Page 24 of Winter Reckoning
I rolled onto my back. The horned man hovered over me, his cane crackling with energy. He raised it overhead, preparing for the killing blow.
“You failed.” The sinister smile returned. “You’ll be forgotten, just like him.”
11
Ash swirledabout the horned man as energy crackled along his cane. He could have been any number of costumed villains in Vanguard. He believed every word he said, which would have made him cocky. The difference being, he delivered on his threat. I couldn’t fight a myth. Could any hero in Vanguard defeat him?
I didn’t need to win. “You hesitated.”
His eyebrow rose. Lying on the ground, my powers had turned the walkway into a sheet of ice. Tiny snowmen jumped from the banks, slamming into the back of his legs. His arms windmilled as he tried to maintain his balance. It’d have been comical if he wasn’t trying to kill me.
As the snowmen jumped on him, I turned around and crawled toward Nick. There were more people flooding the park. Just as I expected, innocent bystanders would rather film the encounter than run for safety. Even the kids were cheering like it was nothing more than a game of tag in the snow.
“Nick,” I got to my feet, running up the path. “Look.”
He followed my finger to the onlookers. I grabbed my phone and opened the HeroApp™. The alert showed a superpoweredbattle in the park. More importantly, I clicked on the hero profile. They weren’t concerned with a washed-up superhero. Hundreds of photos had already been posted, all of Nick, all ofSanta Claus.
“They see you.”
He took my phone, studying the photos. There were at least a dozen streams showing him. Vanguard had its fair share of weird. Discovering that Santa Claus was more than an idea wasn’t the oddest thing to happen this week. If he needed proof, he held it in his hand. I wasn’t the only one who believed in him.
Nick flickered. Just once. Barely visible. Then steadied.
The roar from behind me meant our friend had recovered. I could only delay for so long. I needed Nick to understand that he mattered. If he wouldn’t believe in himself, there were plenty who’d do it for him.
A boy in a striped scarf ran along the path and stopped twenty feet away. For the first time, I was happy that nobody in Vanguard had a sense of self-preservation. They should have been hiding, but no, they entered the danger zone. The boy pointed, eyes locked on Nick. His father called him. The boy didn't move.
The boy’s dad came running, scooping up his son. Like his son, he stared. His jaw dropped as he got a close look at Nick. His hand trembled slightly as he held my phone. I reached over and covered it with mine. His fingers were cold.
"I see you," I mumbled. "They see you."
A hand grabbed me by the back of my suit. I went soaring through the air. Spinning over, my powers poured out of my hands, creating a snowbank to absorb my fall. As quickly as I stood, the horned man charged. Nick might be his goal, but I had gotten under his weathered skin.
Good. Now it was personal.
He swung the cane, and I somersaulted under. As he brought it back around, ice covered my arm, blocking it from crushing me. I called the ice, wrapping it around his feet as I slid backward. His feet passed harmlessly through the blocks. Not fair.
With a flick of his wrist, the ash in the air turned into a giant claw. I fired spikes of ice from my fists, but they didn’t stop the giant hand. Slamming into my chest, it drove me to the ground. I swatted, but nothing I did pushed it away.
The horned man stood over me, straddling my chest. “First you. Then him.”
My last day before retirement, and I found myself caught between two myths. This wasn’t how I imagined going out. My eyes focused on the tip of his staff as the dark electricity gathered. There was nothing left in my bag of tricks. I hoped they put my photo on the wall. I hoped they all remembered me as the man who died protecting his charge.
He raised the staff one last time.
The red blur slammed into the horned man with a thud.
“What?”
The hand of ash holding me down vanished. My head shot up. I expected to see one of Vanguard’s caped crusaders. Instead, I found Nick, his body intact, snowflakes drifting off his body as if he were a storm cloud.
I was about to speak when a thunderous cheer erupted around the park. Nick held his hand in the air, as if he were going to summon lightning from the skies. A second later, a red blur appeared in his hand. I cracked a smile as he tossed on the red jacket. From his pocket, he pulled out the red cap, fitting it on his head.
“Santa,” I whispered.
Nick believed. For a second, the breeze whipped up the snow in an audible whoosh.
When the horned man charged, Nick braced himself. He ducked low, catching the man by the legs and hurling him into the air. He moved with uncanny speed, fist striking the villain in the chest. It sounded like a bomb went off, blowing snow in every direction.
