In the evening, Clark came home with his thoughts heavy.
"The distributor gets five points," Martha said.
"This month's feed bill is over budget again," Jonathan added.
They were going over the family expenses, and the tone in the kitchen was flat with worry. Martha had the calculator in hand. "Add another two for the house loan, and then there's the repair cost for the harvester," she said.
When Martha finished tallying up the numbers, she looked at Jonathan with a helpless expression. "This month is worse than last month."
In the living room Adrian flipped through the newspaper without looking up and said, "It comes to $54,501.38."
Clark set down his backpack and listened, his chest tightening. After hearing the total, he asked quietly, "Is it that bad?"
Jonathan, stirring his coffee, nodded. "Worse than we imagined. We may have to take out a loan."
Clark frowned. "But the interest will make things even harder," he said. He could not quite imagine how they would straighten things out.
"Maybe I can help," he blurted, because he felt it was his responsibility to do something. "If I skip high school and go straight into professional sports, or become a brand endorser, I could earn enough fast."
He stopped when he saw the looks on Jonathan and Martha's faces. The hope he'd tried to offer did not land well.
Martha pressed the calculator closed and set it aside. "Clark, your father and I would love to see your face on cereal boxes, but we'd rather you finish your studies first," she said firmly. "And the same goes for Adrian. The work you both put in last quarter saved us the cost of hiring seven or eight extra hands."
Martha's words were praise and warning at the same time: they were grateful, but they did not want their sons to gamble their future.
The mood at the table tightened. When Clark tried to ease the conversation, he couldn't help but ask Adrian a question that had been nagging him.
"Adrian, do you know what happened to the football team?"
Adrian looked up slowly, adopting a casual tone. "What happened?"
News of Dan Brown's death had already filtered through the school, so Clark's question was not out of nowhere.
"Is it Coach Watt's team?" Martha asked, suddenly interested. She remembered Jonathan's own days on the team.
"Yeah, he was number 32, a tailback," Jonathan said, but his face folded at the memory. "Not a happy time for me."
Clark kept his voice low. "A member of the team, Dan Brown, died yesterday."
He watched Adrian's face for any change, searching for a sign. Adrian continued to eat, appearing disinterested, and Clark felt a small stab of disappointment.
"That's terrible," Martha said, setting down the fruit salad. "Did the police find any leads, any suspect?"
"Not yet. I heard Dan had signs of high-temperature burns all over him — like electrocution or some kind of scorch." Clark repeated what Chloe had told him, the details lodged in his head. The dinner table grew somber. After Martha offered a quiet condolence, she steered the conversation back to the farm's problems.
After the plates were cleared, Adrian returned to his room. A few minutes later there was a soft knock.
"Knock knock knock."
"Adrian, it's me," Clark called from the doorway.
"You rarely come in here, Clark," Adrian said when Clark stepped across the threshold. He drew a chair to face him, deliberate and composed.
"When was the last time?" Adrian asked mildly. "Oh right, when you needed help paying for that gym equipment you broke."
Clark hesitated, but the conversation sharpened. "This isn't about money. It's about Dan Brown. Is his death connected to you?"
Adrian's eyebrow twitched. He let a faint smirk appear, a cool expression that made him seem at once bored and dangerous. "And why would you think that?"
"You had a conflict with Dan at school, and you've never been on good terms with the football team," Clark said. The confession felt heavy in his mouth, and he kept his voice steady despite the strain.
Adrian sighed, a gesture that was almost theatrical. "So you suspect me for those reasons. Clark, I am not the plotting kind. Usually I let things fall apart on their own."
Clark pressed on. "I don't think Dan's death was suicide."
Adrian leaned back and let silence do some of the work. When he spoke, his tone was patient and slightly amused. "You really think I'm the sort who would destroy someone from the shadows? Clark, most of the time I am too indifferent to go to that effort. I prefer people to reveal their own worst selves, then I move in."
"You've never explained where you get that money, why you go into Metropolis at night, why you sometimes smell like blood," Clark said with increasing agitation. "I won't tell Mom and Dad, but I've seen enough to worry. You could solve the family's debt problem if you wanted to. You hide things from us."
Adrian's face did not change much, but there was a flash of something sharp behind his eyes. He folded his hands as if the accusation were a minor inconvenience. "You think I'm dangerous because I keep my own counsel. You think I can be the kind of person who could harm someone without remorse. Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong. But calling me out to our parents changes nothing. If you want to trust me, trust me. If you don't, that's your choice."
Clark's voice rose. "You've never treated me like your brother. You carry this...other life and leave us in the dark."
Adrian's expression cooled but he let a small edge of satisfaction undercut his words. "You're bright in other ways, Clark, but don't confuse honesty with bluntness. I do what I must. You do what you must. We are not the same kind of people."
Clark stared at him, torn between anger and worry. "We need to talk more."
Adrian's tone softened enough to be almost sincere, but there remained an unmistakable distance. "Fine, we'll talk. But do remember there's a homecoming dance tomorrow. If someone wanted to hurt that team, that would be the place to strike. If I were the killer, I would make sure none of them were left standing."
Clark bristled at the implication. "I'll stop you if I have to."
Adrian's smile was small and sharp. "I look forward to seeing you try," he said, and then he let the conversation drop, as though stating the idea had been more important than acting on it.
Clark left Adrian's room with more questions than answers. The family's debts hung heavy in his mind, along with the news about Dan Brown. He could not shake the sense that something much larger was moving under the surface of their small town, a current of danger and secrets that might sweep them all up if they were not careful.
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Milestone
100 Power stones = 1 Bonus Chapter.
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