Empowered

Chapter 20:.....End?

Although she woke up that morning in her usual amount of cold sweat from the usual apocalyptic dream, and despite the fact that the dream was so real, it was hard to ignore that this was likely something that would happen in her future, Ember felt pretty vindicated and as if her life might actually get better not to mention the fact that she had finally finished the twelfth season of the Real Housewives of Orange County.

"Holy shit! I got four hours of sleep last night! That's a new record!" She said, jumping out of bed. "Sounds like things are gonna go my way, tooo-daaaaaaaayyyyy!" She shouted as she tripped on the comforter; she had carelessly thrown off her and onto the floor and now found herself about to fall onto her desk as a result of her rashness. However, she stretched out her hands, closed her eyes, and braced herself for impact. She found that she didn't hit the desk. In fact, it felt like she stopped falling in mid-air. She opened her eyes and found her hands projecting some kind of shield or field, holding her up just slightly above her desk. "What the?" She said, and suddenly, the environment she was projecting was gone, and she found herself bonking her head on the side of her desk. Of course, with it being an extremely good strength day, her head severely dented the desk and only really served to disorient her mildly. "I definitely meant to do that." She said, getting up and assessing the damage her head had caused.

"Well, looks like my superpower of the day is force fields," she said, looking at the damage she had done to her desk as she rubbed her head; she found it didn't really hurt at all, and there were no bumps or bruises, "and that was bound to happen at some point anyway. I mean walking talking personification of destruction right here." She said as she dusted herself off and went to the bathroom to shower and go through her normal morning routine.

Dr. Wells and Abraham arrived as they usually did, and Dr. Wells scanned her as she usually did to assess the anomalous circadian changes to her DNA. However, when Dr. Wells read what the screen said, she didn't bat an eye but immediately whispered something into Abraham's ear. He whispered something back in return.

"What's the secret, Doc?" Ember asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, sweetie." Dr. Wells said, a little startled by the question. "You just have field projection today. I'm not sure how strong said fields are, but judging by the fact that your density and strength are up today, I would say 'very.'" She said with an actual frown and as if she wanted to say something else much more disconcerting, but she didn't. After this, both Dr. Wells and Abraham seemed more cautious around Ember, as if they were explicitly being more restrained and less intrusive. It was as if they were going to tell her bad news, but they never actually delivered it.

"Are you guys all right?" Ember asked curiously in the car on the ride to school.

"Of course, sweetie." Dr. Wells said with a smile, but something was clearly weighing on her mind.

"And what about you, Abie?" Ember asked Abraham, who seemed his usual stoic self, but somehow, his typical straight and neutral expression was a much more powerful frown.

"As good as can be expected, Ms. Crimson," Abraham said as he steered the car straight ahead.

"So, there's nothing wrong?" Ember asked, trying to determine what their respective deals were.

"Of course not, sweetie." Dr. Wells said with a seriously forced smile.