The Mask Effect (EDITING)

Chapter 14- We Should Really Screen Our Guests

Dedicated to @CoLLorBLiND for her amazing and heroic effort at a superhero story! Loved her new- and very Contradictory- take on it!

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Noah's POV

Maddy hung onto my arm- eyes wide, clenching her jaws together in an attempt not to scream. From time to time, her lips moved wordlessly. I got the impression she was writing her obituary mid-air.

Hold it! No one's dying while the brother's still flying!

With a burst of energy, I flipped Maddy the right way up, flying up to our bedroom window. Tossing her onto my bed, I climbed in after her.

Both my shirt and my hair were plastered to me with sweat, even though we were suspended for a minute at most- another reminder why I preferred to let the others rescue people from buildings. Even your own sister was heavy (or normal for her age, if you looked at it that way) without superhuman strength.

With a sigh, I flopped onto my bed- then straightened to find my sister staring very, very intensely at me. Maddy didn't look tired. "Noah, how could you do this? What if someone- no wait, what if Mom saw us? We'd have died before we had time to say our last sentences!"

I let out one long, tired sigh from my place on the bed. "Just don't do that again."

Maddy nodded benignly. "Exactly. Being caught in the most dramatic, slow-motion dead drop in the world gives your sister heart attacks. Now, are you forgetting to say something?"

Choosing to avoid her gaze, I didn't reply. Something heavy took the opportunity to sit on me. I looked up to find my sister there, almost smug. "Madeline," I said, as calmly as I could manage, "Please return my suit, or tell me where you've hidden it. Now."

"Nope," Maddy replied, smiling just as brilliantly. "This is my time to lord over you and make sure you don't risk your neck. Why would I give that up?"

"The greater good?" I tried to find a sane reason Maddy would give the suit back- which she hated. "I'll have to tell our parents about this later."

Dumb scare tactic, Noah. I wasn't sure either of our parents approve of leaping off buildings for no reason, or putting your sister into danger- and you did both at once! Congratulations!

"Sure," Maddy said. "As long as you stay home- I would hate to have to sit on you all day long."

"Fine." I stood up- never mind that Maddy was now hanging from my front like an improvised monkey. "I'll change. Then we can talk about whatever it is you wanted to- as long as you'll return the suit to me when we're done."

Maddy smirked as she got off. "I'll be sure to consider it."

"You sound just like Mom," I groaned.

Maddy shook a finger at me. "No, I got all of Dad's traits, remember? I've got his wits and instant charm, and you're stuck with Mom's inability to find her way out of a legal paper bag."

At that, I snorted and headed into the bathroom to change.

Back in sweatpants and a T-shirt, I took a seat beside my sister, who was apparently deep into some article on her phone. When she noticed me, she quickly hid the screen- giving me just enough time to read Self Defence 101 before the evidence disappeared under her pillow.

I glanced out the window. "You wanted to talk?"

Maddy began to make rounds of the room. "Yeah, but not until we're sure Madeline isn't in earshot. Where is she, anyway?"