“Is the footage taken care of?”
The woman rested her chin on her hand, her tone somewhat indifferent.
“It’s…
taken care of.” The young boy’s voice trembled.
“All forty minutes of recording from the dance studio hallway have been cleared…”
“What about the log?” As if noticing something, the woman’s tone suddenly went cold.
“Why didn’t you delete the log?”
“I used the principal’s account…”
BANG—!
Lana trembled, only to see the dark figure sent crashing into a metal cabinet from a kick.
“Idiot.”
The boy curled up on the floor, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
“I’m sorry…
I’m sorry, Ms.
Atkins…
Next time I’ll…”
“Shut up.”
The woman couldn’t even be bothered to look at him.
Her high heels stepped over the back of his hand as she walked toward the computer desk, the blue light of the screen reflecting off her face.
Through the gap, Lana saw that face with absolute clarity.
Large brown waves draped beside her ears, her features mature and glamorous.
The collar of her lab coat was slightly unbuttoned, revealing a glimpse of cleavage.
Lana recognized this face.
At last Wednesday’s school assembly, Principal Waddington had introduced this substitute teacher, temporarily brought in because the original biology teacher was on maternity leave.
Standing on the podium back then, dressed in a skirt and blouse, the woman had enthralled every male in attendance.
Desiree Atkins.
Yet what stunned Lana was the silver chain set with an eerie green stone on her left hand.
Her mother’s bracelet.
Seeing that the surveillance log on the computer screen had been completely erased, Desiree crossed her legs and looked down at the young man massaging the back of his hand on the floor.
“Get up.”
The boy immediately scrambled up from the ground.
“And the checkout log in the equipment room,” Desiree said lazily.
“Go to the equipment room right now, tear that checkout log out, and tape a blank form back in its place.”
“Wait.”
Desiree stood up.
The bracelet slid from her palm into the air in front of the boy, the green gem swaying gently between the two of them.
Lana’s pupils shrank, because matching the motion, the boy’s pupils were dilating.
“Look at me,” Desiree spoke eerily.
“Go handle the log cleanly, then go back to your dorm and sleep.
Tomorrow, you won’t remember a single thing that happened tonight.”
“Yes…
Ms.
Atkins…”
The boy turned numbly and walked toward the doorway, pushing the door open and disappearing into the darkness of the hallway.
Lana’s eyes were wide.
Everything happening today had crossed far beyond her comprehension.
What had she just seen?
Hypnosis?
Drugs?
Or some supernatural force she couldn’t understand at all?
But in short, her bracelet was being held in this woman’s palm to be used as some kind of tool?!
Desiree put the bracelet back onto her left wrist.
After confirming on the computer screen that all traces were erased, she turned off the monitor and walked toward the doorway.
The door to the Administration Office clicked softly shut behind her.
The footsteps faded into the distance.
Only then did Ariel release his hand from Lana’s mouth.
“Mmh—!”
Lana gasped for air, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked up at Ariel.
“Be quiet,” Ariel whispered.
“She hasn’t gone far.”
Yet the moment those words left his mouth, a clear voice echoed from the other end of the hallway, penetrating right through the thin wooden door of the Administration Office.
“Ariel—!”
It was Clark.
Ariel’s expression froze.
“Ariel?!”
Footsteps rapidly approached from the far end of the hallway, mixed with Clark’s anxiety.
This guy always turned into a large dog frantically searching everywhere whenever Ariel disappeared for longer than expected.
“Hey!
What are you shouting about so late at night?”
“Ah…
good evening, are…
are you Ms.
Atkins?”
“What are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for my brother.
He didn’t go to the field today, didn’t go home, and his phone isn’t picking up…
Have you seen him?”
“Ariel?
I just came out of the Administration Office, and no one was inside.
Maybe he went to the library?”
“Then maybe he went into town?
You know how young people are.” Desiree let out a light laugh.
“Speaking of which, that Ariel is your brother?
And you are?”
“I’m Clark Kent.”
“I see.
Then I actually have something I want to ask you, Clark.”
“What?”
“Who does your brother usually…
hang around with at school?
I mean during after-school hours.”
Inside the Administration Office, Ariel’s brows knitted tightly.
“Ariel?
He hangs around with everyone.” Clark’s answer was always candid and completely unguarded.
“He’s the type where…
you know, he can chat up a few words with anybody.”
“What about that blonde sister of yours in your family?
Joanna, right?
How is her relationship with Ariel?”
The hallway fell quiet for a moment.
“…Why ask that?” A subtle layer of vigilance crept into Clark’s tone.
“Nothing, just curious.” Desiree’s laugh was soft.
“I noticed she usually doesn’t interact much with other students, so I thought I’d pay more attention to her during class in the future…
After all, as a teacher, keeping track of students’ social situations is part of the job.”
Lana looked at Ariel, only to find the boy seemingly mouthing two silent profanities.
Bitch?
“Joanna is doing fine,” Clark said concisely.
“She’s just a bit quiet.”
“Is that so?
What about you, Clark?
Football training must come with a lot of pressure, right?
Do you…
have any troubles you’d like to talk to teacher about?” Desiree took half a step forward.
A surge of fragrance radiated from her slightly unbuttoned collar.
“Me…?” Clark’s voice suddenly paused.
Ariel frowned slightly.
His super-hearing could capture Clark’s bodily changes.
Blood flow accelerating, body temperature rising.
“Clark?
Your face doesn’t look so good…”
“Sorry, Ms.
Atkins, my eyes feel a bit itchy, I’ll be going now.”
The footsteps abruptly accelerated.
Ariel also lowered his hand from the door handle, letting out a breath of relief.
Silence returned to the hallway.
Desiree’s brows furrowed slightly as she instinctively touched the green stone bracelet on her left wrist.
Under the amplification of this green stone, her pheromones were at a point where if any normal male spent over a minute with her, a single word from her could decide their life or death.
Yet Clark Kent…
He said his eyes were itchy?
“Interesting.”
Desiree murmured softly to herself and stepped away, leaving the hallway.
As she left, she casually cast a glance back at the tightly closed door of the Administration Office.
When Clark ran out the side door of the school building, he used practically every ounce of restraint not to use super-speed.
He stumbled through the parking lot and dove straight into the shade of the willow trees by the artificial lake.
With both hands propped on his knees, he panted heavily, red specks of light spinning and dancing before his eyes.
Ms.
Atkins…
HUM—!
His eyeballs vibrated, and Clark couldn’t control himself from opening his eyes.
HISS—!
A massive plume of white steam billowed up from the lake’s surface.
GURGLE-GURGLE-GURGLE-GURGLE-GURGLE—!!!
Clark was stunned.
What was this…
Just now…
with his eyes…
“Water monster!!!”
“The water monster came back!
Derrick!
It’s back again!”
“Don’t be afraid, babe!
This time we face it together!
Even if we die, we die together!!!”
“Derrick!!
Don’t—don’t at a time like this…
mmh!”
“OH—!!!”
A round of blush-inducing, heart-pounding sounds echoed from the bushes on the opposite shore, mingled with the splashing of water and the meaningless long and short sighs emitted by the two young people.
Ripples expanded outward circle by circle.
And at the center of light and shadow…
Clark saw his own reflection. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
A sixteen-year-old boy stood under the willow tree, his black hair blown messy by the night breeze, the orange-red glow inside his blue eyes fading bit by bit.
Heat vision.
He was just like Ariel, just like Joanna.
The three of them…
Were the same.
Clark slowly squatted down, cupping lake water in both hands to splash onto his face, looking up at the sky full of stars.
He had never known why he ran so fast, had so much strength, or emerged completely unharmed after getting hit by a truck.
He had never known why his dad, Jonathan, always carried a heavy look in his eyes whenever he looked at him.
Now he knew.
Ariel had heat vision, too.
Joanna did, too.
Their strength was enough to overturn a barn, their speed fast enough to catch a car.
All three of them were the same.
Then there could only be one explanation.
They were biological siblings.
Perhaps children of the exact same parents, or perhaps sent to different places for some reason he didn’t yet understand, only to ultimately gather together again at the Kent Farm.
That thought took root inside his mind.
The corners of Clark’s mouth curled up involuntarily.
“So…
we really are family…”
He raised a hand to rub his eyes, which were still faintly burning.
The crying out across the lake finally quieted down, replaced by a wave of panting and Derrick’s limp, weak voice: “Babe…
I can’t anymore.”
“What?!
You useless…”
Clark’s face flushed.
He decided to leave this lakefront brimming with crime-inducing atmosphere, go home to drink a big glass of iced milk, and tuck himself into bed.
Tomorrow!
Tomorrow he was going to have a good talk with Ariel!
About heat vision, about the secrets of the three of them, and about every single question he had accumulated growing up.
Clark stood up and took off, running in the direction of home.
The wind whipped past his ears, faster and faster, faster and faster.
The wheat fields under the moonlight were flattened into silver waves by his air current, only to snap back up behind him.
An unstoppable laugh surged from his chest.
We’re the same, Ariel.
They were family.
Administration Office.
Hearing Clark’s footsteps completely fade into the night, Ariel finally pushed open the door of the Administration Office from the inside.
Turning around, he helped out Lana, whose legs were weak.
The girl leaned against the corridor railing, her face pale under the moonlight, her whole body still carrying the damp chill of having fallen into the water earlier.
“Are you alright?” Ariel asked.
Lana shook her head, then nodded again, and finally buried her face in her hands.
“My mother’s bracelet…” she sobbed.
“It was her who took my mother’s bracelet…”
“Of course I knew someone took the stuff out of your locker,” Ariel said offhandedly.
“Then why didn’t you tell—”
“Tell you what?” Ariel was speechless.
“I didn’t know who it was either.
No matter how I explained it back then, wouldn’t it be the same as saying nothing?”
Lana froze for a second.
“I’m sorry.” She wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
“I was too rash, Ariel.”
“At any rate, you have proof now,” Ariel shrugged.
“You saw who took it with your own eyes.
I’m an eyewitness, too.”
“But…” Lana seemed to realize something.
“She—she can control people…
That boy…
I know him, he’s the student council president, and he actually…”
“Which is why you can’t go confront her head-on,” Ariel spoke in all seriousness.
“Lana Lang, before the truth comes to light.
“Everything that happened tonight stays a secret, understand?”
“A secret?”
“…Just like before, right?” Lana suddenly said.
What is this silly woman talking about?
What ‘before’ do we even have…?
“Go home,” Ariel brushed past her shoulder, expressionless.
“Drink a glass of milk and go to sleep.”
“Ariel.”
“What is it now, Captain Lana?
Now that the bracelet issue is settled, you’re not going to try to extort me into saying I did bad things to your dance shoes next, are you?”
“I didn’t!”
Lana choked on his words, a faint flush rising on her pale face.
“I was trying to say…”
She rubbed the hem of her shirt, instinctively lowering her voice.
“Thank you.
For helping me every time at a critical moment, just like when we were kids…”
No answer came.
Lana raised her head.
Only to find the corridor completely empty; the blonde boy had already vanished.