After picking up Joey and Logan we stopped by my house. I had grabbed clothes for me and Joey. Logan was a bit smaller than Joey but he could wear his clothes. Carmen pulled into her drive way. The kids loved coming here. For them it was like a palace. We tossed our stuff by the door. I took our clothes to my room. We were at Carmen’s house so often that we had claimed our own rooms. Joey would stay in my room and Logan would most likely pick to stay with Carmen. That boy adored Carmen. So as not to endure Carmen’s cooking we ordered pizza.
Joey and Logan were content being parked in front of the TV where they would be entranced for hours. The three of us had our noses glued to books. When the boys were tucked in and Adam came over we would talk about the weirdness of the last few days but right now I was more worried about failing algebra. Buzz! It was the doorbell. Yes! This means I can take a break from my homework. Liz answered the door. The pizza guy was some scrawny teenager with a lame uniform and a pizza hat. Liz and I had ordered a pineapple and black olive pizza with cheesy crust. Carmen and the boys were the boring ones that only liked pepperoni.
After dinner we sent the boys to bed. It was 8:00 and Liz had already started yawning. We had finished all our homework so we were content to watch reruns of “Dead like Me.” It’s dark, cynical, and hilarious. I know we planned on waiting for Adam before talking about what was going on but he wouldn’t be here for hours and the boys were asleep. It was the perfect time to talk.
“Liz, I know you had the same dream as we all did. What do you remember?” I asked her. She hadn’t been there at lunch today so she wasn’t on the same turf as us at the moment.
She averted her eyes as she told us, “There was a white boy, a ghost. He told me I had the power of illusion,” she laughed. “Crazy, huh.”
“We all had that dream,” I told her. “I don’t think it was a dream. I think it really happened.”
She sat up, excited. “I’m not crazy! So what does this mean? Do you think we’re really super heroes?” she took a breath.
“Calm down Liz,” eased Carmen.
I had Carmen throw something at me to show Liz the armor. It was the only real proof of anything. “I want to try and control when it appears,” I told them.
“Look what I can do,” said Carmen. “It happened the other night. I don’t know if I can do it again. I was angry at the time and it just happened,” she crossed her legs Indian style and breathed deeply. She laid her hands on her knees palms open. Two breaths later a spark appeared in her hands. A small flame rested. I tipped over backwards. Water? Fire extinguisher? Did she even have a fire extinguisher? If you hadn’t noticed already, I was freaking out.
“Relax Emma, it doesn’t hurt and I think I can control it,” said Carmen.
“Great, you make fire, Emma has armor. What am I supposed to do?” pouted Liz.
“You made coffee appear,” I offered.
“What coffee?” she asked.
“The coffee at Adam’s house. He was out of coffee but when you woke up you poured yourself a cup,” I informed her.
“Pssh whatever. I didn’t make anything magically appear. You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” she replied.
“It’s possible,” added Carmen. “I mean you are named the Illusionist.”
“Hmm,” Liz thought. “Hey Carmen why don’t you ask your necklace buddy if she knows anything about Illusionist’s abilities,” asked Liz.
“That’s a great idea,” I agreed looking to Carmen.
“Lynashia says your power lies in the ability to bend reality. If you believe something to be real then it is real but more importantly others believe. That is all she knows,” said Carmen.
“So it’s like voodoo?” asked Liz.
“Maybe, try something,” said Carmen.
“I don’t know, last time I didn’t even realize I had done anything,” Liz replied, unsure.
“Just try,” I encouraged.
She closed her eyes and waved her arms around I could tell she was concentrating; on what I did not know. She opened her eyes looking disappointed. “Nothing happened,” she Groaned.
“What were you trying to do?” asked Carmen.
“If I tell you I might not be able to do it. I’ll try again,” she answered. “Close your eyes” she instructed. So we did.
“Ok, open them!” she said excitedly. When I opened my eyes Liz was holding a teddy bear.
“Aaww it’s so cute!” exclaimed Carmen.
The next couple hours were spent with all of us trying to figure out what we were capable of and how to control it. By the time Adam had gotten off work and had arrived at Carmen’s I was able to control the appearance of my armor. Carmen had started floating and Liz was surrounded by strange things that somehow she had created and with an imagination like hers, it was a lot of strange things.
“Whoa,” was all Adam could muster.
“Here Adam,” said Liz holding up a flower she had just Created.
“Um thanks?” he said, looking at us for answers.
“We’ve been practicing these new really cool abilities,” said Carmen.
“Adam, we're super heroes!” exclaimed Liz.
There it was, that childlike behavior that only appeared on rare occasions. I had missed it. I liked being reminded of how truly innocent Liz really was. I also admitted to myself that these powers, as freaky as they were, were very…cool. I smiled to myself.
“We don’t know what we are,” said Adam, bursting our bubbles and tossing Liz’s rose to the floor.
I stood up, angry. “Why do you have to be so negative?” I said with vehemence.
“Emma, we don’t know what’s going on here. Think clearly for a moment will you? What makes you think were supposed to be super heroes? That dream? It was just a dream. I don’t have time to be playing pretend. I have enough to worry about,” said Adam, sounding annoyed.
“It wasn’t a dream and you know it,” I told him. He looked away defeated. Oh yeah, that’s right. Who’s in charge? I was being smug but at least I kept it to myself. I wanted to know what Adam’s newfound ability was. When we were trapped in that book Gonzo had said that Adam was a mistake. Does that mean he doesn’t actually have any powers? If that’s true, then he gets exactly what he wants out of life. To be normal and he was right, he already had a lot on his plate. He was always stressed out juggling school, a job, and trying to raise his little brother. If he really did have super human abilities, would he use them? Would he have time to use them?
And would our morals make us heroes or would having power corrupt us turning us into monsters? I know that I have this gift and if I can I will use it to help people. When I was a kid, my mom was a comic book freak and I always liked the tales of heroes and heroines risking their lives in order to protect people.
I never heard of a more noble cause. Was I willing to take up the task? Maybe I was just living a kindergarten fantasy. I had so many unanswered questions. I wanted those answers and I planned on getting them with or without Adam’s help.
“Have you noticed anything different about yourself?” asked Carmen. He looked away avoiding the question.
“I think you’re faster,” said Liz. “Either that or you’ve gotten quieter cuz you keep sneaking up on me,” Liz pointed out. I agreed. He had snuck up on me during lunch earlier.
“Well Lynashia says you have the abilities of a ninja so Liz is probably right,” said Carmen. He pulled his dragon sword from where he kept it hidden, between his shoulder blades and set it on the table. I hadn’t even noticed he had it on him. He looked so tired.
“Do we get costumes, or disguises to protect our identity?” asked Liz, she was having way too much fun. It didn’t seem to bother her a bit; and why should it? We weren’t crazy, this was real. “I don’t need a disguise,” I told her, making my armor appear.
“Now that’s just cheating,” she retorted.
“Oh please, you can conjure up anything you want while I get stuck in this,” I said pointing to myself. I saw a smile work its way across her cheeks. She did a dramatic twirl and ta da!
“What are you supposed to be? A pirate?” I teased. She frowned. Tattoos swirled their way up her arms. She wore blue gloves that had the fingers cut off, black boots, blue tights, and a black halter top that hung to her knees and clung to her tightly with a blue sash. All that looked fine, it was the bandana she wore that made me bust into a fit of giggles. When I could breathe again I told her.
“Try a mask or anything, just lose the bandana.” Carmen Groaned.
“What is it?” asked Liz.
“Lyn won’t shut up,” she frowned. Having a voice in my head other than my own would freak me out. I felt bad for Carmen. “Apparently she’s chosen an outfit for me,” sighed Carmen.
“Well, let’s see it then,” demanded Liz. Carmen snapped her fingers and there it was; she was adorned in a dark green cloak, light green boots, black tights, a light green belt thing, I wasn’t sure but it was at her waist, and she had a black top. It didn’t cover her shoulders but she had sleeves that went to her wrists. The sleeves were attached to the shirt they just skipped the shoulders.
“I think you look like a slut,” I told her.
She glared at me, “I didn’t pick it, she did,” she said in defense.
“I think you look great,” said Adam.
Carmen ignored him, “I’m wearing a cloak! That is
definitely not slutty.” She was right. Maybe I was just jealous because they had cool outfits and I got stuck looking like a member of Arthur’s round table.
“What about Adam?” I asked.
“What about Adam?” replied Adam.
“Lynashia says to just unsheathe your sword. The getup comes with the territory of being a chosen one.” We waited, looking at him. “I am not unsheathing my sword,” he told us.
Liz stood and stretched. With her yawn came the disappearance of all the weird objects she had conjured.
“I am going to bed, it’s late,” she told us. She walked
over to Adam and kissed his forehead. “You need rest. You’re starting to look all wrinkly,” she teased.
Liz was right, it was late but I wasn’t tired. Carmen snapped her fingers bringing back her pj’s. She said good night and wished us sweet dreams. On her way upstairs she turned out the lights leaving the TV as our only source of illumination. The TV flickered. I changed it to the music channel where my favorite song ‘tik tok’ by Kiesha had just started playing.
“You really should get some rest Adam,” I told him. He Grimaced.
“I know but I can’t sleep,” he replied. “Bad dreams?” I questioned. He nodded. I waited hoping he would tell me what they were about without me asking. After a minute had passed by in silence I opened my mouth to ask. “It’s war,” he told me. “Fighting, blood, pain, and it’s always different, never the same battle.” I wasn’t sure what to do. It was clear that these dreams were troubling him but I had never been very good at making people feel better. I was about to attempt some consoling words when he spoke some more.
“Emma, I think they may be memories from my past lives,” he said. That would make sense, I told myself. I sat next to him resting my head on his shoulder. As far as I knew there wasn’t a cure for bad dreams.
“I know these dreams bother you but you can’t function
without sleep. If these really are your past memories maybe you can block them out or I bet you could ask Lynashia if there is a way to get rid of them,” I suggested.
“Thank you,” he smiled. He grabbed my hand and walked me to my room.
“Promise me you’ll sleep,” I whispered so as not to wake Joey.
“I promise to try, good night,” he whispered back.