Superpowers (6 page)

‘We haven't got many choices, Max,' Finlay said quickly. ‘We can run away…'

‘
Never!
' Max said fiercely.

‘Well, then, we can wait here till Juno defeats Hercules and then see what she does to us…'

Max didn't say anything.

‘Or we can try taking this superpower and see what happens. Which should we do?'

Their eyes met. It was obvious. There was no decision to be made.

‘We take the superpower!' Max exclaimed.

Finlay nodded. ‘Which one of us? I guess it
is
your turn, Max…'

Max heard the disappointment in Finlay's voice. He looked at the two hands clasped around the sword and a thought struck him. Why should just one of them take the power? Before, when
they had the deal with Juno, that was what they'd agreed with her, but this wasn't part of that deal. ‘Let's both take it! If you want to of course,' he added quickly.

‘Of course I want to!' Finlay exclaimed. He looked at Max. ‘Let's do it now!'

Hearts racing, they stepped forward and banged their hands down on the stone together. Heat flooded into them, just like when they had taken the other superpowers. Max felt it surge through his fingers, down his arms and all the way through his body to his toes.

The stone turned cold underneath their fingers.

He and Finlay looked at each other uncertainly.

‘I feel all tingly, as if I've got a superpower,' Finlay said slowly. ‘But what do you think the power is?'

‘Guess there's only one way to find out,' Max said. ‘We try doing stuff. Hey, look at me!'

He jumped on a large boulder and

then began to climb up the gatehouse wall. His hands naturally seemed to find bricks to take hold of and he climbed quickly and easily all the way to the roof. ‘I can climb!' he said. He jumped down, turning a perfect somersault on the way. ‘It
must
be the superpower of agility again!'

But as he spoke, Finlay was picking up the huge boulder that Max had trodden on. He lifted it as though it was as light as a football and carried it in front of the gatehouse. ‘No, it's not!' he exclaimed. ‘It's strength!' He threw the boulder high up into the air and caught it easily on its way back down.

Max started to run over to him. The world blurred and in the blink of an eye he had jumped over the crack and was standing at Finlay's side.

‘Wait a minute!' Finlay exclaimed. ‘You just ran as quickly as I did when I had Hercules' superpower of speed, but we can't be super-strong and super-fast and super-agile…'

A thought burst into Max's brain. ‘Unless the superpower we just took has somehow given us
all
Hercules' superpowers at the same time!' He shut his eyes to see if he was right.
Grow!
he thought, just as he had done the day he had had Hercules' size-shifting ability. A second later he was shooting upwards.

‘Wicked!' Finlay gasped. ‘We really
have
got all the powers. But how? Why?'

However, just then they heard a shout and looked behind them. Hercules had fallen on the ground. He had dropped
his sword and shield. Juno was towering over him. Suddenly how and why didn't matter any more.

‘Quick!' Max shouted. ‘We've got to help Hercules!'

Max and Finlay raced across the keep. With their super-speed they reached the tower in a split second. Finlay grabbed Hercules' shield from the floor.
Shield me!
he thought, just as Juno muttered, ‘Freeze him!' and clicked her fingers.

A magic barrier formed around Finlay and Hercules. Juno's spell had no effect.

She stared and backed off towards the gatehouse. ‘No…that's impossible!'

Finlay felt like punching the air. He felt like he could do anything! Juno cast a fire bolt but it rebounded off the magic barrier. Letting the barrier down for a second, Finlay dodged across the keep, grabbed Hercules' sword and, in the blink of an eye, was back at the superhero's side.

‘Here!' he gasped, pushing the sword and shield into Hercules' hands and helping Hercules to his feet.

‘What has happened to you?' Hercules exclaimed. ‘You seem to have superpowers of your own!'

‘He's not the only one!' Max exclaimed, running over to the gatehouse and growing as tall as the tower.

‘Superpowers or not, I will destroy
you!' Juno snarled. She raised her hands.

Grabbing an enormous armful of loose slabs from the roof of the gatehouse, Max tipped them on to Juno's head. They landed dead on target. With a startled cry,

the goddess collapsed under the weight of the stones. The fire bolt fell to the ground, burning a circle of grass away.

Max shrank to normal size and raced to where Finlay and Hercules were. ‘Are you OK?' he demanded. He glanced nervously over his shoulder but Juno wasn't moving under all the rocks. He must have knocked her out!

‘I am fine.' Hercules stared at him. ‘But how do you both come to have these superpowers?'

The words burst out of Finlay. ‘There was this new symbol on the gatehouse! It appeared after Juno's lightning bolt hit the wall.'

‘We put our hands on it and suddenly found we could do all kinds of stuff,' added Max.

‘What did the symbol look like?' Hercules demanded.

‘It was a picture of two hands around a sword,' Finlay answered.

‘The symbol of fellowship!' Hercules' golden eyes widened with understanding. ‘Without a superpower you had no chance against Juno – it was not a fair fight. The gods believe in fighting fair. By placing the superpower there the gods were giving you a chance in your battle against her.'

Max frowned. ‘How come we get to have so many different powers all at once although there was only one symbol?'

‘Because it is the superpower of fellowship,' Hercules replied. ‘It is a very fitting power for the gods to send. All week you have shown true fellowship
– you have stood by each other, worked together, protected each other. This new superpower now allows you to fully share each other's experiences by both of you having all the superpowers that you have been using in the last seven days.'

CRASH!

They swung round at the sound of stones falling to the ground.

Juno was standing upright. She was covered with dust and her hair had come loose. It coiled around her shoulders like black snakes. Her eyes burnt with fury. ‘It is time to finish this!' she shrieked. Shooting out her hand she let loose a fireball, straight at the two boys. They jumped apart and the fireball shot between them.

As they rolled over and leapt to their

feet she shot more bolts of burning fire at them.

‘Protect yourselves!' Hercules shouted.

‘You do not need to be holding my shield. You can both create barriers with your minds!'

‘I will kill you both!' Juno hissed as Max and Finlay dodged the balls of fire.

‘You will never manage to kill them, Juno!' Hercules yelled. ‘They are too strong for you.'

‘What? These worms!' Juno exclaimed. ‘Don't be ridiculous, Hercules!'

‘They are brave and resourceful. They will outwit you!' Hercules declared. ‘You will not succeed against them.'

Max frantically dodged a fireball. He wished Hercules would be quiet. The superhero just seemed to be making Juno even madder.

‘You will never defeat them, Juno!' Hercules continued. ‘Never!'

Max shook his head. What was Hercules doing?

Juno's face was consumed with
fury. ‘We'll see about that!' she hissed. Drawing herself up to her full height, she opened her hands to reveal two enormous bolts of burning white light. She raised her arms and threw one at each of the boys. ‘Die, maggots!'

‘No!' Max gasped, seeing the enormous ball of fire hurtling towards Finlay.

‘Max!' cried Finlay, staring in horror at the lightning ball streaking towards his friend.

‘You know what to do, boys!' Hercules roared.

‘Shield!' they both shouted together. And at exactly the same moment that Max's hand shot out towards Finlay to protect his friend, Finlay's hand shot out towards him. Two silvery barriers formed in front of each of them. The lightning

bolts banged into them and then shot straight back towards Juno at twice the speed and glowing twice as brightly. Juno looked alarmed. She snapped her fingers. A shield instantly formed in front of her but the two bolts of bright light blasted straight through it. They slammed into the goddess, lifting her off her feet and
throwing her down to the crack in the ground.

‘No!' she shrieked. The white light seemed to pin her to the ground. It streamed through her. Suddenly, there was a groaning, creaking noise and the crack widened. Juno screeched, but the next second she was falling into the hole below. Her twisted face vanished. The two sides of the crack swiftly moved back together, cutting off her enraged shriek. And then there was silence.

‘She's gone,' Finlay breathed in shock.