Emma glided below the water, blowing out air until her lungs felt like they’d collapse. Chin tucked to her chest, straight arms pressed against the back of her head, and her feet out behind her, she waited until her head bobbed to the surface.

She did one breast-stroke arms, sucked in a deep breath, and slid back under the water with the strength of one frog kick. A second kick sent her deeper as she blew out all the air as hard as she could. Bubbles bounced against her eyes. She kicked a third time and glided again.

Here, under water, her eyes closed against the chlorine, the air gone, she didn’t worry about superpowers. No flying. No fireballs. No Super Commission.

Nothing to worry about. A log, gliding through the water didn’t worry. A crocodile. An alligator. Even with all the bubbles gone, Emma still glided from the strength of her last kick.

This moment was her peace. Her sanctuary. Her quiet time. Here, with her lungs empty and the pressure of the water against her ears, her chest, her whole body, the pressure to be an honors student vanished. No more pressure to go to college, to save the world, to get an A, to be perfect. Here, the water sheltered her. Nothing else intruded.

Almost done, she didn’t want practice to end.

The momentum of the last kick ended. Her head bobbed against the top of the water. She took one stroke and found the wall waiting for her. At the end of the lane, Ollie was already toweling herself off, goggle marks around her eyes. Only a few stragglers like Emma remained in the water.

Sebastian had carried their kickboards and pull buoys back to the equipment room. He stood halfway back to the concession tables beside the pool where their bags waited for them. He’d somehow braved the March chill without even a towel.

“You’re one of the fastest on the team, but girl you sure move slow when you want to.” Ollie pulled her big swim parka around her.

Emma laughed, pulled off her cap and goggles, then dunked her head under the water. She came up, water dripping from her hair down her face and her back. The world was waiting for her, but she felt better.

“Your Nan thinks you’re going to speech practice tonight, right?” Ollie asked.

“I am going.” Emma wasn’t a liar. She couldn’t lie to Nan and not go.

“Umm… right, but we’ve got to work on that project first.” Ollie wanted to try out some superhero costume ideas for Emma.

“Project?” Sebastian asked, toweling himself off “You mean the journalism thing? You need any help?”

“No!” both girls said at once.

Sebastian glanced from Emma to Ollie and back again. He laughed like he knew there was a joke he wasn’t in on. “I get it. ‘Project,’ right. You’re going to the dance, then?”

“So far as I know, I’m still grounded, but Ollie’s free.” Emma hoisted herself out of the pool and darted over to her duffel bag. She rang out her hair and started toweling herself dry.

“Well, I guess I’ll see her there.” Sebastian didn’t bother heading to the locker room. Instead, he slipped on a pair of old black sweats over his jammers and tugged on a sweatshirt. “And don’t forget, you promised to help me with my article.”

“I’ll take a look at your list, again.” Emma’s throat tightened at the thought of the list, even as she pulled on Nan’s old housecoat.

“Thanks!” He waved at them and headed out the gate, black sweatpants mostly hiding the wet spots from his jammers. He lived close enough that wet jammers until he got home must not be much of an issue.

Emma hurried as fast as she dared to the woman’s restroom. If she went too fast, the lifeguard watching them would yell at her to walk.

She didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself than the purple housecoat already did, but she was cold. The sun was already setting, and it had been cloudy and chilly all day. Ollie kept pace right beside her, her oversized backpack slung over one shoulder.

“I can’t lie to Nan, so I’ve got to go to speech tonight.” Emma pulled open the bathroom door. The showers were already full since this bathroom didn’t have as many as the campus locker room. Guess she’d to settle for changing into dry clothes. “She’ll skin me for sure if she finds out that I didn’t go.” That might not have been true. Nan hadn’t spanked Emma since she was a kid, but Emma didn’t want to find out if Nan’s threat was real or not.

“That project is the most important thing going on right now, isn’t it?” Ollie asked.

“Sure is.” Emma headed into the locker room. Emma needed a superhero costume.

“We’ll work on it at my house a while. Since I’m supposed to be at speech, Mom took a late shift at the diner and won’t be home until after nine. That gives us at least an hour to… work on the project.” Ollie hesitated before the last, struggling to speak in code.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

They hurried to Ollie’s house, which was both older and smaller than Emma’s trailer. But it was a real house with wood floors and solid walls. With Ollie’s mom gone, no one could overhear them talking about Emma’s superhero costume and mask.

“So you’re for sure in on this thing now?” Ollie unlocked the door.

“Yeah. I guess so.”

“You guess so?” Ollie turned right as she entered the house, putting her into the kitchen. She yanked a tupperware out of the fridge. “I thought you wanted to be a superhero.”

“I don’t. But I want to be ready if I have to do something again.” Emma had to move again so Ollie could shove the tupperware in the microwave. “With that Agent Johnson and all the bad stuff about supers in the news, I can’t go out there without hiding who I am.”

“Got it. So, definitely a mask—”

“But one that I can wear with my glasses and see.” Emma turned sideways to shift her duffel out of Ollie’s way. “Because I was so scared I might hit Hannah or Hunter’s car.”

“Right.” Ollie frowned as she squeezed past Emma again. “Just go sit at the dining table. Stop following me around the kitchen.”

“Sorry.” Emma shuffled over to the table and plopped down, dropping her bags. Even dry, she felt chilled.

“I borrowed a few masks to try out. And if none of those work… well, I’ve got a couple other ideas.” Ollie continued to mess around in the kitchen.

“What about clothes? I mean I don’t have super speed. I’ll have to change my clothes or everyone will figure out I’m me because I’ll be wearing whatever I was wearing. Hiding my face isn’t enough.” Emma blinked in surprise when Ollie pulled some bread out of the dishwasher.

“It’s broken, and I figure that’s why most comic book superheroes wear spandex.”

“What?” Emma asked, trying to wrap her head around the dishwasher bread.

“Spandex. You can wear it under your clothes since it doesn’t add a lot of bulk. Then, ditch your clothes and boom, instant superhero. Since you can fly, maybe you can drop your clothes on a roof or something.” Ollie slapped the bread onto two plates and glopped some leftovers onto the bread. “One sandwich or two?”

If the not touching thing was… rigidity, maybe she should try the mixed up food. Besides, between swimming and practicing flying by the creek, Emma was starving. “Two. And what’s broken?”

“The dishwasher, so we keep the bread and stuff in it,” Ollie said like that was the most natural thing in the world. “The spandex is what superheroes wear so they can change fast.”

Did she really want to eat a mixed-up sandwich on dishwasher bread? “But I hate wearing spandex.”

“Then you’ll have to carry something with you. Like always. And be able to sneak off and change before you can save someone. This way, you only have to yank off some clothes. Way faster than changing.” Ollie set the plates on the table. “Besides, you’re in a swimsuit half the time anyway.”

“That’s different.” Emma eyed the dishwasher bread sandwiches.

“Whatever.” Ollie headed to her room and returned with a small box. “Start with these.”

While her leftovers sandwiches got cold, Emma tried on mask after mask that Ollie had taken from the costume room, but they all made seeing through her glasses difficult.

After the last one, Emma gave up. “I’m not being a superhero if I can’t hide my face.”

“I’ve got another idea, but you’re not going to like it.” Ollie grabbed her backpack.

Emma’s stomach sank. “Why wouldn’t I like it?”

Ollie yanked out what looked like an oversized tube of lipstick. “I know you don’t like makeup or how it feels on your skin, but if you can’t wear the mask with your glasses…”

Ollie held up the tube—a green stick of face paint. “I borrowed this from the drama room, too. Remember how they put on Oz when we were in seventh grade?”

“Why green?” Emma asked.

“Because they call you Dragon Girl.” Ollie shrugged. “Besides, it was the biggest tube they had.”

“I don’t want to be called that.” Emma took a bite of her sandwich. Chicken, stuffing, and broccoli all mixed together. She gagged and set the sandwich back down. Should have asked for just one. “I don’t breathe fire. I’m not fireproof.”

Ollie laughed. “You fly and it looks like fire comes from your mouth.”

“No, the videos show the fire appears a foot or so away from my face when the two streams of liquid combine. Like Greek fire.”

“You don’t get to pick your superhero name.” Ollie crossed her arms. “Face it, you’re Dragon Girl.”

“I’m not a dragon.” Emma chewed her lip. “I should to be called… Geek Fire!”

Ollie laughed. “I like it. I really do. The play on words of gleek, Greek, and… you’re kind of a geek, but no one will call you that.”

“Sure they will. If we put it on my costume and I post a couple anonymous wiki articles about me.”

“Not going to work. The news already called you Dragon Girl.”

“I’m not Dragon Girl.” She had to take control somehow. “And I’m not painting my face with that stuff.”

“Em, sweetheart, you’re being unreasonable.” Ollie headed to the sink. “You say you need to hide your identity, but if you won’t wear spandex or a mask and refuse to paint your face.”

“I…” Emma shook her head, words sucked. She hated words, even with Ollie who got her, words didn’t always work.

“Either you’re doing this or you’re not.”

Ollie was right. Whether or not Emma wanted it, she had powers and she couldn’t stand by if something happened. And she’d asked Sebastian to put the scanner on her phone.

And, if Emma was going to help people, she had to be ready.

Ollie handed Emma a small box from her backpack. “And I made you this cool headband, too.”

Emma opened it and found a weird twisted metal, papier mâché, scaly thing.

“If I made it right, it should hook onto your glasses.” Ollie glanced down at the table and back up at Emma.

“Thanks, Ol.” She picked up the headband-thing. It was surprisingly light.

“Try it on.” Ollie reached for Emma’s glasses and slid the arms into sleeves down the side of the headband-crown thing.

It did look like a dragon headpiece. Tears pricked Emma’s eyes. Her stomach dropped. “I’m scared.”

“I know, Em. But, if something else happens, you won’t have your face hidden again by sheer luck. Luck kept your identity secret when you saved Hannah. But now, you've got to be prepared, or else…”

“Either I’ll be stuck and want to help and not be able to help, or else that EastTech man will get me.”