Page 50 of Infamous Heart

The earbuds slide into place. With a couple of taps on my phone, the hundreds of playlists scroll across the screen. Oldies? Rock? Whiney men with guitars? Post new wave exper—really? I must have been trying to work through something when I made that one.

“For the lonely.” Every song on the list had been selected to tug at the heart strings and drag me through an emotional hell. When life knocked you to the ground, nothing like kicking yourself in the gut. At this point, I estimated less than ten songs in before the waterworks turned on and I cried myself to sleep.

Until then, I’d replay the events of the day until I dissected every possible outcome. Once I thought of a better scenario, I’d tap rewind and start over. This would go on until I had a dozen options of things I could have done better. If I spent this much time thinking before I ran my mouth, perhaps I’d be listening to something more upbeat.

“Griffin.” I scooted to the edge of the couch. Leaning with my elbows on my knees, I fixated on the geometric pattern of the rug. Gray and brown squares intersected, and in the corner of one, a thread had pulled loose. Touching it with my toe, I debated hunting down a pair of scissors. “Griffin, you’re hopeless.”

I tapped the play button, and the sounds of the city grew distant. Impending heartache pushed its way through my walls, finding every crack and misfitting outlet cover. If that wasn’t enough to induce a pity party, I eyed the painting.

The white paint had started as an attempt to erase the admiration. As it splattered against the canvas, I thought it might erase the stain Sebastian had left on my heart. When I massaged it into the painting, obscuring his features until he was unidentifiable, it did nothing to bandage the crumbling organ in my chest. The lack of satisfaction gave way to anger, and the plan had gone from hiding Sebastian to revealing the truth.

I walked over to the canvas, plopping myself into my chair. The man of pure white light looked more like a snowstorm gone horribly wrong. There were areas of the original painting poked through, bits of an arm and thigh, but everything produced a blinding light. To the casual viewer, it’d appear like a toddler’s painting destined for the fridge. For a superhero lover, they’d see the Ward’s newest hero… powered person. He might be many things, but hero was not one of them.

“Why are you so hung up on him?” I could feel my throat vibrate as I spoke, but with the earbuds in place, I couldn’t hear my own voice. “You’re talking to yourself again, Griff.” It wasn’t bad until I argued with myself.

It had only been a few days. Sebastian didn’t deserve my breakup playlist, but he had been special. What if I had ruined an opportunity withtheone? The heartache took hold and sank its hooks into my chest.

I poked at the cloths lying underneath my easel, seeing if any of them were remotely clean. I snatched the cleanest one and picked up a small can of turpentine. A few drops on the rag and I started carefully rubbing it along the surface of the painting. The white lifted, revealing the original painting.

“There you are,” I whispered. Gentle, wide circles, a fast brush along the face. The white faded a little at a time until I could see Sebastian’s eyes. With a few more passes, his face peeked through the white, as if the light on his face had turned softer than the rest of his body.

The painting served as a symbol. The damage had been wrought, and no matter how careful I was, things wouldn’t go back to the way they were. I wondered if there was turpentine for the heart? Maybe a little dabbed here and there and Sebastian and I could remain friendly.

A low beep broke through the music. One of the apps on my phone wanted attention, but I couldn’t stop staring at a pipe dream. The white had receded enough to see his chest, hisbeautifulchest. I hadn’t gotten my fill of it before I blew up. I’m sure if I thought back to all my failed relationships, this would win the award for the fastest ending.

“Great, Griffin,” I scoffed, “you found something you’re good at.”

The beep sounded three times in rapid fire. I recognized this one. The HeroApp™ wanted my attention. Something big must be happening in the vicinity. I reach to my pocket, and it sounded one more time.

“I get it already,” I growled.

I fished it out to see the alert flashing. Somewhere a villain was doing who knows what. With a click, I could see the name in the top corner with a black profile icon.

“Wraith,” I cursed.

The radius of the alert had me right on the edge of the area labelled, “Be Alert.” I scrolled through the map to see where she decided to strike. Two blocks away, the bitch of darkness was terrorizing—

“The Beacon?”

Unlike before, the alert already noted a body count. She had gone from terrifying Beacon employees to killing. If this was going to be her swan song, she’d be out to do as much damage as possible. If the heroes of the Ward weren’t quick, she’d leave a trail of bodies leading right into the lobby of the building.

The phone shook, and the radius expanded. I had never seen it do that before. In the lower right-hand corner, a picture of Zipper appeared, followed by a red X. The fastest man alive wasn’t a match for a woman capable of robbing him of his sight. Hopefully that meant Cobalt was—

“Holy shit.” Cobalt’s image and another red X.

Her body count reached double digits. It might be okay, as the app didn’t differentiate between dead and unconscious. But knowing how close she came to killing Sofia, I feared Rebecca had finally moved firmly into the villain column. Stopping her now required a prison cell or death.

Outside, the sky started to brighten as if the sun were rising off in the distance. I glanced at the phone again as the body count continued to climb. Moving closer to the window, I nearly had to squint. It wasn’t coming from the horizon. Somewhere between the buildings, a brilliant white illuminated the street.

A blinding light flew between the buildings.

Rubbing my eyes, I tried to shake the multicolored orbs. This had happened before. Except last time it had been… Sebastian. The gasp was loud enough to be heard over the music.

“He’s heroing.”

20

I had never puton my sneakers so quickly. I didn’t bother locking the door as I sped toward the elevator. Rapidly pushing the button didn’t make the doors open any faster. I threw open the metal door to the stairwell and started down the three flights.

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