Pen Carter and the Superfreaks

Pen and Tommy Carter are teenage siblings living on the streets of a big city, running from a bad foster home placement and their own childhood trauma. To make matters worse, they have superpowers; Tommy can mentally manipulate technology, and Pen has telekinesis that she can’t fully control and refuses to use. But when Tommy is threatened one night, both of them use their powers in a way that can’t be easily hidden or explained away, and soon, they’re found by other supers like them and the clandestine Department of Super Regulation.

The siblings are brought to the Eisenberg Academy, a secret school for supers, to learn how to control their powers and help keep the existence of superhumans a secret. But the system in place for supers isn’t perfect, and Pen and Tommy don’t trust easily. To make matters worse, the siblings know of an organization out there that would do anything to capture them and take them away, but explaining it's existence might result in Pen getting thrown in jail for murder. And to top it all off, because superpowers are so intertwined with emotional and mental health, in order for Pen to fully control her powers, she has to go to therapy.

The world is changing outside the Academy, and not necessarily for the better. Pen and Tommy need to adjust to living normal, healthy lives amongst other kids with powers—and not all of them have the best intentions. Underneath it all, Pen holds a secret power that could reshape super society itself, but she’s also a sixteen-year-old girl with PTSD and a stubborn desperation to protect her baby brother, no matter the cost. What will happen when change finally comes to Eisenberg Academy?

How are you supposed to save the world when you can’t even save yourself?

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The Pen Carter series is a book series I’m currently writing about trauma, siblinghood, and kids with superpowers. The main character is Pen, a sixteen-year-old super girl desperately trying to keep her little brother safe. It follows the intersection of her healing process and discovery of a found family alongside the politics of a secret society trying to keep itself safe from those that would abuse them.

Inspiration for this story includes the X-Men movies, the Percy Jackson series, and the Maximum Ride series.