Awakening of Supernatural Powers in Salem - Cary Powers

The first time it happened, Jake thought he was dreaming. It was a crisp October morning, the kind where the air smelled like fallen leaves and the promise of winter. Jake was running late for school—again—and he was frantically shoving books into his backpack when his physics textbook slipped from his hands. He reached for it, but it didn’t fall. Instead, it hovered in midair, suspended as if by an invisible thread. Jake froze, his hand outstretched, his breath caught in his throat. The book wobbled slightly, then dropped to the floor with a loud thud. “What the hell?” he whispered, staring at the book as if it might suddenly sprout wings and fly away. He glanced around his room, half-expecting to see a hidden camera or some kind of prank setup. But there was nothing. Just the faint hum of his computer and the distant sound of his mom’s voice downstairs. Jake shook his head, trying to clear the fog of disbelief. “Get it together, man,” he muttered to himself. “You’re losing it.” He grabbed the book, shoved it into his bag, and bolted out the door. By the time Jake reached school, he’d almost convinced himself it had been a trick of the light or some weird sleep-deprivation thing. But as he walked into first-period history, he noticed Caleb sitting at his usual desk, staring at his hands like they’d just betrayed him. Caleb’s dark hair was messy, and his usually calm demeanor was replaced by a look of wide-eyed panic. “Dude, you okay?” Jake asked, sliding into the seat next to him. Caleb didn’t answer right away. He just kept staring at his hands, flexing his fingers like he was trying to figure out how they worked. Finally, he looked up, his brown eyes filled with something Jake couldn’t quite place—fear? Excitement? Both? “Something’s wrong with me,” Caleb said, his voice low and urgent. “I think I’m… I don’t know. Broken.” Jake frowned. “What are you talking about?” Caleb glanced around the room, then leaned in closer. “This morning, I was making breakfast, right? And I dropped the carton of eggs. But before they hit the floor, they just… stopped. Like, they froze in midair. And then they floated back up to the counter like nothing happened. I didn’t even touch them.” Jake’s stomach dropped. He opened his mouth to tell Caleb about the book, but before he could say anything, Tyler burst into the room, looking like he’d just seen a ghost. His usually cocky grin was gone, replaced by a pale, shaken expression. “You guys are not gonna believe this,” Tyler said, slumping into the seat across from them. “I think I’m losing my mind.” “Join the club,” Caleb muttered. Tyler ran a hand through his blond hair, his blue eyes darting around like he was afraid someone might overhear. “I was in the shower, right? And I got so mad about… I don’t even remember what. But suddenly, the water turned ice cold. Like, freezing. And then it started steaming, like it was boiling. I thought the water heater broke or something, but when I got out, everything was normal. The pipes weren’t even hot.” Jake and Caleb exchanged a look. “Okay, this is getting weird,” Jake said. “Because something happened to me too.” He told them about the book, and by the time he finished, all three of them were staring at each other like they’d just discovered they were aliens. “What the hell is going on?” Tyler asked, his voice rising slightly. “Are we, like, cursed or something?” Before anyone could answer, Ethan walked in, looking more subdued than usual. Ethan was the quiet one of the group, the kind of guy who always seemed to be observing rather than participating. But today, he looked like he’d seen something he couldn’t unsee. “You’re not gonna believe this,” Ethan said, his voice barely above a whisper. “But I think I just… moved something with my mind.” The room fell silent. Jake felt a chill run down his spine. “Okay, this is officially freaking me out,” he said. “What is happening to us?” After school, the four of them met up at their usual spot—an old, abandoned barn on the edge of town that they’d claimed as their hangout years ago. The barn was drafty and smelled like hay and mildew, but it was private, and right now, privacy was exactly what they needed. “So let’s recap,” Tyler said, pacing back and forth in front of the others. “Jake can make stuff float, Caleb can freeze things, I can mess with temperature, and Ethan can move stuff with his mind. Are we, like, superheroes or something?” “Or something,” Ethan said quietly. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his dark eyes focused on a small rock he’d picked up outside. As they watched, the rock began to tremble, then slowly rose into the air, hovering a few inches above his palm. Jake stared at the rock, his mind racing. “This doesn’t make any sense. Stuff like this doesn’t just happen. There has to be an explanation.” Caleb, who had been unusually quiet, finally spoke up. “What if it’s not just us? What if it’s… I don’t know. Something bigger?” “Like what?” Tyler asked. Caleb hesitated, then reached into his backpack and pulled out an old, leather-bound book. The cover was worn and cracked, and the pages were yellowed with age. “I found this in my dad’s study this morning,” he said. “It’s been in our family for generations. I’ve never seen it before, but after what happened today, I thought… maybe it’s connected.” Jake leaned forward, his heart pounding. “What is it?” Caleb opened the book to a page marked with a faded ribbon. The text was handwritten in ink that had turned brown with age, and the language was archaic, but one word stood out clearly: *Covenant.* “It’s about the Salem witch trials,” Caleb said, his voice trembling slightly. “Our families… they weren’t just bystanders. They were part of it. They were accused of witchcraft, but they escaped. And they made a deal—a covenant—to keep their powers hidden. Forever.” The room fell silent as the weight of Caleb’s words sank in. Jake felt a cold knot of dread form in his stomach. “So you’re saying… we’re witches?” “Warlocks,” Caleb corrected. “And it looks like the covenant… it’s broken.” As the sun set outside the barn, casting long shadows across the floor, the four boys sat in stunned silence, the old book lying open between them. None of them knew what was coming next, but one thing was clear: their lives would never be the same. And somewhere, in the darkness beyond the barn, something stirred—something ancient, and hungry, and waiting.