Zenith’s Three Wishes

I tried again, forcing my hand forward like I had seen heroes do in movies. Nothing happened. I tried harder. My shoulder tightened. My teeth pressed together.

A tiny flash popped against my palm and stung my fingers.

“Ow.”

From somewhere near the hallway came a soft metallic click.

I froze.

The gym fell quiet except for the buzz of the lights and the faint rattle of an air vent. I turned toward the double doors. The narrow window in one door showed only darkness.

“Is someone there?”

No answer.

I took one step toward the doors. The floor squeaked under my shoe.

Another click.

This one came from the bleachers.

I spun around.

The folded bleachers stretched across the far wall, their metal supports making a maze of black lines. Nothing moved between them.

My first thought was that a teacher had caught me. My second was that somebody had followed me.

Neither thought made my new powers feel useful.

I reached for the energy inside me. It rose instantly this time, warm and bright, rushing through my arms. Light spilled over my knuckles.

The gym flashed gold.

A shape ducked behind the bleachers.

“Hey!” I shouted.

I ran.

My first step cracked the floor beneath my sneaker.

The second launched me across half the court.

I slammed into the folded bleachers hard enough to bend one of the metal rails. The impact should have broken my shoulder. Instead, the rail folded around me with a shriek, and I stumbled free without even a bruise.

I stared at the twisted metal.

“Oh, that is not normal.”

A door banged open near the equipment room.

I looked up just in time to see a figure disappear through it.

I sprinted after them.

This time, I tried to hold back. I managed three steps before my body moved faster than my thoughts. The equipment-room door rushed toward me. I grabbed the handle, but my hand crushed it flat.

The door burst inward.

Boxes flew from a shelf. Basketballs bounced everywhere. A plastic crate smashed against the wall.

“Stop!” I yelled.

Footsteps pounded through the narrow storage area.

I pushed off the floor.

For one impossible second, I was floating.

My stomach dropped. My shoes lifted six inches above the ground, then a foot, then three. I shot forward and smacked into the ceiling.

The tiles exploded around my head.

I fell through the dust and landed on the other side of the storage room in a crouch.

Pain flashed across my forehead, then disappeared.

A person in a dark hoodie slipped through the emergency exit.

I reached the door and threw it open.

Cold night air slapped my face. Behind the school, the parking lot stretched under white security lights. A chain-link fence rattled near the football field.

The watcher was gone.

I stepped outside anyway, scanning between the dumpsters and the rows of parked cars. My vision sharpened until I could see every scratch on the nearest vehicle. A bird perched on the roof of the science building turned its head toward me.

No hoodie. No footsteps.

Then I saw the tiny red light.

It blinked from the top of a light pole across the lot.

A camera.

I stared at it.

The red light blinked again.

“Seriously?”

My phone buzzed inside the gym.

I hurried back through the emergency exit, careful not to touch anything this time. The equipment room looked like a tornado had passed through it. Basketballs rolled around my ankles. Dust floated through the gold glow still leaking from my hands.

I grabbed my backpack and pulled out my phone.

Three messages waited.

Hunter: Where are you?

Hunter: We saw the lights from outside.

Hunter: Aaron, what did you do?

I swallowed.

Outside the gym windows, beyond the parking lot, three figures stood beside the fence.

They weren’t wearing school clothes. One had a hood pulled low. Another held something small and black. The third stood with both hands in their pockets, watching the gym.

Watching me.

I ducked behind the bleachers.

My first instinct was to run. My second was to fly. My third was to pretend none of this was happening.

The gold light faded from my hands.

A voice drifted through the cracked emergency door.

“Did you get it?”

“Not clearly.”

“He was inside.”

“Then keep the camera on the building.”

My throat tightened.

They knew.

Maybe they had seen the flash. Maybe they had seen me break through the bleachers and fly into the ceiling. Either way, they weren’t confused students wandering around after school.

They were looking for me.

I peeked through the gap between two metal seats.

One of them raised the black device. A small screen lit up, showing the inside of the gym from above.

The camera on the light pole.

My stomach twisted.

I could smash the device. I could cross the parking lot before they even blinked. I could lift the entire fence and drop it somewhere else.

But if I used my powers again, they would know exactly what they had seen.

I had wanted to prove I could be a hero without the darkness. A hero didn’t scare people just because he could. A hero didn’t attack first because he was nervous.

So I stayed still.

The three watchers started toward the school.

My hands began glowing again.

“No,” I whispered. “Not like that.”

The energy surged harder, reacting to my fear. The floor beneath my palm cracked when I caught myself against it.

Outside, one of the watchers stopped.

“Did you hear that?”

I looked at the emergency exit. The metal door shivered in its frame.

They were coming in.

I had seconds.

My mind raced through every option. Hide. Run. Fight. Fly through the roof. None of them felt like a hero. They felt like panic wearing a cape.

Then I heard a sharp bang outside.

The side gate had slammed shut.

The watchers turned toward the sound.

A stray cat darted across the parking lot, knocking over a trash can. The three figures stared after it.

I moved.

I pushed both hands toward the ceiling and released the energy.

A golden wave rolled upward without a sound. It spread across the gym roof, passed through the metal beams, and wrapped around the camera outside. The red light blinked once, then died.

The watchers looked up.

The gym lights burst.

Darkness swallowed the room.

I flew.

Not high this time. Just enough to clear the bleachers and reach the upper catwalk. My shoes touched the narrow metal railing. Below me, the emergency door opened.

Flashlights cut through the dark.

“There!” someone shouted.

I crouched behind a support beam.

The beam felt cold beneath my fingers. I could hear every sound - their shoes scraping the floor, the loose basketballs bumping across the court, the nervous breathing of the person closest to me.

“Check the bleachers,” another voice said.

A flashlight swept across the folded seats.

I held my breath.

The beam passed over the bent rail I had crushed earlier. It stopped.

“What happened here?”

“Forget it. Find the kid.”

Kid.

They didn’t know my name. That was something.

The closest watcher stepped toward the catwalk stairs.

I looked at the roof above me. I could punch through it. I could disappear into the night. But the watchers might follow. They might come after Hunter. They might find out where I lived.

I needed them to look somewhere else.

A metal basketball hoop hung from the ceiling at the center of the court. I reached for it with my mind - not exactly my mind, more like the power inside me - and pulled.

The hoop tore loose.

It crashed onto the court between the watchers and the stairs.

They shouted and jumped back.

I launched myself upward.

My head broke through the roof with barely any resistance. Shingles flew into the night. I landed on the roof, crouched beneath the stars, while the gym alarms began screaming below.

For a few seconds, I just knelt there.

My hands were still glowing.

I had done it.

I had used the power to stop them without hurting anyone. I had controlled it while scared. I had acted instead of freezing.

I was a hero.

The thought barely formed before a bright beam struck my chest.

I flew backward across the roof and crashed into the raised sign above the gym entrance. Metal bent around me.

The beam vanished.

Across the parking lot, one of the watchers lowered a small device. A second red light blinked from its side.

They had another camera.

The one in the hood pointed up at me.

“Confirmed,” they said.

Their voice carried clearly through the cold night.

The person beside them lifted a phone. “The energy signature matches the footage.”

My fingers dug into the bent sign. I could hear the alarm, the wind, the pounding of my own thoughts.

The third watcher looked directly at me.

“Track him.”

A thin blue light appeared on my chest.

I tore at it, but it clung to my shirt like a glowing mark. It burned cold against my skin.

The watchers ran for the far gate.

I could have caught them. I could have crossed the distance before they reached the street.

Instead, I stayed on the roof, staring at the blue mark spreading across my shirt.

My first successful use of Zenith’s power had saved me from being cornered.

It had also painted a target on my chest.

Below, my phone buzzed again.

Hunter: Aaron, where are you?

I looked toward the dark road where the watchers had vanished.

Then I looked at the golden light gathering in my hands.

“They know,” I said.

The mark pulsed once.

Somewhere beyond the school, a device answered with a quiet electronic beep.

End of chapter one. 4 more chapters in the full book.