“Hello let me introduce you to

 The characters in the show

 One says yes, one says no

 Decide - which voice in your head you can keep alive,” – Shinedown

 

          The gun that was once in my hands stood several feet away from me. The pain that ran through my tired body made it hard to move, but in front of me stood him. He was the man who was responsible for the hell that everyone had been going through.

          He stalked towards my step-sister and the unconscious boy that lay beside her. Her crystal-blue eyes held fear as she stared down the barrel of a .45. Blood was pouring from her shoulder and I had to fight the queasy feeling that threatened to overtake me. She needed me; I couldn’t pass out on her now.

          Turning back to the gun, I stretched out my hand and willed it to come. I recalled the warning that my mother had given me before she died; that I should never create a situation in which I had to use my ability. She said that it was only to be used as a last resort; I figured that my sister possibly dying was a good enough reason.

          The gun inched its way towards me; its slow progress nearly unbearable as the evil man crept closer to my sister. “Any last words?” the gun was almost in my hand. “No last words, then?”

          “I’m sorry,” I heard her voice before two shots rang out. I had managed to get the gun and shoot the man, but I still wasn’t fast enough. The man fell with a thud and I could clearly see the young woman, with her back against the wall, fighting for her life.

          “No, Anna!” I cried as I ran over to where she sat. My body screamed in protest, but I didn’t care – she couldn’t die.

          “I’m sorry, Seth,” her crystal-blue eyes kept losing focus as they tried to look at me. I put her head between my hands and willed her to look at me.

          “You can’t die,” I knew that I was freaking out, but I didn’t care. “Stay with me, sis. Please, you got to stay with me.” She gave me a sad smile and placed a hand over one of mine.

          “I love you, bubby,” she whispered right before her soul left her frail body. All I could do was hold her lifeless form and cry; I couldn’t believe it – she couldn’t have died.

 

          “She can’t be dead,” those were the first thoughts to run through my head as I struggled to wake up from that horrific nightmare. I closed my eyes and bit back a groan as Seth frantically jumped out of the bed that sat behind the couch I laid upon.

          I worked on blocking out Seth’s worried thoughts and searched for the ones that would give me comfort after his nightmare. Samuel, Seth’s dad, was thinking about a presentation that he was giving at work. His wife, Eliza, was trying to decide what to wear for the business dinner they had later that night.

          Then, I heard them – the thoughts of the girl who was still living and breathing. Her mind was focused on packing for our weekend trip to go visit some of our friends in Wildwood, Kentucky. She was excited to celebrate little Benjamin turning eight and part of her was slightly antsy to just get away for a bit.

          She felt guilty for those thoughts, though, and tried not to think them too much. After spending two months trapped underground by a psychopath, she was happy to be back in her hometown of Northanger Valley. But lately she had been getting a bad feeling and she just knew she had to get away for a little bit.

          She hadn’t told anyone about this strange burst of intuition; she didn’t want everyone to worry. I wouldn’t even know about it, if it wasn’t for my gift to read minds. I still hadn’t the heart to tell her that they were all going to worry regardless, but she kind of figured it out when Seth rushed into her room looking a bit haggard.

          “Morning,” she walked over to give her step-brother a hug. They didn’t used to do this, but she had sort of picked up the habit after they both had a near-death experience.

          With just one look at his troubled, green eyes, she knew that he’d had the nightmare again. After the night their family and friends had taken down the evil man and his cohorts, Seth – and indirectly, I – had been plagued by the same nightmare for weeks. We’d both wake up thinking that he’d failed to kill the man in time, that he failed to save her.

          This way of thinking was kind of stupid on my part. Even if I couldn’t hear her thoughts, I should’ve really known that I wouldn’t even be here, in this house, if she had really died. I don’t know what would’ve happened to me, but whatever it was couldn’t have been too pleasant without her.

          Luckily, though, Seth had managed to kill the man that threatened her life. His gift of telepathy had come in handy when the gun had been slung away from him. I hadn’t actually been awake to see his impressive feat, seeing as I was the one unconscious by Anna’s side, but I knew enough from his nightmares and Anna’s memories.

          Anna’s memories of that night were both disturbing and amazing, in a way. She tried not to think about that night because she hated remembering what was lost and recalling the fear of what might have been lost. There was one particularly bittersweet memory for her, though.

          Like Seth and I, she also had a gift; she wouldn’t have been held hostage had she not. Her gift didn’t affect the living as much as it did the dead; she was shadow-kissed. She could see the ghosts of those who had yet to pass on.

          There were several ghosts in particular that she had met during the events that had led to her imprisonment. There were the young Anderson twins, who had the ability to read the emotions of the people around them. There was the young man who had also been shadow-kissed in life; his name was Alexander Slater. Then, there was my very own sister, Jayne; she had the gift to see the future.

          The four didn’t seem to have much in common. The twins had been only seven when they passed; Jayne barely twelve; and Alex had died when he was my age, seventeen. They did share one commonality, though; they were all murdered for their gifts. That night, they got what they needed to move on; revenge on those who had murdered them (or at least, their descendants).

          Alexander had been killed by a man named Leonard Anderson, who saw Alex as a witch because of what he could do. Centuries later, the twins’ death had been arranged by Leonard’s descendant and their own grandfather. Their grandfather had decided to ‘purify’ them; he had them killed so that they wouldn’t have to live with the regret of their ‘sinful abilities’.

          Many others had died because of the beliefs that Mr. Anderson and his cohorts held concerning the gifts. They saw them more as a curse and made it their life’s work to get rid of those who held them. Mr. Anderson, however, wasn’t fully satisfied with just doing that; he wanted to find a way to get rid of the gifts altogether.

          He had actually managed to create a machine that erased the gift from the owner, but the first time he did it, it still had major bugs. He kidnapped Anna, and used the machine on her, and then did the same thing on me a couple years later. The results were the same both times; we lost both our gift and our memory, only to have it all return when we got older – and then, we had new abilities that tied into our old ones.

          We were both able to escape with the help of our family, but the witch hunters – as Mr. Anderson and his cohorts were called – kept an eye on us. They wanted to see how well their machine had worked and would stop at nothing to get the results. A few years after my escape, they tracked my family down and slaughtered them right before my eyes.

          After that, they took me to an old abandoned warehouse where they hid the entrance to their underground research facility. It was there that I met Benjamin, who was shadow-kissed, and his parents, Brett and Sierra. Brett was an aura reader, much like the Anderson twins. Sierra was like my sister, a fortune teller. The four of us hated the hunters and weren’t too willing to help with the research.

          There were some in the facility that were okay with helping the hunters, like Heather, a mind reader; she was epileptic, though, and the tests the hunters ran weren’t good for her health. Her boyfriend, Dustin, was a fortune teller and supported her up until the end, until he knew that she wouldn’t survive too much longer underground. His best friend, Michael, was an aura reader. The three of them didn’t want to live with the consequences of the gifts and had originally bought into the lies the hunters fed them.

          Then, along came Anna. They had a hard time getting her back into their bloodstained hands. Her father had managed to keep the hunters off their trail by never staying in one place for too long. He had decided, though, that she should at least finish high school in a steady home. After thinking it was safe, he left her with her mother and her family in Northanger Valley.

          It wasn’t until she came to the Valley that her gift began to resurface. Alex was the first one she saw; he taught her about her gift and tried to help her with the Anderson twins, who she had met shortly after meeting him. After meeting the twins, she had a vision of their death.

          Most shadow-kissed don’t have the ability to see how the ghosts die, but when her gift came back, it was enhanced. She had also managed to pull the twins’ older brother, Mason, into her vision. Although she didn’t remember it at the time, she had actually met Mason before – had actually lived with him when they were younger.

          That was how she got kidnapped the first time; he was kidnapped along with her. Mr. Anderson, their evil captor, was angry with Mason’s dad (and his own son) because he married ‘a witch’. He hatched an evil plan to have Mason and his friend, Anna, be the first to try out the machine. Mason and Anna’s families managed to get them out before they took Mason’s gift, but for Anna, it was too late.

          For the next seven years, Anna went around with no memory of what occurred before the event. She travelled the county with her dad; her mom had taken enough of the gifted lifestyle and run away with Samuel and Seth Valentine. When her dad decided that it would be better for her to go with them, they welcomed her warmly, not knowing that her gift was going to reawaken at any given moment.

          It was in Northanger Valley that she met Emma Young and Bethany Rivers; they were both aura readers. She also met Simon Hugo, a shadow-kissed, much like her. They were all part of a governmental division for the gifted; they went to an armory to train and learn to protect themselves.

          It was all thanks to the division that we were still alive and still gifted. While Anna was underground, they were forming an army to come and save her – save all the gifted – from the hands of the hunters. If they wouldn’t have come for us, who knows what would have happened.

          I wouldn’t be sleeping comfortably on Seth’s couch due to the Valentines’ thoughtful hospitality (and Anna and her dad’s persuasion). Anna wouldn’t be smiling at her brother as he tried to convince her not to go away for the weekend. The town of Northanger Valley wouldn’t be falling into the lull of possibly false security.

2: Crazy

“This city's made us crazy and we must get out,” – Maroon 5

 

          I found myself staring at Anna. This is not that unusual for me, but this time, instead of seeing her reddish-brown hair, pale skin, and crystal blue eyes, I was looking at a ghost of some sort. He seemed nice enough; he didn’t try to scare us away by stabbing us in the arm with a pencil or anything, so I figured he couldn’t be too bad.

          Anna was staring at his ethereal form, trying to get a feel on why he was still floating around. Her hand was holding mine, trying to strengthen the connection between our minds, but only serving to nearly drive me to distraction. Even though I could clearly read what she was thinking, I was still trying to dispel the nagging feeling that she would rather be doing this with her shadow-kissed boyfriend, Simon.

          “Sir,” Anna spoke to the middle aged ghost, only her thoughts revealing that she was mildly irritated. The man had yet to give her any information. “Can you at least tell me your name?”

          “They don’t know anything!” the man responded with for what had to be nearly the hundredth time. “They’re just kids; don’t hurt them. They’re ignorant.” With that said, he disappeared.

          I quickly dropped Anna’s hand and blocked out all thoughts; using that much concentration had drained me and left me with a headache. Normally, I hated shutting down the gift, especially when around Anna, since she kept so many thoughts to herself anyways. This time, however, Anna wasn’t keeping quiet.

          “What the heck was that supposed to mean?” she spoke quietly, but her tone was filled with frustration. “How on earth is that going to help him move on?” She sighed and looked around the empty college building that we were in. “He looked a bit familiar.”

          “Do you think you’ve seen him before?” I asked. Her crystal blue eyes were troubled when they turned back to me. I kind of wished that I could read her thoughts, then; perhaps I could’ve helped her remember.

          “I think he was part of the revolution against the hunters. I saw him at the division the other day,” her voice was barely above a whisper. For the past couple days, she’d been having a bad feeling that gifted still weren’t safe; that someone was still out to get us. If what she said was true and someone had killed him because of his role in the fight, then everyone else’s lives might also be at stake.

          “Maybe he wasn’t the same guy,” I offered, not liking the faraway look that came into her eyes. “Maybe they just looked a lot alike.” She nodded, but her expression didn’t change.

          “Maybe you’re right,” I could tell that her gut feeling was telling her a different story, however. “I’ll still talk to Sergeant about it, though, just in case.”

          “That’s probably a good idea,” I agreed and then bit back a sigh. Sergeant basically ran the division in Northanger Valley, along with his wife Nurse Hugo. Yep, Hugo – they were the parents of Simon. Whenever Anna went to go talk to one of them, their thoughts were focused on how happy they were that Simon had her – to say that made me mildly uncomfortable would be an understatement.

          I’m not going to lie; I fell for the pretty, ghost hunter girl. But seriously, who wouldn’t? Even if she hadn’t basically saved my life and given me a place when I had nowhere to go, the way she cared for her family and friends would have drawn me in.

          Then, there was Simon – ever present in her thoughts. They had started dating right before she was taken by the hunters. He wasn’t too ecstatic when she took me in and overall, he just didn’t like me. But I didn’t mind, the feeling was mutual.

          “Do you really like it here?” Anna’s soft voice pulled me out of my musings and back into her eyes. She was worried that I didn’t particularly enjoy living here and that I was simply staying to keep her happy, which I guess was partially true.

          “I love it here,” this was honest. I did love it; I loved hanging out with Mason, Emma, Seth, and Bethany. I was happy that I could continue spending time with Anna. I was content in Northanger Valley. There was just one thing that bothered me and she could sense that.

          Anna just smiled at me in response. I knew that if I read her thoughts, I’d probably find that she didn’t buy into what I was saying, but she wasn’t going to pry either. She was probably thinking that our weekend trip might be a good thing for me – to get away for a bit.

          “We should get going,” she spoke after a moment of silence. “I want to get the information to Sergeant and tell everyone goodbye before we leave.” I nodded and the two of us headed outside to the car that Anna’s dad had basically forced on me.

          When Anna’s dad wasn’t playing the nice-dad act with her boyfriend, he was trying to get inside my head. If it were any other person, I would’ve written if off as pity towards the little orphan boy, but with Mr. Taylor, it was a different story. He didn’t care if I had parents or not, all he was concerned about was the strange vibe he got from me.

          He trusted his instinct and because of that instinct, he trusted me. I mean, he trusted me enough that he convinced his ex-wife to let me live with the Valentines and his only daughter. I had a glimpse of his mind and I knew how serious that was. There were only a few young men that he was completely comfortable having around his daughter – Seth, her brother; Mason, who was a lot like a big brother; and now me, the idiot who fell in love with her despite the fact that she already had a boyfriend. Not that I told him about that, though.

          “Tell me something,” my words broke through the silence and caused Anna to jump in her seat. She was used to the silent ride; she’d just sit there thinking and I’d enjoy her thoughts while I drove.

          “What do you want to hear?” she asked, even though she knew exactly what I wanted. I glanced at the small smile that played on her lips and smiled in response.

          “Tell me what you’re thinking,” she stayed silent for a moment as she tried to find a way to say what she was thinking without telling the whole story.

          “You wouldn’t want to hear it anyways,” she decided to say instead. I groaned at her response – it was so her. “It’s probably just a stupid thought, anyways.”

          “None of your thoughts are stupid,” I argued before I could stop myself. I knew that I was just falling for her distraction technique.

          “When I was seven, I thought the class hamster should have green hair,” she admitted as if she was trying to prove me wrong. I could hear the amusement in her voice.  “The teacher freaked when Mason and I took hair dye to it.”

          “That wasn’t stupid, that was creative,” I smiled at her memory. Memories from before her first capture were rare and usually the most precious to her. “That’s not what you were really thinking, though.”

          “I’m thinking you know too much already,” she tried. I sent her a glare and she sighed. After a moment, she whispered, “I’m worried, Jayce.”

          “What are you worried about?” I tried to sound indifferent, but to be honest when she was scared like this, so was I.

          “It’s Simon,” she was right, I didn’t really want to hear it. But I did want her to get it off her chest, at least that’s what I tried to remind myself. “He’s been acting weird.”

          “What do you mean?” I asked, rather calmly considering. I had noticed – mostly through the thoughts of the others – that he’d been acting differently. They noted a change sometime after the big fight, but since all I knew was from their memories, I had no real proof to base that off of.

          “He’s been distancing himself from everyone,” she answered. “And he doesn’t want to go ghost hunting anymore.”  That explained why she’d been taking me lately – she’d been forbidden from going out alone.

          “Do you think he’s ignoring the gift?” Simon wasn’t too fond of the gift and he definitely didn’t like the side-effects that came with it. He didn’t like dealing with angry ghosts or murderous hunters. He had actually ignored the gift before, until Anna came along. Then, he decided that he’d stop ignoring it so he could help her, who embraced the gift.

          “I don’t want to believe it,” Anna was really upset over this and I knew that it was more than just because he was her boyfriend. Ignoring the gift was like ignoring a piece of yourself; losing it was like losing a part of your soul. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, so I didn’t understand how there could be people so willing to just give it up. “Man, I hope my gut feeling’s wrong on this one.”

          “I hope so,” I didn’t have the heart to remind her that it was rarely wrong. Once we pulled into a parking spot at the division, she sighed. “Is your gut feeling kicking in strong, right now?”

          “I suppose so,” she laughed humorlessly. Her skin looked paler than usual under the cloudy December sky. Her white hands clutched her seat-belt tightly.

          “I’ll open my mind back up, so I’ll know if anything happens,” I assured her, hoping that thought would give her comfort. She smiled for a moment, before worry flashed in her eyes.

          “I don’t want you to strain yourself,” she protested. “I already drained your energy by forcing you to go ghost hunting – don’t hurt yourself.” She knew the headaches I got from trying to see what she saw.

          “You didn’t force me to do anything,” I argued, but I knew that she wouldn’t listen to me and would probably still feel guilty about it later. “I’ll just rest later tonight. Then, you’ll have to exercise your voice box a smidge. Careful, though, we don’t want you to sprain it.”

          “Funny,” she glared, but a smile graced her lips as she knew that I was trying to cheer her up. As she worked on building the courage to walk into the division building, I started opening my mind up. My headache grew as the hum of voices filled the once silent corners of my mind. “Are you back online?”

          “Yes,” I sent her telepathically – one of the enhancements that came when I got my memory and my gift back. She was relieved and then ashamed because she was relieved when it was probably painful for me. “You worry too much.” Sometimes, she liked it better when I blocked her thoughts.

          As I laughed at her, I heard someone’s thoughts getting closer to our vehicle. “What’s taking them so long?”   Simon was making his way towards us and he seemed intent on talking to Anna. I couldn’t make out what exactly he wanted to say to her, though, because he was working on masking his thoughts in case our eyes met or something. He wasn’t aware that I didn’t need to touch someone’s hand or look into their eyes to read their mind like a normal mind reader – very few people actually knew about that.

          “Speak of the devil,” she knew instantly that I was talking about Simon. “He wants to talk to you.” As I read her thoughts, I found that she had only told me about a small portion of the fear she held – for some reason that she didn’t entirely know, she was terrified. “I can stay.”

          I felt brief satisfaction as she considered that, before she shook her head and decided that she should get this over with. I fought the sigh that wanted to escape and forced a smile. She took a deep breath before jumping out of the car and I did the same.

          “I really can stay,” I persisted. She turned to look at me over the hood of the car, carefully avoiding the gaze of her boyfriend. She gave me a small smile and shook her head; she was determined to find out what he wanted. “I’ll be inside, talking to Sergeant about what happened today. Find me when you’re done.”

          She’d be sure to do that; she made a mental note. Her eyes became troubled as she wondered if I could come find her if she didn’t come back soon. I nodded just as Simon came up behind her.

          His thoughts and his electric green eyes gave away nothing but his intense dislike towards me. As his eyes turned to the girl in front of me, they softened a bit, but his thoughts became worried. He worried about how she was going to react to what he was about to say – whatever that was I still couldn’t read.

          “Good luck,” I took one last look into her crystal-blue eyes before heading into the division. As I walked away, I could hear him mutter something about me being rude. Anna bit her tongue as she wanted to come to my defense, but thought it wouldn’t be best under the circumstances.

          When I entered the division, their thoughts were cut off from me. I tried not to let that bother me too much as I made my way to Sergeant. I gave a nod in Seth, Bethany, and Emma’s direction. They faintly wondered where Anna was before their thoughts returned to their conversation about the Winter Formal that was coming up that weekend.

          I could hear Mason’s thoughts in the distance. He was listening to Sergeant complain about the young woman they had taken in after the fight. Her parents had been killed in the battle and the Hugos decided to take her under their wing. The young woman, Marcella, wasn’t too keen on them, though.

          She wasn’t too keen on any of us. She blamed the gifted for her parents’ death, even though she was a fortune teller herself. She absolutely loathed Anna, thinking that the whole fight was her fault. Plus, she had a bit of a thing for Simon – that probably didn’t help matters much.

          “I simply offered her a bagel and she glared at me!” I could see the scene in Sergeant’s thoughts; the glare was pretty menacing. “I don’t know what to do with that girl.” Mason and I had both warned him that she would be like this.

          “Coming in,” I sent telepathically to the two and I opened the door to Sergeant’s office. They both wondered what I was doing there; I rarely came into Sergeant’s office and almost never without Anna dragging me. “Hey, do you know if anyone who was in the fight has been attacked recently?”

           Sergeant shook his head as he couldn’t think of anyone. The two were both curious as to what I was getting at and Mason was about to ask when I started to explain what happened at the old college building. Once I was done explaining, Sergeant handed me a directory of everyone who had been in the fight.

          “I can’t imagine who would be after us, now,” Sergeant still couldn’t believe what I was saying. Mason wasn’t quite so skeptical; he knew, because of his gift, that I was telling the truth.

          “He said something about not hurting them, since they were only kids,” I spoke aloud because my headache was beginning to grow. “He said they didn’t know anything and they were ignorant.”

          Sergeant’s thoughts went to Marcella when I mentioned ignorant kids. Mason was thinking similarly, but it was on a larger scale – a whole group of people who didn’t understand why we did what we did. I left the two to ponder that as I came across the picture of the ghost man.

          “Found you,” I whispered to the dead man. Mason stood up from his chair and looked over my shoulder at the book. The middle-aged man, with his receding hairline and dull, brown eyes, was a spitting image of the ghost that Anna had shown me.

          “Stephen Parker,” Mason read aloud. “It says here that he’s an aura reader. He’s a professor at the college nearby. What were you doing there, anyways?”

          “Anna said that when she was visiting Stacey and Charlie yesterday, she felt an unexplainable pull towards a certain classroom,” Sergeant’s eyes lit up at the mention of his daughter, Stacey Hugo. Up until recently, she was studying with her fiancé, Charlie, in Florida. They both transferred closer to home so she could be closer to her family.

          “And of course, she just had to check it out,” Mason’s words were dry as he recalled another instance where she had followed her curiosity. She had ended up running into the ghost of his little brother and sister; they chased her away by stabbing a pencil into her arm.

          “At least she waited until someone would go with her to check it out,” I pointed out. He couldn’t argue with that. Sergeant was starting to get slightly impatient as we started to digress.

          “I’m going to call the Parkers,” he decided; he didn’t want to believe it. He wasn’t thinking that I was lying, though; he was just holding onto the hope that we were mistaken. Mason and I weren’t about to burst his bubble.

          I tuned out his mind just a bit as he made the call. I kind of already knew what the response would be anyways and I didn’t want to hear his thoughts when he came to the realization. The fact that I found the identity of the ghost wasn’t comforting and I knew that Anna would feel the same.

          I almost didn’t want to tell her; I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep it from her, but I was worried that she’d already have enough to deal with for one night. What I really wanted to do was to jump out of my seat and pull her away from her boyfriend. Our weekend getaway couldn’t have come sooner.

          It was as this thought came to mind that I heard the hum of her thoughts nearby. She was focusing on what Seth and the others were saying; Simon was nowhere to be found. I could tell that she was trying to block out certain thoughts and she was succeeding, but she wasn’t trying to block them from me; she just didn’t want to think them.

          Her thoughts came closer and I could see the door to the office through her eyes. Before she could even knock, I jumped up and opened the door. My suddenness startled Anna and Sergeant, but Mason kind of already knew what I was up to. Thanks to his gift, Mason knew things; he knew things like my feelings for Anna or like what color my underwear was that day.

          He knew that Anna and Simon had just had a fight. Now, he couldn’t read minds; even if he did, it wouldn’t have done much good considering she was doing a darn good job of blocking out what happened from her mind. He knew that whatever Simon had done or said had really upset Anna – and he was plotting murder.

          Anna was more preoccupied with what Sergeant was doing. She, however, wasn’t so oblivious that she didn’t notice how Mason’s eyes seemed to grow darker with every new thought that came to his mind. She looked at me questioningly and I knew that I wouldn’t get the choice of whether I wanted to tell her tonight or not.

          “Sergeant’s trying to get ahold of Parker,” the name didn’t register in her brain, so I reluctantly handed her the directory. Her eyes widened and her hands shook as she instantly recognized the man. Mason dropped his murder plans and quickly joined my side as we led her to the chair I had just been in.

          “They’re after us,” her voice was barely above a whisper and she wasn’t even really aware that she was saying it. “We’re never going to be free. They’re never going to quit.” Her words were in tune with her thoughts and her eyes held a faraway look; I knew that she had reached her limit.

          “Anna,” her troubled, crystal-blue eyes bore into mine. She willed her mind to stop freaking out – to focus on me. “It’ll be okay – no matter what happens we’ll be okay.”  She slowly nodded as she worked on believing my words.

          “I’m sorry,” she felt guilty for her freak-out. She had a tendency to this when she got really stressed, then she’d always feel really bad about it afterwards.

          “You don’t have any reason to be,” Mason ruffled her hair, causing her to smile slightly. I was just happy that it distracted her from her guilt trip.    

          “I couldn’t get ahold of him,” Sergeant spoke suddenly, causing Mason and Anna to jump. They weren’t surprised by his words, however. “I’ll try again later, but not now. Now, we should see you two off on a happy note.” The three of us figured that was already impossible. “By the way, where’s Simon?”

          “He and Marcella decided to go home early,” Anna’s voice was void of emotion and her mind void of thoughts. She worked on studying the wood of Sergeant’s desk as she spoke.

          “We should probably get going, too,” I suggested, just wanting to get away – to get her out of here. “It’ll be nice if we can get settled in before it’s too dark out.”

          “Good plan,” Mason agreed as he watched Anna warily. Sergeant remained oblivious as we walked out and said our farewells. As people hugged Anna goodbye, some of them were reminded of the night she gave herself to the hunters in the place of her step-brother. Those people almost didn’t let her go.

          “I’ll be back in a couple days,” she had to remind Seth for what had to be the hundredth time since she decided on leaving. “I promise.”

          “Don’t worry,” Emma pulled the girl out of Seth’s arms. “We’ll make sure he’s not moping the whole time you guys are gone. Don’t forget to have fun.” Emma was about to add something along the lines of ‘don’t do something I wouldn’t do’, but decided not to when her eyes slid over to where I stood next to Mason.

          “Be careful,” was Bethany’s only request. “We’ll be waiting for you to come back.” Bethany had to keep reminding herself that she was going somewhere safe, not to her impending doom. What she really wanted to do was convince her not to go, but she knew it wouldn’t work anyways.

          “Saving the best for last?” Mason joked as he pulled her away from Bethany and into his own embrace. He wore a smirk, but in reality he was worried.

          “Of course,” Anna returned the joke with a half sincere grin. She could tell he was worried and she didn’t like it one bit.

          “Bye, guys!” I waved as we started to head out. They murmured farewells before we made our way into the chilly December air. We walked to the car in silence. Anna slipped her hand into mine and, even though it drove me to distraction, I held it tightly.

3: Indestructible, Untouchable

“I need you right here, by my side,

 You're everything I'm not in my life.

 We're indestructible, we are untouchable,

 Nothing can take us down tonight,” – Papa Roach

          Anna sat silently in the passenger seat. Even her thoughts were silent, as I had to block them out. The air was thick and the three hours it was going to take to drive to Wildwood was looking much longer; I didn’t even bother suppressing a sigh.

          “I was right,” she finally spoke. Her voice gave away how tired she was. “He doesn’t want the gift. I told him that it was his choice and I’d try to support him with whatever he chose.”

          “And then?” I asked. In her voice, I could hear that there was more that she wasn’t telling me. I glanced over to find her staring out the window with a very troubled expression.

          “Then, he tried to convince me to join him as he tried this new ‘Mind over Matter’ technique,” she admitted. I was curious about this technique, but she didn’t need me asking about it right at that moment. “I explained to him that I had no intention of getting rid of my gift. I gave him my reasons for it and he refused to hear me. We fought for a bit and then we both decided that it’d be best if we avoided each other for the rest of the weekend.”

          “That’s probably best,” I tried my best not to let my irritation show. What I really wanted to say was, ‘and you’re still with him, why?’ But no, that probably wouldn’t have been the best thing to do.

          “I’ve lost him,” her tone wasn’t exactly heartbroken, but it was far from cheery. It was more matter-of-factly than anything, but in a sad way. It scared me.

          “I wouldn’t say that,” I tried to encourage her, but the words sounded empty to my own ears. “Maybe you two just need a little break. You’ll be back to your cutesy, gross couple stuff in no time.” The words were painful to say and all I got in response was a small smile for my sad attempt.

          She fell silent again, having finished telling me what I’d asked her to. It wasn’t as if I was going to pry anymore, either; I wasn’t about to make her feel any worse. I’d let her stew and deal with it in her own way, even if it killed me to not know what she was thinking.

          It bothered me that she was so hopeless. You’d think that I’d be happy with the fact that she had given up on him, but no. And it was more than just because she was so sad; I mean, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely hated it when she felt this way, but honestly something about the situation just terrified me.

          Maybe it was the idea of losing the gift again – and of one’s own free will. Or maybe it was because she seemed so sure of him being lost. Even if I didn’t particularly like the guy, his decision would make a huge impact on all our friends.

          What if they, too, decided to throw away their God-given gift? I couldn’t imagine Mason being too keen on that – especially after all he went through to keep it. Emma was far too gung-ho about helping people with her gift to give it up so readily. Bethany probably wouldn’t see the point in it. Seth would most likely follow his sister with whatever she decided, unable to risk losing her again.

          Anna seemed pretty resolved with her decision to keep her gift, but would that change if it would cost her Simon? I glanced at her again; her reddish-brown tresses covering her face as she leaned her head against the door. I could hear her quiet sniffles and I knew she had to be hiding tears.

          “Anna,” I called out before I could stop myself. I had to keep my eyes on the road, but out of the corner of my eye I watched a silent sob shake her body. Then, I did the only thing I knew how to; I took her hand.

          “I’m sorry,” she croaked out between whimpers. “It’s not fair to you. I’m so sorry.” My grip on her hand tightened and I was pretty sure my thumb was rubbing her soft skin raw.

          “It’s okay,” I tried to assure her while biting back my own tears. “Don’t worry about it; it will be okay.” She always tried to be strong around everyone. She never wanted to worry anyone and I wasn’t going to let her see how much her tears affected me.

          Sometime during the last two hours we had left, she had cried herself to sleep. Before she had been abducted by the hunters and injected with many unknown substances, her stamina was much better. Afterwards, she became tired more quickly, so I wasn’t that surprised that she was sleeping; she needed it, anyways.

          The little bits of sunlight that had shown through the clouds soon faded away. Over the hum of the motor, I could hear Anna breathing softly. Her hand was warm as it held mine tight. To be honest, I really enjoyed that feeling.

          It was in that quiet moment that I allowed myself to think the selfish thoughts and desires that I’d been careful not to think earlier. I briefly entertained the thought that it could always be like this with the two of us. I let myself feel momentarily confident in the fact that I could mend her broken heart.

          Then, the doubt resurfaced. In my mind, there was a slim chance she would ever think of me as something other than a friend. Maybe we’d become really close and she might think of me like a brother or something. At least then, I could always stay by her side and that was enough, for now.

        

~♥~

 

          The hotel room in Wildwood was nice. It was clean; had two queen-sized beds; a decent sized bathroom; a little table; a mini fridge; and a microwave in which Anna made our hot-pocket dinner. The hotel itself was only about a five minute drive from Brett and Sierra’s.

          I was slightly uncomfortable with the prospect of staying in this hotel. Not because I would be alone with Anna, although that was a bit unnerving, but rather because her dad was the one paying for this whole excursion. I felt bad, as if I was a bum tagging along for the ride.

          If I had voiced my concern, I knew Anna would try to tell me that I had no reason to worry. Her dad would try to convince me that it was simply payment for taking care of his daughter, as he had asked me to do. I tried to go with their way of thinking as I stepped out of the shower and got dressed.

          Turning off the noisy fan as I got dressed, I could hear Anna on the phone. She assured the person on the other line that we had made it safely. She was still working on placating the other person’s fears as I walked out.

          “Yes, dad,” I could faintly hear Mr. Taylor’s voice through the speaker. “The hotel is really nice. The beds are super comfortable!” She smiled up at me from the bed she was lying in at that moment – she hadn’t moved since we brought all our stuff in the room.

          I grabbed a book and sat down in the bed next to hers. I was trying to give her as much privacy as I could while in such a close proximity; a skill one learns rather quickly when they can read minds. It wasn’t as if their conversation was of a private matter or anything, it was just the principle of it.

          I knew that they probably wouldn’t say anything I haven’t heard them say before on one of his routine calls. Apparently, he used to be really hard to get ahold of, but after the big fight he had made a better effort to be available at all times. He made several reminders to himself about where his phone was and to make sure it was on full volume. Plus, he made sure to check in at least once every other day.

          He still suffered from the guilt of leaving Anna in Northanger Valley without any way to contact him. Even though none of us discussed it, we all kind of knew that this trip was a peace offering of sorts. Maybe that was part of the reason I was uncomfortable with it.

          “Yeah, he’s here. Do you want to talk to him?” those words pulled me out of my book. Before I turned to look over at her, I could feel the bed sinking a little as she sat down next to me. “Alrighty, here he is.”

          She traded the phone for the book in my hands. She used her finger as a book mark while she read what the book was about. As she did this, I tried to ignore the fact that her head was on my shoulder and worked on talking to her dad.

          “Hey, Mr. Taylor,” I hoped my words didn’t sound too forced. It was really hard to not concentrate on the girl beside me. “What’s up?” I wasn’t worried that he asked to talk to me, it wasn’t unusual.

          “How many times have I told you to call me Brian?” The answer to that would probably be about fifty times. I had yet to get the hang of it, though. At least he had refrained from asking me to call him dad, which was what he originally wanted to do. “I was just wondering how you were doing.”

          “I’m doing okay,” I answered honestly. Anna seemed to be in better spirits after her little nap in the car, so I was also feeling a bit better. I was slightly irritated that I couldn’t read her thoughts, but I could get over that for one night.

          “I’m glad,” he sounded as if he really meant it. I still didn’t understand his concern for me. “That Hugo boy hasn’t been giving you a rough time, has he?”

          “No, sir,” My nervous laugh didn’t go unnoticed by Anna, who tore her eyes away from my book just long enough to give me a small smile. “I haven’t been too bothered.”

          “I see,” his voice took on a darker tone as he caught on to what I was implying. I was lucky enough, however, that Anna seemed too engrossed in my book to catch what was going on. “I should let you kids go. Enjoy your little vacation. Oh, and you’ll probably see me when you get home.”

          “Really?” It had only few weeks since he had left Northanger Valley. I was really curious as to what he was up to. “Why?”

          “Don’t worry, it just has something to do with your schooling,” Anna and I hadn’t been to school since we came back. Being underground for several months had really messed up our records. We didn’t have any problem with the testing, since the hunters had made sure that we continued with our education underground, but there was a bunch of legal stuff that Mr. Taylor and Sergeant had been working through to get us back to school. “It’s a surprise though, so don’t tell Anna.”

          “I make no promises,” I groaned. Being a mind reader, I had learned to keep many secrets and surprises to myself, but that went out the window if Anna was involved. For some reason, I couldn’t keep anything from her. “I will try, though.”

          “That’s all I ask,” I could hear the amusement in his voice. He loved to tease me about my inability to refuse the girl. He knew the reason a little too well, in my opinion. You’d think that would make him more wary of me, but nope – he enjoyed it. “See you, soon.”

          “Bye,” I was careful not to respond in the same way and I could’ve sworn that I heard him laughing right before the phone’s screen lit up, indicating that the call ended. I went to steal my book back and hand Anna her phone until I felt her stiffen beside me.

          I nervously turned to look at her, afraid that maybe I had moved wrong or something. I found that she wasn’t even looking at me, but was staring over her bed, at the window on the other side of the room. Her eyes intently watched something that I couldn’t see; her mind was far from the book in her hands as she listened to a different story.

          Anna’s skin was deathly pale as she stared at the unknown intruder. My hand automatically dropped the phone and wrapped around Anna’s. My mind opened up without much of a thought about the migraine I was about to have.

          The first thing I read was Anna’s irritated thoughts as she slowly realized what I was doing. Then, I saw the once invisible intruder. She looked to be in her late thirties with her curly orange hair coming to her shoulders. Her brown eyes were shining as she pleaded with Anna. There was something about her that seemed to so familiar.

          “Please, find it in your heart to forgive my daughter,” I couldn’t figure out who the woman was, but Anna thoughts told me that it was Marcella’s mother. Their family resemblance was strong, which was why she seemed so familiar. “She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She’s not herself. Her heart is broken.”

          Anna couldn’t find the words to say, so she just nodded. Her heart was breaking at the sight in front of her. She wished that she could find some way to comfort the woman. The woman trembled as she began to sob.

          “Please, promise me that you’ll forgive her,” She was wailing so loud that had anyone actually been able to hear her, we would have had half the hotel coming in to investigate.

          “I promise,” the girl beside me spoke up meekly. The woman looked at Anna; the pain was still evident in her face, but relief was also there. She nodded, just before disappearing and leaving the sound of her sniffling to echo around the room.

          Anna’s thoughts told me that she was worried about keeping that promise, before a sharp pain ran across my skull and shut me off from her thoughts. The pain reminded me of a time when I was fifteen, after the hunter’s had kidnapped me the first time. My memories and my gift were just beginning to resurface; there were still a few things that I couldn’t recall.

          I had actually let my mom hold my hand as the pain seemed to pulse through my entire body. My memory had come back full force that night and I think I passed out before it was all over. I hadn’t experienced anything like that since then.

          “Do you think you can take something for the pain?” Anna’s quiet voice pulled me out of my memory. Her tone was calm, but knowing Anna, she was probably freaking out on the inside.

          “Maybe,” I hoped that my words were intelligible. For a few terrifying seconds, Anna’s hand left mine. It was quickly replaced by two tablets of pain reliever. I had shut my eyes due to the pain, so I had to reopen them to see Anna holding a bottle of water out to me in the dark. She must have turned the lights off to soften the pain.

          “Here,” her hands trembled slightly, but her gaze was strong. I took the bottle from her and swallowed the tablets. She took the bottle from me, placing it on the bedside table, and sat down next to me on the bed again.

          “I’m sorry,” I wrapped my arms around her waist and buried my face in her shoulder. I normally wouldn’t condone such physical contact, but I decided that I could be selfish for one night.

          “It happens,” She twisted one arm around to caress my head and her other hand rested on my arm. She let me stay there like that until the pain subsided. A little bit after I was sure the pain had been dulled, I pulled away and put some space between us. “Feeling better?”

          “Yes, thank you,” I stared at the blank television screen, unable to bring myself to look in Anna’s crystal-blue eyes after the scene I had just made. “How are you doing?”

          “I’m fine,” She was lying. I couldn’t help my automatic reaction; I turned to glare at her. The grin she gave me in response told me that I had done exactly what she had wanted me to do. “I really am okay.” I still wasn’t sure I believed her.

          “Are you worried about Marcella?” I tried to direct the conversation away from my little freak out. I almost regretted it when I saw her grin fall.

          “I don’t know, maybe a bit,” She was probably more worried than she let up. “I don’t think that she would intentionally hurt someone – even if she held a grudge against them. I’d be more worried about her harming herself. You don’t think she would do something like that, do you?” I could tell that she couldn’t bring herself to say the word, ‘suicide’.

          “No, I don’t think so,” She was still wary. “I didn’t see any red flags tonight. Besides, she’s with the Hugo’s – I’m sure they’d notice if something was off and work to prevent it. Have some faith.”

          “You’re right,” she sighed; something still felt off to her. “We should call Mason in the morning and tell him what happened.” I nodded, knowing that she would feel safer that way. “Do you want to see what they have on TV?”

          “Sure,” She turned on the television and the two of us escaped to the mind-numbing world of fiction. It was simply a short reprieve from real-life, but it was nice nonetheless.