“Hey.”

  Zoe had been staring out the window for the last thirty minutes. Ever wasn’t sure what she was looking at. As far as he could see, there wasn’t a cloud in the stretch of sky they were flying through. He nudged her.

  “Mmm?” She had a faraway look in her eyes and new smile lines at the corners of the mouth.

  “Are you alright? You haven’t said anything since we took off.”

  Her eyes wandered across a familiar path across his face before she looked down at his hand resting on his knee. She turned it over, tracing the lines across his palms.

  “I’ve been speaking a lot this week. Maybe not the most I’ve ever spoken, but definitely the most I’ve ever spoken to different species.”

  She pressed down on Ever’s pinky. “There was Krakatoa to start, then Isadora the emu, then Samson the Koala and his cuddly clan.” She paused for a moment, before pressing on Ever’s pointer finger, “Barney the sulfur-crested cockatoo and lastly,” she tapped the tip of his thumb, “Ezekiel the echidna.”

  She leaned in close to his ear, telling him the worst kept secret: “I could understand them all.”

  “I knew I wasn’t imagining things when I heard you understand and speak with Nika,” Ever said. “What I don’t understand is what the difference was between last week and this week.”

  “Sometimes there’s a period after the superpowers are awakened where it just takes time for them to kick in.” Zoe was a couple inches away from her boyfriend’s face, light flickering somewhere amongst her irises - or maybe that was the sunlight filtering in as the plane banked slightly.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Superpowers?” Ever asked.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “Like flying, shooting lasers out of your eyes, super strength, super speed.”

  “How about reaping souls?”

  “Definitely."

  “And talking to animals.”

  “Especially talking to animals.”

  An air hostess walked past with a trolley. He asked for a cup of tea while Zoe got herself a plastic cup of Coke. They sipped their beverages silently for a while.

  “Why do you think that you’re able to do it all of a sudden?” Ever asked.

  “What, talk to animals?” Zoe said. She downed the remaining drink and crushed the cup. “I mean, it’s obviously you.”

  “Me? How?”

  “My Prince Charming who can talk to animals walks into my life and he doesn’t think that it’s because of him that I can talk to animals?”

  “Is it because of us having sex?”

  “Oh my God again with the sex!” Zoe giggled, throwing her hand over his mouth before he could utter more nonsense. It was lucky that the guy sitting in the aisle seat was fast asleep.

  “Mother Nyx said it, not me.”

  “You literally just said it.”

  “Anyway,” Ever said. “I guess it will make working at the clinic a lot more interesting.”

  Zoe nodded, ending the conversation with a vague smile. She turned back to the window, where finally, some grey clouds came into view.