Chapter 8

I woke up with a with a headache, what's the point of healing powers if they can't get rid of the hot poker behind my left eye. I swung my legs over the side of my bed and glanced at my side table checking the time. Instead, I noticed the date. Damnit. Of course it had to be today. I grumbled to myself and grabbed my blanket, AKA my suit, throwing it over my shoulders, not bothering to put on real clothes today. I'll be damned if I get dressed before 10 AM.

I hate this day. National Day of Truth.

I stomp out of my room and down the hall to the kitchen, spotting Legion at the counter eating eggs and bacon. That sounds like a good idea. I grabbed the egg carton and the bacon from the fridge in a huff, not looking forward to the questions the newbies will try to ask me. I clattered around and heard Legion snickering. I turned around and Pluto was standing in the doorway. Here we go. He pointed at me and asked Legion, "What's up with him?" I huffed again and turned back to my food. It smelled so good, my stomach rumbled. Legion pushed his plate to the side and leaned forward.

"It's National Day of Truth," Legion said. "Cammie hates today. She tries to avoid answering any questions."

Pluto got a look on his face, and I groaned. He was going to ask me a question. He walked over to the stove and stared directly at me, thinking. "How old are you?" Great, loved that question. If only he knew, I'd lose all my credibility.

"Old enough," I snapped. That was usually enough to get them to stop. Pluto, however, is very stubborn. How annoying.

"How many years old are you?" He tried again. For some reason that sentence didn't sound grammatically correct to me. Legion stared intently. No one in five years had gotten my age. Usually they never got to specific enough wording before I scared them off. That or the alarm went off. I waited a few moments, hoping something would call us away, but no such luck.

"Seventeen," I muttered. The kitchen was silent. I glanced over at Pluto who had his mouth wide open, and Legion, who was frowning. Great.

"Seventeen?" Pluto asked, well more like sputtered. I nodded, training my eyes on my eggs and bacon. "There's no way." He didn't believe me, of course he didn't.

"It's National Day of Truth," I spoke steadily, despite the anger slowly boiling up inside of me. "I wouldn't lie." I grabbed a plate and tilted my food onto it, turning off the stove and sitting down at the counter next to Legion. He was still frowning. He bumped his shoulder with mine, and I shot him a grateful look.

"I'm telling Met," Pluto declared, marching out of the kitchen before I could stop him. This isn't going to end well. So much for hanging around the cave today.

"Cammie," Legion said slowly. I couldn't look at him. "Can I ask you a question?" I pursed my lips, tempted to say you just did. I bit that comment back, not wanting to argue with my best friend.

"Fine," I said still not looking at him.

"How old were you, when you got hit by the lightning?" I didn't have to give him an age, I didn't. He knew that. But he helped me more than anyone this past year, after Aella died. He is my best friend, and he deserves to know more than anyone else.

"Six," I whispered hoarsely, trying not to get sucked into that night. "I was six." I wiped my face roughly and starting digging into my food, signaling this conversation was over.

. . .

The only thing I wanted to do was go home and hug little Mason, which is exactly what I did. He liked it at first, but he's a free spirit, he liked roaming around. I retreated to my room, thinking about today. I hadn't been that open since my talk with Legion months ago. It felt good to get it off my chest, at least a little bit. I sat at my desk and toyed with my pencil, still thinking. I mindlessly opened my journal and started recording, not wanting to forget anything about the past two days.

It was then that I noticed something jumped past my window. My window on the fourth floor. What the hell? I opened up my window, sticking my head out and looking to the left. I saw a figure in the darkness, leaping from roof to roof, surprisingly nimble for their size. Hang on, I thought, squinting at the back growing smaller and smaller in the distance. Isn't that Waya? I grabbed my suit and clambered out of my window, my eyes trained on the back.

My wings sprouted from my back and I took off, eating up the distance between the two of us. I circled the figure from above, then dropped right in front of them. It was Waya, but something was off in the expression, and the posture. A fake, I thought, preparing myself for a fight.

"Whoa cool!" They exclaimed. "You're Chameleon." I opened my mouth to answer, but then their body changed. Their build got smaller and thicker, mimicking the same body I was using this time. My mouth dropped open, hidden underneath my mask. "How do I look?" They struck a few poses. "Hey wait a second, you have healing powers too!"

"How the hell do you know that," I snarled. My patience with this fake was wearing thin. Nobody impersonated anyone except me. He raised up his hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Whoa whoa whoa," he said, "no need to get so defensive. I'm a new superhero," he struck another pose. "My name's Ditto, like the Pokemon." I flinched a little at the name, the memories of what happened yesterday was still too fresh. I forced myself to focus, like on the fact that that's copyright but okay I guess.

"Alright Ditto," I said. "Who contracted you?"

He shifted to another form in surprise. "Huh?" This form was taller and lanky, and most definitely a male. He had thin gangly limbs, and was wearing sweatpants, a hoodie and a ski mask. His eyes were blue, and his skin was sunkissed. I knew for sure that he hasn't been recruited by us. "What d'you mean 'contracted'?"

"I mean recruited," I said, slowly letting my guard down. This kid had no idea what was going on.

"Oh," he said, his voice dropping a little. "No I haven't, but I was hoping to run into one of you and convince you to let me join. I was hoping for someone who has been in the Agency of Superheroes longer." And that's exactly why newbies annoyed me. Yeah it my choice to remain a secret up until a few years ago but that didn't mean that had to act so haughty. I'm a Senior member, I have a lot of pull. 

"You know," I said, keeping my tone light. "I can get you into the Agency. I can make you a member."

Hie eyes widened. "But you've only been a member for three years. I'd need to talk to Waya or Houdini or Aella." This time I flinched hard, so hard Ditto noticed. "What," he said, looking concerned. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head and steadied my breathing. You'd think after almost a year of not seeing her and people would assume she had died. Unless, unless the Director didn't make the announcement. Which he probably hadn't, knowing the coward.

"I can make you a member, before Initiation Day too," I pressed on, trying not to get sucked down into my memories. "Come on, I'll take you to the cave." I shifted into a plain civilian form, hoping he'd get the idea and do the same. He did. He removed his mask, revealing high cheekbones and dark skin. He'd also gotten shorter, and thicker. I walked to the edge of the roof and swung myself over, very carefully climbing my way down. Ditto on the other hand just launched himself over the edge and into the dumpster below.

Gross.

I stood to the side as he clambered his way out of the dumpster, somehow coming out pristine. We set off at a brisk pace. "So," I started, breaking the silence. "How old are you?"

He looked at me. "I'll only answer your questions if you answer them." Fine then, we're playing it that way.

"Sure," I agreed, not planning on actually answering the questions honestly. "So how old are you?"

"Sixteen," He said, looking at me then looking away. He waited for my response.

"I'm seventeen," I told the truth. I don't know why. Something about this kid, he made me feel safe. I could be his power, it could be how honest he is, or it could be the fact that he reminds me of a younger me. "What's your name?"

"Cole, short for Collette." I glanced up at this, a little surprised. I recognised that name, especially in context with the age. She's Collette Samai, the track star of grade eleven.

"You're a girl," I commented. "And you go to Littlewood Collegiate Institute."

She looked at me. "That must mean you go to Littlewood too. So, what's your name."

I paused, thinking about giving her my real name or a fake name. Should I reveal myself? "Nessa," I finally said, knowing she would know who I am. She stopped in her tracks and I turned slightly to look at her.

"No way, Nessa Carter." She gaped at me, and I shrugged my shoulders. "Huh," she said, continuing to walk again. Guess that was that.

"So, Cole," I said, keeping pace with her. "Let's get you to the cave."

It took us maybe twenty minutes to walk there, and I decided to use the same secret passage that leads to behind the fridge. Let's hope she knows how to keep a secret. I looked right and left in the kitchen before moving out from my hiding spot, leading a slightly confused Cole. We walked through the kitchen and dining room to the Briefing Room, and I was hoping that who I was looking for was still here. I poked my head into the room looking towards the computers and spotted Geronimo, Waya, Phoenix and Mazus. Perfect.

"Geronimo," I called walking into the room. They all looked towards me, and looked a little surprised to see Ditto standing behind me. "I have a partner for you. Their name is Ditto, and they've got shapeshifting powers too."

"Cammie what the hell you can't just do that." Waya said, dropping his head in his hands.

"Too bad, they're already here." I grinned. Geronimo stood up and walked over, extending her hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Geronimo. I hope we work well together." Ditto grasped her hand, smiling.

"Likewise," she said. "My name is Collette, but call me Cole. I go to Littlewood CI." I mentally shook my head. We had newbies but none this green.

"No way really? I know who you are!" Geronimo exclaimed. Phoenix and Mazus chimed in with a yeah me too! and a no way? I'm sensing some trouble up ahead, trouble with secret identities.

"Hey I recognise your voice!" Ditto said, pointing at Geronimo. "You're that senior, Roan." She turned to Phoenix and Mazus. "And I recognise your eyes," she said to Phoenix. "You're Jay, another senior."

At this Mazus dropped his guard and used his normal voice. I don't know why he didn't just take the voice modulator. "Jay," he got out, looking a little shocked. I recognised his voice now, and judging from Jay's reactions she did too.

"Quinn? Is that you" She lifted her mask up, revealing her full face. Quinn pulled down his mask, revealing his eyes and forehead. I already knew, but there was no denying it now.

"Hey Jay," Quinn mumbled. Then he whipped around to Roan who was standing there in shock. "Wait a second, Roan?" Roan pulled off her mask, her hair mussed and staticky. "Holy shit."

For a few minutes there was chaos. All three of them were slightly yelling at each other, asking how they could keep this a secret. I smiled a little to myself, glad they didn't know it was me. Until Cole opened her big mouth. "Nessa how come you didn't tell them?" All four pairs of eyes snapped towards us. I tried to silence her but it was no use.

"I'm sorry did you say Nessa?" Roan asked.

Ditto nodded. "Yeah, Nessa Carter, your friend?" I dropped my head into my hands and almost let a few tears of frustration escape. This is not how I wanted it to go down. Not at all.

"No way," Jay said, not believing it at all.

"Way," I said.

"I don't believe it," Quinn said.

I sighed. I still didn't want to reveal my civilian form to Waya, no matter how long we've known each other for. "We like to call you Red because Jay drew us all as wolves once and you were the red one."

Silence.

"Damn it's actually you." Jay said. "We four have a lot to talk about now don't we."

Lunches were awkward for a bit after that. And they didn't even know that Kiki is Starbright and Penny is Starlight. They were going to flip out when they all find out. Penny and Kiki knew about each other, because they're partners. I know about them because I recruited them, plus I know everyone. Poor Dani, Kiki, Penny Kieran and Oscar had no idea why things had suddenly gotten tense between me and the others.

Jay especially was a little stingy I hadn't told her. I did feel bad about it. I wanted to tell them; they're my best friends. But I couldn't. Not without revealing a few other secrets I'd rather keep buried for a while. Jay has been coldly polite with me, Quinn just acting confused and Roan, well Roan just doesn't care, apparently. She's acting the exact same. The days passed quickly, and Jay got less and less cold. Quinn was still a little confused but he returned to normal pretty quickly.

Soon came midterms. The bane of all of our existence. There was no saving us now. We ran off coffee, tea, and stolen Triscuits. Even the teachers became wary of us, never standing too close.