Super

31 - pt 1 - Hello...

PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END. IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!!!!!

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

– Maya Angelou

"WHY. DO. YOU. KEEP. GOING. BACK. AND. FORTH?!" I screamed, smacking him on the chest with each word. It was a little difficult seeing how I was dangling by one arm off of one of the tallest skyscrapers New York City had to boast: The Chrysler building. 

The Invisible Hand just threw his head back and laughed. "Oh Annie," he mused, his forget-me-not eyes sparkling with dark amusement, "it was never back and forth... just... forth," he smirked. 

My eyes widened in shock before I let out a frustrated scream.

"UGH!" 

"Well," he juggled me in his arms so he could pretend to look at his wristwatch, "this has been fun, but I really need to get going."

"What?"

"That's right, Annie. I'm going to drop you now."

"Wait– Ciaran!"

"Just shout my name a little louder, why don't you?" He hissed in my ear and then snorted, "just kidding. Nobody would hear you."

I let out a wailing scream. Ciaran's arms disappeared as he winked out of existence, but not before his hand had uncurled from my wrist.

And then I was falling... 

*** 

In all her years, Lila Parker has rarely cried. It just wasn't her style. Even when she fell off a swing in 2nd grade and broke her arm or had her lunch money stolen every day through 4th and 5th. When she developed powers, she didn't shut down or shout or throw things, instead she just worked steadily through them. In fact, the first time I'd seen her cry in a long time was after her date with Gold Thrush when she'd gone to see Finn. Then I saw her cry again when she found Finn alive after the explosion at Blaze Labs. But other than that, nada. Zilch. Zero. 

Lila Parker simply did not cry.

For all her averages, that was one not-so-average thing about her. 

And Brady's sudden disappearance was no exception. But to be honest, I doubt he was even her brother anymore.

Now in early January, Lila, Dresden, Gabriel, Athena, Finn and myself were cooped up in my living room. Everyone else had taken the day off, completely exhausted from the night before when we rescued another group of supers. That one had been rough. We had barely managed to kill King Tut and that was only because Bat Boy had the bright idea of unravelling the mummy himself. And so Gold Thrush had grabbed a deteriorating piece of gauze and ran at super speed to unravel the dead Pharaoh only to find that underneath all the bandaging was only sand. That was it. Sand that compiled a seething mass of terror: sand that could operate on its own, move on its own, and kill without so much as a sentient thought. 

Luckily, however, by unravelling its encasement, we had unravelled its skeleton (essentially) and the sand had spilled out on the floor, no longer a dead guy walking. Still, that experience had been enough to give us all nightmares for months. To make matters worse, of the five supers we had saved, only one stayed to join the cause and help us fight back against Obsidian. The other four had fled.