The Light of Redemption Excerpt

Chapter One

Nights in a small town like Pilton, Ohio, didn’t always make it easy to be a superhero.

The sweet-scented breeze teased a loose strand of long hair out from under my hood. I tucked it back into my braid and sighed, balancing carefully on the edge of the fence separating the grocery store from the residential area behind it. My foot scraped as I shifted, a tiny sound that nevertheless echoed in the extreme quiet. Not that there was anyone around yet to hear me.

The chain link dug into the soles of my shoes, and despite the hours of yoga and strength training I did, my muscles would cramp if I held this position much longer. I flexed my fingers, palms warm and ready, and held my focus when my mind wanted to wander. They didn’t tell you how much boredom there was in superheroing.

The breeze shifted, now carrying a sour hint of the garbage collection behind the store. A bag rustled, and I tried not to think of the critter that was probably moving it. It was as likely to be a kitty as a rat, but I didn’t want to know which. Something clattered behind the bookstore, and I flinched but took care to turn my head slowly to look down the alley. Nothing moved in the corridor behind the row of brick buildings that made up the downtown shopping district.

And then whispering voices came around the corner, followed by two bulky people. The May evening was cool, but not cool enough to require the heavy pants and big jackets these guys wore. As I watched, the one with the backward baseball cap handed a plastic bundle filled with something white to the other guy and accepted something in return. That was all I needed.

The alley wasn’t supposed to be this dark. Baseball Cap—a.k.a. Josh Delewis—had done enough business here that I was surprised he hadn’t noticed. He chuckled to himself and counted his money, not watching the buyer walk down the alley toward the main street. I flipped the light energy I’d collected before their arrival toward the mouth of the alley. Under my will, it expanded from my hands into a wall of light. The buyer yelled and fell backward as he was cut off from the street. Josh whirled and gaped, then spun back around, looking for Eclipse. Looking for me.

I leaped lightly to the ground and sucked back a little of the light. The buzz of it in my hands and forearms made me shiver a little. I formed it into a ball and shot it toward Josh’s face. He screamed and ducked. The ball followed, shattering in sheer brilliance right in front of his eyes. He collapsed, his hands covering his face, his yells and moans echoing off the brick walls. I left him for the moment. He wasn’t going anywhere.

As I headed down the alley, I slipped my cell phone off my belt and sent a text to the police dispatcher’s e-mail account. I’d already keyed in the details, so I just had to hit send. I shoved the phone back onto my belt and caught hold of the buyer’s collar. He’d climbed to his feet and was trying to squeeze past the edge of the light barrier. I thought he was one of the high school students Josh reportedly sold to regularly, someone who would be cowed by my presence and the shock of getting caught.

I thought wrong.

The buyer wasn’t a lanky high-schooler, but a man. Short, but solid and heavy. I knew because he put all that weight behind the punch he threw at my face. My cheekbone exploded in pain, lights ironically flashing behind my eyes, and I landed on my back with a whoosh.

“Not so tough now, are you, Eclipse?” my attacker gloated. A mistake. My ability to manipulate light energy may seem kind of wussy. It didn’t protect me from physical harm. But it wasn’t the only thing that made me a superhero.

In seconds, I was upright, the energy from the wall sucked back into my hands. He came at me again. I dodged and quickly sent half a dozen small balls zinging around his head. He tried to back up and stumbled over a cardboard box. The lights spun faster and he fell, disoriented.

Before I could corral him, something slammed between my shoulder blades. This time I went to hands and knees, both scraped raw on the rough asphalt. Dammit. Josh. I’d given him too much recovery time. And now he was running for the mouth of the alley. Sirens echoed from the other direction, a few blocks away. The police were responding to my call, but they weren’t going to get here before Josh got away.

Worse, they would get here before I got away.

I groped for the remainder of my light energy, losing track of what was where for a crucial second. Josh had almost reached the sidewalk.

And someone else appeared in front of him. Someone, like me, dressed all in black. Unlike my stretchy catsuit and hood, he wore a leather jacket and cargo pants, his face hidden only in the shadows cast by the buildings and the lack of street lamps. He threw out his arm and clotheslined Josh, whose feet flew up before he slammed to the ground on his back. Josh moaned but started to roll to his feet. Mr. Clothesline picked him up with one hand, walked a few steps, and heaved him toward me. He landed in a heap at my feet, at least twenty feet from where he’d started.

I didn’t have time to stare or consider what I’d just seen. I retrieved the light and separated it into two ropes, wrapping one around the buyer’s wrists and ankles, the other around Josh’s. The sirens screamed now, very close. I stood, contemplating. Mr. Clothesline didn’t move, apparently studying me just as closely. Then he faded back into the shadows and I leaped the fence, heart pounding.

Pilton had another superhero.