"How are we going to tell her?"

"What DO we tell her?"

"She'll figure it out on her own soon enough."

"Ellie?" A familiar voice cuts through the fog in my brain. 

"Hi, mama." I mutter under my breath. She laughs in relief. 

"Well, at least you remember. No brain damage."

"Why would I have brain damage?" I ask, finding it very funny. I start giggling. "That's stupid. I just got my powers taken away. No big deal."

Mom looks uneasy. "Er, what numbing did you give her?"

"Just some laughing gas."

"Oh. That wasn't the best option. It makes her loopy. We had her try to stab herself with a fork because she thought it'd be funny the first time she had laughing gas."

"Stab myself... HA!" I crack up. 

A doctor comes over and gives me a shot. The floaty, bubbly feeling I hadn't even noticed I'd had starts to seep out of me. After a few minutes, I stare at my mom.

"My powers..."

She ducks her head silently. 

I put both my hands up and try to summon the cold relief I've known for as long as I can remember. 

All I feel is a dead weight in my chest. 

"What happened? Does Ares have my powers? Why'd they explode?"

She raises a hand to stop my babbling. "Ares and Uma are in a magic-free prison. And we checked, Ares can't use the funnel flame thing to escape again. He only had Sera and Arson, and with how weak they both are now, he'd only be able to jump a few feet."

"Does he have---"

"No. He doesn't have your powers, Ellie."

"How?"

"Because they rejected him," Dad says, ducking into the room. 

I snort. "Rejected him?"

"Ares is a warrior. He didn't do his homework. Much like how your mother gave you her powers, he tried to take yours. But my powers---and your mom's---only work for the people close  to the original host. Ares is nowhere near your friend or family, so it rejected his body."

I grin. "Nice." Then it dawns on me. "Where'd they go, then?"

Dad shrugs. "We don't know yet. We can't find them."

"They have to have a host, though, or they'll dissipate." Mom says. "But that could take a few days, so we're good for now."

"What about Carlos and Dude? Are they okay?" I ask.

"Dude is running around, complaining how cold he is from the, quote, "stupid deathball explosion", but he's fine. Carlos is in the next room. He's still asleep."

My heart swoops in my chest. "Asleep, like, unconscious like knocked out, or coma like Sera?"

"Not in a coma." Dad says. "Regrettably."

"Dad!"

"What?"

"He saved my life back there! Twice!"

"Oh, points for that. But I still don't like him!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Mom huffs. "Hades, stop it! She's seventeen!"

"So?"

"Can I go see him?" I ask my mom, already getting up. The room sways a bit but steadies after a few seconds. I walk out of the room and down the hall, running my fingers through my hair to get it out of the ridiculous bun it'd been put up in. At least I'm not wearing a hospital gown. I'm still in jeans and a T-shirt, but my jacket has mysteriously disappeared. 

I open Carlos' door softly and see him lying in a hospital bed, fast asleep. Dude is next to him, licking his cheek. He sees me and his butt starts wagging with his tail.

"ELLIE!" he hops off the bed and bounds over to me, jumping into my arms and licking my face enthusiastically.

"Hi, Dude." I laugh, setting him down. He trots back over to Carlos and waits for me to pull a stool next to him. "How've you been doing? Do you remember what happened?"

"Well, my buddy here conked out before you did, you were awake but weirdly slurry or something when the doctors started waking up and found us. I tried licking him. No go."

"I don't need details. Did you see where my powers went?"

"Your powers? No, I went kinda blind for a sec after that big boom-boom."

I sigh. "Well, maybe Carlos will know."

"I'll try licking him again!"

"Dude, no, stop!" I yell, but it's too late. His slobbery tongue darts in and out as he resumes the licking of his master. Carlos' nose scrunches up and Dude backs away, wagging his tail expectantly. 

Carlos groans and a hand jumps to his head. "Ow...."

I tap his forehead with my finger. "You okay?"

He waves me off without opening his eyes. "Just peachy. Can I die now?"

"Ha, ha. It's a headache, you big baby." I say, leaning over and kissing his forehead before getting up and grabbing a few pills labeled "pain meds" and a cup of water. I check with a doctor and he says it's all right to give him some, so I head back in and hand him the cup.

"Thanks." he says, downing the pills and water. He shudders and sticks his tongue out. "Ugh. What is that taste? Tastes like the Isle food. Like garbage and dead stuff."

I laugh. "Shush. You're fine." I grab the water and put it away from him. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah. Ares took your powers, and everything exploded." Carlos looks up solemnly. "Oh. Ares took your powers."

"Funnily enough, he didn't. Nobody knows where they floated off to. But Ares' body rejected them. Or, they rejected him. Something like that."

Carlos laughs. "Nice. So, wait, nobody knows what happened to them?"

"Nope. We still have a couple days before the go poof and disappear, though, so I'm good."

He gives me a you-sad-little-thing look. "No, you're not."

I sigh. "No I'm not."

He smiles. "Don't worry. Things always have a way of working out. Remember the Isle?"

I snort. "Yeah, I was a popsicle."

"Ellsicle!"

"Oh, shut up."

We both laugh and a doctor comes in. "Ah, you're awake, Mr. De Vil!"

Carlos winces. "Uh, just Carlos."

"Yes, yes... I wish to take a few tests. May I?"

"Uh... sure?" Carlos says. I move out of the way while the doctor runs around doing whatever it is doctors do, and then he nods and walks out of the room. He beckons for me to follow him, so I wave goodbye to Carlos and follow.

"Miss... We found traces of your DNA in Mr. De Vil."

A snort escapes me. "Uh, what?"

He shows me his screen on the tablet and explains a bunch of science stuff that makes no sense to me. Then I hear Dude in the next room, talking about how dusty it is in the room. I leave the doctor and go back in just in time to watch Dude give an epic "AH-CHOO!" and shoots backward off the bed, barreling into my arms. I hold him upside down as he grins at me, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. 

"Uh.... Ellie?" I look up at Carlos, who has a giant snowball stuck to his forehead. 

"What the...?" I mutter, setting Dude down. He sneezes again and another snowball comes flying out of his nose, smacking against my leg. I swat it away before my pant leg can get too wet, and I pick Dude up again. 

"Dude, what do you feel right now?" I demand. I have to know... have to make sure...

"Uhhhhh, kinda cold. Like, really cold. Aaaaand... like I just drank a bunch of freezing water and I can feel it in my nose."

I set him back down. "Hold your paw out and think of something that makes you angry."

He sits back on his legs and holds a paw out, babbling something about Chad when his paw glows blue and an icicle shoots out and sticks into the ceiling. Before it can wear off, I grab Dude's muzzle and look closely at his eyes. 

They're glowing blue. 

I let go of Dude and step back, stumbling against the edge of Carlos' bed. Dude stands up again and looks up at the icicle. "How'd I do that? And what's with the snoseballs?"

"Snoseballs?"

"Snowballs from my nose."

I shake my head. "Okay, we are not calling them that. And... I think you got my powers."

Dude stops wagging his tail. "What? No! I'm sorry! How do I give them back?"

"I don't think you can." Carlos says, appearing next to me. "Did he get your dad's powers too?"

"I don't know." I say. "Dude, do you just feel cold, or is there this weird heavy feeling?"

"Actually, I've got this weird heavy feeling...." Carlos stops, staring at me. "Oh, no."

"Carlos, put your hand out like this," I put both my hands out, palms up, and he mimics me. "Now this is going to sound weird. But basically, reach inside you and pull out that heavy feeling, and channel it into your hands."

He gives me a this-is-so-stupid look but does as I say. I hold my breath, hoping against hope that I'm wrong. For a few minutes, nothing happens...

And then a tiny blue flame flickers to life on Carlos' right palm. 

He yelps and stumbles backward, shaking his hand up and down to put it out. My heart sinks to my feet. 

"You got my dad's powers."

Then something occurs to me.

"Oh, he's going to hate that."

___________________________________

Hope you guys enjoyed this newest chapter! 

Credit to BeautyBeastRose for the "snoesballs" word!

I just saw Ant-Man and the Wasp, and I'm dying inside. I HATE CLIFFHANGERS! (When I'm watching them. I love writing them, as you all know.)

MAKE MARVEL MOVIES FASTER! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME AFTER____,_____,____ HAPPENED AND YOU WONT TELL US WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO _______!!!!!

I hate not being able to spoil. 

I also just saw Incredibles 2, and it was SO worth the 14-year wait. EEK! Never would have suspected________as the villain!!!!!

(I'm not a spoiler. Tho I REALLY REALLY WANT TO!!!!)

Also---ALERT! I will not be on for the next week, so no updates for a week. I'm going to summer camp. Wish I could update there, but I can't. Sorry!

Okay. Enjoy! 

Also, who else has seen the video release of Uma (China A.M.) getting a cast of her face? Hmmmm?