𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊

30. 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?"

Eszter looked away from her phone that she had been gazing at for the last few minutes, staring at a photo of her, Pepper and Tony before the Blip; someone had taken for the trio, but Eszter couldn't even remember who had offered to take it for them. They were posing for the camera after attempting to bake from scratch, thinking it would be easy, but it turned out to be a total mess. That day, Eszter had used her powers to help the process, much to Pepper's dismay, but it didn't exactly go as planned.

Now, Eszter often finds herself staring back at the memories from way back then, remembering how things were before the Blip.

"What?" Eszter stared at Michelle, not paying attention.

"I asked what you were looking at."

"Oh," Eszter glances back at her phone before shutting it off. Looking back at Michelle, she musters a quick smile. "Nothing. Just . . . some pictures."

Michelle notes the look on Eszter's face, so she disregards the topic. Instead, she decides to interrogate her on another subject. "So, how come you're not sitting with your boyfriend?" Michelle sits back in her seat, gluing her eyes to the book on her lap. "Thought you were gonna sit with him this time?"

Eszter can feel Peter's anxiety levels increasing tremendously in the front of the bus and starting to bother the enhanced. "I was, but . . . I don't know. He didn't want me to sit with him," Eszter shakes her head, concerned. She concentrates on Peter's emotions, wondering what could be bothering him. "But something's wrong with him--like, he's freaking out for some reason."

Something intrigues Michelle because the girl closes her book with her fingers inside, keeping her place. "About what?" She chuckles in response.

"Beats me."

Suddenly, there was a rather loud smack that caught Eszter's attention, and another form of panic surfaced in the air; the enhanced furrows her brows at the sensation and looks up, puzzled to see Peter standing at the front of the bus. She watches as Peter was shoving on a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose.

"E.D.I.T.H. don't kill Brad."

"Did you just punch Flash?"

Eszter's eyes widen. He did what?

"No," Peter lies. But when he looked at the back of the bus, Peter's eyes nearly bulged out from his eye sockets when he realizes the drones were locking on to Brad.

Suddenly, Peter swings around and shoots in a string of web at the steering wheel, yanking downward until the wheel turns abruptly; Dimitri lost grip of the wheel, but when he looked up, he caught sight of the drone in his side mirror before it was shot at.

Eszter barely had any time to react when her body lurches to the side, but she reaches out and grabs ahold of the headpiece of the chairs, holding herself in place. But Eszter looked out the window, seeing sparks fly up against the window as the side of the bus scrapes against the railing. Screams filled the car as their fear floods the bus, knocking Eszter back into her train of thought.

Eszter pushes her hands outward as a rush of purple violet tendril thrust outside the bus, dancing around the vehicle as it began luring them away from the side of the mountain.

"Ah! This is not the autobahn!" Mr. Dell cries.

"Peter, plant your fanny in that seat and buckle up, right now," Mr. Harrington orders.

Confused and unaware of the situation, Eszter stares at Peter with a questioning glare, but the boy merely looks at her with panic in his eyes as he shakes his head; for some reason, he didn't want her to turn around. Eszter notes this and obliges.