Regret: Volume Two of Ebb & Flow [Psychological Superpowered Thriller]

30 minutes until Friendsgiving

Violet comes rushing down the stairs and out the front door. Someone else must have arrived. That's good because now I won't be alone with Violet anymore. The unsettling feeling in my stomach has only grown as I cooked. I thought that it would go away, but I'm beginning to think I may be coming down with a sickness or bug. I won't let a little tummy ache get in the way of dinner. I may not have any personal attachment to most of the people here, but the joy from seeing people absolutely loving your cooking is very nice.

I start arranging the charcuterie board. I have two platters. One with crostini, a few different jams, crackers, and grapes. The other has the brie, cheddar, burrata, manchego, Muenster, and then some thin-sliced cured meats like prosciutto and soppressata. It's not the most extravagant display or presentation, but it's nice. I set them up at the end of the gigantic island that's in the center of the kitchen. It's on the other end of the kitchen, away from the rest of the food.

The sound of the giant doors opening grabs my attention, as well as the voices. That's Violet, Aubrey, Raf, and Jean-Luc. The last time the three of us were together in one place was when the two of them got into a screaming match inside St. Augustine's. Before that, it was Marcus' funeral, and before that, it was the Deckler party. That does not bode well for tonight's festivities. Especially so when I'm bringing a sociopath to a dinner party.

The four of them walk in together, with Violet pretending to struggle lifting one of the boxes. Aubrey is standing as far away from her as she can, and only giving brief one-word responses. What is going on here? Trouble within the group? It occurs to me that Jean-Luc is the only one in this room who doesn't have a secret identity. Jean-Luc looks awkward around Violet. Interesting. All of them start unpacking the boxes of decorations. Aubrey really went all out on this. There are banners, paper-mache cornucopias, festive tablecloths, hand-turkey cutouts, and even Thanksgiving ornaments. I didn't even know they made those. Jean-Luc spots me and rushes right over, leaving the other three behind.

"Eryk! It smells amazing in here," Jean-Luc shouted. "And this place is insane. Holy shit, it's huge."

"Thank you, it tastes even better than it smells. Man, it's good to see you. How have you been?" I asked.

"Oh, I know this is about to be amazing. And I've been good, which you would know if you would ever checked your damn phone. I mean, how can you be so awful at responding?" He asked pointedly.

He's upset at me. Genuinely upset about our lack of communication. He's acting like I chose to stay in contact with Aubrey. Like I purposely made the choice to talk to her and not him. None of you were meant to be in my life anymore. The memory of me would fade from their minds until one day they didn't even know what I used to look like. Jean-Luc and Aubrey are nothing but remnants of my past, shades of people that I no longer need. Maybe I should just kill them like I did with Marcus and Maria. If the lack of investigation is any indication, I got away with killing Maria, and that was without a collapsing house fire to bury the evidence.

"I guess I'm just not as attached to my phone as everyone else," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Dude, I didn't even know that you and Maria broke up until Aubrey told me," he said, clearly getting more agitated. "You both moved here and basically disappeared off the face of the world. And you have a new girlfriend now? What's she like? What's her name?"

His incessant questions aren't the type of conversation I planned on. This is not how I want to spend my evening. His prattling on about his loneliness isn't my problem, and it's not my job to solve it. From his body language, crossed arms, and tapping foot, I know that he's not going to let this go.

"What do you mean you have a girlfriend?" Raf asked. "I thought you and Violet were dating."

"Nope. Well, this wouldn't be the first time that Violet tried to force something to happen. My girlfriend's name is Emma and she'll be here later. Then you can all get to know her. But if you can't wait, Violet actually met her earlier. You can ask her what my girlfriend's like," I said dismissively. Then I turned to face Jean-Luc. "Dude, I apologize for being a shit friend. It wasn't purposeful, but it still happened, and your feelings are valid."

He uncrosses his arms, smiles, and pulls me into a bear hug.

"I forgive you. And I can't wait to meet her," he whispered into my ear.

"Thanks," I said, extricating myself from his arms.

"But I thought you said," Raf started to say.

"Anyone want a drink? I could use a drink. I'll be right back with the liquor," Violet said, sprinting out of the room.

"Anyways. I have two charcuterie boards made in the kitchen if anyone wants a little snack while they decorate," I offered, pointing to the kitchen.

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"Yeah, I'm going to go check on Vye to see if she needs any help with the alcohol," Aubrey announced. Despite her announcement, she still makes a little cheese, cracker, and prosciutto sandwich. "Mhmm. Yummy."

Raf is standing around awkwardly after the girls leave. Jean-Luc is grabbing a plate to fill up with some food. Jesus, am I going to have to carry this conversation? I quell the urge to sigh and walk over to Raf. He looks real nice, from his new haircut to his fit. He's never dressed up like this, so there must be a reason for it. But what would be the reason for? OH.

"You're finally making a move on Aubrey tonight, aren't you?" I asked, clapping him on his back.

"Uh uh. I'm going to certainly try as long as I don't have a freaking heart attack before then. I'm so nervous, I keep almost swallowing my tongue. She looks incredible. Like, she always does, but tonight she looks like wow," Raf said.

"I'm sure she feels the same way about you. The two of you have been the biggest will they won't they, and every one of us has been waiting patiently for something to happen," I exclaimed.

"I don't know about that. I think you and Violet were a much bigger one, though I guess that's not a possibility anymore."

"You'd be correct. Violet and I are not dating and will never be dating," I said.

"Unless Emma shows up busted to hell, I think I might need to strangle you, Eryk. Maria was hot as fuck, and now I found out you turned down the baddie who owns this ginormo mega mansion? You gotta leave some pussy for the rest of us," Jean-Luc said, popping a crostini covered in jam into his mouth.

"That's unnecessarily crass," I said.

"Whatever. Let's finish unpacking all of this," he replied.

We start to cut open the remaining cardboard boxes and take the rest of the decorations out. Clearly, Aubrey told the guys what to do because I'm just following their directions on where to put things and where to hang other things. It's a lot more complicated than I believed it would be. The other two are distracted by our task, but I can't help but notice just how long Aubrey and Violet have been gone. What is taking them so long? I briefly consider investigating, but decide against it. I'm already bothered by enough shit, I don't need to go looking for more problems. Raf up ends the last box, and all that comes out is a notebook that releases a bunch of loose papers. In particular, a bunch of Aubrey's drawings for helmets and other Tinkertech designs.

"Oh, what's this?" Raf asked, picking up the notebook. As he does, a sheet of paper comes out of it that he catches.

"That's Aubrey's sketchbook. She has a lot of cool stuff in there," Jean-Luc answered.

Does Jean-Luc know that Raf is also a Cape? I thought he was against all of that stuff. Well, he was against Aubrey becoming a Cape; I don't know how he feels about Capes as a whole. Raf isn't moving; he's standing perfectly still with his mouth open in shock. Don't tell me that Aubrey has some risque sketches in there. Jean-Luc notices Raf's silence and walks over to him to check on him. He reaches for him, startling Raf, who drops the book, showing what he's been staring at. There, in perfectly rendered details, is me, or not me, but Nobody. I'm staring at a drawing of me wearing the same outfit I wore at the docks and my old helmet. The all black, smooth, and featureless helmet that I wore before having to destroy it.

Nobody's first helmet. This is bad. A sketch of Nobody, of me, is dangerous, even if it doesn't match me anymore. Where did she get this? No, Jean-Luc said she made it. Why did she make this? When did she make this? And even more importantly, does this mean she has her memories back? No, that can't be true, or I'd be in cuffs. But is the Heroes' Union aware of me? The thought that my anonymity is gone is sobering, and it sends my brain into problem-solving mode. Raf's shocked face means he hadn't seen this before today. She hasn't shown the others this picture before. I can still destroy it before she shows it to everyone. But how and when? It has to be during dinner. That will be my only opportunity.

"What's that?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"Just something Aubrey drew. It was in her room with all the other stuff, so I added it to the boxes. It's probably just a Cape that Aubrey is obsessed with. I don't know if you know, Raf, but she's got a bad case of hero worship," Jean-Luc said offhandedly.

"This isn't a Cape. This is a Cowl. But this is the first time I'm seeing a picture of him. This is the man in the black mask, a boogieman, and one of the most dangerous Cowls our city has," Raf said. His eyes go wide, and he slams his hand into his forehead. "Sorry. Listen to me, just rambling nonsense. Ignore me, I was momentarily confused. This is from a movie I saw."

Nice save. The way Raf spoke about Nobody has me realizing that my recklessness with Arbiter's group has exposed me to the Heroes' Union. The chance that they didn't share the knowledge with the rest of the superpowered colleagues is next to zero. FUCK. Judging from Jean-Luc's face, he's not very happy hearing about Capes and Cowls' stuff. He has not changed his views on the lifestyle, apparently. Before Jean-Luc can question what is obviously the worst cover-up in human history, the girls come back carrying armfuls of booze. Both of them look like they've been crying, and they're giving each other a wide berth. Whatever happened when they were gone doesn't seem to have fixed things; if anything, it's made it worse. They fought, but about what? I doubt it was about Violet's tongue acting like an oil drill, so what could it be about?

Violet puts the wine bottles she's holding onto the counter and grabs her phone out of her pocket, reading a text. I feel from my power sense that both Emma and Vivienne are here. That means Anika is here, but neither of those women would have Violet's number, so someone else is also here from the Quinstin Cape group. Violet heads for the door to retrieve the guests who have arrived, and when everyone's focus is on her, I grab the drawing of Nobody off the ground. Quickly folding it up, I put it in my back pocket. I need to know what Aubrey knows. If she's already regained her memory, then I need to kill her and anyone she might've told about me. If she hasn't shared it yet, I can cut this off at the source. It dawns on me that my earlier premonition about tonight was right. Before the end of Friendsgiving, I'm going to have to kill Aubrey.