There hadn’t been a lot of things in the world that made me cry. After losing my parents, seeing people die was one of them, and McLeod’s display was one of the worst things I’d ever seen. I put my hand across my mouth and let the tears flow. I couldn’t imagine just how many lives had been changed in the span of a few minutes. I didn’t have any numbers, but I guessed at least a hundred people had perished. And for what? A display of power against those who were different? I tried to control my breathing because I felt like I was about to get sick.
Lori didn’t look much better. She was still looking pale, but her reaction was more panic. She was frantically searching for something in her pockets and backpack, but she couldn’t find whatever it was. She screamed in frustration and kicked the desk. The small girl immediately winced and started favoring her foot.
“Ms. Davis, I understand what we saw was heartbreaking, but I must ask that you do not damage school property,” Mrs. Sway said. Through her shaking voice, she was still trying to do her job as a teacher. Her normal reaction brought me back to reality. It told me that, despite what I saw, I couldn’t just focus only on that. There were things happening in front of me.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Sway. You’re right, I shouldn’t have done that. I just can’t believe what we saw.” Lori looked ashamed for her little outburst, though I could hardly blame her myself. She turned her focus toward me. “We have to go.”
“What? Why do we need to leave?” I asked, shaking my head. I knew what happened was huge, but I did still have other responsibilities.
“Look, I understand that you’re upset. You’re confused and maybe you’re hurting, but this is something else. Something I don’t fully understand, and we just really need to go, okay? I know we’ve known each other for all of an hour, but can you trust me enough for this?” There was so much desperation and pleading in her brown eyes.
My mind felt like it was spinning, but her desperation got to me. “I…whatever, sure. Do you know about this? Is that what you were hiding? If you expect me to go with you, I’m going to need the truth.”
My feelings were a mess. Anger, sadness, confusion, and fear. I didn’t know what to pin the blame on for each one, but my decision-making was suffering. It made no sense to trust a stranger I hardly knew. Under rational thinking, I doubt I would have done anything like that. Then again, my once-rational world had been flipped on its head.
The school’s PA system crackled to life. “Attention all faculty and students! An attack has taken place in Vancouver. No official details have been released, but it is believed that it was a terrorist attack. Casualties have not been confirmed, but they are expected.” A moment of silence hung around after the announcer’s last sentence. “Principal Jones has deemed the attack too close in proximity to Cassidy Wheeler High School to ensure the safety of everyone here. With that, for the safety of our students and faculty, we are closing the school until further notice. Buses have yet to leave, and they will return you to your usual stops. For those who do not leave via bus, we will get in contact with your legal guardians. Please, exit the school in a calm and orderly fashion. Pay attention to local news broadcasts for further updates. Thank you.”
There was a click that signaled the end of the announcement. I stared at the speaker on the wall and wondered what everyone who didn’t see the broadcast was thinking. Did they think it was some sort of hoax, drill, or overreaction? Did they grasp that Vancouver was only about seven hours away? I started to fidget nervously when thinking about how others might react. The lack of details might have saved us from panic, at least initially.
“Well, children, I believe you heard the nice lady,” Mrs. Sway said, gathering her belongings together. “The school is closed until further notice, and I’m not going to go against their wishes. I know you take the bus here, Ethan. I’m assuming Ms. Davis does the same, yes?”
We both nodded, and she smiled at us. She casually grabbed her bag and left the classroom, hardly looking concerned about anything.
“What’s happened, Lori?” I asked, putting my face in my hands. I rubbed my thumbs over my closed eyelids. I kept replaying the moment when the camera captured all the people burning alive in the bright, blue flame. The horrible screams echoed in my head. Tears stung my eyes when I thought about the lives that suddenly ended.
“I promise, I’ll do my best to fill you in, but there are things that I don’t know myself. Can we go to your house?” Lori placed a small hand on my shoulder. I flinched at the sudden contact, which made a guilty look appear on her face. I felt bad about it. She only meant to comfort me. After Mom and Dad died, with all the screaming and touching people did, I grew scared of contact with groups of people crowding me.
After thinking about what she said, I had to shake my head. “No. There’s too much going on right now. I’m sorry, but I don’t trust you enough to let you into my home. If you know anything about what happened, you need to be up front with me.”
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I wasn’t about to risk the safety of the family I had left by trusting a stranger. Really, I shouldn’t have been alone in a room with her at that point. Curiosity, even mine, was a strong motivator.
Lori grimaced and flung her head back before taking a deep breath. “Fine, but this might be hard to follow, at least at first.” She sat down in the seat in front of me and looked me in the eyes. “There are people with superhuman abilities in this world. We’re not entirely sure how many, but our lowest possible estimate is six digits.
“’We?’ You’re one of them?” I asked, my grip on my desk tightening. I debated running out of the room right there, but I wasn’t sure how far I could make it if she was like them.
Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Yes and no. I’m one with superhuman abilities, but I’m not one of them.” She pointed toward the projector screen. “Absolutely not. If you don’t believe anything else I say, at least trust me that I’m not like those who attacked Vancouver.”
“I’m sorry. That was a…rude way to phrase my question,” I said, softening my grip. “But who are they?”
Lori shook her head. “I have no idea, but they’re for real. There’s a reason why with the large number of us, you haven’t heard anything about superhumans. Well, anything you’d think was true, anyway. There are many different groups and factions in our little world, but none have gone out of their way to reveal themselves on a scale like that. The fact that this McLeod guy did is not good. Not good at all.”
Her information was easy enough to follow so far. Okay, at least one hundred thousand people that may or may not be like Jarrett McLeod, and that was at the bare minimum. Different groups, so that meant different ideologies and none of them would reveal themselves. But that wasn’t the case anymore. Superhumans had now made their “debut” in the worst possible way.
“What does this have to do with why you’re here? Are you here for me?”
“Yes, Ethan, I am. You’re like me.” She caught herself and stopped. “Well, not exactly like me. I can, uh, read the emotions of other people. Your ability likely isn’t the same as mine, though we’re both the same, in a sense. You might have telekinesis or the power to go invisible. Are you still following?”
Honestly, I wasn’t as surprised as I probably should have been. Maybe I was feeling a little numb from what I’d just seen on the news. Lori hadn’t been the best actor in the world either, and there was little reason to move to my town in the middle of winter, so I thought that added some credibility to what she was saying. I knew that there had to be some weird secret, and this unfortunate circumstance brought it out. Still, I did have some trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that I had a superpower.
“Yeah, I think so. I’ve never done anything ‘super’, though. How are you so sure that I have anything? Are you guys, like, superheroes or something?” I asked.
I peeked through the vertical window in the classroom’s door. Students were trying to cram their way down the halls, so I figured we had at least a couple more minutes before anyone decided to check the room. With all the foot traffic in the building, I was in no hurry to leave the room.
“We have a guy whose ability is to detect others with an ability. He drives around the west coast frequently. He’s one of our best.” Lori stopped to look through the window as well. Students were now starting to shout and scream at each other. Chaos was beginning to take over. Lori started to look impatient and agitated. “We’re not superheroes. Individuals sometimes get into fights, but we have very good ways to make sure things stay out of the public eye. Some unbelievable stories you’ve read online probably have a small kernel of truth in them, yet Luna is very efficient at covering their tracks.”
“Luna?”
“The group I’m part of. One of the many I mentioned.” Lori rubbed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Really, this situation is not great. I’m going to tell you what I can right now, and we’ll have to figure out something.”
“Go ahead, I’m ready,” I lied, not ready in the slightest.
“Luna was a group founded a long time ago by a woman named Elizabeth Luna. She wanted to keep people with superhuman abilities safe from others. You know things like witch hunts? Yeah, those were carried out because of the irresponsible use of abilities and general intolerance for those powers. She was so highly adored and respected by the people that she protected that they named their secret society after her.
“One of the other biggest superhuman groups in the country is Briggs-Mason, which sounds more like a law firm, I know. A half-brother and half-sister founded them. Even though we’re sometimes at odds with each other, we’re not all that different. They’re a bit more dictatorial about how they run things, and they can be more self-serving, but they aren’t inherently evil or anything. Luna and Briggs-Mason have had bloody battles in the past, don’t get me wrong. Now, like most things, it’s about politics and money. We’re fortunate in that regard.
“Anyway, I was sent to find you so they couldn’t. My ability to read emotions could tip me off to anyone observing you since they also have people who can detect those with abilities. While no blood has been shed from either side in a long time, Luna is still not going to let a superhuman go without trying to recruit them first. Think of it as kind of a Cold War tactic. And that’s why I’m here. I’m here to try and recruit you. I need to get in contact with Luna. I was supposed to try and recruit you over the course of a couple of weeks, not hours. This was not the way I envisioned my first assignment would go.”
“Wait, this is your first time doing something like this?” I asked. That made things really start to come together in my head. “Well, that explains why you were so damn bad at hiding everything. You wouldn’t have lasted longer than a week before I either found something out or filed a restraining order against you.”
For the first time since I met her, Lori really laughed. A deep, hearty laugh that made tears run down her cheeks, probably not helped by what she just witnessed with me. A lot of the tension that had been built from everything happening in such a short time had been lifted. Maybe it was stress that made us crack up like two loons, but it felt nice at that moment. It was something we both needed. Something we’d need a lot more of, too.