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  “What?” Oliver asked.

  “They all just disappeared in a puff of smoke! They’re gone!” Ondrea whispered.

  “What?” Mason yelled.

  “Oh, no!” Jason whined.

  “Teddy! This is all your fault!” Darla screamed.

  “No! It’s not!” Teddy screamed back.

  “GUYS! SHUT UP!” Oliver yelled. “Listen, Teddy was right! They’re all in trouble, but not because of anyone here, and they need our help—wherever they are.”

  22.4

  Damian suddenly appeared in front of a giant tree and began to hear sounds of bugs chirping and rain falling. He began to regain feeling in his body and felt water pounding his skin. It was only then that he saw little rain droplets falling in front of his face. NO! I remember what happened! Where is Nick?

  “Nick!” he called. “Will, Avery, Rachel!”

  “Huh?” A female voice called back. “What? What do you want, Damian?”

  “Avery!” Damian yelled, “We’re in the middle of nowhere. I want you to come here.”

  Avery appeared out of the dark green foliage now coming into focus. “Well, here I am,” she stated.

  “Are you all right?” Damian questioned.

  “Yeah. You?” she responded.

  “Just a little hazy,” he replied.

  22.5

  Rachel appeared in front of a grassy plain—or at least that’s what she could see at that point. She felt rain soaking her clothes and her skin. She was all alone.

  “Hello! Will, Nick, Damian, Avery?” she called out. She began to feel terrified, causing her to Morph. She Morphed into the same sweet little animal she always had been, Snowball. Snowball began to whimper in fear and shake from the cold. Snowball barked and then heard a rustling sound.

  “Rachel? Is that you?” Will called frantically. He heard a bark. “Oh, no.”

  Will looked directly downward and saw a fluffy, white Maltipoo soaking wet and shaking.

  “Rachel?” Will asked, unsure. Snowball barked and nodded his head. “Oh, boy,” Will sighed, picking the dog up. By that point, Will was soaked and confused. He started remembering the events that brought them there and shuttered. It’s all my fault, he thought.

  22.6

  Nick could barely see anything or think, but his first instinct was to try to Heal himself—then he remembered he couldn’t. He felt slow and nauseous. His eyes began to adjust, and as he slowly turned in a 360-degree circle, all he saw were iron bars.

  A few minutes later, his senses were back to normal, so he thought of ways he could break out. He began to use his Super Strength against the bars. But all that did was send a purple electric wave down his body that caused him to feel as if something were being ripped out from inside him. Little did he know, there was one important sense he wasn’t going to get back until he got out of the cage.

  “I didn’t know you were The Shadow’s son,” a familiar voice said. Nick had heard that voice before. It was the voice he heard so long ago, but never thought he’d hear again.

  “I didn’t know you were alive,” Nick countered.

  22.7

  “So, where are we, Damian?” Avery questioned.

  “You really think I know?” he exclaimed, rubbing his eyes.

  “Clearly, your mind is still sleeping. I’ll ask you later. I’ll talk, you listen,” Avery demanded. “So, we recklessly went after The Boss when he took Will, and as far as the two of us know, we were Teleported to this . . . this jungle-like area. We know Rachel and Nick Teleported with us, and that Will Teleported before us. Powers don’t work in here. I tried to form my wings when I regained consciousness and got no results.”

  “Powers don’t work? Are you sure?” Damian questioned. “Let me try.”

  He shifted the darkness in the night sky to reveal a white rip.

  “Whoops! Clearly Dark Magic works, but I should probably close that. It doesn’t look safe,” Damian chuckled. He closed the white ripple by folding the navy blue and star-spotted sky back over itself, sealing it off.

  “That was cool!” Avery yelled.

  “Thanks,” Damian responded with another laugh.

  TWENTY-THREE

  In Which Damian Indirectly Challenges Avery

  Yo! What are we going to do?” Teddy asked.

  “I don’t know! I thought you had a plan. You’re the one who shut the window,” Jessica sighed.

  “Guys,” Oliver began, “we need to bring adult help in. I know Mrs. Macintosh said she wanted a little break, but we really need her. The only full-time adult we had just vanished! Man, Rachel’s probably really stressed out right now. She usually is when she’s away from us.”

  “We really should go get her,” Ondrea agreed. “By the way, how’s Jason doing?”

  “Guys, chill. I’m fine,” he answered.

  “Sorry for being concerned,” Ondrea mumbled.

  “Sorry,” Jason apologized, shamefully.

  “We don’t know who Mrs. Macintosh is,” Mason noted.

  “She and Mrs. Thomas are the ones who told us about this mission,” Darla explained. “But Mrs. Thomas died a while ago, and there was this whole thing with Nick—and it was bad.”

  “Oh,” Mason sighed, shocked.

  “We should really go and get Mrs. Macintosh. Who knows what trouble everyone could be in,” Ondrea said. Jason, Mason, Oliver, Jess, Teddy, and Darla ran to school after explaining to Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher they were going up to help out.

  “How are we going to get up there? The bus doesn’t come until tomorrow,” Teddy mentioned.

  “Maybe we could wait until tomorrow. I mean, it’s pretty dark out there right now. She might not even be up there,” Ondrea said.

  “She is. Nick went to help her out this morning,” Oliver replied.

  “Let’s go then. Oliver, you can fly Mason or Jason up, and I can Teleport the other twin, Darla, and Jess,” Teddy suggested.

  “I’m down for that,” he agreed. “I’ll take Jess, though.”

  “All right. I guess I’ll take Darla and the twins,” Teddy decided. Teddy grabbed Darla and Jason, with Mason placing his hand on Teddy’s shoulder. Teddy closed his eyes and Teleported up to the school. He found it still in ruins, but looking better. Mason stumbled, but Jason caught him before he fell.

  Oliver, back on the ground, grabbed Jessica by her arms and lifted her off the ground. He was about to head off when Jessica began to squeal. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! That hurts!” she yelled.

  “All right, let me try this.” Oliver compromised by putting her down and then sweeping her into his arms, cradling her.

  “This is weird,” Jessica said.

  “Yep,” Oliver agreed, “but this doesn’t hurt you, just me.”

  Oliver gave a little chuckle as he pushed off the ground and began Flying toward the school. Ten minutes later, he was at school, and seriously tired. Oliver landed onto the cloud, carefully put Jessica down, and plopped onto the ground.

  “I’m exhausted,” he gasped.

  “Oliver, we’ve got to go in!” Darla hissed.

  “You guys go on in. I’ll stay out here ...” he sighed.

  “You sure?” Teddy asked, “We can wait for you maybe two minutes.”

  “Just go. People are in trouble. You don’t need to wait for me,” Oliver repeated.

  “All right! Let’s go!” Jason exclaimed impatiently.

  Teddy, Darla, Jason, Ondrea, Jessica, and Mason ran into the school, leaving Oliver in the front. The walls were still slightly burned. But staring at the building for a few minutes, Oliver could see it slowly returning to its white color.

  Everyone continued to sprint into Mrs. Macintosh’s room and stopped—all out of breath.

  “Children! What’s going on?” Mrs. Macintosh asked.

  23.2

  Oliver sighed from fatigue. He looked at the ground far, far below him, realizing both how lucky he was and a bit how unlucky he was.

  “There are normal people out in th
is world who go to normal schools and have normal friends, not Supers,” he thought. “Their lives are so much simpler. They don’t have to battle monsters and defeat villains. I feel like I must always be the calm one in a bad situation, but I wonder how long I can keep this up. What if Jess and I were normal? Maybe our lives would be easier.”

  “Would you lookie here?” Luke suddenly said, maliciously.

  “Luke!” Oliver yelled, snapping himself out of his train of thought.

  “Hey!” Luke called, mockingly.

  “I guess you’re friends with those twins, huh?” Luke sneered.

  “How did you know, Luke?” Oliver hissed.

  “Well how do you think, loser? I followed them when they went to get help from your loser cousin,” he laughed. “The Boss really still wants them, you know? It would be a shame if I were to tell The Boss he was staring right at them—and that they’re friends with you.”

  “You won’t get to them,” Oliver said confidently. “And you won’t tell your Boss either.”

  “Oh, and why not?” Luke questioned, smiling curiously.

  “Because you don’t even know where The Boss is!” Oliver yelled.

  Oliver stuck out his hand, and a strong funnel of Wind began pushing Luke toward the edge of the school. Luke, suddenly aware that he was about to fall, hurled a cloud of Dark Magic at Oliver, but it blew back into his own face because of the Wind. The Dark Magic didn’t have any effect on Luke because it was his own element.

  Oliver thought about how The Boss had hypnotized Avery into being evil and wondered if Luke were being hypnotized as well. Oliver realized he couldn’t send Luke off the edge of the school. He stopped blasting Wind at Luke and sighed. Luke saw this as his chance and shot a beam of Dark Magic. Oliver flew up and dodged it.

  “Luke, you really don’t have to do this!” Oliver pleaded.

  “Yes, I do. You need to stop trying to change me, because I work for The Boss, just like Malcolm did!” Luke yelled, his voice cracking . . .

  “Luke, stop!” Oliver screamed.

  But Luke didn’t stop. He backed up to the very edge of the school.

  23.3

  “Mrs. Macintosh!” Teddy called, “SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!”

  “Whoa! What’s going on?” she asked.

  “We met the Twins of Legend, Luke attacked them, and we found out he’s working for The Boss. Luke poisoned Jason to cause pain whenever he uses his Powers. The Boss came in person and took Nick, Avery, Damian, Will, and Rachel somewhere. We can’t find them, and we really need your help!” Ondrea explained.

  “Oh, dear! If Luke is really working for The Boss and has poisoned Jason, whoever he is, then we’re in trouble. Who is Jason by the way?” she asked.

  “Hi. I am Jason, my abilities are Fire and Water. My brother, Mason, is my twin. His abilities are Wind and Earth,” Jason said.

  “Remarkable! Now you say Nick, Avery, Will, Rachel, and Damian were taken?”

  “Yeah,” Darla answered. “They went to attack The Boss after he took Will, and they were all taken somewhere.”

  “NO! I saw it with my own two eyes! They disappeared from the window in a puff of smoke!” Ondrea corrected.

  “Uh-oh. That’s not good,” Mrs. Macintosh stated. “I need more detail though.”

  23.4

  “Luke! Don’t. Move.” Oliver warned. Luke suddenly got a malicious look in his eyes that Oliver didn’t seem to notice. Luke slyly took a small step back and fell off the side of the school grounds.

  “Aw, man! Dude!” Oliver muttered to himself.

  Thinking about the fact that he didn’t want Luke to die, but also didn’t want him to be a threat anymore, Oliver launched off the ground and Flew as fast as he could to catch up with Luke before he hit the ground. He wrapped his hand around Luke’s wrist and made sure Luke was painfully jerked downwards before Oliver steadied himself.

  But Luke had a plan. He used jets of Dark Magic to fly up and shoot a jet at Oliver. Oliver tried to dodge it, but felt it skim his shoulder, and it began to burn badly. Oliver continued to Fly up, battling it out in the sky with Luke.

  Luke was trying to hurt Oliver without killing him. Meanwhile, Oliver didn’t want to hurt Luke, so kept shooting blasts of Wind to push him back. Three minutes in, Oliver felt heavy exhaustion setting in again, and his shoulder still burned, getting worse every few seconds.

  “I guess that’s what Dark Magic does to you,” he thought.

  23.5

  After ten minutes of everyone explaining what they knew, and every once in a while correcting the story, Mrs. Macintosh breathed a sigh of sadness.

  “Wow,” she gasped.

  “Yeah, It’s a lot.” Mason laughed wearily.

  “Yes, but that just leaves one question from me: Where is Oliver?” Mrs. Macintosh asked.

  “Oh, he’s outside waiting for us. He Flew Jess up and got really tired, so we let him chill outside,” Teddy explained.

  “Guys!” Jessica yelled, “Something’s wrong!”

  She ran outside, and everyone else glanced at each other for a moment, then raced out after her. They were about to run through the school doors, when Jessica rushed back in.

  “Luke is fighting Oliver!” she squealed nervously.

  “Didn’t he say he was exhausted?” Darla asked.

  “Oh, this is not good!” Jason mumbled.

  23.6

  “How are we going to get to the others?” Damian asked.

  “I don’t really know, but what I do know is no one wants Will to be alone for a long time, especially in this environment where he could easily get killed. Nick is hated by EVERY bad guy at this point, and The Boss can transport us anywhere, so Nick is probably totally messed up right now. Rachel is a shy Morpher and gets huge anxiety in a lot of situations, so she’s probably stuck as some little freaked-out animal now. Everyone is most likely on their own right now,” Avery explained.

  “Nick can take care of himself. I’m just not so sure about Will. We need to find Will and Rachel as soon as possible!” Damian warned.

  Avery and Damian began to take in more of their environment. They were surrounded by huge, tall trees with a dark-green canopy overhead. It was still raining hard, and Avery and Damian were soaked. The ground was covered with decaying wood and was soggy beneath their feet. For miles, the landscape was nothing but green trees and rain. “We need to find some kind of shelter, don’t you think?” Avery wondered.

  “We might as well try, but I think I could make one with my Magic if you give me some material,” Damian suggested.

  “What! Are you saying you don’t think I can build a sufficient shelter because I’m a girl?” Avery snapped.

  “Now, I didn’t say that,” Damian rushed to reply. “I simply suggested that I use my Dark Magic to build a shelter for the both of us, as it would be easier.”

  “Well, have you ever thought that I can build one easily, too?” she hissed.

  “Uh . . . ” Damian began.

  “I’m going to find material to build a shelter!” she called, storming off.

  “Aw, no! Avery! It’s not safe,” Damian yelled. She continued to storm off as if she hadn’t even heard him.

  “Wow, girls can be so dramatic sometimes,” he muttered, as he ran off behind her.

  23.7

  “It’s all my fault!” Will wailed into the pouring rain just three hours later. He had been lying in the rain with Snowball licking his face and constantly saying his name. Finally, he answered, “What?”

  “Finally,” Snowball / Rachel yipped, “I don’t know how this works, but if a Morpher gets really stressed out, they get stuck as the most timid and smallest creature they have ever turned into. That means they can’t turn back until they have calmed down, but I can’t turn back wet, regardless.”

  “Really?” Will asked miserably.

  “Yep,” Snowball replied.

  “Even though, as Snowball, you’re a guy, can I call you a she, or at least think of you as
that?” he pleaded.

  “Sure, I’d prefer that actually,” Snowball responded.

  “All right then,” Will said.

  “We need to find a way to get home or at least out of this rain,” Snowball pointed out.

  “That’s true,” he agreed.

  “Not that I care, but why are you so down and not talking? You’re usually off the walls,” she wondered.

  “Well, if you can’t tell, THERE ARE NO WALLS TO BOUNCE OFF OF IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE WE ARE SOMEWHERE TOTALLY UNFAMILIAR, AND EVERYONE’S GOING TO DIE!” Will screamed.

  “Calm down! Will, calm down!” Snowball yelped. Suddenly, the rain had stopped.

  “Great, now we just need to get you somewhere dry so you can Morph back,” Will sighed wearily.

  “Will!” Snowball barked sharply.

  “What’s up now?” he whined.

  “WILL, THERE’S A DRAGON BEHIND YOU—AND IT’S NOT AVERY!” Snowball howled.

  “NO!” Will shouted as he spun around. The dragon roared, and fire shot out of its mouth. When Will threw his hands up in front of his face to protect himself, the fire burned him. He yelped in pain. When he looked down, his hands were black. Will realized the dragon had spotted Snowball! He activated his Super Stretch for the second time ever. He waited until the moment was right and when the dragon shot at Snowball, Will stretched and pushed her slightly over. The intense and sudden heat had dried Snowball’s fur.

  “Good thinking, Will!” she yipped. Snowball began to Morph just as a fire blast was shot at Will. Rachel, now a phoenix, flew in front of the blast and spread her wings. The fire was absorbed into Rachel and shot back at the dragon, now a vibrant blue and purple. The dragon was incinerated.

  “Whoa,” Will breathed. “That was totally awesome.”

  Rachel Morphed back into a human girl. “Thanks. I try,” she laughed, and then looked at Will’s hands. “Your hands are badly burned, Will.”

  “Yeah, but I’m sure they’ll be fine,” he stated, waving off her concerns.

  23.8

  “I’m alive, and so are you. I didn’t know where you went, man!” the familiar figure cheered.

  “Gosh, Spence! What are you doing here?” Nick questioned.

  “I . . . I figured you would be here. That’s what I was told. I was captured by The Boss,” Spencer explained.