"Where am I?" Cadence's small voice squeaked as she opened her eyes. Cadence saw two faces peering down at her. A man and a woman. The woman was beautiful with long, shiny, almost black hair and bright, hazel-colored eyes. The man was handsome and clean cut with dark, almost black hair and gentle, kind eyes. Cadence sat up frantically when she realized they weren't familiar faces. She was greeted with a surge of pain across her forehead. Cadence's hands flung to her head. "Ahhhh," she cringed. The last thing she remembered was running away from her Grams at school.
"We're not going to hurt you," the man said gently. "I'm Clark and this is my wife, Lois." Cadence peered at them through her clenched eyelids. "We're friends of your Grandmother."
"Grams….," Cadence sighed. "Where is she?"
"Honey…..there's been…..an incident," Lois began, "And your Grandmother…."
"No, don't say it," Cadence gasped as tears immediately filled her eyes. "You're lying!"
"We're sorry," Clark said gently, "She was an amazing woman and loved you dearly." Cadence found herself consumed with emotion and immediately went into fight or flight mode. She flung the blankets off of her and scrambled off of the bed, on the opposite side of Clark and Lois.
"Liars!" Cadence cried as she ran for the bedroom door. She flung open the door forcefully and made a beeline for the old, farmhouse stairs in front of her. She started to run down them and lost her footing, and found herself launching forward uncontrollably. Cadence prepared herself for the worse and knew the fall would be painful. But within seconds she found herself at the bottom of the stairs engulfed in Clark's arms. He gently set her on the floor in front of him. "How'd you do that?" she demanded as she glared up at him.
"I saw you falling," Clark responded, not ready to tell her the truth about his identity. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she huffed. A sharp pain pounded in her head again. She placed a hand on each side if her head. "Ow," she whined.
"You should lie down," Clark said as Lois made her way down the stairs behind them. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I want my Grams!" she demanded as she shrugged his hand off of her. "What did you do to her?" Lois and Clark exchanged glances. They hadn't discussed how they would break the news to Cadence or what they would even tell her. Her little fists launched forward against Clark's stomach. "Kidnappers!" she screamed causing more pain in her head. Her fists kept repeating the same action against Clark and finally he took her hands gently in his.
"Cadence, if you calm down, we'll tell you everything," Clark said gently as he glanced in Lois' direction. She nodded in agreement.
"Uh, I hate those words," Cadence growled. "But fine."
"Let's go sit down," Lois suggested. Cadence reluctantly followed them out to the kitchen table.
"Cadence, have you ever noticed anything different about yourself than the other kids?" Clark questioned as he took a seat across from her. She shrugged her shoulders as she eyed him suspiciously. "I knew your father," Clark commented. "We were very similar in many ways and he was a good friend of mine. I spent a lot of time at your Grandmother's house."
So," Cadence responded.
"Well…..your Dad was different." Clark paused and tried to collect his thoughts on how to approach the conversation with her. "Do you know who Superman is?" he questioned.
"Of course, duh," Cadence replied.
"Your Dad had powers, kind of like Superman," Clark replied.
"He did?" Cadence questioned, suddenly intent on hearing the rest of what Clark had to say.
"Yeah, and he used them to protect innocent people, just like Superman," Clark replied. "Your Grandmother had contacted me a few months ago and said she thought you had powers too, and asked for my help in guiding you and protecting you."
"She never told me any of this," Cadence snapped. "And I don't have powers. I think I would know."
"Are you faster than the other kids?" Lois interjected. Cadence nodded. "Sometimes stronger?" Cadence nodded again. "Can you hear or see things that others can't?" Cadence nodded again and suddenly found herself consumed with fear and excitement.
"Cadence, there are bad people out there that want to harm others with powers," Clark explained, "And unfortunately, they got to your Grams before I could." Tears filled her eyes.
"She died because of me?" Cadence questioned. Lois reached over and grabbed the child's hand next to hers.
"No sweetie, this isn't your fault," Lois replied. "Your Grams would do anything to protect you because she loved you so much. There are bad people in this world and that is why your Grandmother died." Lois could feel the child's hand clench beneath hers and nodded in Clark's direction.
"Why didn't Superman save her?" Cadence demanded. Clark knew the answer to that because he had to make a choice between saving Cadence or her Grandmother.
"Superman can't be everywhere at once," Lois explained just as Cadence remembered bits and pieces of the incident.
"He was saving me," she sighed. "Uh, why would he save me over my Grandmother?" she demanded as she jumped up from the table.
"That's what your Grandmother would've wanted," Lois replied. She made her way to the countertops and with a swipe of her arm, launched everything onto the floor. She was headed for more destruction when Clark intervened. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and lowered them to the floor so that she was sitting in front of him, still wrapped in his arms. Cadence fought to escape, trying everything she knew, but his grip was too strong and finally she broke down into tears.
"It's not fair," she sobbed. "She didn't deserve this."
"I know," Clark said gently. "You're not alone Cadence, we're going to help you get through this."