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ice. Already he had sprayed enough to cover a sixfoot section of the tree trunk before he managed to stop the ice blast by shaking his hands as though they were wet.
    Pete whooped with delight. The layer of ice creaked ominously, but it had already started to melt.
    Lorna was caught in the extraordinary moment; the logical part of her brain was gagged into silence. “Ice. Neat. That literally is cool. Em?”
    Everybody turned to Emily, who seemed to shrink back from the sudden peer pressure. “I’m not sure I want to …”
    â€œYou’ll be fine,” Lorna said soothingly. She put a reassuring hand on Emily’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, you’ll be fine. I am, and Pete is, and he’s tried this thingout twice. Just point, and … think. It feels almost natural when it happens.”
    â€œI don’t know what I chose,” she protested.
    â€œNeither did we,” said Pete. “Just calm down and you’ll feel it tingling in your body.”
    And she did. It started in her solar plexus, a pleasant tingling that spread outward across the length of her body until it reached the tips of her toes, the ends of each finger and the top of her head. She had the impression that the tingling was continuing to build into a pulse as though her body could not contain it and should let it burst out, like a dam breaking under the surge of a flood.
    BAM!
It sounded like a miniature thunderclap from where Emily was standing.
Was
. Everybody blinked, but it was clear she had vanished.
    â€œEmily?” For a brief second Toby thought she had exploded, but something on his peripheral vision caught his eye—Emily.
    She glanced around in surprise. One moment she had been looking toward the tree, and now she was standing
underneath
the towering branches. Her hand reached out for the trunk to steady herself, her fingers touching the ice Pete had slung. “What happened?”
    Pete was first to deduce her power. “You teleported!”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’ve got the ability to move through space. Fromone location to another! Over great distances, or through walls! Well, probably through walls. That’s what they can do in comic books.”
    Lorna whooped with delight. “Incredible! Try it again!”
    Emily shook her head and walked toward them on her trusty legs. “I’d rather not, yet. That’s something I’ll have to get used to.”
    Toby flexed his fingers as the others turned to him.
    â€œI can shoot lasers from my eyes, Emily can teleport, and Pete can shoot ice from his fingers. What can you offer to our little superteam?” said Lorna with a wry smile.
    Toby licked his lips and remembered how he felt yesterday. “I already know mine. I picked the same as yesterday.”
    Pete made a face. “Why?”
    â€œWell, I”
    Lorna jabbed an accusing finger. “You knew it was safe, didn’t you?”
    Toby stiffened defensively. “I liked it. Didn’t have time to explore what else I could do.”
    â€œNo! You used us as guinea pigs just in case anything went wrong!”
    â€œThat’s not true! I was just … I got scared!”
    Emily tilted her head in agreement. “Come on, Lorna. I don’t blame him for that. I was scared too.”
    Lorna shot him a look that seemed to say “traitor.”
    Pete stepped between them. “This isn’t the time to fight. We’ve only got these powers for an hour.” He glanced at his watch, relieved to see that it hadn’t iced over. “And we’ve been out here about twelve minutes. We’ve got a job to do, remember?”
    Toby blinked. “The bank! In all the excitement I forgot about that.”
    Pete pulled his cell phone from his jeans’ pocket. His fingers danced over the buttons.
    â€œWhat’re you doing?” Emily asked.
    â€œSetting the phone’s alarm, so when it sounds we know our