“On Tuesday 14th, at 9:06pm the Toronto Police Service arrived at the Sunrise Shopping Pza responding to a report of a possible robbery. Wit the building said there was the sound of fighting and shouting. When the police arrived, they found two men unscious at the se in peared to be an attempted break-in. Security footage revealed that the two men fought against a third person. The third person appears as a strange spectre, and the chief of the police Abrams Niedermeyer specutes the strange figure is the same ‘ghost thing’ seen at the Royal Ontario Museum a week earlier.”

  Dead Head tossed the neer down on his desk and growled. He smmed his hand on the cover. “This is the sed time this liquid freak has interfered with our operation.”

  He had called Shimmer in that m, Shimmer looking prim and proper even that early in the m. Pax was called in, too, but the fel couldn’t bask in the m like Shimmer so Pax nursed a bck coffee from Tim Hortons and tried his best to look awake.

  Stepping up to the desk, he turhe paper his dire and looked at the photo on the front page. It was that water kid, alright; the very one Pax and his boys locked horns with at the venieore st week.

  “We must do something about him,” said Dead Head, sitting down on the chair and hanging his cloak over the back. He g Pax, Pax unnotig in his boss’ gre. “He’s made of water, correct?”

  Pax looked up. “Eh?” He backed away from the paper and stood up attentively. “Yeah. We could nd punches on him but he had no boo break.”

  Shimmer steered his sharpened eyes over at Pax. “I would assume that if the interloper’s body is alive like described, we could hardly say he was made of water.”

  Pax scowled at Shimmer. “What? D’ya wanna do tests on this guy? Figure out his atomic properties?”

  Dead Head sighed and rubbed his stubble. “I’m going to send someoer him, but someoh special skills.”

  Pax heard the boss loud and clear. Someoh ‘special skills’; someo Pax. A strange problem required a strange solution.

  “Should I gh the roster and choose someone suitable?” asked Shimmer.

  “Yes,” said Dead Head.

  He lowered his gaze at the paper and tur over his way so he could tinue reading. The picture caught his eye, too. Two of his subordinates fighting against a person made of living water. Something would have to be done.

  Kay woke up that Wednesday m like every roggy. He measured his fortuhough. At least he didn’t feel like he was made out of sponge like the previous day-after he had a fight with a group of thugs. Kay got up and walked out into the living room where his family had a head start on their ms. His ears were still clogged with dream clouds, so the living room chatter passed Kay by.

  By the time he was done in the washroom, Kay’s eyes had opened most of the way. His mom eering at the TV from the kit and Aubrey watched from the couch.

  Urban, walking around with a bowl of oatmeal in hand, looked over at Kay. “Oh, Kay’s up.” He reached for the remote and ked the volume up a few tics.

  The volume took off and while Kay couldn’t make out what was on s without his gsses, he could hear.

  “We’re not sure what kind of teology the intruder utilized,” said the man being interviewed on s, “but it’s evident he is employing a kind of hi-tech cloaking teology.”

  Kay went to his room to get dressed. Something must have happeo to draw the attention of all his family members.

  Kay could hear his family members through the wall. “To you think it’s real?” his mom said.

  “I don’t know,” said Urban, his tone whimsical, “A lot of weird stuff in the world!”

  Aubrey chuckled. “But a ghost superhero?”

  Kay froze, staring out into the void of a T-shirt as he took it over his head. They couldn’t! he thought.

  He got a grip and slipped on his shirt. He went to his door, opening it quietly to peek out into the living room and to get a sight on the news programme. An anchor talked to the camera but in the er of the s icture of a camera shot: Kay (in his water form) and the thugs he attacked st night.

  Kay’s blood went cold.

  He shut the door with an audible smack he couldn’t suppress. He was on the news!

  “Are you sure he’s a superhero?” asked Urban.

  And his family was talking about him!

  Kay had to hold his fa with his hands. He walked over to his bed and sat down while he stared miles around his room.

  Omigod omigod omigod, he thought.

  “I’m not even sure he’s real!” said Mom. “I think it’s a hoax.”

  It wasn’t only his family who knew but everyone around Toronto. Kay was on the m news! Hoeople were seeing his watery face? He reized the news room– it was CTV. It wasn’t just whispers in workpces or the local tabloids that were taking that story, it was actual news stations!

  But as he sat on his bed, a bit of pride arose into his throat, and a giggle wiggled out of him. He was on the news. A lot of people were going to know him as a hero.

  Then the panic returned.

  He got his things ready a out into the living room, trying to look casual. His family was half-focused by the story, walking around the house aing their days ready while still paying attention to the television. It seemed like the news program had moved on to aory.

  Kay ig as best he could, going over to the sink to get a drink of water. Urban spotted the guy and grinned. “Oh. I guess you just missed it, Kay.”

  Kay pyed dumb. “W... what?”

  “There was an attempted robbery,” said Mom, her tone dismissive. “I don’t believe it myself but a ‘ghost thing’ was seen at the crime.”

  “A ghost thing?” asked Kay, faking curiosity.

  “Yeah,” said Urban, “it looked like a ghost, I think.” He took his upward and chuckled. “I guess we don’t know what it is!”

  “Oh,” said Kay. His toalled. What could he say that wouldn’t arouse suspi. Finally, something came to mind. Kay said, “They fake those things. Like the famous Bigfoot picture.”

  Aubrey joined in the versation, speaking loudly from the other side of the room. “It’s not the first superhero in Toronto.” She smirked and took her eyes up dismissively. “At least, not the first alleged superhero.”

  Mom went to the fridge to get out her lunch bag. She scoffed. “Oh, who’s the other one?” She dropped her eyes, trying to remember.

  “Lady Beat,” said Urban, with a lot of spunk in his tohe oh the medieval armour.”

  It was a year or two ago that the first pictures of Lady Beat had hit public. Medieval armour wasn’t the right descriptor, thought Kay. Lady Beat had more of a futuristic look, at least to Kay’s memory.

  “Right,” said Mom. He checked her lund then she bag shut. “I think that one’s a hoax, too!”

  “Don’t insult this town’s greatest heroes!” said Urban.

  Mom curled a smirk. “When did you get so defensive about superheroes? What if they are fake?”

  “Real or fake,” said Urban, “they are famous figures of Toronto. They are uys.” Urbaured a shrug. “You gotta respect that!” He wobbled an arm at the TV. “Like that Devall guy!”

  Mom fluttered her eyes and smiled. “Sure.”

  Kay got his lunch ready, stuck it in his backpack, and got out of there before they could ask Kay any questions.

  One pop through the front doors and Kay khat everyone in school had heard about the ‘ghost thing’. Kay walked through the halls, listening in on people’s versations. Many talked about video games or football practice but some talked about the mysterious sighting st night and Kay had never had so many people talk about him.

  “What do you think he is?”

  “I don’t believe in ghosts, but... what if?”

  Kay had first period iry. Even when css began, some people were whispering about it.

  “What other tries have superheroes?”

  “If ghosts are real, are demons?”

  Even into sed period and lunch Kay overheard chatter about it. The sed half of the school day came and many weren’t tired of discussing the supernatural i. The story had grounds. Toronto had knowledge of Kay that they were never going to lose.

  There was n back from what happe night.

  Kay had media studies out of lund today’s lesson was going through the process of how advertising worked and the assig was on produg an advertisement as group. Kay partnered up with Huxley and Jia. They were occupied with their work but a side-mention from Jia about the local ghost news pivoted versation accly.

  “I don’t think it’s a ghost,” said Jia, “I don’t know what it is but I don’t believe in ghosts.”

  “So what do you believe in?” asked Huxley, chug and smiling. “Aliens?”

  “Aliens are more likely than ghosts,” said Jia.

  “I’m not vi’s real,” said Kay, trying his best to sound like he was amused by the whole thing. “There have been hoaxes before.”

  “Was Lady Beat ever proven to be a hoax?” asked Jia.

  Lady Beat. Was she real? Kay the character that didn’t believe in the supernatural wouldn’t think so, but Kay the real person who erhero himself– he had to wonder. If a watery superhero was real, surely a dy in cool armour was also something that could exist!

  “I haven’t heard about her in awhile,” said Huxley, “not that I aying attention.”

  They went back to the task at hand, filling out their work sheet by assigning everyoo a position in a hypothetical advertising pipelihe work sheet implied that everyone was supposed to tribute based on their fantasy position but being that it was a group assig, everyone tributed to everything. That was the case with Huxley, Jia, and Kay and it was the same thing with roups nearby.

  “If it’s not a ghost,” said Huxley, “what is it then?” He then stopped and leaned back. “It’s... something.”

  Jia wiped some of the hair out of her face, scratg her . “I mean... we call it a ghost because it looks like a ghost. But it could be anything. It could be... a mutant.”

  Huxley chuckled. “Yeah! But where does it e from? Do weird psma creatures just appear one day?”

  I wish I khought Kay, refleg on his uaio where his powers came from.

  In one of the groups nearby, there was Sitara. Her ears grabbed onto the versatioween Huxley and his neighbours so she turned her seat away from her group and towards the other.

  She smiled, the ceiling light refleg off of her rge gsses. “So you too have heard about the ghost sighting?”

  “We heard,” said Huxley.

  There hadn’t been a siime between Kay, Huxley, or Jia where they had a era with Sitara. She had the reputation of being pretty humourless and cold.

  Sitara tilted her head down, pushing up her gsses with a crop of fingers. “I’m a realist so I don’t going thinking that anything I read is true.” She looked off into the distance. “Still... I’m curious.”

  There was an awkwardness shared between Huxley and his two cssmates. Nobody in his group was expeg a random girl to jump into their versation with the assertivehat Sitara was selling.

  “What do you think it is?” asked Jia.

  “What it is?” said Sitara, her tone schorly and a little insulted by the presumption. “I don’t know what it is. I wonder what it could be.”

  “What do you think then?” asked Jia.

  Sitara straightened her and held her nose up. “I don’t care to specute too much. What I care about is how to capture it. If someone could get her hands ohing, why– they would be world famous!” Once again the ceiling light beamed ontsses.

  Kay sat there, keeping quiet. Adding his thoughts (or made-up thoughts) into the versation would have made him seem more normal, but he worried he would have given himself away in some small bit. His caution didn’t seem inappropriate sidering that the girl in front of him seemed tickled at the idea of capturing the “ghost” for her own fame.

  Css dismissed with those worries weighing in Kay’s head. He walked through the hallways, hands oraps of his backpack, and pondered.

  Were people going to try to capture him? He was something to be huhat was something Kay hadn’t truly realized since he became a shapeshifter– of course people would want to see and nab a supernatural being. It was everyone’s dream to see or meet an alien, wasn’t it? And now that Kay was semi-public, there would be people wanting that opportunity.

  The worry banged around his head like the cpper inside a bell. Thinking about his history as a liquid creature spurred a memory awake: before he got his powers, he had fantasies about getting magical abilities or meeting aliens. When he was younger, he would wonder what he would do with powers or with aliens as friends.

  Now he was the guy with powers– or the alien.

  A dusting on nostalgia came over him. It wasn’t more than a few years ago he would have had those thoughts, but it felt like a lifetime had passed. Was that young teenager a plete alien now?

  Kay found himself getting mencholy in the walk to his css. Mencholy and worry, two emotions not meant for the intermissioween school work. He tried to shake off his distras as he entered his st css for the day.

  After school, Kay raced home, dropped off his backpack, and then beeli to Philly’s pce. As he took to the rooftops to race downtown, Kay had discovered a newfound worry of being spotted. Going fast and not takera care increased the likelihood that a pair of stray eyes would catch him, but he wao talk with Philly as soon as he could. He raced down to Philly’s pce behind the office building.

  There was no guarahat Philly would have been home. If the fox wasn’t around, what could have Kay do wait?

  First was to see if the fox was around. Kay hopped off the roofs down into the alleyways behind the office building. He took a look all over the pd then transformed bato a human. He did another quick cheake sure no one saw that and he didn’t know what he would have done if someone had!

  Kay went up to the duing off the wall and tapped it, rumbling out an eg thud.

  “Philly?” Kay whispered. “Are you home?”

  “Kid?” asked Philly.

  Apparently, the fox was.

  There was the scratg of paw etal and then out from the duct came Philly, fluffy coat and all.

  He looked up at Kay. “Didja hear? You’re in the papers.”

  Kay darted his eyes around. He kept his voice quiet. “I know. That’s why I came over.” Kay hung his arms out. “What do we do about that?”

  “Uhhhh...” Philly cocked his brow. “I don’t know. Nothing? What you do? Don’t you eople talking about you?”

  Kay dropped his arms and gave the fox a defeated look. “No...! It makes it harder to keep on the down-low.”

  “What do you expect?” asked Philly. “You try to stay hidden as best you but people are going to see you. If you go out and fight crime, people’ll notice.”

  “But what if people e after me?” asked Kay.

  “You’re a slippery er.” Philly roud enough of that joke to smirk. “You just get away.”

  Kay ed his head up and sighed. “Yeah. I guess.” He dragged a hand down his face. “So you read the paper?”

  “I’m literate, you know,” said Philly, smiling and cog a brow at the boy. “This m, I eavesdropped a versation or two about a ‘ghost thing’ and nabbed a paper to read up on my favourite human!” Philly leaned up on Kay’s leg, paws on the boy’s waist and the fox’s tail a-wagging.

  Kay couldn’t share Philly’s merriment. The idea of people knowing about him– knowing about his ghost side– was another yer of stress upon his fledgling superhero career.

  “This is going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?” asked Kay.

  “It won’t be so bad!” said Philly, “e on: did you want to do some patrolling?”

  Kay folded his cheek. He took a few steps away so Philly dropped himself onto the alleyway floor. Kay said, “Naw... I want to y low. At least for today.”

  “Alright,” said Philly, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ll see you around...” A smile creased across Philly’s snout. “...Ghost Thing.”

  Kay groaned and rolled his eyes. Philly snickered and then hopped back up into the duct. Yep, Kay would need a day off to just rex at home. He took annce around the area to firm no one was around, theransformed into his liquid body.

  With a single hop, he on the roofs and out of sight.