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“I just realized something pretty bad,” Oliver noted.

  “What is it?” Darla questioned.

  “I like your company, and I can Fly and Super-Sense things, and you can do anything related to your Super Heat Power. But this is a narrow sewage system, and if we need close-range protection, we’ll be in serious trouble,” Oliver explained.

  “Oh, boy. You’re right,” she sighed grimly.

  “Let’s contact Will, Jess, or Ondrea to see if they can help!” Oliver whispered. He took out his phone and discovered he had no reception. “Dang it!” he yelled.

  “Wait, why only Will, Jess, and Ondrea?” Darla questioned.

  “Because they have the most Powers out of all of us,” Oliver spoke, using his hands.

  “Well, that does make sense, but how do you know that?” Darla asked.

  “Super Sense, remember?” Oliver stated impatiently.

  “Right,” she agreed.

  “But there’s no reception, so . . .” he began.

  “So, we’re doomed,” she finished.

  “Yep. One hundred percent,” Oliver confirmed.

  “Oh, boy.” Darla said.

  Suddenly, Oliver had a strange feeling. “STOP!” he hissed.

  “Why?” she wondered, stopping anyway.

  “I Sense something. It’s something big and a few feet in front of us. I Sense a hole in the ground,” he explained.

  “Maybe it’s the base!” Darla whispered excitedly and hurried forward.

  “No! Darla, wait!” he mumbled harshly. But she didn’t stop. Darla reached the hole and fell in. Oliver heard her scream.

  “NO!” he yelled, forgetting to be quiet. He crawled quickly toward the hole with a plan, hoping she was still falling. When he reached the edge, he saw no end. It looked like a bottomless pit. Oliver dove in and kept on speeding down, letting gravity take him. When he reached the maximum speed, he began actively Flying down, adding more speed. He needed to catch up with Darla!

  Finally, he heard her cries and knew he was close. Oliver closed in on her and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. He tried to lift her up, but realized he was going too fast. Oliver looked down and noticed that this pit did, in fact, have a bottom.

  He ducked below Darla, getting directly underneath her, so she wouldn’t get hurt too badly when they smashed to the bottom of the hole. Darla flipped the two of them over and thrust her hands towards the floor. Heat waves shot out of her hands, causing their speed to slow. She hooked her legs around Oliver’s, so he wouldn’t fall off her back. They stopped a few feet away from the ground.

  She let her Super Heat jets die back, and they both fell to the ground. Oliver rolled off Darla’s back so his weight wouldn’t crush her. He looked over at her and found she was sweating. He thought he had felt her sweat, but it was apparently his own. They both were wiped from over-use of their abilities.

  “We’d be lucky if they didn’t hear us already,” Darla panted quickly.

  “Yeah. You okay?” Oliver asked.

  “Nah, but I will be. You?” she countered.

  “Same,” he answered.

  They both lay there for a few minutes until Oliver suddenly popped up. “What are we doing? We have to get going!” he hissed, jumping up.

  “Let’s,” Darla said wearily.

  They both got up and began to walk straight forward. The path led into a corridor where the walls, floor, and ceiling were made of oak wood.

  “This is a perfect place for a fire trap,” Darla sighed.

  Oliver was worried about her. She was slumped over and limping slightly. Darla was younger, and although she was great at controlling her Power, she tired more quickly than others due to her lack of experience.

  “Why are you limping?” Oliver asked.

  “Why are you bleeding?” she responded defensively.

  “Why are you in a mood?” he countered back.

  “Seriously, why are you bleeding?” Darla was baffled that he hadn’t noticed yet.

  “Wait, what?” he said. “Where?”

  “Your shoulder. Don’t you feel it?” she wondered.

  “No. I guess I must have damaged a nerve or something,” Oliver remarked, rolling his shoulder. “Now, why are you limping?”

  “Clipped my leg when I fell in the hole,” she responded plainly.

  “Oh,” he said with a sigh. They both walked silently and anxiously through the wooden corridor that seemed to stretch for miles.

  “Man, there’s just a list of never-ending things that we’ve been through today,” Oliver murmured to himself. “What’s next? A never-ending maze?” As soon as he said that, they came to a wide-open room with nothing in it.

  “Strange,” Darla whispered to herself. Before she knew what she was doing, she took a step forward, and put her foot down on some kind of pressure plate. “Oh, no!” A wall of flames rose high right between them, burning a bit of Darla’s sleeve and increasing their sweat.

  “I feel like this place wants to kill us through heat exhaustion!” Oliver yelled over the roaring flames. Darla couldn’t see him, but she could hear him. Good, she thought. She could feel heat all around her, but it didn’t affect her because she technically was fire. Super Heat was her only Power.

  11.2

  Oliver felt heat all around him and he knew there was no escape. He was too tired to do anything but sit and wait for the heat to kill him. The only thing he could think about was his sister and his friends waiting for him, and then finding out he would never return.

  He realized Darla might return. With Super Heat as her Power, her element was Fire. She could do it without him, but could Jess? What about Rachel, or Teddy, or Ondrea, Will, the teachers? HIS PARENTS! They would be heartbroken.

  “I can’t think like this! Why can’t I stop?” he wondered to himself. He’d been through too much just to die of a heatstroke. Sweat soaked his shirt and drenched his hair, pressing it against his forehead. Despite being wet, he could feel his arm hair and leg hair singeing.

  11.3

  The group had been sitting in the car for three hours, waiting for Oliver and Darla to return.

  “I swear! I sense DANGER!” Jessica yelled right into Mrs. Thomas’s ear.

  “Could you PLEASE stop it, Miss Fletcher!” Mrs. Thomas seethed.

  “But I KNOW!” she yelled. “Super Sensing is one of my Powers! THEY ARE IN DANGER!”

  “Fine! You can go in and check on them! I have their GPS locations right here!” Mrs. Thomas hissed.

  “No. Will should go,” Jessica demanded.

  “That’s fine with me, as long as someone else goes, too,” Will said.

  “NO! NO! NO! Only you can go! It would be unnecessary for others to go!” Jessica whined.

  “Fine, but why just me?” Will asked.

  “Because Water is your element!” Jessica answered. “That’s all I can tell you because that’s all I can Sense.”

  “Cell phones most likely won’t work in the sewage system, so we need some kind of communication device for you,” Teddy added.

  “We can use walkie-talkies. I brought some because I thought ahead,” Ondrea bragged.

  “Yes! Perfect!” Teddy cheered.

  Once Will was inside the system, he followed the two red dots—Oliver’s and Darla’s GPS locations—all the way to where their symbols stopped moving and came to a dead end.

  “What! Oh, they could be either underground again or above ground,” Will said, thinking out loud. He retraced his steps when he heard a voice on the walkie-talkie.

  “Will, stop! There’s a huge hole right where you are about to go!” It was Jessica. “I Sense it!”

  Will stopped and threw a dirty pebble a few feet ahead. Sure enough, it went straight down. He never heard it land.

  “It is like . . . endless!” he explained through the walkie talkie. “But, I have an idea! A waterfall!” Will struck the ground by the hole with his fist and a waterfall of sewage water came out and flooded into the hole.

 
Ewwww! he thought. Then he wiped his finger on his shirt, licked it, touched it to the sewage water, and it instantly turned into fresh water.

  “Sweet!” he yelled. Will was about to jump in when he remembered water slides.

  “This isn’t a video game,” he reminded himself. “You can’t float down water.” The hole wasn’t that wide, but wide enough. He had an idea.

  Will sat on the edge with water rushing past his feet. He eased himself into the rushing water and began to fall. He stuck out his hands and angled them slightly downward. Water shot out of them, pushing him against the wall. He reached the bottom and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. He fought to stay awake.

  “Hey, Jess, guys, I’m really tired,” Will whispered into the walkie talkie.

  “You’ve got to push through!” Teddy exclaimed.

  Will got up and walked down a long wooden corridor. Great place for a fire trap, he thought absentmindedly. Will zoned out and didn’t hear Ondrea calling his name on the walkie-talkie. He continued to walk down the long corridor until he felt something that snapped him out of his sleep-like trance. Heat!

  “That’s not good!” he said aloud to himself. He heard a voice coming from the walkie-talkie.

  “WILL!” Ondrea screamed.

  “WHAT?” he yelled back.

  “You weren’t answering! We all got worried! It’s been thirty minutes since you left. You made good time, by the way,” she stated.

  “I smell fire now,” Will said.

  “THAT’S WHAT I SENSED! Yes!” Jessica cheered in the background—as if it were a good thing.

  “I’m going to check it out,” he whispered, coughing.

  “Be very careful!” Teddy reminded him.

  Will pocketed the walkie-talkie and walked toward the smoke.

  “Help!” he heard someone call.

  “DARLA?” Will yelled.

  “Help!”

  The cry was closer now. Will began to sprint. He stopped short and gasped when he ran into a roomful of heat, smoke, and fire. Despite being exhausted, he shot water out of his palms and doused the entire area.

  Oliver was lying face down on the ground soaked in something—sweat or water, Will couldn’t tell which. Darla was perfectly fine and jumped over to Oliver. She became very worried. The blood from Oliver’s shoulder wound was still flowing freely, but even more so now. His face was pink. She glanced up at Will who was still standing. He was afraid if he moved, he’d fall. But he took a step anyway and didn’t fall, so he kept on going all the way to Oliver.

  “Stand back!” Will whispered wearily. His hands shaking, he held them up. Clouds appeared above Oliver, and it began to snow on him. When he was done, Will stumbled and fell to his knees.

  “Will! I know it’s your first year here, but you over-exerted yourself, and that’s really dangerous,” Darla explained, helping him to his feet. “And don’t say you know more than me just because you’re a freshman and I’m in seventh grade. I have more experience than you with Super Powers. I’m not being mean, I’m being right,” Darla ranted.

  “Okay,” he sighed. “But I have to do more.”

  Darla looked at Oliver, whose face was now red from cold. She shot Super Heat at the clouds and they vaporized into the air. Will created a ball of Water in his palms.

  “Shoot Fire above this until I say to stop,” Will commanded. Darla did just that, and the water began to boil, scarring Will’s hand—-but he didn’t drop the boiling ball of water. He held it up to Oliver’s wound, cleansing the wound from all possible bacteria or infection. Oliver woke up right afterward, biting his lip to help snuff out the pain.

  “Wow,” he said when Will was done, “that really hurt!”

  “What! No ‘thank you, Will.’ No ‘you’re my hero?’” Will complained.

  “You’re my hero,” Oliver said, smiling. “Whoa! Dude, you look exhausted! What happened to you?” Oliver began to get up and get a better look at Will, when he grimaced in pain. “What happened to . . everyone?” he yelled.

  “Will, you go sit against that wall and, I guess, sleep. Oliver let me help you some more,” Darla advised.

  Will trudged over to the wall and lay down near it. Darla, also tired from using her Powers but not wanting to show it, grabbed Oliver’s arm. He cried out.

  “This is going to hurt more than you could ever imagine,” Darla cooed calmly.

  She grabbed his shoulder and pushed the two pieces of skin that were cut. She placed her finger on the wound and activated her Power. Darla knew Oliver would feel pain, but she wasn’t ready for the loudest sound any Superhuman had ever made. But even that screaming didn’t reflect the amount of pain he was really in, and Darla cringed through the whole process. She knew he needed her help, but she also knew it hurt him, and she felt really badly about it. Once she was done, his wound was completely closed, but it was black and red where Darla had burned the flesh together.

  Oliver had passed out. Darla was exhausted. Will was asleep. The walkie-talkie went off in Will’s pocket.

  “Will, how’s it going? Have you found them yet? Your GPS signal and their GPS signals are right next to each other,” the voice said. It was Teddy.

  “Hey Teddy!” Darla spoke, pushing the “talk” button.

  “Hey, Darla! Where is everyone?” he asked.

  “I’ve got some really bad news. Oliver is injured and unconscious, Will over-exerted his Powers and is passed out cold, and I’m exhausted. The worst part is, we’re still trying to find the base, but the search has been put on hold. No! The worst part is WE HAVE NO WAY OUT OF HERE!” she hissed into the speaker.

  The walkie-talkie was silent for a few minutes. Then, Ondrea replied. “Hang in there!”

  “That’s all you have to say?” Darla huffed.

  “Well, do you want us to tell you the truth? Because I can preach right now,” Teddy answered sarcastically. That was it. Darla went to sleep.

  TWELVE

  In Which There Is A Fire Trap And A Man

  After four hours of rest, Darla woke up. Oliver was already awake, sitting up, rubbing his shoulder.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?” Oliver asked her as she walked over.

  “I’m feeling MUCH better! It’s amazing how four hours of deep sleep can affect you!” she cheered. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  “You didn’t want to be woken up. It’s common sense. No one likes being woken up early,” Oliver answered with a laugh.

  “I would have wanted to see you, but, yeah, you’re right. No one likes being woken up early,” she agreed.

  “How’s Will?” Oliver questioned.

  “Asleep,” she stated with a smirk.

  “No, really? I couldn’t tell!” he said sarcastically.

  “But really, he’s wiped. He should sleep a little longer,” Darla suggested.

  “Yeah. Hey, do you wonder what’s behind that metal door?” Oliver asked, pointing to a door all the way on the other side of the room.

  “I hadn’t noticed that,” she said, staring at it. Will began to stir.

  “Why don’t we go check it out when he wakes up?” Oliver asked.

  “No. You guys still need to chill. I’ll check it out and I promise I’ll be okay,” Darla whispered. “Will, go back to sleep!”

  Will happily turned around and went back to sleep. Darla, by herself, turned and went toward the metal door. When she got there, she used her Finger Laser to cut through the door. Darla made a large circle and climbed in, careful not to cut herself. More wood! At the end of that hall, there was a glass door.

  “I got this!” she thought. She walked to the door and used her Fire to try to melt it, but she jumped to the side as the fire bounced back at her. “Dang it!” she grumbled. She walked back to find that Will had woken up and was icing Oliver’s burned shoulder.

  “No luck. There’s a glass door, but when I tried to melt it, the fire just bounced back,” Darla sighed.

  “Think about it,” Oliver explained, “This
place has seen fire after fire. Will came in here and stopped the fire using water. We wouldn’t have been able to survive if it weren’t for Will. There would be no reason for there to be a door, but there is one, which means that someone with ice or water abilities was supposed to enter this compound. That must mean the only way to get through the door is using ice or water—and what better way to get through a door than to freeze it and shatter it easily!”

  “Nice job, Oliver!” Darla said. “You could be correct. Will, how do you feel?”

  “I feel pretty rested actually! I’m hungry though,” he said.

  Oliver’s stomach growled. “I guess I am, too,” Oliver mentioned.

  “We have to complete our mission first!” Darla commanded sternly.

  “Fine,” they both agreed. Oliver, Will, and Darla got up and marched through the hole in the door. As they came upon the wooden hallway, Will said, “More wood!”

  “Yeah, there’s a lot of wood,” Darla sighed. They kept on walking down the hall until they finally reached the glass door.

  “Watch out, everyone!” Will warned. He held out his hands and ice shot out of them, slowly engulfing the door in the crystalline substance. Darla went up and punched the door, but to no avail. It didn’t break.

  “Ow! Well that was good—for nothing!” Darla mumbled.

  “Let me. I have Super Strength,” Will taunted. Will walked up to the glass door and punched it with all his might. The door shattered into a million pieces almost in slow motion.

  “Wow, that was so pretty! I wish I could see that again,” Oliver whispered in awe. When Will turned around, his shirt was covered in pieces of glass. He brushed them off carefully. The three of them walked through the empty space and into another room. This one was stranger and darker than any other room they had seen. It had a low ceiling and dark cabinets lined up along the walls. The walls were black and made of a moldy stone. The floor was soft and wet.

  “Wow, black mold alert!” Oliver joked, pointing to the corner.

  “Yeah, no kidding,” Will said, walking inside. “Look at all these cabinets.”

  “Open one,” Darla suggested. Will walked over and opened one. Inside he saw old dusty manila folders with labels on the tabs. He pulled one out. The folder was labeled “Test 1.” Will opened the folder, and what he was inside disturbed him.