Chapter 9

I was at a weird point in my life. Through the haze of midterms I registered the date and suddenly all my actions became more and more sluggish. Aella died last year. Exactly a year ago. The first few months after had passed in a haze of tears and starvation, then the light at the end of the tunnel: Legion. He picked me up and helped me find myself again. I owed him so much. 

"Cammie," Jay said quietly, dropping her textbook on the desk next to mine. Oh boy.

"Jay," I spoke steadily, but don't let that fool you. I was more then definitely screaming very loudly in my head.

She huffed a little, then spoke. "Why didn't you tell me," she couldn't even look at me.

"I'll explain at the cave, there's a lot I need to tell you, but I am sorry I kept this from you. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how. I've been keeping these secrets for so long, it's hard to share them." I looked over at her, gauging her reaction. She nodded once, then flipped open her textbook. At least she was sitting next to me.

Our teacher walked in and pulled down the screen projector, much to the confusion of his students. "The principle pissed me off at yesterday's meeting and since we're so close to winter break, we're watching a movie!"

I love this class.

. . .

We weren't as lucky in our other classes.

By the end of the day, I had decided that not only did Jay need the truth, Quinn and Roan needed truth too. Which meant revealing Kiki and Penny. I had also decided that even though my teachers had assigned our midterm projects, I can risk not handing them in until at least early February. I had other things to think about. Like Christmas. And my inevitable mental break down.

Jay had to walk her dogs first, but then she would meet me at the cave. That gave me time to prepare what I was going to say, and let Kiki and Penny in on our little truth fest. I chewed on gummy worms anxiously, better than chewing my thumb. At exactly 4:43 (she was late), Jay walked into the living room to see Quinn, Roan and I sitting on the couch. I tried a smile but my heart wasn't in it. I was just full of nerves, I didn't want to do this.

I hate talking about myself. I hate letting people in. I didn't even like how well Legion knew me. Maybe I've always been this way, maybe it's because of what happened to my family, or to Aella. Maybe it's because of the Director, lying to me, prying at my cracks, trying to take advantage of a young child. Once again, it seems to be a theme, the mood felt sombre. Jay walked over and sat next to Quinn, expressionless. I cleared my throat, thinking of what I had rehearsed. 

"So before I tell you guys everything, there's two other people who want to join in, if that's okay?" Nods around the room. I called out and Kiki and Penny came into the room, sitting near me. At least I had their support for sure. They slowly pulled off their masks, almost in sync (that's a little scary) to reveal two faces that we were all familiar with. 

"Huh," Jay said, looking thoroughly stumped. 

"Okay this is so not fair," Quinn said, looking just a tiny bit mad. "So you think it's okay to keep who you are secret, but you get to know who we are?" He has a point.

"Quinn," Penny tried.

"No," He shut her down. He took a deep breath, composing himself, before speaking again. "I'm here to find out the truth from Nessa, then I'll decided whether I want to hear from you two." I found that a little harsh, but then again so was recruiting one of your best friends and not telling him that you understood what he was going through. Becoming a hero wasn't easy, it was so hard. The amount of stress we put our bodies through, the amount of stress we put our minds through. No salary can make up for it, but it can ensure some things. Like they'll get the best healthcare, and they will be honoured by everyone.

Everyone who knew.

"Okay," I said, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen. All eyes turned to me. "I guess I should start talking." I cleared my throat again, wishing I had washed down the gummies with water. Too late now. "I'm Nessa, and I've been Chameleon for 10 years. I was stuck by lightning when I was young, and it killed," I paused, trying not to choke on my words. "It killed my entire family. I was visited by the Director a few years later, and that's how the Agency started. I didn't have a home, so I lived in the cave, and spent my time testing my powers."

I clasped my hands together tightly, and felt a hand squeeze my shoulder. "Two years later, Waya, Aella and Swallow were inducted. The big three. You all know what happened to Swallow." The Director hadn't made the announcement, Waya and Aella had. One of the many reasons I dislike that man. "Aella and Waya took me in, we were like a little family. Then the Last Battle," I did choke on my words here. It was still too fresh.

"I'm sorry," I sniffled rubbing my face. "The Last Battle, Aella died, and I didn't know what to do. That's why Chameleon disappeared for months, and that's why Nessa wasn't at school the first few months." 

"Ness," I heard someone say. I couldn't tell their voices apart anymore. I could barely hear anything. I couldn't see anything. Sobs wracked my body, and I felt arms loop around me, cocooning me in a sea of support and love. We stayed like that for seconds or minutes or hours until my cries faded. Everyone pulled away slowly, leaving lingering squeezes. 

"I should have told you, there's no excuse for it." I said.

"Nessa," Jay began. "I'm still miffed you didn't tell us, and I'm sure the others are too, but we can understand why you didn't. Was it the right choice? No, but it was the choice you made, and you're making a choice right now. Thank you for telling all of us this, I can't even begin to imagine how hard it must've been to not only go through that but to live a lie. You don't have to lie to us anymore, I promise." She reached over and rubbed my arm, looking right at me while speaking.

It was like I could breathe again. This enormous weight was lifted off my chest, the ropes around my lungs were loosened, my head didn't feel as heavy. I started to feel truly happy again, like everything was going to be okay.

So of course something has to ruin that peace.

All six of us look up as the alarm goes off, listening for the computer to tell us the situation. "Mime and Peculiar spotted, twenty kilometres south of our location. Hired hand count, thirty. Threat level, eight. Backup required." Well that sounds fun.

I stood up, roughly brushing away my tears, the familiar anger building up inside of me. "Let's go get them."

. . .

It was chaos. 

When me and Mo got there, the others either trailing behind or staying back at the cave, we spotted Waya and Legion making their way through the wall of muscle standing between us and the two villains. My eyes threatened to go out of focus with rage, and I bit back a scream. I dropped Geronimo off near Waya and Legion, and took off towards the back off the pack, flying above their reach. 

I heard the telltale sound of Houdini appearing and glanced back to see her standing with Starbright, Met and Pluto. Good, I didn't have the willpower to stay away from Mime much longer. I focused back on my target circled twice, and dropped right down behind them. They were jumping up and down slightly, apparently looking for something, or someone.

"Hey there," I snarled. They turned around, shock registering on their faces. I grabbed Peculiar and took off into the sky, throwing her as far forward as possible. Phoenix swooped down and barely caught him, the two of them slowly falling to the ground, landing almost on top of Rellik. Whoops. 

I dove back towards Mime, who was now slinking backwards, trying to disappear into the crowd. "Oh no you don't!" I yelled, reaching out for her collar. I latched on and pulled her up into the sky, taking off towards the river. The exact river where she had killed Aella last year. Let's hope Mime dies this time. I set her down with her toes barely touching the edge of the cliff.

"Cammie, no!" I heard Waya's voice behind me. I knew he was coming towards us, but I didn't dare take my eyes off this villain. 

"Yeah Cammie, no!" Mime repeated in her high pitched voice. I shook her collar again, watching as she scrambled to find footing on the ledge. 

"You," I breathed, feeling Waya come up behind me. Risking a glance I saw his eyes hard with rage and his posture tight. He may not want me killing Mime, but he's fine if she sweats a bit first. "You killed her," My voice was rigid with rage. "You killed my best friend."

She tilted her head all the way to the side. "Which one was that again?"

I screamed in her face, shaking her again. Her cold laughter rang out loud and clear, and it was then I registered the lack of fighting happening behind me. I watched Mime's eyes trail across a line, meaning the others were there. 

Funny, everyone who was there last year was here again. 

"You know her! She was my best friend and you killed her." I bit out, my eyes blurring either with rage or tears. I couldn't tell at this point. 

She just laughed again. "Splash!" she shouted, rubbing it in my face. "Poor little Cammie, no more best friend for her!"

My throat was raw from screaming but I did it again anyway. All I could do was scream. Scream and fly. I pushed up off the ground, holding Mime tightly in my hands. "Splash," I whispered, loosening my grip. "No more Mime."

I let her go, my wings beating as she fell and fell and fell, all the way down, until she wasn't falling anymore. Instead, she was floating. Floating. Hovering. At a complete standstill in the air, waving up at me. That's a new one. 

"Hey Cam," I heard behind me.

I whirled around, seeing a woman in a red suit, floating in the air behind me. A woman in a red suit, with long brown hair and green green eyes. Oh so familiar long brown hair and green green eyes. Oh so very familiar. 

"Martha?" I choked out. This couldn't be happening. No. She wasn't real. Mime was dead and so was Martha.

And suddenly I was the one who was falling falling falling, staring at my best friend, floating in the sky like an angel, a ring or red surrounding her. She looked beautiful.

Then darkness.