Jackson Humes is Not a Superhero

CHAPTER TWELVE

"That's the one. We're at the first house on the block, not the second."

"Oh wait, my mom borrowed my car this morning. I don't know when she's going to get back."

I wanted to reach into the phone and knock him upside the head. "Text me as soon as she gets back."

"Okay." I had the sneaking suspicion he had fallen back to sleep as soon as he hung up.

I walked back into Mr. Saltzman's bedroom and looked out the window. I was directly over the kitchen. I ran downstairs and out the back door. I spotted the window to his bedroom and made my way around the side of the house until I found the window to the locked bedroom. The window next to it was smaller and had steam coming out of it, which was undoubtedly the bathroom.

From where I was standing I could see that the cop car was no longer in front of our house. The driveway was still empty, which meant Tanner hadn't come home from spending the night at his friend's. Mr. Saltzman's warning to lay low reverberated in my head, but my curiosity won out.

"Okay," I lifted my arms above my head, "you've got this." I bent my knees and counted down from three. I pushed off of the ground and jumped about three inches into the air before my feet hit the ground again. I shook my arms and legs out. "It was only the first attempt. You just need to concentrate a little harder." Saying the words out loud made it feel more like a legitimate pep talk.

I closed my eyes and stilled my thoughts. I tried to recall the sensation I had when I'd levitated. Once I thought I'd tapped into the feeling, I raised my arms above my head and pushed off the ground again. The second attempt was slightly better than the first, but not by much. I threw caution to the wind and just started jumping up and down over and over again.

"What the hell, Jackson? Are you having a seizure? And where's Mr. Saltzman?" Marv asked, catching me mid-jump. I was so startled that I practically twisted my ankle when I landed. He was wearing the clothes I'd laid out, but they were way too tight on him.

"I was just trying something," I muttered, looking up. The window was a million miles away, taunting me. "Hey, do you think there might be a ladder around here somewhere?"

Marv frowned. "What are you going on about?" He looked up at the window.

"The room is locked. Don't you think that's a little weird?"

"Weirder than anything we've seen in the past hour?" He had a point.

Something caught my eye over Marv's right shoulder. It was Graham. He was sniffing around the orchard about thirty feet away. I called out to him, which made him look up. But then he charged in the opposite direction.

"Goddammit," I shouted, taking off after him.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on," Marv shouted after me.

Chasing after Graham was definitely the wrong decision. It put him in a playful mood, which only made him run further away. I was guessing he didn't get chased much by Mr. Saltzman. He stopped every time I called his name, ears all perked up, but the moment I started to close in on him, he'd take off again. We ran all the way to my house and looped back around it before he barreled back home again. Marv appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him by the collar. They struggled for a bit, but Marv was finally able to drag him back into the house.   

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out hoping it was a text from Mr. Saltzman, but it wasn't.

You're late.

Crap. I had totally lost track of the time. I responded to my aunt with an apology, typing as fast as my fingers would move. She did not like to be kept waiting. I explained that I had some homework to do before meeting up with Jesse and that Mr. Saltzman had come over asking me to look after Graham.