Superhero Effects

15. LADY IN YELLOW

I ran, my feet slapping the damp concrete mercilessly. Water splashed up from puddles thanks to the recent rainstorm, wetting my jeans. My broken arm was throbbing, my throat was on fire, and my breathing was so loud it was embarrassing.

Kids, don't play with Colors. They'll drain the life out of you. Just ask...well, me.
***
I spent four days in that stinking hospital, and the only thing that kept me from going crazy was the notebook and pens I got Lewis to bring me. Peggy wouldn't answer my texts, Lucinda didn't pop up again, and Archer hated me.

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my room and locked the door. I had planned on hiding all the stuff I had written while in the hospital because it was the continuing story of Lucinda Langley. I kept writing; of course, I kept writing. All the stuff was jumbled up in my head; if I couldn't let it out, there was a good chance I would go nuts.

I had plopped down at my desk and opened up the notebook when I heard, "Psst."

I had no goosebumps, so my mind didn't immediately jump to Super avenue, but boy, my heart jumped. I almost screamed when I saw my closet door cracked open and a pair of eyes peering back at me. Then, Peggy stepped out with her curly blonde hair pulled back into a bun with some serious dark circles under her eyes.

"No time to talk," she said, shaking her head. "I found one." She tossed me a black beanie. "Let's roll."

"Peggs," I said, catching the hat and then turning to look at the clock. "It's almost midnight!"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly."

It took almost fifteen minutes to sneak out of the house, and even then, it was a near miss because Lewis was sneaking out at the same time we were. I was half tempted to follow him and see what he needed to sneak out for, but Peggy was in a rush.

As soon as we were safe in her car, parked blocks down the road, Peggy started talking.

"I went back. Like all the way back, reread your first book and then the copy of your final draft of the second that I found saved in the downloaded folder on my computer." We exchanged glances, and she went on. "Near the end of the second one, Lucinda's uncle pulls out that red meteor rock, remember? That's why she gave up Rae and the others and why they were captured. Because it made her think weird or something like that, right? Well, I found one!"

I lifted my good hand. "Peggs, stop the car. I learned my lesson. I'm not letting you get involved with this anymore. If it had been you that forgot to put your seatbelt on that day...stop the car."

"Tristan," she said, her hands tightening on the steering wheel, "you're more than my best friend. You're my sister, and I'm not letting you face this alone. And I'm not letting you take the back seat and let yourself get blown all over the place by the wind. By Archer and the others or your sister or your uncle. You're going to fight back, and I'm going to help you. Do you remember your first draft, that scene your agent made you cut with Lucinda and the red rock and using it against a Color?"

I blinked and focused on the sight out of the windshield.

It took a second, and Peggy explained the scene for me to remember entirely, and when I did, my face lit up. It was like a weight lifted off my chest.

My agent made me cut it because she said it made the storyline too easy. She said they needed to be taken down by more than a rock, even if the rock was rare and hard to come by, as I had written. It was right after Cooper got Lucinda back, and she snapped out of the infection of the red meteor rock. She confronted her uncle in a fit of rage alone with the rock in her grip, ready to throw it at his head with all her might. The rock didn't affect her uncle, but his main lackey fainted. Instead of throwing it at Dr. Mack, she threw it at the woman and hit her right in the head--killing her.