Consuming Fire

Chapter 65

The crowd roared with laughter again, their laughter filling the room and echoing throughout the cafeteria. It felt wonderful to laugh as a group – even though some of them were missing, they felt fuller than they had in days.

Jenny and Joshua, with assistance from some of the SSS members, started bringing over coffee and tea and breakfast. Everyone talked loudly, making new friends. Hunter introduced Will to Ella's friends Peetee and Andy, and her girlfriend Dakota, but apparently they'd already met yesterday morning. Will said he'd explain later. Joshua was particularly interested to hear about Kate's involvement in the restaurant fire. Hunter gave him a warning look.

She also met Koko who could turn invisible and Zokani who could fly. Aside from the two of them, and Yung and Illya, there were no other people at the SSS with powers. One guy claimed to be able to skull an entire bottle of milk in ten seconds, but the others only laughed at him.

Apparently their 'fanclub' was a mix of social media experts, comic book creators, critics, and all-round lovers of superheroes. Their enthusiasm and friendliness was uplifting. Hunter couldn't remember a time when she was surrounded by so many people so eager to meet her. It was hard to remember her life before she inherited powers and went to school and had hardly any friends. She liked all of the SSS members immediately and, in spite of yesterday's events, she felt slightly cheerful for the first time.

"So where's my costume?" asked Chantal. She hadn't been able to walk without a crutch since the stab in her side, and it was the first time Hunter had seen her looking fresh. Zac slid her the book.

"Don't get too excited; it doesn't have high heels or anything."

Chantal rolled her eyes and stared down at her sketch.

"Siren," she said with a slow nod. "It has a ring to it."

"There's one of Joshua too," said Zac. "You're the Iceman."

Hunter watched a smile play over Joshua's face at the irony. "Of course."

They found Mosi's picture and Benji also drew one for himself. He wanted to be called Bullet, and he'd named Mosi Aftershock.

"I still need a name though," said Zac over the top of the excitement.

"Oo! Oo! How about Shifty?" said Ella.

"No."

"I still like Two-Face," said Marcus and several of them chuckled.

"Nah," said Zac thoughtfully. "It's gotta be something more epic. I was thinking – get ready for this ..." He held his arms up and paused for dramatic effect before proclaiming, "Lord of the Faces!"

Laughter rung throughout the room as Peetee stared at Zac in awe. "That's brilliant. I love it."

Chantal threw out her hand and said, "Oh please call yourself that. I'd piss myself laughing if I saw a newscaster say 'The Lord of the Faces was seen today buying a hotdog off the street'."

"No," said Zac. "The report will read 'Lord of the Faces wins Sexiest man of the year for the thirtieth time'."

"Yeah, because you'll cheat," said Marcus.

"Hey." Jenny frowned as she flipped through the sketchbook. "Will and Hunter don't have names."

"Do we really need them?" asked Will.

"Yes, and fast." Zac chewed on his toast. "They've gotta put names to all our faces when they see us on the news. And we'll have to do a special press release–"

"What makes you think we'll be on the news so soon?" asked Joshua.

Zac shrugged. "We should be prepared for these things in case they happen, right? And we should really get costumes made."