She was back. The meathead wasn’t with her and she’d come by taxi. They must have had a fight. Maybe that was why she wasn’t glowing, just a little around the edges, she’d cut the jerk out of her life. He could hope. But didn’t women sulk when they broke up with someone. She should be crying, unless she was happy to be done with the cripple. That must be it! She deserved better than that jerk, she deserved someone with super powers. She deserved him.

With the cripple out of the way, they could be together. Maybe he’d come for her tonight? Except they’d boarded over the front windows. That made it harder to get in. Of course there were the sliders in the back of the house. He’d tried to get in that way last night but she had pieces of pipe in the tracks. It was almost like she wanted to keep him out. He knew that couldn’t be true. It was probably to keep another guy away. He could catch glimpses of her as she walked back and forth. She wasn’t sulking. She was planning. You could tell with the way she was walking around with her hands on her hips. The next time he saw her she had a pad and was making notes. And she picked up a pillow from the couch and tossed it across the room. She was doing things but her eyes looked sad. She was so beautiful like this. Not as pretty as when she’d been broken. She’d been truly beautiful with the light gone out in her eyes.

She was changing and it had to stop, he’d have to get to her soon before the cripple corrupted her. He didn’t want her to change, she wasn’t allowed to change. Punishing her for leaving with the cripple had made him feel better and let her know he was serious. She might have forgotten about how powerful he was from when they were at that place together. It was time he gave her a reminder.