Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford (most romantic novels .txt) 📕

as grouchy as Annie and Nic were about coming in here, they’re also sinking into the leather seats. Welcoming the cracked, dusty embrace.

It’s only after another microsleep almost takes me that I remember the meth in my pocket.

My hand jumps to it, half wanting to check it’s still there, the other half hoping it isn’t. But there’s a muffled crackle of plastic under my fingers.

Come on. You took the meth for a specific reason, remember? I have this bag so I can test it later – find out what very small amounts do to my PK. I didn’t plan to get high this morning, and it does not mean I’m going to become addicted. In fact, this is probably a smart way to treat the urge I’m feeling. It acknowledges it, doesn’t try to force it away, gives it a healthy outlet.

Leo speaks, jerking me out of my thoughts. “Nic, do you have powers too?”

When there’s no response Leo leans over, and tugs on Nic’s sleeve. “Hey.”

Nic jerks his arm back, as if Leo had shocked him. He stares down at the boy, as if seeing him for the first time, then gives his head a little shake. “Sorry. What?”

Leo repeats the question.

“Oh. No. I’m normal.”

I raise an eyebrow.

Nic realises what he just said, and gives me an embarrassed look. “Well, I’m… I mean, no, I don’t have powers.”

Leo doesn’t appear to notice that Nic just called him and me abnormal. “Annie, do you have them?”

Annie shakes her head.

Leo huffs out a dramatic breath. “It’s like we’re in a movie,” he says.

“Yeah,” says Nic. “The Avengers.”

“I don’t really like superhero ones,” Leo says quietly, as if admitting he did something bad.

“What? Why not?”

He little-boy-shrugs. “I dunno. They’re not fun.”

“Same,” I tell Leo. Well, that’s half true. Batman isn’t bad. Mostly because he’s just a normal guy with a ton of money and cool gadgets. Technically, anyone could be him.

“Wait, what?” Nic squints at me. “You’ve never seen Avengers?”

“Well yeah, obviously I’ve seen it. It’s just really unrealistic.”

There’s a part of me that can’t believe we’re actually talking about this shit. Superhero movies we’ve seen, in the middle of everything that’s happening? Then again: why not? We’ve all been through the ringer, and if talking about random movies lightens the load, then why the fuck not? I’m down.

“It’s a comic book movie, man,” Nic says. “What did you expect?”

“I have insider knowledge of what it’s really like.” I nudge Leo. “We both do. Besides,” I tell Nic, “you like that arthouse stuff, don’t you?”

“Hey, The Graduate isn’t an arthouse movie, man. It’s a classic.”

“What’s The Grad-jit?” Leo asks.

Nic and I exchange a worried look.

“Um…” says Nic.

“It’s boring,” Annie says. “You wouldn’t like it.”

“How about you Annie?” Nic asks. “You watch Marvel movies? I know you don’t have powers or anything, but you’re in the business. Sort of.”

Annie shakes her head. “I’m not really into movies.”

“Oh come on.”

“They’re annoying,” she says. “Especially if they’re set in a real place. The ones set in LA always get stuff wrong. I hate that.”

“They don’t all get stuff wrong.” Nic actually sounds offended. “What about… like, Mulholland Drive?”

“Never seen it.”

“What?”

“Dunno what to tell you. I’m more of a book person.”

“Never?” He actually gapes at her.

“Do you realise how many great movies you’re missing out on?” I ask. “Die Hard was set in LA.”

“So was Training Day,” Nic says. “Boyz n the Hood. The Big Lebowski. Nightcrawler. Collateral.”

“Yes!” I snap my fingers at him. “Everybody always forgets Collateral. That is a goddamn amazing movie.”

“Right?”

I deadpan a cop’s voice. “Hey, is this blood up here on your windshield?”

“I, uh…” Nic can barely keep a straight face. “I hit a deer. On Slauson.”

And together, grinning stupidly at each other: “A South Central deer?”

“I’ve never seen that movie,” Leo says. He does it in such a prim, offended manner that I can’t help but break out laughing again. So does Nic.

We look at each other – and it’s like the argument we had before, after Dodger Stadium, suddenly leaps to the front of our minds at exactly the same time. It’s a look that says, No amount of movie references or dumb superhero jokes is going to bridge this gap. Maybe nothing will.

All at once, I desperately want to tell him that that’s bullshit. I’m still trying to untangle what we said to each other, but I’m not going to let what we said define our relationship. Not a chance.

I don’t get a chance to process it. Right then, my PK gives a ping.

I’m very far from being at full capacity. But my ability to sense stuff has come back, a little. And right now, I’m sensing a bunch of wallets and cellphones and coins and glasses heading towards us from deeper inside the station. A second later, there are voices.

My eye’s meet Annie’s. She’s halfway out of her seat when four bobbing lights come into view. Cellphone flashlights, or actual torches. It’s impossible to see who’s behind them.

“Who’s that?” says a male voice.

“Thought you said this place was empty,” comes another voice. A woman this time.

“You have gotta be kidding me,” I mutter.

“Teagan, we good?” Annie says, not taking her eyes off the lights. Nic steps protectively in front of Leo. I can just make out the dark shapes behind the floating lights now – it looks like there are five figures there. My first thought is that they’re city officials, come to clean any squatters out of the station. But there’s something in the way they’re standing that tells me otherwise. They’re not the Legends, or the National Guard – I can’t feel any weapons. And I’m pretty sure they weren’t conjured by the Zigzag Man.

“How y’all doing?” one of them says. His voice is deeper than the others.

“We’re having a great night,” I tell him. “A legendary one, actually.”

“Is that right?” The man’s torchlight jerks. “Time for y’all to move on. We got here first.”

Were they here already? Deep in the station where we couldn’t see