Coral awoke to the smell of burning food. Probably Thomas trying to make pancakes again- wait! She wasn’t at home. Thomas wasn’t here. She was in the woods with a bunch of other kids with crazy powers. The thought made her homesick and sad. Coral rubbed her eyes. “What’s going on?” “Breakfast!” Ruby said, handing Coral what looked like a lump of charcoal. “I made it myself!” “Um, thanks.” Coral tried to swallow the lump of charcoal, which was like, well, trying to swallow a lump of charcoal. As soon as Ruby left the hut, Maggie spit out her lump. “Bleh,” Maggie said, making a face. “I wish we had a plant kid around here to grow us some real food. Hey, Coral, can you conjure up watermelons or something?” “Sorry, but no,” Coral replied. Ruby walked back inside. “Hey, Ruby, what did this used to be?” Coral asked. “A bird I killed this morning” she replied. Coral suddenly felt sick to her stomach. “Oh...” Maggie gagged. “What?” Ruby asked. “Do you see any better food?” “I will!” Maggie replied. “Come on, Coral, we’re going to look for berries or something.” Maggie grabbed Coral’s arm and pulled her to her feet. As they left, they heard Ruby yelling behind them; “What’s wrong? It’s just like eating roast chicken! Maybe it’s a little overcooked . . .” “Where’s Xavier?” Coral asked as they walked. “He went out earlier to scout around,” Maggie replied. “You woke up pretty late you know.” Coral looked at her dirty watch 10:03?! Already? She had really woken up late! Usually she woke up at around 7:30, even on weekends. (She would have liked to sleep in later, but Mom believed that waking up early was good for the soul.) There was an awkward silence. Coral racked her brain, trying to think of something to say. “Oh!” She remembered her troubles from last night. “Maggie . . . can I ask you something-” “Hey, Coral!” Maggie said not hearing her question. “Will you look over in those bushes for me? I think there might be some berries in them.” “Sure . . . but-” Coral stammered. “Great, thanks!” Maggie interrupted. Coral waded through the undergrowth to the bushes. They were dotted with tiny red berries. “Um, there’s some berries in these, but I don’t know if they’re good to eat.” Maggie walked over to her. “Yikes! Those are totally not good to eat! They’re called yew berries, they’re like, super poisonous!” “Oh,” Coral said, feeling like an idiot. “Hey, how do you know that stuff anyway?” “My dad has plant power, he taught me some planty stuff.” Maggie replied “Oh,” Coal said, wondering why no one else in her family had powers, Well, they could, but they would have to be very good at hiding it. I hid my powers for 13 years… until yesterday. Coral had been trying not to think about that. “So does everyone in your family have powers?” she asked. “No.” Maggie replied. “My mom doesn’t but my dad and brother do. Also Jamie does.” Coral had forgotten the weirdness of Jamie being Maggie’s cousin and being able to grant wishes or whatever. Why didn’t he ever grant my wishes? she thought, fuming. “My brother has ice power,” Maggie continued, pushing Coral’s thoughts to the back of her head. “That’s cool,” she said. “What’s your brother’s name?” “Wynter,” Maggie replied. “He’s 15.” “That’s a fitting name for someone with ice power,” Coral said. “I have a younger brother and an older sister,” “Is your older sister the evil one you were talking about?” Maggie asked. “Yep, that’s Veronica.” Coral confirmed. “Does anyone else in your family have powers?” Maggie asked. “Nope. Or not that I know of, at least.” Coral replied. “But that’s not possible!” Maggie said, louder than necessary. “Powers run in the family, you can’t be the first! Can you?” “Um…” Coral stammered. Maggie was stressing her out. “I don’t know. I didn’t even know anyone else had powers until yesterday; I thought I was the only one.” “Really?” Maggie asked. “Really,” Coral confirmed. “Well, we now know you’re not!” Maggie said, making them laugh. Suddenly, Xavier burst through the shrubbery. “Xavier?” Maggie asked. “You look …” She trailed off. Xavier was bending over and panting. His clothes were ripped and he had a scratch on his elbow. Basically, not in great shape. “What happened?” Coral asked. “Ran *pant* into *pant* some MPCS members,” he wheezed. “Can’t *pant* stay here.” Maggie nodded. “You’re right. We have to keep moving.” Coral wasn’t thrilled about that prospect, but she did not want to be caught by MP- whatever it was. “Let’s go tell Ruby,” Maggie said. They followed her into the trees.
Ruby wasn’t thrilled about that prospect either. “But we just GOT here!” she yelled. “Ruby, calm down…” Maggie soothed. Ruby paid no attention. “And that stone hut you made! Was that all for NOTHING?!?!” Meanwhile, Coral was hiding in the corner, trying not to be noticed. “Ruby, calm down!” Maggie yelled. Finally, Ruby stopped yelling. “But..” she said. “Do you want to be caught by the MPCS?!” Maggie snapped. Ruby shook her head. Coral had never seen this side of Maggie before. “We need to keep moving,” Maggie said again. “I can make another hut.” No one else objected, so they packed up their few belongings and set off. ************************************************************************** Before long, Coral’s legs felt like sacks of rocks. She checked her watch (which somehow was still working). 12:23. “Can we stop for lunch?” Coral asked. “I mean, it’s not like we have any food packed, but maybe we could find something?” “Okay,” Maggie said. Ruby looked kind of grumpy about her taking charge of the group, but Coral was just glad someone else was taking that responsibility. “You mean like berries or something?” Xavier asked. “Yeah, I guess,” Coral replied. “Just whatever we can find would be good.” “Sooooo”, Coral started, trying to break the awkward silence. The lunch - or something that resembled lunch - had ended up being a small meal of berries and roasted minnows, or at least that was what she thought the black lumps that Ruby brought back were. Coral was starting to feel homesick for Thomas’s burnt pancakes. Ruby sighed. “You ok, Ruby?” Coral asked. “Huh… Oh! Yeah, I’m fine,” Ruby said. “Just… thinking.” Coral knew how that felt. She was usually a big worrier, but these days she had so many things to be worried about, she didn’t know where to start. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. “Hey Ruby, where do you come from?” Ruby recoiled like a snake. “What do you mean?” she snapped. “N-nothing,” Coral stammered. “I just was wondering where you lived before the MP-whatever-it-was got you.” Ruby had calmed down a little but she still looked mad. “MPCS,” she said. “And I didn’t live anywhere.” Coral looked to Maggie for help, but she just shrugged and mouthed ‘she’s like this sometimes’. Ruby scowled. “I can read lips too, you know.” An awkward silence followed. “ANYWAY,” Maggie said brightly. “I lived on Garden Street, it’s in Magnolia Village. “Hey, that’s pretty close to where I live!” Coral said. “Or… lived.” Maggie patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you back.” “But that’s the thing!” Coral nearly yelled. “I can’t go back!” “Because of the evil sister?” Maggie asked sympathetically. “Yeah, but… I kind of have to go back. To fix the rain.” Xavier made a face like ‘is anyone following this conversation?’. Maggie looked confused. Even Ruby seemed to forget her grumpiness. “What rain?” Maggie asked. “Oh; sorry,” Coral replied; realizing she never told them about the rain. Yesterday, she would have questioned telling them about it at all. But now that they’d been through so much together, there was no hesitation. “Before I was captured by the MP… MPCS, I accidentally created this rain storm that was spreading all around town and getting worse by the minute.” she explained. “Oh!” Maggie squealed. “You were on the news too!” “OK, enough with the life stories!” Xavier said, rolling his eyes. “Ok, but only if YOU tell us your life story,” Maggie insisted. “Um, no,” Xavier said. Maggie looked crestfallen. “But-” “I’m with Lightning Boy on this one,” Ruby interrupted. “Lightning Boy?” Xavier asked. Ruby ignored him. “Some of us like to keep our ‘life stories’ to ourselves.” “Fine,” Maggie huffed. “But I’m still telling you my life story.” “Please no,” Xavier protested. “We’ve all heard that one a million times; how you caused an earthquake and got caught and yada yada yada.” Maggie looked hurt. “Well, Coral hasn’t heard it a million times, have you, Coral?” “Um-” “Actually,” Xavier interjected. “I seem to remember you telling Coral your entire life story at the prison.” “I did not!” Maggie protested. “But fine. If you won’t tell us your life story and Ruby won’t tell us her life story, then I guess we’ll just have to- hey, what’s that?” That last part was directed at a figure on the horizon, slowly moving towards them. As he got closer, Coral realized that he was on a bike. As he got even closer, Coral realized something else. “Jamie?”
