kirasho52: Doubt that, Ghost is the best.

jess_VII: No one's seen him in over five years I heard.

lady_L_12: 2 actually.

lady_L_12: funeral n london.

balt_raven00: casket thing? I rem.

kirasho52: heard that was fake.

jess_VII: Real. No one else is sick enough to try.

mhanzo40: What about the kid from Vietnam?

balt_raven00: real, can't fake.

kirasho52: yeah u can.

jess_VII: It's called Hollywood.

lady_L_12: I think it's real, he ran across water.

kirasho52: could rock path be underneath?

jess_VII: Doubt it, that would take too much time.

mhanzo40: Someone would have noticed.

jess_VII: What about the kid in Texas?

mhanzo40: The kid stopped a tornado. I'm surprised it didn't make any news headlines.

lady_L_12: could b coincidence.

balt_raven00: doubt it.

lady_L_12: that's what most video responses outside of REFOIA have said.

mhanzo40: Well they're all mostly people who have nothing to say about the changing world.

kirasho52: and we do?

mhanzo40: More or less.

mhanzo40: What about the girl in Cairo?

balt_raven00: no vid, no way.

lady_L_12: news article said car went through her.

jess_VII: Still seems hard to believe.

kirasho52: how bout pic from PCR?

kirasho52: PRC*

mhanzo40: Yes.

balt_raven00: no, Photoshop, I could do it.

lady_L_12: he was holding a house over his head.

lady_L_12: stopping it from sliding down hill or something.

balt_raven00: telling u, Photoshop house or the guy into pic.

kirasho52: house was over head, doubt it was Photoshop.

[wor1d had joined]

balt_raven00: who r u? (@wor1d) balt_raven00: this is a private chat.

wor1d: New video, private viewing, uploading now.

[wor1d has left chat]

lady_L_12: who was that?

[CHAT TERMINATED].

Jessica tried to restart the chat but the system told her the option was restricted. A small pop up window appeared on her screen and a progress bar quickly sped from zero to complete within seconds. The window enlarged and a video played. Audio was heard first in the form of a garbled voice, "This was recorded outside of Las Vegas earlier this morning. I have reviewed it and found that it is authentic."

The video played and showed two men in the Las Vegas desert. Whoever shot the video could be heard talking to a friend of his, though Jessica quickly realized their commentary wasn't beneficial to the overall purpose of the video. Everything paused for a moment while the image zoomed in on the two men in the desert. The image was cleaned up and Jessica thought her heart stopped.

The man on the right was the a.s.sa.s.sin Ghost, a man who had never before been on American soil. He held a large black sniper rifle and handed it to the younger man on the left. Jessica's heart raced when she saw him there.

"Nick?"

Nick touched the end of the rifle and after a moment a black cloud of smoke consumed the two of them. Once it cleared Nick held an exact copy of the rifle Ghost held. Nick took aim at the two young men who held the camera, both panicked, and a single shot was fired before the image went black.

The garbled voice returned and gave additional information about the event. "The shot was from over five-hundred-thirty yards away. Neither of the two young men who filmed this were harmed. Both men claimed that Ghost and the young man with him acted as if neither cameraman was there, though both cameraman say they fled the scene immediately after the event."

The window disappeared and the chat resumed.

[balt_raven00 has joined]

[jess_VII has joined]

[kirasho52 has joined]

[lady_L_12 has joined]

[mhanzo40 has joined]

kirasho52: Whoa balt_raven00: cant b real, ghost is dead.

mhanzo40: If REFOIA says he was there, he's alive. It's real.

mhanzo40: Sorry, but I need to go.

[mhanzo40 has left chat]

lady_L_12: I'm in London and it's still freaky.

lady_L_12: oh, I think it's real too.

kirasho52: def. real.

kirasho52: kid copied a sniper, how cool.

lady_L_12: Alright. So we're in agreement that there are at least thirteen people with super powers thus far?

balt_raven00: not counting my opinion?

lady_L_12: of course kirasho52: what about u jess?

jess_VII: still unsure.

jess_VII: gtg.

[jess_VII has left chat]

Jessica left the chat and immediately grabbed her cell phone. She tried to call Nick but it went straight to voicemail. She hung up and called another number, it too went to voice mail, but she did leave him a message, "Drake, its Jess. Call me as soon as you get this. It's about Nick."

"Ghosts are scary aren't they?" Jessica felt her heart race again as her little brother said that. He stood in the doorway and wore one of his big grins. He continued, "They always sneak up on you and since you can't see them you don't know who they really are."

She took a breath and told him, "Ghosts aren't real Michael."

His smile faded. He made a sign with his hands and yelled out, "Pow! They won't leave and one of them won't ever be able to rest."

Jessica knew she wasn't breathing regularly but she tried to remain as calm as she rea.s.sured him, "Ghosts aren't real buddy."

He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder and said, "You can't fear what doesn't exist because if it didn't exist you wouldn't know it could scare you." He stopped, frowned, and whispered, "They're real, and they're coming."

"Michael, what are you talking about?"

"They'll be here, but one of them will never rest, as most ghosts never rest," he told her as he headed for the door.

Jessica continued to look at the doorway after he'd gone. She only looked away when Drake called her back and she needed to tell him about Nick.

10:10 AM.

Both.e.l.l, Washington Ian sat with Coop and Wally in a small diner on Main Street in downtown Both.e.l.l. He and his friends had discovered the restaurant one morning years earlier and quite by accident. The food was inviting, however after ordering their meals they quickly realized that the location they had selected was designed somewhat more for the brunch seeking crowd, namely for couples and groups of women. The floral decor along with the selection of music escaped them until their collective moment of realization. However the food was excellent and as such they became regulars on days when they could gather so early in the morning.

Coop shoveled his order of an omelet, toast, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and fruit into his mouth without stopping for a breath. Wally, in contrast, had ordered a far more modest order of a short stack and bacon, and took his time eating without looking like a glutton. Ian ordered oatmeal and toast, though he hardly touched it.

An elderly couple were the only others in the diner, so other than the occasional waitress who would stop by to refill Coop's orange juice, Wally's coffee, and Ian's water, the three young men were undisturbed.

Ian held his gla.s.s of ice water and brought it to his lips for only a moment before he set it down and initiated their conversation, "Guys, what if I told you I could do something, but if might freak you out?"

Coop swallowed his food and asked, "Is it the thing Jordan told us about?"

Ian scowled, "What thing?"

"The thing with the lightning and you"

"Wait, he told you about that?"

They nodded uniformly.

Ian felt sick. He downed the rest of his water, rubbed his eyes, and cursed Jordan's loose lips. "So you two know...Did he tell anyone else?"

"How the h.e.l.l should we know?"

"Coop," Wally stopped him. "No, from what I know he only told us because the three of us were hanging out last night and he let it slip once he was wasted. I thought it was c.r.a.p, but apparently...it's true?"

Ian nodded and watched their enthusiasm unfold. Coop practically sprayed him with his meal while he spouted question after question. Wally was hardly better, as he failed to take a breath between his queries. Ian finally stopped them and agreed to answer their questions, and to display his newfound abilities to them once their brunch was finished.

Once they paid, the three boys drove over to the nearby Blythe Park. Once they parked they hiked far enough into the forest where Ian felt no one might stumble upon his display of power. Ian ensured that his friends were ready and after one final cautionary glance around their surroundings, he pressed his hands together and slowly drew them apart. He revealed the thin strings of lightning between his hands. But when he pulled them too far apart, instead of the crack of thunder, lightning shot out in two directions from his hands.

"Holy c.r.a.p!" Coop yelled. He laughed, shaken, but excited, "That was so cool!"

"Did...Did I hit anything?" Ian asked, startled.

Wally shook his head, "No, but that was amazing!"

"What else can you do?" Coop asked.

"Not too much...I didn't even know that I could do that," he admitted.

"Then you've gotta be able to do other things too!" Coop boomed, "You just gotta try!"

"But since you can do things with lightning," Wally began, "And Jordan mentioned the thunder, maybe you really can fly. I mean those other things are from the sky and all."