Peter Powers and the Itchy Insect Invasion!

CHAPTER ONE

Battle at the School

"Students, get away from the windows!" Miss Dullworth shouted. But no one listened. Everyone in the classroom was huddled at the windows.

Outside, two of the world's greatest superheroes were fighting a supervillainess on the front lawn of my school. Little did the other students know that those superheroes are my parents.

I wanted to go out there and help. Instead, I was stuck inside watching it all happen. Talk about boring.

Who am I? I'm Peter Powers. And I'm on the verge of becoming the greatest superhero the world has ever known! Well, kind of. You might need to give me a few years.

"Look at them go!" I cheered.

As the fearless protectors of Boulder City, my parents were always the first on the scene to help. Dad controls fire, and Mom can fly faster than a rocket. They're both super tough.

Today, they were battling a nasty criminal named Spidra. The masked crook was tearing the schoolyard apart with her eight hairy spider limbs! The whole bug look? Totally creeps me out.

Did I mention that I'm deathly afraid of bugs? (Just saying the word makes me start itching all over.)

The entire classroom was glued to the windows, watching my parents take down Spidra. No one knows about my superpowered family, except Chloe and Sandro. They're my best friends in the entire universe.

"Your mom is pretty and awesome," Sandro whispered, making his eyebrows jump up and down.

"My dad is pretty rad too," I said. "He makes great burgers at family barbecues."

Chloe pinched Sandro and me. "You guys shouldn't talk about this here," she whispered. "Secret identities, remember? You don't want to blow your parents' cover."

She was right, of course. Chloe is pretty much a super know-it-all.

"Just think, Peter. Someday you'll be a big superhero fighting some nutty bad guy," Sandro said. "You'll probably get so famous you'll forget about us."

"I'll never forget about you two," I said. "Even if I do become a famous superhero."

"You mean when you become one," Chloe said with a wink.

Chloe was right. But it's going to take a lot of work before I get there. I do have superpowers, so that's a start. They're not much, but I'm working on them. I can create ice cubes with my fingers. I can freeze other stuff too! Well, sometimes. It's not glamorous, but I can definitely keep a drink cold in the summer. I'm learning how to do more stuff, but it's taking forever.

"Check out your dad!" Chloe whispered, pointing out the window.

"I've had quite enough of your antics, Spidra!" Dad said, firing off a wall of flame.

"You'll never take me, do-gooders!" Spidra shouted, shooting webs with her sticky-icky spider fingers. Just seeing it made me queasy.

"Oh, yes we will," Mom said, swooping down from the sky and knocking Spidra out. Then Mom grabbed her by the collar and flew her to jail.

"That's going to be me one day," I whispered.

"You want to be a weirdo spider lady?" asked Sandro. Chloe and I shook our heads. Sandro stared blankly until he figured it out. "Oh! You mean you want to be like your mom and dad. Okay, that makes more sense."

Dad looked over and gave me a thumbs-up. He and Mom weren't afraid of anything.

I couldn't wait to be just like them.

CHAPTER TWO

Breakfast Bug

"Slow down, honey. Breakfast is not a race," my mom said.

Gavin, my older brother, sat at the breakfast table, stuffing his face with waffles as fast as he could. Footsteps raced down the stairs. Another Gavin ran into the kitchen and snatched the waffles from his clone. "Beat it, dupe! Those are my waffles!"

Gavin snapped his fingers, and the clone Gavin vanished. Oh yeah, Gavin has the power to create duplicates of himself. But sometimes they do their own thing.

"Gavin, no clones at the breakfast table. How many times do I have to tell you?" Mom said. Gavin wasn't listening. He was already chowing down on another buttery waffle.

"Mom, can I go out later?" my little sister, Felicia, asked.

"Where do you want to go?" Mom said.

"I just want to go out! Jeez, Mom, why are you always in my business?" Felicia whined, banging her fist on the table. A crack formed in the wood. Felicia is super strong. She's always breaking things around the house.

"Focus on your breakfast. We can discuss the rest once you're home from school," said Mom. Felicia sighed, poking at her eggs.

"Geeeeee!" gurgled my baby brother, Ben. Mom strapped him into his high chair and wiped the slobber from his chin. He has powers too: Ben can turn invisible. Which makes babysitting a nightmare. For now, he was happy chewing on his fingers.

"Good job capturing Spidra yesterday, Mom!" I said. "You and Dad are so confident out there. It's really inspiring."

"Thank you, Peter," Mom said. "Did you want something too?"