Page 54 of Never a Hero

‘No!’ Joan wrenched at the Hathaway holding her as Nick’s breath released again, slow and even, like when he’d fallen asleep beside her in the boat. ‘This is dangerous!’ Joan said desperately to the room. ‘What you’re doing right now is making things dangerous! Don’t you see that?’ Didn’t they understand? If Nick figured out the truth of monsters, he’d hate them for controlling his mind. Really hate them. This might put him onto the path of becoming the hero again. All their families would be in danger.

Owen came forward. After his unpleasantness in the corridor, Joan had expected him to gloat, but he looked very serious. ‘Look at me,’ he told Nick.

Nick lifted his head and met Owen’s eyes. They were almost the same height. Nick seemed like a soldier standing before Owen: clean-cut and dark-haired. Owen’s own hair brushed his shoulders.

‘No!’ Joan tried again to pull away from the Hathaway’s grip, but he was too strong.

Owen said to Nick, casually: ‘You’re fine with monsters. You don’t want to hurt them. And you won’t tell any humans about them.’

Nick shook his head slightly, as if an insect had flown near him.

‘Say it back to me,’ Owen said to Nick.

To Joan’s horror, Nick answered, flat and obedient: ‘I’m fine with monsters. I don’t want to hurt them. I won’t tell any humans about them.’ Then, sounding more like himself: ‘Why would you think I even could harm you? You all have special powers. The most I can do is kick a football pretty far.’

Owen shrugged. ‘It’s done,’ he told the others.

‘This is best for everyone,’ Liam told Joan.

Joan’s heartbeat thundered in her chest. ‘Get off me,’ she told the Hathaway man holding her. She wrenched away, and the man finally released his grip. ‘Fuck you,’ Joan said to him thickly.

‘Back at you,’ the man said without rancour.

Joan stumbled to Nick. She touched his shoulders, his arms, as if there might be bruises. But it wasn’t a visible wound. It was in his head.

‘I’m fine,’ Nick said. He sounded just as he always did. His eyes were clear—he looked like himself. ‘I really am.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Joan said. ‘I’m sorry I let this happen.’

‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Nick said. ‘I don’t even mind. If that’s the reassurance they need, I don’t mind giving it.’

This wasn’t okay, though. It was so far from okay. Over her shoulder, Joan said to Ruth, ‘Look after him, please!’ Ruth would have so many questions, she knew, but they’d have to wait. Right now, Joan had to find Owen.

He’d slipped out of the room. But Joan had been watching him. She raced to the east door. Clustered people avoided her eyes as she searched among them. Not here. She hurried to the next room.

Still no Owen, but Liam Liu was by the window, looking out onto the canal. This had been his decision. Well, he could bloody well undecide it.

Joan grabbed his arm. ‘Where’s Owen?’ she demanded. ‘He has to take that compulsion off Nick!’

‘That’s not going to happen,’ Liam said.

‘Yes, it is!’ Joan said. ‘We have to take it off him!’ It wasn’t too late. If they took it off now, it would be almost like it hadn’t happened.

‘Why would we?’ Liam said.

Joan wanted to scream. ‘You can’t manipulate humans just because you want to!’ Why didn’t he understand that? Maybe it was because no one could manipulate monsters; the Argent power didn’t work on them. ‘You can’t do this to people!’

‘We’re doing you a favour.’ Liam sounded frustrated. Bewildered. ‘We’re harbouring you, and we’re allowing him to stay. This is the bare minimum we’re asking—the only way we can tolerate his presence here. We’re not harming him at all! We’re not asking for much!’

‘He’s not even dangerous!’ Joan said. ‘He doesn’t even remember!’

‘Well, some of us do!’ The words burst furiously from Liam as if he’d been maintaining his temper with difficulty, and now he couldn’t control it anymore. ‘I remember!’ he said to Joan. ‘I remember him killing me!’

‘What?’ Joan stared at him, shocked.

‘He came to the Liu gallery,’ Liam said. ‘He attacked the house. Him and his people. He killed my cousins. Uncles. Aunts. My sister Mabel.’ His voice shook. ‘I tried to save her. I tried to get her out the back door, but he caught us in the corridor.’ Liam drew in a hard breath as if he’d forgotten he needed to breathe. ‘He killed her in front of me. He broke her neck. I tried to fight him, but he pushed a knife into my chest, right here.’ Liam pressed his palm against his breastbone like he could still feel it; was still trying to stanch the blood. He focused back on Joan. ‘Don’t tell me that you want him roaming among us unchecked. Not when so many of us remember our deaths at his hand.’

‘I … I didn’t know.’ Joan remembered how the Lius had hushed when Nick had first walked into the room. She’d assumed their fear was theoretical—that they’d read about him in the Liu records. She hadn’t imagined anyone here might remember the attacks. ‘I didn’t know,’ she said again.

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