9

Wes was sitting on top of the heater in the boy’s washroom on the second floor of the school, soaking wet and wrapped in Joel’s football jacket. He was shivering violently as he thawed his entire body. The others stood around him, including Lindsay who still seemed a bit nervous. They had all decided to skip their first period class and meet in the bathroom to talk some more.

“I have to admit, that was pretty cool” Travis chuckled.

“Yeah? Why don’t you have her freeze your ass then?” Wes snapped back.

“I told you to give her back her wallet Wes, it’s your fault you didn’t listen” Sarah pointed out. She turned to Lindsay, “How long have you been able to do this? Can you do it all the time?”

Lindsay looked around with a disgusted look on her face and said “Well, both me and my sister have been able to do it since about a year ago. She’s...a little different than I am though. She should be here soon though, I texted her five minutes ago”

Sure enough, the door to the bathroom swung open to reveal a girl identical in every way physically to Lindsay. If they had been wearing the same clothes, nobody but those closest to them would be able to tell them apart.

“I got your text Linds, what’s up?” Stephanie’s voice was slightly higher than Lindsay’s, which gave it a gentler quality, and gave everyone a warmer feeling about her.

“Well, these people have discovered my little secret.” Lindsay mumbled.

“What?! How? You guys can’t tell anyone!” Stephanie said shocked.

“Well, that’s not all Stephanie.” Sarah started, “we have our own little secrets too. Hmm..Wes, show her.”

“Are you stupid? I’m freezing here, I can’t do shit!” Wes barked at her.

“Fine, how about you Joel? How about a coke?” She said as she flipped him a loonie. Before anyone could blink, a forceful wind had appeared out of nowhere, and Joel disappeared only to return a quarter of a second later, with a bottle of coke in his hand, grinning widely. Stephanie stared at him with a confused look on her face,

“What about you three, what can you do?” Stephanie raised one eyebrow as she addressed the other three.

“I can read minds, and Wes can control electricity.” Sarah said. “Travis...he hasn’t yet discovered his ability, but he does have the same scar that the rest of us have, just like you and Lindsay have on your hands." Both twins stared down at their hands as if to make sure their scars were still there. "Now, what about you, what can you do?”

“You didn’t tell them yet?” Stephanie looked at her sister.

“No, I’ve barely told them anything. That one forced me to freeze him, he stole my wallet.” Lindsay defended herself. Then she grinned at her sister and said “Why don’t you help him dry off?” Sarah raised her eyebrows and chuckled as Stephanie moved towards Wes, still perched on the heater.

“Wait, wait! I don’t need another bitch attacking me, leave me alone” he jumped up and dropped the jacket off of him.

“Bitch? Watch your mouth, asshole.” Stephanie said as she pointed her fingers towards Wes. She narrowed her eyes and whispered

“Bang.”

Bright orange flames shot out of the end of her pointed finger to engulf Wes. He screamed but a second later the flames disappeared, leaving Wes with his pants burnt up to his knees. He looked from one grinning sister to the other,

“Why are there TWO of you?”

8

Travis still had a million questions for Sarah and Joel when they left his house. They said they couldn’t stay long and left Travis’ house together. Travis wanted to know everything. How long did they have their powers for? Was it something hereditary? Did they know anyone else with powers like them? When stayed up in his bed late at night, his head bursting with questions before he finally fell asleep long into the night.

The next morning, Travis woke up and walked to the bathroom where he met Blake already dressed and brushing his teeth.

“So...” Blake started. Travis looked at him in the mirror and raised his eyebrow.

“So what?” he said.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be. I see. Loser.” Blake rolled his eyes and left the bathroom. Travis suppressed the urge to grin and got ready for school. He knew Blake wanted nothing more than to brag about having a special ability when Travis did not.

As Travis stepped out of his house, fully dressed and ready for school, he expected to walk down the street and take the bus. However, at the curb in front of his house were Sarah and Wes, waiting for him.

“Hey Travis, ready for school?” she called. Travis walked down the front steps of his house and joined the other two on the sidewalk. “This is Wes, Wes, this is Travis”. Wes extended his hand and Travis took it, only to recoil a second later.

“Ouch!” he yelled as he rubbed his shocked hand.

“Sorry bro, gotta give the new kid a hard time, right?” Wes laughed.

“Ha ha. Very funny Wes, we need to get to school though, Joel said he’d be waiting for us.” Sarah said hurriedly.

The three of them walked in the direction of the school. Travis wanted to ask them the questions he had burning inside him, but felt out of place, almost like a third wheel as the other two walked beside him, hand in hand.

When they arrived at the school, they saw Joel waiting for them in front of the large doors leading to the inside of the school. As they approached, he said quietly,

“I just saw one of the twins out back on the bleachers when I was doing my morning run. You know, I bet we could get her even before the day started. If we got her, her sister would probably be even easier to convince too.”

“Ok, but we can’t cut class again, or I’m suspended.” Wes pointed out. The four of them walked towards the back of the school to look for the girl Joel had seen earlier. When they reached the bleachers, they saw her sitting at the top, alone as though waiting for someone. They slowly climbed the bleachers and stopped at the end of the row. Not wanting to be rude, Sarah broke away from the boys and went to sit next to the girl. She said something quietly to the girl who looked confused and Sarah beckoned for the boys to join her.

“Lindsay, this is Wes, Joel, and Travis” she introduced them to each other. The boys all waved awkwardly and took seats on the bleachers above the girls.

“Uh...ok. What do you want?” Lindsay asked with a questioning glare.

“Well, we couldn’t help notice the scar you have on your hand, how did you get it?” Sarah asked tactfully.

“I’ve had it forever, why do you care you stalkers?” Lindsay accused them.

“Oh, don’t flatter yourself we’ve all got them too.” Wes said as he closed his eyes, showing a small scar underneath his eyebrow, touching his eyelid. The others all showed her their scars as well.

“So what is this, a scar club? That’s lame. Can you guys get lost, I’m actually waiting for someone here” Lindsay said rudely.

“Well, actually Lindsay we’ve discovered that the individuals with a scar like all of ours have certain...talents” Sarah said.

“Yeah well, I’m normal. Really pretty, but normal. So leave me alone you weirdos” Lindsay said as she started to pack up her stuff.

“Normal eh?” Wes started “So if I were to say, take this wallet of yours, there’d be nothing you can do?” Wes grabbed her wallet and stepped onto the higher bleachers with a smirk on his face.

“Give it back now.” Lindsay said sternly.

“Wes, just give it back man.” Joel told him.

“Come on, there’s got to be something you can do. All the rest of us here can do something. Look.” He raised his hand and blue sparks erupted from his fingertips. “Maybe you’re lame like Travis here and can’t do anything” Wes said as he tossed the wallet from one hand to the other.

“Give me my wallet. Now.” Lindsay raised her voice.

“If you really want it, come and get it.” Wes chuckled. Sarah started to laugh,

“Haha Wes you better give it back to her. You’ll be surprised” she warned him.

“Let’s see what this girl can do” Wes said. Lindsay looked livid as she glared at Wes and the rest of them. Wes made a dash for the stairs to descend the bleachers.

“FUCK YOU” Lindsay yelled and moved towards Wes with her hands outstretched.

From her outstretched hands erupted a gust of ice wind, headed straight towards Wes. When it hit him, he froze in his tracks, his entire body blue from cold and frozen in a solid block of ice. His eyes were wide, staring at Lindsay and blinking. Lindsay bit her lip as the others stared at her, smiling.

7

Sarah hung up the phone and lay it down on the table. Travis picked up his home phone and began to dial the number of Blake’s cell. Before he finished, the doorbell rang. Him and Sarah got up and went to answer the door. Travis opened the door and there stood Joel, looking giant as ever, still wearing his football jacket from today.

“Woah...that was fast, are you like my neighbour or something?” Travis asked him. Joel stepped in through the open door. He looked at Sarah and asked,

“What’s wrong, you sounded so urgent on the phone and why the hell are you covered in blood?”

“I’ve found two more, I think. Travis here and his brother.” Sarah answered.

“Can someone PLEASE tell me what’s going on?” Travis interrupted. Sarah and Joel both looked at him.

“Well, I’ve already told you what I can do, and I see that you saw Wes in action. We each have...abilities. I’ve known Wes for a long time and we met Joel a couple of weeks ago. Joel here, is fast. Really fast.” Travis just stared at the two of them in shock.

“Ok, so what does this have to do with me and Blake?” he asked.

“Well, one thing Joel, Wes, and I have in common is that we each have that tiny scar somewhere on our bodies. You saw mine, and Wes has a small one on his palm” Sarah said. Joel removed his jacket and pulled back the sleeves on his t-shirt. He raised his arms and showed Travis the tiny scar just above his elbow. “You have one too, am I right?”

“Yeah, but I can’t do anything special...I’m just a normal kid. Besides, Blake doesn’t even have a scar” Travis frowned.

“I have a theory about your brother that I will test when he arrives here, as for you, I don’t know what your ability is or whether you will have one. All I know is that you bear the same markings as the rest of us, it can’t be a coincidence.” Sarah said.

“Well, my friend Parker has a scar like that too. So does this girl I talked to today. Steph, I think her name was?” Travis remembered.

“What, there are more? Holy shit Sarah how did you not find these people?” Joel said, astonished.

“Joel, it’s not like I go around searching people’s minds to see if they have scars or not. We’ll worry about Steph and Parker later. Right now, I need to talk to Blake.” Travis dialled Blake’s number and Blake came home from his friend’s house down the road.

Blake walked in the house and shut the door behind him. “You better have called me home for a good reason Trav!” he called. He walked into the living room and looked at the people there. Sarah and Joel were sitting on the couch and Travis was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace.

“Now what, he’s here isn’t he?” Travis asked Sarah.

“Wow, I was right. When Blake is close by me, I can’t hear any of your thoughts. This has never happened to me before, that’s why I fainted, it's going to take some getting used to.” Sarah remarked

“Let’s test him out” Joel said as he rose from the couch. As soon as he rose he wobbled over and stumbled over his own feet. “Wow, this kid is like the anti-ability” Joel said disappointed. Blake had a puzzled look on his face.

“So you’re telling me, that you two have abilities when I’m not around?” he said in disbelief.

“Well, it’s not like we can prove it to you is it?” Joel replied.

“She can do it Blake, she can actually read my mind when you aren’t here. I didn’t believe them either but she showed me. Joel showed up here literally five seconds after she called him, no normal person can do that” Travis reassured his brother.

“Ok, say I believe you freaks. Now what? We start a ‘superpower’ club?” Blake asked sarcastically.

“Well, if someone were to find out about us we’d be put in some insane asylum” Sarah responded. “I want to find all the kids with powers like us and just you know, protect ourselves. I’ve already had a few close encounters. There are people out there who refuse to accept people like us, Blake. The more of us we round up, the better a chance we have at survival.”

“You only have three people, that’s not really what I’d call an ‘army’” Blake snorted.

“We’ve only just begun Blake, and it’s a good thing you don’t go to our school because I have a feeling Parker and Steph won’t take this too lightly without being shown.”

6

Travis snapped out of his stupor at seeing this random girl collapse right in front of him. He looked at Blake and the two of them picked her up and carried her into their living room where they lay her on the sofa. Blake went to get tissues and a glass of water and when he returned, Sarah was just waking up.
‘Wh-What? Where am I?” she panicked.

“Don’t worry, you just passed out. I think you’re going to be okay” Travis reassured her.

“No, no! Something is wrong. What is happening?” she started to raise her voice.

“Okay okay, calm down. Can you please explain to me what’s going on?” Travis asked.

“Think of a number, any number. Hurry up!” Sarah yelled at him.

“What? Uhhh ok. Now what?” Travis said, confused.

“I don’t know it! Why don’t I know it?” Sarah yelled in frustration. Blake and Travis exchanged anxious looks and Blake shrugged.

“I’m going to Mike’s house, she better clean up before mom gets home.” Blake left the house and Travis and Sarah sat together in silence. There were tears pouring down Sarah’s face and she was holding her head down. All of a sudden, she looked up into Travis’ eyes,

‘529’ she said. Travis’ eyes narrowed as she guessed the correct answer.

“That’s right, how did you do that?” Travis said, astonished.

“I guess I have no choice but to tell you. But let me ask you something first. Does your brother have a scar like the one we both have?” she questioned him.

“Not that I know of, but how did you know about my scar?” Travis asked confusedly.

“Hmm. This is going to sound crazy. But I can hear your thoughts.” She said slowly. Travis chuckled and said,

“My thoughts? Like in the movies? I don’t believe you” Sarah sighed and said in one long breath,

“Your name is Travis Vance, you were born on May 29, 1991. You have one brother, Blake Vance who is-“ she stopped. “Him” she whispered.

“That’s nothing, you could have found all that stuff on my Facebook profile” Travis shrugged.

“Your brother, he’s 16 right?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah...he is, why?” Travis responded.

“Call him back here, now.” She said as she picked up her cell phone and dialled a number. She held the phone to her ear and after a few seconds she said “Joel, I need you here now. 632 Wilkins Place. Run.”

5

Travis waited at his locker for Parker after school like they had arranged the period before. He was eager to ask Parker about the two students in Chemistry. He was leaning against his locker when he saw Parker come around the corner. He straightened up and walked forward to meet him. Parker lived in the area near Travis’ house so they had agreed to walk home together.

As they were just leaving the school Travis asked ‘Hey, do you know a girl in our grade named Sarah? This one doesn’t have blonde hair’

‘Sarah? Yeah, what about her?’ Parker asked.

‘Well, I just thought it was really weird how she had the scar that you have on your wrist and that I have on my foot. Do you know her boyfriend’s name?’

‘Oh, that’s Wes, they’re never seen without each other. She says her scar was from when she got burnt as a baby’ Parker answered. Travis contemplated about whether or not he should bring up what he had seen in his Chemistry class. He decided against it and remained silent for the remainder of the walk home. About ten minutes later, Parker took a side road towards his house and said goodbye to Travis.

Travis’ house was another ten minute walk so he turned around to remove his bag and take out his iPod. He turned around and saw Sarah walking along the sidewalk alone behind him, without Wes. She was looking directly at him when he turned back around and started to continue walking. He turned around again to see if she was still walking behind him and came face to face with her. He fell back onto the pavement in shock.

‘What did you see?’ she demanded

‘Wha...What?’ Travis stuttered as he rubbed his scraped elbows.

‘In Chemistry class, what did you see?’ Sarah asked again.

‘Nothing, I didn’t see anything. You’re in my Chem class?’ Travis quickly lied.

‘You’re lying, tell me what you saw’ she asked more aggressively.

‘I didn’t see anything, I already told you’ Travis said. Sarah paused for a minute and stared at Travis’ face. Then, a look of surprise came across her face.

‘You’re still lying, come with me” she beckoned to him to follow. Travis sat on the ground and didn’t follow her. She turned around and whispered ‘Don’t you want to know what these scars mean?" Travis frowned and got up to follow her. Suddenly, she stopped walking, She turned down Travis’ street and led him right to his own front door.

“How did you know where my house was?” Travis asked her.

“Are you going to let me in or not?” she asked hurriedly. Travis shrugged and unlocked the door. As they stepped inside, Travis’ younger brother stepped down the stairs.

“Blake, this is Sarah, Sarah, Blake” he introduced them to each other. Travis looked at Sarah and his mouth dropped in surprise. Sarah's nose was bleeding and she was holding her head in her hands as her face screwed up in pain. She fell to her knees and fainted across the welcoming carpet in front of Travis’ door.

4

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully, at around 1 o’clock Travis was eagerly awaiting the ringing of the school bell, sitting in Chemistry class. He has already dozed off once and was having trouble paying any attention to the teacher. He was doing anything to keep himself awake and he started to look around the classroom. He was sitting near the middle of the class in between two other students. There were students sitting behind him and in front of him. Two of the students sitting in front of him caught his eye.

A sandy-haired boy with a piercing on the top of his ear held the hand of the girl beside him as the girl giggled uncontrollably. The girl had skin as white as snow, with hair darker than charcoal. The two students had their bags propped up in front of them and the teacher didn’t seem to notice the flirting going on right in front of her and continued to teach the lesson.
Travis couldn’t see the hands of the two students in front of them but he assumed the boy was tickling the girl’s hand by the way she was laughing.

Just then, the boy shifted his weight so Travis could see their intertwined hands. The boys hand lay underneath the girls and they were both motionless. However, the girl started giggling again. Travis was puzzled, why was this girl giggling for no reason? The boy wasn’t moving, so she wasn’t being tickled.

Then, he saw what it was that made her laugh. Dancing across the boys fingertips was a tiny blue spark, almost invisible except to those close enough to see. Travis understood why the girl was laughing, but not how the spark was being created. He continued to stare in awe as the boy shocked the girl ever so slightly over and over again.

‘Travis, is it? Do you know the answer?’ the teacher barked.

‘Uhhh no, sorry miss I don’t’ Travis stuttered. The teacher looked around and sighed,

‘How about you, Sarah?’ she asked the girl who was giggling not moments before.

’16.’ Sarah said without hesitation.

‘Good, correct’ the teacher continued on with her lesson. Travis looked back at the pair seated in front of him, but they were no longer holding hands, they were paying attention to the teacher, or so it seemed. Travis shook his head and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The other students sat there, completely oblivious to what had just happened in front of them. The bell rung and the teacher assigned the students their homework to complete for the following day.

Travis continued to watch the girl Sarah and her friend, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. The two of them left the classroom together as Travis watched. When Sarah moved her head, her ponytail moved back and forth like a pendulum. The hair wasn’t what interested Travis, but concealed underneath her ponytail on the back of her neck, as small as a dime was a marking, identical to that of Parker, himself and either Lindsay or Steph, in the shape of an S.

3

Travis stared down at the sheet of paper in his hands, it read:
Calculus: Rm. 206
Biology: Rm. 300
Lunch
Physics: Rm. 302
Chemistry: Rm. 318

Of course, his mother had forced him to jam-pack his schedule with all of the hardest courses possible available at the school. It wasn’t that they were too hard, it was the fact that they took away from his social life and forced him to choose either good grades, or good friends.

Travis followed the numbers on the doors in the now empty hallway until he reached room 206. Calculus. Travis knocked on the door and was let in by what he assumed was his teacher, a balding man with horn-rimmed glasses. He handed the man his sheet of paper and the man announced “Class, we have a new student with us, this is Travis Vance, Travis take a seat wherever you wish.” The teacher was obviously saying this out of courtesy because there was only one seat available in the class, right at the back. Travis walked to the back of the classroom and could feel all eyes on him as he took his seat. He noticed Trish, from the bus sitting in a desk near the window chatting non-stop to another boy in the seat behind her.

Travis was at the end of his row, but to his left sat a well-built boy, who hadn’t seemed to notice Travis’ arrival. The boy was busy doodling on his sheet, and obviously hadn’t been paying any attention to what the teacher was saying. Feeling friendly Travis introduced himself,
‘Hi, I’m Travis’ he said as he stuck out his hand. The other boy looked up and gave Travis a calculating stare.

‘Parker’ the boy said as he took Travis’ hand and shook it. As it was his first class, Travis figured he would have lots of time to catch up later on in the semester so he talked with Parker for the majority of the class. Parker had lived in the surrounding area for his entire life and he knew most of the kids in the school if not by face then at least by name. Turns out, Parkers schedule was almost identical to that of Travis except for his last period, Chemistry.

During Biology, Travis spent most of the class learning the names of the other students and their social status courtesy of Parker. Over the frog they were supposed to be dissecting, Travis discovered the names of the only other students he had made any contact with. The jock from the bus stop was named Joel and from the way Parker explained him, he could tell that there was some unexplained tension between him and the football player. Travis didn’t push for further information but instead described the girl who had showed him where the office was.

‘Skinny, blonde, blue eyes?’ Travis remembered

‘Dude, you’re gonna have to be more specific, if you haven’t noticed that barely narrows it down’ Parker pointed out.

‘Kinda bitchy?’

‘That’s either Lindsay or Steph, they’re twins.’ Parker said

‘Well, this one had a scar on her thumb, looked sort of like an ‘S’’ Travis remembered the scar when the girl had pointed him in the direction of the main office.

‘On her thumb? Did it look like this?’ Parker rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and showed Travis a thin line on the inside of his wrist.

‘Yeah! What the hell?! You have one too? That’s really weird, I have a birthmark like that underneath my foot.’ Travis said in a low voice as the teacher passed by, inspecting their dead frog.

‘Well, this has been here ever since I can remember, my mom says her brothers have it too so its probably some genetics thing.’ Parker said as he pushed his sleeves back down.