James Knight: Teenage Superhuman - Book Two

Cosmic Twins: The Heart of the Fire - Chapter Four

"I'm sorry," I said. "Next time, I'll be more careful."

"No, you won't, Bryce, because it's not happening again," my dad said. "End of discussion."

"But—"

"I mean it, Bryce," He snapped. Sebastian chuckled at me from the couch, watching with amusement.

"Look, maybe you're being too hard on him, Dex," Thomas interjected. Sebastian's laughter slowly subsided into growls.

"There is no fucking way I'm letting that freak on the same team as me," Sebastian roared.

"First, language," Thomas snapped. "And second, he's not a freak. He's just different."

"How is that different?" Sebastian grumbled.

"It just is, Sebastian," Thomas said. Sebastian looked at Dexter, but Dexter was on my side, too. My father stuck with me. I rubbed my palms against my sweatpants, eager to escape and avoid my family's death glares—especially Sebastian, who seemed to enjoy this moment too much.

"Admit it already! He's a freak. What kid can lift a semi-truck with no fucking effort?"

"Language," my dad and uncle snapped simultaneously.

"His superpowers don't make him a freak. It makes him awesome!" Kyra put in, trying to help me out.

"He's a freak!" Sebastian roared.

"Bryce is not the freak, you jerk," Kyra snapped at Sebastian. "You are!"

   Kyra raced off toward her bedroom, and suddenly, she shrieked and rattled our eardrums in the other room, "Bryce!" She screamed.

   Dexter and I raced to her doorway, staring at the giant brown spider crawling across her desk. "Kill it, Bryce! Kill it!" She screamed. I looked at my father before walking in and scooping the spider into my cupped hands.

"Kill it!" She screamed again.

"I'm not killing it," I told her.

"Not everything is worth saving," Kyra said.

"You don't think this spider deserves a fighting chance?" I asked her, staring into her brown eyes.

"It's a fucking bug, you freak," Sebastian grumbled, appearing behind us. "And it's not like you didn't roast that whole swarm of black widows one time—"

"Those are different."

"How?" He questioned me as I suddenly faced him, feeling the spider squirm in my palm.

"Sebastian, knock it off," Dexter growled. "Take the spider outside and put it somewhere safe," my dad ordered. I rushed past them, racing down the staircase and out the door to the garden, setting the spider on a nearby flower.

"Stay safe, little bud," I muttered before rushing back inside. Hopefully, the spider got a second chance, as I did with Dexter and Thomas.

"I'll kill it later," Sebastian threatened me with an antagonizing smirk.

"Stop it, Sebastian. No, you won't," Thomas roared.

   I rushed past them toward the kitchen to make a non-caffeinated soda with our soda machine because caffeine made my powers glitch like crazy. Sometimes, Sebastian liked to swap the logos on the syrups when he was over to see me fuck up with my super strength.

"Did you seriously save a fucking spider?" Noah's voice suddenly appeared in my head.

"Shut up. Yeah, I did," I muttered as if everyone could hear us.

"You're such a goodie-two-shoes." Noah laughed at me.

"So what?" I said, pouring water from the faucet into the container and setting a glass underneath, pouring carbonated soda into my cup. Then, I reached across the counter for root beer syrup, hoping I wouldn't grab cola or the off-brand Dr. Peeps. I almost dumped it into my glass when Kyra rushed in.

"STOP!" she screeched. "Sebastian switched the wrappers again."

"Son of a bitch," I muttered. "Which one is the root beer?" I asked.

"I-I don't know," she stuttered. "It could be any of them." She searched the row of syrups. I rolled my eyes.

"Your cousin is a dick," Noah muttered in my head.

"Tell me about it," I muttered back. I dumped the syrup into the bottle and grabbed my glass, guzzling the carbonated water.

"You didn't have to do that, Bry," Kyra said. "I could have taste tested for you."

"It's alright," I told her. "You don't need the caffeine, and neither do I." Then I slammed the cup on the counter and wandered past her and up the stairs to my bedroom. Fuck my life.