Chapter 8: Girl Power

It was bright and sunny the next day, and Kara assumed she’d be scratching all the way to school. It was a pleasant surprise, then, when she didn’t itch at all.

“Hey!” she exclaimed.

“What, sweetie?” asked Emily.

“The itch is gone!”

Emily smiled. “That’s good news. I was a little worried since I didn’t know exactly what was causing it. How does your skin feel?”

Kara closed her eyes. There was a pleasant kind of warmth and tingling from the sun, not at all like the yucky feeling she’d had before. “It feels great. The sun feels great!”

“Maybe she’ll start flying now,” said Caitlin.

“Caitlin! Stop teasing her. Enough is enough.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes, but gave Kara a lazy one-armed hug by way of apology. Kara grinned up at her.

Kara enjoyed the feel of the sun all the way to school. Somehow, she felt a lot better: more energetic and not at all tired. She felt ready to tackle the day. Several times she closed her eyes and basked in the sunlight.

She had a spring in her step as she waved goodbye to Emily and Caitlin and headed towards her homeroom. In fact, she started to skip.

• • •


Kara’s good mood was dimmed by the topic of discussion in Social Studies. Apparently there was flooding in Thailand, and there had been a horrific earthquake in the eastern, rural part of Turkey. Hundreds of people had died, and more were dying.

The teacher was using these events to center a discussion about what everyone could, or should, do about disasters happening on the other side of the world. One kid suggested donating to charity. Another asked if that would really make a difference.

Kara’s thoughts kept drifting to Superman, who spent nearly as much time promoting charities as he did doing rescues or fighting crime. He always said that while he could do a lot, he couldn’t do everything, and that the most important part of being a hero was not having powers, but caring and doing what you could.

She was about to raise her hand to contribute that thought to the discussion when her ears were assaulted by a horrible squeal. It was like the soundtrack for an entire movie played back in the space of a second, fed through the world’s biggest amplifier — with feedback. She jerked in surprise, even as she grimaced and clapped her hands over her ears; she squeezed her eyes shut and cried in pain.

She was in agony for only a second before the pain disappeared altogether. She opened her eyes to find everyone in the classroom staring at her, but something was wrong. Like a movie with the sound badly out of sync she was hearing voices and other sounds that didn’t match what she was seeing. It was like being at a party where everyone was talking at once but none of their lips were moving.

She was starting to panic, her heart thumping in her chest. What’s wrong with me?!

She noticed that her teacher’s lips were moving; he had a concerned look on his face, but she couldn’t pick his voice out of the cacophony at first. Kara stared at his lips, and his voice suddenly stood out.

“…ing if you’re all right, Kara? Can you hear me?”

Kara swallowed and nodded. If she concentrated, she could pick out what he was saying. “I’m OK, Mr. Ordemann,” she replied. “I just had a bad headache for a second, but it’s gone.”

He still looked worried. “I think you should go to the nurse.”

Kara shook her head. “Really, I’m fine now. I’m sorry.” She was finding it easier and easier to focus on his voice as time went on. The other sounds were still there, but like at a party, she could tune them out.

Mr. Ordemann frowned for a second, then nodded slowly. “If you feel bad again, I want you to go to the nurse, OK? And you definitely need to tell your foster mother when you get home.”

Kara nodded. “Yes, Mr. Ordemann.”

The discussion started up again and Kara kept her attention mostly on it, but tried listening a little to the other sounds. No one else seemed to hear them. What on Earth was going on? Was she crazy? Were they ghosts or something?

If so, they were very mundane ghosts. She heard a teacher discussing algebra. She heard another talking about chemistry. She heard kids laughing. She heard the secretaries in the administration offices typing on their computers and chatting. She heard an ambulance siren. She was sure she heard Emily talking with a patient at Milford Memorial two blocks away. She heard the noise of a jet passing by overhead, and caught some of the conversation of the pilot and copilot in the cockpit. She heard someone ask “Do you want fries with that?” She heard the surf of Delaware Bay and the cry of the gulls. It was all kind of just… waiting there for her to listen to.

It suddenly struck her what was going on, and her face paled.

“Kara, are you sure you’re OK?” It was her teacher again, eyeing her skeptically.

She blushed. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Ordemann. I’m fine, honest. I just got distracted.”

The discussion resumed but Kara didn’t participate, still in shock at her epiphany. She now knew why her dad sometimes looked like he was distracted by something, just before he made one of his weird excuses and ran off. She also knew why Jordy seemed to have the same look on his face at those times.

Now it was happening to her, too. She had suddenly acquired super-hearing. She had at least one of Superman’s abilities.

That meant her dad was Superman; she was certain of it. And that made her even more sure that somehow, he’d find her.

Despite her fear at what was happening to her, a tiny smile crept onto her face.

• • •


“Kara, what’s the matter?” asked Bailey as they headed into the cafeteria.

“Huh?” asked Kara. “Oh, nothing.” In truth, she’d been wondering why she wasn’t hungry.

One of the things she’d learned about Superman in fourth grade was that he got his power from the sun and didn’t need to eat, but liked to. Apparently, this was another thing she now had in common with him.

It was unsettling to realize she’d spent a unit of fourth grade Social Studies studying her own father.

Another epiphany landed on her like a cartoon anvil: Oh my God, I’m an alien. She shivered. When Dr. Penny had told her about Superman, when she’d read Kevin’s comics, she’d been thinking about her dad. Somehow the implications for her hadn’t sunk in.

“Wow, are you sure you’re OK? I heard about what happened in Social Studies…”

Kara shook her head and pasted on a smile. “I’m fine, Bailey. Today is just kind of… um, a weird day.”

She and Bailey got their trays and headed for their usual table. She noticed Kevin had joined them again.

“Aren’t you going to get sassed for eating lunch with sixth grade girls, Kevin?” teased Bailey.

Kevin shrugged. “None of the guys I hang with would care. And I don’t care about the ones who do care.”

Bailey smiled. “That’s pretty cool, Kevin. I’m impressed.”

Kara smiled too, and looked down at her lunch. She frowned. Was that a… bug? Ewww! She peered at the plate.

Suddenly the small blob on her plate expanded at high speed; Kara experienced vertigo, as if she were shrinking like Alice in Wonderland. Now that it filled her field of vision she could see that the thing on her plate was just an oddly shaped fleck of parsley, not a bug. However, when she turned her gaze elsewhere she was still seeing everything zoomed up. Things sped through her magnified field of view as she turned her head, disorienting her.

She heard “I think we might be having a little trouble in number three engine,” and swung her head in the direction of the sound. All she saw was a blur. She blinked and suddenly could see again; she realized she was looking out the window. She could make out the tiny speck of an airplane in the distance.

Again her vision changed: her viewpoint rushed forward, as if she were hurtling towards the jet at high speed. She found herself focused on the cockpit, through the fuselage, as the copilot started flipping some switches. She kept watching, concerned, until he said, “No… false alarm. It was one bad reading. Everything looks normal now. Better get this looked at by Maintenance, though; I’ll log it.”

“Kara, what on Earth are you doing?”

Suddenly, her vision changed again and she was staring at the wall of the cafeteria. She realized that she’d been watching the scene in the cockpit through the wall as the plane had continued on its course. She looked around; her friends were all staring at her.

Panic was jumping up and down in her insides, raising its hand for attention. “S-Sorry…”

Megan put a hand on her arm. “Are you sure you’re OK? You keep staring off into space. And you look like you’re freaking out.”

“I’m feeling a little… uhh… funny today, but it’s nothing serious. Sorry.”

“Maybe you should go to the nurse?”

“No!!” The last thing she wanted was to talk to the nurse about this. “Um, really, I’m perfectly OK.” She offered up a cheesy grin.

“If you’re sure…” said Megan, doubtfully.

“Hey,” interjected Kevin. “So do you want to come over and see a Superman movie this afternoon after school?”

“Kevin,” said Megan, slightly exasperated. She sighed. “I guess it would be OK…”

Kara looked between Megan and Bailey. They seemed OK with the idea, so she ventured, “That might be fun. I have to check with my foster mom, though.”

“Which movie were you thinking of?” asked Bailey.

“Well, usually I’d start at the beginning with a series, but the special effects are so much better in Superman Returns that I want to show her that. The special effects back in the 70’s were really lame.”

There was the kind of everyone-looking-at-everyone-else that passed for acquiescence, so Kara nodded her head. “Superman Returns”? Where did he go?

• • •


“If everyone could turn to page 57…”

Kara reached for her math textbook to flip the page and accidentally ran her finger along the edge of the paper. She frowned; she must have gotten a paper cut from the feel of it. She looked at her finger, expecting to see a small cut starting to ooze blood.

There was nothing. Kara stared, then rubbed her finger. It was fine.

Since she had her own books now, she wasn’t sharing her math text with anyone. Surreptitiously, she lifted the paper, hesitated, then ran her finger back and forth along the edge.

Nothing. Then she noticed that the back of her right hand was unblemished. The mark from the IV at the hospital had still been there that morning.

She took her compass, put her hands under the desk, squeezed her eyes shut, and lightly jabbed the point into the palm of her hand. She felt the jab, but no pain. She opened her eyes, and pulled both hands out from under the desk.

Her hand was fine, but the shaft of the compass was bent at a sharp angle.

She hastily hid it back under the desk. Working by feel, she tried to bend the compass straight again; it bent far more easily than it should have. She pulled it back out, and it looked mostly OK, so she laid it back on the desk and tried to catch up with what Ms. Noether was saying.

She was moderately freaked out, so that was somewhat difficult.

• • •


Kara shrank from the oncoming projectile and closed her eyes.

“Strike two!”

Kara had never liked playing ball. She was afraid of the ball and couldn’t seem to shake that, though her father and brother had tried to help. Even now, knowing that bullets would likely bounce off her, she flinched every time.

Ms. Gomez, the P.E. teacher, came over and kneeled down next to her. “Kara, it’s slow pitch. The ball can’t really injure you. Try to look at it and think about hitting it, OK? Keep your eye on it and focus.”

Kara nodded and resumed her stance. Enough things had happened today that getting hit by the ball was the least of her worries. Right now, she needed to make sure she didn’t do anything to expose her newly emerging powers.

The pitcher looked to see if she was ready, then wound up and released. Kara focused on the ball, concentrating hard. She readied herself to swing, but the ball was coming so quickly and it could hit her and it stopped and… wait, what?

Kara stared; the ball hung motionless in mid-air. Well, no: it was moving slowly, very slowly. She almost stood up straight in surprise, but realized just in time that the ball had not slowed down; she had sped up. If she moved at a “normal” pace everyone would see her moving at super-speed, just like Superman. Just like her dad.

She tried to calm herself, to will herself to believe she was ready. The ball sped up again and everything returned to normal. She started to swing…

…only to realize that although she was moving in normal time, she was applying far too much force: she could feel it. Oddly enough, though her hands were applying enough force to reduce the bat to sawdust, it didn’t disintegrate; somehow, she was holding it together, but she could see it start to deform.

She focused on slowing the bat down, but the result was a shock wave traveling up its length. The ball forgotten, she tried desperately to keep the bat from exploding in a shower of splinters. It didn’t, but it did snap in half as she completed her swing. The end slid along the field between first and second base.

“Huh,” said Ms. Gomez. “I’ve never seen someone break a bat without hitting the ball.” She walked to the batter’s box, and Kara meekly handed over the remains. Ms. Gomez turned it over in her hands as Kara held her breath.

“I guess that one was just ready to go.” She smiled at Kara. “Why don’t you get another bat and try again?”

The next pitch, Kara gave up on hitting. She cringed away from the ball and safely struck out.

• • •


Kara stood at the school entrance, waiting for her friends. She’d received permission to go with them for the movie. Emily would pick her up on the way home from work.

Kara’s mind wasn’t much on the movie.

She had not had a moment all day to process the meaning or implications of the superpowers that had been erupting one after another like a bad case of Kryptonian acne. Between trying to avoid exposure and trying to pay some attention to school, there hadn’t been a shred of her attention left. Now, she was stunned. A week ago she’d thought she was a normal, if socially awkward kid; now, she knew she was Superman’s daughter.

“Kara?”

“Ahh!” shrieked Kara, starting. Other students turned to look, then ignored her as they streamed out of the school on their way home.

“Whoa, whoa!” said Megan. “Are you OK?” She lay a gentle hand on Kara’s arm and peered into her eyes. “You’re all freaked out. What’s wrong?”

Kara hugged herself and shivered. “I think this was the worst day of my entire life.”

Megan looked confused, then questioning. “Is it…?” she whispered.

Kara looked blank for a moment, then shook her head. “No… I… um, not yet.” She blushed furiously and averted her eyes.

“Then what…?”

“I… I…”

Megan folded her arms around Kara in a hug. Kara returned it tentatively.

“Hey, I won’t break, you know.”

Kara barked a short laugh, which turned quickly to crying.

“Wow. Are you sure…?” Kara nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Kara tried to calm herself. “No… not really. I… uh, I… I’ll be OK. I think.”

“Are you sure you want to come for Kevin’s geek-fest? Maybe you should go home and rest?”

Kara managed a tepid smile. “I’m sure. I’d rather hang out with you guys.” She took a deep breath and blew it out. Slowly.

• • •


In an office somewhere in Washington, D.C., Kara’s photograph, fingerprints, and case report were scanned into a computer database. From that point automated systems took over.

The information was cross-indexed; no matches were found among birth or other records. This person seemed not to exist.

That caused the file to be flagged. The information was transferred to other computer systems, including those used by the national intelligence agencies.

• • •