The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 9 - The Broken Pieces

The sun was high in the sky as Zach rode down the Madrona hillside towards home. Zach rehearsed his arguments during the entire bike ride. It wasn’t like him to be nervous, but he knew Binny could be prickly on this issue, and he wanted to handle it just right.

“Absolutely not!” Binny didn’t even let Zach get through his first sentence before cutting him off. 

“Can you please just listen to me before – ”

“You would tell our secret to someone you just met two days ago to find some stray cat?” Binny demanded. 

“That’s not what I was saying”. Zach wasn’t even a minute in and things were going even more poorly than he had feared. “I told you, she’s like us.”

“She is nothing like us. She does not have powers. There was only one name in that study. Mom’s.”

“But you know that study didn’t give us our powers. And Penny is the proof.” Zach was using every ounce of his focus to stay calm. He knew from experience that escalating would only make things worse.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t know where our powers came from. I just know that we’re the only four people that have them.”

“I know what I saw.” Zach said.

“I know what I’m seeing.” Binny said acidly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Zach let some of the frustration he was feeling creep into his voice. 

“You know what it means.” Binny gave Zach a knowing look.

“No, I don’t know. Please illuminate me.” One of Zach’s’ eyebrows rode high on his forehead. His eyes were wide getting ready for whatever blow Binny had to administer.

“Well,” Binny paused looking like she was wondering whether to follow through, “I think you want to include this girl in our group for reasons you’re not admitting.”

“Like what?” The edge in Zach’s voice was now unmistakable. 

“Like that you like her.”

Zach looked at Binny hard.

Binny raised her eyebrows in defiance.

“You don’t get to make all the decisions in this group. I can do whatever I like.” Zach finally responded.

“Maybe I don’t get to make all the decisions, but this decision affects us all.” 

“I don’t need your permission. I’m older than you.” Zach knew he was on thin ice trotting out his two year age advantage, but he was frustrated and angry. 

“You may be older than me, but the older we get, the less that will matter. But my power is better than yours. And that will never change no matter how old we get.”

Some of the color went out of Zach’s face. It was clear that Binny had poked a tender spot.

Binny didn’t stop. “We both know that the most powerful person in the group makes the decisions. Like Superman.”

“Batman makes most of the decisions in that group and he has no powers.”

“Your new friend doesn’t have any powers either. Your crush on her is affecting your judgment.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“No. It’s not ridiculous. It’s the truth.”

“How would you know that?” 

“You know how. I can tell these things. It’s not just that I can see thoughts, I can see how people are feeling.”

It was all too much for Zach. He’d been so thoughtful, and so careful. Maybe he did like Zoe. So what. He didn’t even know himself for sure. He knew that he really wanted to make her feel better. Was that ‘liking’ someone? Being nice to them?