Jack And Anna - Back To Winnipeg

2. What Becomes of Heroes-3

Jack scrunched up his face, trying his best to follow her very twisted logic. He raised a hand to the side of his head. “But there’s no reason to assume that your brain is interpreting the sensory data incorrectly.”

“I don’t think that matters!”

“Of course, it matters!” Jack exclaimed. “Your guy, Scatora, is insisting there is nothing outside the mind. But we know that there’s something outside the mind. We know that the world keeps going even after we’re gone. We know that it was here before we were born.”

“Yes, but the mind is generating an environment based on the sensory data it receives,” Anna countered. “That means that everything in that environment is a product of your mind. From your limited perspective, nothing could ever exist that is not a product of your mind.”

“But there are other perspectives to consider!”

He hesitated when Anna giggled. She stretched languidly, arching her back, and let out a murmur of contentment. “How long has it been since we did this?”

“What?”

“This!” she said, gesturing to their cute, little living room. “How long has it been since we just sat and talked? Not about plans or world-ending calamities. How long has it been since we debated abstract philosophy?”

“A few months at least.”

Crossing her arms, Anna stared wistfully up at the ceiling. “I do miss being a Keeper,” she breathed. “But maybe this quiet life isn’t so bad.”

“You’re craving another mission, aren’t you?” They had spent a good long while discussing existentialist thought, and they both agreed that helping people was what gave meaning to their lives. “We could ask around. See if anyone needs us.”

“Not tonight,” Anna whispered. She had a sleepy look about her, as if she were about to drift off right there in his lap. “Tonight, I just want you to spend time with me. And…Can I make a stupid request?”

“Sure.”

“It’s silly.”

“Babe, just say it.”

Reluctantly, she sat up and held his gaze in silence. “Will you read to me?” she asked. The effort of voicing that question put a faint, almost imperceptible blush in her cheeks.

Unable to hold back a grin, Jack kissed her forehead. “Yes,” he whispered. “Come on. Let’s get you into bed.”

* * *

“Seth peeked through the trees at the murali. The purple, cat-like beast pranced across the grove with a regal bearing, its tail swishing back and forth. The strands of its thick, pink mane curled upward like tongues of flame, and its prominent snout displayed a tiny, black nose.

murali.“The creature had not sensed him yet. Or so Seth had surmised. If it had, it would have surely pounced and torn him to shreds. With a hesitant hand, Seth pulled an arrow from his quiver and brought it to the bowstring.

“‘Would you be so foolish, human?’ the murali rumbled.

“Seth froze.

“Its massive head turned, yellow eyes settling onto him. For the briefest flicker of an instant, it bared those razor-sharp teeth. ‘Have I done you wrong, human? Have I slain one of your kin or taken the food from your village?’

“Seth was unsure of what to make of this. He had heard legends of these creatures, tales spun by his Great Father. The murali were many things: majestic, proud, fearless and absolutely vicious when it came to destroying those who were foolish enough to draw their notice. And yet, this one wanted to talk.

“Lowering his bow, Seth drew a breath through his gaping mouth. He had been seen; there was no point in pretending otherwise. He stepped out of the trees, into the warm light of Myria’s sun.”

Jack lowered the tablet just long enough to check on his partner. He didn’t need to look – Spatial Awareness told him that Anna was lying in bed with the sheets pulled up to her shoulders – but he loved the sight of her.

She was so peaceful: breathing in a slow and steady rhythm, her serene face barely visible in the lamplight. For a flicker of an instant, he thought she might have drifted off, but then she giggled and said, “Don’t stop.”

Jack sat in a chair at her bedside, the tablet’s faint light washing over him. “You’re fading fast, babe,” he murmured. “I’ll read you some more tomorrow.”

“Mmm…Hold me.”

“Yeah, of course.”

The instant he slipped under the covers, Anna rolled over and threw an arm across his body. She rested her head on his chest, breathing deeply. “Thank you.”

“For?”

“Making this a perfect date night,” she whispered. “And everything else you’ve done to keep me sane these last few weeks.”

“Anytime.”

It had been a nice evening, and he had enjoyed it quite a bit. But now that it was over – now that Anna was drifting off to sleep beside him – his troubling thoughts returned. His world had been upended, and he wasn’t entirely sure where he fit in it.

had* * *

The next morning, he woke up to sunlight coming through the bedroom window. He could already tell that it was going to be another scorcher. Even with the house’s internal cooling systems, he could feel the heat radiating from that glass.

Anna was gone, leaving nothing but rumpled sheets and a note on her pillow. He unfolded the tiny slip of paper and found beautiful, Leyrian characters flowing across the page. “Sweetie, I thought about waking you up, but you looked so peaceful. I decided to go for a run through the woods. Be back before lunch!”

With a sigh, Jack climbed out of bed and hastily threw on a pair of denim shorts. He found an old, white t-shirt in the wooden dresser. That would do nicely for making breakfast.

His house was small with only a short hallway connecting the bedroom and the living room. Anna had drawn back the curtains, allowing plenty of sunlight to fall upon the couch and glint off the sheet of SmartGlass on the yellow wall.

He made his way into the kitchen, intending to fix himself a bowl of cereal, and froze when he saw someone standing outside the sliding, glass door. And not just any someone. His former boss.

Larani Tal was a tall and willowy woman with dark, brown skin and raven-black hair that she kept in a neat ponytail. Her face was often set in a stern expression, and today was no exception. Those brown eyes tried to bore through him.

Sliding the door open, Jack squinted against the harsh daylight. “Something wrong with the front door?” he asked.

“I knocked. You didn’t answer.”

Stepping aside, he ushered her into the house and shut the door behind her. Even so, some of that sweltering air wafted through the opening. Larani paused for a moment to examine his kitchen. Perhaps she was rating the décor. Or maybe she was searching for something. Weapons? Traps? Some indication that he was, in fact, the evil monster she feared?

Shortly after their “erasure” from history, he and Anna had gone to Larani, hoping to reclaim their place among the Justice Keepers. Needless to say, the chief director was less than sympathetic. She had all but admitted that the only reason she didn’t throw Jack and Anna into a prison cell is that they technically hadn’t done anything wrong. Simply appearing from out of nowhere – that was how everyone else perceived it – wasn’t a crime. But she had refused to reinstate them. And what was more, she had insisted that acting as Justice Keepers when they lacked the legal authority to do so would be a quick path into a detention centre.

Whirling around, Larani fixed that discerning gaze upon him. “You went on a mission,” she said.

Jack leaned against the counter with his arms folded, a frown tightening his mouth as he nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “Desa asked for our help.”

“Desa has plenty of Keepers to choose from if she needs help.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think she trusts them.”

“And she trusts you?”

Jack tossed his head back with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Well, that’s debatable,” he muttered. “Look, our friends asked for help, and I don’t know if you realize this, but we’re both going stir-crazy.”

Larani stood before the humming fridge, her grim expression never wavering. “My instructions were quite clear,” she said coldly. “You are not Justice Keepers, and you are not to act in that capacity.”

“Right,” Jack agreed. “We’re not Keepers. Which means you’re not my boss. So, while I give you thirty style points for that swagger, I’m going to have to invoke the ‘Na-Na, Na-Na, Na-Na, You Can’t Tell Me What to Do’ clause of our non-employment contract.”

Heaving out a sigh, Larani stepped forward. “I’m not trying to make an enemy of you, Jack,” she began. “But you need to understand that without the proper support, you’re not in a position to offer help to anyone. No one wants the assistance of a man without a badge.”

She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Jack shrugged and hurried out of the kitchen, rushing across his small living room. Larani watched him from the doorway, perhaps wondering who would come to call on a man everyone had forgotten.

His blood ran cold when he opened the front door.

His father, Arthur Hunter, stood on the porch, looking very confused and out of place. “Um, hello,” the old man stammered. “I’m, uh…I’m sorry to bother you, but, um…I need your help.”

Glancing over his shoulder, Jack felt deep creases forming in his brow. “You were saying?”