To Be a Hero

“Do you want to be a hero or not?” Thomas demanded, staring down his long nose at me. Risa and Nella crouched on the cold cobblestone of the alley behind him. Bass leaned against a brick wall; arms crossed over his crisp while shirt, a loose silver tie about his neck. Moonlight shimmered down the damp building walls, collecting in silver disks within the puddles at our feet.

I returned my attention to Thomas’s outstretched hand. I hadn’t believed him when he told me what they had done. It wasn’t because I thought he was lying about their discovery of a way to give themselves supernatural abilities; I wanted something so miraculous to be true, even though at seventeen, I should be beyond such childlike fantasies. My disbelief stemmed from a lifelong history of his refusal to have anything to do with me. I couldn’t believe he would share something wonderous with me, the sister he ignored.

“Of course, I want to be a hero,” I said. How could I not want to be something more than the pitiful human who cowered when someone shouted too loud and failed to be by my mother’s side when she most needed me?

Thomas flexed his fingers over the purple stone. “Then take it.”

I hesitated, my hand twitched at my side, as if wishing to decide for me. I wanted what he claimed it could offer more than anything, even if I did not know what power the small stone would bestow. They refused to show me their powers, until I had taken the plunge as they had. The stone could provide a way to be powerful, a reason to move forward, and a means to avenge mom’s death. But this was Thomas offering me this miracle. Thomas, the notorious liar, the perpetual bully, and over the last few years, the absent brother. He had only returned after mom died, and I didn’t know if I could trust him.

Thomas sighed and rolled his eyes. “I’ll find someone else then.”

“No,” I said, panicking. I snatched the pebble sized stone and stuffed it in my mouth. As I fell to the ground, my vision fading to black, one thought struck my mind. How could I have believed my brother?

*

I blinked my eyes open, absorbing the sight of an unfamiliar room. Multicolored Christmas lights were strung at the ceiling, casting a warm glow against the wooden walls. My eyes darted around the room as my hands clenched on rough white sheets. A sagging sage couch against the wall, a cream-colored carpet. Dark wooden floorboards. High narrow windows. I was in a cellar, I reasoned. Thomas and his friends sat at a table, talking about something my ears couldn’t decipher.

I tried to sit and instantly felt the room swirl around me. A gentle hand pushed me down. Risa, grimacing, holding a mug. “Drink this,” she said. “It will help with the headache.”

I nodded, relaxing back against the pillows, and accepted the drink. Risa put a hand beneath my head to support me as I lifted the mug to my lips. The tea dropped down my throat, smooth, tinged with the taste of honey and unfamiliar herbs. It smelled wonderful, and the steam against my face was a delectable warmth.

When I finished the tea, Risa helped me sit. Thomas had turned around in his chair and was watching me, his thick brows drawn. I didn’t know what to say to him. I wanted to yell at him for lying to me. Superpowers, what a joke. He had drugged and dragged me to their den of delinquency for what purpose, I didn’t know. As much as I wanted to scream, I didn’t have it in me. The tea had helped, but I still felt drained, as if I could collapse back into the pillows of the strange camp bed in the middle of dingy room and sleep for twenty-four hours. The thought of remaining with such a liar and his friends was revolting though, and there was one thing I wanted.

“I want to go home.”

Thomas waved a lazy hand and turned back to Bass and Nella. Now that my vision had cleared, I noticed they were playing cards. Poker by the look of the pool of chips in the center of the round table.

I gritted my teeth. “I said I wanted to go home.”

He continued to ignore me. I supposed I shouldn’t be surprised. When had Thomas ever listened to anything I had to say? He hadn’t even listened to mom.

“You should rest. Your powers could manifest at any time and it can be draining,” Risa said. I studied her, from the hesitant smile stretching her smooth tan skin, to the innocent look in her eyes. She seemed sincere, more so than Thomas.

“What are you doing with Thomas. You seem too nice to be part of whatever misdeeds he’s part of.”

Her cheeks flushed pink and I had a nasty suspicion she was actually fond of him. It made me want to vomit. “He wants to do good. He’s going to save the world one day and we’re going to help him.”

“I’m not helping him with anything. He’s a dirty liar and a poor excuse for a brother.” I sniffed, turning away from her hurt expression. I could not forgive him for tricking me, for making me believe in his fanciful notions of grandeur. His false promises of heroics.

Risa set the empty mug on the table and stood. “He wasn’t lying about your powers. It will become clear soon enough what you were gifted with.”

“Wait,” I said, shooting a hand out to grip her wrist before she could walk away. “Prove to me he isn’t lying, or I’m calling a cab and going home. Show me your power.”

Risa flinched; her gaze fixed on Thomas’s back.

I let go of her and snorted. “Just what I thought. There are no powers. I don’t know what he is playing at, drugging me and dragging me here, but this night of hell has gone on long enough.”

“It’s been more than one night, May.” Her voice was quiet, eerily so. I dropped my grip on her, as if shocked. I felt goosebumps race up my arm. “You’ve been here a week.”

“A week?” I stammered. “Impossible.”

“The stones hit us differently. Thomas woke up within a couple hours. Bass and I, a day. Nella, two days. But you were out a full seven days. We don’t know why.” She looked at me, concertation wrinkling her forehead and drawing her lips into a pout.

“You can’t be serious.” But even as I spoke, I began to notice none of them were in the same clothing as when I had met them in the alley. I shook my head, disbelieving. “Thomas doesn’t act like his sister was in a coma for a week.”

“He cares more than you know. He’s not good at showing it most of the time, but he cares deeply for his friends and family. Even now, look at his shoulders, they aren’t strained as they were before. You’re awake and it’s like a weight has lifted from him. He’s relieved.” She gazed at him and I fell back on the bed and rolled over, disgusted.

She set a hand on my shoulder and I flopped back around. “Your power will come. Rest.”

Despite my anger, despite my curiosity and confusion, I found my eyelids closing and I wondered whether there had been something in the tea.

*

I cradled my face with my palms and focused on breathing. I had fallen asleep, thanks to Risa’s medicinal drink, and had no notion of how much time had passed. Daylight shimmered in the window, but that meant nothing. And the powers I was supposed to have were not apparent.

The cellar was empty. I didn’t know where my brother and his friends were. I imagined they could be at work or school. Risa and Nella were enrolled in the local university. As my fatigue wore away, I slung my legs over the bed and slipped into my shoes. I’d take the opportunity to return home, unobstructed. By the rumbling in my stomach, I needed food. I ran a hand through my hair. A shower was also necessary. Then I would need to go to mom’s grave and tend her flowers. I had gone faithfully every other day, and a grim pit opened in my stomach as I realized my irrational trust in my brother had caused me to fail the promise I had made to mom’s corpse during the funeral.

I jumped off the bed and my legs crumpled beneath me. I yelped and my arms flailed as I tried to find a grip on the slippery sheets. Before I could crash to the ground, arms caught me, steadying me. I looked into Bass’s face, his luminous blue eyes.

He plopped me back onto the bed, and grinned, stepping back. “Can’t have you escaping on my watch. What would your brother say?”

I straightened my cardigan and picked a piece of lint from my leggings. “Probably he would thank you. He never wanted to be responsible for me.”

“I think he would try to beat me over the head. He cares about you a lot.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you people tell me.”

He shook his head and darted out the door, returning a few minutes later with a platter of food and a pitcher of water. Strawberries and pineapple chunks. Pieces of French bread, a chunk of butter, a cup of jam. He laid out the elaborate platter on the bed and hoped up on the bed with me, picking up a piece of bread and a knife. “Nella prepared this for you before she left for class.”

Stomach growling, I couldn’t ignore the food. I began to scoop fruit into my mouth. “So I suppose Nella’s power is preparing excellent breakfast plates? It is breakfast, right?”

He nodded. “You’ve only been asleep twelve hours since you were last up. And no, that’s not Nella’s power. She can control water.”

“Control water?”

“Make it freeze, make it move. She can make a rain storm avoid us.”

I frowned. I hadn’t expected such straight forwardness when Risa had dodged my questions. Bass was different, more willing to talk. “Sounds very useful for heroics. What’s your power then.”

“I can teleport. It’s how I caught you before you fell. I heard you scream from the kitchen.”

I picked up a piece of bread and began to spread a generous amount of jam. “Do it then.”

To my surprise, he vanished and appeared lounging nonchalantly on the couch. Then he was back again on the bed. I dropped my bread.

“Thomas wasn’t lying.”

Bass shock his head. “Our powers are real.”

I sat in shock, not knowing what to do. I had hoped I could trust my brother, and I had been presented evidence he had not lied. “What’s his power?”

He laughed. “I’m not telling you that one.”

“Then what’s mine?”

“You tell me. Do you feel any different? Do you feel the wind calling to you? The urge to run faster than you have before? The need to lift school buses over your head?”

“No?”

We passed several minutes in silence, making our way through the breakfast platter. When it was clear, Bass took the platter to the kitchen, leaving me with my thoughts. I desperately wanted to know what my power was. If the others had developed them, surely, I had as well. I lifted my hand, examining it. Did it hold strength? Could it turn invisible.

I stood, more carefully this time. Perhaps being outdoors, walking, would trigger something. I felt a need to leave this unfamiliar room.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Bass said, appearing by my side.

Annoyed, I stepped around him. “Home.”

“Thomas said –,”

“I don’t care what he said. I’m going home and you aren’t going to do anything about it.” I felt a catch in my throat, something different about my voice.

He froze for a moment, something glinted in his eyes, and then he took a step back. “Ok.”

“Ok?”

He nodded and turned around, returning to the kitchen. I studied his retreating back, curious.

“Bass?”

He turned around.

“Go lie on the couch.” Again, the strange catch, clawing at my throat.

I watched in equal parts shock and horror, as he did so.

I had found my power. I could tell people what to do and they had to obey me. For once, people would have to listen to me. Thomas would have to listen to me.

I darted out the door and into the sunshine, my footsteps light. Possibilities flung through my mind. The idea of using my abilities to avenge my mother, of using it to lead Thomas’s group. Of finding out the secrets Thomas has been hiding from me. Using it to save lives, to save myself from my miserable existence by tugging the scales in my favor, for once. I thought of mom and how proud I would make her spirit watching over me.

Thomas was right. I would be a hero.