Before I start, I want to say something really super quick. I was rewatching the season finale (I already miss them, can season 2 already? :() and I noticed something odd.

Did anybody notice the parallels between the first and last episodes? In the first, Ryan was trying to get Mark back for pranking him by controlling the dump truck to spill on varsity. Harris was against it and Spyder said something along the lines of "He makes a good point, but hear me out: Do it." And then in the last episode, when (SPOILERS) Grace has the remote for the missile, Ryan and Seth try to talk to her. Seth has become Spyder in this situation, Ryan is Harris, and Grace is Ryan. Seth nearly quotes Spyder exactly: "He makes a very good point, but here's mine: Do it!"

I don't know, I just thought that was interesting. I tried to think of the symbolism behind that, but I couldn't come up with anything. I don't think there's anything there, but if you have an idea feel free to tell me! Please leave a review, I crave the feedback! :D


Reuben isn't in school the next day. Harris is the first to notice and Spyder teases that my secret admirer is missing. I roll my eyes at that. As the teacher begins writing problems on the board, I ask Spyder how his martial arts class was.

"Hard," he answers. "We had to exercise and junk. I can barely walk."

"Wow, I never imagined a fighting class would require effort," Harris says sarcastically. I snicker.

"It's a lot more hardcore than I was expecting, but I'm gonna be a master fighter, just you wait!"

"When are you gonna use karate in real life?"

"I wouldn't expect somebody who managed to knock himself out during a fight to understand."

Harris is getting frustrated. He purses his lips, "I'd never used that before. Besides, at least I tried. You used the bounce belt!"

"Okay, but I beat both of you," I interrupt, grinning at them.

"You don't count Mr. Technopath," Spyder argues.

"Yeah," Harris agrees. A girl in front of Spyder turns to us, mouth pressed in a thin line and eyes narrowed.

"What's a Technopath?" she questions. Harris, Spyder, and I exchange looks.

Harris explains, "A character in a computer game we play."
She scoffs. "Nerds. Be quiet!"

"Sheesh. Cool it, Angry Abby," Spyder snickers.

"My name is Samantha, you dweeb."

Spyder grins. "…Sassy Samantha?" Samantha's hand shoots in the air. Quickly, Spyder tries to stop her, "I'm sorry, don't tell on me, I really don't need a detention this week."

Just as Samantha is called upon, the class's intercom cuts them off.

"Mrs. Applegate?" the school secretary asks. The class answers in a mumbled unison. "I need Ryan Walker, he's leaving."

Everyone in the class turns to look at me. I frown and begin to gather my things.

"Where are you going?" Harris asks.

"Um… I dunno. I didn't know I was leaving today."

Spyder raises his eyebrows. "That's weird, dude."

"I know…"

"Don't get killed," Harris calls as I walk to the door.

"I'll try," I laugh.

To my surprise, Reuben is in the office. He beams when he sees me. I grab the door handle and start to walk back out into the hall, but he stops me.

"Wait! Why don't you like me?" he asks. I refrain from rolling my eyes and turn to him.

"I don't like people who I don't know but they know me. It's kinda suspicious, huh?"

"I… Well yeah, I guess…"

"Please don't tell me you're the reason I was called out of class."

"I'm part of the reason. The rest of it is in the principal's office. "

"Of course."

"What?"

"Nothing, let's go."

We walk next door to Principal Gray's old room. The school board has been interviewing people to replace her, but no one's hired yet. Everything is still in tact; nobody has touched it. I wonder what people think happened to her.

Sitting in the two chairs in front of the desk are a man and a woman. They are talking about the school and how nice the secretary had been. When the door shuts behind us, they turn around.

The woman stares. Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open. The man rises to his feet and turns toward me. He's wearing dark sunglasses and is carrying a metal rod. I rock on my heels, the attention becoming uncomfortable.

"Mom, dad," Reuben begins, standing between us, "this is Ryan."

I force a smile. "Yep, that's me… And I'd like to know who you all are before I do something I might regret."

"What makes you think we're the bad guys?" Reuben demands, crossing his arms over his chest.

"He sounds paranoid," the man explains. I narrowed my eyes. Who's he to decide how I'm feeling?

"Like father, like son," the woman adds, smiling at her husband.

I frown. My heart stops. As I try to speak, my mouth is dry. I stutter, "F-Father? Wait, are you saying that he's my d-dad?"

The woman steps forward. She grabs my shoulder and I don't flinch away like I thought I would. She smiles at me and something triggers in my brain. Familiarity warms my heart.

"I am Destiny Brown," she begins, her voice sweet like honey, "and this is my husband, Alec." Alec smiles warmly at me. Destiny continues, "We're your parents… Your birth parents."

The world seems to stop.

Words cannot describe how I feel in this moment. I stand there, paralyzed. The thoughts I try to form in my head don't make sense. The people in front of me look so real, but I can't bring myself to believe it. I can't bring myself to believe that I'm actually staring at my parents. My full blood parents who gave birth to me and held me in the hospital the first time and gave me a name and… And… How is this real? How is this happening?

"We've spoken to your mom," Alec says, "and she's given us permission to steal you away for the day. If it's all right with you, we'd like to get to know you."

"How do I know you're who you say you are?" I ask carefully.

"I figured you might ask. We have all the proof you need in the car," Alec explains. "And if you're really our son, you have the greatest defense here, so you have nothing to worry about."

He's talking about my powers, he must be. How do they know I have powers? I only just discovered them a few months ago. I narrow my eyes and look over each person. Even if they're who they say they are, I can't let my guard down. I won't make the same mistake twice.

"Okay," I say, meeting Destiny's eyes, "let's get going then."

•••••

If their plan is to kill me, they have a perfect opportunity. Destiny suggested we go to an outlet mall a few miles up the road in a town I've heard of, but never been to. My cell phone signal is wavering dangerously. Sometimes I'm connected and sometimes I'm not. I get a bit more anxious with every bar that disappears and reappears.

Reuben and I are sitting in the backseat, looking through a box of pictures and documents. There are photographs of me when I was six months old and others where I've just turned a year. As I look through it all, I can't help but think of how surreal this all is. I spent a year of my life with a different family and I didn't even know it, yet I've spent the majority of my life with a family I'm not even related to.

When did my life turn into a drama series?

"So how did you all find me?" I ask, neatly placing the objects back in the box. Destiny looks at me through the rearview mirror.

"Reuben actually tracked you down," she explains.

"Took a lot of research and time, but I did it," Reuben proudly claims. "I'm kind of a genius when it comes to computers."

Could he possibly be a Technopath, too?

"How is the family who adopted you? Are they nice people?" Alec questions.

"Oh yeah, they're amazing. My older brother Mark has an ego the size of California, but he's a good guy. He's your typical jock with the talent for sports and the popularity, but he's also insanely smart. He can fix anything."

"Anything?" Reuben challenges doubtfully.

I smile. "Anything."

"He sounds fascinating," Destiny smiles.

"Yeah. My mom is incredible, as you already know. You said you talked to her?"

The adults look at each other before Destiny turns back to me. "Yes, she was a very kind woman."

"What about your father?" Alec wonders. He chuckles, "I'm only asking to see what kind of competition I have."

"He's a good man, but I don't live with him. My parents divorced a few years ago and I only see him every other weekend."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Alec says.

"Don't be, I was a kid. Like I said, I still see him."

"Well," Destiny begins, pulling into the parking lot, "it looks like we're here! Now, we were in here earlier and I saw a pair of shoes I really wanted, but I'm sure you boys don't want to go shoe shopping. So, how about we meet at that cafe," she points to a building with a blue roof, "in about an hour for brunch?"

"Sounds good, mom," Reuben answers, smiling. "There's a store here where they let you try out the video games. You play?"

I scoff, a smile on my lips. "Not only do I play, but I'm amazing."

"I think you've been hanging around your brother too much." I laugh. Destiny parks the car right outside of the cafe and we climb out. Reuben and I get a head start as we continue talking about different games. I look over my shoulder at his–our?–parents. They're standing in one place, hands intertwined at their sides as they watch us walk away. They're smiling. I can't help but smile back.

The video game store is dead. I guess I should've expected it, seeing as we're probably the only teens out of school right now. Behind the counter is an older man, maybe thirty, flipping through a magazine. He glances at us when the doorbell rings, but doesn't make any attempt to greet us. Reuben pulls me to a flat screen on the wall and hands me a game controller.

"Hey, I have this at home," I realize, watching the game titles roll across the screen. "My mom's ex boyfriend created it."

"Your mom dated Seth Harper?" Reuben asks, his eyes wide and his voice ringing with shock.

"Yeah… It didn't end well."

"What happened?"

I chew on my lip. "They just had different… Opinions on a lot of stuff. I don't want to get into it."

"Right, I understand. So, how are you feeling so far? I mean, meeting your birth family must be insane. I can't even imagine it."

The game goes black for a moment before it reappears as a split screen. Our characters are in a dystopian setting and our goal is to get to the mothership.

"You're right, it's pretty insane. But it's also relieving, you know? I've been wanting to meet you guys for so long. I thought I was just meeting my parents but now I have a brother. By the way, which of us is older?"

Rueben sighs. "You beat me by one minute."

"No way, we're twins? I have a twin?"

"Yep, but not identical. I was hoping we could do the old switch-a-roo at school sometime."

I smile. "That would be cool, I've always wanted to do that."

"Me too!"

My character and Reuben's meet on the battlefield. He leads the way to the mothership, shooting down aliens left and right. I run close behind him, taking down any attackers he misses.

"Where have you guys been all this time?" I ask, slicing the head off a monster.

"On a farm in Idaho."

I glance at him. "That's your hideout?"

Reuben looks back at me. Slowly, he nods. "I wasn't sure how much you knew."

"I know Destiny and Alec went into hiding shortly after I, uh, we were born."

"Do you know who they were hiding from?" Reuben asks. At first I wonder if he's asking because he doesn't know, but his tone is wrong for that. He's asking as a matter of fact, like he's testing my knowledge.

"I do," I confirm, "and I know that he's gone now, so you guys can come out of hiding. Or, well, if you're still in hiding. I guess you wouldn't be here if you were though, huh?"

"Not necessarily." Reuben breaks down the door to the mothership. The music has stopped and everything is silent. I wonder what my character would feel if he were real. I wonder if his heart would be pounding right now, so loud that it's in his ears. I wonder if the gun would be trembling in his grasp as he creeps through the seemingly empty alien ship. Is he afraid of who he'll find? Does he believe he'll win? I know if I were in his shoes, I'd be petrified.

"We came here in secret. Our hotel is booked under a different name. Our car is a rental my dad picked up a few minutes from our house. They weren't on board at first, but I knew it was only a matter of time. They wanted to meet their son as much as I wanted to meet my brother."

I smile. "Now that we've met, what do you think? Am I what you were expecting?"

Reuben sighs loudly. "Well, you were a bit ruder than I was expecting."

"For good reason, I swear. I had to make sure you weren't trying to kill me."

"Why would I be trying to kill you?"

I glance behind him at the worker, who is still flipping through his magazine. Quietly, I explain, "The man who drove you guys into hiding is the same man who tried to kill me a few months ago. Alec's right, I'm paranoid."

"But at least you took care of him, right? He's gone."

"Right."

We reach the heart of the mothership. As more aliens begin to storm the place, I rush to the captain's chair. However, Reuben beats me to it. He takes control of the ship, leaving me to fight the aliens.

"Hey!" I cry in protest.

Reuben snickers. "Gotta be faster than that, bro."

When we're safely from the planet, the demo ends and the screen reverts back to the main menu. Reuben sighs, "Bummer, I was really getting into that."

"Game's over, boys. Now, either buy something or leave," the store clerk snaps, startling us. We turn to him as he's walking around the counter. "I can't let my boss see a couple of hood rats using the merchandise with intentions of not buying anything."

Reuben looks over at me. "Hood rats?"

"We were just trying the game out, sir. No need to get so defensive," I state calmly.

"Well now that you've tried it, you gonna buy it? Cause if not, scram!"

Reuben narrows his eyes. "Whatever happened to keeping the customer happy?"

The man smiles bitterly. "A customer is an adult with money. You're a child still going through puberty. In fact, you're lucky I don't call the police for truancy!"

I grab Reuben's arm. "C'mon, let's just go." As we turn to leave, Reuben stops. I look back at him just as his eyes flash a bright shade of blue. The game machine begins to smoke and the TV cuts out. I jump away as sparks shoot out of the outlet behind the system.

"Yeah," Reuben agrees, "let's go. This stuff's broken, anyways."

I drag him outside and three doors down. When we're far enough away, I turn to him. "You're a Technopath?!" I ask, eyes wide.

His eyes widen, too. "Are you not a Technopath? Oh man, uh, y-you didn't see what you thought you did, um-"

"If I wasn't a Technopath, how would I know the word?"

"Uh, well, um… Good point."

"I can't believe there's another Technopath! I thought I was the only one."

He shrugs. "I always assumed that you were just like me since we're twins and all."

I can hear an angered shout in the distance from the shop we just fled from. The boss must've shown up and seen the damage. Guilt burns in my stomach as I look back at Reuben.

"Why'd you destroy the TV and stuff back there? That guy's probably going to get fired."

"You heard how he was treating us! He deserved it."

"I don't think he did but… Your intentions were good, I guess."

Reuben rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. I, um, I don't usually use my powers for that kinda stuff."

"What do you use them for?"

"Harmless stuff. Changing my grades, reseting the school clocks so class ends ten minutes earlier than normal, things like that. What do you do?"

Fight monsters and save the world. "Um just… Unblock TV shows and prank my brother." I smile to try and hide my lie. Well, I guess it's not necessarily a lie, but it's not the whole truth.

"We should probably start heading back, I'm getting hungry."

"Right… Hey, um, is your dad's-"

"Our dad," he corrects."

"Yeah, is our dad's eyes, um, I mean, is he-"

"He's blind, if that's what you're wondering."

"How'd he lose his sight?"

Reuben sighs. "They never told me, but I know it happened when they were on the run just after we were born. Mom has scars she's scared to talk about, too."

I clench my fists. "But they're safe now. You all are."

He smiles. "Maybe now we can really start to be a family!"

"Sure, bro. That sounds like a plan."