Page 231 of The Reluctant Hero

It’s South. She sits on the edge of the armchair next to the table to watch me without another word.

The more I look, the dumber I feel. This is a stupid idea. As if something is going to set off whatever alarm I have inside me. It’s fuckingpaper.

My eyes drop to the first page in the next row, and pressure hits my chest.

No way. No fucking way!

When I turn my attention away to the next page, it fades. As soon as I look back, it hits me again.

“I swear to God, if this bullshit is a fluke, I’m going to riot,” I mutter and set the page aside. “I’m pinning all my hopes on a damn superpower that didn’t come with instructions.”

“There is a learning curve,” South agrees.

“Shut up, Captain Clear,” I grouse without much heat.

By the end of the stack I have three pages and one picture. Each one has a varied, nauseating feeling attached to them. I move everything else to the side and put the four pieces in the center.

“Pick one,” I glance at South.

“I’m invited?” She sounds faintly surprised.

“Are you kidding? Jake is convinced I’m carrying around something that shorts out cameras. Be a good little tool and pick a date location. I’ll buy you flowers after that, too.”

She straightens as if she’s accepting a great responsibility. We’re both morons.

After some thought process about it that I’m not a part of, she picks up a page and hands it to me.

“We’ll start there. No flowers. Shade would be upset.”

I roll my eyes as she walks out and follow her.

The page is an apartment complex that’s run down and ready to be demolished. Seeing it in person as South parks the truck makes it an understatement.

It’s a row of twenty apartments in a long, straight line. Every window facing us is boarded over. Even the doors have been removed from most of them and replaced with boards. The parking lot is tight, with a bigger complex on one side and a free health center on the other. The people moving in and out of the center make me think it’s a rehab place. The amount of trash strewn everywhere would convince anyone this is the wrong place.

My chest feels like it’s caving in.

South gets out of the truck and waits for my paranoid ass to join her. I’m already sweating and clutching Jakob close.

When I start toward one of the only doors left, South raises a hand to stop me.

“What?” I whisper. Even though it’s broad daylight and there’s no one close by. The people outside don’t give a shit about us. They can’t even see us with South standing right beside me.

“Walk the perimeter. We’ll follow the feeling.”

Ok, that’s pretty smart. The more danger there is, the harder the pressure will be. And we’ll be outside to give us plenty of space to figure things out.

Or something.

We take our time walking the long line of apartments. The feeling remains steady even as we reach the end.

“What the fuck?” I grit my teeth in frustration. “No change. At all. What does that mean?”

“Let’s find out,” she says calmly and kicks down the closest boarded-up doorway.

“South,” I hiss with wide eyes. The next apartment over has a door. We could have started there. But no, we had to be dramatic.

I give a disgusted sigh and join her.

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