Original Superhero Co-Write

"You know," Beau began, stepping into the outside of the shop with a ukelele in hand, startling Annie slightly. He shrugged the pulsing of his headache off to stand by her, leaning against the brick wall. "In drama club, we're preparing Wicked."

"Wicked?" she frowned for a moment before nodding. "I've heard of it. Isn't it a spin-off of the Wizard of Oz?"

"Not really," he fiddled with the strings, the sound oddly soothing in the twilight of New York. "It's the story of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, told by Glinda, who knew her when they were teenagers."

"Oh," Annie oozed uncomfortable thouts, and he heard the whisper of why the hell is he telling me this? against the sensible walls of his mind. 

"Elphaba had a little sister," Beau continued, playing the familiar chords of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in between sentences. "She couldn't walk, and the ruby slippers gave her the chance to do so again, that's why she wanted them so bad in the original Wizard of Oz."

"But instead they placed her as the bad guy," Annie caught on. "That's kind of really fucking depressive, Beau."

"Not really," he smiled a little, and again he felt her being taken off-guard. "You see, Elphaba had found out that the Wizard of Oz was actually a bad guy, and even though she wanted to be with him throughout the whole play, when she discvered he was nothing but an evil, evil man... well, she changed. She gained confidence, earned her freedom, albeit to a high price."

"What did she pay for?" Annie whispered, completely focused on him.

"Everyone's hatred," the Cajun felt blood swell on his middle finger, where flesh met nail and he always opened it whenever he played ukelele. "They all thought she was wicked, and it was all just a misunderstanding."

"That's still sad," Annie frowned.

"Is it?" he played vigorously, the ame chords, and Annie's nail was digging now into her tattoo. "I don't know any of you, just scatteed thoughts you throw my way, but I can tell that you loved your sister very much. Yet Oz is a non existent place, and with you being so involved with the dead, it worries me that you could hurt yourself in an attempt to bring back someone from some place that never existed."

Anger poured, but he was ready for it, "Just who do you think you are to tell me all of this? You've got no ritm Boudreux!"

"I don't," he agreed, dropping the ukelele to his side, "But I like you, you're a nice girl and a nice person, which is hard to find when you can accidentally look inside someone's head. So I'd like it if you didn't end up insane like I think I could, okay? We're... we're in this together, like it or not. So we need to take care of each other."

"You're corny as fuck," she snorted, but the small tinge of affection that tainted her words along with the wave of gratitude and respect made him smile. 

"I know," he laughed, rubbing his arm.

"But you know what?" he eyed him exaggeratedly, rolling her eyes afterwards before grinning. "You're not who I thought you'd be. And I'm glad for it."

As soon as Annie entered the shop, Beau collapsed against the wall and groaned in pain, clutching his head. 

"Fuck," he cursed.

He needed to drink the concoction more often.

***

It came to him at the strangest of the times, where their powers came from. He hadn't really been thinking about it, not really. He was tired, exhausted, even, after such a long day of practicing dances and fluid movements in the latest meeting of Drama Club. His character moved too much, talked a lot, had one too many lines and dances and emotions though him. It did tire him, along with the concoction and the whispers and the training they had had the day prior.

Yet, as always, he found himself sitting on the couch of his appartment, Alice straddling him and running her gorgeous lips through his neck with her back curved deliciously. And it was then that he realized it.

"The box," he gasped, eyes opening wide.

"What?" Alice pulled away, lips red and inviting and still sticky from her duable lip gloss. He could care less and he pushed her to the side of the couch and rushed to his phone, opening it. "Are you fucking kidding me, Beau?"

"I'm sorry, chére," he told her distractedly, licking his swollen lips in a nervous habit. "But I just remembered something my uncle has to know."

"That crazy uncle of yours? You'll end up like him fi you keep rejecting me like this, you shit, I swear to God."

His phone dropped to the carpet, tumbling to the floor where the back broke and the battery fell out, but the Cajun couldn't care less. His hand shook, and he shut his eyes, trying so very, very hard to convince himself that he hadn't just heard what his girlfriend had thought.

"Beau? Are you alright?" she asked, her worried tone seeping To his bones like a arrow made of ice. Jesus christ, it wasn't worry, it was mockery. "Boo?"

"You," Beau took a deep breath, shuddery, unstable. "You should go, Alice."

"What?!"

"Fucking is the only thing you're fucking good at, Beau, and you can't even give me that?! I fucking knew it, I should've gone with Miles when I had the chance."

"Alice, you've got to go," Beau told her firmly, only his voice broke and his hand began to pull on his hair, focusing on the sharp pain of it instead of the person he loved talking about his best friend and her in a context he hated.

"Why? What's so important?" she crossed her arms over her scantily clothed chest, pushing her breasts on purpose, and he loved them, he really did but God, she didn't... she...

"I love you," he croaked out, and for the first time he let his powers roam freely and he found the last thing he wanted to see.

"Fuck fuck fuck, I hate when he does this, why does he do it? Is he such a naive little fuck that he actually believes I love him back? Can't he read that I'm unconfortable as fuck?"

"Beau, you're crying, what's wrong?" that, that tone again, the mockery. He couldn't bare it. He couldn't. "Beau-"

"Just GO!" he ended up screaming at her, slamming his hand against the coffee table. His palm tingled, and he focused on that feeling instead of the millions of depraved and horrifying thoughts he read as his girlfriend clothed herself. Just as she reached the doorway, Beau called for her, soft as a feather and broken as shattered glass, "And don't bother coming back."

Beau didn't need to be a telepath to know that had she cared, she wouldn't have left.

Still, there were more pressing matters. So after downing two shots of Tequila, Beau sat down on the couch and put his phone back together, which received only a mild scratch on the screen. Rubbing the tears from his eyes, he reached below the couch and took a wooden box from it, placing it over his lap. The phone rang, waiting for Naveen's answer.

When he didn't answer, Beau realized he was probably outside, and wouldn't have his phone with him until the morning. Cursing in French, he reclutantly searching his phone for the numbers of the people who shared the anomaly with him.

"Beau?" Remy groaned into the speaker. "It's one in the morning, what's wrong with you?"

"I think I know what gave us powers," he spoke steadily into the device, hearing rustling sheets and a much more awake and alert Remy over the line, "And I think I was the one who made it happen."

***

Everyone came over in less than half an hour, and Beau greeted them with a silent nod and a welcoming headache to his already aching head. He poured himself another shot, just to take the edge off, and finally sat on the couch. Annie and Esther didn't seem very tired, and he found Netflix still floating in their minds. Hollace had been awake, but not by choice, and Remy was half asleep still.

"On summer," Beau began. "I found a wooden box on my mother's basement, in my old house in New Orleans."

"Oh, great," Hollace spat to the air. "More voodoo shit!"

"I thought it was my father's," the Cajun ignored him, which was a first and immediately took everyone's attention (and worry). "I couldn't open it,and Naveen told me not to try, either. He said the box had some kind of magic inside that was foreign to him, and it'd be safer if it was locked."

"And you just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Annie shook her head. 

"That's the thing," Beau looked at the box, and his fright projected to everyone in the room as he frowned and bit his red and swollen lower lip. "I... I didn't remember opening it until a few minutes ago."

"What?" Esther was frightened the most, while Annie was skeptical.

"You remembered it out of the blue?" Remy frowned. "Was there something that triggered it? What were you doing?"

"I was," Beau swallowed down his hurt, shoveling it deep, deep within him where he couldn't even find it himself. "I was with Alice."

"Alice Taggert," Remy nodded. "Your girlfriend."

"Ex," Beau corrected softly, the vulnerability of his voice making him wince slightly. "She's... she's my ex girlfriend."

"Oh," Remy was awkward, but he seemed comfortable enough to pat his shoulder lightly. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm not," Hollace scoffed. "She's a bitch if I've ever seen one. You did well breaking up."

"I had no choice," Beau shrugged, but before anyone could question anything else he opened the box, and felt everyone's panic before it settled that nothing had happened. Then Hollace stood.

"What the fuck...?"

"Oh my god," Remy gasped.

"That's-" Esther grasped Annie's arm.

"That's a big fucking rock," Annie stated bluntly.

And it was. Lavender, with stains of pink floating and swirling and making it vibrate with power. Beau didn't dare touch it, but he stared at the crystal with his breaths shortened and his chest feeling tight.

"This," Beau looked at the four people gathered around him, around the box. "This is what I found when I opened the box."

Esther cocked her head to the right when Annie suddenly spoke.

"This is what caused the storm."

Okay, here's the longer and corrected version of it.

Exhaustion wasn't enough to cover the state of Beau's mind and body when he finished his training, straining to keep a mischievous smile like he'd done so many times for so many characters before. Hollace and Remy were sitting in quietness, while Esther took care of some plants that she had thought needed more watering. He decided to see Annie, wondering if she was okay after that little episode she'd had with one of her ghosts, grabbing the nearest instrument he could find - anyway, a ukelele always cheered people up, right?

"You know," Beau began, stepping into the outside of the shop with the ukelele in hand, startling Annie slightly. He shrugged the pulsing of his headache off to stand by her, leaning against the brick wall. "In drama club, we're preparing Wicked."

"Wicked?" she frowned for a moment before nodding. "I've heard of it. Isn't it a spin-off of the Wizard of Oz?"

"Not really," he fiddled with the strings, the sound oddly soothing in the twilight of New York. "It's the story of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, told by Glinda, who knew her when they were teenagers."

"Oh," Annie oozed uncomfortable thouts, and he heard the whisper of why the hell is he telling me this? against the sensible walls of his mind. 

"Elphaba had a little sister," Beau continued, playing the familiar chords of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in between sentences. "She couldn't walk, and the ruby slippers gave her the chance to do so again, that's why she wanted them so bad in the original Wizard of Oz."

"But instead they placed her as the bad guy," Annie caught on. "That's kind of really fucking depressing, Beau."

"Not really," he smiled a little, and again he felt her being taken off-guard by how genuinely he beamed. He took it she wasn't used to honest people. "You see, Elphaba had found out that the Wizard of Oz was actually a bad guy, and even though she wanted to be with him throughout the whole play, when she discovered the truth... well, she changed. She gained confidence, earned her freedom, albeit to a high price."

"What was the price?" Annie whispered, completely focused on him.

"Everyone's hatred," the Cajun felt blood swell on his middle finger, where flesh met nail and he always opened it whenever he played ukelele. He welcomed it, thankful that it distracted him from his pounding head. "They all thought she was wicked, and it was all just a misunderstanding."

"That's still sad," Annie frowned.

"Is it?" he played vigorously, the ame chords, and Annie's nail was digging now into her tattoo. "I don't know any of you, just scatteed thoughts you throw my way, but I can tell that you loved your sister very much. Yet Oz is a non existent place, and with you being so involved with the dead, it worries me that you could hurt yourself in an attempt to bring back someone from some place that never existed."

Anger poured, but he was ready for it, "Just who do you think you are to tell me all of this? You've got no right, Boudreux!"

"I don't," he agreed, dropping the ukelele to his side, "But I like you, you're a nice girl and a nice person, which is hard to find when you can accidentally look inside someone's head. So I'd like it if you didn't end up insane like I think I could, okay?"

Annie didn't say anything, which unfortunately let him move inside her mind without any power to do otherwise - he hadn't been inside someone's mind like that since that accident with Naveen, hence why he'd been skipping a few classes, choosing to stay home in bed instead. 

But he could see her, really see her through her eyes. He saw himself in shades of black and mistrust and herself as nothing but an unfortunate survivor. He saw her wrist, shinning in pinks and baby blues, connecting her to the Heavens so many people hoped for their loved ones to be in. He saw Abigail, her little sister, coughing after a fit of laughter in a hospital bed, and the sight broke his heart. With the last of his strength, Beau pulled away and tried to discreetly wipe away a tear.

"We're... we're in this together, like it or not. So we need to take care of each other."

"You're corny as fuck," she snorted, but the small tinge of affection that tainted her words along with the wave of gratitude and respect made him smile. 

"I know," he laughed, rubbing his arm, feeling his knees shaking with the effort to stand.

"But you know what?" he eyed him exaggeratedly, rolling her eyes afterwards before grinning. "You're not who I thought you'd be. And I'm glad for it."

As soon as Annie entered the shop, Beau collapsed against the wall and groaned in pain, clutching his head. 

"Fuck," he cursed.

He needed to drink the concoction more often.

***

To his credit, Beau did try to live his life as normally as he could. He went to college, studied for his exams, rehearsed at five in the afternoon with his friends, made dinner at his mother's place on Wednesday and drank three times each hours the concoction Naveen had made.

Naveen was still trying to find the nucleus of their powers, the reason of the storm and why they were defying the laws of nature. The others didn't seem to worry about it, but unlike Beau, their powers weren't wearing them out to his extent. Annie saw ghosts, and at most they annoyed or scared her. Hollace could use his as he pleased. Remy and Esther had found theirs to be based on emotions. But Beau's...

He'd always believed in the good of humanity, despite all the horrors he'd witnessed in his life such as his father's escape, his sister's murder and his mother's illness. He'd always thought that people were inherently good, but with his acquired telepathy, he was beginning to doubt it. 

Still, he focused on testing them to see if further control would allow him to shut it off. He had telepathic spats with Hollace, explained things to Esther with images that he now knew how to project, and even put himself inside other's minds to see how things were through their perspective. Training sessions were late, and thus he could barely do anything without getting a migraine for it, so he mainly stood behind and watched everyone do their thing.

Then one day it came to him at the strangest of the times, where their powers came from. He hadn't really been thinking about it, not really. He was tired, exhausted, even, after such a long day of practicing dances and fluid movements in the latest meeting of Drama Club. His character moved too much, talked a lot, had one too many lines and dances and emotions though him. It did tire him, along with the concoction and the whispers and the training they had had the day prior.

Yet, as always, he found himself sitting on the couch of his apartment, Alice straddling him and running her gorgeous lips through his neck with her back curved deliciously. He was shirtless and so was she, her nimble hands unbuttoning his pants slowly. And it was then that he realized it.

"The box," he gasped, eyes opening wide.

"What?" Alice pulled away, lips red and inviting and still sticky from her durable lip gloss. He could care less and he pushed her to the side of the couch and rushed to his phone, unlocking it. "Are you fucking kidding me, Beau?"

"I'm sorry, chére," he told her distractedly, licking his swollen lips in a nervous habit. They hadn't had much time to see each other, since he'd mainly been taking care of his mother and training at the bunker underneath the shop. "But I just remembered something, and my uncle has to know."

"You'll end up like him if you keep rejecting me like this, you shit, I swear to God, you fucking useless prick."

His phone dropped to the carpet, tumbling to the floor where the back broke and the battery fell out, but the Cajun couldn't care less. His hand shook, and he shut his eyes, trying so very, very hard to convince himself that he hadn't just heard what his girlfriend had thought, that he had heard it wrong.

"Beau? Are you alright?" she asked, her worried tone seeping to his bones like a arrow made of ice. Jesus christ, it wasn't worry, it was mockery. "Boo?"

"You," Beau took a deep breath - shuddery, unstable. "You should go, Alice."

"What?!"

"Fucking is the only thing you're fucking good at, Beau, and you can't even give me that?! I fucking knew it, I should've gone with Milo today."

"Alice, you've got to go," Beau told her firmly, only his voice broke and his hand began to pull on his hair, focusing on the sharp pain of it instead of the person he loved talking about fucking his best friend like it was an everyday occur - it probably was. 

He could see it, could see her and him, inside her head. And it was then when Beau suddenly realized that people couldn't be inherently good, not when this was happening behind his back.

"Why? What's so important?" she crossed her arms over her scantily clothed chest, pushing her breasts on purpose, and he loved them, he really did but God, she didn't... she...

"I love you," he croaked out, and for the first time he let his powers roam freely and he found the last thing he wanted to see.

"Fuck fuck fuck, I hate when he does this, why does he do it? Is he such a naive little fuck that he actually believes I love him back? Can't he read that I'm unconfortable as fuck?"

"Beau, you're crying, what's wrong?" that, that tone again, the mockery. He couldn't bare it. He couldn't. "Beau-"

"JUST GO!" he roared at her, slamming his hand against the coffee table. His palm tingled, and he focused on that feeling instead of the millions of depraved and horrifying thoughts he read as his girlfriend clothed herself. Just as she reached the doorway, Beau called for her, soft as a feather and broken as shattered glass, "Don't bother coming back again."

Beau didn't need to be a telepath to know that had she cared, she wouldn't have left.

Tears burned behind his eyes, and frustration made way to anger. How could he have been so stupid? He knew Alice had a reputation, but she had seemed so... so earnest, so real to him. She'd been is first, for god's sake, he'd thought they'd be making love by now. How could he have ever thought that someone like her could be with him?

He knew he wasn't much. He was lanky, at best. Too tall and ungraceful. He was a foreigner in New York where she was a pure Yankee at heart. He was the heir of a well-known and respected voodoo fucking tribe, where did he fit with her? Since when had she realized it? Did she pity him enough to not break up with him but still didn't respect him enough to cheat on him with his best friend?

He stopped trying to block his mind, and it actually felt extremely nice to unwind. The headache lessened to a dull throb and he had enough mind to reach for an almost full bottle of Jose Cuervo that he kept on the top cabinet on the right of his kitchen. 

There were more pressing matters, though, so after downing two shots of Tequila, Beau sat down on the couch and put his phone back together, which received only mild scratching on the screen. Rubbing the tears from his eyes, he reached for his shirt, which still smelled like her perfume. He chucked it away. 

The phone rang, waiting for Naveen's answer. When he didn't, Beau realized he was probably outside, and wouldn't have his phone with him until the morning. Cursing in French, he reclutantly searching his phone for the numbers of the people who shared the anomaly with him, deciding on the person who was less likely to kill him.

"Beau?" Remy groaned into the speaker. "It's one in the morning, what's wrong with you?"

"I think I know what gave us powers," he spoke steadily into the device, hearing rustling sheets and a much more awake and alert Remy over the line, "And I think I was the one who made it happen."

***

The first one to arrive was Remy, and when Beau opened it he was on the edge between tipsy and drunk, thinking he could hide it. Remy seemed ready to tackle the subject until he took a good look at him, frowning deeply.

"Holy smokes, Beau," the Cajun knew it was genuine worry, but only because his mind told him so - he didn't trust himself to read people anymore. Who knew when he could get stabbed on his back again? "Are you okay?"

"Sure," he wasn't slurring. Definitely not.

The second to come was Hollace, who took a good look at him and raised his eyebrows, amusement (and slight heat?) oozing out until he realized Beau wasn't happily drunk, but sadly and miseraly drunk.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess," he began, limping over to the kitchen where he made a triumphant sound. "That this is the reason why you're looking like a kicked puppy."

"Hollace, leave him alone," Remy ordered him with a soft voice, like walking on eggshells. Beau was more offended by that than Hollace taking a swig of his favourite beverage. 

Annie and Esther arrived together, like always, and if Beau expected Esther to be wary of his state she only went inside the kitchen to hand him a glass of water wordlessly, while Annie seemed more cautious than ever. Esther was blushing slightly, embarrassed for some reason.

"Thanks," oh, great, he was slurring, he definitely was.

"No problem," the freckled girl smiled. She did have a lot of freckles. 

They sat on his living room, on the loveseats and mismatches little couches, looking around. Beau supposed they were ascinated by all the artifacts lying around that had belonged to various friends from New Orleans. Maybe that was the reason why no one had paid any attention to the box in the middle of his coffee table, resting in an innocent state of quiet. 

He knew better.

"On summer," Beau began, rubbing his forehead as the whispers of his peers began to turn louder than the average. "I found a wooden box on my mother's basement, in my old house in New Orleans."

"Oh, great," Hollace spat to the air. "More voodoo shit!"

"I thought it was my father's," the Cajun ignored him, which was a first and immediately took everyone's attention (and worry). "I couldn't open it,and Naveen told me not to try, either. He said the box had some kind of magic inside that was foreign to him, and it'd be safer if it was locked."

"And you just couldn't help yourself, could you?" Annie shook her head, annoyed, but fell to a quiet stupport when Remy placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"That's the thing," Beau looked at the box, and his fright projected to everyone in the room as he frowned and bit his red and swollen lower lip. The taste of strawberry lip gloss made him want to cry. "I... I didn't remember opening it until a few minutes ago."

"What?" Esther was frightened the most, while Annie was skeptical.

"You remembered it out of the blue?" Remy frowned. 

"I think so," Beau sighed, rubbing his shoulder and only then noticing that he hadn't put a shirt on. Oh, so that was why everyone was so fixed on looking at him in the eye...

"Was there something that triggered it? What were you doing?"

"I was," Beau swallowed down his hurt, shoveling it deep, deep within him where he couldn't even find it himself. "I was with Alice."

"Alice Taggert," Remy nodded. "Your girlfriend, right?"

"Ex," Beau corrected softly, the vulnerability of his voice making him wince slightly. 

"Oh," Remy was awkward, but he seemed comfortable enough to pat his shoulder lightly. "I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm not," Hollace scoffed. "She's a bitch if I've ever seen one. You did well breaking up."

"I had no choice," Beau shrugged, but before anyone could question anything else he opened the box, and felt everyone's panic before it settled that nothing had happened. 

Then Hollace stood.

"What the fuck...?"

"Oh my god," Remy gasped.

"That's-" Esther grasped Annie's arm.

"That's a big fucking rock," Annie stated bluntly.

And it was. Lavender, with stains of pink floating and swirling and making it vibrate with power. Beau didn't dare touch it, but he stared at the crystal with his breaths shortened and his chest feeling tight.

"This," Beau looked at the four people gathered around him, around the box. "This is what I found when I opened the box."

Esther cocked her head to the right when Annie suddenly spoke.

"This is what caused the storm."

There was a solemn silence, taken by everyone's need to digest that a simple jewel had changed their lives drastically. Beau stared at it long and hard, and even though the crystal pulsed with life he couldn't help but find its lack of thoughts abnormal, almost jarring. He had become so used to hearing at least a mild whisper for the last weeks that he'd forgotten what it was to be normal.

"Okay, let's," Remy took a deep breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he stood up and started pacing. "You said you thought it belonged to your father, right?"

"Yes, but now I know it doesn't," Beau placed the wooden box on the table again. He couldn't see the jewel, but it still emmited light upon the dimly lit room. "My father hates magic, despises it."

"Are you completely sure?" Beau knew Remy was just looking out for everyone and making sure the posibilities were the right ones, but Beau was too drunk and too sad and irritated to really understand it at the moment.

"He kind of left me and my mother and never came back because he feared voodoo," he told him dryly, looking into his eyes with anger, "So yeah, I'm sure."

"I..." Remy stepped back, rubbing his arm. "I'm sorry I asked again."

"You didn't know," Annie shot Beau a glare. "And at least you're sober."

"Give the guy a break," Hollace chortled. "He and his boo just broke up. Give him a week and he'll be back with her, on top of the social pyramid in Columbia."

Was that how everyone pictured him? Did they think of him as an airhead? A good-for-nothing that had everything handed to him on a silver platter? A swipe of their thoughts told him as much, but it left them winded with wide eyes, Remy stumbling to sit on the couch.

"Oh my God," Esther clutched her forehead.

"What the fuck, Boudreux?" Hollace stood angrily. "Just because you have the power to be a nosy asshole doesn't mean you've got the right to look into our heads! They're ours for a reason, and you're being a dick!"

"I'll hand the box to Naveen tomorrow," Beau muttered, willing the burn behind his eyes to fade. "You can all go."

"So you're kicking us out?" Annie seemed incredulous, offended, but Beau needed them to go. He hated crying, he hated, hated, hated fucking crying and he didn't want those strangers to see him like that.

"He's crying, Annie," Esther pulled on her arm, and Beau cursed, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes ti make it stop. "I think he's not the only one who's had a rough day."

"He's fine," Hollace crossed his arms over his chest. "Look at him! He's had a bad break up and that's all there is to it! People like him have only that to cause them pain, Esther. He's not like us at all! What does he have to worry for? His stupid drama club meetings? Being able to read minds? That's probably the easiest power to handle of all of this!"

"Hollace, that's enough," Remy cut him, placing a hand on his chest with a determined frown. "You may think Beau's different, but he's not. We're all stuck in this, so we're all the same. Maybe he hasn't lost a leg, or his parents in a fire, or had to escape from home, or lost his sister, but he's given us what we didn't have - Naveen."

"So?" the brunet huffed. 

"We could be freaking out," Annie admitted. "But we're not. Thank god we met at the hospital, uh?"

"Hey."

Beau lifted his head from his hands and found Esther sitting beside him, sending him a warm smile while Remy tried to pacify Hollace, who oozed offended feeling from his every pore. The girl lifted her hand and he took the hankerchief, rubbing his tears away and willing himself to just stop.

"Thanks," he sniffed.

"Hollace is wrong," she told him, albeit shyly. He felt her sympathy, not her pity, which made him like her so much more than the other three young adults in his apartment who were arguing about him as if he weren't in the room. "Everyone is struggling with their powers, and you seem kind of tired lately. Is it wearing you out?"

Beau nodded, unable to trust his voice.

"You shouldn't drink when this happens," she placed her hands on her lap. "The boys in my town would, when they were sad or angry, and it always ended badly in the mornings. So if you feel bad, don't drink. Just call for us, if anything, okay?"

"I don't think any of them would want me to show up in their step," he chuckled nasally, cursing again in French and wiping his eyes. What was wrong with him? 

"Well, don't you have friends?" she smiled a little, shyly. "I've heard you've very popular."

His smile dropped, and the thought of Milo, Kayla, Ingrid, Phil and Jay made his chest burn with anger and painful sadness.

"No," he whispered, "No, I don't have any friends."

"Well, now you do," she grinned and hesitated before lifting her hand to him. "Hi, I'm Esther, would you like to be my friend?"

Beau was overcome with gratefullness, along with a clear mind as soon as he registerd her superficial thoughts - Esther's mind was just like a sip of lemonade; refreshing, pure and the most relieving feeling on a hot summer afternoon. So he grinned, genuinely, and he shook her hand.

"Hi, Esther, I'm Beau," he laughed a little, feeling like a kid. "And yeah, I want to be your friend."

Their moment was cut off by Esther herself, who stood and took a deep breath before moving between the three students arguing. They looked at her with surprise, and Beau denoted almost pride in Annie.

"We need to stop," she declared. "We're fighting all the time, and what for? Making enemies out of each other won't do us any good! Beau obviously is upset, and Hollace probably needs to solve some things about himself, but why should we take it out on each other?"

"I agree," Annie sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. "We're wasting time doing this bulls - bullcrap. We should...," her eyes found Beau's for a moment, and a little smile played on her lips. "We should stick together, especially if we want to figure all this out."

"Yeah," Remy kept rubbing his face, stronger this time. "I was tired an irritated. I'm sorry I spoke to you that ay, Hollace."

"Don't," the boy shut his eyes, as if pained and disguted. "I hae sentimentality, it makes me want to barf."

"Well, at least apologize to Beau," Esther demanded, immediately looking as surprised as the people around her. "Uh... Please?"

"Over my dead body," he declared.

"It's okay," the Cajun had sobered up enough to stand, unaware of everyone's eyes darting to the open button of his pants and Esther's incredible blush at his state, "I guess I deserved it. I haven't really made a good impression."

"Are you kidding?" Remy chuckled. "At least you were trying to find a solution for this. You've been really helpful, Beau."

"Yeah, we," Annie shifted her weight to her other leg, seemingly uncomfortable. "Well, we want to thank you."

"No need to," he waved it off and rubbed his sore shoulder. "If you guys want to crash here, you're welcome, but I've got no space."

"We'll go home," Hollace immediately jumped in. 

"Meet me by the shop at eight tomorrow," Beau told them as they moved to the front door. "I know it's Saturday and it's not a day for training, but we really need to figure out what the stone did to us."

"We'll be there," Esther nodded at him.

Hollace was the last to leave, hesitating for a moment. Beau waited and waited, and even though it was mere seconds later, it felt like an hour to him when Hollace hastily went to him and punched his arm, his cheekbones darker than the usual.

"Stop being so depressed, you jerk," he barked, moving back to finally leave. "Fucking asshole..."

Hope you take care of yourself, Beau heard and, with surprise, he found he didn't need to down another shot to sleep that night.

@ niklitera
LOVE but in this instead of "Maybe he hasn't lost a leg, or his parents in a fire" maybe just put "or his parents" just to keep it vague.

Wait do they all know Remy's parents are dead? I didn't remember that being mentioned before. I mean Beau would know obviously but do the rest of them know?

@ starfire.
Hm, I think it might be assumed because he mentioned his aunt and Maya before, but never his parents? But it also just might be something they never thought about when he says something like "Oh yeah, my aunt..." you know?

Okay, so yeah, I don't think any of them know except possibly Beau... @ niklitera

"Mami, is this necessary?" Remy asked as Aunt Zarah rummaged through his backpack.

"Things in this house have been set on fire and before I decide that it's a jinn roaming around, I need to see whether or not the rascals living in my house are smoking. I swear to Allah, Remington, if you've taken up smoking..."

She, however, couldn't find anything. She shoved his backpack back into his hands and grumbled about her dresser, Maya's shoes, and every other object Remy accidentally set ablaze. He bit his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"Bye, Mami," he called, as he opened the front door to leave.

"Yeah, yeah," Aunt Zarah waved her hand as a goodbye. Remy chuckled and closed the door behind him.

He got into Aunt Zarah's bright pink convertible–he assumed it was a mid-life crisis–as he had made the engine to the Camry burst into flames, and drove off towards Naveen's shop. The drive only took twenty minutes and the New York wind whipped through his hair. It was soothing, which was funny because nothing in his life was anything of the sort.

Aside from now being able to control fire, Remy couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he kept seeing a raging fire inside a small house and was startled awake. So he spent that time practicing his new power until he was able to stop setting random objects on fire without noticing, or when he did, he was able to put it out in an instant.

He actually felt proud of himself.

When he arrived at Naveen's shop, he got out of the car and Hollace walked by and snorted, "Nice car."

Remy didn't say anything. He simply followed him into the shop where they met up with everyone else.

The second they arrived, Naveen closed the shop. Beau was talking to no one in particular about some musical he was auditioning for as they all descended the staircase to the basement. Hollace kept rolling his eyes as he spoke while Annie and Esther kept asking questions about it. Remy, on the other hand, wasn't paying any attention. In fact, he was suddenly feeling exhausted, like he could sleep until he was twenty-five.

"Remy, you okay?" Beau asked, looking at him, concerned.

"What? Yeah," he said, nodding. Beau didn't look convinced but Naveen started speaking so he didn't press it.

"So, Beau brought up the stone to me," Naveen stated. "Seems you five had quite the discussion last Friday."

"Do you know anything about it?" Esther asked, tugging at the end of her shirt. Remy noticed it looked new–like it had come from a department store.

"I'm afraid I don't," Naveen frowned. Remy furrowed his eyebrows–that was certainly a first. "It's not magic that I'm well-versed in. I've read some books about it but it's very ancient. Not many people practice it."

"Wow, I thought you were supposed to be some voodoo warlock god or some shit," Hollace grumbled, rolling his eyes. Naveen only smiled in response.

"All I can tell you right now is just to practice your powers. If I find anything about the stone, you'll be the first to know." Naveen looked at Hollace when he said that, who scoffed, and Remy tried to hide his smile.

The five of them dispersed, going to different corners of the room. Remy watched Hollace as he suddenly turned into a blur and reappeared on the other side of the room. He kept doing it, and even stopped to scare Esther, who jumped so badly that she accidentally knocked out all the power in the room.

"Uh, Esther?" Naveen called into the darkness.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than usual. A second later, the power turned back on.

Annie advanced and Hollace, who was grinning from ear-to-ear–something Remy had never seen before and promised to keep in his mind forever–disappeared again, turning into a blur as he continued to run around the room in circles so that Annie couldn't keep up with him.

Remy chuckled as Annie huffed and shook her body, as if to physically shake the annoyance off. He watched as she closed her eyes and assumed she summoned some ghosts because she opened them a second later and went, "Why is it always you?" to thin air.

Beau, on the other hand, was in deep conversation with Naveen. He had probably taken that potion that mutes all the voices in his head because it seemed like nothing was distracting them. Or whatever it was they were talking about was so interesting he momentarily forgot. But Remy went with the former.

"Remy, you're not practicing," Esther said. She was making a lamp turn on and off.

"Hey, that's really good," he commented, impressed.

Esther beamed.

"I've been practicing with something called a microwave? Annie wasn't very happy about that. It took her an hour to warm up some soup because I kept playing with it," she added. Remy laughed and she shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention to the fluorescent lights on the ceiling.

Remy sighed and closed his eyes. Suddenly, his whole body was lit with flames. He opened his eyes and was still amazed by the fact that he could still see visibly. The fire did absolutely nothing to him, and yet did much harm to everything else.

He extinguished the fire and snapped his fingers, so a small flame appeared at the end of it. He made it dance along his skin until both of his hands were covered in flames. He extinguished it. He closed his eyes again and opened them once his head was ablaze. Esther looked at him and giggled at the sight of just his head being on fire. He grinned and put it out again.

"You're doing a wonderful job, Remy," said Naveen, walking over to him.

Remy smiled. "It's more because of you than anything."

Naveen shook his head. "Give yourself some credit! I only forced you to practice your powers, you're the one that made all that happen. I'm very proud of you."

The smile on Remy's face widened as Naveen walked away, towards Esther. The new boost of confidence he just got made him snap his fingers again and he watched the flame as it whipped around in the air, sucking away on oxygen. The smile was starting to disappear and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the fire.

"Remy, I need you to be brave, okay?"

"Baba, what's going on?"

"Don't move, stay here! I'm going to get your mother and then we will stay with your Aunt Zarah, okay? I'll be right back, I won't be gone long, son..."

"Remy!"

He looked up to see everyone staring at him. He put out the fire in his hands and looked around. Beau's eyebrows were furrowed and he said, "We have a visitor."

He pointed at someone by the door and Remy immediately exclaimed, "Maya?!"

The young girl was standing by the door with her glasses on and the camera Aunt Zarah bought her for her birthday a year ago slung around her neck. She was looking around the place like she had never seen anything like it–even though it was a normal-looking basement–and she whispered, "So, this is it. This is the place where you all practice all your powers and stuff?"

"Wait, why do you have a camera?" Hollace asked, accusingly.

"What? Oh, no, I just brought it to make me look cool. I took out the battery so it doesn't even turn on," Maya laughed. Hollace seemed satisfied with the answer and didn't say any more.

"Maya, what the hell are you doing here?" Remy asked, walking up to her and grabbing her arm.

"I, uh, hid in the trunk of mom's car," she admitted. "I just really wanted to see this stuff for myself. You know, Remy hasn't said all that much about you guys and your powers and you can't leave a girl hangin', so I thought I'd check it out for myself!"

"I'm not okay with this," Hollace said.

"Me neither," Remy agreed.

"Look even if I did tell anyone about your secret society, as if anyone would believe me. My blog is all about Zayn Malik from One Direction at this point, so I think you're solid," Maya rolled her eyes. She stepped out of Remy's grip and walked around a little.

"I like her," Annie said, smugly. Remy shot her a glare.

"You must be Annie," Maya said to her. "You're the pretty one that can talk to dead people, right?"

Annie looked at Remy and asked, "You said that about me?"

"And you're Esther," Maya continued, pointing to the shy girl. "The adorable Amish girl that can control electricity!"

Esther nodded her head and Maya beamed at her.

"So then the grump over there is Hollace, with super speed, and that makes you Beau–or shall I call you Hottie McHotpants–who can read minds." Maya ended the circle next to Beau and smiled at him in a way that made Remy feel uncomfortable. It didn't make matters any better when Beau smirked at her.

Naveen stepped forward and said, "Maya Sultan, right? I'm Naveen Boudreux, Beau's uncle."

"Oh, right!" Maya exclaimed, shaking his hand. "The woodoo warlock!" She retreated her hand and took a step back. "Wait, you're not gonna, like, curse me or anything, right? I promise I won't say anything to anyone about you guys!"

Naveen chuckled and said, "I believe you."

"Maya..." Remy was unable to find words.

"Remy, chill," Maya rolled her eyes. "I swear, you are so wound up you need to get laid."

"Maya!"

Her words made Hollace chuckle and say, "Okay, now I like her."

"Shall we get better acquainted over some dinner?" Naveen suggested.

"Oh, yes! I'm starving!" Maya exclaimed as they all filed, one by one, out the door. Annie immediately engaged in conversation with Maya about something, but Remy couldn't hear it. He followed them up to the diner and kept trying to telepathically tell Maya to go home but since that wasn't his power, it was to no avail.

They all crammed into a booth with plates of food–except for Remy, who wasn't hungry–and started conversations of their own. It was mainly Maya talking about her blog and her aspirations to be a journalist while Annie and Esther both egged her on.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Beau asked, in a low voice, while everyone else listened to Maya. "I can't read your mind at the moment, but from what I could tell earlier, some stuff is really bothering you. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Remy smiled at him and shook his head.

"There's not much to talk about," he shrugged.

"Okay, well, if you ever want to talk about it, you can," Beau said, leaning back and giving him a sincere smile.

"Thanks, Beau...I think I need some air..."

He stood up and walked out the door. He closed his eyes and inhaled the fresh air, not feeling much better.

"You know, you're being dramatic," said a heavily accented voice.

He spun around to see Annie standing behind him with her arms crossed. He didn't even hear her open the door.

"Maya is so funny and sweet and there's no harm being done, okay? You burned her once but that was before you learned how to control it. I saw you play with fire today and it was amazing to see your progression, Remy. So, stop taking it out on Maya because I'm really starting to like her and you know me, I get protective of cute people," Annie huffed.

Remy let out a laugh.

"It's actually not so much Maya being here than it is this whole situation," he admitted. "You know, my, uh, parents died when I was eight? That's why I live with Maya, her mom, and formerly her sister. You wanna know how they died?" Annie didn't say anything so he said, "A fire. How ironic is that?"

"Remy...I'm so sorry," Annie said, stepped closer and touching his arm.

He shrugged his shoulders, but it had been a really long time since he said those words out loud. It wasn't something he liked to talk or think about, so he didn't.

"Maya's the only family I got and I almost killed her," he stated. "I know, I know, I didn't," he added when he saw the look on Annie's face. "But, I dunno, it's just all messed up."

"If it makes you feel any better, I have a goddamn ghost stalker that literally will not leave me alone," Annie said, rolling her eyes. Remy mouth widened into a smile and then into laugh. Annie grinned and she jerked her head towards the door, pulling on his arm as they went inside.

Just as they were about to rejoin the group, Naveen appeared from his shop and said, "Remy, may I have a word?"

He nodded his head and followed Naveen into his shop, where he closed the door behind him. He pulled out a small vial of a bright blue colored liquid from his pocket and said, "This may help with your insomnia."

"Wait, how–"

"Beau. He told me something was wrong with you and with just a little observation, I deduced as much. It started right after the storm, hm?"

Remy nodded.

"Well, I hope you get some proper sleep tonight, son," Naveen smiled.

"Thank you," he said, sincerely, taking the bottle.

He left the shop and joined the table again at the diner, where Annie was telling them that the next show Esther was going to watch was Friends and then proceeded to name which character she thought each person in the group was most like. Remy listened and laughed along with everyone else. He caught Beau's eye and gave him a nod of appreciation, who only smiled in return.

When Maya looked at him with a weary look, he shot her a funny face when no one was looking and she beamed at him, making everything feel a whole lot better than it used to be.

I still feel like this is mostly filler and there's like barely any dialogue, but I really didn't know where else to take it so here you go. c:

Slowly but surely, Hollace was getting used to being more than just an ordinary human. He trained every day, running to campus, running to the shop, even running to the edge of the city. Time obviously wasn’t an issue; it barely even took a second. Of course, he didn’t quite understand the science (magic?) behind it all. He could see clearly as he flew by the people on the streets, could easily avoid the passing bodies, cars on the streets, newspaper stands and so on.

But none of them could see him. Hollace was nothing but a blur and a breeze.

There were downsides, though, his prosthetic being a very big one. After just a few weeks of being fitted and receiving a new leg, he was already in need of a new one and the dark haired boy truly had no idea how to breach the subject with his parents. They would be livid if they found out he had done as much damage to the faux appendage as he had.

Hollace played around with the idea of just limping back into the hospital wearing his trademark scowl and ranting to Dr. Leighter about cheap materials and shitty craftsmanship, but one look at the wear and tear would be enough to show that Hollace had been abusing his leg. Besides, Leighter was a pretty smart guy—cheesy and a little annoying, yeah, but still smart.

Aside from the prosthetic, the only new irritating side effect of his newfound talent was the fact that Hollace Could. Not. Stop. Eating.

No matter what time or where he was, the bony young man just felt empty, and not in the emotional way that he had gotten so used to over the years. Hollace pinpointed it to his metabolism which must have sped up along with himself, but he was still a broke college kid and his meal plan could only buy him so much food.

Hollace was thinking about all of this as he stepped out of his apartment on a Monday morning, his keys in one hand and a sandwich the size of Webster’s Dictionary in the other. He ate it in a few huge bites as he galloped down the concrete stairs of his building, paying no attention to his jeep which had been parked in the same place for over two weeks now. What was the point in driving when he could just run everywhere? Better time, exercise, not to mention a smaller carbon footprint.

He smirked to himself and tightened the straps of his backpack, briefly taking note of an unfamiliar, imposing black Escalade that was still but humming in a parking place just a few spaces down from his own car. He could see a vague outline of someone sitting inside of it and felt the skin-prickling sensation that always comes with being watched.

Lifting an eyebrow, Hollace leveled a challenging stare at the tinted windows then made sure to walk out of sight before taking off toward the university.

Feet pushing off the concrete with a force he was only just getting familiar with, Hollace flew through the streets, the wind rushing passed him. He glanced at all of the students on campus, noses buried in textbooks, papers, or cell phones. They took no notice of him, completely oblivious to the super boy, and it was only when he darted behind one of the large stone walls of the building that he stopped.

For a few seconds, he stretched his legs, able to feel the slight burn of lactic acid before he walked up the front steps of the university.

He only had two classes and a lab that day and then he would be able to go back to his apartment and relax—smoke some, eat more, maybe take an inappropriately long nap.

Then he would have to go to Naveen’s. Again.

He was enjoying the powers. Who wouldn’t? But out of the billions of people on the entire planet, he had to be bonded to some of the most irritating college aged kids.

He supposed it could always be worse, but they were all just so… Well, they just weren’t his type of people. Remy was so kind and Esther was so innocent and Annie had an alarming amount of spunk and Beau… At this point, Hollace had a list of ‘Annoying Traits of Beau Boudreux’.

● Sarcasm
● Dumb smirk
● Superhero references
● Psychic powers

Still, it wasn’t as if he had anyone else in this clusterfuck of a situation. Who else could he actually talk to about his super speed or weird spelled stones? In the end, he was stuck with them whether he liked it or not.

Making a face at the mere thought, Hollace made his way into the building and then the elevators, taking it up to the second floor. He ignored any of the attention he garnered by walking into his Anthropology of Religion classroom, plopping down in a chair in the back corner.

For fifty minutes, his balding professor droned on about polytheism, which, in all honesty, was a fascinating subject that Hollace was more than happy to write a paper on, but God damn, the man had a talent for making anything and everything sound painfully mundane.

He took a trip down to the building’s bookstore to grab a bag of chips before his next course. He managed to shove them into the vacuum that was his mouth in under four seconds, wiping greasy fingers on his cut offs as he stepped into the room, going through the same routine that he had just an hour before only now he was scribbling notes over Cognition and Perception.

The longest part of Hollace’s morning was definitely the hour and a half he spent sitting on an uncomfortable bar stool in his Psychophysiology lab. Sure, looking at slices of brain tissue under a microscope was incredible—each time he got to, it was a little surreal—but his backside had begun to hurt within the first forty-five minutes, so with half an hour left, Hollace slid off of his seat and limped out of the classroom, workbook tucked under his arm.

If everything went as he had planned it that morning, he would be able to get home in a fraction of a second, eat something, get high as a kite, eat some more, then relax and pass out in front of the little flat screen that sat in his living room. It was just the way he wanted to spend the afternoon.

Of course, that was interrupted when Hollace noticed an easily recognizable figure leaning against the wall outside of what the skinny boy knew to be an anatomy laboratory.

“Annie?” She looked up, red hair framing her face and showed a half smile. “Are you okay?” Not that he cared too much.

She shrugged. “I’m fine. It just gets a little tiresome listening to dead animals talk to me while I’m trying to dig out their vital organs.”

Hollace’s eyebrows raised to his hairline as he made a face. “Sounds lovely. What was it this time, a rat?”

“Pig.”

“Right.”

Upon first meeting, Hollace hadn’t really liked the British girl and he still wasn’t her biggest fan. However, Annie was the only one out of the group who had the backbone to stand up and put Hollace in his place which he had to admire. Not many people had the guts to shut down a perpetually angry cripple, always afraid of hurting his little flowery feelings.

“Was that your last class?” The girl asked, nodding her head toward the room he had just walked out of.

He nodded and she pushed herself off of the wall. “Mind if I walk with you?”

With a shrug of his shoulders, the dark-haired boy began in the direction of the elevators, staying silent as he had never enjoyed small talk.

“So, Esther has officially finished all ten seasons of Friends and is moving on to Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Never watched it.” Hollace couldn’t care less about surgery and sex, though he had to admit that some of the actresses were pretty hot (as well as some of the actors), but that was aside the point.

“Grey’s or Friends?”

He snorted,” What kind of a fucking question is that? Of course I’ve seen Friends. Who hasn’t seen Friends?”

“Well, I don’t know what you get up to! I figured you just sort of went to school then hung out by yourself, cursing anything in sight, pitying yourself, same ol’ same ol’.”

Hollace actually stopped walking and turned to her with a quirked eyebrow. He would have been offended if she hadn’t been smiling in a playful manner. Teasing. Right. He felt his own mouth twist into a smirk and shook his head before picking his pace back up.

“You can be a mean little thing, you know that?”

The redhead beamed, basically skipping next to him as they exited the building. “Someone’s gotta be. Remy is far too nice for his own good and I don’t think Esther is completely prepared to deal with all your bullshit on her own yet.”

“And Boudreux?”

Annie’s features turned a bit more devious and she laughed. “Honestly, I’m a bit scared to leave the two of you alone in a room as well. The tension between you two gets pretty thick sometimes. Can’t ever tell if you guys are gonna fight or fuck.”

“Oh, Christ, that’s god damn disgusting. He’s the last person I’d ever— hold on.”

Hollace squinted, peering across the street where a black SUV was parked on the side. From what he could see, there was a large man leaning across it, dressed in a suit and sunglasses. Very Men in Black, he thought.

“What? What is it?”

He raised a hand and pointed. “That car was in front of my apartment this morning, or the same model at least.”

Annie took her bottom lip between her teeth as she observed the figure. “Hate to say it, but I’ve seen one like it in front of mine, too.”

“Really?”

She nodded, expression grim. “My guess is we’re being tailed. All of us.”

Sucking in a breath through his teeth, Hollace muttered the words he had been trying so hard not to for the past month. “I think we probably need to talk to Naveen.”

Here's my chapter. It's a little long. And I'm not sure if I did everyone's character justice. Let me know if you want something changed. My Skype is not working so message me on the board or PM me. I ma trying to get my Skype to work. Enjoy!

***

“What do you mean?” Hollace raised his voice in frustration. Usually Esther would try to interfere, but she agreed with him. Annie had called Esther, telling her that there was an impromptus meeting at Naveen’s shop. “I decided to delay my extracurricular activities for this. You said we could come to you for anything!”

“Calm down boy.” Naveen’s face got serious as he walked to the front door; he flipped the Open sign to Closed and locked the door. It was odd how Naveen could stay in business considering whenever they went into his shop it was usually empty. “My trade is in Voodoo and mysticism. I’m not your babysitter. I told you to train, which all of you have. However, I assumed that it would’ve crossed your mind to stay out of the public’s eye when and wherever you trained.” Naveen paused, looking everyone in the eye.

Esther felt her cheeks heat up at the thought. She didn’t mean to, most of the time, but she had been practicing in public. She thought no one would notice. It was simple things like lights flashing and alarms going off. The only time it had got out of hand was when Annie was withdrawing money from an ATM; it suddenly started spitting out more money than Annie asked for. After that Esther quickly learned that electricity was all around and anything could happen. She couldn’t see it, but could hear it; it was like a low bass wobble. At first it made her uneasy and unsure; she didn’t know what it was. Only recently did she figure out what it was.

Esther ducked her head as Naveen meet her eyes. For a second she thought she was the only one, but then she saw Beau shift uneasily in his seat and look out the open window. Remy cleared his throat bringing attention to his red cheeks and neck. Both Annie and Hollace didn’t look ashamed at all. They look calm and collected.

“I’m a disappointed, in all of you.” Naveen’s sighed and took a seat across from the table.

“It’s not my fault that those three revealed us.” Hollace moved from the table and leaned against the wall causally. Esther actually felt a little annoyed by his attitude. Hollace closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh, when he reopened them he shrugged at everyone’s stares. “With my ability no one can see me.” This caused Annie to scoff.

“You’re delusional, pogo stick.” Hollace straightened up.

“Excuse me?”

“If you think you’re invisible you’re dead wrong.” Annie smiled at Hollace’s confused expression.

“She’s right. You’re fast. Heck I’m pretty sure most people can’t see you when you run, but there has been a few times in training where I could see you…well more of a blur of you.” Remy said plainly, giving Hollace a once over.

“For those few that do see you, they probably just shake it off as their imagination. Unfortunately for those who don’t shake it off as just their eyes playing tricks, well those are the people we need to worry about.” Beau’s voice tapered off and he had a look in his eyes as if he was remembering something. Suddenly a foreign feeling walked across Esther’s mind. It wasn’t painful but it wasn’t hers. The feeling brought an image of a black truck that had been lurking behind her all day. Esther didn’t even remember noticing it until now.

“How many time Beau?! How many times do we have to tell you to stay out of our heads!” Annie yelled the temperature in the shop suddenly dropped, causing Esther to wrap her hand around her. Beau scowled at Annie.

“Is it my fault that my ability deals with the mind? I thought someone like you, who loves science, would appreciate something like this.” Annie opened her mouth, no doubt ready to rip Beau a new one, when Remy cut her off.

“It’s one thing to accidently caught some of our thoughts, but it’s another thing to dig. We’re your friends. We’re right here, ask us instead of digging. I’m not sure about the others but every time you dig for a memory or thought I’m suddenly remembering it. And I’ll tell you there are a few things I don’t wish to dwell on.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Remy meant it in the nicest way, but it was obvious by Beau’s sagging shoulders that it hurt. Esther felt awful. To have an ability that required so much control, but with almost no limit; it had to be hard.

“How am I supposed to train?”

“We’ll its New York. Population 3.2 million, give or take. Go mess with random people’s heads,” Hollace deadpanned.

“Isn’t that a little hypocritical considering you just said that I was one of the reasons the Men in Black are following us?” Beau threw at Hollace. Esther could sense a fight could; she quickly cut in.
“Maybe try something other than inquiring into minds. It seems your ability deals with the brain there must be other avenues to explore.” Esther smiled. It seemed that calm the situation down as Beau’s normal spark returned to his eyes.

“Maybe.” He looked as if he was contemplating something. “Thanks Esther.” He adjusted himself, into a more comfortable position.

“Can we get back to why we are here?” Annie asked tapping her fingers on the table. “I need to study.”

“I agreed with Hollace someone saw something, and we’re on their radar. The Men in Black are real.” Beau shifted in his seat. “From scanning your memories,” Annie rolled her eyes, “We each have surveillance on us. The black Escalade that Hollace keeps seeing, the SUV that’s following Annie, the Lincoln that’s constantly parked outside my place, the Van that has a plumbers logo parked in front of Remy’s next door neighbor, and the Truck that have been tailing Esther all across the State. They’re watching us. Who knows for how, but since they haven’t stepped in so far, I don’t think they are going to do much of anything yet.”

Silence descended upon the table as Beau’s words settled heavily over them. They hadn’t done anything wrong and they already had targets on their backs.

“Do you really think they know what our powers are?” Esther asked. “Sorry Annie, but yours and Beau’s abilities would be a little hard to figure out.” It still threw Esther whenever she would feel Beau in her mind or see items fly because of Mickey.

“No I agree I think they may have a theory as to who has what power, but they are shooting in the dark. I think they might be waiting for us to reveal more,” Annie commented.

“Do you think they would try to bug us?” Remy asked. It seemed silly to be asking these things. Things like this only ever happened in movies, with spies.

“Maybe not Annie’s place, they probably figured Esther’s ability would either fry them or discover them. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to check around and see if you can find any bugs on your own. Maybe if Esther is up for it, see if she notices any disturbances.” Naveen sighed and rubbed in face. Esther wondered if Naveen was regretting getting involved with them.

“Sorry uncle.” Beau left his seat, giving Naveen a comforting hug.

“No it’s fine. It looks like you five are going to need help.” Naveen walked away and flipped the sign back to Open. “I need to get back to work.” Naveen walked away heading towards the back room.

“There’s nothing we can do for now except wait. We know they are watching us, but they don’t know, we know there’re watching. Let’s keep it that way,” Remy said. He stood up to stretch. “I have to take Maya grocery shopping for a special dinner she’s making for us.”

“Need a ride?” Annie stood twirling around her keys around her finger with a grin on her face. There was doubt that she remembered Remy’s little accident. Remy nodded, another blush blossomed on his cheeks. “Anyone else?” She looked Hollace, he just shook his head.

“I’ll pass. I have my own mode of transportation.” He gestured to his leg. The air seemed to still, everyone was a little on edge about using their ability’s, especially with their tails. “Don’t worry I will be careful.” Then he was gone.

“Can you drop me off at Columbia?” Beau asked coming to a stand. Esther watched wondering if there were any hard feelings between them, but Annie just nodded like nothing happened. Then something odd occurred; Beau clenched his fists as his face showed signs of strain. Suddenly Esther knew why. He was flowing into her mind.

Sorry. I just…it’s something about Annie that makes my ability frits.

Esther wasn’t sure what to make of that statement, but nodded none the less. If that is what it took to stop Annie and Beau from fighting, Esther was willing to be his outlet. Beau must’ve felt her acceptance because he sighed in relief. The feeling reminded Esther of when Annie made her try tofu, it just felt weird. But Esther could handle it, for the time being.

“Sure. Esther?” Annie was standing at the edge of the table while Remy stood at the door. Beau retrieved another blue bottle from Naveen.

“No. I’m going to stay. I have more sights to see.” Esther smiled and waved. Her feet were a little sore, staying at Naveen’s for a bit sounded real good. Her feet were thanking her in the long run.

“You have the cell phone?” Esther dug into the front pocket of her pants and held an old style flip phone. “Pepper spray?” Esther reached into the other pocket and held up a green and white lipstick sized bottle. Annie raised her eyebrow emphasizing the last item. “And the rape whistle?” Esther tugged at a hot pink necklace from her under her shirt.

“Jeez, Annie. She can control electricity. She’s a walking Taser.” Beau commented, smiling like a fool.

“I’ve seen what she can do thank you very much. And let me tell you, it isn’t always reliable or safe.” Annie winked at Esther. Esther was still unsure about teasing, but Annie assured her. If she ever winked, she was just messing around.

“Hey I’m getting better.” Esther shouted as the three of them left the shop. “I am.” She muttered to herself.

As her thoughts dwindled to nothing as she watched Naveen move around his shop. He was moving items to make room for more items. He checked the drying herbs to see if they were ready to bottle. It seemed like there were always tasks to be done. It was rather nice like a lulling ambience.

Before Annie had called, Esther was just discovering central park. It was the closest thing to a forest in the steel and concrete city and it made her nostalgic. For the last month, Esther had successfully buried any thoughts and memories of home. But Central Park had just enough similarity to unearth them, and it made Esther uneasy.

Esther’s leaving had to be a shock; she gave not a word of warning or any inclination that she was going to just up and leave. It surprised her that she had yet to see anyone looking for her. Her community was isolated, but she also knew of two more modern communities that tended to lean a helping hand to not only her old community, but others as well. They were bridge communities that were more integrated with the rest of the world.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Naveen stood before Esther cleaning a weirdly shaped plate with deep ridges.

"Just thinking of home." Esther smiled. Just a couple of week ago, her face would've scrunched up in complete confusion, but she since watching The Twilight Zone. Annie had to explain to her why a penny would give someone the ability to hear thoughts. It was an odd phrase, but one commonly used.

"You don't look homesick." Naveen observed.

"Oddly enough. I'm not." Esther knew that was a white lie. Instinctual she missed her family, but the risk of confinement was far greater. She knew she didn't want to go back. Ever.

"If you say so." Naveen smiled knowingly.

"What can you read minds?" Esther tried to make it playful, she even added the wink, but it came across more like a come on. Annie had once tried to teach her sarcasm, it ended badly.

"No, but now that you mention it." Naveen disappeared only to reappear minutes later. "I should've brought this up when everyone was here, but for some reason it slipped my mind.” A weird look crossed his face. He looked as if he should remember something but couldn’t.

Naveen held a small plain white box with a simple twine knot. He drew close and opened the book. Esther peeked inside unsure of what to make of the trinkets. There was a tiny drawstring bag filled to the brim with something that smelled similar to an herb in his shop. Next to it was a simple sterling bracelet. Curled around it was a necklace. Hanging off a darken chain was an amber teardrop. Stacked on top of each other was a pair of small silver loop earrings with a ball.

"What are these?" Esther snuck her hand into the box, ghosting over every item.

"I've been watching you five grow every day. Your ability's are growing in leaps and bounds." Naveen sighed deeply causing Esther to look up. "I can see Beau's ability causing some trouble. The potions I have been giving him are getting less effective. I fear if I make them any stronger the side effects could be deadly." Esther's eyebrow shot up. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be hearing this. This was something Beau and Naveen should be talking about. "There is one for every one. Pick one.”

Before Esther could choose, she pulled her hand back. The mention of their powers reminded her of something she’d wanted to ask.

“Naveen, can you tell me more about the storm. I mean I remember you and Beau saying that you both knew about it.” Esther looked up at Naveen with big round eyes, unknowing to her she looked like a lost puppy.

“I know that it was a super storm.” Esther must’ve looked confused for Naveen chuckled. “It’s not like any other storm; it’s more powerful and completely unpredictable. It has high winds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning. These storms come out of nowhere without any kind of warning. Theses storms cause a lot of damage, power outages and floods.”

“So how can we be sure it was the storm that did this?”

“We can’t, but it’s the only viable reason to explain all you’re ability’s.” Naveen stopped abruptly. He seemed to be thinking really hard. “I believe the storm triggered it,” he said slowly watching her words. The way he was talking gave Esther pause; Naveen knew more than he was sharing. By his closed off expression, there was no point in pushing for more.

“So anyone?” Esther shifted topic back to the trinkets. Naveen nodded as Esther reached for the box.

“Whatever one calls your name.”



Esther was wondering if it was such a wise idea to have picked the earrings. As she sat in the salon chair she should’ve known better. Earrings only worked if you’re ears where pierced. So what would someone with no familiarity of the city do, stop at the first place that said piercings. Which so happened to be Core, an all in one salon.

“Are you sure?” Esther asked meekly. She wondered if she was being taken advantage of, but the male stylist was really convincing.

“Most defiantly, honey. Your hair style is from yesteryear. Just long with no highlights or layers! No, no, no! Let Tyron here make you into a diva.” He draped a zebra print cape over her.

“All I wanted were my ears pierced.”

“Don’t worry we’ll get to that but don’t you want people to be like ‘wow honey you look hot’.” Esther blushed brightly; she didn’t want that much attention. She opened her mouth to protest, but instead she jumped when he touched her left ear. She watched as Tyron nodded his head in the mirror. “Yep a double helix on your left ear will look amazing.” Tyron then turned Esther around until she couldn’t see herself in the mirror. “No peeking. We don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Without waiting for her consent Tyron went to town. It was too late to say something. Esther watched as large chunks of her hair slide down the cape. She ignored Tyron’s babbling as he led her to another chair and had she lie flat. Esther kept touching her hair, trying to imagine what it looked like but all she knew was it was no longer mid back length.

“Stop touching you will see later now. Now this is going to pinch so try to stay relaxed.” Tyron smiled reassuringly. Esther’s eyes grew wide at the sight of a large needle. She welded her eyelids shut. “Here we go.” Esther’s eyes flew open as a whimper escaped her lips. “Okay hold still. I’m slipping the piercing in. Good now here’s the second.” This time the pain was much worse and suddenly the lights flicked on and off. “What was that?” Tyron quickly finished and looked up. Everyone looked around confused, but she heard the beauticians reassuring the clients that there was nothing to worry about. “You ready to see.”

He helped Esther up and walked her over to the Mirror. Esther’s mouth opened slightly. Her long auburn hair was now an A-line bob. The back was shoulder length while the front dipped down deep. It was a shocking difference for Esther. She pushed the hair behind her left ear. The double piercing was red and slightly swollen, but it didn’t look to bad.

“I knew you would like it!” Tyron clapped his hands together. “Now the lady with the feather in her hair will help.” Tyron pointed to the front then called his next client over.

“Haircut and double piercing…” the lady was already ringing everything up before Esther was even at the counter. “$195.34. Go ahead and slide whenever you’re ready.” The lady smiled at Esther.

Esther didn’t realize it was going to be so much. Annie was going to be upset. Annie had helped her get a credit card with a large limit, but she warned Esther that everything on the card had to be paid off she wouldn’t flip the bill. Esther felt for her wallet in her back pocket and swallowed hard; it wasn’t there.

Suddenly the lady’s demeanor changed. She opened her moth to say something but the phone rang. “This is Core may I help you?” As the lady turned her back on Esther, she started to panic. She had no way to pay without her wallet. She reached for her cell to call Annie but suddenly the cash register beeped and the bright sign said ‘thank for your service’.

The lady turned around ready to say something snarky, but stopped as the receipt started printing. Without a smile or ‘thank you’ the lady handed Esther her receipt and answered a customer on hold.

Esther didn’t know what to make of her situation, but she was tired and didn’t wasn’t to risk anything else happening. She had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that her ability just paid for her; it was unsettling. As she head towards Annie’s place, she spotted a black truck following. Instead of running she kept her normal pace. She neared the apartment and noticed a black Escalade and SUV lurking on the street.

“Annie the cars are outside.” Esther shouted as she closed the door to the apartment. She wasn’t worried about any bugs. Naveen was right, if there were any they were fried. When she was trying to blow dry her hair, she cause an electrical surge and shorted the building.

“Yeah I noticed them to.” Esther jumped at Hollace’s voice. He was leaning back in a chair with a shit eating grin on his face. “Annie was nice enough to invite me over. Don’t know why I said yes.” Hollace eyed Esther’s hair with a wry smile.

“I do. You were as high as a kite. I don’t know why I gave into Mickey when-” Annie stopped mid-sentence when she saw Esther. “Wow. New haircut.” Esther smiled and pushed her hair back. “And piercings.”

“It’s like Amish girls gone wild.” Hollace spoke with a dazed look on his face. Annie shot him a dirty look and rolled her eyes with a knowing smile.

“Hmm, what is that?” Esther didn’t understand that phrase, actually had yet to her. A huge grin covered Hollace’s face. He opened his mouth, but Annie cut him off.

“Don’t even think about.” She gave him a stern look.

“You’re no fun.” Hollace once again slouched and closed his eyes in high bliss.

“Never mind.” Esther made a mental note to look that up. “Anyways, made these for me as a way to filer Beau’s ability, actually he made one for everyone.” A delighted smile popped up on Annie’s face.

“Give it here.” Annie suddenly corned Esther, shoving her hands into Esther’s clothes.

“He has them.” Annie wrinkled her nose and walked away.

“Go figure you would pick the earrings, but I think you did it wrong. There is supposed to be one on each ear.” Hollace stood up and walked over to Esther poking her in the ear.” He jumped back as Esther shocked him. “Hey!”

“Serves you right!” Annie shouted. “How do you think it feels to have a swollen lump poked and prodded at?” Annie closed up her books and took a seat on the couch.

“Believe I know.” He gave Esther a distasteful look and took a seat. “I think my high is gone.”

“On a better note.” Esther gingerly rubbed her ear. “Look what I found on the way home.” Esther shoved it at Annie and got right in her face.

“Personal bubble Esther, what have we talked about.” Esther took a step back and plopped down next to Hollace. He shuffled closer to the arm of the couch and eyed her cautiously. “Esther this is a Halloween flyer, a party in the park?” Annie looked up with an arched eyebrow.

“I know it looks like fun.” Esther jumped a little oh the seat.

“Oh god. Why did I come here?” Hollace sighed dramatically.

“Cause we are two of five of the only friends you have. Deal with it.” Annie chucked the paper at Hollace.

“We should go to it. Meet new people.” Esther smile like a child at Christmas.

“No!” Hollace said as he crossed his arms.

"Hollace," Annie said, "Esther wants us all to go, and if you say no, I will see to it that you're haunted for the rest of your natural born life. And I will instruct your personal poltergeist to hide all of your assorted vices. Forever."

Hollace sat with his mouth half open, looking slightly horrified. Then his usual surly expression returned. "Fine," he grumbled.

@ hibernus
Shouldn't they all be there when Esther brings up the party? That way they all know about it.

"Why the hell did I agree to let you and Esther choose my costume?" Annie grumbled. "I look like a fairy tale street walker."

"In all fairness, the skirt is a little longer on you than it would be on a normal person," Mickey said. Annie flipped him off. He had been the one to suggest a Red Riding Hood costume when she and Esther had gone shopping, and Esther had insisted it was the perfect choice. Now Annie found herself standing in her bedroom, cringing in front of a full-length mirror. She sighed and walked gingerly down the hall, certain that she was going to break an ankle in the towering red heels Esther had picked for her. Mickey snickered at her and she planted her hands on her hips.

"Shut up," she scolded. "We short people are used to being closer to the ground."

"Yeah, so you can hear the devil easier when he calls on you," Mickey deadpanned.

"Pipe down Casper, or I'll call Ghostbusters and have you sucked into a vacuum cleaner. I'd like to see you try to walk in these torture devices."

"I'd rock those heels," Mickey declared. "I totally have the calves for it."

"Oh for fuck's sake." Annie rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that mental image."

"You're very welcome."

"I think I need to scrub my brain with some Purell."

Esther came out of her room then, beaming and looking gorgeous in her Cinderella costume. "Can you actually scrub your brain?" she asked with interest.

"No, but with Mickey around I wish I could," Annie said. "You look beautiful," she added with a smile.

"You look hot!" Esther said and Annie laughed.

"Come on," she said. "I just got a text from Beau. The guys are waiting for us."

Esther slipped on the delicate white mask she had purchased to go with her dress and Annie flipped up the hood of her cape. They stepped out of the building to find Remy, Hollace and Beau. Annie pressed her lips together to hold back a giggle at the sight of Remy with his wild white wig. Hollace's hair was disheveled and he was dressed all in black with Edward Scissorhands gloves. Beau on the other hand had put temporary black dye in his his hair; and it was carefully slicked and combed. He had a fake mustache to match. Annie regarded them all with amusement.

"What a dastardly and terrifying trio," she remarked. "Albert Einstein, Scissorhands, and...Poe?" She scrunched up her nose as Beau made an indignant noise.

"I'm Nikola Tesla," he said haughtily.

"Why does that somehow not surprise me? Poe would have been a better choice though."

"Who's Nikola Tesla?" Esther asked. Beau looked affronted.

"Damn it, he was a fucking genius," he said, shooting Annie a frown. "Annie your tutoring of young Esther seems to be lacking."

Annie rolled her eyes. "How irresponsible of me. I'll be sure to have her write a five page essay tomorrow."

Remy chuckled as Esther made a face. Then he proceeded to launch into an explanation of who Tesla was. Beau beamed and clapped him on the shoulder when he finished.

"Remy, you're officially the coolest person I know."

"You're a psychotic geek," Hollace told Beau. Then he appraised the girls' costumes and arched an eyebrow at Annie.

"Little Red Riding Hood?" he asked. "Is that because of the red hair, or because you are in fact freakishly little?"

"Watch it, Knighting, or you're going to need a proctologist to dislodge those scissors from your arse."

Esther giggled as the five of them set off down the street.

"Aren't you cold in that outfit?" Beau asked.

"Not really." Annie shrugged. "I don't notice the cold much these days." Not the temperature outsideher body, anyway. The grave chill seemed to have taken up permanent residence inside her; there was always a trace of ice in her veins no matter how much hot tea she drank. They moved up Columbus Avenue, Esther rattling off places she'd been visiting while Annie was in class and where she still wanted to go. Annie felt a strange feeling pass over her. It reminded her of what she'd felt that night in the hospital nearly a month ago, and unease settled in her gut.

"Do you guys hear screaming?" Remy asked.

"It is Halloween," Hollace pointed out.

"It still doesn't seem right." Remy frowned. The small red flag in Annie's head turned into an alarm. As they drew closer to Morningside Park, police sirens split the night air as cruisers sped past them.

"The fuck?" Hollace said.

"What's happening?" Esther asked, her blue eyes nervous behind her mask. A snowflake drifted past Annie's nose and she cocked her head in confusion.

"It shouldn't be snowing yet," she said. She turned to Mickey and kept her voice low.

"Can you go see what's going on?"

Mickey vanished. There was a sound of squealing tires, and the crunch of broken glass and metal against metal. Annie noticed Hollace flinch.

"There's some weird shit going on." Mickey reappeared, looking grim. Annie stepped off the curb and headed for the park.

"Hello? Did you not hear what I just said?" Mickey called. The others followed Annie and Mickey grumbled about the foolishness of the living. There were multiple cars that had slammed into each other; there was ice and frost all over the asphalt. Annie clung to Esther and Remy's arms to keep from slipping. There was complete chaos in the park. Cops were shouting, their guns out. People were running and shrieking and several street lights were fallen on their sides.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Hollace said, looking bewildered. As they approached the center of the melee, Annie could see four people; three men and a woman; who seemed calm and unaffected in the midst of everything. She watched them with narrowed eyes, noticing icicles forming from the woman's hands, while one of the men seemed to convulse, and then suddenly there were two of him.

"My God," Annie breathed.

"They have powers too," Remy said, eyes wide.

"Like I said, weird shit," Mickey reiterated.

One of the masked men drew in a deep breath, and when he released it a gale force wind ripped across the street, sending people tumbling to the ground. A cop car began to roll, the tires pinning a woman in place. She screamed and Esther's hands flew up to cover her mouth.

"Jesus," Beau said, looking horrified.

"What are you doing?" Esther asked as Annie began to remove her shoes.

Annie shrugged. "How's it go? Great power, responsibility, blah blah. And I can't exactly fight evildoers in four inch fucking heels now can I?"

"Have you forgotten about the sketchy SUV's that have been stalking us?" Hollace asked. "Are we sure we want them possibly witnessing us putting our powers into action so publicly?"

Annie narrowed her eyes. "You can do what you want. But I will not stand here and do nothing while people get hurt."

Her tone held a challenge, and no one else protested. Annie nodded, satisfied. "Besides, the danger is what makes it fun," she added with a devious smile.

"I'm starting to think there's something seriously wrong with you," Hollace replied.

Annie smirked. She closed her eyes and imagined the dial on her internal ghost sonar turning up, sending out a signal to every ghost she felt in the immediate area. Esther and Remy gasped while Hollace let out a stream of curse words, and Annie realized some of the dozen or so ghosts who had appeared beside her must have been strong enough to become visible. They flanked Annie on either side, watching her like they were waiting for instructions. Annie had a bizarre desire to start barking orders like a drill sergeant.

"Well, come on then," she said. "Let's go teach these fuck wads some manners, shall we?" She marched forward, the ghosts surging ahead of her.

"Hey you kids, get away from there! It's not safe!" A cop was approaching them. Annie felt positive she had seen him somewhere before.

"Well thank you for that brilliant analysis, Officer Obvious," she muttered. Esther focused her energy on a nearby car, zapping the hell out of it. The engine started and the radio blared as the car rolled slowly forward. The cop yelped and dove out of the way, and Annie urged one of the ghosts to go keep him distracted.

"Sorry!" Esther yelled. Then she stared at Annie with her mouth hanging open. "You're glowing!" she exclaimed.

Annie looked down at her hands to find that she was emitting a pearlescent grey glow.

"Huh. That's an interesting new development."

"It's because you're using more power than normal," Mickey said. "You're more connected to both worlds."

"Incoming!" Beau shouted and Annie looked up to see jagged bits of ice flying in their direction. She grabbed onto Esther's arm and Remy leaped in front of them both, his body erupting in flames. The ice melted as it drew close to him. The guy with the freakish lungs; Annie thought Breaking Wind would be a perfect alter ego name; let loose a gust of wind that knocked them all backwards. Annie somersaulted through the air and landed hard on her back. The air whooshed out of her lungs and she lay still for a moment, catching her breath.

"Ow," she groaned. "That seemed uncalled for." Startled yelps and screams made her sit up, and she felt oddly pleased to see her ghosts attacking the wanna-be villains. The man who cloned himself, or maybe it was one of his clones, hurtled out of the darkness and pounced on top of her, hands reaching for her throat. Annie swung up the shoes still clutched in her hand and landed a solid blow to his head.

"Fucking Christ," he exclaimed. While he clutched his wounded head Annie wriggled out from under him. He grabbed for her ankle.

"Get away from her, you bitch!" Blue-white sparks of electricity struck the man and he fell over, body spasming. Esther stood several feet away, her hands glowing white as she shocked him. Annie felt a swell of pride as she sprang to her feet. Alien had definitely been a good choice for the previous night's movie. Another clone came at Annie from the side and she swung her shoes again. At least the stupid things were good for something. He cursed and staggered back.

A flurry of snow hit Annie in the face and she coughed, spitting it out of her mouth. The ice woman was moving toward her, lips curled in a sneer. Remy stepped into her path, flames dancing up his arms. The woman hurtled a gigantic snowball his way, and Remy launched a fireball from his palms. Snow and fire collided and the woman's snowball turned into water. Annie scurried out of the literal line of fire and stood beside Esther. Her brow was scrunched in concentration as she zapped the clones who had attacked Annie, as well as a third one, simultaneously. They dropped to the ground and Esther lowered her hands, looking pale.

"Did I...kill them?" she asked. Annie looked around and could still see the original man continuing to clone himself.

"Well the original is still alive," she said. "So I guess killing these doesn't really count?" As she watched the guy continuing to duplicate himself, she could see strain on his face. As new clones formed from him to replace the ones Esther had taken out, Annie noticed they seemed slower than the others. He must have been exerting more energy than he usually did in making them. This time five clones appeared and they charged straight for Annie and Esther. Annie stared at the three dead ones, who were beginning to fade, then at her glowing hands. On a whim, Annie knelt and pressed her hands to the chests of the dead clones. The light from her body spilled into theirs, and their bodies stopped fading. Their eyes opened and they lurched clumsily to their feet.

"Holy shit! I just made zombies," Annie said, reeling back from them. They just stared at her blankly. When she felt pretty sure they weren't going to eat her face off, she commanded them to stop the oncoming clones. They turned and planted themselves in front of Annie and Esther.

"How did you do that?" Esther looked awed.

"I...don't know?" Annie replied. She looked around.

"Where are Beau and Hollace?"

"I don't know," Esther said, watching the undead clones fight with the living ones. "I didn't see what happened after the wind guy attacked us. I'm not sure where he and the fourth guy are, either. I think some of your ghosts stopped the attack, and I think they might be helping Beau and Hollace. Wherever they are. Annie!" She screamed and pointed.

Ice Bitch, who had been failing in her attempts to spear Remy with a giant icicle, summoned her strength and thrust her hands out. Remy's fire went out as he became encased in a chunk of ice. The ice woman looked smug. Annie thinned the rift between worlds and slipped into the spirit realm. The park was overlaid with the grey mist, and everyone looked fuzzy. But to everyone else, she was as invisible as the ghosts. Annie moved up in front of the woman, and slipped back into the world of the living.

"That was rude," Annie said as the woman blinked in surprise. Annie punched her square in the jaw. Esther let out a whoop. Behind her, Annie heard a cracking noise and turned in time to have warm water splash in her face as Remy, now completely ablaze, burst out of the icy cocoon. A wayward clone moved up behind him.

"Remy, duck!" Annie shouted, and hurled one of her shoes. The heel lodged itself in the clone's eye. Annie grimaced as the body toppled forward with a dull thud. Her victory was short lived as she felt ice snaking up her legs. It froze her feet in place and cut into her skin. Remy leaped forward, pulling her close. Annie felt heat wash over her and soon she was standing in a puddle with damp, bloody calves.

"You fucking twat!" She spun around and prepared to punch the woman again but Remy pulled her back.

"I take it you're all right, then," he said, laughing slightly.

"Yes but she won't be when I'm done with her." Annie tried to rush forward again but he kept a firm grip on her shoulders. The ice woman kept her distance, watching the two of them with a boiling hatred that struck Annie as sort of ironic. She heard Esther scream and turned to see one of the living clones grab her from behind, his hands wrapping around her throat. Remy finally let her go and Annie knelt, rolling the clone she had just killed onto his back. She slapped her hands to his chest and willed the grey light into him. His body solidified again and he stood up, her shoe still buried in his eye socket. Remy took a step back.

"Holy shit," he said.

"Come with me, maggot," Annie said to the undead clone. He shambled after her as Annie sprinted to Esther. Annie took her remaining shoe and launched herself at the clone holding Esther. She jammed the heel into his eye. It seemed to work well enough on the last one. Before the body even hit the ground Annie had reanimated him. She pulled her shoe free, bringing his eye with it. Esther made a gagging noise but Annie peeled the eye off and tossed it aside.

"Gross," she said. She freed her other shoe and pointed at two of the clones. "You two come with me. The rest of you stay with Esther and help Remy. I'll be right back."

Annie marched across the grass to the duplicator, who was by now kneeling on the ground and breathing hard. He weakly lifted his head at the sound of her approach, and horror filled his eyes at the sight of two dead versions of himself standing over him.

"I don't think you have enough brain power to spare, so you better stop making all these clones before you run out entirely," Annie advised.

"Who are you?" he croaked.

"Wouldn't you like to know? You two stay here and guard him."

The clones stood over their creator, staring sightlessly down at him. Annie bounded back to Esther and Remy. The ice queen had tried to hit them with a mini blizzard, but Remy had successfully melted most of it. Esther shot electricity into the water around the woman's feet. She shrieked and staggered away from the puddle. Her eyes were narrowed to angry slits behind the blue mask she wore, and her white and blue hair had come out of the fancy bun she'd had it in.

"Doesn't that dye job seem a bit predictable?" Annie scoffed. "One down," she announced to the others. The remaining zombies shuffled over to stand behind her as Mickey appeared at her side. Remy's hands burst into flame and Esther's body crackled like lightning.

"You can't stop me," Ice Bitch spat.

"I'm down with whatever plan you have in mind," Annie said to Remy, "as long as I get to punch her again."
---------------------------------------------------
Esther's costume

Annie's costume

"Alright, so we're really doing this," Hollace's back was warm against Beau's, the both of them hunched and ready to attack the two men who seemed decided to break their every bone. "We're fighting crime. Supercrime. I didn't sign up for this shit."

"These guys are nuts, Hollace," Beau was sick to his stomach. "They call themselves the Destruction Force, and they're just four fucking idiots that work at a comic book store and wanted to be noticed easy and fast to make money. They're doing this for goddamn attention."

Hollace was laughing so hard that Beau felt an entire wave of musement washing over him. Beau chuckled, too, because it was fucking ridiculous.

"So we got four supervillain attention whores," the brunet shook his head. "I hope I don't die today."

"Balloon boy wants to take you out, thinks he knows he can," Beau informed him. "He'll feint left, then go right and blow you against the wall."

"That's not entirely unwelcome," he smirked.

Beau threw his head back and laughed, then quickly sobered up in panic. The man in from of him was shifting, turning from a buff and strong figure to a Hulk of sorts. His head was tiny in comparison to his body, and his fingers had turned from simple hands to razor-sharp claws. Beau felt deep fear as his shoes broke and his feet turned to claws, too.

"Go!" he shouted at Hollace, then rolled to the right and managed the dodge the man in front of him, watching as his hands turned to axes. "Jesus Christ, this is not my day."

Beau knew how to fight - Naveen had made sure of it, and if the guy wasn't a goddamn shapeshifter then he probably would've been able to take him out with the prediction of his movements. 

Shapeshifter turned to him, growled, sweeped qt him and Beau was smart enough to jump and kick away his wrist where he had seem he had an old injury when the guy was seven. Shapeshifter howled and honest-to-god lowered his head and tried to bite at him, but Beau only dodged it, and with plenty of time.

All he could do was dodge and hope for the best, while warning Hollace from time to time about Balloon Boy, but soon he found himself panting with the Shapeshifter right in front of him, lifting his hands to chop him to pieces. Beau's eyes widened and he braced himself before a black blur threw the Shapeshifter back and lifted Beau from the ground.

"You fucking idiot!" Hollace shook his shoulders as he spat at a stunned Beau. "Don't just sit around and wait for him to strike, fight back!"

"I can't," Beau muttered.

"Yes, you can!" Hollace grasped the back of his head before zapping them away from the monstruosity, next to Balloon Boy who could barely breathe. "I kind of wore him out."

"That's what I was trying to do," Beau confessed.

"You could paralyze him," Hollace suggested.

"What if I paralyze him for life?" Beau didn't mean to, but he knew his anxiety was seeping into Hollace's bones, because the boy seemed to realize just how much Beau was holding back.

"Okay, you wanted practice?" 

Hollace placed himself behind Beau and moved them quickly, but not overly so, in front of the Shapeshifter. Beau froze as he realized they were there, and swung both his axes at them. 

For a moment, it seemed as if the police sirens intensified, the air felt colder and Hollace's presence much too warm behind him - a reminder that if he didn't do something, Hollace would die, too.

He could cope with death, he didn't mind.

But not someone else's.

The Shashifter dropped to the ground, returning to a normal human. He was skinny, not like the buff figure he'd just seen trying to kill him. His clothes were ripped, his hair was half-burnt for some reason, and Beau quickly realized that his nose and ears were bleeding.

Hollace was telling him something about someone and bout ice, but Beau couldn't listen. He couldn't. He looked around the wreckage they'd made in a fight, wondered who would pay for it. He glanced at Balloon Boy and heard 'I just needed the money, goddmn it, I'm sorry, mom.' 

His shoulders were shaking, he could barely breathe. He had probably killed someone tonight. He could feel the Shapeshifter's agony, his pain. His name was Andrew Thorn and his passion had been comics until some asshole took all his work and left him with nothing. Balloon Boy was Ned Brownstone and after he'd crashed the car, his mother was in the hospital in dire need of surgery. Hollace was thinking that Beau could be having a panic attack.

"I can't," he realized he was saying, over and over. "I can't, oh god, I can't, I can't do this, I can't do this."

He was wheezing for a breath, trying to hold on to anything when Hollace kneeled on the ground next to him, sending a jolt of pain through him - his prosthetic must be killing him. Yet the boy put himself to the same level as Beau's and pulled on the Cajun's arms until they were around each other.

Beau shook in the embrace, feeling only faint warmth against the crashing cold of being in someone's dying mind. Ned had dragged himself to where Andrew was dying, and they were holding hands and telling each other that it'd be fine. 

He didn't want them, these powers. They were ruining his life, ruining him. He'd mever had a panic attack. He's lost his friends, lost his girlfriend. His grades were dropping at an all time low because his headaches caused him to miss class constantly, same with rehearsals. He missed his cues for the lines and made a disaster out of them.

He'd killed someone today. Andrew had died, and Ned was crying and Beau then grasped Hollace's shirt on the back and buried his face into his neck, sobbing uncontrollably.

Beau began to cry.

The Ice Woman was a hard woman to defeat.

Even with Remy, Annie, and Esther against her, she seemed to be able to thwart off everything that came her way and it was growing increasingly annoying. Annie, for one, kept suggesting she just punch her in the face but Remy didn't see that as a possibility, especially since the Ice Woman kept throwing deadly ice spears and snowballs at them.

"Remy, what's the plan?" Esther yelled as an avalanche of snow fell towards her.

"I–I don't know! Why are you asking me?!" Remy shot a fireball at the snow and it melted away to reveal a soaked Esther.

Annie shrieked when a large shard of ice flew at her and almost pierced through her body. She moved away just in time and it hit a tree behind her, shattering into a thousand pieces. The Ice Woman let out a laugh and stepped away to avoid an electric wave from Esther.

Remy closed his eyes and thought for a second. He didn't know much about the science of energy and power but what he did know was that water was no match for either fire or electricity. He opened his eyes and yelled, "Guys, I got it!"

He engulfed his body in flames and stood in front of Esther and Annie as snowballs flew at them and melted in contact with the heat radiating from his body–it served as a temporary shield.

"The only way we can stop her is to form a ring around her, kind of like what you did with the replicator guy," he said to Annie, "but with all of our powers. She won't be able to get out if she's surrounded by fire and electricity, and even if she did, she'd have to get through your ring of zombies..."

Annie grinned and said, "Okay, let's end this bitch."

They turned around and the Ice Woman gave up her attempts to shower them with snow and ice. Her eyes were closed and she was looking up at the sky with her arms out in front of her. Directly above her was snow swirling around her head. It looked like something out of a fairytale, but Remy immediately took those words back when it grew larger and larger until it blanketed the entire park. Hard ice started to fall and Remy heard Annie and Esther scream, fighting to not get hit, but he could see a large cut on Esther's arm.

"We need to do this now!" Remy yelled.

The Ice Woman was laughing again, and she thrust her arms out to make the ice fall harder. Remy focused and suddenly a small fire appeared by her feet but she didn't notice. He made it grow larger and she looked down and jumped away, narrowing her eyes at him. She smirked and Esther yelled, "Remy, watch out!"

Before he knew it, a large slab of ice fell and hit his shoulder. Remy yelled out in pain and grabbed his shoulder, where he felt blood. He gritted his teeth and focused again, making the fire form a circle around the Ice Woman and grow taller.

"What the fuck?!" He heard the Ice Woman yell. The ice storm around them stopped suddenly as her focus shifted. Remy extinguished the fire surrounding his own body.

"Esther!" he shouted.

Electricity formed at the end of Esther's fingers and she shot it towards the fire, where it danced around, closing the gaps above her where the fire couldn't reach, forming an orb around her where she had no room to escape. Fire and electricity became good friends and the Ice Woman was shrieking. She tried to form a snow storm to put it out, but it only fueled the electricity which in turn fueled the fire.

Annie turned to her zombies and said, "You know what to do."

They marched towards the ring and formed a circle around her. Remy felt relief as the Ice Woman had no means of an escape. Esther and Annie high five'd each other.

"Esther," he said, turning to them. "Can you electrocute her?"

"What?!" Her eyes widened.

Remy shook his head. "Not to kill her, but enough to knock her out now that she's incapacitated. This looks ridiculous to normal people," he said, pointing to the orb of electricity, fire, and zombies.

"I–I don't know," Esther said, looking frightened all of a sudden.

"Esther, you can do it," Annie said, reassuringly.

She closed her eyes for a second and Remy watched as an electric wave controlled by Esther raised itself above the orb and danced around before striking the Ice Woman. She shrieked and fell into a lump on the ground. Esther let out a chuckle of relief but she looked white in the face. Remy, with his good arm, gave her a half-hug.

Annie exclaimed, "Yes! Esther, you did it!"

They extinguished the orb. The fire disappeared, then the electricity, and then the zombies fell back and disappeared with out a trace. All that was left was the Ice Woman lying unconscious on the ground of the park.

Remy forgot they were in a public place. It wasn't until he noticed people around the park, including police officers, staring in their general direction. Above them was a helicopter zooming around–it looked like it belonged to a news station.

"Shit, we need to go," he said, turning around and running with Annie and Esther following behind, Annie was grumbling about running in bare feet. They had to push past people and duck their heads to avoid anyone thinking they were apart of the fiasco. Thankfully, his Einstein wig, Annie's hood, and Esther's mask were good enough disguises.

They made it back to Annie's apartment and they were silent for a few minutes, taking in what has just happened.

"Did that actually happen? That wasn't a dream or anything, right?" Annie asked, her voice sounding strained.

"Where did Beau and Hollace go?" Esther wondered in a curious voice. Her face was still white from knocking Ice Woman unconscious but she went to turn on the TV. She also pulled out the new cellphone Annie bought her and Remy assumed she was going to text the others on their whereabouts.

"Are you guys okay? You're not hurt or anything?" Remy asked, looking at the two of them who only had cuts and bruises on their faces and arms.

Annie rolled her eyes and said, "Forget about us, is your arm okay?"

The adrenaline was wearing off and he could feel the pain in his arm again. He nodded his head and a second later, hissed in pain as it stung. Annie rolled her eyes and disappeared into the kitchen. She came back a second later with gauze and a long piece of cloth.

"What am I? Your first patient?" Remy asked as Annie forced him to sit, take his shirt off, and tended to his wound, which didn't look as bad as he thought. She laughed and dabbed his wound with the wet cloth.

He focused his attention to the TV where, just as he thought, was footage of the park. The news anchor announced, "Witnesses reported strange sightings at Morningside Park tonight! At first, it was thought to be a show held by street performers until a police officer, whose name has been withheld, was attacked by one of these individuals. Witnesses claim that there were four and they were joined by several others others in what looked like a fight. This is some crazy stuff, folks. It's nothing like anyone has ever seen before. Here is footage of the scene..."

It looked like someone shot the video from their cellphone camera as it was shaky and slightly blurry, but they could see the ice storm that the Ice Woman caused as well as a guy that suddenly transformed into a The Hulk-like figure and Remy figured he was one of the ones Beau and Hollace had to fight off. A second later the video changed to a split second of the ring they made around the Ice Woman, but it was extinguished a second later and Remy felt a wave of relief. Not much was made of their powers.

"We also have word that the original four have disappeared. When the SWAT team approached the scene, they were gone. The mayor has ordered the city to be on lockdown until these individuals are found. If you see anything strange, folks, please call the number on the screen..."

"We need to see Naveen..." Remy said, staring at the TV with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

okay this is completely unedited save for Word's spellcheck so... if anything needs to be changed/edited, just lemme know. also, get ready for a little bit of Beaullace. c;

Naveen’s shop didn’t feel nearly as welcoming as it usually did and it was probably due to the fact that the warlock himself was leaning against the front corner, dark arms crossed over his broad chest as he glared at the group of five who were spread about the store.

“I told you to stay off the radar and what do you do? You get into a fight!”

“What were we supposed to do?” Annie was the first to speak up. “There were innocent people getting hurt, Naveen!”

“Yeah, what, you wanted us to just stroll right by?” Remy questioned, the defiance in his voice surprising just about everyone in the room. “We were the most qualified people to deal with it!”

“Besides, we were in costume,” Hollace reminded, doing his best to seem bored. “It’s not like anyone recognized us.”

The voodoo doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I suppose there was no avoiding it. Now that we know you’re not the only supers out there… There’s bound to be some bad ones.”

“They weren’t bad,” Beau piped up. Hollace glanced at him, finding the boy’s light eyes hazy and distant. “They were desperate. I heard it, I heard his thoughts, Andrew when I…” He didn’t finish and didn’t need to.

Against his better judgement, Hollace limped over to him and clapped a hand down on his shoulder. He didn’t say anything, just stood there, hoping that his presence would be enough to ground him for a while.

“If you’re going to make a habit out of this then we’ll need to take precautions. Disguises, for one. It isn’t Halloween every day.”

“I can help there!” Esther almost shouted, excitement bubbling out of her like the small currents of electricity that were still flitting around her hands.

All of them were still pretty juiced from the battle. Annie was shivering, Remy standing close and emitting enough body heat to warm the entire shop.

“I learned to sew when I was about three years old. I’m basically an expert now. Everyone just tell me what designs they want and I’ll have them ready in no time!”

Hollace couldn’t help but smile at the peppy girl. It was nice to know that someone wasn’t upset about what had happened. Even he was a little rattled by it. Just because he had superpowers didn’t mean he actually wanted to be a superhero. If he was going to be one, though, he was going to go all out.

“We should have names, too,” he suggested. “Especially for the media once they grab hold of us, which they will inevitably do,” he leveled a look at Naveen, “No matter how hard we try to hide.”

The imposing man shrugged his shoulders and with yet another sigh walked into the back of the small store, leaving them to their own devices.

“Names?” Remy piped up.

“Yeah, like an alter ego, you know? Clark Kent is Superman, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Tony Stark is—“

“I get it, yeah. What would we be, then?”

Hollace’s nose wrinkled as he thought and with a laugh, he offered, “You could be Flamer.” He barely got it out before bursting into laughter, Annie snickering along with him. Normally, Beau would have been laughing with them, but he was obviously still stuck on the fight.

“I don’t think so,” Remy shook his head, his ears darkened by the blush that had crept up his neck and to his face.

“Yeah, okay, I know. How about, um… Inferno.”

There was a chorus of Yeahs from the others and the brown eyed boy grinned widely.

“Inferno—I like it.”

“Okay, me next! Do me next!” Esther clapped loudly, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Just looking at the electricity crackling around her hands made it easy to name her.

“Live Wire. Anything can set you off.”

She giggled and Hollace felt his mood lighten with each title he gave.

“Annie,” she cocked her head and he smirked, aiming his fingers at her like a gun. “Ouija.”

It looked as if she had been ready to challenge him, but that argumentative expression quickly melted away. “I love it! Ouija.” She smiled widely and looked to Remy who nodded in approval.

Looking to Beau, Hollace thought hard. He was a psychic, so it would have to be something like Brain Wave or Abra—no that was a Pokémon. Inside… head… mindreader… He grasped at loose ends until trying, “Interior?”

The Cajun boy looked up at this, the corner of his mouth lifting just slightly. “Intérieur, it’s French.”

“I can tell,” Hollace said. “Intérieur it is.”

He was a little disappointed to find that Beau wasn’t nearly as excited about the naming as the others were. Given time, he might embrace it more.

“What about you?” Remy questioned.

This time, Hollace was at a loss. Flash was already taken and there was no way he’d be a copycat. He could either go with a cyborg/robot reference or go with the speed factor.

Before he could think too long about it, though, Beau spoke up, “White Lightning.”

The brunet raised an eyebrow as the other looked up at him from where he was sitting, Hollace’s hand still on his shoulder. “It’s self-explanatory but also exploits the fact that you just might be an alcoholic.”

“What does Lightning have to do with alcohol?” Esther asked and everybody laughed, Beau included.

“White Lightning. I dig it.”

“Alright then,” Annie stepped forward. “Inferno, Live Wire, Ouija, Intérieur, and White Lightning. I guess we’re officially superheroes, now.”



Hollace gently fingered the bag that he had hooked onto his abused leg. It dangled there like some kind of twisted keychain, but it was a lot more than just a little trinket; it was a hex bag, made to protect him from curses and other unfriendly spells as well as Beau’s prodding mind. The latter of which, however, had become less of a problem, the Cajun boy not feeling the need to dig around in Hollace’s brain anymore now that the two had made a sort of strange breakthrough in the area of overall closeness.

The hex bag emitted a faint aroma, a mixture of sage, acacia, hibiscus which wasn’t exactly terrible. In fact, it was quite soothing and was quickly becoming something of a security blanket for the lanky boy.

The sound of the bathroom door opening snapped Hollace out of whatever daze he was in and he showed a tight-lipped smile at the sight of Beau stepping out, still damp from his shower and towel drying his hair. A couple of months ago, he never would have guessed that he’d be friends with Beau Boudreux, especially not to the extent of what could only be described as sleepovers.

Ever since the battle of Morningside Park, Beau had been a little on the unstable side. He was at a low point, convinced that he had killed another human being, and in constant need of some form of reassurance. If all Hollace had to do was pat the boy on the back or throw the friendliest of smiles he could must Beau’s way, he’d be happy to do so. The psychic had been on his best behavior, after all.

“Enjoying the view?” He asked with a devious upturn of his lips.

It was only then that Hollace realized he was staring at the boy’s tan torso and shook his head vehemently. “You wish.”

Beau raised his eyebrows, still smirking. “Only sometimes.” He winked before turning back into the bathroom to hang his towel up.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Hollace called out from where he was lying back on his bed (which was still very much his as Beau took up residence on his couch whenever he stayed over).

The other returned moments later, dancing into a pair of skinny jeans but not bothering to pull a shirt on. Something about that irritated Hollace, probably the fact that he was starting to find the boy’s presence a little too distracting. Maybe having his mind all too himself again wasn’t such a good thing.

“Well, whatever you’re thinking of, you’ve definitely gotta take me to dinner first.”

The brunet snorted and shook his head. “Fuck off, you know what I mean.”

Shrugging his bare shoulders, he turned to look at Hollace’s small movie collection, most of which being either Marvel films or the Harry Potter movies. There were also must haves such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Jurassic Park—unimpressive, but he had what was necessary.

“I was thinking superhero marathon? Maybe invite Remy over, have a guy’s night.”

“Superheroes? You’re not tired of them yet?”

“How am I ever gonna get tired of my people?” He held out his arms for emphasis and Hollace rolled his eyes before pushing himself off of the mattress. At putting his weight on his prosthetic, a rather pathetic wince left his throat.

“You should really get a replacement. You’ve been making faces every time you stand since the fight.”

“Yeah? You call my parents and explain to them how I’ve wrecked a ten-thousand dollar piece of equipment in a month.”

“No, thank you.”

“That’s what I thought.” Hollace hobbled over and bumped him out of the way so that he could peruse the blu-ray discs, pulling out a few of them. “Go ahead and text Rem. It’s already six and I don’t really wanna be up until two watching movies. We’ve all got class in the morning.”

Beau pouted, looking very similar to a kicked puppy. “Well, if you’re just gonna be a grump, maybe we shouldn’t do guy’s night at all.”

Hollace gave him an apologetic look and rubbed at his face. “No, I’ll perk up. Sorry.” The more he spent time with Beau and the others, the more the ice around his heart melted. He hadn’t had friends in a long time, and the sudden appearance of not just one, but four of them was leaving the boy a little confused. He had all these feelings of fondness and toleration. It was maddening.

“We’ll get you some coffee to wake you up a bit,” Beau offered with a smile but Hollace waved him off and walked over to his dresser, opening a drawer and pulling out a pill bottle.

The Cajun boy eyed him curiously as he dry swallowed a pill and he quickly explained, “Adderall—I’ll be awake and perky in about half an hour.”

“Are those prescribed?”

Hollace shook his head. “Are you kidding? It’s, like, the most widely used drug in college. Besides weed, of course. Speaking of, care for a bowl?”

The other shook his head, “Nah, not yet anyway.”

The lanky boy shrugged apathetically before retrieving a pipe from the same drawer. It was already loaded and he took a few hits before putting it back. “I wonder if Remy smokes,” he mused, smoke accompanying the words that fell from his mouth.

“We’ll ask him when he gets here which should be in about ten minutes.”

He nodded and limped out of the room, DVDs in hand. Beau followed, tugging a shirt on that Hollace recognized as his own, an Iron Maiden tee that had seen much better days.

“You’re wearing my clothes now?” He asked, not really caring. “Sleeping on my couch, using my shower, stealing my clothes… You’re like the girlfriend I never asked for.”

Beau chuckled. “You make your girlfriends sleep on your couch?”

“Of course. A twin-sized bed isn’t big enough for two people,” he deadpanned. The light-eyed boy didn’t seem to know whether or not to take him seriously, so after Hollace stood back up from putting a disc into his player, he told him, “I’m kidding. I’m not that heartless.”

“I know you’re not heartless, Hols. You’ve been putting up with my shit for the past week. If you were really the asshole you want everyone to think you are, you wouldn’t be letting me stay here.”

Hollace made a face both at the nickname as well as the sentiment. “Yeah, well, tell anyone and I’ll annihilate you.”

Beau let out a suggestive groan and placed a hand on his chest. “Love it when you talk dirty.”

And just like that, his serious demeanor was broken once again.

There was a knock on the door and Beau spared Hollace the short walk, motioning for him to take a seat while he went and let Remy in.

“Inferno, nice to see ya’, buddy!” The boy on the couch watched the two clasp hands and lean into each other in a very bro-like manner, scoffing at the display. “We’re just about to order some pizza.”

“We are?”

“Yeah, a guy’s night isn’t complete without some pizza. It’s on me.”

“Awesome.” The thought of food, especially pizza, made Hollace’s stomach grumble loudly. He was starved, as always, and he could easily guess that the munchies wouldn’t be too far off either. “Go ahead and just get three. I’ll more than likely eat a whole one by myself.” Both boys turned to look at him and though he knew he didn’t need to defend himself, he still asked, “Do you have any idea how fast my metabolism is these days?”

“It’s true,” Beau conceded. “I watched him eat an entire box of cereal followed by, like, nine poptarts the other day. He’s like Thor, or something.”

“I require sustenance,” the boy in question easily quoted, earning a smile from his friend.

“Right, well I’ll call it in. Remy, make yourself at home.”

“Yeah, in my home.”

The psychic did exactly what he said he would then joined them in the small den. Raising a remote, Hollace turned on the television and blu-ray player and revealing the red comic book intro that appeared in the beginning of every Marvel film.

“What are we watching?” Remy asked, leaning back and kicking his shoes off.

“X-Men: First Class, mostly so that I’ll have something to jerk off to later tonight.” Remy looked at him, a little alarmed, and Hollace simply said, “Michael Fassbender is a god damn God.”

“Agreed,” Beau added.

If Remy was confused about the admission, he didn’t say anything about it, just turned his attention to the television where a young Magneto was trapped in Auschwitz.

The pizza arrived about a third of the way into the movie and before anyone else could move to get it, Hollace was by the door in a flash, paying the delivery boy then setting the three boxes down on the coffee table. He peeked into each one of them, claiming the Canadian bacon and Pineapple pie which he then took for himself.

He had finished the entire thing by the time Beau and Remy were on their third pieces.

“That is amazing,” Remy commented around a mouthful. “That should be your superpower.”

Hollace laughed. “How would that even come in handy? Eat the bad guys? I would be a cannibal?”

He shrugged, “Whatever works.”

The movie ended at around eight and Beau immediately popped in another one, the first Iron Man. His high officially having worn out, Hollace figured it was a good time to roll a blunt and did so. If either of the other boys were uncomfortable, they didn’t show it. When he was done, he held it up, admiring his glorious craftsmanship then motioned to Remy with it. “You smoke?”

He shook his head. “I haven’t ever really…”

“You’ve never smoked before? Didn’t you say something about Maya getting caught with drugs at school?”

The boy nodded. “Yeah, but it was only Adderall.”

“Hm,” Hollace sat back and lit the end of the rillo. “I wonder if she sells.”

“Don’t you dare,” Remy bit out. It only caused him to laugh.

Hollace took a long drag before holding his hand out to Beau. He took the blunt and raised it to his lips and Hollace watched as his lips gently caressed the brown paper before shaking his head. Boudreux went to pass it again, but the blue-eyed boy shook his head and motioned to Remy who held his hands up in a defensive position.

“Nah, that’s okay. I’m fine.”

Smirking, Hollace leaned forward. “Come on, man. You don’t know what you’re missing. It’s not like you have to smoke every day, maybe just on special occasions.”

“And this is a special occasion?”

“Absolutely.”

He looked uneasy and Hollace vowed to himself that if he really didn’t want to, he wouldn’t make him, but there was no harm in a little peer pressure. “It’s not gonna make you go crazy, Rem. Just something you should experience at least once in your life.”

Still making a face, Remy tentatively reached out to take the blunt, examining it as if it was some kind of specimen before raising it to his mouth.

“Okay, make sure you don’t suck to hard or you’ll burn your throat.”

He inhaled for a moment before quickly passing it to dissolve into a fit of coughing. “Right, should have warned you about that part.”

Remy doubled over and coughed for a while before straightening back up, face red, and gave the other two boys a thumbs up. “I’m good.”

Hours later found all three of them sitting back, bodies slack in relaxation. Thor played on the television but none of them were paying much attention, talking aimlessly and giggling like a group of schoolgirls.

“There’s no way I’m wearing spandex,” Remy said. “Absolutely no way.”

“Really? I bet it’d show off your wiener bulge nicely,” Hollace offered.

Beau cackled loudly. “You just wanna see his pee-pee, ya’ little queer.”

Hollace shrugged, an easy smirk playing at his lips. “Nothing wrong with that, right Rem?” He elbowed the boy beside him who, surprisingly, was not blushing as he probably would have been in any other situation. That was more than likely due to the fact that he was stoned out of his mind, though.

“Whatever you wanna do, Hollace. But this,” he motioned to his body, “Is a hands free zone. Only looking for you, man.”

Hollace snapped his fingers mockingly before the group fell into a comfortable silence that was only broken when he spoke up again. “We should, like, actually party some time. Annie and Esther, too.”

“We should go to New Orleans, specifically Bourbon Street. That place is insane.”

“Damn,” Hollace glanced at the psychic who was smiling lazily. “We really should. Mardis Gras is in a few months. We should go—take a break from what’s sure to become a busy life of saving people.”

Remy laughed, apparently amused. “Bourbon Street and saving people.”

“Maybe saving people on Bourbon Street. Drunkenly, of course,” Hollace mused. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“The best of plans,” Beau added.

“It was the best of plans, it was the worst of plans…”

“Get outta here with that Charles Dickens shit,” Hollace spluttered out. They fell back into fits of laughter which was how the remainder of the night went until the three of them passed out where they sat.

Here's my chapter! Enjoy!

***

It dawned on Esther that maybe she needed to find something productive to do with her spare time. She wasn’t in the system; places of employment would see her as an illegal alien and colleges dismiss her with no prior recorded education. It was a no win situation. She did have something to work on, but she didn’t know where to start. Sewing all her life gave her the experience she needed to create their costumes, but she’s only every work with simple material. She didn’t knew where to find material that would keep them from dying. When her cell started ringing, she jumped at the opportunity to talk with someone.

“Hey Esther its Maya, Annie told me you were all by yourself. I’m downstairs we’re hanging out.” Esther didn’t even a choice as Maya hung up. Downstairs she stopped short as she saw Maya waving her hand out the window of a pink car. Maya flung the door open and Esther got in.

“Oh you must be Esther. It’s so good to meet you.” Remy’s aunt Zarah smiled brightly as she looked through the rearview mirror. “I’m glad Remy and Maya are making friend.” Maya didn’t say a word, only just smiled. It didn’t long, before they were at Remy’s house.

Maya and Esther ended up in the kitchen. Maya was an experienced blogger, and as one most of her time was consumed near a computer. Esther’s roamed around her kitchen checking it out; it was her first time there and she felt out of sorts. Maybe it was because the others weren’t with her; she hardly knew Maya.

“No! No! No! Not again!” Maya yelled at the screen of her laptop, viciously stabbing the keys.

Curious as to what was wrong, Esther abandoned her inquires of the kitchen. Esther was a little surprised to see the computer frozen on a picture of them. It was a picture from the night of the Halloween party and their first battle. “That’s us.” It was of little surprise that Maya nodded her head, of course she would know.

“Now it would be nice if I could just get it posted. I want to know what people thought of my blog. Remy mentioned Hollace gave you names. I can’t wait to see what people think. NoBodySBusiness23 is going to be so jealous. Alas, my freaking laptop doesn’t want to work.” Maya pressed a few more keys forcefully and gave up.

“Let me check it out.” Esther reached to touch it, but Maya was quick to snatch it up.

“I’ve heard stories of what you can do. I mean your cool and all but laptops aren’t cheap and this is the only one I have. I’ve had it for many years.” Maya rambled on. “But I don’t want to lose it either.”

Esther was a little offended. Were they really that cautious of her touching anything electrical? She could blamed them, most of the time she didn’t intentionally mean for things to happen they just did. Then she remembered Core. “Well I think I can…no I know I can help.” She bit her lip wondering if she should tell Maya. “The other day I couldn’t pay for something. I was in a real jam. Then suddenly the purchase went through like it was paid for.” It occurred to Esther that it wasn’t the first time. “Not to mention what happened with my credit card; Annie made me make an online account, so it could be mobile. For a few weeks it said I owned money then suddenly it didn’t. I don’t know what it means, but I think I can help.” Maya looked with awed eyes. “Do you think I could take a look?”

On the side of caution, a few seconds passed before Maya pushed the laptop towards Esther. “Just, just try not to blow it up. It may not be the best but it is mine.”

As soon as Esther touched it, she felt a connection. Suddenly information just dumped into her head. Nothing was understandable, for a second she thought it would overwhelm her. Just before the black spots at the edge of her vision could swallow her, the information turned into something she understood. The wobble wasn’t its normal deep bass, but a soft baritone. The screen started flashing through images; it downloaded as well as destroyed flies. The gears were turning loud and pushing out heat. Codes of numbers flew across the screen. Without her knowledge, Esther was decoding and debugging it.

Maya peered over her shoulder. “Wow! What are you doing?”

Esther looked back at her with wide eyes. “I have no idea.”

Suddenly the screen went black followed by a click then a bright light. The desktop image popped up, while side programs ran diagnostics.

“Is this how it’s supposed to look?” Esther asked. On the screen was an image of a squirrel attacking a toad.

“Yeah pretty dope, isn’t?” Maya nodded her head like a gangster and pulled the laptop towards her.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.” Esther was quick to cover her smile and swallow her laugh.

“Holy shit! Whatever you did…there are no words.” She typed and clicked, clicked and typed. “It’s faster than the day I bought it. Look it’s even connecting to the internet, we don’t even have internet. Usually I have to link up with one of the neighbors or even steal it.”

Esther looked at her oddly. “Steal it?”

“It’s nothing to worry about; everybody does it.” Maya kept blogging. Esther watched her for a little bit. She had to admit Maya was fast and knew her stuff. “I’m finished. You ready?”

“Yeah sure.” Esther nervously flicked her fingers. On the way over, Esther mentioned that she volunteered to design and create the costumes. “I’ve sewed since I was three but never like this. The people we went up against are packing some major power. The fabric I usually use, I don’t think will withstand ice or anything for that matter. Is there even material out there strong enough?”

Maya stood up and grabbed her bag. “Yes, but it’s very specific material.” Esther followed her to the door.

“What do you mean? What other material is out there? All I’m familiar with is cotton.”

“We’re going to need something more, than that, something stronger.” Suddenly her eyes grew bright. “We’re heading out!” Maya yelled into the house. “I’ve got my cell phone; I’m going to take Esther out to see the sites. “

“Just be safe, leave your phone on. Don’t do anything crazy. Esther’s a friend we don’t want to scare her off.” Esther looked dubiously in the direction my Zarah’s voice. What had Maya done to make her say that? Esther pondered and listed of possible things as they headed towards their transportation. "So where are we going?"

"I know people who know people. I made some interesting friends in my elective class freshmen year. You’d be surprised who you could meet in a fashion class. Don’t mention the people you meet in art classes. You would be surprised of the place, I know of now. Most of them are off the beaten path kind of places. One in particular. It’s like an army surplus kind of place.” Maya led them to stairs descending into the ground.

Esther looked dubiously at the entrance. "We're going underground?"

"Yeah. We’re taking the subway. It’s a train." Maya took a step, but Esther stayed where she was.

"A train underground?" Esther asked hesitantly. It sounded so disturbing.

"That’s the definition of a subway." Maya tugged at Esther’s shirt, but Esther still didn’t move.

"I thought that was a sandwich?” Esther was really confused now.

"No!" Maya laughed. "They may have the same name but are extremely different. We here in New York utilize any and all space." Maya gestured here arms to everything.

"That’s unnatural." Esther took a step back.

"Maybe for other places but not here.” Maya grabbed her hand. "Oh no you don’t. It’s not going to bite...well you may get mugged but that’s about it." Maya tugged Esther done the stairs. Esther got nervous as the lights started to flicker.

"What does this have to do with kitchen ware?” Esther forced herself to calm down to allow Maya to guide her.

Maya cackled. "Later Esther. Now come on." Maya led them down to the terminal to wait on the platform. Trains passed by, back and forth. Finally one stopped and opened its doors. Maya pushed through the doors and led them to some empty sits.

Esther leaned forward and whimpers. "This place smells weird and is dirty." Everything was a pale yellow, and brown stains lined the floor. It was musty mixed with a hint of urine.

"I think you mean grungy. Don't worry about the smell all subways smell like this way. You'll be lucky to find one that doesn't. It’s like a new car smell but this one never goes away." Maya shrugged her shoulders.

Esther leaned back and taking in more of her surroundings. A couple made out at the end of the car. A group of young men shifted uneasily, with shifty eyes. Each stop people got on and off. Esther let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding as the young men go off.

"I don’t like this place.” As the words left Esther the lights flickered dangerously.

"Stop that,” Maya whispered a warning. Esther took a deep breath. It helped ease her. The lights held firm. “You’re going to have to grow a thick skin, living here. Don’t worry you’ll end up loving it here.”

Maya pulled out her sketch pad and looked at Esther. "Do you have a design in mind for everyone?” Esther doesn't say anything. She hadn’t really thought of that yet. "I take that as a no." Maya opened the pad and readied her pencil. "Tell me what you’re thinking."



"What is this place?" Esther couldn't shake the feeling of wrongness. At one point it looked like a gallery, however as they moved further towards the back, the art became more military oriented. At some point it stopped being art and became military grade supplies.

"This building is owned by a collector. He runs some underground businesses." Maya looked as uneasy as Esther felt. "His daughter befriended me." Maya looked uncomfortable. The way she emphasized befriended, made Esther think it was unwanted and more or less the girl forced herself on Maya. "But it’s to our advantage."

They passed through on last door; it was a whole different world. The gear in the previous room was nowhere in sight. Shelves, counters, any surface was cover with raw materials. Wires and ropes hung from the ceiling. Jars full of powders lined the shelves. Plastics and metals of any and every size were everywhere. It may have looked disorganized but it was far from it. Gears and fabrics, wood and shell casings, if it was thinkable it was there. The problem was knowing what everything was.

In the end Maya and Esther left the building with everything they could think of. It had taken Maya some time to convince them to take Esther's card. They usually only take cash but since Maya knew the daughter they were allowed, with a threat of course. They would get their money one way or another.

"Isn't this considered stealing?" Esther questioned as she adjusted the overstuffed backpack and switched the duffel bag from hand to hand.

"No. They will get money no matter what, where it comes from who know." Esther frowned. She didn't like the sound of that. "Look at it this way. You guys are risking your lives for the city, you need the proper gear. Just imagine if something happened? Hmmm? Who would protect the innocent?" Maya stopped to swing one duffel bag over her shoulder.

"Okay. I guess." Esther was quickly realizing Maya had a way with words, actually she had a way with everything.

As they made their way towards the subway. Esther and Maya saw it; it was a police cruiser. It passed them only to turn around and the next street.

"Oh great. Just act natural Esther. We have nothing to hide." Esther had seen enough of Blue Bloods to know what may happen. They keep looking straight as the cruiser came up and idled next to them.

"Good day ladies." The officer in the passenger seat rolled his window done and stuck his arm out. In the light of day his skin looked dark and was riddled with course black hair. "What two lovely ladies like yourselves doing on a beautiful day like today?"

"Oh just a little shopping." Maya gestured to the bags. Esther copied her, but stayed quiet.

"Obviously.” Adjusting the shoulder stripes again, Esther's gut twisted in worry. It looked like the Officer was suspicious of them. "What’s in the bags?"

"Supplies." Esther wanted to congratulate Maya on her ability so sound so nonchalant, but thought it better to remain quiet. If anyone could talk their way through questioning it was Maya.

Maya continued to converse with the officer, Esther tried her damndest to figure out where she knew the man. His voice sounded so familiar. It just seemed odd; New York contained millions of people, what were the chances she would see a familiar face; let alone in the neighborhood they were in.

It quickly dawned on her that the other officer, the one who had yet to say anything, was watching them with stern eyes. He was scanning her and Maya's belongings. Finally his eye meet Esther's and she knew. These were Officers Langley and Warren, the arresting officers at the mall altercation.

"Officer Langley and I, Officer Warren, would like to check out your bags. That is, if you don’t mind?" It was out of common courtesy he asked. Both of the men got out of the car. Officer Langley seemed to favor his ribs as they approached.

"I know them," Esther whispered to Maya. She got an elbow to the ribs for it.

"Excuse me did you say anything." Officer Langley walked towards Esther. Clearly he had heard something.

"She said nothing,” Maya quickly injected.

"Really because I thought I heard something too." Officer Warren stepped up onto the curb.

"She’s just confused."

"And why is that?" The officers were stepping closer and closer, trying to make the girls feel small.

"She not from around here." Maya said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Clearly. Neither are you." Warren's voice was ice and cold. This was the first time Esther saw someone get judged by what they looked like. Annie had told her about it, but she didn’t think people could be so narrow minded. It made her dislike Officer Warren.

"What’s in the bags?" Officer Langley asked bluntly. The look he gave his partner was one of seriousness and disappointment. It was good to see not every officer was like Officer Warren.

"Like I said to Officer Warren, just supplies." Maya emphasized his name, to make it clear she disliked him.

"What kind of supplies?" Officer Langley's tone was withering.

"We have rights! We don't have to show you anything without a warrant." Esther nodded her head in agreement. She was mentally thanking Annie for her introduction into Law & Order.

"You’re correct but we have ways around that. Officer Warren, two young ladies in the bad part of town with bulging duffel bags and back packs. Don't you agree we should take them in as suspicious characters?" Officer Warren suddenly had a sneer on his face.

"Okay! Okay!" Maya quickly relented. To the officers it may have looked like Maya was getting scared at the thought of going downtown, but it wasn't. Esther was starting to panic and it was evident; Officer Warren’s hair was starting to afro. "Take a look in the bags, we didn't mean to cause any trouble. There’s nothing here. Like I've been saying; it's just supplies."

"Please, step aside." Esther and Maya stood a good distance away as the officers scattered everything everywhere.

"Unbelievable. You were telling the truth, there’re just supplies in here." Warren looked completely flabbergasted. Did he except to find guns and bombs?

"Why are two young ladies shopping for Kevlar, flame retardant material, and high grade military boots?" Langley held up each item, giving the girls a blank stare.

"It for a project." Maya said too quickly.

"I don't see a poster board and glues sticks." Warren pointed, tossing the gear back into the bags.

"For information there are other methods for projects than colorful paper and glitter." Maya deadpanned.

“Great story, except your missing one thing. The price tag on this stuff is not cheap. Where'd you get the money?” Officer Langley was not one to give up, while Officer Warren looked like he wanted to get out there and back to patrolling.

Esther finally felt she could make a contribution. So she took out her credit card held it up. Officer Langley was quick to snatch it up. In hindsight Esther knew she probably shouldn’t had offered it up.

“This is a platinum card. As ladies as well-off as you two, what are you doing in this part of town? I know you could’ve gotten all this stuff up town.”

“Just because we have a card like this doesn't mean we're rich and plus we didn't want to be roam all through town; it was one stop shop. You got a problem with that officer Langley? You know what I should take down your badge number.” Esther side stepped as Maya poked Officer Langley in the chest.

“Go ahead.” Officer Langley deadpanned. “Now tell me ladies, how you getting home?”

“The subway.” Esther was happy to be able to contribute to the conversation.

“The subway? Two ladies like you two. Interesting.” Officer Langley looked Esther up and done, causing her to blush. “What do you think Robert?”

“I find it highly interesting.”

“Can we go now?” Maya hauled her bags up, all the while giving Officer Warren her best glare. Esther went about trying to get her pack on, but she failed. She ended up trying to slip her hand into the other strap, while twirling in a circle. She was stopped by a firm hand as Langley helped her slip her arm into the strap.

“Do I know you?” Langley towered over her. At this range Esther could see he had bruises on his face and are with a scratch her and there. Esther quickly shook her head. “Hmmm. Here’s your card.” He handed it back to Esther.

“Jack come on. Leave the girls alone. We have actually crime to stop.” Officer Warren yelled getting into the cruiser. Jack looked at Esther one last time before getting to the cruiser.

“Way to go Esther. Now they have everything on you.” Esther trudged behind Maya as they headed back to the subway. “Well at least we got what we needed. I just hope they like our ideas.” Esther nodded in agreement. But her head was back to Jack. He recognized her. She didn’t know if that was a good thing or bad, especially since she finally realized he was the officer she almost crushed with the car. “Well at least we learned one thing from this trip,” Maya turned to Esther with a knowing grin on her face, “you have a thing for men in uniforms.”

In her dream, there was a little boy. Something about him seemed oddly familiar, though she couldn't figure out why. Annie watched as he walked in between his parents, each of them holding one of his hands. The little boy's smile seemed to take up his entire face and his dark eyes twinkled. She felt her own lips form a smile as she watched them. Their happiness was infectious. More happy memories of the three of them flashed in front of her like a movie reel. And then the reel distorted, seeming to melt as the scene before her was consumed in fire. The father carried the boy out of a burning house, telling him to stay there. He ran back inside as the boy called fearfully after him.

Annie felt her heart twist painfully in her chest. There was movement to her left and she turned. The boy's parents stood there, watching her intently. The mother was beautiful, with long dark hair and warm eyes. And the father reminded her of someone, though her dream-mind was struggling to figure out who.

"We have waited so long for someone like you," the woman said. Annie opened her mouth to ask what she meant, but her eyes snapped open as her alarm clock's shrill squawk interrupted the dream. Growling in irritation, Annie slapped the offending object across the room. Sighing, she climbed out of bed and got dressed. She was distracted all through her classes, which was unheard of for her. She was torn between excitement and apprehension about her new "super hero" status; she still couldn't quite believe that Esther and Maya were making them honest-to-God costumes; and now there was this weird dream that she couldn't get out of her mind. The nagging feeling that it was somehow important wouldn't leave her. She was still pondering it when she arrived at Naveen's shop that evening. Everyone else was already there and Annie mumbled an absent-minded hello.

"Care to join us earthlings, Astronaut Annie?" Remy waved a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, I have a lot on my-" Annie stopped mid-sentence, looking up at Remy's smiling face. Her dream came rushing back to her and now she knew why the little boy's twinkling dark eyes had seemed so familiar. He was Remy. And the people who'd been watching her at the burning house must have been his parents. Annie swallowed as a sudden lump formed in her throat. She felt terrible. Even if it was his parents who had shown her the images of his childhood she still felt like she had committed some awful breach of friendship and privacy.

"Are you okay?" Remy was now watching her with concern and Annie shook herself, realizing she was gaping at him like a psycho.

"Yes," she squeaked. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry."

As soon as they all descended into the basement Annie slipped away to a far corner and entered The Gray; the name she had given to the in-between world the ghosts inhabited. She didn't want anyone overhearing the conversation she was about to have.

"Mickey?" she called into the stillness. After a few moments, he appeared.

"You rang?" he said in his best stuffy butler voice.

"Is it possible for mediums to be contacted by spirits who've passed beyond The Gray?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Rarely. But in your case nothing would surprise me. Why?"

"I think Remy's parents are trying to get in touch with me."

Mickey's eyebrows crawled even higher on his forehead, like they were trying to escape into his hairline. "Come again?"

"I had a dream last night, and I was seeing little flashes of a boy's life. And then his parents said they'd been waiting for someone like me. I just realized, I was seeing Remy. I saw the night his parents died and then his parents tried to speak to me but I woke up. They must want to tell him something. You have to help me figure out how to reach them again."

"Dreaming about your Mr. Steele now, are you?" Mickey shot her a sly look. "Having some Arabian nights there, Princess Jasmine?"

"You are such an ingrate," Annie snapped. "That was so politically incorrect."

"Don't change the subject, you red headed hussy. I saw the way you were ogling the poor man the other night in your apartment. He may be too oblivious to notice, but I've had five years to learn impeccable observation skills and I have deduced that you have," he paused and looked delighted, "the hots for Inferno."

"Shut up!" Annie scowled, her annoyance fueled by the blush creeping up her face.

"Yes I think it's safe to say that our dear Remy certainly lights your fire." Mickey was by now wearing a shit-eating grin. "You think he's smokin'."

"Are you finished?"

"Not even close. He ignites a fiery passion within you."

"You're disgusting."

"This is true. But it doesn't mean I'm wrong. I'm pretty certain the attraction is reciprocated. In case you were wondering," he added casually, looking smug. Annie didn't know what to say to that, so she settled for continuing to glower at him.

"Are you going to help me with this or not?" she groused.

"All right, all right. Keep your shirt on. Remy can't even see you right now."

Mickey doubled over with laughter as Annie let out an indignant shriek and said a lot of rude things he could do to his own ass.

"Okay settle down spaz. Let me throw some wisdom your way."

"You have to actually have wisdom before you can pass it on," Annie said scathingly.

"All the various worlds, realms, planes, whatever you want to call them run alongside each other," Mickey continued, ignoring her. "They're parallel but not. They brush against each other. You should be able to access...I don't know. Heaven? Wherever the hell it is non-ghosts go from here. But you won't be able to cross that barrier if you reach it. You're alive and there is no way a living body can cross that threshold."

"But the souls there can cross rifts right?" Annie asked. Mickey nodded.

"So I just need to open a doorway, and I'm sure his parents will be able to get through it. They must be expecting me."

She concentrated, taking long deep breaths. She could feel another place tickling along her senses, just like she always sensed The Gray whispering around her when she was in the normal world. This new sensation was faint, and felt much more pleasant and serene than The Gray. She mentally pushed against the barrier, just like she did to cross to and from The Gray. But there was much more resistance. While the rift from the mortal world to The Gray was as easy as opening a swinging door, the door to the Great Beyond felt like it had a padlock. Of course Heaven would be more of an elite establishment. Annie suddenly had a mental image of large burly angels appearing in bouncer uniforms and telling her to buzz off. Biting back a giggle at the idea, Annie focused more intensely. It was slow going but she started to feel the barrier weakening ever so slightly.

"Annie watch out!"

Mickey's alarmed voice threw off her focus and Annie spun around to find a ghost with a hideously scarred face standing right in front of her. It reached out, jagged nails poised to rake across her throat. Annie threw up her arm and winced as they tore open her skin from elbow to wrist. The cuts weren't that deep but they stung like hell. Annie wrenched away and tumbled through the rift as Mickey shoved the ghost away from the opening. Annie closed it again while she was still airborne. She sprawled on her back in Naveen's basement with an undignified oomph.

"Are you okay?" Beau asked as five faces appeared above her.

"Yeah," Annie said weakly, sitting up.

"Your arm." Esther reached out and Annie drew her arm against herself.

"It's a superficial wound," she said quickly. "It looks worse than it is."

Esther looked unconvinced.

"Really," Annie insisted. "It's just a scratch. I'm fine, I promise."

"What were you doing?" Hollace asked, trying to mask his interest and failing miserably. There was blatant curiosity in his eyes as he looked at her bleeding arm.

"I...fell," Annie said lamely. Even Remy snorted at that.

"Come on, we should clean that," Naveen said, giving her a knowing look as he helped her to her feet. He led her to the sink he used to water his plants and she rinsed off the blood as he rummaged through a small cabinet and pulled out rubbing alcohol and some gauze.

"You're quite the Boy Scout, Naveen. Always prepared," Annie remarked. He smiled.

"I started keeping some first aid things down here in case anyone got hurt using their powers. Plus it seemed like a good idea with the way you all bicker and carry on."

Annie laughed softly. "Good thinking."

"You see some strange things among the dead," he said as he wrapped a layer of gauze around her right arm. Annie nodded. There wasn't much point in lying about that.

"I have some sensitivity to the spirit world myself," Naveen went on. "It's nowhere near as strong as yours, of course. But if you ever need help or simply wish to talk about the things you see my door is always open."

Despite her general misgivings about being around or talking to people, Annie decided she liked Naveen. He seemed to genuinely care about all of them and he had volunteered to help them without the slightest hesitation when their lives were turned upside-down. Not to mention he'd given them the talismans to help shield their thoughts from Beau, for which she was supremely grateful. It seemed to be helping Beau feel better to occasionally have a break from everyone else's internal chatter; and Annie felt relieved that her current tumultuous thoughts weren't being broadcast.

"Thank you," she said to Naveen. She didn't enter The Gray again. Instead she spent the remaining time with the children who still showed up almost every time she came for practice. The girls played with her hair while the boys ran around the basement trying to scare everyone. Esther let out an irritated squeak when one of them kept messing up her concentration by moving the objects she was trying to work with. Annie smothered a smile.

"Leave Esther alone," she chided.

"That is still so fucking freaky," Hollace said, watching as invisible little hands braided Annie's hair. When it was time to leave, Annie's thoughts returned to her dream and what she needed to do when she got home. She wondered if Remy would be angry at her. She hadn't intentionally snooped through his memories but it still seemed horribly invasive. She barely touched her food, pushing it around on her plate instead while she frowned at the table.

"You seem awfully melancholy this evening," Beau remarked.

"Yeah what's the matter, Hermione, did you get an A minus on a test?" Hollace said teasingly and Annie flicked some of her potatoes at him.

"How dare you even suggest such a thing," Annie admonished. She trailed out of the diner behind everyone else, her stomach in knots as she watched Remy lean against the porch railing and talk into his cell phone. She found herself hovering near him, unsure of what she could possibly say.

"Okay, Aunt Zarah. I'll be home soon. Love you, too." He hung up and turned. Annie didn't move quickly enough and he bumped into her, nearly sending her sailing down the porch steps as she lost her balance. He caught her wrist and pulled her back to safety.

"Sorry," he said. He squinted at her. "Why were you standing there?"

"I, um, wanted to tell you how much I like your pink car," Annie said, a teasing smile pulling up the corners of her mouth.

"Ah, yes. It is quite the attention grabber. Real men drive pink you know."

"Naturally. I've heard that Chuck Norris and Sean Connery drive nothing but pink convertibles."

"Oh you heard that too?"

They stared at each other for a moment before they both started laughing. Annie's nerves eased ever so slightly. They descended the porch steps.

"Goodnight, Annie," Remy called over his shoulder.

"Goodnight, Remington." Annie slipped into the driver's seat of her car and Esther pointed at the radio, turning it on. Mickey promptly changed the station and Esther let out a growl of frustration.

"Kids, behave," Annie ordered. After Esther went to bed that night, Annie resumed her efforts to reach Remy's parents. The progress was slow, but progress nonetheless. She could feel the barrier steadily weakening. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to focus, however, because more and more ghosts were massing around her. Mickey said her living body gave off an intense glow that attracted them like moths. Some seemed merely curious, but others put Annie on edge. They lurked in shadow, moving only in her periphery vision. Mickey had said some souls grew twisted when they remained in The Gray too long. They could no longer cross the rift easily, as if their connection to the human world had been cut. So they were always searching for ways to get back. Taking over Annie's body or else latching onto her and piggy backing through the rift seemed to be their ideal options.

Annie had no intention of being used as a human taxi service, nor was she keen on being the victim of some demented soul rape. So she gritted her teeth, squared her shoulders, and imagined a sort of shield forming around herself; securing her in a bubble to keep the ever-growing ghost population at bay.

"Back off," she commanded. They shifted restlessly but none of them tried to get any closer. She took that as a good sign. A wave of dizziness struck her, and she felt something warm and metallic against her lips. Her nose was bleeding.

"Annie you're going to hurt yourself if you keep this up much longer. You need to take a break," Mickey said.

"No," Annie panted. "I'm not stopping till I've got this." She could tell the barrier was almost down, if she gave up now she might have to start all over. She scrunched up her face in concentration and felt the metaphorical padlock break. A ripple faintly tinged with white-gold light appeared before her.

"Um...Mr. and Mrs. Remy?" she called, trying to wipe the blood off her face. Mickey rolled his eyes. Then they widened slightly as two figures stepped out of the shimmering ripple. Annie took a step back, awed. The man looked just like an older version of Remy, and the woman beside him was even more beautiful than Annie remembered from her dream. They were both so elegant and Annie felt that maybe she should have worn something besides her three sizes too large Punisher t-shirt and Minion socks. They both smiled warmly at her. Annie's hold on her invisible shield slipped and restless spirits moved in around her. Remy's mother gave them a dismissive glance.

"Away with you," she said. "Leave the child alone."

Apparently golden rift spirits had more power than gray rift ones. The ghosts melted away into the shadows and Annie let out a sigh of relief.

"I found you," she said. "Or rather, I suppose you found me."

"And we're very glad we did." Remy's dad studied her for a moment and Annie shifted nervously. A tiny girl in a baggy t-shirt with disheveled red hair and blood spattered across her face was probably not what they had been expecting. Perhaps he was regretting his previous statement. But he must have seen something he approved of because he nodded.

"My name is Rehan, and this is my wife Amira. Thank you, for going to such lengths to reach us. You're clearly a good friend to Remy."

Mickey made a weird noise in his throat and Annie shot him a warning look before he said anything to embarrass her.

"Yes," she said. "Remy and I are friends. He doesn't know about this yet. I'm not sure how he's going to react, and I wanted to be sure I could actually reach you before saying anything to him."

"Now that you've already been able to establish a link with us, it will be easier to thin the doorway next time," Amira said. "We will need you present to cross into your world, and our time will be limited."

Annie bit her lip. "Do you need me there the whole time?" she asked. "I mean, I don't want to intrude on your personal conversation. It's a sensitive matter."

"Dear girl, we're not having the birds and bees discussion with him." Rehan laughed and Annie flushed. Mickey nudged her and wiggled his eyebrows. Annie stuck her tongue out at him.

"You are the medium we must use to reach our son," Amira said gently. "We need you present in order to spend any length of time on your plane."

"But do I have to be in the same room?" Annie persisted. They exchanged amused glances.

"You being close by should be enough," Amira assured her. "It will be Remy's decision whether he wants total privacy or not."

"I promise I'll get in touch with him as soon as possible," Annie said. "Today, if I can."

Amira tilted Annie's chin up and stared into her eyes for a moment before smiling softly. "You're a good soul," she said. "I can sense it. Remy should count himself lucky to have such a friend."

Annie wasn't so sure about that, but she didn't argue as Rehan and Amira shimmered out of existence. Annie hurried back through the rift before any more nasty spirits showed up. She wasn't sure she had the strength left to fight them off. She tended to the dried blood on her face and dragged her ice cold, weary body to her bedroom. She was startled to find that the sun was already halfway up. It was 6:45 AM. She'd been working for nearly five hours.

"Time doesn't always work the same when you're in there," Mickey said when she expressed her shock. "Neither does anything else. The dead don't follow any of the same rules."

Annie sighed. She hadn't gotten any sleep and she had to leave for her medical molecular genetics class in less than an hour. She cast a final longing glance at her bed then shuffled back into the bathroom to take a shower. She brewed a pot of coffee and filled her thermos. After some more consideration, she just brought the whole coffee pot with her.

"You're acting much like your sister on her first day of High School."

Beau jumped on the booth, turning around to look at his mother. She had her arms crossed Under her chest, giving him an amused albeit tired smile. Beau had to smile back when he realized she had a hex bag and he couldn't hear her thoughts, then scooted closer to the window to leave her space.

"Hey, ma," he greeted, then turned back to his coffee. "I'm just... not in the mood. I feel a little sick, too."

"You're forgetting that I'm a mother, Beau," she brushed his unruly hair out of his eyes, and he shut them when her soft touch brushed against hs face. There was nothing homier than his mother put of the hospital for more than a week. "You don't want to go to school because you're running away."

"I've never ran away," he placed the mug over the table, frowning. "Is it so bad that I'm doing it now? I don't want to hear all those cruel thoughts, ma. Some people are just... sadistic."

"I know, honey," she sighed. "I wish it didn't happen to you."

"But it did," he rubbed his face, then a little smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Did Laura really skip the first day?"

"Yes," she laughed, ubbly and a bit sore and he had to remind himself to work a little bit harder to make her happy. She deserved it. "Yes. She told me she didn't want to make a fool out of herself."

"I," Beau gripped the table. "I don't... it's really hard, ma."

"Oh, I know," she wrapped her arms around him, the curtain of deep, dark, chocolate curls brushing his back. "I know, sweetie. Naveen is doing his best to help you, you know that, right?"

"I lost my friends," he hiccuped. "My girlfriend. I lost all I thought I had. I killed someone, ma. I killed someone."

"It was an accident," she reminded him, but tears still burned behind his eyes. "It's been a long time since I heard you talking about drama, sweetheart. Did you leave that, too?"

He nodded wordlessly.

"But weren't you supposed to become a great actor?" she pulled away to lift his face with both her hands. He watched her like a little kid, just wanting her to hold him close once more. "Beau!"

"I can't, ma," he sniffled. "I... I just can't."

"Oh, look who's acting like a grump" ," she frowned and pursed her lips mockingly, exaggeratedly, but he wasn't in the mood. "You can't change what's been done, Beau, you need to realize this."

"I know, I know," he rubbed the underside of his jaw, uncomfortable. "I just need time."

"And maybe a little bit of help," her nails were comforting against his scalp. "Those friends of yours, your superheroes," she laughed softly. "Would they like to come over tonight? I could cook myself."

"You mean home?" he smiled, despite his shitty situation. "Your house, ma?"

"Yes!" she pinched his cheeks and he cried out in protest. "I want to meet them all, not just that cute redhead you think about so much."

"Ma!" he blushed deeply. 

"You project too hard when you're asleep, honey," she chuckled. She was so beautiful, looked so young even after everything they'd been through together. "Stop skipping classes. Go to rehearsals. Train with your friends. And don't think for a second about anything that might push you back. You can do great things, Beau, and you make me proud everyday."

"I love you," he kissed her cheek.

"I love you, too," she moved back so he'd have an opening. "Now, go! I'll tell Naveen you needed some time to practice your lines."

"Thanks, ma!" he grinned, grasping her hand for a second before sprinting out of the diner, happy and content for once when he left it, and even unaware of the man waiting at the junction for him to leave.

***

When Beau entered the theater, he immediately felt a wave of surprise and even escandalous embarrassment. Lifting his chin high, he walked down the stairs towards the stage, where Dianna and Isabelle were practicing their lines as Elphaba and Glinda. Alice was clutching the red shoes to her chest, watching him and thinking 'what the fuck is he doing here?'

"Hey," he snapped at Milo. "Get off my stage, I'm back and I'm ready to start."

To his surprise, as soon as the words sank in, Milo was moving out of the center focus and a few people from the club were sclapping at him. Mr. Phillips, who didn't normally think or say much save criticism, gave him a little wink and thought 'ah, so he's back.'

And god, was Beau back.

Practice was brutal, but he was able to concentrate and get all his lines right - it was easier, now, with Mr. Phillips reading mentally what he was about to say next, and his emotions at full control. It wasn't too lte ahen everyone began to leave for their homes, yet Beau stayed behind.

"Hey, man," Milo began with a grin, but Beau only cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes?" he knew the person before him, and it was not his best friend. He knew where his friends were, and right now they were inside a bunker, probably wrecking the place enough to make Naveen yelp. The mere thought calmed his anger at Milo. 

"Look, Beau, I," he sighed. He was a great actor, but Beau could read thoughts now, and he knew he's fucked Alice way before Beau and her even began dating. "I'm sorry about the whole Alice thing. I told her it was over."

"That's a lie, but I'm okay with it," he shrugged. He wasn't, not really, but he was too tired to hold any grudges. "Fuck whoever you want, it's not my bussiness anymore."

"You seriously don't care." he'd been expecting a reaction. Ah, so he wanted Beau's place. How cliché. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope," Beau grinned, satisfied. The Cajun moved to the piano and tried a few keys. "You can leave now, dude. Ain't got nothing to worry about."

"Fuck you," Milo spat, turning round and acting like a five year old because he wouldn't get what he wanted.

The theater was empty, now that Milo had left, and Beau breathed in its smells and homey feel. He'd been coming here now for three years and he couldn't feel more relieved than whenever he took the stage.

"So this is your element, then?"

Beau stopped playing the piano and looked at the entrance, where Remy was leaning against the doorframe with his hands inside his pockets. He was looking around, impressed, and Beau found himself frustrated for a moment that he couldn't read his thoughts. 

"Yeah," he turned around, looked at the familiar high ceiling. "This is my second home."

"You're kinda famous, you know?" the young man walked slowly towards the Cajun, grinning at him. "Everyone was talking these weeks about how you've been out of it, how you were missing from rehearsals. Some even said the play would be cancelled."

"People like to talk," he shrugged.

Remy stopped, and he looked up at Beau on the stage. All his usual shyness was gone, replaced by a sort of admiration Beau hadn't expected.

"You thought I wouldn't come back," he voiced out loud. 

"We all did," Remy got rid of his jacket and climbed into the stage. "I see why -  telepathy sounds pretty serious."

"It's awful," Beau nodded.

"I only know you because of your powers," he looked around again. "And the things people say about you at Columbia. I'm feeling a bit bold today: show me what you've got, Boudreux!"

He extended his hands and grinned at him. Beau sensed hope from him, and relized that either Remy knew him more than he anticipated and told himself to cheer him up, or his mother had spoken to his new friends.

"You sure?" he grinned, anyway, stepping away from the piano.

"Go on," a flourish of a hand later, Beau was placing a familiar CD on the nearest casette, placing it in the middle of the stage and moving with elegance Remy hadn't ever seen before.

"Did I abuse her or show her disdain? Why does run from me? If I should lose her, how shall I regain the heart she has won from me?" making a dramatic pose, he shut his eyes and raised his hand to his heart. "Agony! Oh, empowers my speech! When the one thing you want is the only thing out of your reach..."

It was then that Remy placed a foot in front of the other and began to sing, and Beau couldn't help but laugh because he had not expected that.

"High in her tower, she sits by the hour, maintining her hair..."

Beau decided that Remy was a much, much better person that Milo could ever hope to be.

Beau's mother reminded Remy of his aunt. The way she was so motherly to everyone in the room and worried about the littlest things, like saying, "Annie, dear, you look exhausted. Are you stressed about school?" and "Hollace, I would rest easier if you stay the night after you've had so many drinks." Agathe and Aunt Zarah would be really good friends.

Remy was the last to arrive at Beau's house for dinner because he went to the store to buy a pie (Aunt Zarah always told him to never arrive to a party without something to give) and also because Maya wanted to come along.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said, explaining the situation.

"I wouldn't have minded if Maya came," Beau replied, grinning.

Remy stared at him.

"No."

Beau's mother rolled her eyes at her son and took the pie from Remy's hands and said, "Thank you so much for the pie. It's very nice to finally meet you. I'm Agathe Boudreux. Beau said you're a very good friend to him."

"Yeah, except for when he hits on my cousin," Remy grumbled. Beau laughed while the others rolled their eyes.

Everyone looked nice for the occasion. Esther and Annie were both wearing dresses that looked like they fit their bodies well. Hollace combed his hair for once and wore long jeans. Beau was wearing an all black attire consisting of a black button-up shirt, black slacks, and topped it off with white suspenders. Remy, on the other hand, was wearing a blue button-up shirt with khakis.

"Now that everyone's here, let's eat, shall we?" Naveen said, looking around.

Hollace looked like that was the best idea anyone has ever had and they all filed into the slightly cramped dining room.

As they sat at the dinner table, digging into the wide array of Cajun dishes that were in front of them, Remy couldn't help but feel like he was apart of another family. Esther and Beau secretly flicked food at each other from across the table. Hollace sounded like he was having sex with his food and Annie kept scolding him. Naveen and Agathe told embarrassing stories about a young Beau.

"Oh, my God. He ran around the house naked in front of guests?" Annie asked, looking at Beau in amusement.

"Hey, I looked good even at seven years old," Beau huffed.

Hollace rolled his eyes. "You would think that..."

"So would you," Beau retorted, shooting him a wink.

"Beau was a silly little boy, but he always knew how to cheer me up," Agathe placed a hand on her son's, and he smiled at her, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

Remy smiled at the family. Beau never spoke much about his mother and Remy never bothered to ask. If he knew anything, it was to never ask about peoples' families in case they would ask him the same thing. But as he watched the Boudreux family, he felt something in his chest–kind of like jealousy–but the feeling went away as fast as it came.

Agathe and Beau cleared the table and brought out dessert; Agathe insisted on giving everyone a piece of everything, but they ended up gaving their leftovers to Hollace, who scarfed them down like it was nothing.

"Why don't you kids go into the living room while we clear everything up?" Naveen asked.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Remy offered.

Agathe smiled and said, "You're very sweet but also a guest. Enjoy yourself!"

The five of them went into the living room but Remy felt someone tug on his shirt and he looked back to see Annie looking at him with a weary expression on her face. Remy raised an eyebrow, amusedly.

"Hey, uh, Remy," she said.

He grinned at her and said, "Hey, Annie."

Annie let out a chuckle and said, "Um, do you think you could stop by my place later tonight? I–I have something to show you..."

Remy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I can do that. Is everything okay?"

Annie nodded and said, "Yeah!" but he looked disbelieving. Before he could say anything, she followed the others into the living room and plopped herself down on the couch next to Hollace. Remy took a seat next to Esther in some chairs that were clearly laid out for their use.

"Your mom is kind of great, Boudreux," Hollace said, letting out a burp.

Beau smiled.

"Yeah, she is."

"She reminds me of my mom," Esther commented.

"Okay, I wanna know what your parents are like," Hollace said, laughing.

Esther shrugged and said, "They're like parents. They're over-protective, loving, always wanting what's best for me..."

She didn't say any more and Hollace figured it would be better not to press it. It did make Remy curious though to know more about Esther's Amish life. He put an arm around her and she shot him a grin.

The five of them spent the rest of the night talking and laughing with each other. Naveen eventually said goodnight to them and left the house. Agathe came out every once in awhile to offer them more food, but even Hollace had to refuse at some point. She always went back upstairs to her bedroom.

"Hey, does anyone wanna watch Les Miserables with me? I just got the DVD and I've been dying to break it in. Whattaya say?" Beau asked, nudging Esther and wiggling his eyebrows at the group.

"What's that?" she asked.

"A play-turned-movie with Hugh Jackman in it," Beau grinned. "You wanna watch it with me, Esther?"

"Okay!"

"Well, since your mother took away my keys, I have no choice, do I?" Hollace grumbled. Beau turned to look at Annie and Remy.

"Actually, I have to get going," Annie said, though she was looking right at Remy.

He got the hint and said, "Yeah, me too. My aunt will worry herself into cardiac arrest."

"Esther, give me a call when you're done?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll give her a ride home," Hollace said with a yawn. Annie nodded at him.

They said their goodbyes and left the house together. Annie looked increasingly more weary and before Remy could inquire what it was that was bothering her, she quickly said, "Just follow me!"

He watched as she walked towards her car but he went with it. He got into his Camry and started the ignition, following Annie as she turned out of the street. He had noticed something off about Annie since the last training session and he didn't think much of it. If he had the power to see/talk to the dead, something would mess with him too.

The drive took ten minutes and when they arrived, Remy parked his car next to Annie's. She waited for him to get out of the car and they started walking in silence to her apartment. It was slightly uncomfortable. Remy had a sinking feeling in his stomach, like he was going to walk in there and see someone injured or dead. He knew Annie couldn't murder someone what with the power she had, but why else was she acting so weird?

Annie opened the door and let him inside. He looked around and was relieved to see no blood or bodies anywhere.

"Okay, Annie, you're really freaking me out," he said, finally. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

Annie sighed.

"It's not about me. Remy, I'm so sorry..."

"About what...?"

She stared at him and Remy stepped towards her, holding her by her arms. She looked terrified and sad more than anything and he tried to think of any possible scenario that could make her feel that way, but he couldn't think of anything.

"Annie..."

"Your parents contacted me," she said, finally. Remy stared. "It was in a dream. I saw you as a child with them and–and they told me that they wanted to see you. So, I found a way to do so and that's why I asked you to come here..."

He let go of her and took a step back.

"My–My parents?" he asked, his mouth feeling dry.

Annie nodded.

He waited for her to say, "Just kidding!" but she didn't. She stood in front of him, her eyes wondering what he wanted her to do next. He really didn't know what to do but he found himself clearing his throat and saying, "Okay."

She exhaled and closed her eyes. Remy watched as she disappeared, something he'd seen her do in training. He assumed it was her entering the other side. He sat down on the couch and waited for five minutes. In those five minutes, he tried to remember what his parents looked like and he couldn't do it. He had an idea of what his mother looked like because Aunt Zarah bore a striking resemblance to her, but his father's face was just a blur in his mind. He couldn't even remember their voices. Would they still look the same as they did when he was eight? Were they happy in the afterlife?

"Remy?"

His heart almost stopped. He looked up and she stood in front of him, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. He remembered it now. It was the voice that sang him Punjabi songs before he went to bed at night every night. It was the voice that called his name down for breakfast every morning.

"Ma?" he whispered.

"Hi, Remy," said his father, who was standing beside his mother.

"Hi, Baba..."

Annie cleared her throat and said, "I'll leave you guys alone." She went to her bedroom and shot a last glance at the Ansari family before closing the door behind her.

"Look at how much you've grown," Amira said, beaming. She reached up to touch his face and Remy closed his eyes. It felt like a mother's touch, one you never wanted to forget. "You look exactly like your dad!"

Rehan grinned and said, "Yeah, he does."

"What–? Why–?" Remy couldn't get the words out.

"Annie is a wonderful friend," Amira said. "She worked so hard so that we could see you and tell you just how proud we are of you, Remy. You're the best son any parent could ever ask for. I can't even believe that I'm seeing you in front of my eyes..."

Rehan placed a hand on his shoulder and Remy's vision suddenly became blurry as tears welled up in his eyes.

"We just wanted to tell you that no matter what you do in your life, we will always be here with you, watching over you," he said. "Never lose sight of who you are, Remy. But even if you do, we will love you until the end."

"Do you have to go? Can you stay forever?" Remy asked, even though he already knew the answer.

Rehan chuckled and Amira said, with a sad smile, "You don't know how much we want to say and watch you grow into an even more handsome man, Remy..."

"We'll meet again in jannah, I promise," Rehan said. Amira kissed his cheek and Remy stood in the middle of his parents hugging him, and prayed that he would never forget this feeling.

His parents took a step back and Remy felt the tears fall down his face as he watched them smile at him and disappear. He wanted to yell out, "No!" and grab them back into this world, but they were gone before he knew it. After a second, all that was left was him standing in the middle of Annie's quiet living room, and crying.

"Remy! Remy!"

He startled by a sudden, panicked male voice coming from Annie's bedroom and he ran towards it, opening the door to reveal Annie on the ground in a puddle of blood while a guy he had never seen before stood above her.

"Oh, my God! Annie!" Remy exclaimed, kneeling down and lifting her head up. Blood was pouring out of her nose.

"It's fine!" she spluttered. "I'm fine! Get off me!" She whacked his hand away as he tried to wipe some of the blood away.

Annie stood up and faltered. Remy caught her and said, "Let's go into the kitchen," while Annie tried resisting. She gave up when Remy overpowered her and sat her in a chair while he went to get paper towels.

"Are you okay? Does that happen often? God, Annie..." He scrambled with twenty paper towels in his hand. He sighed and looked at her. "You could've died. You don't even know the implications of what you just did..."

"That's what I said," said the ghost. Remy looked up at him, almost forgetting that he was there, and the guy said, "I'm Mickey, by the way. I know who you are," he added when Remy was about to say his own name.

"Sorry," Annie mumbled against the paper towels against her nose.

Remy stared at her as she tilted her head back, letting the blood flow in reverse.

"I can't believe you did that for me," he said, quietly.

"I'm gonna take this as my cue to leave," Mickey muttered, vanishing into thin air.

Annie looked at him, taking the towels away from her face. The blood stopped but her face was still red from the stains.

"I would want to see my dead family members again if I could. I'm sorry, Remy, I understand if you hate me for this..."

"I don't hate you," he replied, immediately. "I can't imagine anyone who would go through this," he pointed to the bloody towels in her hand, "for me to see my parents for five minutes. Thank you, Annie..."

She smiled at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said, looking down. He just saw his parents for the first time in eleven years and it hadn't hit him yet.

He felt Annie touch his arm and he sighed.

"I don't know how to go on with my life," he said, looking at her. "You know, everyone has their parents to turn to and I...don't. How do I make them proud? Aunt Zarah–" his eyes widened. "Oh, God, Aunt Zarah. How am I supposed to look my mom's little sister in the eye now?"

"Remy, I'm sorry," Annie's voice was just barely above a whisper. She pulled him towards her and wrapped her arms around him. Remy rested his chin in the crook of her neck and felt something wet on his face; he was crying again. Annie only held him tighter.

They held that position for so long that Remy didn't realize he had somehow ended up on the couch and Annie had placed a blanket over him as he slept, the final goodbye with his parents replaying in his head as a dream.

OKAY. so I completely forgot exactly which part we wanted leighter to play in this, like if he was clued in on the stone and stuff, but whatever we decided, I kind of just want him to get roped into it by way of pure excitement. like, so I kind of improvised with him.

“Behind you! Behind you!”

Hollace bolted to the right, watching as a purple orb of pure energy soared past his head and into a shiny Volvo. If the sound of impact wasn’t impressive enough, the result was. What was once a beautiful car was now nothing more than dented, smoking scrap metal.

Breathing out steadily, Hollace threw himself toward the source of the energy—a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks and eyes that matched the violet wisps that curled around his arms. If he could just get one good tackle in, he’d be able to take him down. The force field that surrounded the young man was making it rather difficult, though.

Yards away, an army of the dead were surrounding a petite girl who had her hands stretched above her head. Hollace hadn’t been keeping up with her very well for the duration of the fight, but from what he gathered, she was able to manipulate water. Moisture in the air turned to rain, to ice, to hail, and all of it was bearing down on his friends. Protected by a shield of icy daggers, the girl obviously thought she was safe, but Hollace didn’t miss the way her eyes widened when she saw the ghostly figures that Annie had summoned.

Rendered useless by the water, Remy had his sights set on a cloner—the same pudgy boy appearing multiple times in a circle around him. He was fast, but Remy was faster, shooting balls of fire from the palms of his hands. Like Mario and his fire flower, Hollace thought with a smirk.

It was chaos, had been for the past ten minutes. The group of supers had successfully evacuated the area which just so happened to be west campus. Students scattered, screams piercing the air as a freak thunderstorm had descended upon them, lightning and bolts of energy striking the very ground they walked on.

Esther had finished their costumes just a week before and all of them had taken to carrying them around in bags, purses, etc. Hollace had even practiced changing into his until he could do it in the blink of an eye. Now, clad in black, white, and blue, he was nothing but a blur as he launched himself at his enemy.

He could feel electricity crackle in the air making the hair on his arms and the back of his neck stand on end, and judging by the shriek that Waterworks let out, Esther was doing a good job of shocking the hell out of her.

One down, Hollace mused.

Beau was somewhere in the midst of it all, working with Remy who had taken off his hex pendant in order to let the psychic boy into his head. From wherever he was, Beau could see everything going on. Hollace guessed he was probably on top of one of the many buildings that surrounded them. The gangly boy smiled when one of Remy’s fireballs hit the cloner right in the chest and he was quickly engulfed in flames. In a split second, Hollace was standing over the screaming teenager. With a swift kick to the head, he knocked him out and made quick work of grabbing a blistering wrist and hauling him toward Annie and Esther. All in mere seconds, Hollace hurled the burning boy into the large pond of water that was left over from the fight with Waterworks. He grimaced as the cloner was put out, able to see steam rising from his burned flesh.

It was a rule for them to not kill and Hollace made sure that he followed it, but the kid would definitely suffer in the hospital for a while after this.

Just one more.

Looking back to the Energy Master, he found Remy shooting steady flames at him before letting them take over his body. He ran full force at him but was thrown back by the force field, landing hard on his back as his head smacked against the concrete painfully.

Hollace glared (and possibly bared his teeth) before shooting over to stand in the super’s line of vision.

“Hey, tough guy,” he screamed. How cliché. “How about you take that shield down and we’ll see just how strong you are? Or are you too chicken?”

Purple eyes narrowed and Hollace grinned when the waves around the boy disappeared. “That’s more like it.”

Violet orbs soared from his hands in rapid succession. They were fast, but Hollace was faster. He dodged all of them with ease, darting around the Energy Master until he saw his opening. Pushing off the ground, he threw all hundred and thirty-six pounds of himself into the hard body of his enemy, causing both of them to fly several yards into yet another shiny car. It knocked the air out of Hollace and before he could recover, he felt a heavy, blunt force hit him hard in the torso and he was flying through the air once more.

A scream tore from his throat when he landed hard on the ground, the unmistakable sound of bones snapping ringing in his ears. There was a searing pain in his arm and he refused to look down at it, eyes focused on the large block of concrete that was headed for him instead. With renewed clarity, the brunet rolled out of the way as quickly as possible, but it wasn’t enough. Though the flying assailant missed his head and chest, it still landed on a vital part of his being: his leg.

”Hollace!” He heard a distant yell. A whimper left his lips as he did his best to shove the block off, staring open mouthed at the remains of his titanium limb.

“N-no…” He whispered, attention completely diverted from the cackling super.

“Who’s the tough guy, now?” He mocked. “Super speed doesn’t do you much good when you’re down a le—“ his sentence dropped into a grunt when he was successfully tackled to the ground and Hollace looked up in a daze to find Beau punching him in the face over and over again.

Esther and Annie ran over, the latter surrounded by her dead compatriots. “B-Intérieur,” she called out. “Stop!”

Still, he continued to beat the man, flecks of blood spattering across his hands and face.

Hollace made a move to go over there, to pull his friend off of the battered super, but the pain in his arm and his destroyed prosthetic kept him from doing so and he grit his teeth in an attempt to keep from shouting.

Finally, Annie stepped forward and placed a hand between the psychic’s shoulder blades. He visibly stiffened, arm stilling though still ready to punch, and then sagged forward. Hollace watched as the petite redhead brought him to his feet, snapping her fingers at the corpses behind her so that they could apprehend the bloodied super.

They all walked toward Hollace, still sitting among the rubble, and Annie only broke from Beau when she saw Remy lying unconscious a little ways away. She broke into a sprint and leaned over him, brushing damp hair from his face. Tearing his gaze away, Hollace looked up as a shadow fell over him and found two outstretched hands. Beau’s expression was blank, but Esther remained smiling and Hollace used his good arm to pull himself up, immediately falling into the tan boy who stayed silent but wrapped an arm around his back.

“We need to get out of these clothes and get to the hospital,” Esther said. Hollace could feel the currents still running through her body.

“Isn’t Annie’s mom a doctor?”

Beau nodded as the three of them limped over to their friends, Remy finally stirring as Annie dripped water on him. He sat up slowly, making a face and reaching behind his head to feel where the skin had split.

“We need to get out of here. Those pricks in the SUVs will probably be here any minute.”



“You know you’re actually going to have to go to your prosthetist, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” Hollace groaned then winced as Dr. Kizer (”Call me Laura”) finished wrapping his arm.

“You see Dr. Leighter at the hospital, right?” He nodded with a grimace and flexed his fingers. Even that made his arm hurt. The fight had resulted in a fractured ulna, broken collar bone, and a dislocated shoulder. Hollace hadn’t actually felt most of it until his adrenaline wore off. Those injuries were the least of his worries, though. He had no idea how he was going to explain a broken prosthetic to Dr. Leighter, not to mention his parents.

“Considering you’re a little… immobilized at the moment, I can give him a call, if you’d like—see if he’ll make a house call.”

Hollace made a face and shrugged his good shoulder. He wasn’t a fan of being catered to, but it was a little hard for him to move around. With one arm completely useless, it was hard to wheel himself around and crutches were out of the question.

“I guess. I just don’t know what to tell him.”

“Well, you don’t seem to have a problem with keeping me in the dark about it. I don’t see why Dr. Leighter would be any different.”

He stared at the middle-aged woman in front of him. Her hands were on her hips, eyebrows high. She was no longer Dr. Kizer but Mrs. Kizer, easily slipping from her MD persona right into mother mode.

Hollace offered a sheepish smile and sat back on his couch, arm cradled against his chest. Annie’s mom shook her head before walking off, cell phone in hand and Hollace’s stomach rolled at the thought of the other doctor arriving.

Just hours after the battle and everyone was camped out in Hollace’s apartment. Remy was lying in his room after Dr. Kizer had checked for any signs of a concussion and Annie was with him, both of them watching TV. Every once in a while he could hear them laugh, usually followed by Remy whining some derivative of, “Ow.”

Esther was situated by the small island that separated Hollace’s small living room from his kitchen, and Maya who had joined them immediately after hearing that some raucous had broken out on campus, was sitting with her.

Beau, stoic as ever, was propped in a plush chair perpendicular to the couch, his only movement being the soft tapping of his fingers that signified he had a song stuck in his head.

“You wanna turn something on or anything?” Hollace asked, snapping the boy out of his trance.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, sure.” He leaned forward and snatched the remote from the small table in front of them and turned the television on before putting it back down and leaving it on the Discovery channel. Hollace was not the least bit intrigued by the program about pandas that was on but figured it was best not to say anything. Let him think, he told himself. It was better than silence anyway.

An hour later brought a heavy knock on the door and Beau took it upon himself to get up and answer it. In walked Dr. Leighter, only instead of his slacks and white coat he was clad in dark jeans and a sweater. It was an odd look, no different from seeing a teacher outside of school.

“Hi, hello,” he waved with a smile on his face.

Mrs. Kizer walked over to him and shook the doctor’s hand before grabbing her purse and waving. “I’ve got an actual job to do, so I’ll see you later.” She looked at the four young adults in the room accusingly, “Please try to stay out of trouble. And tell Annie I say bye. I think she’s a little busy at the mo’.”

They nodded and the woman fled the apartment. Dr. Leighter stayed where he was and looked around unashamedly. The longer he stood, the more Hollace’s irritation rose. Finally, after a solid minute, he cleared his throat and gained the man’s attention.

“Sorry, just looking. You can only learn so much about a person in a sterile, white room. How are you, Hollace? And, Beau Boudreux, right?”

The Cajun boy nodded and stood for a handshake, making the other roll his eyes.

“And these lovely young lasses?”

“Esther Kurtz and Maya Sultan,” Maya introduced with a head nod. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, doc.”

“Charmed, would you three—“ he motioned toward the girls and Beau, “—mind giving Hollace and I some privacy?”

“Sure,” the younger girl slid from her seat and grabbed her purse. “You guys up for some froyo? I could really go for some froyo.”

Hollace watched helplessly as his friends filed out of the apartment. Sure, Remy and Annie were just in the other room, but who knew what they were up to. Now he was stuck with his irritating prosthesist and all of the probing questions he no doubt had.

As soon as the door closed, Leighter set his sights on the gangly boy. “So,” he started, “You broke your prosthetic.”

“Yeah, I—“

“Snapped it right in half, did you?” Hollace sunk down a little but nodded. The doctor raised a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “And how exactly did you manage to break titanium.”

“Well, see—“

“Just hold on,” he snapped. For the first time since he had met the man, Hollace saw annoyance flit across the man’s face. “Before you spin some tale about a freak mountain biking accident or failing at Parkour, I’ll let you in on the fact that I already have a pretty good idea of how you did this.”

“Then why’d you even ask?”

Completely ignoring him, Leighter strode over to the coffee table and picked up the remote to the TV, flicking to a news channel that displayed the familiar scene of the fight.

“This has been on almost every channel for a few hours now.”

“Really?”

He rolled his eyes, muttering, “Young people… Don’t even watch the news… Rely on tweeter and Facebook.”

“What are you, like, eighty?”

Leighter narrowed his eyes and continued, “My point is you did a pretty good job of showing off your leg and I can recognize my handiwork anywhere. Plus, there’s footage of you—oh, wait, here it comes.” Hollace watched as his onscreen self was thrown to the ground and winced, knowing well that that had been the fall that broke his bones. Leighter turned back to him, looking much like a disappointed parent. “Seriously? Be more careful, dude.”

Hollace was speechless. Had it really been that obvious? The disguise did nothing to hide his identity?

“So, you think everyone knows?”

Leighter let out a laugh and reached into the laptop bag that was still slung around him. “I highly doubt it. People are generally unobservant and a little on the stupid side. Still, I wouldn’t push your luck. Now,” he dropped the bag on the ground and rounded the table to plop down on the couch next to Hollace, knees basically coming up to his chest as he leaned over. If Hollace thought of himself as tall, Leighter was a god damned giant. “It just so happens that I’ve been prepared for this situation for an embarrassingly long time.”

“What situation?”

“Someone being in need of a super leg, well, super prosthetic in general, but you get what I mean.” He unrolled what looked to be blueprints depicting the designs for just that, blue eyes lighting up and making him look a little on the manic side.

“Are you kidding me?” Hollace laughed. “Are you for real right now? When did you even have time to come up with this shit? Don’t doctors work crazy hours?”

“I’ve had it up my sleeve for a while, now. If you recall from our first meeting, which I’m sure you don’t considering you hardly listen to anything I have to say, I used to be a medic in the army, saw all kinds of people blown to bits, so of course, I thought to myself, David, what can you do to help more? and so I started designing bionic limbs.”

“You are way crazier than I originally thought.”

“Thank you.”

“Okay, so you have the designs, but something tells me you don’t have the parts just lying around.”

“Well, yes and no.” He grinned a little deviously. “As I’m sure you’ve figured out in your twenty-one years of complete cynicism, the government is not all rainbows and butterflies; it’s full of terrible corrupt people with terrible corrupt secrets and, long story short, these are actually copies of my original designs as the others were confiscated.”

“What does the government want with plans for bionic limbs?”

Leighter looked at him like he was the dumbest person on the planet and for a second, Hollace actually felt like he was. “Haven’t you seen any sci-fi movies? Soldiers! Bionic soldiers! Do you realize how much easier that would make war with other countries? Stronger, faster soldiers with more stamina. There’d be less casualti—really no casualties. What’s not to be interested in?”

Rolling his eyes, Hollace exhaled and wondered if there was a subject that the doctor wouldn’t be obnoxious about. Whether it was being fit for a new prosthetic or talking about robots, Leighter always seemed to be at one hundred and ten percent and, riveting as it was, it exhausted Hollace.

“Why are you even telling me all this if we can’t actually, you know, do it?”

“I never said we couldn’t do it. I have most of the parts, but there are a few that, well… They’re a little harder to obtain.”

“How hard?”

Leighter made a face of faux innocence. “I might have to do some exploring in the black market.”

“Jesus Christ!”

“Hey, do you want a super leg, or not?”

“Of course I do! But that’s, I mean, that’s some pretty dangerous shit, isn’t it?”

“Is that concern I hear in your voice, Mr. Knighting?”

He rolled his eyes again. “I just don’t want you dying on my part.”

The man chuckled and shook his head as he began to roll the prints back up. “I’m not gonna die. I know some people.”

Hollace looked at him, dumbfounded. “You are the sketchiest doctor I have ever had.”

“Maybe, but without me you’d be bound to a wheelchair for the next several years, trying in vain to pay off the debt from your numerous broken legs.”

The brunet glared and crossed his arms over his chest as Leighter stood up. “In the meantime, I’ve got a temporary piece for you in my car.”

The doctor disappeared for a few minutes before letting himself back in and tossing a lightweight prosthetic at him. “It’s already fitted to you. Just take it easy for the next couple of weeks while I gather materials.”

Setting his jaw, Hollace nodded. “So all this, what’s it gonna cost me?”

Leighter cocked his head, a smile playing at his lips. “Nothing, for now. Just keep playing the part of superhero. That’s payment enough. If I do think of something, though, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

With a wink and a wide grin, the tall half-crazed doctor left, the door shutting echoing through the apartment for only a few seconds before the door to Hollace’s bedroom opened and both Annie and Remy walked out wearing wide-eyed expressions.

“Now, just what in holy hell was that about?”

So yeah, um, i fucking love leighter. anything you want to change, just lemme know. i also figured this could be a weird introduction to the black market stuff cause leighter could be poking around in it and gain the attention of some sketchy dudes who're like, "what does he want with that" and then they are enlightened to the fact that superheroes exist and shit like that okie bye.

Here's my chapter. Its short and probably has some error.

***
"Please leave!" Hollace just about begged. Esther just shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen area. Just a glance around, and Esther understood why Hollace wanted her gone. None of his appliances were fried, but there were a few black scorch marks here and there.

Esther soon reappeared; in her hands was a tray. On the tray was a bottle of Motrin, two glasses of water, and roll of gauze.

"Doctor's orders. Someone has to be here to help you. Lucky for you everyone else has school." Esther smiled. She sat the tray down and held out her hand.

Now Esther knew that Hollace was a 'take no crap' kind of guy, but he was a good guy under all his layers and layer of cynicism and sarcasm. Yet Hollace seemed to hold back slightly. Esther had a slight inkling that was because they were friends, or that he was afraid of getting zapped.

"That was a week ago. I feel fine, no actually I feel great." Hollace smiled with his thumb up.

"Laura said someone needs to be at your beck and call." Esther slowly unwrapped his arm noticing there was only slight brusing. "I'm no doctor but you heal fast does this even hurt?" Esther squeezed Hollace's forearm.

Hollace just looked at Esther as if she was an annoying fly, slowly his lips curled into a smirk. Esther knew that smirk; Hollace had something up his sleeve.

"That doesn't hurt one bit." He pulled his arm away from Esther. "Now that you mention it." Esther watched in slight horror as Hollace hastily unwrapped the rest of his arm and flexed it. Esther got off the couch just in time as he bent and picked up his side. "Would you look at that, no more pain. And I'm back to normal strength." Hollace smirked at Esther.

"Dr. Laura said..." Esther quickly tryed to get a word in as Hollace grabed her backpack and jacket and pushed her towards the door.

"You're right," Hollace paused and Esther looked at him with a weak smile. Hope was flaring up in her chest. There was a chance Hollace would actually listen to reason. "You're no doctor." He reached for the door and pushed Esther out slamming the door in her face.

"Hey!" She banged on the door. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you." Esther waited for any sign that he was listening. A shifting or a scuffling, instead she got a mocking laugh.

"I think you've done quite enough. I'm just lucky I didn't end up like my scorched walls."

"They were accidents!" Esther defended. Once she heard the deadbolt slide into place she knew; it was time to go. She wouldn’t be getting. She tried. She wasn't going to twist his arm for her to help. "Jerk." She slipped into her jacket and backpack.

"We're still....friends, but I think we need some time apart. I will see you later." Esther knew she was dismissed when the sound of the TV and the smell of pot begun to bellow out of his window.



It was times like these where Esther wished her family could be more than Amish. In front of her was a famliy. The father had his arm wrapped around his wife and was holding his little girl in his arms. The mother was leaning into her husband while holding her little boy's hand.

It wasn't like her family wasn't affectionate, they were. Its just that women had there jobs and men had their's. It created a division of sorts. Outside of her community everything seemed more liberal, more opportunities to be yourself without so much judgement.

Before Esther could ponder her depressing thoughts much longer, she felt her phone vibrate. She looked at the caller ID and jumped with joy. She was hoping she would hear back. The street was busy and loud, she ducked into the nearest alley.

"Hello." She tried to squash down her nervousness, but she really hoped she got it.

"Is this Esther Kurtz?" The voice on the other line was definitely male.

"Yes."

"This is Yorger Cien with Pathway. I'm sorry to inform you but the position you applied for has been filled." Esther slumped her shoulders. It was the thrid place she applied to. She was about to respond but Yorger continued. "However, Melissa, our receptionist, informed me that your talents may qualify you in another area. If your interested, we are always looking for Temps. The job may take you to different work sites, but its a job."

"Yes! I'll take it!" Esther just about yelled into the phone. After Yorger chuckled, he told Esther to get ahold of Melissa; she would have her first job.

Esther shoved her phone into her pokect and jumped. She had her first job. Her first real world job. She would be making money. Not Hollace, nor her family could take this moment from her.

Unfortunately, the black van that pulled into the alley way had plans to make her day worse. Esther was so thrilled that she didn't notice the men get out of the van. She let out one last sqeel of joy but it was cut off by a leather covered hand over her mouth and a strong forearm wrapped around her waist.

At first she was stunned, and didn't fight. For some odd reason her mind jumped to one of her friends playing a joke on her or a spontaneous training session, but as she was dragged backwards. Two more men came into view and she knew it was no joke.

The men were of average height with averge build. To be honest they had no distinguishing qualities. The next thought was the government. Maybe they were finally making a move, but these men didn't have that kind of vibe. They didn't wear dark shade or suits, no wires hung from their ears. The final clue was the short fat man that ran up to the boss short of breath.

"Watch it!" The boss yelled. "She has electrokinesis." That was the turning point. Esther surged foreward, earning swear words from her captor. She kicked her legs out wildly as they tried to haul her closer to the van.

"Dude she's just a girl!" Esther heard the men around her laugh as her struggling made it difficult for her captor to walk. Esther was panicking. She could hear the hum of electricity and see the effects. The lights were flickering on the car and the inside of apartment windows, yet her captor wasn’t effected.

"No cuts or bruises." The main man's voice rung out. "It lowers her value and it will come out of your pay." With those words two more people moved in. One grabbed her legs the other held up a needle full of clear liquid.

Esther had seen enough movies and shows to know what was going to happen. More shouts bounced down the alley as a new voice shouted something. Esther was deaf to it all. Just like at the hospital it was like a switch had been flipped. She lost any control of her ability as blue waves danced arcoss her skin and onto her captors.

It happened quickly. Loud shouts, a few gun shots, a sudden jolt as she hit the asphalt hard. Maybe she fainted or passed out for a few seconds, but she opened her eyes just in time to see the van speeding away. Next to her were drops of blood on the ground and she wondered if it was hers or her captors.

"Esther?" She was hauled to her feet and came face to face with Jack Langley. His eyes were wide and surprised. "What just happened?" He demanded.

Before Esther could think properly, a final wave of blue current flowed down her arm and directly into Jack. Instantly Jack spazed and jumped back.

Esther was clearly worried for Jack's health, but as he reached out for her it no longer mattered. Fear of hurting him, made her ran. She dodged people, not stopping for traffic or shouts of anger. She didn't knon who those people were and she didn't want to hurt anyone else. She needed to get somewhere safe.

Annie had been standing on Remy's doorstep for nearly ten minutes and was thinking she should really just nut up and knock already. She balanced a plate of brownies on one hand and raised the other to knock. Remy had been quieter than usual since the night she contacted his parents, and Annie felt like she needed to do something to try and cheer him up. The door opened and an older woman peered at Annie curiously.

"Is Remy home?" Annie asked.

"Annie!" Maya barreled out the door and hugged Annie. Then she snatched the plate of brownies.

"You brought sugar! You are officially my fa rotate person on planet earth." Maya inhaled deeply and then shoved half a brownie in her mouth. Her mother shook her head.

"Maya, please fetch your cousin," she said.

Maya swallowed the last of her brownie and hollered, "Remy! We have company get down here!"

Annie bit back a giggle as Mrs. Sultan rolled her eyes. Remy came down the stairs and paused, seeming surprised to find Annie on his porch.

"Annie, hi," he said.

"She brought sustenance!" Maya declared. She waved the brownies under his nose for emphasis.

"Aren't you a sweetheart," Mrs. Sultan said with a kind smile.

"She's pretty too," Maya added and Remy jabbed her with his elbow. Maya just grinned deviously and pranced into the kitchen.

"Aunt Zarah, this is Annie. Annie, my aunt." Remy introduced them and Annie murmured a shy hello.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk." Mrs. Sultan gave Annie a final curious glance before following her daughter into the kitchen. Remy stepped out onto the porch and shut the door.

"I know you've been feeling kind of down," Annie said. "Since...well you know. Surprisingly enough Hallmark hasn't made a card to say sorry for summoning the spirits of someone's parents, so brownies were the best I could do."

Remy chuckled. "Thanks. Though Maya will probably have eaten them all before I get back in the house."

"I wanted to ask everyone to come over to my place today around six," Annie told him. "I think we all need to have a talk. Esther was almost kidnapped by the men in the mysterious black vans yesterday."

Remy's eyes widened. "Holy shit! Is she all right?"

Annie nodded. "She was a bit shaken up when she came back to the apartment, but they didn't hurt her. She's worried, but I think her excitement about her new temp job is taking her mind off of it. So, can you make it over tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll be there. I'm glad she's okay. And thanks again, you really didn't need to go to that much trouble. The brownies or the...the other thing."

"Of course I did." Annie touched his arm lightly. "Just feel better, okay?"

He smiled. "See you tonight, Annie."

She returned his smile and headed back to her car.
Deciding she needed something resembling normalcy to take her mind off of Remy and ghosts and super villains and shady men in black SUV's, Annie paid a visit to the hospital where her mother worked. The irony that she was seeking normalcy in the very place she had met her fellow heroes wasn't lost on her; she smiled wryly as she stepped through the front doors and took the elevator to the children's ward, lugging her keyboard with her.

"Annie!" Nurse Angela beamed at her. "We haven't seen you for a while. The kids have missed you."

"Yeah, sorry. Life's been a little hectic lately." And the award for Understatement of the Year goes to.

"Well go right in sweetie, they'll be ecstatic to see you again."

The nurse's words were confirmed a minute later when a small cavalcade of children rushed to hug her. Annie nearly dropped her keyboard. She laughed as they crowded around and all started talking at once.

"Would you all stop it? God, I feel like I'm in a petting zoo instead of a hospital."

"Hi, Jamie," Annie said warmly. The fourteen-year-old cancer patient essentially ruled the children's ward like a tiny queen, feeling that since she was currently the eldest patient she was just as qualified as a nurse or parent to keep control of the younger ones. Annie adored her.

"Just so you know they're going to ask you to play the Frozen soundtrack like, five million times." Jamie rolled her eyes. "As if Kristen and Hannah haven't seen the movie that many times already."

As if to confirm this fact, the two girls in question launched into a loud and off-key version of Do You Wanna Build a Snowman. Annie laughed as Jamie groaned and the boys all started covering their ears and gagging.

"All right, all of you, settle down," Annie called. She set up her keyboard and the kids gathered around her while she played Für Elise to warm up. When she finished she opened her eyes and smiled at her captivated audience. Music had always cheered Abigail up when she was sick. Their father would carry her into the sprawling living room and the four of them would crowd around the grand piano, which Annie would play with gusto until she thought her fingers would fall off. Her father would break out his guitar and her mother played the cello while the four of them sang show tunes and Journey songs.

"Annie do you know those weirdos?" Jamie pointed toward the door. "They've been watching you for like, the last three songs."

Annie spun around and scowled. Hollace and Beau were standing in the doorway; Hollace smirking and Beau staring at her like he'd never seen her before.

"Yes, sadly, I know them," Annie muttered. She gave all the kids a hug goodbye and then ushered Hollace and Beau down the hall.

"Well look at you, warrior woman," Hollace teased. "I knew you were secretly a marshmallow."

"Shut up, Tin Man," Annie huffed.

"Why would you even keep this a secret?" Beau asked, looking slightly scandalized. "You sound great."

Annie grimaced. She reached her car and carefully placed her keyboard in the trunk.

"It's a hobby," she said. "It's really not that big a deal."

"You should be in the drama club," Beau insisted.

Annie snorted. "I'd make a terrible actress. Besides I can't handle all the divas."

"Like Beau, you mean?" Hollace asked. Annie snickered as Beau flipped him off. As was typical of Beau, he didn't let the matter drop.

"You should really try auditioning for a musical," was his greeting when he arrived at her apartment, Hollace, Remy and Maya in tow.

"Not gonna happen," she replied, waving everyone inside. Beau pouted and Annie bit back a smile.

"What are you talking about?" Esther asked, looking between them curiously.

"Turns out our little Annie has been holding out on us," Beau said.

"We caught her signing for the kids at the hospital," Hollace explained. "She's actually not bad."

"Gee Hollace, thanks for that glowing commendation." Annie rolled her eyes.

"That's so sweet!" Esther exclaimed. "Why didn't you ever say anything about it?"

"Because it's not a big deal," Annie said, yet again.

"You know what is a big deal?" Maya asked. "Your baking skills. Those brownies were delicious."

"Yeah but there was still no call for stabbing my hand with s fork when I tried to take some," Remy said.

"Hello, they were brownies. As a woman I cannot promise that you won't get hurt if you try to separate me from chocolate."

Remy shook his head and turned to Esther.

"So Esther, are you doing okay since your close call?" he asked. Ever the cheery optimist, Esther smiled and nodded as Remy draped an arm across her shoulder. Annie felt a hot spark of annoyance flare to life in her chest, and yanked open her menu drawer harder than she meant to, nearly taking it off its tracks.

"Since I feel it's safe to assume that Hollace is going to start mewling for food any minute, what are you guys in the mood for?" she asked.

"I would take offense to that, but I am hungry," Hollace said. After a brief but heated debate they all agreed on pizza.

"A reliable stand by," Annie said as she dialed and proceeded to order six large pizzas. When she hung up she heard Beau animatedly telling Esther about a plan for all of them to go to New Orleans in March for Mardi Gras.

"A road trip?" Annie asked. "With you and Hollace in the same car? That sounds dangerous."

"I've grown on Hollace," Beau said with a grin.

"Yeah," Hollace confirmed, "like a fungus. Or a goiter."

"All right, I think it's time to address the elephant in the room," Remy said.

"Hey!" Hollace feigned indignation. "I know I've been eating a lot lately but I don't think I've gained that much weight."

Remy rolled his eyes. "Everything isn't about you, Hollace."

"Yeah you fucking diva, shut up," Beau added.

"I was referring," Remt went on, "to the men who tried to kidnap Esther. We all know someone's been watching us. Clearly they're getting tired of just observing."

"We have to be extra alert and have each other's backs," Annie said. "Otherwise next thing you know we're getting shot with tranquilizers and being thrown into a windowless van by a guy in dark shades and a black suit who answers every question with 'it's classified' and driven out to a military compound in the desert somewhere."

Everyone stared at her. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. So maybe that's a little overdramatized but my point still stands."

"Who do you think they were?" Maya asked.

"Well when Leighter was telling me about his bionic limb project, he said the government wasn't all rainbows and sunshine," Hollace said. "And this is definitely the kind of thing they'd take notice of. So, I dunno, FBI maybe? CIA? Homeland Security?"

"It's gotta be the government," Beau said. "I mean, who else would it be?"

"That's a question that I find too unnerving to persue," Annie said. The food arrived then, much to Hollace's delight. Annie handed him three of the pizza boxes and set the others on the coffee table for the rest of them to share.

"Esther, maybe you shouldn't spend so much time wandering around the city alone," Annie suggested. "None of us should. They probably went for Esther first partially because she's always by herself, and also because she's not in the system. She doesn't have family here to go looking for her. But still, they tried to snatch her in broad daylight. Whoever they are, we can bet they're eventually going to come after all of us. So we need to be hyper vigilant."

"Yes, mom," Hollace said and Annie threw an olive at him. A knock at the door made them all pause.

"Who could that be?" Maya asked.

"Beats me," Annie replied. "Everyone I know is here." She stood and opened the door. She immediately tensed to find a police officer standing in the hall.

"Annie Kizer?" he asked pleasantly.

"Yes," Annie said, glad that her tone remained even. "May I help you, Officer?"

"I'd like to come in and speak with you for a moment, if that's all right. Is Esther Kurtz here too?"

Annie could practically feel the tension rolling out of the living room like a palpable thing. Reluctantly, she let the officer in. He seemed slightly surprised, but then smiled politely. No one retuned it. He noticed Esther and Maya on the couch.

"Ah, so you're in on it too," he mused. "The day my partner was so rude to you two, you must have been buying all that fabric for those super hero costumes."

It was a statement, not a question, and suddenly everyone was standing up. Remy moved protectively toward Maya and Beau looked about ready to shoot lasers out of his eyes. The officer raised his hand in a gesture of surrender.

"Easy," he said. "I'm not here to arrest you, and I'm not going to out your identities either."

"Then just what the fuck do you want?" Beau spat. The officer seemed unperturbed by Beau's hostility.

"My name is Jack Langley," he said. "And I wanted to speak with you all because I think we have a shared agenda and can help each other."

"How are you going to help us?" Hollace scoffed.

"Well for one, not arrest you. Vigilanteism is a crime, you know."

"Then why aren't you arresting us?" Annie asked. "Besides the fact that you don't have proof of anything," she added haughtily and Officer Langley smiled slightly.

"We at the NYPD don't exactly have procedures and protocols in place for dealing with super villains," he said. "We're a bit out of our league here. Of course, I'm not operating on official police business right now. My captain, chief, and commissioner would probably all have my badge and my head if they knew what I was up to. For the time being we're supposed to more or less consider everyone wearing costumes and wielding magic powers an imminent threat. But you five have helped a lot of people. Even if you did almost crush me with a car," he added, shooting Esther a pointed look.

"I said I was sorry," Esther protested and Annie had to swallow a giggle. Officer Langley gave Esther a lazy half smile and Annie was positive she saw Esther blush.

"So what, you want us to do your job for you?" Beau sneered.

"Not at all," Officer Langley replied, his calm demeanor never wavering. "I think we can help each other do our jobs. We all want to fight crime and keep the city safe. At least I assume that's what your goal is, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Remy admitted. "If we're going to be stuck with these powers we may as well do something useful with them."

"Commendable. But despite strange powers and a noble cause you are a bunch of college kids. Maybe you're a little out of your league too. It can't hurt to have an ally in the police force, can it?"

Annie exchanged a look with her friends. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Langley had a point. Maybe having a cop in their corner wouldn't be so bad. Beau had a sour expression on his face and Hollace looked skeptical. But when Remy caught her eye Annie could tell he was thinking the same thing she was.

"He did help save me from the guy who tried to kidnap me," Esther piped up. "And if he wanted to arrest us he could've done it by now."

"Yeah but he could choose to arrest us at any point he decided we were no longer useful," Beau said.

"And by that point, I'd be so deeply involved with all of you that I'd be arrested myself," Langley said reasonably. "Or at least lose my job. I have nothing to gain by arresting you. I just don't want a bunch of maniacs with super powers running loose in my city wreaking havoc."

"A real Captain America," Annie said dryly. Langley seemed pleased with the comparison. He handed her a stack of cards.

"My cell number," he explained. "You all try to stay out of trouble, hmm? Nice seeing you again, Esther." He nodded and left.

"That was weird, right?" Maya asked.

"Very weird," Annie agreed. "Still, he seems nice enough."

"For a cop," Hollace said with a snort.

"I don't like it," Beau declared.

"You can read minds," Annie pointed out. "Did anything you read from him indicate that he was lying?"

"No," Beau said, though he didn't seem pleased with the admission. Annie stared at the phone number printed nearly on the cards in her hand, feeling an odd mix of excitement and apprehension. She looked around at her friends' worried and confused faces.

"Well then," she said quietly, "I guess we don't have much choice but to trust him, do we?"