Shock and Awe (Enhanced Book 1)

Chapter 9

I didn't see Forrest for the rest of Sunday. Kingsley and I went back to an empty apartment after lunch and I told him that my friend would take me home. In reality, I made a quick change on the roof and flew home.

Sunday night, Amaze and I sat atop city hall making small talk and waiting for crime to start up again.

It was silent.

Monday morning came and went, Mia lecturing me about ignoring her texts all week. She said she would let me off this time because she knew I was busy.

Rowan made his appearance at lunch — looking only slightly different without his facial stubble — and somehow managed to get the same class schedule as me.

We didn't get called for crime all day.

Finally, the last bell rings and the three of us exit the classroom with our ridiculously heavy book bags in tow. We gather around Mia's car, chatting about class and homework.

Mia has been carting me to and from school in her old beater car since she got it on her sixteenth birthday. It's had good days and bad days, and today seems to be a bad one.

"Oh, no," Mia whines from the drivers seat as the engine sputters. She'd climbed in with the intent of turning the car on before we left so it wouldn't be driving on a cold engine, but the car has other plans. "Petunia, don't do this to me now!"

Rowan and I are standing outside the car, unsure what to do. The plan was for all three of us to go to my house and work on homework. That has obviously been put on pause.

Mia pops the hood, moving to stand in front of the car to stare at the engine. "Funny story, I actually have no idea what I'm doing," she laughs nervously.

Rowan shrugs off his backpack, setting it on the ground against the car. "Here, let me," he offers.

My best friend happily sidles up next to me instead, glad to have someone else deal with the problem.

Rolling up the sleeves of his thin shirt, Rowan starts messing around with different parts under the hood. He seems to know what he's doing, so Mia and I turn to each other to gossip.

"So, do you two take turns at night, or do you both just stand there missing out on sleep?"

Her words make sense, but at the same time not. Is she talking about Awe and Amaze? In front of Rowan? Does she realize who Rowan is?

"What, um," I clear my throat. "What are you talking about?" My voice raises in pitch at the end of my sentence, hoping she is talking about something — anything — other than what I think she is.

"You and Rowan," Mia says extra slow like I don't understand English. "With him here, you can actually get a good nights sleep while he watches the city, right? I think you should alternate nights and set up some kind of emergency alarm to wake the other one up if something big goes down."

"M-Mia—" I start to say. Does she realize that Rowan is Amazing Man? Does he realize that his identity is out?

There's some type of bright flash in our peripheral, coming from the car engine, and we both startle.

Rowan slams the hood down, wiping his hands on his dark jeans. "We haven't discussed strategy yet, but that sounds like a fine idea, Mia. Sage, we can make a trip to the Hideout. My Techie has been working on a portable sonic alarm — similar to the police ones — that we might could adapt to attach to our suits as panic buttons."

Thankfully, most of the parking lot has cleared out already and no one is around to overhear us, but I still can't believe we're discussing this in public.