The Free City

Chapter Thirteen : Strange Culture

It was a little awkward after my anger and pain wore off.

"I'm not actually sure where I'm going," I said finally as I climbed over a fallen log.

"To the bus, right?" Sam asked. "You're going the right way. I won't let you get lost."

"Why does Mr. Sato treat you so differently?" Kole asked the question I was hoping to avoid. I let myself think about how to answer it as we ducked under branches and climbed over uneven ground.

I couldn't really think of anything I wanted to say, so I remained quiet. My muscles burned as I scrambled over a boulder with them. It wasn't the way we had gotten to the base, but I figured they knew where they were going.

"Hannah was treating you differently, too," Sam said. "She watched you like you were about to explode."

I heard his unspoken words as if he said them out loud. 'And she said you couldn't control your power'.

"Hannah was?" Kole asked angrily. He asked Sam the question directly and I found myself tensing. I guess I was picking up on the strange vibe Jana had around them, and the weird antagonism they felt for each other.

"Yeah, she was." Sam kept his answer short.

I could tell that they wanted an explanation. If I shrugged them off and told them to mind their own business, I risked making them more suspicious of me. And what if they got angry? What if Sam didn't want to be my friend anymore? What if Kole didn't want to spar with me again? What if they stopped treating me like one of them?

I didn't want that. But I didn't want them to know the truth, either. What was I supposed to say?

"I..." I hesitated. We kept walking, and the two boys waited silently. "I can't control my power when I sleep, or when I lose my equilibrium. I've had accidents before, at my old academy. Mr. Sato is always worried I'll have an accident here and hurt you guys. And I guess Hannah was right. If I ever faced a Super with the power to make me unconscious, or the power to shock me like Damien, or to make me dizzy like Jason...I'd be a danger to everyone around me. They're hard on me because they want me to have better control."

It wasn't the whole truth. It was barely a sliver of the truth. But it sounded convincing to me, and the two boys seemed to accept it.

"Making Moe whistle at you was too far," Kole said. "That can damage a regular person's ears. I can't imagine how much that hurt."

"I'll be alright. I don't think Mr. Sato realized how sensitive my hearing is."

His sympathy surprised me, but I guess it shouldn't. Despite Sam's obvious animosity, Kole had never struck me as needlessly cruel. Just kind of an ass sometimes.

The two of them must have a history I don't know about. Otherwise, Sam wouldn't be holding such a grudge.

"Is that the real reason you have your own dorm?" Sam asked. Kole glanced at me as if that hadn't occurred to him.

"Yeah," I said. "That's the real reason."

"Is it actually that dangerous?" Kole asked. "I mean your Pushes are strong but they aren't breaking anyone's bones or anything."

His misconception should have been a relief. But perversely, I wanted to prove to him how dangerous I was. I wanted to crush any sense of safety he felt around me so the two of them would stop being so nice to me. I didn't deserve their friendship, not really.

"I can put up to three tons of pressure behind a Push. And I can make them as big as a house. If I wanted to, I could smash half your dorm in one blow. I don't want to, obviously. But if I was sleeping, I wouldn't be choosing to. It might just happen."