Sparks Fly [Book Two in the "Fire And Lighting" Series]

Chapter Thirty-Two- Lab Rats

April 3, 2016.
Blüdhaven
~~Willow~~

Two days later, I was back at the warehouse, helping the guys move in. Rachel and M'gann, the only girls who had lived at the Cave, were borrowing Martian Manhunter's apartment while he was gone.

I helped Gar put up a poster from some sort of sci-fi TV show called "Clash of the Planets." Emma complained it was a Star Wars knockoff, but Connor and Garfield both argued that it was really good. I caught snippets when Gar made Rachel watch it with him back at the mountain, and from what I'd seen, I kind of agreed.

I reached for the next item in the small box of Gar's things and stopped. It was a foot-tall plush of a T-Rex, and I recognized it.

Gar quickly grabbed it and sat down on his cot, holding it close.

"You had that when we visited you in Qurac, didn't you?" I asked, placing the toy in my memory.

Gar nodded numbly. I could relate. It was probably the only thing he had from his mother and his old life. While Rachel had always been in love with cats, Garfield was fascinated by dinosaurs.

Rachel and M'gann burst into the "ware-home" with a shout of "Hello!" from Rachel and a disturbing silence from M'gann.

M'gann walked upstairs and sat on the couch next to La'gaan while Rachel ran over to tackle her brother, knocking him out of his somber mood.

I stared off into space for a moment, watching the twins but not really watching them, until I felt a kiss on my cheek.

"Morning," Connor sat next to me on Gar's bed as Wolf barked and bounded after the green twins.

Rachel and Garfield were now wrestling on the floor in spider monkey form. Bart, his mouth full of chicken whizzies, cheered them on while Bridget sulked in the corner. She'd been acting that way ever since her kidnapping.

No, not the kidnapping, she was still energetic up until therapy. What had gone wrong? You were supposed to be perkier after therapy, not grumpier. It couldn't have been something Dinah said. She was too kind to misspeak. Was it something one of the other kids had said?

"Willow." Nightwing caught my eye and jerked his head towards the door, signalling he wanted to talk to me in private.

I sighed. More about the secret.

"I'll be right back," I promised Connor, kissing his cheek.

He looked suspicious, but the look quickly faded away as one of the green monkeys- I couldn't tell if it was Rachel or Gar -was thrown in his face with a screech.

"I hate monkeys."

I giggled, and Mara and Bart cheered as Superboy joined the fray.

I followed Nightwing outside. Thankfully, it was daytime. Blüdhaven looked much less foreboding in sunlight.

"Do you have the flash drive?" I jumped nearly three feet in the air as Richard's voice came from behind me.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that?" I muttered. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the flash drive Artemis had passed me during the rescue mission.

Nightwing took it eagerly, plugging it into the computer on his glove.

"Well?" I asked after about ten minutes of silence from him.

Nightwing looked up at me, as if he had just realized that I was still there.

"Well, it confirms that you and Emma both got your powers from the Ever Stone."