I turn a few more pages. I rifle through the bin of comics, checking the covers. “Why aren’t there any girls in these things?”
“There are some,” Dad says. He looks up from a comic with a black-suited Spider-Man on the cover. “Not enough, though.” He digs into the bin and hands me another book. “Here’s one. Have you heard of Firestar?”
I shake my head. The woman on the cover has long, red hair and a matching mask. She’s surrounded by a blast of fire, like the blank figure on my movie poster surrounded by a ring of rainbow. But her squeezy-tight suit is so close to skin color that she almost looks naked. Plus, she has on high-heeled boots!
She must have superpowers to be able to move around in those things.
“Why is she dressed like that?” I ask.
Dad cringes. “Yeah, it’s not very practical. On the other hand, she can manipulate microwave radiation, so she has that going for her.”
“Can she fly?” I ask.
“Yep.”
Maybe the heels don’t bother her when she’s in the air. Still. I glance at my orange sneakers. Good traction. Bright color. Those are the kind of shoes a superhero should wear. “What else can she do?”
“Throw fireballs. Generate extreme heat,” Dad says. “The only problem is that she’s not actually immune to the effects of radiation. She can manipulate it, but later in the series she actually gets sick from exposure to her own power. It’s a pretty cool twist.”
I stare at him. “I thought you couldn’t hurt a superhero.”
“You can if you know their weakness,” he says. “Every superhero has one.”
“They do?”
“Sure. Electro can’t get wet. Daredevil is sensitive to noise. Spider-Man runs out of webs sometimes. It’d be boring otherwise.”
“Does Superman have a weakness?” I ask.
“The most famous one of all. It’s called kryptonite. It takes away his powers.”
“Oh, yeah.” I forgot all about that. I think for a minute. “What do you call the opposite?”
“The opposite of kryptonite?”
“No, I mean… Let’s say you have a special object that gives you your power. What do you call that?”
“Oh, you mean an amulet. Or no, wait. That just protects you. If it has powers, I think it’s called a talisman. Most superheroes don’t have those, though. Their powers are sort of built-in.”
Huh. I trace the shape of the Ring through my shirt. So that’s what this is: a talisman. I tilt my head and look at Dad, impressed. “How do you know all this stuff?”
He crosses his ankles in front of him and opens Spider-Man again. “Countless hours of wasted youth.”
I stare at the bin of comic books. More than ever, I want to know what the Ring can do.
I mean, mind-controlling my little sister is okay, but it’s not enough.
My classmates are scared of me. Mom wants to watch over me. My doctor thinks I need a pill. They all think I’m the one who needs saving.
But the superheroes in these comics can do more than I imagined—things I never thought to test. They can move things without touching them. They can see the future and control the weather. They can turn invisible, pull trees out of the ground, and shoot lasers from their eyes.
Maybe I can do some of those things too.
I just need an Inspiration.
I grab a new stack of comics, lie down on my stomach, and start at the top.
13
The next morning, I walk right past kids playing kickball, Sofía playing four square, and first graders running to hide in the tube slide when they see me coming.
I have a whole bunch of new powers to try out—and if anyone happens to see me cause an earthquake or transport across the soccer field in the blink of an eye, so what?
That’d show them.
I head to the blacktop and look up at the basketball hoop. Pedro and Eli wouldn’t be too happy if I yanked it right out of the ground, so I put my hands against the cold metal pole and try to bend it instead. Nothing. I push harder. Nope. I roll up my sleeves and give it all I’ve got, straining my feet against the pavement until my arms start to shake. It doesn’t budge.
Okay, so I don’t have super strength.
Maybe I can turn invisible!
Pedro is dribbling toward me. I stand under the basket and imagine my body dissolving into fizz, the tiny bubbles floating into the air. I concentrate so hard that my fingers start to tingle.
Pedro looks confused. I hold my breath so he can’t hear me.
“You’re right in the middle of the court,” he says.
“Oh. Sorry.” I tuck my chin to my chest and slink away.
So I can’t turn invisible, either. Big deal. Neither can Firestar.
Maybe I can manipulate radiation!
I’m a little nervous about starting a wildfire with my extreme heat since Hydro-Man isn’t here to blast water out of his body, but whatever. These kids know how to stop, drop, and roll.
I stand at the edge of the soccer field and try turning myself into a roaring fireball. I open my arms, summoning heat from within, feeling it build, imagining it radiating outward until—BLAST!
Nothing happens.
When the bell rings, I shuffle into the building behind everyone else.
The rest of the morning, I try to predict what will be on the lunch menu. I attempt to operate the pencil sharpener from across the room. I stare out the window, trying to make the sun cloud over.
Nothing works.
“I don’t get it,” I whisper to Sofía at lunch. “I should be able to do something besides mind control by now.” I open my container of grapes and offer them to her. “I mean, I guess I have superhuman reflexes, too, because I saved that girl. But still.”
Sofía spreads a few potato chips on her sandwich and then hands me the bag.
“Maybe I should just concentrate on developing my brain powers.” I crunch into a chip. “I mean, it’d be great if I could make the earth stop rotating or summon a magical weapon or whatever, but it’s not like Firestar got to pick her powers.” I let out a big sigh. “Maybe I just have a superhuman mind.”
Sofía doesn’t answer. She plinks the tab off her can of apple juice and hands it across the table.
“Should I try to hypnotize someone?” I ask, sticking the tab in my pocket. “Or practice reading minds some more? Do you think I have to be touching the person for it to work? Because that’d explain why—”
“Meena.”
“Yeah?” I take a swig of milk.
She’s moving her jaw back and forth again. “Do you think maybe—”
“Hey, you guys!” Eli bangs his tray down next to us. “I think I got it!”
Oh, no.
He puts one knee on the bench, pushes his hand out of Riley’s floppy jacket sleeve, and sticks his palm into his other armpit. “Listen.”
“Can’t you save it for the concert?” I ask.
“What? No,” Sofía says. “That’s just for your family. I won’t get to see it.” She turns back to Eli. “Go ahead.”
He starts pumping his elbow up and down. At first, the only sound is a couple of Riley’s medals clinking together.
Then these awful squeaky noises come out of the jacket.
Sofía watches, her eyes dancing. When he’s finished, she claps like crazy. “Your brother is gonna love that.”
Eli plops down on the bench and gives her a shy smile. “Does it really sound like farting?”
“Mostly,” Sofía says. “Sometimes it’s more like sneakers on the gym floor.”
“But I’m on the right track?”
“Definitely.”
He grins. “Yeah, okay. I’ll keep working on it.” He picks up a french fry and glances at me. “What do you think?”
I roll my eyes. “I think you’re wasting your time.”
Eli stops dragging his fry through ketchup and stares at me. “Why?”
“Riley’s not here to see it,” I say, the back of
my neck getting hot. “He’s never here.”
Eli shrugs. “He’ll be here this weekend.”
“You really think so?” My fingers tighten around a carrot stick.
“Duh,” Eli says. “He said so. And he’s my brother.”
I snap my carrot in two. “Well, he sure doesn’t act like it.”
Sofía gasps. “Meena!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eli asks.
“It means he never paid attention to you before,” I say. “Why would he start now?”
Eli gapes at me, his face getting red. “He is coming. You’ll see. And I’m gonna show him my sound effects, and he’ll take me to the pool, and he’ll probably start teaching me the butterfly stroke too, because he’s one of the best swimmers in the world. You see this?” Eli stands and points at a big letter stitched to the front of the jacket. “Riley got it for being on varsity.” He points to a patch on the shoulder. “And he got this because he was All-Conference.” He points to a pin. “And this is because he was first in his division.”
I cross my arms. “Well, if he’s so great, then where is he?”
Eli grabs the edge of the table and leans across until his face is right in mine. “He’s coming.”
I don’t say anything. Because I don’t believe it.
Maybe the Ring lets me see into the future.
Eli picks up his tray and stalks off.
“Eli!” Sofía calls after him. When he doesn’t stop, she turns to me, her eyes blazing. “You want to be a hero?” she says. “Then stop acting like a villain!”
I sit up straighter. “I’m not the one who—”
But she doesn’t let me finish. She just picks up her lunch and follows Eli, leaving me at the table alone.
* * *
I try to make up with Eli and Sofía all day.
I mean, I don’t actually talk to them. I use mind control.
I try telling them how sorry they are for the way they talked to me. I imagine them writing me long apology notes and passing them under the desks. I WHOOSH feelings of guilt and regret at them.
Nothing works. Not one thing. It’s almost like I don’t even have any powers.
But I know I do! I saved that girl, didn’t I? I mind-controlled Rosie over and over.
I’ll prove it.
* * *
The next day, I am extra helpful at school. When it’s time for the Homework Handler to do her job, I grab the vocabulary sheets from her and do it myself. When Pedro raises his hand in science, I blurt out the answer so he won’t get it wrong. When Lin trips and lands on the floor, I knock over the whole art cart on my way to help her up.
Nobody seems to appreciate it. Mrs. D even clips me down!
I’m so frustrated that night that I can’t focus on my homework. It’s easy math, dividing by one hundred, but all I can do is sit at the kitchen table kicking my feet against the chair and staring at the zeros—all those empty circles on the page.
I finger the empty hole of the Rainbow Ring.
I remember the empty eyes of the seizure kids.
I think about the empty spot on my hero poster, the rainbow colors spreading out from nothing at all.
I lay my head on the table. I don’t get it! Everything was fine after I found the Ring. I saved that girl. I mind-controlled Rosie. I helped everyone in my class. I was strong and fierce and powerful—like nobody else in the world!
Then I lost the Ring, and I couldn’t save Eli at the pool. And I had a seizure.
Now that I have the Ring again, everything should be fine! But it isn’t. Nothing is back to the way it was before. It’s almost like something is blocking my powers.
Hang on.
I sit up again and spot the brown pill bottle in the middle of the table. I pick it up.
The Ring was working. Then I started taking this, and zip. Zero. Nothing.
What if the medication is my kryptonite?
I drop the bottle and scrape my chair back. The pills aren’t helping me. They’re blocking my powers, like a wet blanket over a flame.
But I don’t need them! Superheroes don’t take medicine, and they don’t have seizures.
Maybe that’s why I found the Ring. I bet it chose me so I wouldn’t have epilepsy anymore—so I could be stronger and more powerful than anybody.
I just have to stop taking these pills.
14
Meena Zee, report to the office, please.”
At the sound of the intercom, everybody turns to look at me. I glance at the clip chart in the front of the room, but I’m nowhere near Go to the Principal.
“Go ahead, Meena,” Mrs. D says.
I head into the hallway, feeling a little shaky. Voices filter through each door as I tiptoe past the other classrooms. When I reach the office, Mom is standing by the main desk.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“You forgot this.” She holds out the blue pill I left by my cereal bowl.
“Oh.” I shift from one foot to the other. “Sorry.”
But I’m not. Last night, I pretended to swallow my pill. I slipped it into my pocket, took it up to my workshop, and stuck it through the slot of my piggy bank.
This morning, instead of faking it, I “forgot” the pill next to my bowl.
So much for that.
“Is Sofía coming over after school?” Mom asks, dropping the pill into my hand.
It’s my turn to have her over, but we haven’t talked since she blew up at me the other day. “Um…” I rock back on my heels. “We might stay on the playground for a while, if that’s okay.”
“As long as you’re together.” She kisses me on top of my head. “I’ll let her mom know.”
I head back into the hallway. When I look over my shoulder, Mom is still watching me through the glass door. I stop at the drinking fountain, pretend to toss the pill into my mouth, and take a long drink of water.
I stick the pill in my pocket once she’s out of view.
* * *
“I told my mom that we’re going to the playground after school,” I tell Sofía at lunch. “But if you don’t want to, you can go home and tell your mom we changed our minds.”
Sofía peers across the table at me. “Are you saying you don’t want me to stay?”
I shrug. “I’m saying you should do what you want.”
She crosses her arms. “Then I’ll stay.”
“Fine,” I say.
“Fine.”
I pick the seeds out of my good-for-you sandwich bread. She opens her bag of Flaming Crunchers. Her flower headband is blue today. She slips it off, then slides it back into place.
“I’m staying in for recess to do math,” she says after a minute, “but if you don’t want to, you can still go out.”
“Are you saying you don’t want me there?”
“I’m saying you should do what you want.”
I cross my arms. “Then I’ll stay.”
“Fine,” she says.
“Fine.”
We stare at each other for a few more seconds then drop our eyes. I’m biting into my sandwich when I hear a plink. She slides her can tab across the table and leaves it next to my milk. I chew a while longer before I reach over, pick it up, and slip it into my pocket.
So at least that’s settled.
The rest of the day, we aren’t exactly friendly, but at least we aren’t fighting. She works on math after lunch while I work on handwriting. At last recess, she plays horses with Nora while I get in line for double Dutch. The rope twirlers exchange a look when it’s my turn to jump, but at least they don’t run screaming.
Eli is still ignoring me, but he’s in a good mood—drumming pencils on his desk, making heavy metal sounds with his mouth, and bobbing his head—all because Riley is finally coming home. If we do go to Eli’s dumb concert tomorrow, and Riley ends up ignoring him, maybe I won’t try to mind-control him into feeling better.
When the last bell rings, I head to my cubby and cram everything i
nto my bag while Sofía takes her time packing up. “Meet you outside?” I ask.
She nods, and I head to the playground.
For a few minutes, I wait inside the tube slide, listening for the bus to rumble away. I leave my backpack and climb out again. The line of cars by the school is gone now, the playground empty. Finally, I have it all to myself.
It’s time to find out if I can fly.
It’s been more than twenty-four hours since my last pill. That should be enough to restore my powers.
I want this one more than any of them. It would prove that the Ring works—that it keeps me safe and makes me strong. If I can fly, then I’m not just some kid who has seizures. I’m someone who can help Eli and look out for Rosie—someone worth having as a best friend.
I plant my feet at the edge of the soccer field. That’s plenty of room for a running start. I put my head down and scuff my feet through the grass like a racehorse at the starting gate.
I take off across the field, pumping my arms, pushing myself harder and harder until I’m running so fast my feet barely touch the ground, then I spread my arms and leap!
Thud.
I land in the grass. I lick my finger and stick it up in the air to see which way the breeze is blowing. I put my head down and take off again—faster this time with the wind at my back, blasting across the field until I spread my arms again to leap and—
Thud.
I stand with my hands on my knees, panting. This has to work. It has to!
Maybe I need to get higher.
I jog back and climb the platform of the zip line. I grab the handle, push off, and zip across. Then I let go and—
Thud.
I clamber on top of the tube slide next. This time, I try using magic words before I jump. “Cookie cupcake blastoff—”
Thud.
I sink down onto my knees and pound my fists on the ground. I want to fly! I need to!
But what if I can’t?
Or maybe…
Never Fear, Meena's Here! Page 8