Vivi's POV
I stood there, the wind whipping my sweater's collar around my neck. Ilia's eyes were brightened by the raging fire as she grabbed the boy's arms and I lifted them into the air. I was leaping across the sky, it seemed, the night sky. Ilia only had to touch the boy, and the power flowing from my arm to her hand lifted them gently into the blackness.
The fire was soon gone, lost in the smoke that followed it.
We landed about a mile away. It shocked me how far we had traveled: I was just moving as quick as I could, to get away.
As John hit the ground, the grass around his feet burst into flame. It didn't hurt him, but his face was lit up by the fire and his scared expression was illuminated. "Who are you?!" he hissed at us.
The tree beside us had a stream running through it's roots. Its leaves cast a deep shadow over us all, and the moonlight shone bright over the exposed grass. Ilia glanced at me, and after a moment, said, "We're like you, John."
John shook his head. "No one's like me. I'm a freak."
"We're freaks together," I insisted.
"You're a water girl," he stuttered, "and you're a wind girl?"
Ilia smiled sadly at me and answered, "Yes, I am. But that's not all she is."
He appeared confused.
"You have to trust us," I hissed at him.
John slid a hand over his messy black hair, biting his lip. He tugged at his shirt, which had a Nike logo on it. "You're just a pair of little middle schoolers playing pretend," he said to us, looking down at his Adidas.
"What?" I said angrily.
"You saw us!" Vivi shouted. "We're like you!"
John's eyes were reflecting an inner fire now. He smiled and said, "You're not. How many people have you killed with your power? Everywhere I go, something catches on fire. If I enter a house, it always burns down."
"How many have you killed?' I snapped at him. "Oh, well. You burn 'em alive. But at least docs can save some of them. Once I'm done with them, there's nothing left to even use to identify them!" I screamed.
He glanced at me. Vivi bit her lip.
"Watch," I said smoothly. I walked over to the tree, and took a deep breath. I gently placed my hand over it, and immediately, it began to shrink and get more and more pale: until finally, it toppled over into the stream in front of it with a dry CRACK.
"And it just doesn't kill the local flora," I said.
He stared at me. "You're a monster."
"So now I'm the monster?!" I raised my voice.
Vivi grabbed my arm. "John," she said softly. "Please. Come with us. We can't be hurt by your powers. I think it's because we're the same."
"Same what?" he asked.
"Like... the same alien." she said. "We're not like humans, we're alienated from them. We look human, act like them- but we can do things they can't, John. And I know you can do more than just start fires." Then she smiled. "And you know what? I can offset your power. Something catches fire? Let's pour some water on it!"
John began to smile a little more. "Okay..." he said. Then he glanced back to his city, his hometown. The lights of New York blinked on and on. "When can we leave?"
I smiled at him, and showed him my phone. On it, was another missing child report saying the child had strange powers. "Now," I said. "And we're heading to Europe."
We got there shortly, quicker than I had expected. I was tired when we reached the bay of Britain, but Vivi pulled up Google Maps and we managed to find the next kid. His name was Felix Ryson, a little on the short side, like me, but lean and smart.
We noticed him outside a hospital.
But, something odd was happening. He had a distraught face, as cots were wheeled out of the doors. Black body bags lay on them. They were... dead?
"Hey!" I walked up to him, grabbing his small hand. He whipped away, his white-blond longish hair swaying with the harsh motion.
"Don't touch me." His voice trembled.
I walked over to him. "You accidently killed someone again, right?" I said.
He stared at me.
"I understand." I said. "We're like you."
Turns out, Felix could heal people.
For an odd reason, he had accepted us more readily, despite being strangers, compared to John. He immediately believed in our story, even before we gave him the proof of our powers. In fact, his was a paradox.
"I can heal people from almost any disease or injury," he said. "And animals, too. But when I do, they die. Sometimes the next day, maybe a year later. But they always die." he looked sadly at us. "It's happened so much now that I'm used to it. But, I cant get over it."
"I know." I said.
"Okay," said Ilia. "Did you heal the people in the hospital?"
"Yes," said Felix. "A woman told me that if I did, I wouldn't kill them this time."
"A woman?"
"Yes," said Felix again. "She visited a kid in the hospital. I was walking by one day, and I saw her do something with her hands. And the girl smiled at her, and from her own hands came a short of smoky apparition, like a ghost. The woman said if I joined her and went with her, I wouldn't hurt anyone again. I haven't seen her since."
I glanced at him, and rubbed my wound with my fingers. "Can you heal this?" I asked, uncertain. "We can't hurt each other with our powers. When I use my... my death power, Ilia is never affected. But maybe since your power is positive, you can use yours and not kill me."
"I'll try." he said. "I believe you, because the woman said I can't hurt my own kind. I think she meant you guys. People like me." He took my scraped palm, and placed his fingers around it. It began to knit itself back together, the pain searing and then fading.
"Whoa." Ilia and I said in unison. John remained quiet.
The boy smiled. "You think there's more like us?"
"We'll find out," I said. "I'm sure of it. But we need to find this woman."
