Martin had a wonderful dream. He and a beautiful young woman were flying over a starlit ocean, and as they were flying, he pulled her close to kiss her . . . his alarm clock went off and his eyes flew open. He was floating three feet above his bed. "Whoa!" He promptly fell face down. "Well, that's pretty cool . . ." His phone rang, and he barely made out Nigel's name. "Martin, what's up."
"I am! I woke up five feet above my bed and I can't get down." Martin's shoulder's slumped. So much for him having a unique ability too.
"Uh, maybe you should think about the bed . . . try to focus on lowering yourself?" He was busy trying to remember the face of the girl from his dream.
"Martin." Nigel's voice went a little chilly. "I. Am. Floating. Over. My. Bed. And. Alectra. Already. Suggested. That. I need someone to pull me down."
"Oh . . . would a loud noise help?"
"Loud noise? Aah!" There was a crashing sound soon after. "No . . . Alectra biting my leg did the trick." Nigel's voice was a little muffled at that. "I'm okay! Just fell out of bed!" Then his voice returned to normal volume. "Okay, Thanks Martin. See you at school . . . anything new happen?" Martin hesitated, he really wanted to say he had a unique power, but . . .
"No . . . I woke up floating above my bed too."
"Oh . . . maybe we should check on Eric . . ."
"I'll call him, see you at school."
"Did you get him?" Nigel walked up. "Is he okay?" Martin just pointed to their third musketeer.
"I think Eric's more on cloud nine." Martin noted, Eric had a goofy grin on his face.
"Hay Lin agreed to watch the meteor shower this friday!" Eric grinned. Much to their shock, he started floating, and they quickly kept him grounded. "Grandpa has even agreed to get the telescope up and running . . ."
"Can you keep your feet on the ground for a minute, lover boy?" Eric reluctantly nodded. "Now, Martin . . ."
"Hey Sugar cutie!" His attention was captured by Irma.
"Hey Martin." She waved. "See you this afternoon!" She kept going. This time Eric and Nigel kept him grounded.
"Okay, I think this confirms the fact that whenever we think about our girlfriends, we can fly." Nigel muttered.
"Good dream about Taranee?"
"Nothing you need to know about." Nigel blushed. Together, the three entered the school.
Martin spent the day wishing that he had a special power. Eric's ability to become a shadow and Nigel's telepathy were so cool . . . and he had absolutely nothing. He was distracted most of the day. Even during the afternoon radio session.
"Martin, is something wrong?" Irma blocked him from leaving.
"Oh, no . . . I just . . ." Martin shrugged.
"Martin, you can tell me almost anything, you know that right?" Irma blinked her large eyes at him. "I won't laugh."
"I'm nothing special." Martin sighed. "Can't play an instrument, can't get a girl, I haven't got a single talent that makes me defined in any way!"
"Oh." Irma blinked. "Well, can't say I completely understand, I've always been uniquely me." She grinned. "But then, it's what you do that defines you, and I've been boy crazy and bossy since I was little, friends with Hay Lin for even longer, and chased by you for quite some time." She hesitated, her smile fading. "But then again, I've been lonely too." Martin made to say something but she held up her hand. "Being unique and standing out in the crowd, that's fine, but sometimes, being the only one of your kind is utterly lonely. It's more important to have friends that appreciate you, and will have your back, than to be superman and take on the world every day." Irma gave a weak smile. "So it doesn't matter if you're good at guitar or a superhero, all that matters is that you try your best at everything you do."
"Wow . . . that's deep . . ." Martin blinked.
"What, I can't be deep at times?" Irma made an annoyed face.
"Er, no, that's not," Martin panicked a moment until she laughed.
"Well, that's fine. You get labeled a deep thinker, you get pestered by questions all the time." Irma smiled as she held the door.
"Thanks Irma, you're the best."
"I know." She winked. "Oh, and Martin . . . " He turned to look at her. "Sometimes Clark Kent is a lot more important than superman, even if no one realizes it." She waved as she vanished. Martin managed to trip and fall down the stairs, landing at Nigel and Eric's feet, a smile on his face.
"Oh, hey guys . . ." The goofy smile didn't leave his face.
"You know, I shudder to think what would ever happen if Irma kissed him." Nigel glanced at Eric.
"So do I . . ." The two helped him up. "Nothing with Taranee today?"
"Nope, she's helping out at the Silver Dragon, Hay Lin's Grandma-"
"Threw her back out. I heard." the three walked by the park. "Looks like Matt and Will are having a date." The lead guitar player was laying next to Will on a blanket, the two were cloud watching."Why does that give you a bad vibe?"
"I don't know." Nigel glanced away
"Alectra did say some people have more magic than others, and power attracts power . . ." Eric offered.
"I guess." Nigel shook his head as Matt tickled Will's nose with a leaf. The redhead playfully blew the leaf into his face.
Unknown to the three boys, Matt and Will were having a similar discussion.
"You really think something's wrong with Nigel?"
"It's just a feeling, Taranee said he was really short with her the other day. I might be making a big deal out of nothing, though." Matt smiled at his girlfriend. His mom had said that highschool couples rarely survived outside of the school, some didn't make it through college. But he got the feeling that after going through so much with Will, there was no way he could ever share so much with another. Lately he started to be able to tell whenever she was in trouble, and the other day, he'd known exactly what she was thinking.
It also seemed to go both ways, too.
"Well, we'll face whatever happens together." She then jumped as her cell phone started talking to her. Matt laughed at the face she made as she started to tell it off.
"So, we're gonna train tomorrow?" Eric looked at Nigel
"Yeah, abandon construction site should work . . ." Nigel shifted his bag. "Or we could go to the woods . . ."
In the dark world, the three boys were watched in a pool of a strange oil like liquid.
"So, these are the best champions they could find?" A skeleton with glowing red eyes stared down. The remains of flesh and muscle were barely holding it together. "Three young boys, who've barely learned their powers?" The cackling laugh was horrible and gasping, and some rats skittered away. "Oh, this will be easy . . . and I have just enough power . . . to get my claws on another source of unending power!!" The liquid rippled, and images flashed on it. "The heart of this world is near . . ."
Clearly, solitary confinement does something to peoples's heads . . . Any complaints? I don't have a beta reader, so sometimes I'll write and check over something that makes sense to me but fails to make sense to anyone else.