Villain at Night *Third Book To Hero by Day

Chapter 18 - Who is Mary Thompson?

"Don't feel bad, I'm usually about to die."

~ Percy Jackson (Son of Poseidon)

:Ian:

It was the morning of Olly's mother's wedding, and we still couldn't find him.

I mean – it was only last night that he went missing, but we were still freaking out. His communications device and his GPS weren't working. Eric and I had a running theory that it had something to do with Midnight's shadows messing with the technology, but either way we had no way to find our friend.

We knew he wasn't kidnapped, seeing as he ran away from the scene, but he had still been hurt. And after being attacked by Midnight again, my buddy might not be all there. Elise told me as much to know that Olly was shaken up badly by her shadow visions. It made me realize just how far I had pushed him away when I thought he killed my sister. He couldn't even talk to me about something as monumental as this happening to him. Had I really been so wrapped up in my grief and then hatred for Nicole to talk to my best friend?

With a start, I realized I never even apologized for thinking he killed Mary and then blaming him for it. Even if he did come close to it, it hadn't been his fault. He had meant to hurt Nicole, not my sister.

We were all down in the Man Cave, Aden, Eric, Elise, and I. Mary was home sick, very sick. She wasn't going to be able to make it to the wedding. It made me a little glad though that she wouldn't be there. Mary could end up hurt if she got in the middle of a super battle.

We were all wearing our wedding clothes, because as soon as we found Olly, we had to rush to the wedding. I mean – the son of the woman getting married was essential to the event.

I started to absentmindedly mess with my tie. My dress shirt wasn't tucked in and I was pretty sure one shoe was untied. I looked like I just woke up, which was kind of true because I spent the entire night worrying about Olly and couldn't get sleep.

My parents weren't attending the wedding, mostly because there was some sort of super important meeting at the White House today. It was why Heather couldn't come either. Apparently they had a security scare yesterday with some idiot jumping the White House fence, so the First Family was spending the day inside.

"I'm sure he's fine." Aden offered. "Olly can get himself out of any situation."

Elise and I both stop our pacing and give him a condescending glare. It wasn't his fault that he thought Olly was this unbeatable character.

"But, where could he be?" Eric wondered aloud. "There's no place safe for him to go except here if he was hurt. Supers only go to the hospital in dire situations, and no hospital has any blonde John Does or Oliver Storms checked in. He's got to be out there somewhere."

"Maybe I could help."

We all turn to the doorway. Somehow, I had no idea how it was possible, Nicole was here, in the Man Cave.

I automatically lunge for her. After seeing her parade around school ever since we got back, I've been itching to destroy that smug smile. She took my sister away from me and convinced me that my best friend was the one who did it. She shouldn't be allowed to walk the same the same halls as my sister, much less live in the same city as her.

I forgot, though, that Nicole was a super and indeed telekinetic. My movements were stopped halfway through my run at her and I was left with one foot on the ground and one in the air like an idiot.

"Hear me out before you try and maul me." Nicole offered.

I struggled against her efforts to restrain me, but found them rock solid. Elise was barely restraining herself from trying what I had. I could see the veins in her neck pulsing from the effort.