Our heroes ran. With their hand still firmly gripped on each other they ran.

"Where are we going?" Eugene asked. They had already cleared the school and we're now in the street.

"To my house." Francis thought.

"Why there?" Asked Sophia.

"I've got the least family. There won't be anyone to bug us at my place. We can focus on the shield." Francis thought. The others agreed.

When they got to Francis's house they sat on her living room floor in a circle. Francis could still feel some vibrations on the outskirts of the shield so they were all focused on keeping up the barrier.

"I think we should stop puttin' up the shield at night." Eugene thought.

"What?! Why?" Sophia asked.

"We made the shield to protect our neighborhood but it ain't workin'." Eugene replied.

"It's workin'. There's no crime here at night and we block out the bad weather like now!" Francis replied.

"The whole point of the shield is not to stop crime and weather. The point is to keep our families safe. They aren't safe anymore. There's new people in town, too many new people." Eugene thought.

"I agree." Adam added. Francis was shocked. If she could have gasped inside her head she would have.

"For real? But the new people ain't criminals." Sophia thought.

"At this point I prefer criminals. A thief is a thief. If I got somethin' shiny and new then a thief will try to take. But as long as I keep my head down and hide my stuff from pryin' eyes, ain't no thief gonna bother me. But these new people... they wear suits and use fancy words. I don't know what their sayin' so I don't know what they want from me." Eugene thought.

"We can't just kick out the new people." Francis thought.

"I know that. That's why I'm sayin we stop the shield. These new people never came around when there were gunshots in the street and cars were gettin' jacked all the time. I say we show 'em what this neighborhood is really like." Eugene thought.

"The shield won't work without all four of us so if you boys won't do it then that's it." Francis thought. The earthquake vibrations stopped so Francis shook her hands out the grip of the others.

"I should get home. My mama will be worried." Eugene said.

"Me too." Sophia said. They both then left. Adam looked at Francis and gave her a big shrug. Then he left as well.

This is what I was the most afraid of. When I chose these four heroes I thought the powers would Brin them closer. I thought that by giving them powers that only worked in unison I could force them to become friends. It didn't work however. Instead of being friends they were nothing more than cooperative strangers. This wasn't where they needed to be to face their final obstacle.

The sun set and for the first time in a long time Francis was alone in her room. She heard the tap tap sound of rain against her window. The rain got continually heavier and at one point Francis thought it was going to tear a hole in the roof. A horrendously loud clap of thunder scared her out of bed. She cracked open her door to see if her mother was still awake. The sound of the TV filtered in threw the crack. It was the news.

"This is Susie Suzuki reporting from the south Florida neighborhood of Grandvale. It is a place that many have begun to call Safehaven as it has been the only safe haven from the unpredictable weather that has plagued the nation and the world. But as you can see around me, the magic that has kept this place safe has disappeared. A flash flood has suddenly taken over these street. Many who came to this place to take refuge were living on the streets. Now the flooding has forced them to seek higher ground...."

Francis closed her door to drown out the words of Susie Suzuki. She felt responsible for the hardships of the people on TV. After climbing back into her bed, Francis cried herself to sleep.

The next morning Francis felt horrible. Her head hurt, her eyes burned, and worst of all the carpet was wet. There was a squish with every footstep Francis took as she walked to the bathroom.

"Hurry and get dressed Francis. We have to get to school." Jennifer said.

"There's school today?" Francis asked as she let out a huge yawn. She assumed that school would be canceled due to the flooding.

"You don't have school but there's a town hall meetin' at the high school. Get dressed." Jennifer replied.

By the time Francis and her mother reached the high school there were a bunch of people there already. The meeting was taking place in the gymnasium.

A man stood on a podium at the front of the room and introduced himself as the mayor.

"I have some disturbing news to share." The mayor began. "News has come from Washington that states there is a meteor headed straight toward Earth. It will enter our atmosphere in the net six hours and once it hits it will mean the end of the world as we know it."

This announcement caused a panic in the crowd. People wanted to run. They wanted to hide. But there wasn't anywhere to go. The meteor would get you no matter where you hid. Someone shouted out for an explanation. They wanted to know why they were just hearing about the meteor now. Surely the meteor was detected when it was farther away.

"I can answer that!" A loud voice came from the back of the room. It was a man wearing large rimmed glasses and a long white coat. He was one of the scientists that initially descended on the neighborhood.

"I am Dr. Charles Mineu, an expert in astronomy and mineralogy. I was sent by the government to study the special properties of this area." The scientist said. There were confused murmurs in the crowd.

"None of you speak of it but I'm sure you're aware of it. There is no crime here at night. This is an area that was riddled with crime six months ago yet now there's nothing. More importantly the weather changes that have devastated the rest of the planet have left this little hamlet unscathed." Dr. Mineu continued.

Francis had a bad feeling about this. To be more specific, the feelings Francis got from this guy were bad. Some of the adults were already standing, the ones who panicked at the initial mention of the meteor. Francis stood up and hid among these adults.

"At first I thought it was a naturally occurring phenomenon so I checked the soil, the water, the air. It all came up clean. Then I realized the truth." The scientist was babbling and Francis was busy ducking behind the bigger bodies of different adults. She was trying to make her way to the other three heroes.

Eugene was the first one she found. She grabbed tightly onto him.

"We need to run." Francis thought.

"What?" Eugene asked, confused.

"Find the others and run!" She thought.

"After studying this area for some time now I have discovered one important fact. Whatever is happening here is far from natural." The scientist said. Francis and Eugene had already found Adam and Sophia.

"We need to run." Francis thought again. Just then the doors to the room flew open and men with guns filed in.

"The world is ending in a matter of hours unless I figure out what protects this town and how I can use it to protect the Earth. The president himself has given me full autonomy and power in order to make that happen. My armed friends are here to help me achieve my goal." The scientist continued. More men with more guns filed in.

"We really need to leave." Eugene thought.

"No one is getting out of this room until I find out what protects this neighborhood." The scientist's voice got deeper and more sinister.

"Do you all remember the empty lot with the teenagers?" Sophia thought. The others nodded.

"Think we could get out of here the same way?" Sophia asked.

"I think we'd better try." Adam thought.

"On the count of 3"

"1"

"2"

"3"

They ran. Adam took the lead, pushing through an entire line of men with machine guns to create a path to freedom. There were shouts from behind them but they didn't stop to hear what was being said, mostly because they feared being shot.

"Where are we going?" Eugene questioned.

"School, our school." Francis thought. And that's where they headed.

Now in the lead was Francis. She walked our heroes to the hallway that housed her locker.

"It started here. I think it should end here." Frances thought. She was right.

"Is this the end?" Eugene asked.

"Probably." Thought Adam.

"If those guys catch us we'll die. And if they don't catch us..." Sophia thought.

"We still die." Adam added.

"I think that scientist was right. We are the only ones who can protect the Earth." Francis thought.

"We've never pushed the shield that far. It might not work." Sophia thought.

"I'd rather try than die." Francis thought. No one could argue with that sentiment. They all decided to at least try.

"Hey Francis?"  Eugene thought.

"Yeah?" Francis thought.

"Do you know what it feels like to be hit by a space rock?" Eugene asked.

"No." Francis replied.

"Guess you gotta block out everything, huh?" Sophia thought.

"Yeah." Francis thought. If it were possible to think in a disappointed tone she would have.

"Great...let's do it." Eugene thought. He spread Francis's feelings to everyone else. Adam pushed the shield. He pushed it as far as he could possibly muster. It needed to cover places Adam had never been, placed he'd never heard of. It put a great amount of strain on him to do this.

"I'm gonna block it all out now." Francis announced. As she did so she felt the world moving away.

Eugene felt his feet go numb first. It wasn't painful. It was just as if they never existed. From the bottom up his entire body disappeared that way until he was nothing but consciousness. The same thing happened to the others. He could feel and hear and sense them around him but not on a physical plane. It was as if the four of them were now one being.

"I'm sorry guys. I don't know if I can bring us back from this one. It's like the time with the ball." Francis apologized.

"It's way too late for any of us to get out of it now." Adam thought.

"There's worse people to be trapped in magic jail with." Sophia thought.

They faded little by little. Each of their beings bonded to the others and they faded together.

Eventually the adults caught up to them but it didn't matter. Their powers had reached their final forms. When the armed soldiers found our heroes they tried to separate them. Sophia's personal shield was transferred to the others so the soldiers couldn't touch them.

The four of them, arms locked in what looked like a mini prayer circle, we're rooted into the hallway by Adam's strength. No one could move them.

Although the world was blocked out, Francis could still sense the strong emotions of those around her. The worry of their collective parents was easy for her to feel. Eugene was able to do the opposite. He too an emotion from inside of their newly joined form and pushed it out for those around to feel. This was how our heroes communicated to thir parents that they were ok.

I knew this was coming when I chose our heroes. From the second I formed myself into a heirloom locket I knew we would end here. I am secure in the choice I made of these heroes. This is the desired end.

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