Bailey

Chapter 10

Bailey's eyes blinked open. Why do I always get knocked out!? Her vision was blurry, but she thought she saw two boys. About her age, maybe a little older. They looked pretty similar with Bailey's blurred vision. They looked at her with a serious expression. Both of them had purple eyes. One had more fluffed up short brown hair while the other had smoothed it down. Bailey blinked. Her vision was back to normal and the boys were still there and they did look alike.

"What the mastiff?" Bailey gasped. She stood up and backed away. "Who are you guys?" The boys looked at each other then back at her.

"Keiran and Caleb Ashryver," Ashley explained. She had dust all over her, tinting her bright red hair to an orangey-tan. "They are also superheroes. But they are usually in a different town." Ashley ended her sentence with a sharp glare at Keiran and Caleb. Bailey knew that she and the boys must have a history together. "And they should go back to that town where they belong!" Ashley growled. Keiran and Caleb's expressions turned sour.

"Are you still angry about this!?" Caleb shouted.

"That was a YEAR ago!" Keiran added.

"Do you three... know each other?" Inna voiced Bailey's inner thoughts. Ashley crossed her arms and looked away.

"Should you tell them or should I?" she grunted.

"If you tell them, you won't be telling the story right, life-ruiner!" Keiran told her.

"Fine then, go right ahead, ungrateful brats!" Ashley shouted.

"Well," Caleb huffed and turned toward Bailey, Inna and Maya.

"Hey, I'll tell the story!" Keiran pushed Caleb to the side. Caleb shoved him back.

"So it was 6 years ago. When we were in 2nd grade. Me and Keiran and Ashley were at this super summer camp. You know, for superheroes." Bailey imagined young Ashley, Keiran, and Caleb playing at a summer camp.

"Now it's time for battle!" One of the camp counselors shouted. "Ashryver boys against Donna Brown. Crystal Mona against Gregory Scott. Aila Frost against Zach Willson. Ashley, you just watch them since ms. Hanley is injured." Young Ashley slumped down on a bench. Keiran and Caleb ran over to a wide open field and stared at a tall blonde girl named Donna. Donna's eyes turned black and wisps of smoke surrounded her. Caleb put his fists up and Keiran held a non-existing sword.

"You've got this guys!" Ashley shouted in a high voice. Keiran nodded and smiled.

"And begin!" The counselor's shout made all the super kids spring into action. A purple sword appeared in Caleb's hand and he raced toward Donna. Keiran thrust his hands forward and a large purple force field spawned and flew toward Caleb. Caleb jumped into his brother's spherical force field and rode it toward Donna. Donna raised her hands to the sky and a shadow engulfed the battle area. Caleb and the force field crashed into Donna and the shadow faded away. Caleb neatly landed on the ground and held his sword. Donna made over the top groaning noises.

"Are you done?" Caleb asked. Donna looked at him with a creepy smile. She started to laugh maniacally.

"NEVER!" she screamed. She kicked Caleb in the stomach and he fell back in pain. Keiran raced toward Donna to avenge his brother. He created a force field shaped like a wall and shoved Donna away. Donna used her powers to make it almost pitch black.

"AH!" Someone screamed.

"Keiran, was that you?" Caleb asked, still lying on the ground clutching his stomach.

"No!" Keiran quickly shouted.

"Are you scared of the dark?" Donna's voice called out. It seemed to be coming from everywhere.

"No!" Keiran repeated. Keiran felt a sharp pain in his back. "Ow!" He turned around to face his attacker. But with the little light, he could not see anything.

"Caleb, sword! Now!" Keiran shouted. A glowing sword was tossed into his hand and he started to whirl it around in hopes of hitting someone. "Show yourself!"

"Campers, remember. If you don't win this battle, you are out of this camp... FOREVER." The camp counselor reminded the kids. The sky brightened up and Ashley gasped. Donna was hovering right behind Keiran with black smoke around her.

"Keiran! Behind you!" Ashley shouted. Keiran couldn't hear her. Caleb slowly pulled himself up. Ashley knew that Donna would end them. Donna had always shown signs of evil. Her dad was a shadow god who lived in the shadow dimension. He's evil, basically. Donna would do whatever it took to stay in the camp and reach the grand prize of becoming a real superhero. Ashley held her quivering hand up and pointed her palm at Donna. She closed her eyes and shot a line of fire at the shadow girl.

"Agh!" Donna screamed. She fell to the ground and Keiran gasped. A whistle blew.

"Keiran and Caleb Ashryver and Ms Kalinda! Get over here right now!" the camp counselor yelled. "Because you have helped each other without permission, I am kicking you out."

When Caleb finished the story, Ashley and Keiran were glaring daggers at each other.

"Sooo... basically, she saved your life, and you hate her for it," Inna summarized. The twins both turned on her.

"Trust you to take her side! That camp was our last chance to prove to our parents that we were worth something and weren't mistakes!" said Caleb angrily. Inna shrank away making placitory gestures. There was just something in the boys' eyes that said to Bailey, don't mess with us.

Trying to change the subject, Bailey asked, "What happened back there anyway? Where is Slicer?" That seemed to get the boys' attention.

"Crying to his mommy," Keiran answered with a laugh.

"As soon as he saw us he turned tail and ran! Turned tentacles? Nevermind." Caleb explained.

"That's totally how it happened," growled Ashley in a tone that kind of reminded Bailey of her rottweiler when she tries to be scary. "Now that he's gone, you can LEAVE!"

"WE CAN'T! SLICER IS STILL ON THE RUN! We don't want to be within 10 miles of you, but duty binds us here! Surely you and your enormous head can understand that?! RIGHT?!" Keiran shouted. Caleb backed him up with a stern glare at Ashley.

"We haven't seen you around much. We've been the ones getting the bad guys around here. So why are you all of a sudden here to fight?" Maya asked with her investigation face on.

"Our mom and we just moved here. We used to live in Alderbrook," Caleb explained. "We moved a month ago. When we saw you guys and Bailey on TV, man, your power is great, Bailey, we got inspired to fight again." I would say thank you but for some reason Caleb thinks I'm not a super with them. 'You guys and Bailey?' Am I not a super!?

"Fine, if you are to stay, let's get you out of here as soon as possible," Ashley sighed. "Let's find Slicer and get him. And you two can leave."

"Fine by me," Caleb agreed.

"Then let's find him." Maya hurried over to her large screen Bailey used to find her friends and pressed a couple buttons. "Thank goodness I'm amazing and I threw a tracking device at Slicer. Let's just hope he hasn't found it yet." Bailey was impressed. It was good to have such a smart kid like Maya on the team.

"That's smart," Keiran and Caleb said at the same time. They looked at each other in annoyance.

"Aha!" Maya pointed at a glowing red dot that was slowly moving across a large map. "He's at Park Avenue. We can catch up with him if we hurry." Ashley was already headed for the door. Inna hurried after her. Maya grabbed some gadgets and ran out. Caleb followed. Keiran smiled at Bailey and they rushed to catch up.

"So what exactly are your powers?" Bailey asked as they climbed the ladder and out the window.

"I can create any weapon imaginable," Caleb bragged. "Kieran can make dumb force feilds. They are not even useful half the time."

"Hey! Liar!" Keiran screamed. Caleb and Bailey chuckled. "Your face is dumb!"

"Alright, I get it, you guys fight," Bailey laughed. "But let's focus on finding Slicer." Bailey turned into a greyhound and sped ahead. She was a superhero now! Finding villains was her purpose! But she was distracted by Caleb and Keiran. Why did they feel familiar somehow?