Chapter One: Gift

Let me go.

It’s the same dream as before. There are flames singeing my skin and hair and I am looking for an exit, an escape, but I’m surrounded.

He is there, as usual, someone just beyond the ring of flames, his face kept in shadow despite the dancing light. He says something but I can’t hear him over the roaring fire.

Let me go!

Sometimes it’s different and I manage to fend off the fire, beating it back with a rush of cold air. I feel as though I am the one in control. On those nights, I can almost see his face…

But tonight isn’t like that. The heat finally becomes too much for me and I fall to my knees, only to find that the ground has turned to water and I am suddenly sinking into its depths. There is the frightening sensation of falling, just like in childhood dreams, when time seems to slow down, prolonging the feeling that you are suspended in space but undeniably plummeting into darkness…

Let me go!

 

I wake up, panting, sweat chilling on my skin as though I’ve been running in my sleep. A glance at the clock, only to groan as the green numbers reveal that it is barely past 1 am. I finger the delicate dreamcatcher my aunt wove for me that hangs beside my bed, disappointed in its failure. I thought for sure that, with her abilities, it was finally going to allow me a full night’s rest.

I stare out of my window at the full moon that shines benevolently back down at me and wonder if the one who haunts my dreams is staring at it too.

 

****

 

If there was such thing as Hell, this surely must be it.

I drummed my fingers tunelessly on the desktop in a half-hearted attempt to keep my eyelids from drifting closed as Mr. Frank droned on in his monotone lecture about the Group IA of the periodic table. The clock was in desperate need of repair; time couldn’t possibly be crawling by so slowly.

Fourth period Chemistry, aka the Bane of My Existence, was seriously ruining my day. Whoever decided to add Chemistry to school curriculum must have been a complete sadist with an immense dislike of children. Or perhaps that description would be better applied to the person who invented school in general. Sigh.

I shifted in my seat for the umpteenth time in the past half hour as I struggled to focus on the blurry image of an enlarged periodic table projected on the board at the front of the room. The lights were off, my seat was in the very back…perhaps he wouldn’t noticed if I did doze for a minute or two. Or twenty.

My eyes strayed to one of the few windows in the second-story room and from around the various posters and signs stuck to the glass, I glimpsed a few angry grey clouds warring against the vibrant blue sky. Despite the weatherman’s avid promise of rainfall, I knew for fact that it wouldn’t even begin drizzling until very early tomorrow morning. I had a gift for knowing things like that.

At some direction the teacher had given, unheard by me, students reached for their backpacks in an oddly synchronized motion and I automatically mimicked their actions. My gaze flitted along the backs of my classmates and I gathered from the edges of their thoughts that we were supposed to list the alkali metals and their number of neutrons. I doodled interlacing stars and swirls in the corner of my notebook instead.

I felt boredom threatening to overtake me. I’d been so restless lately and not even Aunt Jeanette’s herbal teas were helping. Maybe all I needed was a little bit of exercise. But not the physical kind.

I leaned back in my chair and feigned a yawn, flicking my fingers as I brought my hand up to cover my mouth. The window flew open with gust of wind that sent papers flying every which way. Girls screamed and covered their hair while Mr. Frank desperately tried to hold down the stacks of papers on his desk. A curtain of black and blonde hair obscured my vision but I could see grins on some peoples’ faces, chagrin on others’. Oh well, we only had five minutes left anyway.

The wind died down as suddenly as it had started and papers gently floated to a rest on the floor, making the classroom look as though it had been blanketed by snow. Students giggled at each other’s disheveled hair and clothes while Mr. Frank firmly latched the window closed.

“Alright, let’s hurry and get this mess cleaned up and we should be able to leave class on time,” he sighed.

The bell rang and we hurriedly shuffled together the last of the rogue papers before swarming out the door to lunch. I paused by the gym, waiting for my best friend, Bree, to emerge. She finally came into sight, the bright red tips of her black hair hard to miss. The two braids were still damp from PE.

“Hey, how was Stevenson?” I asked, referring to the PE coach.

“In a pissy mood, as usual,” she answered cheerfully, stuffing her over-shirt in her backpack. “Soo, what’s for lunch?”

“Something pre-cooked and delicious, I’m sure,” I said dryly. “Unless…you feel like going out to eat.”

She gave me a sidelong glance, a smile tugging at her lips. “Oh really? And I don’t suppose this ‘lunch’ will get us back in time for 5th and 6th?”

“I don’t suppose it will.”

“Sweet. We have a test in Physics anyway that I was definitely not looking forward to.”

I slipped my aviators on and we went through an emergency exit known for being disconnected to its alarm and caught a public bus just before it left. It was past noon and the bus was mostly filled with seniors, college students, and mothers with kids. We sat at the back of the bus, sitting side by side.

“How was Chemistry today?” Bree asked, unwrapping a piece of gum.

“Riveting. I thought I was about to pass out, so I added a little wind to the curriculum.”

Her eyes widened. “Did you really? Wow, and in the middle of class. You’ve got balls, Shaye.”

Bree was the only one who knew about my gift, besides my Aunt Jeanette. I’d known her since we were both 8 years old, back when my powers, or whatever you want to call them, were nearly uncontrollable. I’d used them to push Jimmy Shaw off the jungle gym after he’d called her weird and taken her Snack Pack at lunch. We’ve been friends ever since.

“You should’ve seen Christie’s face, I thought she was going to cry when it messed up her hair.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Naughty, naughty. What if I told Jeanette about your shenanigans during class?”

“Do I smell blackmail?”

“I dunno, do I smell lunch?”

“Serentino’s?”

“Deal.”

Negotiation over, we settled into iPod headphones and light conversation.

“So, what made you want to skip today?” Bree asked a while later.

I shrugged. “Just didn’t feel like going through the motions for two more classes. I’m so…I don’t know, tired I guess.”

She nodded. She knew how tense I’d been lately. “Still not sleeping?”

“Nope. Not since nearly a month ago. Aunt Jeanette’s going to talk to one of her friends back East to see if there’s another charm she can make for me.”

She sighed. “Being around you and your aunt makes my life seem boring. I wish I lived with a cool aunt who’s a witch.”

“That’s politically incorrect,” I say, though I fail to offer a better description of my aunt. “And your parents are nice too.”

“Yeah, except Dad is always gone for business in New York. Practically on the other side of the world.”

“Your mom said she was saving up to send you there for a while, didn’t she?”

She grinned. “Yeah, I can’t wait to get out of here. I’ve been in Arizona my whole life. Time to see something new.”

“Amen to that.”

The bus rolled to a stop, discharging passengers and picking up new ones. Bree began to re-braid one side of her hair and I was too busy scrolling through my playlists to give much attention to the newly acquired passengers, until she gave a low whistle and nudged me. I looked up to see a boy who couldn’t have been much older than us walking down the aisle. I could see dark brown hair beneath the hood of his olive green jacket but sunglasses covered his eyes. He was followed by an older blonde man with dark eyes.

“He’s cute but must be hot as hell, wearing a jacket in September,” Bree said, lowering her voice as they came closer down the aisle.

The duo sat next to us on the bus seat and for some inexplicable reason, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise, as though my skin were rippling. I was surprised by my sudden disquiet. My breath caught as though I suddenly could not breathe. What the hell is going on? I turned my music up louder and thought of a wall of ice, a form of meditation Aunt Jeanette had taught me.

The moment I thought of its cold blue surface, I could breathe easier. I looked down to see that my hair had been flitting around as though stirred by a light wind. I hastily tugged it back into a ponytail, glancing sideways at the two who sat beside us. The blonde man met my gaze and gave a small smile, which I returned hesitantly. For a moment, I had a vision of the flames from my dreams encircling the two but I shook my head, clearing it away. When I looked back at them, they looked like a normal pair sitting on a bus. Normal.

The bus screeched to a stop. “C’mon,” I said to Bree, standing up. I hurried down the aisle and into the bright sunlight.

“What’s the hurry?” she said, shrugging on her backpack.

“No hurry. I’m just hungry,” I answered, not quite dishonestly.

We’d stopped at a large park and I could hear the rumble of the bus as it began to pull away from the curb. Once in the shadow of the trees, I glanced back at the rear windows, where the strangers sat. I’m just tired. I can’t lose control like that again.

Despite my resolve, I couldn’t shake the feeling that unseen eyes continued to watch me, long after the black bus exhaust had faded.