, love had long been a stranger to him. Why try and pursue it now?

"I'm too busy with my work." He paused again. "Does that bother you?"

William shook his head. "I mean, I was always curious but never found a reason to ask."

"And that's not your concern now, anyway."

Now or never.

"William, intimacy is an important act that two couples can share."

By the time Thaddeus had finished teaching William how to pronounce chlamydia, they had arrived at the Sommerly residence. A short-haired redhead in an ankle-length blue dress was standing on the two-story building's front porch, a man a few years Thaddeus' junior standing close behind her.

There were hugs and the exchange of flowers, discussions of curfew and warnings to not do "anything your mother and I wouldn't want to hear about." Mr. Sommerly's hands were covered in sweat, and there was something in his eyes that Thaddeus could never quite fully decipher, no matter how long he looked into them.

"Cissie, William's mentioned you a number of times."

She grinned, showing off a mouth full of money. "Aww, thanks." Or, rather, thankth. There was something about her tone that made Thaddeus wonder if she always sounded like that or if it was just a side effect of her braces.

On the ride to West Middle School, Thaddeus spoke again. "So you're both in a number of the same classes. How lucky for you two. Cissie, what do your parents do for a living?"

"Oh, my dad works at a bank. I like to go sometimes and ask him if he'll give me the keys to some safes." She giggled. "My mom is a doctor. That's actually why she wasn't home right now. Her schedule can be really weird. I don't blame her, though. It's not like she chooses when babies are born."

And just what would she say about Thaddeus' earlier speech? To the best of his knowledge, it was medically accurate.

"That's very nice."

"What do you do, Dr. Sivana?"

Doctor? William really had told her a lot about him.

"Oh, just try and solve the questions that many think have no answers."

After dropping them off, Thaddeus watched the two walk hand in hand inside the school's gym. Thaddeus looked around, taking in the crumpled petals in his backseat and the sheen of sweat on his forehead.

All in all, that could have gone a hell of a lot worse.

Chapter Text

So this was what his almost fifty-four years of life had been barreling towards – a death that for all means and purposes should have been a hell of a lot faster, a sputtering end where there should have been a crashing halt. Thaddeus surveyed the mansion before him. Rainbow colored Christmas lights twinkled beneath the dim sky, moving from navy blue to light purple. Thick shadows coated the side of the building. The winter had torn leaves from the surrounding trees, leaving their skeletons to shiver in the eastward wind. Though they remained green, the surrounding shrubs and grass looked thin.

“Uncle Thad! I couldn’t believe it when Dad said that you were coming.” Annabelle gave him one last tight squeeze before releasing him from her choke hold just as quickly as she’d pulled him into it. He breathed in the cold, dry air, embracing the chill that danced in his lungs.

“Well,” he replied, not quite meeting her in the eye. His gaze darted towards the windows, through which he could make out a large tree and an arrangement of multicolored stockings. “I only recently found out that I could make it this year.”

“And you’re Will!” She pulled William into another hug. For such a lithe girl, she could break bones if she put in the effort.

“Can we do this inside?” Sid called, his face hidden behind the opened trunk of his Mercedes Benz.

Thaddeus looked towards the sky. Clouds had begun rolling in, blanketing what little remained of the thin sun. On the drive over, the weatherman had mentioned a heavy possibility of snow.

“All right,” Annabelle replied, pulling away from William and hurrying towards the doors. “Hurry up everyone, I made cookies!”

Thaddeus looked towards William, but his face was already buried back in his phone. Between the ride from the airport to the hotel, and then the hotel to the Sivana estate, William had barely even looked at Sid. Whenever he asked the boy a question, William’s usual response had been a grunt.

“Need any help?” Thaddeus asked as Sid slammed the trunk down. His brother’s face was buried beneath a stack of neatly wrapped presents.

“Just hold the door open for me,” he replied.

Annabelle was waiting inside for them by the doorway. She was lucky enough to look nothing at all like her father. She was slim, her body lost beneath an oversized black and gold Vanderbilt University hoodie and a pair of faded jeans. Though she was both shorter and lighter in complexion than her mother, her cheek bones and chin were most definitely not Sid’s.

If the lights outside had made him raise an eyebrow, Thaddeus’ jaw about dropped when he got inside. The tree and stockings were the tip of the iceberg. Every conceivable wall was covered in paper gingerbread men, trees, and reindeer. The living room alone had four trees inside of it, three in the room’s corners and a small one on a coffee table. The top of the fireplace was covered in plastic elves, their beady eyes seeming to almost glow from the surrounding lights. Maybe his father had finally gone senile. Even as a boy, before the incident, his father had rarely put up more than a single tree. The less they put up the less that they had to take down, and he damn well wasn’t going to have the help sort through his fifty-year-old collection of hand-commissioned ornaments every season.

“Do you like it?” Annabelle’s eyes widened. “It was my idea. The place just didn’t seem peppy enough.”

All he’d need to do was throw on a fake beard and red suit and his father could have given the local malls a run for their picture and story-time money.

“And I was the one who got stuck helping to put everything up,” Sid added as he placed the presents down beneath a tree. “Any hints on what you got me?”

“My lips are sealed.” Thaddeus cleared his throat. “Sid, how the hell did you convince Dad to let you do this?”

“Oh, I begged and pleaded like a little boy,” Sid replied, chuckling. “It took some cajoling, but the old man finally agreed, on the condition that the moment December twenty-sixth rolls around, this will all be thrown down into the basement. But it was all worth it. Wasn’t it, Annie?” He stepped forward and reached a hand towards Annabelle’s shoulder, but she pulled away, her black curls bobbing as she moved. Despite this, he continued speaking. “It’s a shame that you can only stay until the twenty-third, pumpkin.”

“And miss out on Auntie Ruby’s sweet potato pie?” She turned away, motioning towards the kitchen. “The cookies should be about done cooling.”

William’s face brightened and he picked up his step.

It was only when they were gone that Sid’s words finally settled on him. Begged and pleaded like a little boy. Even before the divorce had been finalized, Sid had been living in an apartment a few blocks from the Sivana Industries headquarters. Some six months after he and his wife completed their split, he’d moved back into the family estate.

“Dad won’t admit it, but he needs more help these days than he used to.” Sid had said over the phone.

What was it like, working all day with their father only to come back home and still be stuck with him? The idea made Thaddeus’ empty stomach tighten. Did Sid not only like giving pain, but receiving it as well?

“Thad?”

Thaddeus’ back stiffened. “Sidney?”

Sid came forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I just wanted to thank you for coming. It was a bit of a surprise, but Dad really appreciates it. He’s really been wanting to see William.”

Without moving a muscle on his part, Thaddeus could have broken every bone in his brother’s hand. The old anger that always hung over him like a blanket now burned, an itch desperate to be scratched. It would have been so easy, taken shorter than the time it takes to blink an eye, and Sid could have been a groveling mess on the floor.

But no, that was too easy for him. What Sid needed was longer, harder, something that he would carry with him to his grave and never quite be able to break away from.

The sins were silent. Whatever suggestions they might have they kept to themselves. This was his brother, his life, his plan. His to make the most of.

“Oh, Sid, it’s my pleasure to come.”

-

Why did anyone need a house this big? Even some of his classmates, who had anywhere from five to eight siblings, didn’t need this much space. The curving, polished wood stairwell rose over twenty feet, leading into a hallway that held six doors on each side. The cream-colored walls were covered in Greek paintings. Potted plants – which Billy could tell were fake without even having to touch them – covered various small tables that were set against the walls.

Annabelle entered the third door to the right, holding it open for Billy as he stepped inside.

“So tell me more yourself, Will,” she said. She bit into a chocolate chip cookie, crumbs spilling onto her hoodie.

“It’s Billy,” he responded.

He surveyed the room. For a place that she would only have been living three weeks in, it already looked well lived in. A suitcase and cello case were both laying face down near her bed, which was covered in a wrinkled neon purple comforter. Against her matching colored pillows was a worn blue teddy bear missing one plastic eye. Her bookshelf was covered in thin paperbacks and framed photos. Several of them showed girls who looked to be about her age, while many others depicted a tall, well-dressed black woman that he assumed was her mother. A nearby desk held a laptop covered in stickers and a plastic vase holding an array of synthetic lilies.

She’d filled him in while the two were in the kitchen and heading upstairs. Annabelle, or Annie as she preferred to be called, was twenty-one years old and a year away from graduating with her music degree. She hoped to be a cellist in an orchestra. Outside of her studies, she enjoyed volunteering at local elementary schools and had considered becoming a music teacher.

“I’d probably only give private lessons though,” she had admitted.

Though she lived in Nashville with her mother, as soon as she’d taken her last final, she’d jumped on a plane for Philly. The last few days had been spent touring Sivana Industries and going to museums.

“Because my dad has no idea what else to do.” She’d rolled her eyes. “I swear, you see these places once and you’ve seen them for life.”

She hadn’t mentioned much about her mother and her eyes narrowed when she discussed her father. Billy made no comment.

“Well,” Billy said, sitting down at her desk’s chair. This was the first time he’d ever been inside of a girl’s room, cousin or not. He imagined Cissie’s must have looked a lot like this before she’d moved away in the middle of their freshman year. She’d loved flowers and tried more than a few times to genetically modify her own during their biology classes. He half considered bringing her up but decided his pathetic excuse for a love life was better left discussed another time. “I’m a sophomore in high school. My dad and I live in California, so I swim a lot, even when it’s not swim season. Some friends and I like to go to the beach sometimes to swim in the ocean. If you don’t go out when the tide’s bad, it’s really fun. Besides that, I read the announcements at school and take part in the trivia team. I also love playing video games.”

“Tell me about your dad.” Her voice rose as she spoke. “You know, I haven’t seen him since I was a kid.”

“I haven’t seen yours since then either.” Again, there wasn’t much to say. “My dad can be a bit naggy and takes grades pretty seriously. Even when he’s home, he works a lot.”

“Tell me what I don’t already know.”

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. My dad’s really a pretty chill guy.” Billy wasn’t sure why the next few words came out, but somehow it seemed wrong to not speak them. “I really do appreciate the time that I get to spend with him. Without him, I can’t even imagine what my life would be like.”

Annie smiled. “You’re really lucky. You know that?”

“Of course.”

The two continued eating cookies in silence. Billy finished before Annie did, who licked her fingers clean of frosting.

“You want some more?”

Billy nodded. “If it’s no trouble.”

“Ha! I’ve been living off these things since I came home.”

The walk downstairs was just as disconcerting as the walk upstairs. As big as the place was, and no matter what was set out on the walls and floors, it seemed empty. It was more like a museum exhibit that someone could walk through than a place that someone actually lived in.

“Why are you leaving on the twenty-third?”

“To be back home in time for my mom’s big Christmas feast. Every year she goes all out. If you think this place is Santa Land, you should see her house!”

Billy’s father and uncle were talking in the kitchen when they got downstairs. His father gave him a quick nod before looking back to Uncle Sid.

Annie grabbed a paper towel, and Billy helped to place cookies upon them. She motioned back towards the open door they’d come in through, and the two headed back towards the stairwell. They were halfway up the first flight when Annie froze on the steps.

“William, is that you?”

Billy turned, looking down. Near the base of the stairs was a white-haired, tired-eyed man in a wheelchair.

“You’ve grown so much. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Chapter Text

Billy’s grandfather reached forward, taking Billy by the chin and pushing apart his lips with his fingers. Bile rose in his throat, hot and metallic. He forced it down with a hard gulp.

“You have fine teeth,” his grandfather commented. “How many times a day does Thad make you brush them?”

“Father, what the hell are you doing?”

His grandfather let go of him, and Billy had to spread out his legs to keep from falling. He stepped back onto the stairs, taking the nearest railing and clutching it until his palms began to sweat against the smooth wood. He turned, catching Annie’s gaze. She tilted her head at him, her frown deepening. Then, she turned and hurried and back upstairs.

Billy’s father and grandfather both hurried towards each other.

“You have no right to speak to me that way, Thad, especially not in my own house.”

“And you think you can assess my son like a cow on display at the county fair?”

“Don’t be so dramatic! I was just making sure you were raising the boy well.”

“What did you expect me to bring, a street urchin?”

Despite himself, Billy stood riveted to the spot. He was like the Cheshire cat, at once there as the subject of conversation but at the same time far away and alien. No one was looking at him, and it was hard to imagine that they were only squabbling over him.

“Oh, hardly, but you can never know with parents these days. I do hope he’ll be wearing something else to dinner.”

With the way his grandfather and uncle were dressed, he had to wonder if there was anything in their closets except three-piece suits.

“What does it matter what he’s wearing?”

“You think he can go to Bellissima dressed like that?”

His father turned to glare at Uncle Sid, who was standing near the end of the hallway. “I thought you said you were ordering in.”

“Dad called me while I was in the bathroom earlier to say that he’d gotten an unexpected dinner call that he couldn’t refuse. Said he’d love if you guys could come.”

“You are coming.” Both men turned, locking gazes with the Sivana patriarch. “Really, Thad? You finally decide to return for a family holiday, and you don’t think I’ll use this time to make up for your absence? My investors have been wanting to meet you. It’s your share of the fortune that gets funneled into the university and that project of yours there that you never discuss, after all.”

“What I do with my money is my own business, father.”

“It damn well is when it comes out of my own shares!”

“Your own website uses it as proof of corporate philanthropy in support of higher education!”

“Thad, you know Dad doesn’t write that.”

“Oh, but I’m sure he loved the press coverage!”

There was an anger in his father’s voice that snapped Billy free, forcing his legs back up the stairs. As if suddenly remembering him, three sets of eyes again locked on him, but before he was even fully up the stairs, they were back to arguing. The distant voices followed him all the way back to Annie’s room. He pulled the door closed behind him as he entered.

“Do they always do that?” Billy sat back down in her desk chair, taking a chocolate chip cookie from her outstretched hand.

She shrugged. “Usually your dad isn’t around. My dad and grandpa don’t really fight, but that’s just how my dad is.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s a reason I wanted to stay at my mom’s.”

“Then why’d you come here?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Why’d you?”

“Because my dad said we were coming.”

She laughed. “Well, it wasn’t quite like that for me. But I figured if Dad was going to cover all my tuition, a few weeks with him would be an easy way to say thank you. Pretty stupid in hindsight, but in a few more days it won’t matter anyway.”

“I’m in the marching band at my school.” The words were out of his mouth before he fully realized them. Somehow the fact had slipped his mind earlier that evening.

Her eyes widened, her face again brightening. “Really? A lot of my friends from high school were, too!”

Billy grinned, letting her in on how the football season had ended. “If I’d bothered to stick around for the final game, I might have been disappointed!”

Then Annie started discussing her classes. She moved her hands as she spoke, gesturing towards her cello case and pulling up pictures on her phone. For a moment, she looked like the girl in the framed photos around her, smiling and eager to face the world.

“Any idea what you’re going to be studying yet?”

“Hardly,” Billy replied. “I went to some different career camps over the past few summers but haven’t really decided on anything. Guess it’s because I can’t do everything.”

“Hey, you don’t have to know what you want to be right now. It’s better to explore.”

“How’d you know that you wanted to study music?”

“Easy! Playing cello is the only thing I’m any good at.”

A knock came at the door. Her face stiffened, but she stepped forward and opened the door a crack.

“Annabelle, is William there?”

Her only reply was to open the door wider. Billy stood up, meeting his father’s gaze.

“Sid is taking us back to the hotel to get changed.” He rubbed absently at the bandages around his eye.

“Whatever.”

“Do you have any cookies left?”

Annie blinked. “Oh, yeah.” She held out a napkin. “Take whatever you want, Uncle Thad.”

“Thank you.” He took a gingerbread man and snapped off its head, swallowing it seemingly without chewing it. “I’m glad that you two had the decency to spoil your appetites.”

-

Considering the fanciest thing that Billy had packed were some school-logo polos and khakis, he’d had to wear some of his dad’s clothes. His father had traded in his usual brown weather waist-length jacket for a navy-blue suit. Billy wore a starched white collared shirt, a black tie, and matching colored dress pants.

“Be sure to put your elbows on the table when you eat,” his father had said. “And use the forks indiscriminately.”

“Won’t your dad get mad?”

“That’s the point.” His father’s face hardened.

“I don’t want him to get mad at you because of me.”

“He’ll be mad at me no matter what. Why not get some fun out of it?”

Billy gave a smile that was all teeth.

His father had changed into a fresh pair of bandages. As the two headed for the hotel room’s door, he considered asking about it but stopped himself. Just because the bandages were still there didn’t mean that the infection wasn’t healing. Wasn’t it better sometimes to not leave things exposed to open air and the germs it carried?

“Dad, why’d we come here if everyone is just going to fight?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Really?” Billy bit his lip. Was that his only answer? That was the kind you gave kids that you thought were stupid.

“I have my reasons, William. But if it makes you feel any better, I can already tell you that we aren’t coming back next year.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed.”

-

“What’s an Italian place without spaghetti?” Annie whispered into Billy’s ear. She was wearing a wavy black skirt that went down to her ankles and a light purple sweater that looked too thin to actually keep away the cold.

“What’s veal?” he replied.

There didn’t look to be anyone else their age in the restaurant. Billy had to keep himself from asking his dad if the reason the place was so packed was because they served a senior citizen discount. Not that he would have had the chance. His father had yet to touch anything on his plate, he was so busy answering questions.

He couldn’t remember the names of the other people at the table, only that they were board members of Sivana Industries. Every once in a while, they would turn and look at Billy and Annie boredly, even sometimes ask them to pass the bread. The rest of their time was spent discussing stocks, public image, and increasing revenues.

“This is why I didn’t let my dad talk me into business school.”

It would have been much easier for the two to text each other, but Uncle Sid had taken both of their phones away when they arrived at the restaurant.

“Dad insists on it,” he’d said.

Well, even if Billy didn’t get to tell him until later tonight or tomorrow morning, Freddy was going to love hearing about this. Surely he could find a joke in this mess.

“And your research, what practical applications does it have?” one board member asked.

“More than I can list,” Thaddeus replied. “The patients who come to me are confused and need to know that what they are experiencing isn’t something to be ashamed of. Such shared phenomena is fascinating but unfairly stigmatized.”

“Hey, what’s your dad talking about?”

“Beats me. He doesn’t talk about his work a lot to me.”

As if to prove his point, his father began quoting some of his papers word by word. At least Billy thought he did. He poked at his plate.

“Hey, uh, I didn’t get the chance to ask you earlier, but is it true that marching band kids get a lot of-”

The more people that entered the restaurant, the harder that it was to hear Annie even though she was sitting next to him.

“Annabelle!”

Annie’s sudden pause caused the next word that she had been speaking to die in a low squeak. She pulled away from Billy and sat up straight.

“I asked you to elaborate on your time at university.”

“Oh, of course, grandfather.” All eyes of the board members were locked on her. “In case my dad hasn’t mentioned this yet, I’m a junior-”

Billy sighed. He eyed the restaurant, taking in the waiters in flawlessly pressed suits holding bone white china plates. He’d seen the prices listed for meals on the menu and had to hold back a gasp. The wine his grandfather was sipping alone cost thirty dollars a glass. What he would have given then for a slice of pizza!

Luckily, the board members seemed so engrossed in their drinks that they soon forgot Annie. She sighed, stuffing a roll into her mouth.

She leaned forward and whispered into his ear. “See what you guys have been missing out on these last two weeks?”

-

Billy collapsed into the hotel bed before he had even changed into his pajamas. “Hey, dad, is it okay if I hang out with Mary from the Philly trivia team tomorrow? I know I told you about her after the competition.”

“Yes.” His father didn’t even look at him.

“I won’t be missing out on anything important tomorrow afternoon, right?”

He shook his head.

“I’m serious. I don’t want you getting in trouble or anything because of me.”

That was enough to get his dad to finally look at him. “William, I appreciate your concern. And though my father might not always realize it, I am a grown man. I can deal with him myself. If you’d had someone to stay with, I wouldn’t even have brought you here with me. This isn’t anything that you need to be worrying about.”

“But if you don’t like them-”

“William, when you get into the working world, you’ll meet a lot of people you don’t like. Sometimes you just have to deal with them in the best way that you can. Maybe that means compromising, maybe that means giving them what they deserve. But right now, that isn’t your issue.”

Billy held back a groan. He could ask all of the questions in the world and still get nowhere. But maybe his dad was right. What exactly did any of this matter to him? Once he and his dad got back on the plane to California, this Christmas would be nothing but a bad memory.

“Whatever you say, old man.”

-

“If your Christmas sucks, you and your dad can always come spend the holiday with my family. We love having people over, and Darla will be thrilled to share the tofurkey.”

“Just hearing you say that word made me lose ten years of my life.”

“Yeah, well you’re not the one who has to eat it every night.” Freddy put one box down and then grabbed another. “I already got my sister Vixen and Supergirl figures for her birthday, so all that’s left is to decide between Wonder Woman and Batgirl.” He held them up. “What do you think?”

“It’s your choice.”

“Man, you can’t put me on the spot like this. With my luck I might choose the wrong one.”

“There has to be one that speaks to you.”

“It would, but it says here on the back of the box that batteries aren’t included.” He placed the boxes back down, giving them another look over. “I’m a bit biased, but I’m definitely feeling Wonder Woman.”

Billy snickered.

“You know what I meant!” He grabbed the Wonder Woman figure, then headed towards the cash register. “So, where do you want to go after this?”

“I’ll have to check the directory.” Once Freddy was a few feet ahead of him, Billy grabbed the Batgirl figure.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Freddy said as they left the store, sticking the second figure and Billy’s receipt into his bag.

Billy shrugged. “I figured if I didn’t get it then you’d drag me back in there.”

Freddy gave him a playful punch on the arm.

“Hey, can we sit down?”

Freddy nodded. The two headed towards a bench across from a shoe store. For a moment, the two sat in silence, watching the crowds of people pass by.

“Is something wrong?”

Billy shook his head. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out a small, messily wrapped box. “I was going to give this to you earlier, but you were in such a rush to get to the toy store that I didn’t have time to stop you. It’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

Freddy grinned. As soon as he pulled it from Billy’s hands, he immediately began pulling off the paper. “Dude! I’ve been wanting this game so bad.”

“I mean, you never shut up about it.”

“And you think giving me this will make me stop?” Freddy’s smile wavered. “I really appreciate it, Billy. I wish I had something to give you in return.”

“Freddy, it’s no big deal.”

“I’ll have to find something for you now, at least.”

“Look, I don’t know what the next few days might hold. If something big happens, I might not even be able to see you again.”

“Then that means I really do need to find you something for you while we’re here!” He stood up, poking Billy’s leg with the end of his crutch. “Come on, there has to be something here you like.”

Billy almost protested, then stopped himself. Whether he actually found something he wanted or not, it was better than going home.

-

“You sure that’s all you want?” Freddy asked as he dropped his cup into the trash.

“It’s enough for me,” Billy replied, taking one last sip of his own milkshake. “I don’t want to drag a bunch of shit home with me on the plane, anyway.”

The two left Big Belly Burger, passing a number of smaller restaurants as they headed further into the food court.

“If you say so.” Freddy pulled his phone from his pocket. “Hey, Mary’s picking me up in twenty minutes. Anywhere else you want to look?”

Billy shook his head. “I should probably call my cousin soon and ask her to pick me up. She’s probably done shopping now anyway.”

Freddy cleared his throat. “I was serious earlier, you know. We’d love it if you came over for Christmas. Victor and Rosa are very chill. You couldn’t ask for a more relaxing family dinner.”

Billy scoffed. “I can’t make any promises. But if it gets any worse, I’ll tell Dad about your offer.”

Freddy pulled him into a hug. It wasn’t as tight as one of Annie’s, but it was firm and warm. “Thank you again for the game.”

“It was nothing. Thanks for dinner.”

“Do you mind if I give Darla the Batgirl that you got her early?”

“Feel free to.”

A few minutes later, as none other than Uncle Sid pulled up to the door to pick him up in a grey van, Annie waving to him from the passenger seat window, Billy thought back to his friend’s offer.

Chapter Text

At this point Thaddeus couldn’t even be sure if he was still in Pennsylvania. Once he’d tucked William into bed-

“Dad, you don’t have to do this. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Of course I do, young man.”

-and been sure that he was actually asleep, Thaddeus had left the hotel room to get some air. Now it was all around him. The wind embraced him. A shiver ran down his spine, but he smiled at the chill. Out here, where houses were far and few between and the only light was that of the full moon hovering over him, it was like being in another world. He’d left with no clear destination in mind, just hurried from the city and its peering eyes, planes, and cameras. Mountain slopes rose in the distance, while below him roads curved across ancient hills. Here, away from everything, it was as though he was the only man in the world.

Not that he was alone.

When shall we begin?

Their voices came together as one.

“Soon.”

If William weren’t here, he might have already finished with this madness. Sid and his father were living on borrowed time. But it wasn’t as if he could just buy William a one-way ticket back to California now…

Thaddeus shook his head. All this power and he still couldn’t bring himself to get the damn thing over with. Why waste time? If his family saw him now, floating forty feet above the ground, they’d all but fall down dead. All he needed to do now was-

No. Another face flashed before his mind, one that made his blood boil.

He smirked, heading back east along the wind. It was the Christmas season, after all. What was a better gift to give his family than a few extra hours?

-

Merilyn had just started taking off her shoes when a knock came on the door. She froze, trying to blink away the sleep that crept over her eyes like cobwebs. The subway ride home that morning had seemed even longer than usual. Even working the night shift, she’d been asked to stay an extra hour to help make sure the café was ready for an event later that day.

Right then she didn’t care if she slept in her bra or if Travis woke up alone the next morning. Her couch lay only a few feet away from her, worn but cozy. She stepped forward, ready to collapse onto it, when the knock came again, just a few notes louder.

She froze. Pulling out her phone, she squinted at the bright screen. Christ, who the hell needed her at three a.m.?

A knot tightened in her stomach. She’d known that they were getting a new landlord, even heard rumors that he was a real hard ass. But she’d paid her rent on time that month. Why not knock on Janet from down the hall’s door instead? Unless it was one of Travis’ friends. The thought made her chest tighten. If it was, she’d sooner wait and have them vomit all over her welcome mat than open the door.

The knocking came a third time.

“Mer, what the hell is that?”

Merilyn stiffened. “Nothing that you should be worrying about. Go back to bed.”

Taking a deep breath, holding it in for a few moments, and then releasing it in a long exhale, Merilyn headed for the door. Peering through the peephole showed little more than a dark blur. Slowly, she cracked the door open a few inches and peered out.

“Who is it?”

“Is this Merilyn Parker?” The man standing before her was bald, wearing dark sunglasses and a brown leather jacket that probably cost more than five of her paychecks combined. Most definitely the new landlord.

“What’s it to you? I’ll have you know I turned in my rent earlier this week.”

He chuckled. “I assure you, that isn’t my concern.”

Just as she tightened her grip on the doorknob, the door flew open. She moved back as if pushed by an invisible wind. The man stepped forward, his sunglasses gleaming in the hallway’s dim overhead light, shutting the door behind him.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” She searched around her frantically for an umbrella, a frying pan, anything. “Travis!”

The man flicked his wrist as she spoke. She didn’t know why the motion caught her eye, but the quick gesture was nothing compared to what she did when she felt her throat tighten. She reached towards it, grabbing at the skin of her neck as though she could pull it apart. Pant as she might, all air suddenly seemed a million miles away from her. She looked to the man with eyes wide as saucers, only to see herself reflected back in his lenses.

“Mer, what the hell’s going on?” When Travis got closer, his eyes turned from his not-quite wife clawing at her neck to the man standing in front of his doorway. “Who are you?” Travis picked up his pace, hurrying towards the man. As he came forward, he suddenly froze, his leg and arms raised, his face red. He was statue still, practically standing on one leg. Merilyn blinked. It occurred just quickly enough that she didn’t notice her throat loosening. She took in a sharp breath, feeling the air swim through her throat.

“Wh-what did you do to him?” She pushed herself against the wall.

“Oh, nothing yet.” The man gave her a small smile. Stepping forward, he pulled a hand from his pocket. She blinked once, twice, but no matter how many times she closed them, lightning sparks (as though he had just rubbed his hand along a freshly dried set of sheets) flew from his fingertips. They danced along the air, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to rise.

His whole hand was glowing when he placed it across Travis’ upper abdomen. His eyes widened while the rest of his body remained still, only a hollow gasp escaping his throat. Merilyn had to place her hands against the wall to keep herself from falling.

When his hand had touched Travis, no sound had been made. It was just as quiet when he pulled his hand away, though the large bruise across his chest about made her scream. But when she tried, only a mix between a whimper and a yelp came out.

The man’s other hand was glowing as well. Stepping forward, he pushed Travis back, causing him to collapse with a thud on the floor. The burn was twice the size as before. The edges of Travis’ undershirt released a thin line of smoke.

He looked back to her, eyeing her up and down like a farmer examining a cow about to be sold to a slaughterhouse. Then he turned back to Travis, reaching a glowing hand first for his neck and then towards his face. This time, she heard a soft sizzle as their fleshes met.

She reached for the door, turning the knob wildly in every direction. No matter how hard she pulled it forward, it remained stubbornly still. She was so caught up in it that she only turned around when she felt something wet fall across the back of her shoulder.

When she turned, she knew it was a nightmare. The creatures standing before her, after all, were nothing if not nightmarish. Two were only standing mere inches from her, their tongues outstretched. One’s moved like a snake’s, wrapping around her neck but not tightening.

“Wh-what…” she began. The most that she could get out was a whisper. “What’s going on?”

Behind the man stood four other monsters, grey as chalk and every bit as unreal. If this were any other situation, they would have looked comical against the backdrop of her worn living room.

“Not what, Ms. Parker, but why.” He pulled his glasses off, revealing a softly glowing orb where his left eye should have been. “Does the name Billy Batson ring a bell?”

She squinted at him. “What does Billy have to do with this?”

”Everything." The man’s voice had been calm before, a bit like a schoolteacher trying to not yell. Now, though, he seemed only a step away from screaming.

The nearest monster’s tongue tightened around her neck. Its tongue wasn’t smooth, instead covered in an array of bumps including, she noted as bile rose in her throat, suction cups. Seemingly effortlessly, it raised her almost half a foot above the ground.

“Was it lust that made you have him? Or laziness that made you walk out?”

The tips of her eyelids were burning. From this vantage point, she could see how still Travis was. Travis, who could jump out of bed with only a moment’s notice. Travis, who never stopped moving.

“Mister, I don’t know what you know about that boy, but he’s better off without me.”

“Oh, believe me, I understand that fact perfectly well.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “He knows that too.” He surveilled his nails. “How often do you think of the boy?”

“Wh-what?” she rasped.

“It was a rather simple question. How often do you think of the boy?” He tapped his chin. “Daily, hourly, only once a year when his birthday rolls around… I assume you get the idea.”

Her heart was beating faster than the legs of a leading Kentucky derby horse. “I-I don’t know. I’d say never but-”

She’d known it was a bad answer even before it left her lips but something, something, made the truth slip out.

“Never?” He stepped forward, moving over Travis as though he were nothing but a fallen tree limb blocking his path on some unseen road. “Never!”

“He-he isn’t part of my life any longer, with good reason.”

His left eye was glowing now, shooting sparks. A long scar ran up and below his eyelid, and still looked slightly red, as though it was fresh.

“Did you ever stop and think about how he might feel about that? Just what abandoning him might do to him?”

“Mister, I don’t know who you are, but you need to stop this!” It would have been a weak protest even if she could manage to say it a little louder.

“I’m his father.” He stepped back again, turning and taking in the apartment. “The rats must love this snug little shithole of yours, don’t they?”

His father? No, C.C. wasn’t that old, and he couldn’t afford that jacket if he won the lottery. Her mind flashed back to a few years prior, when a boy showed up on her doorstep. Was this-

He didn’t even look at her when he next spoke. “While I know you’re hungry, Lust, it would do you well to let Sloth have the first bite.”

-

They pulled Merilyn Parker apart like a child did a Barbie doll. First came one of her legs, sending a glob of blood onto the surrounding walls. Then her body fell to the floor with a loud thump when Lust took off her head. For a moment, what was left of her lay sprawled on the ground. The sins turned towards Thaddeus, their tongues outstretched, and he gestured towards the bodies.

“Take what’s left of them.”

Sparks glowed out of his skin, lighting the surrounding darkness. Reaching forward, he held onto a coffee table covered in old magazines and receipts until it burned. His hand went next to the nearby couch and wall.

He closed his eyes and saw William, first as the boy on the cusp of manhood back at the hotel, then as the tween running away from the same apartment that Thaddeus was currently standing in. Then he was a little boy again, so small and fragile looking, calling out for his mother.

In her last moments, had Merilyn truly regretted what she’d done? He swallowed the lump in his throat. Did it really matter? Last minute repentance or not, she was dead. Dead as she should have been to William when the police drove him away from the carnival.

And if in her last moments she truly didn’t care about what she’d done, the result was the same. So then did it really matter if his father and brother didn’t beg him for forgiveness? If tears didn’t run down their cheeks?

No, Thaddeus supposed, it did not. As the fire grew, eating away at the walls and carpet, Thaddeus struck the large glass window, sending pieces of it flying. He stepped through, his cuts closing over almost as quickly as they appeared, his feet touching air. Then, like a phoenix emerging from the ashes, he took off into the night.

-

In the end, he didn’t head back to his father’s estate. The twinkling lights of the city guided him back to the hotel, where he came in through the glass balcony to find William still asleep in his bed. Even at his age, he looked impossibly small beneath the covers balled up around him. Leaning down, Thaddeus brushed hair away from his face and kissed his forehead.

Chapter Text

Batmanatee: I barely got any sleep last night uhhhhh

Billy_Da_Kid: What happened???

Batmanatee: Every five seconds some police car or ambulance came running through our neighborhood at 3 in the morning!

Billy_Da_Kid: That sucks!

Batmanatee: I know. There was some big fire at an apartment building three blocks from our house.

Billy_Da_Kid: Are you okay?

Batmanatee: Really tired but otherwise okay. Rosa is freaking out though. She’s sure drugs are somehow involved. Ever since a meth lab exploded on the next block over from us 4 months ago, she’s been trying to find us a new house.

Billy_Da_Kid: DUDE WHAT

-

A loud crack echoed through the dining room, causing the table to shake as though the room had suddenly been hit by an earthquake. Annie stiffened, sitting up straighter against the hard back of her wooden chair. Her father looked to her from across the table, but she buried her gaze into the napkin folded across her lap.

“William! Would you please enlighten us to whatever wonders are on your phone?”

Billy looked up from his own lap, his eyes wide.

“William!” their grandfather repeated, raising his fist to smack the table again.

As childish as it was, she was suddenly glad to have left her phone buried under a pile of pillows in her room.

“Father, stop!” Uncle Thad stood up, his chair screeching across the wooden floor. “You have no right to speak to my son that way!”

“Thad, tell him to put the phone away.”

“Father-”

“For once act like the father you parade yourself around as!”

Annie bit her lip. A plate of roasted chicken, peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy lay below her, but she was sure everyone’s lunch was about to go cold. Billy’s face had gone pale.

“What did you just say?” Uncle Thad stalked towards their grandfather, his fists balled at his sides.

“You know damn well what I said. Really, Thad, you’ve had ten years to teach the boy some manners.”

“Now, Dad,” her father began, raising his hand outwards.

“Sid, this doesn’t concern you.” His glare could have broken twenty nazars. He turned back towards her uncle.

Annie’s stomach tightened, but for once the pain didn’t hold her down like a lead weight. She stood on shaking legs, clutching the cranberry red tablecloth tightly between her fists. “Oh, would you all just shut up!”

The room suddenly went silent, everyone’s gaze locking onto her.

Her father’s eyes were so wide that she half expected them to fall out of his head. “Annie, dear, let’s sit back down and eat-”

“No!” She stepped away from the table. “You want to know why I hate coming over to visit you, Dad? Because stuff like this always ends up happening!” She glared at her grandfather, with what she could only hope was a quarter of the power his own hard eyes held. “Jesus Christ, Billy was just playing on his phone! Who cares? Everyone does it!” She pointed her index finger at him. “And Uncle Thad was right – you shouldn’t have started yelling at him!”

“Young lady, I don’t know what you think you’re trying to do here, but you damn well better stop!” Her grandfather’s face was red as a tomato. “This doesn’t concern you in the least.”

“Annie, can you please sit down? Dad’s right, this isn’t your problem.”

She locked eyes with her weary-eyed father. How many holidays had she spent watching him sit with his shoulders slumped, unable to meet his own father’s gaze?

She stamped her foot. Was it immature? Probably, but she wasn’t the only kid in a roomful of overgrown toddlers. “No! This has been my problem my entire life. No wonder Mom hates you all. Dad, did you know she was glad when she found out what you were doing behind her back? She finally felt like she had a valid excuse to get out!” Tears burnt at the corners of her eyes, but she pushed them back. “I’m tired of coming here and trying to pretend that everything’s great. Dad, I hate this family! I hate you! I’m done trying to hide it!” She turned. “I’m calling Mom and getting an early flight home.”

“Annie!” The sound of her father standing only made her run out of the dining room faster, past the cabinets full of china dishes that no one was ever allowed to use, past the vases that cost more than the annual budget of the women’s shelter she volunteered at. Past the trees and stockings and paper reindeer and candy canes that she had spent hours putting up.

There were more voices behind her, but she focused only on the sound of her hard-soled flats as they hit the wooden floor. She hurried up the stairs, finally letting the tears stream down her face. She’d been waiting twenty-one years to finally say that and now that it was out, she was empty, deflated like a popped balloon. Hurrying into her room, she locked the door and collapsed on her bed. As she hurriedly scrolled through her contacts list, she tried to force back the sobs that sent her body shaking.

-

“Sid, go upstairs and tell that little bitch to get back downstairs and apologize.” His father wasn’t yelling any longer, but his voice seemed to permeate the entire dining room.

“Dad-”

“You heard me!” He pointed towards the open space carved into the wall that she’d run out of. “I swear, did anyone here raise their children to show an ounce of respect?”

Thaddeus walked towards his brother, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. Their eyes met, Sid’s shaking beneath his own gaze. Then, he turned to his son. “William, go upstairs and tell your cousin to pack her bags. Carry some stuff yourself if you must. She’s coming back to the hotel with us until her mother can get her a plane ticket back home.”

“But Thad,” Sid began.

He pulled away from his brother. “You heard her, Sidney. She’s leaving and so are we. I’m not going to stay here and let these continued antics keep ruining our holiday.”

“Like hell you are!” His father hurried towards them. “I don’t know what’s gotten into everyone, but this stops now!”

“You’re right, father, it does.” Thaddeus turned back towards William, who was still sitting wide-eyed in his chair. “William, get Annabelle. Please.”

Without a word, he was up from his seat and racing towards the stairwell.

He cleared his throat. “Father, I’m not a child any longer. Though Sid might act like it, he isn’t either. It’s about time you stopped treating us like them.”

“You two are my sons-”

“As much as we all might wish otherwise.” Thaddeus crossed his arms over his chest. “I was serious when I said you had no right to speak to my son that way. If you ever yell at William again, I will crush your windpipe with my bare hands.”

“Oh, you little bastard, if you even think-”

“Not think, father. I know I can.”

“If you think you can say these things to me and expect your name in my will then you have more degrees than you do brains!”

Thaddeus raised an eyebrow. “A will, father? What a morbid thing to bring up at our little family get together.” He pulled his phone from his pocket. “Sid, don’t worry yourself about driving us back. I’ll call a cab once they’re done packing.”

“Thad!”

“Oh, it’s not a problem for me. Why would I ever want to trouble you, brother of mine?”

-

“I hate them! I hate them! I fucking hate him!” Annabelle threw her pillow at the wall, hitting it with a soft thump. As soon as it fell to the floor, she began stomping on it with her foot.

William looked to him, his lips creasing into a frown. Thaddeus shook his head, then leaned out his arm and squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “She needs this.”

Once they’d gotten everything into the hotel room, the anger that had suddenly appeared earlier had returned with a vengeance. Now, some two minutes later, Thaddeus could already see it beginning to leave her thin frame. His stomach flipped in his chest. How many family dinners had he sat through wishing that he could do what she had just done?

“You have every right to the anger that you’re feeling.” Thaddeus stepped forward, holding her now shaking body against his own. Her arms remained limp at her side. If she were to wrap them around him now, would he even feel it?

The collar of his jacket was turning wet. “Do you really mean that?”

He held her chin up. “Of course I do. You have more courage in your pinkie finger than your father has in his whole body.”

She gave a weak laugh. “Like that’ll do me any good.” Her tears were coming faster now. “Why hasn’t my mom picked up her phone yet?”

“I don’t know.”

She sniffled. “I wish she would.”

“You’re more than welcome to stay with us for however long you need.” He turned to William, giving him a weak smile. “Go on, tell her we aren’t as bad as we first seem.”

“Uncle Thad, was Grandpa always like this? Before… Before you put him…”

Thaddeus gritted his teeth. “For as long as I’ve lived, I’ve hated my father. Even if I knew why he acted the way he did, I don’t think I’d be able to change him.”

“I wish my dad were more like you. Maybe if he got away from the old man, if he…”

Thaddeus held back a sigh. What was he supposed to say to that? Oh, I’m sorry, but your father can fuck himself over without anyone’s help.

In the end, she locked herself in the bathroom and took a long shower. Even with the door closed, Thaddeus could still feel the steam.

“Dad, when she said you ‘put him,’ what did she mean?”

As if that mattered now! Thaddeus turned, looking out the windows of the glass balcony and into the city beyond. “My father blames me for the accident that left him paralyzed.”

William blinked. “Why?”

“Didn’t you hear him?” Thaddeus winked his one normal eye. “Because I’m an ungrateful little shit who couldn’t raise a kid correctly if I tried.”

-

Sid gaped when he opened the door that night. “Thad, what the hell are you doing here?” He leaned out, analyzing the empty driveway. “How did you get here?”

“Sid, open the door. I need to speak to you and father.”

He slowly opened the door. “Is this about earlier?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

The sound of Christmas carols, which had once filled the house through some unseen speakers, were now silent. Were it not for their footsteps, there would have been no sound at all. Thaddeus tried not to notice the fallen Christmas tree in the living room, or the broken ornaments scattered across the floor. The dining room looked as though a hurricane had passed through it.

“You really didn’t have to come here. Not now, anyway. Dad’s still in one of his moods.”

Thaddeus locked eyes with his brother, taking in the slowly darkening bruise along his cheek. “I never would have guessed.”

He was in his study on the first floor, his face buried in a stack of papers.

“Dad,” Sid called from the door, “Thad is here.”

The old man snorted. “I’m surprised with you, Thad. I half expected you to get the first plane out and to run back west with your tail between your legs.”

“Oh, luckily for you all of the flights got cancelled due to the bad weather.”

As if to emphasize this, a crack of thunder boomed across the sky. A yellow flash lit up the window over his father’s head.

“Funny thing about that. The weatherman said nothing about it all week, but this afternoon this huge storm just rolled in.” Sid gave a soft chuckle.

“Is that why you’re here, Thad? To discuss the weather?”

“Oh, hardly.”

“Did you think you could apologize for that little outburst and I’d forgive you?” He gestured towards Sid. “Go ask him how well that worked out. That little wretch can beg her mother to help pay for her useless degree. Your little hellions can grovel at my feet for all I care. And if you think your own funds are safe, you’ve got more nerve than you have any right to.”

“I’m surprised you ever gave us a cent, father. We all know how you love that money of yours.”

He snorted. “I earned every damn penny of it. If it weren’t for me, the Sivanas would have lost their birthright and become nothing. Why I ever wasted it on either of you, I’ll never understand.”

“And I bet you wish you had every wasted dollar back.” The door behind him slammed shut as if by some unseen wind. Though his father was still lost among his world of numbers, Sid’s face paled. “But again, that’s not what I’m here to discuss.”

“H-how…?” Sid leaned a hand against a nearby bookshelf.

Finally, his father turned back to look at him. “Then what the hell brought you here? I don’t have all night for your idiotic ramblings.”

“Oh, yes, Father, you most certainly do.” Another crash of lightning made the room go dark. When the lights came back on a few seconds later, Thaddeus’ bandages lay on a pile in the floor, his glasses held firmly in his left hand.

“That, your eye… What happened to it?” Sid put a hand against his own eye, as though he might protect it from… What, an infection?

“Oh, it was wonderful.” Thaddeus grinned. “After years of searching, I finally found that damn wizard.”

“Is that what this is all about?” His father was yelling again. Oh, how he loved the sound of his own voice! “Your crazy notions?”

“Yes, that’s all they ever were to you. The wild ramblings of a scared little boy that stole your legs.” He pulled the Magic Eight ball from his pocket with his free hand and shook it, watching as blue electrical sparks shimmered across its surface. He dropped it to the ground, rolling it towards the front wheels of his father’s chair. “But that’s not quite true, is it? Unless you got some high-end prosthetics since the last time I saw you, those look like legs to me.” He grinned, holding up a glowing blue hand. “Not that it really matters what they are, because I know you don’t need them.”

His father froze, his eyes locked on Thaddeus’ hand.

“How… How in the hell are you doing that, Thad?” Sid asked.

“Magic – how else?”

With a quick flick of his wrist, some books floated off his father’s shelf and crashed abruptly to the floor. An old record machine came unhooked and hit the wall opposite where it had been sitting. The storm outside continued, the banging of thunder sounding like angry little deities throwing plates at one another.

“I assure you I saw the wizard that night, father. I’ve only been trying to tell you that ever since it happened.”

“Why was I supposed to believe you?” His father wasn’t yelling now. “Thad, surely you understand! This is all just so…”

“Unbelievable?” Thaddeus chuckled. “All things considered, I think I took the sudden change in my world’s outlook rather well.”

“So you aren’t crazy! We were wrong!” That was Sid now, stepping between Thaddeus and their father. “We should have listened to you.”

“There are a lot of things you shouldn’t have done, weren’t there?” Thaddeus stepped forward, grabbing Sid’s tie. The fabric sizzled, breaking loose. Sid stepped back, staring at one of its smoking ends. “Oh, we all have our problems with father. It’s fun to commiserate on our shared misery over him. But like you said, Sid, he wasn’t the only one calling me crazy.”

“Thad, I know what I did was wrong. But I was just a kid. That’s what you do to your little brother, right?”

“Oh, yes. And I presume you were acting like only the most upstanding adult during our last Christmas together.”

He grabbed Sid by the neck this time, watching his eyes bulge out and his tongue flop like a ragdoll inside of his half-opened mouth. “I spent the first third of my life terrified of you, Sidney. The reason I never paid attention during mass was because I knew the devil was on earth, living in the same house as me.”

His mouth moved but no sound came out. Thaddeus could feel his body shaking, his arms and legs futilely scratching against the floor and air. By the time Thaddeus let go of him, his neck was black as a piece of coal. A stream of blood spilled down across his lips, dripping off his chin. His eyes moved wildly across the room before suddenly going still. The tips of his fingers were only a few inches from the Magic Eight ball he’d once torn from Thaddeus’ hands.

Thaddeus leaned down, looking into those glassy eyes that were once his brother’s. “Are you sorry now, Sid? I thought you were tougher than that.”

When he stood, he felt the hardy presence of the sins behind him. How many of these same incidents had they witnessed alongside him but been unable to intervene in?

“Yes, father, I found the wizard. But I found some other old friends of mine as well.”

His father turned from the smoking remains of his eldest son on the floor and back to the face of his youngest. “Thad…”

“Father, all your life you’ve been chasing power. When you couldn’t lord it over your wife, you took what little I had from me. If the lawsuit records are correct as well, you even got a few politicians under your thumb. Oh, you must have felt so big! Bodog Sivana, chief executive officer of Sivana Industries, the big man in the room!” He gestured towards the sins. “But that’s where you were wrong, Father. You can have all of the money in the world and you still wouldn’t have an ounce of real power.”

“Thad-”

“Thaddeus!” he roared. “My name is Doctor Thaddeus Sivana and you’d do damn well to remember it for once.”

“Thaddeus, be reasonable. If there’s some way that I can make it up to you… Is it the company? Take it! The house? A wonderful home for the boy, all yours.”

“If you ever speak of William again, I will rip your tongue out of your throat and make you eat it.”

His father stilled.

“I told you already, I don’t need your damn money. This house is nothing more than a fancy pile of painted sticks. What I need, I already have.” He stepped around his father, coming up behind his chair and wrapping his arms around his chest. “The sins are hungry. Why don’t we let them eat?”

As the sins ripped Sid apart into a bunch of little pieces as though he were made of nothing but paper, Thaddeus eyed the clock. He’d told William and Annabelle that he’d be out for a few hours. Somehow, only an hour and fifteen minutes had passed since he’d first left the hotel. It seemed like ages. He’d spent all his life waiting for this moment, so why let it end so quickly?

“What are they, Thaddeus?”

“The angels sent down to earth to give you your final retribution, father.”

“Please don’t do this to me. There must be some way…”

In all his life, he’d never seen his father cry. Not when Thaddeus was stupid enough to bring up his mother, not when the doctor told him what he already knew: that he’d never walk again. Now, it was as if all the tears he’d forced back were finally strong enough to break free from him.

When there was nothing left of Sid but bits of blood, bone, and a scorched black mark in the floor, Thaddeus called the sins back to him. All five returned save for Greed, who stood by the door, its four arms outstretched.

“Father, meet my little friend Greed. I’d think you two know each other quite well already, but it would rude of me to not introduce you two.”

“Thaddeus, please stop this!”

“Why? What have you ever done to deserve my mercy?” He turned and gestured for the creature to come forward. “I need only a few more moments with him and then he’s all yours.”

Its bulging yellow eyes never left him as Thaddeus placed his hands across first his father’s left leg and then his right. They twitched when they hit the floor before finally going still.

“And here I thought you didn’t have any nerves left down there!” Thaddeus grinned, looking up into his father’s eyes from where he sat perched on his knees.

His father’s eyes screamed since his mouth could not. Sweat poured down his face.

“No parting curse for me? Father, you’ve really lost your edge.” He gave Greed one last glance before heading out the door. He held his glowing hands against it until a flame broke through the wood. Another crack of lightning again turned the house dark. Thaddeus used the growing fire and the sparks from his hands to help guide him back outside into the cold night.

Chapter Text

“Oh my god! I can’t believe this!” Billy didn’t get a good chance to look at her face before she shifted, but he thought saw tears dotting the tips of Annie’s eyes.

“We’re going to have to start calling you Annie Oakley!”

With shaking hands, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone before handing it to him. “I want to remember this forever!”

Quickly, she pushed her hair off her shoulders and her put a hand across the dull metal gun chained to the game booth’s front. Billy stepped back, making sure that the picture showed what little was left of a piece of paper that now resembled a slice of Swiss cheese. It was hard to imagine that it had once had a bright red star in its center.

“Smile!” Billy took some pictures in quick succession from multiple angles.

“Let me see!” Annie said once he pulled her phone away from his face. Quickly, she scrolled through them. Billy leaned over her shoulder to get a look as well. “Nice! Just wait until I text Mom this.”

Due to sudden storms in the Philadelphia area, as well as plane tickets constantly selling out, Annie’s mother had decided it was best that she just leave on the twenty-third as originally planned. Though Aunt Adelaide had offered to pay for an extra hotel room, his father had agreed to cover the cost. By sheer luck, it was on the same floor as the one he and his father were staying in.

“Price is by no means an issue. It’s the season of giving, after all,” he’d said over the phone the night before.

“Excuse me, but there’s a line.” the carnie running the booth spoke. Billy turned, locking eyes with the tired-eyed twenty-something. He gestured towards the row of pillow-sized stuffed animals hanging above his head. “What’d you like, miss?”

Annie’s eyes widened. She turned towards Billy and laughed. “I never thought this far ahead. Any ideas?”

Billy looked over the toys, taking in the unicorns, teddy bears, and dogs. It was only then that he noticed a large plush tiger tucked into a corner.

“Billy, you look like a good kid… But there’s no place for me in your life, and there never has been.”

If he hadn’t decided to abstain on corn dogs and cotton candy until after riding some rollercoasters, he might have dumped some toxic waste. Shouldn’t he have known something like this would happen? His father’s one visible eye had about fallen out of its socket when he’d suggested heading to Chilladelphia for the day.

After all, there was always a chance that she could show up among the crowds.

Billy shook his head, forcing the thoughts away. What did it matter if he saw her? She probably wouldn’t even recognize him. And even if she did, what would she do? All she’d have to do is recede back into the crowds to become a stranger again.

“You’re right, I’m not feeling that cat either.” Annie tapped her chin, then grinned and pointed towards a sparkly blue unicorn with a purple horn and hooves. “That one, please!”

Just as the two had walked about twenty feet away from the booth, they ran back into Billy’s dad. His eye widened when he saw the plush that was larger than a small child.

“How much did that cost you?”

Annie was grinning from ear to ear. “Only five dollars on my first try!”

He gave her a small smile in return. “Should I believe that?”

Annie gave him a playful scowl. “Tell him, Billy!”

Billy quickly filled him in on the tale. “Hey, Dad, have you eaten yet?”

His father looked away from him to a nearby booth. “Oh, yes. What about you two?”

Billy turned to Annie. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

As three left the midway, swimming against a sea of people desperate to get on a ride or try their hand at a (very likely to be rigged) game, Billy continued to discuss the day’s event thus far.

“You actually rode that thing?” His father pointed to the Supernova in the distance, which stood almost thirty feet in the air and spun riders over three-hundred-sixty degrees in circles.

Annie nodded. “But I can’t say that I’m glad we did.”

Twenty minutes later, the three (four?) of them sat down at a picnic table. Billy bit into a turkey leg, savoring the warm meat as it heated up his cheeks. Annie was eating a cheeseburger on a stick and strawberry ice cream because, quote, “It’s best in the wintertime because you don’t have to worry about it melting.”

“So where have you been, Dad?” They’d taken an Uber to the carnival that morning, leaving his father at the hotel.

“In a lot of office calls, mostly. My coworkers must not have thought I was serious when I said to not email me for three weeks.” He shrugged. “I suppose I can’t complain. Anything’s better than getting dragged onto one of those rusted metal death traps with you two!”

Billy snorted. “Just for that, we’re dragging you on one before we leave!”

Once she had finished eating, Annie pulled her unicorn to her side. “Hey, did you seen anything you want? I think I can snag you a teddy bear or two.”

“Hardly! Dad only let me pack carry-on luggage.”

“I was just offering.”

“So, what should we do tomorrow?” It was the day before Annie left and one of the busiest days in the American calendar.

“That means I’m one step closer to going back to school,” she’d remarked dryly the night before when Billy had broached her leaving. “Whoopie!”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“You two don’t have to go anywhere, you know. The crowds this time of year are awful.”

“Bah humbug to you too, Uncle Thaddeus!” Annie rubbed her chin. “I’ve still got nothing.”

“If we don’t finish all of the rides before we leave tonight, maybe we can come back here.”

-

“I can see Dad’s office from here!” Annabelle pointed to a building in the distance. Thaddeus turned his head away from it, locking his eyes on the rows of technicolor rides and ant-sized tourists wondering the fair. The whole place was lit up like a giant neon Christmas tree.

“I see Independence Hall!” William responded. The two leaned out of the gondola, taking in the sights.

“Sit back! The last thing I need is for one of you to fall out. They’d be cleaning up the concrete for months.” Thaddeus reached out and pulled William back by his shoulder.

“What a sick way to go, though,” William remarked.

“Sounds awful to me,” Annabelle replied, clutching her plush unicorn tighter. “Can you imagine?”

William shrugged. “There are worse ways to go. It’d have to be pretty quick, right?”

“Oh, you never know,” Thaddeus replied. He turned, taking in the Sivana Enterprises building in the distance. From this far out, he could only make out the first three glowing letters on its side.

-

When Annie exited the elevator, she adjusted her hold on her plush so that it was slightly covering the right side of her face. It was because of this that she bumped into the blue-clad police officer further down the hallway.

She froze, the two momentarily gazing confusedly at one another. Then the cop’s partner, a short-haired black woman, cleared her throat. Her gaze moved from Annie to her uncle. It was only then that Annie noticed the door that the two had been standing in front of.

“Are you Mr. Thaddeus Sivana?”

“It’s doctor Sivana.”

“Then you are related to Bodog and Sidney Sivana?” The younger cop, the one Annie had bumped into, spoke this time. She was a red-headed white woman who looked fresh out of the academy, probably only two years older than Annie herself was at most.

Annie’s throat suddenly went dry. Her voice shook when she spoke. “What happened to Dad?”

Not ”Did something happen to my dad?” Why would the cops be here if something wasn’t already the matter?

Neither of the policewomen even looked at her.

“Doctor Sivana,” the older officer said, “something happened recently at your family’s estate. I know it’s late, but we need you to answer some questions for us.”

“What happened?” Annie repeated. The toy slipped from between her fingers, but she hardly noticed its absence.

“I’m afraid that’s classified information.”

Chapter Text

"What can you tell me about your brother?"

For nearly twenty minutes, Thaddeus and Detective Lauren Sullivan had exchanged tense pleasantries in his hotel room. She watched him with a hawk like gaze while Thaddeus had brewed coffee and picked up and folded the clothes that William left littered around his bed.

"My apologies for the mess."

She snorted. "If you think this is bad, you'd drop dead if you saw my daughter's room."

He'd picked through the assortment of complimentary pods offered by the hotel - espresso, salted caramel, hazelnut - before settling on the one simply labelled "Doughnut Shop Delights" in honor of her profession. As the machine whirred and the room filled with the smell of coffee beans, Thaddeus' mouth watered for the first time in a week. It had been over two days since he'd bothered even to nibble on anything. The hotel waffles that William had spent the last few days gorging himself on had looked as appetizing as freshly poured cement. He'd barely looked at the plate of food that Sid had handed to him at lunch yesterday. Even the brightly colored food stands at the carnival hadn't caught his eye, even as he'd paid for William and Annabelle's dinners.

Now, he wanted to take the styrofoam cup of coffee he was handing the detective and drink it one gulp.

Yes, wanted. For the past few days, his mind had been locked on business. On putting his father and brother in their places, on ripping apart their fragile worldviews and watching them shake like tall grass beneath a harsh wind.

And what a joy it had been! For once he could lay awake at night and not worry about unexpected phone calls or Christmas cards. The memories that had clung to him for years like spiderwebs could finally be brushed off. He could draw back the curtains of his life and stare into a clear, sunny future.

"Thank you," she said. He licked his lips as he watched her bring it to her mouth and take a long gulp.

When Detective Ken Wakefield finally arrived, Thaddeus' own cup was halfway finished brewing.

"Sorry, Sully, I didn't mean to run so damn late. It's nothing but traffic between here and the scene. I swear, this time of year it's like people think all the laws go out the window."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did you write any tickets?"

He gave a throaty laugh. "I ain't adding to my job duties until the commish finally agrees to that raise I've been asking for."

The other detective was a good ten to fifteen years Sullivan's senior, with greying brown hair and green eyes dwarfed beneath a pile of dark bags. He looked Thaddeus over, his expression unreadable. He started another round of pleasantries.

"And you're Mr. Sivana, right?"

"Doctor Sivana," Detective Sullivan corrected him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you practice?"

Thaddeus chuckled. "I'm not that kind of doctor."

"Then what are you?" he asked, not unkindly.

"Oh, I have a few PhD's in psychology, archaeology, physics..." He paused. "And magic."

Detective Sullivan chuckled. "Oh, don't we all?"

"But that's hardly what you came to discuss, is it?"

"Of course not, sir." He gestured absently around the room. "We aren't here to waste your time." He turned, locking eyes with Detective Sullivan. Their faces shifted but neither spoke for a few moments.

Detective Sullivan cleared her throat, standing from the plush seat by the balcony windows that she'd been sitting in for nearly thirty minutes. "We're just here to ask you about an incident." She pulled a small black box from her front pocket. "You don't mind if we record this, do you?"

"Have at it." He furrowed his brow. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

The real question should have been what hadn't. With his newfound calm had come a renewed anger. Had what he'd done been enough to repay his family for years of misery? Had his father and brother felt even a fraction of the pain that clung to him? There were just so many ways that things could have gone deliciously different. Could he really have expected what transpired the night before to be enough?

Not that it mattered, Thaddeus reminded himself. Bodog and Sidney Sivana were now nothing more than fading memories on this world.

"Well," Detective Wakefield said, "we can't go into the full details yet. I find it silly myself after what happened, but that's protocol for you."

"Let's cut to the chase," Detective Sullivan added. She folded her hands together. "What can you tell me about your brother?"

After a few moments of simply staring at her, she repeated her question.

"My brother isn't always easy to get along with." He took a sip of his coffee. It took a moment for his tongue to register the taste of caramel. "I was thinking of skipping Christmas with him and my father this year just to avoid the headache." He looked away from them. "Did something happen to them? Was he drinking?"

That caught their attention.

"Does your brother have issues with alcohol?" Detective Wakefield asked.

"Oh, I thought you all would have known already. I thought your type kept meticulous records." He shook his head. "I just can't imagine the incident twelve years back getting purged from his record."

"If you're referring to his last DUI, that was actually thirteen years ago." Detective Sullivan shook her head. "Did you read about it, Ken?"

"I called in Smith over the radio and had her read me the details." He locked eyes with Thaddeus. "Were you around when it happened?"

"Not at all! You see, my son and I live in California. If it weren't for the news eating it up, my father or brother might never have mentioned it to me." And what a delight it had been! He'd had all of the talking heads recorded just so he could watch them slam Sid again and again. For a while it had seemed as if karma or magic or whatever forces pulled the universe's strings had finally caught up to him. What had Sidney been thinking? Nothing, probably. Even when sober the man had a brain the size of a chestnut.

For months he'd followed the lawsuit, checking the news religiously. His brother had been shipped off to rehab and his father hired men to keep reporters away. Thaddeus himself had spent his evenings dreaming of lawsuits and criminal convictions.

Oh, but how cruel the universe was! His father had money and knew damn well how to use it. All of the serious charges had been dropped, the lawsuit forgotten once the victims' families had been handed a fat enough check. His father's lawyers had even convinced them to sign a contract agreeing not to discuss it or pursue legal action again further down the line.

The news media forgot the victims even quicker than it did the perpetrator. Sid sobered up and continued life as usual. Life moved on. Sivana Industries stocks initially plummeted, but had risen back to normal less than two years after all was said and done. His father had left retirement to take the CEO reins back from Sid. Some four years after and his brother was again a member of the board of directors. Even the tabloids stopped following him.

"So you were never part of the case?" Detective Sullivan asked.

"Oh, I got a call from my father requesting that I be a character witness. What a sad business that was... I assume you already know what I told him." He steeled his shoulders. "So was he drinking again?"

Thaddeus had to keep himself from laughing. Having the sins around had made everything so much easier. With them, people had a way of... It was hard to describe just what happened or how the sins did it, but people were so much more pliable for him now. Airline attendants ignored him, people looked away from the bandages around his eye, even the hotel staff had quickly changed the booking someone had on Annabelle's room and given it to him completely free.

And right then he didn't even need the sins! It was as if his decades of waiting had finally paid off. Things were looking up.

"No one has any idea. Frankly, we don't have enough details to tell you if alcohol is involved." Detective Wakefield absently rubbed at his arm.

They were silent for almost thirty seconds. Thaddeus finished his coffee, crumpled up the cup, and tossed it into a nearby trash can.

"Tell us about your father." Detective Wakefield broke the silence.

"He is...." Thaddeus sighed. "He's quite a man. I can only imagine how he reacted to Sidney's little incident. My father has his own history with car accidents."

"In general," Detective Sullivan clarified. "What was he like?"

"Oh, my father is hard to get along with. I blame it on his parents - Hungarian immigrants. My grandparents were never the touchy-feely type." He shrugged. "But while my father struggles to give affection, I greatly respect him. He fought for his fortune and respect in the world, even before his accident. We've had our own disagreements, but I'll always admire him." He bit his lip. "Has something happened to him?"

Again there was silence. Not even the vomit-inducing spiel that Thaddeus had just given them could pull their lips apart. What they clearly needed was a little push.

But before the sins could do anything, Detective Wakefield spoke again. "And how do your brother and father get along?"

"Oh, my brother respects my father as well as I do. Anyone who meets him would. But things have been hard lately. Dad is old and stubborn, and refuses to hire help in his old age. Sid does his best to look after him, but it's an uphill battle." He shook his head. "I don't want you to get any ideas. My father isn't the type that you can just throw into some home in Florida. But Sid would love if someone else were around to help him get into the shower and put his pants on."

Again there was silence. Thaddeus looked to the electronic clock on his dresser. Were they going to be here all night?

"The evidence is by no means conclusive, but we believe your brother may have killed your father and set his house on fire to try and hide it." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Detective Sullivan blinked.

"Have you recieved any contact at all from your brother within the last day? We've already got a team looking for him."

The detectives stared at each other. Wakefield had paled, while Sullivan was chewing on her lips.

Oh, what a help those sins were!

Thaddeus fell onto William's bed, the closest one there was to him. "Can you repeat that for me, officers?"

"We... We've already said too much."

"We don't fully know what happened yet. There's really no need to be worried."

"Worried? You just told me my father is dead!"

While both detectives bumbled over their words, Sullivan was able to pull some tissues from her pocket. Thaddeus wiped the tears that had quickly fallen from his eye.

"I can't believe it!"

"We'll call you when we know more." They quickly left the room. Thaddeus watched them and the third, young red-headed officer scurry down the hallway in silence.

Oh, he really could have laughed!

Instead, he went back into his room and began smoothing out the wrinkles in William's bed. Yes, it was turning into a merry little Christmas!

-

"It's been almost two hours." Billy hadn't been able to bring himself to open the door and peek down the hallway for almost sixty minutes. Whenever he did, the young officer standing outside the door would give him a death glare. "What's taking them?"

"I told you, Billy, I don't know. Don't they always take a million years in cop shows?"

"This is serious!" Billy collapsed against the door. "What if my dad goes to jail?"

Was this why he never discussed his work?

"We've already been over this." Annie stood from her bed, walking over and giving him a hug. "Unless your dad is secretly a drug kingpin, they have no reason to arrest him. It's not like his tacky fashion sense is actually a crime."

Billy didn't respond. What could he say to make her really listen to him? If his dad went to jail, his life was down the tubes. It would be back to foster care for him. But at least that would be more pleasant that being sent to live with his grandfather and uncle. If it came to that, he'd run away and squat in abandoned houses until he turned eighteen.

All of those "what-ifs" had been playing on repeat inside of his head ever since he'd come into Annie's room. He'd tried playing a game on his phone or watching the Peanuts Christmas special on TV, but nothing could stop his brain from running down the path it was on. What was going on? Was his dad okay?

The sudden knock on the door made him utter a very un-manly squeaking noise. He pulled away from Annie and hurriedly opened the door.

"Dad!" Billy wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him with every ounce of strength in his body.

"Uncle Thaddeus!" Annie quickly joined in.

Though his father returned the squeeze, he was the one who broke away from them. He ushered them further into the room, then pulled the door shut behind him.

Billy's throat tightened. His father's one visible eye was red and puffy.

"Dad, are you going to jail?"

He shook his head. "Of course not, William. I don't know where you'd get the idea." He sighed. Raising a hand, he massaged his forehead. "I don't know where to begin to explain this to you kids. I certainly don't want to..."

Chapter Text

"You take care of yourself now, Billy, okay?" Annabelle pulled William into a hug. When they pulled apart, she turned towards Thaddeus. "Thank you so much, Uncle Thaddeus. I don't know what I would have done these last few days without you."

He pulled her up against him. "There's no thanks needed. I just wish I could have given you two a better holiday."

She sniffled. "Yeah, well that's not your fault, is it?" When she stepped away from him, she looked him in the eyes. "You take care of yourself too."

He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Of course. Be sure to get straight A's, all right?"

She gave a weak laugh. "Now don't start sounding like my mom."

He and William watched her pass through security and into the waiting area. Her flight back to Nashville would begin boarding in twenty minutes. It wouldn't be too much longer before they themselves headed home, though he'd decided to stay a few extra days in case the police needed him. In a few short days, he'd say goodbye to Philadelphia forever.

"You hungry for lunch?" Thaddeus asked.

William shook his head. "I'm not hungry at all."

"Is this about...?"

"No." He wouldn't meet Thaddeus' gaze. "Just sad to see Annie go, I guess."

-

For Christmas, they got Chinese food and saw a movie. No wonder Freddy had thought they were Jewish!

Billy finished off the last of the popcorn, then threw the bag into the trash. He'd shoved it towards his dad a few times during the flick, but he'd always pushed it away. Halfway through, he'd closed his eye. Billy had considered waking him but had stopped himself. He'd been so quiet over the past few days, there in body but not in spirit.

"Did you like it?" He knew the answer already but asked anyway.

His father grunted. "Anywhere else you want to go?"

"No thank you, I'm kind of beat."

After Annie had left, he'd considered telling his dad about Freddy's offer but stopped himself. His father had enough family drama of his own already to deal with.

Just the thought of what his father had told him made bile rise in Billy's throat. Annie hadn't seemed able to comprehend it.

Could he? He supposed he didn't really. It was better to just push it to the back of his mind, to pretend that his father had been describing a movie's plot. That incident had occurred, he told himself, in someone else's life.

Freddy's face flashed through his mind. What was he up to? Had Darla recieved her Wonder Woman action figure yet? According to Freddy, she adored her new Batgirl. He'd filled Billy in on the presents he'd gotten other family members, too. He and Pedro had both chipped in to buy Mary a CalTech hoodie. Eugene had gotten a new case for his Nintendo Switch. Pedro had gotten some, quote, weird diet shake mixes that probably taste like dog crap. Rosa got scented candles. Victor got a new coffee mug.

No, Billy couldn't be sure just what they were up to that day. But something told him their Christmas was going miles better than his was.

-

The wizard lives.

End him before he can find a new champion.

Waiting only dooms yourself.

Thaddeus pushed the sins away. They'd get their revenge on the wizard in due time. It wasn't as if the old man had any strength left to regain. He was probably still stooped over somewhere in his cave, frantically searching for some perfect soul. Whether he died by Thaddeus' hand or not, his final wish would remain unfulfilled.

He couldn't leave, not now. William was still tossing and turning in the bed across from him. For a few hours, he'd gone still. Then, he began to moan out words that Thaddeus couldn't make out. The same thing had happened on the two nights prior.

A lump formed in his throat. He'd told the boy the police's words only because he didn't want him to find out about it on the news.

Every time he tried to bring it up again, William would look away. The boy always had some new subject on the tip of his tongue.

He sighed. Even if William didn't get much sleep that night, he'd have a long plane ride ahead of him the next day. Their bags sat packed against the wall.

Then, once they were back home, he could deal with the wizard. Finish this nonsense once and for all. And then...

And then what? The sins gnawed at his mind, cried out for more more more more-

But what they wanted he couldn't do. Soon enough he'd have all he needed - a life free of his family, a world cleansed of the wizard's prescense, magic at his disposal. He didn't need the unimaginable power that the sins whispered to him of, to have his boot held down on the neck of the world.

The sooner they realized that, the better things would be for all of them.

-

"Wake me when they land." His father was out cold almost as soon as the in-flight safety training ended and the plane was off the ground.

Billy pulled a book from his backpack, flipping through it but not quite reading it. Outside there was nothing but blue skies and thick clouds for miles.

He had called Freddy that morning and said they were leaving. He hadn't elaborated. Instead of asking questions, Freddy had gone on about the latest episode of his podcast that he was working on.

"That figure you got Darla gave me the idea. I hadn't looked into it too deeply beforehand, but Batgirl hasn't been seen in almost two years. It's like she fell off the face of the earth. What do you think happened to her?"

"How should I know?"

He thought back to what Freddy had said but could only half remember the theories he'd listed. She'd been arrested and was being held hostage somewhere by the feds. She'd gone rogue, abandoning Batman, maybe even gone evil. Maybe a villain had killed her. Which?

Freddy had asked him if he'd like to be a guest star on the show. This time, he hadn't asked again when Billy said no.

His phone in airplane mode, he flicked through the photos that Annie had texted him of her Christmas back home. Pictures of sweet potato and pumpkin pies made his mouth water, but they were only the tip of the iceberg. She'd set up a hot chocolate bar complete with sprinkles, whipped cream, and every type of candy under the sun. Roasted chicken and turkey were the crowning jewels of a table packed with enough food to feed an army. And the presents! Annie had sent about a million photos of her mother proudly holding up the blanket that she had knit for her.

Have you told her yet? Billy had asked the night before.

She texted back in less than two minutes. I can't, not when all of her family is here. Besides, why should I ruin her Christmas?

"I don't know where to begin to explain this to you kids. I certainly don't want to..."

He thought again of Batgirl, Annie, Freddy, anything that crossed his mind. They passed through his mind quickly, but his father's words echoed through his brain endlessly.

Billy stood, walking past the seats full of tired families and dreary eyed business types. There was a small line outside of the bathroom, so he waited about seven minutes before he got inside. Once he did, he slammed it shut and turned the lock as hard as he could.

The face staring back at him in the mirror was unmistakably his own, but that didn't make it any easier to look at. He turned the faucet on and splashed lukewarm water on his face. After what could have been thirty minutes or thirty hours, he shut the tap off, wiped his hands on the sides of his jeans, and reached for the lock.

For a moment, he was dumbfounded. Try as he might, he couldn't pull the lock to open the door. When his fingers hurt too much from vainly clutching at it, he balled his hands into fists and began pounding on the door.

"Hey! Can somebody get help?"

No reply came.

He turned, meeting his gaze's reflection momentarily before the mirror iced over. Billy froze, watching as ice spread across the walls. There must have been rough winds outside because suddenly the room was shaking.

"Hey! Can anybody hear me?"

He squished his eyes shut, tried to force away whatever was happening. When he opened his eyes again, the room was icier than ever.

"Someone, please!" If nothing else in the room was, at least Billy knew his voice was real. His breath fogged as he spoke.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he frantically turned it on only to be greeted by flashing yellow symbols. With shaking hands, he forced down the power button, but to no avail. His phone hit the floor, the screen cracking on the impact. Small bits of glass littered the floor. When he picked it up, the symbols were still there.

He began pulling at the lock again. "Please! Can anybody hear me?" He forced tears back from his eyes. "Dad! Dad, can you hear me? Anyone?"

The plane suddenly shook so hard that he was knocked on his butt. Billy gritted his teeth. Glass dug into his hands.

"Please, someone-"

With another long shake from below him, the door suddenly opened. Billy put his hands to his face.

"H-Hello?"

There was no reply. No matter how many times he blinked, all he saw before him was a long rocky hall. It was like something the dwarfs from The Lord of the Rings would live in.

Billy pulled the door shut, slamming the lock into place.

"Please... If you can hear me..."

When he opened the door again, he was in the same rocky cavern. No words left his mouth, just a long, sharp scream.

-

"Shit," Billy mumbled, rubbing at the side of his throbbing head. His shoulders ached as if someone had been sitting on them. He sat up, blinking to get his eyes adjusted to the light.

"No."

He was still in that creepy cave. He turned around, searching desperately for the door to the frozen bathroom, for his phone, for anything.

He sat there for a long time, taking in heavy, fast breaths, half sure that he was going to pass out again. With shaking hands, he wiped pebbles and dust from the front of his hoodie.

This was all a nightmare, some wild hallucination caused by stress or jank hotel food. He reminded himself of this as he stood up and slowly began to walk around the room, his hands held out ahead of him. His legs moved slowly and unevenly, as though his muscles had been replaced with jelly. Was this how Freddy felt?

"Hey, can anyone hear me? Hello?"

He came into a room filled with doors. No matter which he pulled onto, they remained locked as tightly as the bathroom door had been. Kicking them only made his leg throb with pain. The next room was filled with broken objects. Smashed jewelry boxes and treasure chests, busted mirrors and the sharded remains of a glass dome surrounded him. Billy did his best to step around them.

Soon, on shaking legs, he arrived into a long hallway. There was a bit more light here than there had been in the rest of the cave, though he saw only tall stone walls leading into darkness when he looked above him.

A newfound strength shot through him when he saw the vague image of a man before him. He hurried forward.

"Billy Batson." The man could have been tall once, probably had been. Now, though, his back was stooped, held down as if by some unseen weight. His hair was storm cloud grey, his eyes glowing an unnatural blue. His robe, red and long enough to cover his feet, had a neon yellow lightning bolt stitched into its center.

It was glowing as well. Billy wasn't sure why that stuck out to him, not in this place that made Oz and Wonderland look everyday, but it did. For a moment, he kept his eyes locked on the glowing shape.

"I... I think you have the wrong person." Billy tried to keep his voice from squeaking. "My name is William Sivana."

"Don't you dare speak that name!" The man hit the ground with the tip of the staff he was holding, sending sparks flying across the room. Billy had to blink a few times before his vision cleared.

"I'm sorry."

"Billy Batson," the man repeated, stepping towards him slowly. "I have called upon you in my time of great need."

"Who are you?"

"I am Shazam, the last of the magic counsel. Once there were seven other wizards and witches as strong as myself, who could share in my power. They are no more."

"Yes?" Okay, so he was in who knows where with a really high guy who hadn't changed clothes since the eighties. It figured.

"My brothers and sisters died defending the world from the terror of the Seven Deadly Sins." He tapped his cane again, and from it rose golden images of cities long forgotten. People ran from glowing yellow monsters. A woman came racing towards him, her lips pulled back into a silent scream. Billy tensed, but before she could ram into him, she vanished into dust.

"Yes?" Billy repeated. He didn't know who this guy was or what virtual reality game he'd stepped into, but suddenly Billy was craving microwaved airline meals.

"For years I held them back as their only prison warden. I searched the world for ages to find a champion, someone who could share in my power and protect the world when I no longer could. My power weakened. No champion came." He gestured towards a pile of rubble that lined the hallways. Billy hadn't taken much notice of it before. He'd been too focused on the wizard, the only other person here, wherever the hell here was.

"Once I held the sins back, protecting the world from their wrath. Now they have escaped into the world again. I can no longer wait for a champion. My power has called upon you, Billy Batson. Submit to me and I will give you my magic." He was standing in front of Billy now.

"Seven Deadly Sins... Yeah..." So was this guy Catholic? No, they hated magic. His mind flashed back to an article that his sixth grade English teacher had made the class read about religious groups burning Harry Potter books.

"You couldn't begin to imagine the damage that they could do to this world." He held his staff out. "Take my staff and say my name. Accept my power."

Billy's mouth dried.

"Grab my staff!"

He stepped back. "Uh, sorry dude, but stranger danger."

This time, the man thrust the staff at him. Billy's fingers brushed against the gnarled wood and-

And he sat in the center of a brightly lit throne room, a much fancier version of the one before him. The place was so filled with gold and sparkling gem stones that it was comical. In the seats around him sat two other men and four women. They looked nothing alike, did not even speak the same language, but they were connected by a force stronger than the magic that shot from their fingertips. One of the women, with mahogany skin and black hair that went down to her feet, looked at him with glowing lavender eyes.

"We cannot hold them back for much longer." It was not the words she spoke that he truly understood, but the feeling behind them.

"We've held them off long enough. So long as we continue to combine our forces, they cannot defeat us." The man who spoke's hair wasn't blonde, but an almost jaundiced shade of yellow. He was impossibly thin, with skin so clear that it looked grey because of the rocks behind him.

"They feed off of our fighting," came another woman. Her short-cropped hair was violet in color, her cat-like eyes glowing green. Within her wrinkled brown hands was a staff much like the wizard's.

"But even you," Billy boomed, except it wasn't his voice but the wizard's, "must see that even we are not enough. If they escape again..."

And then he wasn't in the throne room any longer, but standing in front of a pyramid. Atop, glowing in the sun, was a four-armed monster with green wings. The wizard-who-was-Billy-but-wasn't sent a crackling stream of lightning at it from the tip of his staff. It fell, crying out, but its shriek was lost in a sea of screams as people rushed past.

Then he stood before a row of graves carrying a pain in his heart greater than any blow could inflict. Statues cried out to him, their taunts echoing in his ears as he clutched his staff tighter and his vision went red.

Then came the stream of people. Their clothes changed, and they were every race, nationality, ability, and origin under the sun. Men in togas, women in corsets, the old, the young, artists, merchants, cowboys, laborers, soldiers, nurses, chief executive officers. Always different but always unworthy.

Billy pulled away. He stared at the man, at his staff, at the cave around him that was so big that it threatened to swallow him forever.

"You saw."

Billy nodded. "I... I still don't understand. Mister, I'm not a champion."

"You can and you must be one." He thrust his staff at Billy again, who closed his eyes to force the images back. "There isn't much time left. Say my name!"

Billy gave a hard swallow before speaking. "Sh..."

"Say it!"

"Shazam!"

Billy's vision exploded. Lightning crackled, turning his world a blinding white before again going black. Shazam's staff clattered to the floor. The wizard's hands shook, turning to dust as the woman from his earlier vision had.

"Stop the sins! Reclaim the glory of our brothers and sisters!"

For the longest time afterwards, Billy stared at the spot where Shazam had stood. Other than his staff, there was no trace of him left.

Billy shuddered. His hands weren't his own, his body impossibly large. He stared down at the red fabric covering and the tip of a white cape, his brain only half comprehending what he saw.

"What happened?" He was yelling again. Perhaps if he spoke loud enough then someone, anyone would finally answer him. The voice was foreign; when he spoke heard only a stranger. "Please, Shazam!"

Another explosion. There was enough force behind it to knock Billy off of his feet. When he opened his eyes again, he was on his knees. His palms were bleeding, and tears stung at the edges of his eyes.

He... He'd turned into an adult, some sort of superhero.

A superhero! Freddy knew everything about superheroes. The dude probably even knew who Batman really was but wouldn't admit it unless he was being waterboarded. Freddy would certainly know what to do. He already had a whole list of things that he would do if he ever got superpowers, and had even showed it a few times to Billy as he updated it.

Billy closed his eyes. "Freddy! Freddy Freeman!"

-

Thaddeus pulled off his eye mask and blinked momentarily at the light.

Either William was in the bathroom doing anything and everything except what it was made for or he was somewhere else. Thaddeus couldn't quite imagine where. Had he tried sneaking into first class? Met someone else his age on the plane and gotten into some longwinded discussion about video games?

Whatever it was, he couldn't sit around waiting any longer. He stared at the empty seat beside him. Then, holding the chair in front of him, he pushed himself up and hurried down the aisle, his heartbeat echoing in his ears.

Chapter Text

Freddy pulled out the plastic batarang he kept under his pillow, searching the darkness for the source of the thunk that had awoken him. He'd been dreaming when he'd heard it, though the details of this night's mirage had slipped from his mind as soon as he opened his eyes. The noise was as loud as a thunder clap. Though the batarang was only a replica, he'd sharpened the edges enough to draw blood - a fact written into a set of scars that had never fully faded from his fingertips.

"Who's there?" Freddy called. He blinked, but no matter how hard he tried, the dark lump in the center of his bedroom remained hard to discern.

"Freddy!"

The lump rushed for him so quickly that Freddy couldn't even try to push himself further down his bed. It grabbed him so tightly that the batarang slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.

"Billy?" Freddy hissed, reaching an arm out and pushing against his shoulder.

"Freddy, you don't know how happy I am to see you!" Billy squeezed him again. "I was just thinking about you. Look, I have to preface this by saying that I'm going to sound super high. I can't blame you if you don't believe me, but I really need you to!"

"Billy, what are you doing here?" He blinked again, his eyes finally adjusting to the low light. Billy looked... It was hard to precisely read the expression on his face, but something about it made his stomach tighten. With as much strength as he could muster, he pushed him away. Turning, he saw his windows and door were as tightly closed as ever. "How did you get here?"

"Look, I should just start at the beginning. So I was flying home with my dad when I went into the airplane's bathroom. When I tried to open the door to leave, it wouldn't budge. Then the mirror began to frost over and the room started to shake-"

He paused, stepping forward again and taking Freddy by the shoulders. "Look, it's really hard to explain here. You'd probably better understand it if you saw it for yourself."

-

Mary was going to murder Freddy and hang his head on the wall. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she turned to his door and raised her fist. Winter break or not, she'd told him ten times already to stop blaring his video games in the middle of the night. Some people still had to wake up in the morning and accomplish something.

She banged her fist against the door. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it stops right now."

No reply came. He must have paused the game.

She ground her teeth together. This was the third time in almost a week that he'd woken her up. She pounded on the door again. "I know you can hear me! Open up!"

There was a heavy creak as Eugene opened his door and peeked out. "Mary, what the hell are you doing?"

"Didn't you just hear something? Freddy's doing who knows what in there!" She pointed at the door, making a note to give Eugene a good chiding in the morning about his language.

"I only heard you." He rubbed at his eye. "Are you going back to bed?"

She forced back a groan. Considering her scholarship interview was at eight a.m. sharp at the city council's office that morning, she certainly should.

"Hey, Freddy," she directed to the wood. "At least have the decency to turn off the sound, okay?" Turning on her heel, she hurried down the hallway, her fists balled at her side.

"Good night!" Eugene called before his own door clicked shut.

-

Hey, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Darla had made him watch that movie a hundred times. Freddy had never imagined he'd actually have to live it.

"Wha-what's going on?" His heart was beating against his chest like a prisoner's fists against the bars of his cell. "Where are we?"

His voice echoed in the stone corridor surrounding him as he spoke. He tried to stand, but with nothing supporting him he could barely get his butt off the ground.

Billy leaned a hand out. "I told you it was going to sound unbelievable." His eyes widened, and he suddenly stepped away, hurrying towards a row of stone chairs further ahead. "Be right back!"

It wasn't as if he could go anywhere. Freddy shook his head, rubbing pebbles from his pajama pants. Okay, so maybe this wasn't The Wizard of Oz. Maybe this was a horror movie and Billy was going to come back and slice him open with a chainsaw or stab him with a glass unicorn statue. It figured.

But instead he ran back holding a gnarled wooden staff, its tips covered in gleaming stones. He dropped it at Freddy's feet.

"I'd just hand it to you, but weird things happen when two people touch it at once. It's kind of hard to explain."

Freddy held it tightly, using it to get onto his feet. He stared at his reflection in the gems' surface.

"What is this?"

"A wizard's staff." Billy threw his hands up over his head, gesturing around him. "So as I was saying, it was like a blizzard and earthquake were happening at the same time in the airplane's bathroom. When I finally managed to get the door open, I found myself here. I was totally flipping out. I must have passed out, because when I woke up the bathroom door was gone.

"I forced myself to go further into... Wherever the hell I was. I finally came here and saw this really old dude holding that staff. He looked really weird. I can't even begin to describe him. Dude started going on about being the last of the wizards, the sole survivor of some ancient battle against the Seven Deadly Sins. He said his name was Shazam-"

Billy might as well have set off a nuclear bomb. When Freddy pulled his hand away from his eyes, his ears still ringing from the earlier explosion, Billy was gone.

"And, uh, to get to the gist of it, he gave me superpowers." The man speaking to him was floating a good four feet off of the ground. He was dressed in a neon red one-piece with a glowing yellow lightning bolt at its center. A white cape with yellow embroidery trailed behind him. "And superpowers made me think of you! I knew if anyone could help me, it was you. So I ended up in your room by just thinking about it. That's actually how we got back here."

Freddy opened his mouth, gasping at air for a few moments, and then closed it.

"Shazam!" When Freddy opened his eyes again, Billy was back.

"You... You... You have to do that again!"

"Shazam!" This time, Freddy was just barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Super awesome, right?" Billy flexed his new muscles.

"How can you do that?"

"I told you, the wizard dude gave me superpowers. He had me clutch his staff and say, you know, that word. His name. And then he disappeared, leaving me like this. I was freaking out again. I called out for him and turned back into me. Then I thought about you, and well..." Billy shrugged.

Freddy leaned back his head and laughed. Oh man, this was better than meeting that guy who'd met Wonder Woman. Probably better than meeting Batman!

(Okay, he was still totally down for meeting Superman.)

"Billy, this is great!" He hurried forward, the staff tapping against the cold stone floor with every step that he took. He barely noticed the pebbles digging into his bare feet as he moved.

"Well," Billy replied, leaning his arm out and bumping against the hand that Freddy had clutched tightly against the staff.

"Mom! Mommy, where are you?" He was rushing through a sea of people, most of whom he was lucky enough to see up to their belly buttons.

"Are you okay?" A woman leaned down and grabbed him by the shoulder, but it wasn't her.

"I can't find my mom."

She gave him a smile that was like sunshine on a day in the middle of January, bright but unable to provide warmth. "I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Why don't I help you find her?"

But as soon as they found a policeman, she was gone. The policeman spoke to him slowly, even let him sit on the hood of his car and try on his hat.

The policeman reached out and adjusted his hat. "If we don't find her, we can always let you join the force!"

But then the policeman was gone too, replaced by a stream of foster parents and siblings. The only constant face in his life was his social worker.

"Have you found my mom yet?" he asked at a meeting.

She sighed. "Billy, you know the answer to that already."

Wait, Billy?

And then one day, a man joined them at their meeting. He wasn't sure why, but the first thing that stuck out to him was that he was bald. The man sat in a seat in front of Ms. Glover's desk, his hands held together in his lap. When he walked inside, the man smiled at him. He couldn't muster anything in reply.

"Hello, William," the man said, standing up and coming towards him. He got onto his knees, looking him directly in the eyes. "My name is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. You don't know how excited I've been to come and see you."

He turned back to Ms. Glover, who was beaming down at him like a kid who'd just been gifted a whole bag of candy. "Billy, Dr. Sivana wants to adopt you!"

And from that day on, Dr. Sivana became another familiar face. He flew in whenever he could, even took time off from work to come stay in Philadelphia with him. He was at once delighted and wary. Dr. Sivana bought him every toy he asked for with no questions asked. He drove him to zoos, carnivals, and restaurants. Out went his hand-me-down foster kid clothes for a new wardrobe.

And yet...

They were waiting to board a plane now. He was frantically searching the airport for her. If she didn't appear now, then he really might have to leave forever. The idea made his throat tighten.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Sivana asked. He squeezed his shoulder.

"Dr. Sivana, I-"

The man frowned. "William, I told you that you don't have to call me that any longer."

"Daddy," he corrected himself. Saying the word hurt.

"Are you scared?" Dr. Sivana pulled him into a hug. "This is your first time flying on an airplane, isn't it?"

He opened his mouth to reply.

"What?" Freddy cried, taking a step back.

Billy was wide-eyed too.

Freddy ran a hand through his hair. "Dude, was that your life?"

Billy shook his head. "Your parents looked like assholes. I'm sorry."

"What did you see?"

"Some meth heads from the look of it." He rubbed his shoulder. "Really, it's more like what I felt."

Freddy gave a weak laugh. "When I first got assigned a social worker, she asked me if my dad was the reason that I used crutches." He looked back to the staff. "So that was weird."

"Hey, I want to try something! Freddy, I'm going to grab the staff again."

"What?" He hurried away, practically tripping over his own two feet. "No way!"

He'd seen enough Lifetime movies for the day already, thank you very much.

"Look, I'm just doing a little experiment. When I grab it, you say 'Shazam'-"

Another explosion.

"Please! I just want to see what happens." Then his huge hands were around the staff, anchoring Freddy to the ground more than the piece of wood ever could.

He was sitting in a strange bed, surrounded by stuffed animals, his head against his knees. In the kitchen, he could hear the man sorting through cabinets and grabbing pans to make dinner with.

"Sha..."

"Say it!"

"Shazam!"

When Freddy opened his eyes, his hands weren't on the staff and his feet weren't touching to the ground.

Billy's laughter echoed through the cave. "It worked!"

Freddy stared at his hands, his arms wrapped within golden guantlets, and the blue spandex suit covering him that almost identical to the one Billy was wearing. He could only imagine what his face now looked like.

"This is incredible!" Billy dropped the staff to the ground. "Freddy, you can fly!"

Freddy looked away from him. His body felt a bit off-center, as though he were floating at an angle. He bit his lip, raising his right leg before turning his gaze to the other. "Billy, I can't feel my leg."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Freddy gestured to it. "I'm serious." He put his hand against it. When he pulled it away, he vaguely felt the force it had exerted against his hand, but nothing on the leg itself.

His own legs - his real ones - were weak. The left was a bit stronger and longer than the other, but not by much. Years of physical therapy had made it easier to stand. As a young kid, he'd been in a wheelchair only because standing meant instantly falling on his face. While they could spaz randomly, often at the worst of times, he'd always been able to feel and move them. This...

If he couldn't see it, then he might not have realized it was there at all.

Billy didn't reply.

Freddy concentrated, floating to the floor. He about tripped. One foot hit the ground. He could feel the stone firmly beneath it. The other was in a ten inch hole in the ground.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." He floated up again, higher this time. There was no real effort on his part - his new body just did it. Below him, his left leg hung limp. He came down harder this time.

"Holy shit!" The force not only sent stalagmites to the floor and left a hole as wide as a soccer ball in the ground, but it knocked Billy off of his feet. "Dude, you have to do that again!"

Freddy didn't need to be told twice. While he still couldn't feel that leg, the sound as it came crashing through the ground and the earth shaking around him certainly made up for it.

Fuck invisibility - this was the coolest thing ever.

-

"William! Where were you?"

William wouldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't mean to worry you."

"I've been searching the whole plane for you."

His cheeks reddened. "I've been around. It's just that I kind of got sick and a flight attendant had to take me back and help me vomit."

Thaddeus stood from his seat and pushed a hand against his forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"It was probably just the heavy winds or the airline food that made me do it The inside of my mouth still tastes a little weird, but I'm fine."

-

Batmanatee: I thought of some code names for us!

Billy_Da_Kid: New phone who dis

Batmanatee: Dude, you've already made that joke like three times.

Billy_Da_Kid: Whatever, and it has to be better than Captain Sparkle Fingers or so help me!

Batmanatee: That's a good name and you know it!

Billy_Da_Kid: Fine, then that's what you can call youself!

Billy_Da_Kid is typing...

Billy_Da_Kid: I actually realized something today. Kind of surprised that it took me this long.

Batmanatee: ????

Billy_Da_Kid: Well, my dad used to tell me these bedtime stories that were a lot like what happened to me. About this little kid meeting a wizard and getting superpowers.

Batmanatee: Dude!!!! Does this mean you told your dad????

Billy_Da_Kid: Of course not! He'd probably die of shock.

Batmanatee: I know! This is the weirdest secret in the world to keep.

Batmanatee is typing...

Batmanatee: My guess is your dad just heard some legends. Maybe he read about it somewhere. Other people have to know about the wizard, right?

Billy_Da_Kid: I guess.

Chapter Text

“Okay, so we can’t turn invisible, use telepathy, or walk through walls.”

“Don’t forget,” Freddy said, counting off on his fingers, “we also can’t warp reality, time travel, or create force fields. Also, we still need to see if we can breathe underwater, survive extreme cold and heat, and withstand fire and bullets.”

“Oh no way, you are not setting me on fire!” Billy shuddered. “Besides, where would we get a gun?”

“Doesn’t your dad have one?”

Billy shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“Can’t we check his bedroom? I know that’s where Rosa keeps hers.”

“Jesus, I never should have brought you to my place. What if we get shot and die?”

“We’ll deal with that when we get there. Besides, if I can throw you against a rock wall and you don’t even get a scratch, what’s the big deal about a little bullet?” As far as Freddy was concerned, what they didn’t know could hurt them. Real superheroes got shot at all the time. They might as well bite the bullet now before some bank robber tried to put ten rounds through their chests.

But that just circled back to the main problem, didn’t it? No matter how much he goaded Billy, his friend was adamant that they not be superheroes just yet.

“It’s not like we’re ready. This isn’t something that we should be rushing into, right?”

This would have been a very reasonable statement if Billy also wasn’t trying to keep them from further preparing themselves. So far, they’d about ripped the lair apart fighting each other and testing their powers. Though they’d searched every inch of it, they’d found no physical entrance or exit within its walls. Opening the rows of doors didn’t help either, unless one of them wanted to one day step through and enter an unending abyss of darkness.

“You live in California, man. Can’t we at least go find an empty beach tonight and see if we can breathe underwater?”

Billy groaned. “I didn’t come back here to drown myself, Freddy.” He stood up from his bed, stretching out his arms. “I’m headed to the kitchen. You want anything?”

“That depends on what you have.” Freddy stood with shaking legs from the bean bag chair he’d been sprawled in.

“Well, my dad may be captain of the health police, but even he doesn’t eat tofu.”

“That’s all I needed to hear!”

Billy had always struck Freddy as the messy type, but his bedroom, like the rest of the apartment, was incredibly clean. Other than the photos covering the top of his bookshelf (and the assorted titles filling it), there were few decorations besides the large plush tiger on his bed and the Magic Eight ball on his desk. The living room, he saw, was just as bare. The refrigerator in the kitchen had no notes or drawings tacked to it.

Freddy dug through a cabinet before eventually pulling out a box of Oreos. He opened it, popping one into his mouth. Billy began to prepare himself a sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwich.

“Can we at least try a minor threat? Maybe there are some purse snatchers around here.”

Billy rolled his eyes. “I think we’re more likely to find a cat stuck in a tree.” He leaned over and took a cookie from him.

“Come on, you can’t just give me superpowers and not expect me to use them. Didn’t you ever hear that saying about great power and responsibility?”

“Great responsibility is not getting ourselves killed or plastered all over the news.”

“Can’t we at least fly around a little?”

“No!” Billy slammed his knife back down on his plate. “What if some plane full of people sees us? Or a drone?”

“Does it really matter? It’s not like anyone would think that we were those guys.”

“How do you know that? The last thing I need is the Justice League or the feds kidnapping my dad.”

Freddy held back a sigh. He’d been holding back his secret from his family for days. Usually, he was eager to tell them (or at least Darla, who always had a shoulder to lean on and an open ear) just about everything that happened in his life. What if someone did something to them because of him? Super villains didn’t have that pesky moral clause holding them back like he and Billy did.

“I get what you’re saying.” Freddy carried the cookies to a nearby table and collapsed in a chair, his shoulders slumping. “But I just can’t help but feel that we should be doing more. Why have these powers if all we’re going to do with them is fight each other and crush rocks?”

“Well, we’d have to consider what we’d do. Do we just stick to bank robbers or go after costumed criminals? Are natural disasters our issue? How does school factor into our lives?”

“Don’t remind me.” Freddy went back in four days and had nothing but pre-calculus to look forward to.

“It’s not like we aren’t going to do anything. The wizard said that I have to defeat The Seven Deadly Sins.”

“What even are those?”

“I think they’re these weird gargoyle-looking monsters. I haven’t seen any yet in person though.”

“Well hurry up and find them or I really will start rescuing cats from trees.”

Billy sat down and took a large bite of his sandwich. “Okay, I’m still not into this whole setting myself on fire thing, but it would be cool to see if we can breathe underwater. How about tonight at eleven my time?”

“That’ll be,” Freddy responded, wrinkling his forehead, “two a.m. my time, I think.” He wrinkled his nose.

“Hey, I can’t control time.”

Though for a moment, Freddy thought he could. They’d teleported from his room in Philadelphia to their lair at three-thirty that afternoon and spent what felt like hours there. Yet when they poofed back to Billy’s place, it had only been twelve thirty-five (it had taken him a minute to remember time zones were a thing).

“Just drink some coffee. It always helps my dad.”

“No way! That stuff tastes like shit.”

Billy laughed, but the sound suddenly died in his throat. His face paled.

From the nearby hallway came the clicking of keys. Before Freddy could so much as mouth a quick question to his friend, the front hallway’s door swung open and in walked the man from Freddy’s creepy magic-induced vision.

“William, I thought you said you were going out with your friends this afternoon. Did something happen?”

That was when Billy’s father saw him. Their eyes locked together from across the room. Dr. Sivana pushed his glasses up his nose, taking Freddy in. He looked from one boy to another wordlessly.

“Hi, Dr. Sivana!” Freddy hurriedly pushed himself up and walked towards him, his hand outstretched. “My name’s Freddy! Has Billy mentioned me to you?”

“Yeah, I think I have!” Billy stood as well. “Dad, Freddy, uh, goes to Palisades.”

Freddy slapped on a smile. “Uh, yeah.”

“Yes, I think William mentioned you.” He took Freddy’s hand and gave it a firm, quick shake. “I apologize, but I just went to the doctor today and I’ve been a bit out of it since I left her office.”

Freddy’s eyes widened. “Did she say that your eye was going to have to be amputated?”

“Dude!” Billy cried.

“Excuse me, young man?”

Freddy turned to Billy. “You were the one who said his eye problem was getting worse.”

“I never said you had to mention that!”

Dr. Sivana blinked, running one hand over the bandage that covered his left eye. “William, I don’t even want to begin to know where you got that idea from. I’ll have you know that while I did get a new round of antibiotics today, she never once so much as mentioned the word ‘surgery.’”

“That’s a relief.” Billy responded. “I wouldn’t want you stuck looking like a pirate for the rest of your life.”

“He could always get a glass eye.”

Dr. Sivana shook his head. “It was nice to meet you, Frederick, but I have a headache. Now if you boys would please excuse me…” He hurried down the hallway.

Freddy turned. “Frederick?”

Billy shrugged. “My dad’s weird with names. He’s kind of weird with everything, actually. But he’s a nice guy when he wants to be.”

-

Thaddeus’ jaw about hit the floor when he arrived back at the Rock of Eternity. He’d been too busy these last few days to go. Now, though, he could only run his eyes across the stones, frantically searching for some clue as to what had happened while he’d been gone.

The circle of thrones at its center had been turned to a pile of rubble. The various objects in its other room were burnt and smashed. Even the hall of doors looked as though they’d been scratched and scorched one too many times.

Only the staff remained unharmed. He held it up, running his fingers along it. His confused face reflected back at him from the gems decorating its tip.

Wordlessly, the sins appeared before him without prompting. He held the staff up, looking between them.

“What happened?”

The champion lives.

That was Pride, who stood closer to Sivana than the others sins.

You were too late.

“The wizard’s dead at least, isn’t he?”

His champion is stronger than he himself has been in ages.

We told you to come back sooner.

Do you not value your own life? The champion will squash you like a bug!

“Who is he?”

The only response Thaddeus got was one of Wrath’s arms against his stomach. The force was strong enough to send him flying across the room, stones digging through his back and his head cracking when it hit rock. He gasped, tasting blood in his mouth.

The sins walked towards him, standing over him in a circle. More than half of them had their tongues extended.

He will imprison us once again!

Find him now!

Kill him while there’s time left!

Sloth brought its heavy leg down onto his foot. Thaddeus would have screamed, but the sound died in his throat when another bit into his arm. His vision was shaking, beginning to go dark around the edges. He barely had the strength to stand, let alone find Shazam’s new champion.

A face flashed before his mind, but he shook it away. No, it couldn’t truly be him!

Just as quickly as they appeared, the sins returned to him. His vision cleared, the pain and bruises covering his body evaporating away like smoke into the air. All the same, it took him a few moments to finally pull himself back to his feet. He surveyed the piles of rubbles one last time. Then, he picked up the staff and hurriedly began to draw symbols into the dirt.

Chapter Text

"Shit!" Billy cried. His curse was quickly lost in a stream of watery coughs. His lungs burnt, grasping for oxygen.

Okay, so drowning was apparently one of his weaknesses.

"Holy shit!" Freddy was grinning from ear to ear. "Dude, you were under for over seven minutes!"

Billy rubbed at his eyes, wincing at the salty sting. "It felt like ten years! Don't even think of making me do that again."

Freddy threw back his head and whooped. His only witness was the thin sliver of moon overhead, which bounced and in out of clouds carried along by a northern wind. He looked ahead, taking in the ink black water that blended in so effortlessly with the sky that he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.

"Here," Freddy said, throwing his phone to Billy. With their adult hands, it now seemed small. He imagined that pressing his finger too hard against the screen would be enough to make it crack. "Record my time. I think I can beat you!"

Billy snorted. His costume was drenched, water dripping from his hair and chin. "Be my guest," he responded, his teeth chattering as he spoke.

Freddy got on his knees, moving one leg with his arms. Grabbing him by the back of his cape, Billy shoved his face into the water.

-

"I've got bad news." Freddy collapsed into Billy's bean bag chair, his crutches clattering as they hit the floor.

"What?" Billy's eyes widened.

"I found Rosa's gun, but it wasn't loaded. I spent almost thirty minutes digging through her drawers before Mary heard and came in to yell at me."

"The hell! Why did you do that?"

"Because bank robbers tend to carry ammunition with them!" Freddy threw his hands into the air.

"I already told you that you aren't going to shoot me."

"Are you sure your dad doesn't own a gun?"

Billy groaned. "What am I supposed to do, ask him?"

"That sounds like a pretty good idea to me!"

He put his face in his hands. "Freddy, why do you care so much about this?"

"Why don't you give a shit?" Freddy grabbed his crutches and stood. "I can't just sit on my butt waiting for the world to get better. There are people out there who need our help now!"

"But-"

"But what? I can't even think about school or my family anymore, knowing what I do. We have to do something!"

Billy could sit in his bedroom all day concocting worst case scenarios for all Freddy cared. It wasn't like Freddy needed his permission to start saving the world, even if Billy had given him his powers.

"It's not like I asked for the wizard to kidnap me and make me a superhero!"

"Oh, he did? I thought that bright red costume and electrokinesis of yours were just to impress girls with!"

He turned away from Billy, closing his eyes. His bedroom flashed before his mind. When Freddy opened his eyes again, he was staring at a familiar shelf covered in Wonder Woman action figures.

"Where are you going?" Darla called as he grabbed his coat from the front hook.

"For a walk!"

"Be safe!"

Outside, the air was wet and cold, the sky cloudy. The weatherman had warned of snow that still had yet to appear. His shoes crunched against yesterday's dirty slush.

A few other people were out, some walking their dogs, others heading for their car. No one met his gaze or returned his waves. All his life he'd been... Invisible wasn't quite the right word. It wasn't that people couldn't see him, but that they didn't want to.

When he got to the empty lot a block away, Freddy surveyed the graffiti and discarded cigarette butts surrounding him. While it was shady, no one dangerous came out here until night.

"Shazam."

-

Thaddeus' threw the stack of papers to the floor, watching them fan out across the wood. He'd been reading for almost three hours straight, until his eyes couldn't focus on the words any longer.

Nothing! Everything about the wizard's former champion was speculation. Past scholars and storytellers had certainly done their part to embellish Teth Adam's life, until one account scarcely resembled the next.

He lay his head against his desk. The wizard's last champion had vanished thousands of years earlier without a trace. Empires had risen and fallen since then, turning the hero into nothing more than a footnote in Middle Eastern history.

Why had the wizard chosen him? What had made the former slave turned revolutionary worthy of unspeakable power? He'd lived east of Babylon in the early Biblical era, speaking a language that even academics had largely let rot into history. How could he even begin to resemble a modern day champion?

If only the sins knew! Though they squabbled in his head, they offered him no hints. They just as easily could have passed the champion in the street and, like Thaddeus himself, been none the wiser.

He tore out of his study, hurrying for the bathroom. Splashing water on his face, he surveyed the bandages he'd put on that morning. Even beneath the thick white gauze, his eye glowed.

-

"Freddy!"

Freddy groaned, pulling his phone away from his face. He hadn't even been home a full five minutes before it started ringing. "What's so important, Billy?"

"Have you gotten my recent messages?"

"What messages?" he spat. "I thought you just accidentally texted me 'What's up?' twenty times!"

"You're all over the news!"

"I am?" He kicked off his shoes. "You know, I never can keep up with that stuff. World affairs are very depressing."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Stuff that would be a lot easier with a partner!"

-

Lightning Lord. Temblor. Captain Marvel. Seism. The names changed but the facts didn't. So far, he had appeared in New Orleans to keep a bridge from collapsing, Louisville to stop a bank robbery, and Philadelphia to rescue workers from an office fire within the span of eight hours.

None of the national or local news agencies had gotten clear footage of him yet. Conspiracies were breeding faster than Clostridium perfringens in a petri dish. Some thought that he was an alien or Atlantean. Others theorized that he was a superpowered SVR RF, Mossad, or NKSOF agent.

Thaddeus smirked. What would those keyboard warriors think if they really knew the truth?

Find him.

The sins didn't need to tell him twice.

Chapter Text

“Annie?”

The sound of her cousin’s voice crackling through her Android’s speakers almost caused her phone to slip from between her fingers. Annie sat up straighter in her swivel chair, tightening her grip on her phone.

“Hey, Billy,” she replied before pausing. She swallowed. Her eyes wondered across her desk, from the new stack of textbooks she’d recently rented to a row of framed pictures that decorated its edge. “Are you busy?”

“No, not at all. Are you okay?”

“I’m really not sure how to answer that.” She picked up the mug of hot chocolate her mother had warmed up for her earlier and took a long swig. It had gone lukewarm. Chocolate drizzled down her chin and melted marshmallows clung to the side of her throat.

“How are you?”

She placed the mug down and wiped off her chin. “Look, Billy, I called you because I needed to talk about what happened over winter break with someone. If you don’t want to talk about it, you’re free to hang up. I certainly won’t blame you if you do.”

She’d spent almost ten minutes staring at his name and smiling picture in her contracts list, her gaze hovering over his number until she knew it by heart. For as long as she’d spent doing that, how many more times had she dialed and redialed her father’s personal and work numbers? Though the clock on her wall drifted closer and closer to midnight, she couldn’t imagine going to sleep now while his voice mail still echoed in her ears.

“I’d never do that!” He cleared his throat. “I know you said you told your mom.”

She gave a weak laugh. “That was fun. Now she spends her half time on the phone with Dad’s lawyers and the police.”

“If it makes you feel any better, my dad’s been stuck doing that too.”

“It really doesn’t.” This time she gave a real laugh. “I hate to trouble you, but it’s not like I can talk about this with any of my friends. Even discussing it with my mom is hard because… Well, I just don’t think she’ll understand why I feel this way.”

“What do you mean?”

Annie reached for the box of tissues she’d left on her nearby dresser, cradling them like a child did a stuffed animal. Her waste bin was already half full of them. “Look, my dad and I never had a perfect relationship. He’d always try to pretend otherwise, though.”

The police had said he wouldn’t pick up, that if he had any working brain cells left he would have destroyed his phone and ran. Yet part of her had still expected him to pick up on the third or fourth ring and greet her with his usual “Hello, princess.”

“Growing up, I didn’t have much of a choice in seeing him. That’s just how visitation works. When I turned eighteen, I almost thought of cutting him off. My mom wouldn’t have blamed me if I did, and it would have probably saved me a lot of trouble. But… Well, I thought maybe he could change.”

Billy was silent.

“So, I kept in contact and let him pay for school. You can probably guess how well that went.” She shook her head. What the hell was she even saying? “Look, I’ve just been thinking a lot about him lately and trying to figure out how he could do what he did.”

“I wish I knew.”

“Do you really?”

That got a laugh from him. “Yeah, I guess not. But you can’t help but wonder.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around it. Part of me wonders if maybe if I hadn’t left with you and Uncle Thaddeus that things would have gone down differently. It wouldn’t have been a great holiday for me, but maybe Dad wouldn’t have…”

Fresh tears burnt the edges of her eyelids. Scenarios flashed before her mind like trailers before a movie.

“Annie, that wasn’t your fault!”

“How do you know?” She hadn’t meant to yell, but her voice was so loud she half expected to wake her mother. “Billy, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… To…”

“It’s fine. But I’m serious. How is any of that your fault?”

“Maybe if I were there…”

“Hey, considering what he did, I’m glad Dad made us all leave.” He paused. “That way it didn’t end up like our last Christmas.”

“What do you mean?” She bit her lip.

“It’s kind of a long story. The gist of it is that my first Christmas at grandpa’s place ended with your dad punching my dad so hard he had to go to the hospital.”

“What?” The tissue box slipped from her between her arms and landed on the floor with a soft thud. She didn’t reach down to pick it up.

“Yeah, it really freaked me out. I couldn’t believe my dad when he said we were going back again.”

“I had no idea about that! Oh, Billy…”

He chuckled. “I think my dad’s the one that needs your sympathy. So, do you think that was your fault too?”

She furrowed her brows. “No?”

“Then what your dad did to grandpa wasn’t your fault either. He was just…”

“An asshole?”

“Hey, you said it, not me!”

Despite herself, she smiled. “I guess I just can’t believe it happened.”

“I feel the same way.”

“And I just wish there had been someone there who could have stopped it. Maybe that person isn’t me. Maybe I couldn’t have stopped my dad no matter how hard I tried. But if someone could have… If things could have gone differently…” She pushed her bangs back away from her forehead. “Am I making any sense?”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

Something about the way he spoke made her smile again.

-

Freddy ripped his headphones off, reaching for one of his crutches and holding it out like a sword. “Jesus, Billy, didn’t your dad ever teach you that it was creepy to teleport into people’s bedrooms in the middle of the night?”

Billy leaned against a nearby shelf, blinking against the dim light. “Yeah, well maybe if you’d replied to my messages I wouldn’t have had to stop by.”

Freddy’s throat tightened. “What’s so important?”

They hadn’t spoken in almost a week. If he hadn’t suddenly appeared in his house, Freddy would have kept it that way. Between school, his home life, and scouring the news online for breaking reports of emergencies and crimes, he didn’t have time to spare for Billy’s whining.

“I came to apologize.”

“Great,” Freddy replied, looking down to the floor. Images of the cave flashed before his mind, but he pushed them away. If he were to leave now, he’d only go to a place he knew Billy wouldn’t know where to follow.

“I’m serious.” He held his hands up. “Look, you were right about the superhero thing. If we have powers, we might as well use them.”

Freddy met his eyes but said nothing.

“There are bad things in this world that, while we may not be able to understand them, we have ability to stop. And I’m tired of sitting around and doing nothing about them.”

“You really mean that?”

Billy nodded. “And that’s why I came to you. You’re the one who knows everything about superheroes, right?”

Freddy grinned. “Yeah, I guess you could say that.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “Hey, you want to know something?”

Billy raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“If you’re anything like me, then you are bulletproof!”

Chapter Text

"I'd try to describe it, but as stupid as it sounds, you really just can't. One day you're a nobody and the next your podcast has over two million subscribers."

"I still can't believe you interviewed yourself." Billy smirked. "This superhero thing better not go to your head."

"Hey, my idea was genius!" Freddy grabbed a chip from the bowl placed between them. "And making it sound like there were two people naturally having a conversation together was a lot harder than it looks, especially if your mom is trying to break into your room every fifteen minutes."

"You're not the one who has over ten million hits on YouTube."

"You didn't even make that video!" Freddy smirked. "And I thought you said you weren't going to rescue cats from trees."

Billy shrugged. "Duty called."

He had to admit, being a hero wasn't as bad as he first thought. Getting hit in the face with a bullet was no worse than a bee sting. Running two-hundred miles per hour gave him a seemingly endless adrenaline high. And flying? There was nothing in the world quite like it.

"Hey, Billy?" Freddy's face was buried in his bowl of salsa when he spoke, but something about the tone of his voice made his stomach tighten.

"Yeah?" He swallowed, bits of pointed dough scratching at the inside of his throat.

"You know those things you mentioned - The Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Yeah?"

Freddy looked up to him. "Whatever happened to them?"

"I don't know."

Freddy's frown deepened. "Are you sure?"

"I don't think I'd miss them." His voice dropped. "You've been at this superhero thing longer than I have. Why don't you know something about them?"

"Hey, I'm not trying to start a fight!" He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze falling back on the kitchen table. The longer the two kept this thing up, the more likely Freddy would wind up a legal citizen of California. If his place was crowded, Billy's always seemed on the verge of being abandoned. They really needed to get an actual lair. "I'm just..."

"Just what?"

"Just scared, okay? There's got to be more to this than just stopping bank robberies and helping to catch jumpers off the Golden Gate bridge. Right?"

"Are you saying you want us to deal with an alien invasion or giant monster attack?"

"Of course not! But..." He waved his chip absently in the air. He'd been holding the same one for almost two minutes and still had yet to take a bite from it. "But that kind of stuff is kind of inevitable in our line of work, right?"

"And you thought I was too scared to do this."

"Come on, that has to freak you out!"

Billy snorted. "Don't you watch the news? Everything should freak you out."

-

His bruises vanished almost as quickly as they appeared, blood retreating back into his skin as his veins knit themselves back together. Yet the shock of pain remained, his heart racing as he struggled to pull himself to his feet.

Thaddeus could feel the Sins crawling inside of him. Their voices no longer echoed in his brain. Now, they were practically the narrator of his own thoughts.

Perhaps he would have been more concerned about how hands-on they had started to become if he wasn't already used to taking hits until he ended up moaning in a heap on the floor. Not that the blows held much meaning. The Sins could leave him half-dead in a crushed and bloody heap and his broken body would still stitch itself back together when they returned to him. And, like it or not, that was what they always had to do. Without him, they had no hold on this world.

Oh, they might rush him. Whisper to him of a life of pain and powerlessness if he kept holding himself back.

The longer you wait, the stronger he becomes.

Not that Thaddeus needed them to remind him. Every time he turned on the news, that blue bolt of lightning was plastered across some news channel for helping to rescue a sinking cargo boat's crew or for helping to put out a fire. Even the political talking heads were going on about him endlessly - a sad but inevitable consequence, he supposed, for becoming the main topic of the president's latest Twitter ravings.

Oh, the anger was still there. He wanted to rip the hair from that bright-eyed boy's scalp as he held him down, listen to him beg and plead and cry. Beneath that shiny veneer of perfection, that purity of heart that had forever alluded Thaddeus, was someone malleable. Though he did not kill the wizard, he could at least still make a sobbing shame of his champion.

No, Thaddeus wasn't worthy. But he was more than able to leave the champion squirming in a broken heap, begging for his pathetic life. Apologizing for all that he had taken from Thaddeus. And when the champion's power was his own, when he finally had the gifts that had evaded him for over forty years...

What then?

It was that question that had held him back. The Sins had offered him the world on a silver platter. And not just as it was now but better. A world where petty strife had finally been beaten into submission, a world that valued logic and fairness - a world that made sense if only its inhabitants could be made to see reason.

A world without men like his father and brother.

Oh, he might have to get his hands dirty remaking it, but that world was possible. He could practically feel it on the edge of his fingertips.

No.

That wasn't his world, not really. He'd made his own, carved it out of blood and sweat and pain. The Sins might have offered their running commentary, but they had never gotten him through university or landed him a job. He was the one who'd stayed up all night studying and worked through grueling lab shifts the day after thanks only to black coffee and unrelenting anxiety. The one who'd refused his father's offer for a position at the family's company and the millions a year that came with it if it meant remaining his own boss. The one who'd gotten his name cited in over two-hundred papers.

If he were to fully submit to the Sins, that world would slip like sand from between his fingers.

He'd lose William first. One mad, rambling speech about rebuilding the world in his image and the feds would have his son halfway across the country and sporting a new name within 48 hours.

And that was why, even with the ability to send hundred of volts of electricity from his fingerprints and summon the beasts of hell at his command, he held back.

Thaddeus wouldn't abandon the boy. Couldn't.

Not even if the Sins took his head for it.

And yet... What did that old life matter? It wasn't the Sins asking himself that question. Why hold onto the last pieces of his world when everything else was already broken?

His coworkers still believed that they were investigating mass hysteria. What would they think if the sketches of demons that they had spent hours examining suddenly burst to life and ripped through the streets? What would William think if he saw Thaddeus' face on the news, his bandages forgotten?

They wouldn't understand, Thaddeus reminded himself. No one ever had been able to.

But maybe in a better world they could.

-

He'd set up ten different phone alerts, one of which went off about every five minutes. They were no doubt sending his blood pressure to levels previously unseen by medical science, but he couldn't stop himself from reading every news article that came out and rewatching every bit of video footage he found.

"I'm Freddy, your host, and today, listeners, we're lucky enough to be joined by a man of many names. You may know him as Maximum Voltage or Lightning Lord."

"I much prefer Captain Marvel," the champion interjected. Even his voice gave Thaddeus a headache.

"I think that's already copyrighted."

The two laughed at that. Had Thaddeus clutched his phone any harder than he might have crushed it.

It was one thing to gain the wizard's powers and another to shove that fact in the entire world's face.

Thaddeua paused the podcast, taking in a deep breath. Ever since the episode had first dropped, he'd listened to it about once every four hours, poring over every second. At forty-five minutes, it far surpassed any other interview he'd ever given. The champion's arrogance had to count for something. Surely the wizard had been desperate and moments away from death to choose someone like this. He couldn't really have been worthy. No one who posted his face all over the internet could be.

And that was the funny thing about the world wide web. Thaddeus had never cared for more than a sparsely updated LinkedIn page. This alleged champion? He was on everything.

Why, all that was left was for the champion to put up a glowing neon sign advertising his location. And if he didn't do that? It would be easy enough to bring him into the light.

Thaddeus was about to hit play again when his phone pinged. His heart stopped when he read the headline. The full article made it race so quickly that he half expected it to burst forth from his chest.

So there was another.

All those years of being less than nothing and the champion had already roped in a partner to his mad quest. The idea that the wizard could find even one person who was truly virtuous and pure of heart was laughable. That somewhere out in the world there was a second?

Implausible.

The Sins were silent as he ripped his bandages away and opened the window of his study. There was no time left for games or hypotheticals.

This madness had eaten away at his life for decades. It ended tonight.

Chapter Text

If Gilliland, Illinois had something to be famous for, then its inhabitants had long since forgotten it. Oh, it had McDonald's, but what part of America didn't? Spattered between the dime a dozen fast food places were worn looking no-name diners and truck stops, many with faded signs and dim lights. There were a handful of motels, but Thaddeus doubted anyone stayed there for more than one night. The brain drain had started almost a century earlier, even before the jobs started evaporating. Judging by the boarded up schools he had passed earlier, could this place even hold up for another twenty years?

The most packed place in the area was the bridge connecting the east side of the town towards a sevently-mile highway that led straight to Naperville. Judging from what he saw below, there was a 3:1 commercial truck to passenger car ratio. Even with the sun half set, the bridge was packed, everyone racing out of the place as if the whole town was burning.

No one would miss the place if it collapsed into the earth. Hell, if it weren't for television or social media, he doubted anyone outside of the nearest fifty mile radius would be aware of its absence.

Only someone pure of heart would care about this place. Everyone else would let a shit hole like this collapse in on itself.

Really, the people here should have been thankful for what came next. What better way to remind the world that it existed?

Thaddeus hovered lower, the tips of his shoes mere inches from the slow waves of the dirty grey river below. Pieces of driftwood floated lazily below him. Could fish even survive beneath those charcoal depths?

Above him, cars and trucks glimmered.

He moved upwards but then just as quickly pulled back. So fast, in fact, that the lower half of his legs collapsed beneath the water. The sudden chill was enough to send his arms pinwheeling, and he would have fallen back if he didn't push himself upwards. There was nothing to grab onto, nor anything for his feet to push off of. He simply stopped, his body held back at what he could only guess was a fifty degree angle. Then he straightened, his feet rising above the water once more.

This was different than before. He had found this place by chance, only by going where the wind took him. He doubted he had ever even heard of someone here, let alone met them. And he was quite sure that they could say the same of him.

There was no satisfaction in this, no adrenaline rush. Not even the thrill of knowing that he had rid the world of people that had never even deserved the breath of life in the first place.

What would William think?

Thaddeus bit his lip. It was hard to imagine just how different his life would be without him. No doubt he would still be working upwards to eighty hours a week. His apartment would be a shell of itself, the boy's bedroom nothing but an enlarged broom closet. There would be no one to greet him when he got home from work. Nobody to pull him into a tight hug before bed.

Nobody at all.

How could he possibly live like that again? Hell, how had he managed to do it before?

Oh, he had known getting a child would change his life. There would be no more late nights at the office. No locking himself in his study for six hours straight when he got home, either.

He'd had to arrange everything: the legal paperwork, the fees, changing the boy's last name. Then there had been the little things like upping his grocery budget and getting him to and from school each day. It had been foreign at first. Now it was just as much a part of Thaddeus' life as his daily shower.

Doing this would be throwing everything away.

His heart was racing now. Stupid stupid stupid stupid-

After more than four decades of searching, why hadn't he given more than a passing thought to what happened after the wizard and his family were dead?

He thought again of the champions, but the subsequent rage wasn't as strong as when he first heard news of them. Oh, it was there, but worry was quickly diluting it. That energy that had pushed him out his study's window was gone.

Why had he ever thought he could actually do this?

Stop.

That was Wrath.

"I..." His whisper was almost lost to the wind. "I can't do this."

You don't have to.

They were talking as one again. For a moment, he was back in his childhood bedroom, his toy chest stuck against the door. Sid was beating against the wood with such a force that Thaddeus wasn't sure how the door could still hold. His Magic Eight ball was clutched tightly against his chest, blue sparks dancing along its surface.

Coming home from school every day felt like returning to prison after failing parole. His teachers' compliments, which usually put a skip into his step, melted away the moment he stepped through the front door. Most days, he went to the kitchen to rummage up something to eat. As soon as he was able to, he hurried into his room.

That afternoon, he'd gone straight for his room.

He hadn't meant to get his brother's homework thrown away that morning. He'd just seen papers spilled haphazardly across the living room floor and picked them up and placed them on the nearest chair. Had he left them lying around, there was no telling what their father would have done. Every little thing sent him into a rage, and while he might only have screamed, Thaddeus hadn't wanted to risk possibly going to class without his glasses.

Oh, why did the maid have to throw them out? Sure they were ink-stained and crumpled, but they couldn't have looked that bad.

The beating momentarily stopped.

"You think you're so smart, don't you, Thad?" Sid was frantically turning the door knob now. It rattled like a dying engine. "You think just because you're an egghead that you can make me look like an idiot, don't you? Well guess what? If you think that then you don't have any brains at all!"

His heart about ripped through his rib cage when Sid started pounding at the door again. He'd beat at his door all night if he had to.

Thaddeus pulled a blanket over his head.

"What do I do?" he whispered to the Magic Eight ball.

Blue sparks jumped across the surface. When he held it up, the blue triangle repeated what was always playing in the background of his head.

Find us.

There was little that they could do for him then. Hell, he doubted he'd be able to get dinner that night, let alone break back into the wizard's fortress. All the same, he clutched the ball tighter as the sins' voices grew louder.

"Sid, what the hell are you making that racket for?"

Decades later and he still had no idea what Sid said next. All that stuck out was his father's calm, careful voice as he cleared his throat and said "Get a screwdriver."

Then, as Sid scurried off, his shoes squeaking as he made his way down the hallway, Thaddeus heard a louder bang than before. Metal hit wood with the force of a hurricane behind it

"Thad," his father called, his voice just as low as it had been before, "you really should save us the trouble and open the door."

He'd never wished before for his father to start yelling. At least he knew what came when that started.

This? Whether he opened the door or watched it fall away, it was anyone's guess as to what came next.

Maybe it would all prove to be too much trouble. Perhaps they would get tired and go away. It wasn't likely, but at least it was still a possibility.

He looked back down to the Magic Eight ball. The two glowing words, the same ones that forever echoed in the back of his mind, were still there.

No, there wasn't much the sins could do for him just then. But anything was better than facing what came next alone.

Thaddeus blinked, taking in the bridge. He pushed his previous train of thought aside.

The present, he reminded himself, was a big enough hurdle to face already.

"Go."

Six of the sins took to the sky. Pride moved its wings so furiously that it was little more than a grey blur in his vision. The wingless ones seemed to move faster than they had any right to, crossing upwards across the air as if climbing an invisible set of stairs.

Thaddeus turned his gaze from the sins to the staff that he had left behind on the stone embankment. He had taken it, at the sins' urgings, with him when he left the Rock of Eternity. A lump had formed in his throat, so tight that he feared he would choke on it if he swallowed.

If the wizard's champions came, he had only two options. The first was to gain back the power that he had been denied for decades. The second was to shove the staff's tip straight through one of the champions' eyes and out of their skulls. No doubt the former would require a few thousand volts of electricity and a sharp right hook. The latter was certainly the more entertaining of the two options.

There was that rage again. The cold fury that, after nearly half a century, was finally coming to a boil. When he'd left that worthless woman in chunks, a sense of calmness and warmth had blanketed him as he flew back to the hotel. Listening to his father beg and shriek for his pathetic life had made him feel fifteen years younger. Thaddeus let the rage return. His anger would die alongside the champions. He could only begin to imagine what bliss would remain once the fury evaporated away, when he finally had the wizard's powers.

Above him, Greed ripped through part of a concrete tower. Stone tore through the sky, flying outward until it suddenly stopped and descendsd downward. Smaller stones and bits of metal soon followed. Cars honked and trucks screeched to a stop. There was a distinct crunch of metal against metal.

Pride was tearing apart hangars as if they were made of worn thread.

Thaddeus held his breath. There was a streak of blue coming out of the clouds.

Turning, he flew over and scooped up the staff. The tip, he noticed, could hardly be considered sharp. He supposed that meant he would just have to put a little more force behind it.

-

There was only one time in his life that Thaddeus ever remembered his father being truly proud of him. Oh, he had beamed at Thaddeus' graduation ceremonies and shown him off to investors on the rare occasions that he came home, but as soon as the festivities ended he usually could not even catch his father's gaze.

If not for the wizard, this might very well have been the most profound night of his life.

It had been a muggy night in early June, with less than a week until school ended. Sid had just returned home from college a few weeks before. As empty as their home had been with him gone - as miserable as it had been to have nothing but his father for company - having Sid back from Harvard made the furnaces of hell a thousand times hotter.

Thaddeus had spent most of dinner picking at his meatloaf. The smell of it made him nauseous while the taste itself was only slightly more appetizing than cat litter. Sid had already wolfed down two servings.

When he had first sat down to eat, he felt like a balloon suddenly plucked with a pin. This far in, he had long since lost his air. It was nights like these when the wizard's words echoed so loudly in his head that he was surprised no one else could hear them.

Thaddeus would never be worthy. Was the life he had been gifted with not proof of that fact?

The most that he had managed to get down was half of his mashed potatoes.

Maybe he would have had more of an appetite if the school year weren't on the verge of ending. Just that day, he had gotten a history exam back. The "100" written across the top in deep red ink had about made him fall out of his seat.

"You continue to impress me with your well thought out essays. If only all my students could be like you!" Ms. Duval had written across the top. Right after the bell rang, just before he'd left the room, she'd pulled him aside and patted him on the back.

"Your father should be so proud of you!"

Thaddeus doubted his father was ever going to find out about his score. He could not speak unless spoken to and, with Sid back, his father finally had someone else to converse with. There was no longer any need to acknowledge Thaddeus' prescense except for the occasional sparse glance. Not that it mattered. The perfect test, getting slid an extra cookie from one of the servants when he arrived home, even finishing his homework in record time, none of it really mattered. Because none of it had been able to stop him from ending up back here, surrounded by the people he hated most in the world, barely able to keep down even a few bites of food.

Worse, he wouldn't even have tests to look forward to soon. The summer of sorting papers in his father's office sitting before him would have been less suffocating if he could at least visit his friends' houses every once in a while. But his father always said no, no matter how much Thaddeus pled or promised. Even getting permission to go to the library on a weekend afternoon was an uphill climb. Oh, there was the two week reprieve of summer camp - which, he supposed, his father only allowed because it was the only respectable way to get rid of him, if only for a short while - but August was ages away.

The creak of Sid's chair against the wooden floor as he pushed it out and stepped away from the table was so loud that it tore Thaddeus' gaze from his plate. As he walked around the table, Sid shot Thaddeus a smirk.

"You gonna finish that?"

Then he'd grabbed the back of his head, his fingernails digging into the flesh of Thaddeus' scalp, and pushed him face first into his dinner. He held him down there for less than five seconds, but those moments seemed like an eternity. All Thaddeus could do was wonder what would happen if he ran out of air.

When Sid pulled his hand away, Thaddeus shot his head up, gasping for air. His glasses remained forgotten in the clumpy mess that once could have been called food. He frantically blinked while he ran his arm over his face, hurriedly wiping food onto his sleeve.

"Thad, I thought you saw that coming. You've gotten pretty slow since I left."

For someone who had spent the night feeling so empty, more the idea of a person than a living, breathing being, he came alive fastly and fiercely. He pushed himself up from the table, sending his own chair crashing to the floor. He remembered his mind suddenly going silent, his whole being trapped in the moment. There were no sins to turn to, no fantasies to hide away in. Had he been thinking then he damn well would have stopped himself from doing what came next.

Thaddeus turned, stepping towards Sid. His brother was mostly a colored blur. He'd meant to aim for his nose - that was the spot all the boys at school loved to go for. Instead, he hit Sid on the lower jaw.

Sid had yelped like a dog. Even if he were to grow senile in his old age, Thaddeus knew that he would sooner forget his own name than he would that sound Sid made.

It was like David and Goliath. The force, in retrospect, couldn't have been much. Thaddeus had not even begun puberty until a year later. Still, it had been enough of a shock to make Sid lose his footing and sent him toppling to the floor. The crash was what finally slowed his racing heart. Thaddeus blinked again, trying and failing to turn his world clear again. He turned, frantically running his hands over the table. Behind him, he could hear Sid pulling himself back up.

He was never going to find the wizard, never going to free the sins. Hell, he was never even going to finish the seventh grade. Thaddeus could practically feel Sid's hands around his neck already. Maybe he would make it quick and push down on Thaddeus' neck so hard that his windpipe snapped like a grape. It wasn't pleasant, but it beat the alternative of slowly running out of air.

This was it, wasn't it? A pathetic end and a pitiful, forgettable existence. Was that really all he was ever going to get?

The sound of clapping, which echoed along the walls, set his heart racing again. While he couldn't see it, he did hear his father's manual wheelchair as it slid across the floor. The next thing he knew, his father's right hand was wrapped around his arm. The other was pushing Thaddeus' glasses into his hands.

"You finally did it. I knew you had it in you, Thad."

Thaddeus blinked. This time, his father handed him a napkin. He wiped off his glasses before putting them back on.

While the lenses were a bit blurry, he was still able to make out the grin that took up half his father's face.

"How did it feel?"

Thaddeus blinked. "Dad, I..." He looked back towards Sid, who was now standing against the wall holding his chin. When he pulled his hand away, Thaddeus saw blood. Not much, but enough that it couldn't be mistaken for a popped zit or scratch.

"Thad," Sid said. His voice was low. He swerved his head, meeting their father's gaze. "Dad, did you see what the hell he just did?"

His father chuckled. "I certainly wouldn't have wanted to miss it." He patted Thaddeus on the back. "You don't know how long that I've been waiting for this moment."

His father had pulled him in for a hug. The force knocked the remaining air out of his lungs. His father had only hugged him before when other people were watching, and his touch had always been light and thin. This? It was firm without being hard. One of his hands was running through Thaddeus' hair, his touch impossibly soft. His father had always been hard to him, like a man carved of iron and brought to life. That he could be gentle...

It was as if he'd tripped that day and fallen into another world.

Perhaps he should have pulled away. Had he been any older then maybe he would have. Instead, he leaned into his father's embrace. For the first time in his life, he felt warm and cherished. He was less a boy in that moment than a child's well loved doll. He would have gladly taken that role on and let this moment continue into forever. His chin buried in his father's shoulder, his heartbeat steady...

He had to force back tears when their embrace ended. All he wanted to do was thrust himself back into his father's arms again and be precious. Dear. Beloved. Wanted.

Worthy.

But he held himself back. Any wrong move could make his father's smile melt away like a spilled ice cream cone in the sun.

"Dad!" Sid broke the silence, throwing his arms out. "Thad just hit me!"

His father cleared his throat. "I know. Haven't I made that fact clear?"

"But, but! But he can't do that!"

"I do believe he did." He was the one smirking then.

"Well you can't just let him do that!" He was pleading now. "You can't!"

His father scoffed. "You think I could have told him no?" He patted Thaddeus on the back again, but this time the sensation sent goosebumps rising up his spine.

"But," Sid repeated.

"What do you want me to do about it, Sidney?" His father scoffed. "I can't just run in and rescue you when things get tough."

Sid said nothing. He was bleeding more profusely now but he hardly seemed to notice. He glared at Thaddeus.

His hug, Thaddeus supposed, was nothing more than a shot of morphine before death kicked in. Already, he could distinctively feel his father's absence on his skin.

"Go get cleaned up, Sid. You look awful."

"Dad..." He didn't sound angry then.

"You heard me."

Sid stormed away.

All Thaddeus could do was blink. What was going on?

His father rested the palm of his hand on Thaddeus' lower back.

"How does it feel?"

"What do you mean?" His voice cracked on the last word.

His father leaned forward, cupping Thaddeus' chin. "To finally be a man."

Thaddeus bit his lip. This man looked, sounded, and even smelled like his father. But, Thaddeus knew, this could not be his father.

"I've always wanted you to toughen up, you know. Oh, you had me worried for a while. I was scared you would only ever be able to take hits, if that. But tonight you proved me wrong." There was that smile again. "Thaddeus, you don't know how happy I am."

"Thanks, Dad." It was hardly eloquent but it was all he could think to say.

His father gestured towards the opening in the living room wall. "Come with me to the kitchen."

Most of the servants left as soon as dinner was served. The kitchen was empty when they arrived, nothing but the faint smell of melted butter in the air to remind them that anyone had been in it recently.

"Open the freezer, Thad."

He did as he was told, trying to keep his hands from shaking.

"You see the ice cream? Pull it out."

Thaddeus pulled out the tub and set it on the counter.

"Now grab two bowls."

He did as he was told while his father pulled open a drawer and got out a scoop and two spoons.

His father whistled as he pulled out two large vanilla scoops and placed them into each bowl. Thaddeus put the carton away. When he turned around, his dad was already digging into his own bowl.

He walked over and grabbed his own. When he brought the spoon to his lips, he couldn't even taste what he was eating.

"Thad, I feel bad for doubting you. You proved me wrong tonight. You are tough."

He nodded. This couldn't really be happening. Could it?

But if it was, he realized, shouldn't he let himself enjoy it?

Despite barely forcing down his dinner, he finished his dessert in record time. While he ate, his father told anecdotes from his day at the office. In retrospect, they were not particularly humorous. All the same, their laughter echoed through the house. No doubt Sid could hear them.

He wasn't sure when the conversation had turned to him, but when it did he mentioned his exam score. His father clapped again.

"I wouldn't expect anything less of you, Thad. That's wonderful."

No, this couldn't truly be his father. But he'd take that damn imposter and never let go of him.

Once they had finished and Thaddeus had washed out their bowls, his father pulled him into another embrace.

"That was incredible, Thad."

He'd practically floated up the stairs that night. It was only when he was in the upstairs hallway that he again remembered that Sid very well could still end his life. For a moment, he stood on the top stair, clutching the railing with all the strength left in his body.

It was only when he saw light under Sid's doorway that he walked forward. Passing by, he heard music. He tiptoed to his own room and locked the door behind him. He let out a long sigh when he turned on a light and saw that Sid hadn't left the place in shambles.

For the first time in his life, he went to bed that night while his father's words echoed in his ears without tossing and turning.

-

How the hell was he supposed to explain this to his dad? Billy bit his lip, surveying the smoking pile on his bedroom floor. Like all bad experiences, it had started with the kernel of a good idea.

His phone had been hovering close to zero for a while but he'd been unable to charge it. Well, he could have. His charger was right there on the floor by the dresser. But charging it meant plugging it in and finding something else to do.

Phones needed electricity to charge. He could shoot electricity from his fingertips. Why not at least give it a try?

So he'd hopped into the bathroom, locked the door, and said "Shazam!" Not yelled, mind you. The last thing he needed was for a neighbor to hear him.

Everything had been smaller when he'd returned to his bedroom. If he were to lie down on his bed, Billy feared his feet going over the edge. He was so tall that, were he to step inside of his closet, his head would break a hole through the ceiling. Not that anything inside of it was going to fit him.

There was no moment of hesitation, not even a last minute "But what if?" Billy had just grabbed his phone from his dresser and sent a stream of lightning onto its surface.

For just one moment, the screen turned on, bright and clear as the day he'd first gotten it. The cracks across its front were still there, but they seemed muted. The battery button had glowed a bright, healthy green.

But the electricity had just kept flowing, blue sparks dancing across its surface. The spark that hit his fingers was no more pronounced than the sting of static electricity that he felt when he pulled clothes from the dryer. Still, it and the continued stream of electricity had been enough to cause it to slip from his grip. It hit the floor with a loud thunk.

By the time he'd reached down to pick it up, the screen was dark again and smoke was coming out from the top. Hitting the power button didn't do anything. Hell, the spider web that encased the front of his screen was even more intricate than before. Bits of glass gleamed on the floor.

Billy picked his phone back up and held his finger firmly against the power button. Five seconds in and the screen was still black. The smoke, however, was even thicker.

The smoke!

Billy turned, checking to make sure that his bedroom door was indeed closed. As soon as that was done, he turned his head back and began blowing at the screen. Setting off the fire alarm in their hallway and forcing a mass exodus from his apartment would just be the cherry on top of his shit sundae.

He and Freddy had long since learned that neither of the two had freeze breath. Oh, they could blow long and strong enough to make birthday candles go out in one quick breath. But their enviously high new lung capacities aside, it wasn't as if they could make hurricane level winds.

Still, the force was enough to put the smoke out. For a moment, Billy could only stare down in relief at the screen.

Naturally, that moment had to end.

"Shit!" Billy groaned. What was a reasonable explanation for this?

He'd dropped it in the sink? It had the unfortunate side effect of making him seem like an idiot, but at least it was plausible. How about he just dropped it one too many times and one last fall suddenly turned it into a smoking mess? Surely something like that had actually happened to someone before.

No, that would probably just cause his dad to freak out. What if there had been a fire or he'd gotten burnt? His dad would never let him live that down. With his luck, Billy would end up with something "safe" - either a brick or a flip phone.

But phone shopping wasn't exactly his top priority. That was why he hadn't shown the cracked screen to his dad in the first place, wasn't it?

His father had been working from home or calling in sick a lot lately. The few times Billy had seen him, he seemed to be only half there. Every other sentence was a complaint about headaches. When was the last time that Billy had seen him eat?

Had he not had school that day then he would have gone with his father to his latest doctor's appointment. Hell, he almost had insisted on skipping. But despite how off he'd been lately, his dad had made one thing clear.

"You need to go to school."

Billy could have pressed the issue, insisted that he would only be missing one day. He could make up that. Colleges weren't exactly going to throw him out of interviews for one missed day. Or he could at least have asked his dad just what the doctors were looking for. If it wasn't his eye then it had to be the headaches.

Okay, he really shouldn't have Googled it. But when he'd gotten home from school that day to an empty apartment, homework hadn't exactly been his top priority. He'd started typing even before he reached his bedroom and had hit enter on Google right before he passed through the door. That was what he'd spent the last hour poring over, his battery's charge evaporating all the while.

Was it a stupid idea? Yes. Did he really have many other options? No, not with how much his father avoided Billy's questions.

Oh, it could have just been stress. Who wouldn't be flipping out after what had happened over Christmas? But part of him couldn't be sure of that, especially not when he scrolled through a list of other possibilities.

As bad as his dad was now - cantankerous and irritable, a few pounds thinner and seemingly thousands of light years from planet Earth - he could just as easily be a lot worse. What if he was sick? Like never getting better sick? Six months to live sick?

Billy's heart was racing now. Suddenly, his big body - still so foreign - seemed like a prison. He let his phone fall to the floor again. He hardly noticed the crack.

His eyes were red and puffy when he next saw his true face in the bathroom mirror.

"He can't really be sick," Billy whispered. "He can't be!"

His reflection looked doubtful.

And if he was, how the hell was Billy supposed to go on living without him?

-

Most of Freddy's share of the family data plan was now spent scrolling through the Oracle Alerts app. It was connected to about every local news station and police force in the country. It was how he found out about all of the crimes he went after. He'd even adjusted the in-app settings on his phone to prioritize alerts in Philly.

All it ever led to was mundane stuff - the usual muggings and grand theft (which, Freddy now knew, weren't really as different as they were cracked up to be). Sometimes he got a kidnapping, but that was rare. Though it had certainly been fun ripping the suspect's black Toyota straight off the side road and hearing that little boy start whooping from the back seat.

This? He hardly knew what to think of his latest message.

DISPATCH TO ALL AVAILABLE PERSONNEL: UNKNOWN CREATURES ON WILKINS BRIDGE. SPECIES CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED. LARGE AND DANGEROUS. COME ARMED.

Were they aliens? They certainly sounded that way. There was no physical description on the police alert, so they just as easily could have been little green men as they were seventy-foot-tall eldritch worms. What about escapees from a covert government lab? What if, beneath their grotesque exteriors, they were human beings?

Those questions hammered against Freddy's brain as he flew.

A simple thought was all it took to take Freddy from the skies above Philly to the cold winds of Illinois. The town below him was small with nothing particularly memorable about its features - at least from a bird's eye view. A roaring sound flew along the wind. Freddy followed it until he reached what had to be Wilkins Bridge.

His eyes about popped out of his skull. It was only partially because of the damage, but considering how much was missing from the bridge and how many cars decorated its surface (he squinted, but it was impossible to tell if there were any people in them), it was a miracle that it hadn't collapsed into the river below yet. It reminded him of an ever thinning Jenga tower. Yet the real reason he stopped dead in his tracks was because of them.

No wonder the police hadn't known how to describe them! They were like extras conjured straight out of an old Star Trek episode. He couldn't think of any living creature on earth that could be compared to them. They were implausibly proportioned and ugly as...

No way. This couldn't really be them, could they?

He squeezed his fists together tightly. Why hadn't Billy answered any of his texts? Even if these weren't the sins, he'd be able to think of something to do. Right then, all Freddy himself could think of was to fly down and start throwing fists. Using his leg was out of the question. It'd surely send the whole bridge down, and he wasn't about to let people escape being eaten by monsters only to drown.

Freddy bit his lip. He could fly down, turn back into himself, and try texting Billy again. Maybe even start calling him. If his phone wouldn't stop ringing then he'd have to pick it up, right?

It was certainly the safer option. And no matter what happened, Freddy could always turn back. But there was no telling what could happen in the mean time.

Could he really just go down and start fighting? Superpowers aside, there were six of them and only one of him.

Wait, wait, six!

His parents had been Jewish but never really practiced. Every foster home he'd been in had either been uber Christian, complete with daily warnings of eternal hellfire, or the kind that put up tons of Easter bunny and Santa Claus inflatables every year. The Vasquez's were firmly in the latter camp. They all but owned shares in local Christmas tree farms.

None of his foster parents had ever been Catholic, or at least not any had advertised it. But he didn't need to know the pope from Peeps marshmallows to know that there were seven deadly sins. That was what Full Metal Alchemist was for!

Whatever these things were, they were dangerous. There was no denying that. But they couldn't be whatever Billy had warned him of. It wasn't much, but he took that sliver of hope and grasped it with all his strength.

Billy would get to him. He had to. Until then, there were people down there who needed his aid. People who didn't have time for him to bury his face back in his cell phone.

He looked down, taking in the scene below one last time. He forced down the lump in his throat.

Was this terrifying? Oh most certainly. But would Superman take them on without a second thought? Yes! Hell, even Batman would, and he didn't even have any superpowers.

A blow to the back of his skull stopped him mid-flight. He froze in the air, blinking hard and barely able to think over the explosion that had just rocked the back of his skull.

"Champion, what an honor that you could finally arrive!"

That voice - where had he heard it before?

Freddy turned, his fists raised. He kept blinking until his vision stopped blurring.

Oh. Oh no no no no-

This isn't happening, he told himself. It just couldn't.

His friend getting kidnapped by a wizard and given superpowers? Freddy couldn't exactly dispute it, especially not with the way he was now. Weird monster things attacking the bridge below? As weird as they were, the Justice League had faced worse. Hell, if he made it through tonight then he'd no doubt only go further down a rabbit hole of peculiarity.

Yet as impossible as it seemed, there was Billy's dad. He was bald as Lex Luthor and as straight backed as Zod. He was wearing that same fur-lined leather jacket that Freddy had first seen in him. The only real differences between the man in front of him now and the guy he'd seen in those weird visions and in Billy's apartment were his ability to fly, the wizard's staff in his hands (shit, how the hell had he gotten that?), and his eye.

His eye! Where Billy had feared its absence, Freddy saw only an excess of... Something. It was round and silver, glowing blue around the edges. Whatever it was, Freddy could barely imagine holding it in his hands, let alone lodging it within his skull.

"Tell me," Dr. Sivana continued, "what made the wizard find you worthy? Are you truly pure of heart?"

Maybe this was just a hallucination, some alien creature taking on a person he knew's form so that it could fuck with Freddy's mind. But why Billy's dad? He was far from the person that Freddy respected most. Hell, he was far from being called the person that Freddy hated most. He was just, well, Billy's dad!

He blinked again.

"Not very talkative when the cameras aren't around, are you?" He twirled the staff around absently. "No point in wasting time then. I have a deal for you. Either you give me your powers..." He thrust the staff forward. Freddy had to pull himself away before it could hit the center of his chest. Whatever came next, who or whatever the person in front of him was, he didn't want to see its backstory. Today was weird enough already.

"...Or," he continued, "I kill you. It's a much fairer bargain than you think."

"Doctor Sivana?" Suddenly, Freddy didn't sound like the adult he was parading himself around as. Hell, he probably didn't even sound fourteen.

The man smirked. "At your service." He held the staff over his shoulders. "So you know who I am, then. Good, the wizard warned you of me. That means we can skip the introductions and get back to my offer. Tell me, champion, do you wish to die?"

Chapter Text

Freddy would be the first to admit that it was a cheap shot. Superpowers or not, he was no karate kid. If getting pushed against lockers and punched in the gut on a biweekly basis counted as getting into fights, then he had never initiated one himself, let alone won one.

Mortal Kombat made this look so easy.

Still, it was the first thing that had come to mind and the only move he'd ever perfected in his real body. Sure, Burke had almost given him a concussion for what he'd done to Brett, but it wasn't as if the guy hadn't more than earned it. And with Freddy's legs, could the pressure have really been that hard?

Brett had screamed like a little girl, a sound that Freddy would thankfully never forget because Eugene had recorded the entire thing. Dr. Sivana? He'd only let out a grunt and reached his hands towards his middle.

The wizard's staff had slipped from between Dr. Sivana's fingers when Freddy had kicked him with his one good knee. From the corner of his eye, Freddy watched it topple into the river below. Sivana hurried after it, his hands still cupping the area below his his mid-section.

Freddy let out a long sigh. Well, that had been something. He'd probably have to apologize to Billy later, but he'd gladly take the momentary embarrassment over another right jab from Sivana.

He rubbed at his chin. The pain from earlier was gone. Had he been less of a stranger to nose bleeds than he was then he might have missed the distinctive pain earlier. Even that had vanished. His face was dry and smooth as ever.

Nothing made sense. Certainly not the whole fighting his best friend's dad thing, but he doubted he'd get an answer for that any time within the foreseeable future. Not that it really mattered. Billy's dad or not, he wasn't just going to stand there and take hits.

No, it was the pain that stuck out to him. Bullets, he'd discovered, were metal mosquitoes - biting annoyances that he could easily flick away. Hell, he'd been hit by a pickup truck when trying to catch an escaped convict and that had only stung momentarily. While the pain itself was gone now, Freddy could still distinctly remember the way his nerves screamed when Sivana's fists reached his face. Hell, it was a miracle that he still had any teeth left.

How the hell was Dr. Sivana able to do any of this?

Freddy didn't have time to give the question much thought. Whatever the answer, it wouldn't do him much good now. Pushing forward, he hurried towards the bridge. Holding his arms out, he pushed a hulking thing away from a support beam that it had been hungrily gnawing at. Not only was it huge, but its grey-green skin was sticky and covered in a light green coating of slime. It clung to his fingers and had much the same consistency as dried syrup.

Freddy forced back bile. There was always time for a nice dip in the Arctic Ocean before he headed home.

While there were a number of vehicles left on the bridge, as far as he could tell they were all empty. The police had formed a wall of squad cars around the entrance to Gilliland, while the opposite end was blocked by a small cluster of cars. At their edges, he could faintly make out bystanders.

Why weren't they running? Wanting to be Superman and actually being him were two different things. If he were in their positions, he would have put his foot down on the gas and driven down the highway until the road eventually dumped him into the ocean. Did they want to die?

Freddy only had time to spare them a quick glance, though. As long as they didn't start running up the bridge, they should have been fine.

Right then, his biggest problem were six very ugly creatures that seemed hellbent on causing as much property damage as they could. With their ferocity, he doubted they were only going to rip up concrete.

The winged one came for him first, its jagged claws extended. Freddy was able to push it away, but his sleeve was ripped for the effort. Dots of blood decorated his arm that quickly turned to trickles.

The pain! Sivana's punches were nothing to scoff at, but a jolting electric surge had passed through him when the thing touched him. He imagined that he would get much the same feeling from sticking a fork in a light socket. Worse, his insides were burning now. The sensation was strongest in the tips of his fingers and head.

He grit his teeth. While there were no people on it, sending a bridge crashing probably wouldn't help him get into the Justice League.

Four of them were all racing towards him. While none had wings, some of them seemed able to float. No, it was more as if they could walk across the air. So going upward wouldn't mean only having to deal with the winged monster.

The burning sensation was stronger now. He half expected it to rip through his skin. Freddy bit his tongue, focusing on the pain. Then he flew forward, pummeling one with a very long tongue.

The problem was how easily they could get up after taking hits. The thing got up almost immediately after Freddy knocked it to the ground, its tongue twirling in the wind.

Freddy's heart was slamming against his rib cage. Where the hell was Billy? For that matter, where was the Justice League? This definitely seemed within their jurisdiction.

Okay, Freddy reminded himself. It's not over yet.

He'd made one cheap move already. Why not try another? With lives potentially on the line, codes of honor weren't exactly his biggest priority.

What if he died? Freddy had always made a point not to think about that. Life was weird and wild enough without worrying about its grand post-credits scene. And if he died, what body would be left behind? Would any body be left behind?

As far as Victor and Rosa were concerned, he'd just vanish into thin air. Maybe they'd think he was kidnapped. Part of him was sure that they'd think of him as just another runaway. They'd had more than their fair share of them. And nobody knew he was Tremblor. But at least there was always the chance that Darla or Eugene could put two and two together.

No, thinking about death was not particularly pleasant. But what else was he supposed to do when these things were the real deal? Hell, Billy's dad wasn't anyone to scoff at either.

Billy's dad! He was a scientist, right? Maybe he'd made these things. The theory didn't do him much good, but it gave him something to focus on besides the heat tearing away at his insides.

He clenched his fists. There was no point in dying without first putting up a hell of a fight. It was time to bring the pain.

-

Thaddeus would never admit it, but in his own way he respected the champion. He had a lot of chutzpah to attempt to take on six sins at once. The wizard hadn't skimped on choosing a champion.

Then again, maybe he had. What kind of an idiot took on seven enemies alone?

Not that it really mattered. Only having to deal with one champion was a relief. Once he was through with this one, there would be only one left. Perhaps the other would be a bit more pliable.

"My bargain still stands." Thaddeus ran his fingers along the edge of the staff.

"I'm telling you, I never met this wizard guy!"

He looked so pathetic with Lust holding down his legs.

In the end, all it had taken to topple him was a blow to the back of the knees. The sins had gone for him then, arms outstretched and mouths agape. Really, Thaddeus didn't have much of a choice in finishing him off quickly. The sins had never been ones for patience.

"You expect me to believe that?"

I've found him I've found him I've found him found found him found him found-

"Tell me his name." He raised the staff skyward. There was no telling just what doors he could open with a champion's blood. It was magic made solid, pure and powerful.

"Dr. Sivana, please stop!"

There was something fun about watching people beg. They had the strangest idea that Thaddeus might actually bother to listen to whatever they said.

"You can't kill me. William wouldn't want you to!"

He froze. His heart jumped from twenty to ninety-five miles per hour. It was beating as much against the side of his head as it was his chest.

"Why did you say that name?" He dropped the staff to the ground. Enough with the sins. No more magic. The champion would die by his own hands. "What the hell did the wizard tell you about him?"

"I've got name guessing superpowers."

The quips stopped when the champion saw Thaddeus reach for his throat. His face paled, and he leaned back as far as he could. Not that he could do much. Champion or not, his flesh was so very soft and weak.

"What the hell do you know about my son? Be truthful or I'll crush your windpipe."

"I..."

The rage was sudden, like a small spark that set dry kindling aflame and tore whole forests apart. Thaddeus would gladly let it burn.

"Tell me!"

-

WWWWD: The phrase decorated a rubber bracelet he owned. What would Wonder Woman do? Most definitely not this. But it wasn't like he had any better ideas. There was a thing crushing his legs and another thing holding back his arms, its rancid breath hovering close to his ear. Worse, Dr. Sivana's hands were close to his neck. So very, very close.

The question had just slipped out. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Super villains had weaknesses, right? That those vulnerabilities often happened to be living, breathing people wasn't his fault.

Would Superman have said it? That was anybody's guess. And he wouldn't have done what Freddy did next, either. Superman wasn't a weenie.

But hey, Freddy reminded himself as he opened his eyes, at least he wasn't dead yet.

"Freddy?"

He was on his knees in Billy's bedroom. It looked the same as when he last saw it save for bits of a broken glass on the floor.

"Hey, Billy. I've got some bad news for you." He coughed. The burning sensation was more intense than ever. He had to place his hands down on the floor and push back against it to keep from toppling over. While his suit was still ripped, at least the blood was gone. Someday he'd be able to make sense of that.

"Freddy, what the fuck happened to you?"

"Shazam."

He was still on his knees when the transformation ended. The pain was gone. In its place was a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat.

"Please, Billy, you have to believe me when I say this. I'm not trying to fuck with you." He took in a deep breath before releasing it, looking Billy dead in the eyes. "Your dad is a super villain."

-

Thaddeus hit the water back first. He let out a choked gasp of pain which was immediately met with a mouthful of dirty water. He frantically paddled towards the surface. The water around him was filled with debris. More and more was falling from the sky with every passing second.

The staff was still clutched in his hand. He half considered letting it go but stopped himself. The sins were angry enough at him already.

It wasn't as if he'd meant for the champion to get away. Even the sins had been shocked when, in the space of a single heartbeat, the champion had simply vanished. There had been no earth shattering explosion or a final quip before he left. He was simply gone.

For a moment, all Thaddeus had been able to do was blink.

Everything else afterwards was a blur. Envy had appeared before him, its claws clutched tightly together and its back stooped to where it could easily meet his gaze with those dagger like green eyes. They had been glowing. The other sins had quickly surrounded him. They had seemed even taller than before, their features more pronounced.

He's gone.

Again you wait too long!

What a pathetic excuse for a champion you are!

They were wrong, of course. He was worthy. They'd chosen him themselves, after all. Stood by him for decades when no one else would. This was just trial and error. All he had to do was find the champion again and finish what he started. If he was quick, the champion might not even realize what was happening until blood was spurting from his neck.

He could only pay attention to the sins for so long. The bridge had chosen that time to collapse beneath his feet. The sins had watched with beady eyes as he fell.

Wrath was the first to break through the water, pushing Thaddeus back down with him. Thaddeus' chest was tightening, his arms frantically pinwheeling even as the water got deeper and darker around him.

The other sins quickly followed. Gluttony could have caused a tsunami with the way it cannonballed into the water.

Your father was correct. You are a feeble man who can't do anything right!

Did we wait for nothing?

Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!

He could only hope that Pride was still talking about the wizard's champion.

Had they still been in the air then Thaddeus might have been able to explain himself. Opening his mouth now would only fill his burning lungs with more water. He barely had any air left already.

It wasn't just his chest that was tight now. The vice around his head would crush him if they went any deeper. He couldn't die like this. Not now, not when he was so close.

They couldn't let him die like this.

Could they?

Idiotic weakling!

Failure!

Everything was so dark and cold. As much as he hated the sins clawing at him while they pushed him further and further downward, he would have sooner taken their rage than the water's greedy embrace.

But take him it did.

-

"I know I sound crazy." Freddy clutched at Billy's shoulder. His whole body was shaking so hard that Billy feared what might happen if he let go of him. "But Billy, I saw him! He had this weird thing stuck in his eye and lightning coming out of his hands. And there were these monsters with him!"

"Freddy..." Billy bit his lip. The truth was, part of him wanted to believe what he was saying. Freddy had never lied to him before. And he practically had a Ph.D. in superheroics. Hell, just a few weeks prior he'd been given superpowers by a literal wizard in a cave located in who knows where.

But... Freddy was talking about his dad. Wouldn't Billy of all people have known if he was evil?

"Look, my dad's been at the doctor's office all day-"

"Please believe me!" Freddy was on the verge of crying now. "Jesus, Billy, one of those things scratched me. It was the worst feeling in the world. I felt like I was being cooked from the inside out!" He was panting now, his breath coming in and out so quickly that Billy feared that he would pass out.

"Freddy, I do!" And if he didn't really... Well, Freddy just needed to hear this. "I don't think you've gone bananas."

It took him a few moments for Freddy to start to relax. "Shit, I wish had my crutches."

"Look, we'll deal with that, okay? The same way we'll..."

Suppose for a moment that his dad was a super villain. Which, Billy reminded himself, was unlikely. But if he was, they had superpowers. If need be, they could deal with him.

"Billy, you told me once that your dad used to tell stories about a little boy meeting a wizard. You said they were like what happened to you."

"Yeah?"

"Did your dad ever do anything else like that? Or maybe just discuss something like this?"

"No, not that I'm aware of. I mean, how do you bring that up?"

Billy's throat tightened. A memory flashed through his mind but he quickly forced it away. It was hazy, anyway.

"Are you sure?"

He could barely remember what the rocks looked like. Maybe they had to do with something else entirely. Or maybe they didn't mean anything at all.

They couldn't.

"Freddy, I don't want my dad to be evil."

"Did I say that I wanted him to be?"

Billy took in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out. At this point, would it hurt to check?

Yes.

After the incident, he'd been scared to even look at the door of his father's study. His dad had been so mad. While the little statues he'd clutched at had long since become a blur in his brain, the rage etched across his dad's face would never leave him. He could still remember the way his heart had pounded against his chest.

He'd been so sure that his dad would throw him out. Give him up the way Ms. Glover claimed his mother had. Forget him.

He hadn't, of course. His dad had stuck by him through everything. Getting lost, running away, trying to find his mom, actually finding his mom... Hell, his dad been there for him after what Uncle Sid did, and Billy had probably needed the help a lot less than his own dad had.

It would be so easy to tell Freddy to shut up. To close his eyes and cover his ears, to worry about the way more probable reasons that his dad was being weird.

"I know someplace we can check." Billy closed his eyes. This was all a mistake. It had to be.

"Shazam."

Once the transformation was complete, Billy let Freddy hold onto his shoulders. He left his bedroom and walked down the hall, trying not to notice how close the top of his head was to the the ceiling.

When they reached the study door, Billy paused. Maybe if they didn't touch anything then his dad would never find out.

His throat was so very dry.

"Are you gonna open it or what?"

Billy forced back a curse. There was no point in starting a fight with Freddy considering how wild things were already.

He tried the door just to see if it was unlocked. Not that it opened - he'd seen his dad lock it that morning.

If he were a girl, he could have pulled out a hairpin and tried jingling at the lock until it opened. Instead, he just twisted the knob harder.

Surely the neighbors had heard the ensuing crash. Billy had only meant to break the lock, not rip the door off its hinges. Either way, it was in a heap on the floor and the small study was spead out before them.

So much for his dad not finding out about this.

"Billy," Freddy spoke. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

There were what looked like hundreds of drawings taped to the wall. Most were made of ink, but a few were just faint pencil markings. Some of the drawings were on yellowed paper while others looked fresh. On his father's desk was a pile of books, a laptop, and that same set of statues that he vaguely remembered. Just looking at them brought him back to the first time that he stepped into the wizard's lair.

He shook his head. No way. No fucking way!

Billy stepped forward all the same. Oh yes, he remembered those statues now. They'd been so big as a kid. Now, they could easily fit within his palm. Hell, he could probably crush one if he clutched it too hard.

"Oh my..." Freddy squeaked. He turned, pointing towards a set of drawings made with what looked like professional markers. "It's them. Those were the things with your dad."

"What even are they?" Billy couldn't bring himself to look at the pictures for too long. Turning, he saw that the whole wall next to the now empty door frame that he had first come into was covered in a floor to ceiling white board. Etched on it were symbols. Were they some kind of cypher? Or maybe a foreign language? Some parts had been sloppily erased. Others had lost their color or seemed stuck to the board's surface.

Freddy held something up to Billy's face. He tore it from his hand and held it up.

It was that same picture from earlier. It was a group of monsters. Written beneath each was a name.

"Lust," Freddy read aloud. "Pride, Gluttony, Wrath, Envy-"

Billy crumbled the piece of paper in his hand and dropped it to the floor.

No way, no way, no way! This wasn't happening.

"Billy! Look! Hey, listen!" Freddy pointed towards the row of drawings again. "Is that the wizard guy?"

This was one of the few drawings done in color rather than grey scale. It was all deep brown and sharp red and eye achingly yellow and oh so very, very blue. It was most definitely him.

"Shazam."

It had come without warning or even a second thought. The sudden change in his center of gravity sent both boys toppling to the ground, with Freddy practically crushing him. But he couldn't just stand there any longer in a place that didn't make sense at all in a body that he now still barely understood.

Freddy crawled off of him while Billy rubbed at his forehead. Surely there was another explanation for this. There had to be!

"William?"

With a groan, Billy looked back up towards the door.

-

Thaddeus had come back to his senses in what he had first thought was a coffin. Everything was so tight and dark and wet-

Wet!

Everything came back to him in a rush. Pushing himself upwards, his lungs hard and heavy as bricks, he forced himself back up to the surface. His right hand was still clutching the staff. He couldn't feel his fingers any longer.

The sky was dark and night chilly. A heavy wind greeted him as he gasped for air. The bridge was gone from sight and he didn't recognize the surrounding embankment. With weak legs, he somehow forced himself to a small beach. The pebble filled sand dug into his skin. Thaddeus' teeth were chattering so hard that he half expected them to chip.

He couldn't have lain there curled up in a ball for more than ten minutes before his clothes were completely dry. The cold was still there but it wasn't as noticeable. He flexed his fingers. Using the staff as leverage, he got back on his feet.

"What happened?"

Though he could feel them squirming inside of him, the sins said nothing.

Thaddeus sighed. It figured. No doubt they would continue to stew over his failures for as long as they saw fit.

"Now what?"

Thaddeus couldn't be sure who he was asking. Envy had always been the closest approximation to friendly - though it was a pale caricature of the word. Yet it was silent as its brothers.

Was he asking himself? Any other night he would trust his own judgement wholeheartedly. Now? He couldn't be sure if he was all there.

Whatever happened next was a blur. Maybe he'd flown back. Perhaps he'd simply blinked and found himself in front of his apartment door, his key outstretched in his shaking hand. Either way, the time between was lost to some great black pit without a bottom in a far off corner of his mind.

The door locked behind him with a soft click. The kitchen clock said that it was only ten minutes past eight. With how dark it was outside, he just as easily would have believed it to be midnight.

He rubbed at his eye and then froze. Jesus, what if William saw him? With nowhere else to put it, he leaned the staff against the fridge. Should his son see it, he could always say it was... What? His mind was drawing up blanks.

Not that it mattered, he supposed. The sins had a way of making others more pliable towards him. All William would need was just the teensiest, tiniest push to look away and mind his own business...

Thaddeus shook his head. He grabbed an extra box of bandages that he'd left on the top of the refrigerator and haphazardly applied them to his eye. He could straighten them when he changed them later that night. Grabbing the staff, he hurried from the kitchen.

There was no light coming out from under William's bedroom door. Was he out?

It was only when he got further down the hallway that he noticed the light pouring out from his study door. Or, rather, where his study door should have been. Picking up his pace, he hurried into the room, practically tripping over the fallen door.

He wasn't sure exactly what he'd expected to see, but it most certainly wasn't William and his friend (Franklin, was it?) collapsed on the floor, surrounded by ripped up pieces of paper.

For a moment, no one said anything.

Then, William's friend pointed towards the staff. "I told you he was a super villain!"

Thaddeus' heart was racing. William met his gaze before quickly breaking it away. He stood, leaning an arm against the wall, his gaze locked on his feet.

"What are you two doing?" He gestured towards the door. "How did you get in here?"

Oh, he had a sneaking suspicion, but he momentarily forced it back.

Of course, that moment had to end much more quickly than he liked.

"Shuh-"

Thaddeus never heard the boy finish. An explosion rocked through his head, his ears ringing and vision suddenly lost in a blanket of white. He blinked. When his vision returned, the boy was gone. In his place was the champion floating above the floor.

Thaddeus barely got the chance to take him in before the champion flew forward, his hands outstretched. The force of him hitting his chest was enough to send the staff flying from his hand and Thaddeus through the hallway wall and into his own bedroom. He barely had time to register the momentary flash of pain before an even sharper sensation hit him. The champion reached out and ripped the bandage away from his eyes with such force that he wondered if he'd taken his eyebrow with it.

"I told you!" The champion yelled.

William, standing at the door frame of his study, flinched. Thaddeus reached a hand towards his eye, covering it with his palm.

The sins were screaming at him to get up and start back from where he had left off that afternoon. Yet he couldn't even imagine getting back on his feet, let alone fighting the champion.

"Dad, what happened to your eye?"

"I... I can explain."

Somehow, he'd have to.

He tried meeting his son's gaze, but the boy wouldn't look at him. His lips moved, mouthing something that Thaddeus never caught. The sound was lost in the explosion that followed.

When his vision cleared, the second champion stared back at him. He pushed past the other, grabbed the staff from the floor, and held it up.

"What are you-" The first champion began. The rest of his question was lost to Thaddeus.

Wordlessly, the man who might once have been William pushed the edge of the staff into one of the hands that Thaddeus had sprawled against his sides. On reflex, he tightened his grip around the gnarled wood.

Chapter Text

His mother was a collection of bits and pieces, scattered sound bites and varying images, that never connected into a whole. She was a collage of floor length black dresses, glimmering pearl necklaces, glittering rings, permed golden hair, and perfectly red lips. In some of his memories, she didn't even have a face. She was only the warm, clear humming echoing down the hall. She was the reason Sid would scamper to and fro around the house, grabbing tea or mail or knicknacks, fluffing pillows and drawing baths. His brother had been much more tolerable then, an eager puppy rather than a snapping hound straining at the end of its leash. For all his efforts, the most Thaddeus ever remembered Sid getting for his troubles was a pat on the shoulder.

There were many nights when his father would come home, arms laden with gift bags and velvet boxes. He'd always wear his best suits when doing so, and was sure to present them to her with a flourish. Her reaction had long since left Thaddeus' mind. Yet his father's eager face remained.

Indeed, his father was in many memories of his mother. On the rare nights that he came home before Thaddeus was in bed, he seemingly shadowed her every step. It was as if magnets were set beneath her skin, as if he couldn't not touch her. He'd put his arms around her waist, cup her chin, pull her against his side as she sat reading the evening paper. One night, Thaddeus had snuck downstairs in search of a forgotten toy to find him peppering kisses down his wife's neck. For a moment, Thaddeus had stood behind the door, eyes wide and mouth agape. Yet just as quickly as it seemingly started, his mother pulled away. She always did.

Sid had been just as trapped in her thrall. Every afternoon, without fail, Sid would return from school, drop his satchel on the floor, and race forward to embrace his mother. Some days she might pat his back. Mostly, she pushed him away and hugged herself.

Even Thaddeus couldn't resist her. He'd try to scoot next to her when she was on the couch or scurry into bed with her as soon as his own pajamas were on. She'd always get up, complaining of another pressing responsibility.

Yet, like all the men in his life, Thaddeus was nothing if not persistent. How he'd wanted her to pick him up and kiss his forehead and cheeks, hold him close and let him breathe in her flowery perfume. If she would just run her light blue fingernails through his hair!

According to Sid, he hadn't even been lucky enough to get a taste of her breast.

One of the few times she'd let him close was when she put on her makeup. As long as he sat still on the edge of the bathtub and stayed quiet, he could watch her pat strange powders into her face and color her lips for what felt like hours.

She'd always been just out of reach. Then, one day, she'd been gone.

Thaddeus had come home from nursery school with a skip in his step. Mrs. Shapiro had dropped him off because his own mother couldn't drive. For all the glimmering bracelets and diamond covered rings his father bought her, car keys were one trinket he never bestowed upon his wife. Thaddeus had waved the woman goodbye, his lunch box clutched tightly in his other hand, and then hurried inside. Back then, he'd had to stand on his tiptoes just to reach the doorknob.

"Mama!"

That he got no answer hadn't concerned him at the time. He'd chalked it up to her being upstairs. Entering the kitchen, he'd found no servants. Not that it mattered. For once he hadn't come home hungry as he was still full from the cupcakes everyone had eaten at the end of class. While the name and face of the classmate celebrating her birthday had long since faded from his mind, he could still distinctly remember the taste of buttercream frosting and the crunch of multi-colored sprinkles against his teeth. Had he known what he'd be returning home to then perhaps he might have tried hiding away under his teacher's desk once the festivities ended.

It was only when Sid tore through the back door, his school uniform sweater clotted with dirt and his pants legs ripped, that Thaddeus' heart started racing.

"Thad! Have you seen Mom?"

He'd mutely shaken his head.

The two had raced upstairs, practically ripping apart the house as they went. Her makeup box was empty save for an old, dried up tube of lipstick stuck in the very back corner. Her dressers and closet weren't bare, but what little remained only made the room seem emptier. His father had always been meticulously neat, only ever having enough items that could fit into his closet and drawers. With his mother's combs and brushes pulled from her side table and her stack of books cleared from the dresser, the room at first glance had appeared entirely unlived in.

Sid was the one who found her bedside phone shoved beneath the bed, the wall cord torn and jagged. The kitchen and living room phones were in the same state.

Sid had been hysterical. Strangely enough, Thaddeus had been calm. Maybe the weight of it hadn't yet set in. Or, perhaps, for once he hadn't been the crybaby that his father always claimed he was.

Naturally, Sid had to ruin everything by suggesting they check their father's study.

"No!" Thaddeus had squeaked. The idea turned his hands clammy.

It wasn't as if the two could just walk in. Their father religiously locked the door and, as far as Thaddeus knew, kept the only key on person with him at all times. Thaddeus had only gotten faint peaks inside before when he'd knocked to inform his father of something.

"Quit being a baby, Thad. I know Dad keeps a phone in there."

But even Sid had been surprised to find the door wide open. The two hurried inside, Thaddeus peeking over his shoulder as if expecting their father to materialize behind them.

Thaddeus had paused for a moment, taking everything in. The framed oil paintings on the walls, the leather bound books that decorated floor to ceiling bookshelves, even the pictures on his father's desk. There were a few old ones of what he could only assume was his father and grandparents from when they were younger. More than a few were of his wife. How strange that she was smiling in every single one. There were even a few of Sid.

With Thaddeus pondering the pictures, Sid was the one who found the open safe. All that was inside were a few pieces of typed paper. Somehow, Sid managed to become even jumpier than before.

He hurried to the phone, picking it up. Turning, he met Thaddeus' gaze. "This one still works."

Thaddeus had watched as Sid quickly dialed a number. He leaned against the edge of an armchair. It seemed too thick and stiff to actually sit in, so instead he leaned his back against the side.

"Dad? I know you said not to call this number unless there was an emergency... Yes, I know things are busy at work for you right now... Dad, would you please listen?" Sid was on the verge of tears. Something about it made Thaddeus pull his knees closer against his chin.

"Mom is gone!" A pause. "No, she's not out shopping! She didn't leave a note or anything. Dad, if you just saw your room!"

Whatever his father said next caused Sid to wipe his eyes. He said a short goodbye, placed the phone down, and motioned for Thaddeus to step outside.

"Sid?" Thaddeus asked once they were back in the first floor's east hallway.

"Dad's going to be here soon." He straightened his back. "Come on, let's meet him in the garage when he gets here."

They had waited anywhere from twenty minutes to four hours. At least it had felt as if they had waited that long. Thaddeus kept pulling at the sleeves of his sweater, rolling them up and down until bits of yarn became frayed at the edges.

When their father did pull the garage door up, his Jaguar still roaring behind him, Thaddeus tried to match his brother's posture. Once the car was parked, his father only gave him a passing glance.

"You're serious, aren't you, Sidney?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Dad."

Their father ripped through the house much like the boys had. He tore open and slammed shut doors. He screamed "Margaret!" until Thaddeus heard him begin to go hoarse. What stuck out to Thaddeus most was what happened when they reached his parents' shared bedroom. His father had ripped open the door of her closet and begun throwing out whatever was left inside. It consisted mostly of unmatched shoes and old dresses and blouses that his mother rarely wore. One that stuck out to him was a blue cocktail dress that he distinctly remembered her wearing to a party with their father. His dad had about ripped it into two. There wasn't much jewelry left behind - nothing but a faded emerald necklace that his father tore from the chain and a pearl bracelet that, when ripped, rolled along the floor like marbles.

He'd torn open her drawers and done much the same. Neither Sid nor Thad said anything. Part of Thaddeus had wanted to leave the room, but he didn't want to risk catching his father's gaze. Sid had picked up one of her blouses and tried ripping it. All he did was send a few buttons flying.

Once everything was in shambles, their father stormed outside. The two boys shuffled along behind him. The anger was still there, but it had hardened into something beyond blind rage. Thaddeus easily recognized the heavy frown and hardness to his father's shoulders. Something about it told him that nothing else was going to end up destroyed that night - nothing material at least.

"Sid, Thad," their father said as he stood at the top of the stairway.

"Yes, Dad?" Sid asked.

"Go to your rooms and don't come out until I tell you to. Do you understand me?"

"Dad-"

"Sidney!" He turned, his eyes sharp as daggers. "Do. You. Understand. Me?"

"Yes, Dad. I promise." Sid's voice shook as he spoke.

Thaddeus had merely nodded and hurried towards his bedroom. He locked it behind him and hurried onto his bed, curling up into a ball.

When he first went inside, sunlight had been streaming in through the window over his desk. By the time his father came back upstairs and knocked on his bedroom door, a clear, waning crescent moon sat high in the sky. In between that time, Thaddeus had only been able to keep himself half occupied with a jigsaw puzzle.

"Dad?" Thaddeus asked when he pulled it open. Both his father and Sid were standing outside his door. Sid was clutching his father's arm.

"Thad, put on something fresh and get cleaned up. We're going out for dinner."

His mind jumped next to the three of them sitting in the car. He and Sid were in the backseat buckled up tight. His father never wore one.

"Whatever you do tomorrow, don't mention this to anyone. And I mean anyone! Not your teachers, not your friends, and not the neighbors. Do you understand me?"

The two shared a murmured "Yes."

"I called everyone that I could think of that might know what happened. No one has said anything." His grip tightened on the steering wheel. "Was your mother acting strange this morning?"

"She said she had a headache, so she didn't eat breakfast with us." Sid spoke up.

That might have been more notable had she not already done it a number of times within the last few weeks.

"Anything else?"

Neither answered him.

Thaddeus hadn't eaten much that night. The next morning, he didn't even finish a quarter of his bowl of cereal. It was so disorienting to sit down and see his father sitting across the table from him.

Not that it became a familiar sight. Instead, he went to work earlier than ever so that he could be home each night for dinner.

Usually, Sid was the one who brought their mother up. Ripped buttons aside, he seemed desperate for news of her.

"Have you found her yet?"

Their father's answer was always the same.

Sid had constructed elaborate theories of where she might have gone off to. She had been robbed and kidnapped and any day now someone would call the Sivanas up demanding enormous sums of money for her safe return. Or she had run off to Hollywood to star in movies and soon her face would be plastered across posters at the cinema. Maybe she had a fabulously wealthy lover in Europe or the Middle East who made their own father look like a pauper. Back then, Thaddeus had only half understood what his brother was saying.

His father certainly had theories of his own, but he never brought them to light. Speaking of their mother was strictly forbidden, a fact that Sid needed to be reminded of regularly. The welts on his brother's arm helped Thaddeus to largely hold his own tongue.

Then the forms from Haiti had arrived and any further discussion of her stopped completely.

-

Thaddeus' head was pounding. He only half understood what was going on. Images and voices surrounded him, and if he didn't try to push them away then they threatened to swallow him whole.

It had taken him a moment to recognize the woman. Her presence was all-consuming.

"Mom, you promised you'd tell me a story."

"No, I said that I might." She rubbed at her eyes.

"But, Mom!"

"Look, Billy, I'll make it up to you in the morning. Just go to sleep, okay?"

"Mom!" Salt was beginning to burn at the edges of his eyes. "Don't leave me yet!"

With his mom around, his growling stomach and the holes in his socks were easier to ignore.

"I need you."

In the weak light, her change in expression was hard to catch.

"I don't want a story anymore. I promise, Mom! Don't leave!"

"You know I have to get to work." She reached a hand into her pocket. The jingling sound caused him to push his blankets away and clumsily push himself from his bed. He landed legs crossed, face down on the floor. Pushing himself up, he hurriedly crossed the room and grabbed her leg.

"Don't go!"

"Billy, it's not like I want to leave." She shook her leg. Billy toppled onto his butt, the sting running up his back. "Look, we've been over this before. You need to be tough for me."

"Mom!"

"You heard me!" She held the key up. "Neither of us want to do this. I know that. But if you stay strong, we'll both get through this. Can't you please do that for me?"

He never got the chance to reply. Just as she finished speaking, she hurriedly stepped outside, slammed the door shut, and locked the door with a hard click.

"Mom!" He banged at the door. "Mom, don't leave!"

If he were tough, he would have gotten back into bed and tried to sleep. He would have pulled the covers tight over his head and pushed away thoughts of monsters. If he got into bed now, he probably could.

Reaching up, he grabbed his doorknob and hurriedly spun it around. There was no lucky fluke. It remained closed as tightly as ever.

Tough boys wouldn't have continued beating on the door. If he were strong, he wouldn't worry about the possibility that he'd wake up in the morning to find the door still locked, to call out for his mother and get no answer.

As much as his mother asked it of him, he just couldn't do that for her.

Thaddeus forced his thoughts elsewhere. The sins were maddeningly silent. Whatever the hell was causing this, he needed to get out.

Thaddeus had been down this road before and knew exactly where following her led.

-

"You need to toughen up." Their father didn't even look up from his plate as he spoke. "I won't always be there to swoop in and rescue you if you get into trouble."

Thaddeus' stomach tightened. He could distinctly feel Sid's glare burning a hole into his side.

"The world's a rough place. It doesn't have room for people who don't take care of themselves, Thad."

"Dad, I'm sorry!"

He wasn't even sure what had caused him to be chastised this time. His father always found some slight or failure to hold over his head.

It wasn't Thaddeus' fault that he couldn't play in gym class without his chest getting tight and losing his breath. He hadn't asked to be small for his age or to need glasses.

Oh, he'd tried to be better. No one had seem him cry in almost three years. His brain - the only muscle he had that mattered - had gotten him out of many scraps with his brother. How was he not helping himself?

A retort hung on his tongue but he swallowed it back. At least his father wasn't yelling. As long as he got to speak whatever was on his mind, he would let Thaddeus leave the dinner table when he was done eating. Thaddeus' forced down a bite of cheesy brocoli, forcing his mind to focus on the novel he had started reading earlier.

"Do you understand me, Thad?"

"Of course, Dad."

-

Freddy wasn't going to lie, and he sure as hell couldn't think of any way to rationalize this. This was, hands down, one of the weirdest things he had ever seen, and he and Pedro had once stayed up all night watching progressively lower quality YouTube Poops.

At this point, he wasn't sure if Billy or his dad were still breathing. Billy's eyes were wide and unblinking, a frown frozen on his lips. Dr. Sivana looked lost, his brows furrowed and mouth hanging open, his head rolled back. The gleaming grey ball in his eye crackled with blue electric sparks. A stream of smoke exited his eyelid. It smelled like spoiled milk and was the color of car exhaust. It would hover over his head for some time before quickly returning back to the ball. Whispers hung on the air, but though Freddy could hear the chatter, the words themselves lacked meaning.

"Hey, Billy," Freddy said, waving his hand in front of his eyes. "Can you hear me?"

He considered shaking his friend's shoulder but stopped himself. If he got dragged into whatever was going on...

He half considered changing back but stopped himself. There was no telling what might happen next. He certainly didn't feel like crawling back into Sivana's office just so he could have a wheeled office chair to roll around in.

Whatever was going on, Billy would figure something out. He had to.

-

Sid had never been fond of him, but their mother's absence caused his indifference to calcify into resentment. Thaddeus was never sure why it occurred, but he suspected that it was as simple as Sid disliking him because their father also disliked him. Where Thaddeus would have to fight to gain his approval, Sid would almost instantly get it. It was easy enough for him, with his lean but muscular frame and athletic skills. That he knew how to throw a punch certainly helped.

Had being around Sid made him tougher? Thaddeus highly doubted it.

His stomach was so very tight. He had a school project to work on, but he'd been in the bathroom for the last thirty minutes scrubbing Sid's soccer cleats. They were so caked with dirt that he was surprised that Sid could wear them without tripping. So far, he'd only managed to clean half of one. He would have gone faster if not for the feel of dirt on his hands. All he wanted to do was throw the shoes into the garbage, strip off his clothes, and soak in boiling water until his red, leathery skin peeled away. Then and only then would he be clean.

Still, this was better than the previous night. The rug burn he'd gotten still stung. As long as he didn't complain and did what Sid asked, the better everyone would be. Maybe Sid wouldn't even complain to Dad!

Thaddeus kept that in mind as the bath water turned black.

-

Billy wasn't in his own body anymore. Where he once had the distinctive warmth of flowing blood and the sharp jolt of ever tingling nerves was now an empty numbness. Yet his conscious was his own. Before, it was as if he had been someone else. Now, it was more like watching a movie.

Unlike before, he wasn't his dad. He was not some puppet wearing another person's skin. There was a wall surrounding Billy from what he saw before him, hard and seemingly insurmountable, that he hoped to never cross.

If he did, there was no telling just what he might feel.

-

Christmas was a dreadful holiday. It was one of the few facts that he and his father could agree upon.

Christmas meant wearing scratchy suits and pretending to be excited about getting a new belt or pair of socks. It also meant listening to the same five songs on every radio station.

It meant coming home to a house with no trees or lights. Maybe, if he had those to look forward to, he would have a reason to get excited. But his father was adamant about keeping the house functional. Christmas trees were nothing but glorified dust collectors.

And yet for once in his life, Thaddeus found himself excited about the holiday. For winning the class book report competition, Ms. Sherman had gifted him with a brand new Magic Eight ball. It had been the cherry on top of what was a very relaxed final day of school. In lieu of tests, the day had been spent munching on sugar cookies, singing along to old records, and making paper mache wreaths.

It hadn't even mattered that his own wreath had fallen apart before it fully dried, the underlying wires crushed and bent. Jeannie Goldman had given Thaddeus her own wreath. It was colored a warm green and speckled here and there with red dots. She had tied little bells onto it when the paint had dried that tinkled when he shook it. Wrapped around the front was a red ribbon that reminded him of the same ones she tied her pigtails back with.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" he'd asked.

"My family's not going to use it." She adjusted her glasses. She was the closest person to a friend that he had in class. Like him, Jeannie spent her recesses inside reading. Both had represented their classes in the fourth grade spelling bee back in October (and, Thaddeus mused, both had lost before the final round). Where Thaddeus spent his days doodling space ships, Jeannie spent hers writing down whatever crossed her mind in a black, leather bound journal. She'd shown it to him once. Her cursive was impeccable.

"Thanks," he said, carefully holding it. "It's really pretty."

Her cheeks had turned red. "Have a good holiday, Thaddeus."

"You too." She pulled out her journal, ripping out a piece of paper that she quickly tore in half. From her jeans, she fished out a black pen. "You're welcome to call."

As soon as she'd given him her number, he quickly did the same for her.

"I'll try." Thaddeus said. "But I might be busy."

That wasn't exactly a lie. He had a whole stack of books to get through. But the only phones in the house were in his father's bedroom and study or the kitchen and living room. No doubt Sid would want to know who he was calling. And his father would surely find a reason to say no. He always did.

It wasn't that he was a prisoner in his room. It was more that being anywhere else felt one thousand times more oppressive.

"My family is going to my grandpa's for a week, anyway. I don't think I'll be allowed to call you from New York."

Her face dropped. "Oh."

"I promise I'll try." He paused. "You won't be in the hospital, will you?"

Her face tightened. "I hope not."

Jeannie bled easily. Back in late September, she'd lost almost a week of school after scraping her knee. The whole class had made cards for her.

"Sorry," Thaddeus said. "I shouldn't have asked."

She looked away from him. "Please try to call."

When he'd gotten home, he'd hung the wreath on his bedroom door. There was still a skip to his step. Though school was out for three weeks, he wasn't alone.

Kicking off his shoes, Thaddeus unzipped his backpack and pulled out his Magic Eight ball. A few of his classmates had crowded around him when he opened the box, begging him to let them ask it a question.

Thaddeus sat on the center of his bed and began shaking it. The rational part of his mind knew that it was just a toy. He could ask it anything and it would always give him an answer, any answer. But he had rightfully earned it and that made it special. His father certainly wouldn't have bothered to get him something like this. But fate had made it find its way into his hands all the same.

"Does Jeannie really want me to call her?"

As I see it, yes.

"Will I start making more friends at school?"

Signs point to yes.

He couldn't help but grin.

"Will this be a memorable Christmas?"

Without a doubt.

-

Billy wasn't sure when exactly things began to change, when the images and his body began to merge together. But as the lines between them began to blur, he felt much the same way he did when his mother left him at the carnival.

-

Billy awoke to sunlight streaming in through frosted windows. Wrapped between a thick pile of colorful cotton blankets, his head perched against fluffy pillows, he would have never entertained the idea of getting up if his brain hadn't bothered to take in the room around him. But it did, sending him sitting up with a jolt. His(?) heart hammered against his chest.

Eyes wide, he surveilled the room. There was a Magic Eight ball and a stack of paperback books on a nearby desk. A closet door was open, revealing starched white button up shirts and sweater vests of every color imaginable. Pinned to the walls were pencil sketches.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

He looked down. Small, pale hands were all he saw. Pulling a blanket back, he saw candy cane striped pajamas and yellow wool socks. His vision was blurred around the edges.

A sudden banging on his door sent him jumping out of bed.

"Thad, the shower's free! Dad says breakfast is in twenty minutes. You better not make us wait like you did last weekend!"

"I won't, Sid."

He hadn't meant to say that. It had just come out.

Really, he hadn't meant to do anything that he did next. But where he'd once had a bird's eye view, he now had a front row seat.

There wasn't much hot water left when he got into the shower. He hurriedly scrubbed at his skin and shampooed his hair. The mirror had already been steamed over when he came inside.

Like a robot, he dried off and hurried back to the room he woke up in. Entering the closet, he grabbed an olive green sweater vest, a starched shirt, and black slacks.

Freddy was going to get such a laugh out of this. Hell, he probably would too once this all ended. Seriously, human reproduction should have stopped en masse once feathered hair and plaid pants became the norm.

But that didn't change how weird things were. Weirder than being kidnapped by a wizard. Very, very much weirder.

With his glasses on, he could finally take in more of the room around him. What had once been blurry sketches hanging against the wall were now drawings of tanks and rockets. Scribbled across the bottom in messy print was the word "Thaddeus". The books decorating his desk were by Harlan Ellison, Anne McCaffrey, and Arthur Machen. He only gave them a quick glance before grabbing the Magic Eight ball from his nearby desk and slipping it into his pocket.

The house around him didn't look much different than it had when he had really been there. He walked slowly, only stepping on the carpeted parts of the stairs. The whole place was dreary and had few signs of life.

The dining room table was set with a pot of coffee, bowls of fruit, and plates stacked with medium brown pieces of toast.

"Took you long enough," Sid said.

Sitting in front of a plate of oatmeal was a five dollar bill. Despite himself, his whole body warmed and he eagerly snatched it up.

"Oh, thank you, Dad!"

Sid sat forward, holding up what looked to be a freshly printed twenty. He smirked.

"I trust you boys won't buy anything stupid." His grandfather looked directly at Billy as he spoke.

Five dollars! Jesus, weren't they supposed to be rich?

Billy was aware that he was eating but couldn't taste anything. Sid and his grandfather conversed as he ate.

"I just got word from your grandfather today that Aunt Fiona managed to get a plane ticket back from Taiwan in time for Christmas. She's expected to show up sometime tomorrow afternoon."

"What? Dad, you said we wouldn't have to deal with her this year!"

"I'm disappointed myself, Sid. Just keep close to grandpa and she shouldn't bother you too much."

Sid groaned.

The Magic Eight ball hung heavy in his pocket.

Just as he finished his second slice of toast, a phone began to ring. His grandfather motioned to Sid, who hurriedly stood and ran out the door. Billy continued eating.

"Dad?"

"Yes, Sid? Who is it?"

"No one I know."

"Is this a sales call?" His grandfather rubbed his forehead.

"No, just some girl. She says she wants to talk to Thad."

Billy froze. His grandfather raised an eyebrow.

"Well, go on," he said after a moment. "You have exactly five minutes."

He entered the living room with clammy hands. Sid wordlessly handed the phone to him. The fact that it didn't slip from between his shaking hands was a real Christmas miracle.

"Hello?"

"Thaddeus?"

"Jeannie! I'm sorry I didn't call."

"It's okay." She paused. "Actually, I didn't expect you to be home. I thought you would already be in New York."

"No, we don't leave until this evening." Somehow, Billy instinctively knew that his grandfather had one more business lunch to attend. While he was gone, he'd have to pack.

"I just wanted to call and wish you a merry Christmas. Have a good day tomorrow."

"You too, Jeannie."

By the time he hung up the phone, he felt like he was walking on air. He returned to the breakfast table with his shoulders straight and head held high.

"Who was that?" His grandfather asked.

"A girl from school." For once, his voice didn't break. "A friend."

Sid whistled. "How much did you pay her to do that? Girls like her, you give them any more and they'll do anything you ask. Anything!"

His stomach flipped.

"Now, Sid, I told you not to talk like that at the table." His grandfather glared at Sid. "I certainly don't want you pulling anything like that tonight. Do you understand?"

They both nodded. Billy hardly noticed his grandfather, though. He'd gotten a phone call! No one ever did that!

Wait, yes, of course that happened! He practically got a robocall every day. He forced the earlier thoughts away.

Time jumped forward. Billy awoke with a creak in his neck in the back of a Cadillac. The sky outside was dark. Sid sat in the front, a folded up map on his lap. His grandfather's eyes were locked on the road. Old Christmas music was coming in through the radio.

For a while, Billy just watched the scenery fly by. The place seemed familiar. For miles, there was nothing but trees. The number of cars they passed could be counted on one finger.

When that lost its luster, Billy pulled the Magic Eight ball from his pocket. He didn't even ask it anything, just shook it to watch the glowing triangle dance.

"Thad, I told you no toys at grandfather's."

"But it's Christmas!" As if to somehow prove his point, he shook the ball again.

"Sid," his grandfather spoke, motioning his head towards the backseat.

Without even turning his head, Sid reached his hand back and ripped the Magic Eight ball from Billy's grasp. He shook it, holding it close to his face. "Hey, Magic Isn't Real Ball! Is Thad here ever going to become a man?"

"Hey! Give that back!" He pushed against the edge of his seat belt, frantically trying to reach Sid. He could barely even touch his uncle's shoulder.

Sid gave a mock sigh. "Outlook not so good."

"Dad!"

His grandfather sighed. "We've gone over this before, Thad. You can't just go running to other people to fix your problems."

"But! But-"

The words died on his lips when the radio suddenly turned to static. Symbols were glowing bright green on the dashboard. He followed them, but they were changing too quickly for him to get more than a passing glance at each.

Those symbols... No way!

Sid and his grandfather were gone now. That might have been more concerning if the road hadn't vanished as well. Frost was quickly coating the windows.

Of all the things to be stuck reliving!

Billy frantically unbuckled his seat belt. He scooted towards the door and frantically opened it. The door swung out without even the slightest hint of resistance.

It was no surprise that he was back at that weird cave place. Yet as familiar as it was for him, his new body was certainly alien to it. He hugged himself, rubbing at his arms.

"Hello? Where am I?"

He got no answer. Turning, he saw that the car was gone. He stepped forward.

There was the throne room. The first thing that stuck out to him were the statues - so large and so detailed! Nestled between them was a strange glowing purple ball with rounded openings in the side. There was something positioned within its center but Billy could not tell what.

At the end of the room were the same seven sets of thrones that he first remembered. Shazam sat at its center, his glowing staff held out. When he saw Billy, he stood. While he did not look any younger, he certainly seemed healthier and faster.

"Thaddeus Sivana, do not fear me. Twas I who brought you here." He stepped forward, his staff held aloft. "I am the last of the seven council of wizards. I brought you here so that I might give you my magic. With it, you will protect the world from the Seven Deadly Sins and the other great evils that plague your home."

Tapping his staff, a golden image appeared of a man in a now far too familiar lightning bolt embedded one piece. His face wasn't visible, but it was so very easy to imagine it bearing his own.

"You want to give me magic?"

Getting money, a phone call, and the promise of Great Aunt Fiona's snickerdoodles was just the tip of the iceberg. With magic, nobody would ever laugh at him again. Everyone would want to be his friend. Sid would become nothing but an afterthought in the family, and his dad would never be disappointed in him again. He would be tougher than anyone! His dad had always wanted him to be a winner, hadn't he? This was better than opening a company or being elected president.

This was everything.

Billy stepped forward, his hand outstretched.

In turn, the wizard stepped back. "But first you must prove to me that you are worthy. Show me that you are pure of heart."

Billy blinked. How was he supposed to do that?

For a moment, all he could do was stand and blink at Shazam.

He lies.

Billy turned his head, his mouth falling open. His eyes locked on the statues.

He will not give you magic.

But we will.

Be our champion.

Billy wanted to cover his ears and run in the opposite direction. The body he was in did the exact opposite. It stepped forward, a hand outstretched.

Your father thinks you are weak.

How would you like to prove him wrong?

Images flashed before his mind. He was older, taller, handsomer. Lightning glowed from his hands and he floated some six feet off the floor. Sid and his grandfather stood opposite him, clutching each other. Tears dotted the edges of their eyes.

It was so much like he had always imagined... Except, he supposed, he would have a reason to be merciful. Something told him that that his father and brother could be made more pliable.

The images shifted. He was eating dinner with Gerald Ford one moment, and flying straight into Viet Cong headquarters the next, bombs and bullets bouncing off his skin. The Berlin Wall fell like wooden blocks against his fists. Reporters clamored to speak to him. He was booked on every prime time TV show for months.

Oh yes, he so very wanted to prove his father wrong!

As he stepped closer to that strange purple globe, it moved apart, opening to reveal a grey ball that glowed light blue around its edges. He could almost feel it...

He let out a jolt of pain as the bottom of his leg seemingly caught fire. He flew across the room, landing in a pile of pebbles. His pants leg, now singed and torn, was smoking.

"No! Do you have any idea of what you just did? Who you could have hurt?"

Billy blinked. The pain in his leg was still there, but it wasn't as sharp. His hands were bleeding, though. He tried picking pebbles from them but stopped as the sting intensified.

Looking up, he met the wizard's gaze. His eyes were blue as the center of fire. Forget his father, the man himself might consume him in that fiery rage until there was nothing left of him.

"Only someone pure of heart could have resisted the sins' promises. You most certainly did not." He held his staff forward. "You will never be worthy."

"No, wait, please! Let me prove it! I am worthy!"

The wizard's staff grew even brighter. The air around him crackled. He had to squeeze his eyes shut.

"I am worthy! I am!"

When he next opened his eyes, a hand held against his face, he was back in the car. Sid's elbow was pressed against the window, the Magic Eight ball forgotten in his lap.

"Please! Don't leave me!"

"Thad?" his grandfather asked.

"Jesus, what's gotten into you?" Sid turned his head.

"Where is it? I was just there!"

"Where's what?" his father asked, shooting him a look through the rearview mirror.

"The wizard! He took me to his castle and-"

"Thad, you've finally lost it. I can't believe it took you this long."

But Billy hardly noticed his uncle's words. The body he was in went straight for his seat belt, unbuckling it with ease. He hurried across the car, pulling at the door, trying to roll down the windows, anything. He had to find the wizard!

"Thad, what the hell do you think you're doing?" His grandfather wasn't looking at the road now. He seemed to be glowing, headlights turning his skin a light golden color.

Headlights!

A truck honked. Turning back, his grandfather frantically turned the steering wheel, pulling them out of its way. The car spun, barely able to stay on the road. He stopped right in its center, going across two lanes, his foot practically glued to the breaks.

For a moment, all anyone could do was breathe. The only sound was that inane Christmas music.

"I was really there! I saw the wizard!"

"Stop!"

Billy froze.

"You miserable, pathetic little shit. Did you even see what you just did? You almost killed all of us!"

Any retort froze on his lips. His grandfather hadn't hit him yet, but the possibility hung distinctly in the air.

And he didn't want to arrive bruised to Christmas Eve dinner, did he?

Hurriedly, he buckled himself back in.

"Dad, I-"

"Shut up, Thad."

His shoulders slumped. "But I-"

"Shut up!"

A wall of sound engulfed them anyway. The crunch of metal hitting metal and glass tearing apart into thousands of pieces reverbated through his ears as the car tumbled off the road and into a small wooden clearing below. His glasses flew off his head, turning the world blurry again.

When the car finally stilled, he frantically reached for what he thought were his glasses. He hurriedly pulled them on.

Sid was frozen in his seat but still seemed to be breathing. The whole front half of his grandfather's side of the windshield was gone. Glass was everywhere. The radio had finally gone silent.

"Dad? Dad!" Sid called. He frantically unbuckled and hurried out the car.

Billy quickly followed. This time, the car door opened easily for him.

His grandfather was laying flat on the icy ground, his head buried into the snow. Sid ran forward, turning him over.

"Dad! Oh, Dad, you're okay!"

"Sid..." He paused. "I can't..."

He wasn't moving.

Billy froze.

Why hadn't it stuck out to him before that his grandfather, up until this point, had been walking?

Sid's head swerved. The wrath in his eyes could have given the wizard a run for his money. "You did this!"

"No, I, I!" He stepped back, almost tripping. There on the ground was his Magic Eight ball. It was sparking with blue electricity. Leaning down, he scooped it up. There was something written across it. He squinted, trying to ignore the cracks in his glasses.

Find us.

-

"Billy, can you hear me?"

"Mwurthee! Mmmwurthee!" He had been repeating it in a low whisper for almost a minute. Fat tears streamed forth his eyes and his hands were bleeding, sending small red rivulets down the glowing yellow staff.

Freddy's head had been turned when the transformation occurred. When he'd last seen his friend, he was a superhero. When he looked again, there was his real body. Smoke had been pouring from the bottom of the left leg of his jeans but it had since stopped. A burnt smell still hung in the air.

"Billy!" Reaching a hand forward, Freddy grabbed his shoulder.

Freddy had to hold back a scream. He pulled his hand away. There was that burning sensation in his blood again, so hot that his organs might melt. It crackled through him in a white hot explosion.

Freddy squinted his eyes shut. No, no, no!

When he opened them, the pain was muted if not entirely gone. He was on the floor, his legs splayed out. Billy wasn't the only one in his real body.

Freddy groaned and rubbed at the back of his head. He blinked and blinked again, but it was as if he were looking through an old telescope.

"Billy?" he grumbled. "Billy!"

His friend seemed suddenly so far away. Hell, Freddy could barely hear his own voice. The darkness around the edges of his vision expanded.

-

He never wanted to go to another hospital again for the rest of his life. It felt as if the smell of antiseptic was burnt into his nose.

Something told him he wouldn't get his wish. As soon as visiting hours were upon them, his great grandmother planned to drag the whole family over the next morning. She'd religiously taken them every day since Christmas. The hospital staff had at first made a fuss over him coming due to his age. She had all but hung their heads on pikes for it.

Forget Sid and his grandfather. No one except Great(-Great?) Aunt Fiona talked to him any longer. If his family didn't glare or snap at him then they might not have even bothered acknowledging him at all.

"It's going to be alright, Thaddeus." Great Aunt Fiona pulled up the covers of his bed and kissed his forehead.

He wanted to speak but the lump in his throat was too tight. Instead, he tore his arm from the covers and grabbed her hand. All he could get out was a whimper.

She sat down on a chair near the bed. Once upon a time, his grandfather had grown up in the same room.

"I won't leave yet." She squeezed his hand.

"Is Dad ever going to walk again?" He was amazed that he could force the words out at all.

"No."

If he had asked any other family member, they would have said the opposite.

"Your father is a tough man, Thad."

"Doctors get things wrong all the time."

"He's not," she repeated. "I used to work at the wounded soldiers' hospital. A lot of men came in like your dad. They came home scared and barely able to move. We had to teach them how to do everything again and get on with their lives. Most of them were able to do it. But no, none of them ever walked again."

"Not like you?"

She frowned. Over her right leg, situated above her pantyhose, was a large metal brace. "That happened to me for a different reason. The doctors could mostly fix it." She sighed.

"It's my fault, isn't it?"

"Of course not." She rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "I've heard what the others are saying. They need someone to blame it on because it's easier than acknowledging that sometimes bad things... Well, sometimes they just happen and there's nothing anyone can do about it."

"I wish it never happened."

"Of course you don't. Oh, what a way to start the new year." She leaned forward, holding up his chin. "Repeat after me, Thaddeus."

"Yes?"

"Everything will be alright."

"Everything will be alright."

Billy so desperately wanted to believe her. He was sure as hell that his dad hadn't when he first heard it.

Hadn't his grandfather always called his great aunt crazy for a reason?

She stayed with him for a while longer, running her hand along his arm. As she did, she hummed a song that he didn't recognize. All the same, he joined in along with her.

He must have dozed off because when the room next came into focus, she was gone. It was even darker than before. No light came in from under his door crack.

It was so very, very quiet.

Champion.

He shot up in bed, clutching his sheets. What in the name of-

Find us!

"What are you?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

Your father will always blame you for what happened. Always!

"How... How are you doing this?"

Does it matter?

What had once been a mix of voices was now a singular force beating against his brain.

Find us. Help us help you.

-

Where the hell was the off switch for this thing? These were all just mind games. They had to be. Somewhere out there was his - well not his real body, but his new one. His better body, the one that could fly and withstand bullets. That body was out there somewhere, still clutching that staff. If he could just let go...

-

By the time New Years had ended, the three Sivanas were back in Philly with his grandfather's parents in tow. And they weren't the only new faces - nurses and physical therapists came each day as well.

When school started back up, Jeannie wasn't in class. His grandfather hadn't been the only one stuck spending the holidays in a hospital.

His grandfather spent his days trying to navigate the world in a wheelchair. Billy wasn't sure if his grandfather ran over his foot or bumped into him on purpose. Either way, by the middle of January he himself was walking with a limp.

"Is everyone in this family a cripple?" Sid asked. Billy couldn't see his uncle but soon felt him. His hands dug into his back before pushing him face first to the floor. His glasses went flying.

Billy said nothing, just sat up and rubbed at his face. As far as he could tell, he wasn't bleeding.

"Don't!" he yelled. There was little force behind it.

"Or what?" Sid asked. "You're going to be in a wheelchair before I am."

Where he had once been able to go days without Sid starting anything, it soon became a daily occurrence. His older foster brothers had done many of the same things to him when he was younger. Maybe living with his dad had made him soft, because Billy had certainly forgotten what it felt like to be dragged around by the leg and have his face shoved directly into a dirty toilet.

Businessmen and investors soon became another familiar sight. His grandfather had gotten a new phone line installed and taken to working from home. Some days, with construction on ramps and a new elevator so backed up, he didn't even leave the east wing of the house. A bedroom had been hastily set up across from his study. Billy was quickly becoming far too familiar with both spaces.

His study had once been a mystery. Now, Billy knew the place as well as he did his dad's own apartment.

Sometimes, his grandfather only called him inside to have him sort through papers or fetch him a cup of coffee. Mostly, though, he seemed interested in testing out his new upper body strength.

Nights were spent huddled under a blanket with a flashlight propped against his chin. He had taken to filling notebooks with strange and elaborate symbols. All the while, the sins cried out to him. His dreams were filled with shadowy figures and the faces of family members alike.

Great-great Aunt Fiona had promised that everything would turn out alright. Like most promises, it ended up broken. Yet things did, at least, somewhat return to what now could be called normal.

-

Billy would never admit it to his dad, but he wished his father hadn't been such a wimp. He was sick of ending up in a bloodied heap on the floor and just laying there.

-

By the time the next Christmas rolled around, Billy's great grandparents had moved back to Cold Harbor. In that same amount of time, his grandfather had moved from a hospital clunker to his own specially fit manual chair and learned how to drive using only his hands. Sid had gotten his license as well. If nothing else, that helped give his uncle a reason to not be home as much.

His grandfather had also started working at the office again. As if to make up for his long absence, he spent upwards of twelve hours at work every day, including on the weekends.

Coming home to an empty house was at once a blessing and a curse.

With Sid and his grandfather gone, Billy wasn't worried about breaking his ankle or getting a black eye. No one yelled at him.

The problem was that the sins took advantage of this silence. Seemingly every waking moment when he wasn't in school or doing homework, he was reading every book he could find in the library on magic (that nineteen times out of twenty they were rubbish certainly didn't help) and frantically scribbling down symbols.

"It was just a stupid dream," Sid had said once. "Whatever you saw didn't happen."

Sometimes he wished Sid was right.

Their next Christmas was much like the last. They all huddled into his father's specially customized new car. The radio played every version of "Jingle Bells" recorded by man up to that point. Sid squinted at the map and took almost ten minutes to figure out that it was upside down. Even the Magic Eight ball still sat securely in his pocket, though he dared not pull it out.

Sid had gotten a hundred dollars that morning. He himself had gotten a punch to the gut.

After a dreamless nap, he awoke to a window full of stars and snow capped trees. He watched it go past. If not for "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", he might very well have spent the night trying to ignore the sins' screams. He supposed there were a few (very, very few) good things about Christmas.

They had been driving for almost an hour since he'd awoken when the car suddenly slowed. Pulling off the road and into the surrounding snow, it finally came to a stop.

Sid shot his head up. "Dad, what's going on? Did something happen to the car?"

"The car's fine, Sid." His grandfather clicked off the radio.

"Is something wrong?"

"Of course something's wrong!" He gestured towards his legs. He groaned. "It's been a year since..." He turned his head, shooting daggers. "Since you did this to me."

"Dad, I didn't do it!"

"At least be honest." He wasn't yelling. Holding a hand up, he rubbed at his forehead. "This is the exact spot where it happened. The place where my life ended."

"Dad..." Sid reached forward and squeezed his shoulder.

"I wake up sometimes and I can't remember what happened. I throw off the covers and rush to get out of bed and nothing happens." He tightened his fists. "Can you even imagine being stuck like this?"

His grandfather had said much the same to him before. One night, he'd called Billy into his study and wordlessly gestured towards his wheelchair.

"Have you ever thought what it would be like if you were in one of these?"

He'd shaken his head.

"I certainly have. If anyone deserved to be in it, it's you." His frown had deepened. "It should have been you."

His throat had tightened.

"Do you know what would have happened if it had been you?"

He hadn't said anything. He had long since learned to recognize a rhetorical question when one floated his way.

"We would have shipped you to a home upstate and been done with the whole matter."

"Thad, are you even listening to me?"

He was jolted back to the present.

"Dad, I'm sorry!"

"Don't say it if you don't mean it." He turned, looking out the window. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it, Sid?"

"Yes?"

"Would you do something for me, son?"

"Anything."

"Good," he responded. His grandfather turned back towards him, a grin spread across his face. "I want you to take Thad outside and do your worst. Don't hold back."

Sid soon had a matching grin. It reminded him of a hyena leering down at its prey.

His heart about stopped. "Dad, wait! You can't really mean this!"

"Well get going, Sid. I want us to get to your grandfather's before midnight."

Sid unbuckled his seat belt and hurried out of the car. In turn, he hurriedly unbuckled his own. Before he could pull away from the seat, though, his grandfather wrapped his hand around his upper arm with a vice like grip.

"Remember, Thad, it'll hurt at first. But once the pain is gone, you won't feel anything at all." His smile was all teeth. "Nothing at all."

Sid ripped open the car door. His grandfather pushed him forward into his uncle's arms. The chilly wind hit him like a fist. His breath came out in foggy puffs.

"Sid, wait!"

Sid threw him to the ground face first. There was a sharp crack of glass and a jolt of pain running up his forehead. He moaned. Above him, he heard the car door slam shut.

The next thing he felt was Sid pulling his arms behind his back and squeezing them tightly. He tried to scream but got a mouth full of snow for the effort. He gagged.

"I know you hate Dad, Thad. Don't even try to deny it." This time, Sid grabbed the back of his hair and pulled. "So shut up about being sorry. If you had the chance, you'd probably do the same thing to Dad all over again."

He stood. This time, Sid brought his boot down on his back and pushed down. Pulling it up, he brought it down again and again.

He tried pushing himself up but couldn't get a grip on anything. His fingers were so cold that he was already starting to lose feeling in them.

Sid grabbed him by the legs and turned him over. Raising a fist, he brought it down against his face. Once. Twice. Again and again until he wondered how he was even still conscious.

Blood was pouring down his chin by the time Sid finally moved to his chest. He groaned, weakly batting at Sid with numb hands. Sid merely grabbed one of his arms and twisted it. There was a heavy crack.

"Dad could have died, you know. At first I thought he did." Sid leaned down until their noses were practically pressed together. Sid's hands were clutching the collar of his shirt. "If you think this is bad, just imagine what the hell I'd do to you if Dad were dead!"

Sid pushed his head back into the snow. Before he went down, he caught a glimpse of the car. His grandfather was looking out the window straight at them, his hand tapping against the center of the steering wheel.

"Please," he wheezed.

All Sid did was stand and give him a kick to the ribs.

-

"Donhurme!"

Thaddeus was pulled from the visions with a jolt. Opening his eyes, he saw William - the real William - standing above him, eyes bruised and face caked with dried blood. On the floor was his friend, his nose gushing like a waterfall.

Looking down, he saw the staff still in his hand. He pulled away as if he had just touched a boiling pot.

"Pleasesidplea-" The word died on his son's lips and the staff slipped from between his fingers.

"Whuh... What happened?" The other boy sat up, rubbing his forehead with one hand and leaning against the wall with the other.

Thaddeus stood. There was blood on the floor and a hole in his wall, but he was alive. Alive and free from visions of that nasty woman.

"William?"

"Dad?" He opened his eyes. They were red and puffy. "Dad, is that actually you?"

"I would hope so."

"Billy, what happened?" The boy picked up the staff and tried to stand. All he did was send his legs out from under him. He collapsed back onto his butt with a thud. The staff slipped from his hands, hitting the floor. Both Sivanas stepped out of its way.

"I saw..." He looked to the ground.

"I tried to make you let go. When I touched that thing, I..." He looked up. "Billy, why are we like this again?" He gestured down towards his body.

"I don't know, Freddy." He hugged himself.

"You boys are bleeding."

The two looked back up to him, eyes wide.

"Dr. Sivana," Frederick squeaked. "Do you have the seven deadly sins?"

He nodded. They were thrashing against his skull but otherwise staying right where they belonged. "They aren't your concern right now." He turned towards William. "Get in the bathroom. Now."

Leaning down, he grabbed Frederick and held him bridal style.

He looked back to William. "Bathroom. Now."

"What are you going to do to us?" Frederick asked.

"Get the antiseptic." He brushed some stray bangs away from the boy's eyes.

In the bathroom, William sat on the edge of the bathtub while Frederick sat perched on the closed toilet bowl. He shut the door behind him. The bathroom was so small that if it was any more compact then they'd have learned what sardines felt like. Thaddeus dug through the medicine cabinet for a bottle of peroxide and cotton balls.

Frederick was still actively bleeding. He dabbed at his face first.

"Do I even want to know how this happened to you two?"

"Aren't you going to kill us?"

Frederick's question sent the whole room silent. For a moment, all Thaddeus could focus on was wetting a wash cloth and then pressing it to William's face.

"No," he said after a moment. "Certainly not metaphorically. Something tells me grounding won't work."

"And literally?" William asked.

"I'd never even entertain the thought." As much as the sins wished otherwise. They were clawing beneath his skin, screaming so loud to end this madness to take the power to be free free free, and doing it so loudly that he was amazed no one else heard them.

The sins were certainly idiots if they thought he'd so much as lay a finger on William. Their attention turned towards the other boy, the first champion, the stranger. But he too pushed those thoughts away. Even if he never laid a finger on his son, hurting the other boy would be to bestow upon William an unimaginable pain. He could never do that either.

And, truth be told, without his champion form, Frederick just looked plain pathetic. Both boys did.

"I'm going to take a wild guess," Thaddeus said as he wiped blood from Frederick's face, "that you don't go to Palisades."

"No."

"Is that a Philadelphia accent? I'd recognize one anywhere."

Frederick grimaced.

Of course he had to be from Philly! Forget burning down his father's home - the whole city should have been turned into a pile of ash.

No one said anything as Thaddeus began to bandage their faces.

"Does anything else hurt?" he asked. He dropped the bloody washcloths into the sink.

Frederick rubbed at the side of his head. "My head hurts."

"I can't feel my face."

"Let's go to the kitchen, then. I'll get you boys some ice." He opened the door, then picked Frederick up again. William followed behind him. The two wordlessly stepped over the staff and piles of rubble in the hallway.

"Shouldn't we be duking it out?" Frederick asked.

"I would hope not. I can't even begin to imagine how I'll explain this mess to the landlord."

"But... But back at the bridge!"

"If I'd known you were a little boy, I never would have attacked you."

"I'm fourteen!"

Thaddeus smirked, looking first from the boy in his arms and then to his own son. "You two are practically babies. Call me crazy, but you'll understand why I said that when you're my age."

"So we're really not going to fight?" It was William who asked this time.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no."

In the kitchen, he placed Frederick down on the counter before pulling two ice packs from the freezer. Wrapping them in paper towels, he handed one to each boy.

"So," he said, "anyone want hot chocolate?"

"Uh," Frederick said, "no thanks."

William shook his head.

"Does anything still hurt?"

"Well, yeah." William shrugged. "Look, it's fine."

"It doesn't look fine to me."

He stiffened. "Dad, I just wanted to say..." He met his gaze. "I'm sorry about what your dad and Uncle Sid did to you. And your mom, too."

Thaddeus froze. "What did you see?"

He pressed the ice pack further against his left eye. "What'd you?"

Hot bile rose in his throat. "Nothing worth remembering." He tightened his fists. "What you saw - it's why you're like that, isn't it?"

William nodded.

"What happened?"

William didn't say anything, just looked over to Frederick.

"William Earl Sivana, who did this to you?"

His gaze dropped back down to the ground.

"I saw... It happened the Christmas after... After your dad..."

All the color left his face. No! No! No! Even dead, his damn family found a way to ruin his life. And of all the things to see, it had to be that!

He crossed the kitchen, pulling William into a hug. For as much as he wanted to grab him and never let go, Thaddeus was careful not to clutch him too tightly.

"You didn't deserve to see that, William. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Yes, but... I spent almost your whole life trying to keep you from them." He ran his palm in circles along the boy's back. William's shoulders drooped. "I can't even do that when they're dead."

William tensed. "What happened to Uncle Sid? Did they finally catch him?"

Thaddeus pulled him closer. "That really isn't your problem right now."

"Dad?" William pulled away, breaking their embrace. All Thaddeus wanted to do was grab him again.

"Is anyone hungry? I'll order pizzas!"

There was that old, familiar silence again.

"Billy, I don't want to sound like a jackass, but your dad is the weirdest guy I've ever met."

Both locked their eyes on Frederick.

"No offense, Dr. Sivana, but you're like the world's strangest supervillain."

He couldn't help but laugh. "What did you just call me?"

Frederick's face tightened. "The weirdest guy I've-"

"Besides that."

"A supervillain."

He started laughing again. "What do I look like, Dick Dastardly?"

"Who?" He looked to William, who shrugged.

"Never mind," Thaddeus said. "Look, I know we've had our differences but I'm not some moustache twirling fiend."

"Then what are you?" William asked.

His heart began to beat faster. The sins were clawing at him, desperate and hungry and oh so very angry.

"Why did you destroy that bridge? Why the hell do you have that thing stuck in your eye?"

Thaddeus narrowed his eyes. "Frederick, so long as you're a guest in my home, you must refrain from using such language."

"You destroyed a bridge but you're mad that I cursed?"

He ground his teeth together. "I didn't destroy that bridge. They did."

"Again, why do you even have the sins? Aren't they like evil incarnate?" Frederick threw his hands back.

"I suppose you could say that."

"He has them because the wizard didn't give him superpowers! He said my dad wasn't worthy."

Thaddeus' throat tightened. Of course he had to see that too.

He knows you aren't worthy!

They stole your power!

Yes, they had, hadn't they? All those years of searching and the wizard had granted his powers to kids who weren't even old enough to drive.

Did they even realize the full extent of their powers or the responsibilities they now held? If their social media presence was any sign, that was a hard no. Why the wizard had picked them, he couldn't even begin to imagine. William was a good kid, but pure of heart?

SCORA results or not, he was just William. An ordinary boy who had enough on his shoulders already without worrying about fantastical abilities. None of this ever should have happened!

It doesn't have to any longer.

No, it didn't, Thaddeus realized. He gazed back at them. Oh, they really did look pathetic! Small and scared and hurt. Most people wouldn't be able to help them, not really. But Thaddeus was different. He really could make all the pain go away.

These boys needed therapy, not superpowers. All that they should have to worry about were the PSATs and extracurricular activities. Life was already hard enough at that age...

William was smart. Surely he'd understand one day, maybe even be thankful for what Thaddeus did.

It would be better for all of them if he took their powers away. They'd be safer. There would be one less thing for them to worry about. For that matter, there would be one less thing for Thaddeus himself to worry about.

Yes, safer. That was his job as a father, wasn't it? No parent in their right mind would let their child take on such immense power. If William kept them, Thaddeus would all but be begging for someone to come along and rip his son's throat out. And there were so many people who would eagerly do just that.

And if anyone knew how to use the wizard's power, wasn't it him? He'd spent his whole life trying to get them.

No! What was he thinking?

He wasn't, he realized. He never truly would have a mind of his own until the damn sins were gone.

They had given him all he'd asked for, hadn't they? Incredible powers, revenge on those who'd wronged him? What else did he need?

"William, I'm not going to hurt you. I never would."

"Dad?"

"I love you, son. More than anything in the world." He turned, reaching a hand towards his eye. Thaddeus could worry about the boys' powers later. Right then, he was the one who needed to clean house.

He bit his lip. The eye was set just a bit too deeply into his head. He ignored the bile rising in his throat as he wrapped his fingers around the eye's cool surface.

This madness ended tonight.

-

It all happened in a flash. One moment, Dr. Sivana was monolouging, the next he was surrounded on all sides by seven living nightmares.

Freddy's breath caught in his throat. He wanted so badly to say the word, but he could only blink at the creatures. They smelled like what he imagined a rotting body would. How the hell did they all fit into the kitchen? Each one had a clawed arm on some part of Billy's dad's body.

"Dad!" Billy cried. He stepped forward, reaching for his father's hand. A clawed hand scratched his arm. Billy collapsed on the floor. The sleeve of his hoodie was torn.

"William!" Dr. Sivana cried. He wiggled like a dying fish against the sins' hold. "Get out of here!"

Oh shit. This was bad. Really, really bad. There was no denying that. Whatever Billy's dad said, this was some supervillain level nonsense.

Freddy opened his mouth. He could change this. Whatever his previous fight with the sins was like, he had to.

"Say anything and we'll rip off his arms."

Freddy froze. It was as if those things had literally spoken inside of his head. He looked to Billy, who was just as pale as he imagined himself to be.

"If you want to him to live, grab the staff and do exactly as we say."

"No! Get out!"

The winged sin put a hand over Dr. Sivana's mouth.

"It's your choice if he lives or dies."

Freddy looked to Billy, who was slowly standing up and inching towards a side door.

"You can't be serious!"

"They're going to kill my dad! What else am I supposed to do?"

"Good boy."

The sins loosened their grip on Dr. Sivana. He began shaking harder.

"Billy, please! You can't do this!"

He stood at the doorway, his eyes to the floor. "I can't let them hurt my dad."

"He told us to run!"

Billy rubbed his arm. That was bleeding now too. "I'm not leaving my dad." Then, he shot out of the room. Freddy could only watch.

A sin stepped forward. It was smaller than the others, with glowing emerald eyes and pointed, elf-like ears.

"Why don't we make a deal?"

His mind flashed back to one of the drawings. This had to be Envy.

Behind him, there was a creak. Turning, he saw Billy standing at the door, staff in hand.

"What kind of a deal?" Billy asked.

"Think of it more as an offer."

"We would welcome more champions. Give us the wizard's powers and we will give you ours."

Freddy groaned. "That's it? 'Billy, I am your father. Join the dark side and we will rule together?'"

Envy turned back to him.

"The offer stands to both of you."

One of the sins gestured towards Dr. Sivana.

"Ask him just how wondrous our power feels."

Freddy turned his head towards Billy. "Look, I understand saving your dad. But getting possessed by demons?"

"Why don't we give you a little demonstration?"

Envy stepped forward, straight past Billy. Freddy had only a moment to breathe in that rotting smell before it lunged at him. Freddy screwed his eyes shut.

Nothing solid hit him. He opened his eyes, but Envy was gone.

Stand.

Freddy bit his lip. Oh yeah, that was definitely in his head that time.

"What?"

Stand!

And then, somehow, he did. His legs didn't shake. He moved as if he had been doing this all his life.

He took one step. Two. A third. He jumped up. Then, once he hit the ground, he easily bent each leg both forward and backward. There was no limp, no spazzing. If anyone saw him on the street now, they'd surely look right at him.

"Freddy, you're walking!"

"I know! This is wild!"

It was surprisingly easy to ignore the row of monsters in front of him as Freddy did jumping jacks.

"Can you believe this?" Freddy asked.

Another sin stepped forward. Wordlessly, it lunged towards Billy.

"Dude, you're flying! The real you!"

Billy grinned. "Gotta say, it feels kind of weird in this body."

"There's so much more you both can do."

Freddy looked down to his hands. They were glowing now, lightning shooting from his fingertips. No one was ever going to fuck with him again!

The kitchen fell away. In its place was the front of Fawcett Central. Sprawled on the ground were Brett and Burke with tears in their eyes and pleas on their lips.

Then he was in the Hall of Justice. Wonder Woman winked at him. Batman patted him on the back. Superman held up a photo ID with such pride...

But what did Superman matter? He was going to be way better than Superman ever was.

"We'd need new superhero names." Freddy said.

"I definitely won't miss our old costumes."

"So is that a yes?"

How was anyone supposed to say no to this?

Freddy froze. Oh, there were certainly people who would. Batman probably could have gotten superpowers somehow. He certainly knew people who could have helped him get them. Yet he soldiered on all the same, a man among myths.

Wonder Woman would say no. Wasn't "truth and goodness above all" her whole shtick?

And Superman... Well, Superman was already the man who had everything.

Besides, Freddy already had superpowers. And they hadn't been offered through blackmail by a bunch of monsters. Billy had just given them to him, no questions asked.

And yeah, he couldn't walk - at least not like everyone else. But if people had an issue with it then that was their own damn problem.

"No. Get out of me!"

No?

There was a burning in his chest. The next thing he knew, his legs went out from under him. On shaking arms, he turned towards Billy.

"What about you? Will you share your father's power?"

"Or will you lie broken on the floor too?"

Billy gave a weak laugh. "Look, you seem great and all, but I'm not sticking some glowing demon ball in my eye. That's disgusting! Thanks but no thanks."

The demon ripped forth from his body in a stream of smoke.

"A shame. You two might actually have accomplished something with us."

The sins turned back towards Dr. Sivana.

"Our original offer has not changed. Give our champion your power and we'll let your father live."

His mouth finally free, Dr. Sivana spoke. "How many times do I have to tell you two to get out?"

"Dad, they're gonna kill you!"

"And if you stay, they'll kill you. William, I can't let you die."

"And I can?"

"Please, William. If you love me, you'll leave."

"Do you wish to die, champion?"

"Of course not. But my life or his? There's really nothing to choose." He looked back to Billy. "William, please go!"

"You never deserved your title, champion. At least the wizard always knew you weren't worthy."

It was all so sudden that at first Freddy didn't realize what happened.

The winged sin put its clawed hands around Dr. Sivana's neck. Then, with one smooth, quick motion, it turned his head a good two-hundred degrees or so. There was a snap like a wishbone breaking.

It was only when his body hit the floor that Freddy fully grasped what had happened. Dr. Sivana was so pale and still, his head angled at the oddest direction.

"Dad!" Billy shrieked.

Freddy crawled forward, grabbing Billy by the pants leg. Then, he blinked.

Chapter Text

Freddy had never been so happy to be back in his bedroom. He collapsed into his bed, closing his eyes. For a moment, he let himself imagine that the earlier night had just been some fantastical dream from which he was on the verge of finally awakening.

"You saw that too, didn't you?" Billy asked.

Freddy opened his eyes and gritted his teeth. He couldn't even get five seconds to entertain his delusions!

"I didn't just imagine the sins..." Billy's voice broke. The staff was clutched tightly against his chest.

"I saw it too."

Billy sniffled. "Jesus, Freddy, you don't really think that my dad is... Is hurt, do you?"

"I have no idea." After everything that had happened that night, he felt like he was living in a Dadaist painting. Literally anything could happen next and he'd only face a split second of shock before stone cold acceptance settled in.

"What if he really is gone?" Billy sat up. In place of the staff, which now lay haphazardly off the end of his bed, his hands now clutched a knotted pillow. "What the hell am I supposed to do then?"

"You can stay with us!" The answer came to his tongue instantly. "Victor and Rosa wouldn't know how to say no. And they really like you, anyway. Mary would be thrilled, too. And Darla? She'd be over the moon. Can you imagine it? We wouldn't have to worry about time zones anymore and we could hang out all the time." He pointed upwards. "This is a bunk bed, you know."

It was only when the words were out of his mouth that Freddy realized what he'd actually just said.

"Not that I want any of that to happen!" He sat up, pushing himself across the bed towards Billy. He wrapped an arm around Billy's shoulders and gave one a squeeze. "It'd be cool, but totally worst case scenario."

"What if he's really-"

"What if he isn't?" Freddy grinned. "Hey, travel time isn't an issue for any of us anymore. When this is all done, you guys can come eat dinner at our place whenever you want. Darla is always trying to get people to come over so she can spread that tofurkey love."

"You couldn't pay me to eat that!" Billy stuck out his tongue.

"Oh, come on, you're from California! I thought you guys loved that hippie stuff."

"Cheeseburgers are where it's at."

"Well, yeah. Okay, so we'll just order Big Belly Burger to go then. That should work. Just don't get surprised if Eugene and Darla start fighting over their kiddie meal toys. Someone might lose a limb."

For a moment, no one said anything. Freddy squeezed Billy's shoulder again.

Then, before he could try to swallow it back down, a laugh escaped his throat.

"What's so funny?"

"Sorry, I just thought of something. About your dad if he, you know, comes over for dinner." Freddy cleared his throat before deepening his voice. "'Darlene, would you pass me the salt?'"

"Dude, my dad does not sound like that!" Yet Billy himself laughed all the same.

Since they'd first arrived, Freddy's eyes had better adjusted to the darkness of his room. The items around him were now more than just vague, shadowy outlines. Looking around, he spied his set of forearm crutches set against his door frame.

"Hey, Billy, can you grab those for me?"

"Yeah, sure." He stood. His shoulders were slumped as he walked.

Once he had them back, Freddy stuck them right on his lap.

"Was it weird, you know, being able to walk normally?"

"Yeah. It was great too, at least for a second. But when I did that it was like I stopped being me."

"Do you think my dad would be okay if we'd given the sins our powers?"

"No offense, man, but hell no." Freddy shivered. "Our lives would be way worse if we had a bunch of Shaz... I mean, wizard-ified demons running around."

"But you saw what they did to him!"

"Superman came back to life! There's no telling what might happen to your dad." Freddy scratched at one of his bandages. "I'm sorry I called him weird. It's true but still."

"Says the weirdest guy I know."

"Thanks. You're pretty odd yourself."

"They're still out there, aren't they?"

"What?" Freddy asked. Billy's tone had taken a 180 degree turn and sent him flying face first into the passenger seat window.

"The sins."

Freddy's throat tightened. He nodded.

"We've got to fight them, don't we?"

"Billy, they're insanely tough." Freddy pulled his arm away and hugged his own chest. "Those things almost ate me!"

"But they're our problem, aren't they?"

Freddy never got the chance to answer. From the hallway came the sound of a door opening. Judging by the way it squeaked, it was Darla's. Freddy put a hand over Billy's mouth and a finger against his own lips. Despite the sound of his heartbeat ramming inside his ears, he heard her walk further down the hall towards what he could only guess was the bathroom. He pulled his hand away from Billy's mouth - of all the times to run out of hand sanitizer! - but kept his own finger upwards. It wasn't until they heard the faint sound of a toilet flushing and the patter of footsteps down the hall followed by that same squeak that first sent his heart racing that Freddy again spoke.

"Dude, we're three-point-five to one. I really don't like those odds." Freddy was whispering now. The last thing he needed was for someone to walk in on him. He'd told Rosa that he was spending the night at a friend's house. Up until they'd arrived back at Freddy's place, that hadn't even been a lie.

"Well what else are we supposed to do?" Billy asked.

"We could get help." Really, that was the only idea he had.

Billy's face brightened. He grabbed the staff with one hand and Freddy's shoulder with the other. Freddy grabbed his crutches and held them as tightly as he could with one hand.

"I know someone that can help us!"

"Who?"

Freddy never got an answer. His room vanished the moment that the word left his mouth.

-

"I don't know what the fuck you guys are doing here, but my mom has a gun and she knows how to use it!"

Billy rubbed at the side of his head. He really should have accounted for a less than pillow soft landing.

Billy groaned. "Annie?"

Yellow light suddenly filled half the room, bringing the shadows into focus. Sitting up, Billy saw Annie sitting on her bed, a hand held close to a lamp atop her nightstand.

"Billy? Mall guy?" Annie wasn't yelling any longer.

"Freddy," Billy quickly clarified.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Freddy spoke before Billy got the chance to respond.

"Jesus Christ, Billy! Did you really just bring us to a girl's room in the middle of the night? Are you trying to make us look like pervs?"

"She's my cousin!"

"How does that make this any less creepy?" Freddy sat up, his eyes falling on the doorway. "Oh, fuck! Did she just say her mom has a gun?"

"Well, yeah." Annie crossed the room. She was dressed in a faded pink T-shirt and red Mickey Mouse pajama bottoms. Perched across her bed was the unicorn she'd won at the carnival. "But she's kind of on a business trip right now. I just yelled that in case you guys were burglars. Or, you know, pervs."

Freddy turned back to Billy and glared at him.

Annie stood a few feet from them and gave a weak laugh. "Oh man, so this happened. This should be a lot funnier in the morning."

Billy blinked. Somehow, Annie seemed to be taking this well.

Suddenly, Annie jumped. When she hit the ground, her wooden floor reverbated beneath his butt. The staff shook, rolling further across the floor.

"Funny, I'm usually able to fly in these things."

"Dude! Your cousin can fly and you didn't tell me?"

Annie jumped again and didn't even get as high as she had the first time. "Man, this dream really is weird."

"Dream?" Billy asked.

"Oh yeah, lucid dreaming. You ever heard of it?" Annie grinned. "They happen to me all the time."

"Uh, Annie," Billy said. He stood, walking over and collecting the staff. "This isn't a dream."

She froze.

Billy couldn't keep her gaze. He turned his head, taking in some of her posters. They were mostly of cats and Disney princesses. Sitting atop a dresser was a row of teddy bears.

Okay, Freddy was right. This did feel a little creepy.

"Are you serious?" She pinched her side, letting out a yelp. Then, without warning, she ran towards him and grabbed his shoulder. "You feel real!"

"Heh! I better."

She stepped back. Her feet were bare, giving him ample time to take in her strawberry colored nails.

"What are you guys doing here?" She stiffened. "How did you even get here?"

"Well," Freddy said, "that's where it gets weird."

"Annie, my dad's in trouble and we need your help!"

"Wait!" Freddy yelled. "That's why we're here? I thought you were going to take us to like Superman."

"I've never even met Superman!"

"Well I don't think he would have said no to helping us!" Freddy put his face in his hands. "Billy, how the hell is your cousin supposed to help us?" He pulled his fingers apart, looking Annie in the eyes. "Uh, no offense."

"Again, what's going on?" Annie pulled at the end of her corkscrew curls.

"We're here because my dad's in danger!" Billy hadn't meant to yell. The sound echoed through the room. "Look, my dad got kidnapped by these monster things."

"He what?"

"Shazam!"

The whole house reverbated. When Billy opened his eyes, Annie and Freddy were even smaller than before. "I have superpowers, okay? Apparently my dad does too, and now he's being held hostage." He turned to Freddy. "Freddy's got some too. Come on, show her!"

"Shazam!"

Now it didn't matter if Aunt Addy suddenly came home decked out Rambo style with an itchy trigger finger.

"The getting old thing is really disorientating," Freddy said, "but you get used to it."

"You're sure this isn't a dream?" Annie asked.

"I swear I wouldn't lie about this." Billy said.

She stepped forward again and put a hand on each of their arms. "No way."

"Yes way." He grinned, flexing his arm. "It all happened on the flight home from Philly. Some wizard kidnapped me and gave me superpowers."

"Wow."

"It's the coolest thing ever." Freddy said. He turned his gaze from Billy back to Annie. "You know, you could be like this too."

"What?" Annie brought a hand to her mouth.

"That's why you brought us here, isn't it, Billy?"

He nodded. "Annie, it's the best feeling in the world." He held the staff out towards her. "Look, just grab this and say Sha-"

"-Zam," Freddy quickly finished.

"Shuh... Zam?"

"No, say it all at once! And grab the staff while you're doing it." Billy pushed it forward further until he was holding it by the jeweled tip.

"And if you grab it and see some strange stuff, don't worry about it. That happens all the time." Freddy added.

"Wow," Annie repeated. She stepped backwards a few feet.

Now, in his new body, Annie's room seemed so much smaller than before.

"I know that this is a lot to take in."

"You can say that again." She looked to the ground. "Why me?"

"Huh?"

"Why pick me? I'm not exactly superhero material."

Billy cocked his thumb towards Freddy. "Yeah, well he isn't either but I gave him powers."

Freddy jabbed him in the side with his elbow. "Fuck you!"

He couldn't find the right word to describe the look on his cousin's face. She was frowning but her eyes were wide.

"I came," he continued, "because of our phone call."

"What?" She pushed some bangs away from her eyes.

"You know, when you called me about your dad." He waved the staff around absently in small circles. "You said that you never wanted to feel helpless or like you couldn't do anything ever again. And now you won't have to."

"Billy..."

"Annie, please! I trust you, okay?"

She stepped forward, her hands held out. "So that's it? I just grab that thing and say 'Shazam'?"

"You've got it!" Freddy grinned.

"Wow."

When this was all said and done, they'd need to buy Annie a thesaurus.

"This better not be a dream." She ran forward and grabbed the staff. "Shazam!"

-

"I look like a tangerine!"

"Hey, it's not like we got to choose the color of our costumes." Freddy said.

"Yeah, well there's a reason I never wear orange." Annie looked over herself in her bedroom mirror. She had to be at least thirty-five but suspected she was older. Her face more closely resembled her mother's than her own. Her hair was now a cropped short bob.

"At least we don't have underwear outside our costumes." Billy shivered. "Can you imagine?"

Horrifying color scheme aside, Annie had to admit that the costume wasn't that bad. When people saw her wearing the lightning bolt emblazened one-piece and flowing white cape,  there was no question just what she was. Funny, she'd never really considered being a superhero, but it fit so well.

She flexed an arm. Her muscles were hard and defined. "So what all can I do?"

"What do you mean?" Billy asked. As many times as she'd heard it so far, his new voice sounded so strange. Even stranger than the one now leaving her own mouth.

"I know I can fly, but what else?"

"Well," he said, tapping his chin, "if you're anything like us then you can probably shoot lightning from your hands."

"For real?" She held her hands up. "How?"

"Uh, it'll just come to you." Freddy looked down to her from where he was floating. "I'm positive that you can't start earthquakes with your legs."

"What?"

"It's more of a hassle than you think."

"Look, Annie," Billy said. "A lot of this is trial and error. You just go out, do stuff, and see what happens."

"You should be bulletproof!" Freddy interjected. "Billy and I both are."

"Wait, so does that mean-"

Annie never got a chance to finish her question. Upbeat piano music suddenly filled her room.

"Mom!" Annie flew across the room so quickly that she almost hit the backing of her bed. Picking up her phone from her nightstand, she brought it close to her face. She froze.

It was her mother's ringtone, but there were no buttons prompting her to answer or decline the call. Her lock screen wasn't visible either. All she saw were...

Annie had to squint. What were those things? They were flashing before her so quickly that they were blurring together into one giant mismatched, squiggly shape.

"Annie, what's wrong?" Billy asked. From the corner of her eye, she watched him and Freddy fly across the room. But something kept her gaze from leaving her phone completely.

Freddy leaned his face past her shoulder. "Billy, what's that?"

"Oh no."

The world went white.

-

Their champion might have been a failure, but he had at least been somewhat useful. Envy cracked its host's knuckles, grinning as the snapping noise echoed across the rocky walls. This body was so stable and strong. After hundreds of millenia spent locked unmoving in stone, it had forgotten what it was like to be encased in warm blood and firm skin. Now it could't stop wiggling its toes or flexing its fingers. To be still would be to willingly trap itself all over again. Considering where they were all huddled together, Envy needed any sensation of freedom it could find.

Wrath had promised that they would rip apart The Rock of Eternity once they had defeated the champions. Envy saw no point in waiting. The statues had not been their only prison. This whole place was a cage.

Envy had been adamant. Even with the wizard gone, this was still the source of the champion's magic. Tearing it apart could just as easily weaken the champions as a hole through the chest or slash to the neck. Yet its siblings had paid little regard to its words. They never did. Born last, Envy was the smallest of its peers, a spark where its siblings were a wildfire.

Some might call it the forgotten one, but the label wasn't apt. It was Envy who had first cried out to the boy, the one that had entered his soft heart and squeezed it without ever letting go. With Envy inside, its siblings just as easily could then enter.

They had all left their champion now, save for Envy. It would sooner take the hot blood and soft breath of their former champion's flesh than its own cold, hard skin. Now, Envy was no longer scales or stones. Once the champions were gone, it never would have to be again.

Envy walked forward, taking in its reflection in the glimmering crystal wall. It was all leather and fur, skin and sparse spots of hair. It smiled, showing off those strangely blunt teeth and bright red gums. Its one eye was blue as the center of fire.

Whatever its siblings thought of it, they always kept their promises. Once the champions were gone, the body would be Envy's alone.

We shall soon summon them.

Envy turned on its heel, taking in Gluttony. It nodded, following it back into what once had been the throne room. The sins circled the piles of crumbled thrones. The wizard and his ilk were gone but still they stood. They had endured for ages before him and would live to see his memory crushed to dust. Raising their arms, they cried out in unison in an ancient, guttural tongue. Their voices had sparked war, seeded famines, and bestowed plagues. Together, they were fire and pestilence and pain. With the champions gone, there was no telling what they might next unleash.

Their words, harsh and throaty as they were, ripped apart the threads of fate before knitting them back together. In a white flash, where there had once been nothing but stone, suddenly lay the champions. Wrapped in the child's hand was the staff.

Envy took in the boy. The red-suited imposter made its heart clench. It pushed the feeling away. That was nothing but memories left behind by the body's former host, a pesky little annoyance that would fade the longer Envy wore this flesh. It was only their suspicions of the boy's ultimate fate that had allowed them to let Sivana keep his little pet.

It was a shame the boy had refused their offer. There was no telling what they could have done if they'd had their host's Achilles' heel.

"Whuh... Billy, where are we?"

Ah, so there was now a third mutt - a female one no less. Something about her seemed vaguely familiar, but Envy couldn't place her. Not that it really mattered - humans all tasted the same.

"We're uh..." He sat up, rubbing his forehead. "We're at the place where the wizard first gave me my powers. It's also where I gave Freddy his. Maybe giving you powers accidentally summoned us here."

"Man, are there any lights in here?" This time, the broken champion spoke. To think that Envy had left such a promising vessel to wrap itself in his pathetic skin! Perhaps it was a blessing that he'd refused their deal.

At his command, Envy sent its hands sparking. The cold blue glow illuminated its siblings' faces.

"Dad?" The champion was looking straight at it now. The staff slipped from his fingers. "Dad!" He was on his feet and racing towards Envy with outstretched arms before it could fully grasp what was happening. The choke the boy pulled him into threatened to flatten its bones.

"Dad, you're okay!"

Envy grimaced. Why would the boy crush its chest when he just as easily could have snapped its host's neck?

The boy squeezed harder. "Look, we'll figure out a way out of this, okay?"

"Champion."

The boy stiffened but did not release his hold. Envy half considered returning the hold and squeezing and squeezing until the boy's insides littered the floor. Instead, it pushed him away with such force that the champion collapsed, a hole forming where he hit the ground.

"Dad?"

Envy bared its teeth. "Grab the staff. Now!"

"Billy," the little pest called out. His hands were cupped around his mouth. "That's not your dad!"

Chapter Text

"We have one final offer and will not change it." It certainly didn't sound like Billy's dad. The raspy, thin voice was more like what Freddy had imagined the monster under his bed sounding like as a kid. "Give us the wizard's power and we will let you live."

Freddy gritted his teeth. Even if the thing wearing Sivana's face was being honest, he couldn't be too sure about his friends following along. Wrath seemed just a bit too happy clawing at him. Freddy had never felt this body's left leg before. Something told him that might change if it got pulled off.

It had all happened so fast. One moment, they were laying on the ground, surrounded by the living embodiments of everything that was wrong with the world, the next they were on the verge of being ripped in two. Lust was holding back his arms, while Sloth and Pride had each taken hold of Billy's limbs. Gluttony didn't need a partner to hold Annie down.

Freddy had tried blinking, he really had. When he'd opened his eyes, he'd still found himself in that dark, musty cave with a pair of beady red eyes and two rows of knife-like teeth staring back at him.

Greed walked forward, picking up the staff from the ground. Its three other arms quickly circled the wood. Walking forward, it presented the staff to their leader.

"Have you made your decision?" It was looking straight at Billy, that strange orb crackling as it spoke.

Billy's mouth was set into a firm frown. "I'll do it."

The sins instantly dropped him. Billy rubbed at his head but quickly stood.

"What?" Annie cried. Freddy turned his head. This was the first time she had spoken and very well could be her last. Gluttony threw a fat hand over her mouth and nose. She shook, but that only made it hold her tighter.

Billy looked back to both of them. "He's my dad!"

"Jesus Christ, man! Weren't you listening to me? He's not your dad!" Freddy struggled, pulling his arms frantically. Lust only tightened its grip, its claws sinking beneath his wrists.

So this was it, wasn't it? The world was going to end because his friend was a Grade A idiot. It didn't matter what the sin said. Even if they lost their powers and got sent home, they'd all die once the demons started ripping the world apart. Billy would only be pushing back the time between now and the moment they became maggot food.

"Good boy."

The sin stepped forward, the end of the staff held out. Billy took it.

"Billy, plea-" The word died on his lip. Wrath twisted his right leg. The crunching snap echoed in his ears so long that for a few moments he couldn't hear anything else. Tears dotted Freddy's eyes.

For just a moment, he was six again and stuck in bed post-surgery. He'd tried sleeping, but it was impossible with how badly his legs hurt. Screaming only got him so far. He was on the verge of going hoarse but still his mother hadn't so much as peaked her head through the door.

Of all the fucking ways to die!

-

Billy's face was dripping with sweat. Though he gripped the staff, nothing crossed his mind - no visions or sounds. All he saw before him was that smirking face and the only sound that reached his ears was his own wavered breathing.

He forced down the lump in his throat. It was now or never.

"Shuh!" As he spoke, the thing's grin grew wider.

He kicked his leg out, straight into the creature's chest. Hard. It gasped, its grip loosening from the staff. It seemed to fly across the room and hit a rocky wall in slow motion, sending rocks scattering.

Billy threw the staff to the ground and hurried forward. This time, he put both feet down on the thing's chest and kept them there, his hands going for its neck.

The face staring back at him was wide-eyed, its lips silently parted. His stomach clenched. Quickly, Billy shut his eyes.

"Shazam!"

Billy opened his eyes to a smoky haze. The smell of sulfur tickled his nose. His hands were still wrapped around soft flesh.

When his vision cleared, he didn't recognize what he saw. The skin of the thing's face was black and covered in blisters. With its lips gone, he could see every single one of its teeth. Where its nose had been were now two holes. Its eye was gone but that silvery blue ball was still glittering in the dim light. He could see his face reflected back at him on its surface.

Billy reached his hand forward. The ball felt so solid and smooth and much too heavy for something its size. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his hand back.

-

Billy had taken off his bandages before he got into the shower. His skin had been clear and unstained. He hadn't been able to meet his reflection's gaze.

Annie had given him a fresh towel and bar of soap. It stank of coconut, the smell so strong that it brought tears to his eyes. He had rubbed his skin until it had gone red and his fingers turned pruny.

The mirror was fogged over now. Billy rubbed at every part of himself with his fuzzy towel until he couldn't feel a speck of water. Goosebumps decorated his arms and legs.

Try as he might, he couldn't push the earlier images away. That burnt face that no longer looked anything like his dad's suddenly collapsing into a smoking pile of ash when he pulled the ball away. Thrusting it skyward and watching the other sins evaporate into smoke. Annie and Freddy hitting the ground. The cave shaking, stalagmites hitting the floor and the ground opening up. Freddy barreling towards him and grabbing him by the waist with such force that he'd half expected him to crush his spine.

Opening his eyes again to find himself in Annie's backyard.

Billy's throat tightened.

Try as he might, he still couldn't piece everything together. He knew what had happened but the why still largely evaded him.

Picking up his singed clothes from the tiled floor, he changed.

Billy found Annie and Freddy, both back in their real bodies, downstairs in the kitchen. A half-eaten plate of waffles sat in front of Freddy. Annie was chewing on a piece of badly burnt toast.

The electric wall clock read 05:39.

"You hungry?" Annie asked.

He shook his head, his eyes looking just past her head. The kitchen walls were decorated with framed watercolor paintings of flowers. His gaze bore into a field of lilacs.

He stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket, his skin rubbing against that cool metal ball. He shivered, quickly pulling his hands back.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

"Billy," Freddy began.

"You know he is. Didn't you see what happened to him?"

It was hard to call that thing his father but it had been him, hadn't it? At least it had been before.

"That might not have been him! Maybe it was just some illusion."

"Do you actually believe that?" He clenched his fists. Billy had never expected anything like this to ever happen in his life. So why had it? Why had he of all people had to have his very reality rewritten?

"We could revive him."

Freddy froze. Annie dropped her toast onto the table.

"Dude, did you just hear that?" Freddy asked.

Billy fished the ball out of his pocket. It was glowing. Looking into it and seeing his own face was like gazing into a distorted, blizzard struck snow globe.

"What the hell? You still have that thing?" Freddy cried. He reached for one of his crutches.

"Where was I supposed to put it?"

"You would be surprised at how simple it would be."

"Shut the fuck up." Billy stuck it back into his pocket.

"I thought you left that thing back at the cave!" Freddy quickly put on his second forearm crutch. He stood, pushing his chair back with his leg so hard that it fell over. The wooden thump echoed through the room.

"That place was falling apart! Did you want it to get crushed by falling rocks? It could have broken into a million pieces and released those bastards all over again. What then?"

"Those are the things that kidnapped your dad, right?" Annie grimaced. "I don't want them in my house!"

"Where the fuck am I supposed to put them?"

No one spoke.

Billy's shoulders slumped. Yep, this was most definitely not the direction he ever saw his life going in.

"Hey, Freddy, you want to know something?"

"What?"

"Being a superhero sucks."

-

"So what do we do now?"

"Wait for Billy to wake up."

"I didn't mean that!" Annie finished off the last of her tea. "I mean, what do we do now that we're superheroes?"

She'd never truly seen herself as a superhero. Tonight had cemented that fact for her.

"We don't really know what you can do yet. Once we know your skills, we should have a better idea of how to go forward."

"What good will it do us?" Annie groaned. "I got superpowers and that didn't keep me from almost being eaten."

She could still feel that fat thing's tongue wiggling through her hair. Its whole body had been ice cold and covered in slime. And what all had she been able to do besides flop around like a dying fish as it tightened its grip?

She was no Wonder Woman. Hell, she wouldn't even pass for a Friday Foster.

"Yeah, that fight sucked."

"You call that a fight?"

"Look, this is usually a lot easier for me. I've beaten up a lot of guys on the FBI's most wanted list." He grinned. "Doing that's a lot of fun, actually. You should really try it out."

"Something tells me I won't have much of a choice." She sank further into her chair. It was a Saturday. Her mom wouldn't fly back from her business trip until Tuesday night. Come Monday morning, she'd have to slap on a smile and go to class like things were normal. Then she'd have do it again the next day and the one after that, forever and ever and ever.

"So what happened to Uncle Thaddeus?"

"He, uh, got cremated." Freddy bit his lip. "Sorry for your loss."

"Thanks, but I think Billy needs to hear that more than me. He knew Uncle Thaddeus way better than I did." She looked down to her lap. "Like, how did he get possessed?"

"He got that ball stuck in his head somehow. Billy said he did it because the wizard wouldn't give him superpowers. You know, the guy who made Billy become... That word. And no, I never met the wizard. I don't know much about him." Freddy ran a hand through his hair. "Look, I know you have a lot of questions, but I can't really answer them. I hardly know any more than you do. Hell, Billy doesn't even know what's going on!"

That was just great. It was hard to take comfort in knowing everyone else was drowning when her lungs were heavy and desperate for air.

Annie got up and poured herself another cup of tea. "I've seen you on TV before."

Freddy brightened. "Yeah, that never stops being fun. I swear, this will be awesome once we start fighting regular criminals."

"It better be."

It was only when she was halfway finished with her chamomile that she spoke again. "I know someone we can go after."

Freddy looked up from his phone. "Who, a supervillain?"

She couldn't help but laugh. "I guess you could call him that. Did Billy ever tell you about my dad?"

He shook his head. "I know he said that his dad didn't get along with his family."

"You can say that again. Nobody could believe it when Uncle Thaddeus said that he was coming home for Christmas. I hadn't seen him in forever." She shook her head. "I'm getting off track. Look, this Christmas was not the best holiday. My dad killed my grandpa and burnt his house down." She spit the words out before she could stop herself.

Freddy blinked. After a moment, he spoke. "Uh... I'm sorry. Your dad sucks."

"You wouldn't know the half of it." Her shoulders tensed. "Nobody's found him yet. He hasn't used his phone or any of his bank accounts or credit cards for weeks. It's like he dropped off the face of the earth."

-

Damn, Freddy thought. What the fuck is wrong with Billy's family?

"My mom and I couldn't believe it. My dad and I never really got along, and my mom hates him, but he didn't seem like a murderer."

The memory hit him like a bolt of lightning.

"Wait! Annie?" He looked her straight in the eyes.

"What?" She tilted her head. "I know this is a bit extreme. It's definitely not something I like talking about. I can shut up if you want."

His voice rose. "Was your dad named Sid?"

She nodded. "Why?"

"Annie, we aren't going to find your dad. Your uncle told me and Billy that he was dead."

-

In the end, he'd lost two against one.

"Where else are we going to put it?" Freddy had asked.

"It's not like we can stick it in my mom's gun safe." Annie had added.

And, truth be told, Billy couldn't complain. It's not like he wanted to keep the damn thing.

The first thing Billy saw when he arrived back at the cave was the crack in the ground. It started from the center of where the wizard's throne had once sat and ran all the way to where he thought he'd first woken up after passing out. That suddenly felt like it had happened decades ago.

"Can you see the bottom?" Annie asked, peering downward.

"No," Freddy replied. "Think I should fly down and see if there's anything down there?"

"No!" Billy shrieked. "Let's just get this done with, okay?"

He stepped forward, following his mind's eye back to where he'd first seen his father approach the ball decades before.

"Champion, please!"

"Eat shit," he muttered, clutching it tighter.

Once he'd finally reached the spot, he held his arm out and released his hold on the ball. It floated, glowing a silvery grey. The light around it began to pulse, softly at first and then suddenly in a bright, harsh flash.

Billy blinked. When his vision finally returned, the purple globe circling the orb had returned. It sat atop a carved stone pillar. Where there had once been nothing but piles of stones was now a row of statues.

"Hey, Billy?" Annie called.

He turned his head around, his eyes widening. Gone were the cracks and rock piles. The thrones had returned, sharp, regal, and empty as ever. Leaning against the center throne was the staff, its crystals gleaming.

She pointed behind her. "Is it supposed to be like this?"

He nodded. "It's just like I remember it."

-

"Annie, can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone."

"Is something wrong? Do you need to talk to Freddy?"

Billy shook his head. "Someone else. Please, I won't use it long."

Her face softened. "Of course you can use it. I just thought..." She shook her head. Fishing her phone from her pocket, she turned it on and hurriedly pressed a few buttons. She held it out towards him. "Go on and take as long as you need."

Billy looked down to the dial options, his eyes glazing over the numbers. It was only when Annie had left the living room that he finally pressed some. By the time he hit the fourth number, a name appeared. He quickly clicked it and it went straight to dial.

He brought it to his ear. It rang seven times.

"Hello, this is Thaddeus Sivana. I'm afraid that I can't answer your call right now. Leave me a message and I'll reach back to you as soon as I can."

The phone beeped.

Billy's vision was blurry and chest tight. He ended the call. Then, with a shaking hand, he dialed the number again.

"Hello, this is Thaddeus Sivana..."

Chapter Text

"If we keep going east, we can follow the rides and food stands straight to Santa's Village before circling back towards the main exhibits." He could hear his father but couldn't see him from behind the unfolded, worn-edged glossy pamphlet that he was reading.

Billy was only half-listening to him. There had to have been a million people - a billion even - around him. They were so tall that in most cases he didn't even reach their knees, and moved so quickly that the most he usually caught about them was the shape of their hats and the colors of their coats. The air hung thick with the scent of fresh popcorn and spun sugar. They'd just eaten lunch but his mouth was again watering.

His father pulled the pamphlet down and folded it back into a pocket sized square. "I say we go that way." He pointed forward. Billy tried to follow him, but all he saw were blobs of people bustling past each other.

Without another word, his dad leaned down, grabbed his waist, and thrust him upwards. Billy grinned, his arms circling his dad's head. Whenever he sat on his dad's shoulders, he felt like he was flying.

So far that day, he'd ridden the tea cups, the merry-go-round, the swings, and the Conester - an ice cream themed "rollercoaster". It wasn't really a rollercoaster, at least not the type that went super fast and looped upside down. Billy had tried getting his dad to take him on a real one - there were two to choose from - but had gotten a firm no on each.

"You're too short to die on these," his father had said, pointing to the size charts. Billy had barely met the halfway point for both when standing on his tiptoes.

"But Dad!"

"No buts, William. I don't make the rules."

But his dad had promised they would come back when he was taller - though Billy was sure that would take him a million years - so he could ride them then.

"Stop, Dad!"

His dad did, the hold on Billy's legs becoming firmer. "Is something wrong?"

Billy pointed. "Dad, look at the tiger!"

Even from this distance, it was big. The orange fur was eye-catching, practically magnetic. He could already imagine clutching it against his chest. It was soft as a blanket, maybe even softer. Billy just knew it.

"William, I've told you those games are rigged."

"Please! Can't we just look?" Though he doubted his father could see his face from up here, he widened his eyes and pulled his lips back into a pout. Nine times out of ten, that face could make his dad do anything.

"Fine, we can look."

With so many people around, it was a miracle that no one ran into them. His dad always kept one step ahead of others, moving with an almost practiced grace.

There was no one except for a tired-eye worker in a candy cane striped shirt when they arrived at the booth. She slapped on a smile when she saw them.

"Well howdy! You interested in playing a round?"

"We're just looking," his father said.

The tiger was impossibly large, much bigger than Billy himself. Its plastic eyes glowed in the light. There were other toys - fluffy multi-colored rabbits, cartoon characters, sparkly unicorns, dogs and cats of all shapes and sizes - but all that caught and kept his eye was the tiger.

"Oh, you really should try it! Everyone leaves a winner."

"Dad, please?" Billy asked. "Please, please, please?"

"I don't know. We might not win what you want."

"You'll never know until you try." The worker couldn't have been more than nineteen. She had chocolate brown hair and blue eyes the color of the Arctic Ocean's waters.

"Daddy!"

"Fine," his dad said, pulling out his wallet. "I wish I knew how to say no to you."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Dad!"

He gave a weak laugh. "Don't tell me that until I win." He handed the money over. The woman handed him five darts in turn.

The point of the game was to hit and pop a balloon. The more popped, the better the prize. If his dad hit five, the tiger was all his.

His dad hit the first with ease. The pop echoed in Billy's ears.

"Yes!" he cried.

"Beginner's luck," his dad replied, but he was grinning himself.

The next two came down just as easily.

"Someone's got good luck," the woman remarked.

His father grabbed the next dart by its green plastic tip. He held it up, angling his hand before thrusting it forward and releasing his grip. He hit a yellow balloon right in its center.

The worker winked. "You really need to show me how to do that when you're done."

Everything else had vanished - the smell of pizza and deep fried everything, the chatter of passerbies, the mechanized whir of rides. All that mattered was the game, the game that they were so very close to winning. Billy reached his hand forward but only met air. The wall the toys were stuck to was just out of his reach.

"No pressure," the woman said as his dad picked up the last dart.

"At least not from you," his dad replied. He shifted, moving towards a part of the wall where there were more balloons.

Billy closed his eyes. His heart was hammering. It was now or never.

There was no pop. Billy strained his ears, desperate for anything, but all he heard was the returning avalanche of background noise.

His chest tightened. This was why his dad had tried to convince him earlier to not play one of these things, wasn't it?

"William, are you listening to me?"

Billy opened his eyes. The woman was beaming.

"Huh?"

"I said to tell the worker what you want. I thought you'd be more excited about this."

"We won?"

He laughed. "Haven't you been paying attention?"

The woman gestured towards the wall of toys. "You can take whatever you like!"

He pointed straight towards the tiger. "That!"

His dad placed him on the ground while the woman took the tiger from the wall down with a strange wooden stick. Billy couldn't see over the booth now. He clutched his father's khakis tightly.

"William?"

He looked up. His father held the tiger out towards him, a smile taking up half his face. Eagerly, Billy grabbed it, burying his face into its soft chest. His arms couldn't even circle fully around its waist.

It was just like he imagined. No, better!

Pulling it away from his face, he spoke. "Thank you, Dad!"

He didn't get a reply. Looking past the toy, he didn't see his father's pants leg. Turning around and to the side, all he could find was a blur of strangers.

"Dad? Dad!"

His cry was lost in a stream of chatter.

"Daddy!"

He was crying now. His dad had always said that it was okay to cry, that crying wouldn't keep him from becoming a man, but he'd never quite believed him. Crying was for babies. Yet Billy couldn't hold back the tears.

"Dad!"

He jumped, hitting his hand against the side of the booth. "Miss! Miss, have you seen my dad?"

He got no reply.

"Have you?" he shrieked.

"Billy, what the hell do you expect me to do?" she finally replied. "I'm not exactly going pro here."

"Huh?" He cried out to her a few more times but only got silence in return. Pushing the tiger beneath his arm, he turned and scurried into the crowd.

"Dad? Dad!"

He was nowhere near as good at dodging people as his dad. More than a few times, he almost ran into someone.

"Has anybody seen my dad?"

He jammed a foot forward but only hit air, his other leg going out from under him. The world was a watery blur. His tiger flew from his grip, but he couldn't tell which direction it went in. His hands hit the dirt. His fingers and knees stung.

"Dad!"

People jostled past him. Reaching forward, he tried to grab their pants legs or the tails of their coats, but they always slipped from his grip.

Suddenly, a foot hit his back, slamming him face first into the ground. Then came another and another and another.

-

Billy awoke soaked in sweat and barely able to catch his breath. His heart was thrashing against his chest. It took him a few moments to even remember where he was - downstairs in Annie's living room atop an air mattress.

He threw his blankets off. Without them, his body was wet and cold - an uncomfortable if not entirely unpleasant sensation after practically being cooked alive. He was wearing nothing but his underwear.

Weak sunlight came in through the windows, causing the walls to glow a light yellow.

The smell of funnel cake still burnt his nose. Blinking, he forced air in. Out. In. Out.

A dream, Billy realized as his heart slowed. He'd gotten worked up over a stupid dream.

Billy showered until the water went from searing to lukewarm to cold. He scrubbed at himself until the skin around his chest started to bleed.

Once he had dried off, he slipped back into his T-shirt and jeans but left the hoodie on the floor. It smelled and there were now holes in the elbows. His jeans didn't look much better, frayed and burnt.

Annie was finishing off a plate of waffles when he came downstairs.

"Hey, Billy! How'd you sleep last night?"

Billy grunted. Pulling open the pantry, he grabbed a box of cereal. Pouring it straight into a bowl, he skipped milk altogether. When he brought a spoonful to his lips, he tasted cardboard.

"Hey, Annie," he said as he pulled his chair out. "What's that thing you said about your dreams?"

"Oh, you mean my lucid dreaming?" She twirled her fork absently across the surface of her plate. "It's kind of like being awake, I guess. I'm conscious and know what I'm doing. Considering how weird it usually is, I also tend to know that I'm asleep. Why?"

"I thought maybe I had one last night." He stirrred his cereal. His throat was scratchy.

"Did you?"

Billy shook his head. "No, it seemed too real."

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Somehow, he managed to force more cereal down.

When he had eaten about a quarter of it, Annie spoke once more. "So, you're wearing that again?"

Billy looked down. He only then noticed the large brown stain near the bottom of his T-shirt. "What's it matter to you?"

"If you need to change, we can go to Target or something. My mom's work gives her free gift cards there." She winked. "Don't tell her that I know where she keeps them."

"Thanks, but I can just..." He bit his lip. If he went back, it'd just be another reminder of what he no longer had. Oh, he could step inside his father's bedroom, pull open the closet, and see a familiar row of collared shirts and pressed pants. Billy could go into the bathroom, squirt some of his dad's cologne, and close his eyes and pretend for a moment that he wasn't the only one there. But that wouldn't make it true.

"You can just what?"

"Go to my apartment and grab some of my clothes." He stood. "Hell, I can go right now."

"Wait!" Annie pushed her chair out and stood. She was dressed in a panda themed onesie. "Let me go with you."

"Look, it's not a big deal. I'm just grabbing clothes." And his video game consoles, laptop, a few framed pictures, and some snacks for good measure. Not that she needed to know that.

"At least let me help you." Her frown deepened. "It's not like I don't have any idea what you're going through."

"Whatever, let's just make this quick." The last thing he needed was Annie feeling more sorry for him than she already did. Crossing the kitchen, he looped his arm through hers and blinked.

When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in his bedroom.

"Why the hell is it dark?" Annie asked.

"We're two hours behind you."

Billy squinted. He recognized the street around him, but...

"Shit!"

"What's wrong?" Annie grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"That," he said, pointing forward. Where his twelve-story apartment building had once been was now a pile of burnt rubble. Lights had been set up around its perimeter, which was criss-crossed by yellow police tape. The parking lot had been emptied, and in its place were large trucks and police cars.

"Oh, Billy..."

He gritted his teeth. Of course this had to happen too.

-

Thaddeus awoke with a jolt in darkness. He panted, blinking and rotating his head around. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, there was little to make out. He could sense the idea of walls, but they seemed so far away that he half expected them to be nothing but his mind trying to fill in the blanks around him.

Closing his eyes, he tried to conjure up images of the last thing he remembered. It took him a few seconds, but the bright yellow blur of kitchen lights filled his mind.

That was as good of a starting point as any. Had he been making coffee?

Thaddeus rubbed at the space above his cheeks. It was as good of a guess as any but didn't sound correct. Maybe he had-

Thaddeus froze, unable to pull his hand away from his face. Then, unable to fight off the magnets that drew at his flesh, he pushed his fingers in deeper to that strange hole he had found. For a moment, he met nothing. Then he touched something soft and warm and wet.

No!

He put his other hand up, meeting his eye. He scratched at it. Putting one hand down, he reached his other across his face, to the space just to the right of what he had just touched, again meeting nothing.

Thaddeus shut his eyes and ran blindly forward. What would it matter if he hit something? At least then he might get an idea of where he was.

"Thaddeus Sivana!"

Thaddeus' froze, shoulders tensed. The sound seemed to have come from all directions at once.

"Why do you invade my realm once more?"

Air caught in his throat. Try as he might, nothing left his lips. He turned, searching the shadows only to find a deeper darkness than before.

That voice!

Chapter Text

Freddy checked his phone. Ninety minutes in and they weren't even through a third of the Ramones discography. It was going to be a long night.

Billy's face was buried in Annie's clunky old laptop. Its front was covered in faded stickers that he could only half read.

"Hey, Freddy," Billy said, jabbing him with his elbow but not meeting his gaze. "Look!"

Freddy turned his head, taking in the screen. Positioned across its center was a picture of Billy's dad holding up a lopsided cake unevenly coated with butter cream frosting. Something was scribbled across the top in thin blue icing, but he could only half decipher it from the shaky image.

"I made the whole thing from scratch myself!" He circled the cake with his mouse.

"Mmm-hmm," Freddy replied, not meeting his gaze.

For the past two days, Billy had ignored every single message that he'd sent him. Freddy knew he'd seen them - the "Read" notification below each proved it. So, once school had ended for the day, he'd kind of, sort of kidnapped him. Desperate times, desperate measures, and all that. But if Billy wanted to keep being a depressed weirdo then he'd just have to do it with some company.

Truth be told, Billy probably needed the change in scenery. According to Annie, he'd barely left her living room of his own volition since Sunday except to shower. How she'd managed to get him to eat or buy some new clothes was beyond him. As far as Freddy was concerned, Billy had spent the last two days doing nothing but looking at pictures of his dad in Google Photos. Judging by how quickly his friend could find them, his hypothesis was probably true.

His whole night so far had been nothing but looking through old photos and listening to Billy spout off random trivia about his dad. So far, Freddy knew that he'd gone bald at twenty-seven, been the back vocalist in a punk band during college, and only ever ate his cereal dry. He also had a fear of undercooked meat that caused him to only eat steak that was the texture of shoe leather, had gotten a sci-fi short story published in a now defunct, nationally-syndicated magazine when he was only fourteen, and was allergic to bee stings.

If Billy kept this up much longer, Freddy feared that he'd soon know Dr. Sivana's social security number.

But, well, how was he supposed to tell Billy to stop? It was weird as hell, but Freddy figured that it was better to sit through this than let Billy keep doing this same thing alone.

"And here's when we went to Knott's Berry Farm last summer," Billy said. He clicked through a few photos.

Freddy pulled the one earbud he'd been sharing with Billy from his ear, momentarily embracing the relative silence. Grabbing his crutches, he walked over to his dresser and pulled out a box of Nilla wafers hidden behind a stack of comic books.

He shook it. Good, Darla hadn't found them. "You want some?"

"I'm not hungry."

"More for me." He poured some into his hand.

"Hey, I just realized that I forgot to show you something."

"What?" Probably his dad's baby pictures or some snapshots of their last vacation to Timbuktu.

"I discovered these Sunday." Billy pulled the other earbud, leaving them falling off the edge of Freddy's bed. "I just typed my dad's name into Google and a ton of these came up."

"What?" Freddy asked. Sitting back down, he peered at the screen.

"[Open Access] A Review of Shared Hallucinogenic Phenomena in the Midwest: 1995 - 2015"
Crosby, L., MD; Sivana, T., Ph.D.; Caine, D., Ph.D.; and Leland, J., MD, Ph.D.

"Am I missing something?" Freddy squinted at the screen.

"My dad's written like a million papers. I can't even read most of them because they cost like two hundred bucks each to rent them for two days, but from what I can tell most of them are about the wizard. You know, Sha..."

"...Zam." Freddy finished. He narrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Just listen to this." He scrolled down past a long stream of text. "'While alien abduction remains the most commonly reported mass delusion, at a rate of 63%, abductions by 'The Weiss Wizard' continue to occur in 21% of cases. Reported experiences remain relatively uniform among a widespread demographic of patients.'"

Freddy peered closer, taking in the text and figures.

"'Subjects commonly report seeing a group of statues that bear a striking resemblance to historical sketches of the seven mythological Kahndaq manifestations of vice.'"

"Give me that." He didn't even wait for Billy to give him the laptop, just took it and began looking over some of the other tabs that Billy had open. He clicked a few, scanning their contents. "Jesus, you mean he's been researching this stuff for years? That would have been nice to know when we literally had to find those stupid sins!"

"It's not like I knew! Dad didn't really talk about work besides what classes he was teaching for the semester."

That made sense, of course. Billy had been just as shocked as he'd been when they'd broken into his study. But reading through the case reports was surreal.

"They keep acting like it's a bunch of hallucinations!" He clenched his fists. "My dad had to know it was real, right?"

"Are you even hearing yourself? Of course he knew it was real! Didn't you say he met the wizard?"

"Yeah, when he was a kid." Billy gestured towards the screen. "But it keeps saying..."

"I know what it says! But why wouldn't your dad act like it was fake? You can't just go screaming to the world that you got kidnapped by a wizard and taken to some weird cavern unless you want a one way ticket to the loony bin."

Billy's face fell. "But..." He never finished.

Freddy pressed the laptop shut and sat it in the empty space next to him. He pulled Billy into a hug, running his fingers along his back the way Rosa always did. "Man, I know this sucks."

"He's gone. You know? I wake up every morning and it takes me a few seconds to remember that. But right before I do, I keep wondering what he made for breakfast."

Freddy said nothing, just held him tighter. Rosa made this look so easy.

"My whole life is just insane right now. I can barely believe what happened Friday night."

"Tell me, champion, do you wish to die?"

Freddy shook the memory away. He pulled away. Billy's eyes, he noticed, were watery. "Look, you're not the only whose life is weird right now." Freddy grabbed a box of tissues from his nightstand. "It's pretty late. Maybe we should get some sleep before I have to stuff you in my closet tomorrow morning."

"What?"

"Where the hell else am I supposed to put you? You said Annie's mom is home now." He rubbed his chin. "And besides, our basement is freezing!"

Billy rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not tired."

"Annie says you slept thirteen hours yesterday!"

"You wouldn't be tired either if you did that." Billy picked Freddy's phone back up, slipping both earbuds in this time. "Look, I won't bother you if you want to go to sleep." He stood and climbed into the top bunk.

Freddy groaned. He had school tomorrow, didn't he? It wasn't exciting news by any means, but it was as good of an excuse to skip listening to "Pet Sematary" for the third time that night as any.

-

"You've been in your room a lot lately."

Freddy didn't look up from his plate of toast. "Yeah?"

"You trying to hide something?" Mary asked.

"Just his internet search history," Eugene replied.

Mary glared at him before returning her gaze to Freddy. "So what's wrong? It feels like you hardly talk to us anymore. You never have any news to report over dinner either."

Freddy shrugged. "I lead a boring life."

"Rosa's really worried." Mary's frown deepened. "And Darla? She thinks you're mad at her."

Freddy's stomach flipped like a pancake. "Look, I've just been really busy lately."

"With what?" Pedro asked, looking up from his phone. Why the hell had he been listening?

"Just stuff."

"That doesn't sound suspicious at all." Eugene smirked.

Freddy clenched his fists. He hadn't gotten out of bed that morning to be lectured by little miss know it all and a nine year old who never turned off his computer. "Look, things have been really weird for me lately. Excuse me for not wanting to make everyone else deal with my problems!"

He stood, leaving his food right where he left it. No doubt that'd make him stuck with dishes duty that night, never mind that it had just been his turn the night before. Whatever, he reminded himself, he could put up with that.

When he reached his room, he found a note on his nightstand.

"Decided to come out of the closet," it read in blue ink and hurried handwriting. "Plugged your phone back in. See you later?"

Billy hadn't written where he went and right then Freddy didn't care. He crumpled the piece of notebook paper into a ball and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans.

In the end, Billy had gotten more sleep than he had. Freddy had gone to bed around 12:30 a.m. and woken up less than two hours later furiously panting. The sharper edges of the dream had faded in the hours since, but he could still distinctly remember the feel of Dr. Sivana's hands around his throat, his palms pushing inwards, and the cold metal sting of lockers pushing against his own back. A few teachers and students had walked by, given the two a quick glance, and then walked past, their paces faster and eyes locked on the ground.

"Why did you say that name? What the hell did the wizard tell you about him?"

So many voices had spoken at once that he hadn't been sure which to try and answer. Not that it had really mattered, because when he opened his mouth all he could do was desperately gasp for air.

And still the people walked on. Didn't anyone else see the supervillain? Anyone at all?

Freddy shook the thought away. It had just been a dream, after all.

Billy had been snoring when he awoke. He'd spent the whole night listening to him while he himself tossed and turned. No matter how hard Freddy had squished his eyes shut, he hadn't been able to return to sleep. The image of the bridge collapsing had filled the darkness behind his eyelids.

Whatever his dad called himself, Billy had spent the last four days crying over a supervillain.

-

It wasn't that Billy had particularly wanted to go to school. While a month prior he had been stressing over getting A's on all of his finals, these days he couldn't tell algebra II, Spanish, and American literature apart. Everything just bled together, and what little he ended up remembering he couldn't piece back into a sensible whole.

But, Billy reminded himself, he'd be out before the first bell rang.

He didn't even want to imagine what would have happened had someone actually been in the bathroom stall. Immediately teleported back? Freddy's closet wasn't comfortable by any means, but at least it wasn't awkward.

Well, not that awkward.

But no one was there. Really, at this hour it shouldn't have been surprising. It was, what, five thirty in the morning in this part of the country?

It wasn't like he had anywhere else to be. And better to get this done now when he only had the janitor to deal with rather than a bunch of students and teachers.

Billy felt like he was in a horror movie. The hallway was deathly silent and only half lit. He walked down the east wing slowly, turning his head behind him every few seconds to make sure it was truly empty. The whole place reeked of cleaning supplies.

It was a bit like being in the hospital after-

He shook his head. That hadn't really happened to him, had it? And even if it had, all that truly mattered was what was happening right now.

His heart was hammering against his rib cage when he finally made it to his locker. With shaking hands, he began turning the wheel of his lock. Two tries later and it still hadn't opened. He gritted his teeth, holding his fists behind his back. Billy took a breath in. Out. In. Out.

When he next jiggled his lock, it finally clicked open.

Billy's chest tightened when he saw the inner door of his locker. Taped between class schedules and old announcement fliers were a handful of photos. Right near his eye level was a picture of him and his dad at one of the trivia team regional competitions from the year prior. Billy was grinning a mile wide, a golden medal held high. He carefully untaped it and placed it in his jacket's breast pocket. There was another taped near the top of his locker that his dad had made them get done professionally as a kid. It had been shortly after Billy had moved to California. While the actual photo shoot had long since left his memory, he could still remember putting his hand under his collar and scratching at his neck and repeatedly pulling off his clip on bow tie. The suit his dad had picked out for him had been downright suffocating on that eighty degree day. His dad, younger and brighter eyed, sat next to him, just as sharply dressed. He knew his father kept a larger copy of the same picture on his nightstand.

Had.

One picture was just of his dad. He was dressed in a bottle green sweater vest and collared white shirt. Billy wasn't sure where the picture had been taken, only that it had been at some conference. He'd used it in a Spanish class presentation on his family. Compared to some of his classmates, who had multiple siblings or aunts, uncles, and grandparents who lived with them to discuss, Billy had only spoken for a short time. In a last minute effort to meet the two minute minimum time requirement, he'd discussed goldfish of years past.

The last photo of his dad was one Billy had taken himself. He'd brought it in to show his American history teacher once and forgotten to ever take it home. Pictured was his dad at Gettysburg in a blue Revolutionary War uniform, a fake bayonet held waist high. Billy had been, what, eleven when it was taken? They'd only rented costumes for an hour, but they'd itched so badly that as soon as they were done taking photos they'd returned them. And what a waste of money they'd apparently been. According to his teacher, the costumes had been almost laughably inaccurate.

Slipping the last one into his pocket, he looked over the few remaining photos he had up. One was of the marching band. He could see himself near the right of the center in the second row. Another was his homeroom from the semester prior on the first day of class. A teacher had printed it out for them. The last was a clipping of his swim team friends taken by the school newspaper. Billy left them where they were. Maybe he'd come get them again. Maybe he wouldn't. Even the day after next was too far away in the future for him to worry about.

Billy turned to the inside of his locker. Most everything of importance he'd taken home with him on Friday. His school laptop, a zip up bag holding his calculator and pencils, some notebooks, and even two textbooks. They were all ashes now. What little remained mostly wasn't of any use to him. Even if he cared about his remaining textbooks, they didn't actually belong to him. His planner was a waste of trees. Really, all that was worth taking was his spare jacket. It was emblazened on the back with his school's logo and mascot. He always kept it in his locker in case he forgot one at home. Keeping the hallways and classrooms at a constant forty-five degrees was Principal Minerva's preferred way of stretching dollars.

It was only when he pulled it from its hook that Billy noticed how heavy the jacket was. He held it up, his eyes landing on a bulge in the bottom left pocket.

How the hell did that get here? he wondered, holding up the Magic Eight ball in the dim light. The last time he'd taken it to school with him, he couldn't have been no more than a fourth grader.

Throwing his coat over his shoulder, he held the ball up. It looked no more scratched than it had been before, though he couldn't be sure if the paint on the top had always been that chipped.

Are things going to be okay?

He shook it before holding it up. A blanket of blackness was his only greeting. Billy shook it harder, his eyes locked upwards on the space where the answer should have appeared.

Nothing.

"Well?" He shook it harder, passing it first from one hand to the other.

Zilch.

Billy rubbed his forehead with one hand. The other felt as though it were being dragged down by a lead weight. Oh, what did it matter if it didn't work any longer? This was what had started this whole mess, wasn't it?

"William Sivana?"

Billy froze, his grip tightening on the Magic Eight ball. All he had to do was release his hold on it and blink. Bam, freedom and further embarrassment removed. Yet, suddenly, he could do neither.

"William, is that really you?"

Billy turned. Hurrying towards him was Mr. Dudley, the vice principal. A pudgy, ever smiling older man, he had made a habit out of learning the name and recognizing the face of everyone at school. He was mostly balding save for three tufts of white hair that decorated the top of his head and the sides above each ear.

"I..." He looked across the hallway. If he bolted straight for the boy's bathroom, he could easily outrun the man and be across the country before his vice principal even pushed open the door.

"You're okay!" He was only ten feet from Billy now and getting closer with each step. "The police haven't stopped calling us about you."

"What?!"

Shit, he'd definitely have to go find Freddy now. Who cared if he was probably already in class that day? The authorities were probably looking for him too.

Mr. Dudley's face softened. "You're hardly in trouble, my boy. But you must understand that the authorities like getting these missing person cases wrapped up as soon as they can."

-

Mr. Dudley's office was small, cramped, and smelled like old leather. His bookshelves and cabinets were filled with stacks of paper. That he had any spare space on his desk to write was nothing short of a miracle.

"Hungry?" He held out a plastic bowl overflowing with Jolly Ranchers.

Billy shook his head. "No thank you, sir." He hadn't been sitting in the hard plastic seat opposite the vice principal for more than a minute and already his butt was going numb.

"I was quite surprised when I saw your name on the absentee list Monday morning. That there wasn't a reason only made me more concerned." He picked up some papers from his desk and began sorting through them. "Before these past two days, you've had perfect attendance."

Billy gave a weak laugh. "Nobody's perfect."

"Then I got the phone call from the police not fifteen minutes afterwards and it all made sense." He shook his head. "What a sad business. I saw the report on the news but had never realized one of our students lived at Imperial until the call came in. The building's owner even tried calling, but the law prevented us from telling her anything."

Billy slapped on a thin smile and nodded. He averted his gaze from Mr. Dudley to the window behind him. Only hints of sunlight came in through the curtain's slats.

"You and your father were one of the handful of people that the authorities found no traces of when interviewing the survivors. I must admit, I feared the worst." He wrinkled his eyebrows. "Might I inquire about your father?"

It was as if he'd flipped a switch. Tears decorated the corners of Billy's eyes within an instant.

"I don't know what happened to my dad."

Wasn't that true, in its own grotesque way? The past few days easily could have been one extended Kafkaesque nightmare. Hell, the past few weeks easily qualified as such.

"I don't even think my dad got home that night. My phone had broken earlier that day, so it's not like I could reach him. Then the fire alarms started going off and I just ran. It wasn't even a drill. There was really smoke and everything was so hot. I just went down the fire escape, pushing past people as I went. And when I got outside, I just kept running."

Everything came out so quickly and so easily that Billy half believed himself. In comparison, watching news clips and reading articles about the fire on Monday morning had been surreal, distant. The burnt building he'd seen earlier had quickly become fuzzy in his mind. Now, its image was sharp and clear once more.

"Where have you been?"

"With friends." Again, it wasn't a lie. "I haven't been able to contact my dad. I kept calling him on my friend's phone but he never picked up."

"And your friends' parents didn't think to report to the authorities that you were at her home?"

"Well, her mom didn't really know that I was there."

He pulled open a cabinet drawer and pulled something out. "This is where I keep the good stuff. Are you sure that you don't want anything?" He held up a half full bag of mini candy bars.

"Really, I'm not hungry."

"I suppose I can't blame you for that." He picked up his telephone. "I really do have to call the police."

"But I'm not in trouble?"

"Of course not. Oh, you might have given me a scare being here so early, but it's such a relief to have found you."

"There was an, uh, unlocked door. I just wanted to come in and grab some stuff from my locker." His jacket was in his lap. He'd slipped the Magic Eight ball back into its pocket. He couldn't really get rid of it. It was more than just special; it was his dad's. The weight on his legs was less a brick dragging him down now than it was a weighted blanket.

-

"Billy!" Annie raced forward, grabbing him in a tight hug. He returned it, squeezing her as hard as he could. When they pulled away, she looked him over. "You don't know how worried I've been since... Since the call."

Truth be told, the whole day before had moved like a whirlwind. Once the police had arrived, Billy had spent half the morning in a cramped office just opposite the teacher's lounge explaining to a policewoman and a social worker what had happened. That largely meant repeating everything he'd told Mr. Dudley and playing dumb for the rest. Try as he might, tears always hit him when they brought up his dad. The two women seemed to have an endless supply of tissues between them.

"No, I don't know what happened to my dad! How many more times do I have to keep saying that?"

"Billy, we just thought..." He could still remember the way the social worker, Ms. Zhu's, lips had crinkled into a frown. "If you think of anything, let us know."

In the end, he'd brought up only two things about his father: his recent eye problems and where he worked. Billy had been honest when admitting he didn't know which doctor his father had gone too. In retrospect, he couldn't be sure if his father had ever actually gone to one.

"Oh, sorry to bother you, but I have this demon ball stuck in my face. Would you mind getting me signed up for an X-ray?"

It had taken Ms. Zhu less than a minute to find the phone number for the department his father worked at on the university's website. She'd left for a few minutes to make her call. When she had returned, her frown was heavier than ever.

It shouldn't have surprised him that his dad hadn't called into, let alone gone to, work in the past few days. But it made his eyes water all over again. It was just another reminder, he supposed, of his father's absence. That gaping hole in his life that threatened to swallow everything else. Out came more tissues.

Finally, the policewoman, Ms. Reed, had asked about any family members they might be able to contact. The first and only people who had come to mind had been Aunt Adelaide and Annie. He couldn't remember his aunt's number, so he'd had to give them Annie's. According to Ms. Zhu, she'd answered on the first ring.

So, some thirty-two hours after arriving in California, things finally made some sort of sense.

Up until this point, he'd only ever spoken to Aunt Addy twice on the phone. The pictures he'd seen of her couldn't compare to seeing in her real life, if only because of how static she was in them. She was exactly six feet tall, with a petite ballerina's frame and a firm, practiced step. She was dressed in a blue pantsuit with matching colored beaded bracelets. Her hair, which was cropped close to her skull and held only a hint of grey at the temples, only seemed to exist to emphasize her dark, serious eyes. Her gaze had an almost owl-like intensity.

She had given him only a curt nod before turning to Ms. Zhu. Billy had ended up spending the night at the child services office downtown. He'd slept in an empty office on a cot. When morning arrived, the two had shared some Nutri-Grain bars and cups of watery hot chocolate.

"I understand that this is urgent."

"We wouldn't have called you if this wasn't a pressing matter. We tried to see if there were other family members we could contact - closer relations to be exact - but Billy said you two were the only people he could think of."

Aunt Addy's expression reminded him a bit of a Greek statue. "It's no trouble coming here. Thaddeus has helped my daughter before, so it's only fair that I return the favor."

Billy hadn't been able to pay attention to what else they said because Annie pulled him into another hug. Leaning close to his ear, she dropped her voice to a whisper. "Are you really okay?"

"I don't know what I'm feeling."

He'd finally gotten home when there was no home to go to. Now he was going back to a place he probably shouldn't have left.

"Is that all you have?" Aunt Addy asked, looking over the jacket in his arms.

Billy nodded. He'd left his bags of new clothes buried in the back of Annie's closets. Most of them he hadn't even tried on yet.

The parking lot was only half full when they went outside. Turning towards the door, he waved to Ms. Zhu. As far as he knew, she hadn't slept a wink the night before.

"This is a rental car, so be sure to keep your feet on the mat. I know they'll charge me extra if this thing gets dirty." Aunt Addy spoke with a slight Southern accent.

Billy sat in the back seat behind Annie. No one spoke until Aunt Addy had turned off the side street housing the child services office and onto the expressway.

"So, would anyone mind telling me why I had to fly all the way to California when this little fellow spent the past weekend at my house?"

Billy blinked.

"M-Mom?" Annie turned her head towards her.

"Well?" Even looking at him only from the rearview mirror, he could feel her gaze burning into his skin. "And just what is this 'Shazam'?"

Chapter Text

Christmas at his dad's really wasn't much different from the holidays he'd had with his mom. Billy spent both huddled beneath a pile of blankets on the couch watching the annual marathon of Christmas cartoons.

His dad was humming in the kitchen. The smell of coffee had long since settled over the entire apartment.

A commercial break started. Billy pulled the blankets back and hopped off the couch. Before running off, he gave Tawny one last squeeze before placing him down by his pillow. He'd gotten the stuffed tiger from the mall about two weeks prior as an early gift. By picking a heart and stepping on a stuffing machine, he'd gotten to help make the toy himself. Choosing the clothes had been the hardest part. For the longest time, he'd been debating between a doctor's lab coat with its plush stethoscope or a firefighter's uniform. In the end, he'd gone with something else entirely - a green checked suit with a large yellow tie that always appeared slightly crooked.

Billy slid across the kitchen in his socks, stopping close to the oven.

"Dad!"

"Morning, William." He looked down from the cabinet he was digging in. "How do strawberry pancakes sound this morning?"

"Really?" He grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes." He continued to take down bowls, pans, and ingredients.

Billy plopped into the chair opposite his dad's. Lying folded upright where his dad's plate usually sat was the newspaper. Leaning forward, Billy grabbed it and fished out the comics. It wasn't Sunday, but the Christmas edition was always in color.

"Hey, Dad?" Billy asked. Beneath him, Snoopy and Woodstock were busy looping a set of lights around a small tree.

"Yes?"

"Why don't we celebrate Christmas?"

He supposed the morning would feel more important if they did - bigger somehow.

"I already bought you some new toys." His dad didn't look at him as he spoke.

"It's not about that!" Though getting them had certainly been a relief. He didn't even want to imagine going back to school and listening to his classmates discuss everything they got and having nothing of his own to add. His mind turned to the giant tree and holly wreaths they'd driven by when passing through the city's downtown earlier that week. "Why can't we put up a tree? You know, with the lights and popcorn and ornaments-"

"I'm well aware of what a Christmas tree is." His dad was cutting up some strawberries. His fingers were stained pink. "We've already discussed this. Christmas is just a country wide marketing scam."

"Yeah, yeah." The Family Circle kids were all dumping out their stockings. "But we could just put up one tree. What's wrong with that?"

Judging by what his friends said, it was a little harder than it looked. First, the tree itself had to be dragged out of the basement or the attic and set up. Then lights had to be strung through it - that had never sounded too hard, but Brandon said half the of them were usually burnt out or broken. The real fun was in hanging the ornaments, and that could only start when everything else was finished.

"And it'd be really pretty."

His mom had never had a tree to put up, but sometimes she'd let him go over to their neighbor's apartments and look at what they had out. Billy supposed they'd never had a proper Christmas either - none of the big family events that his classmates were always going on about. Dinner was always macaroni with grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. That might have made for a special meal if they didn't eat them at least once a week already. The only presents he usually got were a candy bar and some new Hot Wheels.

Billy's stomach sank. Was his mom even celebrating this year? How could she while he was gone?

"I believe it's a little late for that."

His dad's voice shot Billy straight back to the present.

"Huh?"

"William, it's already Christmas. We'd be putting something up that we'd have to take down first thing tomorrow morning."

"Brandon says you leave it up until New Year's!"

He laughed. "Only lazy people do that!" His father was stirring batter now.

"That's not all people do for Christmas!"

But just what else did they do? Billy rubbed his chin. People sang songs. No, wait, his dad hated Christmas music. As soon as November hit, they only listened to CD's in the car because constantly changing radio stations was too much of a hassle. It wasn't as if they had anyone to go visit, either. They hadn't even gone to anyone's house for Thanksgiving that year.

Then it hit him.

"We could bake cookies!" Billy looked to his dad.

It wouldn't even be that Christmas-y. It wasn't as though they had candy cane and snowflake shaped cookie cutters tucked into a drawer somewhere. But hey, cookies were cookies.

"Well..."

"Dad! Please?"

"I don't want to say no, but we might not have the ingredients."

Billy's shoulders slumped. He stood, pushing in his chair.

"I'm gonna go watch TV."

"It's almost done."

He didn't reply. When he got back to the couch, the commercials were over but an entirely new cartoon had started. Billy only half paid attention to it.

"William? Breakfast's ready!"

Billy shut off the TV and hurried back to the kitchen. His father was already sitting down, a bottle of syrup in hand. He held it out.

"Be honest with me," he said as Billy's fingers brushed against his. "Are you worried again about our family being weird?"

Billy kept his eyes on his plate.

"That's why you asked, isn't it?"

"No." He bit his lower lip. "Maybe."

He'd never considered his family strange until some of the kids in his class had started asking about it. His dad? Well, Billy had always found him a little odd, but that was just who he was.

"I'm not trying to be unsympathetic. It has to be strange, and I'd understand if you were jealous of your classmates. But..." He shrugged. "Sometimes people are going to think you're weird and you're just going to have to learn to live with it."

"So no cookies?"

"I hope you didn't have your heart set on them." His dad yawned, scratching at his eye.

Billy took a bite of his pancakes. It figured.

"I wouldn't have a present for you."

"Excuse me?"

"You know, even if we did something for Christmas, I wouldn't be able to give you anything, Dad."

"Don't feel bad about that." He straightened his glasses. "Look, we can bake cookies later this week once we've had a chance to go to the grocery. Snickerdoodle or chocolate chip?"

"Snickerdoodles!"

He winked. "I was hoping you'd say that. And if you're still wanting to do something today, I did find a box of brownie mix in the cabinet."

"Can I lick the spoon this time?"

His dad wrinkled his nose. "No! I've told you before, we let other people get Salmonella."

Chapter Text

"I should have thrown you in here decades ago."

Thaddeus rubbed his jaw. He blinked, trying to force his vision into focus. His whole body felt as if it were filled with jelly.

"You were a child. Despite what you almost unleashed, I still believed you to hold a spark of innocence. For that I released you from my halls." The wizard sneered. "I see now that you were not even worthy of that. There's no telling how many lives might have been saved had I simply thrown you down here with the rest of the worms."

Thaddeus gritted his teeth. His vision had stopped shaking. Looking down, he saw that he was sprawled on the ground. To his sides were walls of smooth rock and ahead were a row of glowing bars. Standing between them was the wizard, straight backed and glowing fists held high. Smoke streamed forth from between his clenched fingers.

Gone was the weary eyed and frail old man that Thaddeus remembered. In place of many of the wrinkles that Thaddeus once remembered decorating his face was a single, sharp scar that ran from the skin above his right ear and down his lip to the end of his left jaw. It was pink and puffy, surely no more than a few days old. Similar scars ran up and down his neck and well-muscled arms.  His robe had been ripped, revealing an Olympic runner's legs. His beard had been trimmed down to a white goatee. With his hair held back in a ponytail, his face seemed sharper.

The only things that hadn't changed about the wizard were his voice and eyes. Thaddeus would sooner forget his own name than he would that damn voice. The wizard's eyes glowed blue as the blood of horseshoe crabs.

Thaddeus sat up. Turning his head, he saw a sheet of smooth rock growing out of the wall behind it. Crawling forward, he grabbed it and used it to push himself to his knees.

"I ask you again: What has brought you back to my home? Do you seek to perturb my champion? To take back the sins and wreck havoc upon your world once more?"

Even if Thaddeus had an iota of desire to do either - and right then he would have sooner chosen to spend the night on a bed of burning coals - he doubted he would have been able to. Walking forward, he gripped the bars, his hands meeting icy white metal. Looking up, he saw that they extended seemingly forever into the shadowy air above.

"I don't know what I'm doing here." He brought a hand to his face but pulled it back before he could touch the flesh.

"You have the tongue of a serpent and the heart of a scorpion. Even you cannot think that I would actually believe you."

All those years of searching and scratching down symbols for nothing and yet here he was.

"I never wanted to come back here." He released his grip on the bars. He didn't recognize this area of the Rock of Eternity. His jaw tightened, eyes narrowing. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Fate cares little for your desires." He smirked. "Even I did not think you so arrogant as to view yourself a god slayer. But should I expect anything less from the sins' guaranty?"

The sins! Everything came back in a flood of sound and sensation. The taste of blood burnt his tongue as Pride grabbed his face and the tips of its nails ripped through his cheeks. The boys' bandaged faces flashed through his mind.

He brought a hand back up and let his fingers slip through that saggy lid. When he brought his fingers back, the middle and index were stained red.

"Am I dead?"

"A champion cannot ever truly die, Sivana. Not even, it seems, one claimed by your masters." He held his hands out. "Perhaps I should turn you to stone like your allies."

Thaddeus tongue was suddenly heavy as a brick. The wizard couldn't be lying - only a living heart could beat so fast and hard.

"And I will unless you answer me this question. What does my champion know of you?"

"Frederick?" Thaddeus could still remember how small he'd been. The boy would be lucky to reach one-hundred-ten pounds soaking wet.

The wizard narrowed his eyes. "I summoned Billy Batson, yet the boy told me his name was..."

"William Sivana." Thaddeus' arms circled his own waist.

The first champion, the wizard's chosen. His own key back to the world of magic.

"Be truthful or I will turn your bones to kindling and set you alight."

"My son," Thaddeus finally said. "Before he was ever your champion, he was my son."

-

Billy wanted to tear off his seat belt, rip open the door, and run. If he went west past the highway, he'd hit the ocean. East would lead him straight to Nevada. From there, it was anyone's guess where his feet might take him. The destination wasn't his priority. All that mattered was running until his heart gave out, running until he was finally free of this pathetic excuse for a life.

As much his legs yearned to chase the sun, his arms remained limp at his sides.

Aunt Addy had pulled into a Taco Whiz parking lot about a minute prior. She hadn't said anything in that time. Despite the chill air of the roaring AC, sweat trickled down Billy's forehead.

Ahead of him, Annie sat mute and still as a statue.

Aunt Addy turned, her phone held up. "I need an explanation for this." She tapped her finger across the screen.

If not for his torn hoodie and dirty jeans, Billy might not have recognized himself. His face was buried in Freddy's shoulder. Not that he gave himself much more than a quick glance. His friends suits' were glowing so brightly that it seemed physically impossible to look at anything else.

They were positioned some twenty feet from the back porch of Annie's house. The night had been windy and cold - probably no higher than thirty degrees outside - but dry. The shock of cold air had ripped him from the cave and brought him back to the present. For a moment, all that had existed was the bare trees and thin grass of Annie's yard.

Then his dad's face had flashed through his mind.

"'What just happened?'" Annie's voice sounded tinny. Billy had to focus to hear her. She stretched her toned arms out above her head.

Aunt Adelaide paused the video and pressed the volume up.

"Mom-"

She gave Annie a quick, cold glare before holding her phone back out and tapping the screen.

"'I wish I could tell you.'" Freddy readjusted his hold on Billy. "'I think I'm still alive. You?'"

She pressed a hand over the glowing yellow lightning bolt decorating her chest. "'I've never felt anything like this before. Are you sure this wasn't a dream?'"

"'I'd rather it be mine than yours.'"

Annie motioned him forward. They began to make their way towards the porch, Annie on foot and Freddy floating behind. When they made it to the short set of wooden stairs that separated the house's exterior from the ground, Annie turned back to Freddy.

"'So how do I, you know, stop being this?'" He couldn't see her face.

"'Oh, didn't you hear Billy earlier? All you gotta do is say the word.'"

"'That's it?'"

He nodded. "'Just don't ask me how it works.'"

Annie turned back towards the camera, put her hands on her hips, and held her head high. "'Shazam!'"

Billy had to strain his ears to hear her over a sudden boom of thunder. The screen momentarily went black. He only had a second to take in his double chin before the video started back up. It was grainier than before, the colors muted. Annie stepped up the porch and went straight for the door. By then, she was out of shot. Freddy floated behind her.

"'Here,'" she said, holding the door open. Her regular voice sounded squeaky. The two hurried inside, the lock clicking shut behind them. For a few seconds, all Billy saw was the lit porch and the empty backyard beyond it. Then, a large white replay button appeared across the screen.

Aunt Addy pulled her phone back and began pressing the screen. Then, she held it up again.

It was mid-afternoon then and sometime after his and Annie's little shopping trip. Billy was dressed in navy blue running pants and a burgundy coat. He stepped out into the backyard and began to stretch his arms and legs out. His desire for fresh air had been fickle, leaving almost as soon as it had first appeared. Aunt Addy paused the video right as he was walking back up the porch.

"Well?" she asked once the video had stopped.

"We have superpowers." At this rate, Billy might as well get it tattooed on his forehead.

Annie turned, looking straight at him. "What?" she mouthed.

"A wizard gave them to me. Whenever I say his name, I turn into a superhero." He looked Aunt Addy straight in the eyes. "Go ahead, tell me you don't believe me."

She raised an eyebrow. "You have them too?" Her tone was softer than before.

"Billy was the one who gave me powers." Annie's face was hidden behind her hands. "It's a long story." She pulled her hands away and reached out, grabbing her mom by the arm. "You know, Billy could give you powers too if you wanted some!"

His eyes widened. "Wait! We can't just-"

Aunt Addy cleared her throat, pulling away. "No thank you."

So much for a secret identity.

Billy slumped back against the car seat. His legs felt as if they were filled with cement. He should have run when he had the urge. Now all he could do was close his eyes and hope he never woke up.

"So," Aunt Addy said, cocking her thumb towards the drive through line behind her. "What all do you want me to order?"

-

Thaddeus had never imagined himself being turned into the wizard's personal paperweight, but it certainly didn't seem out of the realm of possibilities.

"Satirev. Satirev!" The wizard slammed his sandaled foot to the ground, sending pebbles and dust flying. He looked up, eyes flashing. "You speak the truth?"

"I wouldn't lie about that." Despite himself, he couldn't help but smile. Even if he ended up a decoration, he could die knowing he'd sent a nigh omnipresent magician into a temper tantrum.

"You must excuse me. Even I have forgotten how cruel fate can be." His gaze tightened. "It speaks to the strength of my champion's spirit that he could be worthy of my power despite your influence."

Thaddeus' blood was burning. His father and brother he could understand. Not forgive, not condone, but he could at least see where he had fallen short. He and his family were tied as much together by expectations as by blood.

When Thaddeus was born, his father had given him three things. A warrior's name so that he might always have courage, his father's own name so that it might live beyond him, and the family name that the men before him had carried for decades. A name that his father insisted he'd never truly been worthy of, but one that he could never take away from him.

His father had wanted Thaddeus to be tough, a winner, a piece of himself. Because that was what the world had been to him, a mirror to reflect his glories.

Whatever their thoughts on the other, fate had tied them together with the noose of filiality. Even now, his father's dirty blood filled his veins. Thaddeus doubted even the strongest magic could change that.

The wizard was different. By all means, they shouldn't have ever met. There was no telling just what he might have accomplished with his life if they never had. Their relationship was born of chance, a sudden, irreversible stroke of bad luck.

"When you first came to me, I had such high hopes for you. I truly thought you worthy of my power."

"That's all I'll ever be to you, isn't it? A disappointment."

And if so, Thaddeus mused, does it really matter?

-

"Hey, Billy, did your dad ever listen to Queen?"

The way Freddy saw it, Billy moving onto playing Fleetwood Mac non-stop had to count as some sort of progress.

"Yeah, I guess when they were on the radio. I don't think he had any CD's for them or anything."

"What? Who doesn't like Queen?"

They were setting up furniture around Billy's new room. Set into a small room in Annie's basement, it had four unpainted walls, zero windows, and a single overhead light bulb that glowed a dim orange. Had someone not dragged down an extension cord and plugged in some floor lamps, Freddy might have had to squint to see. Someone had also brought down a space heater, which had turned the surrounding space so warm that he'd had to roll up his pants legs and ditch his hoodie.

Billy shrugged. "They aren't bad. I don't know, maybe he had them on vinyl. Dad never let me touch his record collection." He looked Freddy over. "Why?"

"Just curious."

For him, setting up furniture mostly meant pushing around chairs and telling Billy where to put stuff. Everything showed signs of use, from the dresser with the chipped paint top near the back wall, to the scratched plastic folding table by the door where Billy had placed Annie's old laptop. It was nothing too special, but at least he had a place to call his own.

"You know," Freddy said, shifting the weight on his legs and leaning forward on his left crutch, "you're still welcome at my place whenever."

"I don't think Aunt Addy's gonna let me leave anytime soon. She's really happy that I know how to cook."

"I'm just saying, if you ever need to get away, mi casa es tu casa. Just don't eat all my gummy worms." He turned. Taped to the wall above Billy's makeshift desk were a handful of pictures of him with his dad. Besides that, the walls were blank. "Hey, is it okay if I stop by again sometime tonight?"

"Uh, yeah. What time? Why?"

"I just need to drop something off. I don't have it on me now."

"Okay."

Later, as he sat in his own room, head bent over his sketchbook, he thought back to the pictures on Billy's wall. His dad was the reason all this shit had gone down, wasn't it? He was the guy who made Brett and Burke look like they wore kiddie gloves.

Oh, he'd said he wasn't evil. But wasn't that exactly what a supervillain would say? No one really saw themselves as evil, even when they had its literal embodiments crawling straight out of their eye.

Freddy hadn't dreamt about him in a few nights, but that hadn't made sleep come any easier.

Freddy tried to focus on their time together on the bridge. To almost getting beaten to death, to feeling his insides boil like a hotdog on the stove.

Somehow, his mind always wandered back to Billy's apartment. To being picked up and carried like a baby. To having hair brushed away from his forehead as Dr. Sivana gently pressed a warm washcloth against his face.

Dr. Sivana was a supervillain. Freddy reminded himself of that. And not just any, but the very first Freddy had ever faced. He supposed that made Billy's dad special.

Yeah, it was still weird that his first big bad was his best friend's dad. But hey, there had to be a badass nemesis somewhere out there in the world for him.

-

"I only had the video footage you sent me and memory to go off of, so it's not my best."

"No, it's great." All the same, Billy couldn't keep his eyes on the drawing. Looking at the three black and white figures reminded him that he wasn't just his plain old boring self any longer. The version of himself that Freddy had drawn in the picture's center was smiling and holding up a flexed arm. Billy himself hadn't changed back into his new body in over a week.

"You know, Annie and I have been training together. So far, we know she can fly, pick up cars, and shoot lightning from her hands. Oh, and run really fast." Freddy tapped his chin. "It made me realize something."

"Mmm-hmm?"

"Other than starting earthquakes, we all pretty much have the same powers. We're probably gonna need some kind of team strategy for using them." He removed a roll of tape from his pocket. "You want to hang that up?"

"Uh, sure," he responded. He held it out. Freddy would start asking questions if he just shoved it in the back of his dresser. "Put it wherever you want."

"I think Annie's gotten the hang of this pretty quickly. I think it's time we sent her out in the field." He tore off a piece of tape, rolled it around his finger, and stuck it to the back of the paper. "Why don't we do something together? It's always more fun when we team up."

Billy bit his lip. "No offense or anything, but I'm not even sure if I want to keep doing this superhero thing."

"Why?"

"I never asked for the wizard to give me superpowers. I don't even think I was allowed to say no."

"Is this about your dad?" Freddy's voice dropped.

Billy looked back to the pictures taped to his wall. "Freddy, I gave you superpowers because being a superhero has always been like your life dream. I won't say it isn't fun, but... Well, people want different things, okay?"

"Look, I know things are really shitty for you right now."

But just how could Freddy understand? It wasn't as if he didn't have a family to go back home to.

"Well, that is my point. Things totally suck for you right now. I'm not gonna pretend otherwise. But..."

"But what?" There was something about Freddy's tone of voice that made Billy stiffen.

"But you're really lucky! You want to know why?"

Billy groaned. "Because I'm basically Superman?"

"I mean, yeah. But I was gonna say that you had a socially acceptable reason to punch people." Freddy grinned. "Come on, you've gotta be mad about all this. Might as well take it out on some armed robbers."

Billy turned away. Despite everything, a smile tugged at his lips.

-

"Do you think your mom would be proud of you for this?" Freddy shook the masked dude by the shoulders. "Why don't we take you to see her? I bet she'll be excited to learn you've been robbing banks!"

"My mom is in prison!" Blood spilled down his bottom lip as he spoke.

"Oh, uh," he replied. "Well, you won't like it there either!"

"Uh, I think we have to take him to the police anyway." Billy said.

"I thought bank robbers were the FBI's problem." Annie added.

Freddy looked back to the guy. He couldn't have been more than five-six and one-hundred-fifty pounds. With his gun crushed into scrap metal, he didn't look so intimidating.

"Look, it's not our job to figure that out." He turned, eyeing the rows of people huddled with their faces against their knees on the floor. "How much longer until the cops or whoever show up?"

"It can't be more than five minutes," a woman in a trim navy suit called. Her hands, he noticed, were still shaking.

"Did you hear that?" Billy stepped forward, a finger held directly towards the man's face. "For five more minutes, you're still our problem."

"Uh, guys, I think we can skip the action movie talk." Annie pointed downwards. "I think he got the message."

Freddy had to hold back a laugh. For this guy's sake, he could only hope that he got a new pair of underwear with that orange jumpsuit.

It only took the cops two minutes to get inside. Not that it was hard to with the seven foot tall hole in the rear of the building.

"Remember, crime doesn't pay!" Billy called, his hands cupped around his mouth. An officer lead the handcuffed figure outside. He turned to Freddy and grinned. "Oh man, you should have seen his face when I flew straight towards him. The guy looked like his brain broke."

"You're acting like he ever had one to begin with." Freddy flew towards a group of people still scattered across the floor. "Is everyone okay? Does anything hurt?"

An old man held his arm out. Freddy took it and helped him get to his feet. Billy did the same for a very pregnant looking woman.

"Oh, thank you!" she cried. She pulled Billy into a hug.

"It's nothing, ma'am," he said, quickly pulling away. "All in a day's work."

"Damn," Freddy said as he watched a policewoman motion the group back towards the side of the building. "You almost got a date!"

Billy wrinkled his nose. "She was, like, forty!"

"And you're what?"

Billy gestured towards his face. "Thirty tops."

"You wish!" Freddy paused. "Hey, where's... Glitter Girl? She totally aced this."

"Jesus Christ, Glitter Girl?" Billy laughed.

"You got any better ideas, Lieutenant Shimmer Fists?"

He jabbed Freddy's side with his elbow. "I thought I was Captain Sparkle Fingers."

"Yeah, well I Googled it and captains are higher up the food chain. Besides, it's not like you wanted the name."

"Hey, I see her!" Billy pointed towards the front corridor, where Annie stood by a row of rotating glass doors. She was talking to two police officers, moving her hands as she spoke.

It was only when Freddy flew up to her that he noticed the lumpy tarps on the floor. The wall ahead of them was stained red.

"No, sir, I'm not sure how much he was trying to take."

"Do you know the approximate time he entered?"

"Don't they have security cameras? By the time we showed up, he had already..." She gestured towards the bulging figures decorating the floor. "I've already told you everything I know."

"We'll review the footage." The officer who spoke had the body of a lineman. He looked from Annie to the two boys. "Would either of you be willing to make a statement?"

"Uh," Freddy began. It was one thing to talk to news reporters and another to cops. He'd tried to limit it whenever possible - with his luck, he'd say something wrong. Lying to the police was a crime, wasn't it?

"They'll just tell you the same thing." Annie said. "Can we go?"

The man looked to his partner. "I don't see why not."

"Who do we say helped us?" The second officer, who had ebony skin and only looked to be in his late twenties at most, asked.

"Oh, us? You can call us the Sparkle Squadron." Billy said.

It was only when they were outside that Freddy could glare at him. "Seriously?"

"Hey, you're the one that started with the stupid names."

"We sound like an eighties cartoon!"

"Is that really a bad thing?"

Okay, maybe not. Still, they better hurry up and do some major brainstorming or the names might actually stick.

"Hey, Ann-" Billy stopped mid-sentence. "Heroic ally, do you know what our compatriot called you?"

She turned on her heel mid-air, gave him a quick glance, and then continued upwards.

"Glitter Girl! Can you believe it?" It didn't sound half as cool when Billy said it.

She didn't reply.

It was only when they were about sixty feet in the air that she stopped and looked at them again.

"So, that happened."

"Yeah," Freddy said. "Usually there are multiple guys doing it together. You know, heist style. I think it would have been fun if we'd all had someone of our own to punch."

"Hey, I'll take what I can get." Billy boxed at the air. "Gotta keep sharp, you know?"

"Maybe one day you'll actually land a hit!"

"Why not try right now?" Billy jabbed at him, but Freddy pulled back.

"Hey," he said, holding his hands up and out. "Superheroes fighting each other is so cliche."

-

"It didn't seem fair."

"Huh?" Freddy asked from between a mouth full of pizza rolls.

"Our fight." Annie crossed her arms over her chest. "He was just a normal dude."

"So?" Billy asked. He was digging into a bag of chips.

"And he had a gun," Freddy added. "I'm pretty sure it was loaded."

"Yes, it was." She leaned against the kitchen counter. The adrenaline rush from earlier was still there, but it was fighting for her attention with the questions clawing at her brain.

And the guy had used it, hadn't he?

"The way I see it, if criminals don't want to get beat up then they shouldn't rob banks and stuff." Freddy said. "We aren't exactly the first superheroes around."

"I still can't believe you're fine with being called Glitter Girl." Billy's forehead wrinkled.

"I never said I was."

"Yeah, well Glitter Woman doesn't have the same ring to it." Freddy tapped his chin. "You know, this would be a lot easier if I could just be... The word. It sounds pretty cool and no one's got a name quite like it."

"But aren't we all, uh, Sha...?" Billy asked. "People kind of need to be able to tell us apart."

"They've got eyes for that." Freddy grabbed his phone and clicked it on. "If you guys aren't still hungry, there's probably time to get someone else."

"I'll pass. I have homework." Annie looked to the wall as she spoke.

"For real?" He looked to Billy. "You up for another round?"

"You were right," Billy said. "Punching people is a lot of fun. But if Annie's out, I'm not going."

"Whatever. Just don't tell me you have any plans tomorrow night." He stood, washed off his plate, and loaded it into the dishwasher. "See you later?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Billy replied.

Freddy was there one moment and gone the next.

"Billy, you mind if I head upstairs?"

"Course not."

Her mom was waiting at the top of the stairwell. "Tell me everything."

"Oh, you know, some guy was waving around a gun like it was a toy and telling people to give him money. We showed up, punched him, and then let the cops take him away." As her mom walked down the hallway, Annie followed her.

One mission in and something told her that this was gonna start being normal.

"It'd make more sense if you'd been there to see it."

"I think I'll stick to imagining it." Her face tightened. The two stopped in front of her mother's bedroom door. Her mom motioned her inside.

"We knew what we were doing." It was hard to believe how much easier her life might be right now if she'd just remembered the security cameras. "Really, it was kind of unfair. The guy couldn't have won a fight against one of us. Three was just being mean."

"Annie, I got a call today about Sid's will."

-

How did time pass here? Thaddeus had never given any thought to it. There had never been any reason to, not when he'd always been on the outside looking in.

Thaddeus rubbed at his eye. A jolting pain ran up from his lower back and into his shoulders. The sensation was familiar. Spending the night on a slab of stone hadn't caused it, but it certainly made the throb more noticeable than the times he'd woken up atop his own mattress. He imagined he'd get much the same feeling if he ever were to have a baby elephant sleep on his back.

It could have been minutes since he'd fallen into a dreamless sleep, maybe hours. How long he'd spent lying down, eye squeezed shut and his arms pulled up through the sleeve of his coat and beneath his shirt so that he could draw heat from the skin of his chest, was anyone's guess. It had been, what, three weeks since he'd last slept? For all he knew, it was even longer. What could have been days back home could have been months here. Thaddeus could only hope that it wasn't the opposite.

His chest tightened, releasing a low growl. The last thing he remembered eating was a string cheese stick. He'd only managed to get a quarter down before throwing the rest away once William and his prying eyes left for school. That had been... Every number he conjured up seemed wrong.

Thaddeus' heartbeat quickened. What had happened to William?

Thaddeus sat up, his head spinning as he moved. He held a hand against the front of his skull and took in a long breath before releasing it. What had the wizard asked him - if he was going to take the sins back? The boys must have stopped them, then. How, he could only guess.

His cell was almost maddeningly quiet. Thaddeus had fallen asleep to the sound of his own heartbeat. Standing, all he heard were pebbles crunching against the soles of his shoes. If not for the light of the bars of his cell, which stretched before him like a row of thin teeth, he would have been trapped in total darkness.

The sins should have been screaming, yet all he heard was his own blood pumping in his ears. They did not squirm beneath his muscles or wiggle in the space below his skin. All he felt was the hole in his stomach and the slowly dulling pinch of nerves in his back.

With a certainty that he could surely recognize, if not entirely place, he understood for the first time in over forty-five years that he was truly alone.

Chapter Text

"Bo!"

"Maggie?"

She was in his lap, her arms around his shoulders and face buried in his neck, before he could say anything more. His heart was pounding. His hands shook as he released them from the rims of his chair. They only stilled when he set them on her lower back. She was so close that he could feel her own heart racing. Every breath she took sent hairs rising up his neck.

"I never thought I'd see you again." she spoke into his skin.

He grabbed her chin, pulling her face up. Over a decade later and she looked exactly as he remembered her, from her cherry colored lipstick to her golden curls. Her face was smooth as stone, her brown eyes warm and wide. Bo ran his thumb down her chin.

"It's really you." He couldn't speak louder than a whisper.

He should have been angry. All those years of telling his employees and investors half-truths about his home life and raising the boys alone were written across the skin of his own face. Oh, he was no stranger to rage, but the fury he'd felt when she'd left was like nothing he'd ever felt before. Up until the accident, it had been the most debilitating pain he'd ever felt, a wound that had never fully closed. But now, looking at her face, all he could remember was the way her eyes would light up when he brought her a gift or how soft her lips were when he pulled her in for a kiss. Margaret had always reminded him of a doll, so dear and sweet. It was cliche, but all he'd ever wanted was for her to be happy. Had she been? There was no telling. That was, he now saw, something for her alone to feel. He'd done the best he could, kept her warm, safe, and loved. But happiness had not been his to give.

No, Bo realized, he hadn't done his best, not really. How many nights had she fallen asleep in a cold and empty bed? How many weekends had he left her alone with the boys so that he could spend another day courting new customers? Even the most beautiful flower withered when it was deprived of water and sunlight. And hadn't he all but dug up and trampled her roots?

That rush of warmth that always fell over him when he saw her was hotter than ever. His grip on her back grew firmer. He pressed his lips against hers. The smell of her jasmine perfume settled over him sweet and thick.

Oh, there had been other women. A steady stream of secretaries and socialites living off their daddy's dime had flitted through his life. None had ever stayed too long. They had all been beautiful - he wouldn't associate with any less - but they were also either frosty as a January morning or boisterous and mouthy. Oh, they might have looked like her (was it a crime to prefer blondes?), but none had ever captured the same feeling within him.

Maggie was precious. He'd known it before but not as well as he did then. There had never been a woman like her before and he very much doubted that there ever would be again. She deserved everything, so much more than he had ever truly given her.

Bo had wasted her before. He couldn't lose her again; there was no telling what might happen to him if he did.

He wouldn't.

He took her wrists. All those years of dreaming, of yearning for the impossible, and here she was. She was his again. He could see it in her eyes. Maybe he couldn't truly make her happy, but he could try.

He brought her face back against his neck and buried his fingers in her hair. His touch was quick and light for she was so very delicate.

Margaret had left him before. A little voice in the back of his head reminded him that she could again. She could get up right then and just waltz out the door.

No.

She wouldn't, not ever. He'd see to it. Things were going to be different, Bo reminded himself. Maggie wouldn't want to leave.

"Uh, Dad?"

Bo blinked, looking up. For the longest time, the world had only consisted of him and Margaret. Even his office had fallen away. Now it came back in full force, exploding upon his senses. How many hours had he wasted looking down upon the city below or spent crouched over that polished desk? How long had he sat in here alone, lost among his papers and numbers? With how long and how often he'd been gone, could leaving him have truly been that difficult of a decision for his wife?

"Sid?" He pulled Maggie closer as he spoke.

His son looked so much like him with his broad shoulders, sharp jaw, and dark hair. Bo couldn't bring himself to meet his gaze. Instead, his eyes fell on his desk. They about fell out of his head.

There was someone sitting behind his desk. He had windswept, sandy hair and a smirk that made Bo's back stiffen. His white suit was a bit wrinkled, his gaze piercing.

"Who the hell are you?" His grip on Maggie tightened. He'd always suspected that she had gotten another lover - any man would have gladly snapped her up.

No, she wouldn't have brought him here with her. Would she? His pulse quickened. Was this all some cruel trick?

His name didn't really matter. Whoever he was, there were countless men just like him. Men with money and connections, men who could do more than he ever had. That was true even if he wasn't her... Bo shook away the thought. His stomach was heavy enough already.

He had Maggie now, didn't he? Dear, sweet, precious, beautiful Margaret. His Margaret. His his his his-

Why would she stay with him? Bo realized. As long as he'd wished for this moment, any last hope for it had died in a hospital bed ten years prior. How could she love him now - fully and without pity? Would she ever see him as anything but a shattered fragment of the man she'd once known? If he couldn't keep her before the accident, why would she want his ruined wreckage now?

He'd find a way. Oh, somehow, he'd find a way.

"Dad, this is Max Lord." Sid gestured towards him. "He showed up while you were on your lunch break."

His eyebrows wrinkled. "Who?"

In his position and line of work, he had the blessing and curse of knowing too many people.

He stood, pushing the chair back. "Welcome to the future, Mr. Sivana. I must say, your life looks pretty good right now. But it can be better. And, really, why wouldn't you want it be?"

Bo's heart took a moment to restart. Oh dear lord, this wasn't some business partner or future investor. This was a fucking oil shark. He'd come to him years earlier, before his face had been plastered on every screen in America, begging for money. He'd promised him unlimited oil, all he'd need to expand his manufacturing operations far beyond his current output. Bo hadn't given him more than five minutes to state his case. One talent he'd quickly picked up was telling what would and wouldn't net a profit. It would have been more economically viable for him to dig a hole and dump his entire fortune into it than to give the man a single nickel.

He prayed to the virgin Mary that Maggie hadn't left him for this putz.

"I know this is a little strange, Dad, but please hear him out."

As much as it ached him, he pushed Maggie from his lap. She stood on shaking legs. Reaching forward, he took her hand and squeezed it. She hovered over his side, her free hand pressed firmly into his shoulder.

Something in Sid's voice made Bo straighten his back and look hard across the room. "Yes?"

Max walked forward, his steps sure and shoulders held back. He knew the smirk decorating his face well, as he'd seen it many times on his second son's lips.

"We all want something, don't we?" He gestured towards Maggie.

Bile rose in Bo's throat, hot and harsh.

"And why shouldn't we get what we want?" He looked to Sid as he spoke. "Everyone has something that they would give anything for. For some, it's easier to see than others."

He was standing on the side opposite Maggie now, his hand on one of Bo's chair's handles. Considering how many people felt the need to come up and grab them, he had to half wonder if they were magnetic.

"I remember hearing about what happened to you. It was a real shame." He stopped suddenly, holding the inside of his elbow to his face so that he could let out a long stream of dry coughs. "You never expected that sort of thing to happen, did you?"

"Get to the point."

"Don't you wish you could walk?"

"Why the hell wouldn't I?"

Whatever Sid said, he didn't have time for this. He needed to get home. There were too many eyes here. Home was safe. All he wanted was to press Margaret's back into a row of pillows and run his lips from the top of her ears to the hard tips of her breasts. That was something every dollar in the world couldn't buy him.

"Just tell him yes, Dad."

As if the man was too stupid to figure that out himself. All the same, Bo looked up, meeting Max's gaze. He narrowed his own eyes.

"Yes."

"That's all I needed to hear."

A slight breeze sent goosebumps rising up his back. He tightened his grip on Maggie's hand.

It took him a moment to recognize the sensation. For years, all he'd felt were occasional streaks of pain rising up his back. They came at random, without reason, and over the years had grown less pronounced and farther and fewer between. His doctor had promised him that what little nerves remained would die out within fifteen years. Then, the nothingness, that last little bit of his legs, would be gone forever. Reaching down, he placed his index finger on his right leg. He held back a gasp at the sudden pressure. Then, he wiggled his toes.

"Well," Max said. He turned, and it was only then that he noticed the large, patchy clumps of skin that dotted the back of his skull. Whatever happened to Bo's legs, surely Maggie would at least keep him for his hair. "Don't you want to try them out?"

Sid hurried forward, holding his hands out. Bo took them. Leaning forward, he stood.

He wasn't clumsy. His legs moved as if they'd been working like this all his life without ever stopping. Looking down, he took in the ground beneath his feet.

"How?"

Max coughed again. "It was rather simple, Mr. Sivana. You wished hard enough."

He pulled away from Sid, turning on his heel and scooping Maggie into his arms. Before, he hadn't been nearly so strong to lift her up like this. Now, he could hold her all day.

"Bo, this is incredible!" She reached a hand forward, placing her palm against his cheek. "Can you believe it?"

Any other day and he would have said no. He leaned his face against her own. It was the most intense sensation that he had ever felt.

When he put her down, she pulled him forward. They twirled like children before swaying against one another, their arms and legs moving to some silent song.

He only let go of her to run, to feel something that he never should have forgotten in the first place.

Sid took his place, pulling his mother into a tight hug that she returned. She had to stand on her tiptoes to reach his neck. Oh, he must have looked so different to her, almost like a new person.

Racing forward, he pulled both into a hug.

It was perfect. There was simply no other word to describe it.

Naturally, he had to be suddenly pulled from the moment by the sound of the door opening. Bo looked up.

"Father?" asked a wide-eyed Thad. He looked from the line of people standing in the center of Bo's office to the empty chair sitting a few feet away from his feet.

-

Thaddeus hadn't meant to run into anyone in the elevator - not figuratively or literally. The one he'd hurriedly and repeatedly pressed the open button for was private. It had gold trimming and mirrors set into the walls on all sides. The floor was black and decorated with Romanesque geometric patterns.

He ran into someone anyway. Thaddeus groaned, falling back against the now closed doors.

"Thad!" His father's voice was so loud that he was certain half the company could hear him. Hurriedly, Thaddeus hit the button for the first floor. The sooner he got down, the faster that he could start trying to piece together some kind of sense.

Thaddeus was used to his life being strange. He had learned more than once that at any time things could change drastically, often in ways that he never imagined. That didn't mean that he didn't relish the fragments of normalcy that he had managed to acquire. Being in college, he had far more of those now than he ever had before.

Yes, college. He'd considered getting a flight straight to Boston - Great Aunt Fiona would have a few questions for him, but her door was always open - but going to California was probably the better option. Maybe he could fly straight to Palo City and stay with Mordecai and his family. If that didn't work, Eleanor might take him in. Her father could always use the extra help.

He didn't recognize the man before him. Not that that was particularly surprising. He'd long since become used to men in suits hovering around his father. For all their silk ties and tailored formal wear, they were a dime a dozen.

A thin red line dripped down the man's nose and onto his lip. Had Thaddeus really hit him that hard? He brought a hand to his own face but felt nothing.

"And you are?"

Really, Thaddeus should have been the one asking that question.

"Sivana," he replied, "Thaddeus Sivana."

Oh, Mordecai would have gotten such a hoot out of that.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you Bodog's son?"

Much as he wished otherwise.

All the same, he nodded. If this was some big investor, he had to impress him. To do anything less would be to invite his father's wrath upon him like a hurricane.

"Are you proud to be his son?"

"What?"

"It's a simple question. Go ahead, be honest. I won't tell anyone what you said."

Thaddeus froze. It was only then that he noticed the elevator had stopped moving. According to the meter on the wall, they were stuck between the fourteenth and twelfth floors.

"You wish your father respected you, don't you?" The man nodded. He wiped his arm over his face, turning the sleeve of his suit jacket pink. "It's a perfectly understandable desire."

"Whatever you think you know about me..." Right then, Thaddeus would have gladly gone through another sleepless week of finals if it meant not being here.

"He doesn't keep any pictures of you on his desk. I know. I checked."

He ground his teeth together. "What does it matter to you?"

"Yes or no?" He reached forward, taking Thaddeus' shoulder.

"Yes! Are you happy?" He hurriedly pulled away from him, his face aflame.

Despite everything, he was being honest. There was still a little part of him - small and shriveled as it was - that hoped that his father might change, that his icy exterior would one day melt. But it was weak, its voice growing hoarser with every day that passed. There was a louder, firmer voice for him to lean on now. His most steadfast friends had always been there for him. What he would have given to hear them at that moment. At least they'd know what to do.

Suddenly, Thaddeus felt an icy wind on his back.

"Enjoy it," the man said. He vaguely reminded Thaddeus of someone, but he couldn't place where he knew him from. "I do ask you one thing, though."

"What?" How much longer until they reached twenty questions?

"It's nothing personal, but I'm really going to need your hair." He laughed.

Before Thaddeus could ask any more questions, the elevator doors suddenly slid open. They were on the first floor now. But how? When had they started moving again? Everything was fuzzy and his head felt tight.

The man gave him a quick smile before stepping out.

The elevator doors slid shut as soon as he stepped outside, then began to climb upwards again. Thaddeus groaned.

He had never wanted to come home for Christmas break. Had Great Aunt Fiona not been travelling then he just might have gotten out of going. His father had batted away his other excuses, insisting that he was expected at the annual Christmas party. Now, here he was, back in Philadelphia but in a whole new world.

He'd known the woman was his mother as soon as he'd seen her. She was like a memory brought to life. Sid had clung to her. His brother hadn't changed either; Sid was Sid was Sid was stupid old Sid.

As for his father... Whatever he claimed, it had to be magic.

Magic! Was this somehow The Wizard's doing? As farfetched as it seemed, Thaddeus wouldn't put this trickery past him.

Whatever or whoever caused it, he'd figure out what was going on.

He ran a hand through his hair. Did it really matter what caused it? All he wanted was to be back in California, where the world made sense and he could go days without hearing anyone raise their voice.

He stiffened. Then, very slowly, he pulled his hand down. A large ball of dark hair was knit loosely between his fingers. Pushing his other hand loosely through his shaggy locks quickly caused the same results.

Thaddeus was so caught up in his reflection - his scalp was suddenly so smooth and shiny - that he didn't notice the doors open. As soon as it did, three others crowded inside the elevator, pulling Thaddeus into a hug.

"Oh, Thaddeus, look at how you've grown!" spoke the woman spoke. His mother didn't even deserve the title.

"You're finally back! The house has been so empty without you." That was the man who wore his father's face. He wasn't screaming any longer. "What happened? I want to know everything."

"Thad!" Sid spoke. His embrace was the tightest of all.

For a moment, all Thaddeus could do was stand there while the strangers squeezed him. He kept his eyes locked on the balls of hair littering the floor.

"Are you hungry?"

"What?"

"Are you hungry?" his father repeated. He stepped away, straightening his tie. "I think an early dinner is in order."

-

"I'd pull all my hair out if I had three finals in one day too." Sid patted him on the back. "How'd you survive?"

"Through copious amounts of coffee."

"What all are you studying?" Margaret looked up from her steak.

"Physics and psychology." He was still debating possible minors or if he'd get any at all.

His father whistled. "I've never understood how you do it, Thaddeus. That's all Greek to me."

Thaddeus surveilled the table. Sid was pouring another glass of wine. Margaret had her hand tucked between his father's own. His father was smiling at him. They looked like one of those happy TV families. This was all a trick - it had to be - but for just that moment, Thaddeus leapt headfirst into the illusion.

Chapter Text

The lumpy porridge was lukewarm and watery and the bread crusts stale, but Thaddeus licked his fingers clean all the same. The wizard had come to him bearing a metal tray right when Thaddeus had seriously begun to consider eating the skin off his arms.

The wizard had watched him as he'd eaten, his scalpel sharp gaze unwavering. Though they were only a few feet apart, the bars that separated them made it seem like miles. Thaddeus had tried meeting his eyes a few times but could never look at him for more than a few seconds before turning back down to his bowl.

He should have been dead. The sins had promised Thaddeus that he was nothing but dust, a fading footnote from the legends of history.

But really, should he have been surprised? He'd long known that the universe hated him. Why would it give him even that little bit of satisfaction?

"Wizard?"

"Interloper."

Thaddeus forced his gaze upward. After a night spent tossing and turning, listening to his mind scream as knots tightened in his upper back, it was time to speak the question that had pushed sleep just beyond his reach.

"Why didn't you kill me when I first tried taking the eye?"

It couldn't have been difficult for him. All it should have taken was a quick flick of his staff. Thaddeus had imagined a bright flash of light, a sudden hot burst of pain, and then a sweet, cold darkness. A blanket of nothingness, the calm and quiet that he had long been desperately searching for but never found.

Would there have even been a body left behind? Thaddeus couldn't be sure. His half-awake visions had shifted rapidly throughout the night, jumping between each scenario so quickly that they blurred together into one long, macabre mirage. Perhaps he would have crumpled into smoldering ash. Maybe he would have dropped dead, his body cold, stiff, and still as a porcelain doll's.

Did it really matter? Either way, his father and brother would have been free of him. That was the only Christmas gift they ever could have truly wanted from him. Better yet, there would have been no accident, nothing to hold over his head.

The weight on the wizard's shoulders would have been lighter as well. With Thaddeus gone, there would be one less mosquito vying for his blood.

The wizard's eyes narrowed. "I do not answer to you."

"Why?" Thaddeus yelled. "At least answer me that!"

Why dangle the world in front of him but then deny him that one mercy when it was pulled away? Had he not even been worthy of that?

"You were not the first to fail me, Thaddeus Sivana, nor were you the last. Were I to rid your world of its failures, my halls would run red." He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "It is not my place to kill you, not now and not then. No one has that power."

Thaddeus tightened his fists. No right to kill him? The man had turned his life inside out and smashed everything he knew to be true into thousands of jagged pieces.

No right! Just how many lives had the bastard ruined? How many hospitals, prisons, and hospices had Thaddeus toured when interviewing patients? Did the wizard really expect the broken, confused husks that he had left behind to be thankful?

"You rotten-"

"Silence!" The wizard slammed the tip of his staff down, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Thaddeus coughed. His eye was burning.

"You stand in my halls! So long as you disturb my home, I have every right to rip your tongue from your mouth." He flashed his teeth. "Do not coax me."

Thaddeus reached up to rub dirt from his eye. When he pulled his hand away, the wizard was gone. His metal bowl and tray were nowhere in sight. Leaning down, Thaddeus grabbed a large rock and threw it with every last ounce of his strength at the nearest wall. His red faced roar echoed across the stony walls.

-

The Sivana name held no power in Coast City. Here, Thaddeus was just another face in the crowd. And yet, when that bright eyed stranger had asked him for his name, he'd introduced himself exactly as his father had prepped him.

"Sivana," he said, holding out a hand, "Thaddeus Sivana."

His eyebrows knit together. "A bit redundant, isn't it?" He took Thaddeus' hand and gave it one quick, firm shake. Even when his arm went still, he didn't release Thaddeus from his grip. "Earl Mordecai Liebowitz the Second, at your service. Or, if you would prefer, Liebowitz Earl Mordecai Liebowitz." He winked. "Though if that's too much trouble, my friends call me Morty."

"Mordecai," he said, as if testing the name on his tongue.

"You need any help with that?" Mordecai pointed to the suitcases and backpack that Thaddeus had placed on top of his mattress. The two were sharing a bunk bed. His roommate had already taken the top.

"I can handle it."

Roosevelt Hall was a four-story red brick building on the verge of its fiftieth anniversary. Its sides were decorated with ivy. Thaddeus had been assigned to room 339, which was located firmly on the building's eastern corner. From the open window, he could see a long stretch of grass. Students, no more than ant sized specs from this distance, wandered the grounds in small groups. Beyond that, he could see more brick buildings and a curving road dotted with cars.

When Thaddeus had entered, his roommate had sat hunched over his desk. It had taken him a moment to look up from the book he'd been reading.

Mordecai had a wavy mop of dark hair and light blue eyes. He wore large, square eyeglasses with purple frames. His clothes were just as bold - baggy navy shorts, a burgundy T-shirt, and black suspenders. He was skinny as a rail from the waist up, but his legs were muscular and toned. The space above his lips and his chin were dotted with stubble.

His taste in decorations was just as eye catching. Movie posters, magazine cutouts, and ticket stubs decorated the walls. The cotton blanket spilling off the side of his bed was tie-dyed. His desk was littered with colorful markers and small trinkets - oddly shaped coins, feather key chains, and pinky-sized figurines.

Thaddeus' whole world was condensed into three suitcases and a backpack. Throughout the summer, he'd rid himself of everything he no longer used - clothes that he had outgrown, books that he could live without, odds and ends from his childhood. Even then, he hadn't had much to give up. He had always made a habit of having little, dressing plain, keeping his head down.

First, Thaddeus unpacked his clothes. A closet took up half of the wall by the door. Opening one of the folding, slat-covered doors, Thaddeus saw that it was split in half by a wooden divider. Mordecai had already taken the left side, filling it with brightly colored shirts and more pants than there were days of the week.

"So where are you from? I don't recognize your accent."

"Philadelphia," Thaddeus replied. The two plane rides - one from Philly to Chicago and another to the airport just outside of Coast City - had taken almost twenty hours.

Mordecai whistled. "Long way from home, aren't ya? What brings you all the way out here?"

Thaddeus pressed his lips together tightly. He had never been fond of idle chitchat. Just because the two were living together didn't mean that they had to be friends.

"I applied and was accepted," Thaddeus finally said.

"I mean, what's the big goal?"

"Excuse me?"

"There has to be a reason you came here. People don't do things if there isn't a purpose for it." He held a hand to his chest. "Me, I came because I was immediately accepted into their mechanical engineering department. That didn't happen everywhere I applied to. The way I see it, why wait?"

"I suppose I wanted to go somewhere different."

The truth was, Thaddeus had had a buffet of schools to pick from. He'd applied to over twenty colleges across the country, from Ivy University to Yale. At his father's behest, he'd even tried getting into Harvard. For the briefest moment, he'd even considered attending. It wasn't a bad school by any means (though why they'd accepted Sid was still beyond him), and a degree from there would have cushioned his fall wherever he landed after college. But as the fifth Sivana to attend, he'd be weighed down by ghosts. Going there also came with expectations - what to study, who to interact with, even what to do in his spare time.

In the end, he'd chosen Durant University for its renowned physics program and distance. At three-thousand miles from home, the only way Thaddeus could have gotten further from Philadelphia would be by moving to Alaska or studying in Europe.

"A good of a reason as any. You know, my parents and I moved cities when I was seven, but I've never lived anywhere besides California. I don't want to!"

Thaddeus couldn't blame him. Philadelphia was a grey city, a blur of worn brick buildings mixed with skyscrapers. Out here, the sun was bright and the colors weren't muted. People didn't walk with their shoulders hunched and faces pointed towards the ground.

"Really, you're wearing that here?"

Thaddeus stiffened. Mordecai walked towards him and held up one of the sleeves of his grey cable knit sweater.

His cheeks flushed. He hurriedly put it on a hanger and pushed it to the back of his side of the closet. "It still fits."

His commentary continued as Thaddeus unpacked further. At one point, he grabbed one of Thaddeus' bow ties and wrapped it around his head, fluffing his hair.

"You think you're hilarious, don't you?"

"I just like to keep things interesting."

Once Thaddeus had put away all his clothes and made his bed, he opened his backpack. Crammed inside were enough school supplies to hopefully last the year, from colorful highlighters to packets of graph paper. Nestled on the very top were a handful of books which he'd never had the heart to donate.

"Hey, I've read that before!" Mordecai leaned an arm over Thaddeus' shoulder, pointing straight at a worn paperback copy of The Auctioneer.

Before he could push him away, Mordecai was leaning down and digging through some of his other books. While his father had always frowned at his choice in pulp novels, they'd never raised his ire the way some of his other titles had. He had always had to keep books like Sorcery Throughout History and Man's Window Into Magic stuffed under his bed or hidden beneath neatly folded piles of socks and underwear. He probably would have kept up the habit had Mordecai not been so prying.

"Trippy stuff," he said. Taking them in his arms, he walked to Thaddeus' desk and began lining them up against the wall, their spines pointed out.

Thaddeus began pulling out notebooks, folders, and pens, until there was just enough left inside to use for class that week. The rest he stuffed on the wooden shelf hanging atop his closet.

Before hanging his backpack up, he fished out his Magic Eight ball from the front pocket. He'd taken to carrying it everywhere with him.

"Hey, I used to have one of those as a kid!"

Thaddeus hurriedly held it against his chest.

"Mine broke," Mordecai said. "It had to be thrown away." He held his hands out. "Can I see it?"

Thaddeus' jaw tightened. What right did he think he had to snoop? Didn't he have anything better to do?

Yet his shoulders loosened. The sooner he humored him, the sooner he'd grow tired of it.

"Don't drop it." Thaddeus said, pushing it into his hands.

"Are we going to have a great school year?" Mordecai shook the ball before holding it up. Turning his wrist, he held the toy out towards Thaddeus.

You may rely on it.

He shook it a few more times, though no questions left his lips. When he was done, he handed it back to Thaddeus.

"What did you ask?"

Mordecai gave a small laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

-

"I've never had a cheeseburger before."

"What?"

Of all the things to learn about his roommate, that hadn't even crossed his list of possibilities. In the three hours since he'd arrived on campus, Thaddeus had been inundated with facts. Mordecai lived four hours southwest with his mother, stepfather, two younger sisters, and dachshund. He'd originally planned to take the pre-med track but had nixed the idea when his cousin in medical school had mentioned one of her classes took place in a morgue. Over the summer, he'd worked in a cinema selling tickets and sweeping up popcorn. In return, he gotten all the old posters he wanted and could see any show for free when his shift ended.

He spoke fast and loud, filling every space he entered. The guy could have talked paint off the walls. Yet there was something about the way he spoke, warm and assured, that kept Thaddeus listening. And he couldn't really complain. The more he spoke, the less silence that Thaddeus himself had to fill.

"I know. But hey, why not try something new?"

They were stuck between a battered Chevy truck and a VW Beetle in an O'Shaughnessy's drive through line. Though Thaddeus had been tired after his flight - sleep was an elusive commodity when situated next to a couple with a screaming toddler - he'd had too much energy (and cheap coffee) to take a nap. After unpacking, Mordecai had suggested they tour the campus. Thaddeus had agreed, if only so he could get himself situated before classes.

Mordecai walked with a straight back and long, firm steps. He waved to strangers and stopped to pet every dog they passed. More than a few times, he'd stopped some girls walking by and complimented them on their jewelry or clothes.

After they'd crossed the entire campus and circled back to their dorm, Thaddeus' stomach growled. All he'd eaten since his plane had left Philadelphia that morning were two packets of airline peanuts.

"Well," Mordecai had said, "I was going to ask you about dinner."

The two were seated in Mordecai's '67 Ford Fairlane. The exterior was black with a light blue stripe painted near the bottom. The metal was so shiny that it could double as a mirror. There wasn't a speck of dust inside. A pine tree shaped air freshener hung from the rear view mirror, but its smell was nothing more than a weak tickle against his nose. When he'd gotten inside, Mordecai had insisted Thaddeus keep his feet firmly on the mat.

Though he'd been rather nosy that day, he had at least been more than forthcoming in showing off his own things. Mordecai had shown him everything he brought with him - far more than Thaddeus himself would have been able to pack - and even given him a tour of his car. Not that there was much to see inside.

"What have you never done?" Mordecai asked. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back.

"More than I can list," Thaddeus replied.

"Ever cut your own hair?"

Thaddeus snorted. "Of course not."

"Then you are a smarter man than I, Sivana Thaddeus Sivana." He tapped his chin. "Have you ever gone hang gliding?"

"Hang gliding! Where the hell would I have done that?"

"You never know. And hey, my uncle sure liked it." His eyes narrowed. "What about-"

His question was cut off by a woman tapping against the window. He grabbed the side handle and rolled it down.

"Are you order sixteen?"

Mordecai grabbed his receipt from his lap and nodded.

She first handed him a cardboard container holding two milkshakes - chocolate and vanilla - and then a bag of food. The warm scent wafting from it sent Thaddeus' mouth watering. He about ripped it from Mordecai's grasp when he handed it over. Reaching in, he pulled out a handful of crinkle cut fries.

"Stop!"

Thaddeus froze, his hand hung over the half open bag.

"Put those down! Only animals eat in cars." With the way Mordecai usually talked, Thaddeus had thought he'd make one hell of a salesman. Now, he could have rivaled a drill sergeant.

He hurriedly dropped the fries back in the bag and rubbed his fingers on the enclosed napkins.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! He'd ask himself what he'd been thinking, but he quite clearly hadn't been. Now there was something he hadn't done before - at least not until now. If he'd tried this in his father or Sid's car...

For a moment, all Thaddeus could do was try and steady his breathing and focus on the soft rock music streaming in from the radio. It was only when they had pulled back out into the street that Mordecai spoke again.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that." His grip on the steering wheel was tight, his gaze never leaving the road. He sighed. "But this car is special. I can't have anything happen to it." Reaching across, he patted the back of the leather passenger seat.

"I'm sorry." Thaddeus' face was locked on the food in his lap.

Mordecai would never speak to him again, he realized. Not even twenty-four hours in and he'd already crossed a line. But should he really have expected anything less of himself?

"What about water skiing?"

Thaddeus blinked.

"Well, have you tried it?"

"Can't say I have."

He frowned. "Damn, I thought I had you there." His forehead wrinkled. "Ever eaten sushi?"

"Yes." It had been the highlight of one of the business dinners he'd been dragged to by his father. As long as he stood in the corner, he'd learned, and stuffed his face with raw fish, people tended to avoid him.

He grinned. "Glad to see you've done something!" He pointed towards Thaddeus. "Okay, ask me now!"

Thaddeus froze, his hand wrapped protectively around the fast food bag. His brain was blank as a freshly washed chalkboard.

"Well, go ahead."

"Ever run over an animal?" He hadn't, but the year prior Sid had wrecked his car when he'd collided with a deer.

"No, but my uncle hit a squirrel once."

"That doesn't count."

"This is all about honesty!"

They were back on campus now. Mordecai pulled into the back of the dorm's parking lot. The nearest car was six spots to the left. He parked before weaseling the paper bag from Thaddeus' grip.

"Here," he said as the two walked towards the dorm's rear entrance. Mordecai shoved a handful of fries into Thaddeus' free hand.

"Have you ever been out of state?" Thaddeus only asked once he'd finished chewing.

"Of course," he responded. "My mom's side of the family lives in Cincinnati. Besides that, we go on vacations. But that doesn't mean I'm moving."

He pulled the door open for Thaddeus, who hurried inside.

"Back to you," Mordecai said. He chewed on a fry as they walked upstairs. "Have you ever played hooky?"

"Of course not!"

His eyes widened. "Really?"

Thaddeus nodded.

"No shit?"

"Scout's honor."

He chuckled. "No wonder you've never done anything fun."

Back in their dorm room, Mordecai emptied out their bag. Thaddeus had gotten a chicken sandwich and half the fries. He took a sip of his shake.

"This better have been worth the wait." Mordecai peeled back the wrapping on his sandwich and took a small bite. His eyes widened. He quickly took another, this one larger than the first.

So this was what it took to get him to shut up!

"How is it?"

"Better than sex."

"It's that good?"

Mordecai smirked. "Well, I can't say that I've tried it yet. That's what college is for, isn't it?" He pointed to Thaddeus. "What about you?"

"No." Hell, he'd only ever kissed a girl once, and he hadn't even initiated it.

"We can change that, can't we? I mean, you're already a heart breaker."

Thaddeus gave a weak laugh. "You're quite mistaken."

"Your mom must have been bawling when you left. Mine thought four hours was a trip, and yours can't even hop in the car and come visit."

"My mother..." Thaddeus paused. "She isn't around any longer."

That had long since become his go-to answer whenever someone brought her up. How people took that statement was entirely up to them.

"Shit, Sivana, I didn't know." He rubbed at the space at the edge of his eyes with his fingers. "I'm sorry."

Thaddeus grunted.

Mordecai finished his dinner without another word.

-

Thaddeus had thought it might be a fluke, a simple consequence of their initial meeting, but Mordecai stuck around. The two compared their class schedules and went to the campus bookstore together to hunt for textbooks. The only two classes that they shared were a physics lecture and its corresponding lab.

The first morning of classes had been sunny with a light breeze. Thaddeus, nursing a styrofoam cup of coffee as he walked, had made an early trip across campus, Mordecai at his side.

"And you thought I wouldn't need a sweater," Thaddeus said. His teeth chattered.

"I didn't know it was going to be like this!" Mordecai had his arms wrapped around his chest.

The basement of the science building could have doubled as a walk in refrigerator. Its walls and floors were a cloudy grey. The lack of windows made the walls seem to press in against one another.

The classroom itself wasn't much better. It was an open lab space, with tables set into the walls. The only spots of color were the hard orange stools that students were sitting on and the faded green chalkboards lining the back wall.

Thaddeus looked down to his syllabus. Considering it was the first day of classes, there wasn't much for them to do beyond review lab safety tips and discuss what was going to be covered that semester.

Their T.A. was a petite junior named Eleanor Nolan. She couldn't have been more than twenty-three judging by her face, but her cats eye glasses, baggy grey sweater, ankle length black skirt, and frizzy bun added ten years to her. Her nasally voice made her sound as if she had a permanent cold.

Thaddeus flipped through the syllabus. If the lecture was anything like this, then there was nothing particularly exciting to look forward to this semester. He doubted the class would be anything but a review of eleventh grade physics.

Thaddeus rubbed his arms. If it was any colder, he would be able to see his breath.

"Do not smoke in the lab." Ms. Nolan said, her eyes narrowing. "Entering the lab unsupervised is strictly off limits."

Thaddeus had to hold back a yawn. Perhaps picking a lab that started at nine in the morning wasn't his wisest decision. He supposed it would be different if they were actually moving around and doing something. More than a few students looked as if they were nodding off.

Really, what did they need this little lecture for? This was a weed out class, after all.

They weren't even in the class for a quarter of their allotted time, but it felt like ages had passed when they were finally released. Thaddeus took his time putting his syllabus away in his folder and tucking his notebook into his backpack. Once the students standing near the back had dwindled, he walked to the row of chalkboards.

"Thaddeus Sivana," he said, holding out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ms. Nolan looked him over before taking his hand. It felt as if her skin had been carved from ice. "Are you going to cause any trouble this semester?"

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Her smile was quick. "I'll hold you to it." She released his hand and stepped back. "Do you have any questions?"

He shook his head. "All I wanted was to say hello. See you next week."

She nodded. "If you have any questions, my office hours are listed on the syllabus."

Mordecai was waiting for him out in the hallway. "What took you so long?"

"I was getting acquainted with our handler."

"Heh. I didn't know you were into older women."

Thaddeus shook his head. He'd long since learned that school was the one place where he didn't want to be another face in the crowd.

The two ate lunch on the grassy quad outside the library. Mordecai had made a one man game out of pointing at people and inventing fantastical backstories for them.

"You see that girl there?"

She was a sandy redhead in overalls and a light blue T-shirt lugging a rolling backpack.

"Yes?"

"I read a newspaper article about a bank robbery yesterday. Police still have no confirmed suspects. Me?" He lowered his voice, leaning closer to Thaddeus. "I bet she's got a couple thousand dollars stored in that bag."

Thaddeus rolled his eyes. He took another bite of his tuna sandwich.

His physics lecture actually covered class material, so he had something to do beside play with his thumbs. Every few minutes, he'd look to where Mordecai sat to his right and take in the new row of doodles decorating the sides of his notebook.

He had a three hour break afterwards. Mordecai only had an hour before his next class. Besides the chatter of fellow students coming in from the open window, the room was almost eerily silent. Other than the brief period where Mordecai had left at six-thirty that morning to get his morning run, this was the first time he'd been alone in their dorm room.

So this is your life, he thought, looking over the space.

When he'd woken up that morning, it had taken him a moment to remember where he was. He'd checked the electric watch hidden beneath his pillow. Even a week before, he would have been up already. It had been so alien to get to close his eyes and pull his blankets back up again.

Psychology was from four to five-thirty. The professor, Dr. Davis, was a fast-talking middle aged woman who seemed incapable of standing still. In between her lecturing, she would often ask open ended questions and call upon random students to answer them. Thaddeus was one of the few who, when called, immediately had an answer for her. More than a few times, he'd spoken when another student sat wide-eyed and close-lipped.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, he had philosophy, chemistry, and public speaking. He supposed philosophy would have been more interesting had the professor spoken in something other than a grumbling monotone. The chemistry lecture was easy enough, if rather crowded. He recognized a few faces from his physics classes.

It wasn't that Thaddeus dreaded public speaking. His hands didn't go clammy and his voice didn't shake. He'd given enough presentations in high school to know how to stand tall and project his voice. Yet whenever he stood in front of others, he couldn't help but feel as if he was a stand in for someone else. He was the poorly paid front group killing time before the main act performed. For that reason, he made a point of sitting in the very back.

He had no classes on Fridays, something that his advisor had assured him wouldn't be the case in upcoming semesters.

The first week quickly turned into the next. His days mainly consisted of studying, going to class, and eating at odd hours. Where he'd once spent hours locked in his room in total silence, Mordecai now filled the space with his commentary. Apparently, his engineering textbook was quite humorous. When he couldn't think of a quip, he played recorded piano music on his boom box.

The days soon began to merge together. The topics being discussed in class changed, but the basic outline of his days did not. Perhaps that was what made finding the slip of paper taped to his door so jarring.

It was the middle of his second week of classes. He had just gotten back from his psychology lecture and was debating whether or not to take a nap.

"SIVANA" was written across the piece of paper in large cursive handwriting. He tore the note away, opened it, and scanned the message.

Apparently a package had arrived for him that evening.

He unlocked his door and dropped his backpack onto the floor by his desk. Mordecai was gone, probably off grabbing dinner or talking to others who lived in their dorm. He had quickly learned the names of seemingly every guy on their floor.

Thaddeus hurried downstairs, the note shoved in his front pocket. When he got to the front desk, he held it out to the tired eyed R.A. manning it.

"I seem to have a package."

The R.A. handed Thaddeus a form to fill out while he went to the mail room to collect it.

For the life of him, he couldn't figure out who had sent it. Had his father found some of his remaining belongings? Or was this just a mix up? Thaddeus had never been one for browsing mail order catalogues.

He didn't open the box until he was back in his dorm room. The package was hidden beneath brown paper and tied with a thin yet sturdy rope. Something metallic jiggled as he walked. It was anyone's guess what was packed inside.

Thaddeus grabbed some scissors and cut away the rope and paper. Only when it was gone did he see the return address. Grinning, he ripped open the box.

Inside was a metal tin packed to the brim with snickerdoodles. He eagerly bit into one, savoring the rush of warm cinnamon against his tongue. As he ate, he pulled open an envelope. Inside were four five dollar bills and a note.

Thaddeus,

I about fell over when I heard you were starting college. It seems only yesterday that you were barely able to walk. I have no doubt that you will be sucessful at whatever you pursue. Use your brain, but don't forget to use your heart as well.

Fiona

Thaddeus felt his chest tighten. He stuffed the money in his wallet and left the note open on his desk. Reaching down, he grabbed another cookie.

Mordecai walked in not even a full minute later. Seeing the empty box on the floor, he hurried to Thaddeus' side.

"Are those cookies?" He grinned.

"Take some," Thaddeus said. There were probably enough inside to give one to everyone living on their floor.

Mordecai grabbed three. He took a bite.

"Mmm-mmm! Who do I have to thank for these?"

"My great aunt Fiona," he said.

"I believe fantastic aunt is a better term." He wiped crumbs from his chin.

The two spent the night snacking while they studied. Once he'd finished balancing a set of chemical equations from the class workbook and before he set to starting the night's philosophy reading, Thaddeus tore out a sheet of notebook paper and began to write a letter. He started it off by describing how school was going - the classes he was taking and little facts about his professors. Then, he discussed Mordecai, especially emphasizing his love for cookies. Thaddeus finished it off with a long thanks and one final question.

What was his aunt planning for Thanksgiving?

-

"Any last questions?" Thaddeus asked.

"No, I think that's enough for now. I'll be sure to review my flash cards once I get home." Marsha Wong fished her wallet from her pocket and handed him four crumpled dollar bills. "See you next week?"

"Wouldn't miss it."

By his third week on campus, Thaddeus had managed to get a steady tutoring gig helping out some of the other students in his psychology class. He earned roughly fifteen dollars a week, give or take a few ones. Considering he only put in about six hours of work a week, he was making good money without having to pack his schedule.

She waved to him before turning and heading towards the stairs. Thaddeus watched her walk away before picking his own backpack up from the floor. According to his wristwatch, it was thirty-five minutes to eleven.

"Thaddeus?"

His shoulders stiffened. "Ms. Nolan?"

This was the first time he'd ever seen her outside of the lab. Her shoulder length curly hair was loose. In lieu of her usual oversized cardigan was a light blue polo and khaki pants. Hanging from her shirt's collar was a plastic badge bearing her photo and the school logo.

"Eleanor is fine," she said. She ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just that I thought I saw you earlier and wanted to say hello, but you were busy."

He stood, pulling on his backpack. "I was tutoring someone." He yawned.

"Long night?"

"It isn't over yet."

"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to that." She adjusted her backpack. "Are you leaving?"

He nodded. "Why?"

"Well," she said, looking to the ground, "would you walk me to my car?"

"Sure?"

The two walked to the second floor. A girl working behind the front desk waved to them, an action Eleanor returned.

"My shift ended ten minutes ago." She unclipped the badge from her neck and stuck it into her pocket. "So how are classes going for you?"

"They're going well enough." There was still time for that to change. His first round of tests were a week away.

"Try to keep on top of everything. That's the best you can do."

The two headed straight towards a dark metal door that stood at the end of the short hallway where the bathrooms and vending machines were located. Eleanor held the door open for him.

The dimly lit parking garage smelled of oil. The air was muggy.

Right by the door was a payphone embedded into the concrete wall. Eleanor pulled two quarters from her pocket.

"I need to make a call."

Thaddeus shrugged. Maybe the night air would wake him up. As much as he needed to get a start on his philosophy paper, it wasn't due so soon to justify a late night coffee. That would just be asking to stay up until four in the morning.

Eleanor twisted the plastic phone cord as she spoke. "Papa? It's me... Don't worry, I have a friend with me. One of my students, actually... You don't need to worry..." Her forehead wrinkled. "Yes, I love you too. See you when I get home." She hung up the phone with a sigh.

"Is something wrong?"

"Just calling to check in with my father" she said. "He insists on it. That's actually why I asked you to walk out here with me. He can get paranoid." She shrugged. "You know how dads are."

Thaddeus grunted.

Her car, a scratched grey GM with a crumpled back bumper, was only parked about thirty feet from the door, directly below a bare light bulb.

"Do you need a ride to your car?" Eleanor asked as she unlocked her door.

"I don't have one. I was just going to walk back to my dorm."

She turned on her heels. "Let me give you a ride then."

"I couldn't-"

"It's not a problem."

There was no point in fighting. His eyelids felt as if they were weighed down with cement. Eleanor might have been small, but she knew how to get forceful. The week prior, she'd about bitten one of the student's heads off for playing with one of the weights.

As he headed towards the passenger seat, he noticed the back of her car was filled with scattered papers and fast food bags. The front seat, at least, was clean.

The smell hit him as soon as he opened the door. Her car was nothing but an ashtray on wheels. Bile rose in his throat and he had to swallow down a cough.

"I didn't think you were a smoker."

She frowned as she stuck the key in the ignition. "I'm not. This used to be my father's car. He quit a couple years ago, but we never could get the smell out."

She rolled down the windows before pulling out.

"Where's your dorm?"

He gave her the address before leaning his head back against the seat. The chair was worn, the sort that made a person's back hurt if he sat in it for more than half an hour. Thaddeus closed his eyes. He didn't open them again until the car pulled to a firm stop.

"Is this the right place?"

Some of the windows of his dorm glowed brightly while others were dark. It made him think of a mouth missing teeth.

"Yes." He picked up his backpack from the floor and unbuckled his seat belt. "Thanks for the ride."

"Thank you for coming with me."

"It was no trouble."

"Hey," she said just as he opened the door. "I should have your lab report graded by tomorrow morning. Do you want to pick it up during my office hours?"

"I can wait until the next class."

She nodded. She gave him a thin smile and a quick wave. Thaddeus returned both before hurrying up the front walk. Eleanor didn't pull away until he stepped through the door.

-

It soon settled into a habit. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, as soon as Eleanor's shift ended, the two walked to her car together. Thaddeus' tutoring sessions usually finished right around the same time. If that wasn't the case, he always had an assignment to keep him busy until she came to tap him on the shoulder.

"What are you planning to do after college?" she asked one night. The two were nearing the exit towards the parking garage.

"I still haven't decided."

He was an anomaly among his peers. Everyone he talked to seemed to know what they wanted to do with their lives - work at NASA, design bridges, open engineering firms, or work for the government - and all Thaddeus saw before him when he imagined his own future was an unending blank space. It wasn't that the professional world scared him; everyone had to make a living, didn't they? There were just so many things that he could do. What if he made the wrong choice and found himself stuck as another corporate drone like his father and brother?

"I suppose I could teach."

She smirked. "You'd really do that to yourself?"

When they stepped outside, the burst of muggy fall air was a sharp contrast to the even air conditioning that they had just left. As always, Eleanor went straight for the payphone.

"Hello, Papa? Yes, I'm fine. I'm about to head home." She paused, tightening her grip on the receiver. "I'll still be able to help you tomorrow..." Her face tightened. "You did what? How could you? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" She slammed the phone back into its hook and hurried towards her car.

All of their phone calls were short and tense, but none had ever ended so explosively. He never knew what the other half of the conversation involved, but it wasn't difficult to fill in the blanks.

"Eleanor!" He hurried towards the front of her car. She was leaning against the door, her whole body shaking like a leaf. He put a hand on her shoulder. Up until then, he hadn't realized just how small she truly was. "What happened?"

"My dad and I had a fight." That was all the two ever seemed to do.

There was a part of him that wanted to leave things half said. It would be easier for them both if he just got in the car. Instead, his grip became firmer.

"What happened?" he repeated.

"This isn't your problem." She pulled away from him, straightening her back.

"If you're having problems..." He stopped. Just what could he do, really?

She sighed, pushing strands of hair away from her eyes. "Thaddeus, you wouldn't understand." She looked as if she might say more. Instead, she pulled her key from the pocket of her skirt and unlocked the car.

She drove faster and was a little slower to hit the breaks than usual on the ride back to his dorm that night.

-

Find us!

Thaddeus pulled his pillow further around his ears, for all the good it actually did. If the sins were going to keep him awake with their screeching, the least they could do was find something new to say.

Most nights, Thaddeus was able to keep them at bay thanks to his roommate. If there wasn't some kind of background music on, Mordecai had a difficult time falling asleep. Before he'd gotten his boom box, he'd said that he used to keep a portable fan plugged in all night. For the last few years, he'd instead fallen asleep to the steady sound of rain pattering against a roof. Whether it was an actual recording of dreary weather or just skillfully played drums was anyone's guess. Either way, the tape had gone kaputz. Now it played nothing but a scratchy hiss for about thirty seconds before going dead silent.

He supposed it could have been worse. At least the next (or was it this?) morning was a Saturday. There were no tests or projects hanging over his head. If he wanted to, he could sleep the whole day away.

Why do you keep us waiting?

Thaddeus ground his teeth together. Just what the hell did they - ancient demons of unimaginable power - expect him to do? It wasn't as if he could throw his life away in search of them. He had to make something of himself. Scouring two-hundred year old books for a footnote that might allude to the wizard wasn't going to put food on the table.

Coming to college certainly hadn't helped with his search. For all the time he now spent in the library, he still had yet to search the stacks for something that might point him towards the wizard's whereabouts. There was simply so much else he needed to do.

But really, should he have expected them to understand? After all the sleepless nights he'd spent silently begging them to just give him a little more time, he knew for a fact that they didn't listen to him. They reminded Thaddeus of his father in that way - when told to do something, Thaddeus better do it now, his other responsibilities be damned.

Thaddeus tightened his fists. As soon as the mall opened the next morning, he was taking Mordecai straight to the electronics store, even if it meant dragging him by the ear.

Above him, mattress springs momentarily squeaked before again going still. The on and off noise had been playing in his ears all night. He couldn't be sure if Mordecai had actually fallen asleep, as he'd never been much of a snorer, or was stuck in that same dreary state of awakeness that currently gripped Thaddeus. For his friend's sake, he could only hope that it wasn't the latter.

It wasn't that Thaddeus wanted to give up on his search. Any and every time his mind turned to the wizard, his blood boiled. But all the wanting in the world couldn't change the fact that every lead he'd followed so far had hit a dead end.

If not for the handful of allusions to him that Thaddeus had found in various texts, as contradictory to each other as many of the references were, as well as the ear aching cries that sent an earthquake through his head, he might really have had reason to doubt himself. To think the wizard nothing but an illusion, a childish dream that would forever be out of his reach.

Despite the flood of assignments that forever hung over his head and the future, inevitable prospect of employment - those tithes he paid to be free of the chains of childhood - Thaddeus would find the wizard. There had to be a way back to him.

Thaddeus must have miraculously fallen into a deep sleep, because when he next came to weak sunlight was spilled across the floor and Mordecai was busy slipping on a fanny pack. He wore the same outfit every time he went for his daily jog - an oversized Coast City Clippers jersey, magenta athletic shorts that just barely his covered his ass, and a bright red sweatband. He went roughly the same time every morning, even on weekends. Hell, Mordecai could have stayed up the entire night and probably still would have gotten up to run.

Thaddeus turned in bed, leaning his head further into his pillow. There was still a chance that he could catch a few more hours of sleep.

Champion!

Well, so much for that hypothesis. Surely he could find some way to pass his morning.

Rather than slip on his shoes and hurry out the door like he usually did, Mordecai stuck around. Thaddeus could hear him shifting from one foot to the other. Then there came the sound of a drawer opening.

Thaddeus turned. He couldn't tell exactly what, but Mordecai was holding something up. His shoulders were slumped.

"Mordecai, are you okay?"

He jumped almost a foot off the ground. "Did I wake you up?" He turned, holding the object behind his back. Thaddeus caught only the faintest glimpse of it. All he knew was that it was square.

He shook his head. "I'm trying to get back to sleep. I heard you and..."

"I'm fine."

Had it been any later in the day then Thaddeus might have pressed him. Instead, he pulled his comforter back over his head and forced his eyes shut.

There was more fumbling, footsteps, the click of the door closing, and then silence.

Thaddeus.

"Shut up."

-

Labs always took less time than their entire allotted class period. That morning, everyone was out within ninety minutes. Thaddeus and Mordecai returned some books to the library before heading to the dining hall for lunch.

More than a few people had the same idea as they did. Thaddeus tapped his foot as he waited.

"I'm thinking of changing my major."

"What?" This was the first time Mordecai had ever mentioned such a thing.

"I thought my advisor was just trying to fill seats when she kept pushing my computer programming class at me, but I love it. The lower level coursework is the same as what I'm taking right now, so it's not like I'll be stuck here any longer." He grinned, waving his arms out like a game show host about to announce a snazzy prize. "You know, they say that computers are the way of the future."

"Who the hell says that?" Thaddeus crossed his arms. "I get a headache if I look at them for more than ten minutes."

That was probably why his father had stationed him in front of one all summer.

"They're not so bad once you get used to them. There's big money in it, too. You could afford your own car if you majored in it."

Thaddeus rolled his eyes.

The line wasn't fast, but at least it was moving forward. Calling most of what was served here food was a rather generous use of the term, but usually there was something halfway passable available. Thaddeus left with a salad and a turkey sandwich.

The two found a small, clean table in the far left corner of the dining hall and sat down.

"Thaddeus?"

He turned his head. Eleanor was standing a few feet away from them, a tray held close to her chest.

"Is it all right if I sit here?" She looked to Mordecai as she spoke.

"Of course." Thaddeus pulled a chair out.

"Tell me the bad news first," Mordecai said. "If you've come all this way to fail us, I'd like to know."

Eleanor blinked. "Excuse me?"

"That isn't why she's here," Thaddeus said, quickly filling him in on their biweekly trips.

Mordecai whistled. "And I thought I tried to be a teacher's pet."

He looked over to Eleanor. "Can you see what I'm stuck living with?"

"You wouldn't know what to do without me, Sivana Thaddeus Sivana." Mordecai grinned. "So, El, tell me about yourself."

"What's there to say? I go to class, go to work, and go home."

"I figured someone here had to lead an exciting life."

"If you wanted to have fun, you should have majored in business management."

Mordecai laughed. That was all he needed to start telling her what he'd mentioned to Thaddeus earlier.

"You should do it. My friend Janet is in the program and she loves it."

They conversed further. Thaddeus still couldn't understand how Mordecai managed to make talking to people look so easy. An outside viewer would think the two had known each other forever.

"So you were valedictorian too?" Mordecai asked.

"My dad wouldn't accept anything less of me," she replied.

"Sounds like my mom!"

Thaddeus poked at his salad.

"How long have you lived in Coast City?" Mordecai spoke.

"Ever since my father retired from the Air Force when I was nine. Before that, we were always moving."

"Sounds awful."

"I don't miss it." She looked up from her plate "That's what I'm going to do when this is all done - design planes."

"You ever tried flying one?"

"Only a simulator. I crashed the first time that I tried it. Papa never let me live that down."

Thaddeus cleaned off the last bit of soggy lettuce from his plate. Just how long had it been since he'd last said something?

"You okay?" Eleanor looked to him.

He looked at his plate as he spoke. "I've got a lot on my mind. I have two papers due this week."

"I wish I could tell you that it gets easier." She patted him on the back.

"It'll all be worth it in the end, won't it?" Mordecai asked.

"It better be," Thaddeus responded.

-

"Walking a girl to her car - that's your idea of foreplay?"

The two had just left their afternoon physics lecture. Even for the mid-fall, the sun was high and hot.

Thaddeus elbowed Mordecai in the side. "We aren't like that."

"All I'm trying to say is that a good fuck would really help to help loosen you up."

"It sounds like you don't need one then."

"Thanks, you're the nicest guy I know. Just don't be surprised when I'm the first of us to get bagged."

Truth be told, Thaddeus didn't see that happening any time in his future. He could still distinctly remember his first and only kiss. Considering how well that went, was there any hope for him now?

It had been a week after the end of eighth grade, a muggy night full of mosquitos. Jeannie's family was moving to New York City and she'd invited him and a small handful of her other friends over for a going away party. Thaddeus had told his father that he was spending the evening at the library.

Her house was mostly empty at that point, nothing but the scraggly remains of freshly torn wallpaper and the outline of furniture set into the carpet to suggest that anyone had ever lived there. The two sat outside on her back porch nursing cherry Kool Aids and plates of double chocolate cake. A bit of dried frosting clung to the side of her lips.

It was late enough that he should have started heading home. No doubt his father was starting to ask questions. But Thaddeus knew he had many more nights alone in his room to look forward to that summer. Why try and get another?

"Thaddeus?"

He pulled his head up. "Yes?"

"I'm going to miss you."

"I'll miss you too." He could count the number of other friends that he had on one hand. Seeing her empty house and that construction paper banner declaring "Goodbye, Goldmans!" had cemented the fact that she really was going to leave.

What happened next occurred so suddenly that at first Thaddeus hadn't realized what was going on. Jeannie had stood from her folding lawn chair and crossed the few feet between them, putting her arms around his shoulders and kissing him.

Once it hit him, his blood turned hot. He pressed his own face against hers. Her touch was soft and careful, like nothing he'd ever felt before, and her hair smelled like strawberries.

Despite her knobby knees and bony frame, she was a cute girl. Thaddeus had imagined scenarios like this before - daydreams of a life he never thought he'd live. Everything was at once hot and throbbing and alive and yet tinged with a sense of falseness. This too, he knew, could be another fantasy.

Stop!

Thaddeus jerked his head away, his heart racing. Sweat clung to his back.

What do you think you're doing?

"Thaddeus?" Jeannie asked. Her face was still so close to his. The scent of her shampoo was now suffocatingly strong.

He pushed his chair back. "Jeannie, I... We aren't..."

Get out!

His face was ketchup red. Despite the warm air, his blood had gone icy. His thoughts, contradictory and senseless, were coming a mile a minute. Part of him wanted to grab her and pick up where they'd left off. The rest of him wanted to melt into a puddle on the ground.

He stood. "I need to get home."

The sun was setting. The later he got home, the more his father would hound him.

"Thaddeus, please don't go yet!"

"I hope you like New York, Jeannie."

He'd run, the devils biting at his heels. What the hell had he been thinking, getting distracted like that? Letting someone that close?

The sins had been so loud. When they'd spoken, the sound of cicadas chirping and people laughing vanished. Jeannie had said something else to him before he'd left - he'd seen her lips moving - but no sound had reached his ear. Even now, his footsteps slapping against the concrete, her house receding into the distance, they roared. They'd kept him up until the next sunrise, scrawling symbols until he couldn't feel his fingers.

No, Thaddeus realized, his friend's jokes aside, nothing like that awaited him in the future. His body was already accounted for.

-

Midterms knocked Thaddeus to the ground before kicking him in the ribs again and again and again. Just when he thought he had a moment to catch his breath, another project or test pushed him back below the dark, churning waters of assignments.

The Monday of midterms, another care package arrived from Great Aunt Fiona. While her letters always put a skip in his step, there was nothing like getting a box full of cookies. That week, she'd sent chocolate chip. Thaddeus chewed on one as he reviewed his physics notes.

Mordecai was at the computer lab. Before he'd left for class that afternoon, he'd said not to expect him to get back until at least eight. According to his watch, it was just now reaching six.

A Chopin tape was playing in the background. He tapped his fingers lightly against his desk to the tune.

It wasn't that he was worried about passing. He could sleep through his classes and still pull off C's. Passing was never enough for him - what he needed were A's. Anything less was a blemish on his academic record.

Thaddeus was trying to calculate the velocity of a falling tree limb when the knock - three hard, successive taps - came on the door. He jolted up in his chair, his shoulders tight. He sat statue still.

The knocks came again, harder this time. They were most definitely coming from outside his room.

He hurried towards the door, pulling it open with a hard yank.

It was their R.A., a tired-eyed master's student named Tyrone Howard who always wore multicolored bow ties. Today, his was checkered and purple in color.

"Mordecai's not here."

"I'm not looking for him." Tyrone ran a hand through his short-cropped black hair. "You've got a call, Thaddeus."

He blinked. There was a private payphone near the janitor's elevators that people outside the dorm could call. More than a few nights, Tyrone had come to their door to tell Mordecai that his mother was waiting on the line for him.

"Who?"

He'd given Great Aunt Fiona the number in one of his letters. Would she even be off duty from the hospital at this hour?

"He didn't say, but he seemed pretty mad."

Thaddeus' stomach sank. He had three guesses who it was and the first two didn't count.

"I'll get to it." All the same, he took his time grabbing his keys, slipping on his shoes, and heading down the hall.

The payphone was located in a small, cramped room that smelled of cleaning supplies. He pinched his nose before picking up the phone, which lay off its handle on a small table.

"Hello?"

"Thad."

Though he'd been expecting it, the sound made his stomach churn all the same. He never should have touched those damn cookies.

"Father."

It had been almost two months since he'd last heard his father's voice. He could just imagine him perched over his desk in his home study, his fists clenched and tie askew.

"How are your studies?" He spoke in a cool, even tone. The sound of papers shuffling passed through his ears.

"They've been going well so far. It's midterms this week, so I've been quite busy." Right then, Thaddeus would have gladly given an entire speech in his underwear if it meant being anywhere else.

"Yes, yes. Have you been getting into any trouble?" His voice rose.

Thaddeus ground his teeth together. What did his father think he was doing, chugging beer and chasing skirts?

"No, Father."

"Keep it that way." He'd told Thaddeus much the same thing before he left. Heaven forbid that he so much as breathe the wrong way and risk his father's precious reputation. "I'm calling about Thanksgiving."

Thaddeus' throat went dry.

"I'll mail you a ticket home next week. Can you leave the Tuesday before or do you have classes that Wednesday?"

"I can't come home." It was a miracle that his voice didn't shake.

"What the hell do you mean?"

His back tensed. "I already have plans."

"Call up your pathetic little friends the moment you hang up and tell them you can't make it! Jesus, Thad, you can't just skip these sort of things."

"I'm not going to a friend's house." He took in a deep breath and released it when he next spoke. "Great Aunt Fiona has invited me over for dinner at her apartment. I've already accepted."

If not for his father's tight breathing, he might have thought that the line went dead.

His father's feelings on his aunt were well known. She was only twelve years his senior, more like an odd cousin than his superior. And his father always put special emphasis on just how odd she was. He'd always seemed to hope that she'd forfeit the Sivana name, that precious commodity that he hung over everyone's head, but she'd never even tried to get married. Other than some cats - just how many Thaddeus could never keep count - she lived alone. Whenever she wasn't working night shifts at the hospital, she was off jet setting to every little corner of the world. Growing up, more than a few of her postcards had decorated the walls of Thaddeus' bedroom.

It wasn't just her behavior that always put his father on edge, however. She had a soft voice but wasn't afraid to speak her mind. That usually resulted in her getting into fights. As far back as Thaddeus could remember, the two had never been on the same side of an argument.

"I didn't know how to tell her no when she invited me." Whether his father wanted to hear it or not, it was the truth.

And really, why should he have refused?

His father grunted. "Fine, go entertain the hag. But you will be home for Christmas. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, Father."

"Now do be on your best behavior."

Thaddeus tightened his fist. What did his father think he was, five?

"I will."

"Good. Do remember who's paying for all this." Without so much as a goodbye, he hung up.

Thaddeus kept his head down and tightened fists in his pockets as he headed back to his room.

"Did everything go okay?" Tyrone asked as the two passed each other.

Thaddeus could only give him a quick nod before the R.A. rounded the corner.

By the time he reached his dorm room, he could hardly see straight. Stupid fucking fucker! What right did he think he had to call him up and start barking orders from across the country?

Thaddeus slammed his door shut. Though he sat back down at his desk, he couldn't keep his gaze focused on his notebook.

That's all he'd ever be, wouldn't he? A stupid little boy who would burn the world down by playing with matches unless he had someone constantly breathing down his neck. Really, his father had thought that way for quite some time. Thaddeus was the one who'd forgotten, too caught up in that joyous distance separating them. That had been his mistake.

Far be it from him to make it again.

-

Thaddeus' fingers were dry and dust stained. He didn't know how long he'd spent cross-legged on the ground, pebbles digging into his skin, scrawling symbols, but it took longer than it should have. He'd been nothing but careful as he'd traced the runes into the dust, moving as if his limbs were coated in amber. Now, those seven symbols, repeated seven times, clung to the ground.

They didn't glow. The earth didn't shake. They just stared back at him like a row of mocking eyes waiting to see what he'd do next.

Thaddeus couldn't be sure what he'd expected to happen. He was already in the Rock of Eternity. It wasn't as if the symbols worked two ways. Even if they did, where might they take him?

Perhaps he'd hoped that, should they not lead him home, they could at least take him to the wizard's throne room. He'd have more room to stretch his legs there.

Thaddeus shook his head. If the wizard saw him there, it was anyone's guess what might happen to him. Forget being turned to stone - the wizard could set his bones alight. And he wouldn't be the only one potentially waiting for Thaddeus there.

The silence was still jarring. How could he have survived so long with the sins screeching in his skull? Only his shadow had ever been a more steadfast companion.

With the sins gone, he only had his own thoughts to keep him awake. Memories of a time that he couldn't bear to forget, but could so rarely bring to the forefront of his mind, now flooded him. They ate away at the hours, basking in the light after years of being pushed back into the shadows. This broken dam could not be plugged again.

With one quick swipe of his hand, he brushed the symbols away.

Chapter Text

"All hands on deck!"

Freddy shut off his phone and dropped it in his lap. He leaned a hand forward. As soon as he did, Darla grabbed it with her own. The force behind her squeeze could have brought tears to a professional wrestler's eyes.

"Anyone up for saying the blessing tonight?" Victor asked, looking between everyone. His eyes met Freddy's.

Darla gave his hand another squeeze.

Freddy bowed his head. "We thank you for our family and we thank you for this food!" As soon as the last word left his lips, he pulled his hand back to his side, nearly knocking his glass of water over in the process.

"Someone must be hungry," Rosa commented, pursing her lips.

Freddy's face flamed. Did it matter if he spoke fast? It wasn't as if he was sending his pleas to anyone in particular.

"Maybe we're not praying to anyone," Victor had told him after their very first dinner together. "I don't really know. But giving thanks is giving thanks. As long as you look hard enough, you'll always find something to be thankful for."

Maybe his words were heard by Zeus or Thor or Uiara or whoever. Maybe they weren't. Did it really matter? "Unadoptable" or not, some greater karmic power had seen it fit to give him superpowers.

He looked down to his plate. Freddy might not have meant the last part. Whoever invented tofu steak was guilty of international war crimes. Picking up his fork, Freddy poked at cut up carrot pieces.

"Anyone got any news?" Victor asked.

"My team won at dodge ball in gym today!" Darla beamed. "I even hit someone!"

"Really?" Eugene asked. He pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Don't make her prove it to you," Mary said, patting the younger girl on the back.

He raised his hands up. "Okay, I believe you."

"What about you, Eugene?" Rosa asked.

"I got an A on my social studies test!"

Rosa clapped, with Mary and Darla quickly joining in. "Bravo!" she said.

"Wasn't that the one giving you trouble?" Victor asked.

He nodded. "My teacher was really happy."

"You should be really happy!" Rosa replied. She held a hand to her chest. "Oh, I'm so proud of you."

"Speaking of school," Mary said, "I got my acceptance letter to the University of Pennsylvania today."

"Congratulations!" Victor said.

"Is that close?" Darla's eyes were wide.

"It's right here in Philly," Mary said. She pushed a lock of hair out of her face.

"So you aren't leaving?" Darla bounced up and down in her seat, clapping her hands together.

Eugene looked up from his plate. "What about CalTech?"

"I'm still going!" Her words came out a little too fast. "U Penn is just a back up in case something happens with CalTech. It's important to have options."

"It's certainly a good school." Rosa said.

"But," Victor added, "we'll support you no matter where you go."

"But why go to California if you can stay here?" Darla leaned her hand across the table, grabbing Mary's own.

"People leave," Mary responded. "It doesn't mean that they don't care about you anymore, but..."

"But?"

"But sometimes they have better opportunities somewhere else." Mary pressed her lips together tightly. "I'll Skype as much as I can. What if I do it every night? Maybe you'll get sick of me!"

Darla laughed. "Never!"

"California's beautiful," Freddy said.

As soon as the words left his lips, all eyes were on him. His throat tightened. Freddy finally understood why so many people would rather be invisible than able to fly.

"Billy's from there," he continued, looking down to his plate, "and he loves it."

"Billy?" Rosa asked, her face brightening. "How's he doing?"

"Oh, uh..." Freddy looked over to Pedro, who was already finished with three-quarters of his dinner. Maybe if he finally developed that ever elusive acquired taste for tofu then he wouldn't end up in situations like this again. "He and his dad are doing great. They've never been better."

What his family didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

"That's wonderful! Do you know if he'll be returning to Philadelphia any time soon?"

"I have no idea."

"Got any other news?" Victor asked.

"You've been so quiet lately," Mary added. She kicked him under the table.

Freddy grimaced. "Uh, not really."

What was he supposed to say, that Brett had given him an uppercut two days earlier and his chest still hurt? That he'd gotten a D on his last health quiz - the class that a monkey could pass if you gave it a pencil?

"I found a nickel on the ground today!" It wasn't even a lie.

Eugene whistled. "You rich yet?"

Rosa beamed. "What luck!"

Well, it wasn't as if he'd actually picked it up. Getting back on his feet would have taken almost two minutes - time he didn't have when he needed to get to sixth period. A detention slip wasn't worth five cents.

"Anything else?" Mary asked. "You're always busy now."

What was she, an undercover CIA agent?

"I can't help that I have homework!" He narrowed his eyes. "You'd understand that, wouldn't you?"

Mary's face tightened. "I'm glad you're finally starting to take school seriously." She swallowed a forkful of peas, her gaze never leaving him.

"Now remember, no fighting," Rosa said. "Freddy, your schoolwork is important." Her forehead wrinkled. "Still, you've been spending an awful lot of time on it lately. Don't over exert yourself."

"Don't worry," Freddy said.

Don't worry at all.

Victor grinned. "I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I got an extra commission at work today!"

Freddy joined in the table wide applause. Now that everyone's eyes were off of him, he felt ten pounds lighter.

He swallowed a few cold peas down with half his cup of water. Looking at his plate for too long made his stomach flip like a pancake. Freddy slumped forward in his chair.

"And that's not the only good news," Victor continued.

Freddy looked up, his eyes wide. He'd only been half paying attention.

"Ooh, what?" Darla clasped her hands together. "Are we finally going to Disney World?"

"If only," Victor replied.

Darla's face fell.

"This," he continued, "is better than Disney World."

"Don't leave us hanging," Mary said.

"Yeah," Eugene said. "What's the big deal?"

"I know it's sudden, but Josie's coming for dinner next Wednesday!"

Rosa leaned forward, causing her plate to shake. "Really? She never told me!"

"She asked me to keep it a secret." He laughed. "So when she drops by next week, be sure to act surprised!"

"Who's Josie?" Darla cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, honey," Rosa said, "she's one of our former foster kids."

"She moved out before you came to live with us," Mary added.

"Like Mike?" Darla asked.

Victor nodded. "She's stopping to visit before she heads to a conference in Pittsburgh."

"See?" Mary said, looking to Darla. "She may have left, but she still cares about us."

Darla frowned. "She didn't come home for Christmas."

"You can blame the weather for that." Victor said. "There was a blizzard in Manton."

People like Josie and Mike - former residents of Vasquez Manor - were living proof that there was life after foster care.

For her sake, Freddy could only hope that they served better food when she visited. If not, she might never return!

Not that it really mattered in his case. He could fly up to about any restaurant he wanted to and leave with free food. Superheroics wasn't entirely thankless work.

Just what should he get that night - Mexican, burgers, or pizza? Ooh, Chinese sounded pretty good right then.

"Freddy, is something wrong?'

He looked up, meeting Rosa's gaze. "What?"

"You've hardly touched your dinner."

He bit his lip. "I'm really not that hungry."

"Are you sick?" Her face paled.

"No! I'm already full, okay?" He couldn't meet her gaze. "I was just really hungry when I got home from school. Guess I raided the fridge more than I thought." He pushed his plate forward.

"Mijo, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Well, if everyone kept staring at him, there was no telling what might end up littered across the table.

"I'm kind of tired, actually." He yawned. "I had trouble sleeping last night."

"Go get some rest," Victor said. "I hope you feel better in the morning."

Freddy picked up his plate and hurried to the kitchen.

As soon as he got to his room, he locked the door. Leaning against the wall, he let out a long sigh. For all the countless hours spent daydreaming about getting superpowers, he'd never once considered the possibility of obtaining them and still being, well, himself. Being able to fly didn't keep nosy siblings away or get homework finished.

He made his way to his bed, pulling out his phone.

Batmanatee: @Glitter_Girl you online?

Glitter_Girl: I thought I changed this!

Glitter_Girl has changed her name to Draumskrok.

Batmanatee: Well, I mean, you did...

Batmanatee has changed Draumskrok's name to Glitter_Girl.

Glitter_Girl: .....

Batmanatee: Hey, it's my chat room!

Glitter_Girl: Uh, whatever!

Glitter_Girl is typing...

Glitter_Girl: So are you still able to come over Friday?

Batmanatee: Of course!

Freddy leaned further into his bed. Truth be told, sleep didn't sound too bad right that moment.

Batmanatee: You think he has any idea about this?

Glitter_Girl: What do you think?

Batmanatee: Ok fair.

Batmanatee is typing...

Batmanatee: Do you need me to bring over anything?

Glitter_Girl: Nah, Mom and I have everything here.

Batmanatee: Ok. See ya. I'm gonna take a nap.

Glitter_Girl: Sleep tight.

Batmanatee has logged off.

-

"Hey, Thad, are you sure you don't want any?" Mordecai pushed the flask into Thaddeus' hands, which were folded upwards in his lap. "I think it'd do you some good."

He shook his head. "I'm fine. And my name isn't Thad!"

Mordecai laughed. "See? This'd really help with that stick you've always got shoved up your ass." He unscrewed the metal top and took a long sip. Thaddeus could only guess at what was inside.

"Someone," he said, poking his friend's side with his elbow, "has to drive."

With the way things were going that night, he very well might have to carry his roommate back to the car. They were less than a quarter of a mile from the parking lot, but it was anyone's guess if Mordecai would still be able to stand once the movie ended.

As an on-campus event, alcohol was forbidden. That said, Thaddeus highly doubted that the students overseeing the campus movie night - kids his own age - cared if anyone got wasted. He'd seen more than a few other attendees passing flasks and bottles between one another with little discretion.

He and Mordecai were sitting with some other guys from their physics class. Some looked so drunk that he doubted they were fully aware of what was playing on the screen in front of them. Others had fallen asleep. Only one other guy, a pudgy sophomore named Arnold Lopez, was still awake and sober.

"You got any popcorn left?" Thaddeus asked him.

"If only." He held an empty paper bag out. All that was left inside were un-popped kernels and broken bits.

"I think I'll go grab some more." Thaddeus took the empty bag from him and balled it in his fist.

It was a cool night, no more than sixty degrees at most. The school was showing a low budget slasher movie, the sort of film where seeing one meant seeing them all. He couldn't be sure how many people were still paying attention to it. The flick's tense music and the dark, almost starless sky overhead wasn't enough to distract from the poorly made fake blood and phoned in acting.

The audience consisted of a roughly even mix of people in normal dress and costumes. Thaddeus was firmly in the former camp despite Mordecai's incessant pestering to try and throw an outfit together. Just because his friend wanted to dress all in black, a towel tied around his shoulders and lipstick (just who he'd stolen that from Thaddeus had yet to figure out) smeared down his chin didn't mean that Thaddeus also had to make a fool of himself.

Nearing a painted blue trash barrel, Thaddeus threw the crumpled bag inside. He kept walking straight until he reached the food booth. All popcorn was free with a valid student ID, but everything else cost money. His stomach was light. Pulling out his wallet, he ordered a hot dog and candy bar along with two bags of popcorn.

Other than being surrounded by people and the outdoors, this really wasn't that different from Halloweens of years past. Their father had always found trick or treating to be distasteful (heaven forbid his children beg strangers for anything), so he and Sid had never gotten to roam nearby neighborhoods in search of candy. Instead, they'd spent their nights in front of the TV passing bowls of popcorn and boxes of M&M's between one another, watching whatever old monster movie or cut for prime time horror flick was being shown that evening. Sid would laugh at the special effects and Thaddeus would gasp in faux horror whenever the monster or killer appeared on screen. Oh, for all the times Sid had called him chicken-hearted, Thaddeus had never been phased by these sort of movies. They were always so overblown and too artificial to produce any real terror.

It was, he realized, one of the few things that he and Sid could actually do together. On those nights, it was as if he had an entirely different brother.

Thaddeus made his way back to the oversized picnic blanket that the guys were sharing. Arnold took one of the popcorn bags from him. Mordecai stuck his hand in the other, pulling out a large fistful.

"What took you so long?" He was, Thaddeus noticed, now nursing a different flask. This one was covered in stickers.

"I had to wait for them to make some more popcorn." He took a bite of his hotdog.

Thaddeus had only been half paying attention to the movie before he got up. Now he could hardly tell what was going on. Someone was crawling on the floor, blood gushing from his side, but Thaddeus wasn't sure who. All the characters were merging together in his brain.

He had to admit, bad cinematography aside, this certainly beat spending another Friday night in his dorm room studying. Mordecai hadn't had to pester him to come - at least not that much.

Another kill came. A woman collapsed down a row of stairs, a knife protruding from her back, before falling sideways onto the bottom landing with a wooden thud. A few feet away from them, to the left of Thaddeus' friends, a girl screamed.

"Anyone here scared?" he asked, smirking.

"'M pissing myself," Mordecai said.

"Shit," Martin Schultz mumbled, rubbing at his eyes as he sat up. The cowboy hat he'd worn in had slipped from his head, forgotten a few feet away and turned upside down on the grass. "What'd I miss?"

"Only the good stuff," Arthur responded.

The rest of the movie couldn't have lasted more than thirty minutes. In that time, six more people died, in ways that not only defied the laws of physics but the stretch of imagination itself. Really, it seemed like too much trouble to stuff that quarterback in a broken fridge. A few stabs to the chest would have gotten the same results.

"What did you think?" Mordecai asked. He had to lean an arm around Thaddeus' shoulders but could otherwise walk.

"I hated that twist."

"These things gotta have a sequel, ya know? It's like a law in Hollywood."

"Can't say I'll be first in line to see it."

They waved goodbye to the others, threw away their trash, and then headed for the parking lot. Mordecai was parked near the back.

"Fuck," he muttered. There was a red Fiat Spider parked in the space behind his car. "All these empty spots and someone has to pull up behind me."

His back bumper didn't look dinged.

"Keys?" Thaddeus asked, holding his hand out.

"Yeah, yeah," Mordecai replied. He pulled a key ring from his pocket and clumsily pushed it into Thaddeus' hands. "Don't drive like an idiot."

"I'd never dream of it."

Thaddeus started the car, turning the radio down a few notches, but didn't pull out until the front of the parking lot had mostly cleared. Mordecai was leaning back against the passenger seat, his eyes closed. The black towel had slipped from his shoulders and his bow tie was askew.

"You okay?"

"Mmm."

Thaddeus wasn't sure what that meant, but at least he was answering him.

They were halfway to the dorm, nearing a stoplight, when it happened. Like a drowning man clawing at water in a desperate bid to reach air, Mordecai hurriedly grabbed the window crank but could barely seem to move it. He couldn't have gotten it down more than an inch when he hunched forward and vomited across his knees and feet.

"Jesus Christ!" The light was green, so Thaddeus passed through the four way before pulling to the side of the road. "Are you okay?"

Thaddeus pushed down the window of his own side of the car. The smell was hot and harsh, causing bile to rise in his own throat.

Wordlessly, Mordecai fumbled with his seat belt. Though he pushed and pushed, it wouldn't release - until it did. The door came open much more easily, and he fumbled onto the ground.

"Mordecai!" Thaddeus hurriedly unbuckled and rushed out of the car.

There was vomit littering the concrete and front of Mordecai's shirt. The light was dim, but not enough that Thaddeus couldn't see the tears streaking down his face. Thaddeus' throat tightened. Watching other people cry was disconcerting. He had only ever seen it done in movies. Crying was for other people - weaker people, as his father would say.

"Hey, it's okay!" That was a lie, but what else could Thaddeus say? He reached in the car and pulled out Mordecai's towel. It was mostly dry. "Here, take this."

Mordecai was sitting on his knees now. He took the towel and wiped at his eyes. The only noises he'd made since scrambling out of the car were choked sobs.

"That's..." He held the towel to his face for a few moments. "That was..."

"You've just had too much to drink. Things will be fine in the morning."

Well, maybe. If this was anything like one of Sid's hangovers then he'd be getting an early taste of hell.

"That's my dad's car!"

Thaddeus' heart sped up. He got down on his own knees and took the towel from Mordecai's hands. He patted his shirt, rubbing as much vomit from it as he could.

"It'll be okay, Mordecai. We'll figure something out. Once we clean it, it'll be like nothing ever happened." Thaddeus fought to keep his voice even. "He won't ever have to know."

He couldn't live close by, could he? In all this time, as far as Thaddeus knew, he hadn't so much as made a phone call.

"If we can't get it out, we can always send it to a shop."

Mordecai was still crying. His sobs were loud, his body shaking as if an earthquake was ripping through his bones. Reaching forward, he grabbed Thaddeus and buried his face in his chest. Thaddeus tensed. A touch like this was so foreign that he wasn't sure whether it was better to pull away or put his own arms around Mordecai.

He wasn't certain how long they stayed like that. When Mordecai finally pulled away, his voice hoarse and eyes puffy, Thaddeus stood on shaking legs. He helped him back into his seat, placing the towel over the floor. Then, he got back inside, started the car, and hurried back to campus.

It was only when they parked that Thaddeus noticed the pine tree dangling from the rear view mirror. Yes, there was something that they could do! Getting a new air freshener and leaving the windows down would help get the smell out. Hell, maybe one of the guys in their dorm would know what to do about the floor. Mordecai couldn't be the only bonehead to ever do this kind of thing.

"We'll fix this." Thaddeus said, putting a hand on Mordecai's shoulder. "I promise."

-

Billy's dad would be disappointed in him if he could see him now. The thought made his stomach tighten into a hard knot.

His voice echoed in Billy's head. "A lot more is riding on your grades than you think."

Billy lay sprawled on his bed in his not-quite room. He was still wearing his pajamas from the night before and had yet to shower. His laptop sat half-closed on his desk, the volume turned low. The last he'd checked, his history teacher was reviewing the highlights of the Crimean War. Billy had spent fifteen minutes trying to follow along, scribbling down half-hearted notes, before he'd left his desk. About seven minutes in, he'd started nodding off. One moment, Ms. Garcia would be listing off important dates for the class to memorize, the next he'd be jolting awake, barely able to comprehend what was in front of him, let alone what was entering his ears.

Before he'd left California, Billy had been given two options: Attend virtual classes or enroll in a new high school. Having picked the former, he was still technically a student at Franklin until the spring semester ended. While the option was usually only reserved for sick kids - a girl in his freshman year geometry class had had to use it when she developed Hodgkin's - Billy's, quote, "unusual circumstances" had also allowed him to qualify.

Had he known what a headache it would be, he might not have bothered signing up. It wasn't just that everyone was two hours behind him. His teachers had too many real students to worry about to give him much attention. The fact that his internet connection was prone to go out at random times certainly wasn't helping matters. Billy couldn't remember the last time he'd bothered sitting through an entire class session. Really, he'd been doing fine so far just by staying on top of reading his textbooks and emailing in his homework.

It wasn't that Billy didn't care about school anymore. He completed his work and studied, even if it felt like everything he learned left his head faster than it entered. It was just hard to care about applying for college within the next year and a half when he couldn't even imagine what would be happening in a week.

Maybe he should have just gone to a new school. He still would have had to do it once this semester ended. Why push off the inevitable? If he had done that already, then at least he'd have a reason to leave the house every day and see other people.

No, Billy realized, he couldn't have done that. Changing schools would just make everything that had happened over the last few weeks all the more permanent.

Billy closed his eyes. He'd spent so much time lately looking at the ceiling that he'd practically memorized its every crack. He spent a few minutes just laying there with his eyes closed, but sleep never came. That wasn't so surprising considering just how much of it he'd been getting lately.

In a way, it felt like his life was largely balanced between two extremes. That inky, dreamless nothingness that ate away the hours when he closed his eyes and the heart racing adrenaline rush whenever he and Freddy changed. Everything else was just window dressing, a blur that filled the time between.

A sudden knock on the door forced his eyes open. Billy sat up, mattress springs creaking as he moved.

"Hello?" he called.

"Did I wake you up?"

Billy rubbed his side. "No. Annie, is something wrong?"

"Can I open the door?"

"Yeah." He stood, stretching his arms out.

Annie was wearing an oversized T-shirt and athletic pants rolled up to the knees. Her hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. She had probably come down to use the home gym equipment set up on the other side of the basement.

"What's up?" Billy asked.

"You're going to be ready when we leave for dinner tomorrow night, right?"

Billy's eyebrows knitted together. "It's Thursday?"

Yeah, Aunt Addy had mentioned something about them all going to some kind of business dinner with her. It couldn't have been more than five days since she'd made the announcement, but it felt like months had passed since she brought it up.

"Yeah. You're the only person I know who isn't thrilled that it's almost Friday." She frowned. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." He looked to the wall. "And I can still come tomorrow. Don't worry." He took in a quick, tight breath. "You look busy. I won't keep you. I should probably get a shower."

The sooner he got upstairs, the sooner he got out from under her gaze. Maybe that was part of the reason he had decided to do classes online. At a real school, every teacher would look at him the way that Annie was looking at him now. Being the new kid was enough of a pain in the ass without being the new kid with the missing dad.

Without another word, Billy hurried past his cousin, heading straight for the stairs.

-

"What would I do without you, Sivana Thaddeus Sivana?" Mordecai gave Thaddeus a shaky smile before pulling the cup of coffee he was holding up to his lips.

Thaddeus didn't want to know the answer to that question.

When they'd gotten back to their dorm, Thaddeus had helped Mordecai upstairs and into bed. He was still wearing his clothes from the night before. No doubt he'd now have to wash both them and his bedding now. His hair was sticking up in gravity defying directions.

"How are you feeling?"

"I've got the worst headache and I'm tired, but I think I'll live."

Tired? He'd slept almost twelve hours!

The curtains were pulled tightly shut and the boom box was turned off. Thaddeus had spent most of the morning in bed reading, only standing when he heard Mordecai begin to fumble around in bed.

"I would hope so." Thaddeus took a sip of his own coffee.

He was halfway finished with his cup when Mordecai spoke again.

"So how'd the movie end?"

Thaddeus blinked. "You don't remember?"

He rubbed his forehead. "The last thing I remember is you leaving to get more popcorn."

Thaddeus bit his lip. He pointed to Mordecai's wrinkled shirt, which was stained green and brown. "Do you remember how that happened?"

Mordecai gave a quick, soft laugh. "Do I want to know?"

Thaddeus took in a long breath before releasing it. Then, he filled him in.

"Shit!" Mordecai said.

"We'll clean it up!" Thaddeus had pulled himself out of stickier situations before. "What your dad doesn't know won't hurt him."

He looked Thaddeus directly in the eyes, his gaze unwavering. "My dad's dead."

-

In the end, all it took was manpower and a lot of baking soda.

"What if the smell doesn't go away?" Mordecai asked.

"We won't know until it dries," Thaddeus responded.

To think, just two days ago he never would have imagined spending his Sunday morning like this.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like an idiot." Mordecai ran a hand through his hair. Reaching down, he picked up the box of baking soda and roll of paper towels. "Guess we better get these back to Tyrone."

They left the car's windows cracked.

"I really owe you, don't I?"

Thaddeus didn't respond. The last day and a half was already losing its edge, taking on an almost dreamlike quality. These sort of things happened, he knew, but always to other people - not someone like him.

"Let's just say one day I'll need a favor from you that you can't refuse."

Mordecai grinned. "Deal!"

"Do I even want to know what happened?" Tyrone asked when they knocked on his door.

Thaddeus looked to Mordecai, who was red faced.

"Uh, do you need to know?"

"Let me put it this way: You try anything in here," he said, gesturing around the hallway, "then it becomes my business."

Mordecai nodded.

"Just be safe and be smart," Tyrone continued. "Okay?"

"Thanks."

When they got back to their dorm room, Mordecai collapsed in his desk chair, his shoulders slumped.

"I don't think you're in trouble." Thaddeus gave him a weak smile. "That hangover had to be punishment enough."

"It was my dad's car." He put his face in his hands. "Dad loved that car. He owned it for almost my entire life."

Thaddeus' tongue was dry and heavy in his mouth.

"He never let us eat in it. That was why I got so... You know. And if you had even the slightest urge to piss, then he'd drag you straight to the nearest gas station." He laughed. "I swear, sometimes I thought he saw that thing as another kid." He pulled open a desk drawer - the same one, Thaddeus noted, that he had seen him open that morning after the tape broke. He pulled something out, cradling it close.

Thaddeus sank further into his own desk chair. Right then, there were a million different ideas running through his head. He could leave. He was an un-rightful voyeur into an intimate moment. Or he could try and offer some sort of comfort - a pat on the back or one of those hushed murmurings and pained promises given at funerals.

Mordecai turned, crossing the few feet that separated their desks. He held out a framed photo.

"This," he said, pushing it into Thaddeus' hands, "was Earl Mordecai Liebowitz the First."

The photo was faded, its edges torn. A man looking to be in his mid-forties sat in a white metal garden chair. He had a bushy, caterpillar-shaped mustache and thick glasses. His thinning hair was the same color as Mordecai's. Despite the fine-pressed brown suit he was wearing, he was sitting casually, his shoulders relaxed and grinning face pointed directly at the camera.

"Mom wanted to get rid of his car. After he died, she donated just about everything he ever owned, even stuff he gave her. Every time she looked at it, she got hysterical." He sighed. "I was only able to convince her to keep the car because I told her she wouldn't have to buy me one when I turned sixteen. You wouldn't believe what it looked like after four years sitting in the back of the garage!"

Thaddeus stood, handing the photo back.

"My mom still won't ever let us bring him up. It almost feels like she wants us all to forget about him." Mordecai put the picture away.

"I'm sorry. That must be difficult." As soon as the words left his mouth, Thaddeus considered punching himself. A mass-produced Hallmark card would have sounded more sincere.

"I..." He sniffled, rubbing his shirt sleeve against his right eye. "I don't know why I told you all this. I've never done this before."

"I won't be telling anyone."

"Thanks. You're a great guy, Sivana Thaddeus Sivana. I'm glad I know you."

-

The only reason that Freddy still attended Fawcett Central was because he hadn't done anything to land himself in juvie yet. That was not for a lack of trying, but forging hall passes wasn't exactly a federal offense. Not that he'd needed one today. Ms. Henley had given him a real one without question. All he'd had to do was widen his eyes and clutch the side of his hips.

He had seriously considered actually going to the nurse's office before making his detour. Ms. Layton's office was covered in cat posters. Thanks to a small portable CD player she kept on the side of her desk, there was always soft jazz playing in the background. The cots in the back room were soft, even if the disposable blankets the nurse provided were a bit scratchy. Truth be told, a nap didn't sound too bad just then. He certainly would be fighting to stay awake if he had bothered to stay in English class.

The problem was, Ms. Layton would ask questions. She had this uncanny habit of being able to tell bullshit from horse shit - and everything in between. So while he'd get a juice box and pack of cheese crackers for his troubles, he'd probably be sent back to class in less than five minutes.

Thanks to budget cuts, the school library was only open three days a week. Had it not been a Thursday then perhaps Freddy could have spent his afternoon perched in an overstuffed beanbag chair while he leafed through comics.

It wasn't as if he could have just wandered the halls. With nowhere else to go, he'd made a beeline for the west wing boy's bathroom.

Freddy didn't know how long he'd spent with his chin against his knees. His butt had gone numb from sitting pressed against the plastic toilet lid. Badly drawn dicks and misspelled curses decorated the stall walls and door.

Guys had come in and out at random. He'd sat perfectly still, barely even allowing himself to breathe, as he listened to the clink of the urinals. More than a few dudes left without washing their hands.

When digging his nails into his legs lost its luster, he pulled his phone from his pocket. Other than a few new emails, he had no new notifications. Freddy scrolled through his inbox without really reading anything.

Batmanatee: Are you online?

Over five minutes passed without a response. Freddy spent that time scrolling through his social media feed, giving half-hearted likes even as the pictures, videos, and text all started blurring together.

Batmanatee: Billy????

Another two minutes flew by without so much as a notification that his message had been read. Grunting, he stuck his phone back in his pocket.

Freddy picked his backpack up from the floor and slipped it on over his shoulders. If it was like his crutches, then there was no telling if it would actually travel with him or not. All he could do was cross his fingers and think happy thoughts.

The smell reached his nose even before Freddy opened his eyes. The cave was musty, the stale and stuffy air so thick that it was almost solid. Somewhere out in the distance - Freddy couldn't be sure exactly how far - came the sound of lapping water. Dust motes floated lazily past.

It took him a few moments for his eyes to get adjusted to the dim light. Ahead of him stood the raised stone dais and its seven thrones that he remembered all too well. Thick shadows clung to the marble chairs, making them seem all the emptier. It seemed as if the whole place had been meticulously carved only to be promptly abandoned. Though he'd been there before, a part of him still felt as if he was looking at the cave with fresh eyes.

He hadn't meant to look to the statues, though his eyes fell on them all the same. Not even the Addams family would have wanted such grotesque decorations in their living room.

Freddy stepped forward.

The strange globe surrounding the demon ball thing glowed purple. Through its cracks, Freddy could see the glowing grey orb. It was bigger than he remembered it, certainly much too large to fit into his eye socket.

Freddy shivered. Out of all the wild stuff that had happened to him and that he'd seen lately, that was still one of the hardest things for him to grasp.

He looked back over the statues one last time. Even locked in stone, part of him expected the sins to suddenly burst forward with their claws raised and mouths agape.

Freddy turned. He pushed one of his backpack straps back up his shoulder.

You know, he thought, this place would look a lot better if there was some extra light.

-

"Billy!" Aunt Addy called. "Would you lock the door for me? I'm gonna go ahead and get the car started."

"No problem!" Billy called up the stairs. Twisting on his heel, he hurried back to his room, scooping up his keys from his desk.

He took the stairs two at a time. The only light that greeted him when he reached the first floor was the moonlight streaming in through the sliding glass patio doors. There was just enough for him to catch his reflection in a hall mirror. Billy paused, straightening his shirt collar and pushing a few stray locks of hair away from his forehead. He was wearing a crimson polo and black chinos. His aunt had promised that the meal would be strictly business casual, but with his luck he'd still manage to show up under dressed. Not that it really mattered. Even if he had something better to change into, time was already against him.

Billy gave himself one last glance before hurrying down the hall towards the front door.

The sudden rush of light came just as his fingers slipped around the doorknob. He stiffened, his hand momentarily frozen on the cold metal.

"Happy birthday!"

Billy turned, a lump hardening in his throat.

Freddy was standing only a few feet from him, a red party hat sitting lopsided on the left side of his head, his hand held cupped over the nearest light switch. He shot Billy a wide grin. Annie stood behind the kitchen table, which was covered in an array of neatly wrapped boxes and brightly colored gift bags. She was wearing the same hat as Freddy. A row of brightly colored balloons hovered above her head, batting lazily against each other. The largest one was made of a shiny foil and shaped like a cupcake.

"Happy fifteenth!" she called.

"Congrats on being born," Freddy added. "You feel old yet?"

The door handle began to shake. Looking back, Billy found himself standing face to face with his aunt, who was wearing nothing more than baggy grey sweatpants and an Atlanta Dreams hoodie. In her hands was a plastic container bearing a large vanilla sheet cake dotted with rainbow colored sprinkles and the words "Happy birthday!" written in cursive with red and blue frosting.

"Well," she said, giving him a quick smile, "are you just going to stand there?"

"What about your dinner?" Billy cried. Considering how dry his mouth was and how slick his palms were, his voice came out surprisingly strong and clear. He stepped back, giving her enough room to pull the door shut while she held the cake against her chest with one hand, before readjusting her hold on the container and heading to the kitchen.

"Oh, that," she said. Once she'd placed the cake down on the counter, she looked back to Billy and shot him a wink. "I hope you don't mind, but I had to reschedule it. We had far more important plans tonight."

Billy looked between the three and the rows of presents and balloons. He hadn't eaten anything beyond half a bowl of Crunch-O's that morning. Right then, he had the strangest sensation of both a total emptiness in his chest and a desire to run to the sink and release everything inside of him.

This wasn't supposed to happen!

For the past few weeks, time had lost its meaning. Billy had woken up more times than he could count over the last month completely unsure of whether it was night or day, let alone whether it was Wednesday or Sunday. If not for the automated emails he'd woken up to earlier - coupons that he was never going to get around to using - then the day would have passed him by. Once he'd seen the messages, he'd been struck by a churning stomach and pounding head.

For once, he'd had a reason to stay awake during his classes. With a straight back and unwavering gaze, he'd watched his teachers go through their lessons. At any moment, he expected them to turn to the camera and mention the day. Teachers had an uncanny knack for knowing that sort of thing. Yet if they were aware of it, they never brought it to light.

When classes had ended, he'd let out a long sigh. The day was largely done, his evening plans already arranged. As the hours had passed, the tightness constricting the space beneath his skin had begun to loosen. Birthdays were fun; who didn't love presents? Maybe in another 365 days he'd actually feel like celebrating it.

"I got a text from the pizza guy," Aunt Addy said, running a hand through her short-cropped hair. "He won't be here for another fifteen minutes."

Freddy flashed Billy a quick, cheeky grin. "Hey, Ms. Thomas," Freddy said, looking back to her, "since the pizza won't be here for a while, why don't we try some of the cake? I'm hungry!"

She pursed her lips. "I don't think you'll keel over."

Freddy pouted. "I haven't eaten since lunch." He stepped forward, jabbing Billy with the side of his elbow. "C'mon, back me up here. She can't say no to you today."

Billy pulled away from him, his eyes darting to the ground. All he really wanted to say was for everyone to leave him alone. Right then, he couldn't think of anything he wanted less than a party.

"Billy, are you okay?" Annie asked. She stepped forward, a stack of party hats clutched in a fist held at her side.

"Yeah," he said, raising his head to meet her gaze. "I'm fine. Just a little..."

"Surprised?" She chuckled. She pulled a hat from her stack and held it out to him, then gave another to her mom.

"How'd you know it was my birthday?" Maybe he'd accidentally said something. He wouldn't put that past himself. Most of the last few weeks were settling into a rushed blur in his memories. Billy was remembering less and less what he'd seen, heard, and done, though the feelings he'd had - those days spent barely able to get out of bed and those nights where he felt like the most powerful man on earth - remained. By the end of the month, would he have anything concrete to link this night to, or would it be another jumble of emotions that he'd have to push back to keep himself calm?

Aunt Addy adjusted her hat. "You wouldn't believe the things you learn when filling out legal paperwork."

Freddy shrugged. "I've had your birthday marked in my phone's calendar for a while."

"This was his idea," Annie said, pointing a violet fingernail at Freddy. "So don't you go blaming me for this!"

"Hey, you didn't say no when I asked you for help!"

She smirked. "How else was I supposed to get free cake?"

Billy put on his hat, fighting to keep his fingers from shaking. He'd said he was fine, hadn't he? Why not try to prove himself right? As long as he played along, nobody would ask him too many questions.

"I," he said, trying to ignore the feeling of six eyes burning through his skull, "I'd be down for some cake."

"I suppose a small piece wouldn't hurt." Aunt Addy grabbed some paper plates and carefully set down three very thin, small pieces onto each of their centers. She handed the first to Billy.

Sitting down at the table, Billy took a moment to look it over. The frosting was smooth as fresh snow. It was a yellow cake, the insides bright. Before he could lose his nerve, Billy stuck a small forkful into his mouth.

His throat constricted. The sugary taste was overpowering. Though the cake was soft and the icing melted on his tongue, he had to take a long sip of water to force the bite down.

"What do you think?" Freddy asked. He'd had to move some presents across the table so that he'd have somewhere to place his plate down. He'd managed to eat half his slice in one bite.

"It's good," he said, moving some crumbs back and forth along his plate with his fork.

It wasn't a lie. Any other time and he'd already have cleaned off his plate so that he could try and get another slice.

Though he couldn't say it aloud, Billy thought it seemed wrong to celebrate after everything that had happened. He wasn't sure how exactly to word that - no doubt if he said something, it would only breed more pesky questions. But he knew what he felt.

Not that he could say anything. Freddy was sick of him moping around. Annie would hover over him. And as nice as his aunt was, she was still too much of a stranger for him to even think of talking to her. All that considered, they were the only people he could even bring this sort of thing up to. No one else would understand.

The first birthday he'd spent with his dad had been a school day. Billy had woken up early to the smell of pancakes and a knock on his door. When he'd opened it, his dad had scooped him up into a hug. Billy had returned it, squeezing him with all the strength he had.

It was funny. For all the time he'd spent wishing and hoping to see his mom, his dad had always been there for him. And, unlike the woman he'd spent countless nights lying awake over, his dad had been real. Warm, strong, and there.

That trip to Philadelphia had been a belated gift. The only thing, he'd promised his father over and over again, that he truly wanted. As much as he tried not to think back to it, Billy couldn't push the thought away. Was it really any worse than what was playing out in front of his eyes right now?

He'd barely been able to look at his dad after they'd gone. His dad had been right - his social workers and past foster siblings too, even if they hadn't been there to rub salt in the wound. His mom had never cared about or looked for him. Billy had been a delusional kid too stupid - or too obstinate if he was being generous to himself - to see otherwise. All that time he'd spent chasing after his mother had also meant running from someone who actually wanted him.

Someone who wasn't there any longer. Someone who wouldn't come back, no matter how many candles he blew out.

Billy finished off the last of his cake with a strength he didn't know he possessed. When the pizza came, he swallowed it down without tasting it. Watching the others talk, it felt a bit as if Billy were watching a television show of someone else's life.

Once the pizza was done, he didn't eat any extra cake.

"Any idea what's inside?" Annie asked, shaking a box.

"I don't think he has X-ray vision." Freddy replied. He reached across the table and grabbed a shimmering blue bag overflowing with tissue paper.

"What should I open first?"

"This!" Annie yelled.

"Mine!" Freddy's voice almost drowned out his cousin's.

If he didn't open something soon, he feared the two might burst.

Billy looked between the two. It was only then that he realized that he'd never actually had a surprise party before. His dad had always been a planner about these sort of things. Weeks beforehand, he'd have the whole date mapped out.

Placing his hands in his lap and squeezing them together as tightly as he could, Billy slapped on a smile.

It didn't matter what he found inside. What his friends really wanted was for him to be happy. And not the visiting-Disney-World or even the found-twenty-bucks-on-the-ground kind of happy. The kind of happy that once come so easily to him, the sort of happiness that had him wake up with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. That kind of happy, he knew, was much the opposite of what he'd been feeling these last few weeks.

He couldn't blame them. That sort of happiness was tantalizing. It would give his world some color, his actions some purpose. Yet it seemed impossibly foreign and, much like the party, wrong. How could he be happy after what happened to his dad? Unlike himself, his father would never again get to open a present or eat cake. There would be no more radio sing alongs in the car or late night ice cream trips together. Forget frog hunting in local state parks or eating at whatever odd little hole in the wall they found while on vacation. All that was done now. Even if Billy were to try to do them by himself, it just wouldn't be the same.

"Calm down, everyone." Aunt Addy said. "It's his choice."

"But mine's the best!" Freddy said. He scrunched his face. "Trust me, Billy, Annie already told me what she's giving you."

"Thanks a lot!" She stuck out her tongue.

"Calm down." Aunt Addy repeated. She didn't need to raise her voice to get everyone to go quiet. She looked back to Billy. "Go ahead and grab whatever you'd like." She cocked her thumb towards a rather large box near the edge of the table. "Though if I am to make my own suggestion..."

In the end, his aunt had loaned him a quarter. When it came up tails, he'd taken the bag from Freddy and ripped away the tissue paper with a bit more force than was necessary.

"Is that supposed to be me?" Billy asked, pointing to a red blob.

"I think so," Freddy replied. "See those two lines coming out of the other guy's arms? That's definitely me."

Three figures stood against a white void, their stick-like arms held high. Billy stood at the center, with Freddy to his left and a purple blob that he could only presume was Darla on his right. Everyone was smiling, though the dots representing their eyes were so large that they were smushed together at the edges. Written across the top in messy, glittery print was "Happy birthday, Billy!" Though the letters were a bit crooked and unevenly spaced, nothing was misspelled. Drawn to the sides of the paper were fat balloons, hearts, and even more sideways smiley faces.

"Darla was so excited when she heard it was your birthday."

"You think?" Billy asked.

That wasn't all she'd made for him. In addition, she'd crafted a pencil holder for him out of clay and painted the outside red and orange. The paint was thicker on some parts than other, making it darker in certain areas. He could see her fingerprints embedded into the clay.

"There's nothing else in the world like that." Freddy said.

"So I can't break it?"

"Don't even think about it!"

Freddy himself had gotten Billy a new set of headphones.

"At least I know you'll use these."

Annie had knitted him an orange and black striped scarf. The wool was soft to the touch but thick. It was almost fifteen inches long and tasseled at the ends.

"Hopefully you won't need to use it for much longer," she said.

"Did anyone pay attention to the groundhog yesterday?" Freddy asked.

As large as the box that Aunt Addy had pointed to was, it was rather light. Billy shook it, but couldn't place anything to the hollow thunk that echoed back in his ears. He looked to Annie, who just shrugged.

It was like a Russian nesting doll. Once he opened one box, he was met with another. Often, he pulled away so much wrapping paper that when he tore off some from both the top and bottom box. Five boxes later and he felt like he'd spent hours digging for water. Only then did his shovel find a stream.

"Thanks?" Billy held the gift card up, looking it over. He could barely stand wrapping one gift. What had possessed her to wrap five boxes for this?

She laughed. "Oh, don't give me that face. I made this fun for you, didn't I?"

Annie grinned. "You don't know how many times she's done that to me."

The colorful, fancy wrapping paper decorating the next few boxes he opened were much more exciting than the contents of what he found inside. Plain white socks, a coffee mug decorated with a large "B", and a leather bound journal just weren't the sort of things worth making a fuss over.

Fifteen was a strange age. He wasn't a little kid any longer. Yet he wasn't even old enough to go on a field trip without his dad signing a permission slip for him.

Or rather, he supposed, his aunt.

Once the wrapping paper had been cleared away and his gifts tucked into a corner of the table, Billy sat forward in his chair. As far as he could tell, there was nothing to doirafter this. Saying he had homework would make everyone laugh at him. Would anyone believe him if he said he was tired?

"Billy," Annie said.

"Yeah?" He squirmed in his seat.

"We actually forgot a box."

"Lucky me." Right then, he missed his bed. His eyes really were heavy.

No one said anything after Annie stood and left. She couldn't have been gone long - he could hear her pacing around the living room - but every passing second seemed to move slower than the last. When she finally returned, she was holding an unwrapped box.

It was easily a good few pounds in weight. He held the box next to his ear and shook it. There was a flap-like noise that made him think of paper.

"A book?" he asked.

"Open it," was her only response.

Freddy's eyes were locked on him, but he looked away when Billy met his gaze.

The book was made of a wine red fabric and tightly bound. Written on the cover, in a small paper square, was "For Billy".

He opened it to a random page. When he saw its contents, a part of him wanted to slam it shut. Instead, he flipped forward.

The pictures passed him by so quickly that they merged together in his line of vision. There was Billy and his dad smiling on the Ferris wheel. A beaming Annie, still holding that metal carnival gun, gazed back at him. Then there was a selfie that he and Freddy had taken together when they'd first met in person. Some of the pictures were stuff he'd shown Freddy. There was something about actually being able to touch them, a feeling that an image on his computer could never replicate. His hand fingers carefully hovered over them, tracing their plastic-coated edges. The further he went along, the more he saw. Near the end, there were drawings made by both Freddy and Darla.

"Annie?" Billy asked.

"It's from both of us," she said, gesturing to Freddy.

"Thanks." His voice croaked when he spoke, as if he had a cold. "I love it. I just... Need to be alone. Okay?"

No one objected. Grabbing up his stuff, Billy gave them one last glance before hurrying back downstairs.

-

Midnight was as good of a time as any to eat cake. Billy had spent the last few hours passing his attention from between his phone and scrapbook, though most had been focused on the latter. No matter how many times he flipped through it, Billy always found something new while scouring its pages.

He'd been so caught up in looking over that picture Annie had taken of him and his dad on the Ferris wheel that at first he hadn't noticed the pang in his stomach. He could have stared at the brown bandage taped over his dad's eye forever. If not for the sharp spike of pain in his chest - he imagined he'd feel something quite similar if he were ever knifed from behind - then he very might well have. His the earlier pain had been tight, pulling his body into itself. Now, he felt like a turkey that had been ripped open, its stuffing pulled out before it was hastily stitched back together. For a few minutes, all he could do was lay back and stare at the ceiling. The ache didn't pass.

Billy moved mechanically. It seemed as if one moment he was in his bedroom and the next at the front of the kitchen. Maybe he was.

The smell hit him before his eyes registered the lumpy shape sitting in the room's far back corner.

"Billy?"

He tensed. Without blankets holding him down, he seemed so light that the slightest breeze might knock him to the floor.

His eyes further adjusted to the darkness. Annie was still largely a blob of shadows, but he could better make out her edges. Though he'd never been fond of tea, its spicy scent tickled his nose, calling him further into the kitchen.

"Hey," he said. Raising his hand, he gave a half-hearted wave. "You mind if I sit down with you?"

"Of course." She pulled a chair out. Its sharp creak was like a gunshot suddenly going off.

Billy only sat down once he'd grabbed a slice of cake. His cutting skills weren't anywhere near his aunt's. His was uneven, the edges crumbled.

Before he took his seat, his eyes passed over the oven clock.

12:09

His birthday was officially over.

No one had moved the balloons. They had mixed together into one dark mass along the ceiling. Billy watched them as he ate.

"Breakfast of champions, huh?" Annie asked. She stood and got her own plate.

His mouth full, Billy could only give her a mumbled "Mmph."

He licked the frosting from his fork. Now that the taste wasn't so suffocating, he actually felt like eating. When there was nothing left but scattered crumbs, he got another slice.

"Were you having trouble sleeping too?" Annie asked.

He nodded, not looking up from the slice he was cutting. The truth was, he wasn't the least bit tired any longer.

"Do you miss your dad?"

It took a moment for Billy's mind to register that the person who had just spoken was himself.

Annie hunched down in her seat, her shoulders slumping. She grabbed her mug but didn't bring it to her lips.

"I-" he finally said. Saying sorry didn't seem right, though it was appropriate. The problem was, it would have been instinctive, the same sort of thing he might have said if he had bumped into her. Before he could say anything else stupid, he stuffed a forkful of cake into his mouth. Crumbs spilled onto his chin and lap.

He didn't know how much time passed until she finally answered him.

"I don't know." She placed her fork down. "After what happened..."

"I shouldn't have asked."

She'd told him once that she knew what he was going through. At the time, he'd taken it in one ear and out the other, the same way he did the clumsy reassurances and near endless apologies she'd offered. Right then, a spark of hope ran through him. Or, more likely, a twisted parody of one. Maybe he couldn't be happy, but at least he could know that someone else had that same rapidly expanding hole growing inside of them, that hollow ache that squeezed his heart.

"No, it's... I get why you'd ask." Reaching across the table, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He pressed back against hers, trying to mirror that same force. "You really miss yours."

It wasn't a question.

-

Freddy spent the weekend digging through the attic and storage closet. Most everything he took was at least a decade old. He didn't even think that most of it actually belonged to Victor and Rosa. When they'd bought the house, they'd gotten the former owner's old junk at no extra cost. Rosa had always insisted that eventually they were all going to spend a day sorting through everything together. Should that day ever actually arrive, Freddy doubted that she'd notice that anything he took was missing.

He'd set up battery powered lamps around the floor. They made the long, stony hall shine with yellow light. Plush cushions and old blankets decorated the thrones. Though he was still a bit small in them, Freddy could at least sit in one now without his butt getting cold.

The extra light had revealed the presence of stone shelves carved into the walls. Freddy was slowly filling them with assorted tchotchkes - old action figures, assorted arts and crafts projects that Darla had made for him, and the wilting succulents that Mary had never quite learned how to care for. Set to one side was an old dresser with faded paint. A neighbor had left it out on their front sidewalk on Friday afternoon. While it clashed with the overall aesthetic, free was free.

Not that there was a theme. Freddy couldn't decide if the hodgepodge accessories were inspired or too garish to even be called camp. Having taken whatever wasn't so worn that it needed to be thrown out, everything was an array of colors and styles and patterns. For all that he'd added, the additional items only seemed to make the remaining empty space more noticeable.

He could add more stuff. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do that afternoon. But he couldn't just hog the space either. Billy and Annie might want to add some things.

Billy was probably going to think that he was crazy. As far as Freddy knew, he hadn't come back since he'd returned the demon ball. Considering how edgy he was lately, there was no telling what might happen when he returned. To Freddy, the statues and glowing grey orb were trophies. To Billy? It was anyone's guess.

He'd show Annie first, then. Her mom would be glad to have them meeting up someplace that wasn't her house. Maybe Annie knew a thing or two about interior design and could make the place look a bit more spiffy. If not, she'd probably have some cool knickknacks to add.

He walked around, taking in the area at different angles. While it wasn't anywhere close to what he'd call cozy, it didn't look like a haunted house any longer.

The chilly air passed easily through his jacket. He shivered, rubbing at the sides of his arms. Maybe they could get some kind of space heater. There had to be ones that didn't need to be plugged in.

It was only when he came up behind the center throne that he noticed the hallway. He blinked a few times. It was dark enough that it almost blended in with the charcoal colored walls. The narrow opening couldn't have been more than six feet tall.

There was still so much of the cave that Freddy hadn't seen. Had he and Billy spent more time exploring and less time punching each other then Freddy might have had a better idea of everything around him.

He stepped forward. The hallway was so thin that two people couldn't walk side by side through it. It was long, with a narrow light twinkling at its very end. It glowed a bluish-white. The further Freddy walked, the larger it grew.

When he came to its end, Freddy found himself in a large corridor. Though it was almost as dark and cold as the throne room, the space was far larger. Freddy stepped forward. As he walked, pebbles crunched beneath his feet.

The space was largely empty. Forget decorating the throne room! There was enough space here for a ping pong table, couches, and some arcade cabinets (there had to be a way to get electricity here somehow), with plenty of room to spare.

He only saw the bars when he walked further. They were set into the walls like prison cells in an old Western movie. They glowed a light grey color. The metal felt cold as an icicle against his skin. Some that he passed were partially opened, an open space carved between the bars, though most were not. As far as he could tell, all of them were empty.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he turned a corner. His heart pounded against the side of his throat. Though he blinked and blinked, the pale shape did not recede into the shadows.

Freddy would have made a terrible ninja. It was almost impossible to be quiet on crutches. Still, the figure didn't stir as he stepped forward.

He took in a deep breath. It took him a few moments to finally release it, as if someone might steal the very air from his lungs.

"Dr. Sivana?"

-

"Frederick?"

Thaddeus rubbed at his eye as he sat up. A dull ache in his lower back and shoulders told him that he wasn't asleep. The surrounding air was so cold that his teeth chattered.

Thaddeus wasn't sure how long the wizard had been keeping him prisoner. Whether it was only a few weeks or many moons, something told him that he wouldn't be happy with the answer. However long it was, he feared that his mind might have finally begun to crack.

Really, he would have expected a more fantastical mirage - perhaps some ghost from his past.

The boy standing before him, dressed in an oversized hoodie and faded jeans, looked downright boring. He was the sort of kid that Thaddeus could pass in the street and not give so much as a second glance.

Perhaps this was some sort of test from the wizard. Or, rather, a trick - another one of his sadistic little games.

"Is it really you?" he squeaked.

"I should be asking you that." Thaddeus responded.

Suppose this was the wizard's doing. Was there really any greater reason for him to do it than to watch Thaddeus squirm? Could there truly be any other purpose?

He wouldn't give the bastard the satisfaction. Straightening his shoulders, Thaddeus looked at the boy right in the eyes.

"Frederick," he repeated.

For a moment, all the boy could do was blink, his mouth hung open like a dead fish. "You actually pulled a Superman?"

Thaddeus opened his mouth but just as quickly closed it. On shaking legs, he stood and walked forward. When he reached the row of metal bars separating them, he squinted. Up close, he could see a brown stain on one of the boy's sleeves and wayward strands of hair near the back of his head that stuck out in gravity defying directions.

"I told Billy you might..." He bit his bottom lip. "But I never actually thought..." Pausing, his next few breaths came out fast and loud.

Thaddeus' stomach sank. There was still the probability that this was some mad game, another test of his character so that the wizard might watch him again fail to meet some unknown and completely impossible expectation, but with each passing moment it was getting more and more difficult to hold onto that shred of hope.

"I saw you... The sin..."

Thaddeus held his hand up, his palm extended outward. "Breathe," he said. "Right now all you need to do is breathe."

It was no surprise that the boy was struggling. The surrounding air was thick with dust and so cold that at times it felt solid. His vain attempts at sleep were often ended by a sudden coughing fit that left his lungs feeling as if they had been hogtied.

"But you-"

"Breathe," he repeated. "You can tell me everything later."

For once, Thaddeus took his own advice. He took in a long breath through his nose before releasing it from his mouth. It was accompanied by the sensation of his heart pattering against his chest. It wasn't loud or fast, moving almost lazily in its steady patter, but it was noticeable. For a moment, all Thaddeus could do was make sense of the other stimuli fighting for his attention. The chill at the tip of his toes, the itch on the side of his left shoulder, even the slight pressure near his lower jaw. For a moment, the rest of the world - if this place could even be called that - faded away. The boy existed. Thaddeus existed. And, for an amount of time that he had no idea how to measure, Thaddeus could just be.

When he finally spoke, Frederick's voice didn't shake. It was firm, even if his gaze still wavered. "I thought you were dead." He reached a hand towards the metal bars but quickly pulled it back as if he had been burnt. "Billy and I saw that sin grab you and..." He tilted his head, making a sound with his teeth and tongue. It was a mix of a click and a sharp snkt.

A wet trickle ran down his cheek as a knife like nail slipped between the soft flesh of his cheek. His breath caught in his throat. One scaly hand, its flesh icy, was around his neck. No doubt it could feel the frantic drumbeat of his heart through the thin skin of his throat. For a moment, a still image of the two boys was caught in his line of vision, before they blurred together with the ceiling in a rush of light and color.

"Yes," he said, if only because there was nothing else to say. "You did."

Life is strange, isn't it? He wanted to say. You're so desperate to make sense of it. But just when you think you have all the pieces in place, something rips them apart and you can't put them back together again.

Frederick held up a hand to his face. "Your eye," he said.

It took a moment for Thaddeus to reply. He kept expecting the boy to say something else. Nothing ever came. His last few words, it seemed, were a full statement.

He brought up a hand and covered part of his face. His skin met the cool surface of his glasses, turning the already dusty and oily lens even dimmer. "It's not there any longer, is it?"

The boy slowly shook his head.

Thaddeus gave a weak smile. Though he'd long suspected it, part of him had hoped that it was some mistake on his part. In a way, it was better to hear about it from the child than to see it with his own eyes. Something told him that the last thing he wanted right then was to look into a mirror.

Thaddeus turned his gaze downward. His coat was wrinkled and covered in dirt, the knees of his pants torn. His clothes hung a little looser on him than he last remembered. His eye couldn't be the only notable difference from the last time Frederick had seen him.

"What are you doing here?" Thaddeus asked. Not how - for though the question hung on his tongue, he already had its answer.

Frederick swallowed. His eyes were wide. Thaddeus could see his shadowy outline reflected in their pupils. "I'm, uh, skipping school right now." He gave a weak laugh.

So it was daytime. The news set a strange weight onto his shoulders. It was hard to imagine it as such, not with how thick the shadows around him were. Here, the sun was nothing but a memory. Rain and snow seemed just as foreign. Wherever Thaddeus truly was, his old world was distant, so far away that parts of it had already begun to seem dreamlike. Seeing Frederick again made those memories solid.

"You never did meet the wizard, did you?" The boy had said as much, but Thaddeus had never found reason to believe him.

"No."

What reason did the boy now have to lie to him?

"He's dead, right?"

Thaddeus had to use every ounce of his willpower to keep his face from shifting. "So the wizard never gave you your powers?"

"No," he spoke, his gaze firm now, "Billy did."

Thaddeus stiffened. He'd always hated that name. It was what she'd called him. For a while, after he'd first adopted William, he'd tried to get him to stop using it altogether. Yet whenever the boy had introduced himself to strangers - to neighbors and teachers and kids at his school - it had always slipped out. Thaddeus could have gotten stern about it. He almost had. But that would have caused a fight, which was the last thing William had needed in his already confusing new life. And really, why sow animosity over something so small as what the boy wanted to call himself?

All the same, Thaddeus felt himself tighten at the word. "How is William?"

Frederick didn't look much different than when Thaddeus had last seen him. There was an odd comfort to that fact. Had he aged even a year then there was no telling what all Thaddeus might have missed back at home. If his friend hadn't changed, then surely William also looked much the same.

His face flashed before Thaddeus' eyes. So many questions hung on his tongue. What had happened to him? Was he hurt? Where was he living?

Freddy took a step back, his jaw tightening. "He's..." He never finished. Any other time, Thaddeus might have laughed at his glare. It was set so earnestly across his small face that it seemed to be almost a cartoonish parody. But the tight vein sticking out of his neck was genuine. The sight of it always, Thaddeus had long since learned, spelled trouble.

Frederick wasn't just a boy. He was a headstrong teenager with ancient powers that he likely had yet to fully fathom. All it would take was one simple word and he could beat Thaddeus to a bloody pulp. He certainly had good reason to. If given the option of facing the child's champion form or the sins, Thaddeus feared the latter might actually go softer on him.

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

A few moments, likely much less time than it actually felt like, passed before Thaddeus answered. "The wizard brought me here." He gestured around his cell. "I've been here ever since that night."

"This is a prison."

Thaddeus had to force back a laugh. Forget his cell - the Rock of Eternity itself was a giant cage.

"Do you know what kind of people go to prison?" He pointed a finger straight at Thaddeus' face. "I knew you were evil."

Thaddeus opened his mouth and only got dust on his tongue for the effort.

"You stole the sins!" He stepped forward. His knuckles were white from clutching the handles of his crutches so hard. "You almost killed me!" His whole body was shaking. "I don't care what you said about me being a kid. When we were fighting, I really thought you were going to..."

He was probably going to say the word. Once he did, all the metal bars in the world wouldn't be enough to save Thaddeus. That hammering in his chest and the cold sweat dripping down his neck - no doubt Thaddeus had given the boy the same sensation.

There had to be something to say to calm him down, to at least give him a moment to step back and think. Something to stop the rage eating at him. The problem was, Thaddeus couldn't think of the words. His mind was completely blank now. All he felt was the pounding in his chest and the quivering of his legs.

Hadn't the wizard said he couldn't die? Thaddeus could only hope that for once the prig had spoken the truth.

It happened so fast and Thaddeus was already so tense that he didn't even think to defend himself. He had to half wonder if the reason the kid kept aiming for this spot was because he was so short. He stiffened, waiting for a jolting pain that never came. The plastic tip of one of the boy's crutches passed right through his groin. There wasn't any sensation at all. Thaddeus could only look wide-eyed at what his nerves did not register.

"What?" Thaddeus barely spoke above a whisper.

Frederick pulled his crutch back. His mouth was open, his gaze quivering. He looked ready to say something but then quickly shut his mouth. Stepping forward, he slipped his hand through the bars and reached for Thaddeus' arms. His fingers passed through Thaddeus' jacket. Again, there wasn't even the hint of a feeling - any feeling. Not pain or warmth or discomfort. If Thaddeus' eyes had been closed then he probably wouldn't even have known what was happening.

"Holy fuck!" Frederick pulled his hand away and stepped back, moving so quickly that Thaddeus was surprised he didn't trip over his own two feet.

Thaddeus took in a breath but didn't release it. Everything felt so tight, like he was a broken windup toy that could no longer move.

Frederick pointed at him, but this time his hand shook. "You said you weren't dead!"

"I'm not!" There was a bit too much force behind his voice. He hadn't even meant to yell.

He couldn't be. His heart still beat and breath still swam through his throat. The wizard brought him food - substandard schlock, but food nonetheless.

"Ghost! Ghost!" His words echoed along the walls.

"No!" Thaddeus brought his hands to his chest. Despite the cold air, his skin felt warm to the touch. Warm and so very much alive.

There had to be a rational explanation for this!

Frederick took a few steps forward and then another few back. This continued for a while until he was finally back at the spot where he'd previously been standing.

"Touch my arm."

"What?"

"Touch my arm!" He held it up. "Maybe if we do it the other way then it'll work."

Thaddeus felt bile rise in his throat. "You can't be serious!"

"Just do it!"

Thaddeus reached out before the words had fully left Frederick's mouth.

"No way," Frederick said.

Thaddeus' hand simply seemed to disappear into the boy's skin. To an outside viewer they must have looked like deformed statues melting into one another.

No one said anything.

Frederick pulled his hand away and turned around, walking a few feet before sitting on the ground cross-legged. Pulling off his crutches, he let them fall to the dirt with a light thud. He put his head in his hands.

Thaddeus didn't think that he was going to change now. What use was there in attacking an enemy he couldn't touch? The problem was, besides that, Thaddeus didn't have the slightest idea what the boy would do.

The silence soon settled over them like a blanket. Thaddeus couldn't help but notice that Frederick's shoulders were shaking.

"Breathe," Thaddeus said. "You really need to breathe."

No, it wouldn't solve any of their problems, nor would it tell them just what the hell was going on. But while Thaddeus was currently ignorant - his mind shrieking out questions that he couldn't even begin to answer - he knew that an explanation would likely soon arrive.

There absolutely had to be, he reminded himself, a rational reason for why this was happening. Never mind his distorted definition of rational. Things only made logical sense in Wonderland when one forgot the rules of the world above the rabbit hole.

Frederick followed his suggestion. Once he'd stopped shaking, he wrapped his arms around his chest and sniffled.

"Dr. Sivana?"

"Yes?"

"What if you really aren't evil?"

Just how was he supposed to reply to that?

"Say you're not lying and you only fought me because you didn't know I was... Well, me."

"I assure you that I have better things to do than fight teenagers."

He grimaced. "Yeah, but..." He shook his head, sending his floppy hair flying. "So you weren't, like, trying to take over the world?"

"Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because that's what evil guys do!"

"How many times do I have to tell you-"

"Yeah, yeah, you're not evil."

"And even if I was, I wouldn't do that." Thaddeus scoffed. "That sounds like too much of a headache."

"Then if you're not evil..." He tightened his grip on his chest. "Or at least you aren't anymore..."

Thaddeus raised an eyebrow.

"Look, you had the world's fastest redemption arc. I mean, you went from punching me to trying to buy everyone pizza in... What, two hours?"

If they had actually eaten, would the dinner be anywhere near as awkward as this conversation?

"Does that mean that you meant what you said about Billy's life being worth more than yours?"

"I promise you that I meant every word." He sat, wrapping his arms around his legs. "Were you boys hurt?"

Frederick shook his head. "We weren't injured or anything. At least not physically, anyway. Everything's weird right now, though."

"I would imagine." He cleared his throat. "How's William?"

"The weirdest." Frederick gave a weak laugh. "You're a big Ramones fan, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"He made me listen to like every song they ever made after you, uh, died or whatever. He also showed me a lot of pictures of you and told me all this stuff about you." He cocked his head to the side. "Was your punk band any good?"

Thaddeus had to swallow down a laugh. "Absolutely not!"

"Don't you have any recordings? Maybe you're just being too hard on yourself."

"We made a point of burning all our tapes."

"Oh come on!"

"I promise that you would be more than disappointed if you ever heard us."

The Mind States - now there was something he hadn't thought about in a while!

"He really took this hard, you know? Billy hasn't been himself after what happened." Frederick's frown deepened.

"I would think that was a natural reaction."

"Well, yeah, but it sucks. I wish he could be like he used to." Frederick's eyes widened. He grabbed his crutches and, after first falling back on his butt, pulled himself to his feet. "But he can be, can't he? He'll be so happy when he finds out you're back. Sure, you're... Whatever. But you're not really gone, are you?"

"Frederick, wait!" Thaddeus stood, holding a hand out from between the bars though he couldn't have touched the boy even if he weren't standing so far away.

Almost all of him wanted to tell Frederick to hurry up. All this time spent waiting and wondering and now he could finally see his son! Yet there was a little part of him, one that was growing larger with each passing second, that wanted to pull back. There was no telling what might happen when they reunited. What William might do.

What Thaddeus might do.

Frederick blinked. Thaddeus might have missed the motion if he hadn't done it so excessively.

He stopped, looking down. "I'm still here?" He blinked again.

Thaddeus spent so long looking at the kid - who, despite his best efforts, was suddenly confused as ever all over again - that he didn't notice the figure until he was behind the boy.

"Look out!"

Frederick swerved, holding one crutch out. His face was white as starched bed sheets.

"Freddy Freeman!" the wizard boomed. Blue sparks flew from his eyes and smoke poured in a thin line from his mouth when he spoke.

"Shazam!"

Thaddeus blinked. He looked between the quivering boy and the wizard. In doing so, Thaddeus caught his gaze.

"Get the hell away from him!" Thaddeus screamed.

His prattling about purity aside, Thaddeus knew all too well just what harm he could do to a child.