James Knight: Teenage Superhuman - Book Three

Five

NOAH

Outside my school, the scene was chaotic. From all directions, Teddy bears, pacifiers, and even larger gifts like cribs and strollers were thrown at Claire and James. There were also handmade gifts, like a miniature version of James's superhero suit tailored for his baby boy. Baby gifts flew towards them, and I tried to shield Claire from getting hit.

Every day, we left school with a surplus of baby gifts to stock up an entire nursery. Claire and James planned to donate the unnecessary gifts once Sarah and I had discreetly collected what we needed from the pile, just in case.

The crowd outside was so out of control that even the crowd control police struggled to contain the fans. I had to protect Sarah while Bryce and Mark fought through the crowd. "Jesus, this is insane," I muttered, pushing past the final group of genuine fans.

"Noah! We love you!" Two girls squealed in my direction. I rolled my eyes and started to walk away, but then Sarah grabbed my arm and pulled me towards her.

"What's wrong with you?" I snapped, only to realize it was his girlfriend. I met her stern and panicked gaze.

"Noah!" she scolded. "Go talk to them." I groaned, rolling my eyes, and reluctantly walked past her to join Mark, Bryce, Shawn, Claire, James, and the others inside the school. We all stared down the hallway as if we had seen a ghost.

Alexander rushed down the hall, clutching a stack of paperwork and sporting a pair of Clark Kent glasses perched on his nose. I had almost forgotten that he worked at our school.

Ugh.

After James had fallen into a coma, Alexander took over the position of counselor when Mrs. Hayden retired. We rarely crossed paths with him anymore. We hadn't dared to report Alexander's malicious behavior to Principal Gates, nor did the government want him to know about our surprise attack, but somehow, he had figured it out. Typical Alexander-a coward through and through.

Inside Principal Gates' office, agents and detectives were waiting to apprehend Alexander. When he spotted them, he hurriedly threw his documents to the floor. James, Bryce, and I tried to tackle him, but he pushed us off and escaped before we could catch him. Mark pursued him but returned with a scowl.

"Son of a bitch! That guy is fast," Mark growled, catching his breath in the principal's lobby as the agents and officers caught up with us.

"Did you catch him?" one officer asked, meeting us as we entered the principal's office.

"Does it look like we caught him?" Mark roared, toppling onto a wooden bench behind him. We were all furious about the situation.

My damn uncle Alexander, brother Maximus, and Mia were getting away with abuse, kidnapping, brainwashing, extortion, and illegal experimentation. My siblings and I had been pawns in his scheme to create a superhuman army, and now that he only had Maximus, my naive brother, and Mia, he had moved on to experimenting with humans. We were in serious trouble if my uncle got what he wanted from Henry. We hadn't located his whereabouts, and Maximus and Mia had vanished from school, but we would not rest until we got them back.

∆∆∆

JAMES

"You still haven't checked to see if Sarah is pregnant?" Mark asked Noah, munching on a bag of cheese puffs in front of Bryce and me as I stabbed my fork into the day-old mac and cheese. The girls were in line for food, and Noah, Bryce, Mark, Shawn, Dylan, Easton, Bryce's long-lost brothers, and our cousins were holding spots at the long tables pushed together. Noah looked uncomfortable, torn between retaliating or answering Mark.

Noah huffed, blowing air through his teeth as he averted his gaze. "We haven't had a chance to yet," he sighed, leaning against his locker.

"I thought you were going to talk to her about it," Bryce said.

"What's going on?" Joshua asked, spearing a forkful of ham and cheese salad into his mouth.

"Sarah might be pregnant," Mark stated matter-of-factly, shrugging as if it were his duty to spill the beans. All eyes turned to Sarah, who was in line next to Claire, waiting for her food.

"I thought we agreed to keep this between us," Sarah scolded me as she slid onto the bench, placing her tray on the table.

"I did, but I thought it would be best to let them know. They can offer support," I reasoned.

"I don't want your father to know right now," Sarah insisted. Claire joined us, sitting next to me and setting her tray down.

"Yeah, Sarah's right. If anyone else finds out that she might be pregnant, she'll become a target, just like James and me," Claire said, wrapping her arms around me and glancing in Sebastian's direction across the room. He had distanced himself from his girlfriend, avoiding her attempts at affection focusing solely on Claire.

"We won't say anything," Dylan said, shoving a chicken tender into his mouth.

"I'm not saying anything either," Madison added. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"But eventually, you'll have to take the test and tell Sam and Danielle," Mark interjected, casting a meaningful look toward Bryce as they held hands under the table.

"We will, but we don't want any of you worrying about us right now," Sarah asserted. Noah rubbed his arm around her, gently comforting her shoulders.

We were all embarking on new chapters in our lives. Claire and I were expecting twins, while Noah and Sarah faced a possible pregnancy scare. Noah was a famous teenage superhero working for the government, and I was fighting hard to regain my full powers. The last thing we needed was a bunch of superhero babies. With Alexander, Maximus, and Mia still in town, the longer they waited to address this, the more complicated it became for all of us. It was a sign of the times.