Secret Powers
Chapter 13

Welcome back! Ok, so my school shut down because of the corona virus, so I’m gonna try and write whenever I’m not doing school. We still have to have online classes on Zoom, exactly like the regular schedule. In other words, I spend 7 hours of my day on my laptop NOT writing on on Narugi.com. I made a set school schedule for all of the people in the friend group. They have the same schedule after Blair’s parents made it that way. Anyway, on with that story! Happy reading!

– your author

I woke up to the sound of a voice inside my head. Most might think their crazy if this happened to them, but not me. I have been waiting much too long for this to happen again.

“Good morning, Khione. I’ve missed this,” I said as I stood up, stretching.

“Morning, and I know you’ve missed me. Remember, I know what you’re feeling. We are the same person!” Khione reminded me.

“Jeesh! Somebody’s in a cranky mood,” I muttered.

“Whatever. Don’t test me, I can still take over and ruin your social life,” she said.

“Oh! I’m so scared!” I said with extreme sarcasm.

I could tell she wanted to add something, but she refrained herself. If that isn’t self-improvement, I don’t know what is!

I got ready in my new style. I think I’m gonna keep this one. I like it. Today, I decided to do some loose curls. Add some spice, you know?

When I got downstairs, I was the only one there. There was a note on the counter from my parents that said they had to go into the lab early today. This is not an abnormal occurrence. Plus, they probably wanted to do some investigating into the company because of the whole prophetic dream issue.

As I was just putting my bread into the toaster, Jax walked into the kitchen. He looked terrible, like he hadn’t gotten any sleep at all.

“Hey there, Frankenstein. How much sleep did you get last night?” I asked, handing him a cup of coffee.

“Does closing my eyes a few seconds before my alarm went off count?” he sat down on a stool.

“No,” I answered, “What were you doing all night?”

“I was too worried about you to fall asleep,” he answered me.

Seriously? THAT’S why he couldn’t fall asleep?! He really needs to stop worrying about me all the time. I can take care of myself, and that’s exactly what I told him.

“I get it! Your ‘Badass Blair’ now, but you’re still me sister and it’s my job to take care of you,” Jax said.

“Not at the expense of your sleep!” I exclaimed.

“Whatever. We need to get to school, so let’s go. We’re already late,” he said, walking out the door.

Sure enough, when I looked at the clock, we were running extremely late. First period had already started. Mom and dad are gonna kill us when we get home later. Once again, today was already turning out to be terrible.

I found Jax in the driver’s seat of the car when I walked out. He was fiddling with something in his hands. I couldn’t see what is was though.

“I have something for you,” he said once I had buckled my seatbelt.

“Oh? What is it?” I asked.

“Your power dampener. But I changed it a bit. Made it more the ‘new you’,” he handed me what was in his hands: a box.

Inside, it was a necklace. It was completely made of silver with a long chain and a single snowflake pendent. It was perfectly simple.

“I love it! When did you replace the time to do this?” I asked.

“When you had just started to have your issues with Khione. I made it so that you can still talk to Khione, but your powers you share still won’t work. I hope Khione’s ok with this,” he said.

“She better be,” is all I said.

Khione has been a pain in the butt since I was born. Sure, we’ve become closer recently, but I don’t think I could ever forget some of the things she’s done over the years. Jax and I didn’t have a birthday party with our friends for seven years. It’s partly the faults of our parents for being overprotective, but also partly Khione’s. She was the thing that kept me from learning to control my powers completely. Anyway! Life can be rough for a kid with superpowers.

“Oh my God! It’s already second period! We need to get going!” I exclaimed.

“Mom and dad are SO going to kill us later,” Jax said as we started driving to school.

“Definitely,” I agreed.

Today, the drive felt a thousand hours longer than usual. With each passing second, my stomach did another flip. Mr. Cuningham was gonna going to murder us when we walked in late! He makes us stand in front of the class and tell everyone our excuse for being even a second late AND he gives us detention. In other words, literal Hell. Jax and I are late quite a lot. This time though, I had an idea that might get us out of any trouble with him.

“Just follow my lead when we get in there, ok?” I told Jax after we had checked-in at the front office.

“Ok...,” Jax agreed suspiciously.

When we knocked, Mr. Cuningham was in the middle of reading a Shakespeare play to the class. Great. He loved Shakespeare. If anything interrupts him while he’s in the reading zone, he immediately gives detention. This should be interesting!

“Look who decided to grace us with their presence! The Mikaels twins! Now, what is your wonderful excuse this time?” Mr. Cuningham said, each word dripping with sarcasm.

“Well, I had a doctors appointment. They think they know what’s happening to me. I’m so relieved,” I said, playing the role of the victim. I even made it look like I might cry.

By now, everyone in the school knows about my “mental” issues. This way, he can’t give us detention because then it would be cruel, punishing a mental-ill person.

His facial features changed immediately, from smug to pity. It went perfectly to plan.

“Oh, that’s great! Why don’t you two just go to your seats, ok? Let me know if you need any extensions on any work, Blair. I mean it,” he said, ushering us to the seats.

On our way to our seats, Jax learned over my shoulder and said, “Your an evil genius, you know that?”

“I know, and you love me for it,” I answered with a smirk.

The rest of English class went along as it would normally. Though people did look over at me a few times with varying expressions. Some with pity. Some with anger. There were even a few smiles! I could tell that our friends were going to explode with questions as soon as we exited the classroom. Lucy was literally bouncing in her seat!

I was proven right when the bell rang. They all rushed to me pack-up and get out the door. I wonder what it’s like to have non-nosy friends. I’ll never know.

“Ok, spill,” Lucy demanded as soon as we were out the door.

“Whatever are you talking about, dear friend?” I asked her with fake innocence.

“You know very well what she’s talking about! Get to it already! What happened? Are we going on a mission?” Cole pressed us further and further.

Wow, that was a lot. I knew that my friends were excited about this whole superhero thing, but I never expected THIS. I guess I should have though, most of them have always been the kids who wanted to play superhero. This is like a dream-come-true for them. It should be for me, too, but it isn’t. If only SOMEONE would get in line enough for me to not be practically having a constant panic attack!

“Hey! I heard Just because you have that little necklace on doesn’t mean I’m gone! REMEMBER THAT,” Khione screamed in my head.

“Shut up!” I blurted out.

“Excuse me?” Lucy said with shock evident on her face.

“Oh, did I say that out loud?” I asked.

“Yes, you did. Are you ok, B?” Jax asked with concern, “Khione again?”

“Yeah, sorry. What were you saying again?” I answered.

When I get home, I’m going to have to have a SERIOUS conversation with Khione about talking in my head when not warranted. This has become a pretty large issue recently. My friends are understanding, but what if it happened during a class? Directed at a teacher!? I would get in so much trouble! Yeah, this needs to be dealt with ASAP.

“We were TALKING about your tardiness today. Hurry up, we need to get to PE,” Lux answered as we started walking to third period.

“Right. Jax?” I pushed the burden of explaining over to my brother.

He glared at me before saying, “Well, we got in a little fight. Plus, I gave her a new and improved power dampener. I’m using mine until I learn to control my new power, and Blair is using it to control her regular powers. That enough for you?”

He could have left that last bit off. Now they’re gonna replace a way to get as many questions in as possible! At least we only have one more minute until we have to get to PE. I mean, how many questions can one actually fit into sixty seconds?

“No, I have more questions. For starters, where are those power dampeners you were just talking about? Shouldn’t they be some sort of bulky handcuff-thing? Also, does that mean that Khione’s gone?” Caitlin said; all in one breath surprisingly.

I honestly didn’t think that Caitlin would be the one to interrogate us. She’s usually the quiet one of the group. Nothing against that, but this is just odd. I think I’ll let Jax handle to questions. See how long he lasts without my help.

“Well, for that question way back: the one about the missions. Why would you ever think that we would go on a mission? We are not doing anything like that until after graduation! Now, for Caitlin. Out power dampeners are disguised as jewelry. Mines this bracelet, and Blair’s is her new necklace. Khione isn’t gone, but Blair’s powers are, temporarily of course. Is that all?” he smirked over at me.

He thinks that he’s so cool, answering questions all by himself. Little does he know that that’s not the end of it. Even though we’ve already reached the gym, as soon as we separate to change, we’re both gonna be bombarded with more questions. Without the other’s help, this could turn disastrous. You see, I see things in the future, Jax doesn’t. Literally and figuratively.

Before anyone could answer Jax, the warning bell rang. We all rushed to get to the locker rooms. We had to change quickly because we only had three minutes before we were supposed to be ready for class. Coach isn’t too hard on us about punctuality, but he will yell in our faces just for fun. He’s THAT type of person.

“So, want to hang out after school? We could go over to your house, right?” Lux asked.

I knew that she was just trying to see us train more, but I didn’t care. We hadn’t been able to have some real friend time for awhile. This was well overdue.

“Sure, right from school?” I agreed.

“Great, you guys can be there, right?” she directed her questions towards Caitlin and Lucy.

They both just nodded their heads, trying to get changed as quickly as possible. Unlike them, Lux and I can multitask. It seems we got lucky today, the bell rang as soon as we were walking up to the small group forming around Coach.

“Is everybody here? Great, let’s get started,” he started, “Today, we’re gonna just start our volleyball unit. Break into four teams and go to a court. Since we went over the game last week, we’ll just get right into games, ok? Get out there, cupcakes!”

Our friend group immediately went towards each other. This way we had more time to talk. Plus, our class wasn’t full of the most friendly people. Example A: Jason and Jasmine. I go through absolute HELL whenever we are put into separate groups.

“We’re going over to Blair and Jax’s after school, k?” Lucy informed the boys.

Jax looked over at me questionably. I just nodded back to him. I know their “hidden” intentions, and I’m ok with them. It might help to have a reason to control my powers, or something like that. I’m trying to be more positive, ok?

“Ok, sounds good. What are we gonna do?” Cole asked with a smile, his version of a poker face.

“Just hangout; try and be a little normal for a minute,” I answered quickly.

No need to give the boys any ideas. Knowing them, we’ll end up seeing whether fire or ice would win in a fight. Personally, I know ice would. I’m biased, though.

“Oh, ok,” he said.

“Hey weirdos! Time to be beaten! Let’s hurry this up!” Jasmine yelled at us from across the court.

Looks like my day just got a lot worse. To think that things were looking up! This whole positive thinking thing is sorta backfiring on me.

“Hey, be nicer, Jasmine. You’re talking to a medically ill person right now,” one of Jasmine’s goons said, a wicked smile on her face.

Right now would usually be the moment that my eyes would flash ice-blue, but not this time. My power dampener kept that in check. I understand that I need to get used to the fact that little things like that will happen in my life. People will piss me off, so what? I just need to be the bigger person and learn to control my emotions better. For now though, I’m PO-ed.

I wanted to rush and punch her, but someone grabbed my arms. When I looked back, it was Jax.

“Let me at her! I’ll show her what a mentally ill person looks like!” I struggled in his grasp. Why do boys have to grow bigger than girls? I’m his twin!

“Don’t give her the satisfaction. She’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Get back at her by showing it doesn’t affect you,” he whispered in my ear.

That got me to cool down. Jax is the only one who can do that to me. Maybe it’s because we’re twins, maybe it’s just cuz’ we’ve spent almost every minute with each other for our entire lives. Whatever it is, it works.

“Fine,” I did a final pull and got out of Jax’s grasp, “Let’s just get through this game quickly.”

We ended up winning by a landslide. Shows you what a good energizer is. Even though I should’ve felt better after, I didn’t. It actually made me more angry. Luckily, I had a built-in conscience waiting for a moment like this! Not.

“Just walk up there and giver a good sucker-punch! She won’t even know what hit her!” Khione encouraged in my mind.

“No, we will be the bigger person. Even if I REALLY want to go and break her nose, I won’t,” I though back, keeping my cool, “And don’t even think about taking control. You can’t do that anymore with this necklace. I can handle my own issues, ok?”

She didn’t answer. Of course, I was giving myself the silent treatment. Little ironic, right? I know that I should be trying to reconcile with her, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. All I was doing was holding myself back from attacking Jasmine and her goons right now. It would be SO easy, too! No! Focus, Blair!

“Coach!” Jasmine called our teacher over.

“Yes, Jasmine?” he answered as he walked up to us.

“Blair is breaking your rules about jewelry. She’s wearing a necklace in class. A big one, too! I’m just truly worried about her choking herself,” Jasmine made a fake innocent smile.

There is no way that Coach falls for that fake’s act! He has to be smarter than that. It’s so obvious!

“Oh, thank you from bringing this to my attention,” and he turns to me, “Blair, take the necklace off now.”

“But-” I started.

“No buts! You take it off right now or you take it off and have detention with me for a month! Those are your only options, cupcake!” Coach yelled at me, slowly getting closer and closer to my face.

“Fine,” I grumbled, started to unclasp the chain.

I acted like it was hard to do so that I had time to get my emotions in check. I really didn’t need to accidentally ice burst again. Funny that the last time that happened, it was during PE. Seems like this class just isn’t in my favor.

I glanced up at Jax, pleading with my eyes. He just looked back at me with a look of pity. That means that he had no idea what to do. Life sucks!

“We don’t have all day, Blair,” Jasmine said, smiling a cruel grin at me.

I just rolled my eyes in response. I guess there’s no time like the present to test your control over your powers, right?

Nothing happened at first. I should have seen that as the first sign of danger, but I was just too relieved to notice it. Little did I know, things were about to get drastically worse.

“There, you happy?” I said, glaring at Jasmine.

Coach seemed to think that was directed at him, though, so he got mad. Let’s just say that I ended up getting detention for tomorrow. This little confrontation took up the rest of class, so we were excused to change right after. Nothing happened on the way to the lockers, not even inside the locker room! THAT should have been my second sign. The big disaster happened AFTER we had changed and met back up with the boys.

“Now you see what happens when you get in my way,” Jasmine walked up to me.

“Go away, Jasmine,” I sighed, I had had enough of this for the day already.

“Don’t speak to me that way! You should be begging for me to talk to you! Lord knows you need the popularity points,” she said.

Now, I know that little comment shouldn’t have effected me, and it didn’t! The thing she said after did.

“Looks like pulled the short straw with the sane twin sisters, Jax,” Jasmine looked over at Jax.

I was DONE by this point. I had forgotten that I didn’t put my power dampener back on, so I just let my anger run wild. My eyes flashed and my hands started misting. I could feel me starting to slowly turn the heat in Jasmine’s body colder and colder, but I couldn’t stop. Luckily, Jax DID know how to stop me.

He came up and hugged me from behind. I knew this hurt him. He had done it before when I was on the verge of freezing the entire town during a training exercise. I ended up just contrasting his powers. We equal each other out. He get the most pain out of it, though. Jax likes to act like nothing bothers him, but I know him better than he knows himself. I know it hurts. That’s why I’m so adamant on getting my powers under my control.

“Calm down. Let’s just get out of here, ok?” he started pulling me towards the door.

I felt him wince as we walked. I started to realize what I was doing more and more with each step. By the time we had reached the hallway, the only thing left with my eyes.

“Eyes, B,” Jax reminded me.

“I know, I know. You can let go of me now. No need to make you feel like dry ice is burning you any longer,” I reminded him back. He let me go once I had turned my eyes back to normal.

“What the HELL was that?!” Jasmine questioned us. Turns out she had followed us.

“What do you mean? We just walked away from you? What do you think we did?” Lucy said, fake concern in her voice.

“You-eyes-ice-cold-what?” she muttered, noticing my lack of blue eyes.

Jax went and put a hand on her arm. It looked like her was trying to support her, but he was really warming her up a bit. I hadn’t been able to get too far in to freezing. If I HAD gone that far, she would’ve been dead. I know, blunt, but it’s true! I can freeze people to death! Might as well get that over with already.

“Fourth period is gonna start soon, why don’t you start walking there?” he asked her.

“Yeah, sure,” she answered, not really paying attention.

As soon as she was gone, we all started laughing.

“Did you see the look on her face when she saw you normal?!” Lucas exclaimed.

“I know! I was great! I should’ve gotten a picture!” Lucy said.

Jax pulled me aside from the rest of our friends. I knew what this was about. He was about to give me the lecture that our parents weren’t here to give. Unlike our friends, he knows what that situation would have led to if he hadn’t stopped me from going any further.

“First of all, are you ok?” he asked.

“Fine. Let’s just get this lecture over with,” I answered.

“You need to be more careful, B! What if I hadn’t been there, huh? You would’ve killed her! I don’t know what that would do to you! I’m scared for you! You need to get your emotions and powers in check, ok? Now,” Jax said.

By this point, his voice was raised enough for our friends to notice our absence. It didn’t take them long to realize what we were doing. The look on their faces was horrible. They looked at me like I was a monster. This is exactly what I was afraid of! Them looking at me like that after they found out the full extent of our powers. The sad part was, they don’t even know the half of it yet.

“You were going to KILL her?” Cole asked.

“No! I would never do that! I just lost control and started to raise her body temp a bit, ok! Nothing to worry about! Let’s just move on, ok? It won’t happen again. See, I’m putting on my power dampener again,” I put the necklace around my neck.

“It better not happen again. That was scary. I don’t like not knowing what you can do. I don’t WANT to be scared of my best friend, but I sadly am starting to be. Just do whatever it takes to get control over your powers. Use this incident as the encouragement to get control,” Caitlin said.

Wow. I didn’t expect that from her. She’s just full of surprises today, I guess. I didn’t have time to answer her though because we arrived at Ms. Axelrad’s classroom: history class. We would have to talk through this later after school. I was going to be a responsible person and deal with a problem rather than just ignore it like usual. This was something that needed to be dealt with with extreme care and consideration, though. A great way to start then, right? I don’t know, I’m only a junior! The rest of this day better be easier than the beginning. If not, kill me now!

How did you like it? It ended up being longer than I was expecting. I just needed to cut it off here because it’s already past midnight. I usually read past this time, but writing? Not so much. Let’s get some more readers! I WANT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! That is all. Comment any questions. Follow me. Add to your library. You know the drill.

Happy reading!

- your author