The day had been just about perfect.

Class had been easy. In fact, more often than not, all Orlando did was watch half of a movie which meant the last day of school before Thanksgiving break would be spent watching the other half. Either that or they would discuss favorite holiday foods and traditions, another thing that was easy for him to do since he usually kept his answers vague.

The food was always stuffing. He could eat only that and be satisfied. It had been a long time since he last ate stuffing that wasn't store bought. Outside of seeing Tait, that would be what would make the awkward Thanksgiving adventure worthwhile for him—home cooked food.

At Morningtide when they did any kind of family discussions, Orlando would make up witty answers that were over-the-top in shock value. The jab at the elite snobbish students was always too much fun. Things were going well for him at Lunar Falls, so he didn't feel the need to go to such extremes. He wanted to make acquaintances, and have people to sit with when he wanted to—to not be completely outcast from society, and also not be completely in it either.

Naturally, he had a whole lot of mixed feelings about anyone from Lunar Falls getting involved with Altura...of possibly being his enemy, or teammate.

Both possibilities concerned him, he couldn't tell which scenario he hated more. If what Alan said was true and there were students at his school who received the injection, Orlando would prefer they work for Alan over Sprout. She was more or less evil, and so was the woman she worked for.

If someone like, say, Nia, joined up with them, then there'd be a whole lot of trouble.

Orlando knew his alien had good intentions, but something about her was kind of off. Because he dressed in a similar style to her, she seemed to think that meant they had to spend time together or were destined for love.

Outside of Tait and her twin brother Peyton, Orlando didn't seek out the company of anyone. He was used to doing things on his own. Why ruin something that was working well for him? Unlike at Morningtide, his Lunar Falls peers understood and respected it. He didn't want to be buddy-buddy with Nia, though. Ugh.

Might have to suck it up and give her a call anyway, Orlando thought with a scowl. The things I do for the cause. Being nice to her couldn't hurt right? He had promised to be more cooperative. It's not like he tried to antagonize everyone on the team on purpose. Despite what everyone thought, it didn't always give him joy.

Playing devil's advocate was needed. Ideas had to be challenged, boundaries tested. The only person he liked to tease was JD, and that's all it was: teasing. At least he didn't have to do any more for the night.

Homework done, he was about to take a shower and get ready for bed, but his cell phone began to ring. Tait's ring tone played and he eagerly picked it up. "Yes dear?"

"I...Orlando, hi," she said and his smile was gone. There was apprehension in her tone, and she spoke quietly. Both sure signs that the conversation wasn't going to be good.

"What's up?" he asked, trying not to be presumptuous.

"I'm calling about Thanksgiving. I got into a huge fight with my Dad. He said you aren't allowed to come anymore. It's got nothing to do with you. He's punishing me for not agreeing with him. I...I'm sorry."

Unsure of how to react, he found himself speechless. "I understand."

That seemed like the right thing even though he didn't understand it in the slightest.

When he and Lyssa fought, she never punished him for it afterward. He was only punished when he did something wrong. They either worked out their differences, or he grudgingly did as he was told. To ground her simply for not agreeing was odd. Unless she'd said something insulting, then maybe he could see it.

Orlando could relate to that one. He'd said a number of different things to Lyssa that pushed the envelope too far. She'd learned to walk away, and he'd learned to dial it down...after she'd made him sorry for a little bit. His sister was good at executing appropriate punishments.

Tait didn't come across as the type to stir the pot, so she either hadn't learned the lesson yet, or the fight was bigger than she was letting on.

Still, to take away Thanksgiving? That seemed extreme too.

"I..." She choked up on the other end.

Crying, again. Orlando didn't like their new conversation pattern. He hated crying, mostly because he hated doing it, and he made it a point to not do it as much as possible at a young age. Not like a fight with his parents would have caused him to do it in the first place. Tait must have been one of those people who had potent emotional expression.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she didn't finish her thought.

"I just know you were probably looking forward to it. Coming and having a real Thanksgiving for a change. I'm sure you'll have a good time with your sister at her boyfriend's. He can't be that bad right?" she asked.

"No, he's not," Orlando said honestly. He didn't want to tell her he would probably be staying home alone. All of Jon's family would be at the dinner, and while that was great for Lyssa it'd be awkward for Orlando. Even more awkward than going to Tait's house. He would be Lyssa's accessory.

No. Being alone would be a lot more fun.

Tait let out a soft sigh of relief. "You can come over and meet my parents soon. I promise. Dad is super curious about you. Peyton and I have been talking you up a lot, and he wants to know who's making me so happy these days."

"Happy to the point of tears apparently," he mumbled.

"It's been an overwhelming couple of days. I'm still a little off from everything with Vance. He has his friends spreading things around the school right now. It's not been fun. Peyton said he'd beat them all up for me so you don't get in trouble again for it."

"Thoughtful of him, but it's fine. Vance is just jealous, and I'm used to people feeling that way when it comes to me," Orlando said casually. He didn't point out that he hadn't heard any of the rumors, and Orlando was good at overhearing all kinds of things. "They're words and nothing more. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what a few people from high school think. It's not like we're going to be there forever. Most of us will probably never cross paths again."

"Oh," she said, her voice going very quiet.

"What?"

"That statement can be taken a lot of ways."

Orlando sighed, rubbing his forehead. "When I graduate, I'm only going to see who I want to see. That's usually how it works. Vance will be gone, so will all his evil minions of jerkdom. It's another year and a half of suffering at this point."

"Oh okay." Tait sounded relieved.

He frowned. "What did you think I meant?"

"That you didn't think we'd still be together after we graduated. If this was something you considered long term, or just for fun."

That had him laughing, hard. "Okay if this was something just for fun, you would know by now. Things about our relationship would be a lot different. I can't say I wanna go pick out rings or curtains or anything with you at the moment, but I'm in it for as long as it's working. I'm taking it about as seriously as I can. Does that help? Or are you still doubting my motives? I'm not Vance."

She laughed too, thankfully. So much of what he said to people ended up coming out wrong. "I don't think you're him. We just never had the whole, 'where we want things to go with this' discussion. Everyone has different motivations for dating, you know. Even in high school."

"I don't know what I want. I just know that..." What did he know? "You're important to me. I like being with you. That should be enough for now, right?"

Why make it complicated? They were teenagers.

"Call me a romantic, but I don't enter into anything I can't see going somewhere. It seems kind of like a waste of time, don't you think?"

"Again, that has a lot to do with the goal. Generally speaking though, yes, it is a waste of time."

Hopefully that was a good answer for her, because it was the most honest thing he could say without getting himself into trouble. When it came to things like marriage and family, he wouldn't even begin to think about them. Someday, yes. Someday soon? Doubtful. Anyone who knows anything about his family should understand why.

Orlando glanced at the clock. Nine-thirty. Alan would be taking JD and Cadence to meet with Dale soon. That thought distracted him from the conversation at hand until Tait spoke again.

"You're right. What happens now shouldn't be such a big deal. The things that don't kill us make us stronger, or something along those lines, right?" she asked.

"Exactly, so enjoy the ride. You do know what this means, right?"

"No, I don't."

He smirked, even if she couldn't see it. "We're just going to have to start making out in the hallway all the time. Might as well have a little fun messing with his head."

"I can't say I'd complain about getting to kiss you more than I do. We should do something this weekend."

"I thought you were forbidden to see me?"

"I have a little bit of a rebellious side too sometimes. I could sneak out. Saturday night?"

He almost said yes, but he'd already promised that day to Angela. "You know what? How about you not get into more trouble with your parents, and instead, come and see me on a night after that. My darling sister wants to cook you dinner and meet you. It's been almost a month, so I suppose it's time right? She was thinking about Monday. I can figure out more details later."

"Yes, it's a date."

"Cool. I need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bright and early!"

"Goodnight Tait."

"Night Orly."

He slowly hung up his phone, almost saying more. The original plan of taking a shower was out the window. As much as he tried to hide it from her, he was upset about not going to Tait's family Thanksgiving. One of those little things he had built up inside of his head that didn't pan out. When it came to physical possessions, he had more than enough. What he desired more than anything was a normal family moment.

Maybe I should go with Lyssa after all, he thought as he made his way through his house to the entrance of The Apartment.

Time to blow off some steam, and he couldn't think of a better way to do it than by going into the practice room and causing some glass to break. Turning on the lights, he walked back to the room that had been designated for all of them to mess around in. What he didn't anticipate was for the lights upstairs to be on as well. He could see the glow of them on the walls of the staircase.

Creeping up the stairs, he found the source coming from the library. Sitting on top of the desk was Angela.

"Hello?" Orlando said and watched her jump up.

"It's cool that I'm here right? JD said we could come whenever we wanted to. That's okay? Or is that another one of his made up rules?" she asked, running her fingers through her long, curly, dark hair.

Orlando had to look away. It was a bit too sultry of a movement for him. He nodded at her, averting his eyes to the device she held in her hands. "It's not something he made up. I'm surprised because I didn't know anyone would be here. Wasn't expecting it. No one has come off-schedule yet just because they wanted to. More importantly, I don't know why."

"I couldn't sleep. With everything going on, I can't focus on it. I probably won't be able to until after JD gets back okay. So I thought I'd do something productive and practice some of the stuff in this book...thing." She pointed to the device which looked a lot like a touch screen computer tablet, only slightly thicker.

"Worried?" Orlando leaned against the door frame.

"No, but something Alan said stuck out to me tonight. With me needing to be comfortable with what I do."

"And you told him you were fine, which I'm guessing was a lie?"

Angela shrugged and closed the book before setting it on top of the desk. "Not entirely, but I could stand to learn a little more self-control. I refuse to be left behind and in the dark. This thing is confusing though, and I thought a change of scenery might help me understand it more. It's hard to focus at my house."

"JD is kind of loud, so I can imagine," he said.

"Not only him. Everyone. Anyway, by the time I'm done here, he'll be home, I'll feel tired. Everyone is happy right?"

"Right."

"And what about you?" She walked up to him and didn't once take her eyes off his face.

He couldn't hold her gaze long. "Frustrated, so I thought I'd practice before hitting the hay."

Angela folded her arms in front of her chest. "Porque so frustrated?"

He gazed down at her for a moment and debated how much he wanted to say. There wasn't much point in lying to her, so he decided on doing what he did best and give blunt honesty.

"I got ditched for the holidays. Kind of irritated about it, but I have this thing about people doing that to me. Can't imagine why." The last part was sarcastic.

It shouldn't have taken anyone who knew anything about him long to figure out why being abandoned would bother him. And that might have been the reason he was more upset than anything.

It wouldn't have been the first time Tait blew him off. At least she called first this time. She'd invited him to the party where everyone had been given injections by The Doctor, and then never showed up because of yet another fight with her parents.

No word, so he didn't know if she had been there and gotten caught by The Doctor, or if something else had happened. More importantly, his parents were notorious for doing the same thing: leaving without a word.

"Ouch, that's too bad. Parents or someone else?"

"Seeing as how my parents haven't been home for a holiday in about three years, it was someone else. I've stopped expecting them to come home for things. We usually cram all of the special occasions into one day before they go back to wherever again. Happy Christma-birthda-yey-good-grades-whatever-elsemas." He waved his hand. "My girlfriend invited me to her place, then uninvited me tonight. No big deal. Had some kind of massive fight with her dad."

Angela watched him, her eyebrows narrowing. "So she got in trouble and couldn't bring you, and you're bummed? That sucks. What was she doing fighting with her parents right before the holidays? Seems like a stupid time to do that don't you think? Especially when you're bringing an important guest home. At least, that's what I do. I'm always on my best behavior until anything I really want passes. Common sense."

"One would think." He hadn't thought about it from that angle. "Seems to be a common thing, fighting with the parents. You know Tait. She told me you two were cheerleading camp BFFs or something."

"No wonder you seemed so familiar. I mean, yeah, you went to Morningtide with me once upon a time, but our paths didn't exactly cross. You were just talked about, but never seen."

"Kind of like now? I'm always the center of the gossip there it seems."

"Not so much, but go ahead and think that the world revolves around you. It's good for your self-esteem." She winked so he knew she was joking. It rolled right off his back anyway. It wouldn't have been the first time someone called him spoiled. Angela's face grew more serious before she continued. "My point is, I saw you with her at the mall. I've been looking at you going, 'I know I've seen him somewhere.' And that's why."

"Yup, guilty." He gave an innocent shrug.

"She's so sweet, you've got a great catch." But the frown she wore suggested otherwise.

He glanced her way and saw she was playing with her hair, looping it around a finger. Not a good sign.

"Why do you look like someone kicked your dog?" he asked.

"I don't know how to say this..."

"You can try opening your mouth and pushing sounds out through your vocal chords. That's usually a good place to start."

Angela pursed her lips. "I meant...to find the best way to word it."

Closing his eyes, he let out a heavy sigh. "Be straight with me. I can take it. I wear big-boy underwear, and tie my own shoes, and everything."

He'd been hoping for her to say something funny to that, to help keep the mood light and prolong whatever bad news she didn't want to give him. She must have decided to bite the bullet.

"She's lying to you."

"Why don't you just cut my heart out," he said and put his hands to his chest.

"I thought you were a big boy and could handle it?" Angela then did something he didn't expect and hugged him.

She apparently didn't know him well enough to understand he didn't enjoy being touchy-feely with random people he barely knew. At the same time, he liked her lack of apprehension. She didn't treat him as if he were made of glass, or a toxic chemical.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Maybe it's not my place, but I thought you should know. Tait's parents are hippies. They don't believe in fighting. The girl could get away with murder, they'd never yell at her. She's kind of like you and has had to raise herself. Either her parents had a change of technique, or she's lying and doesn't want you there."

"You got really close at camp," he whispered.

"Her mom was one of the counselors. I got to watch it in action, and it's not something her parents try to hide. Her mom flat out said she treats Tait like an adult and lets her make her own decisions. Something about it being better to be her friend than superior because it makes for more happiness in the home." She paused and stepped back so she could look up at him. "You okay?"

Orlando shrugged, unsure of how he felt. He didn't quite know what to believe. It didn't make sense for Tait not to want him to come, especially since she'd been so insistent on it.

Unless that had been a lie too? Did something else happen? Was she ashamed of him? Worried he wouldn't be well behaved or classy enough for her relatives? Or did he give Tait the benefit of the doubt?

He had no reason to doubt Angela outside of boyfriend obligation. Shouldn't he believe his girlfriend over a girl he'd just met? If Angela was anything like her brother, she had no reason to lie.

"I shouldn't have said anything," Angela mumbled and pulled away, back to the desk and got her book. "I'll go home now."

He shook his head. "No. I'm okay. Don't know what to think, but okay all the same. Stay."

"Stay?" Her eyes went wide.

"Stay," he repeated, and walked over to her so he could take a look at her book.

Without another word, he grabbed it from her hands, and opened it after sitting on the desk. He patted the spot next to him, making sure to have room for her to sit too. For a moment, all Angela did was stand and watch him, then her feet shuffled forward and she joined him on the desk.

"Again, I'm sorry for—"

"Let's get an early start on practice, shall we? If you don't feel secure in your abilities, then we should remedy that. Wouldn't want something to blow up or burn down. Speaking of which, next time you come here alone to practice, can you please at least text me so I know to expect the house to possibly catch fire? I'm pretty sure all of the fire alarms are linked in the house," he said. "Didn't I say that before?"

"I wasn't planning on actually doing anything, just reading, a lot."

"Change those plans because we are going to do a lot. Pretty sure we have a fire extinguisher here somewhere." He got up and left the room so he could check the kitchen.

Sure enough there was one sitting next to the stove. He grabbed it and headed to the practice room making sure to wave for Angela to follow him along the way.

"So what does the book say?" Orlando asked, getting out a box of cheap water glasses he had bought to practice with.

Dangerous and messy to use? Definitely, but there was something satisfying about listening to the crunch. Plus the cleanup allowed him more use of his powers. Sometimes he even got to practice putting up a psychic shield to protect himself from the splay of the glass.

Angela walked to the middle of the room and waited. "A lot of scientific mumbo jumbo I didn't understand about why we have abilities to begin with. I'm sure it's interesting, but science is not my area of expertise."

"Alien science at that. My approach is much more practical. I believe in hands-on learning," he said and set the glasses on a counter along the far wall. "This might not be true about all superpowers, but mine are triggered by emotions and instincts. At first, I mean, and then I learned how to flip it on and off like a light switch. I'm pretty sure that could be said of a lot of aggressive abilities."

"And you think I fall into that category?" she asked, and her eyes stayed on him as he moved about the room. It made him a little uncomfortable to have her be so attentive to everything he did. "What are you doing?"

"Giving you stuff to practice on," he said, and put paper inside of the glasses creating a contained area for burning. "You start things on fire. That's pretty aggressive if you ask me."

"Okay, so, how do I make it turn on?"

"What were you thinking about when it first happened?"

"My math homework."

"Not buying it," he sang. If doing math with a calculator caused her to have a meltdown, she'd have started on fire more times than just the once. "What were you really thinking about?"

Angela sighed and shifted her weight between her feet, finally allowing her eyes to gaze down at the floor instead of at him. "The party."

"And how did the party make you feel?" he asked.

"Scared."

Glancing back at her, he filled the last glass with paper and then stood next to her. "Think about it again."

"O...kay..." She chewed on her lip, running it back and forth in-between her teeth. She did that for a long time, but nothing about her changed.

"It's not working," she said at last.

He put a hand on her arm. "Try closing your eyes if it helps," he said and took the initiative to push down her eyelids. He couldn't help but laugh as she scowled at him. "Visualize it with me. You're at the party. There's lots of people there, you're having fun, and some guy comes up to you and offers to show you something super neat. You think he's hot..." She snorted a little. "Interesting? Whatever you think of him, it's enough for you to want to go with him. Then he starts taking you down these dark stairs, and I'm sure by then you're starting to wonder what's going on."

"I had pepper-spray, so I wasn't afraid of him. There wasn't any reason for me to be, not with how nice he was. And he wasn't flipping the jerk switch as soon as we were separated from everyone else. I was ready for anything."

"Everything but The Doctor," he said quietly.

She nodded. "That's when I started getting a change of heart. He was so cold, not just with how he treated me, but his hands were. And his eyes. They had no sense of caring. When I told him no, that I wanted to go back and forget the whole thing, he had her tie me down so he could...do it anyway. Inject me."

"Who was she?"

"The girl with the vines."

"Sprout?"

Angela shrugged. "I think I heard her called that a couple of times."

Orlando's fists clenched when he thought about Sprout doing that to her—to anyone. What was wrong with her? Everything about Sprout disgusted him. Every encounter he'd ever had with her, all she did was prove that she didn't care about anyone but herself.

Whatever her tribe was for, it had to be pure evil with the way she acted. What was the war on Altura being fought for, and what kind of reward was Sprout offered to entice her into assisting in the murder of teenagers?

Gripping Angela's shoulders, Orlando leaned in toward her ear. Her entire body trembled as he spoke in a low voice. "And does it scare you?"

"No, it pisses me off." Heat radiated from Angela's skin, and soon he couldn't hold onto her any longer. Like a stove top, she became hot in a matter of seconds. Looking down at her hands he could see her fists were in fact on fire.

He stepped away, smiling. "And that is your 'on switch'."

Angela opened her eyes and stared down at her hands, jaw dropped in awe. "This is nothing like last time."

"I would imagine as you learn to control it, the power will manifest in different ways." He went back to sitting on the desk so he could watch.

"What can I blow up..." She surveyed the room, turning to look about her.

Orlando pointed to the water glasses on the counter. "That's why we have those over there, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Blowing something up comes later on. Lesson one is about on and off."

"Just one thing? Please? I feel like I'm going to burst here," she begged, and he recognized JD's whine instantly.

The two were as different as night and day, but both apparently learned the art of pleading effectively. When Angela did it, Orlando didn't feel like he was listening to nails on a chalk board. It was even a little bit endearing, almost cute.

But she was also a cute girl, so that might have had something to do with it too. He swallowed and nodded, looking away from her and her sultry, dark eyes.

"Again, glasses."

That was as much permission as he was going to give her to let loose. Unsure of what she was going to do, he had his own powers at-the-ready just in case—as well as the fire extinguisher.

As soon as he lifted it into his hands, she hurled a ball of fire at the water glasses on the counter. It hit with enough force to shake the room slightly and there was a small explosion. The glasses all shattered. Orlando put up his psychic shield and they both watched as the shards ricocheted off the invisible barrier.

"I hope this place is soundproof," he muttered.

If Lyssa heard the blast, she'd start freaking out. Even more so if she had felt it too. He was pretty sure everything was contained to just The Apartment. The way that portion of the mansion was designed made it seem as if it were created for the purpose of being a headquarters of sorts. Did his parents know he'd eventually get powers?

Doubt it. I'm surprised they even recognized me this summer. The wing of the house was another coincidence and nothing more.

Just for fun, he used the fire extinguisher to put out the papers that were now on fire. He could have gotten away with simply stomping them out, but he'd never used an extinguisher before. The experience wasn't as satisfying as he'd hoped.

"Feel better now?"

"Very much so." She exhaled and closed her eyes. "So now how do I turn it off again?"

"Go to a happy place?" he suggested, only being half sarcastic.

Turning off her powers would be more difficult for him to teach. Given the nature of his own abilities, he didn't necessarily need to ever stop using them. All he had to do was manage keeping control so when he thought about doing things, they didn't just happen.

Angela scoffed quietly. "Is that your way of saying you don't know?"

"More like I'm not sure how to explain. In theory, if your powers are ignited by wrath and rage, they'll cool off when you calm down and return to normal. Granted, my source of information here is a comic book. But it makes sense to me."

"Nice puns." She laughed and the flames disappeared in a matter of seconds.

"I hadn't been trying, but thank you. I have a knack for being awesome," he said dryly, and glanced at the time on his cell phone. Almost ten-thirty. The meeting between the others and Dale was hopefully officially underway. "Please go well," he whispered.

"Worried too?" She sat down next to him on the desk.

He shook his head. "I'm not sure worried is the word I'd use to describe it. Curious? Hopeful?"

"You want more new kids to train?"

"Not really, but the guy is involved. Might as well be on our side instead of the enemy's. I already cringe at the idea of some of the bad guys being kids from my school. Doesn't sit well to wonder who I'm beating up and what might happen if things get out of hand."

Sprout and her partner Bean went to Lunar Falls. There'd been multiple sightings of them by Alan. Orlando didn't like that his school was such a central part of the war. Yet another coincidence that didn't mesh well with him.

Angela gave him a small smile. "True that. Thanks for all of your help Orly. I appreciate it. Oh, and I did mean it when I said you could come to our house for the holiday. We'd be more than happy to have you."

He returned the smile, genuinely at that. "I'll keep it in mind, but I wouldn't expect anything. A bunch of strangers will just make things kind of awkward. If I get too lonely here, I might pop by. Or, at the very least, maybe we can all meet up later for a movie."

"Deal. I'm gonna head home so JD doesn't give me the third degree for coming home too late on a school night. I swear, he's worse than my parents sometimes. Plus, I have a bus to catch. If nothing else, I'll see you on Saturday, all right? We still on?"

"Yeah, we are." Orlando nodded at her slightly.

Once again, his mind went to Tait. Was she lying? Why? And why did it feel like another convenient coincidence?