The next morning felt strange.
Not bad.
Not dangerous.
Just strange.
The kind of feeling that sits in the back of your mind and refuses to leave.
Zeven woke before his alarm.
The room was silent.
Dark.
For several moments he remained lying in bed.
Listening.
A car passed outside.
Someone opened a gate three houses away.
A dog barked somewhere down the street.
Too far away.
Farther than he should have been able to hear.
Yet the sounds reached him clearly.
His eyes opened.
Again.
Every day it seemed to get stronger.
Zeven sat up slowly.
Running a hand through his hair.
The awakening wasn't disappearing.
If anything...
It was getting worse.
Or better.
He still wasn't sure which.
A vibration came from his phone.
Dak.
Of course.
He opened the message.
Dak:
"Meet at Matthew's house."
Zeven:
"Why?"
The response arrived instantly.
Dak:
"Important."
Zeven:
"What happened?"
Dak:
"I broke something."
A pause.
Another message.
Dak:
"Several things."
Zeven sighed.
That sounded about right.
Less than an hour later, all five boys were gathered inside Matthew's garage.
Dak stood in the middle of the room.
Arms crossed.
Trying very hard to look serious.
Nobody was buying it.
"What did you break?"
Matthew asked.
Dak pointed dramatically toward a basketball.
Silence.
More silence.
Then even more silence.
Ozias blinked.
"It's a basketball."
"I know."
"So what's the problem?"
Dak looked offended.
"The problem is what happened to it."
He picked it up.
Then squeezed.
The ball deformed instantly.
Not slightly.
Completely.
Like it had been crushed by a machine.
Everyone stared.
Dak slowly released it.
The basketball remained misshapen.
Silence filled the garage.
For once...
Dak wasn't smiling.
"Yeah."
He said quietly.
"That's what I thought."
Nobody laughed.
Because nobody knew how.
Matthew stepped forward.
Examining the ball.
"You did this?"
Dak nodded.
"Yesterday."
Another silence.
Then Kael spoke.
"Good."
Everyone looked at him.
Kael folded his arms.
"Because I have something too."
That got everyone's attention.
Especially Zeven's.
Kael told them everything.
The fight.
The shove.
The explosion.
The boys getting launched backward.
Nobody interrupted.
Nobody joked.
The atmosphere had changed.
Because this wasn't just Zeven anymore.
It was all of them.
Eventually Ozias spoke.
"I thought I was imagining things."
The others turned toward him.
He explained his memory.
The books.
The pages.
The impossible recall.
Then Matthew reluctantly shared his own experience.
The glass.
The vision.
The second of warning.
When he finished...
Nobody spoke.
The room became quiet.
Five boys.
Five awakenings.
Five impossible stories.
And for the first time...
None of them could pretend it was a coincidence.
Something was happening.
Something real.
Something bigger than any of them understood.
Dak broke the silence.
As usual.
"So..."
Everyone looked at him.
"Are we superheroes now?"
The garage exploded with laughter.
Even Matthew.
Even Zeven.
For a moment the tension vanished.
Then Zeven's smile faded.
Because he heard something.
A sound.
Outside.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Not approaching the house.
Standing across the street.
Watching.
His eyes moved toward the garage window.
Nobody was there.
Yet the feeling returned.
The same feeling from the forest.
Being watched.
And far away...
On the roof of a building...
A man wearing a long black coat lowered a pair of binoculars.
The Vanguard.
His gaze remained fixed on the house.
Five awakenings.
Interesting.
A faint smile appeared.
Then he disappeared into the morning crowd.
As if he had never been there.
The laughter slowly faded.
The garage became quiet once again.
Five boys.
Five awakenings.
Five impossible abilities.
And absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do next.
Dak broke the silence.
Again.
"I vote we test them."
"No."
Matthew answered instantly.
"Why not?"
"Because every time you have an idea, something gets destroyed."
Dak pointed at the crushed basketball.
"Exactly."
"That's not helping your argument."
"It helps mine."
Nobody knew how to respond to that.
An hour later they were standing in an abandoned clearing outside town.
Because despite all their complaints...
Everyone had agreed with Dak.
The place was empty.
Surrounded by trees.
Far away from roads and houses.
A perfect place to experiment.
Or cause problems.
Most likely both.
Dak went first.
Naturally.
He picked up a large rock.
A very large rock.
One that normally would've required two people to lift.
Dak grabbed it with one hand.
Then froze.
"So..."
Silence.
"So that's not normal."
"No."
Matthew replied.
Dak looked at the rock.
Then at the others.
Then back at the rock.
And threw it.
The boulder vanished into the distance.
A second later...
CRASH.
Birds ran from the trees.
Nobody spoke.
"What."
Dak whispered.
The others weren't doing much better.
Kael went next.
The force ability wasn't easy to control.
At first nothing happened.
Then he became frustrated.
The air exploded outward.
Leaves scattered.
Branches bent.
Dust flew everywhere.
Dak was thrown backward.
"HEY!"
Kael laughed.
"That one was intentional."
Ozias spent most of his test staring at books he had brought with him.
At first everyone mocked him.
Then he recited entire pages from memory.
Word for word.
The mocking stopped immediately.
Matthew's ability proved the strangest.
A coin.
That was all they used.
Dak tossed it into the air.
Matthew called heads.
Heads.
Again.
Heads.
Again.
Heads.
Again.
Heads.
Eventually Dak stopped throwing the coin.
"This is creepy."
Matthew agreed.
"It feels creepy."
Then all eyes turned toward Zeven.
Silence followed.
Because everyone wanted to see it.
The black lightning.
The first awakening.
The strongest one.
Zeven wasn't sure he wanted to.
The power still felt unpredictable.
Dangerous.
But eventually he stepped forward.
"What do I do?"
Dak pointed toward a dead tree.
"Hit that."
"That's your plan?"
"Yes."
"That's a terrible plan."
"Thank you."
Zeven sighed.
Then approached the tree.
The others backed away instinctively.
Nobody noticed.
Except Zeven.
His hand touched the bark.
Nothing happened.
Several seconds passed.
Dak opened his mouth.
Probably to say something stupid.
Then...
CRACK.
Black lightning exploded across the trunk.
The sound echoed through the clearing.
The tree split apart.
Completely.
A wave of energy surged through the air.
Everyone stumbled backward.
Silence followed.
The broken tree crashed to the ground.
BOOM.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because unlike the others...
This felt different.
Not just stronger.
Different.
The black lightning looked wrong.
Unnatural.
Alive.
Even Zeven felt it.
For a brief moment...
The darkness inside the lightning seemed to move.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then it vanished.
The clearing became silent once more.
Dak finally found his voice.
"Okay."
Nobody looked at him.
"Now we're definitely superheroes."
The others burst out laughing.
Even Zeven.
Yet unknown to them...
They weren't alone.
High above the clearing...
A figure stood atop a cliff.
Watching.
The Vanguard.
His expression remained unreadable.
Five awakenings.
In one group.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
For the first time since arriving on Earth...
The Vanguard stepped forward.
And began walking toward them.