The Unfortunates

Chapter Three

I slowly walked up to my door, stumbling slightly through the still-strong feeling of weakness left behind by the light's attack, and gave a single knock before leaning against the peeling white railing on the side of the porch. Anna sat down heavily with a sigh.

I heard footsteps from inside, then my dad opened the door. His eyes widened. "Kids!" he said, taking a step outside the porch to stare at us in disbelief. "What happened?"

"Uh, nothing! Nothing." I gave a quick glance at Anna as I spoke. We'd decided not to tell my father about the powers for now. "We're just... tired... because we ran part of the way home. We had to; the bus broke down."

"The bus broke down?" my dad repeated, raising his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yep," Anna said cheerfully, slowly rising from where she was sitting and grabbing the railing for support, not very inconspicuously. "And you know we are not runners. So maybe jogging back was a bad idea."

"What's on your face?" Dad said to Anna, motioning to her thin scar with one hand and scratching his beard with the other.

"Oh, that's old! You haven't noticed that before?" Anna said, with a forced laugh, unconsciously bringing a hand up to touch it. "It's from a few months ago, when... a..."

I grimaced.

"ICE!" she shouted. "When I fell on ice. That was when Leah and I didn't hang out much, right after her mom passed."

My dad's face fell and she groaned. "Sorry, sorry! But, yeah. Then you didn't see me for a couple months and... voila! It healed."

She threw her arms out wide like a magician finishing a trick.

Dad raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms. "There's something you girls aren't telling me. I know both of you too well."

We blinked innocently at him.

He shook his head and sighed. "Well, whatever it is, let me know when you're ready to come clean."

I smiled, relieved. Then I remembered I had to keep my act up. "Dad, there's nothing! Nothing we're hiding. Nothing at all."

"Worst liars I've ever met," my father said with a chuckle, walking back inside the house and swinging the door open wide. "Come on, girls. Let's get you some cocoa and a seat by the fireplace."

I shivered and grabbed Anna's hand, slowly and carefully walking inside. "Thanks, dad."

He fell back to grab my other hand as we were walking inside. "Life's too short."

I sighed, but couldn't hide a smile. "For what?"

"To do anything but what's right."

He gave a knowing grin and I smacked him lightly. "We're not hiding anything. I told you that."

"Uh-huh," he snorted, heading to the kitchen. "Well, maybe cocoa will change your mind."

Three cups of cocoa, no secrets spilled, and a half hour later, Anna and I lay on my bedroom floor, looking at the ceiling. "Do you feel pretty much normal now?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I do." I slowly sat up and leaned against my bedpost. "That was weird. Why did the lightning thing sap all of our strength and almost take us out, but still leave us with powers?"

"Your life has to nearly end before it can begin, sometimes," Anna said, tapping her head. "I think that's from a superhero movie."

"Well, ours did nearly end, so we've got that part down." I pushed a frizzy stand of hair behind my ear. "But my life had begun before. I don't want having powers to change me... change who I am. Or the course of my life." I looked at the blue electricity crackling lightly in the palm of my hand. "I don't even know how to use my powers!" I said, frustrated. "We still definitely are no match for the Supers in our city."