to find somewhere else to make his head stop spinning.
But then the boy looked up at him, and he had a smear of chocolate on his upper lip that resembled a sticky mustache, so Nick said, “Hi.”
“Hi,” the boy said quietly.
Nick had never introduced himself to anyone before. He’d always had his mom or dad there to do it for him. But they weren’t here now, and Mom said he had to be brave like Wonder Woman and Thor, and so he squared his shoulders and said, “My name is Nicholas Bell. It’s very nice to meet you.”
The boy stared at him.
Nick frowned, unsure if he’d gotten it wrong. He’d thought it had sounded just like Mom and Dad did when they said it, but the boy was looking at him like he was speaking another language entirely.
“Um,” Nick said. “So.”
The boy looked behind him. Nick did too. There was no one there.
The boy turned back around. “Are you talking to me?” he asked in a small voice.
Nick nodded. “I think so.”
“Okay. I’m Seth. Seth Gray.”
It was a nice name. Nick kicked at the dirt. “Those other kids were loud.”
“I know. S’why I’m over here.”
Nick felt relieved at that. “I don’t like loud kids.”
“Me either.”
“Or finger painting.”
The kid made a face. “It gets everywhere.”
“Right? S’not cool.”
“Not cool,” the kid echoed.
“Can I swing with you?” Nick asked nervously. He thought it was going well, but one couldn’t be too sure about such things.
The boy nodded, licking his pudding mustache away.
“Awesome,” Nick said.
“Yeah,” the boy said, watching Nick climb onto the swing. “Awesome.”
Nick tried to start swinging, but he wasn’t very good at it yet. Mom said he’d get there, but it would take practice. He gave up after a few seconds.
“I can’t swing either,” the boy said.
“It’s hard,” Nick agreed. “My dad is a policeman, and he says that he couldn’t swing until he was, like, eight or something.”
The boy looked amazed. Nick liked that. “He’s a policeman? With a badge?”
Nick shrugged, playing it cool. “Yeah. I get to wear it sometimes.” Nick absolutely did not get to wear it, but it was fun to pretend he did. “He has a utility belt like Batman does.” Nick tried to kick his legs and swing again but failed. “He’s pretty much Batman, now that I think about it.”
“Wow,” the boy said. “That’s awesome. My aunt is a nurse. And my uncle fixes buildings and is a meter maid. He says he’s a meter butler, because girls are maids.”
Nick frowned. “Boys can be anything girls can. And girls can be anything boys can. My mom says that sometimes, boys can even be girls.”
Nick thought the boy’s eyes were going to pop out of his head. “That’s so cool.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “I know. Cool. Why don’t you live with your mom and dad?”
“They died,” the boy said, dipping his plastic spoon into the pudding cup. “When a train crashed. I was with them, but I don’t remember.”
And since Nicholas Bell was six years old, he didn’t understand the concept of death. It was too big for him to grasp, so he said, “Oh. Was it a big train?”
The boy shrugged. “Maybe. Probably the biggest train.”
That was enough to confirm it for Nick. “We should be best friends. Forever.”
The boy looked at him, spoon hanging from his mouth. “Forever?” he said through a mouthful of pudding.
Nick nodded solemnly. “Forever.”
And from that point on, he never left Seth’s side.
* * *
Here he was, ten years later, vexed by his ex-sort-of-boyfriend, chasing after his best friend after they’d argued over Nick’s Extraordinaries obsession, an ache in his chest that he couldn’t quite explain. He didn’t like it when Seth was upset, he never had. It didn’t happen very often, but when it did, Nick felt like hunting down and killing whatever caused it. Nick decided a long time ago that Seth needed to be protected at all costs. He wore bow ties and loafers and could recite the Greek alphabet backwards, and there was no one like him in the world.
He should’ve punched Owen before he left, even if Nick wasn’t exactly sure what they’d been arguing about. He thought it was about Pyro Storm being a villain. And yes, that was true, but he was a cool villain. He was Shadow Star’s archnemesis, which meant he had to be respected. Both of them had appeared suddenly out of nowhere shortly after … well, After. There had been other Extraordinaries Before, but they’d been nothing compared to