Killing Olympia

efore I came down here, I thought this would be a pretty easy case to crack. Things usually didn't get past me all that easily, but Sam and I had been watching and rewatching the security footage for three hours now without a single word muttered between us. She'd managed to film the footage on her phone, which left grainy videos even granier, but that wasn't an excuse with my eyesight. Sam had slowly gotten bummed out enough to sit on the curb and pick at the scabs on her knees, silent and staring off across the parking lot as I sat beside her, rewinding, staring, and wondering how exactly a guy could simply just…vanish. Her old man had been standing right there, then…

Poof. Gone. One frame he's there, and the next he's just not anymore, like he stepped into a whole new reality and just never came back home. No flash of light. No explosion of sound. He simply just stopped being here.

"What the hell?" I muttered, mostly out of frustration as I massaged my face. I turned off her phone and stared at the pavement in front of me, where Sam's dad had seemingly blinked out of existence. No traces of blood. Nothing lingering in the air. I could see ant mandibles if I squinted hard enough, but it was like the universe had decided Sam's dad just couldn't keep existing anymore and snapped him out of reality. "We're missing something."

"Yeah, my dad," Sam muttered, crossing her legs and picking at the concrete. "How does that happen?"

"No idea," I said, resting on the palms of my hands. The day had gotten a lot hotter, which meant I was slowly liquifying inside my costume. Arkathian fabric wasn't cozy and futuristic. Legionnaires traveled through space with these things, and they had to conserve as much body temperature as possible. They had other gear for on-planet missions, but I kinda didn't have the luxury to go off and change costumes. So I drummed my fingers on the concrete and dragged the back of my hand across my forehead, then I turned to her. "You told me your dad moved around a lot, right? Mind telling me what exactly he used to do that kept you guys from settling down?"

Sam stilled. Her heart got that little bit quicker as she glanced at me. "He was kind of like a mailman."

"Let's skip the part where I point out that you're lying, and you just tell me the truth, alright?" I said. "Look, if he was a criminal or whatever, fine, I'll still find him for you. Telling the truth doesn't change anything."

Sam bit her thumb, then sighed and said, "Fine. My dad was…" She tensed her jaw and hunched over slightly, resting her elbows on her knees as she massaged my face. "Ok, I sound crazy, but my dad was a spy, and because he was a spy, he knew a lot of things that he probably shouldn't have, and because he did, we could never stick around long enough to call anywhere home. He used to live in Washington years ago before I was even born."

"And then he suddenly decided to pack up shop and go sightseeing with his daughter?"

"Pretty much," she muttered, twisting the ring on her thumb. "He never used to tell me a lot about himself. I always felt like I never really knew him." I watched as Sam stared at the ring, and watched as she slowly mulled through the thoughts in her mind. Trust me, I thought. I know exactly what you mean. "But he always said it was all for my safety, and that New Olympus was going to be the start of something safe. The Sparkling City, right?" She chuckled quietly. A humid gust of wind toyed with her hair and threw an old cola can across the asphalt. "Whatever. I don't care why he went missing. I just want my dad back home. He's all I've got. I don't even know where I'd start without him. I don't have any friends, and my mom's in a thermos in my suitcase, and now all I have is that stupid camera footage that was more trouble getting it than it being any good." She groaned. "What do I even do now?"

Those were all great points, because I was just as stumped as Sam was right now. But the difference was that she called me to come help her fix this problem, and if that meant falsifying a glass full of hope and getting myself high off nothing except internal lies, then so be it, because I'd kill to have a dad that meant so much to me I spent hours searching for him. It meant that he was worth something to Sam, which, on some level, felt weird to me.

I couldn't even begin to understand my own father needing my help for anything.

Let alone saving him.

And on some weird, kinda twisted level, I respected that. Sam wanted her dad back?

Easy, even if it meant I wasn't going to sleep until a few days from now.

A lot of people could have given up on me a long time ago, and they had every right to do just that, but I owed it to mom and Cleopatra and Bianca and even Em to not throw in the towel. This wasn't my usual type of mission, because there was nothing I could hit, nobody I could threaten, and not a single thing in sight I could ruin.

I always used to rattle on and on about wanting to be the best, so it was time to prove that to myself.

So I stood up, dusted myself off, and offered Sam a hand up. "C'mon," I said. "Still got work to do."

"What?" she asked, but still took my hand. She looked exhausted and kinda pale, shaky on her feet and with a stomach that growled so loudly it made her face go red. Couldn't blame her. She probably hasn't eaten a single thing since before her old man went missing. I'd offer to take her somewhere to eat, but cases like this went the best when they were still relatively hot, and considering this guy vanished out of thin air, then I'd already///

I frowned, then glanced at the spot he'd gone missing, right there in front of us. I glanced at the security camera pointing toward the vending machine behind us. Then I looked across the lot. Taped-off apartment buildings and stores that had been burnt to empty shells. Barely any streetlights, which equalled barely anyone around to see what happened this time of night. Barely any security. Two of the rooms are occupied by a couple and some twenty-something who told me to fuck off when I knocked on his door. The place was just so wide open.

Like her dad was just asking for it. If the guy was so important, why put yourself in the open? Even just getting here was a marvel of showcasing yourself to any would-be kidnappers. A cab brought them here, Sam had told me earlier, and if she was telling the truth and this guy really was a spy, then what part of any of this was safe?

"Was your dad acting strange before he left the room?" I asked her.

Sam shrugged. "He's always a little weird. Not that I noticed."

"Did he lock the door on his way out?"

She frowned and thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, he didn't."

"And let me guess," I said. "He always locks the door."

"Deadbolt and everything," she muttered, eyebrows furrowing. She started biting her thumbnail again as she folded her arms. "He always locked the front door, and we had our own locks, never any of the motel locks."

"I need physical descriptions," I said. "Was he sweaty? Kinda restless?"

Sam pointed upstairs. "He left his jacket here because it was pretty hot, so probably."

I shook my head, because I felt like I was close to something, which was frustrating, because if someone invisible was standing right there, I'd be able to spot them in a heartbeat. All intents and purposes, my powers should be great for solving murder cases, but unfortunately, not because I was dumb or anything, I had a hard time piecing together these kinds of things. But the answer felt like it was staring at me from right there in front of me.

C'mon, Ry, I thought, chewing my tongue. Focus.

We weren't working with splintered footage. Everything, down to the seconds, was rolling as it should be, so we could toss that out of the window. Had to be a superhuman. Portals would mean a bright flash of light. And someone like Wraith? Maybe. A big maybe. Except there was light coming off the vending machine, which meant the shadows would've dimmed it the second he vanished into thin air. My money was on a teleporter, but those guys had to be standing right there for them to take people from one place to another. They couldn't just snatch people off the street from across the city. Could they? No, none that I knew could do that. Damsel was powerful. She could carry a lot more than any of them could ever wish to be able to, and considering I hadn't seen her in ages…

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Void was the most intricate teleporter on the planet. Well, ten years ago when Zeus died, she was.

I wasn't saying it was her, because Gods even know where she went, or if she's even still alive anymore. I had money on Damsel, but there were too many of these guys wandering around. Think, Ry, what else is there?

"You smoke cigarettes," I said to Sam. She'd been watching me curiously, but now she nodded.

"Bad habit I picked up from him," she said. "I used to steal a few from his packets."

"What brand?" I asked.

"Furlowe's," Sam said, then we both looked at the ones in the vending machine. I crouched and pushed my hand through the metal flap near the bottom, and it almost felt like I'd won the lottery when I pulled a fresh pack.

I tossed them to her and said, "Nervous smoker, or lifetime smoker?"

"He burned through an entire pack on our way down here. I kept telling him to quit hogging them."

Nervous smoker.

Either Sam's dad knew something was wrong, or he knew something was definitely going to happen to him. There was no way to tell if they were being followed. Sam just wasn't the type of girl to pick up on that, either.

He came out to buy cigarettes and their dinner from this thing and vanished. He got ambushed.

Now we're getting somewhere.

"Cologne," I said. "Did your dad wear any?"

"Nope," she said. "Too expensive."

But something in the motel screamed just a little too expensive. It was faint. So faint I thought I had been imagining it on my way here, because sometimes dying rats and dead birds putrefied under the sun long enough and became sickly sweet to me. Roadkill had the same stench, and so did the dead bodies still trapped in the messes of rubble strewn across Lower Olympus. But this was minty. Too sharp, too striking for a place like this. Tony might have some money on him, but the guy probably didn't even glance at the deodorant section in the store. I backed onto the parking lot, looked up, shut my eyes, and breathed in deeply. There. I flew to the second floor railing and ha! No cameras up here. Two of them were facing the wrong direction, meaning they could still give off the impression to a guy like Tony who wouldn't be paying any attention that they were still doing their job filming.

But the other camera, the one that was meant to be pointing down the catwalk, was missing.

I turned to the railing and put my nose to it. I knew in my heart deep down that Sam was watching and probably thought I was out of my mind, but I was more focused on grabbing hold of a scent that I swear I had—

My mouth soured when the stench of whiskey and blood slid down my nose. I backed away from the railing, but there wasn't any trace of it on the rusting metal. Wiped it off with alcohol. Smart. I looked down at the floor, and right there beneath my boots was the tiniest speck of blood, barely the size of a droplet of water. Orange. Smeared. And when I bent down on my hands and knees, the minty stench of cologne and blood washed over me.

Blood had a smell. A very, very specific smell depending on the person. Meds got into blood. Food. Fear. Adrenaline. All of it became a cocktail so pungent that fourteen-year-old Rylee had to shove tissue up her nose sometimes because she could smell it through people's skin. I still could, but thanks to Lucas (grudgingly), I could stop my senses from grasping at everything and anything all the time. But what I needed right now was water. I shouted for Sam to grab me a bottle, and the next thing I knew, I heard the sound of her kicking the vending machine, and a few moments later, she came jogging up the stairs and toward me with a bottle of water and several packets of gummy bears. I couldn't blame her. I would've done the same thing. I took the bottle and opened it.

Then dabbed my fingertip into the water, and very slowly, very carefully, made the bloodstain wet.

"What're you doing?" Sam asked, which felt like she'd just shouted into my ears. I winced and put a finger to my lips, because my senses felt like they were running overtime. I was sweaty. I was thirty. And when I touched the blood and brought it to my nose, inhaled so deeply my lungs ached and my chest swelled, the world suddenly stopped. Not a single thing moved. Not the Earth. Not the breeze. Not the millions of people in this hulking mess of a metropolis. I held the smells in my chest, not moving, not letting anything distract my overheating body, either.

Protein powder. Coffee. Late night. Chinese takeout, something spicy—fainter than the rest. Must've been earlier in the night or yesterday. Office food. Sent out just before by somebody, or they were at home. Pain meds. Smells the strongest. Taking more pills that they're probably supposed to be doing. I breathed in again and held the swirl of smells. Cologne. A lot of it. They love the stuff. Smells expensive. Smells way better than anything a thug down here in Lower Olympus can afford right now. Not Lucian. The devil stinks of blood and wet meat. This is a lot different. This doesn't come from down here. It comes from the Upper West. My eyes flew open as I stood up so fast a gust of wind nearly toppled Sam over. I climbed onto the railing and flew above the motel, shut my eyes, and forced my aching brain to keep up. The breeze was rank. This city reeked of sewage and bodies and sex and—

"Found you," I whispered. The wind carried my words far over my shoulder. "I found you."

Sam yelled, "What was that?"

I opened my eyes slowly, carefully, stopping them from straining under the glaring sunlight. Then it felt like I'd been hit by a freight train packed full of more than just the basic senses. My ears whined and my eyes struggled to focus. My nose was picking up the stink of ants in the ground and the sizzle of oil on the asphalt. I cupped my hands over my ears as blood trickled down my nose, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I landed on the ground right where Sam's dad had vanished. I spent an entire minute crouched, eyes shut, ears cupped, and my heart jackhammering inside my skull. It hurt to be inside my own body. Hurt so badly I wanted to pass out.

But Dominion wasn't in the Olympiad today, because I could hear him and some girl talking from his penthouse balcony. It was the only thing I could hear, the only thing I could even freaking smell. It felt like an invasion of my senses, but they were arguing, he was sweating, and just like that, he threw pain meds into his mouth. He chewed them. The sound grinded in my ears and clawed down my spine. He chased it with whiskey.

I finally let myself breath and collapse onto all fours, panting like a dog in summer.

Sam, apparently, had been here the entire time, crouched beside me. I glanced at her. She offered me a handful of gummy bears and a water bottle, concern on her face and a weird, glinting sparkle in those large eyes.

"I know who took your dad," I said, throwing the gummies into my mouth.

Sam blinked, then her face melted with relief. "For a second, I kinda thought you were having some kind of mental breakdown back there. I tried saying your name over and over but you didn't respond, and—- Where?" she said, suddenly, getting closer to me. "Where is he? It must be some kind of supervillain or supercreep, right?"

"It's a superhero," I said, still chewing. They melted in my mouth, and my body was so hot that the water inside the bottle she just gave me started to bubble. Well, just before the plastic warped and melted and spilled the hissing water onto the concrete. Gotta cool down first. But…man, I can do that? I looked down at my hands as my body slowly, gradually, settled back into normalcy. I breathed out and shuddered, a little nervous, a little excited, with a very empty stomach and a very woozy head. Holy shit, I can do that. "But Dominion counts as a creep, too."

Sam stared at me. "I'm sorry? Did you just say a superhero?"

I stood up, then stumbled into a trash can. Alright, maybe not ready for walking yet. I sat on the ground and realized just how wet my entire body was with sweat. I pulled off the top half of my costume and fanned myself with my hand, creating small bursts of wind. "Yeah," I said, as Sam's cheeks flushed a little. No idea why. Give a girl some space, I was trying not to melt over here. If I could slip out of my own skin, I'd do just that. "Legally, at least."

"So…" Sam slowly stood up. "What're you gonna do? I mean, you must be friends, right?"

I paused, then looked at her. "You really don't follow the news, do you?"

"The news is owned by the lizards, and the lizard people all think the same. At least, that's what dad says."

I laughed a little, then sat forward and pulled off my boots. Jesus Christ, I feel like I'm on fire right now. "The last time we met, he offered me a contract to work for the Olympiad, and then he tried to kill me right after."

"I'm starting to get the idea that a lot of people don't like you," she said.

"Yeah, well, what's a superhero gonna do, right?" I said. "Besides, I'll just talk to him really nicely."

And once I said my pleases and thank yous (and threatened his life), then he'd talk.

Just… Wow. Give me a second before I burst into flames.

I flexed my hand, hearing the tendons in my arm slowly tense and relax. Suddenly, the world felt sharper. Louder. Brighter. It popped with the kind of vibrance that almost looked unrealistic. My nerves flared. My skin burned and tingled. I rolled my shoulders and let the golden necklace hang from my throat, sparking with heat.

I smiled at the crest I'd strewn across my lap as sweat evaporated off my face.

For once in my life, I actually felt excited to even have these powers. I'd always been a little bit afraid of what I could do. I had anger problems, I knew that already, and that meant outbursts, which meant I could turn people into smears faster than I could realize. Last year was a blur of blood, gore, and screaming that woke me up every night in cold sweats and heavy breathing. My costume would be right there draped over my desk, as if it was ready, as if it was waiting, as if it wanted me to slide inside of it so it could cling to my skin and make me forget.

I couldn't remember the days leading up to graduation.

But I could remember all the freeze frames of dead people melting through my hands.

I'd never fully felt like I was in control of this ride, but just for now, as I sat on this curb, I felt…

Good. Better. Like I'm supposed to.

I stood up and pulled my costume back on again, and it fit even more snugly than before.

"Give me a minute," I said. "Stay with Tony and call if you need me. I'm gonna go interrogate a Cape."