Powers

Chapter 27: Forever Family

In the evening, when everything was said and done, Mark, Gail, and I sat at the dinner table, eating. Soft music played from our new radio. The whole set up of this was just so odd to me. I had a chance of being somewhat normal now. Aeon had called us during the day and had warned us that if by tomorrow we didn't have our children, he would take everything back. As much as I didn't want to follow his rules, I had finally set up a life for Gail, and I wasn't going to ruin it for her. Everything was set, so there was nothing to fear. Right?
Mark and I then sat on the floor in the living room. We had moved the coffee table off to the side. Gail sat on the couch, watching us eagerly. I took a huge breath in.
"You ready for this, Jack?" Mark made double sure I was okay. I nodded.
"Yeah. There's no backing out" I huffed. I raised my hands to Mark. In the centre of us, we put our hands together. Not holding, but like we were doing a high five. I knew I had to let my powers leave my body. Like when I had put them into my staff. As I concentrated, I watched spider webs of my magic trickle down my arms. Mark's was doing the same. When they got closer, they became very reactive to each other. My hands tingled as the spider webs came to touch. I felt the electricity of the powers colliding. At this point, I could only pray that it would work. My hands began to hurt. As light grew in our hands, I had a moment of regret. I regretted choosing to leave the island in the first place. I regretted allowing myself to become chief. But none of my regrets included Mark. Not for one minute did I regret marrying him. Nor did I regret taking Gail in so we could raise her. He gave me the best adventure of my life, and I don't think I could ever replace it with anything mundane. It was perfect to me.
I blinked after the white light in front of me finally dissipated. From beside me, I heard a squeal. I looked to my left to see a baby girl with bright green hair. Beside her was a boy with hair a nearly teal shade. Which meant he had a different power than Mark. He didn't have any of my power, but he still had a different water power than Mark. We stared in awe at our two new children.
"It worked" I gasped. The girl giggled as she began kicking her feet in the air. I stood, looking above them. Gail had now attached herself to my leg. I picked up the girl, looking at her chocolate brown eyes. Her cute slanted eyes. She had taken after Mark after all. Well her looks anyway.
Mark had the boy in his arms.
"He took after you" he had tears falling from his eyes. "I think we should name him Chase" Mark whispered. He smiled at Chase.
"How come?" I asked. In my arms the girl squirmed. I cooed her before she would start fussing.
"Because a while back I worked with this guy named Chase. His hair was this colour and he had this pretty cool power of controlling rivers. He could bring water from under the ground and form a river. Maybe a stream, but it was cool to watch. Chase unfortunately passed away in the war, so I feel this cutie here could be a tribute to him. What's her name going to be?" He looked over at me. I felt unprepared. We hadn't decided on any names, so I didn't know what to choose.
"Uh.... I think Iris would fit her" I thought of flower names. Iris giggled as I said her name. I couldn't stop myself from letting a few tears fall from my eyes. I grew an iris in her hand. She saw it and laughed. For a moment she stopped laughing, but she was concentrating on touching my nose. "Hi, beautiful" I rocked her.
"We did it, Jack" Mark put his free arm around me. Chase and Iris looked at each other before Chase kicked his leg and upset Iris. She began crying.
"Oh darling, it's alright" I pulled Iris more to my side. I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn't stop her crying now. "Shhhh... it's okay" I patted her back. As I walked around the house trying to calm her down, there was a knock on the door. I hurried over, opening it to see Danielle.
"I didn't know you had kids!" She was surprised.
"Yeah, we do" I admitted. I wouldn't say that they were just born however.
"What's her name?" Danielle asked. I could tell she wanted to take Iris from my arms.
"Iris" I responded as I continued to pat her back.
"Well it seems Iris is a bit hungry" Danielle put her arms out. I put Iris in her arms, trusting that Danielle had more experience than I did.
"I'm still not used to this whole child thing, I guess" I admitted. Danielle let herself in, finding her way to the kitchen. She took a baby formula from the cupboard, put it in a bottle and warmed it up.
"The trick is with this, is you drip a little bit on the inside of your wrist. It's a sensitive spot so it's easier to tell. When the milk is lukewarm, is when it's good" she told me as she put the bottle into Iris's mouth.
"Not to be intrusive in your life, or anything, but could I ask you a question?" I questioned her as she passed Iris back to me. At this point, Mark had come in with Chase, following what Danielle had just done.
"Yeah of course" she shrugged.
"Do you have a job of any sorts?" I asked. Danielle scratched her head.
"Uh, currently no. Since I had the kids, I don't have the time. My boyfriend left me so I don't have someone to help out. Been surviving on child support" she nodded.
"Would you want a job?"
"I would, yeah, but it's not easy finding one around here where I can easily be at home if I need"
"Danielle, I'm trying to ask if you'd like to take up a babysitting job? With Gail, Iris and Chase, while Mark and I go try to find jobs of our own? I will pay you good"
"You're joking, right?" Her face said everything. I saw the excitement rising in her tired eyes.
"No I'm not" I smiled.
"Oh Jack, Mark, I can't thank you enough!"
That night, after Gail, Iris, Chase, and Mark were asleep, I gathered a stack of money I had found in the sock drawer. I put it in an envelope before I snuck out of the house. The neighbourhood was dark. The house's lights were all out, and the only source of light came from the streetlights. I snuck over to Danielle's house, placing the cash outside the door. I hid it enough that she would find it, but no one else from the street could see it. Beside it, I placed an Iris. I smiled to myself, returning to my home. My family.

80 years later....

Our children had grown up long ago. All three, put under the same spell Mark and I had. They were the only ones we could really make proper friends with besides the other families. I had found out a long time ago, watching your closest friends slowly all fade out was a painful truth. Felix and Marzia died within hours of each other. I guess one too scared to live alone. Ethan disappeared when he was about forty and I haven't seen him since. Danielle made it into her nineties, proving she was a stubborn as she was in her youth. Of course we had to explain why we never aged.
Mark and I had employed her. About three years after we moved in, I had started up a landscaping company. Our company hit it big, and we had Danielle right in the centre. She had a cozy, low stress job. Managing mostly. She did it well. She knew how to do it and she got everything done for us. She was the real reason our business boomed. And people loved it. People loved our cheap costs, which made us a wide customer base.
Iris and I grew all the plants, making sure to carefully place things. Chase did have the powers Mark had predicted him to have. He could irrigate and create gorgeous lazy rivers. Gail had grown distant from us. She disliked that she couldn't help us out with her 'useless power'. So she moved away after fifty years. And now, she has given us grand children. Her husband was also granted immortality. She was happy.
My faction still ran smoothly, and we had no quarrels with the others. I made sure everything was as it should, and I lead it with pride. Sure, people would come complain to me, but I fixed what I could with the issue. It was fun, to be completely honest. I enjoyed fixing problems.
As for Mark and I, we've never grown out of loving each other. After eighty years, he still dances with me, we still make sure to have fun with one another. He was still the love of my life. Although everything around us had changed, our house torn down cause of old age, our loved ones passing, he's always been there. There's not one thing I do not regret doing with him.

Thank you to whoever makes it to the end of this book. I have to admit, it's not that great, as it took me roughly two years to complete and a lot of it just sitting in a document while a wondered if it was worth publishing. Anyway, thanks again!