They tried to tell themselves it never happened.

They tried to tell themselves it was nothing.

They tried to tell themselves they had imagined it.

Lauren remembered the burn of power, like her own gift jacked up by a thousand.

Andy remembered the glow, the feeling of peace and power like he had never imagined before.

They dreamt of it that night.

And the night after.

And the night after that.

It happened.

It wasn't nothing.

They didn't imagine it.

At least, it didn't feel like they did.

At last they couldn't take it anymore, all the wondering and the asking with their eyes and hesitation they felt to touch each other these days. They found their way through the empty city until they were well away from the others and stopped to look at each other.

"Do you-" Lauren started.

"Can we-" Andy began.

They both stared at each other.

They didn't imagine it.

Lauren let out a long breath. "Okay. Let's try this shit."

They chose an old gym a few more streets away. Some of the weight bars still had weights attached, which was a little unnerving.

"What now?" Andy asked.

"We were- were holding hands before," Lauren held his hand out to her – something he would never have done only six months ago, what teenage boy wants to hold hands with his big sister?

"What if something happens?"

"What if nothing does?" she replied, reaching out to him.

He took her hand.

Nothing happened.

They stood there, feeling like fools for several minutes. "This is stupid," Andy muttered. Lauren shook her head.

"It was more than that. Maybe there's something we're not doing."

He had just been scared, he remembered, alarmed that she might get hurt, panicked that he might lose her.

She had been preparing to use her powers, ready to throw up a shield to protect herself, catch herself-

He wanted a way to protect her.

She was using her powers.

A soft golden glow formed in the palms of their hands.

The world shifted.

She could feel Andy's panic, and he could feel her focus, she knew his fear and he knew her determination to discover this power within them.

They watched through each other's eyes as everything turned to dust around them.