“All right,” I muttered to myself as I settled back down to the ground. “I’ve got this. I just need to stay focused.”
I kept my eyes open this time so nothing could spook me from the connection. I needed confidence if I was going to succeed. I had to know that I could keep myself calm, but the two powers seemed to contradict each other. Calmness under pressure while being amped up enough to use the shock. Right. Easy enough. Again, I took a deep breath and envisioned myself floating over the ground.
With the earth beneath me inching further away, I did my best to keep the fear inside me at bay. I moved farther and farther away from the earth until I could stretch out my legs straight and still have several feet between them and the ground. It was still a challenge to keep control of my emotions, but I felt elated knowing that I was flying, more or less. I leaned a little to the right and thought about moving in that same direction.
When my body drifted easily to the right, a burst of pride in mastering my second power washed over me. I pointed my fingers down and let myself soar just a little bit higher so that I was hovering just above the trees. I could see the parking lot just as a car pulled in. Carefully, I straightened out my hands and gracelessly fell a few feet in the air, only catching myself by pure luck before I collided with the ground.
“Guess I’m not as good as I thought yet,” I muttered to myself.
With more care, I propelled myself into the air again, this time staying below the tree line so no one would see me flying through the air. It was a thrill to be in control, and when a stick in the distance crackled, I didn’t plummet. It was just another animal, I told myself. I leaned to the left, letting my body easily follow behind. Now, if I could just get a good grasp on landing, everything would be perfect. Then I could see what happened when I combined the two powers.
“She’s such a bitch!” Came a quiet girl’s voice.
I jerked my head around just in time to see a heavyset brunette poking through the woods. Her yoga pants and running shoes told me she meant business. Thankfully, she was chatting away on the phone as I went tumbling to the ground. This time, my body was lucky as I was at least ten feet in the air. My shoulder popped sickeningly as I thudded to the ground in front of a large maple tree.
The noise made the woman jerk to a halt as she looked at me. She took a step back in fear before regaining her composure. “Tess? I’ll have to call you back. Some creep out here just fell out of a tree.”
She hung up the phone as I struggled to get to my feet. There was a sharp pain in my shoulder. I’d seen enough medical shows to know that I had dislocated it. It would be a painful fix, but nothing I couldn’t do on my own, given enough privacy. I did my best to smile at the woman, who looked posed to call the police in the drop of a second.
“I’m not a creep, lady,” I said through clenched teeth, my mind racing to come up with a story. “I’m doing a project on woodpeckers for school, and you just scared me and them out of the tree.”
Her eyes grew wide. “Oh,” she said. “Sorry about that. I didn’t think there would be anyone out here. You know you’re supposed to stay on the trail.”
“Says the woman,” I shot back, “not on the trail.”
She stuck her chin in the air. “Well, then, I guess we have nothing else to say to each other. Maybe you should be more careful next time.”
“Sure thing,” I said as she walked away.
I waited until I could no longer hear her heavy footfalls or the annoying sound of her voice as she complained about me to the woman on the other end of the phone. The searing pain in my arm was enough to distract me from everything else as I stumbled and leaned against a tree. I could feel that my arm was popped out of its socket. Wincing, I bit my lip as I lined up my shoulder with the tree.
I closed my eyes and slammed my arm against the tree, shoving my shoulder back into the socket. The searing pain sent tears to my eyes right away as I let out a painful groan. It was taking all of my control not to scream out in pain, but the second it was back in place, the pain started to ebb until it felt like I’d been punched, not hit by a car. I wouldn’t be able to do anything if I couldn’t fly, but I’d just about had enough for one day.
There was no way that my body could take falling anymore today. I needed to be done with it and pick up again in a few days after I’d given myself a chance to heal. I quickly looked at my phone and saw that the hours had flown by. It was nearing four in the afternoon, and Andy hadn’t called to see where I was. Maybe he was starting to figure out that latching onto someone wasn’t a good way to make friends.
I liked Andy. He was a fun guy to be around, even if he was a little much at times. As if he sensed that I was thinking about him, my phone started to ring, and I laughed as his name appeared on the screen. I was done for the day anyway.
“Hey, man, I was just about to head your way,” I said to him quickly. “I just need to figure out how the hell to get out of the woods.”
“Why are you in the woods? Missing the sticks of Oregon?”
I laughed. “Something like that. I’m at a national park right outside the city. I can call an Uber though. The taxi driver was pretty sure they come out this way.”
“Well, I would send my driver to pick you up, but it looks like we’re going to have to cancel. Unless you want to meet my entire family and have dinner with Buzz.”
“Yuck,” I muttered. “I think I’ll pass on that. I thought you said your parents weren’t going to be home for a while. As a matter of fact, you said there was no way that they were going to come home.”
“I know,” he grumbled. “Trust me, I’m not happy about this at all. You think I want to spend my weekend with them and Buzz? I would rather go to military school, but something’s happened and they had to come back. Just my luck, right?”
“Is everything okay?” I asked quickly.
I knew that Andy didn’t like his parents, but he still wouldn’t want them to be hurt. Suddenly, I found myself wanting to know more about it. He was a pretty cool guy. I was just a social outcast with a strange past and a quickly changing future. If I couldn’t go there, I would have no choice but to head back to my grandparents’. Was I in control enough to be around them or would I just be putting all of us in danger?
“Yeah, everything is fine. My mom owns a jewelry shop in the city. I guess it was robbed earlier today, and she wants to be here to find out what all was taken. It was something like a million dollars in stuff. Oh, well, chump change to them, right?”
“Uh,” I said. “I don’t think that a million dollars is chump change to anyone but the one percent in this country. You do know how much money that is, right?”
He laughed. “Of course I do. I know the value of money. I just think that she’s making a big deal out of nothing. Her insurance company will cover all the loss. I think she just wants to get back here to drive me a little more insane.”
“And I thought the world revolved around me,” I said sarcastically.
“It’s my own fault. I might have drunk a little bit last night and called her by mistake.”
“Oh, no,” I said. “What did you tell her?”
“Not much that I can remember, but I do think there was a conversation about my jerkoff little brother who got home drunk. Come to think of it,” he muttered, realization dawning on him, “I may have just started World War Three with Buzz.”
I groaned. “Great, man, just what we need.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll find a way to smooth everything over and get back with you. I know you were having some problems at home. Are you sure you don’t want to come over still? You can hang out in my apartment. Buzz doesn’t need to know that you’re here.”
“Naw,” I said, quickly making a decision. “I’ll be fine. I’m just going to head back home. Hit me up tomorrow and let me know that prick didn’t kill you and bury you in the back yard.”
“Come on. You should know better,” he joked. “Buzz would never
get his hands dirty. He’d get one of his lacrosse goons to do it for him.”
I laughed. “Good point. Talk to you later, man, and good luck with all that.”
“Yeah, you too,” he said before the call ended.
Now I had to figure out how to get home. I could call an uber, but an idea came to mind that would be much cheaper. I could try flying home if only I could get high enough in the air so that no one could see me from the ground. At the very least, I could fly to the edge of the city and take a cab from there. Was I strong enough to make it that far, though? There was only one way to find out, I decided, as I closed my eyes.
I focused all of my concentration on getting off the ground, and I didn’t open my eyes again until I knew that I was high above the trees. When I did open them, I sucked in a sharp gasp of surprise. I wasn’t just above the tree line. I had to be at least two hundred feet up in the air. I swallowed back the fear, but it was too late. Even as I thought about falling to the ground, it started to happen.
Panic raced through me as I closed my eyes and focused on flying. I kept moving closer to the ground as I opened my eyes again, and anger at the inability to change things coursed through me. A bolt of purple light shot out of my hands and ricocheted off the ground just as I approached twenty feet from it. The shock propelled me back up in the air as I did a somersault, my heart rapidly pounding inside me.
I laughed at what had happened and became relaxed at once as I soared higher into the sky. Even if I did go tumbling down to the ground, my electric powers could propel me back up. The two superpowers did complement each other, after all, and filled in the blanks when I needed them to. Tilting forward in the air so I was parallel with the earth, I pointed one hand out in front of me as all the comic heroes did and shot forward in the direction of the city.
I couldn’t believe it! I was actually flying! I felt like a bird, free to go wherever I wanted, but the direction I was heading was home and as the woods passed behind me and houses started to come into view, I realized I had another problem. I had no idea how to land. I swallowed hard and slowed down just as the first skyscraper came into view. I slowed myself down until I was no longer moving, just hovering high above the ground.
“Well,” I muttered. “Shit.”
I felt the levitation start to crumble and break as my subconscious started to register the problem and fear of heights I suddenly had. Again, I went falling back down to the earth, but this time, I had a little bit of control and I aimed myself at a small pond. If nothing else, I could make the landing suck a little less. I carefully pulled myself together and wrapped myself into a ball as the water brushed against my skin and I went crashing into the pond.
A final bolt of electricity shot through me as I hit the bottom and propelled myself back up. The current shot me onto the bank and I let out a waterlogged cough. I wiped the water from my eyes as I struggled to catch my breath and quickly looked around to make sure that no one else had seen me. It looked empty, thankfully. Movement on the surface of the pond caught my attention. A dead fish floated to the surface, quickly followed by another.
I let out a slightly crazed laugh as I realized what was happening. I had electrocuted the poor fish when I landed. Boy, their homeowner’s association was going to be pissed.
Chapter 11
I jogged away from the pond and jumped the fence blocking in the million-dollar gated community just as I heard their local patrol pull up to the pond. I would have stayed behind and watched the shock look on the officers’ faces, but I was pushing my luck as it was. Once I hit the outskirts of the industrial district, I finally slowed down and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
“Shit,” I muttered as water dripped out of it.
There was no way that my grandparents could afford to get me a new phone. I had an idea, though. I carefully let the blackness wrap around my hands, and a small, weak strand of purple energy leapt out of my finger and into my phone. It jumped to life, surging brightly as the icon alerted me to a fully charged battery. I quickly ended the current and dropped the protective shield from my hands.
“That’s awesome,” I whispered as I unlocked it and pulled up the map icon.
Not only was my phone charged, but somehow, I had a full signal. I had more questions than answers, and it was something I would have to consider later, but for now, I had to get as far away from the landing site as possible. Looking at the directions, I saw that I was going to have a long walk home, at least four miles. At least it would give me time to dry off, though. One less thing to explain to my poor grandmother.
It was comforting to hear my grandparents even before I opened the door. I forgot that my grandfather was back from the hospital. He stopped mid-complaint as I walked in and they both looked at me. My grandma’s easy smile greeted me warmly.
“I’m not eating that rubbish,” My grandpa growled.
“You’re going to eat it or you’re going to starve, Carl,” she shot back before looking at me. “Back so soon? We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I hope it’s okay. Plans kinda fell through. Weather and all that,” I muttered.
“Oh?” Asked my grandpa as he flipped through to find the weather channel.
“Thank you,” My grandma whispered, happy to be done with the argument between the two of them. “Of course, you’re welcome back early, Benji. This is your home, and it always will be. So, did you have a nice day?”
I nodded. “Yeah. You know what I really did? I went out to the national forest and just spent some time alone. I think I just needed a break from everything. This is a big city to take in.”
“That’s an understatement. Your mother loved the woods. I would always find her running around out there after she got her license.”
“I like it when you talk about her,” I said carefully. “You know, she wouldn’t tell anyone how her crusts always came out perfect? She said it was your secret to keep.”
She smiled softly and looked down. “I told her it was love. I think she figured out it was cold Crisco, though, a few years ago.”
I laughed and hugged my grandma. “I’m happy to be home. Sorry I’ve been giving you such a hard time. How’s Grandpa doing?”
She sighed. “Stubborn as ever. The doctor has him on a diet and some medication. He’s lucky this was just a small one. I’ll need to cut back on hours to keep an eye on him.”
“Why don’t you let me help out? I don’t mind making sure that he stays in line. It’s the least that I can do.”
“No,” she said softly. “I think it’s time that I scaled back as it is. We’d planned on retiring together last year, but I just couldn’t bring myself to give up work. I think this is God’s way of telling me it’s time to slow down, for all of us.”
“As long as you’re sure it’s what you want. I know . . .” I struggled to find the words. “I know that you weren’t expecting one more person to take care of. You know, I’d be happy to talk to the lawyer again.”
Her grey curls bounced as she shook her head vehemently. “Absolutely not. That money is yours. We will be just fine. I made some soup,” she said, rushing to change the subject.
“Thanks, Grandma, but I just ate.” I hated how easily the lies were coming now. “Would you guys mind if I just went to bed? I didn’t realize how out of shape I was. Hiking took it out of me.”
At least that much was the truth. I had exhausted myself learning to control my powers, but I wasn’t sure if I could really go to bed. I was a superhero, or at least I could become one. No matter how physically exhausted I was, that was still a lot to take in at once.
“Sure, honey, we can talk more tomorrow,” she said as she kissed my cheek. “Oh, you’ll want to shut your window before going to bed. I cracked it open because of the heat. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Honestly, I didn’t know that the window even opened.”
“Of course it does, honey. It’s not like someone can fly up and jump through it. That’s the
only reason the one in the hall doesn’t. It’s got the fire escape so we keep it locked.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, more excited now to get into my room. “Well, goodnight. I’ll see you guys for breakfast.”
“Goodnight, sweetheart.”
“Mave, did you tell him to watch out for those freaks?”
She rolled her eyes and I grinned. “What’s he talking about? Kids running around with tattoos and piercings?”
“Oh, I wish. He just overheard a couple of the nurses talking and has managed to work himself up into a fuss.”
“It’s no fuss. They’re a danger, and the police should have been doing something about it.”
Still grinning, I went over and sat across from my grandpa in the recliner. “What are you talking about?”
“A couple of nurses thought I was asleep and started gabbing in my room. You know how women are when they get together.”
“Sure,” I said. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“One of them told the other one a fella had just come through the ER. Said it was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. This guy touched his gal and turned her whole damn arm to ice by mistake. Claims it’s some experiment.”
My heart was pounding. I knew it! There were others like me out there. That was the confirmation I was looking for about the clinical trial, but now I was worried about something else. My grandfather didn’t seem too thrilled with the new information.
“What happened to him?”
He smiled. “Police came and arrested him. Rightly so. Humans aren’t mean to be different like that. Powers aren’t natural. God made us in his eye. Who are we to change that?”
“Well,” I muttered. “What if they were doing something good with the powers? Like helping people?”
“That’s why we have the law. People shouldn’t be running around playing good cop when they aren’t trained. Nope, I say lock them all up and get them fixed.”
The City Superhero (Book 1): Rise Of The Super Strike Page 8