The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 34

John POV

"DANG IT!" John yelled, lifting up his arm to throw his phone across the room before thinking better of it. He'd already broken enough phones this year.

Still angry, he glared down at the screen. Why isn't there anything here? He hadn't found anything about Spectre besides the fact that they were some small company who worked on ability research. There was nothing seeming dangerous, nothing suggesting that it could be a company who'd made Sera work for them. He didn't understand at all.

When he'd looked up Spectre, he'd been expecting a lot more than a small website. He hadn't known what he was hoping for... a page explaining everything would've been nice, though of course that wouldn't exist. He'd just wanted enough information to convince Sera she could tell him. He didn't care if it was dangerous. He just wanted to be able to help her.

"Stupid Spectre," John told his phone as if they could hear him through it.

There came a bang on the wall a minute later. "Shut up!" John frowned. His roommate, Blyke, must've heard his yelling.

Although it was nice not to be alone, there were some things John missed about not having a roommate. One was the problem he was facing now; alone, he could yell as loud as he wanted and no one would care. When he spoke too loudly now, it would annoy the red-head just a door down. Blyke also would sometimes ask him where he was going when he left the dorm. He hadn't done that before, but John had suspicions that Sera had asked him to tell her any strange behavior. He sighed. In a way, they were both spying on each other.

Setting down his phone, John flopped back onto his bed. He frowned at the ceiling. Without any information, I can't talk to her about anything. This is just hopeless. He felt, for the millionth time in the last year, like he was stuck.

At one point, it had felt so easy to talk to Sera about anything. It had been much simpler back when he was a cripple... of course, he'd been lying to her back then. John frowned. Do I just not like this because suddenly I'm not the one hiding things?  He winced at how awful that made him sound.

Continuing like this really wouldn't help anything. Maybe I should just confront her with what I have. At the very least, I know she's doing something with Spectre, even if I'm not sure what exactly she is doing... Turning over in bed, John picked up his phone again. The screen hadn't changed from when he'd searched up what Spectre was.

Maybe Sera had just gotten a job there. He didn't think it was the kind of place that would hire high school kids, but Sera was powerful... Wait. John zoomed into his phone screen, amber eyes widening.

Spectre was a company dedicated to ability research. Sera had lost her ability, but she'd somehow managed to get it back to fight with him. There had been a lot of time in which they hadn't talked, back when he'd attacked the Safe House every other day. She would've had to somehow find a way to make her ability work again during that time. He'd assumed before that it had just come back to her, but what if that wasn't the case?

A company like Spectre might not hire kids. However, they could still force them to help through bribery... John's eyes widened. What if they're the ones who took her ability? What if they gave it back, but she had to pay some sort of price and that's why she's always busy dealing with them?! Having a god-tier like Sera would make anything easier. She was strong. To have that kind of control over her, too, would make them so much more... dangerous.

John sat up slowly. If his theory was right, Sera needed help. Involving herself with a company that could take away abilities would end up hurting her in the end. Why would she do that?

His heart thudded in his chest as he realized a possible reason. He'd seen her using her ability again only during their fight... the fight where she'd finally been able to show him that she did still care, and that he could be a better person. He'd almost hit her before in the Safe House. She hadn't activated her ability then, and he hadn't listened to her words. She'd had no chance to get through to him without force. John winced. Maybe she got her ability back from them to stop me. Maybe she involved herself with them because of me.

Suddenly, John no longer wanted to confront her. He didn't know what he'd do if he were the reason, if he'd been causing her more pain even now. If he had to look at her worried expression again and know that he was the reason for her suffering, it would tear him apart.

He sighed in defeat. It appeared that he would never find his answers. A spark of anger rose inside him at not knowing, but he forced it down. Getting angry would only make him feel worse and annoy Blyke next door.

This uselessness he felt wasn't helping much either... Stupid mental illnesses. This sinking feeling felt exactly like so many other times when he'd been stuck. It was what had finally pointed out to him that he really wasn't okay.

Picking up his phone, John clicked on his text messages. Sera's name was at the top of his contact list as always; he barely talked to other people. He began typing a message to her. Even if he couldn't ask what was going on, her presence would still make everything better. There was just something about her that made it happen.

Hey, are you still busy? I really want to hang out... He bit his lip. That message sounded to desperate. How had he talked to her before?

Scrolling through their texts for an idea, he caught sight of a particular day, when he'd been most annoyed at Sera's secrets. His eyes widened as he realized something.

Sera wasn't the only one who knew about Spectre.