Friend and Foe

Chapter Seven

The girls should have been back already. They hadn't responded to any of my emails in their final days away. I hadn't let myself worry – they we're big girls and could look after themselves. Plus, they were just having too much fun to think about me.

I went around to Hazel's dorm the evening they were supposed to be back and there wasn't any sign of her. I called her number after an hour of waiting. I got her voicemail, so I left her a slightly rushed and worried message.

"Hazel? Are you guys okay? A sign of life would be great, so I'm not fretting. Call me. Like now. Shit. And if you can't, if something's wrong, I'll find you. Promise. You've got until morning until I call the cavalry."

I sunk down onto her bed, head in my hands. I wasn't allowed to panic yet but god. Everything was going wrong. Had I done something wrong in my past life and now I was paying for it?

Before I could truly panic, I started scrolling through my contacts. Hazel's foster mum was saved below Hazel and it was the icon I tapped. The phone rang twice before she answered.

"Hazel?" She demanded down the line, "Is that you?"

"No, Veronica. It's Parker. Hazel isn't there?"

"No. She hasn't called me in days and I'm worried. Didn't you go on that trip with her?"

"No." I swore.

Hazel loved her foster mum more than anything. The woman had given her a home and more love than she knew what to do with after her biological mother was sent back to jail. Hazel lived half an hour away on campus as required by her scholarship, but she called every single night. Hazel might have been having too much fun to think of me, but she never forgot Veronica.

"She's never done this before. Even that time she ran away to find her mum when she was ten, she called every night," Veronica told me.

"I know."

I did. Hazel had run away with every intention to find her mum, but she'd made it as far as my house before she'd felt bad about it. She'd stayed at my house for three nights before going back home. She had been scared of getting in trouble with Veronica and hadn't wanted to go home. She'd called every night to say good night to Veronica though, because she loved her.

We'd invited Abb over and made a big sleepover about it until Veronica had shown up. Hazel had just about leapt into her arms.

I asked, trying to assess the situation with more information, "Have you called the police yet?"

"I went down to the station. They said that she wasn't expected back until today so they can't do anything. A teen missing a few calls from their parents isn't a cause for concern."

"What?" I gritted my teeth. "I'm going to go looking for them. First, I'm going to call Abbs' parents. See if they heard anything."

"Thank you. I would do it myself, but I can't leave Jack."

Jack was her husband who had an immune deficiency and needed to be attended all the time. I understood her reluctance to leave him, he required constant attention.

A call to Abbs' parents gave me the same result. She hadn't call in a few days, but they could go weeks with out talking so they weren't exactly worried. I downplayed the situation, so they didn't worry. A collective worrying wasn't going to help the girls.

I left Hazel's dorm and caught the train back home. I was going to have to skip my nightly patrol to search for them, but I wasn't going to do it unequipped.

Mum and Dad were out when I got in, a note stuck to the fridge telling them that they were going to get stuff for dinner. I didn't stop, going straight into my room to get my suit and a few gadgets. Everything went on to my bed, to be packed into a bag so I could change off-location. Once I thought I was closer to the girls.

"Parker?"

I yelped at the young voice, twirling to face the speaker.

Little Noah, a kid about twelve with shaggy hair and a penchant to hide in my room when his parent's yelling got too much, was standing in the doorway eyeing the items of my bed.

"Noah. What are you doing here?"

He took a step towards my bed, pinching the fabric of my suit with two fingers, "What is this?"

"Fancy dress. Who let you in?"

"You guys leave your loungeroom window open." He pulled something white out of his pocket and passed it to me, "A man told me to give this to you."

I took it, finding it to be an envelope, watching as Noah turned his attention back to my suit, he picked it up, the fabric moving like liquid in his hands, the silver glinting dulling in the weak light of my bedroom. He turned it over, his eyes widening at the stitching.

Wide eyed, he looked up at me, "You're Whisper."

***

He badgered me with so many questions, I had to stop trying to read letter and focus on him.

"How long have you had superpowers?"

"Two years."

"Do you really work with Babe Magnet?"

"Magnet. Yes."

"Are strength and speed your only powers?"

"Unfortunately.

"Were you born with powers or were you bitten by a spider?"

"A chemical gene enhancement chip in the back of my neck."

"No way! Really?"

"Yes."

He scrambled onto my bed where I sat in a bid to see it. He found only a thin scar.

"Do you know Babe Magnet's secret identity?"

"Magnet, please, and no."

"Are you fighting Mr Hearst?"

"Right now? Obviously not."

"I mean where are you going? Why are you packing a bag?"

"My friends are missing."

"Abigail?"

"Yes."

He sat up. Suddenly hyper focused. The kid had had a crush on her for years.

"Can I meet Magnet?"

"Not today."

"Maybe soon?"

"Maybe. Look, I have to go. I can answer any more questions you have later. Write a list."

"Don't forget the letter."

***

I had discarded it on my bed during Noah's questioning and it had slid underneath since. I reached under and unfolded it.

It was brief, only a few lines. A few lines that made my blood run cold.

Whisper (Care of Parker Smith),

I proposition a swap. You for your friends.

Fair trade. Two civilians for a superhero.

The choice is yours.

Your fiendly neighbourhood villain,

Mr Hearst.

There was an address listed as a postscript.

That bastard.

I didn't think before I grabbed my Companion, dialling Magnet.