Accidental Hero (Jack Blank Adventure) (6 page)

“I’m bringing you there because I have a feeling about you,” Jazen said. “You’re special, Jack, you have to trust me on this. Standing right here, I can gauge your power level, and it’s off the charts. You have incredible potential. I felt it all the way from the Imagine Nation.”

“Really?” Jack asked. “Mr. Calhoun said my potential topped out at toilet brush cleaner.”

“A toilet brush cleaner?!” Blue repeated, flabbergasted. “What?”

“That guy was a real piece of work,” Jazen said, shaking his head. “You know I used the Department of Departmental Affairs line on him?” he asked Blue.

“You did not,” Blue said.

“I did! Jack, am I lying?”

Jack shook his head and smirked, and Blue busted out laughing. Jazen followed suit, and eventually Jack
did too. One thing about laughter, it’s contagious.

When Jazen caught his breath, he turned to Jack with a smile.

“Don’t worry, Jack. I’ve got a feeling the Imagine Nation is ready for you whether they know it or not. You’ve got a big future, a real big future. And it starts today.”

“No doubt,” Blue agreed. “Anyone says otherwise, and I’ll bring the pain. Right, partner?” Blue added, tapping Jazen with a little punch on the shoulder.

“Right,” Jazen said, wincing and rubbing his shoulder.

“We’re partners now too,” Blue said to Jack. He put his fist back out for Jack to bump. “Don’t leave me hangin’, little man. C’mon.”

Jack smiled. “All right,” he said, and gave Blue’s fist a pound.

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Blue said with a laugh, and he gave Jack a small pat on the back that nearly knocked him over the side of the boat.

That evening, Jack watched the sunset from the bow of the
Vision’s
forward deck. Out there on the ocean, the view was like nothing he had ever seen before. The whole
sky was filled with an orange and red glow that lit the clouds from behind and made the colors spread out like finger paint. The sun was a golden coin, sinking into an invisible piggy bank somewhere far beyond the horizon. The warm breeze on his face and the soothing sound of gulls squawking in the distance was quite a change from the icy, gray weather he had observed from his window that morning. “Shouldn’t it be colder out here this time of year?” he asked Jazen.

“This boat travels faster than you think—we’ve made some minor modifications to her,” Jazen said with a wink as the
Vision’s
powerful motor hummed along smoothly. “Blue can’t stand the cold, so he sped us out to warm waters while you were sleeping. We’re somewhere in the Caribbean now.”

“Is that where the Imagine Nation is?” Jack asked.

“It is right now,” Jazen answered. “It’s hard to say where the Imagine Nation is, though, because it never stays in one place for too long. It’s what we call a roaming island.”

“It moves?” Jack asked.

“The whole island,” Jazen said, nodding. “All around the world, constantly. It never stays in one place long
enough for people to simply stumble upon it. If you want to find the Imagine Nation, you have to really go looking. And people do. Or at least they did.” Jazen gave a disappointed look. “People used to come from all over the world, each bringing along their own culture, their own style. When the island was close to China, when it was close to England, when it was close to Guadalajara, people from those places would seek out the Imagine Nation.”

“But you said you have to believe in it to get there,” Jack said. “How did they even know to look for it?”

“It wasn’t always such a big secret,” Jazen explained. “Before our time, the legend of the Imagine Nation used to be a lot more widespread. Emissaries did their jobs back then just like we do now, but back then, a lot more people took notice. In the Age of Exploration? During the Enlightenment? Back then, people had ambition. They had a sense of adventure.”

“And today?” Jack asked.

“Today it’s different,” Jazen said, staring out at the setting sun. He looked sad, like he was watching the sun go down on something he cared for very deeply, something nearly gone. “It doesn’t help when emissaries only do their
jobs halfway, either,” Jazen finally added. “We haven’t closed the borders yet, though. By law, anyone who finds the Imagine Nation on their own is welcome on our shores, and people still do find the island. They find the clues, they hear the stories, and they come. It’s not like it was before, though. Somewhere along the line, people just stopped believing.”

“That’s a shame,” Jack said.

“It is,” Jazen agreed. “But there’s always tomorrow. We may not get as many visitors as we used to, but the people who come still go on to do amazing things. I’m not just talking about people with superpowers, either. I’m talking about writers, musicians, philosophers… people you’ve probably heard of. People who changed the world.”

“But if there are really superheroes and other stuff out there, how come I’ve never seen them or read about them?”

“
Haven’t
you read about them?” Jazen asked.

“Yeah, in comic books, but not in the news. Wouldn’t that change things? Wouldn’t more people believe?”

“We have people who make sure we stay out of the
news,” Jazen said. “Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely dream of a day when every man, woman, and child believes in the Imagine Nation, but we can’t serve up proof on a silver platter. The world isn’t ready for that. People have to discover it for themselves. We seed the world with the fantastic and new to change it little by little. Day by day.”

Jack leaned forward on the railing and watched the waves roll by.

“Do I have family in the Imagine Nation?” he asked. “Do they know about me? Are they superheroes?”

“I don’t want to get your hopes up, Jack,” Jazen replied. “Your parents might be there and they might not. There’s a lot of different ways you could be tied to the Imagine Nation.”

“Like what?” Jack asked.

“Could be, your parents were normal people from New Jersey with distant relatives who come from the Imagine Nation,” Blue called out from over at the wheel of the ship.

“Or you might have one parent who’s a superhero and another one from the outside world,” Jazen added.

“Then again, maybe they’re both superheroes and
they’re flying around Empire City right now,” Blue said. “Of course, if that’s the case, I gotta wonder how you ended up in New Jersey with the Rüstov chasing after you.

Jazen put his hands up. “We could do this all day. You’re a mystery, Jack, but that’s all about to change. First priority when we get to the Imagine Nation is to run a DNA scan and find out everything we can about you, starting with your name.”

“My name?” Jack asked. “Can we really do that?”

“As soon as we get there,” Jazen said. “That’s a promise. Assuming, of course, you still want to go.”

“Are you kidding? Yes, I want to go!”

“I can’t guarantee it’s going to be easy all the time,” Jazen warned Jack. “Are you sure you’re ready to deal with it? With all of it?”

Jack thought about what Jazen had said about the Imagine Nation not being very welcoming to new visitors at the moment. That meant Jack’s future was every bit as uncertain as his past, but he thought about the past he
did
know. About life at St. Barnaby’s with the likes of Mr. Calhoun, Mrs. Theedwheck, and Rex. A
chance at something better had to be worth the risk. It had to be.

“Going back isn’t an option,” Jack told Jazen. “I’m ready. I’m in.”

“Then what are we waiting for? It’s time for you to take the wheel.”

Jack’s eyes became saucers. “You want me to drive?” he asked.

“You have to drive! You think I trust that big blue knucklehead to get us there?”

“I heard that!” Blue shouted.

Jazen laughed a little. “Besides,” he added, “how can I make sure you believe if you’re not the one driving us in?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said, a little nervous. “Machines and I don’t usually work well together.”

“Oh, I think you’re doing okay,” Blue said, giving Jazen a wink.

“We haven’t sunk yet, have we?” Jazen asked.

Jack followed Jazen to the captain’s wheel where Blue was steering the ship. Blue stepped aside, but he kept one hand on the wheel. “You believe, little man?” he asked Jack before letting go.

Jack thought about it. Just the idea alone made him smile. “I do,” he said. “I believe in the Imagine Nation.”

“Then take us home,” Blue said, bowing in deference to the ship’s new commander.

Jack grabbed the wheel, and the ship lurched to the port side as he took the helm.

“Whoa!” Jack said as he pulled the
Vision
back, righting the ship. She was a big boat. “Which way?” he asked.

“You tell us, Captain,” Jazen replied.

“Captain,” Jack repeated with a smile. “This morning I wasn’t even allowed on a school bus!” This was by far the coolest thing Jack had ever done. Jack looked out at the ocean before him. They wanted him to find his own way to the Imagine Nation, and he had no idea where to start.

“Just follow your feelings,” Jazen said. “We trust you. Trust yourself.”

Jack closed his eyes and let his heart tell him which way to turn. It wasn’t long before he had a heading that felt good. When he opened his eyes and looked around, something felt different. The water seemed cleaner. The air seemed fresher, even happier, if that was possible. The
Vision
was surging over the waves, and Jack knew it was time to kick things up to the next level.

“How do you make this thing go faster?” he asked.

Jazen sat down and buckled up as Blue pointed toward a lever. “That one, but—”

Jack threw the lever to go full speed ahead, hurling the
Vision
toward the horizon and sending Blue straight into the back wall. Jazen laughed from the safety of his chair.

“—But you might want to take it easy at first,” Blue grumbled as he got up.

Jack had never been happier. The boat was going so fast, it was almost flying, and it wasn’t breaking down! What’s more, he seemed to be on the right track. After a little while, Jack started to see all kinds of clues that they were nearing the edge of the normal, ordinary world.

“Thar she blows!” Jazen yelled, pointing off the starboard bow at one such clue.

Jack turned to see a giant blue-green dragon surface next to the
Vision
and soar through the air. It was a long, winding sea serpent with scales, fins, and a beautiful woman riding it. She had aquamarine skin and a glittering, bright gold dress. She kept pace with Jack’s ship for
a time, then waved good-bye and dove her mount back down below the waves.

As they sailed on, they passed pirates, mermaids, and talking fish. Jack felt like he had crossed a line drawn between the normal world and the imaginary. Everywhere he looked, his own eyes confirmed that even if something
was
imaginary, that didn’t mean it wasn’t real. The walls between the possible and the impossible were breaking down, but the weather turned uglier the farther Jack sailed.

Storm clouds started rolling in like angry spirits blocking out the sun. Jack could see them in the waters ahead, but he didn’t turn away. Emboldened by his success thus far, he headed straight for the storm. Neither Jazen nor Blue questioned him. Jack reached the squall, and within minutes the sun was gone. Despite the hour, the sky turned black as night. Between the heavy rains and even heavier fog, Jack couldn’t see anything. Still, he followed his heart. It had taken him this far. He just hoped it wouldn’t take him to the bottom of the sea.

The fog was thick like smoke from a fire. After sailing completely blind for a few minutes, Jack spun the wheel to his left on instinct alone and just barely dodged a series of
huge rocks jutting out from the ocean floor, large enough to scuttle the ship in an instant. Before he could even appreciate how close he had just come to death, something told him to jerk the wheel in the opposite direction, and he did. He followed that impulse, just missing a shipwrecked boat that was dashed upon more jagged rocks. There was danger all around as Jack weaved through countless near-misses in the fog, fighting the storm with nothing more than gut feelings and intuition.

If Jazen and Blue were scared, they weren’t showing it. Their faces betrayed neither fear nor encouragement. This was all on Jack, and he steeled himself for what lay ahead. Throwing common sense out the window, he refused to change course. He was close. He could feel it. The storm raged against the
Vision
as lightning crashed and waves rained down upon the deck. Hurricane winds rocked the boat as Jack sailed on blindly through the mist.
Forward!.
he thought. To
the heart of the storm! To the edge of the impossible! To the shores of the Imagine Nation!

To clear skies?

Without warning, Jack cleared the mist, leaving the storm completely behind. The water turned dead calm.
With the setting sun nearly gone from the sky, the Imagine Nation came into view.

It was an astonishing, impossible sight.

The island floated in midair over the center of a ring of waterfalls, a thousand feet in diameter, opening up like a giant hole in the ocean. The falls ran to the bottom of the sea, and the roar of the rushing water was tremendous. Cities, towns, and villages were scattered across the island’s lush green face. Countless airships bustled about in the skies overhead as well as on the rocky bottom below. A giant, translucent mountain with a razor-sharp peak and a wide base hovered behind the island like a crystal shard dangling in the sky.

As the last rays of the setting sun shone through, the crystal mountain became a prism that bent the sun’s light in every direction, casting an image more beautiful than any rainbow Jack had ever seen. The massive, unstoppable waterfalls that surrounded the island roared with all the sound and fury of the seven seas. They called out to Jack, telling him that from this day forward, his life would be an extraordinary adventure.

Jack had found his way. He belonged. It was every
orphan’s dream. All the answers to his questions, everything he ever hoped for, was waiting on the island. Twelve years after he was born, his life was finally beginning. He didn’t have the words to express what he was feeling. Jazen had only two, but they were the right ones: