Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 TWENTY-ONE HOURS EARLIER SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2005 10:00A.M. THE TUCKERS' HOUSE, THE LOWER NINTH WARD, NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Barry sat on the steps of his front porch. His best friend, Jay, huddled next to him. Jay wanted to see the drawing rolled up in Barry's hands. "Show me!" Jay said, leaning so close Barry could smell egg sandwich on his breath.

Barry elbowed him back, laughing. He knew Jay was excited. They both were. The next day was the deadline for Acclaim Comic Books' "Create a Superhero" contest. For the past three weeks, Barry and Jay had been working nonstop on their creation. They'd come up with everything together — their hero's name, his costume, even his secret star, which was the source of his amazing powers. But it had been Barry's job to draw him. He'd stayed up past midnight the last three nights, adding his finishing touches. "Okay," Barry said, clearing his throat and standing up like an announcer facing an anxious crowd. "This is the moment you've been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Akivo!" He unrolled the paper and watched Jay's eyes get wider behind his scratched-up glasses. Barry's cheeks heated up. He'd worked hard on the drawing. Of course he'd never admit it to Jay, but it was almost like Akivo was his brother. A seven-foot-tall brother with bulging muscles, hawk wings, titanium armor, and eyes that could see through walls.

Jay rose to his feet. "That's amazing," he said in a shocked whisper. "The wings look real. And that fire…" He pointed to the flames coming out of Akivo's silver boots. Barry had worked for three hours on those flames, mixing orange and red and yellow with a bit of blue until they looked like they would burn your fingers if you touched them. They both stood there for a minute, staring at the drawing. Then Jay started jumping up and down. "We're going to win the contest!" Jay yelled. "We're going to win the contest!" Barry started jumping too. He knew that hundreds of people were entering, and not only kids. Some people drew on computers. Others made videos. All Barry had were the colored pencils Mom and Dad had bought him for his last birthday. Still, Barry was a believer. He had gotten that from his mom. And at that minute, Barry let himself believe that he and Jay just might win first place—$250 to split and the comic book, starring Akivo, that Acclaim would create. Barry

and Jay loved comic books. They'd been collecting them since they'd learned to read. "We're going to be rich!" Jay sang. "And famous!" said Barry. They were so busy jumping and dancing and hooting, they didn't notice Abe Mackay and his killer dog, Cruz, watching from the sidewalk. Abe's laughter got their attention. Abe was a huge guy — almost twice the size of Barry. His booming laugh practically shook the ground. Barry and Jay froze. The hairs on Barry's arms stood up straight. Jay's cocoa skin turned gray. Abe was in middle school, just a year older than Barry and Jay. They used to all be friends. But Abe had changed since his dad had gone away two years earlier. Now he and his grandma lived alone. The Mackays' house used to be one of the nicest in their neighborhood. It was painted bright sky blue. Abe's grandma used to have a yard full of flowers you could smell a block away. But now the garden was dead and the house was gloomy. Abe didn't go to school much anymore, and he'd started hanging around

the older boys whose vrooming motorcycles kept everyone up at night. And then there was his new dog. He looked like a big mutt. He had a square head, and the tips of his pointy ears flopped over. But Abe said that he was a special breed from Asia, trained by the Chinese army, and that his jaw was strong enough to bite through metal. "He's trained to kill," Abe had bragged. "On my command. He goes right for the neck. One bite is all it takes."

"Why'd you stop dancing?" Abe asked now, spitting onto the sidewalk. "Cruz loves to dance!" He bent down to unhook the dog's leash. "Go!" Abe shouted. "Go get 'em, Cruz!"