Inversion Read online

  “Come any closer and I’ll break it,'' Carson warned. He was shocked by the words that were coming out of his mouth. He was even more shocked at the fact that he had learned how to take down the biggest bully in the school. Nevertheless he stood his ground.

  Matt kicked his leg out in a weak attempt to pull himself out of Carson’s grasp. He was right where Carson wanted. The thought of breaking Matt’s wrist crossed his mind. It would be too easy.

  Carson let go of Matt and let him push away. He wasn’t going to drop to his level. Carson spoke down to Matt as menacingly as he could.

  “Mess with me again and next time I will break it.”

  “Mr. Noble!”

  Carson pivoted towards the sound of his name. Everyone else in the courtyard did the same. Principal Mars took long strides across the grass. His face was twisted in a permanent scowl.

  Matt cried out dramatically. “Mr. Mars! Carson attacked me.”

  “Quiet,” he demanded. “Both of you in my office. Now!”

  Whispers followed both of them as they followed the principal.

  Mr. Mars wasted no time getting to the point once they were all seated in his office.

  “We have a zero tolerance policy for bullying here at this school.”

  Carson laughed. Mars’ head snapped in his direction.

  “Is there something you’d like to add?”

  Carson shook his head.

  “As I was saying, I’m not going to tolerate this behavior. You’re both suspended for three days. I will be notifying your parents.” He looked over at Matt. “Go see a nurse before you go.”

  Carson stole a glance at Matt. He was surprised to see how much blood had stained his shirt. He swallowed back his guilt. He didn’t care anymore.

  “I will have your teachers email you the assignments you will be missing. You are still responsible for the work. Any questions?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “Then you may go,'' Mars said, dismissing them.

  Matt didn’t need to be told twice. He was out of his seat and through the door before Carson could even move.

  “Carson,” Mars called out. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Carson pivoted to face him, his hand still grasping the doorknob.

  “What’s gotten into you,” he asked. “You haven’t even been back for an entire day and you’re already causing problems that I never thought I’d have to deal with from you.”

  Mr. Mars leaned forward in his chair, avoiding Carson’s gaze.

  “I know that you have just been through a very traumatic experience but it's not an excuse to act out this way. I will not allow you to lash out and injure other students.”

  “For your information, Mr. Mars, your school and its rules are a complete joke.”

  Mars’ eyebrows shot up.

  Carson straightened his back. He puffed his chest out slightly, trying to make himself look as big as he felt.

  “Matt and those other guys have been bullying me since before I even started coming here. I stayed quiet, for years, taking every beating they threw at me. I hoped that if I didn’t do or say anything then it would just stop. But the one time, the one freaking time, that I stand up for myself I get punished for it.”

  Carson tried to calm himself. His body was vibrating with energy. He couldn’t afford to let it out. He needed to keep control.

  “You guys always think that you’re helping but you’re only helping in the way that’s easiest for you.”

  Carson let go of the door and walked up to the desk. Mr. Mars just sat there, too stunned by Carson’s outburst to say anything.

  “I don’t need your help with Matt and I sure as hell don’t need your help with my dad. Stay out of my business.”

  Carson left, slamming the door behind him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  |||||

  CARSON EAGERLY WAITED ON the front steps of his house for Jacob and Abigail to show up. It wasn’t until he heard the sports car coming up the gravel driveway that he started to rethink his decision to tell them.

  “Hey,'' Jacob said, stepping out of the car. Abigail still looked as tired as she had at school.

  “What happened,” Jacob asked.

  “Matt was bullying me again so I broke his nose.”

  “No shit?”

  Carson nodded, a grin pulling at the edges of his mouth.

  “Aw,” Jacob said, wiping away a fake tear. “My little Carson’s growing into a real man.”

  “Whatever,” Carson said.

  Abigail stood behind Jacob, barely leaving any space between them.

  “What did you want to tell us,'' Jacob asked.

  Carson looked around. He didn’t like the feeling in his gut. He felt like someone was watching them.

  “Let's go for a walk,” Carson suggested.

  “Do we have to?” It was Abigail. Her voice was low and raspy.

  “It won’t be very far,'' he said. “Besides, this is important.”

  Together they made their way through the tree line and into the dense green forest. The dry ground crunched underneath their feet. The forest was alive with the snapping of twigs along and the soft late afternoon songs of birds. It was a beautiful setting and as much as Carson wanted to enjoy it he couldn’t. He could only think about what was coming next.

  Carson was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn’t noticed how deep into the forest they had gone.

  Jacob suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around.

  “Dude, I think we’ve gone far enough. What’s going on?”

  Carson froze. He tried to say something but the words didn’t come. What was the right way to tell your best friend that you have super powers?

  Rather than explaining, Carson kept walking.

  “Seriously Cars, stop.”

  Jacob grabbed him by the shoulders again and forced him to look at him.

  “You can tell us anything.”

  “But--.”

  “Anything,” Jacob emphasized.

  Carson looked back and forth between them. The forest no longer felt peaceful to him. He still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

  Carson took a deep breath.

  “Ever since I woke up from my coma I’ve been ...different.”

  Abigail’s head snapped up. The tiredness in her eyes was replaced with a look of curiosity.

  “Different how,” she asked.

  Carson swallowed hard. This was it. There would be no going back.

  “I have superpowers.”

  Carson braced himself for their laughter. Abigail was the only one who made a sound, muttering something under her breath. Something that he couldn’t hear.

  “What did you say,” he asked her.

  Abigail stepped in front of Jacob.

  “I said, you're not the only one.” Her smile stretched across her face. She stood straighter, weeks of burden disappearing in seconds.

  “What?” Carson didn’t understand what she was saying.

  Abigail and Jacob looked at each other and laughed.

  “You aren’t the only one with superpowers,” Abigail said again. She brushed her hand on Jacob’s shoulder. “Jacob and I have them too.”

  “You have powers too?”

  “Yes,” they said in unison. No matter how many times he asked or how many times they said yes it still wasn’t registering. There were so many questions he wanted to ask.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Abigail answered for both of them. “We didn’t know if we were the only ones or not. It’s not like we could go around asking people if they got superpowers or not. And even you were debating whether or not you were going to tell us.”

  Carson couldn’t argue. She made a valid point. It was exactly the same reason why he didn’t tell them. The possibility of them having powers as well never even crossed his mind. Finding that they did was shockin
g to say the least. Comforting, but shocking.

  “So what exactly can you do,” Carson asked.

  Abigail and Jacob looked at each other excitedly.

  “You go first,'' she said to Jacob.

  “Alright,” Jacob said, rubbing his hands together. He swung his arms around him, stretching dramatically.

  He let out a large breath and held his hands up towards Carson.

  “Stand back and watch the magic.”

  Jacob’s feet lifted slowly off the ground. He didn’t stop rising until he was several feet above their heads. Carson couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “You can fly?”

  Jacob winked down at him.

  “It doesn’t just stop with this.”

  In one fluid motion Jacob slammed his hands against his sides and took off into the darkening sky like a rocket. He was nothing more than a blur of red and gold as he flew by.

  Just as quickly as he had taken off Jacob came speeding back down to earth.

  “Whatchya think,'' he asked, out of breath.

  Carson was speechless.

  Jacob laughed and nudged Abigail softly with his elbow. “Show him what you got.”

  For the first time all day Abigail smiled. She pulled the sleeves of her pink and white striped sweater up to her elbows. Abigail shivered, a chill traveling down her spine and into her arms. The air around her came alive with static. It tasted like burnt copper. A cold wind kicked up around them. In a matter of seconds what was left of the sunlight was blotted out. Large black clouds formed above the forest. Lightning flashed across the sky, thunder following behind it. Just before the clouds were able to let go of the tremendous amount of water they contained the skies turned back to blue, the clouds dissolving like smoke.

  Carson watched everything happening in pure amazement. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He looked down at his own hands. His powers seemed so small compared to theirs.

  “How have you guys gotten to be so good at this,” he asked.

  “We’ve had a lot of time to practice,” Jacob said. He lifted himself up into the air again.

  “Wait. When did you guys even figure out you had powers?”

  “As soon as we got home from the hospital. Like three days after the accident,” Abigail answered. Carson looked back down at his hands. It hurt to know that he wasn’t as special as he thought he was.

  Jacob landed. “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Aren’t you going to show us what you can do?”

  “Oh, right,” Carson said.

  He clawed through the damp soil and pulled out a small handful of loose stones.

  “Watch,” he said as he stretched out his hand.

  The rocks he held levitated over the center of his palm. He shut out the world around him. The soothing sound of the wind moving through the trees faded into silence. There was nothing but him and the power he could feel. Carson opened his eyes to see the floating rocks spinning around each other.

  “Sweet!” Jacob’s loud voice caused him to lose his concentration. The stones fell lifelessly back onto his palm.

  “Is that all you can do?”

  Carson scoffed. “I haven’t had nearly as much time to practice as you guys. I literally just found out about this yesterday.”

  “Well it's a good thing your dad was into rocks then, Jacob said. “Your house is full of them.”

  “It’s strange but ever since I started using these powers I’ve felt. . .I don’t know.”

  “Connected?”

  Carson looked at Abigail and nodded in agreement.

  “I know it's silly but I feel so small now.”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Abigail said. “I can feel it too.”

  Carson reached out with his mind. The stones lifted into the air for a few seconds before falling again.

  “You’ll get better,'' Jacob said. “All we need to do is train.”

  Carson laughed. “Train? What are we? Superheroes?”

  “Basically.”

  “Were not superheroes,” Abigail quickly interjected. She didn’t need Jacob’s imagination running rampant, especially when they didn’t know just how far they could push their powers.

  Jacob continued, getting more excited as he spoke.

  “Not yet, but if we train enough and learn and grow our powers then we will be.”

  “There’s no such thing as superheroes.”

  Jacob lifted off the ground again. He floated in place with his arms crossed across his chest, a look of determination burning behind his eyes.

  “What do you call this then?”

  “Just because we have powers doesn’t mean we should go around town fighting crime.”

  Carson listened to them argue back and forth. He used his powers to feel the world around him. Carson tuned out their voices and tried to picture what his future had in store for him. So much had changed in such a small amount of time. How exactly did these powers factor into everything? He was so uncertain about enough already. This just added a new problem into the mix.

  “He’s right,” Carson said suddenly.

  Abigail spun around so fast it nearly gave her whiplash.

  “Jacob’s right. We could be superheroes.”

  Abigail shook her head, her hair bouncing around her shoulders. “Don’t encourage him. We have other things we need to be worrying about.”

  “Listen,” Carson said. “What if we got these powers for a reason? We have the chance to make the world a better place. Don’t you think it's sort of our responsibility now?”

  Abigail rolled her eyes at the cliche.

  Carson thought of an example. “What if there was a storm coming? Like a really bad one that could kill a lot of people. You would be able to, like, deflect it or make it disappear or whatever. Think about all the lives we could save.”

  Hearing it being said out loud strengthened Carson’s resolve.

  Abigail didn’t like the idea. In fact, she hated it. It was too much of a risk to play superhero.

  “I think we have the potential to help people. We should at least try,” Carson added.

  Carson looked back and forth between them, waiting for a response.

  Jacob was the first to speak. “I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. Plus it was my idea anyways.”

  Abigail held out her hand, lifting a finger as she listed off the reasons why it was a bad idea.

  “First, what are we even going to do? It's not like the town is in need of a superhero. Two, it's too risky. We might attract the attention of the FBI or whoever if someone figures out we have powers. And three, graduation is coming up. I don’t know about you guys but I have way too much to do before then to be trying to save the world.”

  “If nothing happens then fine,'' Jacob said. “I just think that we should at least train and learn our powers so that if the time comes then we know how to use them and we won’t be caught off guard.”

  Carson and Jacob eagerly watched her as she thought over their words.

  “Fine,” she said, throwing her arms up.

  “Fine. We can play superheroes if you want.”

  Abigail poked a finger into Jacob’s chest.

  “But don’t come crying to me when one of you gets hurt.”

  Jacob cheered and took off into the sky.

  “Don’t worry Abigail,'' Carson said as they sat watching Jacob soar above them.

  “I doubt we’re going to ever need to use our powers anyways. It’s not like anything bad happens in this town.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  |||||

  COLD. EVERYTHING WAS SO cold. It was impossible to move or speak. There was nothing but the cold. At first he thought he had gone blind. When he felt his eyelids pull back for the first time since being swallowed by the fire all he could see was pure darkness. It wasn’t long after that he realized that whatever predicament he was in was much worse than he could ever
imagine.

  Alone with nothing but his thoughts, he started to go mad. He tried to think of things that made him happy; fresh, warm food that he used to have at Thanksgiving, the final note being played on a perfect piano piece, Carson.

  Despite not knowing what was going on and not being able to move it was his thoughts alone that kept him sane. But only for a while.

  He couldn’t tell exactly when the voices started. One by one their cries for help popped into his head until there were hundreds, thousands of voices talking all at once. He was helpless as their cries tore through him.

  Without warning there was a flash of light, followed by the incredibly loud sound of thunder. The darkness that filled his existence faded, giving way to a room that was softly lit with moonlight. Nick laid on the hard floor, staring up through the same hole that he had fallen through months ago. Nick looked around the room. Pale white light reflected off of several of the different metal surfaces. It was strange. The paralyzing darkness was gone but the feeling of bitter cold still clung to his skin. Nick stood up. His bones cracked and popped as he moved. Pain surged through every inch of his body. Nick nearly fell but managed to catch himself on a piece of warped steel. His legs were weak and wobbly.

  The voices in his head screamed along with his pain.

  “Stop,” he groaned. He didn’t recognize the sound of his own voice.

  The voices didn’t listen.

  “I said STOP!” In a burst of rage Nick picked up a shard of metal and threw it across the room. The metal slammed into a pile of wood, dislodging it and creating a landslide of debris. In the middle of the landslide sat the charred, twisted metal remains of the God Complex. Nick reached for it. His body reacted to touching it, his veins glowing with a blue light. The voices in his head reached a crescendo. He looked it over, inspecting the holes and burn marks that dotted it's surface.

  ***

  It had been a long exhausting day for Lily. She couldn’t count the number of times she had wanted to drop everything, walk out, and not stop until she was free of it all. The only thing on her mind was getting back to her mom’s house and climbing into her comfortable bed. Lily rubbed her hands as she walked. She was already regretting picking up extra shifts at the campus cafeteria. The weather was nice however, something that helped Lily to relax a little.