Extraordinary Mistakes

3. More powerful than Ariston

On Sundays, the Roberts always invited their oldest and best of friends, the Parkers. Today was no exception, even with all that happened a few days before.

"Joshua! Why aren't you dressed already? The Parkers will be here in no time!" Mary looks at her watch and shouts outside his bedroom door.

"I'll open the apéritif, bought a special one, I'm sure they'll love it!" Her husband, Thomas, gets out of their bedroom in the same floor, kisses Mary on the cheek and winks.

A few minutes later, the bell rings and Thomas rushes there. Three of the Parkers come through the front door: Rebecca, Mark, and Abigail. The other two live abroad now, but for many years, took part in the Sunday tradition. 

Emily joins her father and hugs her friend, complimenting her long, stripped, dress. Despite knowing that Abigail chooses that attire to disguise her weight. The girl smiles and reciprocates the compliment, saying how much she loves Emily's top.

Both Mark and Rebecca hug Emily tight and greet Joshua and Mary when they meet them.

Thomas orders the maids to make sure everything is set already at the table, and they all sit there.

"Emily, how are you feeling?" Rebecca's eyes move from the plate to her.

"It was painful, all the bl-" Emily's speech is slower than usual.

"Those terrorists!" Mary shouts and lowers the tone to ask the maids to pour the drinks. 

"You guys, they can't even accept their responsibility. It's ridiculous!" Mark helps the maid pouring his glass and thanks her.

"What do they hope to accomplish by killing the president?" Thomas tips his glass to signal the maids that he needs refilling. "Mark, have some more of this entrée, we bought it thinking of you!"

Across the table, Mark smiles and accepts. The maids take the plates, and serve the first dish.  

"And when they said that Emily couldn't win against them! Our girl's even more powerful than Ariston!" Thomas proposes a toast in her honor.

"Don't think about it, Emily! Rachel Moore is a physiological terrorist," Rebecca smiles.

"Cher, I think you mean psychological," Mary corrects her.

They all laugh. It's an inside joke of theirs. Rebecca often mispronounces, or misuses, words, and Mary helps her out. 

Despite all her wealth, Rebecca never went to college. On that table, she's the only human who hasn't. Mark, her husband, and Joshua, Emily's brother, both did. Deviants aren't allowed on the United States of America to attend university, but Mary's ability, knowledge replication, is enough for her to have a broader vocabulary than most. And when compared to Rebecca, it isn't that hard to. She tries her best not to sound condescending with her best friend, she simply wants to help her out.

"Oh, you're right. Silly me!" Rebecca blushes.

"Rachel Moore is meaningless. You on the other hand... not even the bracelet could stop you!" Thomas raises his glass once more.

Emily won't say it. But she can't understand why in that moment, when she was about to break, she overcame her pain. She can't understand either how she broke the bracelet. No matter how many times she replays it in her head, she can't figure out what happened. She opens her mouth to yawn, and her mother looks furiously. She hasn't slept at all during the past few nights. The lights keep her awake. This is the first time that she experiences side effects for so long.

"What a bright future for the Institute! The bracelet didn't do as promised!" Joshua laughs.

Mary shouts at him, and Thomas' look is enough for him to understand that he misspoke.

"I'm sorry. This was of poor taste. Obviously that I'm relieved that you weren't hurt, Emily, and that you saved everyone. It's just, they promised the bracelet would prevent the ability. And you used it anyway."

"That's because your sister is too powerful!" Mary replies and they all toast again.

Abigail touches Emily's leg, her friend looks at her and she can tell the comment hurt her.

Emily can never understand if her brother means her harm or not. There's always an ambiguous line, or an out-of-place smile, that she questions. When she was five, he tried to drown her. She remembers it vividly. If you ask him, he'll say that it was just a harmless prank.

"How are Veronica and Zachary?" Thomas asks.

"It keeps getting harder to get them both on the phone at the same time. I think Veronica has a wonderful group of friends there and Zach... he's too busy saving everyone's lives," Mark replies.

"Rebecca, cher, I love your outfit! Is it new?" Mary hides well her judgment.

"Yes, thank you. New to me. I passed by a second-hand store and just loved it. Didn't even need to alter it! Can you believe that?"

The lunch keeps going for hours, and their conversation turns into a loop. Emily disguises her yawns, and, despite being so tired, keeps faking a smile whenever they bring up her ability.

"I have to show you my new car, Mark!" Thomas drinks a digestif and offers one to his friend.

"New one?"

Mark remembers that Thomas bought a car two years before.

"Yes, grew tired of that one. I'll show it to you! When are you getting rid of the old Bentley? Isn't that thing five years old already?"

"No, more like 15. It was spendy, but it's a good keep, and Abigail has her own, so we do just fine with it."

"That's outdated already!"

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Abigail asks Emily.

"I have several interviews to prepare for with the marketing de-"

"The price of being the most powerful deviant in the world!" Mary raises her glass.

Emily smiles again.