The alarm I set on my phone went off and blasted my tired ass like a bomb. It was set for seven in the morning, the time that Lori and Lizzy insisted I wake up. Because of the stupid time zone change and the adjustments I had been making to the new place, I didn’t end up getting to sleep until about two in the morning. I fumbled with my phone, dropping it once before finally getting the alarm shut off, letting the details from the previous day slowly trickle back into my groggy mind.
Rosie and Alex were given a quick healing session outside of the training room. Alex’s ears needed some work, and they ended up having to wheel him out on a gurney despite his insistence that he was fine. Or maybe it was because he was insisting that he was fine and thrashing about, trying to get free that they felt the need to strap him down to a gurney in the first place. Because of the calm demeanor he showed before, I wasn’t expecting him to put up that much of a fit about being healed.
Rosie was much more cooperative about her healing. Her tooth was regenerated, the bruise on her stomach gone, and they had to heal a small fracture in her jaw. When they finished with her, she walked back with them and did not have to be wheeled out like her opponent did because she was much more cooperative about the whole healing business, something the healer made sure to say loud enough that Alex heard.
After that, Lori took me back through the horrible maze of halls and sadness to get me back to my place, and I’d really started to hate the entire concept of architecture. I didn’t even bother trying to learn the ways around, knowing I’d need a map or something for that. She did insist that there was an app I could download to my phone that would show my position and the surrounding area, and while a bit on the creepy side, would solve my issues of wandering around aimlessly until I died of dehydration. Still, her help was undoubtedly appreciated, because it would have taken me hours to find my way back home.
When Lori and I showed up back at my place, Shelly insisted she come in too, and even welcomed her with a hug. Given their initial meeting, Lori was understandably hesitant to accept both the invitation and the embrace. With a little gentle prodding and insistence from Shelly, Lori accepted both in the end. My sister wasn’t the kind of person to hold a grudge for long. Since Lori was part of the reason Shelly got to use a beautiful new kitchen, that probably made my friend okay in my sister’s book. We ate an early dinner with Lori joining us. After she left, I spent the rest of the day unpacking and helping my sister set things up around the place.
“Crap, why did I agree to wake up so early?” I asked out loud, trying to comb through my scrambled memory. I tried to think back, starting with lunch. There was that, the arts and crafts store, and the sparring. That was when it hit me. “Oh man, I have to meet Lizzy at her place soon.”
After the dust settled from the sparring session, Lizzy pulled the two of us aside. She insisted that I come by her home no later than eight in the morning because she had some kind of present to help me with my own training that was on the schedule. Neither she nor Lori would tell me what that meant. When I pressed for more info, they just shared a knowing look with each other. They didn’t want to tell me just what training would consist of either.
I threw off my covers and stumbled my way to the door, uselessly flailing my arms around in my dark room. In my old room, I would have easily been able to find the walls around me, but this room was just too big. Everything was too spacious, and I didn’t have enough furniture put down to help guide me in my temporary blindness. It took me too long to remember that I could just use my phone as a light, so when I turned on the screen, the light burned my eyes. My first full day at Luna was not off to a great start.
Blinking the sleep away, and with the assistance of my phone, I found my door. I was finally out of the room where my clumsy self could manage to hurt himself on nothing. Unsurprisingly, Shelly was already awake, sitting at the kitchen bar. She tapped away at her laptop and sipped on a hot cup of coffee. Next to the laptop sat a small headset in case she needed to take a call.
“Morning,” I greeted her with a yawn.
“And a good morning to you,” she replied, not looking up from her screen. She took a small sip of her drink before continuing. “Lori said she’d be here at around seven thirty, so make sure you’re ready.”
“Sure, sure,” I said, walking over to our fridge. I wasn’t expecting anything in there except the food I brought home yesterday for Shelly, but there were actually a couple of things ready to make some breakfast. Still, I didn’t feel like taking the time out to make a proper breakfast, so I opted to go for the easy route. I grabbed the meal I nabbed for Shelly from the restaurant. “Hey, do you care if I have this wrap I brought back yesterday? It was for you, but since we ate so early, it was just sitting in here all night.”
“Huh?” Shelly turned around and saw that I was holding the plastic container. “Yeah, of course. You don’t really have that much time anyway. Is this going to be an everyday thing?”
I shrugged and sat down next to her, grabbing a couple of paper towels. “Couldn’t tell you. I don’t even know what I’m doing today.” I took a few bites of the wrap and was glad that it was one that was meant to be eaten cold. I didn’t pay that much attention to what I grabbed since Shelly wasn’t as picky an eater as I was.
“Look, I’m glad that you already made plans with people, but make sure you know what you’re doing,” Shelly said. She closed the laptop and gave me a hard look. “Don’t let people push you around and make you do things you’re not comfortable doing.”
I swallowed another bite of the wrap and set the rest of it back into the container. “I promise, I won’t. If something like this happens again, I’ll put my foot down.”
My sister narrowed her eyes at me, clearly not satisfied with my answer, but gave up and just nodded. She opened her laptop back up and resumed her work. I stared at it, wondering why she even bothered to close it for those few seconds if she was just going to continue working. Instead, I focused on what any good citizen should, and that is eating their breakfast. I killed off the wrap and threw all the trash in the garbage can.
“You really should have eaten that, Shelly,” I told her, licking my fingers. “It was pretty good.”
“I’ll get one eventually, don’t worry,” she assured me. “Oh, by the way, you’ll be getting your laptop today, so you can finish out high school. Only half the year left. Don’t think you can start slacking now.”
It took some recalling, but I did remember Shelly telling me that I’d be provided with a laptop to work online. That was handy because I wasn’t sure we had the money to buy a new computer for me to use. In time, sure, since there weren’t really any bills for Shelly to pay at Luna, but we didn’t have the spare cash lying around to buy a laptop at that moment.
“Awesome, I can’t wait to wrap things up.”
“That’s my scholarly brother. Make sure to do well in school, or none of those nice girls you’re hanging out with will want to date you.”
I groaned and hung my head. “Don’t be like a grandma on some TV show telling me about ‘all the nice girls’ out there who might want to date me. It’s a big enough step that I’m talking to people at all.”
“Is it though?” Shelly asked, once again looking up from her screen. “You don’t seem to have too many problems with it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see it happen, but maybe you’re better at being social than you give yourself credit for. You never really tried to make friends before. That doesn’t necessarily mean you were bad at it.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” I said, shrugging. “They’re pretty good about taking the lead here. I’ve hardly gotten a word in edgewise before something else happens. It makes it a bit easier to converse with people who make it like that. Anyhow, I should get dressed and ready to go.”
I went back to my room and did my usual morning routine. Showering, brushing my teeth, combing my hair, putting on deodorant, shaving, and making sure I looked enough like a presentable human being that I could show my face in public. Doing all that took me about thirty minutes, so my appointment with Lizzy wasn’t too far off. I went back out to the living room to wait for Lori to come and get me.
The next fifteen minutes were spent mostly in silence while waiting. The only noise came from Shelly typing away and the robot vacuum that protected us from the harmful debris that may be on the floor, like the helpful family friend I knew he was. I still couldn’t quite grasp just how much more we had at Luna. It still made it feel like it wasn’t quite home, so I knew I needed to work on adjusting more. Still, for everything nice we had here, not having a real window in my room was bugging me more than I had been expecting it to.
Right as I was about to ask Shelly about hanging up some soft lights on a string, there was a gentle knock on our door. I got up and checked through the door’s peephole, and as I had expected, saw Lori on the other side. She was wearing a yellow dress that contrasted well with her darker skin, and just made her look a little bit brighter and happier than she did the day before. I opened the door and welcomed her with a wave, Shelly greeting her the same way, still barely looking up from her laptop.
“I’d love to stay and chat, but I slept through my alarm,” Lori informed us, still not sounding like she was in a hurry. “Lizzy’s place isn’t too far away, but she is very punctual about her appointments, so let’s not make her angry.”
“Oh yeah, don’t do that one, little brother,” Shelly chimed in. “Do not be late for an appointment with a girl. I’ve had a boyfriend figure that one out the hard way.”
“Right, great idea, let’s get going,” I said, ushering Lori out the door. I wasn’t in the business of trying to make a superpowered girl angry with me when I was still effectively a clueless beanpole.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
One night of sleep was truly not enough to free me of my eternal hallway nightmare. I could already feel my spirits getting depleted as I was once again guided through the stupid, hellish maze. I needed to get that app that Lori told me about that had the layout of the complex. I also needed to get over my disdain for the design of this place and just figure it out.
A few more minutes of walking later had us standing in front of a door that was painted a light shade of pink, making it one of the only doors that really stood out. I was hoping that it was Lizzy’s place because I really appreciated how she broke up the monotony of everyone having the same style door. Even her doorknob was different, being one of those nice glass ones instead of the normal ones that everyone else had.
Lori looked at her phone and then up at the number plate on the door. She gently rapped her knuckles on the wood. “Yep, this should be her place. The number of her place matches the number she sent me in her text. Lizzy was one of the kids who came over here alone, so she turned her place into a salon.”
“Kids were allowed to come here alone?” I asked, skeptical of how that would fly with both parents and the law.
“Yeah, it can be thought of as a sort of boarding school,” Lori said, taking a step back from Lizzy’s door. “You’ve seen how things are run. People are taken care of here, kids especially. Parents are allowed to visit throughout the year, as long as they notify Luna, so they can make preparations. Kids are provided the means to video chat with home and do their schooling, all while being in a safe place to learn how to control their Anomalies. Many parents are worried though, so they’re allowed to spend some time here before they go back to their homes.”
Before I could think about that information, the door flung open to reveal a smiling Lizzy. She wasn’t quite as fancy as she had been during the sparring match. There was no dress that hugged her curves or two-piece swimsuit that made me want to look down at the floor. Her hair was down and more disheveled, she had no makeup on, and instead of a dress with heels, she was in a tank top and shorts. It was nice to see her in a more relaxed state.
“You’re early! I like that. Sorry, you still caught me in my pajamas.” Lizzy wrapped her arms around Lori. When she broke that embrace, I saw her turn to me with her arms extended, and I found myself also caught in a hug. I froze and stood there awkwardly for a second before Lizzy quickly broke the contact. “Crap, I’m sorry, you don’t like touching.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I’ve never been good with people touching me when I’m not expecting it. I’ll get over it eventually. Really, I want to. It’d be nice to get hugged without freaking out.”
I didn’t want her to feel bad for it either. There wasn’t really anything wrong with what she was doing, and she was trying to keep it in check, so I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. No need to make something out of nothing, especially when it was a gesture done out of kindness.
After one small and awkward pause, Lizzy invited us into her home, which looked how I anticipated after seeing her pink door. Lots of makeup…things that I didn’t know the names of. There were a few seats facing small tables that were housing tall mirrors. Bright lights bordered the edges of the mirrors. Lots of combs, brushes, and hair dryers were strewn about on top of the tables. A muted, medium-sized TV hung above the center mirror, with some morning talk show on.
“Sorry, you caught me in the middle of reorganizing,” Lizzy said, clearing off one of the seats. “Business has been pretty down since all the attacks started. I don’t get it, it doesn’t look like people are really acting any different here, but no one’s come in lately.”
“What is it you do exactly?” I asked, looking around her place. It seemed to have the same layout as my own, so I wagered that most of the housing units here were similarly modeled.
“Beautification! Can’t you tell by all my wonderful tools here? Wait, didn’t I tell you I wanted to cut your hair yesterday?” Lizzy wiped her hands on her tiny shorts, done organizing everything she needed for one seat and table. “Now, sit your butt down so I can get to work.”
“Wait, what is it you’ll be doing to me?” I took a couple of steps back from Lizzy, who was just shaking her head. “Sorry, but I don’t really want a face full of makeup.”
“Men, right? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” Lizzy turned to Lori and kept shaking her head. “I’m not going to doll you up, but this is part of my Anomaly, so be a good boy and cooperate with me. I promise it won’t be bad, you have my word, but it’s kind of hard to explain what my power can do.”
With a dejected sigh, I sat down in the seat that she cleared. I could hear Lizzy praising my good decision-making, but all I could think about was how I was just letting someone else guide me along and not really putting my foot down when I needed to, right after I told Shelly I wouldn’t let people push me around. The only thing that I could use to justify this instance was that Lizzy and Lori both insisted to me that it would be helpful. I didn’t even focus on what they were saying anymore. I just hoped that this wouldn’t end up with my face exploding or something.
“These are very special cosmetics that I get from someone else who makes them with their own Anomaly,” Lizzy said, grabbing what looked like a stencil and a tiny pallet with a bunch of bright colors. “I don’t know how he does it, but they’re entirely safe on skin, wash off only with a special solution or two weeks’ time normally, and are really just fantastic. He makes paints and other artsy stuff, which I guess is kind of similar, so he must make a killing off that.”
She got some yellow and started to move the stencil thing around on my cheek. I jolted and got goosebumps from how it tickled my cheek, and Lizzy chastised me for moving around already. I tried to focus on the captions that were running along the bottom of the TV in an attempt to make myself not fidget. It wasn’t doing me a whole lot of good. Morning talk shows weren’t really my thing.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lizzy grab a second stencil, put blue on the end, and then got back to work on my face. I tried my best to sit still, and I thought that I was doing a pretty good job until Lizzy scolded me again.
“Dammit, Ethan, I need you to be still.” I could tell Lizzy’s concentration and focus were increasing. “This is generally something I have to do well for it to work.”
I really wanted to apologize. I wanted to sink into the seat. If she needed me completely still, no need to open my big mouth or move to mess it up more. I just kept my eyes glued to the TV show, where they really weren’t talking about much. Some celebrity and their “sure hit” coming out in the summer were the main focus, and it did make for a good enough distraction.
“Done!” Lizzy exclaimed, putting her tools down. “That should help you out.”
“That was faster than I thought it’d be,” I said, standing up. I turned my face and looked at her mirror out of the corner of my eye. On my cheek appeared to be a yellow gift box with a blue ribbon going around it. It was cute. “What…is it? What does it do?”
“My Anomaly lets me put makeup on someone’s face and give them powers depending on what I make.” Lizzy puffed out her chest and a proud look came over her face. “For you, I created a present on your face to ‘help you find your gift’, so to speak. The effects usually get more potent if I put more effort into them. Luckily, I’ve been doing makeup for years now, so getting something decent doesn’t take too long.
“It’s a little abstract, isn’t it? It’s almost some kind of reality or luck manipulation. How does my power know what to do? Why does it only work with makeup? It’s so weird. I have no idea how any of what I do works. It just makes sense and feels right, like using an arm or a leg.”
I took a closer look at the little present that was on my face. Like she said, it looked decent, but she probably could have really made it look special if she dedicated more time to it. Her explanation of her power got me thinking, though. “Wait, I thought you said your power was hard to explain? You seemed to do it pretty well.”
“Oh, you’re no fun,” Lizzy said, sitting down and starting her own makeup. “It was to build drama and suspense. Really get that adrenaline going. Who knew just what I was doing? That was supposed to be part of the mystery.”
“I mean, you’re the one who told me all about it right after. You blew your own secret.”
“Shush, I’m busy now,” Lizzy said, ignoring my statement entirely. “I’m going to be watching you train today, so you can wait for me to finish if you want. It’s been a while since I had friends over.”
Lori checked the time on her phone and nodded at me, so we both took seats at Lizzy’s dining room table. I was still tired and not really in the mood for more conversation, so I focused on the morning talk show again, unmuting the TV. Whatever celebrity they had on there was gone and they’d moved on to someone else; a younger man who had a frizzy, eccentric haircut.
The plastic-looking cohosts welcomed him in that generic, celebrity way people always did on TV. The male host gave him a brief handshake and the female gave him a light hug, all three of them wearing forced smiles. It all looked so strange, like none of them wanted to be there at all. They all looked so robotic doing such mundane actions, like sitting or drinking out of mugs, that I was starting to think that it was staged.
“Welcome back to Rise and Shine America!” the female host exclaimed, her smile toward the camera looking a touch more natural than it had before. “As always, we’re your hosts Lily and Jacob Howe, no relation.” She paused to look at the papers she had laid out in front of her and let the studio audience applaud and whistle. I knew that those kinds of talk shows were pretty fabricated, but man, it really did just feel like a forced laugh track in a bad sitcom.
“We’re so thrilled to have you, Mr. King!” Lily’s robotic cover broke for a moment to reveal genuine excitement. It looked like Jacob had a similar shine in his eye about this fellow. I couldn’t help but wonder how dull the entire thing got for the two hosts. “You’re an expert on these freaks that have been popping up, right?”
“Whoa there, let’s not call them freaks, okay?” Mr. King adjusted his tie and coughed awkwardly. The mood seemed to drop a bit when Lori and Lizzy overheard the comment from Lily. “They’re people, just like you, just like Mr. Jacob, and just like me. Any occurrences that we do not yet understand doesn’t strip them of their humanity.”
“What ‘humanity’ are you talking about, Mr. King?” Jacob asked, his excitement quickly replaced with outright contempt. “The only ‘humanity’ around them appears to end up crushed or maimed.”
“Well, regardless of your very professional demeanor here, I firmly believe that these individuals are blessed with gifts.” Mr. King shook his head, clearly disappointed at the whole event. “There was a very brave gentleman who gave his life to let others—others like us—escape in Seattle. But, to answer your first question, I would not consider myself an expert, merely an observer and thinker. One that you still invited to this show, I’m happy to remind everyone.”
“Oh? Then how do you propose you have anything to contribute here?” Lily impatiently tapped the tips of her fingers on her long desk.
“Are you always this hostile to guests, Ms. Lily? I understand that times are impossibly difficult right now, but these are our friends and family. Who’s to say that you don’t have a man or a woman in your life that can fly?”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of this now,” Lily said, any façade of interest or acceptance gone. “Security will escort you out. The notion that these animals who’ve done nothing but ruthlessly slaughter our nation’s innocents aren’t abominations is not one that’s welcome here, so please leave in a calm and orderly fashion.”
“Please, save your manpower for those that you cower in fear from. I’m more than capable of leaving myself.” Mr. King stood up to leave, tense security walking up behind him. He waved them off and made his way out of the camera’s view without offering any further words.
Unnerved, I went to shut the TV off. I quickly scanned the faces of both ladies near me. Lori looked sad and dejected and Lizzy almost looked like she’d seen a ghost. When she saw me glance her way, her facial expression changed to match Lori’s. I wasn’t sure why she tried to play tough. I was terrified too. The entire unprofessional act and seemingly inviting a random guy on their show seemed done to create fear about people with powers.
And as much as I hated the near-choreographed response from the crowd, it’d have been nice to hear at least a couple boos when they asserted that we were less than human.