“Well, hello.”
I turn and see Poison leaning up against a cement support pillar. My heart rate immediately picks up again, but I try to pretend nothing is wrong. “Oh, hi. Um, soda guy, right? Sorry about that again.”
He blows air between his lips, and a puff of white smoke blurs his sharp features for a moment. “Don’t pull that on me. You know who I am.” He takes a step closer. “I know who you are. And next time you and your friends want to play a prank on someone, you might want to stick with your little high school buddies.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact, Addison Coleman, that you do not want to be on my bad side.”
He knows my name. “You don’t scare me,” I say. He terrifies me.
“I may not be a Discerner, but I’m going to say that’s not true. I wonder if my findings would be conclusive and binding.”
Conclusive and binding? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He takes another step closer, and I fall a step back. We walk this way for several steps and just as I’m about to turn and run, he says, “Do you know what it feels like, Addie, to have zero control over your own actions? To have someone make you do something?”
“What do you mean?” I ask. If he’s a Mood Controller, he’s not making me feel at ease. I feel only tense and terrified. Maybe he wants me to feel that way.
My leg lifts and takes me a step toward him. I panic and try to back up, but I’m frozen there. Literally. No matter how hard I tell my leg to move, it won’t.
“Give a message to your little friend’s daddy,” he says in a scratchy voice that makes my blood curdle. “Tell him that if he doesn’t pay me back, I have other ways of collecting. One way or another, I will get that money.”
I nod slowly, and he turns and walks away.
CHAPTER 20
NOR-Ma-po-late: v. when normal people try to solve a mystery without extra help I knock on Trevor’s door, and a little boy answers. He looks like a mini version of Trevor, with big brown eyes and longer-than-life lashes. I can’t resist the urge to reach out and ruffle his hair.
“Hey,” he objects, smoothing it back into place. “Who are you?”
“I’m Addie. Is Trevor here?”
“Addison,” Trevor says, coming around the corner, “is the bodyguard refusing you admittance?” Trevor pats him on the back, and he straightens up.
“No. I was about to let her in before she messed up my hair.”
“Sorry, he’s just so cute.”
Trevor laughs. “Addison, this is Brody.”
“She said her name was Addie,” Brody accuses.
“Only special people can call her that.”
“Like who, her boyfriend?” Brody asks.
I stare at Trevor, surprised at his reasoning. Here I thought he didn’t realize Addie was my nickname, when really he just felt he hadn’t earned the right to use it. It takes me a moment to notice he’s staring back with his normal casual expression that seems to portray more than laid-backness in that moment. But what, exactly, I can’t decide. Embarrassment? Amusement? I look away first, remembering Brody’s question and now feeling awkward that I had locked eyes with Trevor after Brody’s mention of a boyfriend. “Exactly, only my boyfriend,” I say, looking at Brody. “So will you start calling me that?”
“Ew. No.” He runs away.
My cheeks heat up, and I don’t know why. I try to talk my way through it, hoping Trevor won’t notice. “He’s adorable. I could squeeze him all day long.”
“When he was three, he might’ve let you. But he’s a tough eight-year-old now. Girls are disgusting.”
“I know, they are.”
“Did you want to come in or just hang out on my porch all night?”
He leads me into a room with a pool table and a couple of couches. A television is mounted to the wall, and a couple guys stand in front of it, pointing remotes at the screen. I’ve heard about Norm video games, but it’s funny to see one in person. These guys would die to play the virtual-reality games in the Compound—no remotes required.
I can see why Trevor’s friends hang out here a lot—it’s like a rec room. Lisa and Brandon sit on a couch drinking sodas, and Rowan and Daniel play a game of pool. Rowan looks up when I walk in, and I feel guilty. He probably hates me after Trevor told him I wasn’t interested. But if he does, it doesn’t show.
He smiles and waves. “You want to play the winner, Addie?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Now I have some motivation to beat you, Daniel,” Rowan says.
My head immediately whips over to Trevor. “I promise I told him,” he says quietly. “He’s just persistent. He thinks he can wear people down.”
“So is that why—”
“No,” he interrupts, “that’s not why I invited you tonight.”
“It better not be, or you would be on my list.”
“What list is that?”
“People-to-kill-when-I-gain-superpowers list.”
“How many people are on that list?” he asks.
“You’d be the first.”
He laughs. “Nice.” He gestures toward a table in the corner where food is laid out, and I follow him there. “What would your superpower be?” He grabs a handful of chips and eases into a chair.