I winced as I opened my eyes, the bright sunlight making me close them again. I felt soft grass cushioning my body and it took me a while to register the sharp aches that ran through it every time I took a breath. There was a pressure on my chest making every breath I took send a jolt of pain through my lungs.

I groaned, trying to lift my head, wincing as my body protested. Why was I feeling a sense of deja vu?

Shuffling backward in an attempt to dislodge my limbs from the large sheet of metal covering me, I realised that something was horribly wrong.

Where was I? I remembered following the map to a rundown warehouse...

I saw a hand sticking out from under the same sheet of metal I was under and felt my body turn cold. Was there someone underneath? Or...? I shuddered, not wanting to consider that option.

My own legs were still trapped under the sheet but my hands were free. A push against the metal showed no avail. It was too heavy.

I glanced around and saw that there was no one there to witness my display of power. Good. I lifted my hands and felt the familiar rush of power pulse through my body.

There was a disconcerting screech of metal on metal as I tried to lift the sheet as gently as I could from on top of my body. I used my other hand to catch the other smaller pieces of metal and debris in mid air, before groaning under the weight.

I grunted, my sitting position horribly uncomfortable as I dropped the metal on the green grass beside me, wincing at the loud clang it made. Maybe it was because I was partially injured or maybe it was my sitting position, but my powers felt strained.

I panted, risking a glance towards where the hand had been. Breathing a sigh of relief when the hand was attached to a body, I pushed myself off the grass. I stepped over to the body, my eyes widening when I saw it was Addison. I felt panic consume me as a million thoughts ran through my brain, a mile a minute.

Why was she unconscious? Again? Was it my fault?

For some reason, I couldn't remember what happened in the warehouse. Speaking of warehouses... where were we?

I glanced around and caught sight of a pile of debris and what looked like the remains of a steel frame of a large building. A memory called to me, but it was just out of reach.

I frowned, turning back to Addison's unconscious form. Brushing some debris off her face, I used my powers to gently lift her out of the rest of the rubble before placing her on the grass. I assessed her condition and as far as I could tell, she would end up with only a few bruises causing me to let down my guard.

The sound of a stick snapping echoed to my ears and I whirled around, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw it was just Brandon and Caleb. An unreadable flashed across Brandon's face and I bit my lip as a sharp pain tore through my head.

That's right. They know about my powers now.

I felt a chill run down my spine as I stood up to face them.

A concerned expression flashed across Caleb's face as he glanced down at my leg.

"You're bleeding," he said, coming forward and crouching down beside my knee.

I glanced down and my eyes widened in surprise at the trail of blood dripping down from a cut on my thigh.

I hadn't even noticed it.

Wincing slightly when Caleb wrapped a gauze he seemingly materialised out of nowhere around my thigh, I caught Brandon's gaze. I watched as conflicting emotions flitted over his face before they faded and his expression cleared.

An awkward silence descended and I chewed on my lip.

"Let's head back to our camp and then we can talk," Brandon broke the silence, before turning on his heel and heading back towards the direction he came from.

Caleb glanced at Addison's unconscious form and then back at me with the raise of an eyebrow. I simply shrugged, walking over to Addison and pulling one of her arms over my shoulder. Caleb followed my lead and hefted her other arm, allowing her weight to be divided between the two of us.

I gave him a weak smile and followed Brandon's quickly disappearing form.

An image of the two black-clad men flashed before my eyes, causing me to stumble. I glanced at Addison's hand over my shoulder and saw rope burns on her wrists. Another glance back at the fallen warehouse showed no signs of movement.

Had they been crushed by the explosion? Would that be too much to ask?

I thought back to the incident almost a week ago that almost resulted in Brandon's death and the way they had disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

A shiver ran down my spine, and I quickened my pace.

Maybe that'd be too much to ask for after all.

~*~

I breathed a sigh of relief as the clearing that we had spent the night came into view. Brandon had turned back and offered to take my spot in holding Addison up, which meant I reached the campsite first.

A tuft of brown hair caught my eye and I was relieved to see Aiden had returned. With all that had happened that morning, the last thing I wanted was if anything had happened to Aiden as well.

I remembered our argument earlier and winced. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the shadows of the foliage and into the clearing. A rustle of leaves notified him of my presence and he turned around, eyes widening as if surprised to see me. Something unreadable flashed across his eyes before it gone, replaced with a blank expression.

I held my breath, expecting to feel the anger from earlier but I was surprised by his nonchalant acknowledgement.

"Oh. You're back," Aiden muttered, his voice flat, busying himself with tending to the campfire.

I let out a breath, hoping that bygones would be bygones but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

Maybe he's still mad?

I turned around at the rustle of leaves and saw Caleb and then Brandon help Addison through the foliage. Along the way, Addison had regained consciousness but it seemed that she had sprained her ankle. She shuffled across the grass, pain barely concealed on her face.

I glanced around quickly and spotted her sleeping bag still draped across the branch of a tree. The sight of the light blue material caused a niggling thought to rise above the others swimming in my head.

What did the men want with Addison?

I pulled the now dry sleeping bag down from the branch with the intention of letting Addison rest on it when a thought stopped me in my tracks.

Last night, Addison had slept in my sleeping bag; the black one. Had they mistaken her for me? I had only found the map after the sun had risen even though I had checked everywhere only a few hours before.

I felt guilt gnaw away in my stomach.

Had this incident been my fault again? Because of me?

"Levi! Could you bring Addison's sleeping bag over?" Caleb called breaking me out of my thoughts.

I glanced down at the blue fabric in my arms, not realising I had been clenching it in my fists. I unclenched my fists quickly and turned around.

"Oh yeah, I'm coming!"

I jogged over to where Addison stood, favouring her left leg and draped the fabric over the log. Addison leant on my shoulder as she lowered her injured ankle and sat awkwardly on the seat, exhaling heavily.

"I'm-"

"What was that back there?" Brandon interrupted, glancing at me with an expression that I couldn't decipher. "We saw you, twice."

I blinked, confused. What is he on about?

"What?" I croaked, as I glanced from Caleb to Aiden and then Addison. They stared back at me with mirrored expressions of confusion, but when I turned back to Brandon, he narrowed his eyes.

"Back at the warehouse, when it exploded. You-" he stopped and stared at me as if seeing me for the first time. "You lifted your hand and- a- a piece of metal flew over to shield you... and after when you cleared the debris and lifted Addison's body..."

He shook his head, training his eyes on mine. I was surprised to see the amount of emotion there, swirling in his coffee brown eyes and my words dried in my throat.

"You were like them-" he turned to glance at Caleb. "Like him. Like... a villain."

Caleb's eyes widened in understanding at the same time that I realised what had happened.

I felt horror rise up in my throat as I glanced at the expressions before me. My mouth turned dry as I locked eyes with Brandon, his imploring me to deny his statement. But I couldn't bring myself to say it.

Because it was true.

I was a villain.

This was what I deserved.

"... well that explains why..." Aiden glanced up suddenly, as if forgetting we were there. His face paled and he pushed his glasses further up his nose when we all stared at him.

I turned away from Aiden to catch Brandon openly staring at me.

"I..." I said on reflex before realising I had no idea what I wanted to say.

Brandon's expression hardened and I felt my heart sink. Why did it hurt so much when he looked at me like that?

I realised that Caleb hadn't said anything and it seemed to dawn on Brandon at the same time as well.

"You don't look surprised." Brandon accused, turning to Caleb. "You knew?"

Caleb raised his hands in defense, looking towards me for help.

"Oh! I get it now!" Addison exclaimed, making us all glance down at her as she splayed over the log. "Levi's just a late bloomer!"

She pulled me down beside her as she sat up on the log and swung an arm over my shoulder.

"She must have seen me in trouble and her power manifested! I've read about it in books!" Her eyes were glittering with excitement as if it was her birthday and Christmas at the same time.

I opened my mouth with the intention to rebut her, but didn't have the heart to tell her the truth.

That I was a villain. And that I was in no way deserving of her acceptance.

But Addison didn't seem to notice my melancholic mood as she clasped my hand in hers.

"This is so cool! My best friend is a Super!" She glanced at me again, admiration and maybe a hint of envy in her eyes. "So, what's your power? Is it like Caleb's?"

I hesitated with my answer, knowing Caleb was giving me looks from the corner of my eye. While he knew of my powers, he didn't know I was a villain and I wasn't sure if that made it better or worse.

Finally, after few moments of awkward silence, I lifted my hand. I took a deep breath, feeling the power course through my body and I focused it towards the edge of the sleeping bag. The corner lifted up and did a little wave before falling back onto the log unceremoniously.

I let out a breath and risked a glance up at my friends. The glittering in Addison's eyes hadn't changed but a twisted expression was painted on Brandon's.

"But if her powers had just manifested, then how come she knows how to control it so well?" I knew he was talking to Addison, yet Brandon's eyes were boring into mine.

I balked, cursing myself. Why hadn't I just pretended to be unstable with my powers? Or maybe pretended that I couldn't do it anymore? It wasn't unheard of; to suddenly develop powers and then not being able to do it again.

But Addison waved her hands as if brushing the idea away. "You know Levi. She's smart, skilled and knows taekwondo. Surely controlling powers would come easily to her too!"

She turned her glance to mine and I resisted the urge to grimace. Being the young age of three when my powers had manifested, it had created a large problem. I had been told that my powers had been unusually strong for someone so young so it was no surprise that I had difficulty controlling it.

But I just smiled weakly and shrugged. The twisted expression seemed to have dissipated from Brandon's face and Aiden remained silent, although even more so than usual.

For the upteenth time that day, an awkward silence descended upon the clearing and I had to fight the urge to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.

"Um, I don't know about you guys, but I don't think staying here is too safe." Caleb offered, before gesturing back towards the foliage. "I saw a car outside the warehouse... maybe we can somehow use it to get out of here."

"Then why did we come all the way back here?" Brandon grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and seeming like his old self again.

I shook my head. "Look, we came back so we could pack our stuff up and not leave Aiden behind. Caleb's right; we should get out of here."

Brandon looked like he wanted to say more but I continued.

"I'm sorry if this is giving you a lot of distress. I just want to find my father and we can go back home. Please."

I stared at my friends as they all gave me a soft smile, pushing my dark feeling away.

I would find my father, and then everything would be back the way it was before.

It would be ok.

Thanks for reading the latest chapter! I'm pleased to say that this chapter is at a length that I'm happy with! :D

So I have some sad news, I suppose. I probably won't be updating for around two weeks so you can expect an update on the 22nd (or maybe before if I feel like procrastinating).  

SpiderPrincess

Weeks-that-I-have-updated-on-schedule-Tally:
I I I I | I I I I | I I I I

(so sad that I won't reach fifteen... although I never thought I'd reach this far anyways :O)