It's a calm sunny afternoon in Silver City Georgia as a family drives through the town with Anita Carter's ring of fire playing on the radio.

Xavier Gallagher, a 13 year old boy, is silently reading a comic with his older sister also reading a fiction novel beside him.

As the song ends, they pull up to the garage of their recently purchased home with boxes of unpacked items still strewn around. Xavier jumps out and runs to continue reading inside his room but his mom, Martina, follows him and pushes the page he's on down saying, "Xavier we still have things in the car".

He gets up and tries to pick up his comic but his mom grabs it saying, "This will stay here until you're done". Xavier groans as he runs to grab boxes from the car, barely missing his father who says, "Easy there boy".

After all the stuff has been taken down, Xavier tries to get back to his book but his mom calls him to the table to have lunch.

He says "I'll be right there ma" while turning his room upside down in search of his comic.

Xavier finds it after a few minutes between two science books, his mom's usual spot for hiding things, and runs to the bathroom to continue reading.

Before he can reach the end someone knocks on the door of his bathroom shouting, "It's Reina, open up".

Xavier fake flushes saying "I'm coming", but his sister replies, "I know you're not actually using the toilet you little shit".

Defeated, he meekly opens the door and tries to sneak out but his sister grabs him by the hair and pushes him against the wall whispering, "Mom's very, very angry that you missed lunch".

Xavier replies "I wasn't hungry", prompting his sister to say "Well get ready to eat sandal" as she lets go of him.

The two meekly walk to the kitchen where their mother is standing with her hands hidden suspiciously behind her, she asks "Xavier, what were you doing?".

Reiner steps between her mother and her brother saying, "Xavier was just feeling a little bit homesick, maybe a bike ride will cheer him up, don't you think so dad?".

He nods and replies, "Yes I hear there's a nice trail that just opened outside the town. Xavi has been looking out of sorts these days".

Martina sighs, unable to resist her daughter's innocent smile and replies "Alright, but don't stay out too long.

Reina thanks her parents, grabbing and packing a sandwich meant for Xavier before hurriedly dragging him to get their bikes.

On their way to the trail Xavier asks "Why did you help me?" and Reina rides closer and grabs his hand saying, "Because I'm your sister dummy, I don't want you dead".

When they finally get there she punches him in the shoulder, knocking him off his bike and shouts "This is for being a little shit" before riding away into the nearby woods.

He groans, "I'm going to get you for that", and she shouts from a distance, "You have to catch me first!".

Xavier grabs the bike handles and pedals with all the strength he has to watch up to his sister who skilfully darts between the trees to avoid him.

He finally catches up to her when she stops suddenly in the middle of the woods. Exhausted, he pants, "I told you... I'd get you".

Reina ignores her brother, enthralled by the sight of a decrepit old building covered in moss. Curious Reina looks for a way through the fence while Xavier gets uneasy saying, "I don't think we should be here".

Resting her bike near a tree she replies, "Oh don't tell me you want to do the right thing now!?" before walking through a tear in the fence to explore further.

Dropping his own bike, Xavier follows to try and dissuade her, pointing out the numerous cryptic signs and scribbles but she doesn't listen to a word he says. After finding no way in, Reina turns to say, "Let's head home, this place is dead" and Xavier wastes no time running towards the fence, but before he can reach it he falls through a hidden hole and slides down a pipe buried deep underground.

Reina wastes diving in after him and both children end up dragged by a current in a dusty and dimly lit room, injured but alive. "Xavier, are you okay?" and he replies "Yeah I think so ".

Pulling the hair out of her eyes she replies, "Good, because mom is going to kill us

The two of them get up and look around for an exit, eventually finding their way to a large hall with a single sunbeam pointing down from the ceiling.

Walking through this room they notice the shimmering of particles glowing and fading in the air and wonder what exactly this place was.

To the left, Xavier notices a box with a glass display and walks towards it. Reina shouts, "Don't touch that!" and he flings his hands in the air shouting back, "I wasn't going to touch it!". This accidentally triggers a lever that causes a burst of blue light to fill the room, knocking them both unconscious.

Sequence 2

An hour later, Xavier wakes up lying next to a tree and rubs his eyes asking, "What happened?". He sees Reina lying down beside him and tries to wake her saying, "Hey Rey, Rey we have to go" and she gets up moaning, "Can't you see I'm tired?".

Eventually they gather the strength to take their bikes and ride home, luckily their parents weren't around so they sneak in through the back door, change and fall asleep.

That night Xavier dreams about being underwater and wakes up in a soaked bed struggling to breathe. As he gets up he notices a small fish struggling on the floor and asks himself "Where the hell did this come from!?".

After changing his sheets and flushing the fish down the toilet he stays awake throughout the night until his mother knocks on the door and tells him to get ready for breakfast.

At the table, Thomas Gallagher tells them, "So yesterday we went out looking for schools and we found a nice place you can enrol in".

"That's great papa," Reina says, barely touching her food. Growing suspicious, Martina asks, "Reina, what happened yesterday?"

The table grows silent and everyone stares blankly at each other until Xavier blurts out, "Reina got her period yesterday!".

"You little…. Mother, he's lying!" she screams, banging her fork against the table.

"Well what happened?" Martina asks, ready to pounce and she replies, "I wasn't feeling well okay that's why we took so long".

Putting her hands on Reina's forehead, Martina says, "This fever is serious, why didn't you say anything!? We'll have to go pick up some medicine, mi amor get the keys".

"Xavier, take care of your sister, if anything happens let the neighbours know" Thomas says, as they hurry out.

With both parents gone, Reina throws her fork at Xavier, barely missing his head as she shouts, "What the fuck is wrong with you little gobshite, why would you say that to mum???".

"I had to tell her something, she'd kill us if she found out what happened" he says, dodging the fork and running away from the table.

"I'LL kill you if you keep mouthing off like that!" she replies, chasing her brother through the kitchen. Unable to catch him, she flings her hands in the air and accidentally shoots a ball of fire at the clock mounted on the wall.

They both stare at each other in shock until Reina breaks the silence saying, "Did you just see that?".

Jumping over the couch, Xavier grabs Reina by the hand shouting, "Do it again!" but she pulls away and hides her hands in her jacket telling him "No I'm not doing it again, do you want us both to die!?".

"You have powers now, you know what this means? It means I probably have powers too!" Xavier says, trying to make a jet of flames but producing nothing. A disappointed Reina shakes her head and walks off to her room, careful not to touch anything.

Inside she sobs into her sleeves thinking, "Why did this crap have to happen to me? Finally I get a shot at a normal life and I turn into some freak".

Her cries are disturbed by Xavier knocking on her door so she wipes her eyes saying, "Go away" and he replies "As your brother I am unfortunately stuck with you for life, so get used to it".

Her cries fade into a slight smile and she opens the door promoting Xavier to give her a hug of support.

"So what are you going to do now?" he asks and she replies, "I'll figure it out. For now, I'll just have to pretend to be sick for a few days".

Sequence 2

One week later, the children start school and their dad drops them off at the local high school wishing them best of luck.

On their way to their assigned class Xavier whispers, "Is it under control?" forcing Reina to say, "Of course it's under control. Jesus Christ you worry too much".

"I'm just trying to be careful" he says as they both enter the class and she tells him not to worry as they pick their seats at the back and wait for the bell to ring.

Once the bell rings and the teacher walks in they are introduced as twins to the larger class and take their seats so the rest of the school activities can go on.

In the hallway one of the students walks up to Xavier saying, "Hey you're the new Latino kids right? I'm Skylar, nice to meet you".

Reina replies, "I'm Irish" and Xavier intervenes saying, "Forgive my sister she isn't feeling well".

"Oh I totally get it, missing home? You know my great grandfather was Irish too, maybe we're related… ".

Luckily the bell rings and Xavier takes the opportunity to thank her for her time and escape to the next class with his sister in tow.

"Come on Rey, you have to at least talk to them"...

"I don't want to talk to them" she replies, adjusting her backpack to stop it from falling off her shoulders.

"Look, all we've got to do is make it to the end of the day and we'll be alright".

Xavier nervously replies, "Okay" as they walk into the next class. After another 2 hours of classes they finally have lunch and Xavier decides to make conversation with the children speaking Spanish on the far edge of the cafeteria.

Unfortunately they mock him for his accent and send him away, not without taking a carton of juice off his table first. Dejected, he goes back to sit with Reina who also mocks him saying, "See why I don't talk to anyone".

Biting into her sandwich she continues, "It's okay I'll get back at them for you…. Hmm this is pretty good".

The kids stick together until school ends at which point they take the bus and head home.

Once back home they meet their mom who asks, "How was school?" and Reina tells her, "We learned so much mom, so much we just want to sleep" as she heads straight to her room.

Xavier however sits down at the table and tells her, "I didn't like it?".

Putting the muffins in the oven, Martina turns to her son asking, "Why? You didn't make any friends".

Twisting his fingers Xavier says, "Well I met some nice people and some that weren't very nice… "

"I know it's hard, moving to a different country, but wherever you go you need to stand up for yourself. Your father always stood up to bullies, you can too".

With his frown turning into a smile he says, "Thanks mum" then goes to the bathroom to wash up. There he finds Reina already inside and awkwardly closes the door as she throws a comb at him.

After twenty minutes he goes back to shower, change and grab a muffin to eat while reading comics in his room.

Sequence 3

The next day at school goes along without incident, this time when it ends Reina suggests they wait by the car park and Xavier complies.

Not long after, they come across the kids who bullied Xavier yesterday who mock and point at him while laughing. This time Reina walks up to the boy, grabs him by the collar and puts him in an arm lock.

The boy attempts to break free but feels a burning pain envelop his wrist and screams begging her to stop.

His friends attempt to fight her but she threatens to break his wrist if they get closer, the boy's begging and screaming, convincing them to hold back as Reina demands "Say you're sorry!".

He shouts, "I'm sorry I'm sorry okay I'm sorry just please let me go!" and she eventually lets go of the boy, kicking him in the back as he stumbles towards his very irate friends.

"Well, get on then!" she says as they angrily glare at her and they eventually decide to leave as a crowd forms.

Reina and Xavier also make their escape through a lonely street with Xavier complaining, "You didn't need to do that".

"Of course I did, you would have just sat there and taken it. Either way I'm your sister so you'd better get used to being stuck with me" she says, repeatedly glancing back to make sure they aren't followed.

Finally home, Xavier throws his bag on the ground and grabs the TV remote to watch cartoons but Reina yanks it out of his hands and changes the channel to her favourite pop station saying, "I'll be taking this thank you, consider this payment for saving your bum earlier".

Seizing it back he grumbles "I didn't ask you to do anything…".

"Come on, we all know how it's going to end. He will scream and gain a huge power up to beat the lizard guy, that's how it always ends!" she moans as she walks to the TV set and changes the channel manually.

"You don't know that!" he replies, trying to get her away from the screen. The two of them struggle for a minute until Reina pushes Xavier to the ground and shoots a blast of fire at him in a fit of rage.

A loud bang and the sound of falling glass can be heard as the living room darkens and fills with smoke. Reina,shocked at what she did, begins apologising and gasps when she sees a completely black portal hovering over Xavier and another facing the ceiling, obscuring the now destroyed light bulb.

She steps back and Xavier crawls away in fear of the fading portal and his sister before running to lock himself in his room.

Reina regretfully chases after her brother pounding on his door and begging "Xavier I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that! Please come out or just say something!".

Still he remains in his room terrified of what he just experienced. Reina remains at the door until their parents arrive. Before they can say a word, Reina runs up to them crying, "Mom, Dad Xavi and I were arguing and I hurt him but I didn't mean to!"

Thomas grabs her saying, "Calm down, are you hurt? Where is Xavier?".

"He's in his room and won't come out", she wails, pointing at the locked door.

Thomas hugs Reina tightly before walking over to his son's door and knocking until the door opens

He gently walks inside and takes a seat beside Xavier on his bed asking, "Did Reina hurt you?".

Wiping his eyes he replies, "No, we were just arguing over the remote, it's okay now".

"I get the feeling this is greater than the TV, do you want to tell me about it?" Thomas says, and Xavier shakes his head, reluctant to talk.

With a shrug, Thomas gets up and walks out of the room.

Later that day he eventually walks out and joins them for dinner. Reina is still sorry about what happened and Xavier tells her, "It's okay, it wasn't your fault".

Sequence 4

The next morning before school, Xavier goes to Reina's room and tells her, "We have to fix this".

"How?" she asks and he replies, "We go back to that place, maybe there's a switch or something that could change us back or at least give us some answers".

"Or we could get cancer and die" she says, adjusting her hair as she gets out of bed.

"We have to try something, if we keep this up things could get dangerous".

With a heavy sigh Reina agrees to go back to the old building after school.

As soon as the bell rings they make the very long trek back to the building and discover the hole has been sealed.

They fruitlessly search for another opening until Reina says, "Well I guess that's a sign we should just go back, clearly there's someone who doesn't want us here… ".

Her speech is cut short by Xavier accidentally opening a portal to the facility, forcing them to slam hard on the ground below.

After a few painful minutes, they stagger to their feet and look around with Reina providing some light to guide their path. They eventually come across the same machine as before, with the switch put back in its original position.

Before he pulls it, Reina grabs Xavier by the shoulder asking, "How are we going to get out of here once we lose our powers?".

"I thought you carried me out!?" he remarks, shocked at the revelation.

They silently ponder what to do but eventually decide to pull the lever and to their surprise, nothing happens.

Around them the sound of a strange voice echoes through the hall saying, "I cut the power so don't bother".

Both Reina and Xavier turn to face the person standing beside them with Reina asking, "Who are you?".

Emerging from the shadows, a scruffy man in a lab coat walks up declaring, "I'm The Professor, and you two are in a world of trouble".

The End?