Chapter Five
Apparition slunk down the halls of the hotel.
She paused at the door to her and her father’s room, drawing a deep breath.
How was she going to spin this in a way that wouldn’t cost her?
Her hand trembled as she extended it to knock.
Her heart worked its way into her throat, and for a moment she couldn’t breathe.
Then a single disheartening but freeing thought presented itself.
What do I even have to lose anymore? Nothing. I have nothing of value, so I have nothing to lose.
Jaw clenching, she rapped on the door.
It jerked open, revealing her father’s snarling face.
For once Apparition didn’t flinch. A numbness had overtaken her, and nothing he could do or say could break it at this point.
“What was that?” He grabbed her arm and yanked her into the room.
As the door slammed shut behind her, Apparition scanned the area. The duffel bag filled with cash sat in the middle of one of two twin beds, and a half empty bottle of vodka glinted on the table. Mythcreant’s hold on her arm tightened painfully. She grunted and turned to face him.
“What?” She scowled. “We got the money. Got away. What more did you want?”
His nostrils flared. “We had Surge in our sights and he escaped!”
She squared her shoulders. “You didn’t tell me we were going after Surge tonight.
He’s stronger than both of us combined, Dad.
If I hadn’t distracted him, he would’ve taken us down.
I did what I thought was smart, led him away, then gave him the slip the moment the opportunity arose.
Isn’t that what you’ve always told me to do if we got attacked by a DOSA hero? Distract and escape?”
Mythcreant inhaled sharply through his teeth.
Her heart pounded. She’d followed his usual instructions, yes, but even she wasn’t dumb enough to think that was what he’d wanted this time.
No, for whatever reason, he wanted Surge dead more than he wanted to pull off a robbery—or even more than he wanted either of them to get away safely.
Hopefully, though, he’d believe she was stupid enough not to realize that.
Swearing, Mythcreant released her. He stomped over to the table and brought the vodka to his lips for a long swig.
Her muscles turned to jelly, and she sat down hard at the end of her bed.
“We were so close,” her father growled. “We could’ve taken down that super-brat and gotten out of this miserable little town and back to work.”
Her throat tightened. She’d never understood her father’s determination to take down Shawn but still hadn’t questioned it. Questioning him simply wasn’t something she did.
Now, though, her insides roiled. Before, DOSA sables hadn’t seemed like people to her.
They were obstacles, difficulties that needed to be overcome in order to complete whatever objective her father placed before her.
Shawn, though—Shawn was a person. More than a person, he was a person who had been kind to her, who she looked forward to seeing every day, who she cared about.
A friend. I’ve always wanted a friend, and now I have one, and Dad wants to hurt him. More than hurt. Kill. But why? What did Shawn do to Dad?
“Dad, why do you care about Surge? Why can’t we leave and plan out some real heists? Banks and museums again? Real scores?” She avoided looking in her father’s direction. “Why do we need to take Surge down?”
“He’s a DOSA sable, Kacey.” Her father’s tone grew condescending.
He only ever used her real name when he thought she was being childish, one reason she hated the sound of it.
“Of course he needs to go down. Don’t get lured into the trap of thinking he’d go easy on you just because he’s interacted with you as your cover identity.
There isn’t a single DOSA agent who wouldn’t lock you away or even flat out murder you if they realized who you really are, what you really are. ”
“But Surge is just one of so many heroes. Why him in particular?” she pressed. “Don’t we have better things to do than hunt a single DOSA lackey?”
“Because that’s the mission, and we don’t question the mission.” Her father squared his shoulders, his power crackling about him, making him grow taller. His eyes glowed red.
Apparition quailed back. Her heart stopped. “I’m not! I’m not! I ... I’m sorry.”
The light faded from his eyes, and he shrank to his normal frame.
“I forgive you,” he said, his voice taking on a syrupy tone.
“You’re only a kid, and I’ve asked a lot from you lately.
You shouldn’t have to be out there, pretending to be a normie, pretending you can fit in with their mundane world, and you shouldn’t have to cozy up to frickin’ DOSA losers like Surge.
I know that’s confusing for you, but you can’t forget, you’re different from them.
You’re not like them. You’re like me. You belong with me, not out there, all right?
” He bumped his knuckles against her chin, not painfully, but firmly.
“Give it a week or so. I’ve got something I’m working on that’ll bring this to a close.
Once done, we’ll get back to how it should be, just us two, Mythcreant and Apparition, an unstoppable team. ”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Get some sleep.” He nodded towards the bed. “You’ve got an early shift tomorrow.”
“I want to take a shower first.” She stood and picked a few clothing items out of the suitcase she’d never bothered to unpack.
“Don’t wake me up when you come back in.” He turned off the light and sat down on his own bed to remove his shoes.
Apparition slipped into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
As the water heated, she collapsed onto the toilet seat and sank her head in her hands.
A sob shook her body, breaking her insides open.
She didn’t want this. She didn’t want to be like him, a monster who could only exist in the shadows outside of the law.
More than that, though, she didn’t want to hurt Shawn, but if Shawn knew who she was, Dad was right, he’d hurt her.
Tonight proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
As Nikki, Shawn might be kind to her, but as Apparition?
As a villain with terrifying powers and a criminal past—no, he’d have no place for her in his life.
Maybe what she had with her father was awful, but it was at least real.
Everything between herself and Shawn was an illusion, just like the hallucinations brought about by her powers .
.. and just like those hallucinations, if pushed against, her connection to Shawn wouldn’t hold up.
It’d snap, fade away like mist or the remnants of a happy dream when faced with a cold morning.
I can’t live a dream, but some days it feels like I’m already living a nightmare.
BY THE TIME SHAWN FINISHED giving his report to the police officers, then the mayor, then finally the “we got here as quick as we could” DOSA response team, his head pounded and he could feel the swelling around his injured eye.
An EMT offered him an ice pack, but it had melted by the time he stumbled home.
He shoved it in the freezer before limping to the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror.
Shawn groaned as he stared at an ugly black eye. While sables healed far faster than normies, this one was bad enough that he doubted it would be gone by his first class tomorrow. How was he going to explain it?
Man, I got in over my head tonight. Dad isn’t going to be happy. Heck, all of DOSA will probably be furious once this gets back to HQ. What if this costs me my internship?
He sighed, left the bathroom, and poked through his small freezer for anything to put over his eye.
All he had was an empty ice tray and a resealable bag filled with unidentifiable, freezer-burned leftovers.
He grimaced but took out the latter. Well, maybe he’d figure out what it was when it thawed and have it for lunch tomorrow.
He collapsed on his futon and went over every stupid mistake he’d made that night.
How had he let Apparition distract him? She’d led him on a wild goose chase through half of College City .
.. even more disturbing was that her mimicking Nikki proved both that she knew his true identity and enough about his life to know that Nikki was someone who would make an impression on him.
He shuddered. The way her features had melted into Nikki’s features was like something out of a nightmare—well, he guessed in a nightmare Nikki probably would’ve turned into a monster rather than one hot woman turning into another hot woman.
He remembered how Apparition had winked at him before she ran through her summoned fire, how his blood had heated in that moment.
Yeah, she was hot. Hot and dangerous and manipulative and .
.. so so so hot. He took the improvised ice pack from his eye and rubbed his forehead.
No, he was not attracted to a supervillain.
He had a type. He liked sweet, shy, nice girls—girls like Nikki.
Exactly like Nikki. That was what he needed.
First thing tomorrow he was heading to the coffee shop to see her again and push that villainous vixen out of his head for good.
Still in his uniform, he lay with his eyes closed, determined to clear his mind for a moment before taking a shower and going to bed.
A rapping at his door jerked him awake what felt like moments later. A freezer bag of chicken wings lay beside his head on the futon and light filtered through the sliding glass doors.
“Crap.” He sat up. Had he overslept? Would he even have time to stop by the coffee shop before class?
The knocking continued, and he stumbled to the door. “Hold on. I’m coming.” Pulling open the door, his jaw dropped. “Dad?”
Dave Park shouldered his way past his son before turning around and facing him, his hands on his hips. “So, that whole ‘not seeking out trouble’ thing, was that a lie or do we have very different definitions of the word trouble?”