AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But he never got the chance to finish. Because the double doors of the police station swung open, and Nick’s father stepped out, mouth twisted into a scowl as he glanced down at his phone. Nick jerked his head back as Dad looked in his direction. He didn’t know if he’d been seen. He waited a moment before leaning back out. He sawhis father’s back facing him as he walked in the opposite direction through the crowd. Jazz stood on her tiptoes, looking over his shoulder. “Where’s he going?”
Thinking quickly, Nick said, “Jazz, go home—or—go to Seth and Gibby. I gotta talk to my dad.”
She gripped his arm. “You don’t have to do this by yourself.”
He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. By the look on her face, he’d failed. “I know, but I—I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I don’t want you caught in the middle of it.”
She dropped her hand. Looking perturbed, she said, “Are you sure?”
“I am,” he said firmly. “I’ll catch up with you after, okay? You good with getting out of here on your own?”
She rolled her eyes. “I can handle myself.”
“Don’t I know it,” he muttered. He laughed quietly when she stood on her tiptoes, kissing his cheek. “Thanks, Jazz.”
“Go,” she said, shoving him out of the alcove. “Do what you need to do, but be careful, Nicky. You don’t know what you’re walking into.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” he said. “Later.”
He hurried down the sidewalk, glancing into the windows of the precinct as he passed it. He remembered what Gibby had told him—how he saw a badge and uniform and thoughtsafety, something so ingrained in him that he took it as gospel truth when perhaps he should’ve asked questions. He ducked his head when he saw Officer Rookie inside, wearing an ill-fitting suit, holding a folder in his hands. Since Nick had last seen him, he’d apparently decided that a beard was the right thing to do for his face, which, okay.
He made it by the station without the Rook seeing him, and he continued on, keeping an eye on Dad so he didn’t lose him in the crowd. He thought about calling after him, but the look on Dad’s face when he’d exited the precinct rubbed him the wrong way. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t exactly feel like giving Dad the benefit of the doubt at the moment. He wanted to see where he was going, what he was doing. He wasn’t headed toward home. Maybe hewas going back to Jazz’s and Gibby’s parents, though Nick didn’t think that was the case. It’d been hours since Dad had left, and he’d said he was going to work when he finished with them.
Nick flinched when a car’s brakes squealed on the street, sure his powers were coming back. He balled his hands into fists. Nothing happened. Everything was normal. Everything was fine.
Or, at least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
Dad crossed the street with the light, and Nick began to jog to catch up so he wouldn’t have to wait until it was safe to cross again. He made it across just as the walk symbol changed back into a red hand. Where was Dad going? And why were his shoulders hunched nearly to his ears? He looked stressed, angry. Was it because of the meeting with his friends’ parents, or something else? What the hell was he hiding this time?
A memory, then, unbidden but rising like a rocket in his head. Dad in the hospital, Nick next to his bed, both of them watching Pyro Storm and Shadow Star battle it out on the television that hung on the wall.
If someone who loved you lied to you, kept things from you, hurt you, but they needed your help, would you do it?
I would. Because I can never turn my back on someone who needs me. If I was lied to, if I was kept in the dark and my heart was breaking, I would still do everything I could. Sometimes, we lie to the ones we love most to keep them safe.
Nick brushed his hand angrily against the burning in his eyes. He would get answers, one way or another.
Ten minutes later, Dad turned into a small park Nick wasn’t familiar with. Bare trees reached up toward a gunmetal sky and a pavilion with empty wooden tables sat on a cracked cement slab. The ground was covered in dirty snow. The only other people in the park were a kid on a swing, laughing as a woman pushed her, causing the chains to creak as the girl shoutedHigher, higher!
Nick hid behind a tree, watching his father go to the pavilion. Dad looked down at his phone, a furious expression on his face.He tapped the screen a couple of times before bringing it to his ear. Whoever answered, Dad didn’t greet. Instead, his mouth twisted into a snarl, teeth bared. Nick was too far away to hear what was being said. Dad began to pace, his back to Nick, his footsteps echoing dully in the pavilion.
Nick took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the tree, moving closer. He froze when Dad turned toward him, but he was looking down at his feet, shoulders stiff. He paced the other direction, and Nick rushed forward, heart in his throat as he reached a thick pillar at the edge of the pavilion.
He could hear his father now.
He wished he couldn’t.
—and where do you get off?” Dad snarled. “Who the hell do you think you are? I told you I’d do what you wanted. Itoldyou I’d handle it. You can’t—”
Nick covered his mouth with his hand, his hot breath stinging his palm. The woman pushing the kid on the swing stared at him for a moment before pulling the girl off and walking away, glancing over her shoulder, eyes narrowed.
“I don’t give two shits what you’re doing,” Dad said coldly. “He’s not your son. He’smine, and I’ll be the one to decide what he does and doesn’t know. You’re in no position to give me parenting advice, Simon. Not after what you did to Owen.”
Nick’s blood turned into icy sludge as he gasped against his hand.
Dad laughed bitterly. “That’s not what we agreed to. I told you I’d keep you in the loop when it came to the Extraordinaries, and I’vedonethat. You know everything I do about Pyro Storm’s movements. And there aren’t any other Extraordinaries. I would know if there—what? No. Of course I don’t know who he is. He wears amask. How the hell am I—no. He doesn’t know either. I don’tcarewhat you saw on the bridge, he doesn’t know who Pyro Storm is. Listen to me, Simon, because I won’t say this again. Leave my son out of this. All the Concentra in the world doesn’t matter if you’re screwing with my child, and I’m telling you righthere and right now: if you try to speak to my son again, I’ll kill you myself. Just because you found a way to suppress what’s inside Nick doesn’t give you the right to involve yourself in his life.”
Nick tried to move, but his feet were rooted in place. He couldn’t make his legs work, couldn’t do anything but struggle to breathe as his father broke his heart.
