A- Villain

Chapter 26 - I'm expecting waffles

Cooper lets out a hoot of laughter, "Did you see the way Beck looked at Em? The only hypnosis he's under now is love."

I feel my face heat up and let that be my cue to get Em's keys to her dorm. When I get back to the car, Em is already sound asleep. I gently remove the set of keys hanging from her belt loop by a single carabiner and rush back over to the group.

Grayson is reminding them of what happens when he steps away from the scene. "When I walk away and stop drawing her powers, you have 15 minutes before she comes-to. Don't be there when she wakes up. Plop her on her bed, set a textbook over her stomach, and turn off any overhead lights - only leave a lamp or two on. Basically, make it look like she was trying to study and fell asleep. Got it?" Everyone nods as if they're getting orders from a drill sergeant.

Grayson turns to face me, and I hand the keys over to Kennedy. When everyone breaks to complete their tasks, I immediately bring Grayson in for a hug. I know this is out of the ordinary for us but I can't put into words how grateful I am for him in this moment. He drove all the way out here in the middle of the night to solve a psychological puzzle and completed it.

Grayson pulls back and lets out a light laugh, "You're hugging the wrong person right now dude! Go be with Emily!"

I roll my eyes with a grin, "She's already asleep, thankfully. But seriously, I don't know how I'll ever repay you for bailing me out like this. I mean, you've literally saved my life." A tap on my shoulder makes me spin around to face Karsyn.

"And what am I? Chopped liver?"

As I'm hugging Karsyn, Grayson speaks aloud. "You saved my life first, remember? Not that there's a scoreboard for heroic cousins saving each other, but I think we're even, if anything."

Thanksgiving break seems like it was an eternity ago. Being hypnotized made me lose track of time and tainted my memories of things I loved and cherished with a dark film. It was like being brainwashed. Grayson doesn't realize the importance of bringing up this memory, but it unlocks an overwhelming amount of feelings for me as I reminisce on the entirety of that weekend. Especially the part where Emily was present, but only because I realized at last minute that I had actually locked her away as Jenga. The guilt gnawed away at me for most of the holiday break, but the accepting look in Emily's eyes when I confessed made all the darkness go away. Now, my two closest friends also know about my darkness and came to my rescue despite it all. And I know who I have to thank.

All I want to do now is run back to Emily and hold her so tight and never let anything bad happen to her ever again.

"Okay," I admit with a smile, "Even. Now let's go get some shut-eye."

***

Emily has a pull-out sofa in her main office space and a couple of air mattresses, which I assume are here for when the team is out late for missions and for some reason or another can't go back home for the night. I wouldn't want to have to explain to my roommates why I was coming in at 3am with blood or bruises on me either. Still, there's not enough here for all of the team to have somewhere to sleep.

"We'll take the air mattresses." Grayson says as he grabs them and the air pump and goes down the hall, away from the main office space.

I leave the room to go get Emily out of the car, making sure to tell Karsyn to open the door for me when I come back with Emily. I didn't want to carry her in until we knew where everyone was sleeping. As I walk up the steps, I wonder how much she's going to fight me on going to sleep, that all she really needed was a 'quick power nap'.

When I open the door to the passenger side of the car, her head droops to the side, and the movement jerks her awake. "Where are we? What time is it?"