...Chapter 7, Solar Power...

 

After we've finished lunch, we pile back into the jeep, a cooler full of easy to eat meals packed in case we don't make it back in time for dinner. We head for the cliffside waterfront, mom wanting to see if there's any reasonable place to get down. There are a lot more people on the streets at this point, but still not much traffic. As we're driving past a group of people at the edge of the open fields, mom gets Bethany to slow down. She leans out the window to greet them while we remain on watch.

"Betcha they don't have powers," Sawyer says, staring out the window at the group.

"No bet," Kaylie replies, her hand shoving Sawyer's leg. "We've only seen two people with powers today. And neither of them seemed to be half as good as ours."

"Cause they don't have mom," Bethany states, her hands tight on the wheel. "I swear she's more excited than worried."

Shifting next to me, Madison chuckles, "That's cause it's her dream come true. Transported to another world. Except with her family? How many times has mom said she'd love to have a new world to explore but she wouldn't want to leave us behind."

"Too many," I say, but there's a smile on my face as I say it. "But I doubt that's why we're not seeing powers. Maybe people just don't want to believe they're real so they're not using them?"

"Or they're more subtle. Maybe we just got flashy powers," Kaylie suggests, looking out the window at the man who's talking with mom. An older gentleman. And I say gentleman more from his bearing and polite speech than because of how he's dressed.

A hiss from Madison draws my attention to the ball of water over Sawyer's hand. But Sawyer keeps it small and it'd be hard to see from outside the jeep anyway. She floats it back and forth, looking at Kaylie with a smile that doesn't reach her beautiful hazel eyes as she says, "Yep. Real flashy."

Kaylie just rolls her eyes at this. "Soi, I bet you're going to be able to conjure entire walls of water once you get stronger."

There's a noticeable shift in Sawyer's weight as she shifts on my lap to look at her twin. "You think so?" Sawyer asks, her excitement obvious as she continues without giving Kaylie a chance to respond, "You're right. I've been so focused on what I can't do now, that I didn't think about how much I can grow. And all we need to do to grow is love our brother. Speaking of which, how much did you guys grow last night?"

My eyes drift towards mom, but she seems to still be locked in conversation with the guy outside. Mom's giving estimates on likely emergency response times, as if this is some kind of earthquake. And Sawyer's question is discrete. Complete opposite of this morning. So I check my Status, but I don't see any way to determine if anything's changed.

"My Body and Spirit have both progressed towards their next tier by about ten percent, and my Mind is up by eight," Kaylie responds.

"How can you tell?" I ask, turning toward my sister, who beams at me.

"Focus on the attributes," Kaylie says, giving me a peck on the cheek alongside a very smug smile.

Opening my status back up, I do as she says. "Three percent in Body and Spirit. Two in mind."

"Hmm. I've only gone up one in body," Madison says.

"That's one more than I've got," Bethany grumbles, glancing over her shoulder at us. "But I'm sure I'll get a few percent tomorrow. What're you at Sawyer?"

"Same as Darren. I guess cuddles are good for growth," even as she says that, she nuzzles into my shoulder. Then the conversation with the man cuts off as mom rolls up her window.

Mom looks back at us, her eyes sweeping over us as she motions Bethany to start driving. We're on the road for a minute before mom speaks. "It seems like they haven't seen any signs of magic or monsters. Everyone there was more worried about the internet and water being down."

"To be fair, water is going to be a problem," Bethany says as we get onto the connector to the highway. But we don't follow it down to the highway, driving along the overpass toward the solar farm instead. "We're up high, someone's going to have to build a pump once the cistern runs dry."

"Or I could conjure some," Sawyer suggests, a large blob of water forming over her hand. Unlike the small ball she conjured earlier, this one is bigger than my head, and very visible.

Shaking her head, mom smiles at Sawyer, "I'd rather not advertise what you kids can do. We're already going to be targeted. A fully functional homestead and my four beautiful daughters? No, we should find out what we can, then get back and fort up best we can. The next few days are going to be ugly."

As we're driving, Kaylie squeezes my hand, leaning close and whispering, "We should tell mom."

Sawyer's head swivels towards Kaylie, her eyes narrowed. But she only knows half of what Kaylie wants me to tell mom. So I can understand why she's worried. But I want to talk about it with my sisters first. We just haven't had the opportunity. The time mom spent talking to that guy was the closest to privacy we've had since I came down for breakfast this morning.

"We should all talk first," I whisper back. "It's a group decision."

Kaylie looks at me for what feels like hours but is probably only a few seconds before nodding. Then she kisses me on the cheek before nuzzling up against my side. A second later, I feel Madison nuzzle up against my other side.

"You kids okay back there?" mom suddenly asks, almost startling me out of enjoying the cuddles.

"Yeah," Kaylie replies quickly. "We were just talking earlier about how cuddles with Darren seem to make our stats go up quicker."

Mom laughs at that. "That's such a broken ability. Cuddling to get stronger. You kids are gonna be nothing but a big cuddle pile for the next few days at this rate."

"Hmm. Sounds nice," Madison says as I wrap my arm around her. "One brother sandwich."

The laughter stops, and at first, I think mom's upset about us cuddling so closely. But then I follow her gaze to the solar farm. Amazingly, it looks like most of the facility came with us. Which is great. What's not great is the giant lizard looming over the solar panels that's glowing like the sun.

I barely have time to notice it when a beam cuts through the front of the jeep, sending us flying in every direction.

Trying to process what's happening around me, whatever impact I might have felt is cushioned by the orb of water that ensconces me. It's only as the water drops away that I'm able to get any bearing on our situation. Me, Kaylie, Sawyer and Madison are all safely lying in a ditch, the back end of the jeep a dozen meters to our right. Another beam flashes overhead, aiming at something to our left. I hear swearing from Bethany. Her being healthy enough to swear, I take as a good sign as I check on the condition of my other sisters. They seem fine, so sending quick pulses of Rejuvenation through each of them, I chance a look over the lip of the ditch.

The giant solar raptor - which I dub GS-Raptor despite a name plate over its head that reads 'Giant Solar Omniraptor' - is slightly dimmer than it was when we first arrived. While I have my head popped up, it unleashes another ray of light, striking even further to our left. Glancing in that direction, I see a pink hoodie holding a pane of light, kneeling over something else. The GS-Raptor's beam strikes Bethany's pane of light but is deflected to the side. It does push Bethany back a half-step, but she quickly steps forward, retaking her stance. Which is when I realize what she's standing over.

Mom.

Ducking my head down, I quickly relay the situation to my sisters even as I dash along the ditch in Bethany's direction. Another two bursts light up the sky by the time we get close to their position. I curse at being so slow as I poke my head up. Bethany is only twenty feet from our ditch. Before I can come up with anything, another beam strikes her. This time, she doesn't maintain her footing, collapsing backward. I don't stop to think, jumping out of the ditch and running to her. I grab the shield of light lifting it up. Madison joins me right as I get it into position and another beam strikes at mom. Together, we're not even pushed back, though it gets uncomfortably warm.

"Take my leg," I tell Bethany, stretching one leg back toward her while pressing my other against mom's arm. Mom isn't moving. Or saying anything. Before I can worry about that, I feel Bethany's hand grab my leg. I start channelling Rejuvenation, but then another beam hits the shield. And I feel the ground shake. Combined, they're enough to shake me out of my channelling. So I start it again, gritting my teeth as another beam strikes the shield. But then Kaylie and Sawyer are there, grabbing mom and hauling her toward the ditch. Madison and I follow as Bethany scrambles backward.

A last beam cuts overhead as we finally retreat into the ditch.

"Shit," Bethany swears, pressing her hand against mom's neck. I know she's alive. I can feel that much through my ability. But she's taken a major blow to the head and has serious burns along half her body. I know I can heal her. But it's going to take time. Time we might not have.

"How close is it?" I ask while kneeling next to mom and focusing all my healing on her burns. I don't want to risk messing up healing head trauma during a battle.

"One sec," Bethany says, poking her head up behind her shield. "Shit, we need to run."

"How close?" I ask again, though I'm already slipping a shoulder under mom's arm. Madison again supports me, grabbing the other side without me having to ask, and I shoot her a nervous smile as we start running away from the stomping.

"Oh, I'd say about five seconds," Bethany states, pushing me to get me to move faster. Which I attempt to do, but the water in the bottom of the ditch is making it difficult, and I stumble almost bringing mom down with me.

"I can fix this. It'll be Soi easy," Sawyer says with a nervous chuckle. I don't have time to laugh at her pun, but even as she's speaking, she rips the water out of the ditch, throwing it behind us, leaving our path dry. We make it another dozen steps when another flash of light strikes the side of the ditch. Looking over my shoulder, I unconsciously stop running. Cause we can't move fast enough. It's only two steps behind us.

"Protect mom," I yell at Bethany as I scramble up the edge of the ditch. On the plus side, the GS-Raptor is no longer bright. It's barely glowing. Seems that it's been unleashing its stored power with every shot. Too bad it's still as tall as our house. I wave and shout at it, trying to draw its attention away from the others. To my chagrin, my effort works too well. Another blast smashes into my leg. I feel the pain for a second, but the pain fades as I start channelling Rejuvenation as I dive forward into the grass.

I hear someone scream my name, but it's impossible to discern who. I turn back to look in the raptor's direction determined to avoid being stepped on at the very least. Which is when the raptor seems to stumble, I watch as it comes thudding down beside me, it's gnashing teeth barely ten feet away. It's head turns toward me, eyes narrowed at me as if I had caused it's stumble. As we're staring at each other, a hand of magma emerges inside it's mouth, ripping into the GS-Raptor's face. And rips out it's tongue.

The GS-Raptor throws itself away, stumbling upward. But Madison's hand is still inside. It tries chomping down, only for a searing hiss to erupt along with a cloud of steam. It throws its head back in an inarticulate scream, but while it's doing that, Madison doesn't stop. Having dealt with the tongue, the hand punches a hole up and out through its eye, solidifying in the socket. Somehow, that doesn't seem to kill it. The GS-Raptor stumbles a few steps, but then roots shoot up, tripping it. When it falls into the ditch, a wave of water and grass cover it's face. It rolls and tries to stand, but my sisters are relentless, smothering it. But I can't afford to watch. Attempting to stand, I realize my leg isn't working properly. Looking down, I discover there's a good reason for that. My right foot is missing. A quick look around, finds the frayed boot in a nearby clump of grass. Grabbing my boot in one hand, I crawl back to the ditch. Bethany is still there, standing over mom.

"Hey," I say as I slide down the ditch. "Bring me to mom?"

It's only a dozen feet, but I'm feeling exhausted. Pretty sure my adrenaline is crashing... or something like that. The constant pulsing of Rejuvenation is taking away the pain at least. Bethany doesn't question me, walking over to help me over to mom. She sets me down next to mom, her face going white when I drop my boot and she notices it's bloody contents. Luckily she takes a few steps away before loosing her lunch.

The sounds of the GS-Raptor's thrashing stop as I concentrate on mom, cutting off my own healing now that I'm not pumping out massive amounts of blood. The pain is immediate, but I grit my teeth as I focus on mom's head. Much as I don't want her to have the burns when she wakes up, I get the feeling we should be moving. And it'll be a lot easier to do that if we don't have to carry mom around.

There isn't much I can do before I almost pass out though. Finally, I realize that my exhaustion might have to do with my continual use of my abilities.

"Is it dead?" I ask, looking over to where Madison and the twins are marching towards us. There are notifications, but I can't focus on them.

"Very," Kaylie replies with such vicious glee I almost don't recognize her. Then she sees my state and her face falls. Which is so much worse.

"Good," I say, flopping backwards. I need to heal mom, but I've got nothing left in the tank. "I just need... a minute..."

I swear I only close my eyes for a second, but when I open them, I'm laying on a bed in an unfamiliar building and the twins are snuggled up on either side of me. A fact I only know due to my Family Unit ability.

As I sit up, I look around the strange room. It looks like an office of some sort. And my bed is actually a mat of woven plants. On the other side of the room is another plant mat which mom is resting on top of.

While I'm still looking around, getting my bearings, I hear shuffling and turn to find Bethany and Madison stepping in through one of those cheap wooden doors mom always complains about. The ones in the local government's exclusivity contract.

"Oh good, you're up," Madison says, kneeling down and giving me a hug. Who is quickly joined by Bethany.

Then they break away as Madison pulls something from beneath my plant mat bed while Bethany turns away. Looking down, I realize it's my foot, still wrapped in the remains of my boot.

"Figured you might need this," Madison says, giving me an uneven smile. "Sorry I wasn't able to protect you."

I blink at her twice before reaching forward and flicking her in the nose. "You boob. You can't protect me when I'm being an idiot."

Bethany's giggle stops Madison's frown in it's infancy, causing her to smile with us as Madison says, "I can try."

"And I love you for that," I say, causing her smile to light up the room. Figuratively. Might be a problem if it was literal. Probably flowing magma and other such uncomfortableness. She hands me my foot-in-boot, and I take it, peeling my foot out of the boot while pulsing Purify over it. Thankfully, the ability takes hold, causing me to have one clean, though rather pale, foot.

"Uhm, can you?" I ask, awkwardly motioning toward the leg I have draped over Sawyer's sleeping form.

Madison intuits what I'm asking immediately and takes my foot, Bethany stepping away as Madison holds it against the stump of my leg. Upside down...

"Twerp," I say, sticking my tongue out at her. She grins up at me, returning the raspberry as she fixes the orientation. I instruct her to make minor adjustments based on the feeling I get while pulsing Rejuvenation down my leg. Then it's finally lined up perfectly. I can tell, because I almost pass out from exhaustion again. But the sudden spike of pain counteracts that. It also wakes the twins with my scream. Which causes another few moments of chaos.

But hey, my foot's attached.

Yay?

I lean back as the girls crowd around me. I'm on the receiving end of a glorious group hug before they break away. My attention returns to mom, but I try to sense my reserves. A minor success, since I'm able to tell what I have. "So, good news. My foot is back on. Bad news. It's feeling kinda weak. And I'm close to empty. Not as bad as earlier, since I'm still awake... but I'm gonna need time before I can heal mom."

At this, the girls look at each other. Then they all look to Bethany. She nods, kneeling down in front of me with a smile that sends all sorts of tingles up my spine, good and bad. "Kaylie mentioned that you have another ability. And that we needed to talk. I think it's time."

Even as I nod, I feel Kaylie take my hand, squeezing it in reassurance. I squeeze it back, taking a deep breath.

And then I describe my ability to my loving sisters.