Chosen One Gone Wrong (Villains & Monsters #1)

Chapter Seven

- TWO WEEKS LATER -

Daija had one more final to take and then she was done for the semester. On top of that, she was feeling much better, like her burn out never happened. She vowed to never go through that again. She spent a lot of time practicing moving small objects without using her hand to guide it. She discovered that she could also bend, fold, tear or crush things.

It's become a habit. A bad habit that she has to hide from Violet almost hourly. She wasn't ready to explain random objects floating through the air, or why she had to buy new forks after she bent the old ones in half.

Today, she was spending her afternoon with the heroes in the training room. This place was in the same vicinity as where she was kept in jail. Daija discovered that they have multiple bases and warehouses across the city of Kunross. Her next step was finding out what they held, and how to get rid of them without them looking in her direction.

This might be harder than she thought. For now, she'll focus on training. Jamie was in charge of teaching her how to use her powers better, and Justin was in charge of teaching her how to hold her own in a fight. Fiona stopped in after work to say hi, then she had to leave again to go run some errands. Lastly, Aniya was in her office doing some research.

Once Daija finished her training with Justin, she walked over to the corner of the room where Jamie had his head buried in a book. "Hey, what are you reading?"

He looked up, his eyes wide and his cheeks bright red. "Um... Well, it's-"

She laughed, "My god, Jamie," as she sat beside him and checked her phone, "I'm not going to judge you for reading smut. We're all adults here."

"...You're not?"

"No, I'd actually ask if you have recommendations."

"I didn't think you were the reading type."

"My aunt used to take my books whenever I got into trouble," She admitted, smiling as she recalled the memory. "It was a more effective punishment than taking my phone."

Jamie laughed, placing his bookmark on his page before putting the book in his bag. "I actually wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"You talk about your aunt a lot. What about your mom?"

Daija's stomach dropped at the mention of her mother, the silly memory of her aunt taking her books being replaced by a more painful one.

"You're pathetic and I hate you."

"Mom, please, I'm sorry..." She sobbed.

Jamie's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Oh. Sorry."

She turned to him. "Why are you apologizing?"

"You look like I just stepped on your puppy just now. I didn't mean to say anything bad, I just-"

"It's fine," She smiled gently, "you didn't know." She needed to change the subject and fast, so she asked, "So, you mentioned that Simon was one of you guys before he went off the rails. What happened?"

Justin, having heard Simon's name mentioned, walked over and sat across from the two of them. "What? No one told you this yet?"

Obviously not since I asked, She thought to herself before shaking her head, "Nope. I just want to know how it happened. I can't imagine that guy saving people. It seems like all he likes to do is set shit on fire."

Jamie sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned his head back against the wall. "Well, it all happened about three years ago. There was another hero. Our old leader before Aniya took over. His name was Ian. He was Fiona's fiance," he then faintly smiled, "Those two were madly in love. Anyway, he could manipulate the weather, making him the most powerful of us all."