Pegasus and the New Olympians by Kate O'Hearn

‘This must be very difficult for you; to be a child and yet so powerful. I can imagine your life and Jupiter’s must have been very similar. But he learned to control his powers; I am confident you will do the same. All I can suggest is that until you learn to master them, you do your best to control your temper.’
    Emily looked down into the water until Alexis put her paw under her chin and drew her head up. She leaned closer. ‘Emily, people are going to come and go into your life that you may not like and who may annoy or upset you. You must learn to tolerate them. It appears that extreme emotions trigger your powers.’
    Emily sniffed and nodded her head. ‘You’re right. I’ll try.’
    Alexis shook her head. ‘You must do better than try, Emily. You must succeed – if only to protect your friends.’
    The Sphinx rose and moved for the door. ‘I have heard it said among humans that when they are upset, they count to ten. May I suggest you try doing the same?’
    As she was about to leave, Emily called to her. ‘Alexis, wait!’ When the Sphinx paused, she continued. ‘Please don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want my best friends to be frightened of me.’
    ‘I won’t tell them,’ Alexis agreed. ‘Not unless your powers become too unpredictable. Emily, I am here to protect them too – even if it means protecting them from you.’

    When Emily emerged from the bath, she found Earl and Agent T chatting softly on the bed while Pegasus, Chrysaor and Alexis were glued to an old Elvis Presley movie on TV. Alexis was roaring with laughter.
    When Elvis started to sing, Alexis sighed dreamily. ‘I am in love. I must find that man …’
    While stroking Pegasus, Emily wondered if she should tell the Sphinx that Elvis had been dead a long time. But before she could say a word, there was a soft knock on the door.
    Agent T sprang from the bed. He opened the door a crack, peered out and then let Joel and Paelen into the room.
    Joel was carrying two large pizza boxes while Paelen had other bags of groceries. Emily immediately noticed that Paelen was covered in hundreds of tiny cuts.
    ‘What happened to you?’
    Joel started to laugh. ‘He was eaten by a bank machine!’
    Paelen shot him a dirty look. ‘We had some difficulty getting the money out of the machine. Joel was able to punch a hole in it, but when I stretched out and entered it, the metal cut me to pieces.’
    ‘Were you able to get any money?’ Agent T asked.
    Paelen handed over a thick stack of twenty-dollar bills.
    While the money was counted, Emily reached out and touched Paelen. As she traced lines along his deep cuts and gashes, her powers started to heal him. Within moments, his skin was back to normal.
    ‘Excellent,’ Agent T said. ‘This should get us safely to California.’ He looked around the room. ‘Everyone eat; we’ve got a long night ahead of us.’

    The night passed slowly as the group made their way west. Before long they had flown over Louisiana and were crossing Texas. As they finally reached New Mexico, Emily and Earl marvelled at the sudden appearance of clusters of golden light from towns and cities in the seeming endless darkness beneath them.
    Eventually they landed outside an old motel. Joel was excited to discover they were on the outskirts of Roswell, New Mexico. ‘This place is famous! It’s where they claim aliens crashed in the nineteen-forties,’ he explained to Paelen.
    ‘Aliens did crash here,’ Agent T confirmed. ‘Where do you think we get some of our modern technology and weapons from?’
    ‘When I was first captured by the CRU, Agent J and Agent O kept calling me an alien,’ Paelen said.
    ‘That was our first thought,’ Agent T explained. ‘It was easier to believe you were an alien than Olympian because we knew already that aliens existed.’
    ‘And now?’ Emily asked.
    ‘Now we know that Olympians exist as well. Though if you ask me, since Olympus is another world away from Earth,