Even Heroes Fall

Chapter Twenty - Violet

Max is in my room. Max is on my bed. Max is... dead? No. After face-planting onto the top of the duvet he then rolls over onto his back, eyes closed, chest steadily rising and falling. I cannot actually quite believe that Max, aka Ghoul, is passed out on my bed. The whole situation is so messed up.

I am exhausted but my mind is too much on edge right now from the events of the past few hours. I take a shower, the hot water soothes my aching body as the grim and blood mingles with water and disappears down the plug. I try to focus on the sensation of the water cascading over my skin to calm my mind but everything feels jumbled. Theodore is dead. Castlemain killed him. Castlemain is "like Ghoul". Ghoul is Max. And Max is currently passed out on my bed. How did this all happen? And where does Marshall fit into everything? After all, Theodore had been in Marshall's office when Castlemain attacked him.

Once I am out of the shower I return to my room where Max is still fast asleep. I put on a pair of loungewear shorts and crop top, picking over the remains of my justice outfit before realising it is ruined beyond repairs. Reluctantly I shove it into the bin in my room.

I fetch the first aid kit I have had to use a few times on myself in the past and tend to some of the cuts on my body. Then I go over to Max and tentatively check on the wound that was bleeding all over the pavement outside earlier. I am surprised to find it is almost completely healed and would have thought I imagined it, if not for the hole in his suit crusted with dried blood over the exact same area. I notice the scratches on his visible skin are already healed as well. I should be surprised, or perhaps amazed, but by this point my brain just accepts super healing as another of Max's powers.

I check my phone for messages and find one from Celia asking what happened at the Mayor's office. In my blind rage at discovering what I thought was Ghoul's crime scene I completely forgot to fill her in. She has tried to call me a couple of times as well, which I missed as my phone was safely at home. And then her final message tells me she and Laura will be back from their shopping trip in thirty minutes. I check the sent time and it was ten minutes ago. Shit.

If Celia discovers Max in my bed it is going to raise a lot of questions that will be very difficult for me to answer, so I have no choice but to wake him up.

'I'm still not fully recovered,' he mumbles to me sleepily after I shake him a bit.

'Celia will be back in twenty minutes,' I tell him. 'You stink, and you are making my bed dirty. You need to shower and leave before she gets back.' I half drag him out of bed as the smell of sewer assaults my nose. I propel him into the bathroom. 'You left clothes in Celia's room. I will grab them.' I hurry down the hall to Celia's room whilst I hear the sounds of the shower switching on in the bathroom.

Celia never uses the lock on her door which is lucky in this situation. I enter her room and inside Max's hoody is still on the back of the chair with a pair of his joggers. I retrieve the clothes, go back to my room, stripping off the ruined duvet cover and remake the bed with a clean cover, putting the dirty bed clothes into my laundry basket. A few minutes after I hear the shower has stopped I step out of my room with his clothes intending to bring them to the bathroom for him. But instead I collide with Max just outside my bedroom, neither of us expecting the other one to be there. I almost fall over from the impact and Max grabs my arms at the last moment to steady me.

' was just bringing clothes for you-' I start to say at the same time as Max speaks:

'I need my clothes.'

We break off and laugh awkwardly.

He is naked from the waist up, a towel wrapped around his lower half. This is the first time I have seen him naked. Although I was aware he has some well-defined muscles, now I get to see them in all their glory. I now got to see them in all their glory. His hair is still wet, dark and blonde, curling against his neck. Water trickles down his broad shoulders, smooth chest and abs. down towards a light smattering of golden hair that leads to the towel slung dangerously low around his hips.