As soon as Francis announced the storm was over, Sophia snatched her hands away from Francis and Eugene. Once disconnected, Francis and the others were back in the church.

The adults were huddled together in the room. Francis felt good, happy and healthy. Her mother looked scared which made Francis believe that she should be afraid as well. But she wasn't. After being connected to the other kids she felt calm. It was the opposite of how she felt every night since getting these powers. When she slept at night, away from the other heroes, she always woke up more tired than when she went to bed. Now, for the first time in a while, she felt refreshed.

"Mama I think the rain stopped." Francis said, tugging on her mother's shirt. She didn't wait for an answer. Francis felt impenetrable so she barged through the door and back into the chapel.

"Francis wait!" Her mom called after her but she was already running through the door. Birds chirped and the wind blew. It wasn't hurricane force winds however. It was the warm Florida breeze that Francis was used to. Looking through the broken window, Francis saw the sun shinning in between fluffy white clouds. It was more beautiful than any day recently.

She ran outside into the sun. The murmuring adult voices assured Francis that the others were close behind her.

"Let's go home!" Francis said as she turned to find her mother right behind her.

"Not so fast. We may not have water or power there." Jennifer said to her daughter.

"The power's workin' in the church. They got the praise music on high blast in there." Eugene said. He came bounding out of the church with a giggling child on his back.

"The water is workin' in the bathroom." Adam said to the shock of the others. This was the first time Francis had seen him initiate a conversation.

"He's right. The water's on. But that's the only good thing 'bout those bathrooms. They could use a good scrubbin'. If only I had my supplies." Sophia said with her arms crossed.

"Your friends seem to be just as excited as you, Francis. Well there isn't much damage 'round here so I guess we can head home." Jennifer stated. Francis skipped to the car while her mother followed.

They made it home. The place didn't look any worse for wear. Francis ran into the house and straight to her room. Jennifer moved much slower, checking for loose roof shingles or tree branches.

"The lights work and so does the water!" Francis yelled from the bathroom.

"That's good...Oh My God!" Jennifer exclaimed. Francis ran to the living room to see what her mother was screaming about.

The TV was on and Jennifer was standing in front of it with her hand covering her mouth. On the news there was a man in full rain gear trudging through flood water. The water rose to the level of the doorknobs on the houses. Some people were even in boats. A transformer blew as the newsman was talking and sparks flew. He mentioned the name of the town. It was only fifty miles away.

"How can it look so bad there but so nice here?" Jennifer asked. She walked over to a window and stared outside.

"Barely a leaf out of place." Jennifer said in an absent minded whisper. Francis knew why things weren't bad here. She and her friends had pushed the storm back. They had kept their neighborhood safe.

------------

School was canceled for the rest of the week. The administration had expected more damage from the storm so they preemptively gave the kids time off from school. With no school to go to, Francis woke up late. She would have kept sleeping except there was someone knocking loudly at her front door. Jennifer was already gone, the barbecue restaurant rarely gave days off, so Francis had to open the door.

"Can Francis come out to play?" Eugene's voice came through the door right as Francis opened it.

"What do you want?" Francis asked, unamused by his playful smirk.

"I want to get the team together. It's important." Eugene said. He was still smiling but only in his mouth, not his eyes.

"What's so important?"

"I want to wait until we're all together. Please come, you know I can't make you do it."

"You shouldn't make anyone do anything." Francis said as she walked out of the door and locked it behind her.

"Where are we going?" Francis asked as they walked down the street.

"To get Sophia and Adam." Eugene said. They had already reached Sophia's front door and Eugene was banging on it just like he had done on Francis's door.

Sophia came to the door with an expression on her face that said she shouldn't be messed with.

"My mama is sleepin'! She's in one of her moods and if she wakes up there will be hell to pay! Why are you bangin' on my door?" Sophia's yelling had more of a chance of waking her mother than the knocking, thought Francis. She didn't say anything though.

"She's sleepin'?" Eugene asked skeptically.

"Her mama works nights." Francis whispered. Her worries carried heavy yet necessary connotations.

"Shut up!" Sophia yelled. She wasn't exactly thrilled with her mother's line of work.

"Come with us!" Eugene said. He grabbed Sophia's wrist but she resisted.

"With you where? Are you gonna make me if I don't want to?" Sophia asked, her words burning with insult.

"I won't let him do that." Francis said, grabbing Sophia's other hand. The three of them were connected and the warm comfort was back. It wasn't as strong as when the four of them held hands but it still felt nice.

Sophia gave in, of her own free will, and the three walked toward Adam's house. Eugene didn't bang on Adam's door. He didn't need to. Adam was sitting on his front steps when they got there.

"You knew we were comin'?" Eugene asked with surprise.

"No." Adam said with an annoyed sigh.

"Then what are you doin' out here?" Eugene scratched his head in confusion.

"I'm here 'cuz it WAS the only place I could be ALONE." Adam sounded frustrated.

"I have somethin' big to talk about. Can we stay?" Eugene asked. Adam was silent. He had his arms crossed and he was looking away from the others.

"I brought somethin' for you. It's to say sorry for breakin' your pencil." Eugene said. He pulled a rolled up magazine out of his back pocket. Francis couldn't tell what it was.

"My mama works at an office. She's a secretary. She orders all the pens and paper and stuff for her boss." Eugene said. This caught Adam's attention. He was looking right at Eugene.

"She orders the stuff out of magazines like this. She said I could have this old one and I'm givin' it to you." Eugene finished. He held out the magazine toward Adam. Adam grabbed it hungrily.

"Pinwheel Products! They're my favorite office supplier!" Adam exclaimed. He flipped though the pages happily.

"Can we stay?" Eugene asked. Adam nodded fervently as he continued to flip through the book. Eugene sat on the ground and Francis sat next to him. Sophia walked up to Adam and gestured for him to scoot over.

"I'm not sittin' in the dirt." Sophia said as Adam scooted over. She sat next to him on the front steps.

"So what's this about?" Sophia asked as if she were the leader of this meeting.

"Someone got shot in front of my house last night." Eugene stated. There weren't any gasps or shocked expressions from the other kids. People got shot in their neighborhood all the time.

"People get shot around here all the time." Adam said, not looking up from his book once.

"Was it someone you knew?" Francis asked, sympathy filling up in her heart.

"No. That's the weird thing. I know all the gangs around here. My dad used to run this town." Eugene said. This garnered a gasp from Sophia.

"Is your dad Manny Lewis?" Sophia asked. Eugene nodded. All of the sympathy drained out of Francis's heart and was replaced with hatred.

"He's a murderer!" Francis yelled, standing to her feet in a rage.

"No he's a drug dealer." Eugene said. He looked up at Francis while still sitting on the ground. His face showed the look of someone who had said these words many times to many different people.

"The drugs he sells kill people!" Francis pointed accusingly at Eugene.

"Well he's in jail now." Eugene looked down in shame and picked at the rocks on the ground.

"Good! I hope he stays there for a long time!" Francis screamed. That was too far. Eugene jumped up from his seated position. In an instant he was in Francis's face.

"I'm tired of you bein' all high and mighty, Francis Brown!" Francis took a step back out of shock. He called her high and mighty. No one had ever said that about her before. Sophia was the one with the holier than thou attitude. Francis was the sweet, nice one.

"You act like I'm the worst person in the world! My dad's the worst and my powers are the worst!" Eugene exclaimed. He finally stood and Francis realized how much taller than her he was.

"I never said anythin' about your powers." Francis said, crossing her arms defensively.

"'Don't ever use your powers on her again! You shouldn't make anyone do anything. I won't let him use his powers on you.' Remember? You've said all those things to me. Sophia and Adam can do whatever they want but you get mad if I try to use my powers!"

"Sophia and Adam don't do bad things with their powers."

"Adam almost choked me to death over a pencil! Sophia is mean to you every day! The only reason she don't hurt anyone is cuz her powers can't!" Eugene was getting angrier by the second.

"You do bad things with your powers, makin' people do stuff they don't want to do." Sophia had never seen Francis so upset. It made her feel weird.

"Should we stop them?" Sophia whispered to Adam.

"Huh? What? Are y'all still here?" Adam asked as he looked up from his catalogue. He had a pen in his hand and was now circling his favorite items in the book. Sophia let out a frustrated sigh.

"I only did somethin' bad once! Since then I ain't done nothin' wrong. You ain't better! You know what everyone else is feelin'. You get in their heads without their permission!" Eugene screamed.

"I'm not the same! I can't control my powers! I'm not doin' it on purpose!" Francis yelled back. She was on the verge of tears.

"Oh ok! I get it! If I was out of control it would be OK! If I only accidentally changed people's feelin's it'd be all good! Is that it?" Eugene screamed. He seemed to be growing bigger with each breath he took, like he was a wild animal puffing himself up to scare off a predator.

"Hey now! What's there to fight about really? The sky is blue and the sun's shinin'! We just need to dust off these steps..." Sophia said as she stood up and pulled a cloth out of her pocket. She scrubbed at the steps, pushing Adam out of the way in the process. The steps were almost sparkling when she was done. "See! All good!"

Sophia seemed a little out of breath when she finished cleaning the steps but she had a bright smile on her face. She took tiny steps toward Francis and Eugene until she was standing between them.

"Sophia are you ok? I'm gettin' some vibes..." Francis asked. Sophia looked up at her as if something clicked on in her brain.

"Eugene is right. You shouldn't be in my head without my say so." Sophia replied to Francis with her usual sass. Eugene let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

"I didn't come here to fight. I wanted your help." Eugene said.

"Help with what?" Francis asked. She was curious but still apprehensive.

"Someone got shot outside my house. My mama lives there. My little sisters and brothers live there. When my dad was here no one would have dared to do that. Before he went to jail he left me in charge. I have to protect them. We kept everyone safe from the hurricane. Why can't we do the same with bullets?" Eugene asked in a voice that was more serious than Francis had ever heard him be.

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