Chapter 9

After the incident with Mari and Joey, there was an awkward feeling in the air whenever they were together.

When Mari went back to school, it was no different. Later as they turned in their papers, Mari was a little nervous. She didn't really know if her paper was any good, since it was about people some thought didn't even really exist.

If you were to sit at Mari and her friends' table, you could tell that something was up. Poor Elle and Kevin didn't know anything about it and felt too awkward to say anything. Mari and Joey were in chemistry class when they found out that they had to do a lab all week, and they were going to be partners. All through the first day, they tried not to talk to each other. That went well until Mari's hand slipped and it landed right onto Joey's. Soon after, many beakers and flasks blew up. The class was evacuated from the room.

When Kitty came up later …Well, she wasn't happy that the two of them were partnered up instead of him and her. As Mari walked by, she decided that Mari had to go. So she came up with a diabolical plan that involved Mari "falling" and going into a coma …some how. So as Mari came closer, Kitty stuck out her foot, hoping that her plan would work. The first part worked: Mari hit her foot head on and started to fall toward the locker. What she didn't plan was that Joey was right there. Mari landed in his arms with their faces about an inch apart. Those two just kept looking at each other in shock and didn't notice that light bulbs were exploding, lockers were bursting open, and many other things were happening. They would have stayed like that until Elle came running to them.

"Guys! This place is going to blow, we have to get out of here!" she shouted put as she ran by. They looked up and saw that everything was going crazy.

Everyone ran out and met up with their friends and teachers, wanting to figure out what was happening. Mrs. Stone saw Elle and the others and went to check on them. "Are you all okay?" She asked, sounding a little worried.

"We're fine, Mom. Don't worry. Any idea on what happened?" Kevin knew they all wanted answers.

"I don't have any idea. I was grading papers when desks stated flying through the air. I really don't think there will be school tomorrow. But you four will get your papers as soon as I'm done grading." They all looked nervous. Most of their parents were about, and in Mari's case, she didn't want them to. "I have to go talk to the principal about what we are going to do. Stay right here." She gave them that mother-like look that they all knew meant she meant business. Mrs. Stone came back a few minutes later after talking to a much stressed out principal. "Well, looks like you are all dismissed. Go ahead and head back home. I will see you all later."

As they were all walking down the street, Mari stopped dead in her tracks. "Are you okay? You look as pale as my mom." Elle looked really worried, as did everyone else.

"Am I the only one that has a bad feeling?" They all looked at each other.

"What kind of bad feeling, 'something bad is going to happen' bad or 'I ate the mystery meat' bad?" As soon as those words left Kevin's mouth, everyone started at him.

"The first one. Why would I eat the mystery meat? Isn't that just suicidal?" The rest of the way home, the kids wouldn't stop talking, including Joey and Mari. There wasn't an awkward pause the entire time.

"Hey, do you all want to come and hang out at my house? I've got a bunch of snacks and video games. The second it was said, Kevin and Elle were racing to the Grayson's house.

"Are they normally like that?" She looked over at Joey, who just shrugged. They both walked up to Mari's front door where the other two were.

As they walked in, they saw Kori in the kitchen talking on the phone. "Hold on Karen, the kids just walked in." She turned toward them, "Hi, you guys. Grab anything you want from the fridge. Have fun!" She waited for the kids to leave the room before starting back up her conversation with Karen. "Are you sure it was like Rachel's powers?… You too?… I've had this feeling since we moved back here that something bad was happening. I think we really need to tell the kids the truth soon!… Okay, I'll call Rachel and tell her what I think…. Bye."

As Kori hung up the phone, Karen grabbed the last of the kids' papers to grade and saw that it was Mari's. She soon dropped the paper as if it were on fire. She kept rereading the first paragraph of the paper. The others just had to see this!

Later that night, everyone decided that they would all have dinner together at the Lagan's house. As they finished dinner, the kids went downstairs to hang out while the parents talked. Joey and Kevin were playing video games (which confused Mari a little) while Mari and Elle just sat and watched from behind. "Um, Mari? Can I tell you something?" Mari looked at Elle.

"Sure, you can tell me anything."

"I have really good hearing and smelling." Mari looked a little confused, and Elle saw this. Like, animal good."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe that."

"I'll prove it. Go over to the other end of the room and say something very softly. I bet you that I will hear you." Mari got up, walked up to the other end of the room by the stairs. If someone was at Elle's end and looked, all they would see would be Mari's lips moving slightly.

Mari got up and walked back toward where Elle was at. "Okay, what did I say?"

"You said that the video game that Kevin and Joey are playing is way too loud and stupid. Also, you said something about being able to beat them." Mari's eyes grew. No one else knew that she played video games, or that fact that she could beat her dad at them too.

"You really do have good hearing. I'll just trust you about your smelling."

"Just do me one favor. Don't tell anyone. They will treat me like I'm a freak." Mari just smiled at her friend.

"I promise. As long as you don't tell my parents about dating X."

"Wait, I knew you were dating a guy named Charlie, but your also dating a guy named X? You little playeress!" The two of them started laughing.

"No. X and Charlie are the same person. His middle name is Xavier, after his dad. Two years ago, when his whole bad boy act started, he decided to stop using his first name and to be just X. I'm the only person who can call him Charlie."

The two girls kept talking until the boys came over. "We're bored. We're going to listen to what the parents are talking about. Want to join?" Kevin said. The two girls looked at each other and nodded. All four of them tiptoed up the stairs. They started walking toward the kitchen door. As they did so, they heard Mrs. Logan yelling a little bit. They all pressed their ears to the door as hard as they could without causing the swinging door to open.

"I will NOT tell my children about my past! I don't want them to know about some of the things that have happened to me!" Rachel sounded mad.

"Rae, I think we should tell them the truth. They have the right to know. If they do have powers, then it's good to help them control them now, rather then later in life," Gar said. Rachel looked at her husband and glared at him. She got up from her seat in his arms and walked over to the other end of the room.

"Our children are showing signs that they have powers. It would probably be best to tell them. Besides, I have had this bad feeling, and I think something is wrong." When Kori started talking about "her feeling," Rachel stopped. She looked at Kori, then to Karen.

"You too?" As she asked Karen nodded her head. Rachel started mumbling something that the kids couldn't hear. She walked back to were she was sitting.

"Okay, wait. How come all of you guys have 'that feeling'?" Gar started. "I mean, I know that it's Rachel's powers and all, but how come you have 'that feeling'?"

"It's a woman thing," Karen said in her chair I front of Victor.

As soon as Gar mentioned Rachel's powers, all of the kids went crazy. Right after Karen said something, Elle lost her balance and fell on Kevin, who fell on Joey, causing Mari to fall with them. All four of them fell through the door into the room. All the parents hopped out of their seats when hearing the thud of the falling teens.

"Uh, hehe, hey mom. What's up?" Elle asked while on top of everyone.

"How much of that did you hear?" Rachel asked, looking down at her kids and the others.

Mari pushed everyone off of her as she rolled over. "Enough to know that you're all hiding something from us." Mai looked more toward her parents. Richard was about to say something when Karen stepped in.

"Mari, uh, I have your paper here. I was just wondering if you could read your first paragraph for me." She handed Mari the paper.

"Uh, I'd like to, but I have this problem where if I read out loud, I, uh, misread, and it's kind of like dyslexia but different."

"Are you sure that she is your daughter?" Rachel said to Richard, pointing at Mari. Kori gave a look that was so scary that Rachel stepped back.

"Mari'and'r Robin Luna-ann Grayson!" Kori said looking at Mari.

"Mom, I just don't want - wait. What was that you said? That wasn't my name."

"I said your name. Just read the paper, and then I'll explain it after." Kori was acting very strange and Mari knew that.

"Fine." Mari grabbed the paper and started reading, "'I have many people in my life that I would count as my heroes. My parents are mainly my biggest one, as is my grandfather, and many others that would take too long to write. But my biggest hero, I haven't met before. Actually, it's more like heroes. My report is on the Teen Titans.' Do you want me to go on?" She looked at Karen. All she did was nod. Mari took a deep breath and continued. "'There were actually many more Titans around the world than what people think. But my report is mostly on the original five. Every Titan had an important role. Raven was very serious and knew a lot from all of the books she read.'" As Mari read this, Rachel smiled a little bit and snuggled closer to her husband. "'Beast Boy was a little bit of a goof-off, but was always there for his friends." Gar wouldn't stop smiling until Rachel nudged him in the stomach. "'Starfire was different from most people, but would help anybody that was in trouble, no matter who you were.'" Kori looked like she was about to start crying. "'Cyborg was second in command and was a very good inventor. He even made one of the most famous car ever. And no, I'm not talking about the Batmobile.'" Victor had to hold in very big laugh on that last part. ''And finally, there was Robin. He was leader, and one of the most well-known of the Titans, but not the most important one.' There, that was my first paragraph. Mom, are you crying?"

Everyone looked over at Kori, whose head was buried in her husband's shirt. "No, I'm laughing. You're really kicking yourself about not building the Batmobile, huh?" She said through hysterics. Everyone else started laughing; even Rachel gave a little chuckle. All of the teens just sat there and stared at their parents. They probably would have stayed like that until Lilly, Joey and Elle's little sister, came down in her little nightgown holding a blanket and sucking her thumb.

"We probably sop laughing like we're crazy so Lilly can get some sleep." Rachel got up and picked up the little girl and started taking her upstairs.

"I've got her, Mom." Elle took the sleeping girl from her mother and took her upstairs, but not before she stopped by Mari and asked her to fill her in when she got back.

"Okay. I read part of my paper; now tell me why you added all of that stuff onto my name." Kori sighed, stood up and started to fidget.

"Well, you see, uh, I'm not from here." kori looked very nervous.

"Yeah, I know, but what does that have to do with all the weird stuff added to my name?" Rachel looked over at Kori and smirked.

"I mean I'm not from here as in this, uh, planet."

Mari almost fainted. Rachel started to laugh a little bit. "What are you laughing about? You're from another dimension!"

"When did you get so mean? What happened to you being all sweet and innocent?" Rachel said looking at Kori.

"I moved to Gotham." Everyone laughed except the teens again.

"What do you mean you're not from this planet/dimension?!" Mari and Joey both yelled.

"Oh my gosh." Mari face-palmed. "Let me go off on a limb here." She pointed at Rachel and Gar, "Raven and Beast Boy," --she pointed at Victor and Karen-- "Cyborg and, uh, Bumble Bee?" Karen nodded and smiled. Mari looked over at her parents. "Robin and Starfire." They both nodded. Mari then started to laugh. No one really got what was so funny. After a little bit of laughing, she suddenly stopped and her eyes got big.

"Well, I would say that it finally sunk in," Gar said, sitting on the couch.

"If you're, well, him, then that makes Grandpa…" This caused her to stop dead in her tracks. "Oh my God."

"What does that make your grandpa?" Elle said while walking down the stairs. "By the way, I could hear you guys all the way upstairs. You're lucky Lilly didn't wake up."

"I'll explain after my anxiety attack," Mari said as she almost sat down on thin air. She would have fallen if Rachel hadn't moved the ottoman that she was sitting on earlier. "thanks," she mumbled. Elle looked completely scared.

"I think we should start trying to figure out what kids have what powers, if any," Richard suggested.

"Good idea. Um, Joey, have you felt power course through you when you felt an extreme amount of an emotion?" For the first time in a while, Joey blushed; Mari, still in a state of shock, wasn't paying attention. "Uh, kind of, yeah. I was really embarrasses in Chemistry and a few beakers exploded a few seconds later." Rachel sighed.

"That was what I was worried about. What about last week? You know, the day the streetlight exploded?" Joey nodded, trying to hide the blush that had started to grow on his face. "Well, you take after me. That is what I was scared of." She mumbled the last part so no one could hear her.

"Um, why were you scared of that, Mom?" Elle looked confused. So did Rachel.

"Uh, Honey, did you hear your mother say that?" Gar asked. Elle nodded. "How's your sense of smell?"

After he said that, Elle looked over at Mari and hit her with a pillow. That knocked Mari back to this world.

"What did you do that for?" She grabbed the pillow that Elle threw at her and threw it back at her. It knocked Elle off of her seat.

"You told them?! Why?" Elle shouted as she got up.

"I didn't tell them anything. I've been in a state of shock since you went upstairs," Mari shouted back. The two started to yell at each other until they were both suddenly wrapped in black. Everyone looked at Rachel, but she wasn't the one doing it. They all then looked at Joey. His eyes were completely white. Almost as soon as it happened, it stopped and his eyes were their normal amethyst color.

"So, Elle, how well is your sense of smell?" Gar asked, trying to break the silence.

"Well, I can tell that Dad forgot to take out the trash." Gar's eyes grew wide. Rachel gave him a death glair. "And I can tell that Mom is going to kill Dad if he doesn't take it out soon." Gar quickly got up and ran to the kitchen, grabbed the trash, and ran to take it outside.

"Well, later we'll figure out if you can turn into animals, but it's starting to get late." Rachel said before getting up. Mari went to say goodbye to the others and vice versa. While they were doing that, the parents started to whisper.

"Okay, see you all tomorrow. Come on, Mari. Night." The Graysons and the Stones and walked out and to their own houses.

After having a hard night's sleep, Mari was woken up before dawn. "Come on, we need to go. Grab Titan," Her dad said scaring the lack of daylights out of Mari.

Mari had a hard time getting dressed since it was so early. She went to grab Titan, and then went to the car, dozing off in the backseat. They drove for what felt like hours to Mari, bit was only ten minutes. All of a sudden, the car stopped, causing her to wake up and accidentally kicked Titan, who was asleep on the floor of the car.

"We're here," her dad announced while getting out of the car. The Logans and the Stones both pulled up and got out of their cars, also with very sleepy kids in tow.

Elle was asleep on her brother's shoulder when e moved his arm. She was jolted up, stretched, and looked at what the parents were looking toward. "No freakin' way."

Well there is chapter 9. Also, see that little purple button on the bottom of the screen? Push it and tell me what you think of my story. I promise it won't bite you. See you next chapter