As Archie and Lara made their way into the home, Bob shuffled his way back under the kitchen window so he could listen in to the conversation. He wanted himself and Wren to remain hidden, in the event Mr. Vasquez returned, they could at least add an element of surprise if he was hostile. He did think to himself however, Lara could handle herself. She had been taking her defence classes seriously and had followed a strict training regime before the events, that bolstered with her new found abilities made her truly formidable.

“Lovely home you have” Archie mused out loud looking at the decor and family photos as they made their way through the hallway of the house, feet landing lightly on the hardwood floor.

“Thank you” Sandra said proudly. She had made real efforts to turn this place into a home since the events.

“How come, you’re not in the main house, or are you guests?” Lara said inquisitively

“Oh, erm. We actually own both properties” Chris said, with some hesitation. “It’s just that this place is a little more modern and feels more secure. You know, with everything going on?”

Archie felt that the words coming from Chris were veiling something deeper, but he didn’t press or continue to pry.

“Cool” said Lara, “we’re not too far from here, maybe an hour or so on foot”.

“You walked?!” Gasped Sandra. “Is it safe? What’s it like out there? We really haven’t ventured far at all.” Her eyes were wide with wonder and fear.

“Heh” Chris said nervously “I hope you didn’t run into any trouble” as he filled the kettle up with water, Sandra clattered around the kitchen, grabbing four mugs from an overhead cabinet.

“Alex, you can come out, it’s ok dear” Sandra said softly to a door across the kitchen. Emerging from the pantry with a large chefs knife in hand, their son emerged. He looked inquisitively at Archie and then softened as he saw Lara who was beaming at him with a friendly smile.

“Hi” he said before turning his head down and looking at his feet.

After a moments hesitation he said “Do you guys have abilities?”

“Yup” Archie responded with a smile, easing the tension “lucky for us, that’s for sure. Right Lara?”

“Ha. That’s right, not sure we’d still be here if we hadn’t received them” Lara said, staring at Archie and telling him not to reveal too much so easily - all with a glance and a furrowed brow.

Archie grimaced, just too bloody friendly for my own damn good, he thought to himself.

“Oh my god that is SO cool. We’ve only met one other person with abilities so far and they are soooooo awesome. What can you two do?” He said, breaking his shy disposition and looking between Archie and Lara as if they were super heroes.

“Ha… erm… Welllllll, mine aren’t that good. I can pick some basic locks and do this” Archie said as he conjured a latte art pen in mid-air and threw it across the room, straight into a large ripe tomato that sat amongst others in a bowl at the centre of their oak dining table.

“Huh…fresh….fresh fruit?!” Archie said jaw agape “I’ve not had anything that hasn’t come out of a freezer for over a week”

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“heh” Chris chimed in again, nervously “we have a little green house by the main residence, we’ve been growing our own vegetables for years” a brief pause and he continued, mind wandering “coming in quite handy now, I guess”.

Meanwhile, Alex, the teenage son stared at Archie in disbelief “you can make stuff out of thin air…?!”

“Not quite… just these” Archie smiled as he conjured a second Latte art pen “I can’t really do much else”

“You must be a low level then” Alex swiftly moved on, looking to Lara. “What about you?!”

“haha. Well, I am the same as our friend Archie here. We’re both Level 1. I can conjure a fire and protect myself. A bit more flashy than our friend here”

In a whiney and elongated voice, Alex chimed “plllllleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaasssssseeeeeeee, show me the fire ability. That’s the coolest thing ever. Even cooler than our friend”

“Oh. And who’s your friend?” Lara said softly

“Erm that’s quite enough now Alex. We’ve only just invited them into our home. After our tea, maybe then Lara can show us” Sandra said, nerves evident in her voice.

“So what does it feel like?’ Sandra continued with a bit more confidence

“What does what feel like?” Archie said blankly

“Having powers. Do you feel different?”

“Oh… erm not really, it’s like they’ve just become part of our bodies, just like our fingers or toes, don’t really think about them until you use them”

“Who’s your friend?” Lara said, a little more forcefully than she intended.

“Ah. He. Erm… well.” Chris stifled his words as he tried to frame what had happened to Archie and Lara. He went on to share the story of the drug gang that had taken over the residences and that they were taken prisoner in the basement of the main hall of their estate. This was another reason they chose to leave their main residence and set-up home in the second house that they used to let out as an overpriced Airbnb during the summers.

Lara knew how the story ended. She was there.

Sandra chipped in towards the end of Chris recounting the trauma their family had been through “and that is when Vasquez came through the cellar door. We were petrified at first. But he saved us.”

“Yes. And as a favour, I’m just helping him out with a few technical bits and bobs to set him up and then, I think we will probably have to leave this place. He stays on the couch down here in the evenings and goes out most days”

“Oh, wow. What are you helping him out with?” Lara enquired

“I… I… well it’s not my business. I am just helping him get online and contact his relatives and friends in Mexico. That’s as much as I know”

“Ah. That is very kind of you” Lara said warmly, putting Chris and Sandra at ease once more.

“Well. We kind of had a proposition for you too, that’s why we knocked on your door” Archie said cheerfully. “You have quite a lot of space here and we were wondering if we could maybe build a bit of a secure fence around a portion of the field next door… and then attach it to your power grid. We noticed you had a lot of solar and stuff… so might not be fully reliant on our weakening power grid?”

“Erm… what would it be for?” Chris said full of suspicion

“We would like to build a community garden. We are trying to help those left behind. We’re arranging a bit of a shuttle run to the military base a few miles away at the weekend for those that wish to leave. But for those that wish to stay, well we want to build greenhouses and fill them with crops to help us become self sufficient as a community”

“Wow” Sandra said “just wow. What an amazing idea. Of course you can” her voice full of wonder.

“We… we will have to speak with Vasquez, I think he had some other ideas for our renewable energy system.”

“No worries, what other idea….” Archie trailed off as he heard tyres moving their way over the gravel driveway.

Alex shouted “Vasquez is back! Can’t wait to tell him we have two new friends with powers like him”

So, that’s how he got himself out of that mess, Lara thought to herself, whilst Archie bristled with nerves beside her.

Alex ran to the front door and greeted Vasquez like an uncle “You’ll never guess what?! Come to the kitchen, quick!”

Archie let out an audible gulp as Vasquez made his way through the doorway, coat in hand. Light blue jeans, white trainers and a jet black t-shirt. Vasquez was filled with tattoos, brimmed with lean muscle and as his cold eyes locked with Archie’s. He shuddered.

“Nice to meet you again” Vasquez said in his thick Mexican accent, his eyes moving to Lara, carefully.