by EJ Whitmer
There on the kitchen island sat Emmett’s cell phone. I could have sworn I saw him grab his phone as he left the condo. I glanced toward the entryway side table and sighed as I saw my keys and no phone. He must have mistakenly grabbed mine on his way out.
I clicked his phone on to see that the message was from Lilith. I honestly did contemplate whether or not to read the message. I’m normally not a snoopy person. (Okay, that may be a lie …) But considering Emmett left in a hurry to go help his team in a time of danger, I decided reading the message was a justifiable action. Plus, he had his phone set to display messages on the home screen. I didn’t even really need to snoop to read the message.
*Latest 911 call requested assistance at Navy Pier. We’ll meet you in front of the Children’s Museum.*
I attempted to message Lilith back and cursed as the phone asked me for a passcode. I began typing every combination of number that could have any significance to Emmett. Fifteen minutes later, I had chewed my fingernails down to nubs and still hadn’t unlocked his phone. I tried to fight off visions of Emmett being ambushed while waiting at the wrong meeting point. After twenty minutes of obsessing, I grabbed Emmett’s phone, my gym shoes from my overnight bag, and my keys and bolted out the door.
19
Navy Pier was bustling when I arrived. Any time the temperature climbs over fifty degrees, residents and tourists flock to the hotspot, even on a Thursday night. It took me over ten minutes to find a parking spot within walking distance. I high-tailed it to the Children’s Museum, gripping my full belly and praying my sushi didn’t make a reappearance. It had been well over an hour since Emmett had raced out of the condo. I shouldn’t have been surprised that not one team member was in sight.
Emmett’s t-shirt wasn’t nearly warm enough for a March evening on the water and I cursed at myself for not grabbing a sweatshirt on my way out. Arms hugged tightly to my body, I began a slow walk around the Pier. The smell of corn dogs and funnel cakes flooded my heart with an aching nostalgia. I used to love coming to Navy Pier with my family. My brothers would always half-heartedly complain about their little sister tagging along, but would end up voluntarily grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the ferris wheel or giving me the largest portion of their cotton candy sticks. Had I not been in such a time-sensitive predicament, I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from demolishing at least one funnel cake. However, I doubted the team would appreciate the powdered sugar that would inevitably end up on my shirt and eyebrows.
I wandered around the crowd in a large loop and ended up back at the Children’s Museum. I was about to go buy a plastic megaphone from one of the street vendors when I spotted a very familiar pair of indigo eyes.
“Blake!” I mentally shouted as loud as possible.
“Anna?” Came his reply. “What in the hell are you doing here? Where are you?”
“I’m in front of the Children’s Museum. Emmett grabbed my phone instead of his and I saw you all were supposed to meet here.”
Blake’s gaze searched through the hordes of people and quickly found mine. “Don’t move.”
As soon as he reached my side, he held his hand out for the phone. “So you’re just here to swap phones. No snooping? No shenanigans? No spandex-clad Carl getting his cape caught in the tilt-a-whirl?”
“Nope,” I stated proudly, lifting my chin in the air. “I just wanted to swap phones and make sure Emmett found you guys. I could see part of Lilith’s message that you were supposed to meet here, but his phone was locked so I couldn’t reply. I kept having visions of him showing up at the wrong spot and being ambushed, so I hurried down here to be sure he got the message and to grab my phone.”
Blake cocked an eyebrow and studied me.
“Stop that. I’m not hiding anything.”
He let out an exasperated huff and pulled out his phone, dialing rapidly without glancing at the screen. “Hey. Jennings is here. Yes, I know, what a shocker. Apparently Vance grabbed her phone on accident. Have you seen him? Alright. We’re at the Children’s Museum.” He quickly ended the call and turned back to me. “Emmett is with Dom. They’re headed this way.”
“Excellent. Thanks.” I smiled up at him, receiving yet another frown in return. “So … Have you found anything tonight? Anything exciting happening? Any superhero showdowns?”
Blake shot me an annoyed glance, then began searching the crowd.
After another awkward moment, I reached out and tugged lightly on his jacket. “Hey … I didn’t realize things were finalizing this week with Regina. I’m sorry you’re going through this. Is there anything I can do to help?”
He inhaled deeply and blew out slowly before meeting my gaze. “No. But thank you. I just want to get it over with so Sophia and I can move on. And …” he paused as if choosing his words carefully. “I appreciate your concern, but it’s not something I want to talk about.”
I stared at my feet and nodded. Not wanting to discuss the subject was completely understandable, and to his credit, he had said it politely. That’s a huge step for Eric Blake. But my heart ached just a bit. I’d thought we were close enough that he’d feel comfortable coming to me if he needed me.
“Anna.” Blake’s voice broke through my thoughts. “We are close and I do feel comfortable with you. I’m just not quite there yet. Please don’t read too much into it.”
The sincerity in his voice eased the ache a bit. “Since you’re having a rough week, I won’t yell at you for listening to my thoughts again.” I bumped him with my shoulder. “Just remember-“
“Hey guys,” Dom’s voice interrupted the moment as he clapped Blake on the back and winked at me. “Nice outfit, Jennings.”
I peered down at my makeshift outfit of Emmett’s shirt and boxers and immediately felt a blush creep up to my ears.
The rest of the team followed closely behind Dom, each of them greeting me with a smile, except Emmett. He looked less than thrilled about my presence.
“Hi,” I greeted meekly. “You grabbed my phone. I just wanted to make sure you got Lilith’s message. If you’ll give me mine, I’ll leave right now. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”
“It’s no big deal,” piped Will. “Nothing’s happening anyway. Hard to catch someone when they’re invisible, and we’re not exactly able to show off our powers to lure him in when we’re surrounded by hundreds of people.”
Lilith motioned for us to follow her around the side of the building, away from the bustling street. “There must be some way to draw him out. We’re wasting our time walking around the Pier, hoping he’ll recognize us among the multitudes of people.”
Dom snorted. “Too bad you didn’t bring Carl with you, Anna. It’s hard to miss a spandex super suit and cape.”
The entire team went silent. Everyone stared at Dom for a few tense moments before turning to look at me.
“Absolutely not,” growled Blake.
“Not going to happen.” Emmett agreed with a firm shake of his head.
“What!?” I cried. “Why are you all looking at me like that? What’s not going to happen?”
“Anna,” Peter hedged. “Do you still have that super suit you wore a few weeks ago?”
My light bulb finally lit. “You’re not serious. You can’t be. There is no way in hell I’m wearing that spandex monstrosity in public!”
“You have a super suit?” Will asked with a smirk. “Why? What’s it like?”
“It was a gift. I didn’t just go out and purchase one on my own. And I am absolutely not ever putting it on my body.”
Lilith stepped in front of Emmett and Blake. “We’d have someone with her at all times. The rest of us will keep an eye on her from a distance. Emmett, you could even walk next to her.”
Emmett snorted. “Even if I did agree to this ludicrous idea, which I’m not going to, I wouldn’t walk next to her in that get-up!”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, babe. It’s a moot point anyway. I don’t want you out here putting yourself
in danger. We can figure something else out.”
“What about what Anna wants?” offered Dom, earning him harsh glares from both Emmett and Blake.
“We’re a team,” snapped Blake. “We make decisions together.”
“Good point.” Dom turned to the rest of the group. “All in favor of using Anna as bait?” Peter, Will, Lilith and Dom all raised their hands. “All opposed?” Emmett and Blake simultaneously flipped him the bird. “Great! That takes care of that. Anna, would you please lend us your damsel in distress services? People probably won’t even look twice at you in that outfit. Chicago is chock full of wierdos.”
I bit my lip and glanced up at Emmett. If looks could kill, I’d be a puddle of liquefied Anna on the ground. I thought back to our conversation earlier about being free to be ourselves and not constrained by relationship titles or commitments. If Emmett didn’t want to be super involved with each other, what right did he have to tell me what I could and couldn’t do? I don’t even listen to guys who do care deeply about me! And forbidding me from doing something is only going to make me push back harder.
My mind made up, I nodded firmly at the team. “I’m in. I just need to run home and grab the suit.”
“I can pop over quick, if you’re comfortable with me being in your apartment,” Will offered. “I still have the pics you sent me the other day.”
“Sure. It’s hanging in my closet. The photos I sent you should be pretty self-explanatory.”
A quick thumbs-up and Will disappeared, leaving me staring at three smiling faces and two scowls.
“I sincerely hope you didn’t just make a fatal decision based on your relationship issues,” Blake’s voice grumbled in my mind.
“Butt out! You know I want to help. I just chose not to let Emmett’s opinion affect mine.”
Lilith cleared her throat, breaking up our mental conversation. "So now that it’s settled, can we please formulate a plan? We’re going to need at least one person within a few feet of Anna. The rest of us can weave in and out of the crowd, keeping pace. Do not let her out of your sight.”
Will reappeared in the center of our powwow and handed me the atrocious outfit.
“I’ll find a restroom and change real quick,” I murmured as I scanned our surroundings for a more private area.
“I’ll go with you,” offered Blake. “The rest of you stay close, but out of sight.” Everyone nodded their agreement and scattered, leaving me with a very grumpy Blake.
“So you’re not afraid to be seen with me wearing this?”
He shot me a bland look and steered me to a public restroom. “I’m not going to walk right next to you. I’ll be a few paces back, still within a couple feet. Quite honestly, I’d like to strangle Vance for not walking with you.”
“So you are embarrassed,” I teased.
“Of course I am. But that’s not why I’d strangle him. You matter to me. And when you care about someone, you deal with embarrassment if it means keeping them safe. I would have thought that with you dating Vance, he’d want to be the one closest to you when you’re putting your life in danger.”
I frowned. I didn’t know how to respond to that and didn’t want to distract myself by obsessing, so I just shrugged and entered the restroom.
20
Five minutes and a boatload of swear words later, I emerged from the stall and examined myself in the mirror. I looked like Wonder Woman bathed in Pepto-Bismol. The door to the restroom swung open and a group of preteens walked in, giggling about God only knows, periods or boyfriends or unicorns or something. The room went silent as they all seemed to notice me at the same time.
“Holy crap,” one of them sneered. “She looks like she’s wearing a giant pink condom.”
I glared at her and started toward the door. “Why am I not surprised that you’re, what, thirteen, and know what condoms look like? Hashtag, hussy!” I flung the door open and stepped out, smashing right into Blake’s chest.
“I don’t know what I’m more concerned about,” he drawled. “The fact that you actually used the word hashtag in a sentence or that you just called that little girl a hussy.”
“She said I looked like a giant pink condom!” I argued as we made our way back to the street.
“She’s not wrong,” Blake countered. “Although I liked your comparison to the Pepto Wonder Woman.” He glanced down and me and winked before giving me a light shove ahead. “Now focus. I need you to walk at a decent clip, looking around as if you’re searching for trouble. If you see anything suspicious, just reach out to me in your head. And if I give you an instruction, follow it. I mean it, Jennings.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I murmured as I walked ahead of him.
The crowds were just finally starting to thin out, making my prowling a bit easier. Nearly every person I passed stared at me in shock. I figured our foe wouldn’t be too surprised to see me in the getup, so I quickly discounted anyone who seemed put off by my super suit.
“So what happened to make you guys hustle out here?” I mentally asked Blake as we walked along.
“Peter heard a half dozen calls on the police scanner about people being pushed off the docks into the water or trash cans being thrown across the street. No witnesses saw who was responsible. They told the police it was like the person just disappeared.”
“No one was hurt?”
“No. This is the same shit he pulled in Boston. He disturbs the peace, messes with civilians and such, but he never actually does much damage. He’s trying to draw us out.”
I pondered that as we passed a caricature booth. A small group of elderly women surrounded one of their friends as she posed for the artist. A woman clad in lavender velour took one look at me and gasped, bringing me to the attention of the entire group.
“Goodness gracious!” she cried as she rushed over and began running my cape between her fingers. “What on earth are you wearing?”
I searched for Blake over my shoulder and found nothing but the bustling crowd. “Um … It’s a costume. I’m a performer down on the end of the Pier.”
“Dorothy, did you hear that!?” cried another woman sporting a sunhat the size of a manhole cover. “She’s a performer! Oh, honey. Won’t you put on a little show for us?” The women behind her squealed with delight, nodding and clapping furiously.
“Well …” I hedged. Lying on the fly is not my forte. “I’m not a solo performer. I’m a magician’s assistant. My partner … He’s … Well, he ate too many funnel cakes, so he’s visiting the commode.”
“Ah… Funnel cakes will do that,” agreed a tiny, wrinkly old woman in what looked like a frilly pink romper. “My Walter, God rest his soul, called them Hansel and Gretel Cakes. Whenever he’d eat one, he’d leave a trail behind him on the way home. Not of bread crumbs, of course …”
My eyes bulged in horror as the group nodded in understanding.
The lavender lady finished fiddling with my cape and shuffled around to my front, eyeing the bird logo screen printed on my chest. “What does this stand for, honey?”
I had no idea. I’d never asked Carl what it stood for. I shrugged my shoulders slightly. “I’m not totally sure. A friend made it for me.”
“Is that right? Well your friend has some serious talent! The workmanship on these stitches is wonderful! Do you have any extras I could buy off you? Perhaps something in a light purple or periwinkle?”
“I’ll need a built-in brazier for mine,” chimed a heavy-set woman in the back.
“Mabel, you’ll need a couple of built-in, reinforced hammocks to wrangle those monsters!” Snapped the sunhat lady.
“Well at least I won’t have to roll mine up like a couple of boobie burritos, you saggy old bitty! Good gravy, if you had nipple rings, they’d leave sparks on the cement everywhere you walked!”
The gaggle of grandmas immediately erupted. Sunhat lady began tucking her breasts into her trousers in preparation for their showdown. Lavender abandoned fondling my super suit to help hold back hammoc
k boobs. I took the opportunity to slowly back away from the chaos and melt into the passing crowd.
“That was disturbing on so many levels.” Blake’s voice echoed in my mind.
“Did you hear that!? Jumpin’ Jesus, I didn’t think I was going to get out of there in one piece! You’re lucky I couldn’t find you. I was going to pull you in and introduce you as my magician.”
I could literally feel the shudder run through Blake’s body.
Finally out of sight of the geriatric wrestling match, I took a moment to re-collect my thoughts before continuing my role as supervillain bait.