Chapter 24

Michael

I had a hard time paying attention during Mr. Gerald’s science class. All I could think about was when I’d saved Mary Sanchez a few days ago. It seemed too surreal. Me? Saving people from gangsters? Getting shot and surviving? Blocking bullets with my bare hands? And now I was sitting in a classroom going over simple high school physics?

“Hey,” said a voice to my right. It was Angela, sitting in the desk next to me, the same desk where we’d first met. “Is this what you got for question five?” she showed me her paper.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “I’m still on question two.”

She glanced at my paper, noticing all the doodles. She looked back at me. “Something on your mind?”

I rocked my head sideways. “Yeah… you could say that.” A part of me wanted to just spew out the truth to her, but I had to keep my superpowers secret if I wanted to keep saving people.

We stared at a knot on the corner of my desk for a moment, silence between us. The room was moderately noisy. Most students were working together on the in-class assignment. “Has your dad come back yet?” I asked.

“He’s flying in today,” she said.

“Oh, that’s great.”

We both stared at the knot again for a while.

“Well,” Angela said with a smile. “Would you like some help with your assignment?”

“Uh…” I muttered, looking away from the knot and at her. “Yeah.” I turned the paper back over to the front. “Sure.”

“Alright.” She scooted closer to me. “What are you stuck on in question two?”

“I uh…” I was conscious of how close we were. “I still haven’t read the question yet.”

“Well, that’s a good place to start.”

Chase Whipple, the new soccer captain who sat in front of me, turned around. “Hey Michael,” he said. “Can’t wait to have you back on the team in a couple weeks, man.”

I nodded, returning my gaze to the knot on my desk. “Yeah, me neither.”

“Dude, have you seen this?” He showed Angela and me his phone. I froze.

It showed a news article that had a sketch of a guy dressed in jeans, a light jacket, and a motorcycle helmet covering his face. A few lines were drawn in behind the guy, making it look like he was running extremely fast. The title of the article said, Missing Girl Rescued by Superhero: Calls Himself Orion. There was a second picture in the corner of Mary Sanchez. I sunk down in my seat.

“Orion?” Angela mused. “Like the constellation?”

“Guess so,” Chase said. “The article is just an interview of the missing girl telling her experience. She said this guy could run faster than cars and stop bullets with his hands.”

“Wow, that’s crazy!” I said a little louder than I’d intended. I forced a laugh, but Chase and Angela just gave me funny looks. I stared back at the knot.

“Some think she was hallucinating,” Chase continued. “Some people think he’s Ray Simmons with a helmet on. But, do you want to know what I think?”

Angela nodded, intrigued.

“I think there are multiple super humans.” Chase paused for a moment, as if waiting for objections, but none came. “Orion is one of them. And so is Ray Simmons. Well, maybe. I’m still not sure about him. But there are others.”

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He swiped a few times on his phone and then showed it to us. It was another news article; this one had a picture of the sky with a fuzzy, dark dot in the middle. The title read: Flying Person, Multiple Eye Witnesses Claim.

Angela gasped when she saw it. “He can fly?”

“No,” I said flatly. “People can’t fly.” I was pretty sure about that. I’m a superhuman and I can’t fly.

Angela glared at me, as if I’d just claimed Santa Clause wasn’t real. And then… her expression slowly morphed from angry to suspicious. I subconsciously slid my hand into my pocket, feeling the blue stone there. Angela knew I had the stone. She knew something was very peculiar about it. She had already put the pieces together that Ray may have powers because he may also have a stone. I avoided eye contact with her, trying to look innocent.

“She is in California,” Chase explained. “Most eye witnesses thought she was a woman. And there’s more! A couple banks in Seattle have been robbed; the vaults appeared to be ripped open, and nobody knows how. And last week, a forest fire in Nevada suddenly stopped burning, the trees somehow drenched in water, and it hadn’t rained in months!”

Angela and I listened in silence, taking it all in. I couldn’t believe it. More super humans? More than Ray and me? Did they all have stones like me? Did the meteor shower reach all the way up to Seattle? Or were they mutants? Or aliens? Or maybe I was really the only super human and people were trying to make up stories, including Ray’s story.

I started when the bell rang, yanking me out of my stupor. Chase put his phone away and stood up. “It’s just a theory, though,” he said. “See ya.” He walked out of the classroom along with everyone else.

Angela and I were a little slower to leave. “So, what do you think about that?” Angela asked as she slid on her backpack.

“Huh?” I said. “Multiple super humans? I don’t know. Maybe they—”

“Not that,” she cut me off. “The Orion guy. Another super human right here in Tucson.”

“Yeah. Interesting. I better get to class.” I pulled my backpack on and scuttled out of the classroom, trying to distance myself from Angela, but she kept up with me.

“You want to know what I think?” she said sternly.

“Um…” I walked faster through the hallway.

“I think Orion is either Ray Simmons, or… someone else who touched a glowing meteorite.”

I stopped walking and looked back at her, my breath caught in my throat.

“Now let me think…” She looked me straight in the eyes. “Who else do I know who has touched a glowing meteorite?”

“Look, Angela,” I began. She folded her arms and leaned on one hip, narrowing her eyes. I gently placed my hands on her shoulders. “Believe me. I am not…”

“Michael!” It was Zack. “Michael, I've got to show you something!” He pulled me away from Angela. “Sorry, new girl! Michael and I need to have a cousin-to-cousin talk!”

I followed Zack but looked back at Angela. She just frowned at me as I walked away. I wanted to console her but knew that she would pry the truth out of me. She had basically figured it out on her own already. Maybe it would be okay for her to know the truth. She could keep a secret, right? Maybe, maybe not. I didn’t know what to do anymore! I felt so confused! I hate keeping secrets!

“There’s something crazy I’ve got to tell you, but first you gotta see this!” I hadn’t noticed that Zack was still talking to me until he shoved his phone at my face. It was the news article about Orion that Chase had showed me and Angela earlier. “Look!” Zack said, trying to keep his voice down as we walked into the school plaza. “We’re famous!”

There was a light sprinkle of rain falling, so we headed to a corner under a tree to talk. “I’ve seen it,” I stated.

He seemed a little stifled by my lack of enthusiasm. “Dude, this is awesome! You saved that girl! Imagine what we could do next, together! Team Orion fighting crime and saving the day!”

I shook my head somberly. “I can’t, Zack. My secret isn’t safe. I need to be more careful. Stop using my powers in public.”

Zack moaned. “Come on, man! Are we seriously going to go through this again?”

“No. Because it’s over. No more Team Orion.” A part of me really hurt as I said it. I wanted to use my powers to help people. But, right now… I felt so confused. Angela almost discovered the truth. Other people might make the connection between Orion and me. I could end up like Ray with the press always on my heels. And to learn that there might be more super humans out there was just mind boggling.

Zack glared at me. “I’m sick of this, Michael. I’m done motivating you. It’s because of people like you that corrupt politicians get elected and wars begin and never end. People who are good, but who are too afraid to stand up and do something good. People who have power, but don’t do anything with it.”

“Look, Zack. It’s not like that…”

“It’s exactly like that! And I’m through with it! Team Orion is over!” He tugged on his backpack and walked away.

I stood there, in the corner of the plaza, unsure of what to do, wishing I could just scream at the top of my lungs. Why did my life have to instantly become so much more complicated? Why did I ever touch that stupid stone?

I slunk into a nearby bench, watching the students walking through the sprinkle of rain. They meandered to the parking lots and bus stop, heading home now that school was over. I heard thunder in the distance, a storm was brewing.

Zack didn’t understand. He didn’t have to worry about keeping his identity a secret! He didn’t have to worry about keeping a never-ending lie between his closest friends and family! He didn’t know what it was like to suddenly have powers and be expected to save everyone! No one else understood that! Well, except for maybe…

“Hello, Stoner.” My heart skipped a beat. I turned and saw Ray Simmons sitting next to me on the bench. “Or should I say… Orion?”