The Return - A Michael Vey Fanfic

Chapter 11

After Ethan checked in and got the key to the room, I followed the two of them up to our hotel room. Ethan and Jacob were now talking rapidly to each other, deep in some conversation that I wasn't really listening to.

I knew Ethan didn't really mean what he said and I did forgive him, but that didn't mean that he wasn't right. In fact, he was right. He still was.

We reached room 221, our temporary home for the night, and Ethan took the key out to try to unlock the door. The key was one of those key cards that you had to slide into the door a certain way to unlock it and Ethan had a lot of trouble with it.

Eventually, Jacob sighed. "Let me try," he said, grabbing the key.

His attempting to help didn't do any good and I finally took the card from Jacob. I put the key in the slot one time and on the first try, the door clicked open.

"You two are both idiots," I muttered with a smirk as the door swung into the room. Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. We know," he laughed. We picked up our bags and moved them inside the hotel room.

There were two beds in the room, as we had previously decided that Jacob and Ethan could take one bed and I could take the other. We'd only be staying here for one night anyway. We were going to go look for the Elgen compound tomorrow and if we could find it, we'd do something about it. And if not, then we would just fly home. Given there was a flight anyway.

Jacob threw his stuff onto the ground then collapsed onto the bed. "So what do you guys suggest we do for the next," he looked at the clock, "two and half hours of our day?"

I looked up at Ethan. "They have a pool here, right?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yup."

I looked at both my brothers. "You want to go swimming?"

Jacob shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Let's do it," Ethan said.

Fortunately, all three of us were smart enough to pack our swim suits while getting ready for this trip of ours and within five minutes, we were all heading down to the pool.

I didn't know when the last time I swam was because my parents had always refused to get a pool for us. They wouldn't even ever let me swim in the pools at hotel. I didn't know why honestly. It just seemed like they'd make up excuses every time, like they had to go out to dinner or it was too late. As a result, it had been years since I last swam.

We got into the pool - of course since we were in Texas it was an outdoor one - and almost immediately, my brothers groan.

"We forgot our towels," Ethan said and threw his hands into the air. I hold up my towel.

"You two forgot your towels," I snickered in a sing-song voice.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "Oh whatever. We'll be right back," he said.

Ethan and Jacob turned to leave the pool as I set my towel down. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone else in the pool as of right now. It was twenty feet deep and filled with clean blue water that looked to be the right temperature. The pool also had a diving board on the deep end of it.

I walked over to board and, starting on the end it, I ran across it and did an almost-perfect dive into the pool. I was right about the pool being the right temperature. It was refreshing, especially after everything that's happened in the past day.

Without opening my eyes, I turned and laid back in the pool. I wasn't mad at Ethan anymore for what he said to me on the plane, it's just that, for the longest time, even since I was kid, I had wished that I had powers like my brothers. Jacob could fly and Ethan could teleport. Who wouldn't want powers like that? They discovered they're powers when they were about five years old, but my parents knew that they were special even earlier than that. Both my brothers glowed when it was dark outside, proving they were special. I didn't. I tested myself and I was just as dark and normal as everyone else in the light of the night sky.

My parents would always try to convince that there was nothing wrong with that, but I never bought it. I feared that I would never be able to help anyone.

What was even more bothersome than that though, was the fear that someone would die because I had failed them. Not just because I didn't have powers, but because I wasn't very good at taking action. When it came to confidence and the ability to act quickly, I was probably the lowest in the list. In times of peril, all I could think about was what would happen if I failed. If I failed to save someone because I was too late and didn't know what to do, or if I myself was hurt, or anything like that. I wasn't like my brothers confidence wise. I couldn't just come up with a plan to save a plane full of people and act on it. That wasn't me.

I knew that I would always be the person in the background, who uselessly watched the heroes save the day. I could never be a hero.

I suddenly heard the door to the pool open and said, find your towels?"

I was assuming that it was Jacob and Ethan but when there's no answer, I opened my eyes and looked at the door. A tall guy, fully clothed, with blue eyes and brown hair styled into a quiff, was standing there, at the door, just staring at me. I felt my adrenaline begin to rise at the sight of this guy. I didn't know what he was here for. He didn't seem like he was dressed to swim.

The guy quickly turned away from the pool, walking back into the hotel. Before I knew what I'm doing, I got out of the pool, grabbed my towel and ran after him.

Unbeknownst to me, as soon as I had gotten out of the pool, it lit up. Almost like a flash of electricity had ran through it.