It's a question people don't ask him, and Tommy's shocked. He looks away from Billy, and at last he shakes his head.

"I was... You had offered to help me find a way to get away from Frank and Mary," Tommy says after a long moment. Not 'mom and dad'. Not 'The Shepherds'. Frank and Mary. A division. "I was in computer lab that day, trying to do some research myself. There's this bully who had been harassing me for years. He made problems. I tried to use my magic to make him back off. It didn't... I don't know, it just didn't work. He grabbed me, he was going to hit me. I tried to knock the blow aside. I got enough of that from Frank. And it just... it just happened. There was just lightning everywhere. I put him in a coma."

He'd felt so guilty that his confession had been shaky and contradictory.

"They called Thor in, to absorb my powers if they went off again. Until they got this collar on me. I couldn't feel any of my power anymore, not my magic. It made me sick for a few days. Literally, couldn't eat without throwing up. Sure, Dan had been at me for years, but I didn't want to hurt him."