Unto Shadows

ii. normies & supers

Normies & Supers

"YOU DON'T HAVE any proof of that." He shrugged like I'd accused him of stealing cookies from the jar when he wasn't supposed to have any before dinner, not like he'd just been accused of murder.

"Right." The knot in my throat tightened as I further realized my situation. I was sitting in a spinny chair, in my room, across from a murderer. Someone who's wanted by the police. The bad guy. The villain.

And he just crashed through my window.

I took a deep breath. I needed to call my mother. Or the police. Then again, if I made him think for even a second that I was going to turn him in, he could just kill me, too, and get it over with. If he really did kill Ace, somebody who's soul purpose in life was to help people and expect nothing else in return but their gratitude, then he's certainly not going to care about a snarky teenage girl living in the twenty-third floor of a thirty story apartment with an ex-cop for a mother.

The curious part of my mind put the logical side on pause. If I turned him in, I wouldn't get answers to any of the many questions swarming around in my mind. For instance, why did he do it? Why kill Ace? Why be a villain in the first place? What trauma did he have to go through to get his abilities? How did he make his suit? Is he somebody I know? How'd he—

Fingers snapping in my face brought me back to the present. "Hey, anybody in there?"

Ice blue eyes shot up to meet amber ones and I blinked. "What?"

His head tilted slightly to the side. "You zoned out."

"Oh," I muttered, picking absently at the ends of my nails. "What were you saying?"

He leaned back on my bed to get more comfortable and folded his legs beneath him. He didn't seem to plan on leaving any time soon, and while the logical part of me said that's a terrible, terrible thing, my curious side left me bursting with excitement. "You look familiar."

I snorted. "A famous person finding a Normie like me familiar? That's funny."

His mouth tilted up into a lopsided grin, and I couldn't help but notice the little canine that showed whenever he did it. If he wasn't such a bad guy, I probably would have found it hot. "A Normie?"

"Yeah." I shrugged and tried to hide the heat rising to my cheeks at the slip-up. There was no way he wasn't going to go home after this and laugh at the crazy girl who's window he crashed through. Does he even have a home to go to? "It's what I call all the non-Supers out there."

"Normies," he repeated, testing the word on his tongue. He nodded to himself. "I like it."

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out at that one. "No, you don't. It's terrible."

"Just a bit." He laughed lightly, the sound welcoming in the previously tense atmosphere from before. The light feeling was swiped away in a matter of seconds when he said, "I really think I've seen you somewhere before."

I thought about mentioning the fact that he wore a mask, so I wouldn't be able to tell him if we had ever met or not anyway, but I didn't want to press my limits with the snarky comments. Remember who you're talking to. "I was on the news."