Page 74 of Flash Fire (The Extraordinaries 2)

The wind stopped slamming into him.

“Holy shit,” he heard Seth breathe, sounding much closer than he’d been before.

“Am I dead?” Nick asked in a quivering voice.

“Uh, no? You’re … doing it.”

Nick opened his eyes.

The ground was at least ten feet below him, Seth looking up at him, mouth forming anO. Nick tilted his head back to see Gibby and Jazz above him, staring down, eyes wide and shocked.

He wasfloating.

“Ha!” he cried. “I did it! Yes.Yes! Take that, Mr. Baker, who in fourth grade said that I lacked follow-through! Suck it, you bastard! I’m doing it because I’m—”

Extraordinarywas how he would have finished, except he happened to look into the window of the building across from him. Inside, two children were staring out at him, jaws dropped. They had to be only six or seven years old.

He waved at them.

They screamed.

Startled, Nick tried to rear back, but he was floating in midair with nothing but the power of his mind. And said mind blanked out at the sound of overdramatic children.

He dropped a couple of feet in an instant, his stomach rising into his throat. “Abort! Abort!” he cried as he dropped again.

“I’ve got you!” Seth shouted from underneath him, but that did little to calm Nick, seeing as how he’d advanced from the five-pound barbells to theseven-pound barbells, meaning his body was much, much heavier than ever before.

The breath was knocked from his chest as he landed on top of Seth, both collapsing to the ground in a heap of limbs.

“Ow,” Seth said.

Nick blinked down at him before grinning. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Seth said, fighting a smile. “That went better than I expected.”

Nick leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose. “You make a very good landing pad.”

Seth laughed. “You did it, Nicky. Oh my god, youdid it!”

He’d done it.

He’d done it.

He didn’t even realize he was crying until Seth said, “Hey, hey, Nicky, it’s okay. You’re okay.”

“I know,” he sobbed. “I’m pretty much the best thing ever. You’re so lucky to have me.”

“I really am,” Seth said.

He raised his head once more, tears streaming down his face, looking up at the pale blue sky above them. Gibby and Jazz were gone, most likely on their way down to congratulate Nick for having the best ideas. He startled when he thought he saw someone looking down at them from the opposite building, their head backlit by the gray sky. But when he blinked, the shape was gone.

Nick sat slumped in a chair outside of a dressing room, making faces at a bank of mirrors on the wall next to him. Jazz was in the changing room with the door shut, trying on yet another dress, searching for the perfect one. Nick had told her she wore the hell out of every dress she’d shown him so far, and while she’d beamed at him, she said that he wasn’t allowed to decide what she looked good in. Nick tried to argue but was immediately shot down when she reminded him the suit he’d decided on was an affront to fashion. Which, fair point.

Nick had tried on suit after suit, lamenting at how ridiculous he looked. He didn’t see the point in getting so dressed up, especially when he’d most likely lose the tie and coat as prom night wore on.

He’d been about to give up—all while groaning that he didn’t even know how to dance and Seth was going to dump him for stepping on his feet—when the clerk had reappeared, followed by Jazz, who looked like she was about to laugh. Nick wanted toknow what was so funny, but the words died in his throat when he saw what the clerk was carrying.

“What the hell isthat?” he breathed.