“I’ll be fine when you aren’t freezing to death.” He kissed my cold forehead before pulling me in closer somehow, his warmth seeping into me.
“I was scared to death when Phillip called me and told me to get out here and save you. More scared than when I knew I was going to die.”
My body shuddered, but it wasn’t from the cold—it was from his words. What could I have possibly done on this earth to deserve him?
“I’ve fallen in love with you,” I heard myself whisper against his chest. His hands around my body tightened slightly. I knew he heard me, and I felt myself relax more for having said it.
The adrenaline from the day seemed to have rushed out of me as quickly as it came, and I fell asleep shortly after uttering the most important words I’d ever said to anymore.
Chapter Thirty- One
Arthur
“I’ve fallen for you too.” I laid her in her bed, careful not to jostle her too much. She was warm, and Cora looked her over, deeming her stable despite crashing so hard earlier.
I sat beside her, thinking over all the emotions I’d felt since Phillip called. I was so fucking worried that something had gone wrong, that it was too late to save her. I couldn’t even think about what I would have done if I’d found her dead at that demolished building.
She survived. She was okay, and she loved me.
I kept reminding myself that, over and over. I should be elated—the girl I loved, loved me back. But all I felt was fear. I almost had the most precious thing in the world taken from me. Life was short and fragile, I knew that firsthand. But the world would be okay without me. Gwendolyn, on the other hand…she did too much good in the world to be lost.
“I’ll be back,” I told Pops as I left the apartment and ran to the bay ten blocks over. I needed to expend some of this energy that was buzzing beneath my skin, begging to be unleashed.
I made sure no one was around as I dove into the water from the seawall and swam out as far as I could in the cold water. I felt the sickness hit me from the toxins in the water, but I kept going, using small bits of my power to push me further out to sea, far away from anything that could be considered a casualty of what I was about to do.
When I figured I was a safe distance away from anything, I swallowed down the lightheadedness from the water I just swam through and barreled out a roar. My power pushed from my body in all directions, water blasting away from me like a bomb had detonated in the ocean. I kicked and punched the water, creating giant waves and high-powered fountains shooting toward the clouds.
I’d only let go like this once, and I’d been completely new with my powers. This time I felt the connection to the water inside me like I was a part of the sea itself.
I felt the giant wave I’d created as it rolled and rolled toward the city. Pushing my hand down, the wave dispersed and flattened out instantly.
Floating on my back, staring up at the sky, I let my body move with the gentle rocking of the waves, lulling my mind and fears.
Everything was okay, and we would fix whatever came our way. First things first—I needed to get back to Gwendolyn now that I felt more in control of myself.
Now that I felt connected to the water on another level, it was easier to push myself through it and launch myself onto the shore. I was cold and soaking wet, but with a flick of my hands, like I was shaking off water, all the liquid in my clothes left the fabric and dropped to the ground.
Pops let me into the apartment, then I saw Gwendolyn was sitting up in her bed, she’d changed out of the blanket and into some sweatpants and a sweater. She looked so fragile, but her face lit up when she saw me.
She’s okay.
“How are you feeling?” I sat beside her, my hand reaching for hers, reminding me that she was still warm-blooded and real.
“I feel fine. Warmer and slightly itchy. Pops says that happens when you’ve been out in the cold. Blood is flowing to places it wasn’t, making it itch.”
“I’m glad you’re all right. Now, what were you doing there?” She hadn’t been too keen on investigating it before, so never in my wildest imagination did I think she’d go back, especially not by herself.
“I’d just rescued people and felt…I don’t know…like a high from it. I just took off on my getaway bike and kept riding. I wound up at the building, the high still there, so I wanted to take a look. It was empty, and now I know why. They made the building explode, probably covering up any potential evidence. Assholes.”
The word assholes coming out of her mouth made my frown turn into a grin. Cute as fuck.
“At least I made it out safe and with some video footage of the scene before it was obliterated.” She held out her phone, and together we looked at what she’d seen.
Everything was gone that could be used against them: no computers, no logos, nothing tying them to the scene.
“Wait, go back ten seconds.” I was hoping I didn’t just see what I thought I saw.
She scrolled the video back to where I said, and I hit pause at the right moment.
“Well, that’s not good.” Gwendolyn saw it too.
In the background were test tubes and beakers full of chemicals, with a large barrel of fertilizer sitting against the back wall. They took everything but the parts that truly mattered. The toxins that were poisoning the water and the citizens of the city were now most likely flowing down the Hatcher River then into the bay, where they would eventually make their way to the ocean, and all would be lost.
“We’d better get to headquarters; this is really important,” she said, jumping up and fumbling for her shoes. I wanted to protest that she needed to rest, but this was too important to wait.
“When we’re done saving the planet, I’m making you mine permanently.” I stood and grabbed her delicate wrist, pulling her body to mine for a kiss.
“I’m already yours permanently,” she replied, and I didn’t say anything else. I didn’t even mean for it to slip out, so the fact that she didn’t catch onto my meaning was a blessing. I would propose to her the proper way, and she would have that memory forever.
Life was fragile and short. Breaths were numbered and heartbeats had an expiration. You have to eat the cake, enjoy the fresh air, and marry the girl of your dreams.
Soon.
We drove to HQ and told Phillip and everyone else who was there what we discovered. A.J. looked up the water tests that were being done every few hours and found them dramatically worse. The algae were spreading and getting closer and closer to the Pacific.
Terratrex was denying any part of the problem—they’d given money to our senator and other environmental programs over the years, so they were free to pretend they were on Team Earth. Meanwhile, A.J. and his sister, Mina, had run various simulations showing what would happen if the algae kept spreading. Within two months, the algae would have killed off all the plant and animal life in the ocean, then at six months it’ll have spread throughout the world, destroying eighty percent of the world’s oxygen producers, phytoplankton. The sickness to anyone within twenty miles of the water was incalculable. This was going to change life on Earth as we know it, potentially killing every living thing that inhabited it.
Chapter Thirty-Two