Council of Evil Read Online Free Page A

I reek of smoke.” He extracted himself from his parents’ hugs and questions and headed upstairs. After a long shower he quietly entered his bedroom, twisted the lock on the door, and booted up his computer.
    â€œLet’s find out what the heck’s going on,” he mumbled.
    His fingers were a blur across the keyboard as he logged onto his e-mail. Seconds later the mail program appeared with the mysterious e-mail from his namesake.He had moved to click on the message when it was suddenly pushed down the list by the arrival of a new one. Bold letters read:
    â€œCONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW SUPERPOWERS!”
    Jake felt his heart beat faster. “What is this?”
    He felt his hand tremble as he clicked on the e-mail. A larger window opened up, and he quickly read through it. “Now that you have experienced the awesome powers available to you, take your next step on the path to world domination by meeting here, thirty minutes from now.”
    A small JPEG graphic at the bottom of the e-mail depicted a map. It took Jake a few seconds to realize that it showed the way from his house to the abandoned steel mill. Jake looked back up to the screen and noticed the time had already started counting down the passing seconds.
    Jake wasn’t naive enough to agree to meet in person a stranger he’d met over the Internet, but he couldn’t ignore what had happened in the classroom. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Somehow, he had inherited some kind of radioactive power from the Villain.net Web site. He tried to recall what he knew about radioactive material. The side effects were not pleasant; he’d seen enough monster movies to know that. He worried that he might get sick from radioactive poisoning.
    The timer now read twenty-eight minutes. He figured it would take at least twenty minutes on his bike to get to the steel mill, and walking out the front door would raise questions from his family and waste time.
    Jake thumped a fist decisively against his desk. He had to know what was happening to him. He moved to the window and slid it open. The back porch was just underneath his room and offered a perfect step to climb out on. From there he lowered himself to the ground, dropping the last few feet with practiced ease. Making sure nobody was looking from the living room windows, Jake ran across to the toolshed.
    His fingers shook as he unscrambled the combination lock on the shed door and pulled out his mountain bike. A shovel fell against the wall with a loud clatter as the bike dislodged it. Jake reached forward to secure the tool before it made any more noise. A quick glance toward the house confirmed nobody had heard. He started to close the door, then hesitated; walking into the steelworks at night, alone, was ill advised. He had no idea who, or what, would be waiting for him. Just on the edge of the shed’s workbench was a heavy iron wrench. Jake picked it up and weighed the tool in his hand.
    â€œYou’ll work,” he mumbled and he tucked the wrench in his belt.
    * * *
    The factory was dark and forbidding. Jake had been here many times before, but never alone. Now the dark ruins looked oppressive and unwelcoming. He drew a long breath and tried to imagine that there was only one threat in the darkness:
him
. Everybody else had better watch out. Feeling a little more confident, Jake dismounted and followed the security fence. He knew where the rips in the rusty mesh were.
    Beyond the fence, crumbling brick walls several stories high flanked the narrow roadways around the mill. Corrugated metal sheets clanked in the gentle breeze. The whirl of his bike’s spokes echoed through the complex. His hand touched the wrench lodged in his belt, and he silently berated himself for not bringing a flashlight. Ivy had covered most of the buildings, while the weather had stripped away roofs, making the first stars of the night visible beyond.
    Jake froze as his foot