Another Genesis

Chapter 2: The Powerful Two



“It’s about time. Where’ve you been, Space Cadet?”

“It’s good to see you, too, Joc.” Caleb shut the front door and flung his backpack on the living room couch, next to where his twin sister sat. “Are mom and dad here?”

“They’re upstairs,” Jocelyn began, turning down the volume on the t. v. with the remote control. “They’ve been worried sick. They think you’ve been kidnapped, or joined a gang, or something.”

“Oh, shit.” Caleb breathed, plopping himself down next to Jocelyn. He pushed his backpack to the floor. “Ok, so are they like, upset/scared ‘worried,’ or pissed/gonna take away my allowance ‘worried’?”

“That second one, I’d say,” Jocelyn said with a smile on her face.

“Oh great!” Caleb rolled his eyes. “Well, I’ll just have to explain to them that I just…fell asleep.”

“Yeah. Real convincing.” Jocelyn raised herself and sat on the arm of the couch, facing Caleb dead on. “Especially after that phone message this morning from some girl saying that you, what, fell into the river and were unconscious?” Her eyebrows were raised at her brother. “What’s that all about?”

“Wait, what? Say that again?”

“Some girl called here this morning, and left a message saying that she and a friend had found you in the Conononka River, and that she had you at a cabin, and that you were passed out.” Jocelyn continued, seeing the blank look on Caleb’s face. “She said that you were being well taken care of though, and that mom and dad shouldn’t worry.” Jocelyn scoffed, “She obviously doesn’t know parents like ours.”

“Oh my god,” Caleb was looking at the rug, rubbing his fingers against his temple. “Is that what happened?”

“Hey bro! I’m right here!” Jocelyn leaned over and waved a hand in front of his face. His head snapped up, and he looked her in the eyes.

“Sorry, I was trying to think. I honestly can’t remember much of what happened after I left school.”

“Who’s talking about after school? This chick called in the morning. Remember? I think I said it twice,” Jocelyn said coolly. She got up from the couch and walked to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Caleb asked. He stood up from the couch. “Don’t go get mom and dad, yet. I still need to figure out what happened today.”

“Chill out, boy wonder, I’m just getting a snack. I think the last piece of the chocolate fudge peppermint cake is still in the fridge.” With a big smile on her face, she rubbed her hands on her belly.

Caleb looked into the fridge with his x-ray vision and said, “Actually, there are two pieces left. Bring me the other please?” Jocelyn glared at him.

“Would you like some milk with that, Master?”

“Actually yeah, that would quite hit the spot, thanks.” Caleb smiled at his scowling sister. He flipped the channels on the t. v., still keeping the volume down.

“How am I supposed to carry all of this back,” she whined, after she had the two plates and glasses laid out on the kitchen table.

“Gee, sis, I wonder. Let’s think about that for a moment.” He changed his voice to that of mock questioning. “How are you going to carry a bunch of things at once, if you do not have enough hands to do it?” Suddenly, the remote control jumped out of Caleb’s hand and hit him on his shoulder. “Ouch!” he yelled, rubbing the spot on his shoulder where the remote hit. “Well, I think you’ve found your answer.”

“Well, what if one of the neighbors sees? I mean, Mrs. Cathcart can handle a lot of weird things, but a couple of plates of double layer chocolate fudge peppermint cake floating in the air…hmmm, I’m not too sure about that one.”

“Well, just be careful. You usually are when you use your telekinesis,” he said. Jocelyn beamed. “I think it’ll be ok,” he added, as if he was talking to a three-year-old.

Jocelyn looked out of the windows surrounding the kitchen.

“Don’t worry,” Caleb said, “Mrs. Cathcart is on her back porch, changing the food in her cat Poopsie’s dish, and no one else is outside.” He was looking clear through the wall behind the t. v., a glazed look in his eyes.

“I still can’t get used to the way your eyes look when you’re x-raying something,” Jocelyn said, shivering slightly. She focused her attention on the plates. As she stared at them, they slowly rose into the air. When she had them hovering at chest level, she picked up the two glasses of milk, and slowly walked back over to the living room.

“Here,” she said, handing Caleb a glass of milk as she placed one of the plates in his lap. Enjoy.”

“You forgot forks,” he said, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Goodness!” Jocelyn huffed. She waved her right hand, and the clatter of the silverware drawer was heard. Then, from behind the counter, two forks came zooming towards the two teens.

“Don’t you think this would have been something to do slowly?” Caleb yelped, as he covered his head with his arms.

Jocelyn laughed maniacally. “Yeah, but this was clearly the more fun way to do it.” She glanced at her brother. “Don’t worry, I have a great handle on my powers.” The forks slowed down as she reached out to catch them. “Here you go,” she said, holding a fork out to Caleb.

Caleb slowly brought his hands away from his face. “Just making sure.” He took the fork from Jocelyn, said, “thanks,” and immediately began tearing into the cake.

“So who’s this girl you met today?” Jocelyn asked through a mouthful of chocolate.

Caleb raised his head slowly.

“Come on!” Jocelyn said. “You tell me everything!”

Caleb blushed. “I know, I just…”

“For goodness sakes, at least tell me her name.”

“Cameron,” He breathed.

“Damn, do you have it bad!” Jocelyn burst out laughing.

“Give me a break! I don’t have anything bad.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Jocelyn forced a forkful of cake into her mouth, against escaping giggles.

Caleb took a long drink of his milk. “What I don’t understand is, how she called here saying all that stuff, when I went to school and met her there.”

“Maybe she called as a prank. Or maybe it wasn’t her at all. Maybe it was one of the Blonds. Ooh, I hate them.”

“It wasn’t one of the Blonds. They could care less to call here and say stuff like that about me. Besides, they wouldn’t want to waste their daytime minutes.”

Jocelyn laughed. “Good point.”

“No, something else is going on here. I just wish I could see her again.” Jocelyn eyed him. “Not for any reason you’re thinking, Joc,” he added. “Geez, this isn’t one of your silly magazine stories, of like, love at first sight.”

“Oh, so it was at first sight, was it?”

“No! Stop it! God, I wish I had a brother sometimes.”

“No you don’t,” Jocelyn laughed, “You love me!” The plates flew into the air again as Jocelyn threw herself across the couch to hug her brother.

Caleb hugged her back, but made sure to squeeze her sides where he knew she was the most ticklish. She squealed and jumped away, and the plates took a plunge to the floor. Caleb lunged to catch them, but Jocelyn regained her composure, and they flew back up to their original height.

“See what happens when you make me lose my concentration?” She asked, a smile still on her face.

Caleb stood up from the couch. “Well that’s what you get for trying to be cute.” He picked his plate from out of the air, and his glass from off the table. “Are you done yet?” he gestured towards her dishes.

“Nah, I like to take my time.”

Caleb walked over to the dishwasher and groaned. “Joc, the dishwasher is full.”

“So?” She asked, taking a bite of cake, eyes still on the t. v. screen.

“So, you didn’t think to start it?”

“What am I, the dishwasher monitor? I don’t hang around there waiting for it to be full.” She glanced at him. “I didn’t know it was! Sorry!”

Caleb groaned again and put the dishwashing fluid in the machine.

“You do it this time,” Jocelyn said. “And I’ll take out the dishes when it’s finished.”

“Of course you will. It’s always easier to handle the dishes when they’re clean.”

“I know,” Jocelyn said under her breath.

“What was that?” Caleb called over the whirring of the machine.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Caleb walked over to the phone. “So what number message is it?”

“Oh, I deleted it.”

“You’re kidding! Mom and dad let you?”

“They didn’t know that I did.”

Caleb walked back over to where she sat in the living room. She was looking at the t. v., which was too low to hear, so she just watched all of the near silent pictures go by as she ate her cake. “What, are you trying to get in trouble too? They’re going to want to keep that message forever to remind me of how irresponsible I was today.”

“Well, they can’t remind you of something that they don’t know about.”

“What? I thought you said they heard the message?”

“Geez, how dense can you be?” she looked away from the t. v. and looked him in the eyes. “I was joking. They didn’t hear the message. They haven’t even come home yet. They’re at some conference.”

“So all that stuff about them being worried…?”

“I was joking.” she smiled. I just wanted to see the horror in your eyes.”

“Oh my God!” Caleb exclaimed, throwing one of the couch pillows at her. “I can’t believe you!”

“You better not be mad, because if you’d rather they know, then I’ll gladly call them up and--”

“No! Don’t be crazy. Of course I’m not mad. I’m thrilled! This means I’m off the hook!”

“Yeah. I figured as long as you weren’t seriously injured, and the cops weren’t already involved, then mom and dad didn’t need to know.”

“Way to be, sis. Way to be.” He paused. “Of course, I knew they weren’t here all along, as I didn’t see them upstairs. Yeah, you forgot about that, huh?”

“Well, why’d you wait till now to call my bluff? If you knew they weren’t there when I said they were, why didn’t you ask me about it sooner?”

“I knew there must’ve been a good reason for you to pretend, and I wanted to see what it was.”

“Gotcha. Well, now you know. You’re safe, and you can feel free to pursue this mystery girl.”

“No kidding. She really is a mystery, though. I just hope that I can ask her about it sometime soon. I’ve only got one class with her, so that doesn’t leave much time.”

“Well, I’m sure you can easily scan the school and find out the rest of her class schedule in no time. And Logan can help you out, tell you if she’s thinking about you.”

“Good point. But, I don’t think I’m gonna tell him just yet.”

“Why not?”

“He’ll probably get on my case about it. Kinda like you did,” Caleb said, in a mock accusatory tone.

“Oh please. He’s your best friend. Powers or no powers, he’s gonna find out sooner or later.”

“Yeah, well, he’s still trying to get a good grasp on his telepathy. I don’t think he’ll figure it out till I tell him. Which is what I’d like. He’s used to liking multiple girls at a time. He’ll probably laugh if…”

“If what? If he found out you were thinking about having Cameron as your girlfriend?” Jocelyn laughed at the horrified look on Caleb’s face. “We’re not twins for nothing,” she added.

“Just forget about how I feel, ok? You shouldn’t think about it anymore. Please, I don’t want it to slip around Logan, or God forbid, around any of your gossipy friends.”

“My friends and I don’t gossip. We converse.”

Caleb laughed. “Right!” You ‘converse’ like…like you and I can just perform a few dinky parlor tricks. Wake up sis, you and your friends are gossip fiends, just like you and I are a damn powerful pair of twins.”

“You’re right. About the last part anyway,” Jocelyn grinned.

“Yeah, and I hope that as soon as I find out exactly what happened with today’s events, maybe we can come a little bit closer to knowing why it is that we are so powerful in the first place.”

“You think the whole disparity between your and Cameron’s version of events has to do with something…supernatural? You think she has powers too?” Jocelyn was on the edge of her seat.

“I don’t know,” Caleb said, “but I can’t wait to find out.”