Steve and Will circled the house several times, and Josie even flew up to see if he'd snuck onto the roof. But I knew they weren't going to find him. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did.
Steve and Josie got a call on, what I was calling, The Super Phone. Like the Bat Signal, except a little more like the… Commander and Jetstream signal. Not quite as catchy. Will's parents told him not to leave the house until they came back and he agreed.
Personally, I wasn't entirely sure that keeping us locked up in the house was going to do much good, but I didn't voice my opinions. So we sat down on the couch and stuck in a movie. It was a Disney movie, so we could get Emma to fall asleep. I wasn't entirely sure how many Disney movies she'd seen in her lifetime, as Aunt Rose had gotten rid of most of them when I turned twelve.
We were halfway through Beauty and the Beast when there was a knock on the door. Both Will and I let out a little shriek. "You're the one with the flight and super strength, you answer it." I said, setting Emma on my lap as Will stood up, looking ready for a fight.
Will sighed when he unlocked the door and let Warren in. I looked at him confused. "It's not tomorrow night." I said, looking at the clock. No, The Commander and Jetstream had only been gone for three hours.
"I got here as soon as I could get off work." He said, coming to sit next to me on the couch.
"Now, that's just ridiculous. Why'd you do that?" I asked Will, who just kicked an invisible rock on the carpet.
"What happened?" Warren asked, ignoring my last two previous comments.
"I just saw a guy that wasn't there." I said with a shrug before it hit me how crazy that sounded. "Wait, no. Rewind. Pause. Playback. I saw a guy that disappeared." Yeah, that was totally helping me…
"Do you have your powers encyclopedia?" Will asked and Warren nodded, watching me for a second before turning to Will. "It's in the back compartment of my bike." Will went outside and I looked over at Warren. "Are you ok?" He asked, almost whispering.
I nodded. "Emma started screaming and I picked her up, and looked out the window. He was standing by the back fence and he wore all black. Like, seriously, everything he wore was black. He scared me."
Warren nodded as Will came back in and sat on the other side of the couch near me. He was flipping through a book I couldn't understand. "Well, there's Necromancy. Illusions." Will said, listing them off.
"No, he was there. If I'd been in the yard, I would have been able to touch him." I told them both. Will went back to the book.
"What did his face look like?" Warren asked.
"I don't know. I couldn't see his face." I told him.
"There's power sense or danger sense." Will said and Warren looked over at him. "Power sense: The ability to sense the presence of the mutant gene or other superhuman abilities in others. Super heroes known to have this power are Sage, Cerebra, and Professor Xavier of the X-Men."
I just shook my head. "No, I don't think he had super powers per say. He just… scared me. I felt like something bad was going to happen."
Warren told Will to flip back to the last one he'd listed. "Danger sense: Danger sense is the ability to, simply put, sense danger. It is a limited form of Precognition. This power is often given different names, and like most mental powers, varies greatly from person to person. Spider-Man's danger sense is called his 'spider-sense', and alerts him when danger is near, though he does not always know the specifics of the danger."
They both looked over at me, Will not bothering to list out super heroes with similar powers. "You felt scared, like something bad was going to happen. Maybe you have Danger Sense." Will said, looking at me.
"But I didn't see him until Emma screamed." I said, looking down at the baby that was asleep in my arms.
"Maybe that was your trigger. You were so scared that Emma was in danger. I saw the look on your face. You were imagining a lot worse things than a guy in black at the back fence." Will continued.
I nodded, looking down at my sleeping angel. "So, I'm like Spider-Man without the web shooters?" I said, cracking a smile.
But neither of the guys took it as a joke.
"And it doesn't make sense that Emma was my trigger. I mean, I've been scared half to death a lot of times and I've been in danger plenty. My Spidey sense was never tingling." I said, trying to see the reason behind it. Warren just watched our conversation, looking back and forth.
"Take this how I'm meaning it, not how I'm saying it." Will said, watching me and I nodded. "Have you ever been as scared as you were for Emma today, for yourself?"
I looked down at Emma and thought about it. No, not really. I'd always kind of walked into those scary situations, expecting the worst. And even when I was surprised, I was never as scared as I was today, for myself. I looked up at Will and he knew he had won our little argument.
"Emma was your trigger." He said, as if he should be accepting an award for saving the city.
I shook my head at him. "But that makes no sense. My mom had Astral Projection. How do you get a mild form of Precognition out of Astral Projection?"
"Your aunt has Telepathy. What did you grandparents have?" Warren asked, finally joining the conversation.
I had to actually think about it for a minute. Aunt Rose didn't mention Grandma and Grandpa Blair a lot. Think, Cora, think. "I think my grandma could form illusions for a little while." I said, still thinking. "I think Grandpa Blair could see the future. But I can't remember. Aunt Rose missed him too much to talk about him a lot."
"There ya go. You said your grandpa had an affair and then there was your mom. It must've been stored in her genes and watered down to you." Will just looked like he was on a roll. "Ok, now that we know you do have a power, we need to train you." He said, hopping off the couch.
And his roll was over. "Train? Why? Because I saw some guy outside the window that scared the crap out of me?"
Will looked at me exhausted and he was starting to remind me of the hippie.
"No. I'm taking Emma to bed. I'll be back." I said, standing up. I saw Will pick up the TV remote out of the corner of my eye. "If you throw that at me while I'm carrying my daughter, I will have Warren shove it down your throat."
Will gave me a little look. "Not woman enough to do it yourself? Gotta get War to do your dirty work?"
"We both know you'd make me a vegetable if you even hug me wrong. I can't take you. But Warren's gonna come really close." I said with a smile.
Will put up his hands in defeat, tossing the remote on the couch. "I'll help you." Warren said, following me up to my bedroom. When I got inside, I set Emma on the changing table. Warren watched me as I threw away the dirty diaper and put a new one on her.
I picked her up and Warren stepped closer, gently kissing her on the head. I smiled at him, setting her in the crib. I just looked at her. "She looks just like you." Warren said from behind me.
"Aunt Rose used to say she looked like Dean. It was really hard to take care of her. I loved her for being my little miracle baby. But she looked just like him; it would send me into this fit of uncontrollable rage." I said, saddened by the memories.
"Before my dad got thrown in Super Max, the super hero prison," Warren said, moving to my side. "I used to do the stupidest stuff to make him happy. He'd get home from work and say one thing about a glass of water and I'd run for the kitchen to get it for him."
I looked over at Warren. "But he kind of just tossed me aside when he saw the 'hero' spark in me. I never knew what he was talking about until we saved the school. I grew up thinking I was going to follow in my dad's footsteps, and I ended up following my mom's."
He looked at me. "Don't be mad at her because she looks like him. Be happy she'll never know him."
I nodded, giving him a little hug. I turned on the baby monitor and moved out of the room. I clipped the receiving end of the baby monitor onto my pocket. "Do you think Will's right about this Danger Sense stuff?" Warren asked and something tingled inside my chest. I held up my hand, catching the TV remote inches before it hit me in the head.
"That's a yes." Will said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking proud.
I looked down at the remote I had just caught. "You threw that at me?" Will nodded. "I would beat the crap out of you, if I wasn't impressed with myself." I said, looking up at Warren, who was still a step above me. "Did you see that?"
He nodded. "Controlled training." He said, looking at Will, who gave a little victory dance.
"Do I get a say in this?" I asked both of them.
"Have you ever handled this kinda of thing before?" Warren asked, in a tone that made me think of my dad.
"No…" I said, trailing off.
"Then you get a say in what part of the house you stand." Warren said, walking past me to Will.
"Ya know, you don't gotta boss me around like that. A simple 'please do your training, Cora' would have been completely acceptable." I said, walking towards the kitchen for a glass of water as I tossed the remote back at Will.
I got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it with water. I set the glass on the counter and the tingling in my chest came back. I turned, putting my hand in front of my face. The TV remote bounced off my hand and broke into ten or fifteen pieces on the floor. I kneeled down, picking up the pieces and taking them to the trash.
"That is the coolest thing ever." Will said, absentmindedly as I got the broom and swept up the little pieces.
"If you're going to walk around throwing things at me, I'm going to start carrying mace. I'd like to see your super strength battle that." I said, glaring at him a little.
"She's right dude. If she misses it or something, you could break her arm." Warren said, coming to help me.
"So how do we do controlled training without Wonder Boy busting me up?" I asked, looking at Warren.
"I'll have to throw things at you. I'm pretty strong, but if you miss, I won't make you a vegetable." Warren said, and I nodded.
Will took offense. "But it was my idea." He sounded like he was whining.
"Good job, Boy Wonder. Now, go find some little things for me to throw at Cora." Warren said.
Will came back and laid out his collection on the counter. He had scrounged up a box of Q-tips, two hairbrushes, a roll of duct tape, seven or eight pens, and four of the extra phones the Stronghold's kept in the drawer under the microwave.
"Q-tips?" I asked, holding up the box and trying to see if there was anything else inside.
"We needed something to throw at you that wouldn't hurt you, even if Stronghold threw it." Warren explained, taking the batteries out of the phones.
"You're not giving it up, are you?" Will asked, still ticked about us calling him Wonder Boy.
"Nope." Warren said, putting the battery cover back on the phone. "Stand in the middle of the kitchen, over there, and turn around."
I was still incredibly skeptical of this entire thing. I was going to have a goose egg on the back of my head by the time the night was over; I could already feel it forming. I took a shaky breath and did as he requested.
My whole body was tense, scared of what was going to happen. Then something touched my shoulder. The Q-tip was clinging to the shoulder of my shirt. I turned around. "Are you guys serious? This isn't going to set off any kind of Danger Sense."
Will shushed me and told me to turn back around. A couple more Q-tips landed against my back and I just stood there bored. Then there was that tingling in my chest. I ducked and the phone slammed against the wall. Surprisingly, it was only cracked.
"That was impressive." Will said.
Warren just smiled. "Definitely Danger Sense."
"I don't even know how that happens." I said, picking up the phone to return it to the island where the guys were standing.
"What happens when your Spidey sense goes off?" Warren asked, taking the phone from me.
I thought about it a little bit. "My chest gets this kind of… tingly sensation. I don't really know how to explain it. Like, when your leg goes to sleep. The pins and needles kind of feeling, I guess." I told them.
Warren nodded, while Will just gave me a look. "Let's try again." Warren suggested and I went back to stand where I was. Will threw two more Q-tips at me, both kind of clung to my shirt.
But then the tingling in my chest and I decided to catch whatever was being thrown. I turned and closed my hand around the hairbrush that, two seconds later, would have bounced off my head.
Will nodded. "Very nice."
Warren just shook his head. "What if that had been a knife?"
"A knife? Why would you be throwing knives at me?" I asked, putting the hairbrush on the counter.
Warren just shook his head more. "It's called Danger Sense for a reason."
I rolled my eyes. "You're the one that wanted to do 'controlled training.' So it's my fault I caught the hairbrush when I knew it was a hairbrush?" I asked him. He was frustrating me.
"You knew it was a hairbrush?" Will asked and Warren looked over at me through his veil of hair.
"Um. Well, I mean, I knew it was harmless." I said, not sure what I had meant.
"No, that's not how you said it. You said it like you could tell it wasn't a knife." Will pushed.
"I guess, yeah?" I said. I didn't understand why this was a big deal. It's not like it was all that useful.
"So if I threw a knife at you, you'd know to duck because it's not a hairbrush?" Warren asked.
"I don't know. This is stupid. It wasn't going to hurt me. It wasn't a knife. Why are you making this a big deal?" I asked. He was definitely frustrating me. But a crying noise sounded and I looked at the baby monitor on the counter, flashing red every time the sound came out of it.
Without looking at either of them, I left the room and took the stairs two at a time. I picked up Emma and bounced her. She quieted as I held her. I walked over to the window as I bounced her. I didn't really know what I was doing. Not with Emma, but with this whole situation I had gotten myself into.
I didn't know what I was doing, standing in the Stronghold house, were Emma and I were staying, while Will and Warren were downstairs trying to train the powers I didn't even know I had until earlier that day.
It was a lot to take in. I had always been fine with not having powers. It meant my mom and I didn't have that connection. Now that I did have a power, I didn't know what to do with it. It was a lame power. Nothing super.
I could tell if I was about to be hurt. Wow. How thrilling. What use was that going to be to me if I was supposed to be safe here in Maxville? Emma calmed down and just stared at me, as if she could read my inner turmoil. "How are we gonna do this, baby girl?"
She just looked up at me, almost curious. "I know this is supposed to be our life now and I know we're supposed to be a little bit of this weird family. But your daddy left me when I needed him most. Not Warren, your real daddy. I know it wasn't all his fault, but baby girl, I don't know if I can do that again. You deserve better than what I ended up with."
She just smiled up at me and reached her tiny hand towards my face. I moved her onto my shoulder so she could pat my cheek.
"You really think we're gonna be ok here, honey bee?" I asked her, kissing her hand.
Emma smiled bigger and patted her head. Then pointed over my shoulder. I turned to see Warren leaning against the door jamb. I was kind of scared he'd heard what I had said. But he just stayed in his position.
"I'm sorry." I said out of instinct.
"I wasn't trying to make you mad." He said at the same time.
I just looked away from him. "I'm sorry I got mad. I knew it wasn't a knife. I knew you wouldn't be throwing knives at me. That's why I didn't think it was a big deal."
"I'm sorry I made a big deal out of it. I just don't want anything to happen to you. To Emma. If you go to catch whatever is hurtling towards you and it's not a hairbrush or a phone…" He trailed off as he walked over to me.
"I know. I'm not going to be trying it with knives or anything. Promise." I told him, bouncing Emma a little bit. She held her hands out for Warren and I handed her over to him. "She really likes you, ya know."
He nodded, noticing my tone. "If you don't want me to be around here, all you have to do is say the word."
I sighed sadly. "That's not it, Warren. Not it at all. I just..." I trailed off, wandering over to the window that allowed the moonlight filtering in.
I heard Warren walk up behind me and Emma gently hit me on the back. "I'm not going to leave you like he did. Not unless you want me to."
My ears heard his words, but part of me wouldn't accept them as truth. Part of me was thinking he was only saying that to comfort me. I took a shaky breath, hearing Warren shift behind me. "He was shot. Plowed down in an ally." I said, keeping a close eye on the tree in the Stronghold's backyard.
"I'm sorry." Warren's voice was gentle; understanding.
I shook my head a little, turning to face him. "It's not your fault he was a ruthless gang member and killed a bunch of people." I said, with the smallest smile I could muster. But it was filled with misery. I had loved him. And he got killed. "I'm sure he would have left as soon as I told him about Emma, anyway."
"He didn't know? About her?" Warren was suddenly uncomfortable and I hated it. I took Emma from him and laid her down in the crib. "Goodnight baby girl." I whispered to her, kissing her forehead. I could feel the tears burning my eyes.
Emma clapped happily as Warren followed suit, looking up at me. "I think I'm just going to go to bed, Warren." I said, opening a box and pulling out a pair of pajama pants and an old t-shirt. I knew I hadn't answered his question. I didn't want to. I stopped moving when I felt his hand on the small of my back. No threatening, or uncomfortable. Reassuring.
I gently took his wrist and pulled it away from me. My chest was swollen with sadness I hadn't faced in a long, long time; if ever. It literally hurt me. I didn't want Warren to see me fall apart like this.
Warren gently took hold of my shoulder and turned me to face him. I couldn't look him in the eye. But he softly placed his finger under my chin and guided my eyes to his. He looked at me for a long moment and I was torn between looking away, and getting lost in his eyes.
"I will never leave unless you tell me to. I'll be here as long as you want me to be." He said, letting go of my chin. I moved forward and hugged him. It was either that or, turn away and cry.
I missed being close to someone. And Warren had somehow become my life link. Even when I was spying on him. He kept me grounded. I pulled away from him and quickly looked away, wiping my face. I hadn't realized I had start crying, but my face was wet.
Part of me knew Warren wanted me to look at him, but I didn't want him to see me cry, even if he was going to really stick around. After I felt like my face as been rubbed raw, I turned back to him, keeping my eyes trained on the hard wood below my feet.
"I really am gonna go to bed now. I'll see you tomorrow?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah." He said, matching my tone. "I'll come by before work." He said, leaning down and kissing the top of my head. Then he turned and left the room, closing the door as he went.
By the time the door clicked closed, I was laying on the bed crying again.