Page 48 of Secret Spark

They did the same things the supposed Villains did, only were welcomed with open arms.

Joan grabbed a pair of metal tongs and checked the steak. Then she preheated the oven. She could tell Sadie was thinking about more questions. Why couldn’t they just talk about food and movies and normal things? Did she ever get to be ordinary on a date?

“Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about your abilities?” Sadie held both hands up. “Mostly because I’m curious, but also so I know what I might be in for. Like, in case you suck out my energy accidentally, or?—”

“I definitely won’t do that,” Joan said. “You don’t have anything to worry about. I can control myself.”

“Supers are born with their powers, right? Have you always been able to do what you do?”

“Yeah. I started noticing it in childhood. And then noticing nobody else could do these things.”

“You weren’t like the other girls, huh?” Sadie laughed.

“I wasn’t like the other kids, no.”

“That must’ve been hard. Especially in a small town.”

“Yeah, it was. I…”I had Mark to go through it all with me.

It’d been really confusing to have a brother who also didn’t know any better, only to discover the other kids in school weren’t like them. Lots of whispered conversations in Mark’s bedroom about how they should keep it between them because something was really wrong with them.

“Mark was great. He’s always been there for me. He’s gay, too, so we bonded a lot over stuff. We were the oddballs in our tiny town.”

Sadie smiled and commented on how nice that was. It sucked having to lie to her about being a twin, but there had long been speculation that Spark and Ice were siblings, and twins at that.

“In a lot of ways, you could say Mark’s been the only person who really gets me,” Joan said.

“What about your parents? I get the sense they’re not in your life that much.”

“That was their decision.” The lack of emotion in her tone matched the dull feelings in her chest.

Sadie tilted her head. “Do they not know who you are? I can’t imagine parents being ashamed of having a Superhero as a daughter.” She released a small gasp. “Oh, unless it has to do with your sexuality.”

“No, it’s not that.” Joan turned the steak. “We never—I mean, I never came out to them. But they had to have known. It was pretty obvious.”

“Do you think they know about the other thing?”

“I sometimes wonder about that,” she answered honestly. “It’s not like they…”

Painful memories tightened her throat. Fuck, she hated talking about anything that’d happened in her old life. How many nights she laid awake, mulling over whether Mom and Dad suspected the Supervillains shooting fire and ice in Vector City were their screw-up children.

“It’s not like Mark and I didn’t cause problems,” she finished.

“What do you mean?” Sadie looked at her, an eager earnestness in her expression. Curiosity but kindness in her eyes. The way she tended to look at Joan, like getting to know her was the single most important thing in the world.

The only reason Joan could open up to her. Or even wanted to.

“When I was young, I didn’t have a good grasp on my unique talents,” she said. “I caused a lot of damage. Not on purpose. I wasn’t sure how to turn it on and off, and it wasn’t like there were any guidelines for how to control it. You just have to figure it out as you go.”

Sadie nodded in understanding.

“It got to be too much. Mark and I… Mark was around for a lot of it.”He caused some of it, too.“Our parents decided it would be best for everyone if we packed up and got out of town. That’s why we came to Vector City.”

“How old were you?”

“Sixteen.”

Sadie’s eyebrows shot up. “Both of you?”

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