"I Love You" (Book Three In The "I Promise" Series)

Fifteen Years Later

It was fifteen years since then, and the Titans hadn't stopped searching for the Logans' missing daughter. But they had to do it in secret now, because once Andre, Mar'i and Rachel each turned thirteen, they became the Teen Titans. Mar'i was bright and inquisitive, a natural-born leader, Andre was quiet and bookish, like his mother, and Rachel was brash and street smart.

Terra and Beast Boy refused to let their children know about their missing sister, in case they never found her, or worse. They believed it would destroy them.

So Nightwing hid the work of their search. He hid it so deep that even his son, Ryan- who was also a master with computers -wouldn't be able to find it.

A lot happened in fifteen years. Nightwing and Starfire lived in Gotham City most of the time, but Mar'i, being the oldest, was the leader of the new team of Teen Titans, and her brother, Ryan, took up a role similar to his father's. Based off the red hair he inherited from his mother, he named himself "Cardinal," as not to be confused with the Batman's son, who had become the fifth Robin. Mar'i's second brother, John, was too young to fight as a hero, and had only exhibited the Tamaranean power of flight so far in his five short years.

Cyborg and Bumblebee had retired from hero work, and adopted a couple children from Africa. Victor was missing an arm, but his new father had created a robotic arm connected right with the Titan mainframe that could also turn into a sonic cannon. He worked at the Tower, coordinating between the team and keeping on alert for the bad guys. Georgia was only two years younger than her adopted brother, but she was not allowed to fight as a hero. Georgia had no powers, and no training. No matter how much she begged, she could not convince her parents to let her join the Titans.

Kid Flash and Jinx had three children; Katie and Jai- twins -and Jane. Katie was a speedster with her father's attitude, fun-loving and friendly. Jai had gotten the darker side of his dad, he was a ladies man and a prankster with his mom's powers, the complete opposite of his twin. Jane was only six, but a master prankster, the apprentice of her brother. A devil child who typically only listened to Jai. Karen joined the team as Swift, and Jai became Devil.

Raven and Aqualad- now Tempest -had three children as well. Andre, the oldest, had two younger sisters: Arella and Eve. Arella was bookish like her mother and her brother, and very shy. She had the powers of her father, but rarely used them. Eve used dark magic, a little mommy's girl, but she had the energy of her aunt Starfire.

Beast Boy and Terra had two more children besides Rachel, another set of twins. But this time they were boys. Leo and Michael were born with their dad's powers, thankfully at home at the Tower, where no one could discover their secret. Rachel had her mother's terraforming powers. All three of their children were on the team, and now Gar and Terra were expecting another child.

~*~*~

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" Michael yelled at me. I stood on the sidewalk scratching under the top of my knee-high sock. Those things were itchy! Majorly, as Leo would say.

"Why would I wanna hurry?" I snapped back. It was true, who wanted to hurry up and get to school? It was August 31st, first day of school for the students of Murakami High. A few of those students consist of me; my twin brothers, Leo and Michael; and the kids of a few friends of my parents: Mary and Ryan Grayson, Karen and Jai West, Andre and Arella Roth, and Victor and Georgia Stone.

I guess I should start by introducing myself. My name is Rachel Logan, the daughter of Terra and Garfield Logan. Probably better known are their aliases, Terra and Changling. That's right, my parents are superheroes. Someday, I'll be one too. And so will Leo and Michael, and all the kids of our parents' friends that I mentioned.

I don't call them MY friends, because I don't really consider them my friends. Katie is the only one I can really trust. Mar'i is too bossy and enthusiastic for my likes, Andre is a stuck-up, and my brothers and their friends are just plain immature.

I have the ability to control the earth. Pretty cool if I do say so myself. I used to be afraid that I'd hurt someone with my powers, but now that I've had training from my mom and uncle Nightwing, it's a breeze to use them.

I have two younger brothers: Leo and Michael, and my mom is now expecting a baby! I really hope it's a girl. I've always wanted a sister, not two gross little brothers. Andre has a sister named Arella, and she's always been like a little sister to me (we're about three years apart) but it's not the same. I have a little Koi fish I named Happy and a big German Shepherd my dad named Lucky. Lucky and Happy. Incredibly cheesy, right?

After reaching the school grounds, I found Katie and we headed to our usual spot in the courtyard, right by the Lily pond in the corner.

"Hey girls!" Brent called. I smirked at the guy in the jean jacket. In freshman year, he saved me and Katie from a couple of bullies, and he'd been looking out for us ever since. Now why couldn't Mar'i have been there for us? Because she was too busy hanging out with the cheer squad, that's why. Brent saw me and Katie sitting alone at lunch and invited us to sit with him and his friends. So that's who we hang out with today.

Katie whips out her hair/makeup kit she takes with her EVERYWHERE and pulls her red hair back in a smooth ponytail faster than she can dash across the courtyard and back (she has her dad's speed powers). Her hair is absolutely gorgeous, and she's a ginger! What's not to love? She and I were both born with weird highlights in our otherwise normal-colored hair. At least the pink is sort of hidden in Katie's red hair, My hair is stark blonde with a bright green streak. Thanks dad.

Next, Katie brings out her sketchbook while Brent presses his earbuds in his ears, drowning in the music from his iPod. Karen proceeds to work on a pencil sketch- a portrait of her younger sister, Jane -while Brent pretends to play an air guitar. Brent and few of his other friends; Janice, Ken, and Brenda, have made a band together, and over the summer their album got about a thousand downloads on iTunes.

I look around the courtyard. Aside from Katie and her sketchbook and Brent and his band, there's also the cheer squad running through a couple routines in perfect sync, the nerds with their calculators doing a few worksheets before their Pre-Calculus class, the drama kids rehearsing lines for play auditions this afternoon, and the kids from the poetry club writing "An Ode To The Cherry Blossom Tree In The Courtyard" as if no one else had done that before.

Everyone has something that they're good at. As for me? I can  split the city from the continent or stop a volcano from erupting, but does anyone care? No. Let's face it. My only special talent is hidden. And no matter what I do, I can't tell anyone. Even my brothers make everyone laugh, but I'm reduced to the ordinary kid in a crowd of extraordinary geniuses.

(The kids all call the Titans their "aunt" and "uncle" even if they aren't related by blood)