Disclaimer: I don't own Sky High.

Read on, oh faithful ones...

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Chapter Thirty-Nine

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Wendy and Donny arrived after lunch, as they'd said they would, and followed Ethan through his house for a brief tour before they ended up in the dining room with the others. Warren and Zach were in the middle of an argument about which weapon would win: a heat ray or freeze ray, while Layla was sitting back watching their argument with amusement.

"Yeah, but if you faced off with a heat ray and a freeze ray, they might not cancel out unless they had the same power settings. If the freeze ray was set to 'cool', then the heat ray would totally win," Zach argued.

"Only if it's at its highest setting! If they were both set at low or middle settings, then they wouldn't get far enough to cancel each other out. A freeze ray is meant to freeze, not just cool the air around it! And a heat ray is meant to heat, not warm something up! It's a weapon, not a fucking microwave!" Warren snapped.

"If they're only meant to freeze or heat, then why do both weapons have three settings?!"

"Because idiots probably burnt themselves and then bitched to the manufacturers," Warren snarked.

"I think you'll find that it was Jetstream who did that, actually," Wendy interjected with a smirk.

"Really?" Ethan asked with a grin, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"The Commander endorsed the heat ray back in the 80's when it was first released. Until he burnt several holes in his Secret Sanctum and almost destroyed King Kamehamayhem's surfboard, that is. Then Jetstream told the manufacturers it needed a safer alternative, and the three-switch system was created."

"How'd you know that?" Ethan asked eagerly.

"I did my assignment for Media for Heroes on it last year. I'm pretty sure the original ad where the Commander accidentally set his gloves on fire is still somewhere on the Internet," Wendy added.

"I'll find it," Ethan said with a grin, moving to sit beside Zach and open a new Internet browser.

"Glad you could make it. You haven't changed your minds, have you?" Layla asked, looking between Wendy and Donny.

"We haven't decided on anything yet," Donny replied.

"Hopefully that'll change by the end of the day," Warren said, sitting by Layla.

Wendy noticed that Layla wasn't wearing her usual bracelets and bangles, and Warren's arm was free of its usual leather cuff. In their place were a string of flames and vines, twirling around their wrists fiercely.

"You got matching tattoos?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Layla smirked. "Not quite."

Beside Wendy, Donny let out a soft gasp, barely a breath between his lips, and she wondered what he was seeing in their thoughts.

"They... That's their powers; they did it to each other willingly," Donny said.

"Fuck. Do you have any idea what you've done?" Wendy asked, eyes wide.

"Of course we do," Layla replied calmly with a nod.

Beside her, Warren nodded as well, then he smirked and put an arm around Layla's shoulders. "The benefits are totally worth it."

Layla just rolled her eyes at him.

"What're they talking about, Lay?" Zach asked, looking between them and their tattoos in confusion.

"Warren and I branded each other with our powers. At any time, no matter where I am, I can access anything created by my power, including the vine that's in Warren. He can do the same with his fire, which is in me. Basically, we can kill each other with little more than a thought."

"Fuck."

"Can probably do that too, if we wanted," Warren muttered, voice not quite low enough.

"Wait, what?" Ethan asked, looking up from the laptop briefly.

"Feelings can be transmitted by power. Pain, pleasure, both; whatever else we like," Warren replied.

"I don't want to know what you two get up to in the bedroom," Wendy said, nose wrinkling.

Warren just smirked back at her, then looked at Layla. "Finished your essay?"

"Yes, I think so. I'll re-read it later. Zach, finished?"

"In a sec; just going to write that bit about three-switch settings," he muttered, writing a few more sentences.

"You actually study?" Wendy asked.

"Yep; gotta get good grades to rule the world, y'know," Zach replied, snickering.

Donny shook his head and sat next to Ethan. After a moment, Wendy sat beside him.

"Found it! Finished yet, Z?" Ethan asked.

"Yeeeees," Zach said, finishing the last written word on the drawn out syllable. "Now, let's see the Commander set himself on fire."

The video was brief and had the usual white flickering that TV reels had had back in the 80s, but it was clearly a younger version of the Commander. He stood in front of the camera for a few seconds in his usual pose, hands on hips and broad smile on his face.

"Hi, I'm The Commander. Frost giants terrorising your town? Buy a heat ray; that'll shrink him down to size!" he said, holding up the ray with another broad smile.

"Cut! That's the line for the next advert! It's 'buy a heat ray, it'll turn your town into a beach!'," a frustrated director called from the sidelines. "Again! Take forty-two!"

The Commander looked embarrassed and coughed slightly, then nodded and posed again. Before he could get through his line, his thick-gloved finger slipped to the trigger, the heat ray made a hissing noise, and smoke started to show on the screen. In seconds, the Commander's gloves were on fire, and All-American Boy could be heard yelling for water in the background.

"All-American Boy was still with him? I thought he was already with Jetstream by then?" Layla queried, surprised.

"All-American Boy stuck around like a third wheel for about four months after the Commander and Jetstream joined forces," Donny answered. "He wouldn't get the hint and leave, so the Commander kicked him to the kerb in public instead."

"At the opening for Tokyo Disneyworld's Super Super! ride, no less," Wendy said, grinning.

"Really? Oh, see if you can find that too, Eth," Zach said with a cackle.

"You sound like an evil witch, but all right," he replied, turning his attention back to the Internet. After a few minutes, Ethan had found the video, and they waited for it to load.

"We'll talk serious stuff after this, okay?" Layla promised, receiving a nod from Wendy and Donny.

Zach immediately packed his homework away and brought out his outfit designs, waiting patiently beside Ethan.

There was a knock at the door before Ethan could press play on the video, and he looked at the others with a frown. "Did you invite anyone else, Layla?"

"No; are your parents expecting anyone?"

"No, they would've told me," Ethan said, standing and brushing off his clothes before he headed to the front door warily. "Who is it?"

The answer that came was too muffled for the others to hear, but Ethan opened the door a moment later. They didn't have to wait long before Ethan returned, and more than one person blinked in surprise on seeing him carrying several plush elephants.

"Honey?" Warren and Layla said, surprised to see the seer follow Ethan inside with more elephants and a pillow tucked under her arm.

Honey held up a finger in response to indicate for them to wait, then handed out the plush elephants to everyone, except Donny. She very carefully kept her gaze on the elephants she handed out, and quietly instructed everyone to concentrate on their elephants. Finally, when everyone else held two elephants in their hands, Honey handed Donny the large pillow, and the seer and the mind-reader looked at each other.

Donny stared at her for about two full seconds before he started screaming. The pillow muffled his noise a moment later, but his screams continued. From the corner of her eye Wendy could see that he was crying. She forced herself to concentrate on her elephant once more.

After almost three minutes, Donny's screams stopped, and he pulled the wet pillow away, breathing in lungfuls of oxygen heavily.

"What the fuck was that?" Zach asked, looking away from his elephant to the seer and mind-reader.

"And who the fuck are you, exactly?" Wendy added, looking between the woman and Layla and Warren.

"I am Honey, you know me as Hourglass," she replied, then turned to Zach. "I don't have the ability to turn my power on and off at will, as you do. I have learnt to deal with it over the years, but the sudden influx of information can be extremely hard to handle for those unused to the strain. I just taught Donny how to filter out anyone's thoughts - mine included - at his will, condensing five years' worth of lessons into the last three minutes," Honey said, looking pale and covered in a sheen of sweat.

In comparison, Donny looked steadier than he had been before her arrival. He stood without a word and led Honey to his seat so she could sit down. She smiled her thanks at him, then turned her attention to the others seated around table.

"I believe the video will have loaded by now, Ethan," Honey said with a quick smile.

Ethan blinked and nodded, realising that the forgotten video was still sitting open on his laptop. The others all crowded around after a moment, looking between Honey and Warren and Layla, as if expecting something else. Ethan glanced behind to make sure everyone was ready, and then pressed play on the video.

"The Super Super! ride is now officially open," the Commander said, a suited dignitary translating his brief words into Japanese for those gathered.

Jetstream was standing beside the Commander, and she smiled out at the crowd as she cut the large ribbon to the ride's entrance.

Loud cheers and applause followed, and All-American Boy rushed to take the giant scissors from Jetstream at the same time she turned to hand them back to the Japanese Ambassador. In his rush, All-American Boy smacked straight into Jetstream, and his baby blues widened as he backed away just as fast, apologising over and over. Jetstream's smile was forced, not quite as genuine as it had been a minute ago.

"It's fine, All-American Boy. Nothing's broken, I'm fine," she said.

Beside her, the Commander was turning an unsightly shade of red, as if All-American Boy had purposely swung at his girlfriend. The Commander pulled All-American Boy to the side as Jetstream stepped forward to thank the Ambassador and people of Japan for letting them visit their beautiful country. Steve, obviously forgetting that his microphone was attached to his outfit, started berating All-American Boy.

"What the hell was that, Jonathan? I know you're upset that I've teamed up with Jetstream, but you don't have to attack her every chance you get!"

"I-I never. I wouldn't! It was a mist-"

"No, it wasn't! Just like the last time wasn't; you're a sidekick who has precision jumping as a power, how is it that you missed?"

"She said to leave - "

"No, no more excuses! If I can't count on you to not attack my girlfriend every time you're in the same room as her, then I can't count on you to be my sidekick anymore! All-American Boy, your services are no longer required: you're fired."

All-American Boy was actually crying now, trying to stammer through another apology that the Commander refused to listen to.

"Jetstream looks awfully smug, doesn't she?" Zach pointed out, drawing everyone's attention away from Mr. Boy.

The smug expression was definitely there, but as soon as the Commander looked at her, Jetstream's eyes widened and she pointed to her own microphone. Steve paled and stepped back out onto the stage, leaving All-American Boy blubbering behind him, already forgotten. The video cut off abruptly through the Commander's brief apology, which again was translated into Japanese for the crowd.

"What did the Commander mean when he said All-American Boy missed?" Ethan asked, frowning.

They all looked to Honey, who was still sitting in Donny's former seat, as the only person present who'd been alive at the time. There had been very little published about All-American Boy once the Commander and Jetstream teamed up, even during the four months he spent as their third wheel.

"Jetstream and the Commander were still in the early stage of their relationship, and the Commander didn't want to get rid of All-American Boy, especially as he'd saved his life the month before. So Jetstream kept quiet, and it was obvious to everyone except the Commander that All-American Boy had a crush the size of the Americas on Jetstream - it was worse than his crush on the Commander, and that's saying something," Honey added with a smirk.

"Still, they fought crime together in those first few months, as a test run to see if the two heroes would work out. If not, Jetstream would fade back into obscurity - maybe with fifteen minutes of fame as the Commander's ex-girlfriend - and All-American Boy would keep his job as the Commander's sidekick.

"A local villain called Mallow tried to defeat the three of them, and might have succeeded. He used a white marshmallowy substance to keep them stuck to the ground while he robbed a bank. All-American Boy was able to jump out of the marshmallow, but it took him about fifteen minutes and used most of his meagre strength, since he'd recently saved the Commander from a vat of toxic waste, and was still recovering. Jetstream managed to get out next, and she flew at Mallow. He attacked with his marshmallow, and when she was hit and unable to fly, All-American jumped up to save her. He was tired from his ordeal, didn't jump high enough, and Jetstream fell to the ground a moment later. Thankfully, the floor was covered in marshmallow and she wasn't hurt. But it set off the Commander enough to get free of Mallow's attack and knock him out a few minutes later.

"Well, that's what the papers said, at least," Honey added.

"So what really happened then?" Ethan asked.

"Mallow's attack didn't knock Jetstream unconscious, and when All-American Boy jumped up to catch her, she told him to leave her alone, so he fell back."

"Let me guess, you were one of the people at the bank and just so happened to hear Jetstream when the Commander didn't?" Wendy sneered.

"The Commander was attempting to eat his way out of Mallow's attack, marshmallow blocked his ears for the next week," Honey replied. "And I was there, in a way. Mallow needed someone to help him rob a bank, and I needed enough money to buy a local business. Thankfully, the marshmallow covered enough of the floor so that when he was knocked out by the Commander and arrested, I was able to hide with the stolen money."

"Wait, you've actually successfully robbed a bank right under the Commander and Jetstream's noses?" Zach asked, grinning.

Honey nodded. "The bank was told not to report the money as missing, since it would jeopardise the Commander and Jetstream's reputation."

"Not to mention their relationship; Jetstream wouldn't stay with someone who didn't get results," Wendy snickered.

"Very true. In fact, if they had reported it, Jetstream would have dumped the Commander far faster than he dropped All-American Boy. She would have ended up marrying that future's Mayor, and Will probably wouldn't have been born. It's a toss-up on that one.

"The Commander would've spiralled down into depression and alcoholism, and ended up in a gaol cell right next to Baron Battle for robbing every single liquor store in Maxville and Westville. Such a shame," Honey tutted, grinning when they laughed.

"Sounds like you're all having fun!" Anita called from the doorway, the front door closing behind her entry with Heidi and Richard.

Realising that the book still had its jacket off and was showing graffitied versions of the Commander and Jetstream, and that Zach had his outfit designs out, they all hurried to cover anything incriminating with a stuffed elephant, the table covered in seconds.

"I hope you've finished - oh. I wasn't aware we had guests. Ethan, introduce me to your friends," she said, looking at Honey in obvious confusion, barely noticing the elephants in the room.

"Mum, Dad, this is Wendy and Donny from school, and this is Honey," Ethan said quickly.

"From?" Anita prompted.

"I work at Labyrinth, actually. But I'm really here to see you, Mrs. Damsale. My mother's organising the barbecue for next weekend, and I wanted to introduce myself to you properly. I was thinking of doing an exposé on non-super parents with super children, and how they raise and support their children. I think it might provide some insight for other parents who are going through the same thing, but not doing as well as you and your husband are."

Anita seemed both flustered and somewhat suspicious at Honey's praise, and then looked from her son to Zach and Heidi. "We'll talk in the lounge room," she said, indicating the way for Honey and Richard. "Heidi, why don't you show the others what you bought at the museum?" she suggested with a smile.

Heidi nodded, eagerly taking out a small rectangle box from her bag. It didn't look like much, just a rectangle with a miniature train inside, but when Heidi pressed a switch, the train moved along the track slowly. Before the others could say anything, Heidi held up a finger to keep them quiet for a moment. She looked behind her to ensure that Anita and Richard weren't returning, and then she turned off the switch. Heidi's tongue stuck out of her mouth as she concentrated, focusing on the small train as hard as she possibly could, and slowly, the train began to move again, her power over electricity forcing it to move.

It stopped after a few seconds, but it was obvious that she'd practised and was pleased with her results. Zach got his sister's attention, signing to tell her that she was amazing and he was proud of her. Heidi smiled brightly and hugged Zach tight.

"That's awesome, Heidi. Did you enjoy the trains?" Layla asked when she and Zach pulled away.

Heidi nodded, then laughed her deep, rough laugh, and signed to her brother, making Zach laugh as well.

"She said that she enjoyed the trains, but Richard enjoyed them more."

"That doesn't surprise me; Dad has been dying to convert the basement into a train set for years," Ethan said, and to Heidi and Zach's surprise, he actually signed a few words as well.

Heidi signed something back, far too fast for Ethan's still-learning mindset, but Zach caught it.

"How long have you been practising?" he asked for Heidi.

"A couple of weeks. Wait, that's the wrong sign. I think I said goats," Ethan said, frowning at his hands.

"Not sure how you get those two mixed up, Eth, but it's nice you're learning," Zach said, looking ridiculously proud of his boyfriend, and actually glowing a light red.

"Since they're back early, I expect we're not going to get a chance to talk?" Wendy asked pointedly, reminding Layla and Warren that she and Donny had come for a very different reason than study.

"Ethan, any chance we'll be overheard if we go outside? Your mother has a lovely garden," Layla added a little louder, just in case.

Ethan shook his head. "We have really nosy neighbours; I swear Mrs. Theopolis learned to read lips just so she could spy on everybody else's business."

"Does she know about your powers then?" Zach asked curiously, trying to think if he'd said anything incriminating while outside.

"I wouldn't use my powers outside of school!" Ethan said, eyes wide and tone mocking.

Zach snorted. "Yeah, all right. How about we just go upstairs then? Or does Mrs. Theopolis have a telescope pointed at your room?"

Ethan pulled a face. "I hope not, ugh."

"I'm going upstairs before you two make me throw up," Wendy muttered, heading past to the stairs.

The others grabbed the stuffed elephants and their homework, including Ethan's laptop and Layla's graffitied book, and followed her upstairs. Heidi stayed downstairs, continuing to concentrate on her electric train and making it move. Layla noticed that Donny was still carrying the pillow that Honey had given him.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, fine. Just didn't want to leave it downstairs," Donny said, seeing her gaze on the pillow.

She supposed that was understandable, though Layla had no idea what would be wrong with either of the Damsales finding a pillow in their dining room.

"All right," Wendy said when they were all crowded inside Ethan's bedroom and the door was closed behind them. "Start talking, Layla."

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

"What you plan to achieve by having this barbecue, for starters. It's obviously a recruitment drive."

Layla shook her head. "Sometimes a barbecue is just a barbecue, Wendy."

"Although, you're half-right. This one's kind of a recruitment drive," Warren allowed, grinning. "It's more of a chance to see how well everyone gets on. Team building exercises, those trust fall games, all of that crap."

"You're joking, right?" Wendy asked, not looking at all impressed.

"He's joking," Zach said with a grin. "The only time I can imagine Warren doing a trust fall is if he plans on setting his partner alight."

"Good idea; might tell Coach Boomer to make it part of Save the Citizen training," Warren snorted.

"Wait, you guys get training? No wonder no freshman's ever won it before Stronghold," Ethan murmured, surprised that he hadn't thought of it before.

"Yeah; everyone apart from freshmen usually knows that, and that's why no one chooses to go against freshmen. Unless they need to humiliate someone like Speed and Lash tried to do, or with you two and your organised fighting schedule," Donny said with a shrug.

"You know about my schedule?" Ethan asked brightly.

"Yeah, everyone was talking about it and trying to get on the list. You could probably organise fights for Stronghold and... his purple sidekick."

"Magenta Yolanda," Layla supplied.

"If you do organise fights for them, make sure they go against that diamond chick, Jewel. And what's his face, immunity guy. Graham?" Zach mused, frowning.

"Grant," Ethan replied. "I still have that notebook, if it helps?" he added, looking to Layla.

She grinned and nodded immediately.

"What are you guys talking about?" Wendy asked, looking between them in utter and complete confusion.

"When Warren and I were reigning champions of Save the Citizen, Ethan very kindly created a notebook for us listing nearly every students' super ability, listing them under various classifications for how easy they would be to beat, as well as other impertinent information about them. It was a way of us to help choose our next opponents, until we forfeited to you, that is."

"You seem to have updated the notebook, Popsicle," Warren said, eyes widening briefly.

Ethan nodded abashedly. "I might have added every student at school, and then the supers that I knew about as well, dead or alive."

"Who-what-where now?" Wendy asked, looking at the bulging notebook that Ethan offered to her a moment later. "Easy peasy, challenging, harder, really hard, big boss hard, need health insurance hard. Those are some interesting classifications," she muttered, flipping through the book. "I'm under challenging?! That's it?"

"Well, you don't have the best control over your power! It's difficult to say whether you'll gather a light breeze or summon up a tornado," Ethan explained. "You have the potential for big boss hard if you get it under control," he offered, and while Wendy didn't look entirely appeased, she no longer looked as though she wanted to hit him with a lightning bolt.

"Your notebook include the Commander and Jetstream?" Warren asked.

Ethan nodded. "They're under health insurance bad, but only together. Otherwise, Jetstream's 'big boss hard.' The Commander's still 'health insurance bad'; it's difficult to classify someone who's practically indestructible and yet so unintelligent that he would have been killed years ago if not for his power."

"Can we get on to the more important parts of this discussion?" Zach whined.

"Which is?" Warren asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I've finished designing the outfits!" Zach said, and ignoring Warren's expression, he pulled out several sheaves of paper from his notebook and placed them on Ethan's study desk. "I've been going through the obituaries for supers, trying to see if there's any inherit design flaws in their outfits - of course, capes are a hazard, but the other factor is anything big and billowy that can get caught, pinned, or set alight.

"Warren probably wouldn't have that problem, depending on the material, but it's also easier to move around in something that's closer to the skin. And full-body outfits provide better protection, even if they make you sweat like crazy. So, a breathable non-flammable material would be best," Zach rambled on, words almost jumbled together in his nerves and excitement.

Honestly, Zach was fairly proud of the designs he'd made. While the original designs he'd started with were a touch over-the-top and had been scrapped soon after he'd begun researching (apparently there were major problems regarding being blind-sided with those large collars that looked much cooler front-on; Count Vamp had been shot in the head by an arrow because he hadn't seen someone approaching on his left-hand side), these final designs were much more practical.

"I know you said you wanted to add the colours yourself, but I tried a few out. Mostly neutral with greys and blacks; no neon colours, unfortunately," he added with a heavy sigh. "Unless you're really trying to be seen as a target, bright colour is to be avoided."

"Zach, stop and breathe. You're going paler than usual," Ethan said, frowning at him in worry.

Zach sucked in several noisy breaths. "I'm fine. What do you think?"

"As much as I like flames, that one's a bit much," Warren said, nodding to the outfit with flames all the way up the sides. "I like this one," he added, showing the plain black outfit to Layla.

"It's a good design. I like the way the neck's not constricted. But it's lacking a little bit of colour," she said, taking up two coloured pencils from the pile that were sitting in a neat row along Ethan's desk. "How about this?" she offered, showing the outfit with two streaks of colour - one of green, and one of red.

"The red's too far down on the pants, it looks like a period stain," Wendy said, shrugging.

"Okay, red up the top and green on the pants then," Layla murmured, taking a moment to erase the colours without ruining Zach's design, and adding the two lines of colour again.

"It's better than plain black; that would just make you look like regular bank robbers," Donny said with a grin.

Layla and Warren both wondered just what information he'd gleaned from Honey.

"What sort of material were you thinking, glow stick?" Warren asked, looking from the design to Zach.

He seemed surprised at Warren's question, but immediately started on a tirade about spandex and melting points. Zach cut off abruptly when both Layla and Warren stared at him, and sighed heavily before continuing at a more understandable speed. "The best materials are usually aramid, novoloid, and vinyon, since they char instead of burn. According to what I've found on the Internet, wool and silk are hard to ignite, and may actually self-extinguish, but I wouldn't want to be the poor bastard to find out that that information's wrong."

"What's those arachnid, neverloin, and vineyard materials?" Layla asked, trying to remember the names, unsuccessfully if Zach's snort was anything to go by.

"Aramid, novoloid, and vinyon. They're usually the type of material that protective gear's made out of; firefighter suits' material, kevlar, that sort of thing. Very difficult stuff to come by, especially in Maxville. Apparently, the Spinner Sisters used to order huge shipments of that sort of material for their clothing store before they went evil. Of course, after they were captured, their supplier mysteriously had no more of those fibre materials to send to Maxville. Ordering things already made from the material's fine for like firefighters and police with their kevlar vests, but buying the actual fibres for material to make your own suits is a no-no."

"Is that why the Commander wears spandex?" Wendy asked, grinning.

Donny laughed at her question, Layla laughing as she thought of the same reasoning for Principal Powers' and All-American's Boy's spandex outfits.

"What are you all giggling about up here?" Anita asked, knocking on Ethan's door.

"Elephants," they all chorused, seeing the plush toys sitting around Ethan's room.

Anita opened the door and looked in, levelling her son with a hard stare. "You left Heidi downstairs on her own so you could talk about elephants?"

"Sorry, Mum. How's... how's the talk going with Honey?" Ethan asked, trying to assuage her fierce expression with a smile.

Anita's stern face slipped. "Good; Honey's surprisingly knowledgeable about handling kids, super or otherwise."

"That's good to know, I guess. We'll be right downstairs, promise," Ethan said with a broader smile now.

"Good. Don't forget you have to bring the laundry inside."

"Yes, Mum."

"Do you mind if I take this home? I want to read it over, see what sort of notes you've written about people," Wendy said to Ethan once Anita had left.

"Uh, okay. It's probably not very interesting; I'm more about facts than hearsay," Ethan said with a shrug.

"Good. I'll tell you my decision at the barbecue, Layla, Warren," Wendy said, nodding to them before she left the room.

"See you tomorrow," Donny said, heading after her.

Zach lingered for a moment, using a plush elephant to knock into another one. "Wendy's going to be the type to have a cape, isn't she?"

Ethan pushed his glasses up his nose and shrugged. "Maybe she'll be smart enough to see the danger of capes, maybe not."

Warren looked to Layla, who was watching as Zach and Ethan headed downstairs to Heidi.

"What do you think, hippie?" Warren asked.

"She'll probably get a cape."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," he muttered, even as Layla laughed and made her way downstairs as well.

...

End of the thirty-ninth chapter.

Thanks for reading!