Even Nigel got something, and that bugged Becca to no end. If the man hadn’t been there that night, then maybe his ability to make swords come out of his hands would belong to Becca and not him. It was an odd thought, but it kept her warm on these nights.
Her father’s Parkinson’s, like her mother’s cancer, seemed to now be nonexistent. The NaUs seemed like a miracle drug, and her father asked everyone affected not to tell. All of them agreed, but only one did it with any resistance.
“I think that we should show this to the government or something,” Nigel would say. “We could do some good, be superheroes or something.”
“Dad,” Matt said, “there is no such thing as superheroes.”
“Says the boy who can fly.”
Levitate, almost everyone in the room wanted to correct the man but didn’t. Nigel might not like it, but at least he was able to keep quiet about it, for the most part. People were saying that Nigel was acting differently, interviewing people, and overall acting odd. But for the time being, it seemed harmless enough, so no one took action to stop him.
“Get a room,” her mother yelled beside her. Matt and Jolie were now embracing, slowly spinning in a circle above the tree line.
Her mother, seemingly able to do the one task that all mothers could do, regardless if they had any NaU running through their veins; she seemed to read her daughter’s mind.
“Hey,” she said, turning Becca’s face toward her own. Even though it had been close to two months at this point, seeing her mother be able to talk, even express something on her face, was like a gut punch every time for Becca.
“I know you wanted something like what they have,” Carol said. “Or I have. But if you have powers or not, you are still important, and we all love you. Besides, I’m sure when Robbie does more research, he’ll be able to give you something really special.”
Becca wasn’t sure she wanted anything special. Her life being at peace was a gift in it of itself, and if that meant she wasn’t able to turn invisible or shoot lasers from her eyes, she would be happy. There was nothing wrong with boring.
“Oh, are we interrupting?”
Danni and Peter were walking into the clearing.
“Yeah,” Danni said. “There’s only room for one couple in this meadow at the moment.”
“Besides,” Carol said, “I doubt that you two could beat what’s going on up there.”
Peter and Danni laughed.
“Oh well,” Peter said. “We’re flexible. I’m sure we could come up with something.”
Matt and Jolie slowly descended to the ground. Matt kept levitating, though, not letting his feet touch the ground.
“It doesn’t feel right,” he had told Becca a few weeks after the initial incident. Even though Matt’s legs were fine and good, he still preferred to go around in his wheelchair, or when no one was looking, levitating slightly off the ground. Matt described his powers as a feeling that he could feel everything that was around him. Her father chalked that up to him being able to use his NaUs to move things in the physical presence. They went out of his body and say, held up to make it look like he was levitating, or whenever he wanted to move something else, they would come out of him and be used to move other objects. It wasn’t telekinesis per se, but in Becca’s view, it was about as close as they were going to get.
All of Matt’s friends were different in their own ways. There seemed to be an edge of fun to them that Becca hadn’t seen before. They seemed happy or content more than anything. Getting superpowers might do that to people, but Becca thought there was something else, something deeper etched within their psyches because of their NaU. She wished that she could join them.
Jolie and Matt stopped.
The tall girl was clutching her chest and seemed to be leaning on Matt, who was now at her eye level since he levitated. She stopped for a couple more seconds before continuing to walk over.
“Sorry,” Jolie said. “Sometimes, when I fly, I feel nausea afterward.”
“Understandable,” Peter said.
Becca could see a change in Peter too. While he seemed fully aware of where he was and able to do whatever he needed to, there was something going on with him.
Peter’s NaU allowed his body to be reconstructed from any injury. They had tested it. He could survive getting hit by a car, falling from a great height, being stabbed, and even being half set on fire. The last one was a mistake, though Peter still felt bad about it. His body regrew each time.
He was quieter, though, and Becca could see a change in his demeanor. How many times can you come back from the dead and still be the same as you were before?
The radio started to flicker.
“Everyone,” Kent’s voice said. “Doctor McCarthy would like to see all of you at the McCarthy house.”
“Aw man,” Danni said, “I was really looking forward to destroying some trees right now.”
“I’m sure there will be a forest when you get back,” Peter said.
All of them walked back to the house. People were laughing and smiling, having fun.
It was the last time that all of them would be happy.
****
“Cell decay,” Robbie said.
The words were like a hammer, striking everyone in the head. Everyone sat in the living room. Matt and Jolie were sitting on the couch, Danni and Peter next to them. Her mother was standing.
“I spent the last six months in a chair,” Carol said one day, “and I don’t want to ever have to sit down again.”
She stood near the doorway, next to her husband. Kent and Nigel were in the back, looking inward at the rest of
