Mom had wanted them to get a lecture, and boy, were they getting one. Grandpa hadn't let up yet.

"What if you'd hit Jordan?" he asked Jon.

That was an interesting proposition. What if he had? It was difficult to tell these days. Maybe it would bounce off as easily as it did for Dad. Jon was thinking it over carefully too, wondering the same thing.

"You boys know what I mean. One of you could have gotten hurt. Firearms are not toys."

"I know," Jon said, "but I've needed one a lot lately. You know that. Why can't I practice? Why can't Natalie learn if she wants to? I know how she feels. I thought you'd be the pro-gun one in this family."

"I am the pro-gun one, and that's why I respect what it can do. Accidents happen when you think you can drop precautions. You want to practice your aim. Fine. I'll take you to a shooting range when we get back, but you don't take my gun without my permission, and you certainly don't take your friends along to fire it; I don't care what they want to learn."

"Yes, sir," Jon relented.

Jordan still thought it was overreacting. After everything they'd been through, firing guns was tame by comparison. But maybe there was a point in there somewhere. Accidents did happen, and for all he knew, bullets could hurt him. He'd certainly bled before. "Yes, sir," he added.

Evening was falling when everyone returned to camp. He'd unwillingly heard Natalie getting into it with her dad. He found it hard to tune out yelling. Everyone seemed calmer now.

After they ate a hearty helping of beans and more of the trout from earlier today, Dad had an announcement. "I thought we'd try charades," he said in his overly chipper way that was all Dad.

"Yay," he said with zilch enthusiasm.

In fact, as they assembled around in the camping chairs to form a circle, the only one looking enthused was probably Dad, and Jordan figured some of that was probably at least a little manufactured in an attempt to get the others' excitement up.

"It's not an even number," Mom pointed out.

"We can do kids verses adults," Jon said.

And his enthusiasm continued to drop. He still wasn't comfortable hanging with Natalie. Admittedly, they had been able to hang together in the woods agreeably until Mom discovered them, but he couldn't help feeling on edge with her, knowing she hated Superman and Kryptonians in general. What if he did something to give himself away?

"I kept it simple," Dad said as he drew one of the folded white slips of paper. "I made them all titles of movies. I'll go first. Jonathan, can you time us? We have sixty seconds on the clock. Go." He held up one finger.

"One!" Mom shouted right away.

He nodded and started flapping his arms.

"You're excited," John Henry guessed.

He shook his head.

"Plane," Grandpa called out.

Dad flapped harder.

"A bird!" Mom shouted.

Dad flapped even harder, and they stared at him with continued puzzlement.

"Time's up," Jon said, stopping the timer on his phone.

"What was it?" Mom asked.

"Flew. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

"How is this flying?" Mom said doing an exaggerated imitation of his performance. "What are you a wounded bird?"

They were all in stitches. The laughter made them feel closer as a group, proving maybe Dad knew what he was doing.

"Everyone knows this is flying," he said.

"Your dad's kind of a goofball," Natalie said. Then she added under her breath, "I bet she would have gotten it if it was a Superman pose."

"What?" Jordan asked.

"Nothing," she said. Then she said as she watched their playful arguing continue, "Your parents really love each other, don't they?"

"What? You thought they didn't?" Jordan asked.

"I don't know what I thought. I guess I used to think there was one perfect person out there for you. Silly, isn't it? I'm a scientific, mathematics-minded kind of girl, and I guess I believed in fairy tales."

"That's not so silly," Jon said. "And maybe it's both kind of true, you know? Maybe we're all soulmates, people destined to touch each other's lives in different ways at different times. Maybe your mother needed your father on that Earth. And maybe on this one, only Dad would do for Mom."

"That's a nice thought," she said quietly.

For a jock, Jon was good with words and often knew exactly what to say to make a person feel better. He envied that power in the same way Jon had been envying his. He would gladly trade with him.

Jon pulled a piece of paper, and suddenly for a split second, it was like it wasn't there. Was it possible he needed glasses? Of course, Dad didn't really need his, and Mom only wore reading glasses and then only recently, making it unlikely.

He rubbed his eyes and waited for the clock to start, and the next thing he knew he was seeing bones, Jon's whole skeletal frame really. He immediately averted his gaze upward and tried not to go into a full-blown panic. To say it was disconcerting would be an understatement.

"Go," Dad said.

"Hey, genius, you have to look at me to be able to guess what I'm doing," Jon said teasingly.

"I can't," he said. They were just two little words, but they were chocked full of meaning that he hoped Jon got. He really wished twin telepathy was a thing. Then again, maybe he didn't as it would be just one more power to have to deal with.

"Jordan, is everything okay?" Natalie asked from beside him.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he lied to her without looking her direction. He didn't dare look her way, not only for fear of getting a good look at her as a skeleton but for fear that he would figure out how to start putting some layers but not others. She must think he was so weird.

He tried shutting his eyes, but he was able to see through his eyelids. At least, there wasn't much to see through in the sky except for a few clouds. He focused on remembering to breathe, but he was losing any calm he had quickly.

He didn't need a new form of vision to know that by this point everyone was watching him. The panic finally won out, and he ran for the cover of the tent such as it was because it was like it wasn't even there.

He tried not to cry. When would this all stop? He felt like tearing down the tent, but right now, it was providing the only cover he had. As soon as he thought that he couldn't get any stranger, another power emerged.

It was no surprise when Dad followed, not only because he knew him so well but because he could see him coming or rather his bone structure. Dad looked the same as any human on the inside as well, but Jordan was all too aware now of just how different he was, how different they both were.

"X-ray vision, huh?" he asked quietly as he sat down beside him.

"Yep."

"The good news is it's not as hard to control as the others. Just do your best to hang on until Natalie's asleep and then we'll go out into the woods and practice."

Jordan felt Dad's strong hand on his shoulder, and it did reassure him. It was helpful having someone who'd been through what you'd been through. He could only imagine what Dad had gone through not knowing what the powers were, how many there could be, or even why he was getting them.

"Sorry I ruined the evening," he apologized. Social situations had always been a bit overwhelming and with emerging powers, it made it ten times worse. He could have exited more gracefully.

"You didn't ruin anything. As a matter of fact, you saved me from having to listen to your mother complain all evening about my terrible clues."

That made him smile because it was true. Mom didn't take losing well.

"Besides, we have plenty of time left for fun and games."

Yeah, three and a half days and counting, and he was. This trip couldn't be over fast enough as far as he was concerned.