The hunger didn't wait for night anymore. It followed Zara everywhere, curling around her stomach like a fist. During math class she felt it gnawing, making her pulse race until numbers blurred on the page. At lunch, the smell of food made her gag. What she wanted wasn't something the cafeteria could serve.
She slipped away after school, locking herself in the empty science lab. Her hands shook as she spread her fingers, threads of silk glistening in the air before dissolving. She licked her lips without thinking. The taste of last night's fight still clung to her—the way Reed's fear had filled the air, how his body twitched inside her web. The thought made her shiver.
"This isn't normal," she whispered, her reflection trembling in the glass cabinet. "I'm not normal."
The hunger surged again, sharper this time, like her body was demanding to be fed.
That night, Zara wandered the alleys near the river. Shadows clung to her like old friends. The city here was filth—dealers, predators, the kind of men who never thought twice about hurting someone weaker. Her eyes tracked every twitch, every heartbeat.
Two men leaned against a dumpster, counting out pills in tiny bags. Zara dropped silently from the fire escape, the hood of her sweatshirt shadowing her face.
One looked up. "The fuck—"
She teleported. In an instant she was behind him, silk threads wrapping around his throat. He gasped, his bag of pills scattering across the ground.
The other pulled a knife. "Back the hell off!"
Zara vanished again, reappearing with her hand around his wrist. The knife clattered to the ground as she twisted. His bones cracked. He screamed.
Her veins glowed faintly under her skin, and with each scream, the hunger eased. She realized it wasn't food her body wanted—it was this. Power. Fear. Control.
When both men were unconscious and cocooned against the wall, Zara staggered back, horrified by her own satisfaction. Her lips curled into something between a smile and a sob.
The next day at school, Tammy cornered her by the lockers. "You've been disappearing. Josh says you're in trouble. What's going on with you, Zara?"
Zara forced her books against her chest, keeping her head down. "Nothing. Just tired."
Tammy frowned. "You're lying. I can feel it."
Josh appeared, arms crossed, eyes colder than she remembered. "Whatever you're hiding, it's gonna come out. Secrets don't stay buried long."
Zara's stomach churned. She turned away before either of them could see how close they were to the truth.
That night she returned to the rooftops, her hood whipping in the wind. The city lights stretched endlessly below her.
Her body still trembled from hunger, but there was no denying it now. Every fight made her stronger. Every save fed the thing inside her.
She clenched her fists, silk dripping between her fingers like blood.
"If this is the price," she said to the night, "then I'll pay it. Hero. Villain. Whatever it takes."
The city roared beneath her, waiting for its new predator.