The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

Lex drove in the direction he saw the truck go, but quickly lost their trail. "Okay... Any idea where they might be taking Bruce?" Lex asked Misty as he pulled up to a stop light.

"Those guys were seniors I think and Bruce is a freshman I think." Misty thinks really hard for a moment. "Oh crap, the Tradition. We aren't gonna find him anytime soon he could be on any farm Lex."

"You know, before I came to town, I thought this place would be boring, boy was I wrong or what?" Lex said as he drove on, searching the side roads for trucks.

"Tradition? What tradition? Why would they be taking him to a farm?" Lex asked, perplexed.

"Lets just say Bruce is gonna be the multi billion dollar scarecrow. He will be left tied up like a scare crow all night long if we don't find him and fast."

Misty felt a pang of sorrow for Bruce he had been nice to her even if he made some of the matters worse earlier today. "We have to hurry and help him Lex he tried so hard to help me earlier today and he didn't even know me. Boys and their stupid traditions."

Bruce woke up in the middle of a corn field. Naked, except for his boxers, with an "S" on his chest. Tied to a post. He couldn't get out, and he was extremely weak from the cold night air, and the beating he had taken earlier. He didn't see anything around, no roads, nothing.

After a few minutes of manuvering his hands with the rope, he got one hand free. He loosened the rope around his neck, and proceeded with the other hand. He heard movement behind him.

Who's out there? I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if you don't get off of my land. The voice of a man called out. Bruce tried to call out to him, to explain, but he couldn't get anything out. The man was getting closer. He heard a sound he never wanted to hear again.

The gun was cocked. Bruce turned around to see a blonde haired man walking towards him, with a rifle. As soon as the man noticed what was going on, he dropped his gun. Oh my god, are you ok? Hold on, let me get you down from there. the man said rushing to the already weakened teenager. The man cut the rope, and Bruce fell to the ground. The man lifted him up, and hurried off to his house.

Inside, the man yelled for his wife. Martha! Martha, get me a blanket and the first aide kit. The man yelled. Martha Kent ran into the kitchen, seeing her husband carrying a young black haired man, setting him down on the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Jonathon, what's happened? Martha asked, giving Jonathon Kent what he needed.

Stupid kids and their damn games. He's the first scarecrow of the year. Jonathon said. Bruce came around enough to realize what was going on. He sat up quickly, as Mr. Kent tried to hold him down. It's alright son, it's ok, weve got you. Settle down. Mr. Kent said calmly. Bruce followed the orders, and lied back down, as Mr. Kent explained what exactly had happened to him, all the while, fixing him up. Mrs. Kent made a hot cup of coffee, trying to fix up the mess in the kitchen.

Kara should be home any time. I didn't think that she would be out late... Mr. Kent said. Then it hit Bruce. He was supposed to meet up with Kara. 'Great, now what is she going to think?' Bruce thought to himself.

Kara headed off to her next few classes after having lunch with Kyle and Bruce. Both seemed interested in her own history, though she had very little to tell. She was just a young farm girl from Kansas, adopted at a very young age (Kara couldn't remember how old she was but Martha and Jonathan said she was little more than 3 years old). Bruce had a bit to say on what he had been up to in recent years, but kept quiet for the most part.

The bell finally rang and they split apart, each going their own way for the rest of the school day. Kara had a few more classes to take, and she eagerly participated whenever she could. The teachers smiled at her as she raised her hand, correctly answering questions that most other students had not a clue about. She was quickly establishing herself as a 'good student' and that caused her to smile.

When the day was finally over, Kara decided to walk to the Talon instead of being picked up. It was a nice day out, so why not enjoy it? With her hands tucked inside her jacket she walked down the sidewalk, hearing the buzzing of car horns as those students able to drive began leaving. The Talon wasn't too far away from the school, and Kara opened up one of the doors, stepping inside.

"Guess I'm early." she thought after looking around for Bruce but not seeing him. She took a seat in one of the comfortable chairs by the window, picking up a magazine that rest on the table next to her.

---

Kara sighed as she finally stood up from her seat. It was starting to get late, and when Bruce didn't show up she decided to head home. She picked up her jacket and put it on, having taken it off while waiting in the lobby. She went outside, the air growing a little colder but never to the point where it bothered her. She walked down the sidewalk, heading off in the direction of her home. The streets seemed fairly empty, especially when she made her way towards the farm.

Wraith

As first days of school go, today went well. I got home from school (turning the lights off in the bathroom and Shadowstepping home saved me a ton of time, tho if Gram found out i'd get scolded pretty hard!). I called Bekka and filled her in on the day. She was very interested that THE Bruce Wayne was going to school in a small town in Kansas.

By the time I got off the phone with Bekka Gramps had some chores to do, and that kept me busy until past dark. Since I really don't need to eat, and haven't slept in over a year, I shifted forms and Shadowstepped into town.
Much to my suprise I saw Kara walking by the alley I shifted into. I stepped back and she stopped. Crap! How the hell did she notice me! I froze, a darker shadow in the shadows of the alley. Hopefully she doesn't investigate. The last person that saw me in my armor screamed and ran!

"Well, I'll see about ending this particular tradition, once we have made sure Bruce is okay." Lex said as he turned onto a dirt road. "This seems promising, do you know who lives out this way at all?" Lex asked as he kept glancing out into the fields for any sign of recent activity in the area.

"The Kent's I believe. They own the biggest non corporate farm out here. Though I think they are starting to struggle to make ends meat right now. I hope we find Bruce soon he deserves better then this and the boys that did this should be ashamed of themselves."

Misty felt herself getting really mad at all this stuff going on. "I'm gonna read every guys mind until i find out who did this Lex."

"Thats my girl, if you find out, let me know, I'll see them expelled for this." Lex said as he noticed a patch of field that looked as though it had been driven through recently. "Looks like I found a detour, hold on Misty, this may get bumpy." Lex said as he turned off into the driven over field, following the tracks.

Misty held on as tight as she could in the Ferrari but it wasn't really made for offroading. "Lex I don't think this car was made for this won't it get messed up." Misty was conscious of how much the car would cost to replace after all 200,000 for a car was a lot of money.

they pulled up to the stake in the ground and it was apparent people had been here recently. "Lex he isn't here but someone was here recently!"

Bruce thought for a moment. Wait a moment, Kara would be home, and see Bruce, sitting on her table, half naked, with an "S" painted on his chest. Wow, what an impression he must make on her.

Mr. and Mrs. Kent were still working on him, fixing a nasty cuy above his eye, while Mrs. Kent bandaged his ribs. You know, I didn't quite expect to meet you folks like this. Bruce said, laughing a little bit, as much as the ribs would allow.

It was decent coffee, John Smith thought. But, it was getting late, and he had an entire order of new book arrivals to stow away in the library at CKU tomorrow.

As he was leaving the coffee shop to get into his car, he noticed a copy of a local high school newspaper. The front page claimed an infection in some local cows caused by "meteor rock".

Var-Sen gave it a glance over, but found no more information regarding this meteor rock. Hmm, it was only a matter of time if there was any truth to this. Kryptonian scientists have known for many, many years that alien organisms in the form of microbes and bacteria existed in abundance on certain meteors. Some were even responsible for seeding life on some of the planets in the 28 known galaxies.

Maybe these meteor rocks had some bad microbes that the cattle reacted to. He'd have to look farther into that later, just out of curiosity's sake.

Kara had paused for a moment as she was walking past two buildings, the dark space between them seemingly more menacing or ominous than she felt comfortable with. She narrowed her eyes for a moment, but, after seeing nothing outstanding, moved on.

'I'm definitely losing it.' she thought to herself. She continued on her way, making it out of town and onto the main road. With her hands tucked inside her jacket pocket she passed by a few farm houses, the dirt driveways stretching down a good ways before reaching the actual property. Trees scarcely lined the sides of the open roads, and all Kara could really see were corn stalks and the occasional wooden fence post.

"Man, it sure is a long walk." she mused, never really stopping to think just how far her house was from town. It was quite a drive, and even shorter when Kara used her super speed. Walking over a bridge, Kara stopped for a moment to look down over the edge and at the water below. The slow moving stream held her captive for a few moments, but she quickly moved on.

---

Martha finished patching up Bruce's sides, making sure the bandages would hold until he could make it to a hospital. With a wet rag she wiped away the rest of the blood and smiled as her husband brought out some medical tape.

"Well that should hold for a little while." Martha said, taking a step back and looking at Jonathan. Her charming husband gave her a reassuring smile. He then turned to look at the young Bruce who was still laying on his table.

"You said you were planning on meeting us. Any particular reason why?" Mr. Kent asked, curious as to why Bruce had said that this gathering wasn't brought about by normal circumstances.

Bruce winced as Mrs. Kent bandaged him up. Oh, I met your daughter today, I have her in a couple classes. By the way, my name is Bruce. Bruce said, standing up. I've heard about your families hospitality, and figured sooner or later I would meet you two. Just, under different circumstances. Bruce added. He was still weak, but his body seemed to still do what it was told.

The door began to open, and a blonde haired girl walked in, stopping to see Bruce in her kitchen.

Kara! I can explain. Bruce said as he turned to see her. His face began to turn red. Martha Kent and Jonathan Kent exchanged glances.

"It probably will, but it's just a car, Bruce means more." Lex said as they came to the empty stake in the field. "Hmm, you said this was the Kents property? Lets go pay them a visit." Lex said as he drove the car back out onto the road, following the same path that the truck had used.

They pulled up to the Kents house, the hood of Lex's ferrarri coated with debris from the field. He gave Misty an embarassed look as he saw how messed up the car was. "Im sure it will clean right off..." He said as he drew a finger along the hood, walking toward the house in front of them.

He waited for Misty at the door before knocking.

Misty got out of the car and cringed at the damage to Lex's car. It all started because of her and she felt bad. "Lex I'm sorry about your car." She then walked up behind Lex up to the Kent's.

"I hope they don't mind us coming here. I've never really met them before but I hear they are really nice people." Misty stared at Lex as she watched him Knock on the door.

OOC: Well I had plans for Kara before she went home but it seems her actions have already been made. yay.

---

The walk back home ended up being a lot quicker as Kara used her abilities to speed back to the house, down their driveway and to the front door. She opened it up and stepped inside, expecting to smell dinner cooking and to hear the television on. She found... well none of that.

"Mom? Dad?" she called out, walking inside and past the living room. She stepped up to the kitchen and saw Bruce standing there, next to naked, and with her parents huddled close by.

"What's going on?" she asked slightly confused. Before anyone could answer Kara heard a knock at the door. With a rather puzzled look she excused herself and answered it.

"Mr. Luthor." Kara said, surprised to see Lex standing at her door. And Misty was with him!

"Misty!" she exclaimed, relieved to see that she was still alive. "What's going on?" she asked, her clear blue eyes shifting back and forth between the two.

Kara walked in, seeing Bruce standing there. Before he had a chance to explain anything, a knock came at the door. Great, more people.

Mr. Luthor! Kara called out. 'Great, now Lex Luthor is here to see Bruce just about naked in the Kent's house. This looks like it's going to be a very long an interesting night.' Bruce thought to himself.

"Hi Kara." Misty looked around and then saw Bruce. "BRUCE your OKAY." Misty felt relieved at that and looked back at Lex. "He's here and okay." Shew "Well Kara how are you, and Bruce are you gonna be okay."

Misty Stood at the doorway not wanting to be rude. She looked around at the quaint house of the Kent's and then it made sense to her why Kara dressed the way she did. She felt a warmth from this house and knew that she had to become real friends with Kara. "So how was your first day of High School Kara?"

'Great, Misty's here too!' Bruce thought. 'And I'm just standing here, in my boxers, while three people I just met see me.'

Yeah, I'll be fine. It's a little breezy in here with the door open though. Bruce said. Now, if you don't excuse me, I'm going to call Alfred so I can get some clothes on. Bruce added as he reached for his phone. 'Damn, I forgot, I don't have anything on me.' He thought as he felt his boxers, not his jeans.

Jonathan glanced over at Bruce and patted him on the shoulder without putting too much pressure on the poor boy.

"I'll go and get you some clothes to put on." the eldest Kent said as he excused himself. Martha nodded her head and with a polite smile she excused herself from the kitchen. Jonathan made his way upstairs and into his bedroom to retrieve some clothes for Mr. Wayne. He found a clean shirt and some pants, bringing them back downstairs along with a pair of socks. They probably weren't what Bruce was used to wearing, but they would have to do for now.

"Here you go." Jonathan said, setting them done for Bruce to wear.

---

"Come in." Kara offered, remembering her place. She shut the door behind Lex and Misty as they stepped inside. Jonathan had his hands tucked inside his pants pockets while Martha came into the living room. She looked at Lex with surprise, wondering why one of the Luthor's was in Smallville... and visiting her own home.

"Classes were fine, Misty. But we were all worried about you, especially when you just left history class earlier." Kara admitted.

Bruce stood there, as Mr. Kent went to get him some clothes. He came back with a red flannel shirt, jeans, and some socks.

They fit ok, but he thought he'd look funny. Bruce Wayne, the Kansas Farm Boy? Yeah right.

"Bruce don't be embarrassed about being in those boxers they look kinda cute." Misty giggled for a second glancing up at Lex.

Misty walked in the house once Kara invited her in. "Oh don't worry about me Lex made me feel a lot better today. Daddy was in some kinda accident and while he has Disappeared and I'm worried about that. I know he is around some where. I would still probably be off crying somewhere though if we didn't see Bruce get Captured."

Misty concentrated on Kara for a few seconds when she realized she couldn't read her mind it was like there was a barrier there she could read everyone else minds in the rooms when she looked around but not Kara's. Bruce was worried about having to borrow clothes and having to repay the Kent's. Lex was thinking about stocks and bonds as usual. Kara's parents were glad to see Kara had made friends though was worried that they might of made the wrong decision letting her go to school.

They were fighting again.

She could hear them downstairs in the kitchen, bellowing away at each other.

Most parents in this situation could get a divorce and have done with it, get on with their lives and be happy.

Rose's parents, meanwhile, did not have that option.

Because they were already divorced.

They had been down that road. They had tried to stay together for Rose, but they'd not managed it. They'd split, and her mother had moved them to Smallville, while her father had remained at S.T.A.R.Labs in Keystone a few states further north.

But that was then.

And this was now.

And here they were, under the same roof, together for Rose. All over again.

Rose shut her eyes and covered her face with her hands.

Good, she thought. Because I could use a little more guilt in my life.

Clawing her fingers up and back through her dyed-red hair, she whirled to face her CD collection.

This? Was Rose's prize possession. She loved music. She couldn't perform it for beans, but she knew what she liked...

She riffled through the mix CDs. They Might Be Giants? (No, no, not a TMBG sort of situation. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" was good, but...)

Remy Zero. (She'd not heard of Remy Zero before they found their way onto that one soundtrack, but they'd since earned a special place in her heart.)

No, no, no, ah!

She glommed onto a collection of her favourite duets and collaborations and popped it into the player. She cranked it up as loud as it would go...

...she didn't care, honestly, if they yelled at her for it. At least they would stop yelling at each other about her.

Downstairs, meanwhile, the volume was increasing also.

"I just don't see why you can't even try to get your old job back!" Ceri McCrimmon roared, hands clenched by her sides, her Welsh accent like thunder in the room. "You can't ring them? Not even once, ring them and say, 'oh, 'ello, this is James, ran an errand for you lot, in a bit of a pickle, would you mind giving me a spot in the Metropolis branch so I can FEED MY BLOODY FAMILY?'"

And then James Hamilton's roguish English accent would bark back, cannonfire replying to the thunder: "No, Ceri. No, no, I can't ring them up, I really jolly well can't because under my care, on my watch, not one but two potentially multi-million-dollar pieces of equipment were stolen from under me nose and summarily destroyed. They don't keep giving you a paycheque after something like that happens, not in my line of work."

"So what are you gonna do then?" Ceri demanded. "What are you gonna do? I was barely pulling in enough at the hairdresser's to support me, our daughter, and your mad scientist brother. I can't feed another mouth, James!"

Jamie growled, and shook his head. "First of all, Emil's not mad. Second of all? I don't have time to get paying work because I'm busy trying to puzzle out the mystery of our daughter and isn't that the most important bloody thing?"

"Puzzling it out?" Ceri shook her head, feigning amazement and throwing her hands ceilingward. "Is that what we're doing? And tell me, Genius Jamie, are you not the slightest bit closer to figuring out how she ticks than you were when you were just looking at a pair of-of-of supervillain sidearms?"

Jamie's eyes narrowed a bit dangerously. "Oh, I'm closer," he murmured coolly. "Oh, I'm closer."

"Yes? Really really?" Ceri continued her mock astonishment. "Explain it to me then."

Jamie shook his head in disgust. "Oh, no, I can't explain it to you," he turned away, gesturing sharply. "You'll just go all glassy-eyed like you always do and accuse me of-of-of making up words."

This gave Ceri a bit of pause. "I won't. I don't do that, do I? This time, this time I won't."

"Oh," Jamie murmured, suddenly silenced by the appearance of a genuine olive branch. "Right then. Well. It has to do with... the presence of one thing in the absence of another, and The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy."

Ceri blinked.

Jamie sighed, and turned away, and clawed his fingers through his messy brown hair very much in the same way that his daughter clawed through her own tresses.

Ceri shook her head fiercely. "No, no, keep going, James. Keep going. I'm listening."

Jamie took a deep breath.

"The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy," he began, "declares, among other things, that nothing can be completely created or destroyed. It just changes form. Energy into matter, matter into energy, matter into other forms of matter, energy into other forms of energy. Nothing comes from nowhere; it all has to come from somewhere, and it all has to go somewhere.

"This was the problem with the cold gun, you see?" he trundled on, going into a feverish kind of lecture mode, pacing as he spoke, beckoning and whirling as he moved like a crazed conductor before an orchestra of crazies. "The heat gun was moderately straightforward: an enormous power cell generates heat, happily ever after, the end. But with the cold gun? You can't... generate cold."

"Don't fridges generate cold?" Ceri suggested, not, she thought, unreasonably.

Jamie shook his head like he was trying to cast off a bee, or like he was a sheepdog that had just gotten dunked in a lake. "No, no, no, no, no, see, because there's no such thing as 'cold.' Cold is just an absence of heat, a lack of temperature, a spot where warm could be but just isn't.

"So when the cold gun fires?" he continued, "when it casts its energies about? It has to be absorbing heat. Sucking it out, like a pump. But where is it all going? It has to be going somewhere. Where? We don't know. We don't know.

"And that brings us to the question," he murmured, quieting again somewhat, settling down into a far less fevered pace, stopping there between the counter and the larder with his hands in his trouser pockets and his eyes staring into nowhere, "the forty-million-quid question."

Ceri gazed at him, and she saw the smartest man in the world, and she remembered, once, loving him. For the sake of that, and nothing more, she was reluctant to interrupt him.

But he'd gone quiet, he'd been explaining the secrets of The Universe to her and he'd gone quiet and she couldn't abide that at all.

"What is it, James?" she murmured. "What's the question?"

"The question," Jamie replied, little more than a breath in the room, "is 'what if we're wrong?'"

"'Wrong?'" Ceri arched an eyebrow. Don't lose me, James, don't lose me, I'll kick your arse if you lose me.

"Quantum theory suggests a thing called 'zero-point energy,'" Jamie began anew, ramping up, ramping up, growing once more to fever, "which exists even in a vacuum. Even when there's nothing, there's something. Even when space is completely empty! ...there's this fine little web of ziggy-zaggy bits of energy linking it all together.

"So what if we're wrong?" he continued, whirling to face Ceri with his blue eyes blazing and his hands flung out to his sides. "What if we're wrong? What if... if in the absence of heat there's the presence of something else, something we've not yet detected, something which could, lacking a more appropriate term, be called 'cold?' The same could be even true of darkness, of shadow, what if it's not just an absence of light? What if there's something else there?"

Ceri tried to keep her voice even, tried to keep her tone light, tried not to sound... defeatist. "So this cold, then? This secret energy? This is what Rose has, on top of the fiery heat? How... how would she have that? How could a human body... make that?"

Jamie's shoulders slumped. The fever was gone. (Sucked away. The absence of fever.)

He shook his head, and rubbed his face with his hands. "Well, she can't. She can't. For one thing, it's impossible, and for another? It's not bloody possible!"

Ceri bit her lip, and sighed, and looked away. Bendigedig, she thought. No bloody closer.

"It's the rocks," Jamie murmured. Not realisation, just awareness. "It's Emil's mad little rocks. That sample was the x-factor in the equation. Somehow, somehow, it acted as a catalyst, and as a conduit, and channeled the power into her and shaped her body around it. Somehow.

"Like alchemy," he whispered, staring into that nowhere place again, hands back in his pockets. "Like a philosopher's stone."

"And this is another thing we don't know, isn't it?" Ceri smiled sadly, looking back at him. "How a damned mineral can do all that? Or does Emil know, and he's just not saying?"

"Now," Jamie chuckled faintly, holding up a ticking finger and matching her sad smile with one of his own, "I don't think you're all the way wrong about that. He knows more than he's saying. Just the other day I was out in the garage alternating between pestering him to help us with Rose and pestering to let me help him with his meteorites, and he says to me... he says to me..."

Ceri arched an eyebrow.

"He says to me," Jamie murmured, unable to decide whether what he was about to say was brilliant or bollocks, perfection or poppycock, "'it's not a mineral, Jamie. It's a technology.'"

They stood there for a moment, and stared at each other in silence.

Except it wasn't silent, because they suddenly noticed, there at the same time, that there was music coming from upstairs, and very loudly at that.

Jamie blinked. "She don't half got that turned all the way up to eleven, doesn't she?"

Ceri blinked. "She does, at that. Isn't she... doesn't she have school?"

Jamie rubbed the bridge of his nose, scrunching his eyes shut. "She does. At that."

Ceri whirled, and bounded up the stairs, she took them two, three at a time...

She reached Rose's room in a heartbeat, knocked lightning-briefly and shoved open the door.

"Like a gift from the heavens, it was easy to tell," the CD player declared,
"It was love from above, that could save me from hell,
She had fire in her soul it was easy to see,
And the devil himself could be pulled out of me,
There were drums in the air as she started to dance,
Every soul in the room keeping time with their hands--"

Rose was sitting on the bed, and she was curled into a little ball, and she was staring into nowhere just like her dad.

Her thumb was on the stereo's remote and the sudden silence in the room had come from the thumb on that button.

The sudden silence came from the stereo, and from the two McCrimmon girls.

Ceri gazed at her daughter, and shook her head in wonder.

"That's, eh," she attempted, "a new sound for Nickelback. Nickelback, isn't it?"

Rose shook her head. "Nnh," she muttered, her accent thoroughly American. She'd been born in The States, after all. "S'not Nickelback. Well. It's Chad. But he's singing over Santana. They've worked together before."

"Ah," Ceri said simply, as she felt rather than saw Jamie emerge up the stairs behind her, felt him hesitate behind her in the hall rather than intrude in... in parenting. Still can't help sticking your nose in, can you though?

Silence again, just for a moment.

Rose murmured: "I was going to go to school. I really was. I just... I just... I was so worried, I was so scared, they're going to look at me they're going to look me in the eyes and they're just going to know I'm different they're going to know I'm all wrong... I was so scared my stomach hurt like Hell and I decided I was too sick to go.

"I doubled back," she explained, her voice a hush, "snuck back from the bus stop when you weren't looking, went around the back of the house and flew up to the window. Hid here. Hid here all day."

"You must be hungry," Ceri acknowledged, her voice even, her tone gentle, her words simple. This was not a rebellious little prodigal. This was a scared little girl. And being angry at Rose would not give the girl courage... it would just make her more frightened. So Ceri wasn't angry. She just... wasn't.

"Mm," Rose nodded, still staring into nowhere, like this had just occurred to her: "Hungry."

"I'll get you something to eat, then," Ceri nodded, and then waited a beat: "You'll go tomorrow?"

Rose nodded again, simple as anything, and wiped one last errant tear away with the heel of her hand. "I'll go tomorrow."

Ceri smiled faintly, and she nodded a nod of her own, and she slipped back out into the hall and closed the door quietly. She turned, and she found Jamie there, staring past her, as if by some stretch of the imagination his eyes could make X-rays and he could see through the door.

"She's got control," he stated firmly. "Last week she melted a teaspoon in one hand while solidifying a mugful of mercury in the other."

"I know, dear," Ceri nodded, walking past him to go for the stairs. "But this isn't just about physics. It's about fear, and it's about courage."

"Fear is just the absence of courage," Jamie opined, somewhat distractedly, as he followed her down.

Ceri chuckled quietly at that, and shook her head as she paused partway, one hand on the banister and her gaze on his face.

"Now, James," she suggested, "what if you're wrong? What if, in the absence of courage, our little girl feels something else? A different kind of energy?"

It was Jamie's turn to be given pause. "Huh. What if."

"She uses your secret cold energy," Ceri replied, full of purpose. "We'll teach her to use her fear, too. We'll teach her to make use of her fear."