Masks are Greater than Sunglasses [ COMPLETE ]

thirty four - the mansion

*Just a little chapter for you! Still not back to a regular posting schedule but I thought I'd give you an update.* 

- Trey - 

The car crunches over the manicured lawn, pulling parallel to the back of the massive iron fence. Peering through the windshield I can see a grove of trees and beyond that the outline of the most massive house I've ever seen.

Morning light slices through the windows as Connor kills the engine. Throughout the hour drive, we've barely said anything but now the silence feels heavy. Pressing in on our small group as the truth of our situation sets in. We have no reinforcements, no plan, and no idea what's inside.

Rya breaks the silence, asking the question that we're all thinking, "So now what?"

I turn to the backseat where Rya and Ivette are seated side by side. I'm still not used to seeing her in the suit. She looks so much less foreboding than the pictures of Shadow I've seen, the black uniform sparkling in the morning light. Then again I know Rya, as tough as she acts there's not a villainous bone in her. 

Her hazel eyes are wide behind the checkered mask, "Isn't this the part where you execute some brilliant superhero plan?"

I cock my head in surprise. Hasn't she been sitting through the same silent ride as the rest of us?

"We don't have a plan."

"You don't," she runs her head over her brow in agitation, "I thought that you Superheroes have default procedures for all kinds of stuff. Am I wrong, do you just wing it all the time?"

"Um." I glance over at Connor in the driver's seat who gives me a helpless shrug. Of course he wouldn't know the procedure, he's not a hero. To be honest, I don't usually have a plan, I'm the junior partner after all. LP - Nick I guess - is the plan guy. I just go along with what he tells me. 

That won't work this time.

"Oh my god." Rya shakes her head, taking my silence as affirmation that she's right. 

We have no plan. 

"That's why you brought me," Ivette crosses her arms, a small smile playing across her lips, "because I do have a plan, at least part of one."

Everyone looks at Ivette, waiting. There's a triumphant gleam in her eye, a smug pride that she's we need her.

I wave my hand, gesturing for her to continue, "Let's hear it then."

Pressing a palm against the window, Ivette's eyebrows draw together. After a beat she shakes her head, "I can't do it now, but if we get closer I should be able to sense how many unique emotional patterns there are inside. From there we can pinpoint which one is Ghost."

At our blank expressions, she shakes her head, explaining slowly like we're kindergartens, "Every person gives off different emotions but there's always a baseline. For Ghost, it's usually a mixture of angst and low-grade panic, probably from keeping his identity secrete. Once we get close enough I'll be able to tell you where he is and hopefully, we can avoid even seeing Belladonna."

She says all this in a monotone voice as if she's just restating facts that we all knew. As if the fact that she can't just twist our emotions but can use them to pick out individuals isn't new. Isn't insanely powerful. The whole car is silent as the three of us gape at her. 

"Wait," I say slowly, holding out a hand as I try to wrap my mind around all this new information, "Are you saying you can tell how we're feeling all the time? Even right now?"