Shadow

SpongeBob Soundtracks and Evil Clouds

Jase's eyes narrowed. "We have?"

"Yes. Well, not under these circumstances, of course." I frowned at him. Was he still suspicious of Kiera being Shadow? "Outside. In the real world. I didn't know you were a trainer for Supers."

He ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, my mom's a retired superhero. She taught me a bunch of stuff growing up. I figured if I'm not a hero, then I might as well help the real ones." He smiled at me. "I'm guessing you wouldn't tell me where we met? The first time?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, Jase. Can't do that." Thank God for the voice modifier. "Let me just say, though, that you hide your muscle really well." I poked his arm. "You had me fooled that you were a scrawny teenager."

Jase laughed. "Thanks, I guess."

"So, where do we start?"

_________________________

"WHERE . . . DID YOUR MOTHER . . . LEARN . . . THIS CRAP?"

"Get up. I perfected this when I was nine."

"Nine year olds have more energy!"

"And seventeen year olds have more experience." He sighed. "Fine. Two minute break."

As soon as the words left his lips, my phone vibrated in my back pocket. I groaned and pulled it out. Cole's name was at the top of the screen. "Hey, I'm kind of—"

"Kiera!"

I jumped to my feet, my energy renewed. I stepped away from Jase so he didn't hear my conversation. "Cole? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Where are you?!"

"I—I'm at the library."

"The one in the city?"

"Yes . . ." I needed Jase to teach me how to lie.

"Get out! Get out, right now!" There was a crash in the background and someone screamed.

"Where are you? What's going on?" Jase was giving me curious looks.

"It's Blaze! He's—" The line suddenly went dead.

"K—Shadow!"

I looked up. "Lauren! What's happening? I just got a call and he's—he's—" I couldn't seem to catch my breath.

"Listen! Calm down! You need to suit up! Blaze is attacking the inner city right now. There's at least a dozen buildings on fire and . . ." She took a shuddering breath. "He wasn't kidding when he said he was new and improved."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Just go! You'll find out soon enough. They need me downstairs." She sniffed. "Blaze hurt Riptide."

My heart sunk in my chest. "Lauren, I'm so sorry."

"You couldn't do anything about it. He'll live. But the other people out there aren't as strong as Riptide. You need to save them."

I nodded. "I will." I ported into my house and into my suit. The city was my next landing site. I found myself back on the same lamppost as before. But my home wasn't the same place as it was the last time I was there. The square was in chaos, people running and screaming everywhere. Flames were leaping out of every single window in sight. The Jumbo-tron was flashing warnings at people to hide and run for their lives (as if they weren't already aware of the crisis), but the screen itself was a victim of Blaze.

A child, maybe three or four years old, was sobbing on the sidewalk, half of the little girl's pigtail singed off. Her face was covered in soot and her voice was hoarse from screaming for her mother.