Convergence - The Last Science #2.2 - Heroes and Villains

B2: Chapter 20 - Retreat - III

  It burst inward. The pressurized soda sprayed out in a small fountain, soaking into everything.

  "Awesome!" shouted Tyler.

  Steven was already rushing back to the kitchen to grab some towels. Natalie started apologizing as the fountain died off.

  "You're supposed to use the tab to open it, duh. Then you take it off and throw it away," said Kelsey, rolling her eyes. Mitch immediately took offense to this and started arguing with her over whether or not keeping the tab on the can was acceptable, while Steven returned with towels and a spray bottle.

  "Never opened a can before?" asked Steven quietly, while he cleaned up the soda spill.

  "...Yeah." Natalie glanced away, her face getting bright red.

  "Using the tab's important. It's how it loses pressure so it doesn't explode like that." He shrugged. "I watched a video about it. You used magic though, didn't you?"

  "Yes."

  "Don't worry about it. I've spilled stuff here before. Probably won't even notice another stain." Sure enough, the carpet already had several blotches over it. Natalie was surprised; Steven didn't seem like the messy type. He was always so careful.

  "You should drink that while it's still fizzy," he added, nodding at the can. Natalie quickly grabbed it up and took a huge sip, grateful to have something to do besides talk. To her satisfaction, it was just as great as she remembered orange soda being. She sank into it for a bit, staring lazily out the window at the cloudy sky, the rest of the room fading out into a buzz of noise.

  "Could not," said Kelsey.

  "Could too!" Mitch shot back.

  "What's up?" asked Steven, coming back from the kitchen again. Natalie looked up from her phone. She'd been about to log onto the site, for her usual check on Rachel's account. Natalie didn't like visiting the site much anymore, especially with the messages she kept getting. Hailey was the worst, all the empty apologies after the night Natalie had begged for help, and no one responded but Cinza.

  Of course, Natalie knew now that Hailey had been just as trapped, stuck in some bar in Tacoma with guns pointed at her—but it still felt like Natalie had been totally abandoned two weeks ago.

  "They're arguing about Jenny," said Tyler, sounding bored.

  "What?" Natalie asked, confused. She'd tuned out the conversation minutes ago.

  "This moron thinks she can lift the whole couch, with us on it," said Kelsey.

  "I bet you all the Oreos left in this box," said Mitch, "that she could do it one handed."

  "No way. You're crazy."

  "Can you lift it, Jenny?" asked Tyler, looking at her directly. Suddenly, they all were.

  Natalie frowned. "I dunno..." She was feeling uncomfortable. Showing off by floating things around was one thing, but having all her friends ask her up front to do magic was really different.

  She felt like she could do it. She'd learned strengthening herself from Ryan way back in the early days, and she'd even improved on it herself. It was a bit different than how he did it, 'cause her arms were too small to fit that much muscle growth onto, so she enhanced it with some movement magic too. She couldn't actually push people, obviously, but pushing stuff near them usually worked.

  "Come on, you can totally do it!" Mitch added excitedly. "Show them!"

  Well, they're all sitting there anyway. Natalie hopped off the couch, murmuring the spell. Her hand latched around the leg of the couch. She took a breath, then pulled it straight up, moving the leg upward with her mind at the same time.