Chapter Four
Shawn rubbed his eyes as the words on the page blurred before him.
His “study” session at the coffee shop had been really good for getting to know Nikki better—but lousy for any actual studying.
Because of this, it was nearly midnight, when he usually liked to turn off the screens, pop in his earbuds, and listen to music to calm down, and he was still wading through his reading for the week.
Sighing, he set the book down on the futon beside him. Ears looked up from his location, pooled in a floppy puddle at Shawn’s feet. Shawn rubbed the folds of loose skin around Ears’s neck then stood.
“Maybe a snack will help.” He strode over to the cabinets and stared into them. A half-empty box of cheese crackers—probably stale—a jar of peanut butter, and several packs of ramen mocked him from the interior. He grunted. Why hadn’t he gone shopping?
His phone buzzed against the coffee table. Desperate for any distraction from homework, he hurried to pick it up. He had a new text from an unknown number.
Convenience store robbery in progress now.
After the text was a link to a location.
Shawn’s jaw tensed. He tapped back. I told you no normie crime.
Before he could put the phone down again, a reply appeared, Probable supervillain involvement. Not normie. Police calling for backup.
Shawn hesitated. Supervillains in College City? That never happened, but it was even more reason to stay away. Going in alone like a hotshot, without a DOSA support team or intelligence as to what villain was involved and what their powers were, was just stupid.
You know I can’t. DOSA rules.
Your city needs you!
Shawn rolled his eyes. Mayor Pendleton was the literal worst. Shawn hovered his finger over the block option. This whole thing had been a mistake. He never should’ve let the mayor talk him into being on call.
Another text popped up. Look out the window.
Oh crap. Shawn rushed to the sliding glass doors, threw them open, and stepped out onto the balcony. His mouth went dry. The Surge Signal shone over the rooftops of the tiny town.
Turn that off before someone takes a picture. If that ends up on social media my dad is going to see it and then supervillains will be the least of my problems.
If I do, will you stop the robbery?
Shawn’s hand tightened around the phone. How had he gotten himself into this mess?
Yes. I’m leaving now.
Shawn scrambled into his uniform, ignoring Ears’s worried whimpers.
“Don’t worry, boy,” he said, half to himself.
“Real supervillains don’t hit convenience stores—especially not in tiny towns like this.
Either this isn’t really a supervillain and the mayor is just trying to get me involved because it’ll be good for tourism, or it’s some beginner who will be an easy take down.
” He paused, catching sight of himself in the mirror.
He still looked like a kid playing dress up.
“Dang, I’m a beginner and probably an easy take down.
What am I thinking?” He hesitated. He should call his dad.
Tell him the mayor was trying to bully him into this, that the stupid Surge signal wasn’t Shawn’s idea . ..
His phone buzzed again. This time the mayor had sent a link to a live feed. Against his better judgment, Shawn clicked to view.
The camera peered through the large glass windows of a convenience store.
“Looks like we have four possible hostages, three customers, one employee,” a voice said.
The camera zoomed in on a group huddled by the cash registers, a pair of teens, a man, and what appeared to be an elderly woman.
A female villain with flowing hair that was either very dark purple or black but catching the light funny paced before them.
She wore a form fitting lavender body suit with yellow highlights and a logo he couldn’t quite make out.
Swearing under his breath, Shawn slapped his mask on his face and bolted out the door into the sky.
APPARITION STOOD IN one of the aisles, allowing the shelves of chips, candy bars, and other junk food to mask her from the swarming police outside.
Her hands shook, but she kept her focus on the hostages.
The four civilians huddled together, staring in horror at the line of squirming venomous snakes on the floor before them, snakes created by Apparition’s illusion projection ability.
One of the teens glanced up, his wide-eyed gaze tracking the closest snake.
Apparition raised an eyebrow and the snake reared up, hissing loudly.
The teen shrieked and hid his face in his arms.
Apparition winced, a quiver cutting through her.
Her powers could be a little scary. They’d first appeared when she was only eight, bringing her own nightmares to life around her.
Dad had laughed so hard when he found her cowering in her closet, afraid of illusions of her own creation.
Since then she’d developed much more control, but whenever she saw one of her victims in a similar position, she couldn’t help but remember the sheer terror of that moment.
Doesn’t stop me from inflicting it on others.
She fidgeted before craning her neck around the corner to the backroom where her father was messing with the safe. He had it open already and was slowly putting the cash into a duffelbag. Far too slowly for Apparition’s taste.
“Hurry up!” she called. “The police are here.”
“It’s not the police I’m waiting for.” Mythcreant strode out of the room in the form of a shimmering gray mist. The crackling stun batons in both hands, however, appeared more than solid. The hostages cringed at his approach.
While her father’s powers were similar to hers, allowing him to change his physical appearance and the appearance of other items, he couldn’t project illusions of the strength Apparition could.
Everything he projected appeared cloudy and slightly transparent.
Because of this, he couldn’t use it to control people the way his daughter did.
He compensated for this by using various weapons.
He waved one baton under the nose of the clerk. The energy surrounding the baton gave an ominous crack, and the man drew back with a sharp inhalation.
“You’ve got the money. Let us go, dude,” he then said.
Apparition fidgeted. What did her father mean by “waiting”? They had no reason to wait. It was time to—
The glass door at the front of the building exploded in a wave of silver light. The hostages screamed, and Apparition threw her hands over her face. Her concentration snapped, causing her illusions to melt into the floor.
A streak of dark blue skidded into the room and inserted himself between Mythcreant and the hostages. He threw out his hand, aglow with the same silver light. With a pop and a whoosh, the light burst from his fingers and collided into Mythcreant’s chest. The villain went flying.
“Get out!” the superhero shouted. He extended both hands in front of him, and a shield of silver energy hummed to life. Covered by this, the hostages scrambled to their feet and rushed for the door and the waiting police officers.
Apparition’s breath left her. Even with the mask and the strange uniform, Surge was obviously Shawn.
She’d almost convinced herself that Dad was wrong, that there was no way this normal, good-natured human being could be a superhero, but seeing him now, the reality of it rushed her, and for a second she couldn’t breathe.
Man, if he looked good as Shawn, he looked twice as good as Surge.
He turned to face her, dark eyes glinting behind the mask, hands illuminated with his powers.
“Stand down,” he growled.
Her powers stirred within her along with a hint of amusement.
He didn’t recognize her. Couldn’t recognize her.
If he knew that the shy, squeaky voiced Nikki was standing in front of him, he’d be shocked.
No, she wasn’t the powerless Nikki today.
She was the strong, sultry Apparition, and she’d let him know it.
Her voice dropped to a deep hum. “Hello, handsome. Nice entrance. Didn’t your mother teach you to knock?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Didn’t yours teach you not to rob convenience stores?”
She tossed her black violet hair. Even though it was an illusion, she could feel it brushing against her face and neck as it settled back into place. “If she did I wasn’t listening.”
He took a step closer. She snapped her fingers and a metal grate appeared in front of her with a great clank. Mouth agape, Shawn put out his hand and touched it then yanked his hand back as if bitten. “How ...”
Apparition held her breath. Her illusions were good enough to fool all five senses in the short term, but if pressed, they’d give.
Maybe the surprise of feeling the gate beneath his fingertips had slowed him down, but if he pushed against it with any force, it would let him through.
She needed to get out of here. Where was Dad?
A hit like that shouldn’t be keeping him down this long.
He snorted. “So your superpower is to manifest walls? That’s ... unique.” He drew out the word.
“And yours is basically being a human flashbulb.” She rolled her eyes.
“Not just that.” He pushed off the floor, cleared her wall in a single bound, and landed behind her.
“I can also fly,” he said in a stage whisper.
She pushed him away and swung her arms in a wide arc. A murder of crows burst from the floor between them. Shawn yelped and scrambled backwards as the cawing, shrieking, flapping birds surrounded him. Breaking through her own wall, Apparition slid out of the aisle.
“Mythcreant!” she shouted. Dad had programmed her never to refer to him as “Dad” when on the job.