Big City Villain | BOOK ONE

Chapter Fourteen: Something Strange is Happening.

"Can we stop by at the gas station for some snacks?" Charlie asked me, as we were trying to get through the mass of students all headed in the one direction that led to freedom.

Instead of answering him, I suddenly did a 180° turn and peered over the heads of the other students. "What happened to Ellie? I thought she was behind us."

A flounce of curls bobbed up and down behind a few students, and suddenly Ellie was before us looking flustered and frustrated. "Thanks for waiting for me, you two nincompoops!"

Charlie only grinned and slowed down for her a little. "Sorry, Ellie!"

She only rolled her eyes at him. "Sure you are. Anyway, when are we going to go over all our notes and bring Coal up to date on the whole Headphones thing?"

"Today. We're all going to go to my house and hang out, get some popcorn and a bunch of snacks," Charlie said once we finally broke out of the high school and jogged down the steps to the sidewalk.

I shivered at the cold wind that was blowing through the city, ruffling up the autumn leaves and blowing them everywhere. I had a feeling another storm was brewing and whether it was Storm Rider throwing a tantrum or just the weather was for me to never find out since she was probably going to hold last night against me forever.

Why are girls so revengeful? Can't they just have a sudden bout of amnesia and forget the foul? That would be so convenient.

"Coal?"

I snapped back to the present and found Charlie and Ellie looking at me expectantly. "What happened? What'd I miss?"

"Are we going to go pick up some snacks?" Ellie asked.

I shook my head and frowned. "We've been having too much junk food lately, let's get some vegetables and fruit or something... Like broccoli... Broccoli is a vegetable, right?"

Ellie looked over at Charlie quickly, her eyes wide with fear but Charlie dismissed her look with a shake of his head. "Don't worry, he gets like this sometimes, but when a chocolate bar or fruit leather is dangled in front of him, he'll be back to his normal self."

Oh great. Shortened curfew. I mean, like, you're a villain Coal Black, curfews don't matter to you. Right! Before I was going to agree with Charlie, Benjamin walked past us, giving me a sharp silent look and not sticking around, just kept walking and heading home, as if he trusted that I wouldn't break my curfew. Oh pickle.

"Whatever, anyway if we're going to do any project we have to do it at my house," I said, trying not to grit my teeth or look upset.

Stuffing my hands into my pockets and slipping out of the conversation, I kept my eyes glued to the sidewalk as I walked behind Charlie, keeping his feet in my line of vision so I could get lost in my thoughts again.

All day my mind was elsewhere, the teachers so kindly rapping my knuckles with their rulers to get my attention again but my thoughts were so heavy on City Sweeper that their threats of detention barely reached my ears.

What in the world was City Sweeper holding against Anti Gravity? What did he do to anybody? He's the good guy, albeit incredibly annoying but he can't even kill a spider! And whether it's because he has a heart of gold or is really truly scared of them is to be debated.

Combined with these disturbing thoughts of City Sweeper was that weird feeling I had yesterday. Maybe it was just the aftereffects from when CS took my powers temporarily, or maybe my powers are going away because I've been banned for so long.