The Mask Effect (EDITING)

Chapter 4- Hint: The Source Is Coffee Beans

Dedicated to @AurelliaSkyland for the amazing book Breaking Butterfly- and the adventures of Butterflygirl and Star!

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Noah's POV

I pounded over the O'Connor's backyard, flying across sections when I didn't feel like I was going fast enough. It wasn't too large, a section of lawn surrounded by trees- just like the others in this neighborhood, including ours. But every overgrown weed and unruly bush was a possible hiding place. Right now, the space felt huge.

I skidded to a stop by the bush where I found him last time. He wasn't there.

"Brian, where are you?" In the trees. Behind the porch. On the lawn. All empty.

A sneaking suspicion told me I wouldn't find him in the house.

I thought about where I would be, if I were him. Probably by the bush, but he wasn't there. But something else was.

I ran over to where a small piece of paper fluttered in the wind, caught on one of the bushes's brambles. Before I could unfold it, a voice behind me said, "Let me take care of that for you."

One of the branches tore itself off the bush and stabbed the paper, ripping it into two fluttering pieces.

"Glad you're back." I turned around, facing him. "I was wondering where you'd gone."

"Have you seen the news?" Brian stepped closer. A backpack hung loosely from one hand, and he lowered the other to hang by his side. His dirty-blond bangs were dirtier than usual, closer to light brown than dark blonde. Exhaustion hung off everything, from the slump of his shoulders to his grim expression. When he dropped in the grass next to me, his backpack spilled open, revealing clothes piled around snacks.

He took a deep breath before speaking again. "Phaonix City is a trap."

I looked up at Brian- but immediately wanted to look away again. He was covered in cuts and burns, and although I could see them heal, I winced. His ankle was twisted at an odd angle. Even as it snapped into place, I realized what he tried. And that it didn't work.

"We can't escape this now."

I had no idea what our sisters were doing up there, but it turned out to be a blessing- they didn't notice our combined efforts to get Brian into his own bedroom. Not quietly.

"I don't know why you tried doing this kind of thing in the first place," I grumbled as the next step refused to get lower.

"And I don't know why you're doing this," he shot back.

His ankle buckled and sent us tumbling down the stairs again- our hard-earned two steps of progress into the dirt.

"You've got to sit," I said, propping him against a couch. Getting him up the stairs was proving to be nearly impossible- at least not without flying, which he refused to do. Maddy would've been much better at figuring out what to do, but if she showed up, Brian really would begin to cry. Tears already sparkled at the corners of his eyes, and only partly because of the pain. "Let that ankle mend itself, and then we can get up those stairs. Are you sure you don't want to fly-"

"No." Brian almost knocked over the glass of water I gave him. "You don't get it, Noah. It's dangerous to be us. Do you see what state I'm in now?" He gestured to the cuts. "Some villain did this, right when I was about to... leave. They're not just content with exposing our identities now- they want to make sure none of us ever have the chance to lead a normal life again." He held up the glass of water with shaking hands. "Until-"