The next night, Jackson and I ate frozen pizza for dinner. Mom and Dad were in their room, getting dressed for the dinner party.

Jackson leaned across the table and whispered to me, “I’ve been trying to think up a good superhero name for myself.”

I laughed. “How about the Tomato Sauce Mutant?” I whispered.

He squinted at me. “Huh?”

“You’ve got tomato sauce all over your face,” I said.

He growled at me. “Your name can be Fantastic Funny Woman. Ha-ha.” He plucked a piece of pepperoni off his pizza slice and flicked it at me.

It landed on my lap. I picked it up and started to toss it back at him. But Dad walked into the kitchen. “What are you two talking about?” he asked.

Jackson and I both answered at the same time.

“Pizza,” I said.

“Superheroes,” Jackson said.

Dad squinted at us. He adjusted his tie. He hates ties.

“We made up a superhero called the Pizza Surfer,” I said, thinking quickly. “Kind of like the Silver Surfer. Only he travels on a giant pizza.”

I know, I know. Very lame.

But Dad wasn’t really listening. He was searching for his car keys.

I spotted them first. They had fallen onto the floor beneath the kitchen counter.

Jackson saw them, too. He stared at them and made them float up onto the countertop. “There they are on the counter!” he shouted to Dad.

Dad scratched his head. “Weird. Don’t know how I missed them.”

A few seconds later, Mom and Dad said good night and headed out to the car. Jackson and I watched them drive away.

Jackson stuffed a whole slice of pizza into his mouth. Then he grabbed his Windbreaker and started to the front door. “Mmmmph mmmmph. Let’s go,” he said.

We stepped out into the clear, cool night. The rain had finally stopped that afternoon. The ground was still wet and marshy. Puddles glowed from the pale quarter moon hanging low over the trees.

We trotted to the small park on the next block. It was surrounded by tall hedges, so no one passing by could see us. The park had a playground for little kids and a picnic area with tables and benches.

There were tennis courts behind the picnic area. They were surrounded by a high wire fence. The courts were empty because they didn’t have lights.

The perfect place to try out our new superpowers.

I tried to open the gate. Then I saw the big silvery padlock and the chain. “It’s locked,” I said. “We can’t go in.”

Jackson shoved me out of the way. “No problem for Wonder Warrior!” he exclaimed.

He stared hard at the lock, gritting his teeth. I could see the muscles in his jaw flexing as he concentrated.

The padlock popped open and fell to the ground.

“Way to go, Wonder Warrior!” I cried, slapping Jackson on the back. I wanted to tell him that was the lamest superhero name I’d ever heard. But it didn’t seem like the right time.

I swung the gate open, and we stepped onto the court. I carefully latched the gate behind us and gazed around. Someone had taken the nets down, so there was plenty of room to run around.

“I’m kind of psyched,” I said.

“Me, too,” Jackson replied. “Know what I want to do first? I want to see if we can fly.”

I laughed. “Fly? Really? I never even thought about that!”

“I know we have powers we haven’t even thought about,” Jackson said. I’d never seen him that intense before. He was always the laid-back, easygoing, “whatever” guy in the family.

“How do we test it?” I said. “Just raise our arms in the air and try to take off?”

We both raised our hands high above our heads. Then we bent our knees and leaped into the air.

Our sneakers thudded right back down to the asphalt court.

“We need to get a running start,” Jackson said. He leaned down and put his hands on his knees, like a runner in a track meet. “We can do this, Jillian. I know we can.”

We both took off running across the court. Faster … faster … Our sneakers pounded the asphalt.

As I rocketed over the ground, I raised my arms to the sky. “Yes! YES!” I screamed. “I’m FLYING!”