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“Maybe,” she said finally. “The police are either involved in this or ill-equipped to deal with it, but I’m not sure psychokinesis or a suit of junkyard armour constitute being equipped either.”

“I think it makes you better equipped then most,” Martin said thoughtfully. “Though I don’t think anyone is equipped for this. I will say that while I don’t know if becoming a superhero is a good idea you do have a gift here and you should use it for good somehow.”

“Hmm…” Sienna nodded. “That much is true, I suppose. I shouldn’t ignore it just because it scares me.” She took a breath. “Did Wendy tell you about the other thing I did, because I really need to get a handle on that as well.”

“She did,” he said. “And you do.”

“But I have no idea how I’d work on it. I can’t exactly go around randomly controlling people for practice.”

“Well, no. We’re trying to turn you into a superhero not a supervillian.” Martin laughed. “You’ll need a volunteer, like me. Try and make me do something.”

“Okay,” Sienna said hesitantly. “I’ll do my best.”

“Good,” he said. “Try to make me do something without speaking first. That way we’ll know it’s not just suggestion making me do it.”

“I wonder if that will work,” Sienna said. “I spoke when I made Charlotte get moving.”

“That just makes it a better experiment,” he said. “Come on then, make me do something.”

Sienna stared at him and willed him to pick up the glass of water next to him and empty the contents on the floor. After a moment she felt the click in her head again and he did just that. He stared at the puddle on the floor and then at her.

“Quite impressive, but I said not to say it aloud,” he said.

“I didn’t,” Sienna said.

“Really?” he said. “But I heard it quite distinctly.”

“She didn’t say a word, Martin,” Wendy said.

“Interesting,” he said. “We’ll want to test that some more but it seems like your mental control is some kind of broadcasting telepathy. I wonder if you can receive as well?”

Sienna had no idea about that, but she did know something that was bothering her. “How are you taking this so calmly? Shouldn’t you be freaking out.”

He looked to one side. “Mum was sort of psychic,” he said finally. “Not like this, of course. Her ability wasn’t strong enough or reliable enough to do anything with but she had occasional premonitions and she could sense other people’s emotional state sometimes. Keith never believed it, but she could.”

He never called Keith father, he never had as long as Sienna had known him.

“Your mother committed suicide didn’t she?” Sienna asked.

He nodded, tears appearing in his eyes. “But it wasn’t because of her ability if that’s worrying you. It was his fault. That’s why I tried to warn Wendy’s mum away, but she just thought I was jealous.” He punched the table. “Jealous? I hate his guts if I could cut his half of my DNA out of my cells I would.” He shook his head. “But that’s why I’m taking this calmly, you’re stronger than any psychic I’ve ever heard of but I knew real psychics existed. But I think you’re something different. I have an inkling that the fog has something to do with it.”

“I do to.” Sienna checked the time and sighed. “I need to call mum and dad again. They did say every hour.” She looked at her phone and blinked in surprise. “And I have signal down here.”

“One of mine and Martin’s toys,” Wendy said. “It let’s us get signal just about anywhere.”

“Useful.” Sienna dialled her parents. She only intended to have a brief conversation to reassure them she was okay, but before she could speak her father interrupted her.

“Sweetpea, you should check the news if you can,” he said.

“What’s wrong now, Dad?” Sienna’s stomach twisted alarmingly at his stressed tone. She stared at Martin willing him to check the news, though she did try and make it a suggestion rather than an order. Martin gave her a curious look and grabbed his laptop.

“There’s been an earthquake in California,” her father said. “Which is not unexpected given that it’s California, but… well you’ll see when you check it.”

“Yes, I do,” Sienna said. Martin had turned the laptop so she and Wendy could see the video he’d found. It was being streamed from a helicopter flying over a town which was engulfed in the same magenta fog they had seen only two days earlier. “What the hell?”

“I don’t know,” her father said. “But the fact it’s sprung up after another disaster, even if it is a different one, suggests some sort of pattern. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t either,” she said. “What is going on?”

Her father didn’t answer that. “Are you coming home soon, sweetpea?”

“Not just yet,” she said. “But soon. Tell mum I’m okay.”

“I will,” he said. “But don’t be too long. We’re both fretting.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said before ending the call and looking at Martin and Wendy. “What the hell is this?”

“I don’t know,” Martin said. “But two very different disasters in different parts of the world closely followed by the same mysterious phenomenon? That’s not a coincidence. I already thought that this fog wasn’t natural but now I’m sure. How are they predicting the disasters?” He frowned at the text on the page. “And apparently only one of the towns hit by the earthquake is effected. This journalist thinks the place is small and unimportant enough that it might have gone unnoticed except for what happened here.”

Sienna frowned at the screen as well. “Really? It seems unlikely that people could miss something like that.”

“A strange miasma hanging over an unimportant town during a disaster that has hit much larger ones?” Martin said. “It might be, if not ignored, glossed over as unimportant. Especially since it says here that the place has a chemical works. Without what happened here they’d probably have assumed it came from there.”

“Ah, now that I can see.” Sienna narrowed her eyes. “I wonder…Martin, can you see if you can dig out any other cases of magenta fog that might have flown under the radar?”

“Already on it,” he said. “You think here wasn’t the first place it happened too?”

“Now I’ve seen this, I do,” she said.

“I thought so even before this,” he said. “I think it’s important.”

“Yes,” she said. “I want to see if we can find other places and if there’s any sort of pattern. If nothing else it might give us a clue as to how those men are finding their targets.”

“Good idea.” He turned back to his keyboard. “Though I doubt they are the ones responsible.”

“Be careful not to leave a search trail,” Wendy said. Martin gave her a wry grin.

“I know,” he said. “I’m already being cautious.”

“Good,” Wendy said. “So am I coming home tonight?”

Martin shook his head. “Probably best not to. for now. I think Helen said she was going to drop a bag over at Sienna’s place.”

“That’s nice,” Wendy said. “Hopefully we can have a more normal evening without murders or disasters. God knows we need it.”

“I certainly hope so,” Martin said.

“I think I’ll give mum a call later,” Wendy added. “I want to be sure she’s not just shunting me out of the way so she can reconcile with Keith.”

“Not much chance of that,” he said. “Your gran’s staying over.”

“Good,” she said. “But I’m still going to call her.”

“Oh, yeah, call her,” he agreed. “Just don’t worry so much. I think she’s finally seen through him.”

“I really hope so,” Wendy said. “I’m fed up of seeing mum all folded in on herself like that. Not to mention having to lie about who I am to please him.”

“No argument here,” he said. “I think Helen will be pleased to hear you’re going to become an engineer not a nurse.”

“I hope so,” Wendy said. “Not that she gets a say either. I just really want to get back to normal – well as normal as we can with half the town a disaster area and people with guns running around.”

“Not to mention superpowers,” he said. “Or wannabe superheroes.”

Wendy just smiled at that.

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