There was a girl who was always seen near me. Some people called her a ghost. Others called her a shadow. I called her a mystery. Little was known about this ghost, this shadow…this mystery. She was powerful, she was cunning, she was creative, and she had the confidence and courage of a hundred soldiers. She was the envy of every girl and the dream of every boy.

But she was unreachable. She was secretive. She wouldn't speak to anyone. She would show up to fight and then, like a ghost, like a shadow, she quietly stole away. She left no tracks in her wake, nor did she leave any information. She only let herself be seen when she allowed it, and because of such behavior, the press was never far from her battles—be it a true supervillain or a petty thief. She never said a word to them, according to the newspapers, and all photos that were taken depicted one of two things: she was either fighting or had a very irritated look on her face. Many of these photos were blurry and it made seeing her in person all the more tantalizing.

I'd seen her once before, during a great battle between her and who everyone assumed to be her family and some gargantuan spherical robot with six tentacle-like legs supporting its immense weight. For some reason she had been desperate to get what appeared to be a white wristband. She was somewhat of an amateur back then but as a few more years passed her abilities and fame grew. Articles written and interviews covered by all other superheroes were—dare I use this horrible pun—incredible. Hers, though, were nowhere to be found. Like the ghost and shadow that she was nationally known as, she disappeared and didn't take an ounce of interest in publicity. Many people—especially news reporters—flocked to Metroville in hopes of catching the slightest glimpse of her.

But she would never show herself often. It became a trend to say that if you saw this girl, it meant good luck. I doubted luck was one of her powers but if it was, she wouldn't let anyone know. It was rather odd to me, how she carried herself. She had so much admiration and popularity that she could probably control society, yet she chose to remain this vague, mysterious character. Why? It was common knowledge that all superheroes hid many things from the public, but her? From the barest amount of information gathered, it was her intent not to be seen. For all we knew she could be roaming the streets just like everyone else, with nobody having one clue that she was there. It sounded ridiculous in a way but it was entirely possible.

Maybe she didn't even need to roam streets. Maybe she had always been there to begin with, and we just never looked hard enough to see it. Superheroes always had secret identities. It led me to believe that the reason she didn't care for publicity was because she was already popular. Or maybe she did care but wanted her real identity to remain hidden.

There were so many things about her that I questioned, but could only theorize multiple answers. It was almost painful, and probably unhealthy, to think of one person this much. But it made her just so mesmerizing…

Maybe it was also due to my life in general. I didn't lead some exhilarating rollercoaster of a life like she did. I was a normal, ordinary teenager studying to pass upcoming exams. My friends were all the same. My school was all the same. And my family was just as normal as me. Nothing was special here. Everything and everyone hinged on day-to-day activities. Life just passed me by and I continued to go through the motions once Evanesce—she did have a superhero name even though she was deemed "the ghost" and "the shadow" by most of the public—helped her most-likely-family defeat Syndrome, the alleged mastermind of the robot attack. It was Mr. Incredible who confirmed this, and it was Elastigirl who informed the presses that the robot—the "Omnidroid v. 10"—was not a terrorist attack. During this interview Evanesce could be seen faintly in the background, half hidden behind Mr. Incredible, and was never questioned. However the younger boy with super speed, called Nitro, seemed all too happy to shed light on the story without revealing any personal information. Ever since that interview, superheroes that had previously been unheard of were able to return to their work, and a new generation of superheroes could finally emerge from the darkness to fight alongside them. Now everyone knew of their presence and most had a favorite. But…everyone wanted to know about Evanesce, even if she wasn't their favorite.

And the media took advantage—or at least tried to—of our insatiable curiosity. Their ratings and papers skyrocketed if they were able to take a clear picture of Evanesce. She was practically hunted by news reporters despite her obvious disinterest. If someone wanted to see Evanesce, their best bet was to trail reporters on the move. This only expanded the group search. And people wondered why she remained that hidden prize…

It was considered embarrassing to do this but everyone was guilty of it, even me. Apparently I was one of the relatively few people who had seen her in person, despite being so far away. Up until then, invisibility and force fields were restricted to comic books, which was why information on her was all the more desirable. Rumor had it that she'd gained such powers from a top-secret government experiment. Unfortunately the rumors stayed just that—rumors—and no other superhero would reveal anything about her. In fact it seemed as though several didn't even know of her existence prior to the Omnidroid battle. Word of that spread faster than Nitro could run.

Perhaps this was because no other superhero was capable of controlling two completely different powers. Nitro had super speed, Mr. Incredible had super strength, Elastigirl could stretch her body to unbelievable lengths, Frozone could freeze things, but Evanesce… She was overly unique. She had the power of invisibility and the power to create force fields. On top of that she was capable of using both simultaneously. It was how she avoided being seen in the midst of her battles, but with her force fields completely visible, people had a general idea of where she was at. Still, nobody was too interested in photos of a force field with nobody being seen inside. She was known yet unknown.

And that was exactly what today's enormous school rave was about. A picture of Evanesce had made the front page of all the newspapers, especially the Metroville Tribune. The picture was slightly blurry but it was the clearest one taken in a span of approximately six months. In it she was using her force field to deflect bullets from three armed men while Elastigirl was crouched far behind them getting ready to attack. But that was apparently the only shot taken. Once she'd seen the camera flash her visibility was gone in a snap, leaving civilians with a mere glimpse of half her backside. Whatever reason she had to show herself was still unknown, but it was speculated that she was simply a diversion, that she needed the men's attention on her to help Elastigirl sneak behind them. But nobody knew the details of how that fight actually ended… The men had clearly taken the bait when they tried to shoot her, and if diversion was her plan all along, then her disappearance could've affected it. Those reporters could've played a big part in potentially altering—or even destroying—her plans.

Most of the student body didn't seem to realize this. They wanted more photos, more articles, more coverage. None of us were satisfied with how little we knew or saw, but at least Evanesce did have a few people who understood that these reporters could damage her strategies. I was proud to say that, despite it being a rather unpopular opinion, I was one of those people. I didn't want to mess her up just for my own self gain. In my eyes it was wrong—she was laying down her life for us and not too many people seemed to realize or respect that.

So I desperately wanted to watch her from a distance. I wouldn't take any pictures or do anything to distract her. Hopefully she wouldn't even know I was there. I knew it was wishful thinking but that didn't stop me from hoping it would happen one day. But for now, I had to settle for the occasional uproar of a newspaper article.

"We weren't planning on actually using the guns," said Eric Dalove, one of the three known assailants. "But suddenly this girl came out of nowhere with this cocky smirk on her face. She looked pretty intimidating and we had to defend ourselves, you know? I mean this was Evanesce here, we had to do something. She put up this static-like shield and then she just vanished, you know?"

According to the interrogations of accomplices Mike Edren and Terrence Fendefer, Evanesce was said to have been startled by a light, possibly triggering an accidental invisibility. We have yet to discover the real reason she had shown herself from the start.

"Accidental…?" one of my friends said as he came up and looked over my shoulder at the article I was reading. "Does Evanesce even do accidental?"

I shrugged. "I don't think so."

"I know she can turn invisible but if they would just try harder I'm pretty sure we could learn a lot more."

"I think they should lay off for a while," I replied. "Maybe she'll come to them eventually."

He snorted and said, "Yeah, that's gonna happen! We'll be old and dying before she does that."

"I'm being serious, Mark. What have you learned from this picture?" I asked him, tapping my index finger on her picture.

In all honesty, this picture held no significance whatsoever. It depicted her holding up her force field and that was always what she was doing when seen. So how could this possibly be something new? It was the exact same thing caught from a slightly different angle, although I did have to give it credit for clarity. That was rare.

My friend thought for a minute before shaking his head. "Even if you don't learn anything isn't it cool just to see her in action? All she has to do is stick a hand out and nothing hurts her."

He did have a point… It was kind of cool to see her fighting, that confidence just radiating from her on a level only she could reach. The faith she had in herself transcended the ink on the paper and everyone just felt it. Sometimes I wondered if she knew she could do this to people. And if she did know, what was she doing about it? What did she think of it?

…What was I even asking that question for? It was stupid to assume anyone would ever get their answers, no matter what it was they wanted to know. It was even stupider to assume oneself would be any exception to this case.

So instead of continuing my conversation with my friend, I simply packed up my books and left the library. Normally school wouldn't have been out right now but it was my last period, and our trigonometry teacher had called in sick. For whatever reason Westview High had yet to find a substitute. It was unusual and all who took trigonometry—even me—marked this as a celebratory occasion. It meant no trigonometry homework, no trigonometry class, and no arrogant braggart to tell us we were always wrong in our general life choices that had absolutely nothing to do with academics. We had all been on our knees praying for a sub to take over, even if only for a few days, but to be forced to temporarily drop that class went above and beyond what we asked for. All things considered it was a historical landmark and we did not at all hesitate in relishing it.

Besides, I desperately needed this break. I had enough stress at home. I didn't even reach the front door before I heard my dad ranting about something. Only after I actually opened the door did I hear my mother providing a much quieter argument. She only noticed me once my dad turned around and stomped into the room they no longer shared. It was usually my mom who slept on the couch—or in my bed when she accepted my offers—but only because she didn't want to put up with his constant hotheadedness.

"Was that about Annie?" I asked.

My mother looked at me, in silence, as though I'd asked the unthinkable.

"Is she okay?"

She took a deep breath and answered, "She's doing fine. She's in her bedroom."

I nodded and dropped my backpack to the side of the doorway. I headed off into her room.

"Hi, Tony." The soft voice of a young girl greeted me as I walked in. "How was school today?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "No sub for trigonometry. Less homework. How was your day?"

"Dr. Martha gave me more medicine," she said.

"Yeah?"

"Uh-huh. It tastes weird though."

"Is it helping?"

She playfully smiled. "It makes me sleepy."

I returned her smile and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sleepy right now?"

She yawned and flopped backwards onto her pillow. I pulled the covers over her.

"Tony, will I be okay?"

I didn't know how her appointment had gone. I didn't know what the doctors had said. Last time I heard from anyone, there was a slim chance for her. It was crushing but I chose to have hope that she would fight and survive. Even a slim chance was still a chance.

I ran one of my hands over her smooth head and answered, "You'll be fine. Oh! And guess who was in the newspapers today?"

"You?!"

I chuckled. "Maybe one day." I unzipped my pack and brought out the paper I'd been reading earlier on. "The newspaper people got a really good picture of your favorite superhero of all time!"

I handed it over and she squealed excitedly.

"IT'S HER, TONY, LOOK! IT'S HER!"

I still remembered a dream I had a few months back in which Evanesce showed up at my house and met Annie. It became a hope of mine that one day I would see the smile I saw in that dream.

Annie looked at me wide-eyed, like she'd just had some sort of epiphany.

"Tony, maybe someone will give me a power pill and I can be like her!"

My family, myself included, thought that the concept of painful government experimentation to gain superpowers was too violent for such a young kid, so we invented the idea that Evanesce must've taken what we called a "power pill". It was something we all thought Annie would be able to understand better since, well…she took so many pills already. We also wanted to keep it simple. No "amitryptline" or "lamotrigen", nothing all fancy and big.

But what we'd done to protect her from the graphic tortures that associated themselves with experimentation was, in a way, backfiring on us. We'd inadvertently given her the hope that this pill existed somewhere and she would gain superpowers. Evanesce was her role model, which did not help at all with this. Normally it wouldn't seem all that big a deal, for someone to have a superhero role model. But Annie really looked up to Evanesce… In her eyes, Evanesce was something she needed to be—and something she strived to be. She wanted to be strong like Evanesce, so she never showed it much, but all her complications made her feel uncomfortable. So the thought of having a shield, the thought of having something to protect her from all this, was hurting us. It made her too hopeful, like she was expecting one of us to bring home this nonexistent pill and she'd instantly be cured forever. It was crushing to see that in her, and to know it would never happen.

So for the time being we all contented ourselves with having her around. Alive. Still our cheerful little Annie. And because she most likely didn't have much time left, we would celebrate her birthday this weekend—since her actual birthday was during school days, and everyone knew I wanted to be as involved as possible—and we would set up something big for her. I already had the whole thing in mind and with my parents' help, we had it all nice and planned out.

A/N

So yeah, here's this. I was going to call her "Invisigirl" but seriously, that name is so overused... I decided to go with "Evanesce", NOT because of the singer Evanescence, but because the word itself means "fleeting; quickly fading in and out of". I started writing this before Incredibles 2 came out so (SPOILER ALERT!) the legalization of supers in this fic is not as appears in Incredibles 2.

Also, in this, Violet takes her superhero work very seriously. This will only be told in Tony's POV.