Once back in her dorm, Raven rummaged through her closet and chucked the dress she thought was fit enough for tonight’s occasion. No matter how much she resented the monthly family reunion, she couldn’t say no when her father was the one who subtly told her to ‘come’ even if he did not exactly say it.

“What the..." her roommate, Cas, stated when she came in with her boyfriend in tow. Her tone carrying a hint of annoyance. "I didn't know you were here. I thought you went home.” Cas looked down at the bag in Raven’s hand, which was slightly ajar, showing a peek of Raven’s clothes.

Raven simply stared at her. They may be roommates but they were no friends.

Cas knew Raven would be away for a good two days once a month. Seeing Cas's boyfriend behind her, Raven knew the two would be rolling in the sheets in her own bed...again. 

“Yeah,” Raven replied, roughly tearing the image away from her mind before walking out of their room without another word. She hoped Cas would clean the jizz out of her blanket at least, but it was a waste of time hoping.

If Raven had the chance she would have smothered her roommate when she was asleep in the middle of the night. Or maybe make her disappear ‘mysteriously’ from her way to the night club. Everything about Cas just rubbed her the wrong way and she hated being looked down with pity or be treated like an idiot.

But if Cas disappeared or mysteriously died, it would gather too much attention. And as Cas’s roommate, Raven would be undoubtedly questioned by the police. She’d promised to herself she would lie low. Just another five more years. She only needed to keep her identity as Ghost a secret for a few more years and everything would go back to the way they were.

Once out of the campus, she took a cab. St. Adams University was located on the outskirts of Downtown City, so it did not take long before the cab reached the Vicar’s Bridge. They were stopped at the entrance of the bridge, with a large magnetic barrier preventing any unauthorized citizen from entering Uptown City. 

A man in a complete military uniform approached them. Before he could ask for I.D.’s, Raven already offered her card. Once he saw the name on the black card, he took a second look at her face and her outfit.

“Is there something wrong, officer?”

“If you excuse me for a moment, I need to verify your I.D.”

Raven kept herself from rolling her eyes in exasperation. This always happened every single time and it was getting on her nerves. The officer swiped her card on the side of the tablet in his hand. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry for the delay, Ms. Ballevereon.” He handed the card over. “You may pass."

The blue magnetic field at the entrance to the bridge shimmered and slowly disappeared. Raven caught the driver looking over her through the rearview mirror.

“I suggest you keep your eyes on the road, dear sir.” Raven smiled sweetly. The one she usually flashed to her contractors that sent them breaking out into cold sweat.

Gradually, as they crossed the bridge and made their way deeper into the heart of Uptown City, their surroundings began to change from middle-rise buildings to towering skyscrapers. The road widened, and she recognized some people in the sidewalk as models, superstars, and heroes. And in some cases, she even recognized a few villains.

Here celebrities could walk around publicly without the inconvenience of fans crowding over them or the paparazzi trying to steal a shot for some juicy gossip. Uptown City was the haven of the rich and elite and it did not matter whether you were good or evil as long as you had the status and money.

Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t blame the officer for questioning her identity. For here she was in an old cab, wearing a black hoodie, ripped jeans, and sneakers. While the people outside the window were wearing the latest fashionable clothes straight out of a sci-fi movie.

The cab stopped in front of a high-rise building and even if she craned her neck, she wouldn’t be able to get a glimpse at the tip of the tallest skyscraper in Uptown City.

“Where’s my change?” she asked the driver when he was about to take off.

The man simply blinked stupidly at her.

“My. Change.” She emphasized, looking the middle-aged man straight in the eye.

Once the driver noticed that she was being serious, he immediately took out her change before driving away as fast as he could. Just because she had status did not mean she had money to spare since her own family blocked her access to her share of the inheritance. Especially now that her secret agenda was sucking her pockets dry.

Snorting at the escaping cab, Raven pulled her hood over her head before walking towards the entrance of the building. At the sight of her, the guards in a black suit started walking towards her.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Stop right there,” they called out.

But she simply continued to the glass entrance, which opened up after sensing the chip in her card stashed in her pocket. This stopped the men in black, confused at how the door opened up for her. That would have stopped them from calling out to her, but the guards were as hardheaded as a stone statue.

The security on the other side of the sliding glass finally stopped her from walking farther into the grand lobby, causing a commotion that caught the employees’ attention.

“This is as far as you can go, kid,” the guard stated. “If you’re a Super then you have to answer to the Bureau of Heroes and Intelligence for trespassing into Ballevereon Inc. Corporation.”

“Sorry to break it to you, but I’m no Super.” Raven stated calmly, fishing out her card. “And I have business with CEO Amanda Ballevereon.”

“Fat dream you have there, kid. But that’s impossib-” A nudge from the one who took her card cut off his words. Once he got a good look at her card, his eyes widened before crisply bowing his head at her, sweat dripping from his forehead. “Forgive us, Ms. Ballevereon, do punish us for our impudence."

She left the guards without saying anything before taking the VIP elevator. When she arrived at the top floor, Amanda’s secretary was already waiting outside. The woman wore her hair in a tight bun, wearing a gray blouse and gray pencil skirt, matching her high heels.

“Mistress Amanda had been waiting for you.” The secretary greeted.

Just like her contractors, she couldn't remember the woman's name. She simply called her Lady Gray. Raven followed her through the long, empty hallway, with one side of the wall made of glass, looking over the grand park below. Lady Gray knocked on the lacquered double-doors before opening one for Raven.

“What in the world are you wearing?” was the first thing Amanda stated at her.

“Casual clothes. Common among university students, sister.” Raven smiled sweetly as she plopped down on the leather chair across Amanda's. A low glass table separating them. "You should try them out. It's comfortable."

Her sister, Amanda Ballevereon, was the kind of tall and sophisticated beauty with the brains, status, and money, even born with the ability to shape-shift. The whole package.

Especially with her silver hair and cool gray eyes, which every Ballevereon descendant had always inherited. One Raven shared with her brother and sister until a certain incident turned her hair black. Like a brand that further screams ‘outsider.’

“No worries, I have a ‘proper’ dress here to save me from embarrassing myself any further.” Raven patted her bag before dropping it beside her foot. Amanda eyed the dusty bag with disgust, but she kept her comment to herself.

“This…attitude of yours is the reason why Father would not allow you back in the manor.” Amanda pointed out before dropping the sheets of paper she’d been reading onto the table with exasperation. “What’s even more infuriating is the fact that you’re not making any effort to prove yourself useful to the family. If we ignore the loss of your ability, your brain is enough to make you a vital figure in the business world.”

Raven sighed mentally. 

“I did not lose my ability,” Raven replied, “because I never had one in the first place."

Amanda looked at her straight in the eye. “You may not remember, but we do,” she said.

“Then it's a good thing that I don't remember because I don’t want to get depressed about something I will never have,” Raven stated, trying to hold back a simmering irritation in her chest.

Amanda raised a brow at her before sitting up and crossing her legs over the other. “I believe father called you once again?"

“Dear father is so sweet he never fails to call me once a month.” The sarcasm dripping off from her tasted bitter in her tongue. “And now here I am, waiting for you to finish your work and hitch a ride in your fancy car.”

“No need for that.” Amanda waved her hand dismissively. “Grandfather gave you permission to skip tonight’s family gathering.”

Raven frowned. There had always been a code in their family to always appear in the sacred reunion even if it killed them. Once a branch family did not come, and the next day, they were found floating up in the Vicar’s river.

The main family was not excused.

But, here she was, excused.

“Ghost,” Amanda stated out of nowhere, causing Raven’s ears to perk up suddenly at the mention of her villain name. “Her death was a surprise in the underworld. Even though she’s not under the rule of the Ballevereon family and the Code of the underworld, she’s still nevertheless a villain like us. A rebellious villain who’s wreaked havoc everywhere, earning titles that should have been Lucas’s.”

The mention of their prideful brother’s name almost made Raven scoff.

In his dreams, Raven thought.

“And how can my absence in the family gathering have to do with the vagabond villain’s death?”

Did they find out? The thought twisted her stomach and turned her blood cold. Was Amanda trying to see how I would react knowing I am Ghost?

“Grandfather ordered the retrieval of Ghost’s body because even he's curious about Ghost’s real identity,” Amanda explained. “The problem is the Bureau of Heroes and Intelligence, the BHI, who took the corpse before any of our people can.”

“So?” Raven stated out of practiced boredom, picking the tip of her fingernails with her teeth, which earned her a disgusted sneer from Amanda.

“As you might know, the BHI’s headquarter is near impossible to penetrate." Amanda ignored Raven's unhealthy mannerisms and kept to the topic. "Their security is of the highest caliber with class S superheroes tightening the barriers. Giving us a tiny chance of ever getting in. Especially with that troublesome nullifying ability of Void, who can strip us of our own supernatural talents."

Raven narrowed her eyes at her sister, the gist of what Amanda was trying to deliver finally clicked in her mind.

“You want me to spy into the BHI,” Raven stated.

"You’re a university student majoring in advanced techs who is about to take her internship." Amanda pointed out. "An ideal intern for the BHI who is obsessed with improving their hold on modern technologies. And the ideal spy for the villainous empire. You might as well take the job for the greater good of your dignity, Raven. And this opportunity might finally make grandfather see your usefulness as a Ballevereon."

Every time their grandfather was mentioned, it sent an irritating itch in her ears. Raven slumped down into the leather couch. She would rather face their grandfather's sinister presence rather than take on a mission that would take days or months, even years for it to be accomplished. 

"Can I go to the family gathering instead?"

Amanda's silent reply was all the answer Raven needed to understand the gravity of the mission bestowed upon her by the head of the Ballevereon empire.