“Okay,” Ruby said into the silence. “Now can I burn the plants up?” Coral breathed a sigh of relief. She’d forgotten about Ruby’s fire power. “I guess we have to,” she replied. “Though I don’t want the rest of the town to burn up with it. If only there was a better way…” “Hey!” Xavier exclaimed. “Can’t one of us just wish to be free of this and then Jamie can grant it?” Jamie shook his head gloomily. “The one thing wish power doesn’t work against is other powers. And since I’m assuming that’s what this is… that won’t work.” Ruby crossed her arms. “Wish power is a lot less helpful then I thought it would be,” she muttered. “Can’t we at least try?” Coral persisted. “Fine,” Jamie said. “But I’ve tried it before and it doesn’t work.” Coral closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. I wish all these plants would disappear! Hey, if she was going to wish something, why not go big? Seconds passed. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes. “Told you so,” Jamie said. “I heard your wish, but I couldn’t grant it.” “Fine,” Coral said. “Well, at least we’ve confirmed that it’s a plant power person making this.” “What else would it be?” Xavier muttered. Coral ignored him. “I guess we’ll have to go back to the fire idea. “Or…” Maggie added, a gleam in her eyes. “Everyone gather around me.” “What are you going to do?” Coral asked nervously, but did as she asked. “Actually, maybe it’s better if we hold hands,” Maggie added as an afterthought. They did as requested. “Maggie-” Coral started. RUMBLE... A pillar of earth erupted from the ground right under them. “Ah!” Coral gasped. She would have fallen off if they hadn’t been holding hands. The pillar shot up at breakneck speed, higher and higher and higher, until… BAM! It stopped as quickly as it had started. Coral let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Her heart was racing so fast it felt like it would burst out of her chest. “Everyone okay?” Maggie asked. Ruby slapped her on the arm. “Ow!” Maggie yelped. “What was that for?!” Ruby glared at her. “Next time, maybe give us a little warning before you shoot us into the sky! I almost fell to my doom!” “Would that really be a bad thing?” Jamie muttered. Ruby silenced him with a glare. “This isn’t funny! We all could have-” “Um,” Xavier said. “Not to interrupt your argument, but… what now?” Coral looked around and realized he was right. They were standing on a tall stone pillar at least 20 feet in the air, with - at least in Coral’s mind - no way to get down. ************************************************************************** “Um…” Maggie said nervously. “Oops?” Ruby looked like she wanted to smack her again. “Ruby! I see that face you’re making,” Maggie shouted. “I’m sorry, okay! Please don't hit me AGAIN!” “I wasn’t going to!” Ruby protested. “But how are we going to get down?” “If only we had an air power person,” Xavier said. “Oh yeah, that WOULD be helpful,” Ruby said. “But as our luck goes, WE DON’T!” “Okay, okay, sheesh,” Xavier replied. “But how will we get down?” Just then Coral noticed something. Vines were starting to grow their way up the rock column they were standing on. She started to panic, looking for ways to get off. By now her friends had noticed the plants too. “We need to get out of here!” Coral yelled. “Coral,” Maggie said calmly. “Look,” As she watched, she realized that the vines weren’t trapping them. In fact, they seemed to be creating a way down. She watched in amazement as thick vines zigzagged their way up the stone pillar, interconnecting and weaving together in the shape of a stairway. It wound around the pillar twice, and most importantly: it looked strong enough to walk on. It didn’t seem possible, but could the plant person be trying to… help them? “Oh JOY!!” Ruby shouted, and started to run down the vine staircase. “Careful!” Coral called after her. “We don’t know if that’s stable!” “Oh, stop being a chicken and COME ON already! It’s PERFECTLY safe, see?” she called back. “Okay, fine!” Coral yelled, trying not to let Ruby see that she was scared. Coral had a little bit of a fear of heights, especially when it came to running down tall staircases made of vines that looked like they might collapse any minute. Also, whoever built the stairs had apparently forgotten to add railings. Coral walked to the edge of the column, try not to look down. She took one tiny step onto the staircase to see if it would support her weight. Thankfully, it did.
“Hey, Coral!” Ruby called from the bottom of the stairwell. “There is a little boy down here trying to be social with me, WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?” Coral frowned. What would a little boy be doing out here when the town was in lockdown? “OK, now he’s asking if I know someone named Coral, so I would appreciate it if you would come down here and HELP ME!” “OK, I’m coming!” Coral said. Not looking down, not looking down, she made her way slowly down the stairway. There were a few wobbly moments when she thought she would fall off, but somehow she made it to the bottom in one piece. Coral took a deep breath and looked up. Then she saw the ‘little boy’ Ruby had been talking about. He was about 6 with short, messy reddish- brown hair, bright green eyes, and many freckles. He wore a dark green hoodie and carried a blue umbrella with yellow ducks on it. Coral stifled a gasp. She knew this little boy. “Hi, Coral,” said her brother. “It’s me, Thomas.” ************************************************************************** “What are you doing out here?!” Coral exploded. “Isn’t the town supposed to be in lockdown?” “Coral!” Thomas said, running up to hug her. “Where were you? We were really worried.” “Well,” she explained. “Long story short, I was kidnapped, met these guys, escaped, and then here we are!” “Whoa!” he said in awe. “Wait, you were KIDNAPPED?!” “I’ll tell you about it later,” Coral promised. “But anyway, do you know anything about these plants covering the city? What happened?” “Oh Coral,” he replied, shaking his head. “Don’t you get it? I made all these plants.” Coral’s eyes widened. “Y-you WHAT!?!” Thomas gave her a guilty smile. Coral was flustered. “You’re a bender TOO?!” she shouted. Of all the people to have powers… Thomas? Really? This was the little boy who ate way too may peanut butter sandwiches and was afraid to go to sleep without a nightlight. How could he have done… this? His voice jolted her back into reality. “Wait...too?” Thomas asked, puzzled. Oops, Coral thought. She was giving her secret away left and right now. “Nothing,” she said hastily. “Do Mom and Dad know about this?” She waved her arm, indicating the plants around her. His eyes widened. “Are you kidding? Of course not! They would kill me!” Something about his expression made Coral want to giggle, even though this was a totally inappropriate time. She forced herself to be serious. “Why, Thomas?” she asked. “Why did you do this?” He looked down at the ground. “I-I didn’t mean too. It’s just that you were missing, and then V-Veronica didn’t come back from her friends house last night, and…” He trailed off, his lower lip wobbling. He took a deep breath and continued. “And then Mom went to look for her and she called a babysitter for me, but the babysitter didn’t come in time, and- and- and…” He burst into tears, burying his face in Coral’s shirt. “Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she whispered. She was reminded of the last time Thomas started crying: Saturday at the park. That seemed like years ago now, but in reality it had only been a few days. Coral patted her brother on the back, aware that all the others were watching them. After a few minutes, Thomas rubbed his eyes and pulled away from his sister. “I’m okay,” he said gruffly. Coral bit her lip. “Thomas…” She wanted to ask if he could make the plants go away, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “I can’t make them go away,” he said, as if he’d been reading her mind. “I don’t know how. I didn’t make them on purpose, it just…” Coral nodded. She knew better than anyone how that felt. “Um,” Ruby said. “Not to interrupt your conversation, but we should probably get going. You need to stop the rain, and we can take this little boy who you somehow know with us.” “Oh!” Coral said, realizing she’d been ignoring her friends. “Everyone, this is my brother, Thomas.” They politely said hi, but Thomas ignored them. “Stop the rain?” he asked Coral. “Oh…” she said. I kind of don’t want to tell him, but if he’s coming with us, I guess I have to. She sighed. I might as well just attach a sign to my forehead saying “This Person Has Water Power!” “Um, Thomas?” she said nervously. Just get it over with. “I-have-a-power-too,” she said in one breath. “Water. And I accidentally made this rain- you were there, remember? And…” she trailed off, seeing from the expression on Thomas’s face that this was not going well. “You have a power?!?” he wailed. “Why didn't you tell me?” “Why does everyone get mad at me for not telling them!” Coral yelled. “You never told me either!” “But- I-” “You know what?” Ruby cut in. “Let’s forget it and get going,” “Not if I have anything to do about it,” a voice snarled from behind.
