CHAPTER ONE

Hot Homework

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

My morning alarm was blaring at full volume while I rolled around in bed, hoping it would go away forever. I needed to get up, get ready, and head to school, but I was too exhausted to move. When I finally reached to turn off the piercing sound, I noticed my little sister, Felicia, standing in the doorway of my room. She stared at me.

“GAH!” I shouted. “Get out of here! I’m in my underwear!”

“You’re going to be late for school, Mr. Groggy Pants,” Felicia said. She noticed the books and note cards spread out across my floor. “What is all of this?”

“I stayed up all night writing my lizard report,” I explained, rubbing my eyes and yawning. I pulled a note card off the side of my face. Doing research for science class was hard work. “It’s a major part of my grade and has to be perfect. The teacher insisted we handwrite it. Why couldn’t we type it up like everyone else in this century? So lame.”

“Ha! Yeah, right! You were probably playing video games all night,” Felicia said.

“What? I wish! I was working on this report. See it right here?”

“Whatever.” Felicia slammed the door shut and ran downstairs.

Sisters are so weird. I quickly threw on some clothes and marched down to breakfast, reading my report on the way to check for errors.

“Ooooh. Secret papers, huh?” my big brother, Gavin, said. He stared at my report like a hawk. He was up to no good, as usual. Dad was standing behind Gavin, using his flame powers to sizzle up a big pile of bacon. Extra crispy, just how I like it.

Everyone in my family has superpowers, by the way. It’s pretty awesome—most of the time.

Felicia is super strong. (Last week, she lifted a dump truck over her head.) Gavin can create duplicates of himself. (His clones all think they know what they’re doing, but they’re all as dumb as the original.) Our littlest brother, Ben, can turn invisible (which makes watching him really hard).

But it’s Mom and Dad who are the real heroes of the house. Dad is known as Fireman! He can create and control flames in an instant. They call Mom Flygirl! She can zoom across the sky in a flash. I hope to be like them one day.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Grandpa Dale. He can fly and has super eyesight, and even has a long tongue that can snatch insects, which he sometimes eats. (So gross.)

As I went to sit down, Gavin snatched my science report right out of my hands. He waved it around like a maniac. “Give it back!” I shouted.

“These papers don’t have secrets on them. It’s just some dumb schoolwork!” Gavin said, whipping my report back and forth in my face.

“Stop horsing around!” I shouted. But it was too late. Gavin bumped into Dad’s flaming hand, and my handwritten report caught fire in an instant. “Nooooooo!” I moaned. “It took me all night to write that paper.”

Gavin was cackling like a hyena. “It’s not funny, you jerk!” I shouted, punching him in the arm.

“Hey, no roughhousing, Peter. And, Gavin, it’s not funny,” Dad scolded. “You just lost all TV privileges for a month. Keep it up and we’ll start locking you in a cage.”

I usually loved Dad’s sense of humor, but this time I hoped he was serious.

“He deserves to be in a cage!” I snapped. “It took me forever to write that report! What am I going to tell my teacher?! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!”

“Keep your voices down,” Mom said, joining us in the kitchen. “Ben and Grandpa are still sleeping. Let’s not wake them up, please.”

I wished Grandpa was awake so he could tell me what to do. He’s full of good advice. He’s also full of weird advice. I never know what I’m going to get.

Wait a second. Did I forget to introduce the most important character in this story? I did. It’s me! My name is Peter Powers. I have the ability to make ice cubes and freeze stuff. I used to think my power was pretty lame, but I’m finally getting the hang of it. I think I might even be getting stronger. I’m trying to learn how to develop my superpowers so that one day, I can fight injustice like my parents do.

For now, I’d have to settle for small stuff. Gavin needed payback. When he wasn’t looking, I reached over and put my hand in his backpack. Using my superpowers, I filled it with ice cubes. Hah!

But when I looked back at the extra-crispy report, I felt sick to my stomach. Ice powers were cool, but I wished I had the power to travel back in time and stop Gavin from becoming a menace. “What am I going to do?” I muttered. “I have class in less than an hour. I don’t have time to rewrite my paper.”

“Tell your teacher the truth and explain the situation,” Mom said. “You’ve still got your notes and research. Rewrite your paper tonight and turn it in tomorrow. Don’t stress, okay, Peter? Everything will be fine.”

“The truth? Miss Dullworth won’t believe me,” I said. “Maybe I could make up a story.…”

“You better not lie to your teacher, Peter,” Felicia sneered. “Or bad things will happen.”

“Bad things are already happening,” I grumped.

RUUUUUUMMMMMMBBBBBBLLLEEE!

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and our house swayed back and forth. Pictures fell from the walls, and one of Mom’s old vases fell to the floor and shattered to pieces.

“An earthquake!” Mom said. “Everyone get in the doorway.”

Once the tremor was over, Mom and Dad checked on Grandpa and Ben. Everyone was fine, so they jumped into action. “I’ll hit the skies to survey the damage and make sure the people of Boulder City are safe,” Mom said.

“You go high and I’ll go low,” Dad said, grabbing his superhero costume from the laundry hamper.

“Looks like you kids are biking to school today,” Mom added. “Have a good day!” Then she flew out the back door.

“Everyone grab some bacon and toast before school. Except Gavin. No delicious bacon for Gavin.” Dad was definitely not joking that time. He never joked about bacon.

On my bike ride to school, I couldn’t stop thinking about my science report. I’d worked so hard on it. Maybe Dad is right, I thought. I’ll just tell the truth. What’s the worst thing that could happen?