“You’re wearing it wrong, for starters.” He takes my hand and twists the ring upside down. “The diamond has to press against your skin.”
“This is a diamond?” I freak. A diamond that’s bigger than my thumbnail. He laughs. “Yeah. Diamonds are the only material that will transfer thought vibrations into our veins.”
I don’t exactly hear what he says because I can’t stop staring at the gorgeous rock on my finger. The facets reflect every light in the room. The King City crown beams with pride under the diamond, multiplying several times in the facets as I twist my finger around. “The first time a guy gives me jewelry, and it’s a freaking diamond,” I murmur. I glance up at Evan and find him staring at me with a weird look on his face. “Shouldn’t you be on one knee?”
His cheeks flush a glorious and embarrassing red. “Diamond is the only material that would work. And it’s only a ring because of happenstance and—besides—”
“Happenstance? What kind of nerd says words like happenstance?”
Evan lets out an exasperated sigh. “I can’t catch a break from you.”
“Sorry. Please go on. Tell me about this sucky invention of yours.”
“Like I said.” He takes my hand again and flips the ring around. “It’s a communication device between you and the person wearing the matching ring, which is me in this case. The diamond need
s to press against your skin like this.” He folds my fingers so that I’m making a fist. “It doesn’t have to be your palm. You could press the diamond to your chest or your arm or whatever. The palm is convenient for this demonstration.”
He flips his ring inward and wriggles his eyebrows. “You ready?”
I roll my eyes. “Ready.”
He closes his fingers. Hello there, Maci.
“What the shit?” I gasp, taking several steps back until I crash into a column. Evan gives me a coy smile. It’s a communication device. Try it.
“How are you doing this? You’re in my head.”
Evan sighs. Again, his lips don’t move but I hear his voice in my mind. I’m talking to you through my powers. Concentrate on the vibrations in your chest and tell me something.
“I—” I say, before snapping my mouth shut. I take a breath and close my eyes, focusing on the central power source just behind my ribcage. I can’t believe this is happening. Can you hear me?
He crosses his arms over his chest, a smug smile filling his gorgeous face. Loud and clear.
You invented a mind reader. This is insane, Evan. You’ll be famous.
“It’s not a mind reader,” he says aloud. “I can only hear what you choose to tell me. And I won’t be famous because I’m not making any more of them. They’re incredibly flawed.”
“How so?”
“The idea was to create a way for Heroes to communicate with each other during an attack, so that information can be transmitted without the villain hearing a word. However, there’s no way to make the rings exclusive to each other. If every Hero had a ring they would all hear everyone’s thoughts at once—it would quickly become a cluttered mess in everyone’s mind. So, anyhow …” He takes off his ring and holds it out to me. “I’m fulfilling my promise to invent you something. They’re the only two in the world, so whomever you give it to will always be just a thought away.”
I push his hand back. “Keep it. It’s your invention. You should keep the other half. We can be pen pals. Er, thought pals.”
He puts it back on his finger. Thank you.
I squeeze my fingers tightly around my ring. Best birthday present ever.
When I open my eyes, it doesn’t feel like I’m waking up in the morning. You can’t exactly wake up if you never went to sleep. The foreboding weight of fear and anxiety rests in my chest, having only slightly lightened during my hours of lying in Evan’s bed, listening to his steady breathing from the couch across the room.
The breathing is gone now and the couch is empty. I grab my MOD from the pillow next to me and switch it on, only to be met with the blank screen of a MOD still in lockdown. The only valuable information this worn-out piece of plastic can give me is the time. Five in the morning.
My body aches as I push myself up in Evan’s bed. It’s a weird sensation—dull throbbing pain coursing throughout my arms and legs every time I move. I’ve never felt pain longer than a few seconds after being injured. This injury just won’t go away. I touch my forehead and wince. So much for healing myself. A fleeting panic grips my mind as I wonder if my powers are somehow reduced after using so much of it to regrow my own skull.
What if I managed to grow bone but sacrificed my powers in the process? My heart races at the thought. That can’t be possible. I’ve never even heard of anything like that. The lady in the medical ward did say I was extraordinary. She seemed downright obsessed with my ability to heal myself. What if I did ruin my powers?
Life wouldn’t be worth living. You’d be worthless.
I shake my head to clear the thought. But because thoughts aren’t physical, they don’t go away. With an overwhelming panic I’ve never felt before, I leap out of bed, ignoring every pain shooting through my body. I close my eyes as the vibrating power beneath my rib cage roars to life at my internal command. Power flows through my arms and legs, reassuring me with its electrical pulsing warmth. I am a Super and I am not losing my power. I will not allow myself to think that way.