I know it will be a lot safer for me to wait until it is night for me to try out my powers but still there has to be something I can do right now.

  Who’s going to blame me for messing around with superpowers? Literally nobody.

  I need to find whatever remains of my Christmas wrapping paper.

  As soon as I find the paper tube, I stretch the paper across the couch and TV using the aforementioned items to hold the paper taut.

  I gently press my nail against the paper, slowly dragging my finger up, making a small tear.

  “Okay, that's good.” I say, taking a few steps back and mentally preparing myself.

  I charge forward, letting my power fill me as I careen through the paper, stopping both my run and my power before I reach another wall.

  Why do I not fall? I wonder, looking down at the ground, absolutely baffled.

  I've fallen several times with my powers, but I didn't fall this time? Why? Hell if I know, maybe some part of my brain is stopping me?

  It would suck if my autopilot is better with my superpowers than myself, but I'm glad at least one of us knows what we are doing.

  I go to check the wrapping paper—no extra creases, no extra tears.

  “So I'm not able to affect things while phased.” I mumble to myself, writing in my notebook. “Maybe that'll change, but running through things doesn't seem to harm them. That's good. I don't want to scramble someone's brain if I run through them.”

  The next big question is whether I can leave things inside other things or if I can leave myself inside other things.

  Though before I do that, I also want to test something.

  There's so much stuff that I want to experiment with.

  I know I can’t phase through myself, or at least I can’t go through phased body parts with other phases body parts. But does that apply to anything that is phased?

  My left hand on the coffee table, I focus on just phasing my left hand, keeping the idea of just my hand passing through at the forefront of my mind.

  It is weird to feel myself stop by my wrist slamming into the table the moment my hand phases, but sure. It worked, and I think I'm slowly getting faster with my power.

  With the mystical ghost left hand, I wave it through a couple things before trying to wave it through my arm.

  Negative ghost rider.

  Phased things don't go through me even if they can go through the clothes I'm wearing.

  Do all phased things refuse to go through me or only stuff I phased? That would be really important for me to know.

  …that I can’t even learn until I meet another phaser, but one day.

  Presumably, if my clothes are phased, I can't phase out of them since I escaped while still wearing pants, but testing is testing.

  Solidifying my hand, I place my palms on my knees. I imagine my jeans phasing.

  Unlike my hand, I know instantly when my pants have gone out of phase.

  The weight feels different, and the way my power feels is very different.

  It's natural and smooth to phase myself. And while it's not any harder to phase objects or at least objects of this size, it feels a lot different.

  There’s also the tiny fact that it has turned absolutely black as if it absorbs all light.

  Despite potential desires to the contrary, my superpowered stripper career ends with me unable to pull my pants off through my body.

  Frankly relieving.

  Hopefully, that means I can keep my clothes alive when I'm off doing superpowered things of whatever variation I choose to do.

  I shut off my power only to realize while I didn't phase my pants off of me; I did phase them through my wallet, phone, and most irritatingly, my belt.

  I guess I deserve that for doing something like this without taking the effort to prepare something really thorough in my tests.

  Once I'm significantly more comfortable, I grab a loose piece of printer paper before eyeing myself critically, wondering what I will give up if this goes catastrophically wrong.

  The answer is a small bit of my hair or a bit of my fingernail that needs to be trimmed.

  I don't know if I can just phase my fingernails, but I could just phase all of my head so my hair is phased and that'll work a lot better than my hand.

  It means that I need to find a mirror so I can see properly.

  Taking my paper, I move to the bathroom, flicking on the lights. I flinch at the sight of my eyes, but I manage it a lot better than I did the first time around, which is an improvement.

  Step one: phase my hair.

  Step two: put paper through my hair.

  Step three: unphase my head and see if I got a haircut.

  Or if I had my hair stuck inside the paper, the two of us becoming one.

  I really hope it’s not that one becoming one with a piece of printer paper sounds dreadful, but I would rather know via an awkward haircut and a trip to a barber instead of accidentally getting my arm impaled and fused with a wall.

  Phasing my head is difficult.

  Partial phasing ?isn’t easy for me, but it’s definitely a lot harder to do so with my head because I have to let the body part that has tons of important bits in it be able to pass through things.

  It feels inherently wrong to just let a piece of paper drift through my brain.

  Eventually I get my head phased, and once it’s immaterial, it’s a lot easier to feel the sensation.

  With every activation of my ability, I’m getting a little smoother at it.

  Pulling a lock of hair taught with my right hand, I guide the paper through it before settling the paper in the middle so that my hair is going right through it.

  Now I just have to unphase.

  No matter what I do, I can’t bring myself to bring my head and, correspondingly, my hair solid.

  As if there’s a wall standing in my way.

  I wonder if I can’t go solid while something is inside that body part?

  With skill and practice, I bet I could make smaller segments of myself phased to have more of me solid.

  I try to inch my solidity up my neck.

  The progress is slow, but I can watch solidity creep up as the darkness fades away.

  As good as this training may be, there are other things I want to try, and with the paper gone, I return to full solidity.

  “Can I put other things inside other stuff and unphase them? Does the rule just apply to myself or does it apply to everything I phase?” I ask myself, moving back to the front room to grab my unlucky pencil.

  I’m sorry, Mr. Pencil, but for science, you’re going to be going on a grand expedition to discover what I can do with my powers.

  Eventually, I make the pencil capable of going through things. It feels weird to be holding something that feels solid, but I can also feel a breeze go through it?

  Running the pencil through things, it doesn’t get caught on anything, which tracks with how it feels when I go through stuff, there isn’t any resistance.

  Now to see what happens when I let go.

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  I lift my hand up, dangling the pencil between my fingers, and let go.

  There’s a tugging sensation for an instant, one I’m not even sure is actually there.

  The pencil clatters onto the table, completely normal.

  Well, that was incredibly anticlimactic. Next time I suppose I should try it while it’s already submerged inside an object?

  Spinning the pencil between my fingers, I phase it once more.

  I want to do all of this without needing to take a break for ages to meditate, but everything is a process, and it’s okay if I’m taking some time at the moment.

  The only reason I have to improve my powers at the moment is that I want to have a certain level of self-mastery to learn and push my skills to the limit.

  What am I going to do with the knowledge of if I can put things into other things? I’m not sure, but you know that’s okay. For right now, I will settle for control and understanding.

  Once the pencil is phases, I push the tip through the paper.

  “Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, come on pencil, do something? I guess?” I say, dropping the pencil. For a brief instant, there’s a slight tug.

  The pencil falls through the paper as if it’s not even there before clattering onto the table as solid as a rock. Or a pencil, I guess in this case.

  After they leave my touch become solid as soon as they’re outside of an object?

  No, that’s not quite right. There’s still that tugging sensation. Twice is enough that I think that it’s a sign of something going on?

  When I am no longer providing phasing energy, an object will become solid the moment they are fully outside of another object.

  Too bad there’s not a pool nearby that I could sneak into and see how my power works while in the water.

  There’s so many things that I want to try with my powers, but more of them terrify me than make me feel calm.

  The big one is I want to know why sometimes I’m falling when I use my ability and why sometimes I don’t. Does that mean one day I could learn to walk on air?

  That would be awesome, and while not as cool as flying, it is still cool.

  What I really need is for it to be dark out so I can go out and try my powers outside where I’m able to move three dimensionally without having to worry about any downstairs neighbors.

  And… part of me wants to go to see if there are any more people getting kidnapped.

  Yes, Amelia is going to report it, but that’s only going to happen after I can get more concrete information, and maybe they don’t kidnap anyone for a while because they have a ton of people to work with right now.

  I’m not sure if I’m comfortable doing nothing. I also don’t know if I’m comfortable putting on tights and fighting crime.

  Waiting for nightfall, I continue to practice with my ability, trying to get faster at phasing parts of me.

  Phasing all of me is effortless. It’s as if my ability wants to suffuse every part of my being to make me whole.

  But just doing a part is like trying to direct a river to only fill one cup of water.

  Or maybe to tell the rain to only fall in one spot?

  Unable to keep the mystery to myself any longer, I change into a more suitable outfit for what I want to do tonight before moving over to my bedroom window.

  I peek out my curtains, basking in the darkness before me. Or at least the darkness in the night sky. City lights have more or less eliminated the total cover of darkness, but there should be a good number of areas that will suit my needs.?

  While the thought of driving crosses my mind, I want to see how fast I can go. I haven’t felt physically tired since I got my powers.

  Andromeda could throw me around like I was a chew toy, same with everyone else in the lab.

  Maybe I have enhanced physical abilities too?

  No jar will ever be able to oppose me again! For I can crush any challenge the lid could present against me!

  If I have any enhanced strength, I also have the saving grace that I’ve yet to actually use it to break anything?

  Poking my head through the wall to look around, I’m glad to discover there seems to be nobody looking out the window.

  “Let’s do this.” I laugh to myself, pulling myself all the way out of the wall, perching on the windowsill.

  I’m on the third floor.

  Hopefully, this isn’t going to hurt.

  With a yelp, I push off the wall and soar through the sky, flailing at the air, hoping my subconscious mastery includes air-walking.

  Crashing into the ground with a solid thwump, I ponder the decision-making process that led me to this place.

  While it didn’t hurt that much, I’ll definitely be feeling it.

  Shoving myself to my feet, I look back up at my window now, wondering if I can jump high enough to reach it?

  Eh, probably not.

  If I’m going to continue the power exploration acrobatics, I should look into a parkour class.

  Or I could buy a grappling gun. Phase the prongy bit into the wall so that I don’t damage a bunch of property and swing around?

  That would be sick.

  My lack of aerial prowess aside, I run towards my training destination, an ever so exciting abandoned parking garage.

  They’ve been aiming to renovate this place for ages, but the city seems incapable of doing something so mundane. Not when there’s a race to compete over which mayor can make something cooler than the hydraulic clock tower.

  But a multi-level complex that has a bunch of pillars and barriers around? Seems like the perfect place for me to test out some cool phasing.

  That it won’t have anyone there is the other big part of my decision-making process.

  After a twenty-minute sprint, I come to the metal fence barring me from entry.

  However, I have the key.

  The key being I can go literally wherever I want; barriers mean nothing to me.

  I slowly ascend, managing to not trip over any cracks before ending up on the third level, staring up at the ramp to the fourth level.

  The only thing standing between me and ascending once more is an old abandoned car that looks to be about as close to falling apart as it could get while remaining in one piece.

  “Two chances to go fully solid. No time like the present, right?” I ask myself before charging forward, letting my power flow through me.

  I pump my legs faster as I run through the car, only stopping when I find my vision going entirely dark.

  Looking behind me, I come to the only available conclusion I have.

  I can’t see.

  It’s also incredibly nerve wracking the idea of just walking backwards. However, I have my handy-dandy mostly been ignoring mind map!

  My awareness expands, revealing the surrounding area both on the surface level and deeper.

  I’m inside the ramp?

  Okay, seeing inside things is creepy.

  But I am just going to moonwalk myself out of this ramp and unphase myself.

  Upon escaping my prison, I’m once again faced with the question: why the heck did I not fall?

  Once more I phase, focusing on the sensation of falling.

  Instantly I fall through the floor, and I reflexively solidify myself, crashing into the ground.

  That doesn’t make sense. When I want to fall or I’m focusing on phasing, I fall, but when I’m just using my powers, I’m not falling through the ground?

  A not so small part of me really wants to stand on a solid pillar and just begin falling down, but that also seems to be a quick way to get stuck in the falling through everything way.

  But if I could kick my power into high gear and stop myself from falling, that would be awesome, right?

  So instead of having to catch myself with my hands to prevent myself from falling further, I could just will myself to stop and walk on any surface, as if it’s the barrier that won’t ever let me pass through.

  I know it’s a terrible idea.

  I am absolutely positive that it’s a dreadful idea.

  Yet here I am standing on top of this pillar, hoping that my superpower I have no real understanding or an exceptional amount of control will stop me.

  I won’t be a complete idiot about it. Sticking my left arm out, I focus on keeping it solid as the rest of me phases.

  Worst-case scenario, my left arm will catch on the ground and stop me before I can fall through the earth.

  “This is stupid,” I tell myself before turning around to look at other options.

  The ramp looks like a good option?

  I aim for the ramp before jumping and aim my feet towards the little barrier, phasing everything except my hands.

  Sliding through the wall, I almost feel like I’m flying.

  Until my wrists slam into the barrier.

  Letting out a shriek of pain, I phase my hands, letting myself fully drop through to the next floor before cradling my hands.

  Gymnastics and Parkour lessons. Those are definitely both going on my list of things I’m going to practice.

  If I’m going to catch myself with my hands, I would like to know how to do that instead of slamming my full weight on my wrists.

  Several minutes later, I come back to reality.

  Pushing myself to my feet, I shake out my hands a bit, trying to tell if I’m actually hurting. While the shock of the impact was startling, and hurt. I don’t know how much actual pain I am in.

  Though, does that mean I can punch someone from the inside?

  I have only been able to solidify while there’s space for me to do so. Do humans have a lot of open space in them?

  Best if I don’t think about that.

  Stuff like that sounds like it borders on being a supervillain.

  Partial phasing might be a bit too much for me to practice right now. Instead, I’ll focus on some normal running around and moving around with my powers.

  There’s so much that I need to do.

  Focus, Jason.

  After an hour of just running around, phasing and trying new stuff, I can feel myself finally beginning to get tired.

  Except for my ability. While physically tired, and mentally drained, it feels as if I could keep phasing for hours if I could focus.

  Rather than pushing myself anymore, I decide I’ll only do one more thing before I can start running home.

  Back on top, I put myself as far away from the entrance I used so that I have a lot of space to move around and through.

  The darkness is getting to where I can’t see, but I’ve never felt more aware.

  My route planned, I charge forward, jumping slightly and triggering my ability, letting me fall through the ground before catching myself on a pillar and bouncing off of it to stumble to my feet.

  Shaking off the impact, I run through a couple of pillars before dropping to the second floor, aiming towards the street.

  I fly through a pillar soaring through the air before actually landing mostly alright on the ground.

  I laugh as I stare up at the parking garage.

  It’s exhilarating to run and move through everything.

  To have nothing be able to hold me. To be free.

  Shaking thoughts of continued exploration aside, I make my way home.

  This time I don’t restrain myself. I run as fast as I can.

  It doesn’t take long for me to get home, though. Instead of trying to scale the wall, I take the door and stairs like a normal person before phasing through the wall into my room since I didn’t bring the key.

  Stripping out of my exercise outfit, I toss them into an unceremonious pile on the floor before angling for my bed.

  Tonight is going to be a good night of sleep. Probably the first one since that night.

  It’s good to feel comfortable at home.

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