They sent a bus to pick me up. There were a few other supers, most of them around my own age, already on board. Harding and Kira were there as well.

“We’ll be lightly sedating you for the trip,” Kira explained after we got my luggage loaded. “This way we’re less likely to have any issues along the way.” She held out a couple of pills for me to take. “They should kick in around the time we’re getting onto the plane so you can just sleep through the flight.”

A part of me wanted to protest but I fought back the urge and instead took the pills and then climbed onto the bus. My dad and I had already said our goodbyes. He stood on the sidewalk and waved as the bus pulled away and I waved back at him.

The others on the bus were already succumbing to the pills so there wasn’t really anyone to talk to besides Harding and Kira.

“It’s an hour to the airport from here,” Harding said as we got moving. “If you start to feel drowsy, go ahead and let yourself go. We have everything handled. You’ll be waling up in about six to eight hours at the Cane Center. You’ll have today and tomorrow to get acclimated to the place, give you a tour of the grounds, sort out a schedule for you and get you settled into your new room. Then you’ll start up with your schoolwork and training to control your strength.”

I nodded, not sure what to really say to any of that. I wasn’t excited to be going, though he was making it out to be something like a summer camp. Probably what he did for everyone going to the Cane Center.

I sat back in my chair and waited for the pills to kick in. Every once in a while Harding or Kira would glance back and ask how I was feeling.

“Fine,” I always replied.

The more time passed, the more frequently they looked back at me. By the time we reached the airport I was beginning to wonder if the pills were working right.

“You doing okay?” Harding asked as we got off the bus.

I shrugged.

There were people there ready to help with the unconscious supers, loading them into wheelchairs and then walking them through the airport like a strange parade. I followed along behind them with Kira. We got to skip passed security, which was nice, and headed straight to our gate.

“You feeling tired at all?” Kira asked.

“Not really,” I admitted. “But that’s fine. I don’t mind being awake for the flight. I’ll just sit still and keep my arms folded so I don’t break anything.”

Kira gave me a half smile but I could tell she was nervous. When we reached the gate, Kira pointed to one of the seats and told me to sit down while we waited. I did and Kira sat down beside me. Her hand tapped me on the side of the head and pain instantly shot through me like the worst headache I’d ever had. I lurched back, barely remembering not to lash out and instead curled up into a ball. I still managed to mangle several of the chairs and rip them up from the brackets mounting them into the floor. All things considered, I was rather pleased with how well I handled that. The pain, as quick as it had come, stopped as soon as Kira’s hand stopped touching me.

“What was that?” I demanded, lying still amid the broken chairs.

“I am so sorry!” Kira exclaimed, leaping to her feet. “That was supposed to make you sleep.”

“Well it felt like you hit me with a sledgehammer.”

“You don’t seem to have any brain damage or concussion,” she said, kneeling down beside me.

By this time, Harding had joined us while a number of the helpers were going around and assuring everyone else in the area that it was alright but to keep their distance. Kira explained what had happened while I slowly and carefully worked my way out of the broken chairs.

“Never met someone Kira couldn’t put to sleep,” Harding chuckled. “And the pills don’t seem to be working on you either.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said, not sure what else they expected of me. “I’ll just behave myself on the flight, I guess.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Harding shook his head. “We’re not allowed to take you onboard unless you’re out.”

“So, what do we do?” I asked. “I can’t be the first person who didn’t get knocked out by the drugs.”

“True,” Kira nodded, “but you are the first one of those that I couldn’t make fall asleep.”

“Does this mean I go home until you all can figure something else out?” A part of me was hoping they’d say yes but neither one responded right away. Eventually, Harding pulled out his cellphone and walked away as he started his call.

“Just stay over here for now,” Kira said. “We were supposed to board right away but I’ll see if we can delay that a little.”

She left me alone and I sat down in an unbroken chair a few rows over so I wasn’t right next to the mess I’d made. Kira was talking to the pilot and someone from the airline while Harding was still on his phone, looking serious. My bag had already been taken with all the other checked baggage so I didn’t have anything to preoccupy myself with. I wish I did. Then I could ignore the looks from the people around me, those who’d seen what happened with the chairs, the pilot glancing my way from time to time, the way Harding scowled every once in a while as whoever he was speaking to didn’t give him the response he was hoping for.

Finally, Harding finished his phone call and came over to sit beside me.

“Sorry I’m making things difficult,” I told him.

“Ah, it’s not your fault,” he sighed, patting my knee. “Look, they’re going to let you fly with us. You’ll be in a middle seat, so no window for you, but we felt it safest to keep you away from the hull.”

“Makes sense,” I nodded along.

“Thing is, it’s a long flight,” he said slowly. “Longer than you may be expecting.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “The Cane Center’s like a three hour flight from here, isn’t it? Over in Virginia, right?”

“Listen, what I’m about to tell you is a secret, but not one we’ll be able to keep from you since you’ll be awake for the flight,” Harding said in a hushed voice. “You can’t tell anyone else at the Cane Center, do you understand?”

I nodded, though I was beginning to wonder why the Cane Center I knew about wasn’t the Cane Center we were actually going to.

“The Cane Center in Virginia is a real place, with supers learning to control their powers. It’s where about ninety percent of dangerous supers end up. It’s where all these other kids here are going. The other ten percent go to a different place. They think it’s the same Cane Center, but it’s far more…advanced. These supers are the truly powerful ones, also the most dangerous.”

“So where is it?” I asked.

“It’s on an island, off over towards Malaysia. A bunch of countries got together to build it so there’ll be foreign students there as well. Most will know English, a few might not. They have interpreters for those who need it. Regardless you won’t need to worry about that since you’ll be with the other Americans for the majority of the time.”

“And no one there has figured out they’re not in Virginia?” I asked. I could be wrong, but I was pretty sure Malaysia was in or near the tropics whereas Virginia was very much not. Virginia also wasn’t an island.

“Some have,” Harding replied darkly. “I’ve just had a few of those instances relayed to me. The place is kept up to look convincing enough for the most part but obviously there’s only so much that can be done. I’ve only been there a few times to make drop offs. The point is, you can’t start telling the other supers there, okay?”

“Does anyone ever get to leave this other Cane Center?” I asked, worried I wouldn’t like the answer.

“Of course they do,” he replied.

“Do you know that for certain?”

“You remember Chiro? The strongest man alive that we told you about? He went there to learn to control his strength.”

“How long did that take him?”

“I don’t know,” Harding admitted. “But the point is, that this isn’t a prison. You’re not going to be trapped there, it’s just a secure place where you and the other supers who are…particularly powerful, can learn to control your powers in a safe environment.”

That last part sounded a bit too much like a line from a brochure but I let it slide. It made sense that they’d need such a place. It didn’t mean I had to like it but in the end I agreed to keep the secret from the other supers there.

As our conversation wrapped up, I noticed that the other supers with us were all being loaded onto the plane. Kira was looking nervous but composed.

“We’ll stop off in Virginia to drop off the others,” she said when Harding and I joined her, “and then we’ll carry on to the Cane Center with you.”

She seemed to have gotten the memo about my being allowed to fly though she was clearly nervous about it.

“Don’t worry,” Harding whispered to me as Kira got a ways ahead of us. “She’s just nervous because you could rip the plane in half and kill everyone on board except us two.”

I gave him a shocked look. He just chuckled.

“I could do the same thing,” he went on, “but I don’t. And neither will you so don’t worry about it. Just get comfortable, watch a few movies, take a nap if you can, and in just over twenty-four hours we’ll be landing at the Cane Center.”

“Is it really that long?”

“Not normally, but since we need to stop off in Virginia that adds a few hours to it. I hope you don’t get air sick, otherwise, this will be a much less pleasant twenty-four hours since that’s one of the few things Kira can’t help with.”

As it turned out, I do get air sick.