5 Chapter 5 - Family

After a few more minutes I was starting to get worried about Michael. He wasn't my favorite person, but as my step brother, and Megan's blood brother I wouldn't abandon him. Besides Karen was with him.

Megan seemed to have the same thoughts as I did so she called him then put him on speaker.

"Hello Meg, we're close by, don't worry." Michael reassured his sister.

I heard giggling over the phone, must be Karen.

"Yeah he can take care of himself." A female voice said. Oddly it wasn't Karen's but I recognized it, Courtney Davis, Michael's ex.

Megan narrowed her eyes, she didn't like Courtney, she was the kind of girl who wanted her boyfriend to spend all of his time with her or thinking about her. As she was hot as hell, it usually wasn't a problem at first. After high school though the amount of time Michael had to spend with her shrunk and she got jealous fast. Having Karen nearby didn't help with her jealousy.

"Did you awaken an ability?" Megan asked, obviously we hadn't been thinking the same thing.

I frowned as I waited for his answer. I knew I wasn't special, Jessica and Marshal proved that, but having Michael awaken abilities too.... I didn't like it.

"Yeah, how did you know about that?" Michael asked obviously surprised.

"The great white…." Megan started then smirked at me as I glared at her angrily. "Whale also got an ability." she finished deliberately.

I grit my teeth as I resisted the idea of 'testing' some of my abilities on Megan right then and there.

"Stupid bitch." Jessica commented coldly.

Megan glared at her. "What did you call me?" Megan yelled back angrily.

"What else do you call a woman who deliberately pisses off a guy who has had powers for less than an hour!" Jessica yelled back just as angrily. "Have you once wondered if we had them under control?"

Megan still seemed pissed but a quick glance at me who was still feeling rather volcanic and she deflated completely.

"Not a good idea Meg." Michael commented over the phone reprimanding his sister.

"Sorry." Megan responded grudgingly.

"Better." Michael replied.

"Besides, shouldn't it be a great white walrus?" Courtney asked.

"Overplayed." Megan responded sulkily.

"Girls stop it, now isn't the time." he told them. "Though Daryl shouldn't have much trouble controlling it. Right Daryl?" Michael asked.

I didn't respond, the fire in me was starting to act up a bit, Megan was one thing, I knew she was just trying to tease me and meant no harm. Courtney on the other hand was a bitch to the core. I was handling it but it was obvious strong emotions did have an effect on my abilities. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths in an effort to calm myself down.

"Are you going to be back soon?" Arnold asked worriedly.

"Yeah, we are pulling into the neighborhood now." Michael replied. "What is happening?"

"Daryl is trying to calm down." Arnold replied. "He looks really pissed off."

"I haven't had any trouble, and I was pretty pissed earlier." Michael commented.

'Great' I thought, 'Something else I am not as good at.' my anger spiked back up so I tried to think happy thoughts. Nothing came to me.

"Do you have a fire ability?" Arnold asked.

"No." Michael replied.

"In all the stories I have ever heard fire is the most emotional energy." Arnold pointed out.

"Yeah, I have been a bit more emotional since my ability awakened." Jessica chimed in.

Reason, I liked reason, I liked that Jessica also seemed to have a similar issue, it helped me calm down, another few breaths and I was calm again.

"We're here." Michael said followed by the sound of his truck pulling into the driveway.

"I'm good now." I said opening my eyes.

Everyone around me seemed to relax.

"Isn't water supposed to be tranquil?" Megan muttered getting up from where she was sitting.

"Not when it's boiling." Arnold responded.

Megan ignored him and headed out the door to greet her brother.

"Courtney!" Michael yelled from outside clearly worried.

I frowned, again?

I followed Megan outside to see Megan glaring at Courtney while she clutched her cheek. Like all the women around Michael she was incredibly hot, a strawberry blonde with an amazing figure. She was petite, only coming up to my shoulder, but that seemed to enhance the appeal of her curves. She was also a gymnast, nothing professional, but extra flexible. Her shoulder length hair was loose and seemed to drift around her like a fiery halo.

"What was that for!" Megan yelled.

"For being a backstabbing bitch." Courtney replied.

'Just drama.' I thought in relief then went around the girls to Michael who was glaring at the girls while obviously unsure who to help. I looked around for Karen but didn't spot her.

"Karen?" I asked looking to Michael. As his current girlfriend I was surprised she wasn't with him, besides Megan had said she was coming too.

"Here." Karen responded weakly from the passenger seat where she was laying down looking terrible. In fact her skin color seemed a bit off, a little redder than normal.

I rushed over to her yanking the door open quickly before reaching in to touch her.

"I'm fine!" she tried to reassure me with a weak smile. As we had been childhood friends I knew she was just trying to reassure me. I ignored it. As soon as my hand touched her shoulder I could feel the mana in her. Like everyone else so far she had mana, and like most of them it was calm and causing no harm to her.

With a sigh of relief I released her arm and stepped back. Whatever was wrong with her wasn't caused by mana. Which meant medicine should be enough.

Giving me a odd look like she thought I was going crazy Karen slowly crawled out of Michael's truck. She was almost the same height as me and just as curvy as Courtney. While she wasn't a gymnast, she was a dancer. Normally her movements were smooth and fluid. Her wavy long dark brown hair, and big brown eyes gave her a innocent feel that made you want to do anything you could to protect her. She was dressed in a loose dress covered in little blue flowers. Not what I would suggest for the current situation, but I doubt she had time to head home and change before coming over.

"What's wrong Daryl?" Michael asked worriedly.

I shook my head. "Nothing." I replied.

"I am sick." Karen pointed out. "Had a fever for the last few hours."

I nodded. "We have some meds for that." I replied then looked back over at Megan and Courtney who were still having an angry stand off like a pair of stray cats with their hair all poofed up. It was kind of funny in its own way.

Michael glanced at the situation warily then moved to help Karen. I wanted to do that but after many a fight with Karen I left it to her boyfriend.

Michael was the same age I was take a few months, blonde, over six feet tall, broad shouldered, muscled, and handsome. His dark green eyes seemed capable of melting the hearts of every girl he talked too. Biggest downside to the guy was, he actually was a nice guy.

He had his asshole moments like every other human being, but for the most part he was nice and helped out anyone he could, treated strangers like friends, and family was everything to him. Despite that I still didn't like him. Not just because I was jealous of his good looks and popularity, but also because he was a walking talking dense Japanese harem protagonist. He dated the girls, and was far from a virgin anymore, but it still seemed to elude him that every single girl around him was attracted to him and was constantly vying for his attention. If she wasn't one of his 'special' girls he wouldn't notice them anymore than anyone else and broke hearts everywhere he went with just a casual comment.

What really pissed me off was that despite knowing him for three years I couldn't figure out if it was unconscious or deliberate. Most of the time it seemed like he never actually noticed, but every once in a while I caught a subtle smirk on his face after he broke the heart of some especially cute girl.

Karen thought it was just jealousy because he was able to accomplish in three months what I couldn't despite knowing her for fifteen years.

"So why is she here too?" I asked looking at Courtney.

Michael seemed embarrassed and avoided my gaze by looking to Karen who was looking even worse out of the truck then she had inside. "Let's go inside first." she told me tiredly.

I nodded, Courtney wasn't my problem and I honestly didn't care. I was uncomfortable with the fact that there would be another attractive woman hanging all over Michael, it would be nausea inducing. Probably should take something for that in advance.

Inside Karen asked Megan to grab her something for her fever. Seeing Karen's state Megan glanced at me in concern but I smiled and shook my head to indicate that she wasn't mutating.

Seeing that she ran off then returned a moment later with a bottle of medicine.

Seeing the bottle reminded me that medicine had not been on my list of things to toss into my space. I would have to fix that soon.

After taking the medicine she settled onto the coach beside Michael, Courtney immediately sat on Michael's other side a triumphant look on her face.

"So?" Megan asked obviously curious about Courtney's presences and dying to yell at her to get away from her brother.

Michael seemed uncomfortable under everyone's gaze especially the new face.

It was Karen who explained it. "We decided that we should try dating." she told us.

"You and Michael have been dating for more than two years." I pointed out coolly.

"Not the two of us, the three of us." Karen replied. "Courtney is Michael and I's girlfriend now."

There was a reason I had been crushing on Karen all these years. To bad Michael was the one to catch her.