Fantasy (Book #1 in the Superpowered series)

5

Serenity followed Alex's instructions. Although her curiosity was killing her, she waited, through school, through the bus ride home, until her parents were busy with who-knows-what,

Her phone rung once before Alex picked up.

"Hello?" This voice was Alex's, but different from Alex at the same time. Odd. Very, very odd.

Then Serenity realized what it was. Alex sounded... female.

"You're a girl?" Serenity asked dubiously.

There was a pause. "Currently" was the terse answer.

She took a moment to consider her options. This was not a friendly chat. It was a deal.

"What do you want?" Serenity asked directly. "Wait—you want my power."

"I want Fantasy to be on my side," Alex corrected.

"You talk about it like it's a separate person."

"Mm. Anyways, I'm not going to suck your power out of you. I'm going to train you."

Serenity thought about this, then realized something. "You were there! That wasn't a dream!"

There was silence on the other end, before Alex answered: "You figured out I was controlling you?" His, her voice was filled with fear, as if his greatest secret had just been uncovered. Too much fear.

Serenity forced herself to consider everything that had happened. "No. Your acting skills are horrible, by the way. Your power doesn't work that way. You were... the man in the bank."

There was a sigh. "Even without your powers, you'd still be very u—helpful."

Useful? Serenity thought.

"Also because I heard your slip. 'Pup.'"

Alex seemed to pretend she hadn't heard that part. "I sent you something. If you use it, I'll answer one of your questions."

"Answer one now and I'll use it," Serenity countered.

"Fine."

She hadn't expected that to be so easy. "Who's Pup?"

Suddenly there was a shout from the other end. "Don't!" a voice screeched. A different girl.

"Shut up!" Alex roared. There was silence again. 

"Please don't ask that question," the other girl begged.

"Who are you?" Serenity asked.

"Puppetmaster," the girl said.

Puppetmaster. Of course. And this girl could control people, it seemed.

"ALEX!" Puppetmaster screeched. 

"Bye, Fantasy," Alex whispered, then she hung up before Serenity could say a word. 

And something inside of her opened its eyes. Fantasy? it thought. Not bad. Not bad at all.

And for a second, two deep, dark, abysses stared down at Serenity's phone. Then it closed its eyes—and waited.