Chapter Two
1221 Words
Ethan didn't sleep.
That would've required him to stop staring at the hole in his bedroom wall long enough for his brain to function.
Which, unfortunately, wasn't happening.
At 3:47 AM, he was still sitting cross-legged on the garage roof in pyjama pants and a hoodie, watching moonlight reflect off broken glass scattered across the driveway below.
Every few minutes, he looked down at his hands.
Nothing.
No sparks.
No glowing blue energy.
No sign that twenty minutes earlier, he had somehow blasted himself through a wall like a human cannonball.
It made no sense.
None.
His bedroom window was gone.
Half his desk was embedded in the opposite wall.
And there was now a person-sized hole connecting his room to open air.
That felt like fairly strong evidence that something had definitely happened.
"Okay," he muttered to himself.
He inhaled slowly.
Held it.
Exhaled.
"Think."
The transit core explosion.
The energy blast.
The hospital.
And now this.
His stomach twisted.
There was only one explanation, and he hated how ridiculous it sounded.
Something from that explosion had changed him.
A floorboard creaked inside the house.
Ethan froze.
Footsteps.
His dad.
Panic shot through him.
He scrambled to his feet—
bad idea.
The moment his muscles tensed, that same strange pressure surged through his body.
A pulse of force exploded beneath him.
"Whoa—"
He launched straight upward.
The garage roof vanished beneath him.
For one terrifying second, Ethan was airborne.
High enough to see over the neighbouring houses.
Ashbourne stretched endlessly beneath the pale early-morning sky.
Rows of apartments.
Silent streets.
The distant glow of the city centre.
Then gravity remembered he existed.
"Oh no."
He dropped.
Fast.
Very fast.
He hit the garage roof hard enough to dent it.
The impact should have shattered every bone in his body.
Instead, the force rushed through him like water through open pipes.
It dispersed.
Gone.
Ethan blinked.
He was fine.
Not even sore.
The back door opened below.
"Ethan?"
His father's voice.
"Everything okay out there?"
Ethan looked down at the dented roof.
The shattered wall.
The broken window.
This was, objectively, not okay.
"Uh—yeah!"
Smooth.
Very believable.
A pause.
Then:
"Why are you on the roof?"
"…Fresh air?"
Another pause.
His father sighed.
"We're talking in the morning."
The back door shut.
Ethan groaned.
Fantastic.
Now, he had mysterious powers and an incoming parental interrogation.
Perfect.
By 8:15 a.m., he was sitting in first-period physics, barely conscious.
He'd spent the last three hours helping his very confused parents come up with increasingly ridiculous explanations for the damage.
Their final cover story:
A tree branch had fallen.
Through the wall.
Despite there being no tree anywhere near his room.
Ethan suspected the neighbours would not be convinced.
"Mr. Vale."
He looked up.
Professor Henley stood at the front of the classroom, one eyebrow raised.
"Would you care to explain the conservation of momentum equation?"
Of course.
Physics.
Today.
Because the universe apparently had jokes.
Ethan stared blankly at the board.
A few students snickered.
Then Maya leaned over from the desk beside him and whispered:
"Mass times velocity. Basic survival knowledge."
Right.
"Momentum equals mass times velocity," Ethan said.
Henley nodded.
"Correct. Try joining us for the rest of the lesson."
A few quiet laughs.
Ethan sank lower in his chair.
Maya smirked.
"You look terrible."
"Thanks."
"No, seriously. Did a truck hit you?"
Close enough.
He hesitated.
Should he tell her?
Normally, Maya was the first person he told everything.
But "Hey, I think I accidentally developed superpowers and destroyed part of my house" felt like a difficult conversation starter.
He settled for:
"Didn't sleep."
"Still thinking about the explosion?"
That made him glance at her.
Her expression had shifted.
Less teasing.
More concerned.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
She studied him for a second.
"You're acting weird."
"I'm always weird."
"True. But this is upgraded weird."
Before he could answer, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Unknown number.
He frowned and ignored it.
A moment later, it buzzed again.
And again.
Maya noticed.
"Popular today."
"Probably spam."
But something about it felt wrong.
A cold tension settled in his chest.
Lunch break.
Ashbourne Technical Academy's rooftop was mostly empty.
Exactly why Ethan had dragged Maya there.
She leaned against the safety railing, arms crossed.
"Okay," she said. "You've officially entered dramatic rooftop meeting territory. What's going on?"
Ethan paced.
Stopped.
Started again.
Finally:
"If I told you something insane, would you believe me?"
Maya tilted her head.
"Depends. Alien invasion insane, or 'I forgot to study and need emotional support' insane?"
He held out his hand.
Nothing happened.
He frowned.
Come on.
"Ethan?"
"Wait."
He concentrated.
That strange internal pressure stirred faintly.
Blue sparks flickered across his fingers.
Maya's eyes widened.
Then, a pulse of force blasted outward.
Not huge.
Just enough to send an empty soda can on the rooftop flying thirty feet.
Silence.
Maya stared at the can.
Then at Ethan.
Then back at the can.
"…Okay," she said slowly.
"That's new."
He let out a shaky breath.
"You're not freaking out?"
"Oh, I'm absolutely freaking out."
She walked over, grabbed his wrist, and examined his hand.
"No visible tech."
"Nope."
"No burns."
"Nope."
"No hidden launcher?"
"Seriously?"
She looked up.
"Ethan, you just force-punched a soda can with your brain."
"When you say it like that, it sounds weird."
"It is weird."
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then Maya's expression changed.
That familiar spark of curiosity lit her eyes.
The one she got whenever presented with a problem she desperately wanted to solve.
"We need to test this."
Ethan blinked.
"That's your reaction?"
"Yes."
"Maya, I may be mutating."
"Cool. Science project."
He stared.
She grinned.
"Relax. If your body starts growing extra limbs, I'll let you know."
Despite everything, Ethan laughed.
Small.
Nervous.
But real.
And for the first time since the explosion, the fear eased.
Just a little.
Maya pulled out her tablet.
"Meet me after school."
"Why?"
Her grin widened.
"Because if you've got superpowers, we're doing actual experiments."
That evening, Ethan stood in the middle of an abandoned parking structure on the east side of Ashbourne.
Maya had somehow gained access using methods he had decided not to question.
The concrete levels were empty.
Silent.
Perfect for secrecy.
She adjusted a small drone hovering nearby.
"Test one," she announced.
"Jump."
"That's your scientific method?"
"It's called starting simple."
Ethan sighed.
Then bent his knees and jumped.
The pressure surged instantly.
He shot upward.
Higher than humanly possible.
Thirty feet.
Forty.
"ETHAN—"
Too late.
He hit the ceiling.
Hard.
Then dropped.
Panic flared—
but the impact dissolved harmlessly through his body as he landed in a crouch.
Maya stared.
Her tablet nearly slipped from her hands.
"That was at least forty-two feet."
Ethan slowly stood.
His heart hammered.
"I didn't mean to jump that high."
Maya's eyes lit up.
"Oh, this is insane."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"You say 'insane' like it's good."
"It is good."
"Maya."
"Ethan, do you understand what this means?"
He looked down at his hands.
At the faint blue sparks flickering between his fingers.
No.
He didn't.
Not even close.
But deep down, he knew one thing.
His life had changed.
And there was no going back.
- Writer
