Crystal Powers

~29~

After Camden's mother calmed down, they all were invited inside for a chat. Sapphire politely handed her some tissues and they began chatting.

"So what have you been up to, sweetie?" Camden's mother said, smiling as she wiped away some happy tears.

Camden took her hand and explained everything that had happened from the concert to arriving here. She nodded as she listened to her son talk about his adventures.

"Sorry to interrupt this reunion, but where is your bathroom?" Phoenix asked.

Everyone stared at him, giving him a half death-glare for ruining the wholesome interaction.

"Go upstairs, first door on the left," Camden said.

After Phoenix excused himself, the rest of the team introduced themselves.

"Hello, Camden's mom-" started Sapphire.

"You can just call me Clara." Camden's mother smiled.

"Um..okay. Hello Clara. My name is Sapphire, and I have water powers, I guess." Sapphire said, demonstrating by making a small ball of water move around in her palm.

"Pleasure to meet you, Clara. My name is Dawn and I have earth as an ability." Dawn smiled, as she rotated her wrist around, making a small vine wind around her wrist.

They waited for a few more minutes for Phoenix to get back. They heard footsteps go down the stairs quickly as they saw a sandy-haired boy sit down, blushing a little from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry about that. Oh, we are doing introductions? My name is Phoenix, and I control fire." he quickly said, as he tried to make a flame.

"You all sound pleasant." Clara said as she got up off of the couch, "You guys want anything?"

"Oh, just something small, please," Sapphire answered.

A few minutes later, Clara came back with a bowl of pretzels and another bowl with some grapes. The team thanked her as they listened to Camden's conversation with his mother.

"Well, I only got so long to be here, Mom, so might as well ask - how did the powers get passed through our family? I remember something when I was a kid, but I wasn't sure if this meant anything. Didn't Grandma have powers? Weren't they ice?" he asked.

His mother's face morphed into a serious expression, "Yes, Grandma had ice powers, but she wasn't the only one. Aunt Marge had light powers, and well.." she got off the couch and went to the other side of the living room, rummaging through something. She lifted her head to look at all the children and then went back to sit down, only with a box in her hands.

She opened the ancient-looking thing and pulled out a frame. She showed the frame to them - it was a picture of the woman in the hidden library."

"She's one of our ancestors. She had ice powers that were passed down to Grandma, and she had told me before that she thought I was going to have powers too since it would be in my DNA. Now, this normally doesn't happen, but I guess I was an acceptance," she said.

This made all of the team look at her, wide-eyed.

"So you know how you have a main power, and then a side power, correct? Well, it wasn't exactly the case for me. You see, dear," she stopped there, as she whipped her hand around.

Slowly, golden snowflakes appeared from her hand, fading as they floated slowly into the air. "I had snow as a main power, but healing as a second power, but somehow they mixed, making these little snowflakes, healing snowflakes," she explained.

The kids all stayed silent as they looked at the unique ability in front of them.

"Wow...I've never met a person that had that..." Dawn said, making Clara smile.

"It's pretty interesting, yes. So how is everyone's journey so far? You all have been safe? Any encounters?" she asked.

The team's faces all dropped, as they stared at the table in front of them.

"I...I guess I'll explain this one," Phoenix said, lifting his gaze from the coffee table to Clara, who seemed a bit concerned.

"There was...supposed to be one more person to be sitting here with us today, but sadly, she didn't...make it. We were swarmed by hunters, and she protected your son, and he was about to be killed, but Tesla spared her life for his." Phoenix explained, trying not to look at Clara.

The woman looked at her son, who was already teary-eyed himself and pulled him into a hug.

"Camden, I am so thankful to have you as a son. You mean so much to me, I hope you love school because I sure did. Please, please be safe. I can't risk losing you, my baby. I love you, and always will." she said as she kissed his forehead.

The team sat in silence as Camden and his mother had a little moment, which ended up having everyone in tears.

"Don't worry, Mama, I'll be safe," Camden whispered in her ear.

Camden's mother slowly let go of her son, "D-Don't you kids have your families to go to also?" Clara asked. Dawn and Sapphire nodded, but Phoenix shook his head.

"Wait, where's your family, Phoenix?" Dawn asked, surprised.

Silence.

"Dawn, don't try to force him to tell us. It must've been personal." Sapphire said.

She knew that he had always lived in the woods from when they first had met. He was the one that was perched in a tree while she was about to be kidnapped.

Sapphire took Phoenix's hand and gave it a little squeeze for reassurance. Phoenix just stared at the table, slowly feeling more and more uncomfortable.

"Well, sweetie, you will always have these lovely people to care for you," Clara said, smiling at him, trying to make his spirits lighter.

Phoenix just gave her a small smile, not wanting to talk about himself anymore.

"Well, Mom, although I'd love to stay here, I have to save the world," Camden said, getting up from the table.

"Oh, of course. Make sure that you be nice to everyone." Clara said, hugging her son one last time. The other three got up from the couch and followed Camden out of the house.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Mom."