You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 2

Chapter 35: Unexpected

            My jaw refused to remove itself from the ground as we pulled into the long driveway of Sissy's farm. Everything Vanya had told us about this situation was already confusing and unreal, to the point where I thought things couldn't get any weirder.

Boy, was I wrong. The large snowstorm swirling above the barn proved that much.

I couldn't begin the fathom an explanation for this. I'd been the closest any of us had to control over the weather, but even then, it was limited. If Vanya had truly given Harlan powers of some kind, wouldn't they be closer to hers? I wasn't doubting what had happened, especially because of the evidence swirling around in front of us, but there were pieces that just didn't line up correctly.

"You think whatever's going on inside is causing the cold front?" Diego asked, staring in awe at the flashing, roaring storm.

"Well, the correlation is high," Five sassed, shaking his head at his brother.

Suddenly, Sissy burst out of the trembling blonde, aiming a shotgun straight at our faces. I jumped back and stuck an arm out in front of Five in alarm, attempting to protect him from a potential shot to the face—never mind the fact Sissy had the weapon pointed far too high for that.

"Sissy! Sissy!" Vanya cried, trying to calm her down.

"Get back!" the mother warned, threatening us into staying in place. "All of you, just get the hell back!"

"Sissy! Hey, hey, what's wrong?" I was impressed with my sister's efforts to keep her voice steady, despite the confusing and frightening circumstances. Sissy must've put two and two together and linked Vanya to this... or maybe she just saw the news. Either way, her paranoia was completely justified, but I still didn't appreciate having a gun aimed at me.

"Carl," Sissy finally panted, glancing at all of us with wide eyes. I could only assume Carl was the husband in this scenario.

"What did he do to you?" Sissy began to shake her head violently, still attempting to pull herself together.

"He..." She finally managed to take a deep breath and compose herself ever so slightly. "He's dead. Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, same way you sent those police men flyin'."

I blinked at the blonde woman, unsure of what to think. This was way more complicated and dangerous than I'd initially thought. If Harlan had more than one power, and lacked the emotional control—just like Vanya did in the beginning, and still partially did—this could quite literally blow up in our faces very quickly.

"What did you do to him?" Sissy demanded, her voice rising in intensity again. "What the hell did you do to my son?"

"We don't have time for this." Diego tried to march up toward the barn, but Sissy whipped around and aimed the barrel straight between his eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" she screamed.

"To help your son," Diego explained. Sadly, he wasn't getting through to her.

"Look, Sissy, I found my family." Vanya gestured around to all of us, causing me to awkwardly wave, despite the fact we'd already been introduced. "These are my brothers and sisters." Slowly, Sissy lowered the rifle back down to her side, staring at the seven of us in disbelief.

"Ma'am," Luther muttered, waving. Sissy's head continued to shake back and forth, denying what she saw in front of her.

"Were you lyin' to me the whole time?" Her voice shook as the question came out, little remnants of tears making an appearance on her eyelashes when she blinked.