Villains Rise

Chapter 19 -- I could just freeze that too

Della's POV

The sky is growing darker, and even though I don't know what time it is, I know that summer days last forever. Just because a little pink tint of color has appeared in the sky doesn't mean the day is over. Quite often I can't wait for the day to end, so I can just go to sleep and start fresh in the morning. But today was different.

Owen needed to run some errands, and while I could've literally run them for him, it was nice to go out and do ordinary things. I haven't felt ordinary in a while.

"Okay, seriously, I'm never going with you to the grocery store again." Owen says through a fit of laughter. We continue walking down the cracked sidewalk with grocery bags in our hands.

"I didn't mean to knock over all of those cereal boxes, okay? Just because I'm a speedster doesn't mean I'm not a clutz." I try to defend my blunder seriously, but I bust out laughing when he does.

"I wasn't even talking about that." He clenches his stomach with his free hand, trying not to crack up before he gets his sentence out.

"Then what?" I chuckle.

"Don't think I didn't see you dancing to Are you gonna be my girl in the fruit section."

I feel my cheeks turn red. I didn't realize anyone was watching. That song is too catchy to not dance to it. "I'm not apologizing for that one." I reply mundanely, to which he just chuckles more.

"Whatever. Let's just get these groceries back to my place before it gets dark," I look over at him curiously. "Villains are more active at night." He smiles, to which I roll my eyes and push him off the sidewalk. If any villains show up, I'm sure they know Owen and would leave us alone.

Suddenly, I witness a shadow stream across the brick wall of a shop to my left. While Owen steps back onto the sidewalk, I begin to feel a panic rise in my chest.

"Did you see that?" I ask him in a whisper.

He looks around curiously. "See what?"

"The shadow." I hiss at him.

"Again?" He asks, continuing to search our surroundings with crazy eyes. He turns around, looking for anyone who might be following us, I assume. Irritation consumes me because of his obvious action.

"The shadow came from this wall." I nod my head to my left, keeping my words quiet and my actions subtle.

His eyes grow wide when he turns back around. Before I can say anything, he grabs my hand nonchalantly and quickens our pace. I want to snatch my hand away, but I'm not sure what he just saw. I'm not going to question his plan.

"Someone's following us." He says in a hushed tone as we round a corner.

I don't say a word. My heart beat races at this news and my natural instincts are to run away or turn invisible. Something tells me I can't do that this time. If someone is following us, they're probably trying to find out if we're supers. I can't give us away that easily. We have to act natural.

"Do you know who it is?" I ask, but he stares at me with daggers for speaking about the person behind us. Excuse me for asking an important question.

Maybe they're not following us. We're being paranoid.

I can hear their footsteps catching up to our pace. High heels, I think. Ash has taught me too much. I should not be able to recognize what kind of shoes someone is wearing from the sound of them. At least I can tell it's a woman without turning around like Owen did.

There's another corner coming up, and I know Owen is going to take it. The question is, will she? I can almost feel her presence behind me. She's getting closer. This can't be coincidental.