Q: What did the pirate say when he turned 80?
A: Aye Matey!
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure (Chapters 1 to 19)
Andy’s Woodsy Adventure – Chapter 20
“You know you’re going to need to teleport yourself back into your room from here right?” said Chris once we had reached the front of his driveway.
“Yeah, so my parents don’t see my costume all messed up with holes in it right?”
“Exactly. And you really need to destroy it as well.”
“What? How am I going to do that when my parents are probably going to ask at some point where it is?”
“Look, if they do, you tell them you left it at my house because we were going to use them again for another adventure.”
“Hey, that’s lying and I thought you were trying to set a good example for me?”
“Hmmm, you know you’re right. Ok, I have a better idea. Teleport yourself home right now and change into something else. Then teleport back over here and give me the costume. Then you’re actually not lying,”
“Ok sounds good. Capricorn!” I said as I pictured my bedroom.
VAVOOM…
I quickly entered and exited the vortex and was now standing by my bed. Thankfully my door was already closed upon arrival, as I had left it that way before leaving to go trick-or-treating. After setting my bag of candy down, I rapidly began taking off my costume, but unfortunately, it seemed to be taking me much longer than I expected. Parts of it had adhered to my skin where the intensity of the fire and heat had melted it onto me. I had to peel it off in those areas and all I can say is that it was a very unpleasant experience doing so.
“I knew I heard you in here! You used your powers to get home didn’t you?” My sister said suddenly barging into my room.
“Shhhh! Be quiet! Yes, I used one of my powers to teleport home.” I said hoping my parents didn’t hear her.
“You can do that? How cool is that! Oh, and you don’t have to be so quiet. Mom and Dad went out to dinner and left me in charge of giving out candy.”
“Phew! That’s a big relief!”
“Well, you might not feel that way after you see what’s all over the local news…”
“What do you mean?”
“Just meet me downstairs after you get done changing. And if you can somehow teleport Chris here as well, you might want to do that.”
My sister then left the room and headed downstairs leaving me to finish peeling off the rest of my costume. I hadn’t the faintest idea as to what Laura was talking about, but by her tone I could tell she was pretty concerned.
After placing the now mostly destroyed superhero outfit in a bag and changing into some clean clothes, I teleported back to Chris and gave it to him. I then proceeded to tell him about what my sister had said and asked if he might be able to stay over for the night. He didn’t know and told me to wait on his front porch while he found out whether he could or couldn’t. Ten minutes later he re-emerged in his normal clothes with an overnight bag and said it was fine. I wasted no time and swiftly teleported us back to my bedroom. Once there, I quickly deactivated Capricorn, as I didn’t want a repeat of what happened last time I didn’t deactivate one of the signs.
“You know we should teleport ourselves to somewhere really cool sometime don’t you think?” Chris said as he set his bag down on my bed.
“Wouldn’t that be abusing my powers? Remember what the Council of the Zodiac said about that.”
“I honestly don’t believe that’s what they meant. I think you’re just not supposed to ever use your gifts to gain power or prestige, or to abuse another person on purpose.”
“Ahh. That makes sense I guess.” I said as we headed downstairs to where the main television and my sister were.
“…again what you have been seeing here is amateur footage taken from a cellular device.” said the news anchor on channel four as we entered the family room. “We’re going to go live now on the scene with Heather Sampson in Scenic Hills.”
“Thanks John. Yes, if you’re just tuning it, firefighters have been on the scene here for almost an hour now trying to fully put out a two-alarm fire that reportedly started from some faulty electrical wiring. As you can see there are still a few flames they’re trying to take care of.
The camera then moved off the newswoman and onto the charred remains of the house.
“Sadly not much is left of the once beautiful two-story home owned by Kathleen Johnson. Thankfully, both she and her two children were unharmed and are now safe. That wasn’t the case though a short time ago when the fire trapped her two 8-year-old boys upstairs in their bedroom. By the time the firefighters arrived on the scene only she had escaped and the flames had reached such intensity that any rescue of her children was initially not possible. What can only be described as a miracle at this point is the mysterious costumed person who ended up being the one to actually save her two boys. We’re now going to show you the amateur footage again, taken by Billy Tilden who was able to capture their amazing rescue.”
Chris and Laura both looked over at me at the same time to see my reaction as I watched the shaky footage play out. My heart was completely racing, as this was something neither Chris nor I had anticipated would ever happen. First it showed me breaking in the rear door and running straight into the blazing fire. Not too long after I saw myself jump out the bathroom window and then catch the first twin. And finally the video showed me doing the huge leap up to the same window, pulling the other twin out, and then landing on my back while holding onto him. It even showed me getting up off the ground without a scratch and fully disappearing into thin air once the two kids had safely run towards the street.
“The identity of the individual who did this nearly impossible feat is unknown at this time and the only information the two children gave was that a costumed boy had been the one to save them. They indicated it was too smoky to see anything else and as you can see by this video taken on an Iphone, it was shot too far away to make out anything else…”
The female reporter then droned on about other aspects of the fire including how hot it would have been in the house when I stormed into it and how many feet the second floor window was that I jumped out of.
“Well the good news is that it seems as if your identity is still safe.” My sister said as she turned the television off.
“Yeah maybe, but I think those twin boys could have described a lot more about me. I wonder why they didn’t say anything else?”
“Maybe they’re in shock and really don’t remember much?” Laura said.
“Or maybe they know how important it is to protect the identity of a superhero?” said Chris.
“Regardless, as much as we agreed to never wear costumes Chris, I think I’m going to have to get one that protects my identity don’t you think?”
“Unfortunately yes, which means I need to start brainstorming on what that should be.” Chris said scratching his head.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
The automatic opening of the garage door abruptly halted any further conversation on the subject. It was apparent my mom and dad had returned from their dinner. I didn’t feel much like talking with them, as I was quite exhausted. Fortunately, Laura said she’d cover for me by letting them know Chris was staying over and that we had already turned in for the night. And with that, Chris and I sprinted back upstairs to my room.
When the door was safely closed, I watched as Chris immediately locked it. Before I had a chance to ask him why, he pulled my crystal out of his bag and said something that was the last thing I ever expected him to say at that moment.
“Zōidiakos!”
As the crystal began to give that mesmerizing hum once again, while also spinning in mid-air like before, I looked over at Chris somewhat in alarm, wondering why we were returning to the Council of the Zodiac.
ˆAndy, in light of everything that happened tonight, I really feel we need some additional guidance from the Council on how to deal with you helping others. I’m hoping a quick visit to them will provide us some much-needed answers”. Chris said as the blur of the vortex grew bigger and several of my comic books began flying around my room.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing!!!” I said, hoping this time we wouldn’t return days, weeks, months, or even years later…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson