He:
2041
“Did you just… leave your twin sister floating in midair?” asked my mother, unable to form coherent sentences at the pure astonishment. Her gray eyes were filled with rage, more than even the devil could handle. “Get her down f-from there immediately, Helios, this isn’t a joke!”
“I can’t, Mom!” I protested, trying my best to harness my powers. I felt the sensation, but barely for a millisecond, till nothing happened. “I really can’t… I don’t know how this happened!”
“Why does this have to be on me…” she grumbled, trying to pull my dumbfounded sister by the arms. Unfortunately, he seemed to be locked in place. “First he goes… then…” she muttered to herself, tears welling up in her eyes. I couldn’t understand much of it, but I knew she was thrown for a loop by this mess. She hasn’t been the same since Dad died.
His death was a car accident, she claims, but when I saw him last at the hospital when I was five years old, his body showed no traces of an accident. I heard the doctors talking. It had something to do with his powers.
I’m 11 now, and still bummed. I want to know more, but I don’t know how to deal with my own powers, let alone my dad’s silicon tech whiz and liquefaction. Though my dad would have liquefied himself if he’d seen this.
“Aurelia, my son just left her sister suspended in midair! I need your help badly!” my mom cried into her phone. It was one of my mom’s friends, who had helium as one of her powers.
“No, I cannot ‘calm down’! What would you do if your children got into such a mess?” she said a few seconds later. “Yes, I know you don’t have kids and have no plans of having any but that’s not the point!
I glanced up at my sister, who simply gave me a look of concern. Both of us know all too well that my powers were weird. She knew she was doomed.
“Wait, what? You’re kidding, right? There’s no way that he’s—”
“Family members’ powers share similarities, Selena,” Aunt Aurelia cut her off, just as unaware as my mother that the phone was on speaker. “I got the same gold powers as my dad, so… it only makes sense.”
Only, it did not make sense. My dad’s powers are gallium and silicon. No connection to helium whatsoever. Sure, the fact that he only had two powers led to an early death thanks to the instability (I think), but I have three, like most others. Helium, cesium, and rhenium. I know, the universe really has a sense of humor with that rhyme scheme.
Helium allows me to levitate and give people helium voices, cesium lets me break people’s bonds with each other and befriend people easily (it’s an odd power, but a powerful one. I’ve never used it before), while rhenium, a very rare metal, only used in alloys… I really haven’t been able to figure it out. But it definitely has nothing to do with levitation.
My sister was still in midair, panicking. She was so panicked that the scream inside her head barely made it to her mouth. I was glad that it hadn’t. Otherwise, I would have received a scolding.
Somehow, my mother has not completely blown a fuse or two. Well, she has, but I’m not actively being blamed. Aunt Aurelia suggested we book an appointment with her (she deals with biochemistry, and our element powers.)
“Not this again…” my mom grumbled, shaking her head as she read Aunt Aurelia’s diagnosis. “Surely you’re just joking because it happened with Gallus, and…—”
Okay. Why is my dad involved now?
“Selena, for once, I’m not kidding.” Aurelia answered, sincerity in her tone. “He doesn’t have cesium. It’s… a period below. Element 87?”
“I know what you’re talking about… but… it can’t be!” my mother replied, her eyes welling up in tears yet again. I was confused. What is Element 87, and why was she crying about it?
“Calm down, girl… it’s not your fault, it’s his. And even that… he didn’t choose to have francium!”
“It’s not about the element, Aurelia. It’s about— I don’t want to lose him like this! I was so relieved when I heard the doctor tell us it was cesium, and now…”
Aurelia’s gaze softened. She had seen too many families torn apart by these elemental powers—their gifts both a blessing and a curse. “Selena,” she said gently, “I understand your fear. But… it’s a common misdiagnosis. My dad ended up misdiagnosing Gallus like this way back in college, remember?”
My sister’s eyes darted between us, still hovering in midair. She was the lucky one—her powers were straightforward. She controlled oxygen, a vital element. Breathing, combustion, even extinguishing fires—it all came naturally to her. But me? I was a mixture of helium, cesium, and rhenium, each element pulling me in different directions.
“Francium,” my mother whispered, her voice trembling. “Why would he have francium?”
Aurelia hesitated, then spoke with reverence. “Francium—one of the most unstable of them all. It’s radioactive, Selena. A single atom can decay in seconds, releasing energy. Gallus, he carried it within him.”
My mother’s tears flowed freely now. “He never told me he was sick… until the last moments. He never wanted me to worry.” She reached out, as if trying to touch the memory of her late husband. “But why? Why francium?”
“You know him even better than I ever did, and all his secrets… remember third year? Well, it’s that all over again.” Aurelia said, her voice barely audible, “I’m probably not helping, I know, I don’t have all the answers. Sorry. But… I can help her descend.”
Aurelia’s blue eyes let out a faint glow, stronger than my powers, which my sister was caught in. Her hand stretched out and pulled my sister out of my powers’ grasp.
I watched my sister slowly descend, her feet touching the ground. She walked over to me, fists balled up, and punched me in the face with a loud, comedic ‘WHACK!’ noise. “What was that for?”
I frowned slightly at her. “It’s not all my fault, okay? Aunt Aurelia already established that it’s Dad’s fault.”
“Well, learn to control this francium nonsense!” she replied, folding her hands angrily.
She was right. I really had to learn to control my powers. Because something tells me Aunt Aurelia’s Francium pills won’t really be fail-safe.
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