6

                “I knew it!” Lizzie shouted the moment the words left Moriah’s lips. Her outburst interrupted Cole and I mid-handshake, startling us both. “I knew he was a supernatural! And I said fire too! Didn’t I Beck? I called it!”

                “She did,” I sheepishly confirmed to Cole. Lizzie had speculated all weekend that he was another supernatural, with her evidence that Moriah had to have been in the know about supernaturals long before she adopted Hazel.

                “Wait, what?” Cole said, his smug grin vanishing concerningly. “How did you even know about me?”

                “Your socials,” I said awkwardly to Moriah. “After our call, Lizzie and I did our research. You know, just in case.”

                I expected some awkwardness in return, but Moriah instead shook her head with a chuckle. “I don’t blame you for a second. That’s stuff’s public for a reason. That kind of cautious behavior will do you wonders while you’re here.” She gestured toward the semicircle of couches in the living room, and we took a couple of seats across from Hazel.

                “Is Cole really the safest name though?” Lizzie asked, not doing well to hide the snark from her voice. “It feels kinda easy to guess his power from his name if you know what you’re looking for…”

                Moriah laughed. “I’ll admit, it wasn’t his birth name. But once he got his powers, it was hard not to give him pet names as he grew. My husband Dan got in the habit of saying ‘our little coal baby,’ and ever since then, that name stuck. He learned to grow up with it, started answering to it, and now he’s just ‘Cole Bentley.’ Sure, it’s not the wisest thing, but it’s a subtle nod to those that might know of mages, while also providing plenty of reasonable doubt. I’m drooling over the day where I can laugh in the face of someone, saying ‘You think my son has fire magic because his name is Cole!?’ Well, perhaps I’m not hoping for such an occurrence, I’d rather no one be suspicious at all, but you get my point.”

                I thought back to Boston after the incident took place with the generator when I was bombarded with questions from police and reporters. Even though it was obvious that something impossible had happened, not once did anyone ask—or even implicitly ask—if I’d acquired superpowers. Some of them had asked if I had any weird side effects after the accident, but none of them persisted once I turned them down. Moriah probably had a point. It’s not likely that anyone was going to figure him out from his name alone. Plus, it did what she’d intended it to do in clueing me and Lizzie into her reliability.

                “Besides, I like the name Cole,” he added. “It’s cool having a name that relates to my power. Makes me feel like a real superhero. Plus, if my friends ever found out, I could tell them ‘The answer was right in front of you all along!’ Er, not that they’re going to find out,” he quickly corrected to his mother.

                “Can we see!?” Lizzie blurted out. “Your powers, I mean?”

                “Sure, catch,” Cole said, lazily waving an arm around as though tossing a ball over to Lizzie. Only before I could realize what had happened, something had formed in his hand and was thrown instead. The ball was blindingly bright and reddish, and flowed wildly in the air, lacking a distinct shape.

                “What the-AH!” Lizzie squealed, ducking lightning quick. The ball of light travelled swiftly through the air, landing well above Lizzie’s ducked head and right into the living room wall—all before seemingly fading into nothingness. When I removed my shielded hands from my face, I stared in amazement at the mark on the wall—or rather lack of a mark on the wall.

                Hazel burst into laughter as Lizzie and I collected our breaths. I stared Cole down who had an amused, almost bored look to his face. Turning to Moriah, I saw her rolling her eyes nonchalantly, as though what had happened was a complete non-issue. “Cole, we’re trying not to scare our guests here, maybe don’t lob balls of fire directly at them?”

                “No promises,” he replied sardonically.

                “I’m sorry, what the hell just happened?” Lizzie asked, wide-eyed. “I mean… I know it was fire but like… how did it not burn down the house?”

                “Surprised?” he smirked. “I’m so powerful that I can control my fire so that it doesn’t burn anyone or anything. I mean, it could if I wanted it to, but you get the idea.”

                “Holy shit that’s incredible!” she gawked. “How the hell did you get that amount of control!?”

                “Years of practice, hon.”

                “Oh, don’t get him started,” Hazel said with an eyeroll. “He’ll never shut up about his powers if you give him the time to brag.”

                “Isn’t that why we’re here?” he said condescendingly to his adopted sister. “To talk about our powers? I’m allowed to show off for once.”

                “But to answer your question Lizzie,” Moriah cut him off with a bit of a warning tone, “Cole’s gotten this good with his powers since he’s been practicing all his life. He’s had his powers since he was nearly a year old.”

                “Nearly a year old!? Holy shit!” I sputtered. It wasn’t lost on me the connection between near-death and the acquisition of powers, so for Cole’s to come at one year? I couldn’t imagine how Moriah must’ve felt at the time. “Would you… be willing to share what happened? If you don’t mind me asking.”

                She nodded. “I don’t mind, I figured it would be asked. Be warned, it’s not the most pleasant story to retell, but it does end on a positive note, as you’ve probably guessed.”