I wake up to midmorning light casting through a decorative, circle skylight. Though the suns rays look warm, I'm frigid and stiff in mom's bed. There's a familiar chill that permeates the room and as I scrunch my eyes clear, I can feel the slightest crackling of rigid skin around them.
It's a smooth, thin, layer of fractured frost. I realize it as I reach up to touch my icy face. It's stiffened my locs, crunched the sheets of the bed. It's the same frost that froze Dustin and I in time yesterday.
Just the thought of yesterday makes my heart sink deep into the hardened pillow top mattress.
How could I just forget about Dustin? A super powered maniac attacked us. Threatened his life. Threatened my life. What if he's hurt or, worse, dead because of me? What about Tory? What has he made of these rumors? He's been silent this entire time.
"No wonder my dreams were so dark and cold." I remark aloud to escape my thoughts as quality red satin sheets crack at my shifting body. "Mom?" I call as I see her space is empty. I imagine my blue flame must've kept her from getting rest.
And what about Keon? my thoughts continue as I dredge my body up. Doesn't he deserve an apology? What if that SIA agent goes after him? What if I never get to make it up to him? Is he trying rile us up like they did my mom and her family?
"I'm here," she returns from behind the doors of her bathroom. She steps out in her plush gray robe and her pressed hair surely wrapped in a silk scarf, a satin bonnet, and a custom designer shower cap. "Is everything ok?"
"Yeah...I just...there's a lot on my mind," I tell her with trembling lips. "And I'm sorry about the ice. As a matter of fact I'm sorry about everything mom. I never wanted any of this to happen." Her bare brown skin shines in the sunlight. Then her brows furl as she playfully rolls her eyes.
"If you'd could read my mind, you'd find just how tame yesterday was compared to all the wild stories up here." She taps the black and pink frill of her bonnet where her temples would be and fills the room with a warm laugh. She sits beside me on the bed and we crack up as the frosted sheets snap. "Don't worry about the sheets. Your father did this all the time. And I'm sorry too Shi," she reveals with an affectionate hug that keeps me locked in place as her laughter fades. "I was a mess last night. And I should've kept it together better than that for you. Mostly, I guess I just feel that everything that's happening to you is my fault. Your father and I really thought we had escaped fate. We fooled ourselves into thinking you'd be so focused on your future you wouldn't ever wonder about our past."
"It's nobody's fault mom," I tell her as I slip from her embrace. "I wanted to tell you and dad everything, but I was afraid of letting you guys down and not being able play ball or not having any friends."
"Even still, you must've been so lonely when you discovered yourself and your power."
"I wasn't. I had Keon. He's the reason I discovered myself and my power. And he helped me understand both."
"Well then remind me to thank him." Mom smiles as she heads around the king sized bed to a massive walk-in closet. "I've taken some time off from my practice to look out for you until things cool off around here. If anything happens, I'll be there."
"There's a lot we need to talk about mom, but I have to check on Dustin and Tory first. I owe them an apology."
"Well first you need to go and take a shower. You look and smell like Friday," Mom quips and the metal hooks of the hangers screech across sturdy, wooden, hanging rods. "But after that you should talk to your friends. And don't be afraid to call Keon either."
"Thanks mom. For everything." I leave her room and head down the halls now illuminated by the light of day. Through the foyer and up the stairs, I retreat to my room and snatch off the charred and smoked clothes from two nights ago.
My dead phone falls from my jacket pocket and I search through my desk drawer for a charger to plug it up. I sit anxiously staring at the red low battery symbol dreading the moment my iPhone will turn on. The moment I'll have to make things right.
I tie up my hair with two locs as the scent of fear coming off my body fills my nose. I'm quick to replace it with the scents lavender and sage.
I leave the shower door ajar as I climb inside. I'm sure to be gentle with it after Dustin fractured it when he stopped that bullet. The tiniest cracks are filled with black and brown particles. At anytime I'm sure it could crumble and break right from its golden hinges.
I shower briskly and even faster choose an outfit. I snatch the red paisley shirt Keon picked out for me from its hanger. Dark blue slim fit Levi's slide up my legs followed by crisp, warm, white socks. I slip on my black givenchy suede boots and as my phone powers on, I hear a litany of notifications.
They come from all over—Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and even my messages—and leave me huddled in a corner. Until suddenly they stop.
I force myself over to my phone and try for a social media notification, but each notification comes up blank. 'Video isn't available' TikTok says. 'This tweet has been deleted' Twitter says.
Then I spot several messages from my team's group chat. Most of them mock me with eggplant emojis. Most of them want me off the team. Though none of them are from Dustin or Tory.
It'd almost be better if it was. At least I'd know where they stand. I don't have a single message or call from Tory. And no new messages from Dustin. Not even Keon.
I try to call him, but his sultry voice tells me to leave a message.
"Hey," my voice shakes. "I want to talk to you about yesterday. I'm headed to our place, but if it's not too late, I wanna sit at the docks this time. I shouldn't have been so cold to you Keon. I'm sorry. So much happened last night, and in all of that, I was reminded that I love you no matter what people might think of me. Or what career opportunities I might miss out on. Just call me back please."
With that, I have no choice but to wait it out. I head downstairs back down the long hall and to a three car garage. I flip on fluorescent lights and walk down three hard concrete steps. I grab my keys off the key hook shelf near dads old work desk.
I slip into my sleek, yellow corvette and turn my engine over. It roars and sunlight breaks in as the garage door retracts. I pull out down the lane and bypass moms silver AMG.
I leave the neighborhood descending down sloping, twisting hills. I pull up on a long stretch of businesses that keep the town thriving. There's a Black Hills farmers market and apothecary, several clothing stores and many restaurants tucked on the busy streets. I can't help but pass Fever and twitch with guilt when I see the firemen's tape covering the front entrance. An unnerving state trooper vehicle sits parked out in front. How's team must still be hanging around town.
I park my car in the second level of the parking garage and walk down to the marina. I sit at the docks and watch the Atlantic waters crest. Boats pull in and out of port and I watch the sea reveal distant barnacles as it sloshes back and forth.
As many times as Keon and I have watched the sun set, we've never done it so close to the water like he wanted.
I spend hours watching the sun and thinking of him and my best friends. I try calling them and texting them. And even try summoning an indigo flame to reach Keon, but nothing works. In two years I've never felt so distant from him. And my friends have been there since before we could walk. What now?
After waiting so long, I give up. I head back to the parking garage when I see Dustin hanging with a group of kids from school. Hazel hangs on his arm as they sit and wait for pizza on the terrace of The Upper Crust.
Dustin looks on edge even with Hazel by his side and his Viper teammates all around him. He carefully watches his surroundings. I would prefer to talk to him alone but he must be avoiding me. I should just keep walking. But I can't. I'm not like him. I can't pretend that nothing happened yesterday.
"I can't believe you even hung out wit bro. How the hell we let a fag infiltrate the team," I hear Bobbie Roberson attack as I head up the stairs and I can feel rage peeking its ugly head out. A red flame too quick for my control escapes me as it heats and shatters a drinking glass beside him.
"Ion know man. I still don't get it," Dustin admits, his words nailing my feet to the wood of the terrace.
"I still say y'all need to go to Coach Haynes about him!" Hazel chimes in, homophobic as always.
"I mean, he a good wide receiver, but he also a receiver. Maybe we should get coach to make him use the girls locker room," DeShea Armstrong, the linebacker with the curly top knot, snickers along with the others.
"So he can do us like he did Celeste?" Alaia, the girl I figure dates DeShea, laughs with everyone else.
"Well which one is it? Am I gay or do I like hurting girls?" I boldly break into their laughter. "Hey Dustin. Can I talk to you for a second?" Everyone directs their attention to me and bursts back into raucous laughter as if I'm the butt of an ultimate joke.
Even still Dustin's been my friend since we were little and no one can stop me from speaking to him. He quickly pulls himself from Hazel's grip and rushes over to me. By the look on his face he's probably embarrassed and wanting to shoo me away, but at least now I have his attention.
"What are you doing here?" He asks in a low voice.
"Well, last time I checked this was a free country. Or am I in the straights only section of the pizzeria?" I chuckle sarcastically and masquerade myself in smugness but not because of him. I want it to seem as if what they were saying is beneath me. That it's not getting to me when it really is.
"Bro, you know what I mean. Why are you here?" I'm right. He has been avoiding me. I can tell in the way he tries to rush the conversation along.
"I was worried about you. Your life was threatened last night. I didn't even know if you were alive this morning." I try to keep my voice low, but my anger gets the better of me.
"Awww Shiloh wants his boyfriend back," DeShea mocks as he gets up like he's running to Dustin's rescue.
"Don't play with me bro," Dustin cuts at DeShea, the gay jokes we've all made suddenly uncool and uncomfortable.
Angry, DeShea turns his attention back to me. "Fuck off faggot," he bites and there that rage inducing word is again. He pushes me and I have to catch my balance on the beam of the stairs to keep from falling down them.
I'm fuming. Anyone who is looking at me can see my eyes shoot daggers at him. I want badly to hurt him. I want him to pay—to feel my pain.
It's unexpected, but just like before my angry thoughts turn into action. His arm catches fire. The fire is deeply red with flecks of burnt crimson. It shimmers mystically as it burns him. It's awful. It's terrifying. But what's more frightening is the fact that, in some way, I enjoy it.
I'm grateful I can inflict my own karma and even more grateful that the attention is taken off of me. He panics as he runs and screams drawing more attention to himself and the others.
"Someone help him!" A random bystander yells and other people gather around the base of the pizzeria's terrace and the stairs. Employees rush from inside to assist DeShea. One of the waiters comes with a pitcher of water. He pours it onto DeShea's arm and he only finds the flame continues to burn fiercely.
Everyone around somehow reacts to the situation, their panicked eyes and heart fully invested in my flame. Their lips beg for someone to end it. But in the crowd I find one bystander who pins me with accusing eyes. I've never seen him before. I didn't even see him when I walked up. And his clothes look out of place.
He wears this formfitting long-sleeved black shirt with baggy black cargo pants. I can just make out a familiar red light blinking from that black device in his ear. Frightened at the sight of another SIA agent, I start to back away to the parking garage and as I do the fire dies out.
"I can't believe I just did that!" I blurt the truth within the confines of my car, beneath the noise of my revving engine, as a wave of guilt floods me. "What came over me?" I can feel my voice shake so I keep quiet and breathe.
I don't understand it. My anger was just, but I've never hurt anyone with my fire before. But it was me. I proved I was capable of burning down a building like they all believe. And their fear and panic. It excited something in me to see it. To get revenge. I enjoyed it.
"Hey!" A voice echoes through the garage as I pull out of my space. I look in my rearview to find the new SIA agent trying to wave me down. I press my foot on the gas only to have to brake when he appears in front of my car.
"What?" I whisper in disbelief. I look back and see the same person moving around the side of my car. He comes to my door and bangs his elbow into my window. The window begins to fragment the more he knocks against it. I open the door just as he brings his elbow down again and it slams into him. I knock him off balance and he falls on his butt.
"What the hell are you doing?" I climb from my car and he quickly recovers. My adrenaline rushes as I confront them. They're identical. Same clothes. Same short, waved, black hair. Same coppery brown skin and twinkling eyes. And that red light pulses in and out on their ears.
"You burned that kid back there." It isn't even a question. Somehow they know.
"Are you insane? You're going to fix my window." I retort knowing there's no way he can prove that the fire was indeed my fault.
"We know it was you. Let's see you do it again." The other one remarks as he moves from the side of my car. He raises his fists and widens his stance as if he's going to strike. I back away from him and he closes the space almost instantly. He brings down a tightly balled fist and hits me dead in the jaw. It knocks me to the ground and I do my best to contain my anger.
"What do you want from me?" I demand. I've always been good at taking and throwing a punch. But something about his hit is disorienting. I feel something I've never experienced before warming my tongue. It must be blood pooling in my mouth except, when I spit it out the ground begins to smoke and melt. "What?" I whisper to myself.
"Bingo. Call it in Muse." One of the twins tells the other and he pushes on the pulsing light coming from his ear. He begins speaking in some military code as the other one leans down toward me. "You're coming with us," he tells me.
"Not if I can help it." We all look back and up to a woman who looks like she just stepped out of a comic book. She has on a black mask and body suit and sleek, metal gauntlets and greaves that glow along the edges where the seams would be. Her hair is in a single black braid down her back. "Still going after teenagers? Dusk must really be desperate."
"Well, Psion, he finds it more efficient to wrangle them in before they decide to peak. Lessens the risk of them going rogue like you."
"You're not taking him," She growls. Her voice is deep and distorted. Probably for her own protection.
"Let's see if you can stop all of us," One of the twins remark.
"Bring it on newbies." They take on these strong mma style stances and so does Psion. Then everything grows quiet and tense like an old western showdown. I look between the three of them unsure of what might happen next when suddenly my body slides across concrete. There's this faint glow around the woman's hands that I notice as she leaps over my body and kicks into one of the twins.
"Get out of here. Now!" She yells. She begins to fight them and more of the twins appear out of thin air. There's so many of them that I'm too shocked to move from the ground. They surround her and one by one they attack her until she wears out and they dog pile her. I can't just leave her like that.
One of them turns they're sights on me and I quickly get to my feet summoning up as much anger and rage as possible. I concentrate on him as he closes in on me and I create a blast powerful enough to knock him away. But even still I realize I'm not strong enough to help her. My rage for them isn't enough.
I start for my car when a pulse expands across the entire parking garage. The men soar through the air crashing into nearby cars and walls before disappearing and the woman, Psion, emerges standing tall. I watch as that same purple glow of her gauntlets fades from her entire body.
"Police are on the way. Go home. Now!" She warns above the noise of car alarms and flickering fluorescent bulbs. And I get into my car without another word. I quickly pull out of the garage just in time to miss two state police cars racing into the garage.
I try to put thoughts of this entire day aside to focus on driving home. When I finally do get home I run to my room, though nowhere really feels safe anymore.
I try to calm the rush of adrenaline and relax. I lay down on my plush bed until the sky turns black and the white moon shines in the sky. Then I hear my mom making her way up to my room. She twists the knob of my door and the purple glow of metal gauntlets beat her inside.
"We need to talk...again," she tells me as she pulls the black mask from her eyes and reveals herself to me.