Fear Her Wrath II: Crucible of Glass

Chapter 53

Benedict was still wearing his sunglasses when he finally came back to school on Tuesday morning. I had almost expected him to come swaggering in like he'd captured Deadstream himself—this was Ben, after all—but he returned without much fanfare or fuss. That didn't stop an entourage of admirers from forming around him as he walked from class to class, or swarms of girls from cooing over him like a wounded puppy—the latter of which made my blood boil. But there was nothing I could do. Bella's instructions had been very clear, and I couldn't risk my secret identity over a boy.

I mean, technically I had already risked my secret identity over a boy and it had backfired. But whatever.

My main objective for that day was avoiding running into him in the halls. I ducked into a classroom more than once when I saw the Inbetweeners coming my direction, and I skipped going to my locker at all, since that was his favorite place to ambush me. I ate lunch alone in the boiler room, where I knew he couldn't find me. And I kept reminding myself that I was protecting Ben just as much as I was protecting myself.

But maybe I shouldn't have bothered. Benedict was so busy being king for a day that he didn't seem to have time to look for me. Besides, despite all his teasing, he really cared about what Bella thought, and he might have been keeping his distance in his own way. So, we never talked. We never so much as looked at each other. When the bell finally rang at the end of American History, I breathed a long sigh of relief. Day 1 of being a loner was over, and I'd stuck to it. Hopefully it would get easier from here on out.

I probably should have spent the evening at home like Dad suggested and caught up on some homework. Instead, I got into my costume and took out my frustrations by beating up some low-level goons on the Chilltern Banks waterfront. I pretended I was trying to gather information on Glassface, but really, I knew that Mickey the Mouth and the other petty criminals I kept tossing into dumpsters didn't know anything. Nobody did. And besides, I didn't really care about catching Glassface at this point—not when he was making the Montagneses squirm like this. I was just avoiding taking a good hard look at myself—and figuring out just how much of the girl in the mirror was a superhero, and how much was just Rachel Moylan's reckless, unstable daughter.

"You know, they're more talkative when they're conscious."

I looked up and saw the Whippowil perched on the fire escape above me. I was in the middle of loosening Brick Mulligan's teeth with my fists, and I guess asking someone questions after you've knocked them senseless is a little counter-productive.

"Huh," I said, pretending to notice for the first time that Brick's mouth was hanging open and his eyes were out of focus. "Oops. Guess I was a little too rough."

I let go of Brick's collar and he slumped against the wall of the alley. He would probably be okay. There wasn't much Dr. Lily couldn't fix. Gabriel lowered his thief's cane and hoisted me up onto the fire escape, and we were sharing an affectionate embrace before I realized what was happening.

"Uh... sorry I ran off like that this morning," I said, suddenly flustered. "I was trying to get home before my dad realized I was gone."

"It's a shame you missed breakfast," he said. "The chef makes a great poached egg."

"Maybe next time," I said, before adding quickly. "And I mean that. School will be over soon, and... I wouldn't mind if we kept hanging out."

"Sounds good to me, doll," said Gabriel.

Our tender moment was interrupted by a groan from ten feet below us. Brick Mulligan was regaining consciousness.

"You want some help with these goons?" asked the Whippowil playfully.

"Sure," I said. "Why is it that we keep ending up going on such weird dates?"

"It's probably the costumes," said Gabriel as he climbed onto the edge of the fire escape. "C'mon, doll. Let's make some trouble together."

I smiled. At least there was someone out there who I could share the danger with without feeling guilty.