The Normals | ✓

E I G H T E E N

Frantically, I start hitting the guest room window again, praying that it unsticks itself and slides the rest of the way. I manage to dislodge it a little bit more, making it squeak in protest, and have just dislodged it the rest of the way when there's an especially loud thump and the door to the room comes smashing apart behind me, shoving away what little of a barricade I had made earlier. My stomach jumps into my throat and I half-jump, half-scramble onto the windowsill as it does so. Out, I need to get out.

But no. My fingers are just closing around the outside ledge of the window when two hands grab my ankles and yank me back into the room, landing me painfully on my stomach on the floor. For a moment, I can't see anything, but then I register two blurry men standing above me. One of them bends over and picks me up, scooping me off the floor as if I weigh no more than a basket of clothing. I kick and yell, but I just get carried out of the room, passing through the now broken doorway. I pass by a man with bronze skin and dark coily hair that must be Cassius; he seems to not know whether to look more shocked at the door or at me.

The person carrying me practically drops me onto the couch in the living room, where Lyra and Arden sit, staring at me, at the door, at the scene in front of them. I scramble to my feet and am about to make a run for the door when another pair of hands grab my arms and sit me back down forcefully. I whip my body around to try to free myself of the hands, but end up face to face with a white mask.

If I wasn't already breaking into a cold sweat, I certainly am now. A Mask. I thought I'd never see one of them ever again, yet here I am, face to face with one all over again.

Yet, something seems familiar about this one. Yes, the green eyes are the same, and I can barely see the face behind the mask, but when a flash of recognition passes through the person's eyes and they lean away abruptly, the short, light blonde hair framing their face gives it away.

"Captain?"

She gets up stiffly. "There should be another one here," she says, facing Gwen, who's sitting calmly on the couch across from me with her legs crossed. "A male."

"Well, go find him then!" Gwen says, waving her hand dismissively.

Captain turns to the two men who had broken the door down. The taller one, who had picked me up, has a pale complexion, deep-set, angular eyes, and slicked-back black hair, and no mask. But the other one, a broad-shouldered guy with dirty blond hair and an all-black outfit, wears a Mask identical to Captain's. In fact, with their matching masks, outfits and similar hair, they could be twins. "We're looking for a male around eighteen," Captain says. "Well-built, slightly above average height, loosely curly hair--"

"Captain," I say, trying to get her attention.

She ignores me, her shoulders tensing up. "--medium skin tone, light eyes--"

"Captain," I say again. I can feel my throat closing up. "Sniper's dead."

This time, she turns to me. She looks like a coil of wire, so tightly wound that the slightest thing could make her spring loose. "I wasn't speaking to you." She keeps her voice steady, commanding, like the leader she always was, but her eyes betray her. They're watering, I can see it from here. Turning away, she points at the blonde guy. "Do a full sweep of the ground floor. Check for anyone else here or any signs of more people. I'll do the upstairs."

The two disappear into the house, and I'm left with Arden, Lyra, their father, Gwen, and the tall pale guy. The front door opens after a few minutes and Gwen goes to bring Arden's mother in. She sits down on the couch next to her husband, giving us a weird look on her way there. Gwen claps her hands together. "So," she begins, "you're probably all wondering why I'm here."