Thankfully, the party isn't a formal affair, but Sasha and Travis had both confirmed separately that we should dress nice and festive.

  It isn’t as if it was much effort for me to dress up, it’s simple as putting on a black dress shirt and I am more or less dressed nice but it implies a certain level of goings on that I was not looking forward to.

  Trusting ?Amelia to call for help in the inevitable moment where she wants to be amused, I go to help Bianca with getting ready. Since this is with her school friends, but not in the regular haunts, I’m not sure how she wants to do her hair.

  Bianca and Amelia had both ended up buying red dresses earlier, feeling the Christmas spirit, and at her request, I do her hair in waterfall braids, which Bianca is fascinated by as soon as I am done with her hair.

  She and I also take some time to pick out the shoes she wants, where she eventually ends up going with her light-up sneakers because they have snowflakes on them and an eyepatch that also has snowflakes.

  “Okay, now that you’re all ready, do you want to draw for a bit or watch your mommy and I finish getting ready?” I ask quietly as Bianca takes the time to choose.

  Not that much time, as she quickly runs off in the direction of my bedroom with me trailing behind.

  With both Amelia and Bianca broadcasting their obvious super nature, I felt a little bit silly of considering wearing sunglasses to this as well but I quickly cast aside the idea as I move into the bedroom and towards the closet so I can get everything I need.

  “B, do you think I should go with the red heels that match my dress? Or the white heels that match this little sashy thing?” Amelia asks, holding up the two pairs of shoes in question.

  While they’re discussing color coordination, I slip on my dress shirt and begin buttoning it up as I try to decide what tie to wear.

  I had a few holiday-themed ones, so I would just pick one of those or let Bianca pick, but she was occupied with helping Amelia choose makeup products.

  While normally my job, I think Bianca will do a substantially better job at selecting them. For no reason then Amelia likes to mess with me, and she loves doting on our daughter.

  As I’m looping the belt through my pants, Amelia meanders about the bathroom doing a little spin. “How do I look?”

  “You look incredible.” I answer easily as I take a moment. The red and white dress that stops just above her knees, the white heels, the snowflake-themed tights. My eyes drift up to meet hers. “Feeling frosty?” I tease.

  “Just because my makeup is blue and sparkly today doesn’t mean you get to make the cold jokes.” She grumbles, crossing her arms. “I was worried because this one is sleeveless that my arms would look ridiculous, thoughts? Opinions? Assholeisms?”

  I take her hands in mine as I look down. Amelia doesn’t have any scars from what I’ve seen from the surgeries she went through to become super. But her skin does change from her healthy normal skin tone to almost ghostly pale in random spots.

  I knew it was why she was more often wearing long sleeves and pants or at least full-length skirts and dresses when we were going out in public. But I didn’t know how to fix it or make it better. It sucked.

  “Jason, did you really decide to do a black dress shirt, with black slacks, and with your black hole-looking eyes?” Amelia teases, leaning back to look at me properly.

  “Yes, I did. Do you think I should change?”

  “Yes, yes, I do, and because I am your lovely lover, you’re going to listen to me because I know what I am talking about.” She says, pushing me towards the closet.

  “Why is it you’re always pushier when you wear heels?” I complain, still going along, regardless.

  “Because my true power has been revealed now that I’m six two and therefore three inches taller than you.” Amelia explains, rifling through my clothes.

  “So what color scheme are you thinking?” I ask, waving at Bianca as she also trundles into the closet, deciding that her attendance is critically important to the process already.

  “Well, I do think dark colors are your thing. And the black dress shirt is nice, but you could at least go with the tan slacks. And something bright for your tie.”

  “I was going to let Bianca pick which tie I was going to wear.” I defend, and for once it’s not even a lie about what I had been intending to do.

  “Good, she has substantially better taste than you do.” Amelia says, tossing me a bundle of clothes. “Change into that and then we gotta go because I do not want to be late for whatever Stargate-type bullshit they’re sending us through.” She orders.

  After glaring at both of them for a minute they finally take the hint and get out of the closet so I can change into my clothes in privacy It wasn’t that much different from what I had been wearing though it was more diverse in colors and it had included a red sweater with a white motif meaning I matched with everyone else.

  Once my socks and shoes are selected, I leave the closet to find Amelia and Bianca already in the kitchen, both of them enjoying some of the cookies we had made this morning.

  “Everyone ready to go?” I ask quietly, giving them both a small smile.

  “Yup, so B, do you want to be carried to the car or do you want to walk there instead?” Amelia offers grabbing one more cookie for the road.

  Part of me wonders if she’s hiding more snacks in her purse, but I decide to not snoop this time. We take an hour and a half drive to get to the capital of the state, where we’re going to be then transported to the actual location of the party.

  By the end of the drive, all of us are ready to do something literally anything else besides sit in the car though the broad man with tattoos covering his body definitely sets my teeth on edge as he looks us over.

  I swear the tattoos are moving, but I suppose that’s not actually all that surprising considering we are going to a super Christmas party using presumable teleportation tech of some kind.

  Makes sense that they would have other supers guarding it though part of me does wonder if Amelia and I could take him.

  It’s a silly thought, and I keep those urges firmly in check, but something about facing very few challenges unless it was against other supers has led me to wonder who I could and couldn’t beat in a fight.

  I actually think I would do pretty well at not losing to most supers between both halves of my ability.

  Winning is something I don’t know how I would do.

  Most supers can deal with the level of damage I’m capable of generating, meaning we would just stand there bored.

  “Jason, Amelia, and Bianca, right?” The man says, reading off of some tablet device, probably checking our appearances to see if we match. “You all have the distinguishing marks that your files said you would, but if you would be willing, can I ask for a demonstration of your abilities to confirm your identities?”

  Amelia and I exchange a look, debating on both whether we should do it and if we do so who is going to go first.

  Both moot as Bianca steps forward as azure light flashes and wires pour out of her, shaping into a tiny Christmas tree that she holds up to the security guard, a brilliant smile on her face.

  “So long as nobody at the Christmas party asks me to make it snow.” Amelia jokes as she raises a hand as snow begins to fall indoors, her directing it so that it doesn’t fall on any of us.

  “Don’t worry; there’s going to be no lack of snow going on.” He snorts before turning to me. “Jason?”

  “Yeah, I’m just thinking.” I say, holding up a hand and flexing my will as it turns dark and abyssal.

  Amelia, quick as a whip, sticks her hand through mine, waving through my ghostly appendage multiple times before I manage to escape and return my hand back to solid.

  “Thank you. You wouldn’t believe how many supers have been bucking against that requirement.” He sighs as he writes something down. “Now we aren’t going to be suppressing anyone's abilities except those with constant aura effects, but please don’t fight anyone.”

  “I won’t.”

  “I won’t start any fights.”

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Bianca just makes another wire, shaping it into a star to put on the Christmas tree.

  Once he’s done a couple more things, he opens a door revealing a small sitting room. “I would advise sitting down for the transfer, but some folks love the sensation of doing it while standing. So you do you.”

  Amelia practically waltzes in and grabs one of the hanging straps, having already made the decision to stand.

  “Are you sure you want to do it while in heels?”

  “Meh can’t be worse than fighting crime in heels.” She replies as I sit down, pulling Bianca up into my lap.

  Bianca, in response, sends a couple wires around to secure herself and both of us so that nobody is going to fall.

  “Awww thank you B.” Amelia coos as the door shuts and there’s a strange hiss filling the room.

  “Alright, prepare for high-speed transport, losers who can’t transport themselves.” A recorded voice says blaring over the intercom. “So there’s probably supposed to be a safety warning on my stuff, but those are lame, and nobody has died from something that wasn’t meant to kill them.”

  Amelia is already laughing at the voice while I’m more curious where it’s coming from.

  “If you broke in, good on you, but, uh, you’ll regret finding whoever’s on the other side. And if you’re a civilian or weak, I’m sure whoever is on the other side can heal you.”

  I’m beginning to question the whole plan of using this transport, but before I can say anything, there’s a rush as if we’re on the world’s fastest rollercoaster.

  And we’re picking up speed.

  Amelia cackles in joy as we continue to go, and Bianca throws her hands up in the air, eliciting me to wrap an arm around her torso just in case.

  Yes, she has her quirks, but I want to be sure…

  Bianca immediately put wires around when we situated ourselves, which is odd because she doesn’t really do stuff like that.

  Unless I assume that she’s ridden in these before and she uses her wires to make sure she and her friends don’t fall over during any of this.

  I try to ask Bianca if she’s ridden this before, but monumental terror and the momentum of how fast we’re going keep my mouth shut.

  I can always ask her when we finally land.

  Within about three minutes we begin slowing down at a rate I can feel, our destination most likely close at hand.

  “So, Bianca, have you ridden these before?” I ask as the wires begin to retract.

  Bianca nods excitedly as she hops out of my lap and runs over to Amelia, asking to be picked up.

  “You know I’m a little jealous that I haven’t gotten the chance to ride these things before they’re awesome as hell.” Amelia complains.

  Just in time as I stand up, the doors open with a hiss, and the first thing I notice is the scent of mint and cinnamon in the air.

  Walking into the venue itself, I’m pretty sure it’s just a gigantic gymnasium of some kind that has been retrofitted for the party instead of something built for it specifically.

  The people are the real eye catchers.

  Outfits run the gambit with most people dressed like us in festive but nice clothes, some look as if they’re going to a wedding, and near the bar there’s a woman in a Hawaiian shirt and swim trunks knocking back drinks like she’s afraid they’ll run out.

  But quirks of super biology are everywhere. Nobody in my family or anyone I’ve met out of the mask so far have had anything that screws up with the human profile.

  Here, there’s someone who looks like they’re made of building blocks. More tails and horns than I can count. And those are the more regular-looking ones.

  “So, thoughts on joining the wider superhero society?” Amelia asks, whispering in my ear as we walk further away from the entry hall.

  Another star-struck group also wandered out of their own escape velocity roller coaster.

  At Bianca’s request, we move towards one of the sides that looks to be some sort of glass wall to a play area where multiple super kids ranging from people younger than Bianca crawling around to people bordering on high school age goofing off.

  “So would it be bad form for me to go in there and play too?” Amelia asks quietly as we try to figure out how to get on the other side of the glass wall.

  I could get all of us through, but, uh, it seems like bad form to be using my powers like that even if some of the children on the other side are doing the same.

  Scratch that. I just watched someone teleport in to drop off several kids before teleporting away again.

  “Shall we?” I ask, walking closer to the glass and tapping it gently. There’s nothing there that feels different, but it didn’t escape my attention that several supers shirked away.

  Which you know fair, but I don’t have the power to punch through this glass, I don’t think.

  Amelia passes Bianca into my arms, and I phase, walking through the glass before dropping off Bianca on the other side. “Wait for me to bring Amelia through, and then you can go play with your friends, okay?”

  Bianca nods very seriously, but I can tell she wants to run off. I also note the group of kids slowly moving towards us all Bianca’s age.

  Reaching a hand through the glass, I extend my power, letting Amelia walk through as she shivers. “No offense, but your power feels weird.”

  “Fair.” I shrug. “So, B, is there a way for you or someone else to signal the two of us if something happens?”

  Bianca nods again, hands clenched into little fists to try and resist the desire to run off.

  “And do you want me to make it snow?” Amelia asks, ruining the serious thing we had going for half a second.

  At the word snow, Bianca throws her hands up, and several other children cheer.

  “Are you worried we’ll get in trouble?” I ask, standing up as Bianca’s friends join her, all of them happily hugging as they get the chance to see each other for the first time this break.

  “No, I’m sure there’s a telepath around that would tell me to stop if they didn’t like what I was doing.” Amelia said at the same time I heard two different people start laughing.

  One was a small boy who was next to Bianca and I couldn’t immediately see.

  Before I can comment, a bolt of white and blue energy flies, and snow begins drifting down over the play area.

  “Go, my gremlins of destruction and whimsy, have as much fun as possible!” Amelia calls as the children dash towards the snow to play in it.

  It’ll probably be a while before there’s enough snow for a snowball fight, but it’ll last as long as Amelia is focusing on it.

  “Do you want to stay near?”

  “Nah, I don’t need to, but I don’t want to take the phase express out or it’ll mess with my concentration, so we can look for the normal way out.”

  “We can show you the way?” A smooth voice says, causing both of us to turn to the side to see another couple walking towards us.

  They remind me of the facial features of the boy who had laughed when Amelia had made the telepath joke.

  “That would be awesome!” Amelia says happily. “We’re Jason and Amelia.” She says, gesturing to each of us in turn. “First time dealing with all of this, we’re local small fries, I guess you could say.”

  Part of me wonders if it would be bad form to ask the question that’s playing across my mind, but with the wife of the couple looking at me with an odd expression that I think is leaning towards amusement, I decide to go for it. “So, which of you was the telepath laughing?” I ask.

  The wife laughs again. “Guilty as charged. I’m usually not peeping on folks, but with so many supers around, even if we’re all ostensibly on the same side, tension can run high. Couple that with any of us actually able to get drunk and super powered children? Yeah, a lot of us are pulling double duty today.”

  “Okay, then what am I thinking right now?” Amelia asks suspicious.

  I have a solid bet about what she’s thinking of, but I guess it’s meant to be a test for the telepath.

  “No offense, Amelia, but you’re one of the easiest minds to read in a while.”

  “I never claimed to be hard.” Amelia agrees.

  “But yeah, you’re wondering what level of super alcohol is needed to get you drunk since you haven’t even felt buzzed since you got powers despite trying a few times.”

  “Vince and Sarah.” The man says, gesturing to himself and his wife in turn. “We were hoping to meet you two tonight anyway because our son Gale has said nothing but good things about his best friend Bianca.”

  I searched my memory for a mention of someone named Gale, but between Bianca not actually talking and the fact that I’m incredibly bad about asking her things beyond the simple ‘how was your day with your friends’ I don’t ask much.

  Thankfully, I have Amelia, who seemed substantially more understanding.

  “Well, we haven’t heard a word about Gale,” Amelia says, laughing. “Mostly because Bianca is a bit of the quiet type if you didn’t know.”

  I take back everything I said about Amelia knowing more in this situation.

  Thankfully, the other two just laugh in response.

  “Come on, we’ll show you the way out, and we can get some food,” the husband, Vince, says, leading us out.

  “Gale was born with my powers, and part of the problem with young telepaths is not knowing how to turn it off. Followed then by the absolute fear of the silence before they eventually grow out of that.” Sarah says as we walk.

  “Why would you be afraid of the silence?” I ask.

  “Jason, how bad are you about remembering to turn off your emotional support spatial awareness? We’ve only had powers for months.” Amelia points out.

  With that as my reference point, it makes sense.

  “Gale likes Bianca because she has a really quiet mind. And he enjoys getting to help someone who struggles to communicate. Though he does worry about her incessantly.” Vince says laughing by the end.

  “Oh?” I ask, wondering if there’s something we should be concerned about.

  “He worries that because you two don’t have telepathy, you guys don’t know how to communicate with her well.” Sarah sighs, shaking her head as we step out of a small hallway, returning to the party proper.

  “Oh, I don’t think we’re doing that bad.” Amelia waves off.

  “No, neither of you two are.” Sarah agrees. “It was nice chatting with you two, but we want to go get good seats for the main event. Come on, Vince.” She says, tugging her husband away, the two of them quickly vanishing into the crowd.

  “That was weird.” I note, taking Amelia’s hand in mine, enjoying the cool touch.

  “Food or drinks?”

  “Drinks, I could use one.”

  Amelia leads us towards the drinks, but her expression is a little tight as she wrestles with some internal debate.

  “Why are you so nervous? Was it because there was a mind reader there or something?” Amelia asks as we walk towards the bar.

  Drinking has never really been for me, but losing the ability to get drunk has made me slightly curious what it would be like again.

  Though if it’s anything like the first time I tried drinking in college, I'll decide it’s enough for me for at least two years.

  “I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

  “Jason, we’re literally in the North Pole surrounded by supers. What exactly could be the other shoe to drop?” Amelia asks, stepping in front of me and looking me in the eyes. “I promise we’ll be fine.”

  The lights all went out at that exact moment.

  “Okay, that one might be on me.”

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