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The boy looked amazed. Nick liked that. “He’s a policeman? With abadge?”

Nick shrugged, playing it cool. “Yeah. I get to wear it sometimes.” Nick absolutely did not get to wear it, but it was fun to pretend hedid. “He has a utility belt like Batman does.” Nick tried to kick his legs and swing again but failed. “He’s pretty much Batman, now that I think about it.”

“Wow,” the boy said. “That’s awesome. My aunt is a nurse. And my uncle fixes buildings and is a meter maid. He says he’s a meter butler, because girls are maids.”

Nick frowned. “Boys can be anything girls can. And girls can be anything boys can. My mom says that sometimes, boys can even be girls.”

Nick thought the boy’s eyes were going to pop out of his head. “That’s so cool.”

“Yeah,” Nick said. “I know. Cool. Why don’t you live with your mom and dad?”

“They died,” the boy said, dipping his plastic spoon into the pudding cup. “When a train crashed. I was with them, but I don’t remember.”

And since Nicholas Bell was six years old, he didn’t understand the concept of death. It was too big for him to grasp, so he said, “Oh. Was it a big train?”

The boy shrugged. “Maybe. Probably the biggest train.”

That was enough to confirm it for Nick. “We should be best friends. Forever.”

The boy looked at him, spoon hanging from his mouth. “Forever?” he said through a mouthful of pudding.

Nick nodded solemnly. “Forever.”

And from that point on, he never left Seth’s side.

Here he was, ten years later, vexed by his ex-sort-of-boyfriend, chasing after his best friend after they’d argued over Nick’s Extraordinaries obsession, an ache in his chest that he couldn’t quite explain. He didn’t like it when Seth was upset, he never had. It didn’t happen very often, but when it did, Nick felt like hunting down and killing whatever caused it. Nick decided a long time ago that Seth needed to be protected at all costs. He wore bow ties and loafers and could recite the Greek alphabet backwards, and there was no one like him in the world.

He should’ve punched Owen before he left, even if Nick wasn’t exactly sure what they’d been arguing about. He thought it was about Pyro Storm being a villain. And yes, that was true, but he was acoolvillain. He was Shadow Star’s archnemesis, which meant he had to be respected. Both of them had appeared suddenly out of nowhere shortly after… well, After. There had been other Extraordinaries Before, but they’d been nothing compared to Shadow Star and Pyro Storm. Even if Cap and the mayor thought they were a menace—in fact, all Extraordinaries were a menace, according to Cap—no one could deny how cool they were. If they tried, they were wrong. Period.

Still, he should have done more. Seth deserved as much.

Seth was at his locker when Nick found him, banging his head against it repeatedly, muttering, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Nick reached up and put his hand between Seth’s forehead and the locker, so when Seth tried to hit it again, he met a bony hand instead.

“Hey,” Nick said. “Do you want me to kill him? Because I will.” He was very serious about this. He’d learned how on the internet before Dad had tightened the parental controls. He just needed to find some sharks.

Seth sighed. “No. Then you’d go to jail. I’d visit you, but it wouldn’t be the same.”

“Probably. But then I could get a teardrop tattoo and be all badass. That might be worth it.” Nick frowned. “Unless there was a big guy named Enormous Gregory who wanted me to keep my hand in his pocket at all times. I don’t know if I could do that.”

Seth stared at him. “Your brain.”

“I know, right? It’s—whatever. It’s what the Concentra’s for.” Nick looked away, tapping his fingers against the locker, quietly hating that he always needed to be moving.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Seth said, and Nick felt even worse for not sticking up for him. He needed to be a better friend. Seth always had his back, no matter what. Nick should’ve done the same.

“Maybe,” Nick mumbled. “Takes some getting used to. I feel a little whacked out, you know? But the doctor says that’s normal, and it’ll even out eventually, kind of like with the ones I had to takebefore. Except they won’t make me a cracked-out zombie like last year.”

“Good,” Seth said, and Nick could hear the smile in his voice. He glanced at Seth, still a little startled they were eye level. “I thought I was going to have to take out Cracked-Out Zombie Nick with a headshot.”

“It’s the only way to kill ’em,” Nick agreed.

“I’m glad your brain is okay.”

Nick was absurdly touched. “Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “You can’t let Owen get to you, man. He wants to get under your skin.”

Seth’s smile faded slowly. “I know. It’s part of his charm.”

Nick rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t call it charm.”