14. P O W E R : Heroes

CHAPTER I

2021

PAFF

Winter tossed a snowball up and down in his hand, narrowing his eyes at the target he'd spray-painted onto a tree—the target he'd just struck directly in the bullseye. "Strike two," he whispered to himself. "The runners are gettin' antsy. The crowd's on their feet. One more strike, and the Mariners win it!"

The Cervidian youth assumed a pitching stance and let out a long breath. He glanced to his left and right before focusing on the target again. Then he reared back and, with a mighty yell, hurled the snowball at the bullseye, hitting it dead-center.

"YES! Strike three! He struck out the side!" Winter whooped, jumping up and down and pumping his fists. "The Mariners have won the World Series! My, oh, my!"

"Great job, Winter!" Spring cheered from where she sat upon a stump, clapping politely.

"BOO! Go Jays!" Summer shouted, standing next to Spring and making a thumbs-down gesture.

"Nice slingin', Win," Autumn congratulated his youngest sibling, walking over to Winter and clapping him on the shoulder. "I think you could make the pros with that arm!"

"Yeah—if I wasn't a Shifter," Winter said, rolling his eyes. "You know they don't allow people with 'physical enhancements'."

"And what 'physical enhancements' do you have, exactly?" Autumn asked teasingly. "Besides being unnaturally small, that is."

"Hey!" Winter slugged Autumn on the arm, laughing.

"Well, what do you know? It's boys being boys," Spring quipped with a smirk. "You don't see that every day."

"Could you imagine being a boy?" Summer scrunched up her face in disgust. "Yuck."

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it," Autumn told her, wagging a finger and grinning.

Knox paused on his way to the house to watch his children engage in a snowball fight, a faint smile coming to his face. Enjoy it while you can, guys, he thought sadly, sighing. It won't last much longer.

Sol looked up as her husband entered the abode. "Hey, honey," she greeted him. "How was the meeting?"

Knox took off his cap and ran a hand through his dark blue hair. He lifted his shoulder, as if searching for a response, but couldn't seem to find one.

Sol frowned, rising from the kitchen table. "Knox? What's wrong?" she asked. "What happened?"

"There's—we—ah." Knox exhaled and sat down, leaning forward and resting his hands on the table. "They found them," he said wearily. "They found the Keypoints."

"What?" Sol paled, sitting back down and grabbing her husband's hands. "Are you sure?"

Knox pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yeah. They're gonna start building the towers."

Sol hemmed and hawed for a few moments before finally exclaiming, "But the Protectors can stop them, can't they? Or Xirxine, at least? Even the Peacekeepers! Someone has to be able to—"

"There's nothing we can do," Knox interrupted. "Not... legally, at least. They're building under the guise of creating 'Safe Haven Monuments'. Symbols of peace and unity between havens." Knox snorted and rolled his eyes. "It's a giant load of bullcrap—obviously—but there's no evidence to prove it."

"So... what can we do?" Sol asked desperately.

Knox looked her in the eye, his expression grave. "According to the Overseer, all we can do is help the Protector Force and Xirxine in their efforts to expose the Dark Celestials by the book. And to do that, we've been given authorization... to activate the children."

Sol recoiled as if struck. "What? Now?" she cried, dismayed. "But they haven't had any training! They don't even know what they're capable of!"

"We'll have to train them quickly," Knox replied in a grave tone. "They're needed on the front lines."

"Their bodies can't even handle the power," Sol protested. "They haven't been prepared to handle it!"

"That's up to us, too. We're on a tight schedule here, hon—and we don't have a choice."

"But—"

"Sol," Knox interrupted softly, "listen."

Sol gulped down her fear and met her husband's eyes with her tear-filled ones.

"They were born for this," Knox murmured. "They were made... for this."