SANTIAGO FIGURED IT WOULD stay like this for a while. He turned in his homework like a diligent student. He figured it would earn him some cookie points with Rosenia.

Did not talk to anyone. Did not get involved with anyone. Cannot have drama if he knows nothing about no one.

When he was called to the office at the start of class a few weeks in he was annoyed. Curious as to what it would be this time.

At first he thought he had the wrong office when the woman at the desk led him to the door.

The walls are adorned with tasteful artwork, posters showcasing quotes around success and achievement. A large mahogany desk occupied the center of the room, meticulously arranged with neatly stacked paperwork, a computer monitor the size of a TV, and the brass name plate with “Laura Green” embellished in its glossy surface. Behind it was a plush leather chair and a grand bookshelf that stretched from floor to ceiling with a curated collection of academic and leadership literature.

It was a far cry from the overcrowded cubicles of the overworked and underpaid counselors that doled out course registrations to students whose name they forgot as soon as their paperwork was filed away.

Impeccably dressed in a charcoal blazer over a navy blue pencil skirt, with a royal blue brocade of their feathered mascot pinned to her breast pocket.

Laura encouraged him to sit. “Santiago, do you know why you’re here?”

He shrugged, “Some lockers got broken into? Graffiti on school property? Someone saw me smoking?”

“No,” Laura's cerulean eyes bugged as she gripped the arms of her chair. “Um, the placement exam you completed yesterday morning with Mr. Gates came back.”

“Wait for the placement exam— I thought I was in detention.”

Her pink lips pursed, she shuffled the papers in front of her blinking her heavily masquerade lashes as she tried to get the conversation back on track. “Y-your teachers felt that you might be a bit advanced for their classes.”

Delicately she handed him a manila folder.

Santiago took it thumbing through the pages. A few score cards and a new schedule.

“They had you take an ACT placement test. This is your new AP schedule.”

“I passed this quiz and now I gotta take,--” Santiago squinted at the small print. “Calculus. This is like the opposite of a reward.”

“Santiago I don’t think you understand.” Her trimmed manicured hand patted the desk with a tight smile. “You didn’t simply pass, you scored top marks in every category. You had a perfect score. The highest score a student has received at this school.”

Santiago looked at the paper and back to her flatly, “So do I like to get a gift card…?”

They stared at one another.

“Okay,” He tucked the folder under his arm. “Uh, then, um— If that’s it I guess I’m gonna go then.”

“About what you said before— “ A finely plucked eyebrow raised.

“Joking, obviously. Kidding.” Santiago chuckled, “If I ever did any of those things, I’d never get caught.”

“What— !”

“Anyways, thanks for this.” He quickly slipped out the door.

He looked over the paper, Advanced Placement.

Calculus. Physics. Comparative government and politics. Now he knew this was some kind of joke. He had to make a selection of a new language as they seemed to catch on to his ploy with Spanish classes. Chinese. German. French. Italian. Japanese.

Santiago rolled his eyes, like he would ever need any of these.

At least English class was still English class. How much more complicated could they make it?

He knew his mother would frame his test scores and put it on the wall.

Rambling on about how smart he was like she always did whenever he brought home some useless school certificate or trophy.

These things didn’t mean anything to him. They meant the world to her.

Santiago thought it probably made her feel like she had less of a screw up for a son. It has been a couple months now. He had not seen or heard from her.

“I know you miss her Santiago but it’s for the best.” Rosenia's voice was gentle, her wizened eyes softened on the boy but her tone still had a finality to it leaving little room for discussion.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

“You keep saying that.” Said Santiago, “I don’t see the point of all this. Clearly whatever freak out I had was a one-off deal. Nothing like that has happened since. My chain keeps me in check. I don’t need to be goddamn Harry Potter. I just want to go home.”

“It’s not safe.” She repeated.

“What’s not safe? If I never take it off, then I won’t have a problem.”

“There is no guarantee that the magic in that pendant will hold. It is too much of a risk.” She said sternly now, brow furrowed she held out her hand for him beckoning him to her. “I know that you’ve waited a long time to go home. Longer than you should have.”

“I need to talk to her.” He said softly, “I need to know she’s okay.”

“You are a good son. For too long you have put your mother’s wellbeing above your own. Santiago, let someone worry about you for a change.” Rosenia rested her hands upon his shoulders that carried more weight than a boy his age ever should. “Your mothers failures are her responsibility alone.”

He recoiled, “You don’t know anything. Not about me. Not about her.”

“No, my sweet boy.” She started.

“I am not a boy and I am not yours.” Santiago snapped, “I’m leaving. I’m not asking. I’m going home. I have no reason to stay here. I’m done.”

“Santiago!” Rosenia called as he stalked down the hall, “She won’t be there.”

Santiago stopped.

He thought it was because he was locked up that he could not reach out. It never occurred that maybe she was too. He could not imagine CPS would overlook a shootout in the living room. “It doesn’t matter I can figure shit out until she gets back.”

“No, Santiago.” Rosenia shook her head, the lines in her face pulled into a solemn expression, “She’s gone. I’m so sorry.”

“Gone— No.” He shook his head, “No. You don’t know where she screws off to. I do. I can find her.”

Santiago knew that was not what she meant.

He could not accept it. He would not.

His mind raced as he tried to find a way out from the reality that was setting in.

“She tried to protect you.” Rosenia said gravely, “I’m sorry Santiago, she didn’t make it.”

----------------------------------------

Nothing can ever be simple. Bennett gulped down the last dregs of another cup of coffee as he drearily scanned the sped up footage. Even within the copious footage there was still a gaping hole where Santiago’s arrival should have been. There were no cameras to capture the boy.

Perhaps, Varney’s murder was unrelated to Santiago. Still if he could help find answers behind why his friend was killed he would spend as long as it took pouring over hours of footage for some clue.

“I think I got something.” Jack smirked at his screen.

“You found footage?” Said Bennett.

“Better. His bank records.” Said Jack.

“His bank records. Jack, what is that going to tell us about how he died?”

“Money talks.” Jack said, turning the screen to him. “Something tells me that’s not his annual bonus.”

Bennett’s eyes widened at the generous deposit. “Can you see who sent him this?”

“Doubtful. If he was getting a payoff it’s likely not traceable.” Jack tapped the screen, “That is not the important number. The date is.”

“That’s less than an day after the black out.” Bennett locked eyes with Jack, “Sean died because of a cover up.”

“Now let’s see what they didn’t want anyone else to.” Jack gave him a wicked grin as he scrolled through the days of footage.

Bennett followed suit. They started with the cameras outside of where the generators were kept. Yet while they watched up until the footage ended nothing approached the generators. He remembered his conversations with Sanjay when the incident happened about the firefighters' struggle to make it down to the B-level where the fire had been the most intense.

“There was a lab in the basement levels that had most of the casualties. None of the lab techs made it out.” Said Bennett.

Jack pulled up the footage dragging his cursor across until fifteen minutes before the blackout. They sat and watched carefully waiting for the first signs of the fire.

Both men leaned in wide eyed as the calm of the laboratory was shattered by an explosion. Something propelled itself through the wall.

Someone.

“Bennett,” Said Jack. “Is that?”

“It is.” Said Bennett, eyes glued to the screen, “There’s no way. I don’t understand.”

“Oh Jesus,” Jack grimaced. “He’s tearing through them like a paper mache. Crap let me see if I can pull another angle.”

“Can we see where he came from?” Bennett said as he squinted at the bottom of the screen as if it would pan the camera towards it.

“There’s not many camera’s down there could— Hold on whose this now?” Jack said.

“I don't think she’s there to help.” Jack said and as if in response the last few surviving technicians were cut down. “Did she hit them with something?”

“He’s down. She stopped him.” Bennett watched the svelte silhouette glide across the hazy screen.

----------------------------------------

Bennett watched as the woman walked across the room placing her hands against the wall. A brilliant glow enveloped the screen before everything went black. “She took out the generators.”

It was all connected. Santiago. The blackout. Varney’s murder.

How the boy came to be caught in the center of this Bennett still did not fully understand. What he did know was that Santiago's powers were far more out of control than he first realized. Now he was in the wind.

Perhaps Thompson knew far more than he let on. He was the one who processed Santiago’s case.

Thompson could somehow be involved with the woman in the video.

Whoever covered this up had a lot of money to throw around. To pay half a couple hundred grand to scrub some videos of a delinquent teenager's violent murder spree was insane. Unless he had something worth more than that.

Santiago was convinced he was the same boy who had been shot and killed. Thompson wrote it off as a coping mechanism. If that was true and Santiago had been murdered, shot dead in his home and rose again. The kind of power it would take to pull something like that off would be worth far more than what was kicked Varney’s way.

Bennett knew he had no time to spare to track down Santiago. Someone knew about his powers and was willing to kill to keep them a secret.

How much time did the boy have left before they decided killing him was more convenient than hiding him?