LIZ DOWLER - ATHENS, OHIO

Liz pulled into her grandfather's driveway. She walked in the door and saw her grandfather sitting in his usual blue recliner. He was reading the newspaper. He looked over the top of the paper as she walked in.

"I knew you'd come by." He said.

"How so?" Liz asked.

He tapped the side of his head. "Call it grandfather's intuition."

Liz gave him an unconvincing look.

"I also know why you're here. You're here because you've discovered something about yourself."

"You could say that."

"Your abilities have begun to manifest and I'll help you control them."

Liz's eyes widened.

BLAINE STORK - KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA

Blaine pulled into his mother's driveway. He was driving past to go to home to his father's house but saw that his mom was home and saw that her car was there. He got out of the car with a perplexed look on his face.

"It's unusual for her to be home at this time of day. Usually she's at work." Blaine thought to himself.

He walked in the door and saw the house was a wreck. Things were scattered all over the place. His confused looked became a look of worry. He stepped around the things on the floor.

"Mom?" He called.

There was no answer. He walked deeper into the house. He looked into the bathroom and he stood there in complete shock. His mother's dog stood there ready to leap, but it was frozen. Blaine backed up into the door to his mother's bedroom. He stumbled and fell back. He looked up and saw his mother hanging upside down, with the top of her head and brain removed.

DUSTIN ZOFCHAK AND ALEX MERRIELL - ATHENS, OHIO

Dustin and Alex sat in the cafeteria, eating and talking.

"What are your plans for this weekend?" Dustin asked.

"I'm headed to New York."

"That's sudden."

Alex pulled out a notebook and opened it. Inside was the 13th issue of 9th Wonders. As he was flipping through the comic, Dustin noticed a design sketched on Alex's notebook. It was S shaped with three small lines extending from its sides. Two of the lines were next to each other on one side and the other was on the other side. Alex put the comic in front of Dustin and pointed to a picture inside the back cover.

"I'm going to see family but while I'm there I'm going to try and see if I can meet Isaac Mendez. He's the author of 9th Wonders. What about you?"

"I might try and see if I can help coach 3rd and 4th grade football."

"And you say it's sudden for me to go to New York." Alex said with a smile.

"Well, it's too late in the season for me to join the football team so I figure I'll help coach youth football."

"Fair enough."

At that moment Dustin saw someone approach him out of the corner of his eye. He looked over to see a dark haired, slender girl in a black mini skirt, knee high boots and a blue button up shirt standing there looking at him.

"What's up, Miranda?" Dustin asked.

"Are you going to the little kids' football practice later tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Is Mr. I'm so great, I don't have to show up for my date or even call going to be there?"

"Yeah, you know he's just going by Ryan now." Dustin replied.

"Well, you can tell him that I don't care and that I didn't even mention it and that…I didn't even see you. And that's just fine."

"So, what do I tell him?"

"Nothing. Man, get with the program." Miranda said as she turned and walked away.

The bell rang and Dustin and Alex got up from their table.

"What was that all about?" Alex asked.

"Ryan from History class also coaches youth football and I guess he stood her up or something."

"Ah."

TONIA FIORE - ODESSA, TEXAS

Tone stood next to a few of her friends near a bonfire. She could hear Jackie Wilcox brag about her rescuing a guy from the train wreck. A wreck that was caused by a pair of twins. Tone thought back to her encounter. She hoped that she wouldn't see them again but she knew it will happen sooner or later because they failed to kill her. One thing that she couldn't comprehend was that they were from Ohio and they knew about her and her abilities. She was deep in her thoughts and was brought out of them when she heard the loud popping sounds of the dummy mascot that was placed on the fire. Everybody began to cheer or make other sounds of enjoyment.

"I wonder who did that." Tone said.

"I think your answer is over there, Tone." One of her friends said pointing past the fire.

Tone looked over to see the quarterback Brody talking with Claire Bennett.

"Looks like Brody is trying to get with somebody else." Tone said.

"What do you mean by that?" Her friend asked.

"It's nothing. Forget it and enjoy your beer." She said turning away from Claire and Brody.

CHRIS MCGRATH – ENTERING CITY LIMITS OF GLASGOW, KENTUCKY

A dark haired 26 year old with a mustache, drove his 1999 black, Honda Civic through the small town of Glasgow. He was on his way home to South Carolina from his mother's house, which is in Bozeman, Montana. He had two weeks paid vacation and he wanted to spend some of it with his mother. He figured that he'd drive there instead of fly. Granted it wouldn't take as long to fly but he'd rather drive none the less.

He pulled into a gas station to fill up his car and to get a few things. He came out of the store and headed to his car. He looked up and saw a pair of twins standing next to it.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

The two people turned around and stared at him.

"You're Chris McGrath. We didn't expect to find you here."

"What the hell do you want?"

"You dead." One of them said.

One of the twins appeared next to Chris and swung at him. Chris ducked and leapt out of attack range.

"Try this." Chris said as snapped his fingers in front of his face.

The snap caused a spark and Chris blew into it. The spark ignited and a fireball flew at the twins. The two of them barely avoided the fireball.

"This guy is already troublesome." One of them said.

"Our targets have been giving us trouble lately."

The twins fired energy balls at Chris who in turn fired more fireballs at them. Chris shot fire straight from his hand at one of the twins. He leapt out of the way but the Chris's attack struck a fuel pump. The pump exploded. Chris used the explosion as a chance to get away. He jumped in his car and sped off. The twins meanwhile, were on the other side of the explosion.

"That's two of them now. Father is not going to like this."

The two of them leapt into the air and flew off.

NICK MATHIAS - LINCOLN, NEBRASKA

Nick walked into his garage tying back his lengthy blonde hair. He popped the hood of his maroon colored 1990 Ford Mustang. He scanned the engine with his eyes and decided it was time to get busy. He patted his pockets and looked on the ground around the car but couldn't find what he was looking for.

"Where is that damn socket wrench?" He said to himself.

He looked up and saw that it was lying on his toolbox that was on the other side of his garage. He outstretched his arm and opened his hand. The wrench slowly slid off the toolbox and flew towards him. He grabbed it from the air and began to work on his car.

LIZ DOWLER – ATHENS, OHIO

Liz sat with her grandfather in her grandfather's basement. Her grandfather held an old looking book.

"You have a lot of these simple ones down. Those are the ones that will help you out when you're a hero. There are bigger and more powerful ones but those ones are like double edged swords. They will eliminate your opponent but can also harm you and your allies as well."

"Like what?"

"Well, take the Dragon Slave spell for instance. This will decimate half if not more of the city of Athens."

"How can I learn it?"

"You don't."

DUSTIN ZOFCHAK AND ALEX MERRIELL – ATHENS, OHIO

Dustin pulled into Alex's driveway, dropping off Alex.

"That football game was a bust." Dustin said.

"That's Athens football for you."

"Well, have fun in New York and I'll see you when you get back."

"Later, broham."

Alex shut the door and walked towards his house. Dustin pulled out and drove off. Alex stepped onto his porch and slightly slipped. He caught himself on the door. He turned around to see that some water was on the porch.

"That could be dangerous." He said as he extended his index and middle fingers. Some dirt from the ground came up and covered the small puddle.

"That's better. We don't need someone falling and breaking their neck." Alex said.

As Dustin was driving he rotated his hand with his palm facing upward. A small blue energy ball formed in his hand. After a few seconds of forming the ball, it faded from existence.

"I better be careful doing something like that. If I was to lose control of it and it hit my car then my car will explode."

KIYO IZUMI – GLASGOW, KENTUCKY

Kiyo, a 24 year old, half Japanese, pulled up to a red light and waited for it to turn green. He was only a few miles away from his house. At that moment, a fire truck sped through the intersection with its lights on and sirens screaming. Kiyo watched the truck go by. He then pushed down on the gas and went after the truck. He followed it for about 5 or 10 minutes before it reached a gas station that was on fire.

"It looks like one of the pumps exploded."

Kiyo parked across the street and watched the firefighters battle the raging fire. He got out of his car and stood in front of it. He clapped his hands together and closed his eyes.

"Suiton." He said.

At that moment, water shot out of a fountain that was in the parking lot of a nearby hotel and crashed down on the fiery gas station. The firefighters were dumbfounded at what had happened. The fire was out and their job was done but they had nothing to do with the fire being put out. Kiyo got back into his car and drove home.