9. Cameron

Chapter 9

Cameron

I tried to slip out unnoticed, but Phobos was there, popping around from the side of the house as I snuck out to my car. It was like he had a superpowered radar attuned to me—and that super speed sure didn’t hurt.

“Hey! Cameron, hold up!” He was smiling so wide it was like the sun shone specifically for him. Like he was actually glad to see me, and guilt churned in my gut. I’d been avoiding him ever since that kiss. I’d regretted it the second it was over, for so many reasons, not least of which was because I really didn’t feel that way about him. In fact, I wasn’t sure I would ever feel that way about anyone ever again. With how sick I’d been feeling, a romance was the very last thing I was looking for!

I stood there in the open door to my car, one leg already inside. I tried to play it casual, like I wasn’t actually leaning my full weight on the car in a desperate attempt not to collapse. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked, trying for easy breezy, but it was more like a full-on hurricane .

There was a flicker of something across his face, there and gone, before he doubled down on the smile. “You missed a wild time last night.”

“Oh?” A muscle in my thigh had begun to spasm, and I casually dug my thumb into it, struggling to keep the pain off my face.

“Yeah, there was a bank robbery… sort of. And I totally saved the day… mostly.”

I felt my eyebrows climbing higher. “Sort of? Mostly?”

He laughed. “Yeah, it was actually pretty funny. I got the call from the police and flew down there, charged in through the skylight, broken glass raining down in the most epic entrance of all time, only to find it was just Deimos, up to his usual shenanigans.” He rolled his eyes.

Hearing the man’s name brought to mind the dark-haired god, with his volatile power and even more dangerous attitude. His sexy smirk haunted my dreams. “Your brother is a menace,” I snarled. “He needs to be locked up.” Was there even a jail for gods?

Phobos tucked his hands in his pockets and shrugged, all bashful. “Aw, he’s not as bad as he seems. No one was hurt. He’s just been going through a rough time for the last… 300 years or so.”

My scoff echoed off the courtyard. “He kidnaps shifters and steals their powers, then tampers with their brains. I don’t care what he’s going through; nothing excuses that kind of behavior.”

“Okay, I admit, he hasn’t been dealing with it in a healthy way, but love makes us do stupid things… wouldn’t you say?” He was looking at me with such softness that I had to look away. Surely Phobos didn’t think he was in love with me. Right?

Thankfully, he didn’t push the matter. “Anyway, it’s really too bad you missed it.” I knew what he was about to ask even before he opened his mouth. “So, uh, where were you? I came by your room to bring you along, but you weren’t there.”

“I had book club,” I said, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t want to tell him that I’d actually slipped in the shower, but since I didn’t have the energy to move, I’d just lain there for an hour.

Phobos laughed for a second, but when I didn’t join in, he tapered off. “Oh, you’re serious?”

“Anyway, I should… go.”

“Wait! Dinner!” he shouted as I slid into the front seat. I waited for him to continue, my hand on the door handle. “It’s my parents’ anniversary on Sunday, and they wanted us to come for dinner. The whole family is coming, and I would love for you to meet them.”

“Your family… has dinner? Even Deimos?” I asked skeptically.

He shuffled his feet, his shoulders inching up in a surprisingly boyish move. “Yeah, our sister Harmonia kinda forces us to. No fighting allowed.”

I tried to imagine the two brothers sitting across the table from each other, eating dinner like two civilized people, but I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. After the way they fought at the gala, it wouldn’t take much for them to destroy the place. “Uh, sure, I’ll come, but… just as friends, okay? I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.”

“No, no! That’s perfect. Friends, yep.” I didn’t believe him for a second.

I was glad for the long drive ahead. It was a chance to rewind, clear my head. I rolled the window down, letting the fresh breeze tug at my hair, and sang along to some music, completely off-key but care-free. When I pulled up to the security gate in front of the government building, though, my thoughts were just as tangled as they’d been when I left, and the reality of my situation came crashing down hard.

I really thought I’d seen the last of this place.

The guard was new and didn’t recognize me as I announced myself at the gate, and even showing my ID, my name didn’t bring any awareness to his bland expression. I was issued a temporary visitor’s pass, then I pulled through and parked in the shadow of the unmarked government building. Staring up at the gray-bricked building sent a shiver through me. It hadn’t changed a bit over the last ten years. It was like it had leapt straight out of one of my nightmares.

The man who met me at the door, however, had aged—and not well. He was wearing a rumpled brown suit, and I wondered for a moment if they’d had to pull my handler out of retirement for this. “Cameron,” he said, nodding his head.

I stopped in front of him, unsure about the protocol. Did we hug? Shake hands? Neither felt right. “Barney. You got old.”

He arched a brow. “You too. You look like shit.”

“Yeah, well… That’s why I called.”

We lapsed into silence after that. He led and I followed, though I could’ve found the way with my eyes closed. I’d spent the better part of my youth in this building, undergoing rigorous testing and training to prepare for the ultimate showdown against Nefarious.

The hall was lined with plaques and photos, memorializing all the Chosen Ones? that had come before me, giving their lives for the greater good. There was Mere Nasoko, 15 years old when she’d died in a volcanic blast on Ambrym Island while helping to evacuate villagers. Otto Ward, just 13, who’d defeated a bloodthirsty monster who’d crawled from the depths of Hell, perishing to his injuries just moments after having won his battle. Generation after generation for hundreds of years, children had been sacrificing themselves to save others, whether from natural disaster or more supernatural threats. The existence of these select few predated the CHPD, obviously, but I personally found it comforting to be able to blame a single government agency for all the lives needlessly lost.

I paused at the end of the row, at the empty space on the wall where my photo should’ve been—had I died, of course. Which I didn’t.

“It’s no wonder the guard didn’t recognize me,” I said, glancing at Barney. “Looks like the sacrifices I made never happened. Like I never existed at all.”

The wrinkles around his eyes deepened as he flinched. “You know it’s not like that.”

I snorted, shaking my head sharply. “No, it’s exactly like that,” I muttered as I pushed past him. “Hard to make me a martyr for the cause when I’m not dead.”

I wondered if my parents would consider it a sacrifice, to have given up their firstborn son for the greater good. They’d been financially compensated, of course. I hadn’t talked to them since I was “recruited.” At first, Barney hadn’t wanted me to get distracted from my training, and then after I had done my job, I found out they’d had another son to replace me. To be honest, I was still pissed they’d given me up without a fight for a bit of cash.

Dr. Wells was exactly where I’d last seen him, hunched behind his desk, eyes on the computer monitor, but when I stormed into the lab, his face filled with intense curiosity, and he pushed back from the desk and approached me, already reaching for his stethoscope draped around his neck. “Cameron, my dear boy. Let’s have a look at you, shall we?”

He was a hard man to dislike, just because he was always so happy-go-lucky, but I also felt like I didn’t really know him. I didn’t even know his first name, nothing about his family life. He had this way of steering every conversation back to you, his test subject.

“Hop up on the table,” he said, and I climbed carefully up onto the padded bench. He listened to my heart, my lungs as I drew a deep breath, looked into my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, then he took my blood pressure.

I listed my slew of random symptoms. “But it’s weird because they come and go. Some mornings I’ll wake up and feel almost normal, and then next I can hardly move.”

“Mmm, mm-hm, mm-hm.” He’d been humming like that a lot while taking notes, nodding as if to himself. “Well, I think we’re going to need to run some blood work, do some scans.”

“D-Do you know what it is?” I asked carefully, bracing myself.

He pursed his lips, hesitating to answer. “I have a few ideas, but I want to make sure before I start guessing.”

I tried my best to keep my cool as he went about his tests, poked and prodded and pricked, but as I was inserted headfirst into the MRI machine, my heart rate began to pick up a notch. It was dark and close, and dressed in only a hospital gown, I was freezing.

“I’ll be right outside. Try not to move,” Dr. Wells instructed, patting my foot amiably, and I wished I could see his face as he said it.

The machine began its clicking and whirring, and even with earplugs, it was so loud that it was all I could hear. I closed my eyes, but the vibration coursed through me, rattling my skull.

Just like that, I began to spiral .

I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. I was sick. I was dying, and it wouldn’t be peaceful and painless. It was going to be awful, and I would pray for death.

My breath sped up as panic took over, my chest stuttering as I gasped for air, and it got so fucking loud inside my head.

Oh gods, I was going to be sick…

“Dr. Wells,” I called, though I knew he wasn’t even in the same room. “Barney? D-Dr. Wells? I-I need to stop. Please, stop!” The pressure built and grew and stretched inside me, and my back arched off the drawer, blood boiling in my veins. “I said STOP! ”

My power arced, crackling between my fingertips and the tube around me, and through my clenched eyelids, I saw a blinding, roaring light, flashing and flickering. The MRI machine ground to a clunking halt, and everything went dark and silent. All I could hear was my breath and the rushing of my blood in my ears.

Was I dead?

I heard a door open somewhere and hurried footsteps across the linoleum. “Cameron? Are you okay in there?” Dr. Wells was trying to get me out, but all the mechanics were fried. Finally, something clicked free, and I was rolled back out into the room.

Staring up at Dr. Wells’s stricken face, I realized it was the first time I’d seen him truly rattled. “I-I’m okay,” I stuttered out, though I wasn’t sure how true that was.

Barney entered the room behind him, much slower, with a wary kind of caution on his face. “What the hell was that, Cam?”

I turned pleading eyes to Dr. Wells. “That’s what I’m hoping you can tell me. What’s wrong with me? Am I… dying?”

He frowned, his lips forming a tight pucker. “Not exactly.” Dr. Wells helped me sit up then passed me the bundle of my clothes. “Why don’t you get dressed, and I’ll grab us some tea. We need to talk.”

We need to talk . The four worst words anyone could ever say, but no matter how much I dreaded whatever he had to tell me, I knew it was the answer I’d been searching for.

The three of us sat around a small table, and I clung to the warm mug of tea, letting the heat dispel at least a small amount of the chill I could never quite get rid of.

“All right, let’s hear it,” I urged, since the doctor seemed reluctant to start.

“I didn’t get all the scans I wanted, but I was able to see enough to confirm my suspicions. There are… lesions in your brain.”

“Lesions…” I repeated. “Like, brain damage?”

“Yes. They can be formed from illness. Epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, or even traumatic injury. But the damage is… extensive and degenerative, and from what you’ve told us, it seems to be advancing quickly.”

“I… don’t know what to say.” My eyes burned with tears, and I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes until I saw stars. “What does that mean?”

“It means that this is going to get worse.” I felt a hand on my shoulder and pulled my hands away from my eyes to look up at the doctor who’d been with me back in the beginning of it all. “I’m sorry, Cameron.”

“Is this because of my powers?” I asked raggedly, connecting the dots. “Is it because I didn’t die like the others? ”

Dr. Wells glanced across the table at Barney, and they shared an indecipherable look. “Maybe…” he finally admitted.

Barney cursed, shaking his head and he spat out a bitter laugh. “Most people would kill for the power you have.”

“Would you?” I snarled, rounding on him. “Because you can have it. I don’t fucking want it, I never did!”

He sighed, holding his hands up in defeat. “Look, I’d take them off your hands if I could, but that’s not what fate designed. You’re human, Cameron, and these are powers from beyond the mortal realm. They’re not something you’re meant to live with. It’s simply the price of power.”

I dug my fingers through my hair. “I saved the world, and this is the thanks I get?” I was so damn frustrated, and so exhausted that I just wanted to give up.

Barney jabbed a finger in my direction. “Hey, don’t be getting any ideas. Need I remind you that your parents signed a waiver? You can’t sue.”

If I weren’t so depressed, I would have laughed. How could he believe that money played any part in this? Instead, I sputtered in indignation. “W-What? You think this is about money? I don’t give a shit about suing you! I just want you to fix this!” I turned to Dr. Wells. “Isn’t there something you can give me to make me feel better? I’ll take anything. I can’t live like this.”

The older man rubbed the back of his neck in thought. “Well, we can give you some heavy steroids. It’s a temporary solution, as it comes with its own set of risks and side effects, but it should make you feel better for now. And in the meanwhile, I’ll start working on some other forms of treatment.”

“Should I… stop using my powers?” I asked him, thinking about my job as Phobos’ s sidekick.

He thought it over for a moment. “I don’t think it will matter either way. To let them build up without an outlet could be even more dangerous to your health. Just do whatever you can to hold on. I’ll get started this afternoon. I just need some time.”

Dr. Wells watched me for a long moment, his gaze tender and full of apology. “I really am sorry, Cameron. You don’t deserve this.”

“No. I don’t,” I said bitterly. I shoved my chair back with a harsh squeal across the floor and stormed toward the door. When Barney made to follow me, I snapped, “Don’t get up. I’ll show myself out.”