I can't wait to re-welcome readers into the world of the Liwayway City Superhumans.
With only 5 days left before Love and Justice releases, I wanted to share a preview with CHAPTER 1 - KARLA here on my Substack.
Love and Justice is releasing this May 21, 2025!
In the meantime, stay tuned on my IG for New Heroes content for the week to come!
(Scroll down to read the FIRST CHAPTER right now!)
CHAPTER 1 - KARLA
WHEN SHE WAS 12 YEARS OLD, SOMEONE ONCE ASKED Karla Silang whether she ever dreamed of becoming a Superhero. She wasn’t sure whether it was another kid or a teacher for some creative essay assignment, but she remembered the drawings she’d made.
She drew her imagined Superhero debut as a sidekick to the one and only Maya Girl of the Organization’s Superheroes. She’d wear something bright orange to go with Maya’s original dark reds, creams, and brown costume, while still having her brand. She’d have a cape that would make her look like a fledgling bird, ready to fly along and learn from the best. Karla had spent hours upon hours debating with herself which kind of power best suited her personality and how it could work in tandem with MG. A silly daydream.
Kids like Karla, the kind who a homeroom teacher once described on a report card as ‘un-impressionable on her own and easily distracted’, weren’t the ones who developed extraordinary abilities. No one would think to choose her in a crowded room, much less put her next to the Maya Girl.
Maybe whoever asked should have just asked, 'Where do you see yourself 5 years later?'
She was sure the answer would have never been close to what it was right now: Karla trudging down a grassy campus sports field, in the middle of a dewy Saturday morning, followed by a small group of excited super-powered teens. Oh, and leading them just so happened to be the very superhero she'd glimpsed all those years ago and had idolized and adored ever since. No big deal.
Except, very big deal.
“I once read in an interview in Tala-Girls Magazine that Maya Girl does early morning sprints around the Hero Center every day to pump up her body, because you never know when the city would need saving and she needs to be prepared,” Karla whispered, or at least hoped she whispered, tugging onto Leila's sleeve as they followed behind Conrad and Maya Girl. Cass, Robbie, and Joe were tailing not far behind.
“Don’t forget to breathe.” Leila snorted, lightly knocking the side of Karla’s head as they lingered to catch their breath by a large tree at the edge of the field. “I can't believe half the random information you have stored in that fangirl brain of yours.”
Karla took it as amusement and shrugged. It was too late to control that side of her as her hands itched for the sketchbook in her bag. Her head practically buzzed with all the questions she wanted to ask, but she needed restraint. Maya Girl was one of the more serious Superheroes, and the last thing she needed was to scare her away with her dating theories and secret fanfiction. Either way, if her stammering wasn’t enough, the awkward grin would surely give her giddiness away. Today was going to be great!
The only thing that gave Karla pause was the fact that Blue Team was one member short for this 'Test Run', as Maya Girl called it.
Karla made sure to glance at the back of the school chapel behind them and the side of the parking lot just in case he suddenly appeared without her noticing.
“I'm just excited,” she said, probably for the 5th time today, and turned her attention back forward where the tall mid-20s Superhuman was discussing something with the Junior Division's senior head. “Come on! We can’t keep Maya Girl waiting!”
“I've timed her ability to copy to at least 20 to 30 minutes. Less if she's tired.” Kuya Conrad relayed the information about Karla and her powers as if she weren't there herself. But as he regarded her with a quirk of an eyebrow, she knew that his words weren't meant to speak over her own experience, just stating a fact.
“Unless you have something more to add?” he said, too professional that it didn't seem to match the funny black statement shirt he had on that said: “Choose Your Fighter”. Underneath the text was a pixel art of the curly-haired hero, Engkanto, with a sword. It was part of the official Organization Superhero merch that Karla always wanted, but it sold out.
“Nothing, Kuya Conrad! Sorry!” Karla said, realizing too late to stop herself. “I mean, Conrad, Sir. I mean, Conrad only!”
Conrad ran a casual hand over his hair, which had recently been styled to part in the middle with strands falling predominantly over one side of his forehead. He acted as if his eye didn’t just twitch in mild discomfort at her accidentally calling him ‘big brother’ after he explicitly told everyone not to. She tried her best, but she couldn’t help calling him ‘Kuya’ sometimes in her head. He was too brotherly, and adding ‘Kuya’ made him seem less intimidating.
“Sorry.”
“Do you always feel the need to say sorry?”
Karla was thoroughly distracted by the way her idol turned to look at her. Maya Girl’s smile had a warmth that could speed up the growth of a seed in a kid’s science project.
It took some getting used to looking at Maya Girl without the mask. For some reason, the Superhero wanted to work with Karla and Junior Division as herself. Without all the costumes. The mask was supposed to completely distort the way most people see and have seen Maya Girl for years that if anyone passed her on the street without them, they wouldn’t even do a double-take. At least, that’s how Ms. Marica and the other Junior Division kids explained it. Yet, somehow, standing before her and hearing her voice, Karla could feel the familiarity and was assured that this was her.
This was her hero.
“Yes, ma’am. I mean, no, ma’am. Not always.”
“20 minutes is enough to get the gist of the basics,” Maya Girl said, her powerful hands on her hips. “Anyway, if what your leader and the reports say about your powers is true, we can try you copying just the one ability first.”
“Yes, Ma'am. I can copy properly if someone’s using it, Ma’am.”
“You don't have to call me ‘Ma'am’, you know.” She frowned, and Karla's heart plummeted.
“Sorry, Ms. Maya!”
“Nadia. My name is Nadia,” she said, placing a strong grip on Karla's shoulders and shaking her playfully. Karla wanted to squeal. Everything’s fine! Maya Girl’s hand is on my shoulder! “Fine. ‘Ate’ Nadia. I guess I am that old.”
We’re basically like sisters now! Big sis, Maya Girl! Karla thought, but what she said was, “Nah! Not that old!”
“But none of this Maya Girl stuff when we're in your school. Here, I’m just Ate Nadia. Former student. Got it?”
“Yes, ate.” Karla’s grin couldn’t conceal the blush on her face. Up close, she could see the speck of a mole on the bottom of her hero's chin and the tilt of her cat-eyeliner makeup, just some things not any normal fan would have witnessed. She tried not to let herself get a big head.
Karla tried not to gasp either as Maya—Ate Nadia—spun around, her hair doing that ‘shampoo commercial flip’ that fans always included in fan videos. It was probably a bad idea to flip out her phone. She was in danger of getting into stalker territory as it is. In her continued distraction, a heavy arm wrapped around Karla's shoulders.
“I can’t stop looking at her.” It wasn't Leila. It was Robbie, Blue Team's resident Psychic, who had no problem getting comfortable with people. “She wasn't originally in my top five, but I'm starting to reconsider all the things.”
“Wait, who was in your top five?”
“Doesn’t matter. You know a lot more about her, Karla. I imagined her taller, but she’s hotter in person, too,” Robbie said conspiratorially. “I think I have stars in my eyes. I want to know her. Think she'd care about dating a younger guy?”
Karla stifled a laugh when Robbie yelped and Cass appeared in stride.
“Ow! Did you just shove your knee up the back of my leg? So immature, Cass! What are you, in sixth grade?”
“And yet a sixth grader would know when to keep his inside thoughts to himself. If the younger guy is Robbie, I highly doubt that MG would give him the time of day,” Cass said to Karla, her long complicated braid swishing like a tail next to Robbie as if to emphasize disapproval behind her amusement at his reaction.
“You better not read her mind!”
“I won’t!” Robbie hissed, rubbing the cheek she’d smacked. “Conrad will kill me. He always knows somehow.”
“How do we always wind up talking about Robert's dating life?” Joe said from behind her. He let out an infectious yawn, spreading his arms in the air and looking every bit like a tall and lanky tree, towering over the rest of them. But then everyone towers over Karla. “What we should talk about is the bizarre and once-in-a-lifetime—No! Golden! —opportunity, we have in our hands here!”
Robbie smirked as they each caught the glint in Joe's often laid-back gaze.
“Time?”
“15 minutes late,” he said in a fake grim tone.
“Ooh!” Robbie howled. “We are so using this against him.”
“I thought you said Andre was on his way?” Conrad said, stopping in the middle of the field next to a sturdy-looking pole. It was wide enough to be an electric post and also not meant for a flag. It reminded Karla of the poles used in the games of Palosebo.
Well, maybe extreme Palosebo because it looked too high and wasn’t an ordinary wooden pole; one would need some kind of harness instead of simply climbing it to secure a flag at the top to win the game. Not that Karla was an expert on any sporting game.
The wooden surface looked more complicated the more they neared, with little grooves, carvings, and bumps here and there to suggest something to hold on the way up. But no flag.
Karla had been wondering what they were from afar. As they stood right below it, two more could be seen from a distance, forming a kind of line.
“What's this?” she asked, patting the cool wood as if it were an actual tree.
“Flight markers,” Nadia and Robbie said at the same time, causing the latter to suck in his lips in embarrassment.
“They're to measure the height a Flier can reach. I remember using these back in my college days.” Nadia smiled as if she were seeing the very memories as she spoke.
“Oh, I thought it was used for climbing.”
“It can be. Physicals, Elementals, Psychics. A lot of different students use these. Super Strength kids usually remove these to turn the field into a Power Play field, like during your Heroes Week.” Ate Nadia shrugged, leaning coolly against the pole while Conrad walked past her, in the middle of putting his phone to his ear.
“I'm here!” came a frantic voice in the distance, just as Conrad’s phone received one ring from Andre's. “I’m sorry!”
Andre was a blurry blue form, waving and jogging toward them from the parking lot and around the large tree. A stressed but attractive little dot in the field. He hauled his backpack and an even darker blue jacket draped over the same arm, flapping behind him like a cape, his phone against his ear.
His hair, usually spiked and gelled perfectly in place, stuck out in different directions and appeared damp from the sweat. He was only in a light-blue shirt and dark baggy cargo pants, but to Karla, he was an exclamation point. A strike of lightning.
She tried her best to act composed, but she caught a whiff of a sweet-smelling cologne, some kind of mint, as he reached her; she had to clamp a hand to her face to hide the color. Hopefully, no one noticed.
“Sorry!” Andre repeated, crouching next to Karla and holding onto the pole for support, taking a moment to catch his breath. “I’m sorry I’m late. I ran as fast as I could.”
“It’s fine,” she was about to answer, but shrank as she realized he was probably talking to Conrad. Leila was the only one to notice, and it was still embarrassing.
“I’d love to hear this excuse,” Robbie mused.
“Barely had any sleep last night, then I did and slept through the alarm,” he said, putting on his jacket, the hood folding inwardly behind his neck.
“A likely story!”
“You call that running? Andre, you were 18 minutes late.” Conrad considered with his arms crossed and tilted his head in Joe and Robbie’s direction. “They counted.”
“What was it you said last night in the group chat? ‘Don’t be late because we need to be more responsible?’” Robbie chided.
“Andre, a slacker.” Cass shook her head and put a hand over her chest, in feigned shock. “I never would’ve thought.”
“Conrad said the last one to arrive has to pay for lunch,” Joe said, almost lacking his trademark monotone.
“He did not,” Andre said, glancing at Conrad, who merely shrugged.
“If your team votes—”
“Yep!” Each of Andre’s friends shot their hands up after Robbie’s quick answer.
“Well, then I guess you have to. You made them wait.”
“Ha! Sucker!” Joe pointed, despite being the second to the last one to arrive.
“Great.” Andre leaned further back against the pole that his elbow bumped against Karla’s, startling them both. She’d been too preoccupied, wondering if she ought to fix the hood from behind his neck. A part of it was stuck in his shirt collar.
He apologized, again, even though it wasn’t like she fell, but scooted a bit away, though he still held onto her shoulder like he’d caught her. She didn’t want to worry him or for him to see how pink her face must’ve looked at that point.
“Did I shock you?” he asked, but instead of retreating further as she expected, there was a new effort on his part to move back toward her. Lingering. “I’m sorry. Must’ve been my powers. I was winded. It’s under control now, though.”
“No, you didn’t,” she assured, unconsciously hiding her lips as if she didn’t want him to see she had any. And then, blabbering, “You probably just didn’t notice I was here. It’s alright. It happens.”
“No, I–” He looked confused for a second, “I meant to sit with you. Kind of impossible to miss you from afar in your orange overalls. I just didn’t mean to hit you.”
“It’s fine. You can hit on me.”
That is not what he said. It suddenly felt quiet, but he grinned.
“I meant that you didn’t! You didn’t hit me or my arm, but it’s fine if you did!” She corrected, weakly, suddenly making finger guns and jabbing the air. Internally, she was screaming louder than when Maya Girl touched her arm. “You didn’t hit me.”
“Oh my God, make them stop.” Robbie stifled a snort.
“You lose much depth perception when you’re late and you feel the weight of your team’s disappointment.” Joe made clucking noises, shoving his bag over Andre’s face, and pushing him away from Karla.
“Coming from the guy who’s never felt perceptual blindness, listen to him.” Robbie nodded, all serious. “He knows what he’s saying.”
“You guys are weird, but I want in on the free lunch, please,” Leila said, never one to feel out of place with Blue.
Sometimes Karla felt like her roommate easily fit in with them more than she did. She still wasn’t sure she believed it when Kuya Conrad said Karla was already an honorary Blue Team member. They all had some try-outs and got voted in, and earned their place. It meant being a part of something, this band of young Superhuman helpers, officially aiding the heroes in colored masks.
“Fine. But Karla’s picking.” Andre elbowed her again, lighter than the one before, but somehow made her face feel worse. He’d recovered quickly; he either found her rambling amusing or it went over his head. He even fixed the hood himself. “I don’t trust you guys picking something in my budget range.”
“Alright, Hero, how about if Karla does today’s lesson well, I’m taking that burden from you,” Ate Nadia swoops in, figuratively, prompting Andre to tilt his head back in surprise.
Andre had been just as starstruck meeting the superhero as Karla had been that first day Maya Girl made an appearance in Junior Division headquarters to ‘See the Prophecy kids for herself’. He appeared, even just a little bit, to lose the usual confidence he had with new people, and blushed furiously when she asked to shake his hand, saying she’d heard all about him as ‘Azul’.
“Oh. Wow. Thanks,” he stammered, somehow simultaneously leaning onto Karla as he gawked at the coolest superhero woman in the city. “Sure? If you’re up for it, but I don’t mind. I did make you all wait.”
Karla should have freaked out at the idea of lunch with Maya Girl, but she barely knew what to do with herself. Andre was warm and comforting next to her, contrasting the reckless nervousness in her chest; she was almost tempted to nuzzle her head against his shoulders. The thought alone made her inch away, in case she would. Everyone, including Maya Girl, looked at them because the Flier Pole was right there.
“It’s fine.” The Superhero drew her hand idly. To Karla, she said, “Gives you some incentive, right?”
The way Ate Nadia regarded them, Karla half-wondered if she could read minds, too. She always wondered when someone was a Mind Reader these days. Agnes, another member of the Junior Division, did say Maya Girl was considered a multi-Pillar Superhuman, someone with powers encompassing more than one textbook category, but she didn’t remember anything about a Psychic Mind Reading gift in the magazines. Karla would know.
Her smile was like she knew Karla’s feelings regarding the Hero of the Prophecy. Or maybe it was just that obvious with the way she’d been fighting off a smile since he got here.
Spare for Conrad and Ate Nadia, Karla knew with certainty that everyone else present was aware of her desperate and pathetic crush on Andre Abrera: the Electricity Manipulator, Junior Communication Arts student, and son of former superheroes Force and Magenta. Including Andre himself, who admitted finding out not long ago, thanks to Robbie, the official Mind Reader.
Even Sir Magno, her former teacher turned villain, called her ‘girlish feelings’ a weakness as he shoved her into a cage in the middle of one of the school’s training courts.
Lately, something would always remind Karla of him. Soon enough, the image and words of Sir Magno came into Karla’s thoughts again, unbidden and uncomfortable.
The memory was fresh like a wound just starting to heal, the kind she couldn’t help touching to see if it was still there.
That night, on the brink of panic, she wondered what on earth the cage was actually for, what it was doing in a school for Superhumans, and what Sir Magno wanted to do with her and her powers. She hadn’t expected he would strike a blow to her head, enough to carry her out of the party unconscious.
He could have just as easily controlled another student to help him, but she had no clear memory of that. It was probably for the best if she saw the faces of all the kids he manipulated, she wouldn’t be able to look them in the eye if she passed them in the hallway.
What she did remember, what she couldn’t forget, were the words he’d said before Andre and Blue Team came to help her.
“I hope by now you at least understand, Ms. Silang, why the student body is afraid of you.”
Her head had still been spinning from the angry and dark new energy emanating from the man’s body. Doubled over by the panicked chirping of the birds fluttering in and out of the cage and circling the court. He was killing them, using their very life somehow to strengthen his magic.
“Your powers are unpredictable. You can probably sense it in more detail in another Superhuman’s body, better than the Psychics, Manipulators, and Magic Users. Someone who can siphon out the power energy from another, even unconsciously, could be very dangerous. Without the proper training and guidance, you could wind up being no better than a—”
A Power Leech. Something she didn’t fully understand, but for some reason, terrified the other Superhuman kids in school. At least, she didn’t think she understood until seeing Andre beaten up by Troy and then Karla completely losing her hold on her powers, all to protect him.
She’d never allowed herself to think too hard on what had happened, but it scared her more than Sir Magno himself. It was like a shadow had engulfed her, and all that was left was pure emotion. Anger, resentment, and fear. She’d thought Andre was dead.
But she’d stopped the teacher. Her. Not as a large ‘leech’ monster but as Karla, the girl, with nothing more than a gentle tug. She knew the scary man was just as much human.
“Are you ready to go?” Ate Nadia asked, rousing Karla from her thoughts. A look of concern passed Andre’s face as if he knew exactly what it was that distracted her, but Karla never told him about that, not even Leila.
“About this ‘flying business’, is this necessary?” Andre started to reason again. It wasn’t the first time he showed signs of hesitance to the idea of Karla learning how to fly. When Conrad brought up Maya Girl’s suggestion in the meeting last time, Andre was in the middle of drinking soda and comically spat across the Junior Divi’s office floor.
When the others asked him about it, he said he was being cautious for their teammate, as the leader of Blue. In a private text, he made a point to tell Karla that people flying made him nervous. This, even though Agnes said his mother and two of his older sisters could probably fly too. Karla’s flying made him nervous, specifically.
The thought made her hook her finger over her lips.
Karla could believe that Andre cared about her at some level. She’d allowed herself to think about certain things that could have happened because he cared. It’s just that he never brought it up again, and it wasn’t like she would ask about it. What if she was wrong?
“Does Karla have to learn to fly?” he repeated, looking at her sideways as if expecting her to admit she’d been afraid all along and he was right to worry.
Ate Nadia tapped a finger over her chin as if to prove she gave it much thought, but was too quick to say, “Yes.”
“But—”
“Do you ever question whether learning how to drive is necessary? Or to ride a bike?” Ate Nadia asked him thoughtfully. “She has the opportunity to fly, she ought to fly. It’s basic survival. Plus, it’s protocol in the Organization.”
Andre looked like he wanted to say something to that, but thought against it with a barely audible huff.
“Look, I was there during your school fair,” Ate Nadia regarded Karla in earnest. “I saw the way you were held up against your will. If I hadn’t flown up to rescue you, it could’ve been, well, messy.”
“That was you?” Karla could have sworn shooting stars came out of her eyes. “You saved my life!”
“Yes, but it would be nice if you also knew how to save yourself in case of an emergency.” She shrugged. “Like I said, basic survival.”
Karla listened and kept herself from nodding too much. She was nervous about her first attempt at having Flight Powers, but a bigger part of her wanted to grab MG’s arm and zoom into the sky like a rocket. That was often the daydream.
Besides, if things go wrong, Maya Girl will catch her.
“It has to be your decision.” At that, she also glanced at Andre, lips pursed and eyes narrowed almost cheekily. “Not your boyfriend’s.”
Maya Girl didn’t often back down from speaking her mind, even if it made others a little uncomfortable.
“He isn’t–”
“I wasn’t—”
“He was only trying to—”
“I mean, she doesn’t need to—”
They added more words to the already confusing sentences. It continued to surprise Karla that he was just as awkward around MG as she was, until Joe slid an arm over each of their shoulders.
“We’re just friends.” Andre cleared his throat and searched Karla’s face. “Aren’t we?”
His words felt like a random brick materialized and hit her in the face, but she barely had time to process them. Maya Girl had her arms crossed, laughing, maybe somehow entertained by the teens and their childish outburst.
“He’s just like that with everyone,” Joe explained, shaking his cousin particularly hard. “He worries about everyone. Sort of like our team’s Mother Hen. While Karla is usually soft-spoken. We were all equally worried she was too shy to say anything. Right, guys?”
“Of course.” Robbie nodded while Cass looked confused, frowning about something. “Sure, I guess.”
“But I’m not that shy! I mean, I do want to fly with Maya Girl. Besides, I’d probably say something too if it were him about to fly,” Karla admitted, avoiding Andre’s gaze. “I speak up, too.”
The others, even Kuya Conrad, gave her looks that said they doubted it. Come on, guys, I’m working on it.
“Well, I guess as long as that's clear to me. I do have respect for a concerned leader, but everyone has to make their own decisions too.”
Somehow, they all glanced at Conrad, who seemed unfazed.
“To each their own.” His lips quirked ever so slightly.
“Besides,” Ate Nadia added, after shaking her head at him. “It was suggested to me by the Front Organization’s Director. She wanted me to see if you could do it.”
“The Superhero Director?” Cass’ eyebrows shot up.
“She can do it!” Leila shoved Karla from behind.
“Where is Danea?” Andre asked Conrad, probably too eager to change the subject, as he yanked Joe’s arms off of his and Karla’s shoulders. “I thought you said she was coming as a backup Flier?”
“Something came up in the Diwatas’ dorm and she couldn’t leave,” Conrad said.
“Really? What thing?” Robbie wondered.
“Must be about the Aswang disappearances in the Other World’s other regions. The Barrier keepers have been talking about how Erterya is currently the safest place,” Leila said, and Robbie’s eyes, Karla could’ve sworn, glinted like the need to gossip gave him new purpose that morning. “The Queen wanted the Diwatas from the dorms to avoid going to–”
“That’s their business,” Conrad cut in impatiently. “Everyone, focus. We won’t have Nadia all day, and anyway, I told Robbie to be back up Flier.”
“Sure thing, no sweat,” the Mind Reader said, indicating Conrad had given him the heads up beforehand, but that it did make him sweat. “But mostly just levitate her with my Psychic powers instead, right?”
“You can fly too?” Karla asked, despite seeing how hard he swallowed. “I couldn’t have felt it. I still have trouble categorizing powers I don’t see people using.”
“Sort of,” Robbie said, uncharacteristically uneasy, his tone bitter. She almost felt ashamed for asking. “I’m part Flier, but I haven’t flown for a while. My Dad’s a Flier, among other things.”
“Then you listen as well. Take it as a refresher.” Ate Nadia clapped her hands as if to signal the start of the lesson. She didn’t bring anything with her, like a helmet or protective gear. All she had on was a bright yellow bomber jacket over a black t-shirt. Her phone could be seen sticking out of her pocket and embedded in her jeans.
“Flying, like any other Physical Pillar superpower, relies on something in a Superhuman’s body,” the superhero said, reciting as if from memory as she balanced her weight on one leg. “It is something that a Flier is just able to do. Some say it’s because of our Power Energy creating some kind of field that enables our bodies to unconsciously manipulate gravity, while for some it’s the presence of Psychic or Magic influences in their ability to stay afloat.”
Maya Girl was a natural at teaching. Maybe she was one of those Organization members that Ms. Marica mentioned in Karla’s lessons, the ones who taught children on the weekends
Karla wished she’d brought a notebook to jot all the information down. Even if they’d find out Flying was the one power she couldn’t replicate, it still would be cool knowing how it worked. She wouldn’t officially start Super Power classes until next semester, and everything she’d been taught so far was from Ms. M and the other kids.
“Others say all suggestions are valid because Flight encompasses Pillars. Some Magic Users can fly, a Wind Elemental, and even a Levitator.” At that, Ate Nadia seemed to glance at Robbie, who was surprised at the attention that his ear tinged pink.
“There are also the winged Supers, although it’s rare to find one that doesn’t have Taong-Ibon blood from the Otherworld,” Maya Girl added as Karla immediately imagined angelic people and wondered how they would hide such wings from the non-Supers. It occurred to her that Diwata, the Superhero, has had wings all this time, but the fandom never questioned that she wasn’t exactly just another Superhuman after all.
“How they fly may vary from how I fly. It goes the same with other powers when you think about it. We can categorize all we want, but at the end of the day, there’s always room for surprises.”
Karla felt like that meant her and her abilities, but Andre started shifting uncomfortably beside her.
“It looks like it’s about to rain,” he pointed out, attempting innocence, but his energy fed into Karla. It must’ve been his proximity because she didn’t expect she’d unconsciously absorbed some of his powers just then—but then there she was, feeling bits of his emotion from some unexplainable energy.
“Is it safe for you guys to fly in the rain?” he added as if to show that his concern extends to Robbie as well.
As he said this, Karla looked at the graying sky. A couple of droplets bounced off her nose in answer.
Maya Girl considered this, like how Conrad considered Andre’s punishment earlier.
“Birds would mind the rain, but we’re Superhumans.” The hero shrugged, then looked directly at Karla with a powerful grin and an energy of confidence. “Once you get the hang of it, I don’t think you’d mind. We can always go over the rain clouds.”
Karla smiled back instantly. “Let’s do it!”
Andre groaned, dumping his forehead in his palm.
During the conversation, Conrad, whom everyone seemed to have ignored, came up with some rope or harness from a gym bag he’d been carrying, wordlessly cutting in between Maya Girl and Andre.
“Wow,” Maya Girl tugged at a piece of the rope, almost as if she was offended. “Don’t tell me you’re doubting she could do it too?”
“Not doubting, just not taking any chances.” He dumped the rope in Andre’s arms, the latter looking a bit relieved. “Any one of these kids gets into trouble, I’ll have to answer for it. Karla’s free to test her powers, not to die doing it.”
“And so, the real mother-hen reveals himself. Or should I say, Daddy?” Joe stage whispered as Leila and Robbie choked on laughter.
“Thank you,” Karla said, before Maya Girl or Andre could say anything more about it. Maybe she was more nervous than she thought, and she’d just chosen to ignore it. Conrad was, after all, an Empath.
“Fine.” Ate Nadia sighed. “While you get that sorted out, why don’t I show you how this flying thing is done?”
At that, Maya Girl seemed to grow taller.
No, more like move higher!
Slowly, she began to rise off the ground until there was enough space for Karla’s foot to step on where she’d been. The superhero lifted herself, one leg higher than the other, and then spread her arms just a little bit wide as if that helped her with balance.
Every time. It continued to surprise Karla, witnessing what she was witnessing.
“So, what do you say, Heart? Ready to fly?”
Karla was sure of one other thing: as long as she had heroes, she'd be fine. As if she could say no.