3.2
Part 2
Okay! Calm down... she is probably not Rune. I mean come on. One of the Empire's heavy hitters walking around all alone in a crapheap like Winslow? Also her dad worked at the docks. If she had ties like that they could have gotten a better job than that. The Empire all but owned this town.
Also her aura was tied to enchantment, not transmutation. Enchantment was mostly mental crap. Suggestions, compulsions, mental kill switches. Manipulating matter was transmutation's deal.
Well unless she had a second even stronger power she was keeping hidden in reserve.
I fought down a gulp.
"We've got to get out of here," Taylor stated.
I nodded. Right! I could try and figure out who I was dealing with later. This was more important. Who knew when I'd start going into scanning mode again?
How the hell were we going to get out of here?
A flash of insight hit me. "Mr. Gladly!" I raised my hand.
"Yes Mr. Underwood," he pointed in a semi playful manner.
I slapped my hand on my head in a 'I'm an idiot' motion. "I forgot some of my notes in my locker. Can I go get them?"
He looked at my desk, then back at me, sighing, "You need to be less forgetful Mr. Underwood."
Still he motioned me to leave, earning a breath of relief.
I grabbed my bag and got up, left the classroom and promptly found myself shaking like a leaf.
Holy crap that was close! I mean, more than close, I'd already botched things! Another parahuman knew I had powers. Taylor knew I had powers. She had leverage on me twice over. Crap! I mean... shit... what the hell was I supposed to do?
This... this kind of mess was how people ended up forced into gangs right? She had the leverage to pretty much destroy my life right now.
I gulped.
Okay calm down. She had that leverage but... she'd helped me right? So... probably not going to do that? Maybe? I mean she might just be trying to maintain it. If everyone knew I had powers she couldn't exactly hold it over my head.
Besides... I knew she had powers too. The leverage wasn't one way.
I did my best to try and force myself to stop shaking. Didn't work that well, but I at least got my breathing fully under control.
I needed to get out of here. They'd call home but...
Okay, fuck school. I had to get out of here. I needed to get these powers under control. Detect Magic wasn't even in the top ten of the flashiest powers I could manifest. If I stayed in public places like this before I could get a full handle on them I could kiss any attempt at keeping my identity secret goodbye.
...I needed to tell Todd.
"Fuck," I cursed while standing outside.
Then the door opened and my eyes went wide for a moment as I realized I'd just been standing outside not actually going to the locker like I was supposed to.
Only to feel a strange mixture of relief and tension as I recognized Taylor.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
"So..." I said slowly, "Looks like both of us have superpowers," I said as casually as I could.
She tensed.