Ever since the robbery and meeting Asteria for the first time, my annoying dreams have gone away like magic. I still have my powers, which is whatever. They’re acting as usual with the limited knowledge I understand. Sometimes I wonder how strong I can be. How fast can I go? What temperature on a Kelvin scale can I make with the fire? What is the lowest freezing point of my power?

There is so much stuff I want to explore. I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone that doesn’t deserve it. That’s my biggest worry. I’ll need to find something that can help me see my potential, but not just anyone. Whoever I find must keep what I have a closely guarded secret. Eddie comes to mind, but he works for that super agency. I’m torn on what to do. I’ll have to talk about my dilemma with Sam before going anywhere else.

The thoughts of who to tell, bug me even after finishing my veterinary part-time nurse shift. Sam drives into the parking lane ahead of me. She usually is waiting, so I’m a bit surprised to see her arrive late.

“Was there traffic?” I say, sitting in Sam’s car. The smell of coffee fills my nostrils. I take a deep breath to suck in the godly smell. There are two cups of coffee in the cup holder and a big of big cookies on the dash. “You didn’t.”

“I sure did,” Sam giggles. I slip my sunglasses down my collar and then sip a mouth full of warm French vanilla.

“That’s good,” I say, shivering with pleasure from its godly taste.

“Don’t my wet my seats. I don’t want my car smelling like sex and piss.”

“No promises.” I drink about half, then snack on the cookie. “Ah, these are warm to? Sam, I’m going to explode.” She cracks out laughing, which makes me laugh. I have to stop chewing just to prevent from choking.

“Calm your pussy till we get home.” Our dirty innuendoes leave me giggling with thoughts of sex. I have to push those tendencies to the side, so I can discuss with her the issue that is bothering me.

“Hey, I need your opinion on something.”

“Yeah? What do you need?” She says as we set for home.

“I want to explore my powers more. I thought of asking Eddie to help me find my limit of how far I can go, but I’m hesitant since he’s working with that agency.”

“You’re still scared of them?”

“Mhmm,” I say after taking another chuck out of my cookie.

“You could just find out yourself.”

“I don’t want to hurt anybody trying to figure it out.” She momentarily scrunches her face with her mouth tightly shifted to the right side.

“What about going off somewhere where no one is around and testing them there.”

“Examples please.”

“A desert, ocean, island, far in the sky,” she lists as she counts them out with her fingers. “You got tons of places, babe, where you can see how great you are.”

“Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Thank you, Sam. This was bothering me all day.”

“You’re welcome.” My phone pings in an incoming message twice. I check the screen to find it’s Eddie.

“Fuck.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Eddie.”

“Speak of the devil,” she chuckles. “What does he want?”

“He wants me to join a parade.” Eddie sends me another message in the form of a video. I tap the screen to play it.

“Yo, Nikki! How’s it hanging?” Eddie yells as a marching band walks behind him. He says he and his friends are out celebrating the heroes who sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears to protect our city. He’s inviting me to join in on the celebration. The video ends abruptly, cutting off the last word in his sentence.

“Okay?” I say, not giving a care.

“Aw, that’s so nice of him to invite you. Where are they? We should go see what’s up.”

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“What? You don’t want to go?”

“No,” I say, swinging my head from side to side. “Let’s go home.” Before she can say something to me, Eddie calls me. I swipe to answer but don’t say a word.

“Nikki, are you coming?” Eddie yells through my phone. I look at Sam to show her my annoyed face.

“Put him on speaker,” Sam says with a giant grin. The moment I put it on speaker, he screams my name again. “Eddie, settle down.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I can barely hear my voice in this crowd. Here, let me do this.” The noise of the crowd instantly goes mute. I hear what sounds like electricity buzzing in the background. “Is that better? I’m about two thousand feet in the sky right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Oh, I didn’t notice I wasn’t talking to Nikki. Is this her girl?”

“It is I,” she answers with overjoys pride. “Nikki is next to me, stuffing her mouth with a cookie.” I stop chewing after I realize she’s right. I’m such a pig. “Nikki doesn’t want to go, but since I’m driving.” She stops to look at me with her eyes.

“Sam,” I say, stretching her name, hoping she’ll not drive over there. “Take me—”

“Tell us where you are. We’re in the city.”

“Alright, cool. The parade is currently on Cathedral Boulevard and will head east on Star Row.” Sam points at her GPS to make me input the names. Despite my annoyance, I willingly turn on the navigation without making a fuss.

“Okay, we’re on our way. See you in six minutes.” My phone beeps as Eddie hangs up on his side. I’m so sour that I don’t feel like looking at Sam right now.

“I hate you,” I say, slightly taking a sip of my coffee.

“Oh, stop it. This’ll be a breather of something interesting for us to experience together.” My annoyance level is at the point where I don’t feel like talking anymore. “Nikki, you’re acting like a moody child right now.” I pout like a child whining which inadvertently makes us both laugh. “Why do you wanna go home and not the parade?”

“I don’t have a good reason. This wasn’t in my plan for the day, so I don’t care for it.”

“I see. You know, you can fly home if you don’t want to come with me.”

“Yeah... I could.” I look at the sky to imagine souring away. “Ugh.”

“You won’t?”

“I won’t. Take us there. Let’s see what the hype is about, then go home.”

“That’s the spirit, babe!”

It takes us longer to reach the parade than we planned. Trafic makes a six-minute drive turn into a minute ride. We find a place to park the car then walk on foot to Star Row to get ahead. I notice a stage situated in front of a community house. I message Eddie where on the street he is to us. Three seconds later, I notice sparks of electricity build up on the ground. A moment later, he appears in a flash of light.

“Jesus!” Sam screams, clutching me for dear life. Many other people around me react the same way but don’t scream as loud as her. I’m the only one that didn’t flinch in the slightest.

“Hiya guys!” Eddie yells with his arms up in the air. He’s in his super outfit.

“When did you change?” I say.

“A few minutes ago. This is the last street the parade will end.” He points at the end of the road where the stage is. “The mayor and other speakers will be over there.” The band’s music starts to crawl around the corner as they approach the street. Someone floating like three feet off the stream comes hurrying down it.

“Who the hell is that?”

“That’s Magnetite. She’s our newest member.”

“Her name is a rock?” She passes us, zooms into the air, and then slowly twirls back down all ballerina-like. The ongowers clap their hands.

“Thank you, thank you!” Magnetite says, moving over to us. “Hey, Eddie!”

“What’s up, girl?” Once they give each other a special-looking handshake, she gives me a double take. Her boots shut off, making her land on the ground.

“Hey, it’s you! You’re Eddie’s secret helper?”

“Secret helper?” I echo, looking at Eddie.

“Yeah. He won’t tell us your name. He says you’re very cautious of who gets to know.” I’m shocked he hasn’t told anyone my name.

“Good. I don’t want anyone bothering me.”

“I respect that. Hey, it was nice meeting you in person. I’m gonna go rile up the crowd before everyone else gets here.” The boots turn back on. She takes a step back to face the parade but stops herself from going. “Oh! Thanks for your help against Rayan when his creature rampaged through the city.”

“You’re welcome,” I say the second after she takes off.

“Wow! Getting recognition for your work. That’s amazing,” Sam says. It puts a smile on my face.

“So, Nikki,” Eddie says like he wants something from me.

“What is it, Eddie?” I say, bracing myself for some level of annoyance. “You want something.”

“Want? Nah. I was going to ask if you are a nurse.”

“Sure you did.”

“Huh? I’m being serious,” he says with a smile.

“And I’m being serious too. What do you want?” I say with some tiny aggregation.

“Nikki,” Sam says, touching my forearm with her gentle fingernails.

“Okay, okay,” Eddie sighs. “I want to know if you decided on joining our agency.”

“I’m,” I stop to look at Sam. “Undecided.”

“It pays well. You also get covered 0insurance for the house, health, car, etcetera.”

“Thanks, but I’m already living comfortably.” Eddie gives me a low-eyed, squinting smirk.

“Be right back.” He flashes away in a lightning bolt going up to the sky, then comes back by the same bolt. “Here. This is your pay for your help.” He hands me a check for thirty-five thousand dollars.

“Holy shit,” Sam whispered. I have to take off my sunglasses to wipe my eyes. “Is this real?”

“That’s almost what I make a year,” I say. On the pay to the order line, it says, ‘Sunglasses Girl.’ “Where do I cash this if they don’t know my name?”

“Private Holdings Inc. Do you know where that is?”

“Yeah. We drive by it all the time. Supers get their money there?”

“Not exactly. You’re not officially with us, so handing out money like that goes to that one. Private Holdings will deposit the money into your bank.” His answer still doesn’t help. I tell him it won’t work, and then he says, “Just show them your eyes and you’ll have your money.” The band comes marching past us. I’m too busy scanning the fuck out of the payroll. On the back of it, there’s a word lightly printed in bold three-dimensional text. Enigmas.

“Jeez, the crowd is starting to pour in.” I jam the check deep into my pocket before getting stuck in a fanfic crowd of crazy super-loving fans. On the parade kart, Polaris and several other people in their unique suits wave to the crowd.

“More heroes I don’t know,” I mouth so no one will hear me.

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For a time, I listen to long speeches from servicemen, cops, townspeople, firefighters, and the mayor praising the supers for their help throughout the decades of their existence. It’s inspiring, to say the least. I feel more inclined to help the needy, but it’s a slight increase from what I’m comfortable with. I’m still unsure if I wanna fly around in my suit. Whenever I do that, I want to be fully comfortable. I’ll need to have a sit down with Sam on the possibilities of shit that might go down in our lives before doing anything rash.

A man coming from my left bumps into me to swing his arm around Eddie’s shoulder. His sudden intrusion makes me knock into Sam.

“Hey, what the fuck?” I say.

“Oh, my bad,” the man says in a not caring manner. He turns his attention to Eddie, who looks extremely shocked to see him. “What’s up, cuh? Remember me, bro?” Eddie’s brows are inverted while the left one is raised into his forehead. It seems like he’s absolutely confused about seeing whoever is holding him. I notice a bind of arrows tattooed on the left and right side of the man’s neck. In the center is a flaming rock, pointing down his spine.

“Zayden? What are you doing here?” Eddie says.

“Isn’t it obvious? I got out on good behavior.” Eddie wriggles his shoulder to move Zayden’s arm off his shoulder.

“Bullshit.” Seeing Eddie tense is making me tense. I rest my arm on Sam’s stomach just in case things between them get hostile.

“Whoa. Easy. Why are you acting all tense and shit? You should be joyful that I’m back.”

“Hell, the fuck no.” Zayden’s cocky smile goes away. “You should have another fifteen years on your sentence.”

“Hey,” Zayden shouts with his arms up, smiling. “What can I say? The powers that be are smiling upon me.” He points at Eddie as he walks through the crowd, unapologetically shoving people out his way. “See you around, Ed!”

“Family reunion?” I say.

“No,” Eddie says, keeping his eyes on Zayden. “Someone I used to hang with when I was a kid.”

“If I had to guess, it was probably illegal.”

“Yeah. Something is not right. That man should be still in prison,” he says, then looks at Sam and me. “Thanks for coming, you guys. Cash in that check, Nikki. I need to do some investigating.” His body electrifies as he jumps into the sky and leaves in a lightning light show.

“So... wanna go home?”

“Let’s,” I say, pulling away by hand out of the crowd.

----------------------------------------

Sam and I order takeout from an expensive Mexican restaurant we love to eat on rare occasions because of how pricey the food is. Since I got bank, I’m going all out on what we want. We get enough food to probably last us until the next day. After dinner, we snuggle on the couch for a late movie night. I’m off tomorrow, and she has to go in late for her job at the grocery store, so we plan on staying up.

About twenty minutes into the movie, my phone vibrates beside me. I ignore it to continue watching the movie. An off-camera sex scene comes on out of the blue when the protagonist leaves her room hotel while on the phone. I can’t help but cringe in a near laugh because of how fake they sound.

“Oh, gosh,” Sam says, ducking her head into my shoulder.

“I feel you. Terrible acting,” I say.

“I wasn’t thinking that.” My phone vibrates again. This time I glance at it, but don’t open it to see what it is.

“What were you thinking?”

“That almost sounded like you.”

“What?! Me?”

“Yes!” She giggles.

“I... there’s... Sam...” I’m stuttering so hard at the comparison. It’s making me feel embarrassed that I sound like I’m faking it. “I don’t sound like that, do I?”

“Babe, keyword, almost. I’m not making fun of you. Whatever is plowing that woman, she isn’t being genuine about it.”

“Oh,” I sigh, chuckling at myself. “I was about to decide on keeping my mouth shut for the next time.”

“Oh, babe,” she snickers into a laugh. “You worry too much.” For a third time my phone vibrates. I look over to find it’s Eddie. His other two messages are on my phone too.

“Shoot,” I whisper, picking up my phone to answer it. “What do you want, Eddie? You’re interrupting my date night.”

“Sorry to bother you two on this night, but I need some assistance, Eddie says.

“What do you want?”

“I’m in Habingor Park investigating suspicious drug packages. I need your help on finding out where the source is.”

“You want a white girl to go to the ghettoest part of town to help you find drugs?”

“What?” Sam says.

“Yes,” Eddie says.

“Why me out of all people?” I say as I stroke Sam’s inner fatty thigh. “You got your super friends to assist you.”

“Polaris doesn’t have the hard mentality to deal with the intimidating people.”

“Wonderous?”

“She is way too aggressive and wouldn’t fit in among people.”

“Why me then?”

“Because you seem like a levelheaded hardass.”

“Bitch, what?”

“See what I mean? You and I can blend in with these guys to stay undercover. I’ll pay you for your help.” I place my phone on speaker and place it between Sam and me.

“How much are going to pay me for this?”

“How much do you want?” Sam’s eyelids pop open and then slowly go back to their resting form as a smirk smears across her face.

“If you want Nikki, it’s gonna cost you a lot,” Sam says, holding back her smile. “You’ve interrupted our date night, so it is gonna cost you big time, honey.”

“What’s your price?” She finalizes at ten thousand dollars since I will be taken away from our date for an unknown amount of time. “Deal!”

“Alright. She’ll be there in a jiffy.” She hangs up my phone and then hands it back to me. “That’s a thirty-minute drive from me.”

“Who’s said I was going to drive,” I say.

“You’re gonna fly?”

“It’ll be a lot quicker.”

“You’re right. Are you going to wear the suit?”

“No. I need to blend in. Sweater and sweats should do the trick.”

I dress in what I’m going to wear with a crossbody bag and a black bandana to cover my face. Sam walks in with a bottle of pepper spray she keeps in the kitchen.

“I know you super and all, but take some protection. It’ll keep my mind at peace knowing you have this.” I place it in my bag alongside my phone, door key, and bandanna. “Come home to me safe and sound, kay?”

“I will. Don’t worry too much.”

“I’ll try my best not to.” We hold hands as we walk to the balcony of our apartment complex. No one is roaming the streets below, so I hover off the ground to prepare for takeoff. “You got everything you need?” I don’t have to answer her since checks my bag for herself. “Text me when you get there.”

“I will,” I say, kissing her on the lips. “See you later.” I fly off in the direction of the city. A half an hour’s drive takes no more than ten minutes. I hover high in the sky, next to the tallest skyscraper I’m calling Eddie. “Ping me your GPS.” He sends me the coordinates to a neighborhood called Ebony Northwest. I land there, avoiding any lights on the way. His location is an empty basketball court that’s divided into four sections. “I’m here. Where are you?”

“In the light,” he says, revealing himself by the flickering light pole.

“Are you serious?”

“No,” he laughs as he steps under it. “I could, but I’d probably break it.” I land in the dark before coming into the light. “No glasses this time?”

“Shit! I forgot.”

“It’s okay. Where we’re going, they’ll be people like us.”

“Really?” He swings his hand for me to follow. Far up the street, I can hear the base of the speaker blasting some sort of rap music. “What’s going on up there?”

“Where?”

“Way down the street.”

“What do you hear?”

“Uh,” I pause, pointing up the street with my hand. “Gangster rap, maybe.” Five seconds later, he turns his ear towards it.

“How did you hear that?”

“I’ve had sensitive hearing since I got my powers.”

“Handy perk.” He points forward, then says, “That’s where we’re going. There’s a party going on right now. Our job is to blend in and find who’s disrupting the drugs.”

“Any idea what we’re looking for?”

“I don’t know yet. But Zayden’s release from prison has something to do with it.”

“Sounds simple enough.” Once we get a few feet from the party, I can smell a heavy aroma of weed mixed in with tobacco. There are horeish-looking women in tight clothing. I’m immediately greeted with long glances by some of the men. I give back the same look but give them a bit of sassiness. Eddie hands me mildly cold beer cans out of a cooler that’s filled with watery ice.

“So, who are we celebrating?” I say, mildly freezing the can to make it colder.

Before Eddie can answer, a man comes up to me saying, “Whoa. You got ice powers too?” He reeks of weed. His eyes are bloodshot red. “You must’ve got what I got.” I look at Eddie for help to figure out what the guy meant.

“Someone is giving people short-term powers,” Eddie says in my ear loud enough to block out the music. “Police are unsure where it’s coming from.”

“Is it illegal to have powers?” I say, feeling alarmed.

“No,” he chuckles. “The ones that got them are using it for crime.”

“Ah,” I say after he steps back. “So,” I say to the guy who smells like a skunk. “Is there another one like me?” He overly freezes his hand that’s holding a styrofoam cup. The cup shatters like broken glass.

“Shit! Not again,” he says.

“Nice one,” I chuckle, taking a sip as I move on to snoop around. I head into the garage, past other dudes who are high out of their minds. In the family room of the house is where shit gets interesting. Topless to outright naked women roam around the room. None of these women are attractive. I spot fake hair, abnormal size asses, and stone-hard titties. “Ugh,” I gag as quietly as I can utter.

As I turn my eyes past the kitchen to look at a woman with glowing yellow hair, I spot someone handing off a small wrinkled-up gray bag with something green in it. The guy takes the bag and walks past me out the door in a hurry. I quickly take mental notes of the trop-off guy’s appearance to tell Eddie, then follow after the buyer. He bumps into Eddie yet continues walking away. Whatever he’s in a hurry for, I’m curious to find it out.

“Eddie,” I whisper loudly while momentarily pointing at the guy. “Drugs,” I say, only moving lips. I keep a calm walk without drawing too much attention. I still have the beer in my hand, so I drink it to add additional cover. Once I reach a dark area in the road under a broken street light, I quietly place the can on the road and then jump into the air to fly.

Eddie flies with me as we stalk this person through the neighborhood. The buyer diverts from the streets and into a back alley where homeowners put their garbage in. Out from one of the shacks to his left, Zayden walks out.

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down,” Zayden says, holding the buyer’s upper arms. “So you got it?”

“I got your XP,” the buyer says. “All the way from mother fucking Maine.” Once Zayden snatches it out of his hands, the rear lights of the houses go out. In the dark, I see what looks like a thick black fog snaking through a fence and then forming between the guys. Out comes the Shadow Ghost.

“Shit,” I whisper. I pull Eddie next to a nearby roof to hide behind.

“What?” Eddie whispers.

“Shadow Ghost. Wonderous and I met her when she robbed a bank.” I zip open my bag without making a noise to put my bandana around my face. “She might be armed with that gun that left a bruise on Wonderous.”

“You can see them?”

“Clear as day.”

“Let’s see what they’re doing before we make a move, Nikki.”

“Double-check if those are the rocks,” Zayden says. Shadow Ghost opens up the bag to drop whatever is inside into her hand. I see something glow in a rotation hue of red, pink, and like it is pulsating.

“Wait. That can’t be – Is it?” I say, trying to figure out if it’s the meteorite that gave me powers. The more fiddle with it, the greater my stomach sinks. “Oh, god, it is.”

“What do you see?” Eddie asks.

“That rock has destructive power. We need to snatch it from them.”

“It’s Elagabalus’s rock,” Shadow Ghost confirms as she puts the rock back in the bag. “You found this very quickly.”

“There was a reason why I was chosen,” Zayden says. “My businesses still recognize me even after I was gone.” The buyer looks at Zayden, then swings his head up like he’s telling him to shoo. He walks away then Shadow Ghost shoots him with a silenced pistol. She picks up the shell casing and then hands it to Zayden.

“What’s the situation on the other rock?”

“My people are still searching, but I feel like I’m going off of old information.”

“How so?”

“It impacted a satellite but it isn’t there. Someone must’ve snatched it.”

“How unfortunate,” she says slowly and in a condescending tone. “I overheard you’re on the clock. Find the main one before you’ll be sent back to that lovely prison.”

“Ight,” Zayden grunts, walking away. “I’m gonna check with my sources at the Raymond Observatory and search who was there.” When she holsters her pistol, she poofs into that black fog.

“Shit!” I whisper. “We need to go after her right now!”

“What about Zayden?”

“Not important as what she’s caring.” I follow after the fog. It’s moving at an unnatural speed. It skates across the street like smoke rolling coal out of a truck. I notice all the lights it is going through are off. “Eddie, the lights. Can you turn them on?”

“Yeah. Let me see what I can do.” His body electrifies as he flies ahead of me. The electricity arcs into any light source, turning it on. Shadow Ghost tumbles out of her smokey appearance and immediately draws her weapon. She sees me and then starts firing.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit,” I yell, zipping through the air. Eddie snatches her pistol out of her hand once all bullets are emptied. I come in to steal the bag while he restrains her. “Why do you want this meteorite?”

“Excuse me?” She says that it almost sounds like I offended her.

“Do you honestly know what you have right here?”

“It’s not my job to care.” She takes a step towards me, but Eddie pulls her back. “Ease up, Man O War,” she says, trying to look back over her shoulder.

“Ah, you know me?” Eddie says.

“Your voice is a dead giveaway. So, who’s your partner? New recruit to your stupid superhero gang?”

“If that’s your first thought, you’re the dumbest person I’ve met,” I say, grabbing the meteorite.

“Are you fucking insane? Don’t touch that with your bare hands!” I’m surprised yet amused by her frightened worry. I rub it all over my hands to see what she’ll do. Her eyes stare at me with shock. “You’re crazy. You’re playing with dangerous power.” I don’t want to give her the slightest hint of telling her that this meteorite is the sole reason I have powers. It’s not the size I have at home, but I’m positive this little thing comes with power.

“We’re done here.” I place the rock into my bag.

“Shadow Ghost, you are coming with me,” Eddie says.

“Like hell I am.”

I hear a loud bang from far behind me. Something soft hits my right shoulder blade. When I turn around to look behind me, I hear Eddie and Shadow Ghost scruffle. I quickly turn back around to find her throwing something up at the streetlight above them. It explodes in a flash of blue light. The light temporarily blinds me and turns out all of the lights. Somehow, she vanishes.

“What the fuck,” I say through my teeth to refrain from yelling. I run down the other way at supper speed to find who hit me in the back. Behind a trashcan, I find a warm shell casing. There’s no one around, so I fly up to search around the nearby houses. Again, nothing. I head back to Eddie, furious. “How in the living fuck, did you lose her?!”

“I don’t know. I got distracted by the shot. Are you okay?” Eddie says.

“I’m fine,” I say, rolling my right shoulder. “Whoever shot me vanished.”

“Crap. I didn’t expect this to happen.” He points at the sky to tell me to fly up. “At least we know why Zayden is out. Let me see the rock.”

“You can’t. This meteorite is way too dangerous.”

“If it’s dangerous, why was Shadow Ghost worried about you touching it? It seems not.”

“It is.” I cross my arms to protect my back from him just in case he tries to take it. “I’ll hold on to it.”

“Hand me the rock. I need to take it to Enigmas for further study.”

Just to make a point of not giving up the meteorite, I say, “You’re gonna have to fight me for it. This stays with me.”

“Something is not right here. Why are you so protective?”

“Because...”

“Because?”

“It—”

“It’s mine now,” Asteria says, appearing next to us. She swipes the bag from me.

“Whoa!” Eddie says with his fist out over his chest.

“Damnit. Not you again,” I say.

“Um, who are you?”

“My name is Asteria. Goddess of the stars.”

“Lady, are you another drug dealer?”

“She’s not,” I say, cutting her off from responding. “She’s a thorn in my ass and you should avoid her.” I pull him by his arm to get away from her. She promptly teleports in my face with arms crossed, trying to look mad. “Will you kindly piss off?”

“Nikki, do you not see the upcoming war that’ll come here? Elagabalus is making his followers gather the remnants of his power. His rock.” Asteria says with her hands firmly gripping my shoulders.

“War? Um, what’s going on here?” Eddie says with a subtle shake in his voice.

“Armageddon, offspring of Jupiter.”

“Offspring of who now?”

“She thinks the world is going to end if I don’t help her,” I say.

“Wait!? For real?”

“I don’t fucking know nor care,” I say, moving away from them. “Eddie, are we done here? I wanna go home.”

“Um, yeah... I think. I need to follow Zayden and report this to Polaris.” I suddenly remember the description of the dealer and then describe him to Eddie. “Frizzy locks, teardrops on cheeks? I saw that dude before.”

“Good. I’m leaving. I expect my check in the morning.”

“Hold on. Let’s talk about this supposed war that’s coming.”

“Goddamn it,” I whisper, rubbing my eyes with a bit of force. “How about this, you two talk about, then fill me in later, kay?”

“Uh,” Eddie says as he looks at Asteria.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. Son of Jupiter, conclude your business, and then we’ll discuss the coming fight.” With that being said, I fly straight back home. When I reach the door, I can someone thrashing around with dishes. I enter to find Sam doing some late-night cleaning.

“Sam,” I say in a calm voice to not scare her. She jumps and gasps in horror.

“Nikki, what the fuck!” Sam says and then points her index fingers at her face.

“Crap,” I say, taking off the bandana. “I forgot. I’m sorry.” Her hand moves over her heart as she walks up to me but moves away when we hug.

“You smell like weed.”

“There was a big party there. Lots of drugs, supers, and strippers.”

“Strippers?”

“Ugylist I’ve seen. I need to cleanse my eyes.”

“Cleanse,” she giggles. “I could fix that for you.”

“Oh?”

“Let me get the bath ready.” She walks away from me with her hand clawing across my tits. Her hips sway, making her fat ass bounce on every step. My mouth gets dry like I’m suddenly thirsty for water.