“Wait,” he interjected. “You said it was a meteor shower—meaning multiple meteors, right? Were there other meteorites that landed out there last night? Meteorites with glowing stones in them?”
“Oh, yeah, there were other impacts, but no glowing stones,” I said. “I think we heard three impacts total. Angela and I checked in one of the craters that landed near Ray Simmons and his friends, but we didn’t find any glowing meteorites like mine.”
“Ray was there?” Sarah asked.
I nodded.
“Too bad he didn’t get hit,” Zack said under his breath. Sarah gave him a scolding look, but he just ignored her. “Did you check the third crater for another glowing stone?”
“No, we didn’t have enough time.”
Zack hummed to himself. “Well, we should test out your powers, Michael. Do that super jump again.”
“No thanks,” I said. “I’d rather not.”
“Why not?”
“Did you get hurt when you landed?” Sarah asked.
“No,” I said. “I just…” How could I explain it to them? “I want us all to forget that this ever happened, okay?”
They both looked confused. “I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to,” Sarah said. “It’s not every day you see a guy jumping as high as houses, Michael.”
“I know, it’s just…” I sighed.
“Don’t worry,” Sarah said. “We’ll take this slow.”
“We can help you practice,” Zack said. “Learn to hone your skills before you go catching bad guys. We’ll help you out.”
“I don’t want to go catching bad guys!” I said. “Isn’t that what the police are for? Besides, it’s against the law to take justice into your own hands. I don’t want to be a vigilante!”
“What?” Zack said, flustered. “There are some things the cops can’t stop that you can! That’s when they’ll need a hero like you to—”
“I don’t want to be a hero! I just want to be me!” I spoke louder than I’d meant. They were both quiet. Sarah looked sympathetic. Zack looked hurt and angry. “I just want to be normal Michael Stone… a teenager, the soccer captain… and maybe one day a doctor. Nothing more. That’s the life I’ve been planning for since I was twelve. So, let’s just forget this whole superpower thing. Don't tell anyone and I’ll keep it under control.”
Zack opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “You guys should go,” I said. “I’ve got yard work to do.”
My cousin scowled at me for a moment and then left with a huff. Sarah still looked sympathetically at me, but didn’t say anything as she walked inside the house. I started mowing the lawn, trying to distract myself from my thoughts.
PART 2
Chapter 11
Ray
I opened up my locker and got out my football gear. The locker room ironically reeked of mixed body odor and spray-on deodorant. My teammates were around me, getting their pads on too.
I was really looking forward to practice today. This was the first time I would play after having discovered my powers.
Doug was next to me, tying his cleats on. “You feelin’ okay, Ray?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Why?”
“Just saw you pass out when you touched a glowing rock a few days ago. Doesn't happen every day, you know? You haven’t fainted like that again, have you?”
“No. I’ve been feeling fine.”
The red space rock was taped under my pads, where it wouldn’t bother me on the field, and where I could keep it close. I slid my helmet down to partially conceal my eyes. Lessons I’d learned from a weekend of testing out my powers.
“Well, good,” Doug said, all geared up and ready to play. “Let’s go.”
I nodded and we jogged out to the field. Practice started with some light warm-ups and stretches. None of these ignited my powers. I’d learned with some practice that I can turn my powers on and off. It wasn’t easy to do, especially while exercising. My powers felt like a burning in my gut that was ready to erupt, but I kept them dormant by concentrating on remaining calm. I didn’t want to use my powers just yet.
Coach Jones blew his whistle every five seconds to keep us going through our warm ups. His hat hooded his dark skin from the hot Arizona sun. He wore his usual blue on red T-shirt and shorts with a cougar, our school mascot, printed on them. His expression was intense, focused on getting us ready to win the next game. I was excited to show him a whole new level of quarterbacking.
Coach had us do hitting drills. It was especially difficult to keep my powers in check during this part. We all got in lines and practiced tackling each other. Even without my powers on, I was able to take down the guys I was put up against.
We finally started running some plays. Coach formed offensive and defensive teams. I, of course, was the quarterback. Doug was the wide receiver, as usual.
We huddled to hear the first play. It was a long pass play. After we broke the huddle I looked at Doug. “Run all the way to the end zone,” I told him.
“That’s like eighty yards away!” he said. “There’s no way you could—”
“Just do it!”
“Okay…” he said, skeptical.
We lined up and I called the snap. The two teams collided on the line as I held the ball, ready to throw it deep to Doug. One of the defenders broke through the offensive line and charged after me.
I usually would’ve run to keep my distance from him, but today was different. I just smirked at him as he got closer. At the last second, I ignited my powers, and I zipped out of his path. Surprised by my quick dodge, he flew by me and stumbled to the ground. I looked downfield. Doug was halfway to the end zone. Most quarterbacks would’ve thrown the ball by now, but today… I wasn’t most quarterbacks.
Three more defenders broke through the line, coming to tackle me. I heard Coach Jones shouting from the sideline. “Throw the ball Ray! Throw it!”
Not yet, I thought. Just keep on watching, Coach. As the three defenders closed in on me, I ignited my powers. As if a slow-motion button was pressed, they instantly slowed down, but I kept moving fast. I easily evaded the first two, and I gave a solid stiff-arm to the third defender. His feet flew up from underneath him and went down hard on his back.
Doug was almost there. I was about to throw the ball, but before I did, I took a quick sidestep to the right. The very first defender who’d missed me earlier blew by me again, missing me entirely and stumbling to the ground.
I chuckled under my breath, having a blast! I could do this all day long! No one could tackle me! I was untouchable!
I eyed Doug way downfield. He was about ten yards from the end zone. I had never thrown an eighty-yard pass before. I didn’t know if any high school quarterback had. I cocked back my arm, ready to throw. I ignited my powers and the burning feeling surged up into my arm, and then I threw the ball harder and farther than I ever had before.
A little too far. Way too far. Whoops…
The ball flew high over Doug’s head, over the field goal post, over the practice field fence, and finally landed somewhere in the neighborhood beyond the practice field. It may have broken somebody’s window; it was too far to tell.
The play ended without a whistle, which was unusual. Coach Jones was too stunned to blow it. The whole team, including Doug and his defender in the end zone, stopped moving and just looked at me in disbelief.
“Oh crap,” I said.
Coach Jones eventually found his voice. “Ray!” he shouted from the sideline. “What in the world was that?”
What was I going to say? I just shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, Coach. I guess I threw it a little too far.”
“A little? I think you just beat the world record by a couple hundred yards. Somethin’ you're not tellin’ me Ray?”
“No, I… uh…”
“Coach, he’s hurt!” The voice came from one of the defender’s who’d tried to sack me. He was kneeling over the defender I’d stiff-armed; James was his name. He lay, sp
rawled on his back, not moving.
Coach Jones and his two assistant coaches hurried over to James. I watched them run by me and kneel over him. A lump came to my throat. What had I done? I didn’t mean to hurt him like that. “Is he okay?” I asked, worried.
“He’s unconscious,” Coach said, “but breathing. Probably has a major concussion.”
I sighed, relieved that I hadn’t killed him, but still guilty for hurting him with a strength that normal football players shouldn’t have.
Coach stood up, grabbed me by my helmet, and yanked me toward his face. “What are you takin’ Simmons?”
“What?” I said. “Nothing!”
“Be honest with me, Ray! Are you on ‘roids? Some illegal super drug?”
“NO! I—”
“Get off this field!”
I froze, unable to move or breathe.
“NOW!” Coach said, shoving me away from him. “And off this team! Before someone else gets hurt!”
I was speechless. A part of me wanted to argue with him to let me stay, but he had turned his attention to James. Truth was… he was right. I was likely to get someone else hurt. My powers were too dangerous for high school football. I turned and ran toward the locker room.
So much for becoming a football Hall-of-Famer. So much for impressing my brothers and living on in my dad’s legacy. That was all gone now! Why did I touch that stupid stone?
Chapter 12
Michael
I sat in a rocking chair on the backyard patio, watching the sun set below the horizon. An Arizona sunset was always a spectacle, especially tonight’s. A swath of clouds loomed near the distant mountains in the west. The sun painted them with a variety of colors, from bright pink to dusky purple. And every five minutes, those colors would shift locations on the clouds as the sun slowly sunk toward the horizon. I gazed at it, deep in thought.
I started when a soft rap came at the glass door behind me. It was Dad, followed by Sarah close behind him. “Hey, Michael,” he said. “What’re you doing out here?”
“Just… enjoying the sunset,” I said.
“Right…” Dad said skeptically as he leaned against the patio railing. Sarah stood behind us near the door, just listening in. “The first thing you do after dinner is come out here and ponder the mysteries of the universe?” Dad asked. “No Zack? No playing soccer in the backyard? No homework, TV, or videogames? What’s bothering you, son?”
I hesitated to answer. What’s bothering me? I thought. Oh nothing much, except that I discovered a few days ago that I am a freak of nature with superhuman powers! That’s all…
“Nothing,” I lied. “I just miss being on the soccer team. You know with the suspension and all.” That last part was true.
Dad sighed. “Oh, I see,” he said sympathetically. “Well, don’t worry, son. Only three more weeks and you can start playing again.”
I nodded unenthusiastically.
“I thought this had to do with you becoming a doctor,” he said. “You sure you don’t want to be an astronomer like your mom and I? You have such a knack for it, and you already know more about it than most of my students at the university.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I like astronomy, but I can’t see me doing it as a career. I’d like to do something that helps people a little more directly, like being a doctor or physician. It’s hard to get much more direct than that.”
“Fair point.” Dad folded his arms and gazed at the sunset for a moment, the sun glinting off his glasses. He was still dressed in his professor get-up, bowtie and all. “Well,” he said. “Your future is up to you. I just want what’s best for you, you know.” He clicked his tongue. “You’re still only sixteen after all. You’ve still got time to have fun as a teenager before choosing a career. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts, right?” He slapped my shoulder as he walked back inside the house.
“Right,” I said while feeling empty inside. He didn’t know that my normal teenage life had shattered into a million pieces the moment I touched that stone. So far, my new, abnormal teenage life had been pretty lame.
After Dad had left, Sarah sat down in the rocking chair next to me, still dressed in her soccer outfit from practice, her blonde hair a mess. “There’s a lot more bothering you then you let on to dad.” It was pretty typical of Sarah to be a little nosy. I was used to it by now.
“You think?” I said sarcastically.
“I know what your problem is,” she said with a smug expression. “You’ve been trying to hide your powers by doing nothing at all, and it’s tougher than you thought it would be.”
I glared at her. I couldn’t hide anything from her, not even the blue stone.
She took my silence as a confirmation. “You’re going about this all wrong, Michael. You’re going to enter depression if you try to play it so safe that you never use your powers at all. What you should do is learn how to use your powers so you can control them better.”
“Yeah,” I said. “But—”
“You can practice right here in our backyard,” she continued. “I’ll keep Mom and Dad busy with a movie. Or, if you want, we can go out to the desert where no one will see you practice. I’ll be there to warn you if anyone comes nearby. It’ll be awesome!”
I opened my mouth to argue, but slowly found myself agreeing with her. I sighed, a little frustrated and a little humored. “How do you do that, Sarah?”
“What?” she said.
“Always know what’s going on with me and knowing the perfect solution.”
She smirked. “I guess you’re not the only one with superpowers.”
We laughed. It felt good to laugh. I’d felt so closed off the past few days, trying to avoid anything that could ignite my powers. We both looked at the sunset. The sun was just beginning to touch the horizon. “The stars are really bright tonight,” I said, looking up at some of the first stars to appear during sunset.
Sarah nodded, following my gaze. Then, after a moment, she scrunched her face in confusion. “What stars?” she asked.
I pointed at them. They were in the northwestern sky. She followed my gaze, squinting her eyes. “You don’t see those?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“What?” I said, bewildered. “Do you need glasses or something? They look bright. Almost as bright as planets. They… ” I cut off as I realized something.
“What?” Sarah asked. “I don’t need glasses, Michael, and I still don’t see any stars at all. You’re the one who needs glasses—”
“I can’t believe it,” I said getting out of my rocking chair. “It’s… It’s Orion!”
“What do you mean, Orion? Like the constellation, Orion?”
“Yeah. It’s super bright, though! Brighter than it should be. We shouldn’t be able to see it until the sun goes down.”
“We don’t,” Sarah said, still sounding confused. “At least I don’t.”
“But I do!” I said. “Maybe I can see it because of my powers!”
She chortled. “That’s a weird superpower: to see stars while the sun is still up.”
“No, that’s not what’s weird.” I stood at the railing and stared up at the stars. “What’s weird is that Orion’s stars are the only ones I can see right now. Nothing else! Only the exact stars within that constellation!” I could see the three bright stars that made up Orion’s belt, the four major stars that made up his body, and then the few stars that depicted his outstretched hand that held a bow—or was it a shield—I never could remember. No other stars were visible yet. And these stars were very bright, much brighter than they should be with the sun still up.
“Okay,” Sarah said. “So, you can see one constellation really well. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“No clue,” I said as I walked inside the house. “But I’ll find out!”
Sarah trailed behind me as I went downstairs and entered mom’s office. She was on her laptop grading papers. “Hey mom,” I said. “I’ve got an astronomy question for
you.”
“My favorite,” she said. “One moment.” After a few more clicks she turned to me and said, “Alright, what is it, son?”
“What can you tell me about the Orion constellation?”
Mom leaned over to look out the window. “Well, first off, you won’t see that constellation until well after the sun sets in an hour or so. What specifically do you want to know about it?”
“I don’t know. Anything.”
“Hmm. Well, let’s see. It’s one of the most recognizable constellations besides the big dipper. It has seven major stars. Rigel is a blue giant that makes up Orion’s knee—fourth brightest star in the sky. Betelgeuse, Orion’s shoulder, is a red giant that will go supernova any day. Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka make up Orion’s legendary belt. The most fascinating part, astronomically speaking, is Orion’s sheathed sword which is one of the most beautiful and brightest nebulae in the night sky.”
I had seen the Orion Nebula through telescope before, and it was remarkable. A bright cloud that contained almost every color of the rainbow. But why would these stars and nebula suddenly start burning brighter just for my eyes alone? “Is there anything else, mom? What do you know about its mythology?”
She tilted her head. “Why the sudden curiosity?”
My hands fidgeted. “Oh, I—um…”
“We’re going stargazing tonight,” Sarah said from behind me. “And we’re scoping out the Orion constellation, and we just want to know more. Can we use your telescope, by the way?”
“Oh, sure,” Mom said. “Alright, then….” She started typing on her computer and pulled up a page about Orion. She spoke even before arriving to the website. “Orion is a hero from Greek mythology. He is known as the Hunter. Like most Greek heroes, he had supernatural powers. He could best any beast of the land and walk on water. He was blinded, but traveled to Apollo, the sun god, to regain his sight. It’s pretty ironic that he ends up dying by getting stung by a tiny scorpion. That’s why the Scorpio constellation is on the opposite part of the sky. The two constellations are never visible at the same time.”
Orion: A Heroic Novel Page 7