Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.

Read on, oh faithful ones...

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Chapter Twenty-Seven

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Heidi was all too happy to help Mrs. Damsale in the kitchen while her brother and his friends studied. Anita seemed to be analysing all of them, taking in Heidi's thin frame, the way that Zach and Ethan couldn't stop grinning at each other, the secrets hidden in Warren's eyes, and the faint green tinge to Layla's skin that she couldn't quite attribute to a reflection of the girl's green clothing. Anita could feel their power, and knew deep down that things were changing, that they were all experiencing changes that had nothing to do with their biology as growing teenagers. Closing her eyes, she sent up a silent prayer to keep these children safe and happy - no matter what path they chose, if the path was chosen for them, or they fell off the path completely - and left for the kitchen, hoping that her prayer would be enough.

The moment Anita was gone, Layla turned to Ethan, drawing him into a conversation about the students at Sky High and what he thought their strengths and weaknesses were. Ethan seemed pleased at her question, starting to list off the Hero Support in their year.

"Hey, Warren? What were you going to thank my dad for?" Zach asked curiously.

"For helping me to make a final decision about permanent markers," Warren replied, shrugging.

"What?" he asked, utterly confused.

Warren just grinned and didn't elaborate. He clicked his fingers, a small flame appearing on the tip of his finger. A brief thought had the flame becoming longer and thinner. A second more of concentration had the flame curling down along his finger, lengthening until he had a long string of fire wrapped around his forearm. Zach stared at him, Warren's motion almost too casual to be believed, despite the evidence burning away before his eyes.

"Oh, you've been practicing," Layla said, a bright grin on her face at his demonstration.

Warren grinned slightly, and the fire disappeared, only a small tendril of smoke remaining. Ethan seemed inspired by his demonstration and promptly liquefied. Straight onto their textbooks and notepads. At their surprised cries, he hurried to reform, pieces of paper stuck to him in various places.

"It's not coming off," Ethan said, his speech slurred by the large pad hanging from his lip.

"What?" Layla asked in surprise.

"It's not coming off," he repeated, tugging at the pages and wincing in pain.

Warren frowned slightly, reaching over to try and pull off one of the spare pages that was stuck to Ethan's shoulder.

"Ow! Don't do that, it hurts!" he slurred.

"Oh shit, oh shit. How the hell do we explain this to a hospital? Or your mum?" Zach asked, paling.

"Shut up, I'm thinking," Layla said sternly, a large leafy vine wrapping around Zach's mouth without her seeming to realise.

Warren looked at Ethan, wondering if he could burn the pages without burning him too. It was a fairly drastic action, and he figured that if just pulling a page hurt him, then burning him would be out of the question. But how on earth were they hurting him? In fact, how the hell were they stuck to Ethan? The paper had been nowhere near Ethan's face and shoulders... until he'd melted.

"Melt," Warren said, blinking in surprise at his own command.

"What?" Ethan asked.

(A muffled sound came from Zach, but he was obviously asking the same thing.)

"Melt down. We'll pick the papers off you."

"But what if they've somehow become a part of him, and melt down along with Ethan?" Layla pointed out.

"Well, Ethan will just have to concentrate really hard on only melting himself," Warren said.

At Layla's words, Ethan's eyes bulged slightly, and he was now looking terrified.

"It's better than anything I can think of. Sorry, Ethan," Layla said. "Try it now. If it doesn't work, we'll get your mum and she'll have to take you to the hospital."

Ethan eeped awkwardly. There were terrified tears in his eyes, and he shut them tightly, a tear escaping. He was melted down by the time the tear hit the floor. Layla breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the pages and book that were sitting atop Ethan's melted form. Working quickly and quietly, Zach, Layla and Warren picked up the pages and book carefully. As an extra precaution, they moved them far away from Ethan as well.

"Okay, try to reform now," Layla said softly.

He did so, his hands immediately moving to check that he was all there without any pieces of paper stuck to his body. Ethan sighed in relief, flopping backwards onto the floor. There was a muffled sound, and Layla realised that she'd gagged Zach.

"You could leave him like that while we study," Warren said, chuckling.

Despite the odd sounds he made, Zach's meaning was clear enough to be understood by all. Warren just chuckled again and Layla let the vine slip away gently.

"Good idea, getting him to melt like that," Layla said, moving to sit beside Warren properly.

"Thanks."

"I heard what you said to Zach about permanent markers. Did you mean it?" she asked quietly, seeing that Zach and Ethan were otherwise preoccupied.

"What do you think?" Warren asked, smirking slightly.

Even without the sudden onslaught of pain from the vine under her skin, Layla knew that Warren meant it completely and utterly. She kissed him hard, her hand a gentle contrast by resting against his cheek lightly.

"Now... I want to see Ethan try and do that again," Layla said when they'd pulled away.

"What?" Ethan asked, his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Well, go on Popsicle, see if you can do it again," Warren said with a grin.

When Ethan looked to his boyfriend for help, Zach just grinned at him and scattered pieces of paper on the floor.

...

"Hi, Mrs. Woo. How are you?" Layla asked, smiling.

"Good, good. Not busy today, so lots of time to fold napkins," Mrs. Woo said, nodding to the large pile of plain napkins in front of her.

"Do you mind if I help? Warren's still in the kitchen, and I've already finished my homework for the night," she said, sitting across from Mrs. Woo when the woman nodded.

"You know how to fold origami crane?"

"Uh, no, I don't," Layla said with a bit of a laugh.

"It's okay. You do fan then," Mrs. Woo said, showing her how to fold a fan design with her own napkin. "Now you." she said, nodding encouragingly.

Layla attempted it, laughing a bit when the napkin fell in on itself.

"Again. Concentrate this time," Mrs. Woo said sternly.

Stopping herself from smiling again, Layla started refolding the napkin.

Almost an hour later, Warren found them sitting at the table, a mountain of folded napkins to the side. Layla had her head bent over the table, her fingers working quickly to smooth and fold the napkin before her. Across the table, Mrs. Woo was doing the same, and their synchronised motions creeped him out.

"Hippie? What are you doing?"

"Folding napkins. You were busy in the kitchen, and I had some spare time."

"You finished now, Layla," Mrs. Woo said, smiling and waving her away.

"Okay, bye Mrs. Woo," Layla replied with a smile of her own.

Warren said his own goodbye, hurrying to lead his girlfriend out of the restaurant. "You realise that Mrs. Woo is probably going to make you fold napkins every time you come in now, hippie?"

"I asked to help, Warren. You were busy cleaning the kitchen," she added.

"That just makes it even worse, now she's going to make you work for free. She didn't make you sign a contract, did she?"

Layla laughed and shook her head. "No, I'm not that naive, Warren."

"You just worked for free," he pointed out.

"I worked for the future possibility of free Chinese food," Layla corrected, grinning. "Come on, I want to go out to the Hive," she said, taking his hand.

"Fine, but only if we go back to my house to sleep. I don't want to have to go out there only to take you to your Great Aunt's before going back home," Warren muttered, the words themselves enough to make him feel tired.

"Fine by me. We've got a study group at Ethan's tomorrow anyway," she replied with a shrug.

Pulling out her phone, she text Greta to let her know that she wouldn't be home that night, and not to worry about her. Layla kept all of her texts to her Great Aunt, wanting to keep proof handy if Greta tried telling Frieda that she was being irresponsible or something equally ridiculous.

The bus pulled up a few minutes later, and they both boarded quietly, moving to sit at the back as per usual. Layla watched the scenery pass, the weeds along the side of the road flowering and wilting abruptly as she pressed her hand against the window.

"You're not meant to use your powers outside of school, hippie," Warren whispered in her ear, and she could hear his grin even without seeing him.

She laughed softly and continued with her game, looking at his grinning reflection in the window. "Can you really see Principal Powers expelling me for making a few weeds bloom?"

"No, I can't. But I bet if I set them alight, I'd be kicked off the edge of the school grounds," he pointed out.

"That would be unfair," Layla agreed with a frown.

"It's high school, and we have very different powers. You make a forest grow overnight, no one's going to complain. I set a forest on fire, it'll make front page news."

"Well now, that depends on where I grow the forest," she replied, grinning.

"The middle of the mall would be pretty disastrous for some people," he said, chuckling.

"Or in the Mayor's office."

"A school assembly."

"In a cinema."

"On public transport."

"On school transport," Layla countered with a laugh.

"In the school's anti-gravitation device," Warren said, his voice low and hot against her cheek.

"Huh. That really would be disastrous," she murmured, sounding as if she was truly considering it.

Realising that they were almost about to miss their stop, Layla hurried to press the button, the bus lurching to a stop. She almost fell off of the seat, Warren grabbing her around the waist to keep her seated.

"Thanks, Warren," Layla said with a grin.

He gave a brief nod and followed her off the bus, Layla thanking the driver.

"You're really considering a forest in the anti-gravitation device?" Warren asked as they watched the bus' tail lights disappearing in the distance.

When the bus was no longer in sight, Warren lit his hands and they walked down to the field that had a large 'SOLD' sign in front of it.

"It would definitely work, and the trees would make it difficult for anyone to repair it," Layla said.

"It would also be extremely difficult to get seeds in the actual device to grow them into trees. Magenta barely fit in there while powered up," he pointed out.

"Ethan wouldn't have a problem. He'd just have to concentrate on dropping the seeds without reforming in such a small space."

Warren went quiet, nodding in agreement.

"Oh, wow. Look how much they've done so far!" Layla said excitedly, all thoughts of forests and anti-gravitational devices fleeing her mind for the moment.

Following her to the edge of a pit, Warren looked down to see a long ladder descending down into the darkness. A vine came out from Layla's shirt and she carefully lowered it down into the pit, wanting to know just how much had been done so far. About ten metres of her vine had been lowered into the hole - she discovered that some of the tunnels had already been created - when her phone started ringing.

"Hope that's not my Great Aunt. I wasn't expecting a reply from her," Layla muttered, pulling out her phone with her free hand. "Huh. It's Mrs. Stronghold. What's she calling me for?"

"Answer the phone and find out," Warren said, shrugging.

The vine sank into the earth and Layla stepped away from the edge of the pit, answering the phone cheerfully. Warren's teeth ached at the sugary fake tone she used.

"Hello, Mrs. Stronghold. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Layla asked sweetly, ignoring Warren's pained expression at her tone.

He watched the array of emotions cross her face, but still had no idea what Will's mother wanted from Layla. Unless she'd called Layla to reiterate Will's threat about Zach?

"Of course, Mrs. Stronghold. I would love to meet you tomorrow... Can it be after lunch? I have a study group in the morning, and wouldn't want to get behind in my studies," Layla said, pausing as Josie answered. "All right, see you there. Good night, Mrs. Stronghold."

"Well?" Warren asked when she'd hung up the phone, his curiosity piqued.

"Mrs. Stronghold wants to meet me to discuss Will. Apparently, she thinks that he isn't being entirely honest with her, and believes that I may know the answer. She also mentioned something about needing a woman to talk to before she starts comparing golf handicaps with the Mayor."

"What, there are no other super women for her to talk to?" he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Apparently, none that want to listen to her," Layla said, grinning. Her grin faded as she looked back to the gaping hole before them. "I don't particularly want to ruin the contractors' work by going down there before it's ready for human habitation. I'd hate to set the work back and have to pay them more than the agreed price," she muttered.

"How long did they say it would take, anyway?" Warren asked as they headed back to the bus stop.

"Six weeks. I wanted to make sure that they'd actually started now that they've been paid," Layla replied.

"Hmm, and how long until the cameras are finished in Maxville Metropolis?" he asked.

"They're meant to be finishing this week. Looks like your mother's going to win the bet if they stay on track," she said, grinning.

"Mum'll probably bribe them to work faster with coffee and cookies just to win the bet," Warren said with a chuckle.

"It's a pretty big kitty, I wouldn't be surprised."

Warren frowned slightly as Layla started walking down the road rather than up to the bus stop. "Where are you going?" he called after her.

"The bus isn't coming for another two hours. I reckon we could walk to your house faster," she replied over her shoulder.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Warren groaned in disbelief.

"Yes, I am. Come on, it's better than sitting on those awful seats."

Muttering under his breath about psychotic redheads, Warren reluctantly followed Layla down the road.

"I've been standing for the better half of the day, hippie, my feet are already killing me without this sudden need to walk for two straight hours."

"It's not going to take two hours," Layla replied certainly. "If your feet are hurting that much, then take your shoes off. I'll keep the road soft for you," she added with a smile.

"If I stop to take my shoes off, I'm not going to keep going," Warren muttered.

Layla just shook her head and continued to walk along the road, her hand slipping into Warren's as he stayed beside her.

...

"Ethan, Zach, Heidi! Layla and Warren are here," Anita called up the stairs.

"Coming!" the chorus replied.

Smiling, Anita opened the door. She was greeted with a bright Layla and moody Warren, who was still clutching a travelling mug full of coffee and looking as if he would kill anyone who came near him before he'd finished the caffeinated concoction. He gave a brief nod and made his way inside without a word.

"Morning, Mrs. Damsale. Never mind, Warren. He was forced to walk for forty-five minutes last night. I don't think he'll ever get over it," Layla said, laughing softly. "He's also not a morning person, so he'll be unintelligible until he's finished his coffee."

"I'm intelligible, hippie. I just don't want to be," Warren muttered from the lounge room, keeping his eyes firmly closed.

Anita held back her laugh and stepped aside so Layla could come in. "I've made pancakes for breakfast if you're interested?"

"Ooh, I am!" Heidi said excitedly. "Hi Layla. Hi Warren," she called into the lounge room as she passed by to go to the kitchen.

Warren made a grunt of acknowledgement, his eyes still closed as he sipped at his coffee.

"Did I hear something about pancakes?" Zach asked, hurrying downstairs and to the kitchen with a bright grin.

"Mum usually makes pancakes on Sunday morning, not Saturday. She must be trying to spoil Heidi and Zach," Ethan said as he came downstairs and saw Layla at the entry.

"Looks like it's working," she said with a grin. "I won't say no to pancakes either."

"Maybe if we dip one in coffee, Warren would have one too," Ethan said with a grin.

Layla laughed as she went with him into the kitchen. "Not a bad idea, really. If there's a spread made from coffee, it could work."

"Here you go, kids. We've got Nutella, jams, sugar, lemon, and butter," Anita offered, a large stack of pancakes set on the table before them.

Heidi's eyes widened comically and Zach's jaw went slack at the sight of so many pancakes in one place.

"I've got first dibs on the Nutella," Ethan said, swiping the container before anyone could react.

"Don't eat it with a spoon," Anita admonished, shaking her head at her son.

"I think I'll stick with the lemon and sugar, thank you," Layla said, sitting down and taking a pancake.

Heidi looked as though she didn't know where to start, her eyes darting between everyone and everything, but still managing to keep a very careful eye on the pancake stack.

"Oh, pancakes! Wait, did I sleep through Saturday?" Ethan's father asked in confusion as he made his way into the kitchen.

"I decided to make pancakes this morning," Anita said, her eyebrow raised as she looked to their guests meaningfully.

"Right. They smell delicious, dear, as always," Richard said quickly, taking a pancake before they were all devoured.

Warren, who had finished his coffee, wandered into the kitchen and took a seat next to Layla. He thanked Anita as he took a pancake from the rapidly disappearing stack.

"You're most welcome, Warren. Does anyone want any more?" she asked, looking at each of them.

"No, thank you, Mrs. Damsale," Layla replied.

Zach shook his head, four pancakes stacked before him and half of one already shoved into his mouth. Heidi didn't look as though she heard, eating the three pancakes before her with a reverence, each piece cut up precisely and placed in her mouth carefully, as if she would never have food as heavenly as this again. Ethan shook his head, two pancakes before him. Richard was busy spreading as much butter on his pancake as he could.

"Richard, remember what the doctor said about your cholesterol. Put that butter back," Anita said sternly.

"It's already on my pancake, I really shouldn't waste it," Richard protested.

Her mouth set in a firm line, Anita swapped her plate with her husband's. Sighing at the sight of the plain pancake, Richard began to eat it quickly when Anita folded her arms, not looking at all impressed with him.

"Thank you so much for breakfast, Mrs. Damsale," Heidi gushed, finally finished her pancakes.

"You're welcome, Heidi. Would you like to go out with Richard and me today? I'm sure you'd be bored with the others doing homework. I can come back in time to take you to work, Warren," Anita offered with a warm smile.

"Thanks, Mrs. Damsale," Warren replied, nodding briefly.

"Where are you going?" Heidi asked curiously, looking between the two adults.

"We haven't decided yet," Richard said, shrugging. "Anywhere you'd like to go?"

Heidi frowned, thinking about her decision carefully. "The science museum has a new light exhibition. That'd be cool."

"All right, that's where we're going then," Anita said with a decisive nod. "I'd better get changed. I don't think the outside world would appreciate my pyjamas and bathrobe," she added with a chuckle, leaving.

Heidi left quickly, looking so excited that Zach couldn't even bring himself to tell her to be careful. A light display with hundreds of bulbs, and if Heidi lost control of her emotions, the display would be nothing more than a mess of glass and screams. With his wife no longer watching over his shoulder, Richard hurried to slather the remainder of his pancake in butter, quietly adding for them not to tell Anita. Chewing it as fast as he dared, Richard left to get dressed too.

"If you're finished stuffing your face, Zach, some of us have to get to work in three hours and need to study before then," Warren said.

"What do you mean 'some of us'? Layla doesn't work weekends," Zach pointed out, slumped in his chair, his stomach feeling full enough to burst.

"The election is coming up soon, so I have to start going in on Saturdays to help with the campaign," Layla replied.

"I'll go get my books," Ethan said, standing to leave.

"You do that. I'll just have a three hour nap," Zach mumbled, closing his eyes.

"I guess I'll just have to find someone else to be my sidekick then."

At Layla's words, Ethan went completely still, and Zach sat bolt upright and stared at her.

"W-what? You want me to be your sidekick?" Zach asked, starting to grin at the idea.

"Of course I do, but only if you work for it and take this seriously. I can't have a sidekick who can't remember which part of the utility belt has an inflatable boat and which part releases a net," Layla said, rolling her eyes.

"I... I thought you'd choose Ethan to be your sidekick," Zach admitted, his cheeks slightly red at the reminder of his utility belt mishap the year before.

"I thought about it, but in the end, I decided that your light power could be helpful and would better complement my power to grow things. I don't know what kind of light rays you emit though, so that would be interesting to find out," Layla mused.

"You're going to be my sidekick, Popsicle," Warren added, grinning when Ethan's eyes widened.

"But I melt. How does that complement your power? I'm probably not even strong enough to complement Paul, and he's a human hose," Ethan said, trying to sound matter-of-fact about it rather than whinging.

"Exactly, and who would be suspicious about a puddle of water? You can liquefy and stay clear, and as we recently found out, you can stick to things while half-formed," Warren said with a grin. "Besides, you're smart too, and the hippie thinks I need a sidekick who's smarter than me," he added, rolling his eyes.

Ethan's cheeks went red at the compliments, and he managed an awed 'thank you' before rushing upstairs to get his books.

"If the man could glow, he'd be brighter than me," Zach said with a chuckle. "I'll take it more seriously now," he added, getting up to follow Ethan upstairs to get his books too.

Warren looked to Layla when they were alone. "Care to explain, hippie?"

"I thought I just did? Zach's power is going to grow and change, and he'll be as powerful as any Hero. Ethan's power is still changing, and I just know that it's going to end up being something that you might need or use," Layla said.

"I mean, why tell them now?"

"Zach looked like he needed an incentive to take this seriously. Now I've give him one, so he has no excuses for slacking off," she replied simply, shrugging.

"By the look on his face, I'd say that the glow stick's going to compete against the Popsicle for your year's Smartest Hero Support title," Warren said, chuckling.

"Hey, I'm fond of that title, thank you! Can Hero Support have Hero Support?" Ethan asked with a grin, coming into the room with Zach.

"I think that's where the superhero's pet comes into the hierarchy," Layla said, laughing.

"Talking donkeys, thieving monkeys, a dugong," Zach said, grinning.

"Which superhero has any of those animals, especially a dugong?" Ethan asked with a frown.

"Shrek, Aladdin... Uh, Aquaman might've had a dugong. If he didn't, he should've. Dugongs are awesome and would totally crush his enemies!"

"Not a superhero, not a superhero, shouldn't have been a superhero," Ethan muttered.

"That's not the point."

"Didn't Aquaman have seahorses and dolphins as pets?" Layla asked, frowning.

"Don't encourage them, now no one's going to do any work," Warren groaned.

"Oh, right. We'd better work," Zach said, opening his textbook and grinning at the others' surprised looks. "What? I told you I was going to take it more seriously," he said, shrugging.

"I didn't think you actually meant it," Warren said.

"Hey, I don't go back on my word. Or, at least, I try not to," Zach said.

"Good. Let's keep it that way, glow stick," he replied, opening his textbook too.

Ethan grinned, both he and Layla following suit as they settled down to study.

...

End of the twenty-seventh chapter.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!