but time for now. He might as well talk.
“I was just visiting all the entrances, having Trigger check for Li’s scent.” He strokes the dog’s fur with his thumb. “I’d had some humans approach me at all the other entrances, usually more excited about Trigger than me. So I didn’t really pay attention when these guys came up at first. I mean who the hell expects to be attacked by a human?”
“They attacked you?” I ask incredulously. “Unprovoked?”
Nyx stares at me like I’ve just lost my mind. “Why the hell would I provoke a human?”
I shake my head. “This isn’t right. They were unnaturally strong.”
“You’re freaking telling me,” he mutters, flexing his wrist, bending it around the joint. “Assholes pulverized my wrist. They held me down, kicked my face in, and kept the fat one on my wrist so the bones couldn’t heal back. I did everything I could but I was overpowered.” He takes a deep breath and looks me dead in the eyes. “You know I can defeat a dozen humans without a problem. These weren’t humans.”
“Something is happening that we don’t know about. I don’t even think Central-” Nyx cuts me off with muted mumblings. “He wasn’t trained for this. He didn’t understand when I told him to stay away. Trigger just dove at them, biting their legs. He tried to protect me. And they killed him.”
“We’ll take him back to New York. Give him a proper police dog burial.”
“No.” Nyx’s eyes flicker. His irises are completely black. “Not until I have a more compelling answer for why I let Officer Garcia’s German Shepherd die on duty. Not until we have justice. I can’t bring him back now.”
I touch his arm, feel ing his power pulsating through his body like a freight train. “Okay. We’ll go to my house.”
I never thought about it until now, but I don’t know anything about Hero Nyx’s home life. His family members aren’t in the Hero Brigade or surely I would have known them. Does he live with his parents? Alone? I shouldn’t even care but making him go home without knowing if he’d have a good support system doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll have to find out his living situation without making it seem like I’m worried about him. Maybe Max knows something.
When we exit the communal KAPOW pod in the tunnels near my house, I open our family pod and retrieve a fleece blanket from the storage compartment. Nyx takes great care to wrap the fallen dog in the blanket, placing him in the utility closet just outside of our house. He stops me just in front of the entrance to my house.
“Maci,” he says. “I want to apologize for how I’ve treated you lately.”
I smile, letting him know it’s no big deal and raise my palm to the door. He grabs my wrist before it touches the metal. “No. I’m serious. I was a jerk and you didn’t deserve it and I’m sorry.” He lowers my hand and holds out his, palm straight. I take his hand, happy to be on handshaking terms with a fellow Hero. “Thank you.”
Dad and Nova are watching human football in the living room. Well, Dad is. Nova stares blankly at the television screen, looking like she’d rather be doing anything but watching men in spandex fight over a ball. She straightens when we walk into the room.
“You’re Nyx Nightly,” she says. “I thought it was you earlier.”
He nods, a little taken aback. “That’s me.”
Dad questions me about the Mayday call and I have difficulty answering his questions over eavesdropping on Nova’s conversation with Nyx. She gets all starry-eyed, showing more vulnerability than that night I first found her in the rundown apartment. “You saved those teenagers who had been kidnapped by the bank robbers,” she says, leaning forward on the armchair to where just the edge of her butt is on the seat. “I used to think you were the greatest Hero of all time.”
Dad lifts an eyebrow and soon we’re both watching the curious exchange.
“I wouldn’t go
“I was just visiting all the entrances, having Trigger check for Li’s scent.” He strokes the dog’s fur with his thumb. “I’d had some humans approach me at all the other entrances, usually more excited about Trigger than me. So I didn’t really pay attention when these guys came up at first. I mean who the hell expects to be attacked by a human?”
“They attacked you?” I ask incredulously. “Unprovoked?”
Nyx stares at me like I’ve just lost my mind. “Why the hell would I provoke a human?”
I shake my head. “This isn’t right. They were unnaturally strong.”
“You’re freaking telling me,” he mutters, flexing his wrist, bending it around the joint. “Assholes pulverized my wrist. They held me down, kicked my face in, and kept the fat one on my wrist so the bones couldn’t heal back. I did everything I could but I was overpowered.” He takes a deep breath and looks me dead in the eyes. “You know I can defeat a dozen humans without a problem. These weren’t humans.”
“Something is happening that we don’t know about. I don’t even think Central-” Nyx cuts me off with muted mumblings. “He wasn’t trained for this. He didn’t understand when I told him to stay away. Trigger just dove at them, biting their legs. He tried to protect me. And they killed him.”
“We’ll take him back to New York. Give him a proper police dog burial.”
“No.” Nyx’s eyes flicker. His irises are completely black. “Not until I have a more compelling answer for why I let Officer Garcia’s German Shepherd die on duty. Not until we have justice. I can’t bring him back now.”
I touch his arm, feel ing his power pulsating through his body like a freight train. “Okay. We’ll go to my house.”
I never thought about it until now, but I don’t know anything about Hero Nyx’s home life. His family members aren’t in the Hero Brigade or surely I would have known them. Does he live with his parents? Alone? I shouldn’t even care but making him go home without knowing if he’d have a good support system doesn’t sit right with me. I’ll have to find out his living situation without making it seem like I’m worried about him. Maybe Max knows something.
When we exit the communal KAPOW pod in the tunnels near my house, I open our family pod and retrieve a fleece blanket from the storage compartment. Nyx takes great care to wrap the fallen dog in the blanket, placing him in the utility closet just outside of our house. He stops me just in front of the entrance to my house.
“Maci,” he says. “I want to apologize for how I’ve treated you lately.”
I smile, letting him know it’s no big deal and raise my palm to the door. He grabs my wrist before it touches the metal. “No. I’m serious. I was a jerk and you didn’t deserve it and I’m sorry.” He lowers my hand and holds out his, palm straight. I take his hand, happy to be on handshaking terms with a fellow Hero. “Thank you.”
Dad and Nova are watching human football in the living room. Well, Dad is. Nova stares blankly at the television screen, looking like she’d rather be doing anything but watching men in spandex fight over a ball. She straightens when we walk into the room.
“You’re Nyx Nightly,” she says. “I thought it was you earlier.”
He nods, a little taken aback. “That’s me.”
Dad questions me about the Mayday call and I have difficulty answering his questions over eavesdropping on Nova’s conversation with Nyx. She gets all starry-eyed, showing more vulnerability than that night I first found her in the rundown apartment. “You saved those teenagers who had been kidnapped by the bank robbers,” she says, leaning forward on the armchair to where just the edge of her butt is on the seat. “I used to think you were the greatest Hero of all time.”
Dad lifts an eyebrow and soon we’re both watching the curious exchange.
“I wouldn’t go
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