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“But, like I was saying, it has never been that bad before, right? I mean, Pyro Storm doesn’t really try to hurt people like that. Mostly. Yeah, there was that one time when he accidentally lit that guy’s hair on fire when he tried to take a picture with him, but Pyro Storm put it out quickly. And the guy was in denial about his comb-over, so actually, Pyro Storm was probably doing him a favor. Live bald and proud, man.”

“Maybe something happened that changed things,” Dad said quietly. “It doesn’t take much to tip people over the edge. You lose something, Nicky, and you find yourself doing things you didn’t think you were capable of.”

Nick swallowed thickly. He knew what Dad was implying. He’d always been about protecting and serving, but then one of his witnesses had said the wrong thing at the wrong time and had gotten a broken nose because of it. “But that doesn’t mean you still can’t be a good person, right? Just because you did something wrong doesn’t mean that’s who you are. And even if youkeepdoing thewrong thing, you can still be saved. Maybe they just need someone to listen to them, to hear the storm in their heads.”

Dad stared at him. Nick tried not to squirm. Then, “You know, if you didn’t have this… thing for Shadow Star, I would almost think that you could be him.”

It was bittersweet to hear, to know his dad thought he could be an Extraordinary even though he was the furthest thing from it. “That’d sure be some twist, huh? Wouldn’t even see me coming.”

“Right,” Dad said slowly. “Do you know something, Nick? You can tell me if something’s wrong. You know that. I know it was… rough, for a little while. But we’ve gotten better, haven’t we? You can come to me with anything.”

“I know.” And Nick did. Mostly. “I don’t know more than I already told you.” He sighed. “I mean, I’ve only talked to Shadow Star that one time after he saved me from—” Nick felt the words dry up in his mouth. His skin buzzed. Shit. Shit, shit,shit—

Dad’s eyes narrowed as he sat forward. “What? What do you mean hesavedyou?”

Nick winced. “Uh. I was… talking about my story? That I’m writing? In my head?”

Dad slammed a hand on the table, making it shake. Nick flinched when the spoon fell out of the bowl of oatmeal and clattered onto the table. “We talked about this. You told me you wouldn’t lie to me. Not again.”

“It’s not like that, I swear! I didn’t—”

“Did you, or did you not, have contact with Shadow Star?”

And oh, Dad was angry. “It’s not a big deal,” Nick managed to say, hating the way his eyes were already starting to burn. He’d never been able to control his emotions in the face of his father’s anger. It was extremely rare to see Dad this pissed off, so much so that Nick could probably count the number of times it’d happened on one hand. And even then, this was only the second time it’d been directed toward him. The last time had been after the Owen debacle. He hated how easily he cracked right down the middle. “I swear, Dad. It wasn’t—”

Dad closed his eyes, breathing heavily through his nose. “I’m going to give you this one chance. That’s it. You better take it, Nick. Or you can expect a whole lotta changes around here that you won’t like.”

Nick’s breath hitched in his chest as he struggled to maintain his composure. His voice broke when he said, “I didn’t do anything wrong. I just—it was the first day of school. I was late coming home because I’d gotten detention—”

“You what?”

Crap. He hadn’t meant to say that. He needed to power through. “And it was raining and Gibby was with me and the train was delayed. We were taking a shortcut, okay? That’s all it was. And these guys came and tried to mug us, and Shadow Star kicked their asses, and that was it. I promise. That’s all that happened.”

Dad’s eyes flashed open. “You weremuggedand you didn’t think to tell me?”

Nick gripped the edges of the table. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Really,” Dad snapped. “Or did you not want me to find out about getting in trouble on your first day back?”

“That wasn’t my fault either! Mr. Hanson was trying to stifle me!”

Dad stood, his chair scraping on the floor. “Wetalkedabout this. You need to start taking some responsibility, Nick. You can’t keep trying to blame others for the things you do. How the hell are you going to grow up when you keep pulling this crap? Are you trying to make things harder for us?”

Nick blinked rapidly. “I’m not—”

Dad began to pace, shoulders stiff. “Because I asked you for this one thing. For this year to bedifferent.For you to do everything you could to be the best possible person you could be. And all I’m seeing here is that it’s more of the same.”

“I’m sorry I’m such a disappointment to you,” Nick said bitterly, wiping his eyes.

“Dammit, kid. First it was Owen, and I let it go. And then it’s this—thisShadow Star,and this weird obsession you have with him. I just don’t—why do you have to be this way? Why do you have to be the way you are?”

Nick knew the power of words. He knew that sometimes when they landed, they exploded with the force of a carelessly tossed grenade.

Nick heard what his father said. He heard every word. They exploded at his feet and shredded his skin. It’d turned so quickly. They’d been laughing only a few minutes before. He didn’t know how he’d lost control of the conversation this fast.

He stood slowly, eyes wide and shocked. He stared at the table, unable to meet his father’s gaze. He didn’t want to see that look on his face anymore, anger mixed with disappointment, all directed at him. It hurt. Everything hurt.

“Crap,” Dad whispered. Then, “Look. Kid. I didn’t—I didn’t mean it like that. I’m tired.”