20. Boot Camp
"Ah!" I cry, almost jumping off the couch in fright. "No! Stop it!" Nuh uh. That did not just happen. Maybe the pain from my nose is making me crazy or something. That's it.
It's real. What, you think I am faking this? My mum sighs at me.
What, no, it can't be real. This is not happening.
I can't believe you are denying this right now.
So... you can read my mind...
Yes, I am.
Can you prove it?
She groans, and I realise that it's probably at my stupidity. "Tim, I am reading your mind."
That's so... weird. No, not weird. I should have been expecting something like that. We live in a world with superpowers, after all. But it's just... embarrassing. I'm never gonna think the same around my mum again. I look carefully at her, and she tries not to laugh at me. Oh hell, she's reading all my thoughts right now, isn't she...
Mum rolls her eyes. "You are hilarious."
I grimace, my mind racing. How long has she been reading my mind for? Urrrgh, probably since I was born. Oh man, I can't believe some of the things I've thought around my mother. I cringe. Mum is probably used to people thinking all kinds of weird things, though. Yeah, like that makes it better. At least I know why she always smirks or rolls her eyes at me when I try to lie, though. Maybe I'm not such a bad liar after all. Maybe I'm actually a good liar, but...
Tim, you are a bad liar.
"Urrgh," I moan, grabbing the sides of my head. "I wish you wouldn't do that. It's freaky. Mum."
"What's 'freaky' about it? You can see somebody's anatomy if you want to, just by thought." I shrug and look at the bones in my hand, watching them move as I wiggle my fingers. "That's 'freaky' as well, but you don't think of it as freaky, do you?"
"I suppose not," I mumble, looking at my hand normally again. Mum gets up and walks towards the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" I ask.
"I'm making the dinner. Just because I admitted to you that I'm telepathic, doesn't mean I get to stop being your mother." She grabs some stuff from the fridge.
"Oh, right. But if you can read minds, wouldn't you have other superpowers too?" I'm trying to imagine my mum in a colourful suit, flying around and blasting things with her eyes. Maybe she is a supervillain, or maybe even a hero for another city, even though the latter is pretty unlikely. She can probably fly, as most supers can, but what would her other powers be?
"Yes, I do have other powers."
"What are they?"
"Maybe I'll tell you, another day."
"Awww man!" I cry. I'm about to press her for more, but then Amy walks into the room and jumps onto the couch beside me, turning on the TV. Luckily, I'm no longer on the big screen.
"Hey, loser." She grins at me. "What, practicing your Halloween costume early, are you?" I sigh, fingering the bandages around my nose.
I wake up the next morning, surrounded by the warm of my blankets. Ah, a Sunday. The best day of the week. I groggily open my eyes, to see an apple hurling right for my face. What, what? I put my hand over my face to shield myself and the apple smacks into it, bouncing off and falling onto the bed beside me.
Oh come on. It's a Sunday. Why? Can't I have at least have one Sunday, without someone disturbing my sleep?
Not a chance. Wait, who was that? A figure that looks suspiciously like my mother stands over the end of my bed and flings another apple at me. I actually manage to roll to the side and dodge it this time. Wait, it is my mother! And she's in my head... again. Well, she was always in my head, but- I dodge another apple.
"Awww, come on, Mum. How would you like it if I sneak attacked you in the morning?"
You are welcome to try. She flings another apple at me and I catch it, flinging it back.
"Also, can you please, please not do that weird inside my head thing?"
Nope, I want you to get used to it. If you plan on being a hero and taking on this city's villain infestation, you will have to get used to things like this. 'Freaky' things. She throws the apple back and I catch it easily, this time choosing to crush it in my hand. Juice squirts everywhere. Gross. You are cleaning that up, by the way, my mother adds, picking one of the apples off the floor and throwing it back at me.
"I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to you inside my head. Also," I say, catching another apple. "When will you stop throwing apples at me!?"
When you get out of bed and come downstairs.
"Can I get dressed first?" I fling the apple back and again she serves it back to me.
Do you think a supervillain is gonna wait for you to get dressed?
"Maybe, if I ask nicely?"
Not all villains are as nice as Captain Catastrophe. Another apple. I'm starting to feel seriously sorry for these apples now.
"What is your point, anyway?"
I told you, you are on house arrest until you learn to control your powers better.
"Yeah, and..."
Meaning, get up Tim. It's time to see what the limits of your powers are.
"Can I at least get dressed?" She rolls her eyes and walks out. I suppose that's a yes. Man, I hope I don't have to do this every morning. Knowing my luck, though...
Once dressed, I grab the less bruised looking apple off the floor and take a bite out of it. Who knows when that crazy mother of mine will let me eat next. I can't believe only yesterday, I thought she was a normal woman, looking after her two kids and running an occult shop. Okay, maybe the last bit isn't so normal. But it was normal, for her. I hope she doesn't start running the house like a boot camp or anything, now that she has gotten the idea of helping me 'control my powers'.
Boot camp? Mum smirks at me as I step down the last step into the shop.
"Please don't make me do sit-ups. Or run. Or any type of physical exercise." She laughs at the pleading tone in my voice.
"Exercise isn't a synonym for the word torture, you know." Mum's voice sounds weird spoken, after being in my head for so long.
"Whoa!" I say, holding my hand over my mouth in mock surprise. "She speaks, aloud!"
Your sister is at the top of the stairs.
Oh, whoops. Mum sighs. I turn, and Amy gives us a quizzing look.
"What are you mortals doing?" she asks, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Tim and I are just about to go pick up some supplies for the shop. You go have some breakfast, sweetie. We won't be any longer than an hour."
Amy shrugs and walks off. Well, that was easy. I turn back to mum and she smiles at me.
So, are you ready to begin?
Ready for what? Oh, I suppose we aren't going pick up supplies, are we?
Genius. Mum picks up a bag of apples off the shop's counter and offers me her hand. I raise an eyebrow.
"Should I be afraid to take this hand?"
I promise you it won't bite. I grab my mums hand and...
Nothing happens. I look around the shop, wondering if anything is supposed to look-
BAM! A surge of energy runs through me, freezing me in place. It's like I'm being shocked by hundreds of volts again, even though I'm pretty sure I'm now immune to electricity. What is going on? The world spins around my mother and me, turning into a kaleidoscope of colours. Oh hell, I think I'm gonna hurl. I don't know what this is, but suddenly great heights don't feel so scary anymore. I close my eyes until I feel everything start to return to normal around me and even then, I keep them shut.
Mum lets go of my hand and I lose my balance and fall over onto what feels like grass, opening my eyes to see a bright, blue sky, spread out in front of me. Feeling slightly nauseous, I try to get up but end up collapsing onto my back again.
"Did we just teleport?" I ask my mum.
"Yes."
"Teleporting isn't cool anymore." I grimace. "I think I'm gonna stick to flying." I manage to sit up and take a look around us. We are in the middle of some kind of grass playing field, the silhouette of the city on the horizon. A perfectly empty place to be doing... well, whatever my mum has in mind for a Sunday morning. I wish we slept in, or went on drives through the countryside, like sane people do.
"Maybe I should have warned you," says mum, offering me her hand. Nuh uh. I am not grabbing that thing again. I crawl to my feet, feeling static electricity in my fingers from the tele – I mean, terror-porting. Seriously. I'm gonna ask if I can fly home.
"I wish you would warn me. Next time, please. I'm gonna die of an early heart attack if you surprise me with something like that."
"Sorry." Mum picks an apple out of the bag, while I brush the grass off me. Damn apples.
So, I'm gonna throw this apple at you. Surprise, surprise. But instead of dodging it, catching it or deflecting it with your hand, you are gonna try to use your electricity – and only your electricity to deflect it.
"Okay..." I say, confused, but I hold out my palms to her anyway. She jogs back a few metres, before pitching the apple right for my face, so fast I barely have time to try and start to make any sort of electricity come from my hands. The apple hits me square in the forehead.
"Mum!" I cry, my head throbbing.
Tim, you were supposed to blast it!
"Sorry, I just need to warm up." Mum groans. "I have to let it charge first." I hold my palms out and feel the energy in my body, as it whirls around my veins. Drawing it all to my palms, I let it build up until it becomes an unstoppable force. Now!
Mum hurls the apple at me, and I release all the electricity at it. A massive lightning bolt of power blasts from my hands and arcs through the air, surrounding the apple. The energy fizzles out into vein like patterns, lighting up the area around us. For a second, I think it worked. My massive bolt of electricity vaporized the apple. But I see it continue through the air, before smacking me once again, in the forehead.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
