"Why then?" she asked sincerely.
"You're worried that our abilities might be evil," Rai said, brooding. "I don't think that's the case, I really don't. But they can be dangerous to us and everyone around us if we don't learn to control them."
"This is about what happened at Kendra's house when it caught on fire," Amber stated. It wasn't a question. "You've been worried about something bad happening to me."
"What Kendra has," Rai said in a quiet voice, "it got away from her, and it burned everything."
"How do I get rid of this?" Amber replied. "I'm not going to let myself be a threat to people. I'm not."
"I don't think we can make them go away," Rai said. "And if that's the case, we have a responsibility to make sure these powers we have aren't a danger to others."
"What do I need to do?" Amber asked in a resigned voice.
9
BIGGER
“I am concentrating!" Amber snapped. She was with Rai out in the south end of the property, trying to push a big rock. She had donned her heavy-leather work gloves and boots and felt as prepared as she could be for what Rai had planned for her. They kept clear of the house or anything else she might accidentally damage while trying to use her "powers." Heavy rain fell, but Rai was doing something with his ability that kept it from hitting them.
"Try to visualize the rock moving," Rai repeated in an annoying Zen-like tone. At least he had stopped doing the "Yoda voice." Amber imagined herself pushing the rock as clearly as she could and then tried shoving it again with both hands. She might as well have been trying to push a building—uphill.
"I don't think it's working," Amber moaned.
"Are you picturing the rock in your mind, this unique rock moving?" Rai said in a low accented voice that took her a moment to place.
"You're going with Mr. Miyagi, now?"
"I figured it was worth a shot," Rai admitted and started pacing again. Amber sighed and leaned against the rock. "Picturing the air in my mind is how I use my powers. Once I imagine it clearly, it sort’a sets up a connection."
"I think, I felt something like that the other night," Amber said. She sat on the rock and looked up at the sky. She could see the raindrops landing a few feet above their heads as if she were standing under a big glass dome. It was strange and unreal. Rai had been holding back the rain like this for over an hour, and it didn't look like it needed much effort on his part.
"Felt something …when you did whatever you did to the oil spill, or when you moved the dumpster?"
"Both times, I think," Amber confirmed. "With the oil in the yard, I felt sick and wanted it to be gone. It was silly at the time, like when you have the flu, and you wish it would go away. But I did something to the ground, and now the dirt all over the property is changed."
"It looks like you cleaned it," Rai said. "Purified it even."
"Not just that." Amber shook her head. "My dad had a look at it that first morning over by the tractor, and he knows dirt. There are minerals in it now that weren’t there before. It’s weird. I'm convinced I did this somehow, but I can't wrap my mind around how."
"It's totally possible." Rai paused his pacing and smiled. "Take a deep breath and smell the air around you."
"Is this another meditation thing?" Amber sighed.
"No, just humor me." Rai grinned as if he'd figured something out. "Tell me if it seems stuffy at all to you."
"I don't smell anything," Amber said after a few sniffs.
"Exactly!" Rai exclaimed, and Amber grimaced.
"And that is relevant because …?" She asked.
"I'm controlling the air around us to keep the rain off," Rai confirmed.
"Yes, you've mentioned that several times."
"Yeah," Rai continued, "but this shield is all the way to the ground, and it's not very big. You'd think the air would get stale after a while with both of us inside, but it's not."
"I'd assumed you were letting more air inside," Amber replied.
"I haven't had to." Rai grinned widely. "I hadn't even thought about it before now, but I believe I'm changing the air around me all the time without even thinking about it! I think we're breathing perfected air inside my dome."
"And we're standing on perfected earth," Amber finished with a sense of awe.
"It makes total sense!" Rai exclaimed. "You didn't just clean the toxic mess on the ground, you improved the ground. You're like me. Only instead of air, you control earth. That has to be it. Awesome! Now, try and move that rock with your mind!"
"Okay, slow down." Amber shook her head. "Give me a minute to digest all this."
"Sorry," Rai apologized. "This is super exciting for me. Kendra won't even talk about her powers. Granted, she burned her house down with them and is understandably upset about it."
"Kendra's power burns things?"
"Like a massive flamethrower," Rai confirmed.
"That's really scary," Amber said.
"Yeah, yeah, it is," Rai said in a subdued voice.
"I guess, that explains all the red sparks I try not to see around her. What about Jordan?" Amber asked.
"We're not sure about Jordan," Rai admitted. "I don't see anything around him, do you?"
"I don't see anything either, but he's got something going on. I don't know how to describe it." She thought for a moment before shrugging. "Whatever he's got …it's loud."
"Interesting way of putting it." Rai nodded. "I like it." They sat under the shield on the northern edge of the property while the rain fell, and the sky lit up occasionally with rolling lightning. Amber lay against the large boulder and worked through acceptance of all the new strangeness in her life while Rai paced nearby and allowed her to process in her own way.
***
Amber was exhausted from "concentrating" and "imagining" rocks moving around. She sat on the porch with a large glass of sweet tea and lamented the state of her boots. They were soaked through and covered in dark mud from all the trudging around out in the fields with Rai. His shoes were even worse off than her boots and had as much mud in them as on them. At least her clothes and hair had come through unscathed thanks to Rai holding back the rain, but there was nothing he could do about the muddy ground. The unfortunate footwear had been left on the steps while the two of them took a break from "lessons."
"I don't understand," Rai said as he crumpled up his second bag of chips. "Visualizing the air totally works for me. Are you sure you..."
"If you ask me if I'm sure I pictured the rocks in my head again I'm going to throw one at yours," Amber said in a dangerously calm voice.
"Okay! Okay!" Rai waved his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Well, you found a way to connect and use your powers at least twice now. We just need to figure out how you did it."
"Why?" Amber asked.
"We've been over this," Rai said. "It's important to know how to control your powers."
"Yes, so I'm not a danger to people." Amber nodded to him. "I understand that I really do. But if I can't get these 'powers' to work, doesn't that solve the safety problem?"
"It might," Rai admitted. "But consider this, just because you don't know how to use them doesn't mean they're not there."
"If they don't work, I might as well be normal though," Amber said hopefully.
"Until you use them unintentionally because you don't know what their trigger is," Rai answered. "Like you've already done twice this week. You said you squished metal with your hands, Amber, and not aluminum-can metal, real steel metal. I don't want to think what that kind of strength could accidentally do to a person."
"You're right," she said and felt like crying. "I can't ignore this or wish it away. I have to own it."
"And I'll try and help however I can. I promise." Rai smiled his goofy smile at her, and she smiled back. "I'm going to go rinse out my shoes. Did you want to grab some lunch?"
***
"Maybe your power works if you get really angry." Rai was chewing with a less than pleased expression. They had deci
ded on Italian for lunch, and he had complained almost non-stop about the food from the moment the garlic bread arrived.
"Is that how Kendra gets hers to work?" Amber asked.
"I was thinking about the Hulk but, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if getting mad was her trigger." Rai set down the hard piece of toast and assumed a thoughtful expression. "Do you remember if you were angry when you rescued the cat?"
"I don't think so," Amber replied. "I was more worried than anything else."
"Maybe worrying, then?"
"If fretting over something got my power working, it would be on all the time." They both shared a laugh over that one. “Okay, you can control air mentally, so tell me something.” Amber leaned forward intently.
“What do you want to know?” Rai asked.
“You tried it, right?”
“Did I try what?” he asked
“You know!” Amber hissed and made a quick flapping motion with her arms. “You had to have tried.”
“Of course, I tried to fly. Are you kidding me?” Rai made a face. “It was one of the first things I did when I started using my powers.”
“What happened?” Amber pressed.
“I re-discovered that gravity can be a harsh mistress,” he sighed. “I haven’t figured out how to use my powers on myself, at least not yet. It’s like I’m immune to wind or something.”
“Aww, that’s too bad.” Amber sat back in her seat, resigned. “That would have been so cool.”
The check arrived, and Rai grabbed it. "I've got this one. Besides, you hardly had anything." He pulled a few bills from his wallet and set them down on the table.
"I wasn't that hungry," Amber admitted. "Unlike this week where I felt like I was starving most of the time."
"I eat much more than I did before I got my abilities." Rai agreed. "I guess having super powers burns a lot of calories."
"I think using them does," Amber amended as they got up and headed out to Rai's car. The rain still came down in heavy waves but never touched them. The two didn't need to hurry as they crossed the parking lot. "I bet I was crazy hungry because I was doing 'yard work' those nights and not realizing it. You must be using your powers all the time, Rai."
"I probably am," he agreed, and his lips quirked into a mock evil grin, "Especially around smokers."
"What did you do?" She was almost afraid to ask.
"I did nothing!" He said sarcastically and even added in a conspiratorial wink for good measure. "I just make sure they get to enjoy all of the smoke they're creating."
"You're terrible," Amber said but laughed anyway.
"I consider it a public service," Rai said solemnly.
"What's the plan now?" Amber asked as she fastened her seat belt. Rai looked thoughtful as he pulled a pair of driving gloves from his pockets and slipped them on as if it was a solemn ritual for him.
“You should go on patrol with me.”
“Patrol?” Amber grimaced. “As in run around playing superhero?”
“It’s not ‘playing’ if you’re actually helping people, you know,” Rai said seriously. “This isn’t cosplay. We have powers. That means we have a responsibility to…”
“…To use them for good?” Amber finished. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t, Rai.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.” She agreed, and Rai’s face split into a beaming smile that was short lived as Amber finished. “But there has to be something more important you can be doing with them than beating up criminals.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, “I keep thinking about what happened to the ground on our property.”
“Changing all the dirt?” Rai shrugged. “I mean that’s cool and all that, if you’re a farmer and trying to grow good corn or something. But you have super strength, Amber, that’s really big.”
“No offense, but I think you’ve got it backwards,” Amber disagreed. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very uncomfortable about all the ‘powers’ talk, but it’s starting to sink in. I don’t think we’re given something this…” she struggled to find the right words for a moment as rain pounded heavily against the windshield, “…this incredible just to rescue cats and stop muggers.”
“What then?”
“Something bigger,” she confirmed to him as well as herself and knew somehow, deep down, that it was true.
“I think you’re probably right.” Rai had his grin firmly in place again. “But until we figure out that bigger purpose, rescuing cats and stopping muggers feels right to me.”
10
THE STORM
“I look stupid,” Amber complained as she regarded her face in the vanity mirror. She and Rai had driven up to Austin. It was late afternoon, and they parked behind a brick warehouse. The sun was still up, but the thick clouds and rain had darkened the sky and cast the city with a gray, misty gloom. “I’m not wearing this.”
Rai had given her a large feathered Mardi Gras mask from his glove compartment. He said she should “conceal her identity.” With her Western style hat and blouse, it made her look like a fancy Lone Ranger. “Why do I need to cover my face anyway? I’m not going to be doing anything illegal.” She put on a suspicious expression and aimed it at Rai like a laser. “I’m not going to be doing anything illegal, am I?”
“Of course not!” He said defensively, but his face was pensive, and Amber noticed it. "It's just safer for us to not be recognized."
"Is this a comic-book thing or a real thing?" she asked, eyeing the colorful mask.
"Both," Rai said after a pause. "Look, I don’t want to scare you, but in the comics, there are plenty of examples of how the government would handle people with superpowers. Some of those graphic novels are pretty dark, and bad things happen, especially for the ones with the powers. I’m not the most cynical guy on the planet, but I think the stories where the powered people end up as lab rats or weapons for the military are the most likely.”
“Why would you ever use your powers at all if you believe that?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Rai answered at once with steely conviction in his eyes. “I believe that responsibility goes along with having powers.”
“You haven’t always had powers, you know.”
“There’s all kinds of power.” Rai shook his head. “I was always going to strive toward the heroic ideal. My plan had been to use the power of my family’s money to help people. Getting superpowers didn’t change my goals, Amber, it only added to them.”
She leaned in and kissed him. It was impulsive, and she knew it even as she was doing it. But his words and sincerity had touched her. He didn’t kiss her back, and she withdrew just as suddenly.
“Amber, I’m sorry but…” he began.
“You don’t like me like that,” Amber finished for him. “It’s okay, Rai,” she added and even managed to smile warmly. But she did like him like that. It was disappointing to her that he didn’t feel the same, but Amber decided she needed to finally accept it for them both. “I’m sorry, and I won’t make it weird again. Promise.”
They stepped out of the car and Amber watched as Rai opened the trunk. He reached inside and fiddled with something she couldn’t see. Amber was about to ask what he was doing when a large panel dropped down. There was a blue “costume” folded neatly inside. He changed into it with quick and practiced ease. The material looked expensive to Amber. Obviously, it wasn’t something he’d stitched together for a Halloween party. It was fitted, had silvery accents, and a full face-mask with a hood. To Amber, it appeared like a cross between a karate gi and the outfit from Assassin’s Creed.
“Nice costume,” she commented.
“Uniform,” He corrected, his voice sounding deeper through the fabric of the mask.
“I look even lamer now,” She said with a laugh. “Did you make that getup yourself?”
“It was forged with the power,” he said.
“You made this with your power?�
�� She asked, incredulously.
“Yes.” He folded his arms dramatically and nodded. “I invoked the power of Money.”
“Funny,” she said drolly.
Amber followed Rai through several rain-soaked alleys and side streets. “So, you’re like a cop walking a beat?” She asked after an hour of wandering.
“I suppose,” Rai confirmed.
“Have you stopped much crime this way?”
“It’s my fourth time out here. So far, I’ve managed to help a few people out.” Rai had his hood pulled up, but Amber could see his chin bob in a nod.
“By beating up bad guys?” She asked with a smirk.
“Only the first time,” Rai answered. “Contrary to what the comics say, it’s not easy to wander into a crime in progress even in a rough neighborhood.”
“With the weather like this, I think the criminals might be taking a rain-day. Besides, this area doesn’t look all that ‘rough’ to me,” she commented.
“We’re in Austin, not Chicago. This is about as rough as it gets here.”
“So, what am I supposed to do if we do come across some crime?” Amber paused to ask, “I mean, I took a self-defense class with my mom a couple of years ago, but that hardly makes me a martial artist.”
“I’m hoping that if we get into a situation where you really need your powers they’ll be there for you, and we can figure out what your trigger is from there,” Rai said thoughtfully.
“That sounds really dangerous to me,” Amber retorted. “Like the let's-jump-off-this-bridge-and-see-if-the-bungee-cord-works kind of dangerous.”
“If you were out here by yourself, that would be totally true.” She could tell he was grinning his annoying, but endearing, self-satisfied grin. “In this case, it’s more like we’re using my bungee cord until we know yours works.” There was a bright flash from above them that briefly lit the sky. In the same moment, the dim street light at the edge of the alley, and the lights from the surrounding buildings, flickered and went out. “I have a feeling our odds of coming across some crime just went up,” Rai said in an overly casual deadpan voice.
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