-Tessa POV-

 

After dinner, I went to our room and laid on the bed. Maia stayed behind to talk to Marissa.

My mind wandered back to the first time I had seen those three girls, back in the school bathroom.

They had grabbed me and manhandled me, insulting me and spewing hateful words at me. They had even threatened me with a pocket knife.

Everything they said had been false, but…

It still hurt.

And it was incredibly unlikely that they could do anything to me with that knife, and yet…

I had still been scared.

I was still a little scared, really. Seeing them again today had made that all too clear.

But, just like before, I had no idea how to deal with that.

It was frustrating.

A gentle knock on the door drew me out of my pondering.

“Hey, Tessa. Mind if I come in?” Maia said softly.

“Sure, that’s fine,” I responded, eager for a distraction.

Maia walked into the room, looking a little worried. She sighed, then sat on the bed next to me.

We sat in silence for a while.

{Hey, Maia.}

[Hm?]

{I really enjoyed our date today.}

Maia looked at me and smiled.

[Me too.]

I leaned over to lay my head in her lap. Maia began to pat my head, occasionally running her fingers through my hair.

It felt really nice. I closed my eyes and rubbed my head against her hand.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

 

-Maia POV-

 

Tessa really was cute. Her sleeping face was especially adorable. Not wanting to wake her up, but also not wanting to stop, I continued to rub Tessa’s head and play with her hair.

A few minutes later, her hair turned white. Her antennae appeared, as did the fluff on her neck.

I rubbed her back, feeling around for her wings. They were trapped underneath her shirt, which couldn’t have been comfortable.

Slowly, I eased her shirt up until her wings were free.

Well, no point in not going all the way.

I gently moved her shirt over her head, then down her arms. Just as I got it off, though, she stirred.

{…What are you doing?}

It was a little tempting not to answer, with the way she was blushing. After a moment, though, I told her.

[Your wings are out.]

{Huh? Oh, they are.}

She twisted around a little in my lap, her bare skin brushing my legs.

After noticing her wings, she went still again.

[Hey, Tessa. You still awake?]

{Hm?}

[You know that weird illusion thing that happened?]

{Mhm.}

[This might sound weird, but do you think you did that?]

{Mmm… Probably.}

Oh. I was just taking a guess, but it really was her.

[Do you think you can do it again?]

Rather than answering, she scrunched up her face like she was concentrating really hard. Cute.

After a moment, though, figures faded into view around us.

At first, I thought they were just outlines, or that they were transparent or something. However, upon closer inspection, they were completely opaque. But I could also see through them. It was confusing, like I was seeing two different things at once.

Suddenly, something occurred to me.

[Can you make yourself invisible for a second?]

{Sure.}

Tessa turned invisible, disappearing from my lap. I could still feel her weight, though, so I knew she didn’t move.

Even if she did move, I could track her through our mental link. I had found that out when she first turned invisible.

But now, I focused my eyes on where she was. Sure enough, I could just barely see her. She was still invisible, but I could see her. Odd.

She was blushing. Oh right, I was staring at her face.

Tessa dropped her invisibility and dispelled the illusions, then looked away from me, her face still red.

“[Cute.]”

{Aaa.}

She covered her face, then moved to lay on the bed rather than my lap. I climbed on top of her and kissed her.

[You’re just so adorable.]

She seemed even more flustered now, and it made me want to tease her more. I rolled over so I was lying next to her and she was facing me.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in for a long, deep kiss.

 

-Tessa POV-

 

The next day, we went to school as normal, if a little tired.

On the way to the club room after school, though, Maia got a call from Reese.

Putting the phone on speaker, Maia held it out so we could both hear Reese.

“Hey, Maia! Is Tessa there?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Sweet,” Reese commented. “Anyways, Mr. Johnson is out sick today so there’s no club meeting. We’re having a study meeting thing at the school library instead, if you want to come.”

[Should we?]

{Sure, why not.}

“We’ll be there,” Maia said.

“Great! Oh yeah, Tom couldn’t make it, but the rest of us are here.”

“See you soon.”

“Yep! Bye!”

After hanging up, Maia and I made our way to the library. Just outside it, though, Maia stopped.

[I want to try something with your illusions. Is that okay?]

{Sure.}

[Can you make my fingernails red? As though they were painted?]

I did as she asked, then watched her inspect them by waving her hands around. She nodded in satisfaction.

[Thanks.]

{No problem. Why did you want me to do that, though?}

[I noticed that I can see through your illusions somewhat, so I wanted to see if other people can, too.]

{Interesting. Let’s try it.}

Entering the library, we soon found the club. Or rather, they found us.

“Tessa! Maia! Over here!” Reese called.

She was quickly silenced by a chorus of “shhh”s from the rest of the club.

The library was empty other than us, but it still felt wrong to be loud.

Maia and I sat down at a table near the window with Reese, Cass, Jamie, and David. An ancient-looking radio sat on the windowsill, softly playing the news.

Reese cleared her throat. “Now that we are all here, I call this meeting to order,” she said, acting grandiose. She opened her mouth to continue, but was interrupted by Cass.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re failing again so we’re having a study session, we get the idea,” Cass said, sounding bemused.

Reese laughed.

“Fine, let’s get started.”

 

-Maia POV-

 

“Argh, I don’t get it!” Reese exclaimed, laying her head on the table.

Seeing my chance, I moved my chair next to hers.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Math.”

“Oh, I can help with that. Can I take a look?”

“Sure.”

I picked up the paper in front of her, purposefully showing her my nails.

“Oh, hey, I like your nails,” she said.

“Thanks, I painted them this weekend,” I lied. “It probably won’t last though, I always have trouble not picking at them.” That part wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, that’s a shame,” she responded, sounding distracted. “Can I see?”

“Sure.”

I held out a hand to her, allowing her to inspect my nails. She held my hand in hers, admiring my fingernails.

I felt a twinge of jealousy from Tessa, which I found a tiny bit amusing.

[I'll hold your hand later.]

{Mhm.}

I made eye contact with her from across the table.

[…And we can also do… other things.]

I watched Tessa blush, then turn away, feigning looking for something in her backpack. I chuckled.

“Very pretty,” Reese said at last, letting my hand fall back to the table.

“Thanks,” I repeated. “The math?”

Instantly, Reese frowned.

I turned my attention to Reese’s sheet of paper that was now in front of me. I wrote down a few formulas on a different paper, then pointed to them with a pencil.

“If you do this…” I began, then was interrupted by Reese grabbing her paper back and beginning to talk to herself.

“Oh, wait, you mean I just have to… But if I… Oh! Oh! I get it now. Thanks!”

I blinked. Did she really need my help?

From across the table, I saw Tessa covering her mouth, probably trying not to laugh. Then, Jamie spoke up.

“Reese is actually pretty smart, she’s just really dumb sometimes,” she said, addressing me.

“Hey!” Reese protested, not looking up from the paper she was now rapidly filling up with calculations. “That is entirely true and I feel insulted!”

Jamie chuckled, then went back to reading a book.

I looked around, noting what everyone else was doing. Reese was crunching numbers, Jamie was reading, Cass had become a pile of pink slime again, and David and Tessa were listening to the radio.

Curious about what was so interesting on the radio, I sat next to Tessa.

A female voice that didn’t quite sound like a reporter seemed to be announcing something.

“-HeroCorp is now proudly partnered with local law enforcement in order to handle crimes committed by individuals gifted with supernatural powers. Our elite team consists of some of the strongest power users out there, and we are confident we can handle any situations that may arise.”

[HeroCorp?]

{Remember that company that was founded last week to research powers?}

[Yeah?]

{That's them.}

[And they named it HeroCorp?]

{Yeah.}

[I literally can’t think of a worse name for a company.]

{Me neither.}

“Is this like a press conference or something?” I asked out loud.

“Yeah, but it’s kinda underwhelming without seeing it too,” David replied.

“Mhm.”

I turned my attention back to the radio when I heard a familiar voice, though I couldn’t remember where I had heard it before. It sounded feminine, but was also heavily computerized.

“Our team leader, Rime, was unable to make it to this conference. Therefore, I will introduce myself and my colleagues. I am Seraph. I am capable of using beams of light to combat enemies. This is Roche, a skilled manipulator of gravity.”

“Hello,” said a deep voice I didn’t recognize. Then, Seraph continued.

“This is Domain, specializing in teleportation.”

“Hiya!”

Now, that voice I knew I recognized, but I still couldn’t remember from where!

Frustrated, I took out my phone and pulled up the live broadcast of the conference. Tessa leaned over to watch, too.

Standing on a stage was an eclectic-looking group of four people. I instantly recognized two of them.

The one called Seraph was the seemingly angelic person I had seen Breach fighting. Presumably, she was the one to burn Breach’s leg.

The other one I recognized was Domain. She was Anna, that teleporting woman I met at the mall. She had helped fight off the lava guy, though I couldn’t recall his name. Domain was wearing a fluffy purple jacket and black leggings, with nothing covering her face.

I wondered why an outfit like that did nothing to disguise her identity, while it was hard to recognize Vigilante. Breach had also claimed that people didn’t recognize her due to her maid dress. Strange.

Also standing on the stage was a man in hooded black robes. Presumably, he was Roche.

Seraph then introduced the last person, a man covered in flowing metal. He almost appeared to be made out of mercury.

“And this is Bulwark, who can control metal.”

Rather than greeting the audience, he simply nodded.

“We reveal our abilities to be transparent to the public,” Seraph continued. “We aim to inspire others to do the right thing, and to provide a sense of safety in these turbulent times.”

Then, she stepped back, and a woman in a business suit returned to the podium. As she spoke, I realized that she was the first voice I had heard on the radio. She wrapped up the conference, then the broadcast ended.

I put away my phone and went back to just listening to the radio.

“And that was the HeroCorp press conference,” the news anchor said. “Next up, we have reports of two women sighted in the forest near the high school late last weekend. According to the reports, they may be accused of public indecency. One of them-“

David reached over and turned off the radio.

He looked a little red in the face, and I couldn’t blame him. That was an odd news story to have right after a big conference.

“Anyways,” David said. “Let’s talk about literally anything else.”

“Agreed,” I replied.

 

-Tessa POV-

 

Towards the end of the study session, the conversation turned towards shows we had enjoyed as kids.

Reese and Jamie both liked a children’s show from around thirty years ago, although they argued over which character was better. Apparently, Cass didn’t watch TV at all, even now, which Reese proclaimed “an utter tragedy” and promised to correct. Maia and I brought up a magical girl cartoon we both liked, and were surprised when David said he liked it too.

[Hey, Tessa.]

{Hm?}

[I think I might have an idea for an outfit.]

{What?}

[Like, for Weaver to make for me.]

{Okay… Wait, do you mean you would wear a magical girl outfit?}

[Yes.]

{…That’s amazing.}

[I know, right? And since other people can’t see through your illusions, I was thinking you could change my hair color for even more identity protection. …If that’s not too much trouble, of course.]

{That's a terrible idea.}

[Aw, okay.]

{But not one that I am opposed to.}

[Yay!]