Unexpected Consequences

5. Peter the Zombie, Minus the Rotting Flesh

I COULDN'T SLEEP the rest of that night.

After figuring out the eerie flicker message, I'd worked on my homework in a daze, finishing a lot faster than I'd thought I would. I'd tried to sleep afterwards, but my mind wouldn't shut down and my eyes refused to grow tired. I stayed in bed anyway, unable to do anything but stare into the darkness, feeling hollow.

Now I was in school, my knee bouncing up and down with too much energy. Mom rarely let me drink coffee, but I'd drank two cups this morning behind her back to make sure that I wouldn't get tired in school. This was the first time I'd gone an entire night without sleep, and I wasn't sure how well I would handle it.

I chewed on a hangnail, barely listening as the teacher explained our warm-up assignment. My attention kept flickering to Ben, who looked over at me every few seconds. He already knew everything because I couldn't keep my mouth shut on our way to school this morning, but we'd run out of time for him to react or ask any questions.

I could tell that he was concerned, so I smiled, forced myself to take a deep breath, and sit still. He looked away.

When the teacher was done explaining, I looked down at the first problem, tapping my pencil against my cheek. The numbers were blurry, and I blinked hard, unable to think straight—Lex's calm, cutthroat expression kept interrupting my thoughts. Anyone wearing a mask had a reason for wearing it, yet he'd shown me his face anyway. That should make him vulnerable, but his action felt more like a power move, a show of confidence that was meant to be intimidating. He wasn't scared of me, and he wanted me to know it.

He did a great job.

By the time I reached the second problem, my leg was bouncing again, and my handwriting had degraded into illegible sloppiness. All villains warranted attention, and this was no exception. But, as terrifying as Lex and his grand introduction were, I was too used to criminals by now to stress over it so much that I became this fidgety. The real reason I was panicked and shaky right now was because of how close he'd come to killing me.

I couldn't stop imagining what would've happened if the car had crushed me. If I hadn't caught the spear in time.

Near-death experiences weren't rare—I'd fallen off a building, almost got hit by a train, and avoided bullets, among other things, but Lex had successfully attacked me twice on the same day that he met me. Even Remote Man hadn't managed that.

I gripped my pencil tight, almost hard enough to break it. Remote Man was my hardest adversary so far. I prayed that Lex didn't change that.

☆

I plopped my lunch tray onto the table and sat down. The crash wasn't here yet, but I could feel it coming. My limbs were starting to feel heavy, and there was nothing I wanted to do more than curl up right here and fall asleep.

Ben kicked my foot under the table. "Stay awake."

I groaned and rubbed my eyes. "Is it noticeable?"

"You look like a zombie, minus the rotting flesh. Just go to the nurse, she'd probably let you sleep."

I shook my head. I hadn't gone to the nurse since I fell off the rope last spring. I was afraid she would bring that up again, and that she might think I have an important medical condition and call Mom, who had no idea what had happened last night. She knew I was tired, but she did not know that I'd been awake the whole night worrying about a new villain, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Ben mumbled something too low for me to hear. "What was that?" I asked, spearing a roma tomato with my fork.

"I can't believe he just disappeared," he said.