The Nine Lives of Chloe King

Your generation has no sense of responsibility to a group, a calling higher than your own. You treat random friends like family and family like strangers. You want to dither your life away, pursuing one pleasure after another. That is not a path; that is a waste of life.

This is completely fucked up, Paul muttered with grudging admiration. You're just like Wolverine. It's so unfair. I read the comic books and you get the superpowers.

Parents with secrets... Not a comforting thought.

For one thing, she heated him. And for another, the opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference.

Superhuman strenght, night vision, and no way to salvage the next minute of conversatio. She sighed.

If one more thing gets freaky in my life, just one more thing, I swear I'm gonna-

She felt a little disgusted with herself for having heared that much. It had been anyone else in the world or just one of her friends with someone else, she wouldn't have minded at all. She probably would have kept listening.

Sorry about the whole not-showingup-at-school-for-a-few-weeks thing, Chloe pictured herself saying to the principal. You see, I'm a cat person and had to hide with others of my kind in a gigantic mainson called Firebird that also houses a real estate firm while this ancient Masonic-like cult tried to hunt me down because they think I killed one of their assassins. Oh, also, I have nine lives and am apparently the spiritual leader of my people, who belive they were created by ancient Egyptian goddesses.

Listen to me: I did not kill de Rogue. He fell off the bridge when I was trying to help him back up. I have never hurt anyone. Neither has Alyec or Kim, or Paul Or Amy. Or my mom. You can't all leave us out of your little war.

Life, when she returned to it, was pain.

Life wasn't like TV, and she had definitely not been whisked away to her Happily Ever After. No one could do that, she realized. Not even an ancient, hidden race of people with powers like lions who gathered in prides. There were no real superheroes.

somehow reminding Chloe of Nightcrawier in X-Men United. Who needs movies when you are a mutant?

Her Spidey sense, as Paul would have called it, tingled.

That was odd. God sounded kind of annoying. Kind of whiny.

Chloe’s mom opened the door for Kim, then stared at her. She wore a black felt hat pulled tightly down to cover her ears and loose black jeans with a frumpy black sweater, like she was trying to disguise her whole body, not just her head. Round Lennon-style sunglasses with thick red lenses hid her slitted eyes. She stuck a gloved hand out and presented Anna King with a bouquet of flowers. “Here. I hope this is an acceptable hostess gift. Thank you for inviting me to the party. I’ve never been to one before.