“You must be Rebecca and Ethan!” A portly man with receding brown hair, who I assumed was Steve, waved us over the moment we walked through the open gate to his backyard. Both kids largely ignored his greeting, opting to sprint past him instead, excited to start playing. “Megan and Ryan’s parents, right?”
“Ah, no, just Megan.” I didn’t think he looked like a bad guy. After dealing I matched his strong grip when we shook hands. “Ryan is her best friend, and his parents are out of town, so we brought him with us.”
Glancing around at the party made me nostalgic for my own when I was a kid. Even at the height of my family’s financial status, we didn’t have the money to put together any kind of big birthday bash. We made up for that with a lot of love and the few kids that showed up. Mom was a miracle worker when planning and adjusting on the fly. She always seemed to have just the right amount of food for everyone who showed up.
“Thanks so much for coming.” A short and wide lady with black hair that had obviously been dyed took the two gifts we brought and set them on a nearby table. “I’m Debby, Sam’s mother.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for having us.” Her grip wasn’t nearly as strong, so I had to pull it back and not crush her hand after getting used to so many strong handshakes.
“Wow, you two look...young. Very young.” She glanced over at Megan and squinted, the gears grinding in her head. I could see her trying to guess our ages and do the math based on Megan’s age.
“I’m nineteen,” I admitted. Both Debby and Steve’s jaws dropped. “Rebecca is twenty-two, so we are on the younger side. Don’t worry, we adopted Megan this year. I promise it’s not as weird as it seems.”
It was almost certainly weirder than it seemed. They didn’t need to know that, and they weren’t going to know that as long as I had anything to say about it. Their shoulders relaxing with their relieved exhales was as far as they needed to get on the subject of Rebecca’s parenthood.
“That’s wonderful. You know, I saw you on the news. I can’t believe you’re a parent and you’re trying to save the world.” Before I could say anything, Debby clasped Rebecca’s hands in her own, starting to lead her away. “Let me get you a drink. You know, my sister married a younger man herself. I think it’s great that women today aren’t afraid of pushing that boundary.”
Their conversation got drowned out by the yelling children. Rebecca shot me a small look that may have been a cry for help. Failing to hold back a smirk, I just shrugged. We all had to bite the bullet and have conversations we didn't want to sometimes. I just hoped she wouldn’t go on and on about our age difference. That didn’t stop me from grinning at the thought of this lady talking my fiancée's ear off.
“I’m sorry about that. She was a little nervous knowing you’d be here. If it makes you feel better, she always talks to the wives of the guys she approves of.” Steve handed me a glass bottle. I was about to decline, thinking it was beer, but took it when the label told me it was a cherry soda.
“I don’t want to make anyone nervous, especially in their own home.” I took a small sip, the soda lightly burning my throat as it went down.
“Not at all. I think it’s kind of cool we get to have a hero at our daughter’s party, especially one we don’t have to pay.” He elbowed my side and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. I managed to get a laugh out of him without doing anything. Great start. “In all seriousness, I don’t mind having a little extra muscle around. Great stuff in Vegas, by the way.”
“Thanks,” I said through gritted teeth and a forced smile. I considered it a total failure. The good we did still felt like it was outweighed by everything that happened with Julio. There was no way I was getting into that at his kid’s birthday party. I wanted to change the subject quickly. “You have a beautiful home.”
Steve’s eyes lit up and I knew I was safe for a bit. He told me he got it when the housing market had crashed, and after that, I mostly tuned it all out. I nodded and gave sounds of approval when I thought it would be appropriate. I didn’t want to be rude, but after everything I’d dealt with, my gut was telling me to search out possible sources of danger. While he bragged to me about his home, I tried scanning everything around me.
Their yard was massive, which was a plus. Plenty of room for the bounce house, ball pit, and their swimming pool. It didn’t look like there was much risk of overlap between the three, giving the children some room to play without cracking their heads open. There was still plenty of space around all of those things. Kids played with toys, footballs, and kickballs on the soft grass, while a few others sat around at a picnic table and ate their food.
I let myself relax a little. It didn’t look like there was anything I really needed to be worried about. Even if there was, I felt confident I could handle it. Even if Rebecca didn’t have a power that was suited for fighting, she was no slouch herself. She was still my top sparring buddy, so I knew what she could do.
“And that’s why I feel so bad for you kids starting families today.” Steve brought me out of my thoughts with that one. “You kids are dealing with rising costs and harder job markets. You lot have it rough. I worry about preparing Sam to make sure she’s ready.”
“Yeah, but we’ll manage.” I didn’t want to burst his bubble by saying our house was nothing to sneeze at either or that our neighborhood was nicer. It seemed like he meant well, so I thought I might as well let him have it. “Maybe we’ll be able to get a house this nice soon.”
Complimenting his house seemed to satisfy Steve. He smiled at me and puffed his chest with pride before going to greet new guests coming through the gate, leaving me alone. Rebecca was still getting her ear talked off, so it wasn’t like I could just crash her conversation. She did her best to look interested, but it was obvious she wanted to be doing anything else in the world. I had no idea what adults did at a kid’s birthday party when other adults were occupied.
Checking around, the other parents were all mingling with each other., likely already having established friendships. According to their stories, they all had perfect little angels for children who always made the honor roll and wouldn’t hurt a single petal on a flower. I thought the high school crowd was hard to please. Those were the easy ones. I’d hate to have to feel the need to talk up my kid to complete strangers. My kid was the best anyway. Being able to sometimes turn gravity off would do that. An A+ in math wasn’t going to match that.
Feeling more than a little awkward and out of my element, I hung around in the background to avoid talking to people. I gently picked at some food that was neatly arranged on a long table under an awning. All the food was delicious, which made it difficult to not start pigging out in front of everyone at the party. I got a few looks and points. A lot of parents whispered behind their hands, making it obvious they were talking about me, but no one was prepared to talk to me.
The kids were reacting much better. When a few of them recognized me, I was swarmed by them and their questions. How did I make things appear? Why were the things I made purple-pink? Did I fight any other villains? Why was I at the party anyway? I felt uneasy when they all gathered around me and I couldn’t escape without being a buzzkill.
Looking toward the bounce house, I saw a little brunette girl who was sitting alone, not moving. She was the only one I had seen wearing a party hat, so I assumed she was the birthday girl. I instantly felt horrible that the kids were all around me instead of her when it was her day. Megan and Ryan were the only other kids who weren’t hanging around me. They were over at the picnic table eating some burgers together, completely unbothered that I was being swamped by their sticky-handed schoolmates.
“Actually, I’m here because Sam is really cool, and we’re buddies.” A few of the kids were still looking at me, but most of them turned their attention back to Sam. A lot of them went over to her to pelt her with questions again, making me worry I may have overstepped. When her face lit up, I let out a long breath. Following the herd, the remainder of the kids went back to her. I couldn’t believe how easy that was.
When the kids were all away from me, I made my way over to Steve. He was still just grilling some burgers and hotdogs, not paying too much attention to the people around him. I looked around for Debby, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. She must have slipped inside the house once most of the guests were accounted for. At least she spared Rebecca from more conversation.
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“Hey, the kids realized who I am, and Sam looked a bit down when she lost their attention. I told them that Sam and I were friends, so if you want me to do a juggling act or take a picture with her, just let me know.” I fidgeted awkwardly, not feeling completely okay with lying like I did. Was it the end of the world if I lied to help out his daughter?
“Really?” Steve started laughing and clapped me on the shoulder. I gritted my teeth, hating having a stranger touch me. “No worries, that’d be great. Let me or Debby know when you’re leaving. I’ll get a picture of you two.”
“Sure thing, I’ll-” I was cut off by the sound of a crash from inside the house. It sounded like a lamp or a vase had been knocked over, and my first thought was a kid knocked it over and could be hurt. I started for the opened backdoor, hoping to help with whatever I could.
There was a brown flash in front of me and a dog—a pit bull, specifically—bolted out of the house toward Megan and Ryan at the picnic table.
It was strange, it felt like time was slowing down, yet I still couldn’t process what was happening fast enough. I learned just how fast an animal could run when it was really zeroed in on something. I tried to put up a barrier to block it, but I either put the thing up behind the dog, or it broke through it. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure in the chaos, and I didn’t exactly care.
In the span of a few seconds, the dog closed the gap between the house and the kids. Megan had turned around to see what the noise was. Seeing the dog charging toward her, she took a step back, which may have saved her life. At the very least, that step back saved her from severe facial damage. Even with the distance between us, I could see the look of fear on her face—a look that wouldn’t ever leave me.
The dog had jumped, mouth open, and tried to clamp down on Megan’s neck. That little step back she took meant she avoided that, though the bite still got her. She shrieked and grabbed at her face, falling to the ground. I couldn’t see the damage done from where I was. I was already running toward them as quickly as my legs would let me. Hearing the sounds of thumping behind me, I assumed it was Rebecca who was following me. I didn’t turn to check, so I hoped it was her.
Megan fell back on the grass, clutching her face. She was completely defenseless, the dog wasn’t backing off, and I wasn’t going to make it before it was going to attack. For a moment, I thought I was going to watch my seven-year-old daughter get mauled to death in front of me. For the first time since I watched my parents get killed, I felt entirely powerless, even though I knew my power made me the strongest and most dangerous person at the party.
Then an unexpected hero jumped in where I couldn’t.
Ryan put himself between the pit bull and Megan, throwing his arms up to try and block it. He had no chance to defend himself. The dog latched onto his arm, and not his neck or Megan. The dog sunk its teeth into his arm, and it was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen and heard, including watching my parents die. There was so much blood and so much screaming. At least when my parents died, it was quick, and it didn’t look anything like what the dog was doing to Ryan.
Through the chaos, my brain was starting to recall something I had learned in high school. A student was bitten by a stray dog that wandered on campus and our science teacher wanted to show us how to handle situations where someone else was being attacked by a dog. Though I had paid attention, I never would have imagined I would have needed to recall the demonstration. My teacher specified that aggressive dogs with high prey drives could be beaten half to death and still wouldn’t let go of what they wanted to kill, and with all the motion putting Ryan at risk, I wasn’t ready to try and use my Anomaly to stop the attack. It had to be done a different way.
I pulled my shirt off over my head and gave it to Rebecca. I grabbed her shoulders and looked into her frightened eyes. “Do exactly what I say. Loop this under his neck, pull just enough that you can feel a little tension, and hold on for dear life. Do not pull beyond that unless I tell you, okay? It’ll make this worse.”
She nodded rapidly and did exactly what I told her with fluidity. Once there was enough tension on the dog’s neck and her grip looked secure, I covered my right arm in Shimmer armor. My teacher had shown us how to use a break stick to get a dog to open its mouth. I didn’t have anything like that on me, and time was of the essence, so my arm was my impromptu break stick. Keeping my hand at a horizontal angle, I shoved it inside the pit bull’s mouth through the side. Even with the armor, I could feel the pressure of its absurd bite on my arm. I couldn’t believe Ryan would put himself in a position to get attacked by it.
I turned my hand to force the dog’s jaws open, releasing Ryan from its grip. I turned to Rebecca and yelled, “Pull and hold it!”
She did and managed to hold the dog back, who was not finished with either kid. It was snarling, growling, and barking, completely oblivious to the woman holding it back. A vile mix of saliva and a child’s blood flew out of its mouth. It took every bit of restraint I had to not just ram a sword through it. Thankfully, even with the whirlwind going on in my brain, I didn’t want to skewer an animal in front of all those people. I trusted Rebecca to be able to hold it back.
“Let go of my dog!” Debby was running as fast as she could toward us, all of her anger directed at Rebecca, and none directed at her pit bull that just tried to kill two kids.
When Debby got to us and reached for my shirt, Rebecca grabbed both ends with one hand and elbowed Debby right in the nose using her free arm. The woman fell to the ground, shrieking louder than either Megan or Ryan. An overwhelming feeling of disgust ran through me, creating another thing I didn’t have much time to think or act on.
I put up a bunch of Shimmer walls around the dog. Rebecca saw what I was doing and let go of my shirt, allowing me to completely enclose the animal, where it still wasn’t settling down. I put a lot into those walls, so I knew it wasn’t breaking them, but I could feel how badly the dog wanted to get out and finish the job. It was thrashing around so much I thought its heart would explode from exertion or it would knock itself unconscious by hitting the walls with its head.
Rebecca was already at Ryan’s side. She took off her t-shirt to try and wrap a tourniquet higher up on his arm, struggling to get it right with shaky hands. His blood was soaking through the white tank top she had on, making her look like she’d been attacked too.
“Here, use my belt. It’s smaller and you can tighten it easier.” I pulled it off and tossed it to her. I turned my attention to Megan, who was staring at Ryan in horror. I took out my phone and dialed nine-one-one. “Megan, sweetie, let me see.”
“Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?” The voice was male and, expectedly, calm.
“My daughter and her friend were attacked by a pit bull at a birthday party. Her friend’s arm is severely injured and my fiancée has my belt as a tourniquet on it.” Focusing on Megan, I gave the operator the address.
I heard him typing while I gave the information. “An ambulance is on the way, sir. Is the dog contained and is there anyone else injured?”
“I contained the dog with my powers and my daughter is hurt. My fiancée had to use force to prevent one of the owners from attempting to release the dog before I was able to have it restrained.” I knelt next to her and pulled her close. “Let me see, honey.”
Megan finally looked away and showed me the wound. It was a cut that somehow curved into a crescent shape. It went from just beneath her left nostril and down to the corner of her mouth. There was a good amount of blood and it probably needed stitches. I sighed with relief to see that she was in much better shape than Ryan.
“My daughter’s hurt. It’s not as bad.” I looked over at Debby, who was crying like a baby. “One of the owners my fiancée had to stop is crying, but there’s just some blood running from her nose. It might be broken.”
“Good, thank you. Did you say power?” The dispatcher sounded confused.
“I...yes, I’m Ethan Harper.” That would have had me wincing if everything else didn’t beat it to the punch.
“Ah, got it. Ethan, does your daughter’s friend have parents there?” More typing.
“No, they’re out of town right now. We brought him and our daughter to a birthday party they were invited to.”
“Thank you. Have your fiancée make sure steady pressure is applied to the wound. The ambulance will be there shortly.”
“You’re welcome. We’ll be here.” I hung up, not realizing that a few of the things I said didn’t make the most sense or were repeated.
“It’s going to be okay. I got you, baby. You’re going to be fine, baby.” Rebecca held the sobbing Ryan in her arms, rocking him back and forth. She looked at me, distraught and powerless, and I saw twelve-year-old me in her eyes.
“An ambulance is on the way,” I said, sitting next to her. I kept my arms around Megan, doing my best to ignore the dog and the wailing of its stupid owner. I didn’t know if keeping the kids where they were was smart, but I thought it was best to not move them if I didn’t need to.
It felt like I had been sitting there for hours before I heard the screech of the siren, even though it had only been a few minutes. Debby had been pounding on the box I put her dog in, still determined to get it out. She didn’t even ask about the kids or try to apologize, despite one gushing blood all over her backyard.
Steven, however, was much more proactive. He guided parents and kids out of the yard. A few stayed behind to offer immediate witness reports, but most were gone, not wanting to deal with that mess. He attempted to bring Debby inside. Of course, she refused. She wouldn’t go back inside until we let her dog out, which got a furious glare from Rebecca, who never stopped holding Ryan to her chest. Steven looked horrified and apologized profusely for his wife’s behavior.
When the paramedics arrived, they took both kids in one ambulance. We insisted we go with them, especially since Ryan didn’t have any parents nearby. We were the closest thing to guardians he had there, and I wasn’t going to leave the kid alone while he was hurting and in serious danger. They had a smaller van to take Debby to get her nose looked at. Animal control services arrived at around the same time to take the dog away.
The kids, to their credit, were so brave and strong. Of course, they had been crying, but they both were trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal after a little while. One look at Ryan’s arm told me how big of a deal it truly was. Still, despite trying to be tough, neither kid had any issues when we kept holding them close to us. Rebecca thanking Ryan repeatedly for saving Megan didn’t hurt either.