Grayscale

by A. E. Clarke

  “I know.”

  “What’s…what’s going on? How can you…?”

  I smirked. “You know how I told you that Holly…uh, slipped up and shocked me?”

  His grip immediately tightened, tensing around my fingers.

  I slipped free of his vice grip and shook the blood back into the constricted vessels. “Ow.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I can’t really fault you for being angry at…the situation.”

  “At her.”

  I sighed but let the comment slide. Hopefully, he’d work out something in his head that would make it easier for him to forgive Holly. “Well, that night, I noticed… Hold on, where’d I put it?” I looked on the floor around my laundry hamper—since that was where most of the laundry I threw at it ended up—for the long-sleeved shirt with the burn marks from the night before. I wanted to properly lead up to what had happened and avoid letting it slip out.

  I didn’t want anyone to walk in on me playing with my powers the same way I’d found out about Holly, especially when Brent was already uneasy about powers in general.

  I spotted the shirt on the ground and tossed it over my shoulder at him as I straightened up. It hit him in the face, the arms wrapping around the sides of his head.

  He pulled it off him, giving me a mock glare, and looked at it. “It’s a shirt.”

  “Oh, sorry, I meant—” I walked the couple steps towards him and showed him the blackened end of the sleeve.

  He looked at it for a second, uncomprehendingly. I wasn’t sure if he’d made the connection and was ignoring it or if he had yet to make it.

  “They’re burnt.”

  “Yeah. But I wasn’t around fire at all last night.”

  “Weird.”

  “I thought so, too.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “They hit the burner while you were cooking or something? I dunno.”

  “Well, that was what I decided must have happened, too, even though that really makes no sense, and you know it.”

  “It’s a bit tight, but—”

  “Anyway, when I was on the phone with you, I started feeling a little weird.” I sat on the bed and leaned into him when he automatically turned to lean on me.

  “And then my coffee started boiling while I was holding it.”

  That got the reaction I’d been expecting. He went tense again and pulled back to see my face. “It…it what?”

  “It started boiling in my hand.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I dropped it out of shock before it could boil over or anything.”

  “Wait, why was it boiling?”

  Okay, this was it—the moment when I found out if he would react the way I imagined.

  I held up my hand, fingers splayed, and looked him in the eye. “This.”

  I clenched my fist—okay, I’m a sucker for the overly dramatic—and my hand made a slight popping noise as it burst into flame.

  Brent managed not to scream—but only because he clapped his hands over his mouth immediately—and scooted backward further onto the bed.

  “Holy fuck. Oh, my—fuck!”

  “Well, I think I phrased it closer to ‘This is so fucking cool!’ but…”

  He laughed. “Oh, my God, Jesse. You… It doesn’t hurt?”

  “Nope.” I unclenched my fingers and turned my hand over. “It doesn’t hurt at all.”

  “Jesus.” He reached for me but pulled back as soon as he got within a few inches of the flame. “Okay, but it’s pretty obvious it’ll hurt me.”

  Oh. Right. The flame winked off as soon as I made the connection, and he tentatively touched my hand again, established it was normal temperature, and gripped it more firmly.

  He was only shaking a little bit, and I had to give him his due credit for that. “You’re not afraid?” I asked.

  “I…a bit, I’ll admit.” He ran his hand through his hair again; it was starting to stick up in tufts. “Of course. But…I trust you. And I’m…glad you trusted me—this only happened this morning?” He sounded like he was interrupting himself, trying to say too much at once.

  “Yeah. I needed to figure out what I could do with it, and I needed to…well, I needed to figure out how to tell you.”

  “I…I can’t believe this.” He chuckled, a little strangely. “First Holly, then you. Think it’s genetic or something in the air? Am I gonna wake up with ice powers tomorrow?”

  I cocked my head. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  He raised his eyebrow. “Never thought of what? Ice powers?”

  “No, the whole genetics thing. I mean, it’s weird that it’s only Holly and me, but…I’d never thought of it.”

  “Oh. Well, I’m assuming you never heard anything about it from your parents before.”

  “No.”

  “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” I shrugged. Not like it hadn’t been a while. I did wish I could ask them about this, though.

  “It’d be cool.”

  “Hm?” I looked up at him, lost in my thoughts of my parents.

  “If it was a genetic thing, I mean. Actually, hell, it’s…” He leaned over, grabbing the sides of my face, and about an inch away from my lips, he stopped and murmured, “You can keep it under control, right?”

  I was tempted—extremely tempted—to answer by kissing him, leaning those few inches forward, but I instead pulled back.

  This was something he needed to hear, not just experience. Not just. I held back my smirk, worried he’d take it the wrong way with the situation. “I…I’m not completely sure, of course, but I’m not going to ever be sure until we try it.”

  “Oh.”

  “But…well, Holly was learning how to control it, and she was doing pretty well with a bit of basic meditation, learning it from the very beginning. I’ve been doing it for years.”

  I held out a thumb, the very tip of it aflame. “You should be able to touch the base of my thumb and it should feel normal. I think.”

  He looked at me skeptically for a second before poking the base of my thumb.

  “Okay, I believe you,” he said, finger still touching mine. “How, though?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I know you said it’s meditation, but…how can you do it so much better than Holly? It’s not like you’ve ever specifically learned this before—‘Controlling Your Superpowers 101.’”

  I rolled my eyes. I loved Brent, but sometimes he was dismissive of things he didn’t understand—or care to understand, for that matter.

  “No, but I didn’t need…anything like that. It’s all the same energy.”

  “Energy?”

  “Seriously, Brent, come on.”

  “I’m sorry, I…”

  “You find the concept of inner energy hard to believe, faced with superpowers involving setting my skin on fire with no pain at all?” I looked him in the eyes as I said it, making sure to keep my voice as even as possible.

  He stopped for a second and stared at me, processing what I said, his mouth hanging slightly open. “Uh. Okay, I guess…”

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be such an ass about it. I—”

  “No, you’re right, it’s okay.” He squeezed my hand, and everything was back to normal. We seemed to fight a lot more than Holly and Alex—or we argued a lot more than they seemed to—but it meant we got things like this whole conversation out of the way, to clear the air.

  “So…you think it’ll be okay, then.”

  I smiled at him, the meaning behind his words not even registering until he grabbed the front of my shirt in his fist, twisted it and pulled me into a deep kiss, his free hand running down my torso.

  I pulled back for a second—just long enough to mumble, “Yeah, it should be fine,” and then I launched myself back into the kiss.

  I didn’t think I would be able to properly sleep, but…hey, I could tire him out so that when I wanted to go out back and play, I could, right?

  Chapte
r Thirty-One: Holly

  Alex and I watched Brent and Jesse walk away in silence and then looked at each other across the room. Almost in sync, we sighed and slumped down our respective walls.

  Alex had been crying, and I tried a smile, immensely relieved to receive one in return. Feeling a little better, I got up and crossed the room, sitting at his side and leaning into him. He draped his arm around my shoulders like everything was normal.

  Like we weren’t about to break up.

  Maybe we wouldn’t.

  It was possible, but I didn’t want to pin all my hopes and dreams on it.

  “Holly?”

  “Yeah?” Let me guess—you think that we should take a break?

  I could see it now. We’d “take a break” for a couple days, which would expand to a couple of weeks, which would become a month before we knew it. Then I’d bump into him downtown when I went to Fran’s for a pity dinner for one, and he’d be there with a beautiful woman “friend,” and I’d go over to see if we could salvage the relationship and make things like old times were, and—

  “We’re not breaking up, are we?” Alex asked.

  I blinked in surprise. Okay, that was…pretty much the opposite of what I was expecting him to say. “I—no, of course not.”

  “I…”

  “I was expecting you to…to want to.”

  “What? After—after the fight?”

  “Yeah.” I turned and looked at him, and he stared at the wall as he spoke.

  “I told you I cheated on you, and then I hit you. I figure that’s pretty much a guaranteed breakup.”

  “And I—” told you I’m some sort of mutant freak “—played a horrible joke on you.”

  “But at least that was just a joke.”

  “And we’ve been fighting a lot recently.”

  “Holly, I—”

  “Can we drop it? At least for now?” It came out a lot louder and sharper than I’d meant for it to.

  He didn’t answer at first but then drew in a breath deeply and nodded. “Y-yeah. We can. Do you…” He turned, pulling back a little so he could see my face. He was crying again, a couple tears spilling down his cheeks, and I felt like a jackass all over again. “Do you want me to stay the night, still?”

  Oh, fuck, I hadn’t even thought about that. “We’re not breaking up, Alex.”

  “I didn’t—no. No matter what, we’re not breaking up.”

  “I…think we should—” see other people take a break, just stay friends, oh God, does this sound like we’re breaking up? “—maybe sleep alone tonight.”

  “Okay.” He paused. “Can I ask wh-why?” He was holding back most of his tears, but his voice still caught.

  “I need a night to be able to…well, do anything with you. I need to be with you without thinking of her.”

  His chin dropped to his chest. “I’m so sorry, Holly.”

  “It’s…I can’t say it’s okay. But it will be.”

  We sat there for a moment before he started to stand up. “I guess I should go, then.”

  “I guess so. You’re sure it’s okay?”

  “Yeah. It makes sense.”

  I stood up too and hugged him as tightly as I could, then kissed him. After a moment, I pulled away.

  “I love you, Alex.”

  “I love you, too. And Holly?”

  I raised my eyebrows, not sure what else was left to say when we’d already done the I love yous. “Mm?”

  “Thank you. You’re my hero.” Without another word, he walked out the front door.

  I stared after him, trying to process that simple statement, then went to deal with the living room.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Jesse

  I slipped out onto the deck, shivering in the cold night air as I closed the glass door behind me. I stood there for a second, scratching my head. This was too similar to Holly practicing and how I had walked in on her, but she was asleep and wouldn’t wake up for another half hour—when she needed to get up to go to work.

  This is so fucking cool!

  I drew a breath and felt the energy inside of me—actually felt it this time. It wasn’t like before, when I knew it was there, but it was completely intangible. Now I felt it bubbling up, bursting outwards. I didn’t want it to get out of control, and it was that simple: I didn’t want it to, so it couldn’t. I grinned and let myself feel a little haughty at my sister’s expense.

  Okay, so I’m a bit of a jerk for thinking this, but hey—fuck you, Holly. I can do this, and you can’t. I’m not gonna be blowing up a bus anytime soon.

  I snapped my fingers and cupped my hand, the underside instantly aflame. It was interesting. The flames were warm but nowhere near uncomfortably hot. They just kind of tickled.

  I let them rise up a bit and drew a few random, nonsensical shapes in the air, amused by the way that, if I moved quickly enough, the fire left streaks in my vision. It was like playing with sparklers as a kid.

  I closed my hand suddenly, and the fire went out. I tensed it, and the flames rose from the top of my fist. I let the fire grow around my hand and then focused on making it bigger and brighter until it was so bright, I was worried someone would see. Holly might have been awake—Alex had gone home, and Brent was an extremely heavy sleeper—but it was possible one of the neighbours would look out and notice our yard was more well-lit than usual.

  “Flame on,” I whispered. Even I had to wince at just how big of a geek I was for making the Fantastic Four reference, but I couldn’t help it. What I could do was way too similar to one of my favourite superheroes.

  I let the flame die down a little and then turned my hand over, cupping it so the flame turned into a small ball of fire hovering just above my palm. I focused on trying to move it away from me. I’d played around with my powers earlier, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was able to do.

  Okay, so I can sort of do that, I thought, as, inch by inch, the tiny fireball drifted away from me. And hell, Holly had managed to get a lot more control over her powers in the past couple days, so there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t, right?

  This was…amazing. I wondered how bright I could make it, figuring the easiest way to find out would be to make the flames themselves bigger.

  Within seconds, I had almost two-foot-tall flames—instead of the usual two or three inches—balling around my hands. It still looked like I had two fists, but they happened to be made of fire and were about the size of my head. Keeping them that large took a lot of concentration and energy, so I let them shrink again, and when the flames had almost gone out, I focused on containing the fireball between my palms.

  I wasn’t sure if it was possible—it definitely didn’t make any sense, but neither did anything else that had happened in the past week or so—but…

  Let’s see if I can huck fireballs.

  I leaned against the railing of the back porch and looked up at the house. The windows were in the way, but I could aim away from them. I was pretty sure the bricks weren’t flammable or at least were heat-proof. Even if they caught on fire, I should be able to control it.

  Mental note: double-check to see if you can put out fire you’re not touching. That would be a very, very useful power.

  I threw a fireball at the house. It made a weird squishing noise as it hit and didn’t even leave a mark. A successful test.

  Impressed with myself, I breathed in deeply, thinking about the techniques I’d taught Holly a couple days ago.

  “Okay, Jesse.” I snapped my fingers, activating the flames again, and this time, I focused on them instead of my hand and tried to make them longer. I watched, heart racing, as they lengthened as if travelling down a wick.

  I was basically holding a tube of fire. I can’t believe it’s this easy. How the hell does Holly not have this much control over her powers yet?

  “What the fuck?”

  I startled and stared at Holly, standing just inside the house. “Oh— You’re…up early.”

  “Yeah.” She stepped out in
to the chilly night air. “I saw flickering lights in the backyard—idiot.”

  I smacked my head, and she yelped. It took me a moment to realize why. I’d forgotten my hands were covered in fire. It didn’t really matter, though, since the flames I created didn’t hurt me.

  “I kind of forgot I was doing this outside your bedroom window.”

  “Yeah, that wasn’t the smartest thing you’ve ever done, dude,” she said through a yawn.

  “No, definitely not.”

  “So how long have you had your powers? You seem better with them than I am—not that I have to tell you that.” She seemed a little hurt to admit it.

  “Crap, did I say that aloud?”

  “Yep.”

  “Sorry, Hol. It wasn’t supposed to leave my head.”

  “But you thought it, and…well, it’s true, I guess.” She shrugged. “There’s absolutely no way I’d be able to do that sort of thing with my electricity.”

  She lifted her hand, then clenched it into a fist and folded her arms. “Not that I’m going to be using it again. Ever.”

  “Oh, Holly, come on. You know how I feel about that.” I held out my hand, palm up, and let the little ball of flame sit there crackling in the still night. “This is something we can do that no one else can. You said it yourself. If we’ve been given these powers—through biological mutation or by God or aliens from Planet X, whatever—then what’s the point if we don’t use them to make our lives better?”

  “To make our lives better?”

  “Well, I mean—”

  “You want to use this…what, to rob a bank or something?”

  “No, you idiot! I want to use it to help people. I want to be a superhero.”

  She laughed bitterly. “Really? Because I wanted to be a superhero too, when I was standing right there using my powers to attack that evil, dastardly side of the fence.” She made a few fake martial arts poses. “And I wanted to be a superhero on the bus, when the guy was pointing a gun at the baby. What better superhero moment is there than that?” Her voice was getting louder and louder as the rant went on.