Bruce and Peter made it back to their room and got ready for bed silently until Peter broke the silence, “Things would have been different if you and I were in the restaurant with Father that night.”
Bruce looked up and asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Peter continued, “the gifts that we new students have is in a whole different category than the older students.”
Bruce looked perplexed and Peter expanded, “The older students have the ability to heal and read minds…” he left the statement open-ended hoping Bruce would start to catch on. Bruce did not. “Our gifts, the powers of the younger students, are the ability to bend fire, ice and electricity, and you have super strength.” Bruce nodded his head, but Peter could tell that he was not getting what he was saying.
Peter put it bluntly, “You, Gwen, and I wouldn’t need guns to kill any of the men in the restaurant.”
“Yeah, you and Gwen could use your powers to blast them,” Bruce commented trying to let Peter know he knew what he was talking about.
“Well, you would be able to stop them with your super strength,” Peter added. Bruce looked worried as if the accusation were a condemnation. Peter squinted in thought and then asked, “How super is your strength?”
“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.
"I mean, how strong are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah, you probably have never used the full extent of your strength, huh?” Peter asked.
“Uh-uh. Have you?”
“Yeah, when the wolves attacked my sister and me I used my gift to the full extent that I could at the time,” Peter answered. “With Fr. Maven’s help I hope that I’ll be able to do more.”
Bruce continued to get ready for bed in silence, but Peter’s mind was racing with thoughts.
“They… We have a gym here. We could see how much you can lift!” Peter said in excitement.
“Okay,” is all that Bruce said in reply.
The two boys had stripped down to their boxers for sleep since they had no pajamas or anything. Peter looked at Bruce with his shirt off, and said, “Flex your muscles,” and Peter held up his arms in a display of flexing.
Bruce did the same raising his arms bent at the elbows. Peter looked, but Bruce’s body was just like an average eight-year-old’s; scrawny.
“Hmmmm,” Peter replied. “No offense, but you don’t look super strong.”
Bruce did not say anything. They jumped in their beds, and turned off the lights. They sat in silence for what seemed like ten minutes.
“Bruce?” Peter called.
“Yeah?” Answered Bruce.
“We’re really gonna be good friends, right?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”
“Well, I feel like I’m doing all the talking and you’re not,” Peter said.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Bruce replied.
“No… that’s okay. You don’t have to talk. I just want you to know that good friends are supposed to listen to each other. Even when what the other one has to say is tough to hear.”
“Okay.”
“I’m saying this,” Peter continued, “Because I know you must have a lot to talk about, and I want you to know that since we’re brothers now I’ll always be here to listen to you no matter what you need to talk about. Okay?”
“Thanks Peter,” Bruce responded.
There was a bit more silence, and then Bruce called, “Peter?”
“Yeah?”
“What happened when you fought the wolves? I mean, why did they come after you?” Bruce said in a tone revealing that he had wanted to ask this question for a while.
“I was so scared,” was Peter’s first response. An elongated pause afterword told Bruce that fear was probably one of Peter’s most predominant take-away from the experience. “Margaret was only about three or four months old, and I was eight. We lived out in the country-side in a town that didn’t have a lot of people. Both Margaret and I were outside. I was playing and my mom had put Margaret in a basinet in the shade of a tree in our front yard. My mom went inside for some reason and we were by ourselves.
The sun was going down, and in my town once the sun starts to go behind the hill it’s only up for a couple of minutes. So the change in sunlight while my mom was inside was drastic. However the coming of darkness was much swifter than normal.
I looked up in the sky and noticed the moon was very bright and full. The moment I saw the moon, I heard howling very close by. It was a howl I had never heard before. I looked toward the source which was from the shadows of a nearby forest in front of me. There I saw several pairs of glowing eyes. Their eyes were so big and far apart that I could tell the animals I was looking at were very big. I began to back up toward Margaret so that I could grab her and run inside, but when I got to her basinet the wolves stepped out of the shadows.
I froze when they came into the moonlight. They had muscles in place that only humans should and wolves should not. Their eyes still glowed. I was petrified. They then rose up and stood up on two feet.
I reached into the basinet for Margaret and at that very moment all the wolves bounded towards me at great speed now using all four appendages to run. Before I could even get my hands around Margaret they had closed half the distance.
It was at this moment that I felt more scared than I ever have. I remember it distinctly and can easily take myself back to that moment. I almost instinctively ran to save myself. I had to fight with all the will I had to not run; to stay and stand my ground. I had a moment of decision. I looked down at my sister and how helpless she was, and thought about the possibility of horrible beasts tarring her apart. A change happened inside me at that moment and I was no longer a boy in harm’s way. I was my sister’s protection, and the only hope for her survival. I then turned all my fear into a driving force.
I stepped out in between Margaret and the wolves, and yelled as loud as I could for my father. I knew he would not be able to save me in time, and I was sure I would be killed, but I hoped that he might be able to save Margaret.
The wolves descended upon me and I collected all the inner strength that goes into using my powers together, and thrust my arm outward with my fist clenched, like a punch, at the closest wolf. He exploded in a ball of fire instantaneously in front of the other wolves. This caused the pack to collide, stumble and collapse down to a halt and freeze looking where their brother had once been, but now was a mess of smoking body parts. Before they could gather themselves again I repeated the same attack and another wolf exploded.
This caused the pack to start moving again. They took a couple of steps towards me. I shot out both arms and two wolves went down. Then another one who had still been in motion pounced. I reeled backwards and struck right as he was about to tackle me. I killed him, but I was on my back, covered in blood and had all the air completely knocked out of me. I closed my eyes and clutched my stomach in tremendous pain. It hurt so bad I couldn’t move.
I heard footsteps cautiously approach. I tilted my head up to look but was met with a pair of glowing eyes staring back within one foot of me. That last wolf turned left and then right looking at the mangled remains of his brothers.
He turned back to me and spoke, “You have great power youngling. Power I have not seen before. You are the first person to fell a man-wolf without...” the wolf stopped, contemplating his next words while he growled. “You should join us.”
I looked at the wolf like he had asked me to move to Mars with him. He continued, “My brothers and I are acquainted with a group of human beings like you. There is debate whether we are actually all the same and that my brothers’ and my power is the ability to shift from wolf to man, but in this group you would find a home. You would belong.”
That was the first time that I had heard there were others like me. I thought to myself that whatever group this wolf dealt with was not good, and I was. I would never join a group that set out to hurt others like they had. The wolf narrowed his eyes and I felt that he could read my mind, or at least my intention and he lowered his head in a predatorily fashion. The driving force that had once been my fear was now overflowing in me and I starred at the wolf readying to strike him down.
Right then Margaret shook her basinet. Her movement snapped us both into action. He dove for my neck, and I grabbed him around his as he knocked me to the ground. My hands burst into flame engulfing my grip around his neck.
He yelped and pulled away; easily breaking free from the young strength of my grip. I sat up to get an angle to strike.
The wolf had scampered away a few yards. He stood up on his hind legs and howled at the sky in what seemed to either be pain or anger or both. The mane around his neck, as well as the skin underneath, was scorched and black. The smell of burnt hair was pungent.
“There are others. My pack will never stop coming for you,” he growled now losing his previous enticing tone.
“Well then I’ll let you go,” I replied.
“No act of mercy will stop the…”
“This is not an act of mercy wolf. I want you to take a message to your brothers. I have been given a power that can destroy you, and this means God has created me to hunt every last one of you down,” this claim displeased the wolf. “Tell your brothers you know who will kill each of them.”
“And who then shall I tell them will take their life?” the wolf asked cynically.
“You know my name wolf. Your pack didn’t happen upon my house by chance. You were here to kill or capture me.”
“My pack was not here for you, boy,” the wolf said with a hint of pleasure in his voice.
I did not understand. Then Margaret stirred in her basinet. I began to turn towards her but stopped, and kept my stare on the beast. If a wolf could smile, he did.
“Tell them my name is Peter,” I said.
“Very well. We will meet again in the future boy.”
“Only once wolf,” I said. “We will only meet again once, wolf.”
He departed into the shadows of the forest.
Peter ended his retelling with silence. The room was silent and dark as both the boys lay in bed. Peter was trying to guess what was going through Bruce’s mind. Maybe he didn’t believe the story. Peter wouldn’t have if someone else told him.
After a few minutes Bruce spoke, “Peter?”
“Yeah.”
“Of all the possible people I could have as a brother I’m glad it’s you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because you…” Bruce stopped to think, “I’ve never had a brother or sister before but you sound like the best brother in the world,” Bruce answered.
“Thanks Bruce.”
“You did exactly what I would have done for my sister.. if I had one. Or, at least what I hoped I would have done.”
“Thanks. The memory of that time still scares me so much that I don’t like to think about it,” Peter added.
“That’s what I’m talking about though: Being able to do the right thing when you’re more scared than you ever have been before. I hope I can do that when the time comes.”
“Yeah,” is all Peter could say.
“Because it’s going to happen.”
“I don’t think you have as much to be scared about as the rest of us Bruce,” Peter said.
“Why?”
“Gwen told me that she saw you, when you were outside the orphanage. She said she saw a car drive right into you and bounce off. And then she said she saw you tear apart the van with your bare hands.”
Peter waited for a response from Bruce, but none came. “If we ever get to test your strength we’ll get to see how strong you are. You might be stronger than Superman.”
“How strong is Superman?” Bruce asked genuinely.
“Well, I dunno. He’s just a comic book character,” Peter said as he thought to himself why he even mentioned Superman. Then he realized, “He’s just the only person I have to compare you to.”
In the morning the boys woke up and slowly got out of bed. Once they were dressed they left their room and meandered towards voices in the dining room again. As they made it to the dining room doorway Gwen walked up.
Bruce and her made eye contact and traded an awkward “hey.”
Peter noticed the awkwardness between the two and rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Come sit,” Fr. Maven ordered as he saw the children arrive, “I have an important announcement.” They sat down. “We’ve said grace already so you three will need to remedy that.”
Gwen and Bruce looked at each other with weird looks. Peter held out his hands and bowed his head. Bruce and Gwen took his lead and joined hands.
“Bless us oh Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive. From Thy bounty, through Christ, oh Lord. Amen.”
They started digging into breakfast. Maven let them eat their meal until Peter asked, “What’s the announcement Father?”
“Haze, Logan and I will be leaving tomorrow to recruit several more students. We will be gone for a month or possibly more.”
“A month?!” Mary exclaimed.
Peter quickly looked over at Bruce, catching his attention, and made a muscle flexing motion.
Bruce gave a quick nervous nod understanding what Peter was communicating, but not wanting to get caught.
“Yes Mary. The new students are outside the country,” Fr. Maven replied.
“Like Canada?” Logan asked apparently not aware of his own travel plans.
“Like France, India, and South Korea,” answered Fr. Maven.
“Awesome,” Logan replied emotionlessly as he continued to eat his breakfast.
“What are we going to do while you’re gone father?” Gwen asked.
“You and the other new students will remain here and get started on your studies. In addition to learning how to use your gifts here at St. Michael’s you will also study normal subjects. Mary will be both the mistress of the school and teacher of the lesson.”
The children nodded in silence taking it all in.
“And another thing of which I want to be absolutely clear on: no using your gifts,” he let the order ring in their ears. “What-so-ever. Including lighting candles,” he added as he specifically looked at Peter and Bruce.”
“Well, technically,” Peter interjected, “Bruce uses his powers all the time. He just doesn’t use them to the full extent, soooo…”
Fr. Maven gave Peter an unamused look and responded, “I’m not going to clarify any further. No use of powers. Understood?”
“Yes Father,” they answered, but Peter gave a quick look to Bruce.
“After breakfast, we will talk a bit more about our gifts in general as well as the forces we have been banded together to fight against.”