My bedroom door opens and a sleepy but totally adorable Evan emerges. His hair seems longer but that might be because it isn’t pulled back, but instead it’s splayed around his face in a massive case of bed head. “You’re back,” he says, glancing from Max to Nova to me. He gives me a sheepish grin. Slips an arm around my waist. I draw in a breath when his forehead tilts down and touches mine. “I missed you,” he whispers as if we are the only two people in the room.
“Oh what the hell, man?” Max throws his arms in the air. “How the hell do you know which one is your girlfriend?”
Evan pulls away from me and scratches his neck. “I thought it was obvious.”
I’m curled up in Evan’s lap with my legs hanging off the armrest of our couch. His arm wraps around my back and the other hand balances delicately on my thigh as if he’s not sure he’s allowed to touch me there yet. I’ve never done this sort of thing in my house, on my couch…in front people. But I don’t care. The last few days have been a nightmare. Pepper was killed. Dad was depowered. I lost the power in my arm. But I’m a Hero now. And I gained this handsome new boyfriend and a sister I never knew was still alive.
But boyfriends don’t always last and Nova can’t exactly be trusted. And my Hero status is probationary. So I guess this is far from being over. I breathe in Evan’s scent and nuzzle my face into his neck. Things may all go to hell again soon, but I’m going to enjoy this moment while I can.
Max bends over the couch and hands me a bowl of popcorn, swirling his other hand around in a flourish as if he’s presenting this snack to the queen. “You smirk now, but you’ll thank me later. Evan and I have mastered the art of making homemade popcorn.”
“It’s true,” Evan says, grabbing a handful and shoving it his mouth. “The trick was in the seasoning. You gotta use coconut oil.”
Nova sits on the loveseat adjacent to us with her own bowl of popcorn. Max takes the third bowl and hops over the couch, sitting next to Nova on the smaller couch. Her eyes dart sharply to the left, then back down to her bowl. She’s uncomfortable with Max so close to her. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. I can feel it.
It’s something like four in the morning and no one is sleepy.
Max turns to Nova and holds out his hand. “I’m Max.”
She looks at his hand and then at me. I nod. She shakes it. “Nova.”
“Your power is really strong.” He doesn’t let go of her hand after the initial handshake and I’m sure everyone in the room can hear her heartbeat accelerate. “You’re a kick ass fighter and I didn’t think that was possible for anyone not trained in SLAM.”
“I don’t know what SLAM is but I spent my entire life training to fight.” At that declaration, the child-like innocence in her eyes turns stone cold.
Max sets his popcorn on the coffee table. “I don’t know what to do, Maci. What are we doing?” I grit my teeth and glare at him but in typical big brother fashion, my threats are use
less. “I could lose my Hero status, Mace. We’re harboring a wanted criminal.” He glances back at Nova. “I’m sorry. I know you’re my sister, but it is what it is. We could all be depowered for this.”
I shove the popcorn to Evan and rise to my feet. Cross my arms and straighten my shoulders. I knew this moment would come and I wanted to have some kind of speech ready for it. But as usual, I just take a deep breath and wing it. “She could have killed me but she didn’t. She could have saved Aurora but she killed her instead. Nova is our sister. She’s family. I’m not letting them take her. She’s staying here. Dad will fix this.”
“Dad can’t do anything right now,” Max says. “They won’t even let me see him. Do you think the Supers will want a depowered Hero as their president?”
I open my mouth and then close it. Then open it again. “There’s no law against it. He’s still the president and he’ll be okay. Nova can heal his scars like she healed mine.”
“I’ve been dying to know how that happened,” Evan says. I hold out my arm and he runs his fingers down the fresh skin. The scientist in him sparks to life as he examines my arm.
“There’s not a single trace of scar tissue here.”
“Nova did it.”
Max folds his arms over his chest all macho-like but his power level greatly recedes. “How?”
“She cut open her arm and let her power pour onto my skin. It healed instantly, just like our bodies heal normally. My arm couldn’t heal itself because the power was gone but I guess any power will do the trick.”
Evan acknowledges Nova for the first time. “Does this work on any Super? Or just one you’re related to?”
“It’ll work on anyone,” she says in a voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t believe you don’t know that. It’s a common fact in the villain underground.”
“What the hell is a villain underground?” Max spats.
Nova stares at her hands but her mind is somewhere else. “It’s not really underground. Aurora started it, I think. She has a few homes on the coast.”
“Which coast?” Max asks.
“Every coast. Depowered villains usually show up seeking refuge and if they’re freshly depowered then I always had to heal them since I had power and not many of Aurora’s people did. She had power of course, but she was too busy for stuff like that.”
Max’s eyes narrow. “How many villains with power are still working for her?”