Freddy pulled out the plastic batarang he kept under his pillow, searching the darkness for the source of the thunk that had awoken him. He'd been dreaming when he'd heard it, though the details of this night's mirage had slipped from his mind as soon as he opened his eyes. The noise was as loud as a thunder clap. Though the batarang was only a replica, he'd sharpened the edges enough to draw blood - a fact written into a set of scars that had never fully faded from his fingertips.

"Who's there?" Freddy called. He blinked, but no matter how hard he tried, the dark lump in the center of his bedroom remained hard to discern.

"Freddy!"

The lump rushed for him so quickly that Freddy couldn't even try to push himself further down his bed. It grabbed him so tightly that the batarang slipped from his hand and clattered to the floor.

"Billy?" Freddy hissed, reaching an arm out and pushing against his shoulder.

"Freddy, you don't know how happy I am to see you!" Billy squeezed him again. "I was just thinking about you. Look, I have to preface this by saying that I'm going to sound super high. I can't blame you if you don't believe me, but I really need you to!"

"Billy, what are you doing here?" He blinked again, his eyes finally adjusting to the low light. Billy looked... It was hard to precisely read the expression on his face, but something about it made his stomach tighten. With as much strength as he could muster, he pushed him away. Turning, he saw his windows and door were as tightly closed as ever. "How did you get here?"

"Look, I should just start at the beginning. So I was flying home with my dad when I went into the airplane's bathroom. When I tried to open the door to leave, it wouldn't budge. Then the mirror began to frost over and the room started to shake-"

He paused, stepping forward again and taking Freddy by the shoulders. "Look, it's really hard to explain here. You'd probably better understand it if you saw it for yourself."


Mary was going to murder Freddy and hang his head on the wall. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she turned to his door and raised her fist. Winter break or not, she'd told him ten times already to stop blaring his video games in the middle of the night. Some people still had to wake up in the morning and accomplish something.

She banged her fist against the door. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but it stops right now."

No reply came. He must have paused the game.

She ground her teeth together. This was the third time in almost a week that he'd woken her up. She pounded on the door again. "I know you can hear me! Open up!"

There was a heavy creak as Eugene opened his door and peeked out. "Mary, what the hell are you doing?"

"Didn't you just hear something? Freddy's doing who knows what in there!" She pointed at the door, making a note to give Eugene a good chiding in the morning about his language.

"I only heard you." He rubbed at his eye. "Are you going back to bed?"

She forced back a groan. Considering her scholarship interview was at eight a.m. sharp at the city council's office that morning, she certainly should.

"Hey, Freddy," she directed to the wood. "At least have the decency to turn off the sound, okay?" Turning on her heel, she hurried down the hallway, her fists balled at her side.

"Good night!" Eugene called before his own door clicked shut.


Hey, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

Darla had made him watch that movie a hundred times. Freddy had never imagined he'd actually have to live it.

"Wha-what's going on?" His heart was beating against his chest like a prisoner's fists against the bars of his cell. "Where are we?"

His voice echoed in the stone corridor surrounding him as he spoke. He tried to stand, but with nothing supporting him he could barely get his butt off the ground.

Billy leaned a hand out. "I told you it was going to sound unbelievable." His eyes widened, and he suddenly stepped away, hurrying towards a row of stone chairs further ahead. "Be right back!"

It wasn't as if he could go anywhere. Freddy shook his head, rubbing pebbles from his pajama pants. Okay, so maybe this wasn't The Wizard of Oz. Maybe this was a horror movie and Billy was going to come back and slice him open with a chainsaw or stab him with a glass unicorn statue. It figured.

But instead he ran back holding a gnarled wooden staff, its tips covered in gleaming stones. He dropped it at Freddy's feet.

"I'd just hand it to you, but weird things happen when two people touch it at once. It's kind of hard to explain."

Freddy held it tightly, using it to get onto his feet. He stared at his reflection in the gems' surface.

"What is this?"

"A wizard's staff." Billy threw his hands up over his head, gesturing around him. "So as I was saying, it was like a blizzard and earthquake were happening at the same time in the airplane's bathroom. When I finally managed to get the door open, I found myself here. I was totally flipping out. I must have passed out, because when I woke up the bathroom door was gone.

"I forced myself to go further into... Wherever the hell I was. I finally came here and saw this really old dude holding that staff. He looked really weird. I can't even begin to describe him. Dude started going on about being the last of the wizards, the sole survivor of some ancient battle against the Seven Deadly Sins. He said his name was Shazam-"

Billy might as well have set off a nuclear bomb. When Freddy pulled his hand away from his eyes, his ears still ringing from the earlier explosion, Billy was gone.

"And, uh, to get to the gist of it, he gave me superpowers." The man speaking to him was floating a good four feet off of the ground. He was dressed in a neon red one-piece with a glowing yellow lightning bolt at its center. A white cape with yellow embroidery trailed behind him. "And superpowers made me think of you! I knew if anyone could help me, it was you. So I ended up in your room by just thinking about it. That's actually how we got back here."

Freddy opened his mouth, gasping at air for a few moments, and then closed it.

"Shazam!" When Freddy opened his eyes again, Billy was back.

"You... You... You have to do that again!"

"Shazam!" This time, Freddy was just barely able to keep his eyes open.

"Super awesome, right?" Billy flexed his new muscles.

"How can you do that?"

"I told you, the wizard dude gave me superpowers. He had me clutch his staff and say, you know, that word. His name. And then he disappeared, leaving me like this. I was freaking out again. I called out for him and turned back into me. Then I thought about you, and well..." Billy shrugged.

Freddy leaned back his head and laughed. Oh man, this was better than meeting that guy who'd met Wonder Woman. Probably better than meeting Batman!

(Okay, he was still totally down for meeting Superman.)

"Billy, this is great!" He hurried forward, the staff tapping against the cold stone floor with every step that he took. He barely noticed the pebbles digging into his bare feet as he moved.

"Well," Billy replied, leaning his arm out and bumping against the hand that Freddy had clutched tightly against the staff.

"Mom! Mommy, where are you?" He was rushing through a sea of people, most of whom he was lucky enough to see up to their belly buttons.

"Are you okay?" A woman leaned down and grabbed him by the shoulder, but it wasn't her.

"I can't find my mom."

She gave him a smile that was like sunshine on a day in the middle of January, bright but unable to provide warmth. "I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Why don't I help you find her?"

But as soon as they found a policeman, she was gone. The policeman spoke to him slowly, even let him sit on the hood of his car and try on his hat.

The policeman reached out and adjusted his hat. "If we don't find her, we can always let you join the force!"

But then the policeman was gone too, replaced by a stream of foster parents and siblings. The only constant face in his life was his social worker.

"Have you found my mom yet?" he asked at a meeting.

She sighed. "Billy, you know the answer to that already."

Wait, Billy?

And then one day, a man joined them at their meeting. He wasn't sure why, but the first thing that stuck out to him was that he was bald. The man sat in a seat in front of Ms. Glover's desk, his hands held together in his lap. When he walked inside, the man smiled at him. He couldn't muster anything in reply.

"Hello, William," the man said, standing up and coming towards him. He got onto his knees, looking him directly in the eyes. "My name is Dr. Thaddeus Sivana. You don't know how excited I've been to come and see you."

He turned back to Ms. Glover, who was beaming down at him like a kid who'd just been gifted a whole bag of candy. "Billy, Dr. Sivana wants to adopt you!"

And from that day on, Dr. Sivana became another familiar face. He flew in whenever he could, even took time off from work to come stay in Philadelphia with him. He was at once delighted and wary. Dr. Sivana bought him every toy he asked for with no questions asked. He drove him to zoos, carnivals, and restaurants. Out went his hand-me-down foster kid clothes for a new wardrobe.

And yet...

They were waiting to board a plane now. He was frantically searching the airport for her. If she didn't appear now, then he really might have to leave forever. The idea made his throat tighten.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Sivana asked. He squeezed his shoulder.

"Dr. Sivana, I-"

The man frowned. "William, I told you that you don't have to call me that any longer."

"Daddy," he corrected himself. Saying the word hurt.

"Are you scared?" Dr. Sivana pulled him into a hug. "This is your first time flying on an airplane, isn't it?"

He opened his mouth to reply.

"What?" Freddy cried, taking a step back.

Billy was wide-eyed too.

Freddy ran a hand through his hair. "Dude, was that your life?"

Billy shook his head. "Your parents looked like assholes. I'm sorry."

"What did you see?"

"Some meth heads from the look of it." He rubbed his shoulder. "Really, it's more like what I felt."

Freddy gave a weak laugh. "When I first got assigned a social worker, she asked me if my dad was the reason that I used crutches." He looked back to the staff. "So that was weird."

"Hey, I want to try something! Freddy, I'm going to grab the staff again."

"What?" He hurried away, practically tripping over his own two feet. "No way!"

He'd seen enough Lifetime movies for the day already, thank you very much.

"Look, I'm just doing a little experiment. When I grab it, you say 'Shazam'-"

Another explosion.

"Please! I just want to see what happens." Then his huge hands were around the staff, anchoring Freddy to the ground more than the piece of wood ever could.

He was sitting in a strange bed, surrounded by stuffed animals, his head against his knees. In the kitchen, he could hear the man sorting through cabinets and grabbing pans to make dinner with.

"Sha..."

"Say it!"

"Shazam!"

When Freddy opened his eyes, his hands weren't on the staff and his feet weren't touching to the ground.

Billy's laughter echoed through the cave. "It worked!"

Freddy stared at his hands, his arms wrapped within golden guantlets, and the blue spandex suit covering him that almost identical to the one Billy was wearing. He could only imagine what his face now looked like.

"This is incredible!" Billy dropped the staff to the ground. "Freddy, you can fly!"

Freddy looked away from him. His body felt a bit off-center, as though he were floating at an angle. He bit his lip, raising his right leg before turning his gaze to the other. "Billy, I can't feel my leg."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Freddy gestured to it. "I'm serious." He put his hand against it. When he pulled it away, he vaguely felt the force it had exerted against his hand, but nothing on the leg itself.

His own legs - his real ones - were weak. The left was a bit stronger and longer than the other, but not by much. Years of physical therapy had made it easier to stand. As a young kid, he'd been in a wheelchair only because standing meant instantly falling on his face. While they could spaz randomly, often at the worst of times, he'd always been able to feel and move them. This...

If he couldn't see it, then he might not have realized it was there at all.

Billy didn't reply.

Freddy concentrated, floating to the floor. He about tripped. One foot hit the ground. He could feel the stone firmly beneath it. The other was in a ten inch hole in the ground.

"What happened?"

"I don't know." He floated up again, higher this time. There was no real effort on his part - his new body just did it. Below him, his left leg hung limp. He came down harder this time.

"Holy shit!" The force not only sent stalagmites to the floor and left a hole as wide as a soccer ball in the ground, but it knocked Billy off of his feet. "Dude, you have to do that again!"

Freddy didn't need to be told twice. While he still couldn't feel that leg, the sound as it came crashing through the ground and the earth shaking around him certainly made up for it.

Fuck invisibility - this was the coolest thing ever.


"William! Where were you?"

William wouldn't meet his gaze. "I'm sorry, Dad, I didn't mean to worry you."

"I've been searching the whole plane for you."

His cheeks reddened. "I've been around. It's just that I kind of got sick and a flight attendant had to take me back and help me vomit."

Thaddeus stood from his seat and pushed a hand against his forehead. "You don't feel warm."

"It was probably just the heavy winds or the airline food that made me do it The inside of my mouth still tastes a little weird, but I'm fine."


Batmanatee: I thought of some code names for us!

Billy_Da_Kid: New phone who dis

Batmanatee: Dude, you've already made that joke like three times.

Billy_Da_Kid: Whatever, and it has to be better than Captain Sparkle Fingers or so help me!

Batmanatee: That's a good name and you know it!

Billy_Da_Kid: Fine, then that's what you can call youself!

Billy_Da_Kid is typing...

Billy_Da_Kid: I actually realized something today. Kind of surprised that it took me this long.

Batmanatee: ?

Billy_Da_Kid: Well, my dad used to tell me these bedtime stories that were a lot like what happened to me. About this little kid meeting a wizard and getting superpowers.

Batmanatee: Dude! Does this mean you told your dad?

Billy_Da_Kid: Of course not! He'd probably die of shock.

Batmanatee: I know! This is the weirdest secret in the world to keep.

Batmanatee is typing...

Batmanatee: My guess is your dad just heard some legends. Maybe he read about it somewhere. Other people have to know about the wizard, right?

Billy_Da_Kid: I guess.