*all rights to the original author*
Lauren was conscious when I returned. She looked like death, but just seeing her alive and awake was enough to make me burst into tears. I threw my arms around her, but was soon dragged away when police, firefighters, paramedics, and who knows who else, swarmed the scene.
Lauren was taken to the hospital, while my parents, Carter, and I were all hauled down to the police station. We were there for so long that I actually fell asleep in the lobby on three hard plastic chairs that I’d pushed together. I didn’t wake again until I heard Carter shuffle past me.
"Where do you think you’re going?" I asked, startling him.
"The police are done with me," he said with a yawn.
"And?"
"And it’s one in the morning and I’ve still got a story to write." I got up and quickly blocked the exit. I glanced around. No one was paying attention to us. "You and I still have to talk," I said in a low voice.
Carter sighed like he was just so over my threats. "Don’t worry. The cops bought the story. Everything’s going to be just fine."
"Except we still have one problem."
"Which is?"
"You still know my secret."
"And I’ll never breathe a word about it."
"Oh!" I barked with as much sarcasm as I was capable of. "Well, okay then. I guess we’re all good."
Carter was as good with the sarcasm as I was. "Thanks for the trust, Camila."
"What have you ever done to earn it?"
"Today wasn’t enough?"
I just folded my arms tightly across my chest, and he sighed again. "All those articles I wrote in Illinois?"
I suppressed the anger starting to boil in my stomach. "About how I murdered Vero because she broke up with me?"
"Yes," Carter said. "Did you ever notice how I wrote about anything and everything I could come up with that had nothing to do with what my real theory was—that the accident gave you superhuman abilities?"
I opened my mouth to argue, but it was true. None of his stupid rumors ever came close to the truth about me. I suddenly didn’t like where this conversation was headed.
"Camila, back then you were a wreck. You didn’t even know what was happening to you, much less have any idea how to control it or hide it. Remember that day you handed your dad a wrench and nearly put him in the hospital?"
I didn’t have the heart to answer him, and not just because I was so shocked that he knew about that. Carter seemed to know how upset I was because he softened his voice. "I’ve always had the evidence I needed."
"B-But…" I stammered, swiping at a couple of rogue tears. "Why?" I didn’t have to be more specific with my question. He knew what I meant. "Visticorp paid me to spy on you after your accident. But when I found out all that you could do? Well, I’m not stupid. I knew how much that kind of power would be worth to people, and I knew what they might try to do in order to get their hands on it.
"I did some digging into Visticorp before handing over my evidence, and it turned out my hunch was right. I was able to hack into some of their files. There was a young girl about fifteen years ago who was in an accident and ended up with special abilities, much the same way you did." I couldn’t stop myself from gasping. I couldn’t believe it. "There’s someone else like me?"
