Raven & Josie - Chapter 11

Raven & Josie have a spat.

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Draining away her anger with a deep sigh, Raven's eyes softened as she settled into a chair, crossing her legs. Intrigued by her sister's sudden shift in demeanor, Josie sat up.

Raven started, "Many years ago, in the early morning when I was just a little sprout of five years old, I held Mom's warm hand while weaving through throngs of people teeming about on the market. Angry about something you weren't allowed to have from Mom, you dashed off into the crowd, vanishing from sight quicker than the blink of a falling star."

Josie gave a rueful laughter while wiping away some tears. "That really sounds like me," She had been slouching before but was now sitting up and pricked her ears at her older sister's story.

Raven continued. "You were too young to understand the abilities you had. We were worried and not about you but about everyone else surrounding you. One mistake and things could lead to a tragedy. At some point, I had gone too far while searching and lost Mom. I ended up in a square in front of the local church when I took a bent around a corner. That's where I saw you, dressed in a sparkling white dress with streaks of mud and mussed hair from all the wild games you played. You were standing near a fountain and about to pet a dog that was looking with a glare of suspicion at your approaching little hand, which was underway to pet its head.

Even though I knew better, I screeched your name. At that moment, you looked wide-eyed my way, and the dog lunged forward, ready to plant its teeth in your hand – at least, that's what it hoped to achieve. The only thing that the dog obtained was a dead blow that broke its neck when, out of instinct, you slapped him with a flat hand as the dog's teeth pulverized themselves on your invulnerable skin. The dog let out a horribly sounding howl before its lifeless body plunged on the cobblestones. You started to cry, and a male voice, obviously the mutt's owner, bellowed out of a nearby home, reacting to the racket he heard while swearing loudly. Before he could notice you, I dashed forward while using my superspeed, shoved you into the bushes, out of sight, and picked up a wooden board. The man glanced from me to his dead dog, to the wooden board clasped in my hand and drew his conclusion."

Josie's eyes widened at the words she was hearing. "Oh my, what did you tell the poor man?"

Raven gave a rueful smile. "The first thing that entered my mind—that his dog attacked me, and I had to fight back."

"Did it convince him?"

Raven huffed. "Mom showed up and I got grounded for two weeks."

Josie frowned. "But what about me? I was the one who killed the dog, not you."

"To this day, Mom never found out the truth."

"Oh, my. That's actually... really sweet." Josie scratched her head. "But what made you do it?" Josie asked.

Raven snorted. "Isn't that obvious? I'm your big sister. I stand up for my family." She cast her gaze downward guiltily. "I'm sorry again for not standing up for you at the party. If you're willing to know, I broke ties with Kim this morning."

To this, Josie sighed and wiped away the last of her tears from her reddened eyes. "Sorry for being such a loose canon sometimes."

Raven chuckled heartily in response. "Sometimes?" She looked knowingly at her sister before they were startled by the sound of clapping hands behind them.

Their father stood in the doorway, wiping away a tear. "Bold and the Beautiful has nothing on this, girls!"

"You're such a softy, Dad!" Raven said, which elicited a laugh from Josie.

"Come girls, let's have lunch. I've made some roast beef sandwiches smothered in flavored gravy."

"And you're also the best cook, Dad!" Raven added.

Under the spell of a good mood, the whole family headed downstairs.

As soon as they reached the living room, Josie turned to Raven. "Gonna take some time to get rid of the lapdog reputation, I'm afraid."

Raven whipped her head sharply in her sister's direction. "Excuse me?"

"Lapdog. That's what you were to Kim, right? You can't really call them bunch friends now, can you?"

Raven scoffed, folding her arms across her chest. "At least I have friends. All you have is Earthdigger Jim and his sickly love for pissants and you. Oh, and Wynie Weirdo, who believes that reptilian shapeshifters are lurking in underground bases and that Donald Trump is an incarnation of Ivar the Boneless. There's not even a rung reserved on the social ladder for types like that. You can't sink lower than that."

Josie walked up to Raven, fire burning in her blue eyes as she pushed her nose within inches of her sister's. "Are you calling my friends a couple of nobodies?" she snarled.

"No, I'm calling the one who hangs out with a couple of nobodies a nobody." Raven's eyes bore into her sister.

Their father desperately tries to wedge himself between his girls. "Girls! You've just apologized to each other! Don't start again!" His burly arms bulged from the effort, droplets of sweat running down his forehead as he strained against the immovable bodies of his slender daughters. He might as well try to break through solid steel. "Damnit, girls!" His voice echoes off the walls as he redoubles his effort, pushing with all his might. "Do I really need to, oof!" he gasped, pushing out a gulp of air when a sudden invisible jolt shoved him to the side, making him bounce against the wall, where he thudded upon his butt.

In that moment, he feels powerless, completely disregarded and insignificant compared to his superpowered daughters. He felt like an ant witnessing two giants collide. Nothing he said or did could make any difference; all he could do was bear witness and pray for the best outcome.

Josie pushed out a derisive laughter. "All this time, I was waiting for you to take the first turn, but since you're such a wuss…."

Josie flexed her petite hand into a fist, reared back, and launched a brutal punch at Raven's unsuspecting face. The impact of Josie's fist reverberated across the room like an earthquake, fissuring the walls and floor as tiny fragments rained down from the ceiling.

A stupified Raven crashed through several walls of their house and two houses lying adjacent to theirs before her body skidded to a stop on a crossroad two blocks away.

A crowd of bystanders swarmed in to see if the dark-haired girl whose body plowed through solid concrete was still alive.

They gaped speechless as Raven stood up, seemingly unharmed as she brushed herself off from the crater her fall had created.

Raven caresed her cheek where her sister had struck her. "Aaw, that actually hurt."

The surprise of the onlookers amplified as a blond girl came soaring over, someone other than Infinity Woman – the only other person they'd ever seen defying the forces of gravity.

"Ready for round two, sis?" Josie said, her eyes glowing with malicious excitement. She landed amidst the intersection, ignoring the blaring horns around her as she blocked off a line of car. "I'm not going to fight you here in the middle of the day with all these people around," Raven said.

"God! What is wrong with you? I've just suckerpunched you in the face!"

Raven swirled her head from side to side, taking in all the anxious expressions of all bystanders. There were children among them, hiding behind the protective arms of their parents. "We must stop this now, Josie, before people get hurt."

"I'm afraid I can't, sis. This is who I am, who you should dare to be. No one will take it away from me." Josie leaped up, cannoning herself up into the sky while leaving cracks in the asphalt. The sonic boom she'd left in her wake shattered car windows and triggered alarms.

Raven gave chase. She'd gained in on Josie as she saw her soaring motionless below a pack of clouds, the wind yanking at her blond hair.

"Look at us, Raven." Josie aimed her back at Raven, looking out over the vast landscape sprawled out beneath them. "Two girls in the prime of their lives, flying effortlessly through the sky while the rest need machines. We're amazing!"

Raven soared up to Josie. "You know what a backlash this will have on our social lives?"

"So fuckin what! We are here, and they are down there."

"I had dreams, Josie!" Raven said. "I was in college, making new friends and all. It's just… Aaargh, I can forget about all that, thanks to you!"

"Listen, You're amazing. You can do stuff these peeps never dare dream of."

Raven sighed in exasperation. "have you ever considered maybe I don't want to be special, Josie?"

"Well, pity you because you are, Raven. In a fuckin awesome way, nonetheless. Mom was wrong, you know, about keeping our origin secret for humanity. It's not healthy for two teenage girls to be forced to conceal their true nature."

Raven sighed while glaring at the city far below, which looked like a toy town from their perspective, where surely hundreds of people were gaping at them, drawing all kinds of conclusions. "Well, you've done it, Josie. You've exposed us. Now what?"

Josie looked at her sister with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "Have you ever heard of Dark Tempest?"

Raven arched her brow, not knowing what her sister meant.

"It's my new superhero name. People are going to love me. Mark my words, sis." Josie rubbed her hands in anticipation.

"It's not sounding very hopeful if you ask me."

"But it is still way better than, what was it again? Kim Kelso? Ha! How the hell did you come up with something like that?"

Raven huffed. "I had to concoct something on the spot! Thanks to your frolics."

"I know, and I'm sorry. I will make up for it, starting now."

With that, Josie blasted off. Feeling obliged to prevent Josie from causing more trouble, Raven followed suit.