The Shooting Star

(3) Tres: Nonstop Flight To Carolina

I'm pretty sure this Henrie guy was nagging me about causing a scene earlier after fighting those thugs at the gas station. Ironically, now we are shooting through the sky in a floating car blasting green flames out the back. It's been a few hours now, we could be in a completely different state. The marshes and grass have turned into forests, we haven't seen any large cities or towns for a while, but at least we're not going offshore into the Atlantic...

At this point, we're all out of ideas. Henrie's dad drove a pickup truck, so as we're flying through the air, we're just sitting in the back, enjoying the sunset and cool air. I made a fire with some firewood left in the back, and Henrie is just on the edge, taking in the remaining sun, I guess. He said, just like me, that he can't just slowly lift the truck down. If he tries to make it stop, we'll just plummet maybe 1000 feet to our death. And if I stop powering the car, we'll just be sitting in one place in the sky. We won't get through to any civilization, and we won't be seen by any people—

"Henrie!" I said, getting a jolt of energy. He turned a looked at me, "Yeah?"

"Maybe I should stop powering the truck. We're in a good place; if we start passing by large cities then we could hit the media and our parents... we could be found like that."

"I'm sure they already have info on us. I made people float above the gas station and people are probably calling on reports of a green... fire sword. Our parents probably are tracking us now, we can't stop." Henrie seemed very sure about it, but I wasn't. If the government knew about us, then they would know what direction we were going in, and they would try to intercept us at the next city. I jump back into the car and put my hands on the dashboard. "What are you doing?" Henrie said, rushing back into the car, too, "Did you not hear me? Anyone could have seen us, we could be being watched right now! Don't stop it!"

"It's just too risky," I said, and I banged the dashboard as hard as I could. The car slowed down, and the light went from green to burnt. The truck smelled like smoke, and nothing was working. We were at a complete stop, high above any solid ground. We looked out the window and saw the endless, vast forest beneath us. It was dark and seemed empty. "See, I think we'll be fine out here for now." I was sure of it, and the more Henrie looked down, the calmer he seemed.

"So," I started, "When did you, um, get those, um... powers?"

He looked at his hands, "I don't know. I've had these powers pretty much all of my life. I can't control them, and anything I touch gets affected by them, so that's why I wear these gloves. They help me control them."

"Me too! I have to wear these so I don't catch everything on fire!" I said, laughing a little bit, "But it doesn't matter anyway. My mother never let me leave the house, she was a real ass about it."

Henrie looked at me with confusion and then thought for a bit. "She never let you leave the house, until today?"

"...Yeah. It was weird. She said we were going on a tr—"

"A trip. She was sending you away to someone to examine you, right?"

I was speechless. Maybe we did have something in common, more than just having abilities. I don't think we are siblings, but maybe we came from the same place, and maybe we were being taken back. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I don't think we were supposed to get out of there. If there was just us with fire and gravity powers, maybe there were more of us on our way there, too. Maybe we were the lucky ones to escape.

"It doesn't matter anymore," I said, "We escaped. We are free, and once we find a way down, we can start living regular, human lives."

"That would be nice," Henrie said, sighing, "but unlikely."