Page 87 of No Capes

Come down as soon as you’re ready, please. A family emergency doesn’t give her the license to forget those impeccable Arielle Bridges manners. I wish I could call Kristen and talk about the “Fox is D.S.” situation, but it’s not safe.

I shift from the bed and, thankfully, don’t feel sore. My nap—apowersnap—had done the job. Downstairs, Arielle, Brynn,Jamie, and Damian Scott Jr. eat at the dining table. I sit beside Arielle, across from Damian.

Did Fox tell them about Dark Static when he returned from the warehouses? Brynn and Jamie must have known already, but why is Damian still here? I turn to Arielle for an explanation, but she just chews her chicken and spinach casserole like everything is totally normal.

Footsteps trudge down the stairs as his highness joins us for dinner. “Sorry I’m late.” Fox sits beside Damian. He has the same sweatpants and fitted t-shirt as this morning, looking like the person I played pool with, even though I know he’s not.

Did you love him?

“You needed a shower,” Brynn jokes.

Fox runs hands through his wet hair.Does a shower zap him?I wonder as he piles his plate with as much food as possible. I, too, plow through my dinner. We hardly look at each other as we inhale our food.

“What happened to your face?” asks Jamie.

“Girls are great fighters,” Fox replies. I allow myself to glance at him. Next to his right eye is a long, purple bruise. He catches me staring, but goes quickly back to his food.

“So, Madeline,” says Damian, “how do we save your dad?”

“You’re going to help?” I ask. Everyone else exchanges glances. Apparently, they’ve already been filled in on something.

“Yeah, Scott and I work together sometimes,” Fox explains with his mouth full. “He’s in.”

Scott and I work together sometimes.The fork slips from my hand, bounces off my lap, and lands on the floor with a clang.

No.

Nope.

No way.

“But Golden Ace has been around since—”

“We were twelve?” Damian finishes.

“What kind of twelve-year-old is strong enough to defeat The Mountain?” I ask, thinking of the infamous Super made of solid rocks. Damian Scott Jr. cannot be the one and only Golden Ace.

He works at League of Comics.The whole time I was asking for comics on water powers, he knew what I was researching. He saidLeague of Comicswas usually empty, except for weekends. How did I miss this?

“Yeah, bro,” Fox jokes. “Do you even lift?”

Arielle sighs. “Madeline meant to say we appreciate your help.”

I can’t look away from Damian. This isnuts. I was simultaneously obsessed with Golden Ace and Damian Scott Jr. for years. I’ve done more research on the two of them than the cops do for serial killers.

How did I miss this?

Damian nods along with my thought process, reading my mind.

Wait.

Blood rushes to my face. Does this mean that all those years I spent having a crush on him… he knew?

Damian grins and Fox, taking one look at my red cheeks and Damian’s grin, cracks up. Fox laughs so hard he wipes tears from his eyes, and I want to crawl under the table.

“You can ask him to stop reading your mind,” Fox says when he finally settles down. “We all made him promise not to read ours.”

“I can turn it on and off,” Damian explains, as if this conversation is normal. “No Fox, no Jamie, no Brynn.”