Green Lantern's Protégée

35: "What? No 'welcome home, dad'?"

314 Elk Street

November 26, 19:03 EDT

"Cyra, thank god you're home," Alexa said, Cyra yelping as her older sister pulled her by her arm through her open window, sending the blonde splat onto the floor.

Even though Kailey Brion obviously knew about Cyra's midnight escapades this whole time, she still had to keep it from her siblings, at least until Cyra screwed up and they figured it up. Plus, she loved sneaking into her own house like a villainous robber.

Cyra picked herself off the floor, brushing off dramatic dust. "What the heck? Why are you in my bedroom in the middle of the night?"

"Why are you sneaking through your window in the middle of the night?" Alexa shot back quickly. Her breath was ragged and there were tear stains from her mascara cascading down her cheeks. "That's not what's important right now."

Cyra's stomach dropped. "What happened? Did something happen? Did Sam get stuck in the fridge again?"

Alexa's laugh was dry, tense that made the hairs on Cyra's neck stand on edge. The room suddenly felt a lot darker as she twisted the ring on her finger subconsciously.

"No, um—" Cyra watched Alexa's adam's apple bob up and down. "—something bad happened, Cyra, and you might be mad at me."

It might be the hero work, but her mind instantly flashed to Alexa being a secret superhero like herself or worse, a villain that is about to kill her own sister and then try to take over the world, but even those dark thoughts didn't comfort Cyra. Her ring pulsed on her finger like an early warning signal.

Tears began to bubble out of Alexa's eyes like water through cracks in a dam. Cyra's heart instantly leaped into her throat and her arm was around Alexa's shoulders in seconds, letting them both fall back, together, onto the bed.

Alexa started to sob, hiding her face in Cyra's shoulder as her body shook. Snot dribbled from her nose and onto Cyra's jacket and even though her tightly closed eyes, her tears escaped. Contagiously, Cyra felt heat grow behind her face.

"What's wrong?" she croaked, clawing tearing at the base of her throat and leaving her breathless.

Laughter, wretched and hauntingly, crawled from her throat, but there was no humor in the sound. "You have to promise not to tell Mom," Alexa pleaded waterily. "If she knows, she'll kill me."

Cyra's eyebrows drew together tightly as her heart made a punch in her chest. "She wouldn't," her voice was carved out of stone, "and I don't know if I can keep that promise."

Alexa's face fell.

"But you already basically told me about the secret, so you might as well go the extra mile," Cyra said.

Alexa nodded, wiping tears away, blinking heavily and a pointless attempt to save her mascara. "It's a funny story," she started, "when two people love each other very much—"

Cyra's jaw practically dropped from her face and bile to rise in her throat. "Alexa, tell me you're joking?" The most serious look Alexa had ever seen on her sister caused her false smile to drop.

"I wish."

"Stop being funny that's my thing." Then, the panic began to set in and Cyra's body was vibrating with chaotic energy as she tugged at the roots of her har. "Oh no, what are you going to do? It'll cost money and you're in high school and mom will be—"

"Mom can't find out!" Alexa snapped, pausing Cyra's pacing feet. She repeated, gritting her teeth, "Mom cannot and will not find out until afterword, understand?"