Catching the Hero

Chapter Twenty-Six: Trapped

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Chapter Twenty-Six: Trapped

The ball hit the wall and bounced back into my gloved hand. A thump echoed through the room when it hit the wall again and flew back into my waiting hand, as it had already done four hundred and seventy-six times.

"If you keep doing that, you're going to bust a hole in the wall, Layla."

I caught it again and tilted my head to look at Raina, who was sitting comfortably on the sofa in her apartment. I stood from my position by the wall and walked beside her, standing slightly in her view of the television so she'd finally have to speak to me for more than a minute.

She flipped her brown eyes up to mine and groaned, "Come on, it's getting good. Can't we talk in a minute?"

"You said that an hour ago," I replied. 

She looked uncomfortable for a moment, and I really couldn't blame her. If I'd been asked by my supernatural mentor to keep my damaged supernatural friend under house arrest while everyone else got to save the day, I'd be pretty uncomfortable too.

"You know why we shouldn't talk about it. We can't leave anyway."

I huffed and sat on the coffee table. "Yes, we can. We just have to be quiet about it. Between you and me, no one will ever be able to find out we weren't here the whole time."

"Layla, you know I can't. I'll-- we'll-- get in so much trouble if SkyRaid finds out we left when you were supposed to be recuperating. I don't want to lose his trust," she said, but I could tell she wanted to leave as well.

Even though I left during the day, I'd been stuck in 'house arrest' for five nights now; basically meaning, I was to be watched by Raina while everyone else went out and did my job for me. I'd never felt so useless.

"Raina, please," I shamelessly begged. "Do you have any idea how much energy I have right now? Being stuck in this house is making me crazy."

“Moping about it won’t make it better, you know.”

I sat down again on the other sofa. “It doesn’t mean I have to be overly excited about it either,” I replied.

I heard Raina huff out a breath as she fell back onto her seat. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m not exactly having a ball here either.”

“Which means we should leave, instead of being stuck here like children.”

“We have orders to stay here. What kind of team would we be if we didn’t listen to our mentor?”

I pushed the textbook to the side and moved to sit on my knees to see her better. “I just don’t understand why I have to be stuck here,” I said, for possibly the hundredth time. “I’ve been back almost a week and a half, training the whole time, and I don’t even remember ever leaving the Center.”

“But you did. They’re just being careful.”

I looked at her pointedly. “Do you really believe that?”

She looked taken back. “What do you mean? Of course I do.”

“Well, I don’t,” I said, leaning back into the cushions of the sofa. “I mean, if one of us is messed up—like me, for example--, I can see why they’d make me sit out for a few days. But why would you have to stay with me? It’s not like SkyRaid can’t watch me on his own. There has to be a reason he made you stay away, too.”

 "Layla, I think you're just overthinking this."

I shook my head avidly. "I'm sure about this. It doesn't make sense for you to have to stay inside too, especially now of all times. The villains are getting stronger, so why would SkyRaid want even less supers on patrol? It doesn't fit."