[OLD PREVIEW] The Supers Experiment (#1)

One

Ivy couldn't decide whether the drowning nightmares or the fire nightmares were worse.

"Are you the pyro?"

Ivy jerked awake. She had fallen asleep on top of her textbooks. Again. She brushed a strand of auburn hair out of her face and looked up to see who had spoken. A boy she recognized from a few of her classes stood in front of her.

"Can I help you?" Ivy asked, forcing a polite smile.

The boy grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it across the wood floor. Ivy winced at the sound. She was sitting in a far corner of the school library, free from distractions so that she could study in peace. Or sleep, apparently. She sighed as the boy took a seat.

While he got comfortable, Ivy picked up her pencil and glanced down at what she'd been working on. Math. No wonder she'd fallen asleep. But even algebra was preferable to the fiery nightmare she'd slipped into. Guilt crept in as she remembered the dream. Her first accident.

"So, are you the pyro then?" the boy asked.

Crap. Ivy's fingers tightened around the pencil in her hand. How did he know?

"I mean, it can't be a coincidence," the boy continued, leaning forward in his chair. "Just because they didn't have proof doesn't mean it didn't happen, right? How'd you do it?"

Ivy's eyes darted to her hands. This kid seemed to think she did it on purpose. Everyone did, didn't they? How does someone accidentally set not one, but four fires?

The boy looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Ivy narrowed her eyes. "Sorry, I have to go," she said, standing up. Ignoring the stares from other kids in the library, she hurried to the old oak doors and pushed one open. She could get in trouble for leaving during study hall, but she didn't care. She had bigger problems, like the heat rushing to her fingertips. Just one spark could destroy everything.

Ivy relaxed a little when she entered the empty hallway, but her heart was still racing. How long had it been? She transferred here in September, now it was April. Only seven months. She used to go years between incidents.

September. Her sixteenth birthday. Another boarding school. Ivy crossed the hallway to the water fountain. She took a long drink, adjusting to the water pressure as it fluctuated. She wasn't going to let herself set another fire.

The school would burn so easily.

Ivy pushed aside the thought and looked up, into the mirror above the fountain. Her amber eyes stared back at her. Was it her imagination, or did she look paler than usual? She told herself she was okay, but deep down she wasn't so sure. She had been so on edge lately. Another accident was inevitable.

There was a hole in the wall next to her. Some kid had put it there during a fist fight a few months ago and it still hadn't been fixed. Looking at the rusty, broken pipes visible through the hole, Ivy realize how awful things had gotten. They used to send her to nice schools. Well, decent ones anyway. Now she was here.

Ivy leaned down to take another drink. Her hand brushed against the bar on the fountain, sending a spray of water at her face. She froze. Fear flooded her body as her breath caught in her throat.

For half a second, she was a little kid again, drowning. Trapped in the deep end of that swimming pool.

Ivy snapped back to reality and stepped away from the fountain, but it was too late. Sparks jumped off her fingers and bounced across the wood floor. Her curse, acting up, as if it were trying to protect her from her fear.