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Back When Villains Rise Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Copyright
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Forty-Four
  47. Forty-Five
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
  50. More Books from HMH Teen
  51. About the Author
  52. Connect with HMH on Social Media

When Nita was a child, she’d misused her power, not understanding how it worked. Too many hospital trips later, her mother decided to teach Nita how to use her ability properly. Nita read a book on human biology, learned more than any child should ever know about the chemical processes that occurred in her body, and her mother quizzed her.

Then the practical part began.

Sometimes her mother would break Nita’s bones, cracking her wrist in one, two, three places. Sometimes she’d pulverize Nita’s hand. Sometimes she’d cut Nita, her knife sliding along Nita’s skin and the blood dripping onto the carpet, and Nita would be expected to heal it with her ability, or suffer for months letting it heal naturally.

At the time, she thought this was perfectly normal. After all, how could she use her ability if she didn’t learn and practice? Only now, with the benefit of age and hindsight, did Nita understand that it hadn’t just been about teaching—it had been about making her afraid.

She pushed the thought away, and all the other ones that came after it, a lifetime of memories that built on that fear. Dead animal bodies in her bed, Nita’s dreams getting crushed the way her hand had been.

She didn’t want to think about it now, didn’t want to face the monster her mother had always been. Because at her core, Nita truly had believed her mother loved her.

But maybe the truth was that her mother had never loved Nita. She’d loved the high she got controlling Nita.

“It can’t be easy, going against your mother.” Kovit’s voice brought her out of the past and into the present. “It won’t be easy.”

He was right, he was always right.

Nita took another swig of wine. “No. It won’t.”

You’ll never win against her, a small part of her mind whispered, and no matter how much she told it to shut up, it kept coming back.

Kovit tilted her head up to face him. “I can do it, if you want. I don’t mind.”

For a moment, Nita wanted to say yes. She wanted to leave her mother in a room and let Kovit deal with her. To not face the problem, to just let Kovit do what he did best and bask in her freedom afterward.

But she didn’t think Kovit could contain her mother. She didn’t think he had any better chance of taking her down than Nita did. And she’d never forgive herself if she let Kovit try to solve her problems and he died for it.

She sighed softly, regret coloring her voice. “Thank you. But I need to do it myself.”

“I understand.” His voice was gentle.