“What’s up with her?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know. Okay, wait, I do know. She was all in a fit this morning and asked if that was us in the picture, and of course we told her no. But you don’t think she suspects, do you?”
The words “I told you so” were on the tip of Anna’s tongue, and she bit them back. “Even if she did, what has that got to do with school?”
“Teia, into the car, now!”
“I’ll call you later,” Teia said, running to climb into the car after her brother.
Teia and Lew didn’t come back to school for the rest of the day.
* * *
Teia called that afternoon, and Anna hid out in her bedroom to talk so no one would overhear.
“What happened?”
“Mom’s completely freaked out but she won’t say why,” Teia explained. “Something about Elmwood not being what it’s cracked up to be, how we’d be better off in public school—”
“But she was so excited when you got the scholarships,” Anna said.
“I know, and I don’t want to go to a different school! All my friends are at Elmwood! I’m thinking this isn’t about the picture in the paper—she found out something about Elmwood.”
“If this was about Elmwood, my mother would be freaking out.”
“Then I don’t know what it is. All we can do is play dumb until she cools down.”
She was right—her only other option was to tell their mother that they had powers. Who knew what would happen then? Celia and Arthur could handle their kids having powers. They expected it. But Ms. Baker?
“Maybe you should cool it with going out. Lay low for a while.”
“Hell, no,” Teia said, vehement. “She’s not going to stop us.”
“Maybe … what would she do if you just told her you have superpowers?”
“She would lock us up forever,” Teia stated. “After what happened to Dad. You weren’t totally wrong, we couldn’t help but think about him. But it felt … good. It felt right. But yeah, Mom would freak. She couldn’t actually stop us from going out. But she’d never talk to us again.”
That sounded about right, from Anna’s experiences with Ms. Baker. Not an optimal outcome.
Teia went on, “If Dad were still here, I’d tell him. He’d understand. Convince Mom, you know?” More than sad, even, she sounded regretful, imagining that other life where he was still alive.
“Yeah, I know. What are you going to do?”
“Keep doing what we’ve been doing. Can’t stop now.”
“If you could just be careful for the next week or so—”
“You be careful. You stay home twiddling your thumbs. That’s what your real power is, isn’t it?”
“I’m only trying to help—”
“I gotta go. Mom wants to have a family night. Bye.”
She’d already clicked off before Anna could reply.
* *
*