Saving a Superhero

22: The Scholar+Candy

Then, as my vision was clearing, with the exception of a few spots of black that refused to disappear no matter how much I blinked, the commotion began. There was yelling and laughing and what sounded like a stonewall crumbling to the ground. I was wobbling to my feet as it ended in slow clapping.

Half the room was collapsed, a mess of concrete, rebar, and dying vines. Dust was covering my friend's faces--and my own, I realized--like crazy war paint. Microscopic flakes of the wall floated through the air, making the light falling from the ceiling even more visible.

On the other side of the room, having entered in from the other tunnel, a gorgeous, curly haired stranger was clapping.

At least, I wanted to pretend he was a stranger and not my first kiss. It made things a lot more bearable to pretend that he was just one of the countless criminals we'd supposedly locked away and not Hudson Cameron, my ex-boyfriend.

And he was clapping, apparently for Harper's wonderful display of her botany knowledge because her dark skin was a violent shade of maroon as she reigned in her anger.

"Nice to be in the same room as you five," Hudson called, his voice carrying in a smooth baritone. "What's it been? A few hours?"

There was that wicked smile that got him in and out of trouble.

"What's going on?" Kennedy yelled. I'm sure she had been going for a strong independent lady who don't need no man vibe, but she just sounded as scared and confused as we all felt.

"That's a brilliant question, Miss Haks." He took a few steps closer, but stopped when a handful of vines snaked toward his feet. "But I think you already know the answer."

I could almost hear the buzz of confusion on our side of the room. I was hoping he'd play the cliche villain card and explain his entire plan to us here and now, or at least explain what had happened the last time we'd met in that abandoned warehouse and I'd conjured my mirror maze.

"You don't remember, do you?" He was addressing all of us now, but there was something in his voice that made it feel like he was talking to me now and just me. "You're all rusty. MissMars can't even restore what she took from you!"

Now just explain what I took, I mentally prompted, but, being a super jerk and all, he didn't oblige.

"What do you want, Scholar?" Rory's face was all screwed up as she attempted to sound less scared than Kennedy did. Being the little actress that she was, she pulled it off surprisingly well. "Scholar? I thought we were all on a first name basis, Miss Mckinnely." He shook his head, all the while making that condescending tsking noise that made me want to throw one of Kennedy's high heels at his head. "I forget, you don't know me as well as I know you. And all it took was a simple refresher, a simple brush of the hand." With tentative fingers he brushed his left eye lid. "Or a fist to the face."

I thought of Rory's encounter with the purse snatcher, when she punched him in the eye. Grace's hand brushing Hudson's as he posed as the attractive hotel employee. Harper's fingers tapping the cab driver's as she handed up payment for the ride. Kennedy running into a curly haired man outside of Grace's apartment. My own shoulders brushing against hundreds of strangers every day.

"Touch. That's how you know about people." Out loud, my discovery sounded a tad bit on the insane side, but the idea was encouraged when he nodded.

"I can't believe you, of all people, didn't remember. The more intimate the touch, the more I know. Brushing skin is almost always enough to find something incriminating, but, say a kiss, I could never forget something like that."

I couldn't help but imagine the countless times our lips had brushed or we'd snuggled under a blanket on my couch, watching the newest rom com. People think running into their exes is awkward, but it's twice as embarrassing when you realize that he knows everything about you, even the things you didn't tell him.