A Second Chance

Part 55 - I'm his son

My parents' cooking was something I missed. Don't get me wrong, the city food was unparalleled, but this is just nostalgia.

Ray and Maya were politely picking at their bowls with expressions that told me they weren't exactly fans of the heavy ginger scent. It didn't bother me one bit because having everyone under one roof made this feel like a dream I never wanted to wake up from.

Edna hovered over me with a wooden spoon in one hand and a jar of spices in the other. "You've got to eat every last drop, Jay, because you're looking far too thin for a growing hero!" She practically dumped a second helping into my bowl before I could even finish the first one.

"Edna, give the boy some room to breathe before you turn him into a balloon!" Ed laughed while he leaned back in his creaky chair. He looked over at Ray and Maya with a sudden spark of curiosity in his eyes. "So, are you two still making those fancy swords back at the shop, or has the business gone all modern on us?"

Maya set her spoon down with a graceful smile that didn't quite hide her wariness of the soup. "We're still doing things the old-fashioned way, Ed, though I think Ray spends more time talking to the metal than actually hitting it these days."

"Hey now, that's called craftsmanship, and you can't rush perfection!" Ray chimed in while he gestured with a piece of bread. He turned his attention toward me and his expression got a little more serious. "Jay was telling us earlier that he's got some trouble following him, so we might want to keep the porch lights dimmed for a while."

Edna's face dropped and she immediately gripped my hand across the table. "Trouble? What kind of trouble could be following you after all this time? If it's those Ninja coming to cause more heartache, they can just turn right around and head back to their fancy mountain!"

"It's not them, Mom, at least I don't think so," I said while I tried to keep my voice steady. I told them about the guy who had been hunting me, but I kept the scarier details to myself so they wouldn't worry too much. "He's a dangerous person from another place, and I really don't want any of you getting caught in the crossfire."

Ed slammed his fist onto the table and made the silverware jump. "Let him come then, because I've got a whole pile of heavy-duty magnets and a high-voltage generator that'll give him a real shock!"

"Oh Ed, don't go getting your blood pressure up over some city bully," Edna scolded while she patted his arm. She turned back to me with a soft, determined look in her eyes. "You're safe here, Jay, and we aren't letting anyone take you away from us ever again."

Maya glanced at Ray and I could tell she was thinking about the bigger picture. "We'll stay close by for a few days just to make sure things stay quiet around here. It's been a long time since we've had a good reason to visit the junkyard anyway."

I looked around the tiny, cramped space and felt a sense of peace that I hadn't known in a decade. Even with the threat of dangerous people hanging over my head, being with my family made me feel invincible. I knew I couldn't stay hidden forever, but for today, I was just a son coming home for lunch.

I poked at the leftover ginger in my bowl while a question I'd been holding onto for years finally bubbled up to the surface. "Hey, mom, dad, I was adopted, right?"

Ed's eyes went wider than dinner plates and he nearly dropped his spoon into his lap. "Now how on earth did you figure that out, son?"

"Elements are usually passed down from parents to children, so the math only has one answer," I replied while I looked at my hands. I've spent a lot of time thinking about how I ended up with lightning when my parents were masters of scrap metal.

Maya leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand with a thoughtful look. "It isn't always a straight line because some masters can choose to pass their power to a stranger if they want to. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened with Ice and Zane."