Paint the town,
Take a bow,
Thank everybody,
You're going to do it again
You are the few,
The proud,
You are the antibody
Mind, soul, and zen
And the world's a stage
And the world's a faze
And the end is near
So push rewind just in time
Thank anybody
You're gonna do it again
The way that you walk
It's just the way that you talk
Like it ain't no thing
And every single day is just a fling
Then the morning comes
Take your knocks,
Shake them off,
Duck everybody,
You're gonna take them again.
You
are you foe And the world's a craze So push rewind The way the
you walk
Your friend
You are the paparazzi
You are the
tragedian
And the world's a
faze
And the end is near
Just in
time
Thank anybody
You're gonna do it again
It's just the way that you talk
Like it ain't no
thing
And every single day is just a fling
And when it comes it
moves so slow
Kinda like it's saying I told you so
Looking back
before she goes
Tomorrow's
gonna hurt
I woke up some time later in a white room. I smelled disinfectant and plastic. My head was swimming as I sat up and looked around. I rubbed my eyes and saw a nurse look me over. She sounded really worried, but she wasn't talking about me. It was about another boy who she was blocking with her body.
I yawned and she turned towards me. "You shouldn't be sitting up," the nurse chided. "You were just so weak when you came in here that it's surprising you're awake now. It's only been four hours." Four hours, that meant school was out and I had to go to detention. I was late for detention, hooray. I wondered if I could get a pass out of it for today when Mrs. Powers walked in. The nurse rushed over to her and started telling her what was going on in a whisper.
I looked over the boy she was worried about and saw cold sweat forming at the top of his forehead. I remembered my first-aid training from my dad and looked for signs. There weren't any open cuts anywhere on his body from what I could see so it wasn't an infection. He was burning up, but it couldn't be the flu. His power was to turn to stone. That meant it would kill any sign of a virus, right?
Mrs. Powers moved in front of my view and hid the boy from me. "Are you alright, Ms. Thomason? You gave us quite a scare." How was I supposed to answer? I just nodded, not sure what else I could do.
"Mrs. Powers, would you lead Crystal to the buses," the nurse asked. She was still busy with the boy. I sensed his power disappear suddenly before returning. It was very odd, but I wasn't able to look into it. Mrs. Powers led me out of the room and to the buses. She made sure I didn't go anywhere else, damn it.
I got on some waiting buses and found a seat around the middle. I was flown home and dropped off at my bus stop. Sam was waiting for me with a worried look on her face. She hugged me tightly before leading me home. Normally, I would pull away from her and try to make it on my own, but I was too tired. Thank the gods that it was Friday!
Sam was talking, but I wasn't caring. I didn't listen and walked upstairs. I fell down onto my bed and fell asleep almost instantly. It was really nice, being left alone for so long without anyone to wake me up in the morning. I still woke up early, but it felt nice to get enough sleep for once.
I woke up before the sun had risen and yawned. My backpack was leaning against the wall next to my door and I wondered how many times they checked on me. Why was Sam worried about me in the first place? She never cares about me unless it has to do with her. She probably just wanted to get me to go with her to some place she couldn't go alone. It's happened a lot of times before.
I woke before everyone else and checked the calendar that hung on the fridge. It was my turn to make breakfast. It was a tradition that we had, to take turns making breakfast every Saturday. I looked through the cupboards and found some muffin mix. I pulled it out and looked for the recipe book. I found the page on how to make omelets and started cooking.
I was up before Dad so I had to make for him. I made two omelets and ate one before anyone else woke. I checked the time on the clock and it flashed 1:34. Crap, power outage. I knew it was later than that. I went back upstairs and found my watch. I didn't wear it because it was too small, but it still had the time. It glowed a 6:32 before becoming dim again. Was I that early?
I went back downstairs and turned the television on quietly. I got bored and turned it off. What am I going to do at six in the morning and stay quiet? I could read, write, draw, or BORED. God, I was too bored to think about what I didn't want to do. I closed my eyes and fell asleep on the couch.
I woke sometime later when Dad walked downstairs. He looked at me curiously and I showed my bored, expressionless face. He laughed a little and looked at the table in surprise. "You made omelets? But it's only Thursday," he commented.
Wait, shit, it was Thursday! Shit, I still had homework to do! I ran upstairs and grabbed my backpack. I pulled out my homework and hurried through most of it. I finished it all and checked my watched. It was 7:30, almost time to go. That's when I remembered Sam wasn't up yet. Whoops, I better go wake her up.
I snuck into her room quietly and shook her gently. She looked up at me groggily and I showed her the lighted watch. Her eyes narrowed at me. "And you couldn't have woken me up sooner?" She muttered darkly. She got up and I left the room. I grabbed my backpack and went outside to hold the bus for her.
It was one of those days where something inside you told you to stay at home and be safe, but I couldn't. The law says we have to get an education, unfortunately. The bus pulled up and Sam ran up to it just in time. I took a seat in the middle and noticed some of the kids were missing. They were probably still asleep from the power outage. I got to have a seat all to myself for the entire bus ride. Somehow, jumping off a bridge didn't seem all that great with an omelet in me and I had to force it back down. It tasted a lot better when it went down the first time.
We landed and I forced myself to stand. I got off the bus without problems and walked over to the steps. I noticed a boy who looked really sick push past me and run inside. I really didn't want to know where he went, but I could guess the bathroom. I got to my class before the bell and drew pictures in my notebook. I wasn't that great an artist so most of them looked odd, but at least they looked like the thing they were supposed to. I might pass as a Picasso incarnate if I tried really hard. I didn't want to though.
Class passed as regular, but I still noticed two or three more open desks up front. The teacher left me alone and I got out of answering her stupid questions on dates. I paid attention long enough to realize that the conversation was going south. That's a metaphor if you don't get it. In other words, it was all question and answer. There wasn't any back talk or kids whispering or anything. What's got into these kids, the Learning Bug?
Whatever, I didn't care. The bell rang and I went outside. I climbed onto the roof of the school and enjoyed the peace while I read my Thomas Covenant book. It was really good and I didn't pull away until the bell rang. Then I had to quickly jump down and make it to class. We did some more speed changing, but not for very long. I only went around like five times. Hey, it beats fifty. We played a game called Lava. That's when I learned that the gym floor could hold lava on it. Not very many kids wanted to play after hearing the rules.
1. We couldn't touch the lava no matter what. I'd like to add a big, fat duh to the end of that. 2. We had to get to the other side of the gym before all of the platforms were gone. 3. The platforms could only hold a certain amount of people, but that amount was uncertain. He said they could all hold at least two so that helped. Not really, but he tried.
I quickly jumped from platform to platform right away and made it across easily. I wondered what the big deal was when I saw some other kids trying and failing to make the jumps I had. I jumped back and helped a kid up before he fell. He made it across and I jumped a few more back. An especially small one was hard to jump to and I caught the kids as they jumped for it. We all made a single file line of kids trying to get across. It was actually pretty fun once you get used to the heat coming off of the lava.
I helped the last kid cross the platform and jumped to the end. The teacher clapped his hands enthusiastically, but we didn't understand why. It's not like it was that much of a challenge. We had made it without anyone falling in so maybe that was something to cheer for. Hooray, we didn't get killed! Wow, never thought I'd say that.
The bell rang and it was time to start Save the Citizen. I took a seat in the back, farthest from view. There was no way I was going to pass out again and miss that much notes, again. I still needed to get them from somebody and I silently cursed myself for not doing that during my free period.
"Derrick Donnor and Jeffery Johnson," Coach Boomer shouted. The two boys, nervously, made their way to the floor. One of the girls blew Derrick a kiss and blushed. Yuck, young love. The two boys picked a girl and a boy to be the villains. Derrick could teleport and Jeff could… What the heck? I couldn't see what Jeff could do. I looked at the villains and tried to see their power, but I couldn't. Talk about power outage! It's not like I needed it anyway, but what happened?
I looked through all the kids in the crowd, but I couldn't see any of their powers. It bugged me and I wondered why. I couldn't tell why and just figured it was some sort of fatigue to my powers sensing so many or something. I shrugged and heard my name called. What?
Coach Boomer yelled out my name again. I stood and made my way to the floor. Everyone was staring at me like I was purple or something. It was weird, but I didn't know what to do. I wondered who my teammate was and saw a brunette shaking by the wall. She seemed truly nervous and I didn't even know what to do.
It turned out the boy and girl had won, which meant I should have been paying attention to their powers. I shrugged and got as much information on the two before the alarm sounded. My teammate seemed extremely nervous around me. I gave her my best "don't worry" smile and focused on the fight.
I had no idea what to do as the alarm sounded. I went to the defensive until I knew more about my opponents, not gaining much from before the alarm, and focused on avoiding their attacks. The boy started throwing daggers at me that came out of nowhere and the girl was lifting my teammate off the ground. My teammate was grabbing her head in pain. Shit, she's getting hurt.
I dodged another dagger and grabbed it. I ran straight at the girl and she dropped my teammate. I got under her just in time and set her down. She was shaking all over and that was worrying me. I focused back to the girl and started to charge at her. She yelped and jumped out of the way. I jumped onto the wooden doll and cut it loose with the dagger. I swung it just in time to avoid being destroyed. The alarm sounded and the game was over. My teammate was shaking violently and I helped her up. She used me as I crutch to get to the nurse's office and I used her as an excuse to avoid an exhausting exercise.
I helped her onto one of the bed's and noticed they were filling up fast with kids who obviously had fevers, but no other signs. I still couldn't see their powers, but it didn't matter. There were five kids on the beds who had fevers. Two of them were shaking violently like my teammate. I turned towards her and felt her forehead. She was burning up.
The nurse suddenly came in and ushered me out of the room quickly. I waved goodbye and went back to Save the Citizen. I didn't have to go down to play after that first game thankfully, but a team of a girl and a boy were doing so well I wanted to take them on. The girl was shooting ice to freeze the people and if the heroes somehow managed to avoid that, the boy would send a mini-bomb at them which blasted them against the wall. They were villains of course, so it tempted me so much more.
They called up Will and Warren. This should be good. The alarm sounded and Warren threw fire at the ice princess right away. They battled with opposite elements as Will made his way to the doll. The boy sent a mini-bomb at Warren which blasted him back and Icy froze him to the wall. He melted right away, but he couldn't strike her. The alarm sounded and Will held up the doll.
The girl yelled at the boy as Will and Warren chose new opponents. The girl must've been the one telling him what to do. She was extremely upset because they lost and took all of it out on the boy. He was nearly in tears as he sat down in the bleachers on the other side of me. The girl stuck up her nose at him and walked to the other side of the room. That only made the boy more upset. I wanted to scream at her for making some boy feel smaller than her, but I resisted and instead left the gym.
I felt like venting my anger somewhere and made my way to the roof. I climbed up and started kicking the air. I hated when people did that to others. It's not like it was their fault! I punched the air in front of my face and then backflipped. I changed into a trip move where you swing your leg under their feet. I changed that into a handstand where I opened my legs and swung around, kicking all of my imaginary opponents back.
"Wow, you're good," a boy complimented and walked over. I just nodded, having left my notebook in my backpack. His black hair bounced with his step. He shifted into a fighting position and smiled. "Mind trying to take me on?"
I nodded, thinking this would be fast. I took a fake punch to a kick. He grabbed my leg and held it there. Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as I thought, but I was too pissed off to lose. I broke free from his grasp and he took a step forward. He made a punch at me and I blocked it. I tried to knee him, but he grabbed under it and lifted. I flipped and landed on my feet. I didn't waste any time and jumped up. He took a step out from under me, but I had expected that. I did a slight helicopter with my legs and shifted my weight so I would fall head first. I grabbed his shoulders and as I landed, I used the momentum to lift him. He flew over me and landed behind me. He made a punch to the back of my head, but I knew it was coming. I ducked under it and grabbed it. I used my body weight to lift him back over me and land in front of me. He hit the cement roof hard.
"Very nice!" The boy complimented. "That's the first time I had ever been knocked down in three years. Who's your teacher?" I thought about my dad, but I couldn't say anything. "So your dad taught you, how interesting."
So he was a mind reader. I wonder if he tried to use his powers during the fight. Even if he did, I don't think about what I do, I just do it. It was second nature to me and it was actually easier to count on impulse rather than wasting the time to think it through, in my opinion.
The bell rang under us and he frowned. "I'm Ben, Ben Freedman. Don't worry Crystal, I know your name. I'll see you later," he called as he jumped down from the building and went inside for lunch. I followed him, thinking about how he moved during the fight. He didn't really strike me that much. Was he testing me? He was good, I'll give him that much, but the fact that he only struck me when he thought I was completely open worried me. I wanted a rematch. That way I can see if he was just being defensive or actually testing me.
I grabbed a tray and a few assorted foods. Most of them looked like they could get up and walk away so I stuck with the fruit, but I decided to grab some of the macaroni and cheese they were serving as well. It looked edible and macaroni was my favorite.
I sat down next to Zach and ate. I listened to his conversation about his old school where the meat once was made of rubber. Thankfully, it was only once though, but the principle had to go over the intercom, according to him, and order the meats to be thrown away. Some of the other kids dared him to eat the entire thing. He did, but it was the most disgusting thing he had ever tasted. I can see why. He ate rubber soaked in steak sauce. 'Gee, I wonder,' I rolled my eyes and finished eating. I put my tray away and left for the nurse's office to check up on my ex-teammate.
I knocked on the door and held up my notebook asking if a brunette girl who was shaking earlier was better. The nurse shook her head and wouldn't let me in. I gave up and walked away. It's no use trying to get in when people don't want you there. I grabbed my backpack and threw some books in it.
I made my way to my next class with the weird teacher who was going bald. I got bored waiting for him to come and explored some of the lower levels of the school until the bell rang. I found one class that looked like chemistry, but I knew it wouldn't be. Everything in this school was different than it looked.
The bell rang and I went back upstairs. My class was called 'Hero Support' because the teacher didn't like the term sidekick. Whatever, I decided I should go solo, that way I don't have to deal with a hero supporter. I shouldn't even be in this class. I was good enough to become a hero! I had taken out plenty of heroes and I'm just a sidekick. Life's unfair!
"Today, we will begin practicing on searching. Come with me to the gym," Mr. Boy commanded. Some of the students cheered while others groaned. I'm guessing it was about twenty-five percent happiness, about twenty percent unhappiness, and fifty percent don't care. The rest just weren't paying attention.
We went to the gym where Mr. Boy had hid a bomb. If we didn't diffuse it, we would all get an F and have to fix the damages. I wrote down in my notebook, "Who has what super power?"
One of the boys had super hearing and another was like a metal detector. Another girl said she could sense electricity. They all went to work right away in the gym. I looked at Mr. Boy who was walking up the bleachers. He must not want to get hurt, jerk. I turned back to the girl who squeaked.
"I think I feel it!" The girl exclaimed. The two other boys ran over.
"I hear it!" The first boy exclaimed. "But how do we get it out?"
"I can help," said a girl with nails as sharp as scalpels. She cut a circle in the floor around the bomb and pulled the floor out.
"How do we diffuse it?" another girl asked.
"Cut the blue wire," one of the boys suggested.
"No way, cut the red wire!" another boy exclaimed.
"Hey brainiacs, they're all gray," a girl frowned. She bent down close to the wires and looked at where they went. I thought it was pretty easy once I figured out what she was doing. She found the wire that led to the bomb's timer and grabbed the wire gently. "Cut this one."
"Are you sure?" the girl with the fingernails asked. The second girl nodded and the first girl flinched as she broke through the wire. Nothing happened. Every student present waited for something to happen, but it never did. One of them started cheering and soon almost the whole class was cheering. I looked closer at the bomb and pried open the case. It was just an empty box other than the batteries that went to the clock. Had Mr. Boy given us a decoy? No, he was clapping as well and came down to join the students.
Either he was stupid, or I was losing my mind because I heard a slight ticking. I walked closer to the wall and ignored the other students' cheers. The ticking was coming from inside the wall. I took a step back and turned back to Mr. Boy. The bomb went off as I was turning and I was blasted back against the floor on my back on the other side of the gym. Everyone was staring at the gaping hole in the wall as I grabbed my back. Pain seemed to like hurting me there, considering I already had a giant bruise there.
A few more explosions went off around the school and screaming could be heard from all around. Another explosion went off under the school and my only thought was, 'That can't be good.' I felt lighter and looked out the window. We were falling through the sky and picking up speed. This was right before the bell rang, damn it! I wanted to leave school, not be killed in it! I made my way to the door and wondered how many limbs I would break if I jumped and survived. I guessed all of them and decided to stay inside. At least this should be slow but painless. Hey, maybe some hero might rescue us.
The school started slowing and stopped altogether. I walked outside where my ears popped and looked down. I couldn't see anything from where I was, five feet from the edge. I didn't dare get any closer though. The school started lifting off the ground and I went back inside where I knew there was still some oxygen. I wanted to know how we were still flying even though bombs had gone off through the school, and how they got there too!
Will was smiling as he landed outside the gym when the school was put back in the sky. He didn't seem to notice any of the students staring at him as he walked back inside to his class. That must have been the second time he's done that. All I could do is try to survive. I suppose there will be times when you just don't have the right super power to do the job. Like Sage and Nightmare! It just hit me, she never got over that! I knew why she was so upset now! It didn't help me in the least at finding her, but it would cover hopefully two lines on my paper. Damn, I just realized I forgot to ask Mom where she might be!
Oh well, the students from my class seemed fine so I looked around. The damage from the bomb was small, probably made to scare the kids and destroy the electrical lines in the walls. I'll have to admit, whoever planted them was smart. There's just one thing that bugs me though, he should have known about the back-up generators. This place was bound to have a few because it's not likely to get its energy from anywhere but the sun. It would have to store back-up energy to stay up during the night, which meant he was on it! The bomber was still on the school! He had expected it to be saved but he wanted to give us all a scare to show off. God, how could I have been so stupid as to not get that right away?
Who did I know who liked to show off and could work with bombs? Not very many people at all. They all had one quality or the other, not both. Lash liked to show off, but he wasn't smart enough to put this operation together. Neither was Speed. That one boy they had said, Jason was it? He could start bombs and make traps, but these were the real thing, no powers added. I just didn't know enough people to know who put the operation together. Maybe I should tell someone about this? Nah, they'd probably take it into their own hands and solve it before me.
If I could solve this, then I would become a hero. I could leave these lame classes behind and make it to that chemistry room or somewhere better, with smarter teachers. I need to make a checklist for what needs to be done. I've got my three page paper, this, and… that boy I met on the roof! Would he be part of this somehow? Something in my gut said yes, but I couldn't tie him to the locations and time set. He would only be able to have one free period and lunch to set up. The small bombs wouldn't have a timer that went over just a few hours. Maybe there was more than one person behind this.
"Crystal, are you coming?" Mr. Boy asked. My train of thought was broken, but I had to follow him. Once again, I miss detention because everyone is being sent home so the teachers could fix the school. I looked at all the students carefully and watched their expressions. Most of them were either worried, fearful, or nervous. A handful of students were happy to get out of school. I noticed Ben, he seemed slightly happy, slightly upset, by the whole matter.
Could he be behind this? He got onto my bus and I wondered why I had never noticed him before. I got on and took the first seat I could find. It was close to the front, only four seats back, but I didn't care. The bus driver seemed cautious when he took off and slowly calmed once he was in the air. I guess he was worried about another explosion shaking up the building with the bus on it, unable to take off. You've got to admit, that would suck.
I made it home without any other surprises and walked next to Sam who was unusually quiet. I looked at the windows on the bus and noticed Ben watching me carefully. I watched him until the bus turned a corner and went out of view. What a weird boy. I got home and found Mom was gone. I sat down at the couch and started working on my homework when she walked in.
"Sorry, I'm late, but I brought dinner," Mom called from the kitchen. I got up and walked over to the smell of KFC. I grabbed a plate and started filling it up when Sam walked in.
"Mom, I'm on a vegetarian diet!" Sam complained.
"Since when?" Mom asked.
"Since…" Sam couldn't remember.
"Exactly, now eat some mashed potatoes if you don't want meat," she smiled. "There's some coleslaw somewhere around here, too."
I pulled out my notebook and wrote down, "Do you know who Sage is?"
"Sage?" My mom seemed surprised I would ask such a thing. I quickly wrote that I needed some information on her for homework. "Well, I suppose she would be difficult to find."
"Sage? Isn't she that super hero that got defeated by Nightmare?" Sam asked.
"Why, yes, she was." Mom sighed and I took note of that. "She was so nice to everyone and then…"
"And then what?" Sam asked.
"I don't know. She disappeared." Mom looked down at the chicken before grabbing some. No eye contact meant she might be lying. I took another note on her behavior with Sage mentioned and wrote it down in the back of my notebook for later reference. I finished eating and went upstairs to think.
I wrote in my journal and made up for missing yesterday's before finishing my homework and falling asleep. Except I didn't fall asleep, something bugged me all day long, but I didn't know what. The bomber, no, the bombs, no, the bus driver, no, the teachers, no, I just don't know. It was like I'm missing a key factor somewhere and it felt like it was on the edge of my tongue. It just didn't want to slip off of it anytime soon.
I gave up and sat up in my bed. What time was it? My clock was still flashing which meant I forgot to reset it. I pulled out my watch and flashed the small light on. It showed 10:43. I set my clock before I dropped back down. Now what was I supposed to do?
I thought back to what the book on Sage said. Dark figure last seen flying around on Halloween, could it really be Mom? What makes these guys so important, the elements? Can't everybody else control elements? Maybe it had something to do with becoming it, but then Sage would be everywhere, and if an element was its element than what about all of the kids that can control it? Ugh, my brain hurts. There are too many variables in this problem. I'll have to think about it tomorrow where I can write it all down.
I thought about that boy, Ben. He seemed nice enough, and he was a mind reader. I wonder how he got that good, or maybe he was using some of his power to help him. I wish I could use my power to help me when I fight. A little air travel would be good, or maybe invisibility, or even better, super strength. Will's so lucky to have flight and super strength, and he doesn't even show it off! If only I had his super power…
But that would never happen, neither of my parents have super strength. I wonder if they might be keeping powers from me… No, they wouldn't, their too nice to. Well, could Mom be the dark element? Wouldn't that mean I would get her powers and not this lame one to see other kids' power? Mine doesn't even work! I had gotten so used to seeing Mom's that I had forgotten to check mine. Shit, I wanted to see if they were back yet! Damn it!
I wonder, if I look in the mirror, will I be able to see my own super power? Probably not, I'm so used to my power I wouldn't be able to sense the change. Now how am I going to check it? Maybe Warren would be at the Paper Lantern tomorrow, until then, I'm going to sleep.
