Sarah POV
Sarah winced as she saw, for the first time, how Will's placement would go.
Will, thankfully, didn't catch her look and went up, hoping to minimize the damage.
He stood in front of the class, swinging his arms nervously before walking over to the coach,
whispering in his ear.
"What do you mean you don't know what your power is?" the coach boomed, negating any
attempt at subtlety.
Will chuckled nervously, changing a glance back to his classmates. Sarah nodded
encouragingly before speaking up.
"He means he's a late bloomer. His power hasn't shown up yet."
"You knew?" Zach said, accusingly.
"Yes. It wasn't my secret to tell."
He deflated, accepting her reasons.
The coach looked at me. "I didn't think you were the kind to participate in such a prank."
"I'm not, sir," Sarah stared into his eyes as he tried to find any hint of a lie.
"Brace yourself," Sarah whispered to Layla, knowing that Wren would hear.
He sighed. "Stronghold. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide-kiiickiick."
The poor boy went flying off the stage. Sarah reacted with speed, having already moved to
where he would fall and hitting his legs to redirect his flight path so he landed on his feet in a
crouch.
Will smiled at her in thanks. She just nodded before walking back to the group. Everyone was
staring at her, both wondering how she knew where to stand and how she could have possibly
had the skill to redirect his flight path from crash to landing.
She ignored the stares. Wren just looked at her in amazement and she looked back over her
shoulder and winked at the boy, smirking. He smiled. She turned her attention back to the
placements.
"Junior. You're up," the coach boomed, regaining the class' attention.
It went on like this until the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.
Sarah walked into the stronghold dining room, silent support for her friend Will. He wasn't going
to tell them in the next five minutes, despite his resolution to tell them as soon as he got home.
She hoped that he'd gain his courage sometime tonight.
"Oh, there he is!" Mr. Stronghold boomed. He was wearing a sweater vest over a light blue
button up shirt and his blue eyes sparkled behind his glasses.
"Hey," Will replied quietly.
"Man of the hour!" he joyously continued.
"Well, how'd it go?" Mrs. Stronghold asked, her voice soft as she finished setting the table. Her
maroon velvet blouse and tight brown pencil skirt blended into the warm ambiance.
"Um, Dad, we need to talk," Will started, about to take the plunge.
"You mean a little hero-to-hero talk?" The man's eyes twinkled and his face radiated joy and
pride. "I think I know just the place. Come on."
As the two men walked off, Mrs. Stronghold gestured for Sarah to join her in the kitchen.
"You know that, despite knowing where the secret sanctum entrance is, I don't have the
biometrics to get in?"
The woman blinked in surprise. "You're right. Steve totally forgot about waiting five minutes after
being in your presence to avoid spilling secrets. You-"
"Can't tell anyone. Yeah. Don't worry about it. I don't plan on forcing Will to add my biometrics."
Sarah smirked and Mrs. Stronghold laughed.
"How about another lesson in combat while we wait for the boys?"
"Yes, please!"
Josie had been training Sarah ever since she discovered her powers at age seven. The woman
had immediately seen the potential for a person who could see an attack coming to act on it in
combat. The trick had been training Sarah's mind to remember in detail the five minutes ahead
of it, simultaneously living in 5 minutes of time as it updated every second.
The two had honed this ability until Sarah could beat even Josie in unarmed and armed combat.
Considering Josie was Jetstream, who was a master of unarmed combat and great at many
other forms of such, this was a big achievement. But Sarah had promised Josie that she
wouldn't tell anyone that she had actually beaten the older woman, and now beat her about
80% of the time.
Jetstream would never hear the end of it. It was rather hard to beat someone with supersonic
flight and fighting prowess, it made her attacks come rapidly.
Sarah had gotten beat up enough by their training sessions to be able to react on a dime, at
least that was how it appeared. She knew what was coming and could position herself correctly
and move her limbs at incredible speed. She wasn't actually slowing time, she was just able to
see what was coming and could react to it. In combat, it allowed her to plan her moves, but she
still needed to execute them correctly and quickly. It had taken a while to time her combat
strategy to appear to be reacting at the correct point in time. Doing a move too early or too late
had given her a number of bruises. Mrs. Stronghold was of the belief that bruises made you
remember not to do it again. It worked, but those had been some painful days.
They went to the in-house gym and started sparring. Sarah won three times, but lost the other.
By the time the boys had come back up from the secret sanctum, Sarah was breathing heavily.
It was a great improvement from when she was 10 and one fight would exhaust her. Then
again, one fight against Jetstream was much different than a fight against someone else.
Sarah, despite her abilities, was more like Layla in the fact that she preferred to avoid violence.
Unlike her green friend, Sarah didn't think self-defense was violence, nor did she shy away from
confrontation. She didn't seek it out, but she wasn't going to be a pushover either.
Focusing back on the boisterous Mr. Stronghold, Sarah could see a very subtle hint of guilt in
Will's eyes. He hadn't told his dad.
"Wanna watch the stars?" she asked the boy. "There's going to be a meteor shower in about
four minutes."
"Yeah."
"Layla will probably join us."
"Soon?" he asked.
"Probably. But not in the next five minutes."