I hate when people think you’re always happy, when really, you’re so depressed you can hardly hold together. I shove another T-shirt into my suitcase. My closet is almost empty. I can’t believe we have to move again. I think my mom and I moved five times this year. Ever since Dad left, we have always been struggling for money. I barely get a meal three times a day.
“Michael? Michael! Get down here, it’s time to go!”
“Okay Mom! I’m coming!” I reply. I run down the steps slow and careful, but, of course, trip and stumble down the last three. My mom rolls her eyes.
“Ready?” I nod, trying not to show any emotion. “Okay. Let’s go,” my mom says.  We walk out the door and into the car with our bags. We drive for about two hours, then stop at a cheap restaurant to eat. We share a small basket of chicken nuggets, and we each get one bag of fries. We grab one water bottle, because we only have a couple dollars left. We get back in the car, tired and full of food. Once we were a half an hour in, I pulled out my earbuds and pillow. It was already 8:30. Maybe I would just take a little nap….
“Michael, wake up! MICHAEL!?!?! Wake up now!!!” I woke with a start.
“Wha-” My sentence was cut off with a loud screech and the sound of something being crunched. I look out the window. There are bright lights behind us- no, halfway inside the car. I am confused for a second until I look out the window again. I can’t make out anything but a hazy, spinning world. There isn’t a road beneath us. We are falling.

                     *******
I’m in heaven. But why would heaven be so painful? My head hurts, my chest hurts, and my hand hurts. My leg is killing me. I can’t lift it. Ow, ow, ow. I guess I should ask God what’s going on here. I slowly opened my eyes. There was a guy above me.
“God?” I ask, because that would be obvious. But there was a gauze in my mouth, so it kind of sounded like “Mraw?”
“Hi, Michael. I am Dr. Robert. That car crash banged you up pretty good, didn’t it?” God says. Wait. Car crash? I’m not dead? Hallelujah! Wait. Where’s mom? I spit the gauze out.
“Where’s my mom?” Dr. Robert’s face clouded. Oh no.
“Um….well...she, um, didn’t make it,” He said solemnly. What? No! This can’t be right. “There was a drunk truck driver who rammed pretty hard into you. I don’t know how you survived. I read your mother’s wishes for you. She wanted you to have this ring.” Oh. That’s it? A silver ring...wait, is that Dad’s wedding ring? Why would Mom wants me to have Dad’s wedding ring? I take the ring in my fingers and slip it on. Instantly I feel stronger. My hands, which were cold and clammy before, are now warm and slightly....damp. Weird. I sit up.
“Um, you might not want to do that,” said Dr. Robert anxiously. I pause. Should I? No. Yes. Wait, no way! I don’t want to kill myself. But everything feels fine, except for my leg, which is only dully throbbing. Dr. Robert pokes and prods, but I didn’t flinch at all until he came to my ankle.
“Huh,” He said. “ It’s only a sprain now.” What? Only a sprain? How is that possible? Is it that ring? I did feel better after putting it on. Dr. Robert takes off the cast and wraps my ankle. “It’s such a small sprain that you can walk on it,” he informs me. “Here’s some clothes, they might be a little big.” I slide them on. “Tomorrow we are going to talk about where you are going to stay and what will happen to you,” Dr. Robert says. And with that final note, he leaves the room.

                     *******

No way am I being part of that doctor’s to do list. I might as well just get out of his way. I’m going to run away. I am old enough to take care of myself. I mean, seriously, isn’t fourteen old enough? I don’t want to be part of some foster care thing. I grabbed my backpack from the bed. Thank goodness I brought 50 dollars. That will last me about a week, because in New York, everything’s about ten dollars. I look inside my backpack. My earbuds, two granola bars, a pillow, a package of chocolate, three bananas, and five packs of fruit snacks. That should keep me going for a while. I shouldered my backpack, and since, thankfully, I am on the first level, I open the window and I'm free.

                      *******

It was when my ankle started throbbing that I remember I still do have an injury. I sit down in an alleyway and look at it. I then remember my ring. I remember that it gave me strength when I first put it on. So I look at the ring and willed it to heal my ankle. I must have looked like an idiot doing that. But the ring grew hot onto my finger, and, almost instantaneously, my ankle stops throbbing. Huh. Weird.
I need to take a shower. I feel disgusting. I walk around until I find a dirty old sink. That will have to do. I wish my hair wouldn’t get wet, though. There’s nowhere for me to dry it. I take off my clothes, and turn on the faucet. It spews water with a creak.  All the sudden my ring starts glowing shades of blue. I give a startled gasp, scaring the robin perched on an old garbage can. What? The robin has red streaks on its tail. It looks like...fire? I try to pull the ring off my finger, but it is stuck. My ring starts spewing water, and the water was running down all over me. Even though the water is small and very weak, it cleans the dirt off my skin very thoroughly. It went through my hair and the rest of my body and then it was sucked back inside my ring. The ring immediately stops glowing. I feel my hair and the rest of my body. It was still dry. I pull off my ring. The only thing that’s left is a faint blue mark, like a bruise, but different...  Huh. Weird.

“Blijf kalm, hou het koel…” I chant to myself in my most comfortable language: Dutch. “Stay calm, keep it together.”  I was getting mad because my mom was forgetting the recipe for our favorite meal- Shrimp Gumbo. My mom never told me the recipe because apparently I am still too young. I don’t understand how fourteen is “too young,” but whatever. Maybe it was her Alzheimer’s kicking in. Or maybe her HIV. Or maybe both. Anyways, as I am sitting down, slurping down soup that is way too salty and barely has any shrimp in it, my mother comes up to me.
“Here,” she says. “These are for you.” Then she pauses and her eyes became distant. “I-I don’t remember why.”
“That’s okay, Mom,” I tell her really quick before she bursts into tears.  My mom tosses a box onto the table and walks away saying “Three tablespoons of salt. No, four. No, one teaspoon.” Then she grunts and smacks her head and says a few choice words. This happens all the time, and someday she will not even be able to remember how to speak in our native language anymore. Sometimes she forgets the simplest things, like what she needs for her work, or how to start the car. I really worry for her. If my mom is in a serious situation, how will she get help if she doesn’t even remember what the number from the emergency department is? More often now, it seems like I'm the one looking after her rather than her being the mom. I can’t take this huge responsibility of taking care of a grown woman. Anyways, to change my train of thought, I look at the box. It is very small and very shabby. I open it up. Earrings. Cool! They are big black circle studs. Actually, they look clear with...ash inside? What the heck? I shiver. Ever since Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she opens all the windows for some apparent reason, and then forgets to close them. It feels like negative 32 outside right now. I wish I could be warm. With that thought, my new earrings, still in my hand, start to heat up. What the-? My thought is cut off because the earrings start to glow red. Then start to smoke. Ah! I drop the earrings to the floor. The red glow and smoke immediately disappear. I pick up the earrings again cautiously. They start to glow red. I threw them on the table. They stop. I realize I probably now have a nasty burn or blister on my hand. I look. My hand is clear, no red or blisters to be seen.
*******
The next day was probably one of the worst days of my life. When I wake up, my window is wide open. There is also a thunderstorm outside, and a stupid robin with….wait...a fire edged tail? And what the heck Mom? My PJs are soaked, as is my blond hair. Seriously? I guess I don’t need to take a shower. Thanks Mom, I guess.  I pull my hair into a messy side braid with a red hair tie at the bottom. Then I slide on my new earrings. It probably isn’t a good idea, considering what happened last night, but they are attractive, and they are probably going to be the last actual gift from my mom. I try not to think about heat, but that only makes it worse. The earrings are already feeling warm. I throw on my favorite outfit: Red jean shorts, orange tattered half shirt, and a yellow tank underneath. I hope the boys don’t stare at me today like they did yesterday. I’m seriously just not interested in nose-picking, hairy, sweaty guys. ‘Mijn god!’ I think once again in Dutch. ‘My god!’ I go downstairs. My breakfast is on the table, still steaming. Wait-what? When did-? How did-? My mom walks in.
“Do I know you?” She asks. Uh oh.
“Yeah, Mom, it’s me, Allie,” I say, beginning to panic a little.
“Have we met each other in the supermarket or something? Your face seems familiar,” she remarks while looking me up and down.
“Mom! I’m your daughter!”
“I have not been married for four years,” My mom says. “You’re no daughter of mine.” I gasp at the pain in my heart. She doesn’t remember me.
“Now leave my house, you idiotic intruder,” She says. I run from the kitchen in tears. I grab the phone and call the number the Alzheimer's doctor told me to call: 911.
                      *******
The doctor tells me to wait outside while they take some tests. When they came back, they say that my mom would have to stay in the hospital until they are sure she is healthy enough to leave. So I guess I am living in a hospital until they find a cure and release her. That’ll make me go down the popularity chart! The new kid from Holland can’t be living in a hospital! ‘Blijf kalm, hou het koel…’ I keep thinking to myself. ‘Blijf kalm, hou het koel.’ I can’t show them I’m weak when it comes to my mother. ‘Blijf kalm, hou het koel...’ Then I realize I am supposed to be going to school. Dang it! I rush up to the doctor and ask him for a note.
“Excuse me, I’m supposed to be at school, well… before this… all happened. Could you write me an excuse note please?” I ask sweetly trying not to cry.
“Sure, hon,” The doctor says. “I’m Dr. Robert, by the way. We will make sure your mom stays safe. We had a boy that was 14 years old run out last week. If you find him, let us know. His name is Michael.” He adds. He grabs a piece of paper and scribbles down some words down. “Here you go! By the way, I love your earrings!” He says, rather enthusiastic. I try not to get angry at him for being so happy when my mom is really sick and I am now living in a hospital. Pushing the thought away, I grab the note and race back home for my backpack.
At school, after seeing to the office, I flew to my locker. When I was done dropping off my stuff I headed for my current classroom. I burst into my second period panting. The teacher looks up from her computer along with all the curious stares belonging to the students. Some of the stares contained something else besides curiosity. What it was, I couldn't make out.
“Allie Carnish, what could have possibly gotten you so late?” My teacher, Mrs. Martin, asks sternly. Oh, great. How am I going to explain this?
“Um, I-um had to call-do...something for my mom,” I say, shaking a little at the memory. Several girls, with extremely heavy makeup on, snicker loud enough for me to hear. I give them my famous “death glare.” They, like everyone always does, shut up immediately. Then I mentally face-slap myself for wearing the earrings today. More than half the boys are staring at me. One is even drooling! I give them my death glare as well. Some of them look guilty, others offended, and some just look slightly miffed, as if they couldn’t understand why I hate them. I’m still waiting for the love of my life, guys. Just so you know, seriously, none of you are him! I read way too many romance novels on the one hour drive to the airport and the eight hour flight to America! Mijn woord! My old school was way better than this one! There were actually pretty decent boys there! The teachers weren’t as strict, and we had an extra hour of recess and lunch! Why did we have to move here? It’s as if ever since moving here, bad things have happened to me and my mom.
“Allie, are you listening to me?” Mrs. Martin says snapping me back to reality, where I’m not in my home country, not at an amazing school, but here, in America, standing at the door with an angry teacher glaring and all the others staring at me.
“Yes, Mrs. Martin,” this time with tears in my eyes, for I can not keep them hidden any longer.
“Allie did anything happen at ho-…” She stops as I was now sobbing. Mrs. Martin turns to the class.
“Class, I want you to complete numbers three to fifteen. I’m going out in the hallway to talk to Allie.” I look at the ground on the way out. I can hear the whispering and more snickering coming from the classroom as Mrs. Martin closes the door behind her.
“Allie, this is not like you. What really happened when you weren’t at school?”
“I-um-I can’t tell you,” I sob.
“You can tell me anything,” Mrs. Martin says soothingly.
“I really can’t,” I say.
“Allie, honey, you-”
“NO!!” I scream. “I CAN’T TELL YOU!” I push past her and storm to the front door. I need to leave.
“Allie, I’m going to call your mother to see what’s going on!” Mrs. Martin calls after me. I stop in my tracks.
“You can’t.” My voice is hoarse from crying. The morning flew through my head with sickening images.
“Allie, what is going on?”
“Nothing,” I say stubbornly. Mrs. Martin starts walking back to the classroom. I immediately knew why. “My mother’s in the hospital! She’s in the hospital, okay? And I now have to live there until they release her!” I yell, not wanting to be embarrassed anymore than I already am. I know I must look pathetic, with tears streaming down my face and my hair a slight mess from sitting in the chair at the hospital for an hour, but I can’t help but use my pleading stare. She gives in almost immediately.
“Oh, Allie, why couldn’t you tell me that? Do you want to go to Mrs. Braeden to talk-”
“No, thanks, I’m okay,” I say quickly. Mrs. Braeden is the guidance counselor. No need to damage my popularity even more by going to her.
“What’s with your earrings?” Mrs. Martin asks curiously.
“Wha-?” I feel my earrings cautiously. They are burning hot. “Oh-nothing,” I say, carefully pulling them out trying not to burn my fingers in the process. They stop immediately. What the heck? It is as if they could feel and react to my emotions.

I hate being poor. I hate always being hungry, dirty, and cold. Stupid Africa. I hate having so many chores that I’m almost like a servant. Having to walk for three hours in the need of gathering water is like walking around the world five times. And to do it everyday! Then there is feeding the cattle. The chicken peck at me, the goat tries to nibble my clothes, and the bull threatens to stab me with his horns. I never went to school before, although I taught myself how to read. My parents even considered selling me to a rich family. Later they also argued for me to be adopted. It was as if they didn’t want me, especially my mom. It is true that they aren’t coping with caring and feeding me, although my mom has enough flesh to her bones. We can’t afford all the fancy food and clothing. I literally wear a sack everyday. But I do have a cool belt. My mom on the other hand wears pretty nice clothes. My dad is a little nicer than my mother. My mom is just selfish! She is always the first to eat. Then, after she ate, there is barely anything left for me and my dad.
“Jake! Hurry up!” My mom shouts across the lake.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”  I jump across the leap in one bound, due to the fact that I have been doing it for years and that I grew nine inches over the course of three months. I am now around six five. My buddies call me the big black and friendly giant. They are all much, much shorter than me. My dad said it’s called puberty. He said fifteen is the normal age for boys to get it. Thank goodness I am fifteen. There’s not any school in Africa, so I write to my pen pal in Paris. Her name is Julie. She’s really nice, considering she is one: a girl, two: lives in Paris, and three: is only thirteen. I haven’t told any of my buddies about her, because they would immediately jump to the dating area. That is not my expertise. I write my letter to Julie:
Hey Julie,
Everythings fine, I guess. I gru five moor inches since you last rote. I got a new book. It’s kind of old it’s called The Giver. Its realy good so far. What are you doing now? Hows school 7 grade rite? What grade wold I be in right now? Rite when you can.
Jake
There, that should be good. I hope it’s all spelled right, but she’ll fix it. Julie loves correcting me. She is careful not to be too bossy, which I like. To make me more of an outcast, I can read and write better than most of my peers. It’s probably because of writing with Julie.
“Jake! Are you writing to that girl in Paris?” My mom asks tauntingly, squeezing herself into my den, which seems rather hard for her. My dad came in right behind her, with a sarcastic smile on his face. He went through without trouble.
“Yeah. So?” I shoot back, taking the challenge. My mom opens her mouth, her eyes flashing with anger.
“Um! We have something to give you and something to tell you,” My dad says quickly before she could explode. “This is for you,” My dad says, tossing me a bracelet. It is like a beachy bracelet, the kind that you can tie. When I put it on, I instantly feel better. My stuffy nose I’ve had for around a week now, has gone away.
“We’re leaving,” My mom says snidely.
“Okay,” I say. That’s what she always says. So why do I feel a sudden dread in the pit of my stomach?
“No, we’re leaving you. Forever.” They’re disowning me? The dread turns into despair, and the sudden strength I had a few seconds ago leaves me in one big rush. Seriously? I know they don’t really like me, but to disown me? That’s a completely different thing.
“This is where you’re going to live now,” My dad says, raising his arms to indicate my den. I know my mom hates me and would sell me if she had the chance, but my dad? I thought better of him. I mean, he actually talks to me! My mom and dad left without a second glance. My dad didn’t even look guilty.
Once they left, I let my tears drown me and I cry myself to sleep.

*******

The minute I wake up I know something is different and it isn’t my parents leaving me. I open my eyes to see green. And brown. What the heck? I sit up, and a pile of leaves flutter off me. There are daisies around my bed. What kind of joke is this? Who would do this? I start fuming. That is when my bracelet starts feeling weird. I look down and see it spewing dirt. What? Then my bracelet spit something out so fast that I almost get hit. A...vine? It does it again. This time I hold my arm out far from my body. What is going on? The dirt splays up onto my fingers and sticks there. I rub until my skin turns white for a moment. The dirt isn’t coming off. I shake my hands and leaves spew off-no, they spew straight out of my hand and almost hit the robin with a red and orange tail sitting on the windowsill! Wait what? That looks like fire! Whatever, I will think about it later.  I make a pushing forward motion with my hand. Vines shoot out of my fingertips and stick to the ceiling. Cool! I can get used to this, but I want to go out to see my buds, and I’m pretty sure they won’t want daisies in their eyeballs.
“Um, dirt?” Well, now I feel stupid. Am I seriously talking to dirt? God, now I’m talking to myself? “Can you-um-turn off?” I ask stupidly. The dirt shuts off and it falls from my fingers, the gravity gone. I am still trying to process what is going on with that ring, and what I can do with these powers. One amazing idea surfaces from the rest. It is a certain idea that can help me live without my parents. What if-? No. No way. I grab a leaf and stuffed it into my mouth. It tastes like...chocolate! Cool! I can survive without my parents! I wipe my tear-stained face, then walk outside. The morning is still crispy and cool making me shiver. As I walk, I step on something that sounds like paper. I look down. Great! Julie wrote back! I grab the envelope and dash back inside. I tear open the paper and open the letter.
Dear Jake,
Are you sure you are okay? Your last letter was very short with little detail. Don’t forget your apostrophes! Moor is spelled m-o-r-e, by the way. Rote is w-r-o-t-e as well. Rite is r-i-g-h-t. Rite, as in with a pencil, is spelled as w-r-i-t-e. Wold is w-o-u-l-d. Gru is g-r-e-w. Yes, I am in seventh grade. You would be in ninth or tenth grade, depending on when you were born. 2001 would be tenth, and 2002 would be ninth. I love writing to you! It’s a really fun way to pass time for me, since I can’t do much. My teachers are so strict with homework. You are so lucky you don’t go to school! I have to go. Write back soon!
Love,
           Julie
Whoops! I guess I spelled more words wrong than I thought. Not that I want to impress her. Hey what if I told her about my bracelet? No way. How would that go: Hey guess what? My new bracelet spews dirt and vines and can make me spew leaves. I can also eat the leaves I spew! Nope. Not happening. Wait what does she mean that she can’t do much? Is she sick? I have to write back.
Julie:
Are you okay? What do you mean you can’t do much? Are you hurt? Are you sick? Pleas tell me!
There. That should get something out of her. I hope she’s okay. I do remember her sometimes mentioning she had to attend to something else while the other students were doing something physical. I guess I will tell her about my bracelet.
I have something to tell you. It’s a little weerd, so don’t freak. I got a braslet before my parents left last nite night. I woke up this morning to it acting really weerd. Has anything happened to you like that? Write pleas!
Jake
I hope that’s not too much information. I’m a little scared that she might judge me. I hope she doesn’t think I’m going mad. That would be terrible. I threw my letter into an envelope and raced it to the nearest mailbox, which was three miles away. I ran the whole thing in fifteen minutes. Even then, I was panting and sweating. Probably because it was exactly 110 degrees outside.
“Hey-hey Jake! Jake?” Oh no. I turn around to find Bryan running towards me. He always notices something wrong about me. “Why did your parents leave with all their stuff last night?” And there it is.
“Um- they’re going on a vacation,” I said.
“Where?”
“Um-America. Yeah, America!” I reply. I am such an idiot.
“Oh-cool!” Bryan says. Ugh! Not good! His right eye was twitching, which means he didn’t believe me. That’s always what he does when he think someone is lying. He knows me well enough to know that one: we do not have enough money to fly all the way to America, and two: that my parents despise me, unlike his. It’s probably why he actually has pants. He jogged away. I sigh and run back home as fast as I can. I look down. Woah! There’s dust all around my feet! Am I running that fast? I look back up and gasp. I’m going to run into my den! I pulled back so hard I fell back on my butt just inches away from the curtain door. Phew! I walk back inside and then it hit me. Why-no, how did I run so fast? I didn’t even realize I was about to crash into my den. I will have to work on braking. If not, I might possibly kill myself.

                     *******

I sit inside my home and all I think about is Julie. I wonder what she looks like. I wonder what color her eyes are, and her hair color. I wonder how long her hair is and if it sweeps over her shoulders. I wonder what she wears, and how she wears it. I wonder if her nose is a little button or long and pointy. As I think, I practice my vines. You know what, I’m calling it a superpower. I have got to see what I look like doing this. I walk very slowly to my mirror shard. Then I shoot a vine up to the ceiling. Oh, wow. My eyes are bright green, and kind of glowing! I jump a little and accidently shoot a vine at my shard. Oh no! The shard falls to the floor and shatters. Whoops. I guess I need to practice that a little bit more! That shard was expensive, though. I spent all year getting enough money to buy that! Now I have to get five pennies all over again! Dang it! I flipped my hand over and choked. The long veins running up my arm were bright green, as if they were filled with chlorophyll instead of blood. When I pulled down the top part of my sack, there too was a chlorophyll substance inside my veins on my chest. Oh boy. My heart was emitting a faint green glow from my chest. I think I’m going to puke. What if I ask it to transform me? What if I am a superhero? I stand up and say quiet and nervously: “Transform me?” My feet feel numb. I look down. Ah! My feet are disappearing! No, wait. They’re turning into dirt!?!? The numbness raced up my body, turning it into dirt. The dirt-my body-fell to the ground. The only thing left was my head. I don’t want to die! I’m too young! Good Lord! I’m dying! Help! My mouth is gone. My nose is gone. My eyes are gone, but I can still see. In fact, I can see better! My forehead and hair disappeared and then my dirt body was swept away in a breeze that didn’t exist.
                      *******
“Whaaaa!!!” I scream. I died! I’m gone! I’m in-a-a-um-a hurricane? I look down. My body is a swirling mass of dirt and the color green. Well, now I’m going to really puke. Then, all of a sudden, the hurricane stops. I drop to the floor. Wait, floor? The only floor I have ever known is dirt. Where am I? I look out an actual glass window. Am-am I in Italy? I look around. Is this a clubhouse? Then I look down. Woah! I have clothes! Very-um-tight fitting clothes. They’re green as well. My chest is more muscular than I thought! Oh, cool! I have a really neat belt! I see something out of the corner of my eye. My arms instinctively reach far behind my back- further than any normal person could- and pull out two sticks that were attached to my back. They weren’t ordinary sticks, though. They were curvy spiky sticks. The spikes look as if there was poison ivy wrapped tightly around them. I find a mirror and pose. My eyes are a bright glowing green again. I look...menacing. Wow.

“What happened?” That is the same question I get every day because I sit in a wheelchair twenty-four seven.
“It was an accident,” I would answer, and turn away from them. I want to do more things than just sit in a chair my whole life. I don’t want to watch people have fun. I yearn to be with them. I absolutely loathe anyone who can have fun while I am being tortured every day. The one thought that has been haunting me since the accident has never changed. Why me...Why me… Why couldn’t someone else fall out of the balloon? Why couldn’t the storm hit another part of town? Why couldn’t someone else’s parachute not work? Why did it all have to happen to me? Why did my life end? And the worst part is, I remember that very day like it was yesterday.
“Mom! Dad! Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” I asked. I am so excited! My mom, dad and I are going ballooning! Our car pulled onto the gravel.
“Honey, we’re here,” My mom opened my door for me. I hopped out, and started jumping up and down.
“Yayayayayayayayay!” I said jumping every time. My mom and dad paid at the counter and we went in another room. This room had no ceiling and there was a giant balloon and a basket taking up most of the room. I was grabbed by the arm by a man.
“You need gear,” He said, his face kind. He put on some heavy backpack thing and told me to squeeze this button if I fell. I nodded, distracted by the huge balloon in my line of sight. We went into the balloon, and it took off. Woah! The view is great! We were really high up now. I leaned far over the edge, not noticing the dark clouds overhead.
“Julie, honey come-BOOM!!” Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, and it scared me. What I didn’t know was that it scared me a little too much. “JULLIIIEEEE!!!!!” My mom screamed. What? I look down. AHH! I’m falling!
“Mommy!!!!” I screamed. “Mommy!!”
“Push the button!” My mom screamed. I grabbed the button and pushed it hard. The parachute came out with a FLWOOP! I breathed a sigh of relief.  “Hang on honey! We’re coming!” My mom shouted through the howling wind and rain. A huge lightning bolt cracked and I smell smoke. I look up. Oh no! The lightning hit my parachute! I’m falling again!
“MOOOMMMMYYYYYY!!!!” I screamed, free falling into the sky. I heard distant shouts, but I couldn’t decipher them. I closed my eyes and started to imagine my gravestone. Julie Faith, age seven, died from falling from the sky. Wow that doesn’t sound right. I opened my eyes and my heart stopped. The ground was close. And I couldn’t stop. BOOM. My body landed on a roof of a tall, steel building. Colorful lights invaded my sight, even though it was cloudy. My legs hurt. Everything fades out of sight. Then it is black.
“Julie! JULIE?” Ms. Mann shouts into my ear. The blackness disappeared in an instant, but everything is fuzzy around the edges. I feel sick.
“I-uh,” I started, but she grabs the handles of my chair and rolls me out of the classroom.
“I’m bringing you to the nurse,” She says hurriedly.
“I’m fine,” I tried to say, but it came out like a gurgle. I simply nodded weakly, so she understood me.
*******
“What happened?” Asks Ms. Lindse, the school nurse. Again, the stupid question.
“I fell asleep,” I say.
“And woke up with fainting symptoms? I don’t think you just fell asleep, Julie. No way am I telling her. I don’t need anymore pitying stares. I just look away stubbornly. This makes her even more curious and annoyed.
“Julie, what happened? You better tell me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.” she says, now getting really angry. Wow, so now she is using movie quotes? That’s pathetic. Ms. Lindse starts to get really red in the face. I think steam is coming out of her ears!
“Tell. Me. Please,” She says through clenched teeth. Nope. No way.
“You’re going home,” Ms. Lindse says. Oh no. Dad will kill me if I go home. He’s so busy and thinks I’m a spoiled brat. I read his journal. He thinks I get special attention because I’m in a wheelchair.
“I’m fine, okay? I had-had a flashback,” I say as her hand grazes the phone. Her gaze hardens on my face.
“ You had a flashback,” She says flatly. The fire in her eyes fades. “You’re okay now?” She asks. I shake my head. She grabbed my handles and pushed me out. Ms. Mann grabbed my handles then and pushes me back into the classroom. I heard the faint sound of someone putting in numbers on a phone. Great. Now I’ll have to deal with Dad when I get home.

*******

“Julie! Seriously?” Is the first question I get when I open the door to a steaming dad. His hands flutter uselessly around me. He finds my hand and slaps it gently.
“Don’t leave me,” He says, and I tear up because those were the last words Mom said to us before dying of brain cancer. I remember the funeral, her cold, bloodless hand in mine. Before I knew it, my brain slipped back into the past.
“Don’t leave me,” My mother whispers. Her eyes roll up into the back of her head and her hand becomes limp in my grasp.

*******

The funeral procession was long and tearful. People came up to me and crouched down to see my eyes and say sorry. I heard too many people talking about me. “She’s so young…” “Only ten…” “Handicapped…” “I feel so bad….” I didn’t cry the whole time. My eyes were completely dry still from last night. It was just another tear in my heart, like when my brother died coming from the womb, my pet hamster died, and when my friend moved to Texas. All just another tear. Soon, my heart wouldn’t be able to hold together anymore. A priest came up to my and gave me my mother’s necklace. It was my favorite one on her, the one with a swirl in the middle and two purple beads on each side. I unhook the clasp and put  around  my neck. I swore to myself to never take it off. It still smelled like her perfume. The priest smiled sadly and patted my leg, which I didn’t feel. I rolled over to my mother’s coffin. Her eyes were closed, and the corners of her mouth were up. I brushed her hand lightly and recoiled. It was cold and hard. She felt like a doll. A porcelain doll. That’s when it hit me. My mother wasn’t here anymore. She was gone, dead. She wouldn’t be able to give me her warm hugs that always made me feel better, and she wouldn’t be able to make her famous chocolate chip cookies. She was gone. My mother-gone. Disappeared out of my life. Forever.
“JULIE FAITH!!” My father screams into my ear. I jump half a mile up.
“Wh-wha?”
“Is this what Ms. Lindse was talking about?”
“What?”
“You drifted.”
“I what?”
“Your eyes became vacant and your face became pale and sweaty, and you started to cry.” Okay, maybe I had a flashback.  “I am going to take you to a-” My dad started, but I put my hand up.
“No. I don’t want to.” His face scrunched up. I looked at him blankly and roll to my room. My room looks almost like a hospital, with the movable bed. Other than that, though, the walls were still painted from when I moved here, three years ago. The move was okay. We just needed a new start, especially after my accident. But when we moved, my mom started to get sick.
“Don’t leave me..”
What was that? Did I just see...my mom again? I only had that other flashback a few minutes ago, didn’t I? I felt the cool necklace being put into my palm. I looked down. Nothing is there. I grab for the necklace at my neck. Still there. I hear church bells. Wait. We don’t even live by a church! Those sound like the ones from the funeral! This isn’t possible! I start to hyperventilate, scaring the robin with a fire-edged tail off my windowsill. Wait, a fire-edged tail? That doesn’t make sense.
“Only ten…”
Who was that? That sounds like someone from the funeral. How is this happening? That happened three years ago. Mom is dead. She is gone. Why am I imagining the saddest day of her?
“Oh, Anna.”
Dad? How come he sounds as if he is right next to me? I close my window to shut out the sudden breeze, but it doesn’t falter. In fact, the breeze only gets worse, swirling around me in a miniature hurricane. My long, dark hair swirls up around my face. What is going on??
“STOPPPPP!!!!” I screamed. The wind stops immediately, as if it was a fan that had turned off. I feel my necklace. It feel like it is spinning.

********
I roll over to my desk to find another letter from Jake.
Julie:
Are you okay? What do you mean you can’t do much? Are you hurt? Are you sick? Pleas tell me! I have something to tell you. It’s a little weerd, so don’t freak. I got a braslet before my parents left last nite night. I woke up this morning to it acting really weerd. Has anything happened to you like that? Write pleas!
Jake
Oh, Jake. You silly boy. I pick up a purple pen and started writing.

Dear Jake,
I’m fine. Don’t worry. Weerd is weird, braslet is bracelet, and pleas is please. You are getting much better at spelling.

A bracelet that acted weird? Should I tell him about my necklace? What if he judges me? Not that I care what he thinks.

Something similar has happened to me, too, I guess. My necklace that I got from my mother was, well, spewing wind? Does that match what happened to your bracelet? Please tell me everything even if it sounds weird. Write soon!
Love,
Julie

I fold the letter into an envelope and send it spiraling down a chute specifically made for letters. Paris is cool that way. It is very unique in its design. It also is easier because of my handicap. Still, I wish we didn’t move here. I hope Jake gets my letter soon. I feel so depressed and awkward lately. Especially that I feel like I am going back in time with my flashbacks.

*******

The next few weeks were exactly the same, but the flashbacks were more detailed and longer. Today, as I was sitting in my room, staring at nothing, I got another letter from Jake.

Dear Julie,
You had something weird too? Try asking it to transform you. You might be a suuper hero! I asked it to transform me, and I was taken to this place. Say transform me, and I will meet you there!
Jake

“Seriously?” I say out loud. “Transform me? That is where he is going to go now?” I must be an idiot to like this guy. I look down and choke. My legs and wheelchair are-disappearing! Into-into white smoke? Wait! This doesn’t make sense! Stop smoke thingy! I gasped as it crawls up my chest. It is coming to my face. Am I dying? The smoke came to my chin. Oh no. It covers me, but I can still see. Then the smoke- my body -is swept away in a breeze that isn’t there.

                     *******

“AHHHHHH!!!!” I screamed. Where am I going? Am I going to the place Jake was talking about? I look down and immediately wish I didn’t. My body was a swirling mass of smoky air and purple. All the sudden, the breeze stops and I drop to the floor. Where’s my chair? I stand up-no wait- I float up? I look behind me and my breath catches. I have wings like an angel! Woah! I look down at my body. I’m in a purple suit. Way too tight. Jeez. I have a belt with a cannister? I take it out and it immediately shoots out three whips made of air. How did I know-?
“Julie?” A voice asks behind me. I’m not alone.
“Jake?” I whisper, and turn around slowly. Woah. Jake has a tight suit, revealing his tight stomach, and two deadly looking sticks behind his back. He had dirt along his fingers, like gloves almost. His skin, a dark mocha, was flushed slightly. I then blushed because I felt really, REALLY exposed. Why did the smoke give me a seriously tight suit? I think I choked on words, because he cleared his throat and started talking.
“Woah. Um, I mean hi. Um, so this was what I was talking about. Have you, um, tried your powers?” I shook my head because I was still speechless. “Watch,” he said, and stepped back. He then shot his hands up and something- vines- came shooting out and attached themselves to the ceiling. The vines then disappeared- no, went back inside his hand- and he pulled himself off the ground. The whole time, his eyes were a glowing green, as was his whole body. He dropped back down to the ground, stood up, and bowed. I laughed, but it sounded slightly strangled. I hope he doesn’t notice the edge to my laugh.
“I know,” he says, recognizing my scared eyes. “It can be a little scary at first.”
“I’m not scared,” I say, a little breathlessly. His eyes meet mine.
“Really?” he breathes. He walked forward, closing the space between us. He leans a bit closer. Oh. Now I understand why the smoke gave me wings. So I can feel free. I sure do feel free as his lips meet mine.

Twenty-two days. That’s how many days I have been on the streets. I know because I found a wanted poster and it said the date I ran away. March 16th. Before then, life was easy. Now I have to find food. I found an abandoned scale and weighed myself ten days after I had ran away. The scale number said 55.5 pounds. It’s probably because I eat once a week. All the mice, rats, and birds found the food I had in my backpack. When I was sleeping, someone stole all 50 of my dollars. I barely sleep anymore. My hair has grown down to my chin. People are scared of me when I walk down the street. I don’t look anything like my old self. The hospital will never find me. I feel no emotion. My nightmares are mostly the car accident played over and over again. Then a flash of the hospital, and the words Dr. Robert had told me echoing in the background:
“She, um, didn’t make it- make it- make it,” before waking up. Right now I’m wandering the streets, looking for food. That is what has kept me busy for the past three weeks. Last night, the only thing I found was a half eaten chocolate bar and an abandoned, untouched smoothie bottle. This is my breakfast for the morning. Luckily the animals had not touched it. The only reason I am fairly clean is the fact that my ring washes me daily.
********
I can’t sleep. I lie on an old blanket, watching the stars.
“Mommy, mommy! Listen! I’m gonna be Marinette! Tikki! Transform me!” said a little girl’s voice. Then there is grunting sounds and the noise of feet hitting the pavement.
“That’s nice, dear,” says the mother. 
“Transform me-?” I mutter. Why would Marinette say that? Who is Marinette? I am seriously tired. I am so tired that my legs feel numb. I look down. Wait...they’re not numb, they’re-d-d-disappearing? Into water? What? Wait! Stop! What's happening? Stop! The water is up to my neck! What is going on?? Help! Help me, I’m dying! The water covers my face.

                     ******

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” I scream. I look down. Oh, that’s wonderful. My body is a swirling mass of water and the color blue. Thankfully I didn’t have dinner. All the sudden the hurricane stops. I drop to the ground. I stand up shakily and look down. Oh, my. That’s a very tight fitting suit. And a-belt? With a whip? A small footstep sounded behind me. I whip around, my whip suddenly into my hand.
“Woah, calm down. We’re not going to hurt you,” says the guy. He is in a green suit like mine, and he has spiky sticks behind his back. His skin, a dark brown, is flushed slightly, as is the girl in the purple suit behind him. Actually, her face is bright red. She has huge angel’s wings sticking out from her back. Her feet were an inch from the ground. She also had a whip sticking out from her belt.
“You’re one of us,” said the girl. “I’m Julie,” she said.
“I’m Jake,” said the guy.
“I’m Michael,” I said cautiously. Suddenly there was a bright green, purple, and blue glow from behind Jake and Julie. They turn around, whip and clubs in hand. I pulled out my whip as well.
“Find the fourth. Find the fire. Make the forces of nature,” whispered a voice. It came from the glow. Oh my goodness. It came from the glow. Then the light disappeared.
“That’s been going on for a while,” says Julie. “Except that it was saying water, too.”
“I guess you’re water,” says Jake.
“I wonder who’s fire?” asks Julie.
“We’ll figure it out,” I say confidently, more confident than I ever have been.
“He will come eventually,” says Jake.
“I hope so” says Julie. We all stare at each other, bringing awkward silence.
“Soo,” Jake says, breaking the silence. “Do you want to try out your powers?” I smile for the first time since the accident and bring up my hands.

I run as fast as I can to my mom’s room. Earlier, I was called out of school because something was happening to my mom: she was dying. The HIV was kicking in, fast. I burst through the door, skidding a little on the floor.
“Mom?” I ask, even though I know she won’t remember me.
“Allie? Allie, honey is that you?” What the heck? How-? “Come here,” she says, breaking through my thoughts. I come up to her. Her eyes are closed. Oh. She was having a dream. I sit on the chair near her bed and start to cry. I have no family. I have no friends. I have no power over the stupid disease that is eating up my mother. My one and only mom, who made so many traditions with me. All the sudden I hear a hissing noise. I look up, startled. My mom is shaking. Oh my God! I rush to her side and grab her hand. She stops shaking and opens her eyes. I choke on my words though, because they are glowing green. 
“Free me,” she whispers in a hoarse voice that wasn’t hers. “Become the last hero. Be fire. Transform to unite the elements. FREE ME!” she shouts. I stumble back a step as her body disintegrates into green smoke. What the heck? Become the last hero? Transform? What?
“Transform?” I wonder aloud. I drop to the floor, shaking. My legs are numb. I look at them and give a strangled gasp. They are disappearing into ash. The ash crawls up my body until it covers my face.

*******

I was silent the whole time the hurricane carried me away. But when it dropped me on the floor, I lay there, puking my guts out. Someone’s hand rubbed my back and I jumped. I look up to see three faces looking at me worriedly. All three are wearing a tight, VERY tight, suit. They look the same besides that they all have a different color and pattern lacing the neck and sleeves. One has angel’s wings.
“Are you fire? Are you the one that connects us?” asks the boy in the green suit.
“Um,” I say, and look down at myself. Seriously? I have a tight suit as well, except it’s orange and yellow. I have a belt as well, too, except it is orange and red. A whip is attached to my belt, just like the b-oh, my. He’s really cute. Much cuter than all of the boys at my school combined. He sees me looking and says,
“Hi, I’m Michael.” He even has a cute name!
“I’m Jake,” says the boy in the green suit, pacing the floor like a caged animal.
“I’m Julie,” says the tiny girl with angel wings.
“I’m-Allie,” I say.
“Come over here,” says Jake. I walk over to where he is standing. As I walk, ash trails from my boots. He brings me to a circle bolted onto the wall. Wait, no, attached to the wall. “Put your hand here,” says Jake. He points to the quarter that has almost invisible flames. Michael and Julie walk over and place their hands on their quarter. Jake places his hand on his. He nods at me. Oh no. Michael’s hand is right next to mine. I shakily put my hand on the last quarter. The circle explodes into four colors: red, blue, purple, and green. Then, flames, water, air, and leaves start coming out.
“IT’S LIKE WHAT HAPPENED AT HOME!!!” Julie screams over the whistling wind. Her ponytail is flying straight back, and her wings are blurred from flapping so fast. She’s right, only that it’s everything combined.
“Hello, Forces of Nature,” says a melodic voice from all around us. We all jump, weapons suddenly in hand. A woman steps out of the light. “I am Mother Nature. There is an emergency that needs to be attended to immediately.”
“What is it?” I hear myself ask. The others look at me like: Why the heck would you talk to a person that came out the wall?? I shrugged and tried to say sorry with my eyes.
“Allie Carnish,” Mother Nature says. I jump. “You have been chosen leader of this chosen group. I am always watching..” A robin with a fire edged tail flies out of the multicolored light. Three gasps sounded and then shouting started.
“Guys! GUYS!” I yell. They stop and look at me guiltily, Michael’s expression the cutest. “Mother Nature, please tell us what we need to do,” I say.
“Forces of nature,” Mother Nature starts. “This will be the first of your many missions. You need to stop the Time Turner before she overtakes the world.”
“How?” Michael asks, his brow furrowed.
“You must use your powers,” Mother Nature says.
“How?” Julie asks.
“Julie Faith, your power comes from the mind. Do not be afraid to step out in the open and be free,” Mother Nature says. Julie flutters back, an expression of shock and then determination on her face. “Jake Edwards, your power comes from your mouth. Do not be afraid to speak,” she says as she turns to him. “Michael Vale, your powers come from your muscles, for you have the strength.” Michael steps right next to me his face blank. My face heats up.
“Allie Carnish, your power comes from the heart. Let your emotions control your powers, and expect to have some sorrows. Even if you show weakness in front of your team, you must defeat the Time Turner,” she starts to fade as her last four words flicker. Suddenly the circles on all of our chests beeped. Jake’s face was shocked.
“She gave us unlimited lives,” he says hoarsely.
“So that means we can’t die?” Julie says.
“Wow,” Michael says.
“I don’t think she’s going to do that next time,” I say. “That’s probably a helper since it’s our first time doing this.”
“Good point,” Jake says thoughtfully. “However, I have a feeling this isn’t going to be some kind of part time job.”
“We have to do this again?” Julie asks, a hoarse edge to her voice. Jake put an arm around her and walked her to another room.  Michael looked worried, but he was staring at me, waiting. He was waiting for me? Oh, great. Mom wouldn’t approve of this. With the thought of mom, my eyes teared up, but I turned away so Michael wouldn’t see it. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw him reach for me, but I was probably imagining it. No boy would ever like me. With that thought as well, I started to cry. I ran from the room, too embarrassed and upset to let Michael see me weak.

The minute Julie started hyperventilating, I lead her out of the room. She is a hot mess, crying and breathing strangled gasps. I stroke her face, repeatedly wiping the never ending tears. After a while, she finally calms down, but she was crying for so long that she fell asleep immediately. I tuck her in and kiss her cheek. I lay on the bed, not wanting to leave. I also wanted to give Michael and Allie some quality time. The minute she appeared, I knew Michael liked her. The way he rubbed her back when she got sick, and the fact that he was blushing slightly. I feel bad for the guy. He obviously has a hard life back wherever he comes from. He is skinny, too skinny, and pale. He looks starved and bloodless, basically. Maybe Allie will give him some color. And the thing is, I have a feeling Allie likes him too. I want them to get to know each other.

*******

The next morning, Julie was a bear. She had so little sleep that she had huge, dark circles under her eyes. It could also be the time difference since we are all from other parts of the world. As I stand outside the room while Julie does her morning routines, Allie runs by me, like a streak of literal fire.
“GO TO THE DINING ROOM!!!! QUICK!!!!” she screams. I bang on Julie’s door. She shoots out like a bullet within seconds, as if she was waiting.
“LET’S GO!” she screams.
“What happened?” I say, keeping her pace easily. I figured that now we were superheroes we didn’t get winded.
“I heard her mind-it’s the Time Turner,” she says, her chocolate eyes huge.
“You heard her mind?”
“Aren’t they air waves?”
“Oh.”
“Get ready.”
“I have been.” I say, smirking. She rolls her eyes. Then she comes to a screeching halt, her body flinging straight forward like a rag doll, since her wings stopped ages ago. Her eyes are vacant. Oh no.
“What happened??” I ask. “What’s wrong?” Her mouth made gaping movements. “JULIE?” I scream, grabbing her face.
“No,” she whispers. “NO! NO! PLEASE, NO!” she screams.
“JULIE!! WHAT IS GOING ON?” I shout, shaking her body. She rips free from my grasp and sinks to the floor. She starts to cry. Her whole body jerks. I watch with wide eyes. Michael and Allie race up.
“What is going on??” they ask in unicent. Allie’s face blushes a faint pink for a second. She crouches down and looks into Julie’s eyes.
“Is she having a vision?” she asks, looking at me. I shrug my shoulders.
“Maybe it’s of the future,” Michael says, his face pinched in worry.
“I don’t know,” I say. Then all the sudden Julie flies up. Her eyes are normal.
“Why are you all crouched down?” she asks. But there was something wrong. Her eyes were worried, but she was holding herself together. Her hands were shaking slightly from the effort. I think: Do you want to talk about it? She shakes her head slightly. Her eyes firmly answer me, saying: later. I guess she was right about the mind reading thing. 
“Well, let’s go in,” Allie says, a bit nervously.  The doors open and she gasps. “Mom?” Michael, who is behind her, reaches for her, but stops, his face uncertain. I nudge him and he looks at me, his face agonized. I read his expression clearly: he wants to touch her, but is afraid she will take it wrong. I nod at him then to Allie. He sighs and slowly puts his hand on her shoulder. She stiffens slightly, then relaxes. Michael’s eyes are surprised and happy at the same time.
“See?” I breathe into his ear. He beams.
“Sooo...you four are the Forces of Nature?” drawls a woman’s voice. The Time Turner.
“Yes, and who might you be?” I ask her rather bluntly, a tad of sarcasm in my voice.
“Oh, how adorable,” she says. “Why, I am the time turner. And I am here to kill you,” she answers casually. Then her eyes turn red and a knife with clocks appears into her hands. She lunges straight for us.

I hold my scream in the back of my throat  as the time turner lunges at us.
“NO!” Allie screams and sends a white hot streak of fire at her. “I will NOT let you hurt my friends!” The Time Turner simply laughs. She sends three knives at us. Allie screams and sends a streak of fire at, not the time turner, but us. I gasp and duck, but, before my eyes, the fire wraps around us. We are in a ball of fire.
“I wanna do something, too!” Michael shouts and stomps his foot. Allie ignores him. Her face is glistening with sweat as she tries to hold the shield and fight the Time Turner.
“Oh, darling, I won’t kill you here. You have three hours to prepare yourselves before I destroy the two most visited cities: Paris and New York,” purrs the time turner. Michael and I gasp at the same time.
“What are you talking about?” Allie grunts. The Time Turner laughs.
“Three hours. Times Square goes first.” Then the Time Turner disappears into sand from an hourglass. The shield flickers away and Allie drops to the floor. Michael sprints towards her.
“She passed out,” he says, his eyes checking her worriedly. He picks her up in his arms and walks out.
“Need..help?” Jake asks. Michael looks so frail, it is as if he can barely walk on his own two legs. His only answer is a grunt. Jake looks at me.
“What happened?” Again, there’s the stupid question. I sigh.
“I had a flashback,” I say. His eyes light up with that I-knew-it look.
“About what?” He asks. Oh no. I can’t tell him. He’ll be devastated.
“The fight later,” I say and fly away. He sniffs and runs towards me. He catches up easily. He grabs my waist.
“You can tell me,” he breathes into my ear.
“I wasn’t going to,” I say stubbornly. His shoulders sag. “What, you thought flirting was going to get the truth out of me? W-o-w,” I say, stretching out the word. I twist out of his grasp and fly straight to my room, hoping I don’t look like an idiot.
“Wait!” He shouts. I turn around, arms crossed. He looks down, suddenly embarrassed. “Well...actually...I did think I could get something out of you with...flirting,” he says, wringing his hands.
“You think I’m that shallow, huh?” I say, my voice shaking with anger.
“What? No! Why would you-”
“I get it. You just think I’m a pretty, shallow girl with no sense of right,” I say coldly.
“No!”
“Is that why you kissed me? Because you thought you could do it again?”
“No! Julie, stop!”
“Maybe you are too old for me, Jake. Maybe we should just stick to writing. Try to find some shallow girls. Have fun with that,” I say, close to tears. I turn and fly as fast as I can to my room. When I get there, I lay on the bed and cry. I hear him trying to talk to me in my mind, but I ignore him.
“Julie! Please stop! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!” Jake says to me in his mind.
“No,” I say back. Then, with all my power and might, I block him. There is a loud clunk in my mind. Then silence. I cry, broken, loud sobs. There is a knock on my door.
“Go away!” I sob.
“Julie-I-” Jake starts from the other side of the door.
“I said GO AWAY!” I scream. I push wind underneath the door with my hand. I hear a “oof!” and the loud sound of his butt hitting the floor.
“She just needs time,” Michael says, his voice muffled through the door. He brought Michael? Seriously? Why do boys travel in packs? I curl into a ball and cry myself to sleep.

******

“Julie. Wake up.” I hear Allie say. Her hand is on my shoulder. I sit up and look around blearily.
“Is it time?” I ask. She nods gravely. She looks confident, but her eyes give her feelings away. “Did you and Michael kiss?” I ask. Her eyes widen.
“No! I don’t think he-we’re ready for that yet,” she says.
“Are you?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t know.” She stands up. “Let’s go,” she says, starting to blush. I wipe the left over tears still lingering on my face and fly up.
“Let’s do this,” I say, trying to sound confident. Allie straightens and smiles.

I feel like I am walking to my death. I mean, seriously, what villain gives a time to-oh. I get it now. The Time Turner. Duh. One of my stupid realization moments. Allie looks at me, her eyes revealing fear and a sadness I couldn’t decipher. I answer back through my eyes sending her a look telling her we will not lose to her, hoping she will understand.
“FORCES OF NATURE!” the Time Turner’s voice shouts, scaring us all. People walking the streets freeze and look around cautiously.
“Thank you for coming,” she says. “Now let time stop!” Arrows rain down from the sky. Everyone screams and runs for their lives. A few of the arrows hit people and they don’t move again. They slowly turn gray and then disappear.
“Oh God!” Jake yells over the screaming. “We have to stop her!” Allie nods, a look of fierce determination on her face. We run towards the Empire State Building where the Time Turner stands, cackling at the chaos. We run like we’ve never run before. We dodge every single arrow, but it hits someone behind us. My guilt worsens with every step. As we run, my mind shifts to when I managed to carry Allie out of the room. As she laid still, I grabbed her hand, palm up, and repeatedly stroked each finger. Jake said to take my time and that is what I am trying to do.
“JAKE!” I hear Julie shriek and I snap out of my stupor. Oh no. He is on the ground. I run over to him and gasp. An arrow is sticking out of his leg and it is slowly turning gray!
“Ahh..” Jake mumbles. “It’s numb.” Julie starts sobbing. She puts her head on his stomach and cries her heart out.
“I’m-sorry!” she wails. “I didn’t mean to-I-I,”
“Shh,” Jake whispers, stroking her hair. “I should apologize, Julie-I-” his body twitches. The gray starts creeping up his thigh. Julie grabs his leg and starts pulling but it is stuck to the ground. “Shoot,” he mutters. “I’m frozen in time. She is going to take our souls and use them for energy.” With that Julie wails.
“We’ll find a way,” Allie says quietly, her voice cracking slightly. With effort, Jake manages a meager smile.
“I know you will.” With that, his eyes glaze over and the gray increases up his stomach up to his heart. His body fades until it is almost transparent.
“Oh no,” Allie says. Both our heads whip towards her. “If all the souls trapped in time go to her energy source, and Jake is a super hero..” Julie’s eyes widen.
“She’s going to be invincible once she obtains his soul!” Allie says. Oh, great.
“How are we supposed to defeat her?” I ask.
“We do what Mother Nature told us to do,” says Allie, her eyes literally sparking. “Fire..” she starts, putting her hand in the middle of our circle.
“Air..” Julie smiles, catching on.
“Water!” I finish, sadly looking at what was left of Jake. He is completely invisible. Julie takes a somewhat shaky breath. His body is gone. A green wisp of smoke, most likely his soul, travels up to the Empire State Building, straight to the Time Turner. It gets sucked into her chest, straight to where her heart is. Allie intakes a sharp breath. I just know the Time Turner has something to do with her, what it is, I don’t know. The problem is, I’m scared to ask her in fear that she will fall apart. The Time Turner’s eyes turn ruby red. She smiles a devilish grin. It sends shivers down my spine.
“Ahhh...finally. I will destroy you!” she screams and dives towards us. I look at Julie, who looks at Allie. Her eyes are wide.
“Run!” she says as she sprints, with abnormal speed, straight towards the Time Turner.
“Are you crazy?” I scream.
“I need to protect you!” she calls back. I can hear her just fine, even though she is at least three and a half miles away now.
“We’re in this together,” I say, knowing she will be able to hear me  even though she is already a great distance away, and start sprinting towards her, also with super speed. Julie hesitates for a moment, and her gaze lingers on where Jake faded. She starts to jet forward. I slow my pace so she can catch up and am surprised to find tears free falling down her face.
“Nobody gets away with killing my happiness,” was all she said. She flies faster, little spirals of wind around her body. We catch up to Allie. But she is lying on the ground, a knife in her gut. Blood was everywhere. I stiffen. Nobody, nobody will kill my happiness, either. I roar with fury and charge.

I hate this. I hate whoever did this to my mother. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be dying on the floor with a knife in my gut. Oh, did I mention that there’s poison on the blade? I groan, but I can’t tell anymore if it was in my head or out loud.
“RAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” detonates Michael. Wait, Michael? I thought I left him to be safe.
“Allie?” Julie’s cool hands are on my face, which feels like it’s boiling off my body. The poison won’t let me think. I groan, making sure it’s out loud this time.
“I have healing powers.” she says. I struggle to open my eyelids.
“You do?” I barely manage to say, but it sounds strangled. She takes a breath. Then purple fills my vision and my body feels numb. I gasp and start thrashing, but her hands hold me down. The burning goes down. I take a huge breath, glad to be alive. I open my eyes fully, and gasp. Michael is inside a tsunami! He’s holding the Time Turner off, but she is just playing. It’s me she wants. I stand up, fury replacing the shakiness in my body. Then I yell. I yell so loud fire rolls off of me until I transform into what I feel, and am supposed to be. I am a fire breathing dragon. Michael looks over at me, startled. Then he visibly relaxes. I will talk to him later. I stomp up to the Time Turner and prepare to blow a huge stream of fire, but then stop. Mom’s eyes are back to normal. Not like at the hospital, but like before we moved here. Before her diseases. I falter, and trip over my huge dragon feet.
“Allie?” she asks. Her voice is her normal voice. I kneel, suddenly back into my human form. I start crying, my breath coming in huge bursts. I hear a knife come out of it’s sheaf. I don’t look up.
“NO!” Michael screams and then I look up in time to see the time turner over top of me, knife in hand. I look over at Michael, petrified. He aims a burst of water at the time turner’s knife. His aim is perfect, turning the knife over and piercing the Time Turner’s heart instead of my back. She stumbles back and lands on her rear. She lays down and groans. Then, a wisp of green emits from her heart.
“JAKE!” Julie screams. He is now on the floor, gasping and shivering. Julie lands on top of him, and he pulls her to his lips.
“I meant that one,” he says, his voice surprisingly clear. Julie laughs and cries at the same time.
“You’ll do,” says a voice from behind us. I whip around to find the Time Turner, visibly more weak, but still alive, reach out and grab Julie’s wings.
“NO!” Jake shouts. Julie, still in the Time Turner’s grasp, whips a backhand to her chin. She grunts and drops her. But Julie is not done. With a hurricane around her body, she sends spurts of wind, knocking the Time Turner off balance, then aiming a punch. When she was done, the Time Turner was bruised and dizzy. She collapses onto the floor.
“Nice!” Jake says appraisingly, holding his hand up for a high five. Julie laughs and slaps her hand against his. I look at Michael. He is looking at me with his calculating look. I furrow my eyebrows and turn away. He is immediately at my side. He slides his hand in mine. I sigh. His other hand hesitantly grabs my chin and tilts my head up so I am looking into his deep blue eyes.
“Who is she?” he asks. I shake my head slightly.
“Later,” I breathe. A movement behind him catches my eye. He sees me looking and whips around. The Time Turner is standing. Michael picks up her knife and walks towards her. He thrusts the knife into her necklace. A heavy breeze comes out of it, blowing my braid straight back. The other souls. The funnel of wind goes on for about thirty more seconds, then abruptly stops, as if it’s been switched off. The Time Turner crumples. Michael thrusts the knife once more, but this time to her heart. But, to my surprise, she grabs the knife.
“You can’t defeat me that easily,” she cackles. I know what to do.
“Fire!” I scream, putting my hand out. My earrings burn, as if they are on fire. They probably are.
“Water!” Michael screams and puts his hand on top of mine. His ring spews water around his body. Our hands morph together until they are a red and blue hand. Michael looks shocked.
“Air!” Julie screams and hesitantly puts her hand on top of Michael’s. Her hand morphs into ours, adding purple to the mix.
“Earth!” Jake finishes and puts his hand on top of Julie’s. His hand adds green to the mix. I pull our hands up and scream: “NOW!” Fire, water, wind, and earth streak straight out of them. They hit the Time Turner and she glows all four colors.

Okay, I’ll admit not being actually solid for a few hours can really move a guy. But it gave me time to think about Julie. So once I came out, I kissed her and apologized in my mind. She got it because she started to cry. The other thing that was weirder than normal? Our hands morphed together. Then they became four colors: red, blue, purple, and green. Creepy. Anyways, once we hit the Time Turner, we wait because we have to make sure she is dead and stays that way. Julie looks at me worriedly. I ignore her, staring straight at the Time Turner. She doesn’t move. Then her body turns gray and disappears. Allie takes a huge breath and sinks slowly to the floor. We all whip around, immediately at her side.
“What’s wrong?” we all ask at the same time. She looks up.
“We all need to talk, as a group,” she says shakily.

*******

“She’s your what?” Michael shrieks. We all look at Allie dumbfounded.
“Yes, she was my mom,” she whispers sadly, “I don’t know how she transformed into the Time Turner, but I think that she was possessed by her. One night at the hospital right before I transformed, she told me to free her and then disappeared into green smoke. She said to transform. I-I didn’t know what that meant, saying it out loud in confusion. Then I came here.”
“Wow,” Michael says. “I didn’t know that, I could have done something, I wish you would-,”
“It’s fine,” Allie says. “It’s a relief, getting that off my shoulders. She was about to pass anyway…”
“What do you mean?” Julie asks, hesitance lining her voice.
“Well she has-had- the Alzheimer's disease and HIV.”
“It was the Alzheimer’s,” I hear myself say. Allie looks at me.
“How would you know that? You haven’t met her,” she says.
“How? How was it Alzheimer’s?” Michael asks.
“Well, her mind was addled from it, so all the Time Turner had to do was insert her soul into her to hope that she would take over the world,” I say.
“So she wanted her to do her dirty work,” Michael says.
“What was the ‘free me’ thing then?” Allie asks.
“Hmm,” I say. “What if it’s something else? It wasn’t your mother’s voice, right?”
“Right,” she says.
“Then what if it was..oh.”
“What???”
“A-a-um,”
“Tell me!”
“It might have been Mother Nature,” I say.
“Really?” Allie asks.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” I say. “It was just an idea.”
“Huh,” Allie says thoughtfully, a calculating look on her face. All the sudden my feet look numb. I look down. Oh no.
“Hey guys,” I say looking at Michael and Allie. “I think our free lives are up.” Michael and Allie look down to only find that their legs are starting to disappear. Allie’s smoke was up to her chest.
“I thought my life was longer!” she wails. Michael stares at himself slowly disintegrating.
“I guess not,” he says simply.
“Well, see you guys at the hideout,” Allie says, cringing slightly as the smoke crawls up to her neck.
********
We all touch down in a circle at the hideout.
“I gotta go…” Julie says. The others agree.
“Wait!” I say, a thought coming to me. “Our jewelry can let us communicate with each other, as in a phone almost. We can call or text.”
“How do you know these things?” Julie asks.
“I- uh, I don’t know,” I answer. Allie smiles.
“Bye…” she says and disappears into ash. Michael already has water up to his nose.
“See you,” he says and disappears. I turn to Julie and hug her.
“Write soon,” she says and disappears into white smoke. I sigh. The dirt takes over and I once again and in a hurricane of green and brown.

I feel retarded again. I would have much rather stayed in my super hero form with Jake and the gang then be in this stupid wheelchair! I mean, seriously, I felt so much more free than in this! Ugh! I wish I could have went with Jake. My necklace beeps. I look at it.
Hey Julie, is this thing working??
    Sent from: Jake
I gasp. Umm, how does this thing work? I press a button on the side. A little keyboard pops out! Cool! But how am I supposed to press the buttons? My finger hovers the keyboard. Then there is a sucking noise. My finger tickles. I stare at it. It has thinned until it is a point. Like a pencil. That is weird looking. I answer.
Yes. This is weird.
He answers almost immediately.
If you want to call me, hit the button on the other side. It gives you an invisibal erpiece. All you have to do is talk into your necklace to talk. Ask it to call me. 
   Sent from: Jake
I hit the button, and out pops a container much too big to have been able to fit inside my necklace. I open the container. Inside are two purple earpieces. I put them in my ear and roll over to the mirror. It doesn’t look like anything is in my ear. I raise the necklace to my lips and whisper: “Call Jake.” A ringing sound becomes loud in my ear. I look at the screen of my necklace. It has a hang up button and Jake’s name on it.
“Hello,” Jake says. I jump, not expecting him to pick up that fast.
“Were you waiting?” I ask.
“Yep,” he answers.
“I think I have been creeped out for the rest of the week. No, the year!”
“There’s more.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. The earpiece is permanently in your ear.”
“What??” I gasp and tug at the earpieces. They don’t budge. I groan.
“Don’t worry. Nobody can see it, except us.”
“You mean, like, the Forces of Nature us?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay,” I say. “Soo…”
“Sooo…” he answers.
“I don’t know what to talk about,” I say, laughing.
“Julie? Who are you talking to?” my dad shouts. His head pokes through the doorway.
“Bye,” Jake says, hearing dad’s voice. Then a little beep sounded and the screen on my necklace disappeared. I look up at my dad.
“You’ve been up here for four and a half hours! Are you okay?” he exclaims, his thin face flushed. Four and a half hours? I was gone for four and a half days! That’s Mother Nature for you, I guess. Weird. My necklace beeps in my ear. I almost look down, but then remember nobody-not even dad-can know.
“I’m tired,” I say. “Can I skip dinner? I’m not hungry.” Dad’s eyes speculate me.
“Are you sure?” he says.
“Yeah,” I answer. It’s only a partial lie. I am actually really tired, but I’m starving. Oh well. I can go without food for one night.
“Okay. See you in the morning,” Dad says and withdraws his head. I pick up my necklace. The screen comes to life, alerting that I have three messages.
Hi Julie!
Sent From: Allie
I smile and write back.
Hey Allie! Aren’t the earpieces cool? I didn’t know they were permanently in our ears. Thank goodness nobody except us can see them, or my dad would have eaten me alive!
  Sent From: Julie
I look at the next text.
Hi, Julie, this is Michael. Answer ASAP if you got this.
  Sent From: Michael
I stifle a giggle.
I answered ASAP! What do you need?
  Sent From: Julie
The last text is from Jake.
Was that your dad?? He sounded young! Wow!
  Sent From: Jake
Really? I seriously don’t think 35 is young..but, whatever, I guess. I didn’t answer it because it was weird. My necklace made a beeping sound, alerting me that I have another text.
I just realized that now. Dang it! I also forgot that I am an orphan now. Can you meet me at the hideout? I’m bored. We can talk about our lives, lol.
Sent From: Allie
Oh yeah. Um, I really don’t want her to know that I have a wheelchair. I sigh.
Ok. Meet me at the hideout in a half hour.
Sent From: Julie
I hope this works.
Okay.
Sent From: Allie
I sigh and flop backwards on my chair. This is going to be an embarrassment. I then roll out my room to the bathroom. When you fight for four and a half days, you can get really messy. I sit under the warm water for a half an hour. When I get out, I gasp. Oh no! I’m going to be late to meet Allie! I sit in the middle of my room on my chair and say loud and clear: “Transform me.” The white wind swallows me and I move swiftly to the hideout. This time, I don’t look down.

*******
When I arrive, I flap my wings hard to stay in the air. Allie looks at me expectantly.
“Talk to me,” she says. I sigh.
“Okay,” I answer.
“What’s wrong?” Allie asks. “You look upset.”
“Do you know why I have these wings?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Allie answers.
“You do?”
“Yeah. You’re air, and air stays in- well- the air.”
“No. That is not the reason.”
“Then what is it?”
“I-I’m handicapped. I have a- well- a” I pause for a moment. “Wheelchair,” I manage to breathe out.
“Really?”
“Yeah. That’s why my legs look so floppy when I’m in the air. And also why I have wings. I can’t walk.”
“Oh.”
“Do you still want to be friends with me?” I ask nervously.
“Yeah! Of course. You’re my best friend and my partner in crime, defeating the Time Turn-” Then her eyes tear up, because she most likely thought of her mom. I fly towards her.
“It’s okay,” I say, because ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t make anyone feel better. I’ve learned that the hard way. Allie sniffs and wipes the corners of her eyes.
“I’m sorry. You shouldn’t see me break down like that. Nobody can see me weak,” she says.       
“People see me weak every day,” I say quietly.
“Wait, I didn’t mean-! Okay, you know what, you’re right. Let me tell you my story. From the beginning,” Allie says. I angle my head, listening. She tells me everything from the beginning to the end.
********
“So that’s why you didn’t want to talk about it at first. Personally, I understand that,” I say comfortingly, at least, that was my intention.
“No, nobody understands,” Allie says, turning away from me.
“My mom died when I was young,” I say. She looks at me.
“But how did you get the wheelchair?” I sigh. At least she asked it differently than most others.
“I had an accident. A-a hot air balloon accident.”
“What?”
“I fell out.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Look, um, I have to go,” Allie says.
“What? I thought you were going to talk with me,” I answer, confused.
“Um,” she says and then disappears into an ashy red hurricane. I stay still for a moment until I feel the hot tears running down my face. I sink to the floor in a mangled heap, broken gasps coming out of my lungs. I hear a little whoosh behind me and I don’t move.
“Hello, dearest,” someone purrs. My eyes widen and I whip around. What I see makes me cover my mouth, stifling a scream. A man, standing before me, claws extended, his eyes red. A werewolf. I fly backwards, too shocked to even think about my powers.
“You’re coming with me,” he hisses and grabs my waist in one bound. That is when I remember to scream. He covers my mouth, scratching it and my nose with his overly long and sharp claws.
“Shut up!” he hisses. Then we both disappear in a mucus green hurricane.

I am bored. I liked being a superhero better. I’m hungry again. Starving. I found a pretty nice alleyway, but the other one was better. I wish I was with Allie again. At least I have a phone. Kind of. I mean, it texts and calls people! That’s the main things for a phone. My ‘phone’ dings with a text. I look at it.
I feel terrible.
  Sent From: Allie
I furrow my eyebrows.
Why?
  Sent From: Michael
I wanted to talk with Julie at the hideout because I was bored. She has a wheelchair. I get scared with sick or hurt people.
  Sent From: Allie
Oh my goodness. Julie has a wheelchair? No wonder she has wings. My pointed finger hovers over the keyboard. Then I get an idea.
“Call Allie,” I whisper, pressing my lips to my ring. A ringing sound comes through my earpieces.
“Hello,” she answers, a little breathlessly.
“She has a wheelchair?” I ask, as if we have been talking the whole time.
“Yeah, she really didn’t want to tell me, I could tell.”
“But then why would she have?”
“Because we’re fr-oh no.”
“What?”
“I just left. I bailed on her. Oh no. She’s going to be upset. Do you know where she lives?”
“Why would you bail on her? She needs you as a friend,” I say.
“I-I know. I’ll call you back. I’m going to see if she’s still at the hideout.”
“Okay. See you.”
“Bye,” she says and hangs up. I sigh and flop back. Now I wait.

My legs are so shaky, that when I land in the hideout, I collapsed. After I get up and fall again, I grab a nearby stool and heave myself up.
“Julie?” I call. “Julie, where are you?” No reply. I walk around, unsteady still. I look down to find around five little red dots. Wait...those weren’t there before! Is that….blood?? I drop to my hands and knees and crawl around, looking for more evidence. I find a stray feather. One of Julie’s. What happened? Oh my god. Where is she??
“JULIE???” I scream, and it echoes throughout the whole hideout. Nobody is here.
*******
“I-I couldn’t f-find her a-and I s-s-s-saw bl-l-l-blood a-and ONE OF HER FEATHERS!!” I scream, shaking and crying uncontrollably. I hiccup five times in a row, and bite my lip.
“Okay. We have to find her. She might have been kidnapped, or even killed!” Michael says through the phone. I take a huge breath, my chest shaking in the effort.
“Meet me at the hideout. Do you have the feathers, or are they still there?”
“I h-have them,” I say, still shaking.
“Okay. I’ll be at the hideout,” Michael says. Then a beep tells me that he hung up. I sigh and say again: “Transform me.” Then the ash and fire covered me and I was off to the hideout, where Michael was, waiting.
******
“Where is the blood?” Michael asks once I appear.
“Here,” I say, and start to walk over to it, but then my knees give out and I am on the floor.
“Allie?” Michael runs over.
“Give me- a minute,” I say, breathless. His deep blue eyes look me up and down.
“You didn’t want this,” he says.
“What?”
“This,” he says and gestures to me, sprawled out on the floor, and then himself, squatted above me, his blue eyes still looking at me. Oh.
“Well..no. At first I didn’t understand everything that was going on, but now I understand. I do. I want to be with you,” I say. His eyes widen. He leans down. His face is only inches from mine. I close my eyes and his lips meet mine.

Julie hasn’t answered my text yet. I might as well call her. I look at my bracelet and whisper: “Call Julie.” The ringing sounds in my earpieces. It keeps ringing and ringing and ringing until..she finally picks up.
“Hello?” Her voice cracks slightly.
“Hey Julie. Are you okay? You haven’t answered my text.”
“Oh, Jake I’m just peachy!! Thank you soooo much for calling me! You’re just the person I wanted to talk to!” she says. What the heck?? Just peachy? She sounds so...bubbly. Too bubbly. Not anything like her!
“Julie? Are you okay? Your voice is, uh, a bit… differ-,” Then someone screams in the background. That sounded like Julie! Oh my god!
“Julie? What was that?” Then Julie growls. Wait...Julie doesn’t growl!
“What’s going on?!” I shout.
“Julie is mine now,” says a gravelly voice. What the-? That sounds like a- man!?
“Come and get her,” he says and then I hear a terrible sound- the sound of teeth. The screaming sounds again, this time more prominent. It sounded in agony. Julie is being tortured!! Oh my god! There was another scream. Then silence.
“Come and get her,” says the man. Then he hangs up.
*******
“Allie, are you at the hideout?” I ask, frantic.
“Yeah! Julie-”
“Is Michael there too?”
“Yeah, but Julie-”
“Okay. I’m coming,” I say. I hang up and spin around. “Transform me,” I say. The dirt comes around me and I am transferred to the hideout.
******
“Julie’s-”
“I know,” I interrupt.
“You do?” They ask at the same time.
“Let me tell you,” I say. I tell them about my ‘wonderful’ conversation with the creepy man.
“Sounds like an animal,” Michael mutters when I finish.
“Maybe it is an animal,” Allie says. I slide against a wall to the floor, shell shocked that this is happening. Michael squats down.
“Dude, it will be okay,” he says.
“Yeah,” I answer, not really seeing anything.
“Jake,” Allie says. “It will be okay. We’ll find her. We’re the Forces of Nature. Nothing can stop us,” she says and smiles. “Fire..” she puts her hand in the middle of our cluster.
“Water..” Michael joins in, putting his hand on top of hers.
“Earth,” I say flatly and numbly slap my hand on top of theirs. Michael slides his hand back. Allie flips hers and squeezes mine. I don’t know if I smiled or not. My face was too numb. A sudden thought came to my mind.
“We don’t even know where she is!” I wail, covering my face with my hands. Michael bites his lip.
“Hey…” Allie says “Don’t we all have a tracking device on our transformation devices?” I look up, gasp, and run to the computer. I click the purple swirl and wait a moment for it to load.
“She’s in…” I say, still waiting. Then an icon appears. “The Netherlands?” Allie gasps and stumbles backward.
“No. No. Not there. No, no, no,” she says, shaking. Michael looks at her. She takes a huge breath.
“Too many memories,” she says.
“You have to try.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“No.”
“Please, Allie.”
“I can’t show weakness, and that’s the place I will. Besides, people will recognize me,” she says.
“You’re from The Netherlands?” I ask, surprised.
“I was. Until we-um-m-moved,” she says, taking another big breath to calm herself.
“Maybe we can disguise you, so nobody will recognize you. And besides we’ll be right by your side the whole time, I promise,” I say.
“You p-promise?”
“Promise! Now let’s go save Julie!”
“O-okay…”
“Don’t be a chicken,” says Michael, playfully hitting her shoulder. She smiles, but is obviously nervous.
“Okay, so when are we going?” Allie asks.
“Uh-now? She kind of sounded in pain,” I say.
“How do we get there?” Michael asks. A thought comes to me.
“Just tell your bracelet,” I say.
“How did you know that??” Allie asks, shaking her head.
“I really don’t know,” I answer, shrugging my shoulders. “It’s just my thing.”
“Yeah, you always seem to know everything,” Michael adds. I smile and shrug.
“I really don’t know. Maybe it’s part of my element,” I say. They look at each other and shrug.
“Does everybody have their weapons?” I ask.
“Wait! What about our times?” Allie asks. Oh shoot. I completely forgot about that.
“Mother Nature’s obviously is not helping us on this one,” Michael says, already sounding defeated.
“The only thing she gave us was unlimited lives,” Allie says.
“Yeah, and you would have died if I hadn’t helped last time!” Michael wails.
“We have to try,” I say. “For Julie.”
“For Julie,” Allie says, looking at Michael.
“Fine. But if I lose my lives, give me at least a half an hour,” says Michael. Allie rolls her eyes.
“For Julie!” we all shout. Then we all put our lips to our transformation devices; Michael to his ring, Allie to her earrings, and me to my bracelet and say “Take me to Julie.” Then the blue, red, and green hurricanes suck us up and send us to Julie. I hold my breath, praying we aren’t too late.

I have a really bad feeling about this. I think the others are underestimating this guy’s power. I feel so bad for Julie. I mean, she’s been gone for almost a whole day! I’m scared to see what this guy is and what he is doing to Julie.
*******
The hurricanes drop us off in what looks like an empty hallway. We roll behind a bunch of boxes by the wall. Jake looks at Allie, says a few words into his bracelet, and then aims it at her face. Her nose shortens and rounds out. Her lips turn thick, and her freckles disappear. I look down at her. All the way. She stands up and immediately sits back down. She is as tall as the short pile of boxes! She puts her head in her hands. Jake whispers something in her ear, and she looks back up, her eyes looking defeated.
“We have to find Julie,” she whispers. 
“We should split up,”  Jake suggests.
“Are you crazy?” Allie whispers. “That’s the worst thing to do when you’re trying to find something! Don’t you read?!”
“Um, no, not really. Sorry,” Jake says awkwardly, wringing his hands.
“Hmph,” Allie snorts.
“Let’s just go find her,” I say. They both nod. We move around very slowly, so our feet don’t make noise. A flash from the door on my left catches my eye. I turn to face it and elbow Allie and Jake. They see it and start creeping towards it. We open the door a crack and slide inside. We hide behind a tall thing. Who knows what it is, since it is dark. Suddenly I hear footsteps. I turn to look at Allie and Jake. The way they were looking at me, I knew they heard it too. Another flash occurs, and I can see for a second. There is a platform in the middle of the room with a tank on top of it. I take a step closer. There’s something in the tank! We creep towards the platform. There seems to be nobody else in the room. We go straight up to the tank. Julie is inside! But why does she look so small? I peer closer to see wires attached to her all over. Jake sniffs a breath. We both look at him. He is looking at something behind us. Allie and I slowly turn around to find a werewolf, claws extended.
“Well hello! I see you found your little friend. Don’t worry, I’m just using her body for energy,” he says in a friendly voice.
“Hi,” Allie says. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think we can let you do that.”
“Oh? Why not?” asks the werewolf.
“Because that’s not what she’s meant for,” says Allie.
“I’m sorry to say that I will now have to destroy you,” says the werewolf. He leans into a crouch, snarling.
“Jake, go!” Allie screams. Jake runs over to the computer on the desk to the side.
“NO!” snarls the werewolf.
“Michael!” screams Allie. I look at her and know exactly what to do. I lunge towards the werewolf, whip suddenly in hand. I land on his back, whipping and slashing. He snarls and bends his arm back to slash my back, but then there is a sickening crack. Allie grabbed his arm and snapped it all the way down. He yowls, forgetting about me. In the free seconds I have, I look up at Jake. He is frantically pressing any button which might free Julie. He presses the backspace key and a hissing sounds from the tank. It is opening! Allie, the werewolf, and I stare as Julie’s body comes tumbling out of the tank. She lays there, and then takes a gasping breath.
“LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE” screams the werewolf. I am still staring at Julie, making sure Jake has her and is running. He is.
“Michael! Watch out!” screams Allie. I look behind me to see a claw coming straight for me. I jump, using the wolf’s back. But I don’t get out fast enough. I roll, my ankle screaming in pain. I look at it, then look away. All I see is red. I look at Allie. She is fighting like a demon, but tears are streaming down her face. I have to help. Her disguise was mostly worn off, except she was still a little shorter than before. I stand up, but my ankle makes snapping sounds. More blood spurts from the wound. I groan, falling back. The edges of my ankle are turning green. Oh no. Poison. A defiant scream scares me and I slowly turn my head to see Jake and Julie, whips and clubs in hand. They run straight to the werewolf. Black spots dance before my vision. Everything turns blurry. I look at my feet. The hurricane is back, taking me back to the hideout. I used all my energy, and I won’t be coming back.

I can’t believe this is happening. Michael. Michael. Oh my god, Michael. The stupid werewolf got him. There’s no one to help him back at the hideout. I really hope this will all turn out okay. I fight brutally, punching and kicking and shooting fire at every spot on the werewolf. Jake and Julie come and help. Together, we put the werewolf on the ground. I raise my hand, preparing for a white hot firebolt, but the werewolf puts his hands up.
“Please,” he says. “Please don’t kill me. I didn’t mean any harm,” he says hoarsely.
“Are you sure about that?” snaps Jake.
“He works for the Killers. They came from Africa. From what I saw and heard, they disowned their child and came to work here. They’ve been working for someone else, but then he died. They became the new leaders,” Julie says in a weak voice.
“Africa, you say?” Jake says nervously. “That’s-not good. For their-um- child.” We both look at him.
“Well that’s wonderful,” I say. Then I let loose the fire. The werewolf let loose his last breath.
“Good-!”
“Let’s go,” I say.
“But-!”
“Michael is hurt and by himself at the hideout. Let’s go,” I say. They look at me.
“Go,” I whisper to my earrings. The hurricane takes over and I am sent to Michael.
*******
Immediately once the hurricane drops me I run over to Michael. He is laying on the floor, pale as a ghost. I stroke his face, the tears coming loose again. Julie comes over and does her healing magic. He doesn’t move.
“He needs time,” she says worriedly. I lay on Michael’s chest, not moving another inch.
“Look, we’re going to leave,” says Jake.
“Bye,” says Julie. The whooshing sound informs me that they left. I cry and cry, making Michael’s suit a mess. I find wrap and tape and cover his ankle. The cut is so deep I can see the milk white bone. The bright sky outside turns dark. The twinkling stars take the sun’s place. I still cry. I pray that he will live. I cry myself to sleep on Michael’s chest.
“Allie. Allie, wake up,” says a voice. I open my eyes blearily to find Michael’s deep blue ones. I gasp.
“I thought you were going to die I’m so-”
“Shh,” he whispers soothingly. “Why would you stay with me all night?”
“Because I-I was worried. And I have nowhere to go,” I remind him sadly. His eyes run me over.
“Neither do I,” he says, looking away. I start to get up, but his arms wound around me.
“Stay,” he whispers in my ear. I lay stiffly into him, but then relax. He strokes my hair. I sigh.
“I don’t know how you do this,” I whisper.
“Do what?”
“This!” I say, gesturing to us.
“I’m just doing what I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he says, smiling. I stop and stare at him.
“I love you, Allie,” he says. I still stare at him, my mouth slightly open. He stares back, waiting. I unfreeze.
“I-I-I love you, too,” I say. He leans his head down and kisses me. I pull back after a few minutes.
“I love you, but I need breakfast,” I tell him.
“But I was just getting started!” he whines, pouting. I roll my eyes at him and stand up. He comes up with me but then stops in pain.
“Ahh..” he whimpers.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry! Let me get you on a chair instead of the floor,” I say hurriedly. I run over and grab a stool. Michael stands, his bad foot in the air. I grab his arms and help him on the stool. He takes a breath, obviously exhausted. I push the stool all the way back to the table and then go to the stove.

Thank goodness Julie is okay. I mean, after I pulled her out of the tank, she just needed time and air, after she seemed fine.
The way Julie looked at me when she came out of the tank, I was certain she knew something we didn’t. Her whole body was shrivelled, and she didn’t move right away when she got out. When I dragged her behind the boxes, she looked at me with resigned eyes-scared eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“It’s all my fault,” she whispered, her voice hoarse and cracking. I shake my head repeatedly and wipe the tears from her face. She leaned against my chest and we stayed there for a moment. I told her in my mind, it felt wrong to speak, that we needed to leave this place as soon as we could and she sat up. She screamed a scream of fury and bulleted straight towards the werewolf. I joined in, and eventually found her pace. We punched, whipped, slapped, and did so many other things to that hound that I lost track. Once Allie killed him, though, Julie looked so greatly relieved from getting all the information off her shoulders.
Allie was a mess, ever since since Michael was badly injured. Julie and I gave her some space by leaving. I hope Michael will be alright.
******
The Killers. My parents. Wow. I still can’t believe that they would abandon me to kill and ruin other people's’ lives. Maybe, if they told me before I got my bracelet, I would have joined them. A slight breeze picks up as I dig a shallow hole in the ground with my toe.
“Don’t think that way,” says someone. My head jerks up. Julie.
“How-?” I start. Then my heart starts to race. I stand up and start pacing.
“What’s wrong?” Julie asks, seeing the agitation on my face.
“This! You shouldn’t see this, I don’t want you to see this!” I say.
“What do you mean, this?”
“THIS!” I bellow and point around me. “Where I live! In this abyss! I’m poor and disowned, okay?” I turn around and then I see it.
“You have a wheelchair,” I whisper. She looks at me with sad eyes.
“In my human form, yes,” she says. She puts her hands on the wheels and comes closer to me. I can see tears welling in her eyes. My mind is whirling with so many thoughts that I stumble back and land on my bed. The light goes out in Julie’s eyes.
“You’re scared,” she says flatly.
“What? No. No, I just...I just..” I start, but then my head starts pounding. Thoughts come in and out, weaving through my brain. Stuff I learned when I was two, ten, even things I don’t know. I groan and clap a hand to my head. Numbers, codes, keys, letters. Flying through...blurry…..Then everything goes black. The last thing I hear is a female laugh quietly to herself.

It can be really annoying when your boyfriend is scared of a wheelchair. But when he collapsed, the annoyance disappeared.
“Jake!” I scream in his ear. “Jake, can you hear me??” His answer is a groan. His fingers twitch. I grab his hand, mine sweaty and clammy. How many more tragedies can we take? I rack my mind. Maybe Allie and Michael are still there? I roll right up to the edge of the bed. I push myself up on it and wrap my arms around his torso.
“Transform m-us,” I say. Jake’s bracelet activated as well as mine, and we were whisked to the hideout. My wings flapped even harder because of Jake’s weight. I groaned and dropped him. He feels heavier than before. If that is possible.
“Julie? Are you oka- What happened??” Allie runs over.
“I- I don’t know what happened, he grabbed his head and collapsed, or passed out, I don’t know!” I wail, chest heaving, and mind spinning. Allie’s eyebrows furrow.
“Huh..”
“Where’s Michael? Is he okay?” I ask, slightly hysteric, and desperate to change the subject.
“He’s fine. He’s sleeping now,” she adds, seeing the hysteric look on my face. I sigh.
“Glad I can get that worry out.”
“Well, yeah.” she says, somewhat awkwardly. I look up. Her eyes are focused on her feet.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my friend instincts kicking in.
“Um, well, um, how do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Kiss him, hug him, touch him, I don’t know, love him?”
“Jake?”
“Yeah. I never understood...because of what happened last night….I was scared...and, well, I didn’t know what to do.”
“If you really love him, it should all be natural. Did you kiss him last night?”
“Yes..”
“Allie, he loves you. Even if you don’t, he will. And he will keep trying until you do, too. You can either fight him, or give in. Your choice.”
“I- I love him. I told him last night.”
“And he said he loves you?”
“Yes,” she whispers, her eyes lighting up with a new light I have never seen before.
“Then go get’m!” I say, squeezing her arm.
“Julie,” Someone whispers hoarsely. My head whips around.
“Jake!” I whisper- shout. I bullet to his side. His eyes looked tortured.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you’re fi-” I start, stroking his cheek.
“No,” he gasps and grabs my hand from his face. “She’s coming,” He wheezes for a breath. “Run- now.” Then his eyes roll to the back of his head and his grip loosens slightly. “She’s con-” His face grimaces in pain. “Controlling me.” His grip tightens until my fingers are white.
“Jake! Ow!” I shriek, but he doesn’t seem to hear me. His grip still tightening on my hand, he pulls me up to his face. Then his other hand grabs my neck. I make a gurgling sound and attempt to writhe from his grasp. But he doesn’t let go. Allie is pulling at his arms, but nothing helps. Black spots dance before my vision. I hear snaps and a ringing sound. Pain registers seconds later. I think I opened my mouth. I don’t know if anything came out. The black spots get bigger and bigger until I couldn’t see or feel anything else.
               ***************
“Hello, Julie, darling.” I open my eyes to find a beautiful woman standing in front of me. Everything else around her is white.
“Where’s Jake?” I demand.
“Ah, your boyfriend? Why would you still love him after he tried to kill you?”
“That wasn’t him!” I say, but the memory flooded my vision. His hand crushing mine. His hand around my throat.
“Dear, what he was saying was a lie. Nobody was coming but himself. He wanted it public so he collapsed and feigned unconsciousness until you brought him to your little hideout. Then he tried to kill you. I saved you. You would have been dead if it weren’t for me.”
“I…” I look at my hands. No blood. No crookedness. I feel my neck. It feels normal. “Who are you?” I ask, at a loss for words.
“My name is Anna,” the woman says. “Would you like me to heal your legs, too?” My jaw drops.
“You could do that?” She nods in reply. “Then yes,” I say. A brilliant light flashes and then my vision colors.
“Don’t forget,” she whispers. “You’re mine now. And no one knows. Ever.”
I open my eyes with a gasp.
“Julie!” Two voices chorus. Allie grasps my hand.
“We thought you were dead!”
“Your hand and neck healed themselves,” Michael says from the bed next to me, his body propped up by his elbow. What Anna said flooded back into my mind.
“I guess I was lucky,” I say, not quite meeting his eyes. “What happened?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“Well, a couple minutes after he grabbed your neck, your hand started breaking, then your neck, and you felt it. You kind of made a strangled whimper. Then you passed out. I still couldn’t get his hands off you, but then he let go himself. He woke up. He was crying. He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t let go of you. He thought he killed you until I said you had a pulse. We moved you to a bed. He laid down next to you and stroked your hair until he fell asleep from exhaustion. He’s over there,” she said, pointing to the bed next to me surrounded by curtains. My thoughts suddenly shifted. Maybe he wasn’t a traitor after all.
“NO!” growls a voice. Anna. I look around. No one but Allie and Michael. And Jake, surrounded by his curtains.
“He tried to kill you. He is and will always be a traitor,” she says. “Just remember, you are mine now. I can give you back your injuries. I can also make more,” she says. “Not one word. And if you do, there will be serious consequences.” A sudden urge filled my mouth. An uncontrollable urge.
“He tried to kill me. He’s a traitor,” I hear myself say. No! He’s not! Why is Anna doing this? I don’t want to lose my only love.
“Julie? I don’t think Jake tried to kill you. He was being controlled by someone, a woman apparently. He’s not a traito-” a loud thump interrupts her words.
“Julie! Oh God, Julie!” Jake says, dashing towards my side. “I didn’t know what I was doing , or what was going on...I... I’m so so so sorry! I never intended to hurt you, it kills me to see you in pain, I just...That woman. Inside me. She was controlling me, she told me to kill you. Anna.” The name strikes a bell. But Anna is inside me!
“Jake,” I start, my voice hoarse, preparing to tell him everything. But then my vision goes black.
I open my eyes to see Jake’s hurt ones.
“You think I’m a traitor? You think I would purposely try to kill you?” He says, eyes glistening. My heart splinters, and skips a beat.
“What are you talking about? I didn’t say that. I was going to say that Anna helped me. She saved me from you and healed me. She even healed my legs. Look,” I say and stand up. I actually stand up. Jake looks at me with astonished eyes.
“But she tortured me until I had no control left. She made me kill you,” he says.
“She made you kill me?” I ask. Now I am confused. Then I see red spots. My legs crumple, and I start to fall. Jake catches me, his eyes practically screaming from my weight. Because I am not just one person anymore. I am two. And it is trying to kill me. All my injuries from Jake appear again in one blow. I groan in agony. The red spots are turning into black spots, then splashes clouding my vision. Everything is breaking. I am dying. Anna is killing me. My back arches so far back that I scream. I feel my body move. I don’t know where. The black splashes get bigger and bigger until I can’t see anything at all.

If Jake was crying before, now he is practically sobbing.
“Julie, no, no, no! Please no!” He cries, his head over her torso. Allie walks over and checks her pulse.
“Jake, she still has a-”
“No!” cries a disembodied voice. A body rises out of Julie’s. “You ruined it all! She was mine!” it cries. Jake hardens.
“Anna,” he says, “What are you doing here?”
“I am not Anna,” she screams, “I am THE TWISTER!!! I twist people’s minds and take control of them! I intended to take control of each and every one of you to take over the Forces of Nature! But apparently, this idiot doesn’t know how to keep quiet!” she finishes, kicking Julie’s hip. She makes a strangled noise, even though she is unconscious.
“Don’t you DARE touch her!” screams Jake. He starts to run towards her. She puts a hand up and he rebounds back like there is something in the way.
“So vulnerable,” she sighs and walks over to me. I sit up, terrified.
“So vulnerable,” she repeats and smacks my bad ankle. I see red and fall back, stifling a moan. Allie’s eyes turn red from fury.
“If you touch him one more time..” she starts, walking towards her. A tongue of fire appears in her hands.
“Oh?” starts the Twister. “But what if I just….oopsies!” she says and grabs my ankle and twists it. I scream, seeing more red. Allie screams and throws the tongue of fire straight towards the Twister’s heart. But before it hits her, she disappears. I lay straight on the bed, panting. My eyes start to close. Warm hands cover my cheeks.
“Don’t die, please,” she whispers in my ear.
“I’m not going anywhere as long as you stay with me,” I say, my voice slurring.
“I’m not leaving you, I promise,” she says, her voice breaking. I struggle to open my eyes. She leans down and touches her lips to mine.
“Sleep,” she whispers.
“Stay,” I answer.
“I promise,” she says. Then the world disappears as I fall asleep from exhaustion.

I sit on the chair next to Michael’s bed and put my head in my hands. Then I remember Jake and Julie. I look over to see Jake looking at me.
“We should take care of her,” I say, standing up. He follows, grabbing the medical supplies. We work for hours, cleaning, splinting, and wrapping. My eyes tear up from staring so long. There is just blood and more blood. When we were done, I collapse on the chair next to Michael’s bed again. I start to cry.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asks, seeing the tears fall.
“I can’t believe that all just happened,” I say, wiping my face. Jake walks over to me.
“It will be okay,” he says, then wraps me up in a hug. I lay my head against his chest and sigh.
“Is there something here that I should be worrying about?” asks Michael in his playful voice. I gasp and twist out of Jake’s arms. Michael is sitting up, one of his eyebrows raised. Jake stumbles back, looking embarrassed. I practically run to Michael and sit next to him on the bed. My whole body relaxes as a huge weight is taken off my shoulders.  Then Michael grabs my waist and pulls me right next to him. I yelp in surprise.
“I knew you would stay,” he whispers. “I know you love me and I love you too.” I am at a loss for words, so I don’t say anything.
“Do you want to get up?” I ask stupidly. He nods. I grab his walking stick and hand it to him. He grounds it into the floor and puts his feet down. Then he stands up.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he says, his face astonished. I crouch down and scrutinize his ankle.
“It’s healed,” I say, equally surprised. “All that’s left is a scar.”
“Let’s test it,” he says. Then he picks me up by my waist. I let a flood of air escape me in one blow. Then he grunts and drops me to the ground. I hear a bang and then my head hurts.
“Still not fully healed,” I hear him say. “Allie? Oh shoot….Allie? Can you hear me?” I open my mouth but I can’t say anything. There is a black fog covering me.
“Jake, help me…..me…...me…..” is the last thing I hear before it echoes out.

I wake to find everything hurting. I see Jake on the chair next to me, fast asleep. His hand is on the edge of the bed. I hear sharp breaths. I look to my other side, slowly, for my neck is barely movable. Michael is sitting on a chair, his head in his hands. His back is going in and out in sharp bursts. I open my mouth to ask him what happened, but nothing comes out. Great. I lost my voice. I move my hand to massage my throat, but I don’t see my hand. Instead, I see a huge lump covered in white plaster. That’s absolutely wonderful. I furrow my eyebrows and put my arm back down. I look down at my body. All I could really see was a huge lump. Wow. I’m fat. I try to breathe, but it hurts. Broken ribs. I don’t even want to know what else she broke. With the thought of Anna, I shiver, which hurts.
All the sudden I see a white flash. I look, too fast, and I open my mouth and gasp. The white flash turns into a bright ball of light, which hovers at the front of my bed. It expands, taking a shape. A human shape. A human woman shape. Her color leaks into her body and I see her.
“You are supposed to be dead,” Anna growls, glaring brutally at me. A knife appears in her hands. “I suppose I will have to do it again. Oh, and this time, none of your friends can help you. They’re all frozen under my power. If I need help, they will come.” I gasp and cover my mouth with my huge lumps. Wait a second….
“You are done, Julie Faith,” Anna says and leans over me. She has the exact shade of my mother’s eyes. The knife comes hurtling towards my heart, but somehow, I block it. With my huge lump of an arm. The knife literally rebounds and comes straight towards Anna’s face, but she simply moves her head. I start to cough, huge hacking coughs, bigger and bigger until my throat and chest hurt.
“Don’t touch me,” I say, my voice somehow back. Anna looks shocked.
“But..I damaged your vocal chords! You shouldn’t- no, you can’t talk!” she shrieks.
“Why are you doing this? Why?” I ask. One last pitiful chance. I look her hard into her eyes. But then my eyes drift downwards.
“Don’t leave me…” My mother’s voice whispers into my ear. Without thinking, I answer her.
“I’m not leaving you.” Anna’s eyes widen. “I tried to but you are the one who came back. Mom. Rest in peace. Please. I love you and I know you do too. Just leave.” Anna starts to cry. She leans towards me and kisses my cheek. All I feel is a light wisp of air. Then she disappears. Jake and Michael jump with a start. I close my eyes, not wanting to talk yet. I feel warm tears running down my neck. I hear hushed whispers, none I can make out. I eventually drift off into an uneasy sleep.

I must have fallen asleep, because I wake up and the atmosphere in the room is definitely warmer than before. I look over at Allie. The cut on her forehead was turning a dark purple. Great.
“Michael!” I whip my head around. What else can go wrong in one week?
“Her face is wet,” Jake says. “Was she crying in her sleep?”
“I don’t know,” I say, standing up and stretching my legs, being extra cautious on my ankle. But it didn’t hurt. It only hurt when I picked up Allie, but not even then, it was after she was already up. She got really heavy for a second, long enough to irritate my ankle. Almost twice her normal weight. Oh my gosh. It was Anna.
“It was Anna,” I repeat. Julie’s hand forms a fist. “She’s awake,” I say. Jake sighs the hugest sigh on the face of the world. Julie’s eyes finally open.
“She’s gone,” she says hoarsely.
“Anna?” I ask. She nods, a tear sliding down her cheek.
“She’s not going to come back,” Julie whispers.
“Are you sure?” Jake asks. She nods. Jake c***s his head and stares at her hard.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says defiantly.
“Okay. Sorry,” Jake says, taking a step and placing his fingertips lightly on her encased arm.
“Where’s Allie?” she asks. I take a breath.
“She’s- asleep,” I say, not wanting to give or explain any details.
“I really don’t think she would sleep during something like this. Also, you’re here, so she would never sleep,” Julie says, raising her eyebrows. My face heats up. Jake lets out a choked laugh. Julie smiles, showing white teeth.
“You have to admit, it’s true,” Jake chuckles. “The only time she had her eyes closed around you was when she got hurt!”
“Wait, that would mean...she’s hurt?” Julie asks, the laughter fading from her face.
“Yeah, she fell- I dropped her. I think she has a concussion or something,” I say, moving to the right so she can see. Her jaw drops.
“What did you do?” she whispers.
“My ankle….I tried picking her up to test it and then she got really heavy and I dropped her because it hurt. It was Anna,” I repeat once again. Julie looks ashen.
“Well….she’s gone now, so she shouldn’t hurt anyone any more,” she says. Allie twitches and then moans. I whip around and look at her. Her forehead is scrunched up really tightly, even though she couldn’t really scrunch it all the way from her cut. Then her eyes finally open.
“Allie-I’m so sor-”
“It’s fine,” she whispers. I stiffen, my hand halfway to her arm. She’s upset. I turn around and grab a huge bandage and tape from a counter behind the beds. I wrap her forehead completely. Her eyes are looking down at the sheets in her hands. She’s mad at me, I know it.
“Forces of Nature,” says a voice behind us. We all turn our heads fast. Mother Nature.
“It’s time you come to the Force’s headquarters. Everyone touch my hand,” she says and steps forward, holding out her hand. We all look at each other in turn, going around the circle of  determined faces, as if to make sure we were ready. As soon as we put our hands on top of Mother Nature’s,  the world disappears in a burst of light.

Why do so many things have to hurt at once? My head, my knees, my stomach..my heart. Michael doesn’t know. He does know I’m upset, though. I’m just mad. I don’t know why, but I am. A tiny voice whispers in the back of my head: “He dropped you...on your head… He wanted to...it’s all his fault….” It is his fault. I shake myself out of my stupor and look around. Woah. Huge marble pillars and tiles our famous four colors.
“This place is huge,” I say, astonished. People in important suits are running back and forth. But when we appear, they all stop, frozen. Then one yells: “They’re here! The Forces of Nature are finally here!” Then everyone screams and sprints towards us. I turn around and cover my forehead with my hands. I get slammed into another body and a hand slaps my fingertips, exactly where my cut is. I wince, see stars and trip over another foot. Before I land smack dab on my butt, two arms catch me under mine. All the air is knocked out of me as I look up at my savior. It’s Michael. I feel an embarrassed blush creep into my cheeks, which almost instantaneously turns into an angry blush.
“What’s your problem?” I harshly whisper. His face is expressionless. He keeps his arms under mine and starts to drag me towards a dark hallway. I start to scream, but his hand slaps over my mouth. I squirm and twist, but his grip is iron. I open my mouth to bite his palm, but then he removes his hand and pushes my forehead, exactly where my cut is. Everything starts moving, and then turns blurry. I gasp, and fling my elbow into the side of his head. He barely flinches, and grabs my knee and pulls up. I hear a loud snap, and I know something is broken. I bite my lip so hard I taste blood. I look up at him, tears and accusations in my eyes. But his eyes aren’t even looking at me. They are staring ahead, blank. Another monster.
“Who are you?” I ask, meaning to sound bold, but it comes out like a strangled whisper. Michael doesn’t answer. He picks me up so that my feet are several inches off the ground. Then he hurls me to the ground with so much force that I see black for a second. I open my eyes fast, not even knowing they were closed. I see a blue light all around me. I squint, trying to make out distinct shapes that are blurry and moving. Then I am flying. I feel nothing underneath me. I squint again, still trying to see. A hard, flat space hits underneath me. Land. I reach out and feel around me, trying to gather my surroundings. Then everything becomes clear. I blink, astonished at what I am seeing. I am in the middle of a huge arena.
“And now they fight to the death!” shouts a man, his beautiful voice magnified. I whip my head, seeing a amazingly muscular man, his cheeks a faint pink. He catches my eye, smiling cruelly.
“Let’s see how it felt to have your power against you,” he booms. He snaps his fingers, and then I scream. It feels as if my chest is going to explode! I look down to find a bolt of fire sticking out of it. I fall to my knees. My foot catches flame. I gasp, starting to cry. But then a blow to my shoulder makes me look up, dazed. It’s robotic Michael. He raises his fist again, prepared to strike. But before his fist touches me, I roll out of the way, the bolt in my chest sinking in further. I bite my lip, hold down my guilt and pain, and punch Michael in the gut. He doesn’t even flinch. I have to find his weak spot. His chink in the armour. I think hard. Wait a second...his power is water, so shouldn’t fire be his weakness? My other foot catches flame. Wait...aren’t I fire? Why am I in pain if this is my element? I look down at my feet enfulged in flames and will them to move up. They resist, probably because they aren’t my flames. I think harder. Up. Up! UP! The flames start to stretch up my legs, stomach, chest. I keep pulling until they cover me completely. Michael just stares blankly. I am in control. Control. Control. I gather two balls of fire into my palms and throw them, one at the man and one at Michael.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper quietly. Both men are suddenly surrounded in flames. The world around me warps and disappears. I touch down on the four colored tile floor, running on pure adrenaline. Michael and the man are behind me, struggling in the flames. 
“Guys!” I shout. “Help me!” They sprint out of a room down a hallway.
“What h-oh my God!” Jake says.
“What happened?” Julie asks, her huge eyes reflecting from the huge flames behind me.
“Why are you partially on fire?” Jake asks.
“What?” I look down at myself. “Oh. It’s fine. I’m fine. Just, only, well, this dude tried to kill me!” I gesture wildly to the man beside Michael. Their features are stunningly similar. I take a double look. Michael’s eyes are the same exact color as the man next to him. I take a couple of breaths.
“I can explain!” cries the man. Michael is still motionless, still as a robot.
“Just let me out!” he says. I narrow my eyes at him, my heart still pounding unevenly.
“No,” I say defiantly. The man starts trying to break the fiery bars around him, more brutally. Then Mother Nature steps in front of me and holds out her hands. A bright white light erupts from them and travels to Michael and the man. The fire around them fades, and they both drop to the ground. Michael stands first, a look of confusion on his face. He finds me and I step back, nervous. He sprints towards me and wraps me into a huge hug. I lose my breath, startled.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers in my ear. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”  I lay my head on his shoulder, my tears staining his suit. He squeezes me. Then we hear a wheezing cough behind us. Michael whips around, his body in front of me, protecting me.
“Who are you?” he asks rudely. The man looks up, tears in his eyes.
“My name is Carson Vale,” he says. Michael steps back, almost stepping on my feet.
“D-dad?” He whispers. My jaw drops. This is Michael’s dad? Mother Nature is as pale as a sheet.
“Carson? Where did you go...? Why did you leave us?”
“I–I was tired of the fame and attention. I wanted to know how it felt to be a villain, to be the bad guy for a change. I spelled myself and changed my identity; wiped my mind. As I think back now, it kind of seems stupid. I’m so sorry Michael,” he says. Michael just gapes.
“But...why?” he asks.
“Well..”
“No! Why would you abandon Mom? Why would you make us poor? Why would you abandon me? Mom is dead and it’s all your freaking fault!!” Michael screams. His dad backs away, nervous.
“Look, Micha-”
“DON’T EVEN SAY MY NAME, YOU IDIOT!!!” screams Michael. He grabs my hand.
“We’re leaving! Oh yeah, just like you did to me!” Michael shouts as he pulls me away. Julie and Jake trail behind, giving guilty glances.
“Take us to the hideout,” Michael says, his voice hard and flat. His water hurricane carries us away.
*******
“Wasn’t it weird that all the villains had something to do with us?” asks Jake, desperate to change the subject. “Julie’s mom, Allie’s mom, Michael’s dad, my parents? Is that weird at all or is it just me?”
“You’re right,” Julie says. “Something’s not right.”
“But what?” I ask cautiously, glancing at Michael. His face is expressionless. I feel so bad for him.
“Is it like one big colony that wants to hurt us, both physically and emotionally?” Jake asks, a look of deep concentration on his face. Something rustles in the corner. We all whip around, weapons in hand. Then a terrible light surrounds Jake and Julie. They gasp, looking at Michael and I, then each other. The light makes them disappear. I look at Michael frantically. The expressionless face is gone, now covered by determination. I put my hand out, and he puts his on mine. We look at each other and together we say “Transform us!”
Saving the world is one thing, but saving friends? That’s about as hard as it gets.