CHAPTER ONE

❝ THAT WAS AWESOME. ❞

THERE WAS SOMETHING COMFORTING in the silence that was her room. Although there was noise outside due to the cars driving the street, her room was a place where she could get away from everything. The room was her safe haven, where no one could get to her, never again.

The walls were a pastel yellow, a color called Daisy Petal, which always made her smile. Her uncle had painted them this color less than a year ago, and said that her old room used to be the same color, not that she remembered. He had hung photographs from his home in San Francisco on her walls, showing pictures of what her life had been like before.

Her favorite of them had to be the picture of her family from when she was an infant. There was a pretty blonde woman standing beside a tall man with kind eyes. In the arms of the adults were two children, a little boy who couldn't be more than eight years old, and a little girl who looked to be about three. The family appeared to be perfect. All of them were alive and happy.

Oh, how that had changed.

One could say that she was the last one alive from that photo, but she knew that she was no longer that girl. She hadn't been that girl for a long time, but she was slowly healing.

She would spend hours in the basement of her home, working out to keep her mind off of everything that happened to her. It was something they taught her to do years before, and here she was using their method to forget what they did to her.

The sun had barely been up for an hour by the time Olivia left her bed. She wasn't a morning person, not in the slightest, but sleeping meant nightmares and Olivia didn't need any more.

With a speed she didn't normally use, Olivia got herself ready for the day. She pulled on a pair of light wash jeans and a blue crew neck with her school's logo along with a pair of black converse.

Once she was certain she looked decent —including her hair, which she had tied into a high ponytail— she made her way downstairs to where her uncle was sitting at the kitchen counter with two bowls of cereal.

"Hey kid," he greeted, a small smile on his face. "Sleep well?"

Olivia shrugged her shoulders, unsure of how to answer her uncle's question. Sure she didn't have any nightmares, but she rarely ever slept for more than six consecutive hours.

He poured her a bowl of cereal, pushing it closer to her before pouring her a cup of coffee. A small smile tugged at her lips as he slid the mug of black coffee toward her. It was the best way to get Olivia to open up in the mornings, and it also made her smile just a bit more.

Joshua Bowman tried his best with his niece, he really did. He hadn't ever planned on being a parent, but when the accident happened, he took up the role as best he could. His sister had been his rock, and all of a sudden, she was gone, as was his nephew.

All he had was Olivia, and all she had was him.

So he did all he could for her. Thankfully his boss was kind enough to help pull some strings to get her into a good high school, even though they had long since missed the application deadline, and he even helped them get their home. He was even able to adjust his hours at work to ensure he wouldn't have to leave Olivia alone for long.

He would never make that mistake again.

Part of Josh wondered if his boss had truly cared before his own daughter disappeared, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Even if it had taken a long time, his boss had helped and gotten Olivia home. That was all he could ask for.

Josh was glad he had Olivia back, even if she wasn't the same as she had been before. They had each other, and that was all that mattered.

He looked at his niece with a sad smile, knowing that she had seen too many horrors at such a young age. If he could, he would hide her away from anyone who could ever hurt her again, but sadly that wasn't possible. She was just as stubborn as her mother had been, much to his dismay.

"I have to stay after school for extra help with lab," Olivia said, reaching for the coffee pot to refill her mug. "My lab partner said he would help me out since I've been struggling with the material."

"That's good." Josh watched the way she held the mug as if it was her lifeline. "Call me when you need a ride home from school, I'll pick you up after work."

Olivia sighed. "I can take the subway home, it's just the F train and a few blocks walk."

She took another sip of her coffee, noting the way her uncle's shoulders tensed at the mention of public transportation. Ever since the accident, he didn't let her go many places alone, she always had to be with an adult or someone adult-ish (and she thanked God Lexi was considered to be adult-ish).

"I could always just try to use my—"

"Absolutely not," he cut her off. "We want to keep a low profile, so you will not be doing anything out of the ordinary."

The blonde relented, sipping her coffee before her phone began to vibrate inside her pocket. She pulled the device out and checked the screen, smiling at the message.

FROM: Jules

[ downloading image ]

Her best friend had sent a picture of her cat, Nala, who had gotten herself into a pair of Juliet's shoes and decided to take a nap. The bengal cat was easily one of the most beautiful cats Olivia had ever seen, and Nala was easily Olivia's second favorite member of Juliet's family.

Just then, her phone buzzed again, this time with a message from Juliet's older sister, Lexi. They had spent a bit of time on the phone the day before talking about how much Olivia hated biology, especially because she had a lab practical exam in a week, and Lexi had promised to text her the next day, which she did.

Her friendship with the Stark girls was strange to say the least. Had they met at any other point in their lives, Olivia definitely would've disliked Juliet.

It wasn't anything against Juliet, but they were very different people. Juliet had life handed to her on a silver spoon, never wanting for anything. She was practically a princess and never had anyone introduce her to the word no. She was an heiress who was spoiled rotten, only anchored to reality through her half sister, who wasn't anything like Juliet other than their intelligence. 

Lexi was a dork, or at least she was in private. To the world, Lexi was a badass, and Olivia couldn't agree more. Lexi definitely got that from her dad, and it was one of the things Olivia loved most about her. She was sassy and one of the smartest people Olivia had ever met. Over the span of a few months, Olivia had grown to love the older Stark girl like a sister.

She quickly finished her coffee, smiling as her uncle filled her thermos and closed it before handing it to her.

"Call me when you're done with class and I'll meet you at school." Olivia nodded, making her uncle smile. "I love you, kid."

"Love you too Uncle Josh."

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THE LAST BELL OF THE DAY RANG, and every student in Midtown Tech was ready to go home. Students gathered their belongings, leaving their classrooms with only thoughts of freedom on their minds. They pushed through the halls, desperate to get out of the building and away from their schoolwork.

Unfortunately as she was putting her books back into her locker, Olivia was roughly shoved into her locker by someone pushing through the hall, her head nearly hitting the metal door. She swore under her breath, silently wishing that the halls would clear before she left her locker.

The blonde switched out the books she would need for homework that night, along with her lab notebook, shoving them all in her backpack before zipping it closed. She quickly grabbed her jacket, shrugging it on over her crew neck before closing her locker.

Turning around, she was pleased to see that the hallway had emptied a bit, allowing her to have a clear path to the biology lab.

Her mind wandered as she walked, going through what assignments she would have to complete that evening and which ones could be pushed to the next day if necessary. She could probably put off her history paper another day, it was just a practice regents essay and if Olivia was being honest, she could write it in her sleep.

"Hey." Her lab partner waved at her from their lab station. "You ready to get to work?"

Olivia nodded, silently groaning at the sight of the microscopes he had set up on their station.

Her lab partner was a boy in her year named Peter Parker. He was smart, just like everyone at Midtown, but he wasn't stuck up about it like most people were. They weren't the closest, but they shared a fair amount of classes.

Peter was on the robotics team, which Olivia thought was cool. She never really understood the whole point of robotics, but found the team to be something unique. He was also in the school band, though she didn't know what instrument he played. The only other activity she knew he participated in was their school's Academic Decathlon team. She knew one or two people on the team other than Peter, but she was never one to join many things. Too much attention could put her at risk, and she refused to be that stupid ever again.

Olivia sat down at their lab station, placing her bag on the floor while Peter put a slide onto the microscope. The unit on the practical next week was introduction to bacteria and the microscope, which Olivia dreaded.

She watched him adjust the lens and magnification, focused on making sure everything was right for when they began.

"Are you okay?"

Olivia snapped out of her daze, silently chastising herself for getting distracted and letting her guard down. She couldn't afford to make that mistake, not ever again.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm fine. Just antsy."

He looked at her, something flashing behind his eyes, maybe it was curiosity, Olivia wasn't sure.

"Why don't we get started?"

Peter moved away from the microscope, flipping through the pages of his notebook until he found the section labeled Bacteria. His eyes scanned the pages, reading each word carefully before returning his focus to the blonde beside him.

"Did you understand the lecture from today's class about prokaryotes and eukaryotes?" He watched as her neutral facade flickered for a split second, confusion momentarily slipping through. "It's okay if you don't, biology isn't everyone's strong suit."

Olivia nodded once again, eyes cast down to the tabletop.

"I hate not understanding," she mumbled. "I should understand this. It's simple."

Peter gave her a kind smile, understanding evident on his face. "It's okay to not understand this, bio sucks some days."

The blonde closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to recompose herself. She had to keep calm. There was no way she could explain if something out of the ordinary happened with her lab partner this close.

She could feel it crackling beneath her skin, begging to be freed, but she pushed it down. If she was at home, she would go to the basement and just let it out, but of course she had to be in school.

"Why don't we just go over our notes if that makes you more comfortable," he suggested.

The buzzing below her skin momentarily subsided at his suggestion, relief running down her spine.

"Yeah, I think that would work."

So that's what they did. The duo spent the next hour and a half reviewing that day's lecture, stopping after every section to ensure that any questions Olivia had would be answered.

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IT HAD BEEN A FEW HOURS since Olivia got home, and she was bored out of her mind. She had already finished all of her homework that was due the next day, and had even been able to complete a full body workout. Her muscles didn't ache, not anymore, she hadn't pushed herself to that point in a long time.

After she and her uncle ate dinner, Olivia retreated to her room, longing for some silence and isolation. She longed for something to do for herself —something normal— like watching a movie.

Of course, she wasn't exactly sure what she liked when it came to movies and entertainment, it had been far too long since she truly enjoyed something like that. Perhaps it had been with her brother, however she could scarcely remember much about what they had liked.

According to her uncle, her brother had introduced her to their favorite movie, The Princess Bride, on her fifth birthday. She had fallen in love with the story, and would always ask to turn it on, no matter how many times they had watched it that week. It was her favorite. At one point, it had been the movie their parents watched together, and then they decided to share it with their son, and years later, Ryan had chosen to share it with his sister.

About two months after returning to what had once been her home, Josh had decided to try and watch the movie with his niece, in hopes of triggering memories that had been repressed during her time away. The two had started the movie, and all was well until something changed. Suddenly, Olivia couldn't look at the screen, saying that they were hurting her.

They hadn't tried to watch it again since that day.

Olivia was glad her uncle never asked many questions about what she had gone through. It had been too much when her therapist had asked about it, trying to figure out just how to start their sessions. Unfortunately for her therapist, just thinking about anything related to her time in captivity brought nothing but panic to Olivia.

No matter what Dr. Kennedy would do, Olivia remained steadfast in her silence about the topic. She had opened up once or twice, but each discussion led to the same end result. Olivia would leave the session early, angry tears streaming down her cheeks as she pushed the memories away, pushing them down in order to protect herself.

There were days where she wished Dr. Kennedy was right. She wished talking about the nightmares helped, but they never did. It was a never ending cycle.

It's what led to her nightly routine.

Each night like clockwork, the nightmares would come. And each night, Olivia would wake, never being able to fully banish the darkness they brought with them.

So here she was, sneaking out her window as the stars shone in the sky above.

Olivia knew it wasn't right, sneaking out when it worried her uncle, but she couldn't spend her entire life in the house, hiding from the world because of what had happened.

She climbed up to the roof, careful not to make too much noise as she walked across the roof's shingles. Once she hit the top of the house, she sat down, knees tucked to her chest as her eyes focused on the stars above.

A car alarm went off, and simultaneously a deep voice began to swear.

Her eyes darted downward, finding a man standing beside a car a few blocks away. She watched as the man frantically tried to open the car door yet again, swearing as it didn't open.

"Is he seriously trying to steal a car?"

Of course, no one answered her. She was sitting alone on a roof, if someone answered her, that would be more concerning than an attempted car robbery.

Do something, the voice in her head whispered. You have the power to do something, so don't just sit here!

Biting her lip, Olivia stood up and closed her eyes. If she was going to do something, she had to be ready to defend herself.

You can do this.

Taking a step forward, she launched herself off the roof, praying that her plan would work. She had done this before —although it had been in a very controlled environment with plenty of padding— and she knew she could do it again.

Once she was sure she wasn't free falling to her death, she opened her eyes and saw that she was floating.

She was floating twenty feet in the air.

Holy shit, I've gotta text Lexi about this.

Her heart pounded against her rib cage as she focused all her energy on propelling herself forward. Before she knew it, she was gliding through the sky, silently praying that no one would spot her.

After a minute or two of gliding through the sky, Olivia concentrated on lowering herself to the ground. She steadied herself on the ground, relieved to feel the pavement beneath her feet.

For a split second, Olivia contemplated turning around and running home.

No one could blame her. She was fourteen years old, and the man trying to break into the car had to be in his twenties. If anyone else was in her shoes, they would have turned the other way and ran.

But Olivia wouldn't do that.

For some reason she was still alive. And for whatever that damned reason may be, she knew that she had to make it count.

So she took off running, steps barely making a noise against the pavement, just as they had taught her.

Stealth was everything, her trainers had explained. It is the difference between life and death. You must kill or be killed.

Before the man could even turn around to see her, she focused all her energy into her hands, forcing it to leave in two beams of silver energy, knocking him face first into the car.

"What the—"

With another blast, she temporarily blinded him, allowing for her to knock the man away from the car and toward the street light. He swung at her, missing each time, only to run face first into the metal pole, knocking himself out.

"That was awesome."