by TR Moore Ede
I cracked a smile. “That will be amusing to tease him about.”
Malissa elbowed Victoria. “Be nice.” The voice changer remained in her hand, as if she were working up the courage to put it in.
“Put it in,” Victoria said, then bit her tongue. “It’ll take some time getting used to hearing everyone like this.”
“If I can’t recognize my voice, I don’t know how well I’ll recognize yours,” Irene mumbled. “Good thing I can use your scent.”
“Well lucky duck,” I said, leaning back to stretch.
She softly chuckled. “Jason? Do you want to say a few words?”
He was silent for a moment. “No.”
“Well, that was only one,” I murmured. “I’m not sure if that makes you sound nicer or just as harsh.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m aware my natural presence isn’t very welcoming. Jessie?”
She whimpered, the voice changer still in her hand.
“For goodness sake,” I mumbled, opening her mouth and popping it in. She was my sister, so I didn’t care germ wise.
Immediately, Jessie pushed me away. “Gross! Jessica! ...” She slowly trailed off. Sending me a glare, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“Oh, calm down, we’re sisters.”
She continued to glare.
“Come on, speak,” I said, poking her side.
She clamped her lips shut, trying to ward off my hand. Her look told me to stop.
“Let us hear,” I said, grabbing her ribs.
She whimpered, pouted, then exhaled a long, long sigh. “Hello?” Her hand flew to her throat. “I don’t like this.”
“It’s almost funny how we’re all like, ‘sure, we’ll go through all this training and evaluations, but voice changers, that’s where I draw the line,’” I said.
“A bit over dramatic, but I suppose you’re right,” Victoria said with a slight smirk. “Malissa? You’re up.”
Her head dipped forward when all eyes turned to look at her. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Hi, yeah … Yeah, this is weird.”
Mr. Quinn stood there, seeming amused at all our reactions. “They fit nicely?”
“I mean, I can feel it there, but yeah, I guess,” I said.
“Let us know if it doesn’t at any point,” he said. “All right, scatter through the house and try out the earpieces.”
It took a moment for us to get up and move. His house was large enough where we all weren’t in the same room. Jason was the smart one and didn’t move, just watched as everyone else dispersed.
“Really Jason?” Irene said, her voice clearly coming through the earpiece.
My eyebrows lifted. “These work really well. Well done, Eve.”
“I didn’t do anything besides handing it over,” Eve said.
“Either way, these work great,” Victoria said.
“Are these waterproof?” Malissa asked.
“Yes. You should be able to wear them in the water,” Eve replied.
“Officer Rasper wants us to return,” Jason said.
“Coming,” I said, heading back to the living room.
“How do they work?” he asked after we all entered the room.
“They work well,” I said, flopping onto the couch. I pulled out my voice changer and stared at it. “I guess I have to rinse this out.”
Mr. Quinn nodded.
“I’ll do that now,” I mumbled, rising to my feet.
After we all got changed, we had a small celebration.
“We’re home!” I called as I closed the door.
“How’d the test go?” Mom asked, coming in. She smiled. “Something tells me you passed!”
I bit my lip, trying to contain my smile. “Yeah.”
“Sweetheart, that’s great,” Mom said, wrapping her arms around the both of us.
“Congratulations!” Miss Silver exclaimed, walking in.
“Well done,” Dad said, pulling the three of us in for a hug. “We’re so proud of you.”
“Thanks,” I said, then pulled back. Digging into my backpack, I plucked out my badge and handed it to him.
Dad stared down then opened it. “Wow.”
“Yeah.” I handed it to Mom, who then passed it to Miss Silver to take a look.
“That really looks official,” Miss Silver said, giving it back to me. “It doesn’t fully match the police officers.”
I nodded. “I think it’s good. We’re helping them but shouldn’t be mistaken as official members.”
“We also have earpieces and voice changers,” Jessie said, pulling out her earpiece.
Dad took it and examined it. “I wasn’t expecting something like this. I figured they would get to high end but not this high. It even matches your skin tone.”
I nodded. “I thought so, too.”
“Come sit down,” Mom said, taking our arms and leading us to the couch. “You must be tired.”
“A little. My time at Mr. Rasper’s house helped.”
Jessie yawned. “I am. The news brought a surge of energy, but I’m starting to wind down,” she said, adding a thank you when Dad returned her earpiece.
Chapter 13
Jessie sunk into the couch, her eyes already beginning to flutter.
When Dad took a seat next to her, her head hit his shoulder. He squeezed her hand.
“I want to hear all about it,” Miss Silver said, taking a seat on the other side of Jessie.
I plopped down, my head on Mom’s lap.
Her eyebrows arched.
I gave an innocent smile, then yawned and stretched. “The first test was very much like an exam and similar to the test at the Agency.”
“You’re talking to someone who knows nothing about what goes on,” Miss Silver said.
“Well, Jessie, go ahead … Jessie?” I turned my head toward her.
Jessie was passed out on Dad’s shoulder, drool already beginning to form.
I chuckled.
She flinched and sat up, then wiped the wetness from her chin. “Did I fall asleep?”
“Not for that long,” Dad said, looping an arm around her shoulders. “Miss Silver wanted to hear about the training.”
“Oh, right …” She slowly nodded, her head beginning to bob.
“Jessie?”
“Mm?”
“I can wait until you’re conscious,” Miss Silver said with a soft chuckle. She patted her leg.
Jessie nodded, then yawned.
“I’m glad to see you’re excited. You were nervous at the beginning,” Mom said with a smile.
She nodded. “I am. I can’t fully believe that I am though. I mean-”
“Just don’t think about it,” I said, sitting up and hanging my arms over the back of the couch.
“For now,” she mumbled. She reached for Miss Silver’s hand. “I also have a calming sense about it. You know, like it’s from God.”
“I should hope if you’re doing something like this, it’s God given,” Miss Silver said, placing a gentle kiss on the side of her head.
Taking in a deep breath, I let it out slowly. God given peace? Sure, I was at times nervous, but my peace came from the information I was given, not an invisible being in the sky. Regardless, I was happy that Jessie had some sort of calm. If it meant that when in the middle of panic she could think straight, great, I didn’t want to stop that. My eyebrows furrowed together as I thought back to Zack. I first met him at the fight to free Victoria's parents. The guy had no training—or at least very little—so it never made sense how calm he always seemed to be. Even with how weird the guy was, it was apparent that he was firmly rooted in reality. How well he took everything, people with guns, finding out that his best friend wasn’t human, that two others were dragons from the medieval period, and he didn’t even bat an eye!
“Are you okay?” Mom asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I nodded. “Just thinking.”
“About what?” Jessie asked.
Zack.
&n
bsp; She blinked a few times. What about him?
Don’t worry about it.
She slowly nodded.
“What’s going on?” Dad asked.
I shook my head. “Just one of our soon-to-be teammates. He's so weird.”
“To be?” Miss Silver echoed.
“His parents held him back from joining straight away,” I said.
“Hey … Do you mind if we go back to something you said?” Mom asked.
“Something who said?” I asked.
She was quiet for a moment. “Clara and Jessie. About your god giving peace.”
Jessie’s eyes widened. It was rare that my parents or I showed interest in her faith aside from learning more for her sake. She turned to Miss Silver for help or perhaps to do the talking for her.
Miss Silver just smiled and said, “You go ahead, Jessie.” That probably wasn’t the response that Jessie wanted.
Regardless, she took a deep breath, seeming to gather her thoughts. She was quiet for a long moment. “Well, when I first found out about my- our powers, I felt a little like a freak. I mean, we were basically UIC lab rats…” She rubbed the back of her neck, staring off. She seemed more awake. “But when we found others, it helped. We weren’t alone. When the team came up, it felt straight out of a comic book or movie. It just didn’t seem real. And the fact that we’re working with the police, I mean, I wouldn't have joined it otherwise but still. You-you can’t just accept that, right?” She squeezed her eyes shut. “It’s just so … strange and unreal, even though I’m currently living through it. At times it feels too good to be true, yet it isn’t. I know Mr. Quinn, and that he wouldn’t put together this sort of thing if he thought the police would turn against us because of our oddities. Then there’s everything that includes Sapphire and when she arrived, just before all of this. And the string of events that caused us to go off of missions, freeing up our time to work on the team.”
String of events. I knew she was, again, talking about Eve, but for the sake of those who didn’t know, she kept it quiet. I was about to push it aside as nothing but stopped. Eve arrived while Mr. Quinn was talking to the chief about the team, and then it got finalized after she arrived. Because of it, they got her technology to help hide us further, and, as Jessie said, because we opted to protect her, we got banned from Agency missions. But that was all just a coincidence, right? There was no way some god in the sky was orchestrating all this. If he could, why could he allow Eve to crash here in the first place and plenty of other horrible things that had happened?
“Are you okay?” Jessie asked.
I looked up and nodded. Part of me wanted to ask, but not everyone in the room knew about Eve. “You can go on.”
“Well, um, that’s about it. All those events just seem so unlikely unless you put God in it … Well, from my point of view.” She forced a smile.
I did find it sweet how she sometimes inserted those small phrases, knowing we didn’t share the same perspective. “Coincidences happen,” I said, leaning back on the couch, arms folded across my chest.
“It seems a bit more than that,” she said firmly.
I shrugged. “If you say so.” I wasn’t willing to admit she was partially right. Yet at the same time, I wanted to ask. After all, of all those in the house, Jessie was the only one I could talk to about matters of her god’s will concerning Eve.
“Are you more awake to talk about training?” Dad asked.
Jessie nodded. “I think so.” She and I proceeded to have a back and forth about all of it. It was interesting to hear the scenarios from her point of view, especially since some of them were different from mine.
That night I couldn’t get it out of my head. No, not the training, but Jessie’s whole thing about her peace being given from her god. It didn’t make sense to me. I sat up. Heck, Jason and Irene somehow believed it after all they’d been through! Pressing a hand to my head, I let out a long breath. It didn’t make sense! Other religions had the same kind of dedication. I tapped my fingers against my knee. Why was this bothering me so much? It shouldn’t have been. It never did before. I had encountered people of different beliefs, so why was this seeming to hang over me like a cloud? I shook my head, trying to dismiss it.
These types of odd things happened all the time. Of course. A guy who has an openness to believing it, accidentally meets eight people with strange powers. My head slunk forward. Yeah, as if. If Mr. Mason heard that he’d start a full scale investigation to figure out how Mr. Quinn found all of us. Heck, if Jessie hadn’t known him her entire life and hadn’t peeked into his mind a few times on my behalf, I likely would have been suspicious he was up to something. But in the end, I was confident that he wasn’t. The fact that Jason and Irene were the same was evidence enough. I remembered asking him once, ‘How did you find all these people?’ It was a rhetorical question, I didn’t expect him to answer, but he did. I wasn’t sure if I should have been surprised. He said, ‘I left myself open to God’s leading.’ I distinctly remembered my face scrunching up, but I kept my mouth shut. If I said anything it would have induced a conversation about his faith. I didn’t mind a good debate sometimes, but sometimes it just felt like a grinding noise in my ears. I didn’t understand why, though. They had some good ideas about their religion. Did I agree with everything, obviously not, but the way they practiced it wasn’t hurting anyone, so why argue?
I lay back down. No, no. The only reasons I had these conflicting thoughts were because I had Jessie’s memories. Yeah. My eyebrows furrowed together, and I rolled onto my back. If that was the case, then why did it get under my skin so easily? I should be more attracted to it, not have this aversion. “What?” I rubbed my face with both hands. “Just let me sleep.”
The next day after dinner, we had our first mission. By the sound of it, we were going to be closer to bystanders, likely so they could start to gauge our reaction to being out in the field.
Officer Geok was the first person I saw when we arrived at the small apartment fire.
Flame, Jason, and Flare, Irene, were already there. To no surprise, Flame was helping with the paramedics. I think they had warmed up to him a little faster when they discovered he could heal.
Flare assisted those who didn’t need immediate medical attention by handing out blankets and helping families find each other.
Sapphire—Eve, and Visible—Victoria, were more directly helping the firefighters and sometimes helping people from windows.
Wave—Malissa, seemed unsure what to do until a hose ripped. She stepped in, keeping the water from spraying everything, then sought the direction of the firefighters.
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked Officer Geok.
“I’ll let you know, but at the moment, the rest of your team seems to have it under control,” he said.
I nodded. “I don’t think my power set is extremely helpful in this situation.”
“Sometimes an extra set of hands is helpful,” he said. “If people are getting close, keep them back. If they’re panicked that someone is still inside, let us know.”
“Yes sir.” I glanced toward Seer—Jessie.
“Coming,” she said, quickly following.
“I don’t think you needed all of us,” I said as the firefighters packed up their stuff.
“Perhaps not, but it’s better to start you off with small things,” the fireman said.
I nodded.
“Wave and … the two flying ones. They’ll probably be the most useful in these situations. As well as … he’s the only guy.” He laughed a little. “Sorry, I’m still getting a handle on your code names.”
I shrugged. “I am, too. Sapphire and Visible can fly, and Flame can heal.”
“It sounds like you have a good handle on names,” he said, closing the door. “The … oval girl was also helpful with her ability to read minds.”
“Seer,” I said. A mother had panicked that her toddler was still inside. In her panic, her words didn’t make much sense, so
Seer entered the woman’s mind to get a general location of the child as well as what he looked like. Thankfully, he was already out. That information would have been discovered eventually, but it made it go a little smoother.
“So do you go home now?”
“We just need to confirm with Officer Geok before leaving. At the beginning at least, we need to check in with someone.”
“That’s a good idea. You guys did well,” he said before hopping in the firetruck.
I waved, then headed toward Officer Geok. I was happy that some of the firefighters and police officers were warming up to us. It was obvious by some of the stone face looks we got, though, that there were those who weren’t fully on board.
Chapter 14
It didn’t take long to find Officer Geok. “Officer Geok?”
He turned, a warm smile forming. “Yes?”
“Just checking in before we head home.”
“Right. This is going to be interesting to get used to.” His smile was more natural. He seemed to warm up to us. “How do you think it went?”
“My power and skill set aren’t matched for this sort of thing,” I said.
“You can still help. Some firefighters are volunteers, so you would fall into a similar category,” he said.
I nodded. “Is there anything else you would like us to do?”
“No, you are free to head home. If you run into the others, make sure they also see me before they head home. Especially … Sapphire and Visible. They were the ones closest to the fire.”
“Yes sir,” I said. “Thank you.” I left.
“Can we go?” Seer asked, rushing to my side.
“Check in with Officer Geok. I’ll meet you at home.”
“Uh-”
“We can’t go together or it will be more obvious. And it’s easier to keep track of two people instead of one.”
She nodded her head to one side. “I suppose.”
I placed a hand on her shoulder. “You did great.”
She smiled, then hurried over to Officer Geok.
I headed home.