3. Cameron

Chapter 3

Cameron

“Hold the camera steady. You’re moving it around too much,” Phobos griped. We were standing on the roof of one of the tallest buildings downtown, the sun just beginning to set so it cast a warm glow across him.

“My camerawork isn’t the problem,” I muttered under my breath, but of course he heard me. You know, ’cause of the whole super-hearing thing. He narrowed his gaze at me but let it go.

If I’d thought moving into Phobos’s mansion was going to make us roommates and bestest buddies, like a scene out of some friends-to-lovers college rom-com, then I was sorely mistaken. Not only were our rooms in completely different wings of an obscenely large house, but the man was a total slob! Stacks of dirty dishes with molding half-eaten food, left beside the dishwasher, wet towels left in sloppy piles on the pool deck, and he seemed to have a complete inability to close a single cupboard in any room of the house. Worst of all, there was some mysterious odor emanating from his wing of the house, so I was incredibly grateful I wasn’t living over there with him. He was nothing more than a gigantic manbaby.

At least he showered, and there wasn’t a single stain on his bright blue tights and orange leotard.

“Crouch down and angle the camera upward, so I look taller,” he instructed, striking a pose. “And I’ll whip up a little wind so my cape ripples.” Sure enough, the wind picked up, and Phobos gazed into the far distance and pulled a face that looked much like one of those wet wadded-up towels by the pool.

I lowered the camera and looked at him. “What is that? Are you okay?”

He dropped the pose, the wind dying down, and frowned in confusion. “Huh? Of course I’m okay. What are you talking about?”

“You know, the face you’re making. You look constipated. Do you want me to buy you some bran muffins or something?”

“No! I’m not—” He sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was trying to look serious. It’s fine, never mind, I’ll lose the face.” He spun his finger in the air. “C’mon, let’s go again.”

The wind rose once more, and this time, instead of being “serious,” Phobos went for a gentle smile that seemed to say “magnanimous.” I nodded. “Much better,” I said. I started in a crouch, making sure to get his whole body in the frame, then moved around him and up until I could see the city skyline in the background.

We’d started to lose the light, but I figured I had some usable footage. “Perfect. Let’s call it.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be able to put the clips together to make it look like a high-budget commercial?” He sounded skeptical, but he didn’t seem to be a fan of technology as a whole concept. I mean, the dude was ancient, so I couldn’t really blame him. Some seniors couldn’t even work their TV remote .

“Yeah, it’s child’s play,” I assured him, waving him off. “What you really need now is a catch phrase, some sort of memorable slogan, and I’ll slap it across the screen at the end. Something that says approachable but also better than everyone.”

Phobos frowned sharply. “I don’t think I’m better than everyone.”

“No, of course not, but you want the public to think that you are, or else why would they call you when they need help, instead of the next guy?”

“Th-The next guy?” he gasped. “Is there another superhero in Valleywood? I didn’t think I would have so much competition.”

“No competition— yet ,” I said, punctuating it with a stab of my finger. “But it’s only a matter of time. You’re going to make it look so cool to be the good guy that everyone else will want to follow in your footsteps. Wannabes will be coming out of the woodwork, left, right, and center. But you, my friend, are the real deal. And a slogan will clinch it.”

He’d started to pout, and when he stuck his lip out like that, it made him look more like a toddler who didn’t get his way than an all-powerful god who’d faced down hordes on a battlefield.

“Ooh! And a jingle,” I said as the idea popped into my head.

“Like… a theme song?” Phobos was beyond skeptical, an eyebrow arched.

“No, more like—” I cut off and whistled a short trill of just eight notes.

Phobos’s eyes lit up. “Hey! I’ve heard that on a commercial for that deodorant, the one with the red label!”

“Exactly! And when you go to the grocery store, what brand of deodorant do you buy?” I asked, leading him.

I saw the realization cross his face. “Ohhh. I get it.” I knew for a fact that he never remembered the name of the brand, but when we’d been at the grocery store last week, I’d heard him whistle the jingle as he’d picked up the stick. “So that’s me, I’m the deodorant with the red label.”

By now, I had the camera and my props packed up in my backpack, and I headed for the service stairs. Phobos had offered to fly me up here, but I had politely declined. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him not to drop me; I just really didn’t want to be that close to him if I could avoid it. Not after what had happened when we shook hands that first day. We’d come into contact since then, and no more premonitions, so maybe it was just a fluke one-off, but I didn’t care to tempt fate.

Phobos followed along behind me down the stairs like an eager puppy. “So, do you think if we get this commercial on the air, I might finally get to do something really cool?” I glanced at him sidelong, and he quickly added, “Not that I don’t love saving old ladies from muggers or retrieving cats from trees. I would just really love to do something that requires a little more… finesse. You know? Like, stop a bank robbery and rescue all the hostages. Or catch a plane as it’s about to crash!”

I shook my head, chuckling. “If you happen to see any planes falling from the sky, please feel free to catch them.” Phobos grumbled behind me about what a smartass I was, but his voice seemed to get muffled for a second, like my ears were filled with static.

That’s weird. I wonder if I’m getting an ear infection .

I tugged on an earlobe, and everything evened out. I just caught the tail end of Phobos’s complaint. “…And she paid me in pickles! Not that I need money or anything, but they weren’t even good pickles.”

“Even a bad pickle is still a good pickle,” I said, stepping out of the stairwell into a carpeted hallway. The elevator would take me the rest of the way down. “Maybe you need to lower your pickle standards.”

He snorted and reached past me to press the button to call the elevator. I glanced at our reflections in the mirrored doors. Even in his ridiculous tights, Phobos was still a good-looking man, and when I met his eyes in the reflection, he was staring back at me with heat.

He moved closer to me, our shoulders brushing. “What I need is an in with the police commissioner. Maybe we should crash that charity gala next weekend. All the city’s top brass will be there. Plus, I have a stunning new tux and need an excuse to wear it.”

“That sounds like…” I paused, my shirt feeling suddenly too tight. “Like an awful idea,” I finished, hooking a finger into the collar and tugging.

With a cheerful ding! the elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside the car, before the doors closed once more and we headed for the ground floor at a stomach-dropping speed.

I cleared my throat, wiping sweat from my forehead. Was it hot in here? “I think your main problem is that the city is too safe. There really isn’t anything the police can’t handle on their own. Well, except for—”

Phobos’s eyes shot to me, hungry for whatever I was about to say. “Except for what ?” he snapped.

I smirked, loving to make him wait. Finally, I said, “Except for all those mysterious kidnappings. Men, women, children, no apparent connections according to police. Large numbers of people being kidnapped from their homes or work, seemingly at random and with no motive, and then, like a week later, they are returned to their homes, with no memory of what happened and hardly a scratch on them, just a little groggy and dehydrated.”

The elevator arrived at the ground floor, and I stepped out into the lobby. Phobos, however, was no longer behind me. I turned to find him still standing halfway out of the car, blocking the doors from closing. “Did you say they had no memory?” he asked, his eyes trained vaguely on the floor.

“Yeah, like a blank slate, with no clue where they’d been all week or who took them. Why? Do you know what that means?”

“Huh?” He seemed to shake himself from his stupor, but when he looked at me, his gaze was focused just off center, like he couldn’t look me in the eye. “No, of course not. Why would I know anything? It’s just curious, that’s all.” Phobos then overcompensated with a mega-watt smile. “Shall we pick up pizza on the way home?”

Phobos was many things, but a good liar was not one of them. He knew something important, and for some reason, he was hiding it from me. That was particularly odd, considering just two minutes ago he’d been begging for some crime to solve.

I decided to play along for now, while doing some research on my own time. My smile was way more genuine than his. “Sure, but no pineapple. That’s just wrong.”

“What was that? I couldn’t quite hear you. Did you say extra pineapple? That’s weird, I thought you didn’t like it, but okay. Whatever you say.”

I groaned, complaining about the unfairness of it all while Phobos giggled, but the truth was, I loved pineapple on pizza. But I’d learned that if I made him feel like he was winning on this, then he would let the anchovies go. I had this sidekick shit figured out.

As we pushed through the main doors and emerged on the sidewalk, it felt like I’d walked straight into a furnace. The air washed over me with blistering heat, but when I looked down at my hands, the skin was intact, not a single burn in sight. What the fuck? I staggered to a stop, clutching at my chest.

Phobos was still chattering away as he headed for the car, as oblivious as always to the people staring at him as he strode around in his tights and cape, but he likewise hadn’t said a word about the world being on fire. In fact, nobody had. I squinted through the haze at a group of women walking down the street, laughing together, on their way out for the evening. One of them turned as she passed, and she frowned, slowing down to ask, “Hey, are you okay?”

I’d broken out in a sweat and gasped for breath as I struggled to answer. There was an impossible pressure on my chest, as if someone were sitting on it.

That got Phobos’s attention. “Cameron? What’s wrong?” He rushed over, reaching for me, and my body flooded with panic. What would happen if his skin made contact when I was like this?

“Don’t touch me!” I yelled, adrenaline helping to clear my mind.

And just like that, the heat evaporated. Poof , gone. Like it had never existed in the first place. If it weren’t for the lingering tingling sensation zinging up and down my arms and across my shoulders, I would think I’d imagined the entire thing.

The girls had been stunned by my outburst, and now turned accusing eyes on Phobos, who just shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t do anything to him.”

“No, he didn’t,” I assured them, my voice shaky. “Thank you for checking on me. I’m fine. Really.”

After a few more threatening glares, the group of women moved on down the block. As soon as they were out of hearing distance, Phobos leaned in and hissed, “ That is not the kind of reputation I need right now, Cameron. What the hell? Those women think I abuse you!”

“I’m sorry!” I snapped back. “I just felt really sick all of a sudden, and I didn’t want to barf on you.”

That cooled his temper, and he took a big step back, in case I was still about to blow. “Oh. Well… thank you. I just had this suit drycleaned.” He brushed imaginary dust away from the logo on his chest.

“You’re so welcome,” I said dryly, but the sarcasm was wasted on him.

Phobos headed back to the car and went to open the passenger door for me, but he paused gripping the handle, looking wary. “Do you think you’ll be okay in the car? I really wish we hadn’t carpooled.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine. Whatever it was, it seems to have passed. Maybe it was just… motion sickness from the elevator.” Was that a thing? I didn’t have a clue, but at least Phobos didn’t either.

“Ooh, yeah, I’ve heard of that,” he said, nodding fervently as he finally allowed me entrance into his pristine white Porsche.

“What can I say? Humans are weird.” For a being who’d been on this earth as long as he had, he was terribly na?ve about humans.

I sat silently in the car, letting him carry the conversation, while I considered what had happened to me. Was it just because I’d been spending too much time around Phobos? Or maybe it had nothing to do with him at all, and maybe I was the problem.

Either way, as soon as we got back to the mansion, I loaded up a plate with pizza and headed toward my wing of the house. Phobos called after me, “Hey! I thought we could watch some reruns of Golden Girls. What do you think?”

“You know, I’m awfully tired…”

“Oh.” Phobos’s eager expression fell. “Right. Of course, I understand. Maybe tomorrow.”

The smile I gave him felt too tight for my face, and I wondered if my skin would split. “Sure. It’s a date.”

There was no harm in making plans for tomorrow, when I wasn’t even sure I would live through the night.