Chase walked out into the hallway with a deep frown on his face. His day had been going pretty well until the very last class: Physics.

"How did I get a B-minus?" squeaked Chase, repeatedly flipping through the recently completed Physics test. He had to see what went wrong. He had to! But it just didn't make sense: Chase is the smartest guy in the world. You know, having bionic abilities and such that makes that possible. And with an A average, this is beyond perturbing for Chase. And his GPA...what would happen to his beautiful, glorious GPA?

Bree found Chase moping around the hallway, staring way too hard at a test for him to be OK at all. Bree found him and plucked the test out his of shaking hands. She perused the semi-frequently marked papers with a bewildered expression. "Are you sure this is even your test, Chase?" asked Bree, raising an eyebrow while flipping through the test again. And again. And again...

Chase snatched the paper out of her hands. "Quit looking at it! It's bad enough I even laid my own eyes on it!" whined Chase, taking off his backpack to stuff the detestable stapled papers in it. Just when Leo happened to find them.

"Hey guys! Chase, why do you look so...depressed?" asked Leo, moving to sit next to Chase's slumped form.

"I'm not depressed. I just...am...very...miserable?" Chase sighed. Then, he got an idea. "Hey, Leo! You destroy practically everything you touch, right?" asked Chase, hopping up to scramble for the test inside his backpack. "Get rid of this test for me, would ya?" asked Chase, shoving the paper into Leo's steadier hands. "Bree, we'd better start running before something blows up. Or...something. You know how Leo is!" Chase grabbed Bree's arm, attempting to tug her out the double doors that were the front of the school.

"Chase, you're overreacting. Leo doesn't destroy everything he touches. Some..." Chase gave her a pointed look, "all right, most things just blow up in his face. When...he...touches them." Bree turned away from Chase, adjusting her stance to superspeed home. "Well, see you at home, Chase," she called over her shoulder, speeding away. A flurry of autumn leaves and the smell of burning rubber were left in her place.

Chase slumped again, plopping down on the nearest bench. Chase nearly jumped a mile when Leo came out of the school in a hurry. "Chase, I got rid of your test, but we've got a little problemo now!" Leo screamed. Chase had good reason to believe him, considering he could see and smell the heavy, dark smoke that poured out of Mission Creek High.

Chase rushed behind Leo, and what he saw...well, it actually wasn't that bad for Chase. Pretty simple; with a little bionic help, he could fix it. Bree was already home, which left one person...

"Adam!" yelled Chase, looking around, and ducking to stick the doors open with the door wedges. "Leo, are you OK? Are you still here?"

Leo peeked out of a nearby trashcan, the dirty top settling on top of his head. Like a helmet, Leo had been thinking when he'd jumped in there. "I'm fine, Chase! Where's Adam?" Leo asked, ducking down into the trashcan slightly.

"Right here. Who's barbecuing? I want some ribs!" said Adam, looking around for a non-existent grill. He looked at Leo and his trashcan. "Wow! Are we playing hide and seek too? The smoke is perfect!"

"Adam! I need you to rip off the top of that water fountain, fill it with water, and eliminate the source of the fire!" said Chase. "I'll use my thermal scanner to determine where that is, first. I'll tell you when, Adam. For now, just wait." Adam obediently shrugged and leaned against the lockers.

Chase put two fingers to his temple, tapped into his thermal scanner, and found the source of the fire to be...well, the center of the hallway. Where the school logo...used to be, thought Chase. "Adam, it's right there! The center!" Adam pushed himself off of the lockers, giving Chase a puzzled look. "You know, the place where Principle Perry jumped off of...and...pinned me," Chase said, shivering at the disgusting memory. It had certainly scarred him. Possibly for life.

Adam laughed out loud at the memory. Chase's tiny doll-like body was destined to be pinned by somebody other than me, he thought. "Hah, yeah, OK," grinned Adam, wandering over to the water fountain, ripping the top off with little effort, and waiting for the wayward stream of water to fill up the top. When it was full, he twirled around, and tossed the water onto the heart of the fire. It snuffed out like a matchstick would; quick, easy, and without any trouble. Just another mini-mission in the life of the Davenports.

Chase clapped Adam on the shoulder, gave him a large grin, and motioned for him to follow Chase home. Adam called for Leo, who instantaneously hopped out of the trashcan, and ran out of the school to catch up to Adam and Chase.


On the walk home, they realized that there had been something slightly wrong with the situation back there. They all knew that Leo avoided matches like a plague (due to a rather explosive accident). Adam wasn't stupid enough to try and set the school on fire. And Chase speaks for himself. Suddenly, Chase stopped walking.

"Leo, you didn't start that fire, did you?" asked Chase, folding his arms in a universally troubled manner. Adam stopped walking at this question, and slowly turned around to stare at Chase.

Leo shook his head. "Well, no. But it did help get rid of that test. You're welcome," said Leo, looking Chase dead in the eyes. "But I did see something. Like, a figure. When you guys were trying to put out the fire, there was this...thing hiding behind the smoke. I couldn't see its face. It was just...there. I could hear its voice in my head...it said, Soon, a curse will befall one of your precious siblings. You guys should really watch your backs; Janelle said this to me after one of our dates, and that week did not end pretty." Leo sighed, almost having a flashback to that date, almost mentally replaying the scarring ending.

Adam spoke up. "Well, if you can still use that whole mental telepathy thing you guys have, could you tell it to spare me? It can take Chase first, he's the smallest. He can buy Bree and I some time," teased Adam, moving to tower over Chase. Chase slapped him away. Adam made a face, and Chase slapped it off of him.

"Whatever, guys. Adam, we should go warn Bree before anything happens. And we should do what Leo said. Watch. Our. Backs," stated Chase, making sure Adam understood and would remember. "In fact, I think we should all stay very, very close to each other tonight, and keep an eye on anything suspicious happening to any one of us."

"Wait!" said Adam, eyes widening in panic, "Should we tell Davenport? Maybe he can do something! He is, after all, a witch!"

"For the last time, Adam, Davenport is not a witch. And there's no way he could ever help us with something like this. The supernatural is not his area," said Leo, shaking his head in insistence that they'd handle it themselves.

"Besides, we don't even know anyone who's a witch." Chase looked at Adam and Leo, searching for confirmation. "Good. We've agreed to just let the curse play out, and hope it doesn't mess with our bionics. Right, Adam?" he asked.

"Right. I guess there's nothing we can really do at this point. But...race each other home!" he said, getting a running start with his long, bionically-strong legs. Chase and Leo grinned and ran after him, as fast as their shorter legs could carry them.


Update on August 13th: Kudos to all of you lovelies who have kept your eyes peeled. Sorry about the long wait. I've been so busy; so many deadlines lately!