Free Superhero in Disguise (Adventures of Lewis and Clarke) by Kitty Bucholtz Page B

and daughters. Tori wondered if their half-brother and -sister, Kevin and Samantha, ever had to be reassured of their mother’s love. Dixie doted on her two younger children.
    “I don’t want to make the wrong choice,” she said as she put books on a bookshelf.
    “Well, get over it.” Lexie put Tori’s little TV on the TV stand and plugged it in. “Life is full of wrong choices. Look at me. But then there are the unexpected blessings, like Ben, so…I’m not convinced wrong choices always turn out so bad.”
    Lexie didn’t talk about “blessings” much, but when she did, her son was usually the focus of the discussion. Tori didn’t know if Lexie still believed in God, but she’d changed a lot since Ben came along. Maybe if moving out wasn’t the best choice for Tori, it would still turn out okay in the end.
    Tori hesitated, afraid to tell her sister about her other plans.
    As usual, Lexie picked up on her emotional vibe. “You’re trying to decide if something else is the wrong choice?” Lexie stacked DVDs on the shelf under the TV. “You’re still taking your medication, right?”
    This was the reason people often thought Lexie was a mind reader. She wasn’t, but she was scary good at guessing what was going on in your head based on your emotions. Tori wanted to answer the question, “Of course!” But lying didn’t work very well around Lexie unless you were very good at it. The silence was deafening.
    Lexie turned toward her, crossing her arms in big-sister mode. “You’re kidding me.” She sighed. “Tori...”
    “I’m mostly still taking them, but I don’t think I need them,” Tori burst out. “No one makes you take any pills!”
    Lexie snorted. “No one can make me, that’s why.”
    Tori threw her arms wide. “But I don’t have impulse control issues or an anger management problem. I’m fine!”
    They stared at each other, feeling the swirl of each other’s emotions, pushing and pulling in a wordless argument.
    Lexie gave in first. “Fine. You decide what you think is best.” She pointed a finger at Tori. “But if anything happens—”
    “Like what ? What’s going to happen? No one will ever answer that question!” Years of frustration spilled out. “ Just tell me !”
    Tori watched as Lexie’s face crumpled. She seemed to be trying to speak, or not to speak, Tori couldn’t tell. She rushed the few feet to her sister and grabbed her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
    The emotions in the room swirled with helplessness and secret fears and…was that resignation emanating from her sister? Lexie relaxed with visible effort. Her clenched jaw loosened, and her facial muscles smoothed. She took a breath.
    “Remember when you were little, and you had problems at school?”
    Sort of. Tori remembered the kids didn’t like her. She nodded.
    “Do you remember why?”
    Tori thought back. “I wanted to play with them, and they wouldn’t let me.” The memory still hurt.
    Her sister shook her head. “No, you forced them to play with you. That’s what they didn’t like.”
    Tori sifted through memories and old hurts. “I didn’t...” She was going to say, I didn’t force them . But then she remembered being very little, in a store, wanting a toy, and throwing a temper tantrum until her mother bought her the toy...and she remembered Dixie’s face.
    Her mother was afraid of her.
     

     
    BY THE time they finished unpacking and returned the truck, dusk had settled. They picked up Chinese take-out and went to Lexie’s to get dressed and hand out candy. Tori loved her Pirate Wench costume. It was sassy and bold and completely unlike her. She’d rented a blonde wig, bought some fishnet stockings, and borrowed a pair of ridiculously high heels she could barely walk in. It was perfect.
    Lexie wore an adorable Little Red Riding Hood costume she’d made, and little Ben spent a couple of hours as a cute pumpkin until he screamed to get out of the puffy gourd. Immediately upon his