Francis agreed with Eugene's sentiments. She wanted to be able to walk to the store or home from school without her mother worrying about her. Sophia also wanted to protect their city. Her mother went to work late at night and performed for some unsavory characters. She wanted to keep her mother safe.

They were going to Eugene's house. Adam was dragged along on the promise of more office supply catalogues. As they walked, Adam suddenly tapped Sophia on the shoulder.

"What?" Sophia asked, wrenching her shoulder away from you.

"Earlier when you stopped the fight between Francis and Eugene, it seemed like you'd done it before." Adam said.

"It's none of your business." Sophia said a little quieter. She looked ahead at Francis and Eugene to make sure they weren't listening. Those two were too busy ignoring each other to pay attention to Sophia and Adam.

"I was just sayin' you were good at breakin' up the fight." Adam replied. He shrugged his shoulders and stared at her blankly.

"I am good at it." Sophia said. Her voice saddened and she dropped her gaze down to the pavement. "But I'm good at everything." She added, washing all hints of negative emotion off of her face.

They reached Eugene's house where screeching and screaming could be heard.

"I think we should test the shield." Eugene said once he had the four of them in his room. Francis noted how packed the room was. The walls were covered with posters of basketball players. Stacks of comic books could be seen in every corner of the room and gym shoes were falling out of the closet.

"Test it how?" Francis asked skeptically.

"Billy!" Eugene yelled, grabbing Francis's and Adam's hands as he spoke. Francis shook out of Eugene's grasp, not wanting to hold his hand, and switched spots with Sophia. The four of them were now holding hands in a circle. A boy, about four years old, toddled into the room holding a baseball.

"Get ready everyone. I'll make us feel what Francis feels. Adam push the shield around us." Eugene thought. "Throw the ball!" He yelled. The toddler obliged and threw the ball at Eugene. It landed flush on Eugene's left kneecap. Eugene screamed out in pain. "I don't get it! Why didn't the shield work?"

"I don't know what to feel for or what to block." Francis thought.

"Block the ball!" Eugene thought with frustration.

"It's not that easy! I have to know the feeling!" Replied Francis.

"Haven't you ever been hit with a baseball!?" Asked Eugene.

"No!" Francis replied. Sophia let out an exasperated sigh in her mind.

"Just block out everythin' then." Sophia thought.

"Can you do that?" Eugene asked.

"I can try." Francis thought. Eugene sensed a shift in their collective mind as Francis worked. It was as if a concrete wall was being built on the outskirts of their collective consciousness. Adam felt Francis's grip tighten on his hand. Her grip got tighter and tighter until Adam couldn't distinguish her hand from his own. Sophia was experiencing a similar sensation.

"Throw the ball." Eugene said out loud to his brother. It seemed like he was struggling to get the words to come out. A giggle came from the toddler as he hurled the ball once more. This time the ball bounced off of a glimmering barrier that surrounded the four heroes.

"It worked!" Eugene thought excitedly. He tried to pull his hands away from the others to break the connection but he couldn't. It felt as if his arm seamlessly transformed into Adam's on one side and Sophia's on the other. Suddenly Eugene was frightened. He couldn't feel the floor beneath him. He couldn't hear his siblings screaming and yelling. He had no sense of the world around him. All there was for him was the inside of his mind and the presence of the other three minds connected to his.

"What's goin' on? Why can't I feel my feet or hands!?" Eugene panicked as he thought.

"It has to be cuz of Francis! She's blockin' out everythin'!" Sophia thought.

"I don't mind it." Adam added.

"Francis?" Eugene called to her. "Francis let us out!"

Eugene's screaming thought shocked Francis out of her concentration. She lowered the shield, allowing the others to break free.

"That was kind of scary." Sophia said, rubbing her hands together to make sure she could feel them again.

"But it worked." Eugene stated.

"So what if it worked!? I couldn't see or hear. I don't want to do it anymore." Sophia replied.

"I liked it." Adam added.

"It was warm and cozy wasn't it?" Francis asked.

"A warm and cozy jail is still a jail." Sophia said with her arms crossed.

"So that's it then. Without Sophia there is no shield. We can't protect anyone." Eugene said in a disappointed voice.

"You really won't do it again?" Francis asked to Sophia.

"I don't want to get stuck." Sophia replied.

"It won't happen again." Francis said.

"Are you sure?" Sophia asked.

"It'll be ok as long as I don't have to block out everything. If I just focus on one feelin' it's fine." Francis said.

"Don't you have anyone you want to protect?" Eugene asked almost desperately.

"My Mama works late at night. Sometimes she meets bad men. I don't want her to get hurt." Sophia admitted.

"Then we can make the shield again tonight!" Eugene said excitedly.

"That won't work." Francis said.

"Why not!?" Eugene whined.

"Cuz my Mama won't let me stay out all night." Francis replied.

"I can convince her." Eugene offered.

"I don't want her to be frozen in place like Sophia was." Francis replied.

"Is that why you're scared of my powers? Look I've learned since then. That happened to Sophia because I was tellin' her to do something she really didn't want to do. It won't happen if I suggest somethin' that your Mama is ok with." Eugene explained.

"Nothin' bad's gonna happen to her?" Francis asked.

"Nothin'." Eugene asserted.

"Ok." Francis finally agreed.

"Great! What about the rest of y'all? Do your parents need talkin' to?" Eugene asked.

"No. I can tell my Mama I'm sleepin' at Val's and tell Val I'm sleepin' at Mobi's. Then I'll come here." Adam said.

"My Mama works at night so I'm good." Sophia said.

"What about daddy?" Francis asked. Sophia dropped her head and avoided making eye contact.

"He leaves after I go to bed. I hear his car startin' up every night. But he always comes back the next mornin'." Sophia muttered. Francis didn't say anything in response. She didn't know what to say. Sophia was always cocky about her relationship with their father. This was the first time she seemed uncomfortable talking about it.

"Ok. Let's meet back here at seven. I'll pick you up, Francis." Eugene said.

-----------

At 6:45pm, there was a knock of Francis's front door. Francis slid quietly out of her bedroom as Jennifer opened the door.

"Hello Ms. Francis's mom. I'm Eugene. Can Francis come to my house for a sleepover?" Eugene said with a wide, toothy grin. Jennifer looked at him like he was insane.

"Listen, Eugene is it? There are so many reasons why the answer to that is no. It's very short notice. You're a boy. I don't know your parents!" Jennifer was getting riled up and it was worrying Francis.

"You want Francis to be safe." Eugene said, locking eyes with Jennifer.

"Of course." Jennifer said obstinately.

"She is the most safe at my house with her friends." Eugene stated.

"Is she?" Jennifer asked.

"You feel happy when Francis is safe." Eugene said.

"I do." Jennifer nodded as she spoke.

"You feel good about letting Francis sleep at my house where she will be safe." Eugene said as he stared intensely at Jennifer. They seemed to be locked in a staring contest for five full minutes. Finally Jennifer blinked.

"Don't forget your toothbrush, Sweetie." Jennifer said. She walked to the sink and began to wash dishes without a care in the world.

Francis had already packed a bag and hidden it under the kitchen table. She grabbed the bag and rushed out of the house before her mother could come to her senses.

"She'll be ok right?" Francis asked as they walked to Eugene's house.

"Yes I promise. I see you still don't trust me." Eugene replied.

"You know how your powers don't work on me?" Francis asked.

"Yeah." Eugene said.

"Well mine don't work on you either. I can't tell what you're feelin'. And if I can't feel what you feel then how can I know if you're lyin'?" Francis spoke as if she were revealing  a deep dark secret.

"You could just trust me." Eugene replied. He grabbed Francis's bag and threw it over his shoulder as he walked. Francis stopped in her tracks and stared angrily at Eugene.

"Why would I ever just trust you? Before all this stuff with our powers you were just some guy who said mean stuff to me in the hallway. You always thought you were all that and you treated girls like they were nothin'. You have to prove to me that you can be trusted." Francis said. She grabbed her bag back and carried it all the way to Eugene's house. Eugene was speechless as they walked. No one had ever been so blunt with him before and he wasn't sure how to respond.

Adam and Sophia were already in front of Eugene's house when Francis and Eugene arrived.

"Y'all head to my room.  I will talk to my mama." Eugene said as he unlocked the door for the others. Wilhelmina Lewis had an aggravated look on her face as three children that weren't her own traipsed through her sitting room. Before she could say anything, however, her own son was in her face smiling brightly.

Eugene's bedroom was on the other side of the house from the sitting room. As she walked there, Francis caught a few snippets of what Eugene was saying to his mother. He said something about his mother needing help babysitting the younger kids. He told her how good she felt about having Eugene's friends around to help her out. Of course she agreed. Out of all our heroes, Eugene had the greatest mastery of his powers.

"Where should we sleep?" Sophia asked once everyone was settled in Eugene's room.

"I don't know. I've never had girls in my room before." Eugene said. He reached out a hand to touch Sophia's face like he was a caveman seeing fire for the first time. He needed to touch it to know how it felt. Sophia smacked his hand away before it go too close.

"I brought a sleepin' bag." Adam said sluggishly. He spread out the sleeping bag on the ground near Eugene's bed.

"Me and Francis call dibs on the bed." Sophia said, climbing onto the matress.

"You're choosin' to share a bed with me?" Francis asked, shocked by what she just heard.

"Don't get excited. You're just the least sucky option." Sophia replied. Francis was not at all surprised by this response. She climbed into the bed next to her sister.

"Wait a second! Where am I supposed to sleep if you take my bed?" Eugene asked grumpily.

"Who cares?" Sophia asked snippily.

"Maybe on a blanket on the floor?" Francis suggested but in a tone that made it sound like she was asking.

"Fine." Eugene said in an aggravated tone as he pulled a blanket from the closet. "But we need to hold hands while we sleep." He added as he laid down.

Sophia held Francis's hand and Francis dangled her other hand off the bed so that Adam could grab it. Finally Adam and Eugene stretched their arms across the gap between them in order to clench hands.

"I will feel for people who are feelin' dark stuff. Those are the ones who hurt other people." Francis thought.

"I'll spread that feelin' to the rest of us." Eugene thought.

"Ah Ew! It's like walkin' through a cloud of your auntie's cigarette smoke. Is this how you always feel people's feelin's?" Sophia asked.

"Only the bad ones."  Francis replied.

"How far out am I pushin' the shield?" Adam asked.

"Same as for the hurricane." Francis answered.

"How do we know our powers will work while we sleep?" Sophia asked.

"We just have to trust that they will." Thought Francis.

"Oh so the powers get your trust?" Eugene thought sarcastically.

"Unlike some people in this room, the powers have never done me wrong." Francis thought.

"Burn." Thought Adam as he drifted to sleep.

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