Super•Villainess

Prologue

A sudden burst of pain on my arm broke through my brain fog, as though I'd been abruptly smacked - because I had - followed by a hissed question: "You alright?"

    The world slowly came back into focus, like waking up with my eyes already open. I blinked twice to reorient myself, and turned to the source of my most recent injury - my sister.

    "I'm fine," I lied, muted enough to not capture my parents' attention across the dining table where they remained immersed in their own discussion regarding Super politics.

    I loathed Super politics - all that talk followed by so limited action - though Lily had kept herself knee-deep in it, following every new scheme, every new bill that discussed the morality of our existence after the Guild's previous crimes were exposed. Little had I known or cared at the time for the veritable Pandora's Box we were unsealing in my quest to unthrone the man who'd avariciously destroyed my life.

    Oh, Lily. I-

    I forced my thoughts off the tracks they raced down, knowing their inevitable destination. Nothing good ever came from going along that path.

    Leigh twisted her fork perpendicular to her plate to reel in her white sauce-coated noodles. "You don't look fine."

    An accurate enough assessment, and she had plenty of reason to worry.

    Reaching for my water, I examined my hand carefully. No shaking. I couldn't be doing so poorly, yet. I had months to waste before drastic action needed to be taken.

    "I'm fine," I reaffirmed, and before she had the opportunity to broach further argument, I pushed out my heavy polished-oak chair to leave. I'd humored my parents' desire for routine family dinners, despite never having had them prior to my lapse into villainy, because I knew they sought to make up for lost time, and I in turn felt guilty for having stolen that time from them. Enough, however, was enough. "I have a busy morning ahead of me," I explained to my mom and dad's startled faces. "As always, dinner was lovely."

    "Leaving already?" Evangeline Courten started, her manicured hands gripping tight at the lace tablecloth, as though prepared to rise herself. "Surely you can stay a little longer..."

    "Sorry," I said, offering no further discussion for her to latch onto and argue against.

    My father laid down his cutlery with a grunt. "I don't like that place you're staying at."

    "Trust me, we know," Leigh replied drolly.

    "I'll see you next week," I said, smiling faintly.

    Only if I couldn't avoid it.

    Leigh made to follow. "I'll walk him out. I actually have to get going as well."

    Technically, I was capable of slipping into the shadows from almost anywhere, but I avoided using my powers in front of my parents whenever possible to maintain their glittering facade of denial. If I didn't use my powers, surely I didn't have them, and all the scandalous misfortune I brought to their doorstep never occurred.

    "You needn't bother," I told her when we were alone, crossing around the bar into the unlit foyer. "I know where the door is."

    "You're full of shit, Atty."

    "Which private tutor taught you to speak like that?"

    She fisted a hand on her hip, unamused. These last months had seen her harden into someone almost unrecognizable. Gone was the irreverence, the implacable core-held belief that things would always work out for daddy's little princess. Nearly dying had left her shaken and riddled with invisible mental scars, but it was what happened on that day two years later that stole her easy smile