I start jogging, at a slow enough pace that the other two can pass me and I can keep an eye on them. Cassidy tires out before Theo, who doesn’t use his power but sprints down the road at top speed anyways, arms out like a plane. I eventually slow to a walk as well; it’s not easy carrying both a full backpack and a kid. When I get there, Theo is hanging on the handle, leaning precariously back. We reach the house and I check the handle. This is one of the locked ones, so I put Benny down and brace myself, kicking the door hard with one foot.

There’s a slight cracking sound but the door doesn’t budge.

“Let me!” Theo says, bouncing on his heels. I raise an eyebrow at his suggestion and he insists, “I can break it down!”

“Can you break it down without setting the whole house on fire?” I ask dryly and he pauses, contemplating briefly.

“Yes, I can do it!” he tells me with confidence. I sigh, my eyebrows scrunching. I want to tell him no and do it myself, but I’m also curious about his skill. How much control does he have over it? How does he use it? So instead, I step to the side, gesturing with my arm to the locked door and praying I haven’t made a massive mistake.

Grinning from ear to ear, Theo puts his feet askew and I tell him again, suddenly concerned once more, “Remember, just enough to break the door open. We don’t want the house on fire!”

He nods, eyes narrowing with concentration. He pulls his arm back and closes his eyes. He looks silly, overly serious, but I wait with bated breath as he prepares. Finally, he lunges his little fist forward with a loud shout.

“Hyaaa!” Theo screams and a loud crunch is heard. The rest of us flinch back as dust and smoke explode briefly. I wave my hand, clearing the air, to see a singed fist-sized hole where the door knob used to be. The edges of the wood are smoldering slightly, but the house isn’t on fire, and when I look through the hole he’s made, nothing is on fire inside, either.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Good job, Theo,” I praise him, giving him a thumbs up. “I wasn’t sure you’d be able to do it. I’m impressed!”

“What’s imp-rest mean?” Cassidy asks, sounding the word out. Theo responds in a loud whisper, “It means she wishes she could do it too.”

I laugh and nod as I very carefully reach through, turning the lock above where the handle used to be. It clicks and the door opens. “Yeah, I kinda do. It was cool. But it was also loud, so let’s hurry inside.” I remember the notification and suddenly feel exposed. Looking around, I scan everywhere, even though moments ago I hadn’t even been thinking about it.

“But there’s no one else,” Cassidy says to me. “Why is it bad to be loud?”

“Just in case,” I tell her. “This game is new to us, so we need to be ready for anything.”

“Don’t worry,” Theo tells her as we carefully open the damaged door and head into the house. “I’ll keep you safe with my fire powers.”

Before, I would have rolled my eyes at the boy’s words. But now, they leave a complicated mess in my head. He’s surprisingly good at his Skill, and it reminds me of the importance of learning mine. But how was I supposed to learn it? Ren’s happened right away, and he just knew. That didn’t give me much help for figuring mine out.

One challenge at a time, I remind myself, and force my focus to the task at hand. There was no upper floor for this house, but there was a small set of stairs leading to a cellar by the kitchen. I hear that now familiar ding and read that the sixth collectible was found. I think of Ren and the kids, hoping one of them found it.

“Let’s check down there first,” I tell them, drawing my attention back to the cellar. Cassidy’s eyes widened in fear and I backpedal.

“How about you guys check up here and I run down there to look?” I say instead and they nod. Cassidy visibly relaxes and turns to find something to sort through. Benny follows suit. I don’t see Theo, but I hear his chatter as he talks with Cassidy and Benny, so I head down to look.

Thankfully, the cellar isn’t very big, with most of the shelves lined with cans of vegetables and jars of fruit and sauce. One corner had some boxes, but it was dark in the room with no light on; one look told me they didn’t have what I was looking for. Going back up the creaky stairs, I check in with the kids to see if they’ve found anything. With shakes of their heads, we continue the search, finishing the kitchen and moving through the living room, and then the bedroom and bathroom. Right after we’d started in the bedroom, we all got a notification that the seventh collectible had been found. My heart twisted; if they had found both, then everyone with Ren was safe. If not, we were running out of collectibles and out of time.