Chapter 50.

Edge of Halcyon.

Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: August 3rd, 2013. Draxon, Manhattan.

“Well I’m going to sleep, so wake me up when we get there,” I sighed, Jason nodding as I leaned against the window.

We were on the bus back to Manhattan now, and it was currently 8:30 Am.

Selina had sat next to Melissa to talk about girl stuff while Jason and I sat next to each other across the aisle,

“Will do..” Jason replied, pulling out his earbuds.

I sighed, closing my eyes as I felt myself drift off.

-

“We have to talk.” I breathed, watching as Terry materialized before me.

He nodded, his head flicking upwards in thought, “What is it that you humans say..” he muttered, “No kidding?”

We both sat down,

“So we aren’t the only Fear monster..” I summarized, crossing my arms as I still tried to process what we had found in the apartment building.

Terry sighed, “Apparently not, and it has been supercharged twice...which explains its ability to write in English…or even just to write. It must’ve supercharged its second time recently due to how…grammatically incorrect that note was.”

I blinked, not having thought of that one. I had completely forgotten that Terry had learned English from me. Or at least…how to speak it correctly. I guessed monsters didn’t really retain what they learned from their host unless supercharged or unless…well…unless it was me.

Did that mean he also knew Spanish?

“Hey,” I started, “does that mean you-”

Terry tilted his head, “Yes.”

I smirked a little, “That’s actually kind of cool..”

Terry frowned, “Although...you don’t seem to appreciate the knowledge you get from..my side.”

My eyes narrowed, remembering what happened this morning,

“I-It’s just that...I’ve never felt like that before.” I explained, beginning to feel awkward, “A-anyways back to the point..”

Terry huffed, “Yes yes,” He said, “The unknown mutant is beckoning you to Liberty island.”

I shook my head, “I guess it really isn’t ‘unknown’ if it's literally been with me…with us… this whole time.”

A moment of silence passed before I spoke again, figuring no good would come from just thinking about how screwed we all were,

“That note mentioned a raid.” I said.

Terry drummed his huge fingers on the void, no sound coming from the action,

“Yes... that paper mentioned a lot of things.” he continued, “and it would make sense for a mutant with intelligence to think of joining forces with…other mutants.”

“I guess,” I agreed, remembering the previous Ember reports of monsters, “But how is this guy able to like…call other monsters over to the island?”

I folded my arms, “I mean…we can’t do that.”

Terry glared at me, “Who cares how Damien, I don’t know why he can ‘summon’ mutants.”

I groaned, “So there’s a monster army at Liberty island, huh?”

Terry shrugged, going for the optimistic approach, “Probably not an army, but definitely more than just him.”

“Well,” I sighed, moving on, “what did the note mean by ‘Water Breaking’?” I asked, “Water doesn’t break…”

Terry almost looked frustrated, “I do not know Damien…but I assume we will find out soon.”

Before I could say anything else, Terry went on,

“There is something I now think you are ready to learn.”

Despite the current plethora of issues we were dealing with, I couldn’t help but feel excited, “Is it that move you were telling me about!?” I asked.

My excitement peeked when he nodded, “Wh-what is it? Can I fly? Can I -”

“SILENCE.” Terry ordered, “Flying would be ridiculous...It’s nothing to get excited over.”

He went on, “It’s just a form of energy projection-”

I went right back to grinning,

“Really!? YES!” I whooped, already thinking about Jason’s reaction.

When I caught Terry’s annoyed expression, I quickly shut up,

“I-uh..mean um..how do I do it?” I gave a cocky smile.

Terry murmured something about my intelligence before speaking,

“This move could technically be used to project streams of your ‘Excess’ out of your eyes as well as your hands-”

“So I can become Cyclops or-!”

“Damien, you are wasting valuable time.”

I coughed, “Right right, sorry...”

He continued, “Like I was saying- you can use your hands for this, but with your eyes, It is much easier to aim. Although your hand can project much more power.”

Terry straightened himself upwards, “To activate this, it is much like your ‘Fear sight’ and the process of reinforcing your limbs with energy.”

I stood with him,

“So I flood my eyes with Excess?” I asked, “I mean, I thought of doing that before, but-”

“No!” Terry interrupted, actually sounding concerned, “Putting too much Energy into your eye will burn your retinas despite their durability.” he cautioned, “Instead, try pouring out the Energy in a stream, much like you did to heal Jason’s injury.”

I nodded, “Erm, okay.” I said, “So uh...does it actually look like a laser?”

Terry shook his head, “No...”

I frowned as he went on,

“What you are doing when you perform this is much like how lightning behaves- the storm clouds being your eyes while the ground is your target.”

My frown turned into a smile again, “So I can shoot lightning from my eyes?”

Terry shrugged, “Well...kind of.”

I laughed, “Awesome!! So like-”

Terry groaned, “Be quiet and let me explain.”

I obeyed,

“The energy you create in front of your eyes will rapidly grow, creating a negative charge of ‘Excess Energy’. This causes-”

“Whatever I’m looking at to gain a positive charge from the imbalance blah blah blah” I finished, getting it, “Yeah I know how lightning works, let’s hurry and try-!”

I stopped talking as Terry gritted his scary teeth,

“So yes…you get the idea,” Terry said, “You’re welcome.”

My frown returned, “But wouldn’t that hurt me?”

Terry shook his head,

“This is why I waited to show you.” He explained, “Before, it would have, but now you are too durable for that to matter.”

He shrugged, “Though it might sting a bit the first couple of times.”

I could barely sit still with the new information,

“Some more things,” Terry started, rolling his eyes at my jitteriness,

“Because of your refusal to feed on humans more often, your maximum capacity of Excess Energy isn’t big enough to be able to safely project a large enough bolt to be considered literal lightning.”

Terry continued, “That being said, the energy you do project is still quite lethal.”

I nodded, raising my hand, “I have a quest-”

“Just speak.”

I coughed again, “Um, you said shooting it out of my hand is more powerful?”

He nodded, “That is because you can conduct more current through your hand without it… breaking, Though it is harder to aim.”

“So does that mean the more durable I get, the more energy I can fire?” I wondered, already thinking of the many things I would blast.

Terry hummed, “Yes, exactly right.”

I still wasn’t used to him reading my mind, especially when we were already inside my mind [mind-ception???], but I no longer saw it as some sort of intrusion.

In fact, I had grown quite comfortable around Terry.

I didn’t know if that was a bad thing, but lately, I had been getting closer and closer to trusting him. I just hoped that whatever problems he had would be resolved by my emotions.

Though that begged the question:

What was so good about my emotions? Could it really turn a..monster… into something more..human?

I again thought back to this morning, now wondering if what happened was even because of Terry.

It wasn’t like humans were all that righteous before monsters came along.

“Damien I-”

“So do you think this could kill a monster?” I asked, shaking my thoughts away before he read them.

Terry tilted his head, “It will most likely help..but you must practice this in order to get comfortable with it. You might find it to be...slow at first, but Jason seems to know what he’s doing when it comes to getting you to practice.

Terry paused before adding, “....although I would much rather you devour humans.”

I coughed, ignoring that last statement.

I looked up at Terry,

“Um..thanks.”

Terry looked down, “You’re welcome.”

A bit of silence passed before I spoke,

“Well,” I said, “Did you uh…want to talk about something?”

“Like what.” Terry asked, narrowing his eyes. The action almost looked threatening. In fact, everything he did looked that way…

I gulped, “I don’t know,” I laughed a little, “About anything…you know…since we’re hanging out.”

“We hang out all the time…one might even say too much.”

“Having you insult my choices wherever I go isn’t hanging out.”

“Fair enough.” Terry admitted, “But you are going to wake soon, so we shall discuss this later.”

I smiled, “But we ‘shall’ discuss it.”

Terry seemed to glare at me, “Why are you so persistent about this?”

I shrugged, “Well, we might all die soon…”

Then, since it was just us two, I added, “Especially us.”

“How pessimistic.”

“I know,” I sighed, “I’m starting to sound like you.”

“You’re not dying.”

I didn’t really believe that. I couldn’t believe that.

Everyone else was my priority, so I couldn’t waste time thinking about me.

I wasn’t going to try to die, obviously, but I just wanted to take time to do what I wanted first before…everything happened.

“Gosh, you are so dramatic.”

“Whatever,” I muttered “So-”

“Yes…” Terry said, sounding bored, “We can…hang out later.”

I grinned, “Gr-!”

-

SMACK!

“Ow!” Selina cried, retracting her palm from my face, “Freaking boy of steel..”

I looked around.

The bus had stopped at our intersection.

Jason was already outside on the sidewalk while Melissa and Selina were still inside with me,

“Wha-what’s hap-”

“It’s time for you to leave!” Selina yelled, laughing, “Look, we’ll call you two later.”

I blinked, getting up, “Where are you guys going?”

“We don’t live around here dumb dumb!” Melissa pointed out, “The Ember building is at the Edge of Queens right off of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, and you live in upper east Manhattan!”

Selina laughed, “Yea dude...and I live in Tribeca,” she explained, “which is lower Manhattan.”

I nodded, “Oh right,” I breathed,

“Catch you guys later then..”

Melissa slapped my shoulder before I jogged out the bus,

“Catch ya later, Superboy!!” She shouted, the bus zooming away as I hit the sidewalk, “DON’T DO ANYTHING COOL!”

Jason nodded at me when I reached him, “Hey, how'd you sleep?”

I grinned as we began walking, fully prepared to disappoint Melissa, “You are not going to believe what I just found out.”

--

“You have LASERS?!” Jason practically shrieked, nearly tripping into the street before catching himself.

I laughed as we turned a corner,

“I know right?!” I threw my hands up in the air, “Who would've thought?”

Jason glared at me, “Beats me,”

I had also told Jason about the other parts of my conversation with Terry, but at this point, we both pretty much understood what was going on.

Well, better said: we understood as much as we could at this point.

Once we had arrived at the house, it was 11:00 am.

Which was the exact time Mrs.M predicted we would return.

As soon as we got the door open, the first thing we noticed was Mrs.M pacing around the front of the house.

Jason shut the door, “A-auntie?” he called out to her, “We’re home…”

I frowned as Mrs.M continued to pace. Her eyes were sunken and she hadn’t even gotten dressed for work. Instead, she just wore her violet robe, her fingers lightly scraping against the fabric of the garment while her brain seemed to be in a different world.

Jason called her name out again, this time earning Mrs.M’s attention,

“Jason, Damien, you’re back!” She noted, faking a smile.

I glanced at Jason, watching him squint at her,

“Auntie,” he said, motioning around the empty front room, “What are you doing?”

For a moment Mrs.M just stared at Jason, the silence almost unbearable to listen to until Mrs.M finally spoke,

“You look a lot like your mother…” She said kindly, her smile quickly dropping and her eyes quickly sinking.

Jason stepped forwards, “Auntie I-”

“No!” Mrs.M basically yelled, her hand outstretched towards Jason.

Another moment of silence.

Jason had froze.

Mrs.M laughed a little, her smile and happy eyes returning once more as her hand dropped back to her side, “I…I mean no, I’m fine.” she explained, lowering her voice significantly,

“It’s just…” she shook her head slightly, “It’s just so quiet around here now… you know?”

Before any of us could say anything, Mrs.M began to walk towards the back of the house, turning behind the stairs,

“There’s plenty of food in the fridge!” she called out, not slowing her pace, “I’ll be in my office on some calls with Tony!”

Jason grunted in brief frustration, “Wait!” he yelled.

Once again…silence.

Mrs.M poked her head out from behind the stairs, another smile on her face, “Gotta work honey, so-!”

“Y-your office is upstairs..” Jason interrupted her, “W-where are you going?”

Mrs.M frowned, “I…” she sighed, “I moved my office to the downstairs room…”

She suddenly laughed, “closer to the air conditioning!”

She then disappeared, a door slamming a few seconds later.

I turned towards Jason, who was still staring blankly ahead at whatever office was behind the staircase,

“H-hey,” I said, pulling him out of his daze, “What’s exactly in that office?”

“Nothing,” he replied, “I-it is…was my uncle’s office.”

I didn’t get the chance to say anything before Jason was already heading for the backyard door in the kitchen,

“C’mon dude!” he shouted, glancing back at me, “Lasers, remember?!”

I slowly nodded, half sharing the grin he was giving me before following,

“Right…” I muttered, “Lasers.”

------------

“Are you ready for this?” Jason spoke, falling onto the grass while covering his face with the notebook.

We were in the backyard now, hanging around our typical spot by the lake.

It was half past noon, and the sun was still high in the sky.

Despite that, the cool weather still blossomed, the occasional breeze sending waves of movement through the leaves of the tree we were in front of.

This was the same tree I had ran up yesterday, and you could still see my engraved shoe prints on the bark,

“A-are you sure you want to do this?” I asked Jason, watching as he stood on his feet. “Like...at this time of day?” I added.

We usually did our training in the early morning to avoid any suspicious onlookers, but since the idea of lasers was too exciting to Jason to be left alone, he decided it best not to wait,

“Oh, it’s okay,” Jason explained, “No one will hear us.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Um...assuming this is lightning, and I am supercharging molecules to create a static discharge, then…”

Jason shrugged, “That’s…a good point, I guess.”

“He guesses?”

“Eh..it’ll be fine.” Jason decided, outstretching his hand,

“You worry too much...and I’ll take your jacket.”

I blinked, throwing my jacket at him,

“Uh...I think you’re worrying too little.”

“Aren’t these your powers?!” Jason asked, annoyed, “Be a little more excited!”

I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t going to deny that.

In fact, this was possibly one of the most exciting things that had ever happened to me.

“So, what do I shoot?” I asked, thinking back on Terry’s directions. It wasn’t like there were any test runs, so hopefully I did everything correctly.

Jason took his phone out from his pocket to record, backing very far away before speaking again, “Shoot the tree!”

I backed up too, keeping my body center with the tree before glancing at Jason for the all clear.

“Alright I’m recording!” He yelled, giving me a thumbs up. I could hear him giving a brief monologue to the video in the background, which would’ve cracked me up if I wasn’t the center of attention.

I decided to back up a little more, not that two inches would help anything, before sliding my right foot back too.

“Out like a stream.” I recalled, beginning to strain my eyes in concentration.

I began to relax when I felt the familiar sparks running throughout my body, willing them to run through my eyes once I was sure I could keep them open long enough.

A period of awkward silence passed over the afternoon air, and even if it wasn’t actually a long time, I felt kind of stupid just staring at a tree.

I began to question if I was doing it right, wondering if I even had enough juice for this given the long period of time that had passed before I last fed, but all those thoughts vanished when my eyes suddenly started to burn.

And this wasn’t just an ‘I’ve kept my eyes open too long’ kind of burning either.

No, this was more like a ‘My eyes have just been slammed into fire’ kind of burning.

“Ow ow ow ow,” I thought, gritting my teeth as I forced myself to remain still.

I didn’t know what was happening, but my vision was slowly beginning to shift from normal to a hazy red,

“Ow ow ow OW,”

Just then, right as the pain became nearly too much for me to handle, it just… stopped.

Just like that…it had stopped.

In fact, my eyes almost felt cold.

I still could feel the energy building in my face, but I didn’t feel like I was pouring out as much anymore. Instead, I felt like I was sustaining it.

Past my scarlet coated view, I was able to hear a high pitched whine sounding around me, the noise only growing in intensity as my vision went from a transparent red to a thick and muddy crimson.

It was getting nearly impossible for me to see clearly, and it was becoming torture to keep myself completely still.

“C’mon!” I thought to myself, mentally barking orders at my excess in an effort to hurry along whatever was happening,

“Shoot!

“Fire!”

“Pew pew!”

“Let Go”

Just as whatever screeching sound I was emitting seemed to reach its peak volume, a barrage of loud cracks suddenly echoed in the air,

Pop

Pop!

POP!

I yelped slightly as arcs of red started to bounce from my face to the tree.

Instantaneously, my vision had cleared, no longer blinded as I felt literal bolts of energy leap away from my body piece by piece.

With each arc I felt discharge from my eyes, only a brief flash of red followed, allowing me to see in between each pulse I shot as if I was just rapidly blinking. I felt like a twisted top that was quickly unwinding, spinning out everything I had built up with fiery energy.

Yet…

Even as the spray of bolts continued, ripping into the bark of the tree like a geyser of needles, it all felt so…slow.

Like I had built up a lot more than what I was projecting.

Like I was just poking a tiny hole into a massive balloon.

Like if I just...pushed it…

I felt my fists clench at my sides, bending forward,

Just,

A little more,

Power.

BOOM!

I skidded backwards several feet as the biggest arc yet left my eyes, stumbling onto the ground as my energy outpour ceased.

CRACK!

Just as quickly as the flash erupted, it vanished, my vision going through temporary blindness before I could see again,

“U-ugh..” I groaned, rapidly blinking to wetten my eyes as a headache came over me.

“DUUUDE!” Jason yelled, sliding next to me, “Y-you did it!”

I looked around, trying to reorient myself, “Wh-what did I..oh.”

The tree now had a 10 by 10 inch hole going through it, a light trail of smoke fuming from the point of impact.

For reference, that was like if I shoved a car tire through the tree.

And If the tire moved at the speed of lightning.

And if it was on fire.

Smaller, less smoky holes littered around the huge one- which I assumed were the results of my first couple of arcs.

The best part about this was that, even though I had just used a ton of power, I didn’t feel like going on a murderous rampage yet.

I looked at the tree again, a huge smile forming on my face, “That’s-!”

“Whoa, and you jacked up your shirt.” Jason noted, pointing at me.

I blinked, looking down.

It had various holes and marks inside of it now, but none of my actual body appeared to be damaged,

“Eh, I have more,” I shrugged, accepting my jacket back from Jason.

Jason began laughing again, “But did you SEE that?!”

I laughed too, shaking my head, “No, not really!”

Jason calmed down, pulling out his phone again before bringing up the recent video, “Here, watch yourself blast a freaking hole into some wood.”

I watched myself stare at the tree, not so long of a time passing before my face began to glow.

My eyes had began to shine so brightly, that the phone had just blotted out my entire head in light,

“This is crazy..” Jason muttered from the video, zooming in.

I smiled in current time, eyeing the red crackles of light that began to stab into the tree.

A couple more seconds later, I watched as the entire width of the camera was filled with light, Jason’s obvious yelp tearing through the audio as the view was replaced by me on the floor.

The loud boom came shortly after, Jason’s hands fidgeting at the noise,

“DUUUDE-”

The video cut off as Jason started to run up to me.

-

“Wasn’t that awesome?!” Jason asked, tucking the device back into his pocket.

I nodded in complete agreement, not able to stop smiling, “Yea, it was!”

“Did make a lot of noise though..” Jason pointed out, both of us looking around, “And hopefully no one notices the hole in the tree.”

As if on cue, Mrs.M appeared from the kitchen door,

“You boys alright?!” She yelled from afar.

Jason held up his thumb as I stepped to the side to cover up the tree, “Yeah! Thanks Auntie!”

She nodded at me, not able to take her nephew’s word for it, “Damien, are you alright?!”

I laughed, “Y-yeah we’re okay!” I assured, “Thanks Mrs.M!”

Once she disappeared, Jason turned to me,

“Is there a way you could… I don’t know…tone it down a little next time?” He asked, nodding back at the tree.

I scratched my head, looking back to where I had stood.

Some of the grass trailing the beam had been completely vaporized.

“Erm, sure…I’ll try…hah.” I smiled sheepishly,

“But I kind of want to do it again tomorrow morning…?” I tried.

Jason nodded rapidly, “Uh, yeah!” he agreed, still grinning wildly, “Whatever monsters are on that island better watch out for you!” he laughed, jogging back towards the kitchen door.

I paused a little,

“Sure,” I whispered, following, “They better…”

It was almost worse to wait for whatever that thing was talking about to happen.

A...surge, as the paper had called it.

I just wished it wasn’t so slow.

I mean, I loved hanging out with my friends while the world was any kind of normal, but that sinking feeling of it all going away was almost too much to bear. I just wanted whatever was going to happen to happen already, so I could know what I would be able to keep, and…what I couldn’t.

No…I couldn’t lose anyone else.

I already promised myself I wouldn’t.

As I entered the kitchen through the back door, my phone suddenly buzzed.

Jason was inside, sitting at the counter whilst eating from a freshly opened bin of ice cream,

“Who is it?” Jason called from the table, his mouth half stuffed with chocolate.

I took out my phone, smiling when I saw Selina’s id.

I answered, walking over to the table before sitting across from Jason,

“Hey Selina!” I greeted.

Jason’s eyes widened, sticking out his tongue as he made annoying kissing sounds.

I glared and gave him the “I will blast you and you know I can” look.

He just cackled maniacally.

“Hey,” Selina’s voice came, “So um, did you like…want to hang out tonight?”

My face went a little red, since technically we had never been on an actual date before…despite the fact that we were now dating.

Does one have to have gone on a date to be considered ‘dating’?

Or was that more of a loose term?

“Oh my gosh Damien,” Selina laughed, “I can feel you stressing out.”

I coughed, “Well, I don’t know…where did you want to hang out?”

“Your place…duh.”

I frowned, glancing across the table, “Well uh…Jason lives here too though.”

Jason raised his eyebrows in slight confusion as Selina groaned,

“You idiot,” she went on, “I’m with Melissa right now- we were just wondering if you both would be okay with the four of us hanging out over there…that’s basically our meeting spot anyways at this point.”

“L-like to talk about the apocalypse?” I asked.

“No- for fun.”Selina said, “We gotta have it some time, you know.”

“O-oh right,” I laughed, but then coughed, “So what about Hiru?”

Selina sighed, “His mom is making him do homework,” she chuckled, “She doesn’t like the idea of school being out for so long…poor guy.”

I blinked, “Dang.” I breathed, “Sounds like something my mom would do.”

“Sounds like something my dad would never care to do.”

I laughed, “I’m sure he cares.”

“Hmmm, you don’t know him. Heck…I barely know him.”

Before I could try and respond to that, she continued,

“Okay whatever,” Selina moved on, “Point is, Melissa can’t relay this message to Jason because her phone is dead, but we are both coming over.”

I stuttered, “Wait,” I thought for a moment, “Her dad and your dad are okay with this?”

Selina snorted, “Me? As long as he keeps not caring what I do with my free time. Melissa? Heck no.”

I shook my head with a slight smile, “So I assume there is a plan-?

“Oh yeah,” she explained, “Me and Melissa are going to catch a bus in a few while Lorica covers for her.”

“Nice.” I complimented the plan, nearly forgetting how cool Lorica could be when it came to these kinds of things.

There was this time when she agreed to cover for Sarah by telling my parents she was at her Dad’s house, when she was actually with some guy for a ‘study’ session.

It took some serious guts, since both my mom and dad would kill to eliminate Sarah’s love life.

Like…literally murder.

“Okay,” I agreed, “Let me run this by Jason and I’ll text in a couple of minutes.”

Selina prepared to hang up, “Alright then,” she said, “Cya in a bit, Dami!”

Beep!

“So what was that about?” Jason asked, now on his third helping of ice cream.

I rolled my eyes, stealing the bin from him for his own safety before explaining what was happening.

—

“So is that all okay with you?” I finished explaining to Jason.

Jason leaned back in the kitchen chair, “That sounds great!”

Then his voice lowered a bit, “Plus,” he said, “Auntie will probably be happier with noise in the house.”

I nodded, understanding.

After a moment I decided to lighten the mood,

“Well then,” I stood up, grabbing the ice cream bin, “We should probably save the ice cream for everyone else.”

Jason laughed, “If you insist.”

—---------

After I texted Selina the all clear, both she and Melissa showed up at our door a couple hours later.

“Hey!!!!!” Melissa hugged Jason as she entered the house, Selina stepping in after her and closing the door.

“So what have you guys been doing?” Selina asked, kneeling down to take off her shoes, “You know…after our little break in.”

Jason stood next to Melissa, “Well, Damien shot lasers a couple hours ago, so that was pretty neat.”

“He did what?!” Melissa asked, whipping her head towards me, “I said don’t do anything cool!”

Selina whistled, already trying to put her shoes back on to go outside, “Show me. Now.”

I laughed nervously, “Well um,” I scratched my head, my eyes still sore, “Maybe tomorrow-?”

“Excuse me!”

The four of us turned around to face Mrs.M, who was walking towards us from her office behind the stairs.

She was smiling, but still clearly surprised.

Selina stepped behind me while Melissa just waved politely.

“Erm, Jason…Damien?” Mrs.M raised her eyebrows, “Explain?”

Once Jason explained why each of our girlfriends were here, Mrs.M’s reaction was surprisingly awesome. She allowed Selina and Melissa to stay for as long as they wanted to, which proved that she really did need the company.

Although, that wasn’t to say she didn’t establish any ground rules.

“If y’all are sleeping here, you sleep in the movie room, understand?” She ordered, pacing around us like a college professor, “That room is huge, so I want my boys on one side and you girls on the other.”

We were sitting on the living room couch now, all of us faithfully listening to what Mrs.M had to say as she spoke.

It was a good thing we were on the couch too, since this one sided conversation had been going on for ten minutes.

“And I’m assuming you’ve both talked to your parents about all this?” Mrs.M asked, shifting her gaze towards Melissa and Selina.

They both nodded: expert liars.

“Hmmm,” Mrs.M continued her pace, “That’s a little surprising, and I’d be more comfortable if Hiru were here…”

I rolled my eyes. I mean, I wanted Hiru here too, but not as a babysitter.

“Don’t worry Mrs.Mabel,” Selina stood up from the couch, unwrinkling her jeans, “We all know what you’re worried about so I’ll just lay it down flat.”

I stiffened, glancing up at Selina, “Erm…Selina.”

She didn’t even bat an eye towards me,

“I promise you,” She said, “Me and Melissa are not planning on any pregnancies here-”

“Selina!!” I hissed, face palming myself.

Jason rested his head back into the pillow of the couch.

Melissa sighed, “Oh boy.”

“What?” Selina crossed her arms, sitting back down, “We all knew where this conversation was sailing towards,” she defended, “I just docked the ship.”

“No,” Jason mumbled, boring his eyes into the roof, “You sunk it.”

“Well, I mean… she’s right,” Mrs.M scratched her head, “And as long as y’all follow my rules, there ain't nothing to worry about.”

“C-can we go now?” Jason pleaded, already standing.

Mrs.M laughed the most genuine laugh I had heard from her since I started living here,

“Yes…you four kids may go.” she smiled, shaking her head, “And don’t break anything!”

—--------------

“So what first?” Melissa asked, entering the movie room.

Jason went in next, with me and Selina trailing behind them.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, performing a full 360 turn, “I’ve never been to a sleepover with more than just Jason.”

Jason nodded, “Yeah, same…obviously.”

Melissa shrugged, “I’ve never been to a sleepover.”

Selina looked bewildered, “The most popular girl in school?”

Melissa looked embarrassed, “The whole ‘famous’ thing…”

“Yeah Selina,” Jason began to tease, “Not everyone could go undercover.”

Selina laughed, finding a seat on the black plush movie chairs adjacent to the walls,

“Yeah, I’ve been to only a few…all with annoying rich girls for equally annoying business trips.”

“Oh, I hate those!” Melissa and Jason said in unison.

“All my business trips are boring.” Jason agreed.

“Yeah,” Melissa said, “I was on this recent one with my dad where he was like overseeing bomb transportation into the U.S…the hotels I stayed at were like…garbage.”

I was kind of just standing there, “I just didn’t have any friends...” I coughed.

Then I added, “And when was this a sleepover?”

Melissa began standing on one of the chair cushions, bouncing herself up and down like a toddler, “Well Jason’s aunt suggested it, so me and Selina just kind of rolled with it.”

Selina nodded in agreement, “What she said.”

I just went along with that, silently hoping Lorica’s covering skills hadn’t deteriorated for all our sakes.

“You guys want to play video games?” Jason asked, hope evident in his eyes as he inched towards the V-box console.

I just glanced at Selina, crossing my fingers that she would say yes.

See, I wasn’t going to flat out ask, because that just was…no.

“Hah,” Selina laughed, looking at me, “You two are such…nerds.”

I glared, “I didn’t suggest it.”

“Oh c’mon,” Selina stood up, “You love video games.”

“Dang it,” I realized, “I forgot I told her”

“I mean…I love video games-”

We all turned towards Melissa, who was now browsing through Jason’s game disc shelf he had brought over from his old house,

“Whoa…didn’t you get Jason that new one for his birthday?” Melissa asked, her head still buried within countless games, “I like the really violent ones…”

Jason looked like he was in paradise, “Y-you never told me you liked video games…”

Melissa whipped around, the Fight4life II copy I had bought Jason within her hand,

“They’re a guilty pleasure.” she admitted, cracking open the disc case, “Now c’mon, let’s play!”

Selina crossed her arms, “Dang Melissa,” she said, “I really thought we were about to roast these two geeks,”

She looked horrified, “I didn’t know you were a geek…”

After inserting it into our V-box, Melissa grabbed four game controllers from the same shelf, tossing the first to Selina,

“I mean…we can still roast them.” Melissa grinned mischievously, “I heard that this new Fight4life game can be 2v2…”

Jason took two controllers from her, passing one to me as we both found a seat on the opposite couch across the room,

“Are you kidding?” Jason laughed, “Me and Damien are the best at this series!”

I grinned, watching as the room’s projector broadcasted the start menu of the game on the wall sized screen in front of us. The lights had dimmed automatically, so it felt like we were playing in a movie theater,

“Yeah,” I agreed, looking to the right at Selina, “You two are about to get crushed.”

“Psh,” Selina tightened her pony-tail, gripping the controller with a posture that made me question if she had ever touched a video game before, “I learn quickly, Damien, so don’t get too cocky.”

“Alright, enough chat!” Melissa shouted, clearly getting excited, “Let’s DO THIS!”

—---

We played for what felt like hours- and when we finally looked out a window, we realized that was exactly what had happened.

I checked my phone,

“Already nine” I realized.

“HOW did you guys beat us?!” Melissa was standing on the chair again, breathing heavily due to how much she was yelling at the screen throughout our play time.

We had ended up playing exactly 100 rounds of the game, with me and Jason taking fifty three of them and Melissa and Selina taking the other 47.

It was extremely close.

“Because we’re the BEST!” Jason shot.

“What he said!” I agreed.

Selina was grinning like a crazy person, “Oh please!” she said, “You guys barely won, and we only stopped because DAMIEN wanted to!!”

“Excuses!!” I proclaimed, “Although you’re a lot better than I thought you would be…”

“Don’t compliment the enemy!” Jason nudged me, “She is trash…just like Melissa!”

Melissa launched a pillow full speed across the room, smacking Jason in the face,

“Trash?!” Melissa was about to scream again.

To be honest, Melissa was probably better than us both at the game…she was playing with skill I had only seen on trending internet videos.

But I wasn’t going to admit that.

“Hey!” Selina got everyone’s attention, standing up, “I’d just like to point out that I was able to kill Damien three times!”

Melissa and Jason clapped wildly, to which Selina performed a curtsy with her jacket.

I snorted, “And uh…how many times did I kill you?”

“Not important, Dami!” Selina spat, “I just started…you should be ashamed.”

“Ashamed?” I laughed, standing up with everyone else now, “The times you killed me were sheerly by luck,” I said, “They were weak kills.”

“WEAK KILLS?!” Melissa grabbed another pillow.

“Weak kills?” Selina was trying to contain her laughter, “That’s a load of crap!”

Just then, the door to the movie room opened.

We all turned to find Mrs.M walking inside with a bright smile on her face,

“Don’t mean to interrupt y’all,” she started, “But I’m heading off to sleep now!”

Jason ran up to his aunt, giving her a hug while saying goodnight.

I could tell that she was a lot happier now, which would work out since this was some of the most fun I had ever had.

“Goodnight Mrs.M!” I called out from the couch.

She said it back, disappearing out the doorway.

“Well that was cool.” Jason yawned, stretching his arms to the side while walking back towards the middle of the movie room,

“Ew, did you just yawn?” Melissa asked, currently jumping upon the black cushioning of the movie chairs.

“Is he already tired?” Selina added, clearly disappointed.

“Tsk Tsk,” I continued.

Jason just stood there, confused as to why we had all ganged up on him,

“Well, aren’t we waking up early to do some more laser practice?” Jason looked at me.

I frowned in response, “Oh right…”

“Laaaame,” Melissa spoke, joining Jason in the middle of the room.

Me and Selina followed,

“Why the heck are we just standing in a circle?” Selina pointed out.

Melissa put her hand in the middle of us all, “Zombie Squadron-!”

“Oh heck no,” I muttered, walking away.

Selina did the same, “Imma follow Damien.”

Jason did the chant with Melissa, appeasing her.

“I’m just going to get a bunch of blankets,” I told Selina as we entered the upstairs hallway.

Selina walked with me, “Better than that team name,” she laughed.

I laughed with her, “You know…this was a really good idea.”

Selina smiled as we reached a sheets closet beside my bedroom door,

“Yeah, I’m pretty good at making those.”

“Yeah, you are.” I agreed.

Selina turned to me, “So are you…okay?” she asked suddenly, “It's gotta be killing you too, right?”

I blinked, “What is?”

Selina rolled her eyes, “Like…I don’t know…how slow this apocalypse is, maybe?”

She continued, “I know I said this night is about fun, but I don’t know…lately I’ve been thinking about that note we found. A-and with the strange witness reports-”

“Yeah.” I agreed, getting it more than she knew, “I’m feeling the same stuff.”

She looked like she was about to smile, but then she just looked at me,

“Selina-?”

“Damien…I think it’s time I told you something.” Selina coughed, causing me to stiffen.

“I-it’s about your…powers.” Selina said cautiously.

“Y-yeah..?” I gulped, trying to run a list of possible scenarios in my mind.

Selina dropped the cautious look, “Okay, I’m just going to put it out there,” she groaned, “Look, I know about-”

“HEY!”

We both turned around, eyeing Melissa who had just stuck her head out from the movie room door, “WE NEED BLANKETS!”

“Melissa!” Selina hissed from across the hall, “Jason’s aunt…sleeping…remember?”

She shrunk back, “Right right, sorry!” she whispered, “Just hurry up!”

I turned back to Selina, “S-so what were you saying?”

Selina looked at me for a moment,

“O-oh uh,” she messed with the blue strands in her hair, “I was going to say…you know what, I can’t even remember, hah!”

Before I could say anything, Selina ripped open the closet door, grabbing a hand full of blankets before walking back towards the movie room,

“C’mon Dami!” she called out, “You’re so slow!”

I grabbed some too, still squinting at Selina as she disappeared inside,

“Coming…” I muttered.

-

The rest of the night was incredibly awesome. We put on a movie after setting up blanket forts, we ate loads of ice cream from downstairs, and we even found a monopoly set in the movie room closet to play.

“Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m about to fall out.” Melissa said from her and Selina’s blanket fort on the right side of the room.

I poked my head out of a tent me and Jason made with pillows and bed covers, “Jason is already asleep!”

Selina rolled out of their massive pillow fort she had designed,

“Pathetic,” she said, sounding like she was on the verge of passing out, “Weak…”

We were all whispering, and the only light we had to see was the idle ‘disconnected’ screen the projector was flashing onto the wall. We were each too tired to actually get up and switch the projector off, so we just left it there.

“This was fun, guys.” Melissa muttered, drifting off a few seconds later.

Now it was just me and Selina.

“Any plans for tomorrow?” Selina asked after a few minutes.

I shook my head, “Nah, just waiting for the end of the world…how about you?”

“Same.” she replied,”Wanna hang out?”

I smiled to myself from my tent, “Sure.” I said, “Where?”

“Well, I was thinking we could go to my dad’s building…It has a great roof top view.”

“Better than Energis?” I asked.

She laughed, “Way…way better.”

“Sounds good then.” I agreed.

“Yeah, maybe we should also swing by Hiru’s house…make him jealous over what he missed.”

I grinned at that, “Agreed,”

“You know,” Selina started, “Whatever does end up happening, I got your back.”

Then she added, “We all do…you don’t…have to hide… anything.”

“I know.” I said, “Don’t worry…I know.”

After a few more moments of silence, I spoke again,

“Selina?”

No response.

I glanced at her, noting the light snoring coming from her limp form.

I sighed, turning to face the roof, “Good night.”

Jason was knocked out inside the tent, and it was getting cramped in there, so I just lay down outside of it.

As I lay down, my head suddenly felt warm.

Had fun?

I smirked a little, “Yeah.”

Good.

“What have you been up to?”

Erm…nothing?

“Nice.”

You should feed soon.

“I know, I know. You should have more fun.”

What?

“Ever played like…a game before?”

What do you think.

“What about twenty questions?”

What’s that.

I was beginning to fall asleep,

“I’ll show you in a second…”

…Okay.