Nightmare - Secret Identities Book 1

Chapter 5

Virgil's POV

Logan told me the address, and I teleported there, seeing Prince standing in the center of the roof with his back to me.

"Look, man.  I don't know how-" I started.

He whirled and charged at me, not fast enough to catch me off guard but too fast for me to avoid.  He pinned me to the ground, straddling my hips as he held my hands above my head.  His face was extremely close to mine as he demanded, "Do you even know what you did?"

"What?"  I fought against him, but he was obviously stronger than me.  "Let go of me!"

He yelled this time, "Two years ago, do you know what you did to all those people?"

I stopped squirming.  My voice was low—menacing—deadly. "Of course I fucking do."

His voice softened and broke.  "Kids—you did that to kids.  Why?"  His grip loosened ever-so-slightly.

I wiggled my left hand until my palm faced him.

Energy pulsed through my arm and into him, sending him flying.  He caught himself mid-air, clearly shocked and angry.

"Don't touch me again," I warned.

"Is that a threat?"

I got up into a crouched position.  "I don't threaten; I promise, and I promise that if you try to touch me again, I will bring you to your knees."  Suddenly, I sighed and stood up fully, my head tilting down.  "I didn't mean to hurt anyone."

Screams filled my ears and I snapped out of it.  I looked around for the location.

"What is it?" Prince asked.

"I'm not sure."  I found the direction and took a deep breath.  "Follow me east."  I teleported from rooftop to rooftop, every once in awhile glancing back to make sure he was still behind me.  I stopped outside of a park, where, in the setting sun, children were being grabbed by their fleeing parents.

A teenager stood in the center next to a now-empty fountain.  Ice crystals hovered in the air around him.  The boy's eyes glowed a chilling blue.

A mother yelled his name—Connor—begging him to stop.

I knew him; he took my class.  I stepped forward, needing to help him before he hurt anyone.

Prince put his arm in front of me.  "Let me handle this one."  He looked me in the eye, and I saw something familiar there.

"Yeah...  Yeah, okay."

Roman's POV

I flew down behind him, testing the range of his abilities.

He didn't know I was there.

"Connor!"

The teen whirled, looking scared and angry.  "Stay back!"  He threw an ice spike at me, which shattered against my skin.

"Connor-"

"How do you know my name?" he yelled.

I'm your choir teacher and make it a habit to get to know all of my students.  "I know a lot about you, Connor.  You're seventeen, attending Eastwood High.  You have two sisters."  I took a deep breath.  "I know your mother just died, Connor."

He wore a crazy smile.  "Then you know why I have to do this."  He turned.

"No!"  I stepped closer to him.  "You lost someone very dear to you, but these people—these kids—have people that they love.  You'd only be hurting more families by doing this."

"No.  No, I-I'm saving them—sparing them before they have to watch those around them die one by one."

"Connor, think about all the people they haven't met yet: their best friend, the love of their life, or even a new sibling.  Don't take away those joys just because there might be sorrow that comes along with it."

He looked at me with huge, sad, glowing, blue eyes.

"Deactivate your ability.  Please."

The glow faded, and the ice sickles came clattering to the ground.  His eyes filled with tears.

I walked forward and knelt in front of him.  "Listen to me, alright?"  I rested my hand on his shoulder, needing to offer whatever comfort I could to him.  "The police are on their way.  I can't say for sure how they'll treat you, but I know they're unfairly brutal to Paragons.  I'm going to need you to be strong because, if you lash out, it will only get worse."

He nodded.

"I'll stay here until they get here, but I can't let them catch me."

"What's gonna happen to me?"

I thought back to getting shot.  "I can't say for sure.  You threatened the safety of a lot of people here today, but, from the looks of it, you didn't hurt anyone.  They might be kind because you're a teenager—because of your loss.  The truth is that I don't know, though."

Sirens approached, louder and louder until they were all I could hear.

"Hands in the air!"

I whispered, "Be good."  I stood up and flew away before they could even fire.  I made sure they'd lost sight of me before touching down next to Nightmare.

He didn't acknowledge my presence as he stared at the scene below.

Police grabbed Connor and forced him to his knees, handcuffing him and sticking a needle in his neck.  They carried him into the back of a blank van, driving off like nothing happened, not even bothering to get witness statements.

Nightmare sighed.  "I'm going home."

"What?  Why?"

He stared still at the empty park.  "I'm retired, Prince.  I cut a deal with the police to retire in exchange for... never telling the truth to the public."

I stared at him for any change in expression but found nothing.  "What's the truth?"

"That I... can't control my powers..."

"What?" I yelled.

He flinched a bit.  "Are you telling me you haven't lost control before?"  He crossed his arms, his hands gripping his biceps firmly.

"I've never hurt anyone by losing control!"

His voice shook as he responded, "My powers are different than yours."

I saw the black smoke spreading around him and grabbed ahold.  He was not getting away that easy.

Suddenly, we were in an apartment.  It was neat and spacious—nice.

Nightmare looked at me then turned around.  "No, no, no.  You can't... You can't be here.  Patton!"  He began pacing, his hands pressing on the sides of his head.

My own head pulsed in pain.

Patton appeared out of nowhere, Logan just behind him.

Nightmare continued walking back and forth.  "I can't; I can't.  I-I shouldn't have—I should have never-"

Patton grabbed onto him, silencing him.  "You're alright.  Come on.  Everything is okay."

My headache only increased, so much that I stumbled backward. My vision became speckled with black dots. The world spun.

Nightmare began apologizing profusely, claiming that everything was his fault.

I fell to my knees.

"Logan, love," Patton said, "take him to the bedroom."

He grabbed ahold of me, pulling me up.  "You should be far away from him."

It hurt to even think of why.