“Hey, Kellie.  How you doing?” said Kayleigh.

“Fine? You?” Kellie said, surprised to be asked.

“Fine,” said Kayleigh as she cruised on by in the hallway. “See you.”

Kellie couldn’t believe not only the number of people talking to her today, but who they were. She shook her head as she made her way to the cafeteria table where her best friend, Jenna, awaited.

Kellie set her tray down on the table.  “Hey, Jenna,” she said.

“Hey,” Jenna said.

“It’s really weird, what’s happening,” she said.  “A bunch of the popular girls are all talking to me today, all friendly with me.  Kayleigh, Hayley, Tessa;  they’re all greeting me, saying hi, asking how I’m doing.”

Jenna swallowe3d a mouthful of her food.  “You know why,” she said.

Kellie shook her head.

“It’s your bracelet,” Jenna said.  “Your Elevator Girl bracelet.”

Kellie glanced at her left wrist, trying to conceal her panic.  She almost always wore the bracelet her grandfather, the retired hero who called himself Elevator Man, on that wrist.  It was the bracelet that gave her her size-changing powers.  Still, unless you were actually using the hidden controls, it seemed a very nondescript, white plastic bracelet.  Had all these students tumbled to her secret identity as the city’s newest superheroine?

“Elevator Girl bracelet?” Kellie said.

Jenna swallowed another mouthful and pointed a fork at  Kellie‘s bracelet.  “That thing,” she said.  “Ever since people noticed that she always wears a bracelet like this, no matter which of her costumes she wears, knockoffs of it have become a fashion statement.  You were the first one in the school to wear an Elevator Girl bracelet, so they think you’re some kind of fashion trendsetter.  They want to be on the ins with you.”

Kellie sighed in relief.  “Oh,” she said, picking up a forkful of her own corn.

Jenna looked over at her friend.  “You wanna go sit with them?”

Now Kellie swallowed a bite of food.  “Why would I want to do that?” she asked.

“Well, they’re wanting to be friends, and you and I have had … strains in our friendship lately,” Jenna said.

“Doesn’t change anything,” Kellie said.  “You’re still my best friend, and they’re still just a bunch of posers.”

“You sure?” Jenna asked.

“I’m sitting with you, aren’t I?” Kellie asked.

“Cool,” Jenna said.

After a couple of minutes of eating in silence, Kellie said, “So Elevator Girl’s bracelet is a fashion trend now?”

“Yeah,” said Jenna.  “Hey, where did you get yours, anyway?”

“My grandpa gave it to me,” Kellie said.  “It was the last gift he gave me, right before he died.  He made it special for me.”

Jenna nodded.  “Hey, did you see what Will Jensen wore to school today?”

Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound.  Kellie felt something large and heavy hit the back of her head.  As she blacked out, she heard people around her, including Jenna, screaming.  Then there was nothing.

Through darkness, Kellie heard Jenna’s voice calling her.  “Kellie!  Kellie!”

Behind the calls, she heard chaos.  People -- from the sound of things, young people -- were screaming.  There was a mechanical sound, like giant machinery was working hard.

Kellie forced her eyes open.  Her head hurt, especially in back.  She felt the back of her head.  She had a nasty knot, but felt no wound, and saw no blood on her hand when she pulled it in front of her eyes.

She realized she and Jenna were under a table in the cafeteria.  “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Some psycho with a giant robot came through the roof,” Jenna said.  “A piece of the roof hit you in the head.  I pulled you under here.  It’s not much protection, but it’s the best I could get you to.”

“Ah! There you are!” said an amplified male voice Kellie didn’t know.  “I’ve got you, Elevator Girl!”

Kellie’s head pivoted.  About two weeks earlier, the school was attacked, and she had defended it as Elevator Girl.  What she later learned was that the attack was a coordinated one, and that, by appearing as Elevator Girl, she had tipped off the person behind the attacks that she attended Jackson High School.  Now the person behind the attacks was here, and she knew she was not only unmasked, but had placed her fellow students in danger.

Then Kellie heard the machinery moving away.  “Well, Elevator Girl, she’ll be glad to see you,” the unfamiliar voice said.

Kellie and Jenna each looked out from under the table.  A man was seated in what should have been the head of a giant humanoid robot.  In its right hand, the robot held one of their fellow students, a girl.

“OMG!” said Jenna.  “That’s Hayley!”

As Kellie watched, she realized what had happened.  Hayley was of a similar build to her, and was blonde -- and she, like the other popular girls, had taken to wearing what were being called “Elevator Girl bracelets.”

Kellie’s heart sank as she realized someone she knew was now in mortal danger because of her.  The mystery attacker had the wrong girl, and he might kill Hayley thinking she was Elevator Girl.

“Jenna,” Kellie said.  “Get to better cover.”

“What about you?”

“I’m too dizzy from that blow to the head to move,” Kellie said.  It was partly true; she was pretty sure she had a concussion.  “I’ll stay here, but you need to be in a safer place.”

“I’m not leaving you!” Jenna said.

“You’ve already helped me,” Kellie said.  “You got me under cover.  Now, go, get yourself somewhere safer.  I’ll be OK.”

Jenna took a deep breath.  “OK,” she said reluctantly.  As she left, she looked back.  “Don’t you die on me.”

“I’ll do my best,” Kellie said, smiling.

As soon as Jenna was gone, Kellie hit the down button on her bracelet.  She was getting more control of her powers, since she could choose to leave her outer clothing full-size and shrink only her costume with herself, but she still needed to manipulate the bracelet to change.  Her grandpa had said she’d eventually be able to change at will without even wearing the bracelet.  She wished that had happened by now;  maybe Hayley wouldn’t be in danger.

Whipping on her mask, Elevator Girl exited the table from the opposite side of the one from which Jenna had exited.  With no time to waste, she took the slight risk to her secret in the chaos of looking around while growing.

Kellie found the giant machine.  The left arm was spraying ice on Hayley, who was screaming in panic.  “I’m not Elevator Girl!  You’re wrong!  You’re -- AAAAAAAGH!”

The last cream was in pain as the ice surrounded her from the neck down, freezing against her exposed skin.

“She’s right, you know,” Elevator Girl said, growing 20 feet taller than the robot.  “She’s not Elevator Girl, and I should know.”

The man in the machine smiled.  “Elevator Girl, after all,” he said.  “All according to plan.”

He moved a lever and the robot’s right arm flung Hayley.  Kellie could tell from the speed and height Hayley probably wouldn’t survive the fall. She dove after Hayley, cushioning her from the fall by moving her hands down as she was caught the girl.

Suddenly Elevator Girl was screaming. The robot was now encoating her with ice, starting with her left wqrist, where her size control bracelet was.  The ice was agony, and combination of her concussion, growth and the sudden dive left her unable to move just long enough to be completely surrounded in ice.

With the last movement she had left, Kellie used her right hand to free Hayley.  “Run!” she said.  Hayley nodded, yelling “Thank you!” over her shoulder as she ran away.

Kellie tried to move.  She couldn’t.  Only her head was free of the ice, and it surrounded her so tightly she couldn’t move within it.  Her only hope was that her body heat would loosen the ice.

“Don’t plan to escape,” the man said.  “It’ll do you no good.  This was all according to plan.  Either I got you on the initial attack or I got someone else and you moved to free her.  And I know the weakness of how your power works from watching footage of you.  You won’t be able to change sizes if you can’t move in the ice.  I’ve got you, Elevator Girl.”

The robot grabbed Kellie’s hair and pulled her up.  She screamed in even more pain, with the tugging also impacting the area where she’d been hit earlier.

“Now, I just need to set up the video feed,” the man said.  He looked around and used the robot’s left arm to attach some equipment to the wall.  “I need for the world to know that Elevator Girl was brought down by the Planner, and I especially need my backer to know.”

Backer? Kellie thought.  If he had a backer, maybe he wasn’t the one responsible for the attacks on the schools.  But who was?

“But, before I send out our signal, let me reinforce the ice,” the Planner said.  He had the robot spray Elevator Girl again, which kept the ice tight to her body.  “After all, we wouldn’t want you getting loose, now, would we?”

“Speak for yourself,” Kellie said.

The Planner laughed.  “As I said, all according to plan,” he said.

The Planner’s backer was watching the newscasts, aware that he was due to attack Jackson High School.  She had seen the preliminary reports indicating he had done so, but his contract called for a live video feed to confirm his capture of Elevator Girl.

She watched with interest as the newscasts started cutting away to the new feed they were receiving, and saw that he was in the school, holding the giantess up by her hair.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, I have Elevator Girl,” the Planner said.  “She is my prisoner.  If you value her life, and the lives of this school’s students, you will provide me with 10 million dollars in gold and jewels within the next hour.  Otherwise I will destroy the school and all the young people in it, starting with you revered heroine.”

What is that idiot doing?

the backer thought.  He was supposed to capture her, show he had her and get out.

Then the backer realized part of the issue.  The Planner had caught Elevator Girl, all right, but she was too big for his robot to carry.  He was having to finagle another way out.

The backer chuckled.  This was probably one of the Planner’s contingency plans, she realized.  But she really didn’t see how it would work.  Then again, she didn’t need it to work.  The robot was feeding her computer remote data -- all she would need to defeat elevator Girl herself, if the teen heroine survived this experience.

The backer smiled and took another sip of coffee.  It would be worth watching the video feed to see how this worked out, but she won either way.

Gemma Ross was awakened from sleep by the persistence of a ringing phone.  When the caller rang in three times in a row, she realized whoever it was didn’t plan to just leave a voicemail.

Gemma picked up the phone groggily.  “H’lo, Rosses,” she slurred.  She hated having her sleep interrupted after a night shift.

“Gemma, it’s Maggie,” the voice of one of Gemma’s co-workers at the nursing home said.

“Mags?  What’s going on?” Gemma asked.

“Have you heard what’s happening at Jackson High?” Maggie asked.

“How would I?” Gemma asked.  “I’ve been asleep.”

“You need to look at the TV news,” Maggie said.  “Gemma, the school’s been attacked.  They say students are trapped inside with some nut with a giant robot.  And he’s captured Elevator Girl.”

Gemma dropped the phone and dashed to the TV in her bedroom.  She turned it on, fumbling with the remote, and felt a cold chill run down her spine as she saw the picture on the screen.

There, on the screen, was Gemma’s daughter, Kellie, in her giant form as Elevator Girl, encoated in ice and sneezing, as she was held up by her hair by the nutbar’s giant robot.  He was demanding a ransom no one could possibly put together in that amount of time, and threatening all the students in general, and Kellie in particular.

Kellie continued sneezing as her mother stared at her, with Gemma fearing that any moment might be the last time she would see her daughter alive.

Then it hit Gemma.  Kellie hadn’t had a cold this morning, and she didn’t have any allergies.  The ice sheath was cold, certainly, but it wouldn’t be able to trigger the sneezing.

Then Gemma saw the determination in Kellie’s eyes, and listened closely to the sneezing.  It was the old school-kid’s trick of sneezing a word, but she was saying the first two letters subtly enough that it wasn’t obvious what she was doing.  And what she was doing was sending her mother a message; a message contained in a single word:  “Statue.”

Gemma ran downstairs, the phone forgotten.  Kellie had been given a set of emergency instructions by her grandpa in his directions for how to use the elevator bracelet, and Kellie had entrusted the instructions for emergency help to her mother.  Gemma and Kellie both thought those instructions seemed somewhere between odd and flat-out crazy, but now it appeared they may be the only hope for both Kellie and her classmates.  And those instructions involved a statue.

Gemma grabbed the instructions, double-checked the directions and ran, still in her pajamas and slippers, to her car, grabbing her keys off the hook by the door as she did.  She carried the instructions with her.  She had to get to the city’s main park.

During the drive, Gemma was torn.  She wanted to zoom through every traffic light and stop sign, break every speed limit, to save her daughter if she could, but she wouldn’t be able to do that if she were stopped by police for breaking the law.  At the same time, she saw all the emergency vehicles heading toward the school, and she was driving in the opposite direction.  To talk to a statue.

Gemma screeched into the parking lot at the park, her car whopper-jawed across three paces at an odd angle.  She dove out of the car, not worrying about locking it, scrambling awkwardly in her slippers to the area the directions said was where the statue was.

In under two minutes, Gemma arrived at the statue.  It looked like a classical Greek-era statue, but it was made of granite, not marble.

Gemma collapsed in front of the statue and began to recite the words she had hastily memorized.  She gasped, “O, Rock … of Power, Defend us at … This dangerous hour.”

She knelt there, her chest heaving, cursing her foolishness in her mind.  Then she saw a flash of yellow light out of the corner of her eye, and heard what sounded like stone grinding on stone.  She looked up and saw the statue, smiling down at her and moving to reach out a hand.

“Well, I must say, you’re quite a bit more lovely than the last messenger the gods sent to wake me,” the statue said in a deep voice.  His smile was perhaps the most amazingly handsome Gemma had ever seen.

The statue helped Gemma up.  “Now, then, Miss, what is the danger?”

Realization hit Gemma, about who this was and how her late father-in-law had known how to wake him.  “You’re … You’re Granite Man!” she said.  “One of the Super 6!”

“Yes, Miss,” Granite Man said.  “And I would only have awakened if the danger you mentioned was real.  What is the danger?”

“Jackson High School is under attack by a madman with a giant robot and some kind of ice ray,” Gemma said.  “My daughter is a student there.  She and many others are in danger.”

Granite Man looked confused.  “How did the gods choose you to awaken me?” he asked.

“They didn’t,” Gemma said.  “At least, not directly.  You see, my father-in-law was Elevator Man, your old ally, and my daughter is Elevator Girl, his heir in the superhero role.”

“Ah,” Granite Man said, smiling and nodding.  “Then I’m glad I told my old allies how to wake me in a crisis.  But I’m afraid I don’t know how to reach this Jackson High School.  Can you help me get there, Ma’am?”

“Gemma,” Gemma said.  “Yes, I’ll help.”

Suddenly, Granite Man scooped her up in his mighty arms.  For hard stone, they felt surprisingly warm.  “I’ll have to carry you, Gemma.  Give me directions as we go,” he said.  “Don’t worry; I’m faster than I look.”

As they made their way toward the school, Gemma asked, “So, who did the gods send to awaken you before me.”

Most recently, an enchanted pigeon,” Granite Man said.

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m afraid not,” said Granite Man.  “But it’s apparently been decades since I was last awakened.  That happens sometimes for me.  Still, to see and hold a beautiful woman makes the wait more worthwhile.”

Gemma had to fight off the fluttering she felt in her chest as this handsome, muscular man of stone made such an obvious pass.  “How did you wind up like … this?” she asked.  “Are you an enchanted statue, or an enchanted man?”

“The latter,” Granite Man said.  “I was one of the heroes who tried unsuccessfully to defeat Medusa, and was turned to stone by her gaze.  But my bravery impressed Ares, the God of War, and Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt.  They granted me the chance to live despite my condition, but only for short periods of time.  Whenever I was awakened, I would speak the language of the people, even down to the idioms and dialect, and I would be awake long enough to be a hero.  Then, when the time for heroics was done, I would return to where my statue form was based and I would once again become cold, unloving stone.”

“How awful!” Gemma said.

“Well, it’s not a great life, if you can call it a life,” Granite Man said.  “But it beats simply dying as a stone statue millennia ago, and I get to be a hero, which is what I wanted to do.  It could be worse.”

Gemma smiled, and realized she was flipping her hair back off her face.  “You’re amazing,” she said.

“Just making the best of my situation,” he said.  “Speaking of which, how many decades has it been since I was awake last?”

“Turn here,” Gemma said, pointing.  Granite Man did so.

Gemma swallowed hard.  “It’s been about 45 years since the last time you were active,” she said.

Granite Man nodded.  “And, I take it, from what you said earlier, that Elevator Man has died.”

“Just recently,” Gemma said.  “He died of an illness.”

“That’s too bad,” Granite Man said.  “He was a good man.  He deserved a hero’s death.”

“His dying act was to start Elevator Girl’s career,” Gemma said.  “She’s doing his legacy proud.”

“It sounds like she’s new, but she’s been defeating evil?” Granite Man said.

“Every time, until now,” Gemma said.

“Then it’s my honor three times over to help,” Granite Man said.  “Once for my old comrade, twice for his heir, and thirdly for her lovely mother.”

Gemma couldn’t help but blush.  “Thank you,” she said.

Granite Man smiled.  “No thanks are needed, but they are appreciated,” he said.

Gemma heard sirens and saw police barriers.  “We’re getting near the school,” she said.  “You’d better let me off here.  If people see me with you, they might connect my daughter with the Super 6.”

“Oh, she has a, um, secret identity?” Granite Man said.

“Yes,” Gemma said.  “Thank you again.”

Granite Man placed her gently, standing, on the ground.  “One request,” he said.  “It would mean … so much to me to have you here, for me to carry you back to where we met, for me to have that much more time with you before I have to … go back to sleep again.”

“I’ll be here,” Gemma said.  “Go save my girl and her classmates, and … take care of yourself, too, please.”

Granite Man smiled again.  “I’ll do my best,” he said.  Then he turned and started making his way toward the school.

By now Kellie was getting frustrated.  She could tell she was having trouble thinking straight, probably from the concussion.  The Planner kept adding more ice to her bonds every few minutes, keeping her from being able to move and adding to the pain of the cold ice.  The pain was starting to diminish, but she was afraid that might be due to hypothermia.  She was trapped and getting desperate for a way to stop this guy.

The Planner glanced at the cafeteria clock.  “Your time is running out, Elevator Girl,” he said.  “Soon you’ll be dead.”

Suddenly volley of arrows struck the robot, a few flying near the Planner.  Several also impacted the ice holding Elevator Girl, chipping it but not freeing her.

Kellie turned her head as far as she could.  Jenna, Hayley and several other students, including some from the school’s archery team, had fired the arrows.

“Scatter!”  Hayley yelled.  “She’s looked out for us!  Stay safe, but get that son of a --”

“You again!”  the Planner shouted.  He aimed his freeze gun straight at Hayley, who tried to bolt out of the way.  “Well, I’ll deal with you once and for --”

Before the Planner could finish his thought or fire his weapon, the wall behind him collapsed with a loud crash.  He pivoted.

As the Planner pivoted, the monitors he had set up for his media output came alive with a new image.  “Oh, my God!  It’s Granite Man!” a woman on-the-spot reporter was shouting.  “It’s really Granite Man!  Granite Man is back, fighting to save the students at Jackson High and his old partner’s protege!”

The wall had tumbled due to Granite Man bursting in.  He glared with a stony gaze up at the Planner.  “Surrender now,” he said simply and coldly.

The Planner looked appalled.  “You?” he said.  “It can’t be you!  No one’s seen you in more than 40 years!”

Kellie couldn’t resist.  “He wasn’t in your plan, huh?” she said.

As the Planner turned, Hayley, Jenna and the others were firing off more arrows.  They were careful to aim away from Kellie’s head, but not so much about the Planner.  He was threatening their lives, their friends and their heroine.  They were fighting for their lives, and they knew it.

Suddenly, Granite Man was hammering away at the robot’s feet with his granite fists.  The vibrations made it hard for the Planner to take any action as the chaos reigned around him.

In the midst of it all, Kellie realized that the ice holding her had melted just enough for her to move her wrists. She used the ice to press the button on her bracelet, which sent her up even bigger. Suddenly the ice exploded, sending chunks in all directions. Students ducked out of the way, but the Planner, on the unstable platform of his vibrating robot, couldn’t. He took a shot to the midsection and doubled over.

Kellie was angry and in pain herself.  She flicked her finger to knock the Planner off his platform, sending him down to Granite Man.  The stony superhero caught the Planner, slugged him in the jaw once, then dropped his unconscious form to the floor.

Meanwhile, Kellie was pummeling the robot, smashing it to the point of being inoperable in an effort to keep any booby traps built into it from going off.

As she finished, around her, the other students were cheering and shouting.  Kellie looked at the archers, crying.  “Thank you,” she said.  “I won’t forget this.  But don’t put yourself in harm’s way again, OK?”

“Sometimes you have to,” shouted Hayley.  Jenna nodded as others shouted, “Yeah!”  One guy yelled, “You rock, Elevator Girl!”

As police came flowing in through the opening Granite Man had made, he looked up at Kellie.  “I take it you’re Elevator Girl?” he said.

Kellie nodded.  “And you must be Granite Man,” she said.

“Come with me, please,” Granite Man said.  “I need to leave, and someone is waiting for you.  I’ll take you to the rendezvous point.”

Kellie manipulated the bracelet, shrinking to bug size and floating lightly onto Granite Man’s shoulder.  “Let’s go,” she said.

Granite Man chugged rapidly to where Gemma waited.  Kellie, making sure no one else was in sight or earshot, shot up to normal size.  “Mom!” she shouted, hugging Gemma.

Gemma was sobbing.  “Oh, God, I thought I’d lost you!” she said.

After a couple of minutes, Granite Man said, “Ladies, I hate to break this up, but my curse means I have to return to the park.  Gemma, Elevator Girl, can I give you a lift?”

During the return trip to the park, Granite Man repeated his story for Kellie, and Gemma learned about her daughter’s concussion.

“When we get to the car, I’ll take you to the hospital,” Gemma said to Kellie.  “That’ll help explain where you went, too.”

Kellie nodded.  She looked at Granite Man.  “Do you have any sense of … time while you’re asleep?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.  “I’m dimly aware of events around me.  I know when someone is visiting, for instance.  Your grandfather used to bring a woman with him.  I’m guessing it was your grandmother;  you resemble her a bit.  He was a good friend, even if he never was able to awaken me again.”

Soon they were at the park.  Granite Man moved slowly to his pedestal.

“I wish we had more time,” said Kellie.

“So do I,” said Granite Man and Gemma at the same time, looking at each other.  They both chuckled.

“I’m so glad you were here when I woke up this time,” Granite Man said.  “I wish …”

“I’ll come as often as I can, for as long as I can,” Gemma said.  “And, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s your name -- your real name?”

“Stamitos,” Granite Man said.

Gemma took Stamitos’ hands.  “And I’ll tell you all I can.  I don’t know how much will register, but anything’s better than nothing.”

Granite Man’s breath sounded nearly like a sob.  “I’ll look forward to your visits,” he said.  “But now, I’ve got to go.”

Gemma stretched up and kissed his cheek.  “Thank you, Stamitos,” she said, caressing his stone cheek.

Granite Man stepped onto his pedestal.  “Thank you, lovely Gemma,” he said.  Looking to Kellie, he added, “Take care of her, Elevator Girl.”

“I will,” Kellie said.

“You’re a worthy successor to … your grandfather,” Granite Man said as the yellow light enveloped him again.  As he was again becoming a statue, he whispered, “Gemma,” then  froze.

Kellie looked at her mother. Gemma was staring at the statue that had saved her daughter.

Kellie put her arm around her mom’s shoulder.  “You OK?” she asked.

Gemma nodded.  “Let’s get you some street clothes and get you to the hospital,” she said.

Once they were in the car, Kellie said, “You really fell for Stamitos, didn’t you?”

Gemma glanced at Kellie out of the corner of her eye.  “Is it that obvious?”

“Pretty much,” Kellie said.  “Just like you, though, to fall for an unattainable guy with a heart of stone.”

Gemma smiled as she pulled away.  “He may be unattainable,” she said, smiling wistfully, “but his heart is the one part of him I’m sure isn’t made of stone.”