The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 13

Sera POV

Sera leaned her back against the roof's fence, taking a deep breath. She'd become even more busy ever since Spectre had rejoined; now there were many meetings she had to attend. It had used up almost all of her after-school free time. Sera could tell that John hadn't been happy about this; he'd asked her several times to hang out now, but she'd had to refuse him every one of them. She couldn't think about that now, though. There were too many things to figure out.

Even after having several meetings with the leaders of Spectre, Sera still didn't know who they were. All she knew was that one of them, the man with light brown hair who'd spoken to Leilah over the iPad before, seemed to be one of them. There was also a woman with a similar shade of brown hair, and a man with light purple hair. All of them had been at the meetings; however, they'd come in the form of three large screens. Sera could see their hair colors and a faint shape of their face, but the rest of their features had remained in shadows. The only people Sera had seen from Spectre were Leilah, Kayden, and the others who'd come with them to try and talk to those under the brown-haired man's control.

Staring up into the sky above her, Sera wondered who those leaders were. More than that, she wondered what they were planning. The light brown-haired man had seemed the most dangerous, although the brown-haired woman had agreed with his actions; that made both of them closer to enemies than allies. She didn't know what they were capable of. Especially without seeing their faces... It made her worry that they were going to do something. They did have the dampeners, after all, and the power to take away someone's ability... even if they could give it back.

She winced to remember the many months she'd struggled over trying to get it back but to no avail. It had only been when Leilah had approached her with a deal that she'd been able to use her ability once again. Spectre knew what they were doing... they were no small organization, even if they weren't well known.

Sighing, Sera wondered if she would ever learn any of this information, or if they were hiding it too well.

Suddenly, the door of the roof slammed open with a BAM! Sera jolted to her feet, seconds away from activating her ability. She calmed down immediately when she saw who was standing there. It was only John, his black gelled hair slightly messier than usual as if he'd run his hands through it and messed it up. He did this again as she watched, his amber eyes narrowed in anger.

Watching him, Sera no longer felt relief. Why does he look so mad? "...John?"

He jumped at the sound of her voice, eyes going straight to her. Immediately, a very false-looking smile spread across his face. "Oh hey, Sera! I didn't know you were here!"

Sera frowned. That much had been obvious by his reaction. She stared at John as he ran a hand through his hair again. He was really beginning to mess up the perfectly gelled style he'd probably spent at least an hour creating.

"What's going on?" She asked him, crossing her arms. She leaned against the fence again, but remained standing. John's false smile fell as Sera stared at him. Biting his lip, he joined her in leaning against the fence. Sera watched as he sighed and his amber eyes drifted towards the sky.

"It's nothing. I'm fine," John lied. Sera could hear pent-up rage in his voice. He was usually a good actor; he'd fooled her into thinking he wasn't Joker, after all. However, at the moment he seemed too upset to care much about acting. He wasn't putting in his usual effort to hide things... That must've meant he wasn't purposefully hiding anything from her. Maybe he even wanted to be asked about it.

Sera watched as John ran a hand through his hair again.

"You're messing up your gel," She stated matter-of-factly. "You wouldn't do that if you were telling the truth about being okay."

John spluttered for a second, his hands flying back up to his head to touch his hair. He swore under his breath when he noticed how messy it had become. "Dang it, I'll have to redo it!"

"You could just leave it," Sera told him with a shrug. John shook his head violently.

"No!" Sera rolled her eyes. He was so adamant about styling his hair... Why did it matter so much to him? It was just a hairstyle. Shaking her head to clear it, Sera had to remind herself that John's gel wasn't the problem. It was probably just him trying to distract her. Something was really wrong, not just his hairstyle.

"Seriously, John. What is it?" She repeated, staring into his amber eyes fiercely with her dark blue ones. John's mouth fell partially open as she stared at him. She could tell he was growing uncomfortable in her intense stare. Finally, he turned his head away and threw his hands up.

"Okay fine, I'm angry! Now please, stop looking at me like that!!" He exclaimed, frowning at her briefly before crossing his arms. Even though she was worried about him, Sera couldn't help smiling at the way he was pouting. It reminded her a lot of how he'd acted when pretending to be a cripple.

"What are you angry about?" She continued to interrogate him, leaning in closer. John glanced over at her, still frowning.

"I... saw someone." He finally told her. Sera raised an eyebrow.

"You... saw someone? Who?" She repeated. John sighed. He opened his mouth as if to answer, but glanced back at Sera and closed it again. After a moment, he spoke.

"Where have you been?" He asked her quietly. Sera was the one surprised by the intensity of his amber eyes now. She could tell by the slight hurt and confusion in John's eyes that he was asking a lot more than just that question. She'd thought he might've known something before, but... how? How could he have figured it out? How much did he really know?!

She couldn't let him get involved. Especially not with Spectre being reunited; those leaders meant trouble. Sera didn't trust them, and definitely wasn't about to bring John into it. He'd only get hurt. Just like she probably would... it was too late for her now, though. She'd already made a deal. She sighed.

"All over. I've just been busy doing things," She answered breezily, hoping John would just forget about it. He didn't.

"Fine. Then I'm angry because I saw someone I don't like," He retorted, giving her the same non-detailed answer to her previous question. Sera opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. They were at an impasse. John wouldn't answer her question if she didn't answer his, and she couldn't tell him the truth.

Instead, they both went quiet and leaned against the fence. They'd laughed on this rooftop and enjoyed each other's company so many times, but now they were simply hiding secrets in silence...