The Weirdos

10

Everything went smoothly on the way to the truck. It was a sleek black four door Toyota Tundra that looked to be brand new. They parked the rental and Evelyn left Jasper in the car while she took care of the paperwork. Once she came back out, they began to transfer everything into the truck, putting the snacks up front, then everything else would go in the back. When Evelyn opened the back door, Jasper's jaw dropped at the huge shotgun hanging in the back window.
"Whoa."
Evelyn smirked.
"Told you. And there's more where that came from."
She tapped a lock box under the seat.
"Can't you get in trouble for that, though?"
Jasper asked, making Evelyn smile.
"Only if it's loaded."
Evelyn started putting things into the backseat. Jasper snapped out of his daze and handed her the rest of the bags. Everything got settled into the back, then they climbed into the truck and left the rental car behind. When they reached the mountains and the radio no longer worked, Evelyn let out a heavy sigh.
"I guess it's time I told you."
Jasper looked over at her.
"Told me?"
"Yes. It's time I told you about... Your ability."
"You mean the icy snowy weird stuff?"
"Yes, that."
"Oh. Do continue, then."
Jasper folded his hands in his lap and waited for Evelyn to begin the explanation. She gave him a side glance, then blew out another breath.
"It starts with a single human being. A man. He liked to tamper with science, specifically genetics. One day, in a petri dish, he fertilized an egg with the specific traits he wanted in the child. But, something went wrong. He had a jealous co-worker, envious of the scientist's work and fame. He came into the lab one night after the scientist had left and he began to sabotage the fertilized egg, pouring chemicals into the petri dish in an attempt to kill the unborn child. The child survived it and was born as any normal baby. Except... She wasn't normal. As she got older, things started to change. One day in her teen years, she set a building on fire using nothing but her hand. This woman, Pyro, would go down in hidden history as the first mutant to ever exist."
Jasper stared at his aunt with wide eyes and raised brows.
"Mutant?"
He whispered. Evelyn glanced at him, then continued.
"Yes, a mutant. Pyro went on to get married and have children, then her kids had kids. And guess what? Once those kids reached their teens, they came into mutant abilities as well. Every other generation comes into this mutant gene when they reach their teens. It's been going on for centuries, but it's been hidden well by guardians. The families of mutants are watched closely until the day one of the children comes into their ability."
"Just one child?"
"Yes. Rarely is there more than one mutant in the family besides the one carrying the original gene, one of the grandparents."
"So, one of your parents was a mutant?"
"Yes. It was my mom. My dad knew, of course. She couldn't hide something like that from her spouse."
"How do you know all this? Why didn't my parents know about this? Evelyn..."
Jasper was holding his head, so many questions swirling around in his head. She reached over and rubbed his back.
"It's ok. I know its a lot of information, but somehow still not enough. We'll take this slow, remember? Give it a minute to process. Get a drink of water. Eat something."
Jasper did as he was told, picking through the drinks and snacks. It was a lot of information to process. Mutants? He was some kind of... deformity? But... The way Evelyn talked about it... She made it seem like the deformity, the mutation, was beautiful. Maybe it was, in a way. Maybe it was a good thing. Maybe it was a bad thing. Either way, it was great in Evelyn's eyes. They traveled about an hour into the mountains before Evelyn spoke again.
"You ready for more information?"
"Yeah."
Jasper responded, looking at his aunt.
"Your grandma, my mom, was a mutant. She could make gusts of wind, blow away the clouds and bring them back if she wanted. She knew one of her daughters would bear a child with the mutant gene, but she never suspected it would be your mother. We grew up, your mom and I, on stories of the mutants. Susan never believed in those stories, though. So, it must've really come as a shock to her when you suddenly started freezing things."
"Yeah..."
Jasper looked down at his lap. His mother... She was gone now. His father, too. All he had was Evelyn. No cousins. No grandparents. No great grandparents. Evelyn was a good aunt, though. He couldn't wish for anyone better to take him in.
"Tell me about the guardians you spoke of. The ones that kept the mutants safe?"
"Right. The guardians are the protectors of mutant children without homes or families. They watch over the children until they decide to go out on their own. The guardians are a novelty among the mutants. They don't age normally. I mean, mutants already don't age very normally, but they... Well, they stop aging at a certain point."
"They do what, now? How is that even possible? How do they do that?"
"We don't know. Or at least I don't. Mutants are the most curious things on the planet. Nobody knows how to explain them. I mean, there are no two mutants alike. How do you explain that?"
"Gah, I still have so many questions..."
Jasper held his forehead and looked at the truck floor.
"So does every other mutant like you. I'll try and answer everything you throw at me, ok? Just ask. One question at a time."
Jasper sat up and looked at her.
"Ok, then what else is out there? What's worse than the cops?"