The Twin Powers Read Online Free PDF Page A

open. “Get in,” the driver shouted. I jumped into the cab and it screeched into traffic before I had even closed the door.
    â€œNice going, Eddie,” said the driver in a familiar voice. “As Mark Twain said, ‘Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.’”
    When he turned around, I saw it was Hercules. Whose side was he on, anyway?

Nine
    EDDIE
    NEW YORK CITY
    1958
    Â 
    H ERCULES drove fast, making sudden turns that tossed me around the back seat. He was nodding as if he was listening to directions in his head. Was he getting a transmission from Homeplace? Was he telling Dr. Traum—or even Dad!—about what had just happened? That I was finding my powers and using them? That I understood imagination?
    After a while, he pulled the taxi to the curb alongside a park. He turned around and lifted his shades. His green eyes were glittering.
    â€œThe word on you, Eddie,” said Hercules, “is nice guy, lightning reflexes, but your elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top.”
    â€œWho said that?” I was ticked off. “Tom?”
    â€œYou could learn a lot from Tom. Of course, he could learn a lot from you.” Hercules got out of the cab and opened the back door for me. He was wearing a black raincoat and boots. He threw the car keys into the bushes. “We can always jack another one. Let’s book.”
    I followed Hercules into the park. There were long-distance runners on the dirt trails and women pushing baby carriages on the grass. It looked friendly. I don’t go into the city much, so I had no idea there were such big parks besides Central Park. I followed Hercules deeper into the park, off the paths and into groves of trees. I watched where I was stepping in the high grass. Snakes.
    â€œNo snakes around here,” said Hercules, as if he was reading my mind. I hated that.
    â€œI’m not afraid of snakes,” I lied.
    â€œTom’s scared of them, too.”
    â€œWhere we going?”
    â€œTo Tom’s planet. Get Tech Off! Day rolling. There’s a place near here where you can slip to EarthOne.” And then, as if I didn’t know, he added, “That’s Tom’s planet.”
    â€œYou think I’m a dodo?” When Hercules didn’t answer, I said, “What about Ronnie and Buddy?”
    â€œThey’re on their way.” He stopped and gestured at a pack of tough-looking kids sitting in an open field, smoking and drinking beer. They had baseball bats. “First, you’ve got a problem to solve, Captain Eddie.”
    â€œIs this another test?”
    â€œLife is a test, Eddie. Now, go straighten them out. A Dudley Do-Right like you has to be against ballplayers smoking and drinking.”
    â€œWho’s Dudley Do-Right?”
    â€œAnother heroic dimwit. A little after your time.”
    I decided to let that go. “That’s not my team.”
    â€œThey just picked you,” said Hercules.
    The guys had noticed us. Or at least me—Hercules had disappeared. They nudged each other, grinned, and slowly stood up. They were older than me and they looked mean.
    â€œMe against all those guys?”
    I could hear Hercules even if I couldn’t see him. “As Mark Twain said, ‘To believe yourself brave is to be brave; it is the one only essential thing.’”
    â€œWhat’s with Mark Twain all the time?”
    â€œThe Primary People consider Mark Twain America’s greatest writer and thinker,” said Hercules. “You should read Mark Twain. Start with
Tom Sawyer
.”
    â€œI started that book once. Too many words.”
    â€œA problem with most good books,” said Hercules.
    â€œHere they come,” I said.
    One halfie against only eight of them,
said Hercules’s voice in my head.
Not a fair fight. Try not to hurt anybody.
    The pack approached, spread out, and circled around me. One of them said, “Hey, loco. You