Peter's sister, Nova II NovaVerse 1

Nova

Peter strokes my hand to calm me down. I thought I was doing a good job at hiding my nervousness, but even Ned has started to take notice. I won't think about what I saw at the bus stop. Peter grabs my hand and leads me out the bus and into the school. I really don't want to think about what I saw. Because it's not real. It can't be real.
'NotRealnotrealnotrealnotreal.'

I start to calm a little as we enter first periods room. The teacher begins to talk, and I know that Peter will soon translate into sign language after. Hopefully after I get the cochlear implants I'll be able to understand better. I'm tired of being such a burden on Peter.
'You're a burden to everyone.'
'Peter says I'm not though...'
'He lies. They all lie. You know they don't want you. Burden...'
'No. Be quiet.'
'Burden...'
'Stop.'
'Burden!'
'Shut up!'
'YOU. ARE. A. BURDEN!'

I place a hand on my head and try to distract myself reading the board. I've been hurting myself like this lately. I know that that's not what they think. What if it is? I'm tired of it. So tired. Two sides of myself fighting. One accepting the fact and the other rejecting it. Nope. Just read the bored. I try reading it. Something about a project. But then a boy comes in the class. The same one who Peter and I saved the other day.
'Max...'

"You remember him? We saw him the other day," Peter signs to me. He keeps signing to me, but I'm not paying attention to him. I'm paying attention to Max. And the way his curls move up and down as he finds his way next to me. "Hi, I'm Max. What's your name?" he signs to me. I feel my face get slightly hot and my stomach flutter for a moment. Am I still sick? "Nova," I finger spell. He compliments my name, and soon after tells me his own. As if I don't already know. But he doesn't know that we met before. Gotta play dumb. Peter taps my shoulder so I can face him so I'll be able to see what he's signing. "The teacher wants me to help him too, since I can translate." His head shoots back in the teachers direction and I see that she's talking to him. "She says you guys can get to know each other for five minutes."

I nod, and my stomach goes back to feeling like it's filled with butterflies. "Is that your friend?" Well he is... but he's also my brother. I'm really not good at socializing, what should I say? "Brother," I sign. Well, that quite the conversation. "Nice. What do you like to do for fun?" Oh. That's... that's an interesting question. I don't know. All I do is study and practice my power with Stephen. But I can't tell him that. I don't even like practicing. By the time we finish I'm almost hypothermic and my face is covered in a nosebleed. Why should I answer this guy anyways? What if he uses the information against me somehow? I can't trust him. "Why do you want to know?" He looks taken aback. "Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, just wanted to know a bit about you." He seems nice, and I feel bad for lashing out.
'So you're a burden and a jerk...'

He takes a piece of paper out and starts to write. I hope he isn't going to start writing to communicate when signing is so much more efficient. But it simply says: Max's number, 628-928-9273. "Text me when you want to," he signs. Then class starts, and we both look to Peter for translations.
***Lunch***

"What do you think of the new kid," Ned signs to me. MJ and Peter both looks at me with smug expressions. "He's fine, just makes me feel weird. I don't know if it's ok." Peter looks amused and a bit concerned. MJ and Ned both look amused. "Like what?" Peter signs. "She wants to make out with him is my guess," MJ signs before returning to her book. I look shocked and my back straightens. "What? No. I wouldn't even know how that would feel like to want that."
"Let me guess," Ned starts. "Butterfly's in the stomach, face hot." He describes my emotions perfectly. I quickly look back at the food that May packed for me today. Turns out the portions the school gives weren't enough, and that I still needed to put on a lot of weight. So May started packing me lunches. But Ned must have noticed the change in focus. I totally just exposed myself. "You were blushing a bit when he sat next to you!" Peter signs. Oh great. He's making fun of me too.

Just then, Max sits next to me, and I'm sure my face is red. "Don't mind if I sit here?" He asks everyone. "This is the only table with people who can sign which I know of." Peter nods and decides to scoot away from me just so Max is next to me. I watch as MJ and Ned hold on their laughs. This is going to be really embarrassing. I'm going to slip up. And I might actually have a crush on Max.
***Sanctum***

The doors of the sanctum open as soon as I knock on them, and no one seems to be there to do it. But I'm used to this. It's been a little over a week since I first came to the sanctum, and none of this is new. I walk into the building. There's sand piled up on the floor and carpet; some piles almost reaching the roof. That's new. Stephen walks down the stairs in what I like to call his, "wizarding uniform." His cape and blue robe he's always wearing makes it up.

"Hello," I sign. "What happened here?" Stephen already knows sign language since he wanted to be able to communicate with his deaf patients back when he was a surgeon. "Didn't preform the spells to keep those doors closed over there," he then points in the directions of the doors, which each lead to a different place. "No Peter today?" He asks. I shake my head. Peter's always with me when I do this. Just in case I have a panic attack and loose control. Stephen takes off his necklace and looks like he's casting s spell on it. It glows a yellow as he places it around my own neck. "This will contain your power," he signs. My finger traces the necklace's design.

He never lets anyone touch this. Not even Wong. Or Christine when she comes for a date. "Are you sure I can wear this?" I ask. He nods and waves his hand in a way that tells me to follow him. He opens a portal to a lake. We never practice there. It's always at Kamar- taj. "I want to try something today," he starts to sign. "I want to test the full extent of your power," he signs.

That makes me a little nervous, but I nod and squeeze my arm. I walk next to the lakes edge and know the warm up. I lift three orbs of water from the lake and make them float around me. He tells me the shape he wants me to make it as well as direction. Once the warmups are over, the real test begins. "Lift the entire lake," he starts. "Remain calm as you do so. That necklace will stop you if you start to loose control." I don't think it can. If Wanda couldn't stop me, why not a necklace? But I listen anyways. I call my power to the surface and start to feel for the lake. I feel the water of the clouds above me, the water of the clouds thousands of miles away from me. I feel thousands of lakes, every molecule of water in the world. And I feel the people and animals in it. It gets overwhelming. But within a moment I'm able to direct my focus to the lake in front of me.

And I lift it. A strong isle of cold rushes through me. I would say that it's so cold it hurts. But it won't matter. Within a few minutes I'll be numb anyways. "Now make it evaporate," Stephen signs. I remember our last practice, but I didn't think that I would be doing it to an entire lake while lifting it. But I listen. I focus on the warmth I'll have to achieve to evaporate. It's different then boiling the water. But my insides feel like they disappear as the water does. And I feel lightheaded. But that's just what happens when I make it evaporate. Soon, all of the lake is gone.

"Bring it all back, and I want you to try to freeze it." I've never tried freezing water before. I don't even know if I can do that. I focus on bringing it back, pulling the droplets back to me. Once I get it all back, I focus on the cold. I focus on the outcome I want. I feel my power get a rush as I do this, and I feel something pulling at it. The necklace was absorbing it. I focus on the water again. Soon it's ice. But my insides are too cold. I've never felt this cold before. I can't even shiver at this point. My power stops and the water quickly melts and falls back into its place as a lake as I collapse to the ground. Stephen rushes to me and places a hand on my head. I touch my own arm, and I can't feel it. I try to stand up and he supports me, and opens a portal to Kamar-Taj.

I black out.