I was in the tree-house with the cat, trying to think of a name for him. Gabriel? No, too girly. Tiger? No, too classic. Billy? Yes! It's original, and it fits his personality. I picked up the cat, which was making short work of a can of tuna. His tuna-scented breath puffed in my face.

"Cat, your new name is Billy. What do you think?" Billy fluttered his gossamer little wings and purred like a lawnmower. Then he rubbed his velvety soft head under my chin. Suddenly, our little celebration was interrupted by a crow, which appeared out of nowhere and is perched on the windowsill. There was a piece of paper tied to its right leg. I untied the piece of paper. It was a note! Apparently this was a messenger crow. I'd never heard of a messenger crow before. I read the note.

Katrina Starr,

We've been watching you, and we think you have superhero potential. You're brave, kind, and you're good at hiding you're mutations. Meet us at the old general store, at 125 Gooseberry Lane at 3:00 PM.

Sincerely, SA (Superhero Association)

This had to be a prank. I threw the letter away. There was no way I was going to be a superhero. I had enough on my plate without that. The crime rate in my city was the last thing on my mind.

When I walked through the front door I instantly knew something was wrong. Mom was sitting on the couch, angrily shredding pictures of Dad. When I asked her where Dad was she looked at me like I just hit her. Her eyes were red from crying. She told me to sit down. The springs creaked under my weight, reminding me that we needed a new couch.

"Honey, I talked to your dad, and we decided to divorce. It's not your fault, we thought we spent too much time fighting and at work and too little time with the family. And we just don't love each other anymore. You and I are going to stay in Philadelphia, but we're gonna move farther away from Dad's work. Dad is gonna go live in New York, near a bigger lab. You can visit him once a month."

I didn't know what to say. It was like someone hit me in the stomach and the chest at the same time. My parents always talked about divorcing, but I didn't think it would actually happen. I sat there numbly, trying to figure out what to do or say. Then Dad came down. Unlike Mom, Dad was raging mad. I bet they had a fight, not a calm agreement like Mom said. Dad said, "Stop crying, you baby! Katrina, go pack your things! You're moving next Monday. Go, now! That vegetarian diet must be making you soft!"

Mom sided with me. "David, can't you see she's upset?"

She didn't call him Honey, so I knew this was real. She always called him Honey. I gave Dad a wide berth as I made my way up to my room. I started emptying my dresser, tossing aside the clothes that don't fit me anymore. I stopped a few minutes into packing to pinch myself. Nope, it wasn't a dream.

I had superpowers. And that gave me an idea. I could easily kill all the veterinarians of the world with just a lift of a finger. They all destroyed families by giving innocent animals lethal injections. And I was gonna start with the worst of them all, the one that killed my Riley, Dr. Starr. I threw my punch and hit the homemade bulls-eye. The bag swung back and hit the wall. Then it bounced off the wall and swung toward me. I ducked and the bag swung harmlessly over me. Then I clung to it and swung, hopping onto the bed after a few seconds. I felt elated. I was already good at hand to hand combat, so I thought I would make a formidable superhero.

I needed a costume so I wouldn't be recognized, so I sneaked into the basement where Mom did her sewing. I grabbed some green, yellow, and blue fabric and got to work. I almost sewed my fingers a few times, but I got the costume finished. It was a green jumpsuit with purple patches and a blue mask that covered my face like a ski mask. A blue patch in the center showed my logo, an F on top of a B. Frog Boy. It was a little tight, but it would stretch out while I moved. If only Riley could see me now. But thanks to Dr. Starr, she was in heaven somewhere. I'd heard it all. She was in a better place. She was going to die anyway. She was no longer suffering. But she was not with me now, curled in my lap, watching NFL games. If only we had money; we would have taken her to a more reliable hospital.

Mom's boss, the CEO of Barney's Bling, had her polishing glass day and night every week with little pay. She only got $2 an hour, and if she got so much as a fingerprint on the glass that was 10 cents out of her paycheck. She always came home stressed and upset. And we barely made enough to have running water. Sometimes we had to live without electricity for weeks. That was on the bottom of the priority list. Water was at the top. We relied on welfare for food.

Sighing, I went back to my room and paced until I'd almost worn a hole in my floor. Finally, I halted and smiled to myself. I had come up with a plan. I would sneak into the animal testing lab and grab some test tubes filled with rabies viruses. Then I would mix the rabies into the animals' food. When an animal bit a vet it would transmit the rabies. If that didn't work I would have to use my powers to kill the vets. Either way, they were going down.