{Original Story}
Having supernatural powers should feel like a blessing, but for Jack Parker, the most powerful Gifted in the world, it means he gets to be haunted by ghosts, hallucinations, and premonitions. Oh, and he's also on the run to stay on...
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Maya hit refresh on every tab. Jemma's laptop lagged but obeyed, and she quickly scanned the headlines of fifteen different news websites local to home. She hit refresh, scanned, and did it again, for the fifth time.
There were no articles about a missing girl.
It was morning. Jemma was in the kitchen, cleaning up after breakfast. Jack was upstairs, probably sleeping. Or trying to. Maya was in the living room, on her knees in front of the coffee table. Over the edge of the laptop screen, she caught glimpses of the weatherman on TV. Sunny all day, sunny all week.
Jemma slid open the kitchen door to look in. "What are you doing?"
Maya's finger twitched over the refresh button. Third time's a charm, but six was desperation. She closed the laptop. "They're not looking for me," she said quietly.
"Your parents?"
Maya swallowed. "They must be so mad."
Jemma came closer, shaking her head. "Don't think of it that way," she said gently. "The reason they haven't reported you missing or started a search is because they're afraid of drawing attention to you, not because they don't care about you."
Maya fidgeted with her fingers. Her parents knew nothing of what she'd learned only days ago, so all they could do was guess that there was someone, somewhere, who might be after their little girl for her power, whether it was a government or a demon or a cult of Gift-suckers. The fact that they were keeping silent for her protection only made her feel worse. Did they think she was dead, or did they believe the message Jack sent through the refrigerator magnets? Could she ever apologize enough for putting them through this?
Maya stood. Blood rushed back down the bottom halves of her legs, and she rubbed her knees before following Jemma into the kitchen. "Tell me about the Enhanced."
"What do you want to know?" Jemma said, picking up a glass to dry.
"Who they are, how it all started. Tell me their once upon a time."
Jemma chuckled, but there was a hesitancy behind it. It was only after silently cleaning and drying both glasses and sitting down at the kitchen table that she met Maya's eyes and sighed.
"Once upon a time," she started cautiously, "there was a man in 1892. He wanted a son, but his wife had a girl, and the wife died of complications. He tossed the baby in a burning fire pit and left."
Horrified, Maya imagined those little hands waving around in the flames, and the soft, days-old skin bubbling up in welts.
"A few days later, a traveling family comes upon the pit. It's burned out and full of ashes and scorched rocks, and to their surprise, there's a baby in the center. A healthy, living baby."
Maya remembered that the woman who tried to kill Jack had burst into flames. She kept that uncomfortable little detail in the back of her mind and kept listening.
