Secret Powers
Chapter 18

Hi. This one will probably be the last REAL chapter, but I’m thinking about writing an epilogue, so...look out for that coming soon!

I have some exciting news! I became a beta reader, and I already have someone wanting my help! You may have noticed that my chapters have some mistakes, and that’s because I hate rereading my own work. I just end up completely changing my storyline. I hope this long chapter makes up for the short last one.

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Happy reading!

– your author

Our friends were so scared that we would disappear again that they refused to leave. I didn’t have it in me to kick them out. In all honesty, I really didn’t want to. Having them here is a reassurance that everything is over; we are safe now.

They were even refusing to let us out of their sights, so we decided to sleep in the living room for the night. Our parents wanted to keep up the appearance that we were back in town, so we had to go to school tomorrow. We were given strict instructions to keep to ourselves for a while. We needed to give the rumors time to die out. If they die out at all. We might just end up as the town’s conspiracy topic. We just have to make sure that the conspiracies stay conspiracies.

I was the first one to wake up. When I did, I saw something that I DEFINITELY wasn’t expecting: Lucas and Lux cuddling.

“When did THAT happen?!” I asked with a smirk.

“Wha? Oh. Well, you see–” Lucas started.

“While you were gone. It makes me sick to be in the same ROOM as them nowadays,” Lucy answered for me before Lucas could started explaining.

I didn’t even realize she had woken up.

“Took you guys long enough,” I said, unsure of what else to say to that.

Before they could say anything to that, I started again. It was 7:30, so we needed to start getting ready for what I’m sure is going to be a horrible school day. “We need to get up. Lucy, Lux, and Caitlin can borrow some of my clothes, and Cole and Lucas can borrow some of Jax’s, ok?” I said, standing up.

“Great! Can I wear your jacket?” Lucy asked, already running upstairs ahead of the rest of us.

I just rolled my eyes and followed her up there. The others weren’t that far behind us.

It was hard, but I kept their little closet shopping spree inside the ten-minute time limit. I made sure that our clothes weren’t too conspicuous; we don’t need to give our classmates another excuse to stare.

I decided on a simple teal crop-top, black jeans, black boots, and my black leather jacket. My hair was in a fishtail braid, resting on my shoulder. I only put on mascara and lipgloss for makeup. Khione’s the one who likes a full glam. Hell, she wouldn’t have a choice if she didn’t want to! The makeup just appears on our face when we change. Luckily for me, it disappears when we change back.

It’s weird, saying WE now. I used to always think of us as two separate people who were stuck to each other forever. I guess now that we’ve fully bonded together, it’s more

Lucy, Lux, and Caitlin chose their own outfits, and we were going to the kitchen for breakfast. Yes, actual breakfast. Our parents had woken up and started to make eggs and pancakes. Now that they didn’t have jobs, they could actually do stuff like this.

“Can we go now?” Jax asked once we had finished.

“I’m sorry, who are you and what have you done with my brother? When have you EVER wanted to get to school on time?” I stared at him incredulously.

Our friends started chuckling, and our parents just smiled. Jax’s ears started to turn red, as well.

“Oh, just shut up, and let’s go,” he said, grabbing his backpack and walking out the door.

I looked to my parents for help, thinking they would let me off the hook for missing another day. All I got was disappointment, though. They just gave me a “sympathetic smile” and passed me my bag.

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered on my way out the door.

“Anytime, sweetheart!” I heard mom yell.

Jax was already in the car, warming it up. He looked super anxious, with his bouncing knee and constantly his surroundings. I was worried about him. I was going to ask him about it, but then our friends walked out the front door, and I just hopped in the passengers seat. The question I need to ask him should be done away from them. I know he won’t open-up about anything with anyone else around besides me. We may be brother and sister, but we’re still partners and best friends. We knew when something was bothering the other.

“Ready?” Jax asked, already putting the car into drive.

Luckily for them, our friends were already safely inside the vehicle, because I don’t think would’ve stopped to listen to their answer anyway.

“Whoah there, buddy! In the rush this morning, or what?!” Cole exclaimed.

“I’m fine,” Jax insisted, which just confirmed my thoughts of something being wrong.

Jax was riding the limit all the way to school. I don’t think he even took one glance off the road for a second, just kept a blank look.

Our friends didn’t seem to notice anything being wrong, and they wouldn’t. I’m are pretty good at replaceing people’s tells, and, sadly, Jax’s were blatantly obvious sometimes. Like right now, for example, he is putting on a show of concentration on driving when he’s really just trying to block something out. He used to do this when we were in survival training as kids.

We got to school in record time, and Jax had barely shut off the car before he was hopping out. Our friends and I had to scramble to get out before he locked us in!

Before he could walk through the front entrance, I grabbed his arms and practically DRAGGED him to the side of the building, telling our friends to go on without us, we would catch up.

My abruptness seemed to have knocked him out of whatever daze he was in before. Now, he was just glaring at him like I had frozen his kiddy pool! Weird reference, I know, but it really did happen once! Just, don’t ask about it.

“What, Blair?” Jax snapped at me.

I just stared at him in shock for a second before I seemed to regain my bearings. This was just the weird mood he was in; he wasn’t actually angry with me. I had to keep telling myself that to keep MY anger in check.

THAT’S when I asked him the question that had been nagging at me for the whole drive to school: “Are your powers bothering you?”

“What? No. If they were, you would know, trust me. Things would be on fire!” He weakly reflected.

I just gave him a stern look, “You and I both know that’s not the power I was talking about, and if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you RIGHT NOW, I’ll just have to take you home and have mom and dad get it out of you!”

I knew that I was losing my control over my emotions, but I didn’t care. I trusted myself more now. He was not going to get an easy pass just because I could possibly go all Khione.

“Fine. If you really want to know, I’ll tell you. I can hear everyone, ok? Nobody can keep a secret from me; nobody can lie! I know that sounds good, but what would you do if you heard a dozen boys undressing your little sister in their minds?” He shouted.

I wasn’t stunned this time, I was just ticked off.

“If you really CAN hear everybody, then what am I thinking about?” I demanded, thinking every insult I could possibly come up with, directed towards those boys he was talking about.

“I–I don’t know. I can’t hear you anymore. Why didn’t I notice this before?” he mumbled to himself.

THAT is what shocked me. OF COURSE I was the only one who he couldn’t hear! Why would our lives be any different?

“Maybe it’s because of what you did with Khione to Moore. Maybe you’ve evolved somehow. Or reached your full potential. Now you guys are bonded completely. This is weird, definitely weird,” He kept muttering.

“That...sorta makes complete sense, I guess, in a weird, twisted sorta way. But we still need to deal with your telepathy problems. Why don’t you just use your power dampener?” I said.

This question he answered without protest, with a slight redness in his cheeks, “I hated wearing that at Moore’s. I’ve never felt more vulnerable. It took away ALL of my powers, not just the telepathy.”

That made perfect sense to me. It was such a Jax thing to say. He was the protecter type, and without his powers, he felt helpless. I would just have to change that.

“Oh, Jax. You know you can do so much more than just shoot fire or read minds. You are also an incredibly skilled fighter! Just because you didn’t have your powers, doesn’t mean that you couldn’t do anything to help,” I assured him.

My rare act of empathy seemed to make him believe me. I didn’t just go around and give out heartfelt compliments like that! I had to actually BELIEVE what I was saying before I actually said it, and Jax knows that. That’s why he just gave me a big hug.

“Thanks. I’m still gonna keep my power dampener off, though. If this is my life, I’ll just have to learn to accept it and move on. Maybe I can even learn to block out people’s thoughts! Oh, yeah...” his voice drifted off.

I just smiled and told him we should probably be getting to class soon, the bell was bound to ring any second now.

When we got to our homeroom class, our friends had pulled up their chairs around a desk at the back and were talking. They didn’t even notice us walk in, which was a first. Usually, they’re waiting for us to tell them some life-changing news. Today, that wasn’t the case. They were just talking like normal teenagers.

“Whatcha talking about?” Jax asked cheerfully as we pulled up chairs.

His mood is like a light switch! He went from distant and uncomfortable to happy and cheerful. I wonder if I’m like that...

Before I could get too lost in my own thoughts, Lucy answered him, “Mr. Moore. Do you think he’ll ever come after you guys again?”

Well, maybe they weren’t acting like normal teenagers. Close enough.

“Only and idiot would come back for more after dealing with Blair,” Jax answered her, smiling at me proudly, and I felt myself blush.

“WHAT?! You didn’t tell me anything about this. I demand to have details!” Cole exclaimed.

I laughed and said, “All I did was beat the guy up a bit. Nothing much!”

“You’re idea of ‘beating the guy up a bit’ is usually different than anyone else,” Lux pointed out.

“Yeah, she’s just being modest. I was there, and she was a total badass!” Jax said, patting me on the back.

“Details!” Lucy screeched.

“Ok, ok! I basically just left him lying in a parking lot, unconscious,” I told her.

“Awesome,” Cole said, clearly fine with the lack of context given.

That was when the bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom and the beginning of passing period.

We met Caitlin and Lucas at the door of Ms. Hazeltine’s classroom, which was their homeroom. After, we headed to our lockers to get our English class supplies.

“So you’re absolutely sure that Mr. Moore will never come after you again?” Lucy asked again.

I sighed, “Yes, I’m absolutely su–”

I was broken off by the sound of gunshots. Gunshots! How much bad luck can one person POSSIBLY have?!

Everyone had started screaming and running into classrooms, going into lockdown. My shock wore off, and I started strategizing. This was what Jax and I have been training for.

Then, I came the realization that we couldn’t help. If we did, we were risking our secret identities, if you could even call them that. Anyway, Jax and I just had to act like normal, scared teens who had no idea what to do. We couldn’t be the heroes today.

“Guys! Go! There!” I pointed at a broom closet, the closest room to us.

My orders seem to break our friends shock, too. They didn’t say anything, but they did sprint into the closet. I locked the door behind us. Once that was done, I started scanning the room, looking for anything to use as a barricade. All that was in here was cleaning supplies. The best I could do was break the bristles off a broom and put the stick between the wall and the door handle. That way it was harder the break in.

After I had finished, I looked over our group. There was barely enough space in the closet for the seven of us. Caitlin was leaned against Lucas, and the rest were either huddled into themselves on the ground or standing up, each with a blank expression. The only one who seemed to be in control of themselves was Jax. Our eyes met and we came to a silent conclusion: we needed to protect our school. If it came down to it, we would use our powers in public. For now, we just had to hope that the police could handle it without us.

We didn’t tell our friends this, of course. It would just scare them more. What we needed to to was calm them down; reassure them that everything as going to be okay.

Our school had never been the subject to a shooting before, since our town was so small. Barely anyone even knows what Apple Valley is.

“Hey, guys. Don’t be scared. Everything will work out fine,” I told them, giving Lux and Lucy a hug, not caring when their tears soaked my shirt.

“How can you guys be so calm?” Cole asked.

“We’re trained to handle ourselves in all situations,” Jax answered simply.

“And because of our training, we know that you will get out of here safely. You guys are the luckiest in the school, actually. You have two superheroes on your side, right?” I said, giving a nudge and smile to my friends.

“Superheroes-in-training,” Lucas corrected, catching onto my idea.

He may be braver than I thought. That or he was just trying to be strong for Caitlin, who had gone back to clutching onto his shirt. He knew that we had to stay positive and focused. It was our safest bet.

“But what about the others? What happens if someone else gets hurt while we’re being protected by you guys?” Lucy asked, clearly not understanding what Jax and I were trying to do.

“We have a plan for that, but so far, I know that nobody’s been shot. The gunshots were just shot into the ceiling, warning us. As long as everyone remembers the lockdown drills, they should be fine,” Jax assured her.

I almost slapped him upside the head for that. Did he know who he was talking about?! When has an entire school EVER listened to the faculty during a lockdown drill? He just took us back two steps on the calming front.

Fortunately for us, our friends seemed to buy it. Under other circumstances, they probably would’ve caught onto his little misstep, but right now, they were just desperate for reassurance.

“Just try to be quiet, ok? No more questions unless absolutely necessary,” I told them, “If you need a distraction, text.”

They needed a distraction, all right. Every one of them sat down and pulled their phones out. By the looks of it, though, they weren’t texting each other just yet. I immediately knew what they were doing. They were texting their parents. THEIR PARENTS! OUR PARENTS! We needed to text our parents! Maybe they would tell us to screw the secret identities and just save our school. I was secretly hoping against hope they would say that.

Me: There’s a shooting at the school. Can we use our powers?

Mom: No! Only in an emergency! Be careful. I love you both so much.

Jax: We love you too mom.

Dad: Remember your training. Find a safe place, and DON’T use your powers unless you absolutely need to. I love you.

That was the end of our conversation. We needed to stay alert, so we couldn’t be distracted by texting our parents. We had gotten the most important things out, anyway.

I saw that Lucy, Lux, and Cole were texting each other. Caitlin and Lucas and put their phones away and were snuggles against each other. I saw the occasionally silent tear streak across Caitlin’s cheek. I made my heart squeeze to see my friends so frightened. I had to look away.

Instead of focusing on my friends’ fear, I gave Jax a hug, just in case. I knew that there was no doubt we would be replace, but I still felt the need to do it. In situations like these, it felt like a natural instinct to hug the ones closest to you.

Just as we were parting, a familiar voice came over the intercom: Jonathan Moore.

“Attention Apple Valley High School! We are here for one reason and one reason only: the Mikeals twins! Now, we will leave everyone unharmed if they give themselves up to us in the next fifteen minutes. If not, we’ll start killing off a person for every thirty seconds they aren’t here. Fifteen minutes, Blair and Jax. Fifteen minutes,” Jonathan said.

I could tell that he was smiling through the way his voice sounded. He was enjoying this, the crappy bastard.

“Oh, ‘it’d be idiotic to come after us again’,” Lux said sarcastically.

I knew she didn’t mean to be rude, she was just scared. Some people just use sarcasm as a shield. I know I sure do. Although, sometimes I’m just trying be annoying.

I looked over at Jax again. I would bet that our faces had the exact same expression. We came to a silent agreement: “We have to go out there,” we said that the same time.

“What?! No!” Lucas whisper-yelled, “You’ll be killed!”

“We’ll be fine, trust us. We can handle him. We’ll come up with a plan, and we’ll be fine,” I assured him.

“We need to tell mom and dad who the shooters are,” Jax told me.

“Yeah, I’ll text them,” I said.

Me: The shooters are led my Mr. Moore. We have to save them. I’m sorry.

I didn’t even bother to check if they had protested, I just tucked the phone back in my pocket. Then, I gave each of my friends a hug, Jax doing the same after I had finished. I knew that doing that wouldn’t help to reassure them, but we needed it. Even though we gave a show of confidence, Mr. Moore still left us with scarring memories. If something happened to us, we wanted to have said goodbyes to our friends, at least.

“Stay here,” I ordered them with a stern look.

All they did was nod, probably afraid they would burst out in tears if they talked.

“We’ll be back,” Jax told them.

Then, we steeled ourselves, putting on looks of determination. Nobody would hurt our friends. I gave one last look at my friends, and I opened the door and walked out.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to continue if I saw their faces as we walked away, so I just focused on coming up with a plan. If our training had taught us anything, plans are the most important thing.

We could walk straight into the office and start fighting, but that was unpredictable. We didn’t know how many people Jonathan had brought with him.

We could have Jax listen to their minds and replace out how many people there were, if there were any civilians, and their plan of attack. Then, we could come up with a strategy to take them out. Yeah...that idea worked.

“Sounds good to me, too,” I heard Khione agree with me.

I had almost forgot to ask her. She had been so silent throughout the day that it was surprising hear her in my head again. I could always sense that she was there, but I was so used to it that I barely noticed it now.

Anyway, I stopped Jax and told him my plan. He immediately agreed that this would work. We couldn’t afford to have any doubt now, it would only get us killed. They had guns and we had our hands and our powers. Usually, we would be fine like that, but if there were civilians, they complicated things. That meant we would have to try NOT to use our powers at first, which would probably fail, so then we would be forced to reveal our secret. And I thought that our biggest problem today would be kids thinking we were mobsters!

As we neared the office, both Jax and I seemed to grow more and more tense. I was constantly checking our surroundings, looking for any random gunman roaming the halls or something like that. I was also glancing at Jax’s face, trying to read his expression. By now, he should’ve been able to hear their thoughts.

He just had a look of pure determination on his face. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Finally, he stopped and pulled me aside.

“There are twenty guards, plus Moore. No civilians, but there are in pretty much every other room around there. We have to be quiet if we use our abilities–but that’s only if we are still trying to keep our identities a secret. They are on orders to shoot to injure and protect Jonathan. He still wants to dissect us. Gross,” he said.

“Good job. I was thinking that I could freeze their feet to the floor before we even get inside, that way they’re easier to knock out. Then, we just go in and fight. Only use our powers when needed. We don’t need too much evidence of our abilities. First defense is our hand-to-hand skills, ok?” I asked.

“Sounds good, now let’s go. They’re right around that turn. No guards outside the door,” he answered.

We silently made our way to the office’s door. We crouched down so that they couldn’t see our shadows through the frosted window.

I put my hand against the ground and ice immediately started forming around the area where my hand was. I focused, and it started to expand, crawling under the office door and filling the entire floor with ice. Once it was under the door, I sped it up, instantly freezing the entire office floor. Whoever had been standing on the ground would be stuck in place. I could actually feel where there were people stuck in my ice. Jax was right, there were about twenty people in the room. Wherever my ice connected with a person, it crawled up to their ankles, holding them down. I finished with a smirk. Too easy.

“Wha?” I heard someone say.

“Fascinating,” I heard Mr. Moore mutter, which made me even angrier, “The possibilities.”

Only a sociopath would be thinking about studying us in a time like this.

Jax and I looked at each other, counted to three, and then bursted through the door. The room looked exactly as we had expected: twenty goons and Mr. Moore frozen to the ground, some trying to escape, and others just plain confused. Plus, there’s that one that was smiling at the ice as if he wasn’t under attack.

“Drop the guns!” I yelled, raising my hands up as a warning.

“No! Shoot them, you idiots!” Mr. Moore screamed, finally coming to his senses.

They looked hesitant, but they still raised their weapons. That’s when all hell broke loose.

With the first shot, my instincts kicked-in, and I was off. I didn’t need to look to see that Jax was doing the same. With lighting-fast reflexes, we were dodging bullets and making our way over to the guards.

As I reached the first one, I saw a look of fear flash through his eyes. So he must have seen what I was capable of. Good.

I used a technique that I had learned in second grade: grab the gun from underneath, push it into the gut of the attacker, and pull it away from them when they were recovering. I tossed the gun to the side. Then, I gave the guy a strong punch to the temple, effectively knocking him unconscious.

I repeated a similar action for about five other goons, Jax doing the same. With each of his guards being beaten, Mr. Moore looked more and more worried. By the time Jax and I had finished off his guards, he was sweating and trying to break the ice around his feet.

“Nice job. I think I’m just gonna hang back and let you handle this. You deserve it” Khione said.

Jax and I had saved Jonathan for last. I wouldn’t act out of vengeance, not like last time. This time, I would just get it over with quickly. Maybe an extra kick to the gut once he was out, but that’s it. Then, we had to get out of there.

“Please,” was all he said.

“You do the honors. I got to do it last time,” I told Jax with a smirk.

He walked up to Mr. Moore, gave him one last glare, and punching him in the nose, then the jaw, which made him pass out. He walked back to me with a triumphant smile.

“You should melt the ice,” I told Jax.

“Got it,” he said, and simply touched the ground, making the ice melt into water, then evaporate altogether.

“Ready?” he asked at the doorway.

“I gotta do something first,” I answered, giving Mr. Moore a hard kick in the gut.

“Now I’m ready,” I told him, walking out the door.

I could almost see Khione smiling in my head with pride.

“Badass,” he poked me in the side.

I just rolled my eyes and tried to hide the smile that was threatening to break out across my face.

“Whatever. Let’s just go tell our friends it’s safe to come out,” I pushed him, “I can hear the police outside.”

His smile just seemed to grow bigger, and he broke into a run. I couldn’t help it, I ran, too. It was the sense of victory that made us so impatient. We wanted to see our friends again. We didn’t exactly leave them on a happy note.

Once we reached our broom closet, we immediately knocked on the door.

“Guys! It’s safe to come out! Let’s go!” I told them with a huge smile.

The door opened barely a second later, our friends on the other side with relieved faces. We were bombarded with a giant group hug. Some people were crying, others were laughing in relief. They should really start getting used to us going into life-threatening situations if they want us to become superheroes for real.

“The police are outside. Let’s go,” Jax said, leading us towards the exit.

On our way there, we knocked on doors and said it was safe to come out. In the back of my mind, I was tempted to just let the people who had called me a freak be scared for their lives for a little longer, but I decided against it. It was my inner-Khione. Now was not the time to listen to her!

It took a while for people to start filing out of the rooms. Everyone was still moving slowly, as if waiting for someone to pop out and shoot them. That meant that our group was the first ones to come out of the school.

Every cop out there raised their guns as we bursted out the doors. When they realized it was just us, they ran up to us and started escorting us to a medical team.

“We’re fine, really,” I kept assuring the medics, but they insisted on checking us over.

In the end, they let us go once other students started coming out of the school. Someone led us over to a taped-off area where a bunch of parents were waiting with nervous expressions. Even out parents were there, looking worried. Their faces as they saw us made me actually laugh. Jax and I broke into a run and ran into their arms. Our friends did the same things with their parents.

“Oh, I was so worried. Your text was so vague! Never scare us like that again!” mom told us, pulling us under a tree, away from prying ears.

“I know mom, and we’re sorry. We managed to beat Mr. Moore and his guys, easy. Barely even had to use our powers,” I assured her as she switched between Jax and I, giving us an endless amount kisses.

“I love you guys so much,” dad said pulling us all in the hug.

Instead of pulling away like I normally would, I melted into it. This was what I needed right now. My adrenaline rush was gone, and I wanted to be comforted by my parents. Even though we had put on a confident mask before, we were actually terrified.

But we had been trained to keep our emotions in check in a crisis. That was exactly what we did. Now we could break down.

Even though I was excepting comfort, I refused to cry about this. I wouldn’t give Jonathan that kind of power of me. He would be locked away for a long time, and he would never dare come after us again.

“Excuse me. But would if be okay if we had a word with your son and daughter for a moment? It won’t be too long,” an officer came up to us.

Mom and dad shared a look and then mom answered him, “That would be fine.”

“Follow me, kids,” the cop told us.

We followed him in silence, already putting on the act of scared teenager who had just been through something traumatic. Little did the officer know, we had been through something much worse not 48 hours ago.

The officer led us to two other people that looked like detectives. They had normal clothes on, with just a badge and a side-arm to show that they were cops.

“This are Detectives Lynn and Taylor. They will be asking you a few questions,” the officer introduced us and left.

Now that I thought about it, the officer seemed to be nervous. A drop of sweat was forming on his forehead and he was fidgeting with his fingers a lot. Those were major red flags. What was her anxious about?

Before I could think on it more, Detective Lynn started, “You two are Blair and Jax Mikeals?”

That was another red flag. Why did they already know our names? Normally, when you are being debriefed, they ask your name first.

“Yeah,” Jax answered casually, acting like a normal teenager.

“We talked to a couple other students, and they said that the shooters were after you two. Is that true?” Detective Taylor asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied, “We were hidden in a broom closet far away from any noise. We didn’t hear anything besides the first gunshots.”

“Are you sure about that? Cuz’ we looked through the security footage in and around the office, and saw you two there. Care to explain?” he asked again.

He clearly saw me use my powers, but he didn’t want to just ask that outright. He wanted us to admit to being different. He had probably already called some sort of government facility that would dissect us and try and figure out our powers like Mr. Moore wanted to. We had also trained for this situation. We had to replace a way out of this, get home, pack up, and leave. Never come back, too. We would get new identities, in a new town, in a new state. Maybe even a new country.

All of this flew through my mind in a few seconds, while my face stayed neutral, giving nothing away. The only thing I did was glance at Jax, making sure he was thinking the same thing as me: play the ignorant child card.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Jax and I were with our friends the whole time in the broom closet!” I let my eyes well up with crocodile tears, then let one drop slowly down my face.

It look a LOT of training to get that SIMPLE tear trick down.

“Are you sure about that? We have footage of you doing something pretty strange, Ms. Mikeals,” Detective Lynn said.

“Yes, she’s sure! Can’t you see she’s distraught? My sister has a past of mental health issues, so this was very hard for her. Can we leave now please?” Jax asked, coming and putting an arm around me.

I caught on to what he was doing, so I put my head into his side, hiding my face. I made little sobs. If this wasn’t a serious situation, I would be having so much fun right now. Jax played an excellent overprotective brother! Probably because he IS an overprotective brother.

“Yes, you can leave. Just, don’t leave town. We might have some follow-up questions for you,” answered Detective Taylor.

That was code for don’t leave town because we want to capture you and put you in a top secret lab somewhere.

Some might think we were overreacting, but trust us, we’re not. My godfather, Elastic Man, had to completely fall off the grid when I was five because someone found out about his powers and called the authorities.

Let’s just say that most police departments think of superheroes as vigilantes, so they would arrest us and call someone from the government to take us away. That’s one of the reasons our parents train us so hard, not to prepare us to become heroes, but to protect ourselves from the people we are protecting. It can be aggravating, but we push through it with the whole hero mantra: Save those who can’t save themselves.

We tried to walk away normally, but it was hard. We ended up speed-walking back to our parents. They looks on our faces must of told them everything because they immediately met us and we walked away towards the parking lot.

“Jax, drive Blair home in the car you took here. Dad and I’ll take our car home. Hurry, and I love you,” mom said, giving us each a kiss on the cheek.

“Let’s go,” Jax pulled my arm quickly to the car.

This trip, he didn’t even bother to ride the limit, he blatantly ignored it. We go home in two minutes flat. Our parents were there barely thirty second later. We all rushed to the garage, wear we kept our emergency evacuation supplies. There, we had a backpack filled with multiple countries’ currency, new passports, IDs, four phones, and a first-aid kit. There was also a case of water,–which Jax took to the car–four empty duffle bags, a new license plate, and explosives.

Mom left to put on the new license plates, and dad, Jax, and I started placing the explosives around the house. We had to blow up our house because people would come and replace our training area, with a butt-load of evidence added as bonus. Once that was done, we all took one duffel bag and raced upstairs to our rooms.

We only grabbed the essentials, plus some. I got three weeks worth of clothes, my toiletries, a book, some extra pairs of shoes, and my ex-power dampener. I had decided at sometime, I don’t know when, that the necklace would be something that I always had. It was proof of what I’d been through, who I was, and who I was eventually going to be. Plus, it was a gift.

I dropped my phone onto my bed and left it there. It could be used to trace us. The new phones we have were bought under our new identities’ names.

Once I was done packing, I gave my room one last look, and left. My parents were already downstairs grabbing a couple other things, like food, sleeping bags, pillows, and our super suites.

“Ready?” Dad asked.

“Yeah,” I said, “I just want to get as far away from this place as possible. ASAP.”

“Me, too, kiddo,” he said, giving me a hug.

Just then, Jax came down the stairs. He had the same look of determination I had seen earlier in the day. I guess he was trying to keep his face neutral, considering that he had heard every thought the detectives had. He probably knew exactly who they had called. If it was bad enough for this expression, then it was REALLY bad.

“What’s with all the mushy stuff? I thought we were badass Frost Bite!” Khione exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood.

She could tell that I was sad to leave this place. My entire life was here. My friends. Oh, god. MY FRIENDS!!! We needed to tell them we were leaving!

“Can I make a quick text?” I asked, already running up the stairs without a care for their answer.

I texted my friends goodbye:

Me: We’re leaving. Stay safe. Don’t look for us. I’m sorry, but you’ll never see us again. I love you guys. Jax does, too. Bye.

After that, I shut my phone off and left. My parents and Jax were already on their way out the door. The car had been left on through this whole mess. We were taking Jax and I’s care because it was the biggest.

I saw that mom had somehow found the time to fill a box with family pictures from around the house. She would say that it was for our new life at our new house, but I knew the truth: she just wanted to have pictures of us from this life. Try as she might to hide her sadness, her and dad had lived here for a long time. They had friends, too. Lives in Apple Valley. This was hard on all of us.

Jax and I took the backseat and our parents took the front. Dad was driving while mom was figuring out all our new information. We had had drills for this situation before. This was all planned out.

She started telling us about our new identities, even though we knew pretty much everything she was telling us, “We are the Maxwells. Blair is Brooklyn, Jax is Jack, I am Emma, and dad is Scott. We just move from Gordinsville, Virginia to Mt. Mas, California. Dad and I will keep our hair color, but change the style. Jax will crop his short, and Blair will have to cut her hair into a wavy medium bob. We can pretty much dress the same, though you can change your style if it makes you feel any better. Try and act normal, tell no one our secret, and no using our powers. At all. At least until we are fully comfortable in our new home. It has the same training room as the one before, just to let you know. And I think that’s it. Any other details you will have to make up and tell us later, ok?”

“Why can’t we just use our hair in power mode? I don’t mind cutting it, but we would look SO badass with a new white hair color. Also! We can be, like, a little emo and wear my glam makeup with a beanie! Oh, I love this whole new identity thing!” Khione suggested.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t totally revolted by her ideas. It would work. This way, nobody messed with me. Jax and be the little goody two-shoes jock, and I can be the badass, scary twin sister. I don’t care that our parents said to make friends, Jax and handle that part. I don’t need new friends. Nobody could replace Lucas, Cole, Lux, Lucy, and Caitlin.

As we were driving away, dad pressed a button on a remote that controlled the explosives. I heard a boom behind us, but I didn’t look. If I did, I was afraid I would start crying.

My life is literally going up in flames.

Well, I didn’t expect this to be so long. I’m impressed with myself, are you? I just started, and then I couldn’t stop. I could’ve kept going, but that last line was too good. I just HAD to end there.

Anyway, be looking out for that EPILOGUE coming your way! For now, enjoy this nice, long chapter.

Add to your library. Comment. The usual.

- your author