Capes and Magic Hats: Chapter 4

“I'm a cape.”

My dad stared at the sparks flying from my fingers in silent disbelief. He didn't say anything, just sort of stood there, completely stunned as I unveiled my powers to him and as the silence stretched, I could feel myself beginning to tense with worry.

How was he going to react? What was he going to think now that I had superpowers? Would he be scared? Sad? Furious? His lack of reaction made my heart race and my thoughts run wild, and I slowly lowered my hand, the sparks fading away as I watched him nervously.

“Dad?” I asked gently, fearing his reaction, “Could you please say something?”

After another minute of silence, he slowly shook his head, looking more than a little overwhelmed, “Give me just a second, honey. I think I need to sit down.”

He walked passed me into the kitchen and my worry only became even greater as he pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. He gave a small glance to my textbooks but immediately disregarded them and instead put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths. I hesitantly walked into the kitchen after him, watching him worriedly.

He just sat there for a minute or so, and my anxiety about his continued lack of reaction just continued to build until finally I couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up.

“Dad?” I asked gently, walking up behind him, “Are you mad?”

That broke him out of his funk and he gave me an utterly surprised look, “Mad? Why in the world would I be mad, Taylor?”


I shrugged unsurely, “I don’t know, but you haven’t said anything yet and I was just worried…”

“Taylor, I’m not mad. I promise.” Dad said gently, “I was just processing everything. This was the last thing I expected when I came home to scold you for skipping so I just need a little time to adjust to everything, you know?”


I nodded, feeling relieved, “I get that. It was a surprise to me as well.”


He chuckled, though he still looked more than a little bit overwhelmed, “I can imagine. How’d all this happen anyways?” he asked, gesturing vaguely.

I shrugged, “I’m not really sure, honestly. I just woke up this morning and I was like this. Do you remember how you found me this morning after I fell out of bed?” He nodded, “That’s because of the powers. So are the muscles. It’s like my entire body got a tune up and a splitting headache on top of all the other new stuff. Heck, I don't even need glasses anymore.”

Dad looked worried, “Are powers supposed to hurt? I thought there was something about them that prevented them from hurting the people who get them.”

I went to speak but paused. I wasn’t really sure if getting powers was supposed to hurt. Sure, I could vaguely remember the other Taylor being unconscious in the hospital for a while after she triggered, but was that because of the power or from the physical and mental trauma that she went through? “Probably not, but it's not like anything's been easy here recently, so why would getting powers be any different?”

I had decided that it was probably best he didn't know about the memories I had gained. I was already dumping a lot on him, making him worry about whether or not his daughter was actually his daughter or a stranger inhabiting her body might be a little bit too much for him to handle right now.

He gave me a confused look, “What do you mean by that? Is something going on?”

“That's… harder to answer than it should be.”I took a deep breath, preparing myself for the conversation ahead. This was probably going to be the hardest thing I had done today, even harder than revealing my powers. But it had to be done. “To start, I should tell you about what’s been happening at school.”

He looked confused again, “School? What does that have to do with anything?”

I chuckled humorously, “Everything. Trust me.”

Still clearly confused, he nodded slowly, gesturing for me to continue. Taking another breath, I did so, “Alright, so you remember that day after I came back from summer camp? When I came back from Emma’s house crying and I told you-…”

It was hard to get everything off my chest, and it became even harder when I got my journals that I swore I would never let anyone else read and splayed them out in front of my dad, but it was something I needed to do and more importantly, he deserved to hear it. I had kept it a secret for more than long enough.


~~~

Several minutes and one extremely uncomfortable talk later, the two of us were sitting at the table in silence.

I fidgeted with my hands underneath the table as I watched him slowly read through the last of the notebooks that documented every single account of the bullying by the Trio that I had bothered to write down. Considering that this was the third nearly full notebook, it had been quite a bit of reading.

As he read, I explained the things that had been done to me since I had begun attending Winslow, from the constant crap they pulled on a daily basis to the more horrible stuff like them defiling my mom's flute. I didn't leave anything out, as hard as it was.

And yet, throughout it all, he hadn’t said a single word. Even when I had revealed Sophia’s connections to the Wards - a little white lie about seeing her use her powers because it wasn't like I didn't know the truth - he hadn’t reacted anything like I had expected him to. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t tell what his reaction to the information he was reading was at all.

It was probably for the best, honestly. The fact that he hadn't blown up yet was surprising and somewhat worrying given his temper. I had honestly been expecting screaming at the very least by now. Not at me of course but just… in general. The Hebert temper was infamous down at the docks, and while he rarely if ever brought it home, this was the kind of situation where it would be more than warranted and the lack of, well, anything, was somewhat worrying.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting in this anxious limbo, he closed the notebook softly. I straightened in my seat, unable to get rid of the nervousness that was keeping me rooted there as I awaited his reaction. He didn’t seem to notice this or anything at all, instead just gazing straight forward, his jaw set and his eyes hard as he stared at a spot on the far wall. And then finally, he spoke.

“I can’t believe I let that girl into my house.” Dad said in the coldest and most enraged voice I had ever heard from him in my life, “Or Alan, or any of them. I have half a mind to grab a couple of the boys and go down there and give them all a piece of my mind.”

Though he wasn’t shouting or even raising his voice, I could easily see how angry he was by the way his jaw was clenched and the harsh tone of his words. I winced, “Please don’t. I don’t think that would help anything right now. You’d get arrested and I’m not sure what I’d do without you right now.”

He sighed angrily, removing his glasses and rubbing his face, “I know, sweetie. I’m just saying things so I don’t throw something because this?” He gestured at the notebooks, “This is sick. You should have told me something sooner. I would have pulled you out of that school without hesitation..”


I looked down at the table, feeling slightly ashamed, “I know. I just didn’t want to bother you. You’re always working late and coming home exhausted and I didn’t want you to have to come home and deal with my problems on top of everything else going on at work.”


He shook his head, placing his glasses back on and giving me a soft look, “Little Owl, none of that matters.” He said in a voice to match his tone, “I’m sorry that I’ve been staying at work more than I should here recently, and I’m sorry if I made you think that I wouldn’t care about any issues at school. You’re what’s most important, Taylor.”

He looked towards the notebooks, “If I had known even half of the stuff was happening, I would have pulled you out immediately. Homeschool might not be an option, but you’re smart enough to get into one of these other schools.” He scowled, “Even if that Ward girl made your teachers believe otherwise. The thought of someone like her being a hero makes me sick to my stomach.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I don't think she's in the Wards because she wants to be.” I offered as some weird consolation, “Shadow Stalker was super violent before she was caught according to most things I've seen. She probably only joined so they didn't send her to prison.”

Dad’s face twisted, “That just makes it worse, actually. Even if she didn’t do half the stuff you wrote in your books, she’s definitely still violated whatever agreement they have a hundred times already but nobody has come to drag her away. That just means that she’s learned by now that she can get away with it and has no intention of changing.” His frown turned more severe, “I’ve had people like that come by the docks looking for work and they never last more than a few weeks. After a certain point, you gotta realize that some people have no intention of changing and keep them locked up for the good of everyone else. I’m not sure if this Sophia is like that yet but he’s seeing some of the same patterns.”

“We could report her to the heroes. They’d probably do something about her.” Get her expelled from Winslow at the very least. Maybe we could even leverage a way to get me into Arcadia or even Immaculata if we played our cards right.

My dad nodded, “That’s a start. We’ll also have to report her probation officer as well. There’s no way that whoever supposed to be keeping an eye on her didn’t know about any of… that.” He gestured vaguely towards my notebooks, “If you ask me, that entire damn school should be torn up at the foundations. Nothing but a cesspool and a hotspot for gangs at this point. No reason keeping it around.”

I didn’t exactly disagree with him but I didn’t voice it. Winslow was barely functional when it came to the educational side of things, and while there were a few good things about the school, there weren’t that many.

My dad sighed, rubbing his face before giving me a look, “I guess what I should be asking is, what do you want to do, Taylor?” He asked, shocking me, “This isn’t about me, this is about you. You’re the one who had to go through all of this, and I’ll admit, I’m a little bit out of my depth here. If you’ve got any idea what we should do, let me hear it and I’ll do my best job to support your decision any way that I can.”

For a moment, I was speechless, and then I began to tear up slightly as his words truly registered. I had begun this whole ordeal worrying about his reaction to my new powers and the situation that had been going on at school and here he was, showing an amount of trust in me that I would have never have expected in my wildest dreams.

My next actions were done out of pure emotion. I reached out towards him, and my arms latched around his waist, pulling both me and my chair towards him as I gave him a crushing bear-hug. He made a surprised noise followed by a wheeze as I hugged him tightly.

“Thank you…” I whispered, all of the day's emotions crashing into me at once. After taking a moment to get over his surprise, he brought a hand down to pat me on the back as my tears leaked into his collared shirt, and my arms squeezed him even tighter in response.

He made an odd noise at that, “Hey uh, do you think you could loosen up a bit, kiddo? You’re squeezing all the breath out of me!” He asked in a slightly pained voice. I did as he asked, loosening my hold on him a bit, and he immediately let out a relieved sigh, “Thanks, Taylor. Those new muscles of yours are probably as strong as Kurt’s!”

I smiled into his shirt despite the tears leaking from my eyes, “Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll try to arm wrestle me and I don’t want to embarrass him in front of Lacy.”

My dad chuckled, beginning to rub soothing circles on my back, “Well now we’ll have to try it. Maybe get a few of the boys over to watch too.”

I didn’t respond, burying my face deeper into his side. The fact that we were in two separate chairs made the hug a bit awkward but I didn’t bother to move or stand, too busy sharing the first hug with my father in what felt like months.

After a moment, the comfortable silence was broken, “So, do you have any ideas on what you want to do?”Dad asked as he continued rubbing my back in comforting circles.

I nodded but didn’t move, “I do, but can we just stay like this for a minute? I’m kind of emotional right now.”

He gave me a kiss on the crown of my head, and I could hear his smile in his voice as he spoke, “Sure thing, kiddo.”

I wasn’t sure why I was getting so emotional but I had a feeling it had something to do with the knowledge of what mine and my dad’s relationship could have become. The idea of basically losing him while he was still around like the other Taylor had hurt more than I cared to admit, so this proclamation of trust in me as well as his declaration that he’d stand behind me lifted a great deal of weight off of my shoulders.

And maybe I just missed hugging my dad. Just a bit.