Dema had not been easy to work with.

It had taken forever and a little bit of force to convince him to come with them, and even then Dema didn’t seem to want to do anything but lie and around and sleep. After half a day Thorn had said, very firmly:

“I’m going to go find the girl. You take care of the kid.”

“What am I, a mom?” Kendra had rolled her eyes, but complied. She assumed that Thorn still wanted to continue with the plan.

So she went over to where Dema was sleeping on the couch and said, “Wake up. It’s time to go.”

Dema said nothing, but merely rolled over and continued to sleep. Kendra scowled and grabbed him by the shoulder, shaking him. Finally Dema sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going out.”

“Out?”

“Yeah, out. Now go get your shoes and come with me.”

As she waited for him to get ready, Kendra made a mental note not to ever raise a teenager. What was more, she felt very unenthusiastic about the days to come. It’s just for a little bit, she told herself. Until their plan was complete.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.” Dema zippered up his windbreaker and pulled his hat down over his hair. “Let’s go.”

They headed out into the streets, the autumn wind cold and slightly bitter. Kendra directed them towards uptown, near where the park was. They stopped behind a lamppost, watching people go by.

“How many people can you put under your ability at once?” Kendra asked. She had activated her own ability so that no one would see them.

“I usually do one. But I think I could do a great deal more.”

“Excellent. Do you see that cafe down the street?”

“Is that the one where you guys found me?”

“Yes. Do you see those two people working in there?”

“Barely.”

“They’re both ability users. Now, what I want you to do, is control a lot of people to go and attack them.”

“Oh? And if we’re caught?”

“Don’t worry. We won’t.”

Dema grinned, the same maniacal smile in the photo on his file. “I’ll have it done.”

Kendra released the illusion on him, and watched him step out to the people passing by. He pretended he was passing out leaflets:

“Excuse me, sir, have you heard about - ”

And when they turned to look him in the eye, their eyes flashed purple, momentarily, and then they continued walking.

“Ma’am, would you like to hear about - ”

Kendra felt a chill of excitement go down her spine. How easy it was, how easy it would be, then…

She waited until he had gotten around fifty people before stopping him. “I think you could start now.”

“Sure thing.” Dema stepped back underneath her illusion, stared at the cafe very intently for a few moments, then snapped his fingers.

At the sound, it seemed that even the birds flying in the air froze.

Kendra watching as the mass of people began moving towards the cafe, as if sleepwalking, and she felt a moment of terror. So this, this was what the kid could do…

And then looking at him, she felt equally terrified at the expression on his face, deranged, completely different from his usual indifferent countenance. He was actually enjoying this, small slices of laughter sounding out, sending shivers down Kendra’s spine once more.

And then the birds came.

Kendra looked and saw that bird lady from before, what was her name, Lauren? Yes, that was her, using the birds to drive the people away…

“Do you want me to get her?” Dema asked, smile lost.

“No. That’s enough. You can release your power now.”

Dema sighed, as if a fun playtime had been interrupted, but he did as Kendra asked him, and the two of them began walking back, still under the effects of Kendra’s ability.

“Today was just a test run,” Kendra said. “So don’t feel bad about it.”

“A test run for what?”

“For something much bigger, much more fun. Don’t worry about it. You’ve proven yourself to be indeed worthy of that Class S rank you have.”

They passed by an ice cream parlor, and Dema indicated that he wanted some.

“In this weather?”

“...yeah.”

So they went in and ordered, Kendra with coffee and Dema with cookies and cream. As they ate, Dema asked what Kendra’s relationship was with Thorn.

“Hm? Oh, he’s helped me out of some sticky spots before. I guess you could say we work together.”

“Oh? Is that all?”

“What, you think we’re married or something?”

Dema shrugged, scraping a bit of ice cream off the edge of his cup. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, if you’re meaning to pry into our personal lives, let me tell you, we don’t have any. Only business.”

He gave a small laugh. “I don’t quite believe that.”

“You’ll see.”

Kendra watched him as he finished up his dessert. It was hard to believe that only moments ago had he been laughing like a madman. Now he seemed just like a regular teenage boy, although a bit childish.

“So if you’re going to buy me ice cream for doing that…what are you going to do for me when the ‘big job’ gets done?” Dema asked.

Kendra’s lip curled. “How does freedom sound?”

“Freedom sounds pretty nice.”

“Doesn’t it? If you’re done, let’s go.”