“I’m so not going to fit in at this school,” Adam said.

  “Of course you will.” Alexis poured hot coffee into Adam’s mug. “You’re an Atlas, it’s in your blood to be special. This school was made for you.”

  She walked the coffee pot back over to the kitchen counter near the front of the jet’s interior. Outside the plane’s windows, dawn colored the clouds a peachy pink.

  “Then why didn’t you go to it?” Adam asked after taking a sip of his coffee.

  Alexis came over carrying her own steaming mug and sat in the cushy chair across from her younger brother. She was still dressed in purple pajama bottoms and a cotton shirt.

  “The Rosewell Academy didn’t exist when I was in high school, smarty. It was just built. And besides, I don’t have powers.”

  “Neither do I,” Adam grumbled.

  “That’s not true!” Alexis insisted. “You have powers. They might be… subtle, for now, but that’s why you go to school. To train them. Grandpa’s powers were subtle too, y’know. And he became one of the most famous adventurers of the last century!”

  “Hmph.”

  Adam’s “powers” had been the subject of much excited discussion for the past few months. An entire family half made up of super-scientists doing wild experiments, half made up of explorers touching idols in lost temples, and plain old middle child Adam was the one to spontaneously develop powers. He didn’t even have a compelling story of how he got them. He simply woke up one day, and his right eye was no longer its normal hazel. It was a bright, shiny white-blue. He thought it was some sort of weird joke at first. But it wasn’t a contact lens. His eye was just that color now. None of the family doctors (or doctors in the family) could make heads or tails of it.

  It was after a couple weeks that Adam got a “flash.” He was walking down the corridor of the science wing of his family’s compound, when his right eye began to feel hot in his skull. He had the sense that something was about to go wrong. He was right next to the lab of Alicia Atlas, his cousin, so he went in. He could see energy gathering in the air, but at the same time knew it was invisible to the naked eye. He dragged Alicia out of the lab despite her protests. A minute later, the entire lab collapsed into the micro-wormhole generator Alicia was working on.

  After that harrowing moment, his family had decided Adam had powers. Adam himself wasn’t so convinced. Whatever he had seen, or only convinced himself he had seen, had yet to be repeated. And now, instead of attending a private school in Beacon City like the rest of his family, he was being shipped off to the west coast to attend a newly-built “academy for superheroes.” A school he felt entirely unprepared for.

  After a few more minutes of sipping his drink, Adam’s wrist communicator started beeping. He put down his coffee and clicked the answer button.

  The face of his mother, Ada Atlas, appeared on screen. There was a small cut on her cheek, but other than that she didn’t look much worse for wear after two weeks of expedition. Her dark hair was done in braids that went past her khaki-covered shoulders. She smiled when she saw her son.

  “Adam! Up bright and early, I see! That’s good, you’ve got a big day ahead of you.”

  “Hi mom,” Adam answered.

  A distant rattle of gunshots could be heard on his mom’s end.

  “Everything okay where you are?” Adam asked.

  “Oh yeah! We’re fine! Exploring the buried ziggurats of the Golden Valley. Your father’s keeping the undead guardians at bay. I have to go back and help him in a second. I just wanted to call and say good luck on your first day of school! This is such an exciting opportunity! And remember, you’re representing the Atlas family there. We may not all have superpowers, but we do have an important legacy to uphold. I want you to really try and be a leader amongst your peers there, alright? Some of those kids I’m sure are gonna be coming from very difficult backgrounds, and I just want you to keep in mind your privilege and—”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  He cut her off. “Alright, I got it mom, I will be a paragon of virtue and justice and goodness in the world.”

  “Don’t you get sassy with me, young man! I have to go and help your father, but we’ll call you soon when we’re back at base camp. Tell your sister I love her, and I love you too.”

  “Love you mom!” Alexis called from her seat.

  “Get him there safe, Lex! I’m counting on you! Alrightloveyouboth, bye!”

  The communicator’s screen went dark.

  “See?” Alexis said. “Could be worse. Could be stuck in the middle of nowhere with mom and dad.”

  “You’d like that,” Adam said.

  “Yeah! I love adventures. But I know you’re more of a city kid.”

  That was a nice way to put it. Another way to put it was that Adam was never really drawn to either of the family’s vocations. He was smart enough, but the finer points of any of the super-sciences eluded him. He couldn’t even put together a build-at-home freeze ray kit designed by uncle Alfred by himself. As for exploration, he was equally hopeless. On a simple camping trip in Montana, he managed to get lost in an open field when he had to pee in the middle of the night. And then immediately got a cold when it rained on him. That was just one of many examples of how Adam was the opposite of a rugged trailblazer.

  Adam’s specialty, if he had to pick one, was probably working with people. He was a good pick for an Atlas to be present at a charity or public event. If someone needed to be handed a check with a smile, Adam was happy to do it. He could even sit in on Atlas Foundation board meetings. Whenever he got bored, he would just remind himself that the alternative was working with deadly, exotic materials or being attacked in deadly, exotic locales. He thought his entire family was crazy for preferring one of the latter.

  But of course, his “powers” had to come along and ruin it.

  The pamphlet for the Rosewell Academy rested on the side table attached to his seat. For probably the dozenth time since they took off, Adam picked it up and looked over it critically. The front cover showed the facade of a nice, new-looking school surrounded by woods. Standing in front of it were two teens, a boy and a girl, wearing colorful capes. Inside, there were pictures of the facilities and little blurbs. Dorms, a large cafeteria, state-of-the-art classrooms. There were vague promises made about students growing, learning, and finding their own inner heroes.

  “It’s really not gonna be that bad,” Alexis said.

  “Do you even remember how bad normal high school is?” Adam asked. “It’s gonna be like that, except the social pressure cranked up to 11. It’s gonna be all about how cool or lame your powers are, and I have the lamest powers of them all. I predicted an energy overload. Once.”

  “Right. Your first year of highschool was so hard,” Alexis teased. “You being a handsome, rich young man from an influential family. And now you’re transferring to a school where you’re still all those things, just now with superpowers.”

  “I’m not saying that, it’s just—”

  Adam’s wrist communicator beeped again. He looked down at it and hit answer.

  The screen became an image of Thalia Wild, Adam’s childhood friend. She was looking in a mirror, toweling off her damp reddish-brown hair. She wore a white undershirt, which showed off her toned arms and just a bit of her belly as she worked her hair. Her communicator must have been resting on the counter of her bathroom.

  Thalia looked down and locked eyes with Adam, smiling.

  “Hey Adam!”

  “Hey Thalia,” Adam said. “You getting ready?”

  “Yep! We’re already at a hotel in the city. Are you in the air?”

  “Yeah! This school has its own private air strip. How cool is that?”

  Alexis rolled her eyes at her brother’s sudden enthusiasm. Adam ignored her.

  “There’s a lot I’m excited for. I’m so glad you’re gonna be there too, Adam. It’ll be nice to have someone I’m not a complete stranger with. And then you and I can make a bunch more friends to hang out with! It won’t have to be just you and I doing everything by ourselves anymore.”

  Adam rubbed the back of his head.

  “Yeah…”

  Thalia put her towel down and flipped her hair.

  “Anyways, I just wanted to make sure everything was good with you. Save me a seat at orientation if you get there first. Atlas and Wild forever!”

  “Atlas and Wild forever!” Adam repeated the cheer.

  “Seeya.”

  The communicator went dark. Alexis smirked at her brother.

  “What?” Adam asked, already annoyed.

  “You two are so cute.”

  “Stop! I don’t want to hear it,” Adam said.

  Alexis just shook her head as she looked out the window.

  “You’ve had a long head start against all the other boys that are going to start noticing Ms. Wild once she’s out there. I suggest you use it before you lose it.”

  Adam’s face went hot as he shrunk in his seat.

  “It’s… not like that between us.”

  “I guarantee she’s thought about it being like that between you two.”

  “Nu-uh!” He thought about it for a moment. “…Why, did she say something?”

  Alexis just smiled at her brother.

  “Y’know, the Atlases and Wilds have been like family for generations. You two could finally make it official. Or, maybe a different super woman will sweep you off your feet. I guess we’ll see what happens.”

  Adam took a gulp of hot coffee.

  “Let’s just see if I can survive orientation first.”