Gasoline- Sequel To It All Started That One Day

19

Max's POV

I shuffle out of my bedroom rubbing at my eyes with one hand, and waving at a Scott who looks really awake for seven in the morning with my other. He also looked shocked if it wasn't my imagination.

Making my way into the bathroom Maddie and I share. I flip the light switch on staring at the mirror blankly waiting for my dreariness to clear. There's white spots hanging above my head like clouds, but the more I wake up I realize they're not spots nor are they going away.

The entire top half of my hair has been dyed stark white with a few of my dark strands of hair poking through. Running my hands through it I try to convince myself that I'm dreaming, and then I start yanking on it to wake me up and I don't.

"Mom!"

I run out of the bathroom, but before I can stop myself I'm somehow in the hall and knocked out by the wall. While sprawled out on my back a door opens, and I hear a gasp that sounds similar to my sisters. "Max what happened?" She asks softly, and I have to use one hand to brush her brown ringlets out of my eyes while the other beats against my head trying to distract myself from the growing headache.

"I ran into the wall."

"Obviously, but what happened to your hair?" She continues to push helping me sit up, and from the corner of my eyes I watch her eyes widen. "Well it only took you eight years," she mumbles, but I can't ask her what the heck she means because she's distracted by mom frantically running down the hall.

"Maxie what happened?" Her hands reach up one titling my chin up so she can look me over, and the other shakily runs through my hair.

"I ran into the wa-"

"That much is obvious Max!" I glare at my sister who's sadly to shaken to care. "I woke up, saw that my hair was half white," she nods along listening but her eyes are still half focused on my hair. "So I tried running to your room but I ranintothewallandthatswhereMaddiefoundme."

I stop looking back up at my sister and mother, but their slack jawed expressions have me raising my eyebrows skeptically. If they looked put off before now they're completely thrown.

"Maddie go get your father, tell him to meet us outside." Mom stands up, and starts leading me down the hall never letting go of my hands. Since I'm a loving son and can tell she's shaken, more so than I am, I don't pull ahead and complain that I'm too old for this.

"What's going on?" However I can't keep the worries from slipping from my mouth as she takes me down the stairs one at a time. She's stopped, and I find myself back tracking a bit so I'm at her height. Only when I've tapped her on her shoulder does she whip around to face me eyes on fire, and they only do that when she's mad, sad, or scared.

"You know how mommy, daddy, and Maddie are special?" I nod it seems everyone here is special except me. I had read that your emotions can turn your powers on, so I tried forcing myself into emotional situations but nothing seemed to work.

I know my mom's secretly been hoping I'll be normal with all of the danger that's been surrounding us these last few years, but I've secretly been hoping for the opposite. Everywhere I look I'm reminded how cool they are, and all I want is to be like them.

"It seems your X-gene has finally activated." She's trying to give me a shaky smile because really this should be something we celebrate, but her voice is still trembling and all I can sense is her fear.

I don't need to read minds like Maddie to know that.

"Mom I'm not scared."

"That's good." Is all she can get out but her flaring eyes say you should be, and even with that I'm not. I just feel complete.

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Kaitlyn's POV

I stand off to the side with Maddie watching as Peter explains to Max how to stop, go, and not run into things. I guess if he had to have powers we're lucky he got superspeed so Peter can help him.

They take off, and I notice Peter's blur is much slower because he doesn't want to leave Max alone and scare him. They've been doing this for the past hour, and I've only rushed over to them in a panic once when he ran right into the big tree.

I glance around the landscape the rivets and thrown up mud almost making me laugh, my dad will have a hay day when he sees this. Right now I hardly care, all I can focus on is the rising fear that now everyone will know, and they'll all be after him.

Surely him and Maddie both having powers will be enthralling more than just one, all I can see is prices above our heads that have now doubled. They'll find out, they always do. Whether it's Essex, or Stryker, or just our government one if not all will find out soon.

"There's no reason to be scared of things we can't control." Maddie's voice is like the beacon at the end of the cave, and I find myself digging my way out of my thoughts to hear her. "Are you reading my mind?" I ask trying to sound playful, but everything about me is so on edge.

"No, you're just thinking really loudly." She almost sounds regretful, flinching to look away, apologizing without actually saying she did anything wrong, and I quickly reach out to her pulling her into my chest. "When did you become so wise?"

"It's all those lessons with Papa Charles, his englishness is rubbing off on me." She laughs, but she tenses as we watch Max nearly run off into the lake until Peter stops him and wrangles him back at the last second. "I'm sure he would approve of the term englishness."

We stand a bit longer until both boys run up to us. Max, who had to be stopped by Peter again, is huffing and puffing, but he's smiling so broadly as he wraps his little arms around my legs. The white tips to his hair are still throwing me, but make his blue eyes pop more enhancing his charm like that was the plan all along.

"How's he actually doing?" I ask Peter chewing my lip nervously as I watch the kids head back inside. "He's actually doing great. When my powers first came in I couldn't stop running around my yard for Lord knows how long."

"I think it's just good that they have us." He finishes his calm making up for my jitters. "I don't feel like we did much."

"In your mind, but in their's we've changed their world's." I can tell he's speaking from experience, after all he had no one and he faced this scary task all on his own. The one promise he made to himself, even though in his line of work he's not supposed to make any, was that he would make sure his kids were not alone while going through this transition.

And he's kept it