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Chapter Two: Zoe

I took a sip of my coffee while keeping a careful eye on the door. Emma's coffee was sitting on the far side of my desk. It was going to get cold, and she was going to be annoyed with me, but that wasn't my fault, I didn't make her show up to work late. I let go of the mug I was holding with my hands and kept it floating with my power, I needed to fidget.

I didn't have anything to do at the office on a Sunday; I was here because Emma usually was, and she enjoyed my company. Now I was waiting for her on my day off instead of sleeping. I glanced at her drink and pushed it a little closer to the edge of the desk. She was the one person in the city that I couldn't feel walking around, which made waiting for her a nightmare.

The door cracked open, and Emma stepped into the light. Her typically perfect hair was a mess of knots, her clothing was wrinkled, and she was still wearing last night's heels. I gave her the up-down and cracked a smile. "So I take it the date went well?" I asked to her as she slumped through the door.

"It was interesting."

"You didn't come home last night," I pointed out. I tapped her coffee cup ever-so-slightly closer to the edge of my desk. It made a perfect chime that told her it was sitting there waiting for her.

"Zoe..."

"Don't Zoe me," I responded, "tell me how it went."

"Does me being in a bar at 8 am say anything?"

"It makes me wonder how you found a bar open that early," I paused for a second, "late?"

"No," she said. Emma walked over to the desk and flopped down in my guest chair. I waited for a handful of seconds before she leaned forward and grabbed the coffee, "Can you do me a favor and do a search on Toby?"

"Toby." I typed it into the keyboard with invisible fingers as I said it. "Is that the guy?"

"Toby Vander." Emma continued.

"Is that the guy?"

"Yes, it's the guy."

"Am I looking him up for good reasons or bad reasons."

"It's complicated."

"So bad reasons."

"Fine reasons."

"Fine reasons?" I told the computer to search our database, and it started doing its thing.

"Yeah, it's a fine reason, I just need to know what his power is."

"So you went to his place, are you don't even know what his power is?"

"We didn't go to his place," she argued. She may have been lying, but was looked a touch more together than 'just spent a night in bed with a stranger.'

"Then what did you do?"

"I told you, I was a the bar at 8 am."

"You drank until 8 am?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"So you're still drunk."

"Tipsy."

"Tipsy," I confirmed, "and Toby Vander," I started as I looked at his profile on the screen. It was mostly blank. "Is not registered in the dangerous powers database."

"He's not?"

"Nope."

"Can you check the general?" she asked. I started working on it before I responded.

"Did he not tell you what his power was?"

"He said that it was enhanced perception," she started as she pulled her coffee up and took a sip, "which doesn't add up."