birds of a feather.

chapter three.

          "The moisture in L.A. for the first time in forever is giving us super powers," Levi suggested, throwing his hand up in the air before returning to his position of hugging his knees. Thomas merely rolled his eyes. Vanessa looked at the two boys, agitated as she held her blanket tightly around her body.

The three teenagers sat in Vanessa's living room after the incident that they had had in Vanessa's back yard; the three of them seemed to have gained powers overnight, and instinct had brought them to usage. Levi had told his dad that they would be late to dinner because Vanessa's step-father needed some help moving furniture.

"Alright, I don't think how is the problem, you two," Vanessa finally spoke, her blonde hair covering one of her eyes. Her skin was paler than usual, and her veins were visible in certain patches of her body; she looked like a thunderstorm was inside of her that she unfortunately couldn't control. "I think we should really focus on what they are."

Levi sunk deeper into the leather couch, staring at the fire in the fireplace before him. "I can talk to animals, and they can talk to me," he glanced back up at Vanessa and Thomas. "That's my extent."

Thomas glanced over at Vanessa. "I-I don't know," he stuttered, still in shock over what he had done moments ago. Fire was never a friend of his, but the feeling it left upon his hands as he extinguished it in the back yard was warm and friendly, unlike anything he had felt before. "I can apparently- control fire?" he covered his face in his hands. "This sounds like a stupid comic book. This cannot be real,"

Vanessa pursed her lips in pity. Not just for Thomas, but for all of them. The powers that they had were beyond any dream that her brain could conjure up, and that was the only thing thing that was helping her keep a grip on the reality around her. Though, she knew it wouldn't last long. A familiar knot built up in her chest, and she knew one of her occasional anxiety attacks was going to cause her more strife than she already had.

Alex seemed to have disappeared upstairs with Harry and Howard, not taking any note of Vanessa's supernatural actions, and she wasn't there to see Thomas's

After a long pause, Thomas took a shaky breath. As his friend and new friend looked at him, they realized his eyes were red with anxious tears. "We need to figure out the extent of what we can do," Vanessa and Levi nodded in agreement to his statement.

"I tried absolutely everything this afternoon, believe me," Levi shook his head, his messy, wet brown hair falling into his face. "I know what I can do,"

Thomas sighed. "Then let me start,"

Thomas slid off of the couch and sat crisscross across from the fireplace. Levi and Vanessa watched in anticipation as he reached his hand into the flames. They waited for a sudden scream in pain, but it never came. Instead, Thomas pulled his hand out with a small flame dancing on his palm, like a fairy performing for a king.

The three watched the fire in amazement for what seemed like minutes, until it finally sizzled to a halt. Thomas took a deep breath, exhaling his response: "Wow,"

Thomas continued to play around with the fire for a few more minutes. Turned out he was able to hold it, extinguish it, and with enough effort, create it in the palm of his hand. But it wasn't just his hands; though he couldn't conjure fire anywhere else, every other part of his body was inflammable, as per experiment.

By the end of all of the experiments, Thomas was giddy. He had always loved Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four movies, and now he was practically becoming him!

Vanessa soon realized that it was now her turn to discover what her powers rendered her capable of. She felt that knot in her stomach get tighter as Levi and Thomas turned to face her. She avoided eye contact as she rose to her feet. She clutched the blanket around her shoulders tighter and made her way back over to the balcony. Thomas and Levi followed quickly after her.

Once standing on the slightly damp balcony, the three realized that the storm had calmed down significantly. Thunder still made the occasional rumble, causing winces from Vanessa, but the rain had lightened up dramatically.

The three had stood there for a few moments before Thomas spoke up in impatience to see the girl's capabilities. "Vanessa, you gonna—" Levi was quick to elbow him in the ribs, knowing of Vanessa's horrible fear of extreme weather. It was almost worse— if not just as bad —than his fear of dogs. Thomas made a face at his friend before remaining quiet, putting a hand over his ribs.

Vanessa's eyes were watering now, out of sheer anxiety, panic, fear, and the fact that the wind was blowing directly into her face, causing tears to fall. She wiped them quickly with her free hand before extending it out towards the weather to get this whole situation over with.

As she extended her hand out into the rain, she realized her hand wasn't getting wet; the rain was bending away from her as she tensely held her arm out. She almost smiled, instantly relaxing. Then the rain touched her. She instantly retracted her arm, her body starting to shake from the cold and adrenaline.

After a moment of steady breathing, she put her tense hand back out into the storm. The rain bent once again. She remained tense.

Vanessa slowly turned her hand, pointing it to the angle at which she had held it when she stopped the storm earlier. She thrust her hand forward with as much force as she had left in her frail, panicked body, and watched in relief as the storm froze again. Rain hovered in mid-air, and thunder that had been previously rumbling suddenly stopped, as if its mouth had been suddenly covered.

Vanessa sighed, assuming that was the extent of her powers, and waved the boys off behind her with her extended hand. "See, that's all I can—"

As she waved her hand, all the force of the storm followed its motion. Rain harshly fell in the opposite direction to which it had been previously falling, and worst of all, a crack of lightning flew up from her driveway that curved into her backyard, leaving a horrible black mark. Perhaps not as bad as the burnt lawn, but it would take a while to fix.

Vanessa gaped, her chest heaving up and down heavily as she slowly turned to face Levi and Thomas. "I-I didn't-"

Before anyone else could speak, Alex raced back onto the balcony. His hair was outrageously messy, and bags had suddenly developed under his eyes. His flashy smile was nowhere to be seen.

His eyes darted around the three teenagers on his balcony. "You two need to go home," he said plainly, causing Vanessa to gape in embarrassment. She started to say something in protest before Alex cut her off. "No. They need to go home and forget that they ever had powers,"

Levi and Thomas exchanged a glance, wondering how the man knew that they had powers when he had only seen Vanessa perform her new capabilities.

"Tell no one," Alex continued, taking the two young men by their shoulders and leading them towards the front door. "Or it'll put everyone in danger," His voice was dangerously low, causing more anxiety to run through Levi and Thomas. "And whatever you do," Alex had the boys outside on his doorstep in no time. "Do not use your powers alone. Goodnight, boys." And with that, he shut the door.

Vanessa looked at him from shock from the stairs, astonished at the scene that her step-father had just made.

Alex looked completely disheveled as he looked up at Vanessa sternly. "We need to talk."