Swarm (24 page)

Jess narrowed her eyes, but Ethan was on a roll.

“And maybe when those people get home, they'll have to ride out all the bullshit judgments their families are waiting to heap on their heads too. But whatever. Me and my team finally did something good!”

“I thought you said you got your asses kicked.”

Ethan's rant gave out on him.

“Uh, that too,” he admitted. “One guy died.”

Jess stared at him. “Crap, Ethan! One of your friends
died 
?”

“Not quite.” The exhaustion and fear hammered on Ethan, twice as heavy as before. “I mean, he was kind of evil. But he was a guy like us, with powers. He was torn apart by this way more evil guy. It's complicated.”

Hell, he hadn't even met Coin—
Davey,
he reminded himself—and Ethan had been up in the control room when Swarm had done most of his work. But he'd glimpsed that fountain afterward. And he'd seen the damage it'd done to the others—Kelsie especially. Like she hadn't been through enough.

Jess said, “And this doesn't have anything to do with those cops?”

Ethan almost laughed. “Totally different ball game.”

“Jesus, little bro, what've you gotten yourself into?” Her voice was gentle.

Ethan shook his head. Even if he could explain it, Jess would never understand. A superpowered guy who killed other superpeople was probably one too many supers for her.

The Zeroes themselves had no idea what to do next, not even Nate. They didn't know whether to run and hide, or
create diversions
, whatever that meant. Or stay put, keep separate, and hope Swarm went in another direction. After Ren, hopefully.

He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't even want to
think
about it.

“With power comes responsibility, or something,” he mumbled. “Anyhow, go ahead, tell Mom everything. I don't care anymore. So long as I get some pillow time.”

He tried to lean back on his bed, but Jess lunged forward and hugged the breath out of him. “Ethan, if you get into any more trouble, I'll kill you.”

“Get off me!” he gasped.

“Unless Mom beats me to it.” She reached up and ruffled his hair, keeping him trapped in her arms. “And if she calls me one more time about
anything
you're doing wrong, I'll tell her everything. The cops, the payoff, the nightclub, the superposse. I'll
make sure she puts you in solitary confinement for the rest of your life.”

“Got it.” The words came out as a strained whisper.

“And if you ever need anything, I don't care what, you come to
me 
! Not your crazy-ass friends.”

“You bet. Now please. Let me breathe.”

Jess eased up, but only slightly. “I love you. Idiot.”

“Your love is painful,” he gasped.

Jess kissed him quickly on the cheek. “I got one more thing I have to say to you, and I don't want you to freak out.”

“Perfect intro, Jess.”

“That girl you're into? Kelsie, right? You should know something.” Jess leaned forward. “She's totally into that Chizara chick.”

“Wait. What?”

Jess gave him a final squeeze. “Old-school gaydar like mine doesn't lie, kid bro. Those girls are into each other. Be cool with it.”

Ethan felt a stab of pain right through his sternum. “She's into girls?”

Jess gave him a lopsided shrug. “One girl, anyway. Sorry to break it to you.”

“It's cool, I'm just . . .” For a moment he wasn't sure
what
he was.

Dead in the water before he even began.

He'd never felt so stupid and so freaking bereft.

“
Romance sucks,” he said.

“Be bigger than that, little brother,” Jess said softly.

“Sure.” Ethan nodded, trying to reassure Jess as much as himself. “No, of course. I mean, I guess I'm just . . .”

“Surprised? Disappointed? Heartbroken?” Jess supplied, ever helpful.

“Tired,” Ethan said. “Seriously tired.”

But when he was less exhausted and less traumatized by the mallpocalypse, he was going to be really upset over Kelsie.

Until then, he didn't want to be awake anymore. He grabbed a pillow and pushed it between his shoulder and the wall, leaning into it.

“Just when I thought my life couldn't get any worse.”

“Ethan, are you going to be okay?”

“I'll be great,” he said, with more conviction than he felt. “There's always room in my life for extra suckiness.”

Jess put an arm around him. “Life is complicated.”

“Check,” Ethan muttered. “I got
complications
coming out the wazoo.”

Jess still looked worried, so he tried to grin like it was all a big joke, but he wasn't feeling it. The grin died on his face.

Kelsie was not into him. Kelsie would never be into him.

“But hey, don't worry about me.” He leaned back on his mattress at last, pulling the pillow over his face. “I'll be fine.”

“Roger that,” Jess replied. She grabbed his ankles and dragged his feet up onto the bed. Then she left quietly.

Ethan rolled until he was facedown with his eyes clamped shut.

Kelsie and Chizara. Chizara and Kelsie.

Sure, Crash was hot, he had to give her that. But she was also a Goody Two-shoes, the most straitlaced person Ethan knew.

Kelsie might be sweet and caring, and she always wanted everything to turn out okay. But she was also an awesome pickpocket, card shark, and car thief. How were the two of them ever going to fit together?

Not my business,
he reminded himself.

He was not going to dwell on his misfortune. He was going to be happy for Kelsie, because love was pure and selfless. Love was being happy when someone you loved was happy, and—
aw, hell.

“Could be worse,” he muttered into his mattress.

He racked his brain for a way it could possibly be any worse. Then he rolled to his back and stared at the first stars peeping in through his open curtains.

“At least she's not into Nate,” he told himself.

His phone chirped—a text. He groaned and reached out to grab it. Probably more bad news.

The message was from Flicker.

Will you be my boyfriend tonight?

Ethan slowly sat upright. “What the actual fuck?”

“IS HE HERE YET?”

“No, Mom,” Flicker said. “But for the tenth time, I'll tell you when he is.”

She lifted the tray of cheese from the kitchen table. The smell of gouda and a sharp cheddar rose up, and the little rye biscuits that Lily liked.

“Riley, let me get that.”

“Gotten!” Flicker hoisted the platter onto her shoulder. “I've done this before. Like, at many previous parties.”

Her mother sighed. “Sorry. It made me nervous then, too. Go forth and be empowered!”

Flicker smiled at the timeworn joke and felt a sudden rush of affection for her mother. Just knowing a Zero killer was out there had turned her family's annoying habits precious.

But as she reached the kitchen door, her mother added, “He's not one of those boyfriends who's always late, is he?”

“Never. Except when he gets arrested.”

There was no one else in the kitchen to see her mother's expression, so when no laugh came, Flicker assumed the worst.

“
Kidding
, Mom! He'll be here any minute.”

Another sigh. “Well, good. It's just that you and Lily have been talking about him for ages. Your father and I should have met him before now.”

Four times, Mom. Four times.

A thought came crashing in—if Swarm came to Cambria, they might never get to know him at all. If Flicker had learned anything from watching someone die, it was that death didn't leave room to fix things in the future.

“Are you okay?” her mother asked.

“Yeah.” Flicker's voice came out broken. She turned so Mom couldn't see her face, and pushed out through the swinging kitchen doors, back into the hubbub of the party.

She kept her vision off, steering herself through the chatter by sound. Like every Christmas Eve, there were about thirty people here—mostly relatives, comfortingly familiar. Aunt Melissa was telling her safari stories again, and the usual arguments about politics were keeping her uncles busy.

This was exactly what Flicker needed after the chaos of the last few days. As a bonus, the gathering sounded much too happy to turn into a Zero-eating swarm.

She was about halfway across the living room when one of the cousins popped up beside her.

“Oh, let me get that, Riley!” The tray was lifted from her shoulder.

A flash of anger went through Flicker—God, she was fragile tonight. But she managed not to lash out at Samantha, who never remembered to use
Flicker
instead of
Riley
.

Flicker only smiled sweetly and drifted away. Where
was
he? What if he'd gotten lost on the way?

Now
that
would be typical.

Lily's high heels came clicking over. “What did Mom want?”

“To bug me. Because the boyfriend isn't here yet.”

“Ha. If she only knew.”

“Hush.” Flicker gave her sister a punch. “You
know
this is a last resort, Lily. They keep asking!”

“Yeah, well, if you had a
normal
boyfriend, we wouldn't have to lie to them all the time.”

Flicker sighed. It wasn't like she was lying to hide anything horrible. It was just that Mom and Dad only remembered their conversations
about
Thibault, not the boy himself.

It all felt suddenly so trivial, when there was a Zero killer to worry about.

“I don't want a normal boyfriend,” she said simply. “I want Thibault.”

The name came easily. The thought of losing him had kept him stuck fast in her mind all day.

“Hey, lighten up,” Lily said.

Flicker managed a weak smile. She hadn't told Lily anything. It was like, if no one else knew, maybe Swarm didn't exist, maybe Davey's death hadn't happened.

Like this was a perfectly normal Christmas.

The doorbell rang, and Flicker jumped into the eyes just outside on the porch.

Yep. The point of view was at the right height, and the hands pulling back from the doorbell button had those familiar bitten fingernails.

“It's him,” she said, already in motion toward the door.

“I hope this works.” Lily was close behind.

“Me too,” Flicker said softly.

Then, if the worst happened, at least her parents might remember her having been normal for this one night.

ETHAN WALKED THROUGH FLICKER'S FRONT
door, aware of every gaze on him.

He hoped he looked like a regular guy about to spend Christmas Eve with his girlfriend. He felt like roadkill.

“Thanks for doing this, Ethan,” Flicker said quietly.

“Don't mention it.”

Being at Flicker's was better than being alone at home. When he'd woken up after a few hours' sleep, he'd found a note saying Jess was out on a last-minute food run, and Mom was probably at work. The house felt empty and creepy. He kept imagining a thousand zombies crashing through the door.

“Hey,
Scam
,” Lily said quietly.

He gave her a conspiratorial smile. Flicker didn't hide anything from her twin sister, not even her friends' superpowers.
So Lily had to know that Ethan was perfectly equipped to be a fake boyfriend.

“You remember Ethan, don't you?” Flicker asked, loud enough for other people to hear.

“Oh, yeah. I remember your
boyfriend
,” Lily replied. The sarcasm hadn't left her voice.

Flicker blanched at her sister's tone. The voice had to fix this fast.