The cheery sunshine accompanied Vanessa Kapatelis down the street, to where her love was waiting. She found herself skipping on the way, buoyed up from her typical depression by the promise of food and flirting. It was no wonder that her sessions with Doctor Young were making her feel better. These extra “visits” were only helping.
Vanessa was fluffing her hair and preparing to ring the bell on his door when the cell phone in her pocket went off. With an annoyed huff, she flipped it open and held it to her ear. “Hello?...Yes, Mom. All afternoon….with Suzie…Mom, we’re shopping…alright, before eight. Geez mom, I’m seventeen, not twelve!...okay….okay, bye.” She exhaled slowly and snapped the phone shut.
Vanessa could feel the frustration and depression creeping back into her system, but just as the doctor had taught her, she focused her breathing and put it out of her mind. She placed her hair primly back in order and rang the bell.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, it’s Nessie!” she answered, going up on her toes to try to look through the peephole.
“Ah, yes.” After a moment that seemed like eternity, the lock clicked and the door creaked open. “Come in, come in, dear girl.”
She made to embrace him, but Young held out his hands to stop her. The look of disgust on his face was gone by the time Vanessa looked back up at him. “Remember our little deal, little pet.”
She sighed and looked away, but nodded sadly. Young took her chin in his hand and made her look up at him. “Now cheer up, Nessie. We’ve talked about this, haven’t we?”
“Yes…”
“Psyche couldn’t even look at her beloved,” he reminded her. The thought seemed to cheer Vanessa up, and she followed the doctor into his dining room. A lovely spring luncheon was set out for two, and Vanessa’s stomach rumbled at the sight and smell.
Young was just pulling out a chair for her to sit when the pager at his side began to beep. “I’m sorry, darling,” he said as he headed for the door. “Urgent business, of course.”
“Of course. I understand,” Vanessa replied sweetly.
“That’s my girl.” Young tossed her a heart-melting smile. “Start without me, I’ll only be a minute. And remember the rule—“
“Don’t leave the dining room,” she recited. “I won’t.”
“Good girl.” He left, and Vanessa dutifully began the meal without him. He was back within a quarter of an hour with a thin envelope in his hand.
“Be a dear and mail this off for me when you get home?” he asked her. “Your address, again.”
“Yeah, sure,” she replied brightly. She always felt so warm and happy when he gave her these little errands to run. It had never occurred to her to question them.
“Very good. Go put it by your coat and don’t forget it later. Now tell me, how have you been doing?” He smiled his most charming smile, and Vanessa’s heart melted.
*****
Steven Nathaniel Trevor Junior stepped off the jet, relishing the chance to stretch his legs again, and to feel the sunlight on his skin. Being able to step right out on the runway was half of what he loved about small airplanes. The other half was avoiding anyone likely to joke about snakes.
There were a few other passengers on the jet, but Steve didn’t pay much attention to them. He had a mission to accomplish (and he loved being able to think those words), a country to save, and more immediately, a taxi to catch. He sighed and set off for the cab station in the cool Boston air with only a briefcase in his hand.
There were enough other people milling around the airport that Steve didn’t notice a pair of footsteps following his own.
It wasn’t until he was standing by the curb that he looked around him. His brow furrowed under his hair; something wasn’t quite right. He had the uncanny feeling that something here wasn’t what it appeared to be. But he had no way of telling what, or what it really was, or why.
The thought was pushed out of Steve’s mind as he watched car after car pull away without him. Frustrated, he muttered some unsavory comment under his breath, and stepped off the curb to try and catch the next driver’s attention.
The car whizzed past him, blowing litter up into the air and into Steve’s face. “Hey!” He yelled angrily, but no one paid him attention.
No one, that is, but a dark-haired woman, standing still and alone on the sidewalk. Her dark eyes watched him intently, with a focused gaze that could have burned a hole in the back of his head.
Steve whipped his head around, and she looked away. He didn’t turn back to the street until he had looked carefully at every single person standing behind him. None of them looked like a threat. And yet…his eyes lingered for a moment on the woman. There was something strange about her, something he couldn’t place.
Another cab passed, and a napkin flew into Steve’s hair. “Oh, come on!” he yelled, his attention back on the street. He took another step away from the curb, ignoring the annoyed mutterings behind him. A horn screamed, and Steve jumped out of the way of another passing cab. “Watch it!”
“You watch it!” called the driver.
“Watch out!” This shout came from someone on the sidewalk, and almost instantly several more cries filled the air. Steve turned around to see the speeding bus barely twenty feet away, and his eyes went wide. The driver was tugging at the wheel, stomping on the break, but nothing was altering the course.
All around him, people were fleeing, grabbing their bags and children and rushing back into the building.
Steve Trevor stood frozen in the middle of the street, unable to move a muscle.
“No!”
Steve winced, clenching his fists, screwing his eyes shut and bracing himself for the end. He heard the crash of metal on flesh, and felt no pain.
This is it, he thought.
That’s it. I’m dead. I can’t feel anything because there’s nothing left to feel. And then he felt the distinct impact of a body crashing into him.
Steve opened his eyes.
Standing only a breath away from him was the woman, her long, dark hair disheveled and flying out behind her into Steve’s face. And she was holding the bus. Steve blinked and stepped back in astonishment. She was
holding the bus. The front wheels screeched and turned vainly inches off the street, and the back tires sent up clouds of black, acrid smoke. Steve could only gape and stare at her.
Now he knew why he had noticed her. The coal-black hair and beautiful face should have been proof enough, but the strength held in those long limbs and the determination in her eyes left no room for doubt.
“Wonder Woman…” he breathed. She glanced at him over her shoulder, focus broken only for a moment.
She looked so young—only a couple of years older than him, at most. It couldn’t be her…but Steve had heard all of the stories from his father, since before he could remember them. It had to be her.
Finally, the bus ran out of fuel, and she was able to set it back on the ground. Applause began to ring out from the bystanders, to the woman’s surprise and confusion. Steve was about to join in himself, when she grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the crowd.
“Are you Steven Trevor?” She asked him, once they were hidden away from curious eyes.
Steve’s mouth hung open. She was staring right at him. Wonder Woman. His head was spinning. He had seen this face. She was in all of the pictures in his dad’s old photo book, decked out in that costume, saving the world.
She narrowed her eyes and asked him again, “Are you Steven?”
“Uh, yeah.” He shook his head, suddenly aware that he had been staring. His father’s old words echoed around his head.
“Someday you’ll meet her, Son, and you’ll love her, too. But you can’t let it get to you. She’s not meant for our world. She’s only passing through.” “Oh, good,” she said, and seemed to breathe easier. “I’m so glad to have found you. My name is—“
“I know who you are,” Steve cut in. In a sudden wave of memory, every story his father had ever told him came back. And in that instant, he knew that there was nothing in the world that would put him in the same situation as Steve Trevor Senior. He had seen the way his dad looked at those old pictures. He wouldn’t turn out like that. He turned his attention away from his thoughts and back to her. “Neverland still not good enough for you?”
“Excuse me?” she asked, confused.
“Had to come back, didn’t you?” He continued, breaking away from where he had been standing uncomfortably close to her. “What, like you’re that desperate to see a man again? Yeah, right!”
“I…I’m sorry, I don’t understand—“
“Like hell. What do you want?” he asked her, arms folded across his chest. “Just come to say ‘hi’? Or did you just want to toy with a new Trevor?”
“What are you talking about?” She placed her own hands on her hips, and Steve caught sight of something golden wound around her body before it retreated back under her blouse.
“Don’t act like you don’t know!” Steve’s hot temper boiled over, and Wonder Woman actually took a step backward. “You never saw him looking back, you never even knew how he felt, did you
Polly?” he asked, using the pet name he had heard Steve Senior use so many times.
“Polly? No, Steven, you don’t understand,” she started, laying a hand on his arm and letting out a small laugh as she understood. “My name is Diana. Queen Hippolyta is my mother.”
Steve’s jaw dropped again. “…Di…Diana.” He winced and looked quickly away from her eyes.
Luckily for him, she began to explain, and didn’t ask him to reply. “I thought that it was you, when I saw you in Florida, but I wasn’t sure, so I decided to follow you, and I hope you aren’t upset with me, because Mother told me to find you, and that your family had helped her, and that you would help me, too.”
“You just stopped a rampaging tour bus with your bare hands. You don’t need my help,” said Steve, shrinking a little bit under her gaze and shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Oh, well…I suppose…” She studied him like a work of art, searching out the meanings hidden in every part of him. Steve shrunk away a little bit more and swallowed hard. Unable to find the answer she was looking for, Diana continued, “But there’s so much that I’ll still need—I mean, I’ve never been to Man’s World before, I’ve nowhere to stay, no one to talk to, and I just thought…well, Mother said that your family would help.”
“Well you thought wrong, okay? I got enough to do without some girl tailing me. I have a mission that I—Oh dammit, I’m late!” Steve threw back his head and fought the urge to punch the face of his watch. “I don’t have time for this. No.”
“No?” Diana repeated, stepping in front of Steve when he tried to move away. “Then what am I supposed to do?”
“I don’t care. Get a hotel or something, Di. Can’t be too hard.” He pushed his way past her and started back toward the cab station.
But Diana wouldn’t let him leave. She was in his way again almost before he could even see her move. A smoldering fire had appeared in her dark eyes. “You will call me Princess Diana, Steven. And you will help me.”
Steve gave an incredulous look to the sky. “Sorry, Princess. Still no.”
“Then—“ Diana started again, before he could move, “Then you’ll at least let me help you. We’ll help each other. You can’t deny that I could help.”
“Okay, fine! Whatever. Just come on then,” Steve yelled, stomping away.
Diana smiled smugly and began to follow. “And Steven?”
“What?” He called back angrily, looking at her over his shoulder.
“Mother did tell me this would happen.” She brought up two fingers to her eyes. “I’m up here.”
*****
Donna Troy let herself into the house as silently as she could, laughing softly at herself. After all, she was twenty-two years old, an adult, not some silly young thing. There wasn’t any need for her to sneak around.
Sure, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to date her psychiatrist. But Doctor Williams was so sweet to her, and she’d only started seeing him to help deal with moving to Boston, and all the changes her life had been making. All that was mostly over by now. It would be fine.
The front hallway was strangely dark and empty, more so than Donna remembered. A frown crinkled her pretty features. “He’s got to be here…” she murmured into the darkness. Her eyes darted to the dining room door, and then around to the rest of the hallway, where she had never been. With a mischievous look back at the dining room, Donna took a few steps toward one of the other doors and reached a hand out for the knob.
“Donna!”
The light snapped on, and the doctor stood tall in the dining room doorway. Donna quickly drew her hand away and stepped back over to him.
“What have I told you?”
“I know, I know.” Donna offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”
Williams gestured her into the dining room, as he had done every other time Donna had come. A strand of blond hair fell over his eye, and Donna’s curiosity about the house melted away. What did it matter what was beyond those doors? He was in that room, he always was, and that was the only place she needed to be.
“How have you been, my dear?” He asked as she followed him to the table. “Did you deliver that letter for me?”
“Yeah, I did,” she replied, letting him take her coat and drape it over an empty chair. “But you never told me what was in it.”
“Oh, nothing important, pet,” he said with another disarming smile. “Just something for a friend of mine.”
Donna’s dark head cocked to the side. “So why did you want me to put my address on it?”
“Eat, eat, Donna!” He pushed a plate of some expensive-looking bird in front of her. “You’re far too thin. It’s your anxiety, you know.” He smiled, but his eyes bore into her, as if he were trying to change her very thoughts.
Donna didn’t notice the stare. She sighed and started in on her candlelit dinner. “I told you, I’m over it. I haven’t had any symptoms in months. I haven’t even had a real attack for years.”
“One can never be too careful with these things.”
“Well yeah, I suppose. But really, I’ve been so much better. In fact,” she started, pausing for only a moment before barreling on, “I think I’m going to stop the sessions. I’m feeling so much better, and that way we can do this without anyone saying a word.” She opened her mouth to say something more, but the smile on her face wilted at the look on his.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Donna,” he said, quietly and deliberately. “You still need my help. It would upset you to stop your treatment.” His eyes pierced into her, almost hypnotizing; Donna couldn’t look away. Her mind was going blank, and suddenly she couldn’t remember what it was she had been thinking.
“Now Donna, dear,” Williams said, “wouldn’t you like to stay?”
“Yes.”
“Very good.” He smiled again, and poured her a glass of wine. “Very good.”
*****
“Yes, but…I know, Sir, it’s just…yes, I know she’ll be…okay…well if you’re sure…ten minutes, I promise…well, maybe twenty—Sir, I’ll be there as fast as I can…we’ll be there. Right…yes, Sir. Goodbye.” Steve shut his cell phone and tried to strangle it, to Diana’s great confusion. They sat as far apart as they could in the backseat of a taxi, Steve staring moodily out the window, Diana watching every move he made.
“What has that little thing done to you?” She asked, and Steve abruptly shoved the phone into his pocket.
“Well you’re in luck. Annoying as it is for me, my supervisors are
thrilled to let Wonder Woman join in on my case. My
solo case,” he added bitingly. Diana merely blinked, and he kept going. “You know, this was gonna be my big chance. I was gonna prove myself. But nope, now I’ve got a partner again.”
“I hope you aren’t blaming me,” said Diana evenly. “Contact your superiors again, and I could simply tell them that I’m no longer interested.”
“No, don’t—just don’t. Just let me complain and get it over with, okay?” Steve let his head fall back on the seat. “Once those guys make their minds up, there’s no changing it. I’ve just gotta live with it, and hope nothing else is gonna come up.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m honored to help you, Steven.”
Steve looked over at her, returning her gaze for only a few moments before looking back out the window.
“Were you planning on telling me what we’re investigating?”
Steve sighed and recited the briefing he had just about learned by heart. “Someone or some ones have been leaking state secrets. All kinds of stuff—where a particular politician’s going to be at a given time, who’s making what moves in Congress, there’s even military information that they think is getting passed around. But we can’t trace it to a source. My—our mission is to question a couple of suspects.” He stuck a hand into his briefcase and pulled out a file, passing it to Diana.
She leafed through the papers, examining the faces and information. “Kapatelis, that’s a Greek surname.”
Steve snorted, and Diana gave him a small glare. “Sorry. Just never heard someone actually say ‘surname’. Yeah. She’s the daughter of some professor up at the university, lives there with her mother. Troy, the other one, she’s been working as an assistant to Professor Kapatelis.”
“So there might well be a connection between them,” Donna concluded, passing the file back to Steve.
“Exactly. So we’re gonna head up to Miskatonic University in the morning and see what we can find out.”
“Excellent.” Diana’s face lit up, and Steve had to tear his eyes away. “Now I know that I can help you. I have…ways of persuading the truth out of people.” Her hand ran along the line of her shirt, and Steve caught another glimpse of the golden object.
“Hey, no torture. We don’t do that around here. What’s that do any—“
“NO!”
Steve jumped back to the window where he had been reaching out for the end of the bright strand. Diana clutched it protectively, for the first time looking frightened. “I…I’m sorry. It isn’t to be touched. Not…well, not by the hands of men.”
Steve held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Fine, whatever you say. But, what is it?”
Diana tried to think of the words to answer, but was saved by a shout from the driver in front. “Hey buddy, I’ve been stopped for a minute, you gettin’ out or what?”
Steve pulled a handful of money out of his pocket and handed it to the driver, stepping out of the cab and holding the door for Diana. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” he said as they walked up the sidewalk in the city. “Let’s just try to focus for now, okay?” He offered her a soft smile, and she returned it, not even needing to thank him in words.
They walked together in silence, gathering their thoughts.
*****
The cursor on Julia Kapatelis’ computer screen blinked on and off in the same spot on the page, marking the place where she had become unable to write any more. She stared around her office, fingers drumming on the keyboard, looking around at the Greek artifacts and decorations on the walls.
Her eyes kept darting back to the clock on the wall. It was almost ten o’ clock.
Professor Kapatelis had once gone on an archeological dig and been almost buried alive when a small tunnel collapsed. She told her students the story every year. She thought she had been frightened then.
But every minute that went by that her daughter wasn’t home, her fears grew.
Julia turned her attention back to the report that she had wanted to finish. The cursor blinked defiantly at her.
“Oh Vanessa…” she murmured, putting her head on her desk.
She thought back longingly to the daughter she used to have. Only five years ago, her twelve-year-old Vanessa had been a shy, retiring girl, content to listen to her CDs and write poetry and do what she was asked. She would still smile at her mother and talk about school.
But then her father had died.
It had been too sudden. He had only been forty-three years old. Julia was forty-three now. But when the heart attack had claimed him, there was nothing anyone could have done. He had been home alone, with no one to call for help. By the time Julia got him to the hospital, it was too late.
The wound still stung at Julia’s heart, and the tears pricked her eyes. But while her mother mourned quietly, Vanessa had gone out of control. She had begun to stay out later and later with her friends—friends that Julia hadn’t approved of. But Vanessa would hear no protests. She had started to smoke and tried drinking. And Vanessa could not see how intensely unhappy she had been.
A wall had grown between them, strong and tall. Vanessa had long since stopped talking kindly to her mother, and Julia hadn’t had the strength to fight for their relationship. She turned back to her work, studying, going on trips, and keeping more and more to herself. Over the last year, Vanessa had started to come back to herself, and Julia didn’t want to discourage that progress by trying to control her.
“She’s a good kid,” she had told people. “She’s smart, she’s resourceful, I know she’ll turn out okay.”
She still believed that, especially after she had finally sent Vanessa to a local psychiatrist for counseling. Things had been going so well since then. She was calming down, going back to her old friends, even holding civil conversations again.
Now she was out two hours late, leaving Julia to wonder whether she was being willful, or whether she should fear the worst.
The back entrance to the little house clicked shut, guided by a hand to be as quiet as possible. Julia’s head snapped up.
The next minute, her office was abandoned, and Julia stood in the hallway, watching her daughter try to sneak up the stairs.
“Nessie! You promised me you’d be home by eight!”
“Lost track of time,” she mumbled.
“You can’t do this, Nessie! Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
“Mom! I’m seventeen!” Vanessa shouted back. “Eight is for babies!”
“What were you doing for this long?” Julia demanded. “Tell me the truth.”
“Make me.”
“Vanessa!” But she had already stomped up the stairs to her room, and she was past conversation.
With a heavy sigh, Julia returned to her office and computer. The cursor blinked at her. She closed the document, shut off the computer, and fell asleep right at her desk.
In her dream, Julia saw her mother, the woman she had never known, reassuring her, promising that she had done well raising Vanessa, and promising that one day they would find each other.
*****
“Farewell. And remember, sweet Psyche. The day you sneak a glance is the day it all disappears.” He watched Donna walk mechanically down the street, and cursed.
Edgar Cizko let out a tired sigh as he dropped the illusions that surrounded him.
The house that had seemed so elegant when Donna walked in faded into a ruined old one-story shack. Only the dining room remained in decent order; the rest of the house was decrepit and falling apart. The man who had appeared so handsome to his charmed guests shrank and grew ugly. He was a dwarf, standing only as tall as the knob on his door. His wild black hair scattered over his head in thick, oily chunks, and his eyes betrayed his madness.
He hated Donna Troy.
He hated all of them, of course. Women, that is. But Donna Troy was a top offender. That was most of the reason he had picked her in the first place. That, and she had been alone in the world. But now the damnable girl had gotten a job, and a mentor, and she had been right—all of her anxieties had faded into the past. She didn’t need him anymore.
He hated her even more now than when she had clung to his support, weak and pathetic
Cizko settled into a moth-eaten armchair to plan. Donna would soon be of no use to him at all. She was too curious, too strong-willed. He had stopped her tonight, but she would try again. She’d shake off his control and start exploring. She had to be dealt with, before she caused any trouble.
She looked like his mother.
He spat at the memory. Cizko had hated his mother. From the day he was born, she’d been a pathetic excuse for a person. She had been weak, spineless. When his father had hit her, she never tried to fight. She just took it silently, and Cizko had hated her more every time. When he moved out, she stopped being of any value at all. When she finally withered away, he had been glad.
Cizko chewed unattractively on his lip as he thought. In a way, he was almost glad that Donna needed to be gotten rid of. A grin spread across his wide face. He could be violent, but there was no need for that. Donna was too feisty, too strong to break quickly. She deserved something a little more…creative.
*****
Princess Diana sat stretched out on the bed in her hotel room, fascinated by the reality show she was watching on TV.
“Do men do this for enjoyment?” she asked, recoiling slightly as the man on-screen stuck a live scorpion into his mouth.
“Idiots do it for money,” Steve answered from the chair in the corner.. “Bigger idiots watch it for fun.”
Diana kept watching, paying only a little attention to the screen.
Steve sat in the chair and sighed. He had only planned to walk her into the room, make sure she was set up, and then go. He just needed some time to be alone. Luckily, the hotel hadn’t been crowded, and his superiors were more than willing to spend the extra money on another room for Diana. Still, Steve sighed.
It hit him that he was now part of the family tradition. Even just coming in and keeping her company, like she asked, he was helping Wonder Woman. He was her connection to this world. Steve shifted uncomfortably in his chair, not sure whether he liked that idea.
At least she isn’t talking much, he thought. She was sitting relaxed, lost in thought. Giving him time at least to get his own thoughts together. But not enough time.
“Steven?”
“What?”
“Would you…tell me about my mother?”
Steve looked over at her. She was staring again, her eyes never so much as glancing away from his. It made him feel uncomfortable, like she knew something she shouldn’t.
“I…well, she was a hero,” Steve replied, thinking back to all the stories of his childhood. “My dad used to go around with her sometimes, stopping the bad guys, saving innocents, all of that. He used to tell me the stories. She was beautiful. I swear, you look just like her.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, but Steve was looking past her. “I think…she broke my dad’s heart. He didn’t like to talk about the day she left. And he passed on the stories his father told him, about when HE used to fight with her.” Steve broke off.
“Is something the matter?”
He stood up. “No. I’m going to bed, Di—Princess. If there’s anything you need, I’m in room 209.” He crossed quickly to the door, giving her a sidelong glance before opening it and stepping out. “Goodnight.”
“Steven,” Diana called after him, but he was already halfway down the hall, alone with his thoughts.
Suddenly, Diana was aware of the room; of the neatly-made bed under her legs, the television still quietly blaring, the cars whizzing through the streets below. Suddenly, she wanted to be home, on Paradise Island with her mother and her sisters, not here where she didn’t belong. Tears clouded her vision, and she curled into a small ball on the comforter.
But the moment passed. She shook her head and wiped away the tears. Yes, she was homesick. But she couldn’t let it distract her from her work. She had her own mission in Man’s World, and she would not leave until she had done it.
Before she fell asleep, Diana unwound the golden cord from her waist and held it in her hands, her face lit gently by its soft glow in the darkness. She would succeed. In a way, her very life depended on it.
