Heroes: Book III

Prologue

Silver.
God, what a beautiful, beautiful color.

It envelopes me, cool and soft and quiet.
Sunlight, in all of its golden and outspoken glory, I think is nothing compared to the glow of the moon. Because in the night, the world submerged in silver, his hair shines in docile waves. And his face, resting inches beside mine, gleams and radiates this sort of energy that consumes me entirely.

I gently wrapped my fingers around Peter's locks. I basked in the peace of his sleep until his eyes peaked open to look at me, followed shortly by a grin lying across his mouth.

"What are you doing up?" he questioned, his voice still groggy from sleep.

"I can't fall asleep," I answered, continuing to rub circles into his head.

"Still on Utah time?"

"Yeah. Because somebody just had to see the World's Largest Pit," I teased.

He wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Hey. You have to admit, my choice was cooler than yours."

"You're crazy. A stupid hole in the Earth is nowhere near cooler than a two-hundred and seventy-five foot tree."

His hand trailed down my arm and held mine.
"I am crazy. Because I love a person that made me travel to the other side of the country to look at a tree."

"You know what would've been worse?"

"Hm?"

"A stupid hole in the ground."

Peter's eyes grew bright as he burst into laughter. He rolled over and placed his hands beside my shoulders, hovering above me now with a smirk.
"You loved that pit. I will go home tomorrow and show you the pictures of the awe-struck expression on your face when you saw it's majesty."

I chuckled and pulled Peter by his shirt down to me. His lips crashed into mine and brilliant streams of energy sparked and lingered throughout the room. We barely noticed them. They were such a common thing now.

I affectionately traced the side of his face.
"You know, you don't have to go home."

"But who else will fulfill the important job of occupying my mom's basement?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"I'm serious, Peter. You could move in here with me."

His energy grew tense. Intimidated.
"I just...I don't know. I need to be there for Lorna."

I placed my palms softly against his chest, calming him down with a warm glow from my fingertips.
"Bluebird's okay. She's out of middle school, now. She's more independent."

"But her powers..."

"She's had them for three years. And at least she's not using them to steal a million things like someone I know used to do."

Peter smiles lightly, then it faded away as his gaze darted to the ground. His shoulders heaved with a sigh.
"I love you. But I'm scared that—"

A low, hum of trembling rocked Peter above me.
The hairs on my arms stood as the world suddenly shook beneath us. It was a quick jostle, the trees outside whipping jaggedly for a brief second. We looked at each other utterly confused. A bad feeling presented itself in the core of my chest.

"What the hell was that?" I questioned, bringing my head up from the pillow.

Peter rubbed his palm against my leg, attempting to calm me down.
"I'm sure it was nothing. Probably just some weird earthquake or something."

I peeled back the sheets and left the warmth of the bed for the open air. I slipped on a pair of jeans beneath Peter's oversized Led Zeppelin t-shirt, running downstairs and outside onto the sidewalk in my socks.

It was only a matter of seconds before Peter caught up to me, slipping his bomber jacket over my shoulders. It was coming from the ground. A darkness, buried deep beneath the Earth's crust, was seeping out. I bent down hesitantly, lying my palm onto the rough cement.

And I felt chaos. Obsidian and swirling about like a black hole ready to consume the universe.

The dark energy burned my hand and I quickly withdrew it, scampering back away. I scrambled back to my feet as tears raced down the curves of my cheeks. Peter instinctually pulled me to his chest, removing my hair out of my face as I gasped for air.

"Hey....Hey. Firefly," he stated placing his hands on the sides of my face.

"___. Look at me. Hey. It's okay. Everything's okay," Peter added, bringing my focus straight to his eyes and stroking his thumb beneath my cheek to catch a tear.

I took a breath,
"Something...I don't know. Something dark just like...appeared. Out of nowhere."

He brought my head to the crook of his neck, stroking through my hair as he assured me,
"Maybe you're just tired. We had a long day, let's just go back to bed."

Peter kissed the top of my head and continued to hold me to his chest, trying to enwrap me into his energy, away from the dark. I melted into his embrace.

"Okay. Maybe it was nothing..." I said slowly, trying to convince myself, to wipe away the anxiety spinning in my stomach.

Peter enlaced my hand in his, leading me back upstairs beneath the warm sheets. My fingertips stopped shivering when he slipped his headphones over my ears, wrapping his arms around me until he knew I was asleep and that I was safe.

And yet, in my head, in the background of his energy was still something lurking in my sleep. But I brushed it off, sending it off into some place far away. Peter's warm breath comforted my temple.

I'm sure it was nothing.

*
"That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero."

-Stan Lee