Chapter 16

"How cruel you are..."

The new superhero, Thorne, seemed to be speaking to herself on a rooftop not far from Steven's house.

Another voice, coming from the crow next to her, spoke.

"Says the girl with the power to bewitch others... Yet you are not wrong. You have to crack a few eggs to make some eggs."

Thorne gave a confused look at the crow. "Did you mean an omelette?"

The crow retorted, "I hate omelettes."

Thorne held in a laugh; how absurd this man was.

"So what's next, Talon?"

The bird turned and waddled in the opposite direction.

"With her out of the way, what can stop us from our goals now?"

Strange black magic erupted from the crow in a black cloud. Suddenly, a man emerged from that cloud. He had silvery-white hair, a fur coat, and was shirtless. Thorne smirked and took in the view; you don't see that often. Still, Talon was far from her taste anyway.

"Your little boy toy seems to have some latent powers that we are unaware of. First, immunity to you, then today I found him evading almost every shadow man I sent at him."

Thorne raised an eyebrow. "He would have to have masked his scent for that to happen... Very strange."

Talon smiled coolly and dropped off the rooftop to the concrete slowly as if levitating. Thorne followed closely behind with a vine lifting her back to the ground. What a strange, cute little boy Steven is, she thought to herself.

**********

The hospital room was quiet. I was alone with Fran; she was doing fine and only sprained her wrist, but she hadn't woken up yet, it seems. It's not a coma, so she should wake up soon. I insisted on staying with her.

I was laying my head down by her hand and closed my eyes, letting myself feel those emotions again from earlier. The confusion, the fear—I am thankful she isn't hurt that much at all. I started to huff and puff again like I do before I cry, but no tears came, and I slowly came back to normal without letting out any moans or cries. She is okay.

Pat.

A hand was settled on my hair. I opened my eyes, and Fran was sitting up, smiling.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you—"

I grabbed her close into a big hug, careful to avoid her sprained wrist.

Silence. Fran was startled at first but quickly hugged me back.

"I'm not dead yet, haha."

I let go, realizing that I was probably holding her just a little too long, but her face didn't seem bothered.

"Fran, what happened?"

She frowned a bit and squeezed her eyelids, trying to remember.

"Ahhh, not sure honestly. It kind of felt like a dream, but since I'm here, it must have been real or something."

She told me about how she saw Rebecca and me eating ice cream, which upset her since she knew she was so late. She told me about the crow and how, when she tried to fly, she fell instead, which was really a strange feeling.

"I hate butterflies, Steven... That was honestly the most scared I've been in a while."

Then she quickly turned away from me, folded her arms, and put on her pouty face, which is the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

"Hmph."

An audible grunt. I must be in trouble... Yeah, I should've waited for her.

"Well, I waited a long time for you; I wasn't sure what happened. We ended up buying you some ice cream even, but I guess you ended up going home..."

Her face was getting even more upset... I'm just trying to explain myself, though!

"The movie sucked without you..."

She was still pouting but said,
"Did you see 'Gilgar, and the Fall of Zantrax' without me?"

Clearly, that was a big deal for her, which made me smile a bit.

"Not yet, I still want to see it with you."

She stopped pouting and gave a nod of approval. "Good, I guess we will just have to go tomorrow then, won't we?"

She smiled at me, and we laughed. Thank goodness.

"So, are your powers really gone?"

She looked down, and I saw tiny wisps of her normal golden glow, but nothing at all like she used to. That was concerning.

"I guess it worked, huh?"

She jumped on top of the hospital bed and shouted, "I'm free!!!!"

She was still in a hospital gown. I quickly averted my eyes from the full moon that she just presented without thinking. I love this girl. I laughed to myself and hid my head in my hands.