By Abigail Falanga
“You said to come in if there was any more trouble. And we are way past that!”
Paula tapped her pen against her pad, adjusted her glasses, and looked at the man and woman sitting opposite her. She had dealt with many parents in her long career and was accustomed to encountering families in the strangest crises. They all wanted a quick fix without seeing the true problem or solution. But this time was different.
The mother, Cara Chambers, was flushed and almost trembling. The father, Tyler, hadn’t shaved in days and had dark circles under his eyes.
They looked defeated.
“These transitions can be difficult.” Paula became comforting and confident. “Have you attempted methods of connecting with Colton? Dedicated family time, nutritious foods, limited screen time—”
“Yeah, like it’s even possible to limit screen time when he literally tears the house apart anytime we take the phone away from him!” Cara snapped.
Tyler laid a hand on Cara’s arm. “Colton is beyond control. Trust us. We’ve tried everything.”
Paula smiled gently. “Our literature—”
“Fat lot of good it is!” Cara pulled out a dog-eared handbook and slapped it on the desk.
It was the standard guide distributed to all parents who had potential for extraordinary or enhanced children. Paula had never seen one so well-used.
She blinked. “So, you have attempted the methods advised in the handbook?”
“Have you any idea how impossible it is to hold onto a hurricane?” Cara forced the words out between clenched teeth. “We can touch him, let him know we’re there for him, physically hold him down. But—”
“You can’t give a kid a hug when he’s pushing you back with an eighty-mile-an-hour wind.” Tyler tugged back his shirtsleeve to reveal an ugly green welt.
Paula pursed her lips and noted “storm powers.”
A crash reverberated through the building, followed by a howl.
Tyler flinched, and Cara jerked around. “There he goes!” she said. “I told you it wasn’t safe to leave him alone.”
Out in the hall, a gust tossed debris so fast that Paula had to dodge a soggy paper as she and the parents rushed down the stairs to the waiting area where they’d left Colton.
Gale-driven fog filled the room. A boy stood at its center, screaming at a broken video game controller.
“I see.” Without extreme measures, this boy could become a supervillain. Paula weighed her options. “The situation is more advanced than I thought. Tyler, Cara, I think you’d better leave Colton here with us.”
“You can’t help him.” Tyler shook his head. “Nobody can.”
“We can.” Paula nodded with absolute certainty—though, really, she had no idea how.
She inched forward and called cheerfully, “Colton! Your parents are leaving now.”
The wind and fog subsided, revealing a little boy with blazing eyes and a sudden, lopsided smile. “You’re leaving me here? For how long?”
“As long as it takes, sweetie.” Cara plastered on a smile, bending down to give her son a quick goodbye hug.
Paula stepped back and contacted Bennett. This was the worst situation she had ever encountered. The parents were right. Colton was a boy beyond control—he was too strong to be disciplined, his powers too dangerous for ordinary restraint.
Cara and Tyler left. Colton, looking disconcertingly smug, stared at Paula.
“What are we going to do?” he demanded. “Where’s my room? Do I get an Xbox?”
“First,” Paula said, smiling, “we’re going to see Bennett.”
“Who’s that?”
“The head of this Agency. He’s also the most powerful enhanced person I’ve ever met, and he’s going to teach you how to use your powers.”
“I already know how.” Colton smirked. “Wanna see?”
“Not now. Let’s go meet Bennett.”
Paula took his hand and led the way through the large building, past her coworkers, who were picking up the mess.
Enhanced children were decidedly not Bennett’s department. He had other responsibilities weighing on him that took all his super-strength and healing to handle. But who else could withstand this maelstrom?
He sat in his elegant glass-walled office. Paula buzzed in to let him know they’d arrived.
Bennett glanced up, his face stony, then answered through the intercom, “Leave the boy outside.”
“Can you wait here until Bennett is ready for you?” Paula asked.
“Sure.” Colton shrugged. “He’s really the most powerful enhanced guy?”
“Yes, very brave and skilled.”
“Cool.”
She only went as far as an observation room down the hall, then pulled up the paperwork associated with the case to pass the time.
Ten minutes passed. Fifteen.
Colton got antsy.
Half an hour.
Paula couldn’t concentrate and simply watched.
Bennett still didn’t move to let the boy in.
Colton strode to the locked door and tugged, to no avail. He pounded on the glass. “Hey! Mr. Bennett? Let me in.”
Bennett didn’t even glance up.
Paula knew what he was doing. How else to teach a child, spoiled by his own power, that he wasn’t the center of the universe?
Colton growled, eyes lighting up and mist swirling off of him.
Wind whipped up and crashed against the glass. Bennett didn’t move.
It twisted into a tempest, fog whirling faster and faster around the boy until lightning flashed.
Bennett glanced up, raised an eyebrow, and returned to his work.
Colton screamed, and the storm turned into a hurricane, crashing again and again into the glass wall until suddenly it shattered inward. The office filled with wind and flickering lightning.
Paula leaned forward, fingers tightening on her pen.
Bennett lifted an arm to deflect a sheet of glass as it flew at him. He rose.
The tempest took form. Cloud and wind solidified into a massive rearing horse, snorting as it prepared to charge.
“There you are.” Bennett smiled. He strode through the lashing wind and reached up to put a hand against the horse’s huge neck. “There’s your true form.”
He stroked the horse of storm and wind. Gently, firmly. And, if only for a moment, the storm receded.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I enjoyed this story. It’s built on a very interesting idea.
Very interesting idea!
I enjoyed this story very much! Thank you for sharing!
Such a fun story! So intriguing and I’d love to see more of these characters :-D
This was a fun little snippet! I enjoyed the ending with the horse. :D
Very good story! I felt I was in the story, very special storytelling!
I love the way you symbolically represented the child’s problems through the storm powers—and the eventual taming of the stallion, at least to some degree. Beautifully done, especially the note of hope at the end. <3
Well this was EPIC. I love the characters, and concept! We TOTALLY need more stories from this world.