Gone

I pulled the Camaro into the New York Airport's parking lot and killed the engine. I was three rows back from the door. I wanted to be close because I knew something was going to happen. I still didn't know where this feeling was coming from. Maybe it was just a special gift I received as a human. The possibilities were endless.

Sam came right behind us and parked the Viper three rows farther back. Sam, Cassidy, and Tobey walked slowly past our parked car. Edward and I watched them from the mirrors. Their faces were all worried and panick stricken. Especially Cassidy's. I didn't want to put my sister through this, but I needed her help. I was as useless as a ladybug in the winter.

All three of them gave awkward glances at the car. They looked at me through the mirror. I nodded. I knew they wanted to know if I was ready. I was ready for anything to come my way. Anything that got in our way, I would handle as well as I could. If I had to punch a guy in the gonads, I sure as hell would. I would do anything for my family and friends just to know they were safe.

They looked away and kept walking. They disappeared from our sight. Edward turned his head and looked at me. I took my sunglasses off.

"How long?" He asked.

I didn't need to ask what he was talking about. He obviously wanted to know how long I'd wait before I'd go in and see what was going on.

I looked at him. "Just give it about ten minutes."

Edward nodded and looked out his window. Both of our windows were still rolled down. He stuck his hand out and rested his elbow on it. He covered his mouth with his hand. I could tell he was pretty nervous. I never imagined Edward Ackers nervous about anything. This must have added to him when he turned human again.

Edward looked back at me. "Do you have a plan?" He asked not moving his hand from his mouth.

I looked at him. "I'm ready for anything."

He took in a deep breath through his teeth and rested his hand on his lap. "Are you certain? Are you absolutely positive that you are ready for anything when you are human?"

I frowned. "There's no need to use powers on humans. The only problem they'll have in there is the humans. I told them specifically not to use their powers. Remember?"

He smiled. "You keep referring to them as humans, but yet you are also of their species now. As am I."

"You and I aren't normal humans though. We once had powers. Once a superhero always a superhero."

His eyes flashed a twinkle. "Superhero? What about the supervillans? Both of them could change. A superhero could lose his interest in saving people and turn into a villain."

I nodded. "And a superhero could also try to live a normal life."

Edward tilted his head. "But does that make him normal?"

I tried to understand what he was getting at. Was he saying that I was a normal human or I wasn't? His concept was so confusing.

He continued. "I'm not arguing with you completely. We never were normal and we never will be. You are still human though at the time. But think about it, you'll never be able to say you had a normal human life without lying."

I stared at him. "So what is the point you are arguing?"

He smiled. "Well, like I said. Superheroes can change. I just need you to believe that Supervillains can too."

I looked out of the windshield. "You're referring to yourself, no doubt." I said without looking at him.

He gave a little laugh under his breath. His voice then became very serious. We both looked at each other. Edward's face was just as serious as his voice. "I'm sorry for what I've put you through. I'm sorry what I've done to you. I'm just sorry, Alyssa. I should've learned earlier that you and my brother were the rightful leaders." He looked away from me. "I guess self pity just took over me."

I sighed. "Nobody's perfect."

Edward laughed finding it humorous. "You seem pretty perfect to me."

I looked at him even though he wasn't looking at me. "I've killed people, Edward. That just erases the fact of being perfect." He looked at me with his chocolate eyes.

"They people you killed deserved to die."

I frowned and leaned over to him. My jaw tightened. My teeth were clenched together. "Nobody deserves to die unless they fore stow the punishment. People with suicide don't deserve to die only because somebody or something in their lives made them make that decision. If you are committing the murder or suicide, you have a choice. I had a choice. I chose to kill hundreds of people."

Edward frowned listening to me intently. "Do I count as two of those people?" He said seriously.

I leaned away from him and sat back in the leather seat looking out the window. "I suppose so." I said calmly.

We stayed quiet for the next few minutes. My mind was simply blank even though a million thoughts raced through my head. It felt blank because I couldn't chose one thing to think about. Riley's image kept crossing my mind and I shuddered every time.

Edward looked at me. I thought about the others inside. I looked at Edward. "Sam doesn't usually take this long to get the information he needs."

Edward nodded. "Then suppose your little feeling was correct."

I sighed and quickly stepped out of the car in one graceful motion, closing the door behind me. I placed my sunglasses back on my face. Edward did the same as he grabbed a pair from his jacket pocket.. My feet padded lightly against the cement. Edward came to my side after he got around the car. We didn't talk, he just followed my movements. We moved swiftly, without powers, towards the long building. The bottom of my jacket flew behind me. Edward's did too. I felt powerful and strong. I felt like an Alpha. An Alpha with so much power, but with none at all.

We walked around cars and through the automatic glass door. We stopped for a moment to see if we could find the others. I looked around the hundreds of people walking back and fourth down the terminals carrying suitcases and luggage in their hands. Edward poked me in the side. I looked at him. His finger pointed over to the desk about 30 feet away from us. I focused on where his hand pointed. I looked to the side of the desk and saw Sam, Cassidy, and Tobey being hauled away by security.

I motioned Edward to follow me. We walked quickly around the people trying to get over to them. They turned a corner and so did we. I saw Sam talk to the tall strong man that held his arms behind his back. The man nodded and moved Sam over to a water fountain. The two other men that held Cassidy and Tobey looked mean. Sam bent over the water fountain and immediately his eyes met mine. They knew I was coming. He was bluffing so I could get over to him. Cassidy did the same to the man that held her. He motioned her to the fountain. She took an extremely long drink, as did Sam. They both had their heads bent over the fountains looking at me.

I moved quicker over to them. Edward was right on my tail. I finally got to them. The security guards looked at Edward and I as I approached them. I tried to catch my breath. I hadn't needed to do that in a while. The tall man holding Sam's arms looked at me.

"Can I help you two?" He asked in a throaty voice.

I nodded. They all looked at me. I gathered up an excuse. I looked at the man. "These three ran away from the special needs program I was holding at my building."

The man raised his eyebrows. The two other men laughed. The same man holding Sam smiled. "A special needs program? Okay, what's your building called?"

I frowned. "Have you heard of GWOOD Corp?"

They all nodded. The man holding Cassidy looked at me. "Yeah, we've heard of it."

I smiled. "Well, that's the building. I'm Alyssa Greenwood, the owner of the company. Don't believe me? Here's my ID."

I pulled out my old ID from my back pants pocket and handed it to them. I hated using the name Greenwood. I was an Ackers now.

The man holding Tobey took the ID and looked at it. He was a fat buff man that was bald. "Yep, that's her." He handed it back to me and then looked at me. "But these three don't look like they have special needs."

I raised my forehead. They all looked at me. "Well," I pointed to Cassidy, "she was in a car crash and she lost half of her memory. You can even ask her for her name and she won't remember. Isn't that right?"

Cassidy looked at me with a worried expression. "Uh, um, what are we talking about?" She finally said.

Edward sighed quietly behind me. I looked at Tobey and pointed to him. "He uh, his problem is a little more complicated. He uh, lets just say he was a sex addict and he needed some help with that."

Tobey rolled his eyes at me. It was the first thing that came to mind. Edward stiffled his laugh. Sam smiled a little. It was his turn.

I looked at him and tried to ignore the big men standing by all of them. I pointed at Sam. "Well, he had an accident with a cow back in Wisconsin and now he can't read, write, or even say the alphabet. He also has an issue with persuading people to do bad things. Like this for instance."

"A cow?" The tall man holding Tobey said.

I nodded assuringly. "Yeah. They seem big and useless, but I think it's all that squeezing of those utters. The thing kicked him right in the skull. Didn't leave a mark on the outside, but a real big one on the inside."

Tobey, Cassidy, and Edward tried to stifle their laughs. Sam rolled his eyes. I just gave a small grin hoping they would buy it. Sam finally looked at the man that was holding him.

"Where are we?" Sam asked him seriously like a little boy.

The man looked at him and then back at me. "You do realize the reason we have them in our hold is because he was touching the computer and he wouldn't stop?"

I nodded. "He does like shiny things." Sam's eyes pleaded to go on. That must mean he didn't get what we wanted. I looked at all three of the security guards that had the black t-shirts on. "Do you mind if he just touches it for a while? It'll make him satisfied and it will be so much easier to get him back to where he needs to be."

The three men looked at each other. They looked back at me. The man holding Sam nodded. "I suppose, but anything beyond the ordinary of what you told me and these 'special needs people' will be finding there way into a special needs jail."

I nodded. "Completely understood."

The three men let go of the others. They anxiously moved away from the guards and behind me. I looked at the guards.

"My apologies gentlemen."

They nodded with an unassuring nod from each. They walked slowly away with their hands on their hips with their backs turned from us.

I sighed and turned around to face the others. I took my sunglasses off. Sam and Tobey didn't look happy.

Sam opened his mouth. "Really? A cow hit me in the head? It might as well have been a caveman that was once frozen and came back to life after he thawed out and he came after me with his giant stick."

Tobey sighed. "I guess that would be worse than being a sex addict." He said to Sam, but it was meant for me.

I smiled. "Well, I believe a thank you would do the trick."

Sam shook his head. "Thank you for saving me from the scary men. I could've just made that stupid water fountain spray all over him with gallons of water at a time. It wouldn't have been hard. All I had to do was touch the thing."

I frowned. "And then how would you explain how that happened? 'There must have been a water breakage'. Yeah, alright, Sam."

He frowned. The other three laughed. Cassidy looked at me. "Lets go get that location."

I nodded and led the way back around the people and to the front desk. I ushered Sam to the silver Dell computer. He quickly looked around and then placed his hand on the back of the computer.

Tobey looked at me. "How are we going to be able to look at the screen? Even if there is no one here right now?"

I nodded knowing he was right. I looked at Cassidy. "Do you know if you have the power to morph into someone?"

Cassidy nodded. "I tried it once in Texas. Worked pretty well. You have it too, you know."

I nodded trying to make her stop talking. "Just do it."

She nodded and ducked down so no one saw her. I covered her as she moved around the desk. Sam was focused on the computer as he had his eyes closed. Edward and Tobey just stood there trying to act normal. Edward still had his glasses on and it didn't seem that normal.

I poked him. He looked down at me. "Take the glasses off." He smiled at how it disturbed me and then he hesitantly took them off and placed them in his pocket.

I looked over the desk. All of the sudden, a woman popped up with a blue and white uniform on with a nametage on it. I looked at the name tag. Shirley Strauss. I shook my head briefly as I looked into the eyes of the smiling woman. Her brown hair was in a bob around her head. A white toothy grin spread across her face. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at her.

"Cass?" I asked just making sure.

The smile stayed on her face. "What may I do you for ma'am?"

I creased my forehead. "I don't want you to 'do' me."

Her smile faded. "Just play along you dunce."

I shook my head. "Um, when's the next flight?" I asked playing along.

Cassidy, or Shirley, looked at the computer screen and then at Sam. Sam opened didn't open his eyes.

"I almost got it. Check the screen, Cass." He said. He obviously followed along even though he was concentrated on his power.

Cassidy/Shirley looked at the screen. Sam looked up and let his hand go of the computer. Cassidy's eyes skimmed the screen. I tried to follow along with her expression.

"Who wants to take a trip to Sacramento?" Cas-Shirley said.

I frowned. "Really?"

She nodded. Her face-Shirley's face became serious again. "I can't be certain if they are in Sacramento, but it says two people from the flight from Sacramento came here under the name of Latner which is Peter's last name. There's no ticket back which tells us that he either flew, ran, teleported, or something else. He has every possibility."

"Well," I said, "we'll go to Sacramento then."

A gleaming smile spread across Sam's face. "Race you back to the house?"

I smiled. "We'll start when we get outside."

We all immediately made a mad dash through the people. Cas-Shirley followed us. I looked back at her and within seconds she was Cassidy again.

One thought crossed my mind. I still would do anything for these people.