Changed by Time ✔

three.

After a scuffle that results in one of the two fighting parties passing out, the first smell that comes out usually isn't the smell of a fresh pot of coffee. Let alone the scent of caramel and strawberries.

"I normally don't break out the good candles," Wendy said, turning away from the coffee maker and towards the now-subdued intruder. "But I figured now's better than never. Isn't that right, Todd?"

Todd looked down at himself, realizing that he was sitting in a rather cheap looking (and feeling) kitchen chair. His hands were bound behind his back and his feet to the legs of the chair. He shuffled a bit, rubbing his wrists together and quickly realizing that he had been stripped of his gloves and watch.

Wendy held it up after he promptly discovered its disappearance. It was black with a thick leather-feeling band. It didn't appear valuable (or even expensive), but she couldn't be sure.

"I wasn't sure if you had any tools in here that might've aided your escape once I bound you." She looked it over again, feeling it between her fingertips. "It doesn't, so I can be correct in assuming that you don't do this often, Todd. If that's even your name."

He stared her down, pressing his lips tightly together as he remained silent. Wendy shook her head and placed the watch down on the kitchen counter.

"For someone who's so eager to break into someone's house at two in the morning, you're not very talkative." She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the edge of the counter. "You were a bit chattier back at the library. You know, the place where you're supposed to be quiet. But now we're free to talk about whatever we want and you won't speak a peep."

Todd remained silent, simply looking back towards the living room. Books were all over the ground, the coffee table was in an awkward position, and the window was now fully closed and locked once again.

"Where's the book?" he asked without looking back at her.

"What?"

"The book – Myths and Tales of the Paranormal Around the World – where is it?"

Wendy scoffed. "Are you serious? Did you actually break into my apartment for a library book? You do realize I would've returned it by next week, right? And there are so many other copies elsewhere—"

"Not that copy," he stated, cutting her off. "The one you have is different."

"How am I supposed to believe that crap? Hell, how am I supposed to believe anything you say? Is your name even Todd West?"

He looked down at the ground in front of him, avoiding eye contact with her. She uncrossed her arms as she said, "Oh my god. Your name isn't Todd West." She ran a hand through her hair. "I knew you wouldn't have an ID on you for an intrusion, and I checked. I didn't think you'd actually start the lie from a point where it probably wouldn't have mattered."

"You can't be too careful."

"You can when you're breaking into someone's home!" her voice became more stern and almost angry. "Who are you? Really?"

"Nolan." Todd, or Nolan, looked up from the ground and finally met her eyes. "My name is Nolan Wilson."

"I want to believe you, but I'm having a very hard time doing so."

"It's the truth. Why would I lie about that?"

"Because you have before."

Nolan shook his head. "Okay fine, but I'm telling the truth this time. If you untie me, I'll tell you the truth behind why I'm after that book as well."

Wendy hesitated. "How do I know you won't try to escape or even attack me?"

"When we were fighting, I didn't try to attack you then. I didn't even want to wake you up when I first came in." Nolan's expression softened, desperation beginning to fill his eyes. "I didn't want to hurt you, or let you get hurt."

Wendy hung on those last few words: let you get hurt. What did he mean by that? Was there some other force out there waiting to take her down for a stupid library book about myths?

"Fine. But if you try to run, I won't hold back nearly as much as I did earlier."

"That was you holding back?!"

Wendy walked behind him, kneeling to loosen the knot enough for Nolan to slip one hand out. She slid in front of the chair, untying his feet as he freed his other hand. He stared at his wrist, blinking a couple times.

He held it out to her, shaking the silky purple fabric as he asked, "Did you use scarves to tie me up?"

"Yup," she popped, untying his left leg to hold up the red scarf she had used to hold him down. "Not all of us have rope just lying around the house. I don't know if you keep a huge stock of rope on hand, but I certainly don't."

"Okay that's fair." He leaned down to untie his right leg after pulling off the scarf and throwing it onto the nearby kitchen table. "By the way, how the hell were you able to pull off those moves? I mean, I don't think I've ever seen anyone jump like that before."

"A long story that I might tell you if you stop lying." She stood back up and grabbed the watch off of the kitchen counter. She threw it to him and said, "Now spill."

--

The two sat on the couch, two cups of coffee resting on the table in front of them. Nolan flipped through the book as Wendy pulled back on her flannel. She leaned towards him, looking at the pages he read through and instantly recognized them.

"Yeah, I found The Gods Among Men was a bit too cliche. It seemed to try and overcompensate for what simply sounds like enhanced humans," Wendy stated, leaning back against the couch as she rested her head on the top of the cushions. "Not gods."

Nolan looked from the book to her. "You read through this?"

"Sure, I fell asleep reading through it. Like I said, it just sounds like enhanced—"

"I'm sorry, are you talking about superhumans?"

"Yeah, I am." Wendy pulled her head off the cushion and nodded. "Superhumans – people with abilities not natural to man. Including but not limited to flight, telekinesis, etc.

"What does any of that have to do with this story though? It really is just a story, there really weren't superhumans back then."

"Maybe, or maybe there were." Nolan held up the book to her. "This is the only copy that has this story in it. The government used to own it but managed to lose it at some point, and then it ended up becoming a simple library book being passed off from one person to the next. They never managed to find it again, so that's why I wanted it so badly."

"Okay but why is the government so interested in this book? It's not like they're interested in stories. They have their facts and their research with a whole slew of weaponry—"

"But they are." He closed the book and placed it onto the coffee table, fully turning to her. "Twenty-three years ago, the government housed a covert ops team filled with people born with genetically enhanced abilities – including flight and telekinesis. But that team disappeared not too long after it was started and the data behind the origins of these superhumans is revolutionary. It could change everything—"

"You're wrong."

Nolan blinked a couple times, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, what?"

"The team wasn't created twenty-three years ago, it was created twenty-four years ago," Wendy stated, her expression remaining stoic. "And it didn't just disappear, almost every member of that team was slaughtered three months after it was created by the people who created it. Out of the thirteen members on the team, only two of them managed to successfully escape and start a new life outside the facility."

"How do you know that?"

"Because those two escapees were my parents."