JACKIE:

“Grace needs your help. Jackie, wake up!” Firestorm’s voice rattled in my mind.

I awoke with a snort and looked around the dark dorm. Muffled voices came from Grace’s room, so I strained to listen.

“You’d be crazy to stop now. We’re almost to the finish line. Get it through your thick skull, Grace.” Feraz’s pompous voice made my skin crawl. What a jerk.

My brain needed sleep to process this crazy time jump, but I jumped to my feet, anyway. Back to business because lives depended on it. The slipstream could boot me out of this timeline at any moment, so no time to waste.

I crept over to Grace’s bedroom door, which was half open. I held my breath to hear their inaudible whispers, but grasped no details until I heard my mom gasp with fear.

“Ow, that hurts. Please Feraz, let me go,” she said.

He’d hurt Grace over my dead body. That was my cue to intervene. The door creaked open, and I stumbled inside.

“Hey guys. What’s going on?” I yawned, trying to play it cool.

Feraz held Grace’s head in a powerful grip. He looked at me with intense hatred in his eyes. Now that he had an audience, Feraz let her go and stepped away. His hands balled into fists, not pleased to be interrupted.

He sneered. “What are you doing here, janitor? Don’t you have something to clean?”

“I’m off duty tonight.”

“Yeah right. Look at this pigsty. Get a clue, janitor. Better earn your keep or you’ll be out on the street.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

He seethed with anger. “You really think you can be friends with a Claudi? What gives you the right? Don’t let the door hit you n the way out.”

Grace answered for me. “That’s enough, Feraz. Jackie deserves respect, no matter what her father’s job is.”

Feraz chuckled. “Is that what you think? Or does slumming it make you feel better about your pathetic life?”

It was my turn to defend her. “Grace has big plans for her future. She’s going to run the Life Rite Institute to discover the secrets of the Grid. Her contribution to society will be life changing. What have you done lately?”

Feraz chuckled. “She can certainly secure the position, thanks to daddy.”

Grace’s jaw dropped. “Hey! That’s not fair.”

“No offense, but you’re a nepo baby.”

“Look who’s talking.” I crossed my arms. “Have you ever done anything without your family’s help? They even picked your girlfriend.”

That triggered him. He got in my face with an angry finger pointed at my chest.

“Keep my family out of this. You have no idea what it’s like to be me! I could have any girl in this school. Clearly I should pick someone with higher standards.”

Grace didn’t buckle under his pressure. In fact, his jab made her stand taller. “Enough! You’re saying that to hurt me, but it won’t work. Don’t you dare cheapen our relationship and what we’re working toward together. Please treat Jackie with the respect she deserves as my houseguest.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, babe. Where the stuff? I’ve got to go.”

“Where’s what?” I asked. “Why are you here at such an ungodly hour?”

They both ignored me.

“What you’re looking for is in the bathroom. I’ll see you tomorrow. Usual time and place. I love you, dear.” Grace pecked his cheek.

“Alright, babe.” Feraz pushed his shoulder against mine as he exited. “Tomorrow. Same time and place. Don’t be late like always.”

How could they pretend nothing happened? One second he was intimidating her, the next she was telling Feraz she loved him. Their dysfunction astounded me.

He slid into the bathroom to grab the Frankenstein book and its horrid contents, then left us alone in Grace’s dorm.

The thick tension in the room left with him. My mom and I both relaxed when the front door slammed shut.

“He’s intense,” I said.

“It must be so hard to be him.” Grace’s voice was laced with sarcasm.

We fell onto the bed, laughing at the sudden lightness now that Feraz was gone and it was just us again. Our heads settled next to each other like the family we were.

“You okay, Grace?”

“Of course. I’m fine. Feraz doesn’t mean anything by his little outbursts.”

“He’s like a toddler having a tantrum,” I joked.

Grace had a faraway look in her tired eyes. She looked shattered, on the verge of a mental breakdown. If I convinced her to confide in me, we could work together to save the people of this timeline from their dark fate. So I threw her a lifeline.

“He’s testing on you, isn’t he?”

“Testing on me? Gosh, no. That sounds so dark.”

“What has he promised you?”

“Jackie, you don’t know Feraz like I do. He’s under a lot of pressure.”

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“Don’t protect him, Grace. I can help, if you trust me…”

Grace turned away. “I don’t want to talk about it. I’m exhausted.”

“Please, Grace…”

“Not now, Jackie. I’m exhausted.”

How could I get her to open up? Waiting another day wasn’t an option. Maybe I had to give information to get some in return.

“You know, being a phoenix gene carrier has some upsides. Want to see what I can do?”

My tease at the truth peaked Grace’s interest. “A phoenix gene carrier? Show me what you mean.”

“I’ve got super powers.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Sure you do.”

“Get ready to have your mind blown.” I got off the bed and stood in front of my young mom.

She laughed. “Never a dull moment with you. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Here, I’ll show you.” I closed my eyes and concentrated. “I hope it works in this timeline.”

“You’re demented,” Grace told me.

She wouldn’t believe me unless she saw firsthand what I was capable of as a phoenix gene carrier. I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself of the powers I’d unlocked on my last adventure.

“I am a phoenix gene carrier,” I whispered to myself as a pep talk.

Luckily, it was like riding a bike. With little effort, my feet lifted off the ground. I levitated in front of the bed, light as a feather.

Grace’s jaw dropped. “Woah! What tricks are you playing?” She came close to get a better look, so I flew higher up.

“How are you doing that? Wires or something?”

“Yeah, I set up a whole pulley system in your room while you were sleeping,” I said sarcastically.

“Very funny, but you’ve got to tell me. For real, how are you floating in air? Am I dreaming? That must be it. This night has been one wild fever dream.”

“We’re wide awake, and this isn’t a magic trick. I told you. I’m a phoenix gene carrier.”

“Sure you are, Jackie. Whatever that means. Or I’ve officially gone insane. Maybe I should go to rehab…”

Despite her amazement, Grace still didn’t believe me! I had to up the ante…

“Want to see what else I can do?”

Grace nodded with piqued interest.

“It might get a little messy…” I pointed my right palm toward her lamp and blasted it with a zap of blue fire. It burned a hole in the shade. The lamp flew off the table and broke on impact.

“Hey, that’s a custom piece.”

“Sorry! It was the easiest way to show you my fire power.”

I flew over to the lamp, picked up the pieces, and placed them in a pile on the side table.

“Who cares about a stupid lamp when I’ve got a super hero bestie!” Grace danced with delight.

I smiled at the term of endearment. I liked being her bestie.

“Tell me for real, Jackie, how are you doing all this? Some sort of optical illusion?”

I shook my head. “No, the phoenix gene comes with great powers.”

Grace looked at me in disbelief. “What’s the phoenix gene?”

“It’s a genetic mutation…”

“Like a disease?”

“I never thought about it like that. The serum causes genetic mutations and…”

“So you’ve taken the serum too?” she asked.

“Not exactly. I was born with it coursing through my veins.”

Grace rubbed her temples. “My brain cannot compute. I’m so tired, I must be seeing things. People are most gullible when they’re low on sleep.”

“You play with fire too, don’t you?”

“No… I’m not special.”

I stopped levitating. “Why did you have burned clothes on top of your hamper? I saw them earlier.”

Grace bit her lip. “The fire happened during his first big experiment… After I’d been taking the drug for a while… I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me then, too… Feraz is more powerful than I’ll ever be.”

“So he’s experimenting… Is he taking the drug too? What is he capable of?”

“You’re being nosey again, Jackie. That’s between Feraz and I. This is all too much…”

“Have you tried any tests of your own? You might be stronger than you think.”

Grace looked down, defeated. “No. I don’t have any cool powers.”

“Don’t say that. I saw you heal yourself. Don’t shut me out this time.”

Grace shrugged. “Sure, I can heal a minor surface cut, but the sharp stomach pains are getting worse. I’m getting weaker.”

“How much serum have you had?”

“I don’t know, Jackie. Anyway, I need to sleep. Show me all this when I’m well rested. Then maybe I’ll believe you.”

“Come on, Grace. Can’t you levitate or throw fire balls? Have you ever tried? Show me what you can do. I bet you can do it, too.”

Grace shook her head. “I don’t want to burn the place down.”

“Let’s go in the bathroom, near the faucet. I’ll be your water wingman.”

“Jackie, the sun will be up soon. I need my beauty sleep…”

“I won’t take no for an answer.” I grabbed my mom’s hand and pulled her into the bathroom. She begrudgingly joined me.

Grace looked into the mirror at her tired eyes. The serum was taking its toll. Maybe if I showed her the strength she wielded, we could join forces before it was too late.

“Show me what you can do,” I pushed.

“I feel stupid. I don’t know how.”

“Flex your muscles?”

“What muscles?” Grace half-flexed her thin arm. Her blood glowed ever so slightly under her grayish pale skin. Nothing like I’d seen Zayne do in the previous streams after receiving Life Rite.

“Close your eyes. Feel the serum flowing through your body. Push that energy out of your hands. Use your imagination.”

Grace opened her hands and closed her eyes, grounding herself in the present. After a few moments of concentration, a tiny fireball appeared in her palms.

I cheered her on. “Wow. Way to go!”

Grace played with the fire without burning her hands before accidentally dropping it on the floor.

“Oh geez!”

She rushed to pick up the fireball and drop it in the sink. I ran the faucet to put the flames out.

Grace leaned down to check her burned throw rug.

“Oh no! That was a limited edition. It cost a fortune. See, this was a bad idea.”

“You can afford another one, I’m sure.” I shoved the rug to the side. “Don’t you see how powerful you are? You have fire burning inside. That’s one of the side effects of the Life Rite serum.”

“Why are you calling it Life Rite? That’s my father’s face cream company. This drug has nothing to do with Life Rite.”

“Where do you think it’s coming from?”

“Certainly not from my father. He’d kill me if he knew I was taking anything! You won’t tell anyone, will you? He’d force me into rehab for sure! I can’t survive a scandal like that.”

“Your secret is safe with me. You are so much stronger than you think, Grace. You just created fire in your bare hands, for goodness’ sakee! Try again.”

“I’ve never felt powerful before…” Grace smiled at the compliment, closed her eyes, and focused. “Fine. I’ll try again.”

This time, flames engulfed her right hand. She shook it frantically, trying to put out the fire.

“Ah! Oh no! Make it stop.”

“Stay calm!” I turned the faucet on to wet her lit hand.

Grace extinguished the fire, but her hand turned to ash. The ashes disintegrated and fell into the sink.

Grace gasped at her missing limb, freaking out. “Jackie, help! Look what I’ve done. It was an accident!”

I touched her shoulder. “It’s okay. Close your eyes. Don’t look at it. Focus on the power within. Imagine it’s back to normal. Healed.”

“Healed and manicured, with perfect French tips. I just had my nails done!” Grace closed her eyes with great focus. Her hand slowly reformed and healed. The manicure, however, did not come back with it.

“Grace, look what you did. Amazing!”

She opened her eyes and marveled at her amazing healing ability. We hugged, happy to share such a powerful secret.

“I can’t believe it, Jackie! It’s so incredible, it’s hard to believe!”

“So cool.” I bounced with excitement. We were finally getting somewhere.

Grace’s smile turned into a pout. “But now I’ve got to book another nail appointment. Spring break is only days away, and I have to look perfect for the special occasion.”

While she complained about her dull nails and frayed cuticles, I assessed the situation. Grace had fire and healing abilities, as well as a growing patch of scaly skin on her neck, which meant she had received a decent amount of injections. Why were they making her sick? Life Rite gave infinite strength. Sure, it caused mutations, but this version of the serum seemed different. I couldn’t place my finger on it yet, but was determined to figure it out.

“This is fun. Since my nails are messed up anyway, let’s go outside to practice before we burn my apartment down,” Grace suggested.

I laughed. “Good idea. With a little practice, you’ll be unstoppable.”

“You think so?”

“I know it.”

Grace hugged me. “Thanks Jackie. That means a lot to me.”

I melted in my mom’s embrace. She was the first to let go.

Could I convince Grace to help me destroy the serum that gave her powers? Or would her addiction cloud her judgement?