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  Good, Dax thought. I like when Mommy gets me.

  “Daxton, I said you need to put your blocks away,” teacher told him. “It’s almost time to go home. Do you know who’s picking you up today?”

  Dax stood up and pointed at the lady doll up on the shelf.

  “It’s Thursday. That usually means your daddy, doesn’t it?”

  Dax pointed at the lady again, scowling. “Mmm-mm-mm,” he insisted. How could teacher not know? Mommy said it just before, Dax heard it fine. Teacher should pay more attention. He pointed to the kitchen to let her know, but the wall was back and he couldn’t see his house anymore. Dax didn’t know how big walls could be so quiet when they moved around.

  Anna

  Anna leaned in to make sure Dax had buckled himself in properly. “Good job, my sweet Daxie!” She’d told them all he could learn—he just took his own time with things.

  She started the car and looked in the rear-view mirror. Dax was smiling at her and she smiled back. “Daddy had to take Sawyer for tests. At the Supers Academy. Cross your fingers that brother gets in this time!”

  Dax turned to gaze out the window and Anna stopped forcing her smile. Let’s hope, she thought, or Nathan might leave again.

  She scolded herself for thinking that. Nathan had said he came home because he missed her and the boys, but she had to wonder. Was it a coincidence that he came back just as Sawyer started to get recognition for his abilities?

  Dax

  Dax was hungry. He stared at his food, too scared to scoop it up in his spoon.

  “Nathan, you know he won’t eat out of the red bowl,” Mommy said.

  “What the hell does it matter? They’re all the same.”

  Mommy took away the hot and put Dax’s dinner in the green bowl. “Daxie doesn’t like red.”

  Daddy sighed. “So why do we even keep the red bowl? Sawyer’s too old for the baby dishes.”

  Mommy gave him a sharp look. She didn’t like Daddy to say Dax is a baby. “I give it to Sawyer for snacks in front of the TV, so my good bowls aren’t strewn all over the house.”

  She put the green bowl on the table. Dax clutched his spoon and tried to scoop up some peas and little chunks of ham. He needed to be quick, before the bowl took all the peas for itself. He liked peas and wished Mommy understood that the green bowl stole his vegetables.

  “Why is Sawyer in such a mood?” Mommy asked.

  Daddy sighed again. “He’s still struggling to control his powers, I guess. The Academy says if the private mentor can’t teach him to use them intentionally instead of just reflexively, they’ll have to recommend medication.”

  “Suppression? Oh, God, no!” Mommy looked worried and Dax wanted to hug her. “I can’t believe he still wasn’t able to show them.”

  “Ten years old and still not in the Academy.” Daddy shook his head. “At least this time, we had video of the rescue. They still classify him as a moderate spontaneous telekinetic, but they won’t accept him until he can perform on demand. I guess he started a fire but couldn’t put it out, made a block tower fall but couldn’t pick it up . . .”

  “Shouldn’t the teachers there help him learn control? How many people does he need to save before they’ll take him?”

  Dax banged his spoon on the table. “Nnnnn-nnnn-nnnn! Sah-yah!” Not Sawyer!

  Daddy grabbed his hand and frightened Dax’s reflection in the spoon.

  “Aww, he wants his brother!” Mommy smiled at him. “As soon as you’re done eating, Daxie.”

  Sawyer didn’t come out of his room though, even after Mommy asked and asked. Dax was glad. He sat next to Daddy on the couch and heard her upstairs, whispering in his brother’s ear.

  “It’s okay, my sweet Sawyer. You’re a hero and everyone knows it. You’ll get into the Academy soon, I know you will.”

  Dax knew she was wrong. About all of those whispers.

  Anna

  “I don’t know, Mom, I don’t like the sound of suppressant drugs.” Anna paced back and forth in the kitchen, her phone to her ear. “You know how much Nathan hated having to go on those things. And I think he needs this as much as Sawyer does.”

  Nathan’s telekinesis had emerged when he was eight. Those were the early days of super powers and everyone was terrified. The moment the suppressive therapies came out, the government ordered their use on all supers. His parents had tried to conceal his abilities, but it was hard to keep a boy from showing off for his friends. Word got out, then came the genetic testing. He had the S1PR9 marker, so he got the drugs. By the time scientists got permission to un-medicate some of the supers for testing, it was too late for Nathan. Puberty had started before his powers were developed, so they were gone.

  “I should go, Mom. Sawyer’s upset about the testing, so I promised to take the boys to the pool.”

  Dax

  Dax hoped no one would be at the pool, but they were. Lots of them. Dax was scared.

  When Mommy went to the snack bar for ice cream, Sawyer got that look on his face. The bad one. “Whatcha gonna do about this?”

  Sawyer looked at the high dive and Dax’s eyes turned orange and crackled. A girl was up there. Tall. Pretty. Yellow swim suit reminded Dax of the six balloons tied to his chair on his last birthday.

  She bounced: one, two, three. Went high and arched her body, right above the water. But then she moved backward like a balloon in the wind.

  Sawyer looked at Dax with devil eyes, thinking Dax couldn’t fix it this time. Dax’s eyes turned red, and he tugged the string of the yellow balloon, hard.

  The girl’s head missed the board, just barely. The girl turned and twisted in the air and then splooshed into the water.

  Dax slapped at his eyes. “Owowowowow bnnnnnn.”

  Mommy ran over, horrified. “No, no, don’t hurt my Daxie! Don’t hurt those beautiful brown eyes!”

  Sawyer jumped up, looking confused and frightened. “Mom, what’s wrong with Dax? Why is he doing that?”

  Shut up, shut up, shut up! You made me burn them!

  “I don’t know! Did he get splashed or something?” Mommy asked. “Poor sweet Daxie made his eyes all red and bloodshot.”

  Sawyer shook his head, eyes wide. “No. I didn’t see anything, and I was keeping a real close eye on him, just like you said.”

  “Of course you were.” Mommy kissed Sawyer on the head. “I can’t imagine what got into him. He’s never done that before.”

  Dax had. Sawyer knew, but he didn’t say. It hurt worse every time Sawyer made him turn his eyes red.

  Sawyer was mad that Mommy made them go home. Dax tried to take a nap but Sawyer whispered through the wall and said Dax would be sorry.

  Anna

  “Anna, you have to face facts,” Nathan said, looking down at his wife as she sat on the foot of their bed. Dax isn’t getting better, he’s never going to get better. Sometimes I think he’s getting even worse. Since I came back, I’ve tried . . .”

  Anna scoffed. “Tried? You haven’t tried one bit with Dax. You don’t know what he likes or what sets him off.”

  “Because you baby him so much! Sometimes I think all that kid knows is how to manipulate you into getting what he wants. You put all this time into him instead of Sawyer, when you know Dax’s brain is mush!”

  “Stop saying those things! You can’t say things like that!” Anna screamed, bursting into tears.

  Of course she knew about her baby’s brain. She’d never forget those horrible scans, the doctors pointing out parts of Dax’s brain that just . . . didn’t function anymore. Severe brain damage like this is usually the result of an environmental toxin, they’d said. Do you know what he could have been exposed to? As if it were her fault, as if she were a bad mother who exposed her toddler to hazardous chemicals.

  Only Dr. Huxley had seemed like he was on her side. He’d pointed out areas that seemed over developed. My colleagues believe that these areas are merely compensating for the damage, and it’s true that some vital functions must h
ave found new pathways through there. But those are the areas linked to super powers like your husband used to have, like your seven-year-old is exhibiting, and I’ve never seen so much activity there. Watch this one closely. If I’m right and he does have powers . . . with his cognitive deficits, he’ll never be able to control them.

  Does that mean he’ll need the suppressants? Anna had asked.

  The doctor shook his head. Remember that his vital functions—heartbeat, respiration—had to find new passageways. If we suppress those areas, it could very well kill him.

  So what option does that leave?

  I’m not sure. If he’s dangerous, he may have to be contained somehow.

  Anna had watched, sometimes thinking she saw some trace of powers in Dax, but Nathan made her see that it was just paranoia. After years of hoping her children would be supers, now she just wished he could be normal again, like he was for the first three years. Such a cruel irony, she thought, that one son lost so much just as the other revealed his potential.

  “I’m going out to mow the lawn,” Nathan said. “We can talk more when you stop crying.”

  Dax

  Daxton wasn’t looking when the car crashed into the pole, but he felt Sawyer do it. Daddy ran to the car and the lawnmower snarled on the grass for a few seconds and then was quiet. Mommy ran outside. Dax looked out his window and saw Sawyer smile as the car burst into flames.

  Dax’s eyes still hurt from the pool, but he made them red and tried to suck the heat from the fire. It didn’t work and Dax didn’t understand. Then he realized—the glass. He pushed his eyes hard against the window and made it shatter.

  Sawyer glared up at him. Dax sucked. The hot went into his body and turned cool. He blew it out and sucked more. The flames got little.

  Daddy opened the car door and pulled a lady out. She was bloody and her flowy skirt was singed, and some of her hair. Dax saw Sawyer look at the pole leaning over the car. It swayed back and forth.

  A neighbor lady screamed. “It’s going to fall!”

  Dax blew out the cold fire and pushed his eyes at the tip of the pole. He pushed and pushed and pushed. It tried hard to pull away from him. His brother was getting stronger. Dax was scared.

  Dax ignored the pain and focused hard. He pushed and pushed some more.

  Daddy was opening the door to the back seat now. That was good—a little boy was in there. Dax could feel his fear all the way from his room.

  “Daxton, no, don’t!” Sawyer yelled. “Don’t hurt Daddy!”

  Dax was distracted and looked at his brother. The neighbor lady stood beside him, looking up at Dax. Her eyes were big and her hand was over her mouth.

  The pole snapped and Dax couldn’t grab it before it slammed down and trapped Daddy in the car. Dax sent his eyes there.

  “I’ll save you, Dad!” Sawyer yelled and threw his hands out like the supers they saw on the news. Dax’s eyes grabbed the pole and started to lift it, and Sawyer staggered back like he was pulling.

  “Daxie, don’t fight me!” Sawyer called to him. “Let me save Daddy.”

  Dax felt Sawyer’s power holding the pole in place, and then it wasn’t anymore. The pole flew off the car and toward the grass.

  “Nnnnn-nnnn-nnnn!” Dax yelled at it, shoving it as hard as he could. His head hurt too bad and he thought the whole world was on fire. “Saaa baaaa, huuuuda!” Stop brother, hurts Dax!

  “Anna, stop your boy,” the neighbor lady yelled and pointed at Dax in the window. Mommy looked up and she was scared, too.

  “Daxie, no!”

  Dax made the pole fall in the street, then collapsed on the floor and clawed at his burning eyes.

  Anna

  With Dax in her arms and Sawyer beside her, Anna stood on the sidewalk and watched the ambulance and then police arrive.

  “Mom, I’m tired and my throat hurts from the fire,” Sawyer said, his voice raspy. “I know I’m not allowed to have ice cream twice in one day, but please, can I? Just this once?” His last question was broken up by coughing.

  Anna sighed, then relented. “Just this once. You earned it.” Sawyer looked up at her lovingly and went inside, dragging his feet.

  The paramedics pulled the little boy out first, and then, at last, Nathan. Anna hurried over as they wheeled his stretcher to the ambulance.

  “Nathan, are you ok?”

  His eyes went to her, then to Dax, then back. “Tell Sawyer I saw what he did. I saw everything. Tell him he’s Daddy’s hero.”

  Dax

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but your neighbor said she saw the little boy do it.” The policeman’s face didn’t look sorry to Dax. He came to the waiting room just after the doctor said Daddy needed a surgery on his back.

  “Officer, there’s just no way,” Mommy said. “Daxton is a sweet boy, and he loves his Daddy. He’d never hurt anyone. And we’ve never seen a hint of super powers in him before.”

  The officer read from a piece of paper. “’His eyes were bright red and he stared at the pole until it fell, right on the car. Sawyer used his super powers to lift it off his father, and then Daxton made it fly right at us. He was yelling something strange and then he howled with rage and started having a fit or something, slapping his own face, when Sawyer got control of the pole and dropped it in the street.’ That’s your neighbor’s statement, ma’am. We need to talk to your older son and see what he says.”

  Mommy’s hand fluttered to Dax’s hair. “Yes, okay.”

  Sawyer sat looking at his hands in his lap. The neighbor lady watched from the hallway, and others, too. They said mean things, and Mommy didn’t tell them to stop saying.

  “It’s okay, son,” the policeman said. “You can tell me what happened.”

  Sawyer looked up at Mommy, who still held Dax. Mommy said Sawyer should say the truth, it would be all right.

  Sawyer sighed. “I don’t think Daxie meant to hurt anybody, I just think sometimes he does things he doesn’t understand.”

  * * *

  Dax didn’t like the bandage over his eyes. The skin felt red and hot but he didn’t know why. His eyes were white now. Mommy told the doctor something about scratching. The doctor wanted Dax to sit up but he couldn’t. He just wanted to sleep.

  They had to wait for tests on Dax, and they had to wait till Daddy was done with the surgery.

  Mommy laid Dax on a hard wood bench in a room with statues and pretty glass. The sun made the room glow and Dax liked it until she laid him in red light. It burned his tummy and he wanted to move away. His brain told his body, but his body wouldn’t listen. “Bnnnn,” he tried to tell Mommy, but she didn’t understand.

  Mommy kneeled and said to God inside her head. Dax heard her ask for Daddy to be okay and for Dax to be okay and for Dax not to be a monster. She didn’t call him sweet Daxie. Dax wondered why.

  * * *

  Mommy carried Dax back to the waiting room. She said her arms were tired and put Dax in a chair in the corner, behind a big plant, so he could lean against the wall and wouldn’t fall over.

  Daddy’s doctor came and said Daddy would be all right but it would be a few weeks before he could go home.

  Dax thought all the people looked at him funny because of the bandage on his face. Then a man said, “Do you really think he did it?” and one of Mommy’s friends said, “Who knows? He’s always been so odd. Poor Anna.” And the man said, “Poor Nathan. Thank goodness Sawyer was there.”

  Mommy didn’t want to talk to the reporter but she did anyway. He asked about all the times Sawyer had saved people and if that seemed strange to Mommy. “Does what seem strange? That my son has used his super powers to help people whenever he could?”

  “It’s the number of rescues that seems . . . implausible. Most people don’t witness that many life-or-death incidents in their lifetime, let alone within two years.”

  Mommy’s eyebrows got pinched in the middle. She didn’t want to say he was right so she didn’t say anything. Sawyer put a hand over his mouth like
he was upset but Dax knew he was smiling.

  “So,” the reporter continued, “it seems as if bad luck is following your family. Have you ever wondered if something around you could be causing all these incidents?”

  Mommy closed her eyes, thinking about pictures a doctor showed her that made her afraid for her Daxie. Of her Daxie. The reporter looked nervous and his eyes went to Dax and then away again. The neighbors peeked from the corners of their eyes.

  Dax tried to melt his body into the chair, but it was gray and gray was always stubborn. The red curtain was just a few inches away. If he could use his eyes, he’d pull it down all around him, even though it would burn.

  Anna

  Anna jolted awake, her neck slumped to the side and stiff. She’d fallen asleep sitting against the wall outside Dax’s room. She couldn’t bear to leave him but couldn’t be close to her baby boy while she faced the thoughts she’d pushed away for the past three years.

  Burying her face in her hands, she wished Nathan were home. He’s so much stronger than me. How can I do this all alone?

  A noise down the hall startled her and she looked up to see light come from under Sawyer’s door. She stood up, rubbing her neck, as the door swung open.

  “Are you having trouble sleeping, hon?” she asked.

  She thought she saw anger flash across Sawyer’s face but decided she must’ve imagined it. A moment later, his face filled with concern.

  “Why are you up so late, Mom? Are you worried about Dad and Daxie?”

  She knelt down and hugged him. “It’s been a tough night, hasn’t it? What has you up?”