The League of Displaced Magical Individuals Chapter One: Magic is Super

Magic is Super

Sunflower sprinted down the track, ahead of the crowd, just barely, keeping herself regulated. The teacher blew her whistle twice, meaning that the set was over. Amber, standing at the white line, clicked her stopwatch and smiled broadly. Sunflower slowed to a stop and returned to the point where Amber was standing, looking at the stopwatch over her shoulder.

Amber was a slender girl, brown hair, blue eyes, a real beauty whom most of the guys in the class had a crush on. Sunflower wasn’t quite as pretty as she was, in her opinion, and she always looked up to Amber as being the model of beauty.

Sunflower checked the stopwatch. 6.023 seconds. A new class record. Amber gave Sunflower a high-five, and Sunflower just barely remembered to keep her strength in check. For fun, she matched her own fingers to the fingers of Amber in the split second before her hand impacted. A perfect high-five. Amber pulled her hand back, rubbing it.

“Do you have to high-five that hard?” she said, smiling tenderly.

“Your turn,” said Sunflower, grabbing the stopwatch out of Amber’s hands.

When P.E. class was over, Amber walked to where Sunflower stood at the water fountain and poked her in the back. “See him?” she said, pointing to Drake Baxton.

“I do,” said Sunflower, glancing that way, then glancing back at her hands, embarrassed. They had made eye contact.

Amber squealed, quietly. “He made eye contact with me!”

“No, it was me,” said Sunflower, and then she covered her mouth with her hands. “I mean, it was you. It had to have been you.”

Amber punched Sunflower on the shoulder. “You know who it was.”

“Both of us,” said Sunflower, sagely nodding her head.

“Exactly,” said Amber. “We can totally share him.”

Sunflower laughed, and then stepped away from the drinking fountain. She sat through school for the rest of the day, and when the day was over, she walked over to the school gate, made sure that no one was watching, and took a turn away from her home, towards the inner city. She stepped into an alleyway, found a small water pipe that had long since outlived its purpose, and pulled a sword out of its depths. It was a long katana, expertly forged, ancient as the wind and agile as the breeze. She pulled it out of its sheath and the light shimmered on its surface, covering the walls in pieces of reflected brilliance. She swung it, once, cutting through the air with a metallic sound. Then she sheathed it and strapped it to her back. She pulled a superhero mask out of her pocket, putting it on. She had made it herself, and it covered just enough of her face to make her unrecognizable, just the eyes and the portion around the nose.  

She jumped and landed on the roof of the nearest building. Running, she sprinted across the rooftops, dodging TV antenna and satellite dishes, expanding her mind into the world around her, reading the thoughts of the people below. She found a distressed thought and jumped down, doing a summersault in the air, landing in an alleyway behind a parking lot next to the local supermarket. A woman was fighting a man, and it looked like the man was about to rape her. Sunflower flickered over to where the man was and tapped him on the neck once with the butt of her sword.

“Hey,” she said. “You should stop that.”

The man jumped back in surprise, and Sunflower stepped out of the way of his stumbling grab for her. She pinned him to the wall.

“What were you thinking of doing?” she said. She glanced at the woman who had been assaulted. “It’s okay, ma’am, I’ve got this.” She punched the man in the head just enough to knock him out, tied his hands up, and pushed him into a corner.

“Call the police,” said Sunflower, looking down at the man’s pants. They were unzipped. “Say Rose helped you.” She kicked at the man’s groin, once, and the man’s entire body reacted, toppling over to the side.

The woman nodded once, meekly. Sunflower smiled, winningly, making sure her mask was still on straight with a touch. Then she kicked against the ground, shooting up, hovering in the air for a moment, adjusting her momentum and landing on the roof of the nearest building. She stood up. One woman saved, one bad guy put away. She flew across the rooftops, scanning the surrounding area, helping the city out for the rest of the night.

The next day, at school, Drake approached her in the hall. She turned to him, her face flushing, and opened her mouth to speak. She closed it, thinking that perhaps he was making eye contact and a suggestive motion to someone behind her.

“Sunflower,” said Drake, stopping right in front of her. Sunflower stammered, searching for words. He was three inches taller than her, and she had to look up to meet his gaze. When she did, she almost swooned. He was close. So close.

“Y—yes?” said Sunflower. “Why do you need me?”

“Meet me after school behind the gym,” said Drake. “Right when the bell rings.” Then he smiled, and stepped away, waving. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

Sunflower sighed, putting her hand to her chest, and closed her eyes, savoring the moment. She was surprised when she heard the sound of a dropping backpack behind her. She looked.

There was Amber, standing, her mouth open, tears not in her eyes yet but threatening to come. She wiped at her nose. “He finally choses you, doesn’t he?” she said, her voice filled with pain and venom.

“I—I don’t know,” said Sunflower. “I don’t know what he wants to speak to me about.”

“Fine,” said Amber. “We always knew this would tear apart our friendship.”

“No, Amber, wait, I—“

Amber turned around and walked away, wiping at her eyes, and Sunflower stood there in the moment, unsure of what to do.

“That was …” said Sunflower, reaching out to Amber, but Amber was gone, holding her backpack in one hand, turning down the hall, disappearing.

Sunflower spent the rest of the day in a daze. She didn’t talk to Amber like she normally did, and for the first time since school had started, she ate alone. She didn’t like eating alone. Drake was sitting with his friends, laughing, and Amber was having fun with some of her other friends, a circle that Sunflower hadn’t gotten closed to since it was difficult for her to make friends.

Amber was the only person who would talk to her at the beginning of junior year, since Sunflower had just transferred in, in the middle of high school, having gone with her parents to a new job location. She had lost all of her old friends, and she had been hoping to gain new ones, but one thing had impeded her progress. Her powers. She had gained them through a story that was longer than she was comfortable telling, but which involved a vampire, the Grim Reaper, and a sacred bottle of Mexican coca-cola. It had been a feverish seven days in which so many things had happened that Sunflower had been changed forever. She did not like looking back on those memories. They scared her.

As Sunflower was walking to the trash to throw away the rest of her lunch, one of Amber’s friends reached out her leg to trip her. She stepped over it nimbly, having noticed the move even before it had been telegraphed in her body, simply through her natural state of awareness. She noticed the look of surprise on the girl’s face and read her mind.

Stupid geek, thought the girl, whose gaze Sunflower was meeting. Always the best at everything. Always on the top. She doesn’t deserve to have friends. Now she has Drake? On top of everything else? It’s just not fair. She’s got so many guys after her and this is how she handles it? If I was in her position …

Sunflower pulled away from the girl’s mind, and walked back to her lunch table, sitting down and folding her hands. Guys never talked to her. Not in person. Occasionally one of them would text her or talk to her over Facebook, but they never approached her at school. Sunflower thought that she was somehow putting them off, that she was ugly in person and no one wanted to talk to her. That was her current theory, though she had held multiple theories as to why no one liked to talk to her in the past.

Her mind whirled for the rest of the day, until school ended, and she headed to the back of the gym and waited for Drake to come. He came, walking around the corner, looking both ways as if he was searching for people who would be watching.

“There’s …” Sunflower said, hesitating. “There’s no one watching.”

Drake nodded once. Then he smiled, awkwardly. Sunflower braced herself.

Here it comes.

“Sunflower, have you ever heard of a superhero named Rose?”

Sunflower squinted her eyes shut and spoke as fast as she could. “Yes, I like—“ then she stopped. “What?” she said, opening her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Drake seemed just as nervous as Sunflower did. He wiped his brow with his arm. “I’ve been hearing a lot about her, from my dad mostly, and I wanted to check to see if you knew anything. Your name is Sunflower, and the superhero’s name is Rose, and they’re both flowers, so I just wanted to see if you knew anything about her. You know, since your names are so similar.”

Sunflower couldn’t help but let her mouth drop open. So he wasn’t going to ask her out. He was asking about Rose. Rose? Rose was the name of the superhero who Sunflower became after school. Rose was someone entirely different from Sunflower. Sunflower knew this. She wanted to cry. She wanted to kick her feet up and pout. But she knew, as a young woman, that those reactions wouldn’t be the best. So, instead, she smiled, as best she could.

“My name is Sunflower, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this Rose you’re talking about.” Maybe I should have chosen a name further from my own …

Drake smiled awkwardly. “Because, I think, I’m in love with her,” he said. “I’ve seen her pictures in my dad’s files, and I think she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. I’m sure if she wasn’t wearing that mask she’d be even more beautiful.” Drake was red all over, from the tip of his ears to his cheeks.

Sunflower couldn’t help it. She fell in love with Drake even more in that moment, and knew that she was no closer to him than she was yesterday, because if he was in love with Rose and not Sunflower, then his statement about her being beautiful without the mask couldn’t be true. Otherwise he would be in love with Sunflower without her mask. She turned away, about ready to cry.

“Did I say something wrong?” said Drake, reaching over and touching Sunflower on the arm. He pulled back almost immediately. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you.”

“I don’t know anything,” said Sunflower. “I know nothing.”

“There are other superheroes out there,” said Drake, hesitating. “I’ve read about them online. They hide their identities, but they’re there. I’ve been researching them, and my favorite one is Rose. Rose is the most awesome woman in the entire world. She’s super-powerful, and wields the most epic katana in the world. Firia, everyone calls it, though I don’t think she gives it a name. Some of the things she’s done, they’ve caught it on camera, and she can run at more than fifty miles per hour, and she can jump ten stories, and she can withstand bullets to the chest like she was wearing a bulletproof vest. She’s amazing.” He sighed. “And my father doesn’t know who she is.”

“Your dad is a detective, right?” said Sunflower. “Why is he searching for Rose?”

“Everyone is searching for Rose,” said Drake. “Everyone wants to know who she is.”

Sunflower hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should ask. Then she asked. “Can you tell me something about the other superheroes?” she said, unsteadily.

“Yeah, there are really cool superheroes, like Raygun, and Aquamarine, and then there are the stupid ones like Ignus and Loli.”

Sunflower nodded, going along with Drake’s quick speech and obvious excitement about the subject matter.

“Raygun has a special gun that shoots lasers, that’s why he’s called Raygun. He can shoot a quarter out of the air at a hundred meters. Aquamarine is just aquamarine. There’s nothing special about that except the fact that she’s special. I really like her. But Rose, Rose is the best of them all. She can do everything. She’s the most beautiful superhero in the world, and everyone agrees that she should take her mask off and show people who she is.”

Sunflower almost said it, almost told Drake that she was Rose, but then she pulled back at the last minute, unsure of how he would react when he learned that Rose was an unattractive woman who wasn’t beautiful at all, just appeared beautiful when she was wearing a mask, because Sunflower knew that most of that beauty was just because the mask left everything about her up to the imagination, or at the very least, her eyes and nose. That was the part of her that wasn’t beautiful, right? It had to be. So she hesitated, holding back the information that she wanted to give to him, and instead spoke about the first thing that came to mind.

“I like Rose too,” she said. “I’ve met her.”

Drake’s eyes went wide, and he pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! So you did know something about her!”

Sunflower turned her head away, aware that it would now be a lot harder to reveal who she was to Drake. She sensed someone watching them, in that moment. She smiled, gently, and turned away from Drake.

“I have to go now,” she said, reluctantly. “I really do.”

The presence that was watching them turned into Amber, and then a couple more presences appeared—Amber’s friends. Sunflower didn’t want to get involved in any trouble, and so she wanted to end the conversation short before something bad happened.

“Sorry,” said Sunflower, bowing slightly. “I have to go now.” She turned around and walked away from Drake.

“Let’s talk again sometime,” said Drake, calling out to Sunflower from behind.

Sunflower nodded once, and then turned around the corner of the gym, out of sight from everyone. Then, she burst into full sprint, leaping over the school gates, tears streaming down her eyes and her cheek, biting at the wind. This wasn’t supposed to be how it happened. It wasn’t supposed to be this confusing. Drake’s last statement had given her some hope for the future, but that hope seemed small, unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Drake wasn’t in love with her. Drake would never fall in love with her. He loved someone else, someone who was different than Sunflower, someone who Sunflower could never be without her mask. Sunflower had said that she knew Rose. What would that bring? How would that affect her relationship to Drake and Amber? Would Drake really continue to talk to her?

Those questions bounced around inside of Sunflower’s head for the entirety of her run home. When she arrived at her house, she stopped. There was a black van parked in front of her driveway, and Sunflower couldn’t see inside of it with her mental telepathy. She wondered who it was, vaguely sensing an aura of power and danger. Ignoring the feeling, Sunflower walked up to her door and unlocked it with her key. She stepped inside. There, in the living room, was a black-suited man with sunglasses. He looked like a bodybuilder, massive muscles, thick arms, thicker legs, chest bulging at the hem of his suit. He looked at Sunflower and smiled.

“Hello,” he said, just as Sunflower’s mother entered the dining room, carrying a tray of tea and cookies.

“Oh, hey, Sunflower,” said Sunflower’s mother. “Your debate club advisor is here to pick you up and take you to the competition tonight. Why didn’t you tell me you had a competition? It’s good, you can go, but next time make sure to tell me.”

“Debate club?” said Sunflower, suddenly remembering that she had told her mother that she was in the debate club to cover for the fact that she was usually gone after school. “Right, that,” said Sunflower, after her mother gave her a confused look. She sat down across the table from the black-suited man and looked around herself, awkwardly. “Is there something you wanted from me?” said Sunflower. Sunflower’s mother left the room.

The man extended his hand. In it, he held a business card, all black, with a single logo in its center that was shaped like a shield and had the letters DMI on its surface. Underneath the shield was a name.

Laster. That was it, just one name, no last name. Laster continued to hold the business card out as Sunflower stared at it. “Go on,” said Laster. “Take it.”

Sunflower took it. A light popped up in her hands, and a blue sphere materialized above her palm. The sphere darted around the room, trailing blue light, and then it circled Sunflower’s head five times before puffing away into nothing.

“That’s it,” said Laster. “It’s time to go.” He stood up. “Come with me.”

Sunflower stood up and followed Laster out the door and into the street. Laster got into the black van. Sunflower stood by its side, hesitating. Who was this man? Why was he taking her somewhere? Sunflower thought of all the possible things that could be happening, and then decided that, whatever happened, she would be able to break free. If this was a kidnapping attempt, then they had kidnapped the wrong girl. She stepped into the van. The door closed at her side, and Laster started the engine. They drove through the streets, Laster saying nothing, until they made it to a small tunnel in the middle of nowhere, passing underneath a railway. Laster gunned the engine and they flew through the tunnel and into a world of light, bright light, light that flickered around Sunflower’s body as she floated up in her seat, slamming back down after the light disappeared. They had traveled through some sort of portal, and when Sunflower looked outside, she could see a picture of the planet Earth as if it were being viewed through a spaceship’s window. Only, this spaceship was huge. They drove along a causeway in the center of a long hall, hundreds of other vehicles around them, and then they drove through a door and into the center of a metropolis. The planet Earth shrunk, just as they passed through the door, and Sunflower was aware that she was no longer anywhere near her home world. She was in space. They drove across roads populated with traffic until they came to a tall building near the center of the gigantic space station. Sunflower looked up. She could see hundreds of buildings on the ceiling, upside-down, and she could even see people walking with their heads closer to her than their feet.

“Where are we?” asked Sunflower, leaning forwards in her seat so that she could catch a glimpse of Laster, in the driver’s seat.

“We’re inside of Polis,” said Laster. “The city in the sky. The capital of the known multiverse. Try not to do anything too spectacular, but I’m sure that there are more spectacular people than you out there doing more spectacular things all the time. Just, don’t worry.”

Sunflower leaned back in her chair. Everything was happening too fast. Here she was, in the middle of a space station city, and just ten minutes ago she had been sitting in her own living room. She didn’t want to think about how far from home she was, and so she simply sat down in the car and waited to see what would happen next. They drove into a parking lot next to the tall building and parked. The curvature of the space station was making Sunflower feel giddy, but she pushed that feeling away as she stepped out of the car and onto the pavement. It was remarkably similar to an ordinary building in her home town of Yelldvis, except for the decidedly sci-fi aesthetic that the building possessed, all round curves and architect skyscraper bulges. Sunflower followed Laster into the building and through the ornately decorated main lobby. Everything was bright, bold, and put to a taste that was wholly different from what Sunflower was used to seeing back on planet Earth. The color blue was everywhere. Gold plating covered most of the light fixtures, and potted plants accented a waterfall that flowed through the center of the room.

Laster stepped into an elevator, and Sunflower followed. They stepped out into a hallway that was carpeted, homely, and looked about as rich and wealthy as the lobby that they had passed through.

“Welcome to the office of the DMI,” said Laster. “This is where we’re going to get you signed up with us.”

“Signed up?” said Sunflower, walking behind Laster. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

“We have several missions that need a new member,” said Laster, “Or, of you work alone, there are some minor jobs that a newbie like you might be able to handle by herself.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Sunflower. “What’s the DMI? How are we in space right now?”

Laster held up one hand. “That is a story for another time,” he said. He stopped in front of a door that was just like all the others, and opened it, stepping into an ordinary office space with cubicles spread out in its center and doors all along its walls.

“This is the headquarters of the DMI,” said Laster. “We’ll get you processed here, and we’ll make sure to tell you everything you need to know.”

Sunflower looked around at the people scurrying back and forth. She was brought to a desk in the center of the room, behind which sat an old woman with an aura of knowledge and wisdom. She smiled, holding out a piece of paper on a clipboard. “Fill out this ten-nintey-J,” she said, “And then we’ll talk about bounties.”

“Bounties?” said Sunflower.

“What,” said Laster. “You thought we weren’t going to pay you for the work you’ve done for your city? Everyone gets paid when they save the world.”

“But—“ said Sunflower, and then she looked down at her paperwork. After about half an hour, she had it all filled out, and then she handed it to the old woman, who filed it away at a complex holographic computer display system. Then she smiled.

“That’s about it,” she said. “You’re now in the system. It’s time for your briefing.”

Sunflower was already baffled enough about what was going on, but at the same time, she was curious to know what Laster had meant by saving the world, and what the old woman had meant by bounties. She had already taken everything else in stride. What now but to take the rest of the surprises as if they weren’t surprises at all? Sunflower had already been through enough stories as it was. What was another story to add to her collection of weird things that happened to her?

Laster took her out of the office and into the streets, where he stood next to her and lit a cigarette. He smoked it once, and then left it hanging next to his leg.

“I suppose you want to know who I am,” he said, flicking the ash off of his cigarette. “I can’t tell you that. All I can tell you is that you’re in the system now. The system knows you. No one knows why we have to put people like you in the system, but we do, and once you’re known by the system, strange things begin to happen to you. Your home world, Earth. It has an extremely low magical individual density compared to some of the places out there. It’s a place in dire need of people like you, people who can help the world, people who can bring about the kinds of change that need to be brought about in a backwater place like Planet Earth. In all honesty, the only reason why I even bothered recruiting you is because I’m from Earth as well. I was born and raised there. My hobby is picking up magical individuals from Planet Earth and giving them big missions. That’s just what I do. People think I’m crazy for worrying about such a low-key place, but hell, I don’t think I can handle not helping out my home world when I have all this power.” He took a drag from his cigarette. Then he let it fall again, flicking it twice. “I’m just a human being. A human who’s been thrust into something bigger than himself, something huge, something that could mean the end for Earth if nothing is done about it. I’ve been trying to tell people. They haven’t listened. Earth is a charity case to them, a backwater planet with a population small enough that it doesn’t even have any seats on the intergalactic senate. That’s how small the Earth is. It’s worthless. I’m the only one out there who’s watching out for the planet. No one else will do it.” He took another pull from his cigarette. “That’s where people like you come in. I have a proposition for you. Are you willing to spend some time up here, in the multiverse? Are you willing to help out your home planet with your powers? Because your powers are a lot more extensive than you know. You’re clear from your house and your school for the next week. To your mother, you’re going on a debate team trip. To your school, you’re still going to be there, and it’s just that people won’t notice you’re gone. And don’t worry. We have technology that will help you recover from the missed schoolwork.”

Sunflower thought for a long moment, wondering why this was happening to her, wondering what was going to happen if she accepted the offer and became a protector of Earth, whatever that meant. She had power. She just didn’t know what to do with it, was all.

“You said we’re getting paid,” said Sunflower.

“I did,” said Laster. “You’re going to be paid approximately one hundred thousand dollars for the week’s work. Don’t worry, the price is about right for the danger of the stuff you’ll be doing if you accept this mission.”

“I …” said Sunflower, thinking for another long moment. “I don’t know. I’m not sure what the right thing to do is.”

“You’ll be hopping dimensions, fighting wars, doing espionage and generally saving the ass of every human being who lives on Planet Earth. You’re the only one who even looks like they’ll take the job. Everyone else refused. I’ve been cycling through heroes on Planet Earth for the past two weeks, and every single one of them doesn’t even step into the car to follow me.”

“That’s because you’re driving in an unmarked black van,” said Sunflower. “You have to get that part of the job down right. No one trusts a man in a black suit with a black van.”

“It’s company policy,” said Laster. “We have to look professional. I can’t go against that rule.”

“So?” said Sunflower. “Why hasn’t anyone else taken up the offer?”

“They all gave one excuse or another,” said Laster. “Especially Aquamarine. She saw me once and then she kicked me in the face with her hydraulic pressure booster or whatever the hell it is that she uses.”

“I see,” said Sunflower. “So I’m the only one who responded to the call.”

“You’re Rose,” said Laster, “The person I thought least possible as the only one who would respond to my call. Every other hero has rejected the mantle. Only you have responded to the call to action that I’ve given you. It’s frustrating. I don’t want to believe that no one else wants to save Planet Earth from impending destruction.”

“What kind of destruction are we talking about?” said Sunflower.

“There is a war going on right now,” said Laster, “And Earth is about to become a battleground. Earth has one thing that both sides need in this conflict, and that’s water. Both sides need huge amounts of water to feed their war machines, and they’ve been sucking water worlds clean for the past three centuries, which is how long the war has been lasting. And finally, it comes close to where we are now. Where I used to live, the place I still call home. I have family down there. They think I work overseas, and I want to keep them ignorant. I think that’s about all you need to know, and the one thing that I’m going to tell you is this: be careful out there. You’re on your own for this one. I know you can do it. I’ll give you the tools and the security clearance, and you’re going to have to figure out a way to stop this war from claiming the Earth. No one else cares. No one else is working to stop the war from coming to Planet Earth. Only I know what’s going on, and no one else is listening to me.”

“How long do we have?” said Sunflower.

“About a month, your time,” said Laster. “I told you that you have a week free, but in a month’s time, about, the war will come to Earth.”

“So basically Earth is just getting caught in the crossfire of an interdimensional war,” said Sunflower. “Is that it? Is that going to be the end of it all? You’ve got to be kidding me. I sound like I’m in the middle of a B-list sci-fi movie.”

“You can choose to do something about it, or you can choose to ignore it. If you ignore it, I can’t be responsible for what happens to Earth.”

“I’ll take the job,” said Sunflower.

“And of course, we’ll pay you,” said Laster. “I have a plan.” He took a drag from his cigarette. “It’s just that, it’s going to take some serious brains to complete, and I don’t have any people with those kinds of skills that would listen to my call. You were my last try.”

“I can find someone,” said Sunflower. “I can help you gather people to fight against the war that’s coming.”

“I don’t know how to stop it,” said Laster, “But I’m pretty sure that if we show that the Earth has the ability to contribute to the Galactic Empire, they’ll give us their protection. There’s a mission that the Empire has put on maximum priority. A person that needs to be rescued from a level five lockdown sector. He’s an important Imperial diplomat, who was sucked into a hyperspatial wormhole and dumped in that sector, exactly where, no one knows. That’s why I told you a week. A week is all we have before his life support systems run out.”

“But you need someone smart to be able to find him, right?” Sunflower said, looking up at Laster.

“Right,” said Laster. “And I don’t know anyone that fits the bill. Not anyone I’ve tried to recruit, and I’ve tried to recruit dozens of people from the two cities where superheroes exist.

‘Two cities?” said Sunflower.

“There are two major ley lines that recently opened on Planet Earth,” said Laster. “Before this, there were no superheroes, no superpowers. Ley lines are what cause you to be able to run and jump like that, and that’s what gave you your super reflexes.”

“What can you tell me about, er, Aquamarine?”

“I’m sorry,” said Laster. “That’s classified information. It’s just company policy that I don’t hand out details to people like this. Because, in all honesty, this is completely under the table. If management were to catch me using the database like this …”

“But,” said Sunflower, “Isn’t your personal reputation worth the salvation of the entirety of Planet Earth?”

“I told you,” said Laster. “Aquamarine doesn’t want to be bothered. Neither do any of the other superheroes in Yelldvis.”

“Fine,” said Sunflower, stepping away from Laster. “If you’re not going to help me, I’ll find them on my own.” She turned around. “I’m going home.”

“Take the number eleven and get off at stop five,” said Laster, calling after Sunflower, as she walked away from Laster and towards the street. She stood in the middle of the sidewalk, looking both ways, until she found the bus stop. The bus pulled up next to the stop, hissing, a double-decker lighted in neon and chrome and looking exactly like she had expected a bus from the future to look. She checked to make sure it was the right one. The number eleven. Strangely enough, she could read everything on it. Eleven, the right bus.

If Laster couldn’t do anything about the war that was about to take over the Earth, than Sunflower would do something about it. She had a week. One week to save the world.