The Academy's Twisted Enemies | Dark Romance

Chapter 9 - I'm in trouble

"You guys new in this city?" he asked gruffly.

My stomach dropped uncomfortably with the food I had just scarfed down. I wished that moment I'd never even eaten those delicious, fluffy, buttery treats.

Dr. Zenerith. Was here. Standing in front of us. His eyes were a deep, blood red, something I'd never seen before, and I'd seen my fair amount of eye colors. His face was twisted into a scornful frown, and his gray bushy eyebrows were tightly knit together.

"Yes," Cecily spoke up. "We're tourists."

"Idiots," he grumbled. He slammed his hand down on the table, and I clenched my fist, trying to suppress the cooling in my brain and the knot at the base of my skull involuntarily forming. "This is my city. When I enter an establishment, you shut. The hell. Up."

I closed my eyes, clenching my fists under the table, trying to get my body out of fight or flight mode. I felt Cecily's hand encase mine as if she knew what was happening in my head.

"I'm sorry, sir, that was my fault," Jeran said. "Please excuse us. We wouldn't purposefully act inappropriately."

"Damn straight, you'd better not," Dr. Zerenith said with contempt. "I suppose you don't even have the star on you."

The look on our faces said it all. He sighed heavily.

"You're lucky I'm feeling particularly kind today." He pulled out three flexible pieces of plastic with the red star and three black dots. "This shows your loyalty to the villains, lest you'd like to be labeled a Hero Lover, which will get you killed in a way you'd never even like to imagine." His threat was sinister, and we nodded, accepting the stars. We were told to blend in, and this was one of the ways we'd have to do it. It would also be great to bring this back to Director Penn, so he'd get more intel about what's been going on.

"Thank you, sir; please again excuse our ignorance," I said softly.

His eyes held mine for a moment. "What an intriguing eye color you have."

I tried not to miss a beat. "Thank you. Yours as well."

"Mhm. Keep your heads down if you know what's good for you."

He walked off to a larger booth, clearly designated for him and him only. The waitress was quieter but just as polite. She brought him his whole order without him having to say anything.

We averted our eyes and tried to keep to ourselves, not saying a word. Our waitress didn't take long to approach us and whisper, "Dr. Zenerith has paid for your meals and expects you to vacate the premises and never return to this diner immediately."

I could see Jeran's disappointment, but we knew we would never be coming back anyway. Visiting the city was only a one-time thing.

We stood and gave a respectful nod to Dr. Zenerith as we left, although I felt my blood pressure rising. Once we got a safe enough distance in the bustling streets, I angrily burst, "Can you believe the nerve of Dr. Ze–"

"Don't say his name out loud," Cecily warned. "That'd be dangerous."

I nodded, also reeling in my anger in the process. The clouds in the sky started to lighten, and the sun broke through in little patches. I didn't want to weather to change too much and it alert all the villains in the city to the fact that there's someone with powers in their vicinity. My headband was covered by a generic cloth one, something else that hid my powers, but if we were, in any event, surrounded and had to fight, and I had to take it off...

I had to chill. I was getting way ahead of myself. It wasn't helping.

We walked in shared silence until Jeran attempted to lift our spirits. "Come on. We have the whole rest of the day to do stuff. Let's not let that man ruin it."