The Rescue (Olivia Hart and the Gifted Program Book 3)

by Alana Siegel

  “I thought the best way to protect everyone was to educate myself. Did you know there are tons of books in public libraries about the Gifted? You just have to know where to look,” he said, looking back at me.

  “I had no idea,” I told him. He nodded and turned back around.

  Another few seconds passed. I held him close, resting my head against his broad shoulders. I wondered what stories were written about the Gifted in the past. Was Cleopatra Gifted? Or Leonardo da Vinci? Or Michael Jordan? The thought of so many talented people with Gifts throughout history had never crossed my mind before. It thrilled me.

  Apparently, Justin's research didn't cause him to have the same reaction. “I didn't like anything I read. The Meta may be controlling, but the Gifted have a bumpy past, too,” he continued. I could feel his heart rate pick up.

  “In every book I read, the Horus family was worse than the others. They were leaders like Elste, but they lacked a moral compass. Their values were always skewed,” he said. His voice was rising with each sentence. I rubbed his arms. His body was vibrating from his Gift, and the room was darker from his blue hue.

  “Horus are the best at defense, both physically and emotionally. That's why they are usually stubborn, selfish, and loners. It's one of the main reasons Elste and Horus usually hate each other,” he spat out.

  “Oh yeah?” I asked. “Like who? Give me an example of a Horus descendent.”

  “Thomas Edison. They say he carried an odd trinket in his pocket and glowed neon blue,” he said.

  “The inventor of the light bulb?” I asked, incredulously.

  “And the electric chair,” Justin added, flatly.

  “Ok, he was controversial, but also brilliant. Give me another,” I argued.

  “Robert Oppenheimer's aura was a shocking green and he kept a shiny magnifying glass on his keychain. He was the physicist who helped invent the atomic bomb. Don't tell me that was a warmhearted invention,” he growled.

  “Yeah, but didn't we learn in class that he lobbied against the use of it for years after? The entire history of villains couldn't have all been from the Horus family.” I couldn’t bear for him to believe there was a dark mark over his head.

  His whole body twisted as he turned to face me. I could see the purple bruises beneath his narrowed eyes. “That's just it. Elste are innately good, and Horus are innately evil,” he whispered in a voice cold with anger and with fear.

  * * * *

  Chapter Ten: The Extremist

  “He wanted us to destroy the Meta's supply of the mulberry elixir,” Graham said matter-of-factly. Justin and I heard him arguing loudly with someone right outside the prop room in the school basement. I clicked my tongue in frustration because Graham clearly didn't understand our Gifted Program was meant to be a secret. School was out, and I hoped the sound of kids rushing from the building was enough to mask Graham's voice.

  “I know he told us that, but he obviously left out the rest of the plan since he sent us to rot in Pandora instead of taking us with him,” Lynn insisted as they burst into the teeny room. If they noticed me and Justin sitting on the couch wrapped around each other, neither of them cared. Graham became a green blur as he climbed up the first two steps of a hand ladder unnecessarily fast, Lynn plopped down on a pile of newspapers and perfumed the room with her autumn apple scent, and then they both continued their argument.

  Luca followed them in. His face reflected pain, and his purple glow brightened, momentarily. He wasn’t as indifferent to see us in an intimate embrace as Graham and Lynn, but Chelsea forced him to keep moving as she came through the door behind him, flickering from view like a broken television. Cliff was the last to arrive, looking more lost, forlorn, and average than ever.

  “Why do you think there was more to Prometheus's plan?” Chelsea asked, taking a seat on a pile of brown boxes next to Lynn and butting into their argument.

  “He knew the Meta was coming the night Olivia showed up at his door with her proud band of naïve followers, no offense.” Lynn didn’t look at all apologetic for insulting Chelsea and her allegiance. “Don't be fooled, the split between the two groups—half sent to the Meta and half to Pandora—wasn't an accident. He knew what cards to play in order to get what he wanted,” Lynn explained to Chelsea while she crossed her arms. “I just can't believe I didn't see it coming.”

  “If his plan wasn't to lead the Meta to his doorstep in order to get a free ride to their prison, then why come up with the Pyramus and Thisbe story? There are other ways to anger the Meta,” Chelsea asked.

  “Exactly my question,” Lynn responded and eyed Chelsea like she was mildly impressed with her analysis. Chelsea smiled proudly, and I realized the two looked like twins with their long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and matching silver headbands. I wondered why I never noticed it before.

  I sat up straighter, preparing myself for an hour of madness. I wasn't surprised our meeting had started abruptly and without proper order. I refused to let that unsettle me. I would try hard to decipher all the knowledge they could impart. Time was ticking and soon I would need to go at it alone.

  I narrowed my eyes in concentration. Chelsea was right. My carefully-planned marriage to Justin was dropped as soon as the Meta showed up. If Prometheus really wanted to get his army inside, it might have been smarter to surprise attack them rather than be brought in as prisoners.

  “Of course...,” Lynn began with an evil glint in her eye. “We could ask the person who came up with the tragic Pyramus and Thisbe plan.” She cocked her head accusingly towards Luca. “I think you know who it is.”

  Luca looked horrified. His mouth hung open as his eyes pleaded with Lynn. I felt anger bubble in my gut. Was this another secret about Prometheus that Luca decided not to share? “Who came up with the idea of creating a new Pyramus and Thisbe?” I demanded. They didn't know it yet, but I was the only one who would be fighting the Meta in the end. I refused to be played for an uninformed fool.

  Luca stared at me, looking frustrated and guilty. “I was trying to tell you...I wanted to tell you...you have to understand...,” Luca faltered. He turned to Lynn and gave her a look of contempt. Then, he leaped out of his seat and bounded out of the room.

  “What's going on?” I asked the group that had suddenly gone silent. I got out from behind Justin and followed Luca.

  In the dim hall, I watched Luca rub his temples and pace the length of the floor. What could he possibly have to tell me that would make him this nervous? I knew he would never invent the terrible tale. I walked up to him.

  “Liv,” he said, reaching down to hold my hand within both of his own large warm hands. They were comforting, and I bit my lip trying to hold back feelings I knew I shouldn't be feeling. “You have to believe me when I tell you that I wasn't purposely keeping anything from you. There were loyalties created before I ever met you.”

  He brought my hand up to his chest, resigned and ready to tell me something difficult. I caught a glimpse of Justin's mood ring. It was a dull yellow, not quite reaching the brightness it usually becomes when I am with Justin.

  “Grief can drive a person to the edge of sanity. When the Meta began attacking the Gifted in the United States, people weren't scared like they are today. They didn't cower in fear and throw up their hands in defeat. They fought back. They banded together as rebels with a common target.

  He stood up taller, proud of the Gifted from the past. “They had nothing left to lose. They were extremists, fighting the big bad government with every ounce of anger and strife. They spent all their time and energy plotting against the enemy.” His voice was filled with passion. His eyes were wide as he tried to express the desperate urge they had to fight.

  “Leaders of the movement popped up across the country, speaking their minds, uniting Gifted, and not worrying about the consequences. However, one by one the Meta captured these leaders and quieted their following,” he said. Something about the angry way he said it, like he knew how it felt to be overwhel
med with fury and on the verge of madness, made me uncomfortable.

  “All, except one leader who stood out as more smart and cunning than the rest. It's the same leader who came up with the Pyramus and Thisbe plan and the only person my grandfather felt safe sending me to when my parents disappeared,” he finished and paused to let the information sink in.

  “That leader was Evelyn Forte.”

  * * * *

  Chapter Eleven: Gotta Have It

  “Concentrate, Olivia,” the middle-aged, overweight Driver’s Ed instructor warned me as he stamped on the car’s extra brake pedal to stop us from rolling past a stop sign and into a busy intersection.

  With a late birthday, I was the last of my friends to take the Driver’s Ed course. I wanted to pass, badly, but concentration on normal teenage goals was proving difficult. My emotions were erratic.

  “Sorry!” I screeched and turned around to apologize to the other students grasping the car's interior from the backseat.

  “Eyes front, Olivia,” the instructor told me. There was a hint of frustration in his voice.

  Between Justin's profession that Horus were controversial, and even evil, people, and Luca's admission that Aunt Ev came up with the Pyramus and Thisbe plan, I was wracking my brain for some sort of comforting conclusion. Bits of information kept popping to the surface like carbonation in a can of soda. I couldn’t put the conversations out of my head, and my driving skills were suffering because of it.

  It was hard to believe sweet Aunt Ev came up with the sinister plan to choose an innocent girl and boy and curse them into a forbidden love. Aunt Ev was always kind and welcoming. She did a good job of hiding decades of pent-up resentment. How could a sweet old woman like Aunt Ev be so menacing? I was glad she stayed in Utah when we were sent back to Pandora, but my stress levels were through the roof. Just thinking of her scared me. What else was she capable of?

  I absentmindedly turned the wheel. I had analyzed my current situation from every angle possible, wondering if it was supposed to play out another way. Every time I came to the same place. Receiving my Gift, becoming an Elste, falling in love with Justin, none of it was a mistake. I could feel it in my bones.

  “Keep your hands at ten and two, Olivia,” growled the instructor from the seat next to me.

  Now that I had validated my past, I needed to figure out my future. The only thing I knew for sure was I was powerful and supposed to finish this trek alone. What was there to be scared of? Evelyn Forte wasn’t young anymore. Mr. Dimon wasn't Gifted. And Prometheus wasn’t young or Gifted!

  I closed my eyes and felt my confidence and my Gift build throughout my body. The car filled with my rose scent. I was part of a new generation. No, I was the leader of a newer, smarter, and stronger Gifted generation.

  “Pay attention, Olivia!” the instructor yelled. He was no longer sparing my feelings or hiding his anger. “Pull into the school. Today's lesson is over.”

  Despite my teacher's dismay at my horrible driving skill, I felt a sudden excitement as I gathered my books and stepped out of the car. I headed towards the school with my head held high. I didn't need to learn how to drive a car to defeat the Meta.

  “Hey, Liv!” Two girls from my Driver's Ed class spoke in unison as they stepped in my way and cut off my train of thought. They were far too chipper after the ride from hell that I put them through. They positioned themselves in my path and stood playing with their hair, attempting to look innocent.

  “Hi, Robyn, hi, Lisa,” I replied to each and paused to hear what they had to say. They were gossipy girls, and when they exchanged glances without saying a word, I decided to keep walking. I didn't want them to ruin the burst of confidence I found.

  Lisa grabbed my arm to stop me, and I eyed her, suspiciously. She looked panicked for a split second and pulled her hand away, like I was contagious.

  Robyn gave Lisa a pointed stare and then jumped in to save the awkward moment. “Olivia, we heard that you recently came into certain...powers,” she said, whispering the last word. I stared at her and kept my face blank. What did they know? How did they find out?

  Lisa and Robyn exchanged nervous glances again. “You know, something that makes guys fall in love with you,” Lisa pressed on. They looked at me expectantly.

  I waited another second, and then I smirked. I felt the same rush of power I felt in the car earlier. I was interesting to them. They wanted something that I had. It was a strange and new sensation, being the cool and popular girl.

  Who cares if they knew I was Gifted?! I was the female Elste. I could do anything I wanted. Who would stop me?

  “You mean my ability to charm?” I asked, arrogantly, and pushed between the two of them and into the school. I was enjoying the fact that they wanted to be like me. I smiled when I heard their footsteps behind me.

  “Olivia!” they shouted as they followed me inside. I didn’t slow my pace, letting the smell of roses drift in my wake.

  I was wrapped up in the idea of being the “it” girl when I turned the corner and ran straight into Cliff. Both of my hands landed on his chest. “Liv, I need to talk to you,” Cliff said and grabbed both my arms to steady me.

  I looked back at Lisa and Robyn, who had gone silent. Their jaws hung open as if they had just witnessed my unique ability. I couldn’t help laughing.

  Cliff ignored the girls and pulled me into an empty corridor. “Liv, you need to help me. I'm dying,” he said. His face was stone serious.

  “Anything you need. What's wrong?” I asked, snapping out of my brash mood. Cliff and I had been through a lot this year. I was happy to call him a close friend. If there was something he wanted from me, I would give it to him.

  “I need to save Helen,” he told me.

  My confidence deflated, and reality set in again. I still didn’t know how to save my friends. “Yes, I know. I'm doing everything I can. We don't want to anger the Meta by breaking Mr. Dimon's rules. If we dig for information or leave Pandora, they might take it out on Helen. To top it all off, we don't even know where they are keeping her!” I ended on an hysterical note, throwing my arms in the air, all self-assurance rushing out of me. Cliff nodded his head, enthusiastically.

  “Why are you nodding? I don't have a clue what I’m going to do!” I exclaimed.

  Cliff put his hands on my shoulders. “I told you, I need to save Helen. It has to be me, and I have a plan. I'm sick of waiting around and feeling useless. I'm ready to take action,” he announced. He looked hopeful and poised.

  “Well, what's your plan?!” I asked.

  “I'm going to become Gifted,” he stated.

  I stared at him. “What?”

  “If I could just be fast like Graham or invisible like Lynn, I know I could save Helen,” he said.

  My eyebrows rose with concern. “Cliff...,” I began. I cringed because I knew my voice sounded full of pity.

  “Come on, Olivia. Don't look at me like that,” Cliff said and dropped his arms. “Maybe I have a Gifted gene to be an Ikos or a Horus, but my Crescent forgot to give me jewelry.”

  I knew sitting on the sidelines was hard for him. I had the same unsatisfying conversation with Helen when she begged me to practice my Gift on her. She had insisted that one day she would be able to block it, but it never happened. “Becoming Gifted isn't something you plan, Cliff,” I told him, trying to be gentle. “It would have happened by now. You’re not supposed to be Gifted.”

  Angry and resolute, a fire burned in his eyes, and I stepped back instinctively. “I'm not giving up,” he said and stalked away from me.

  I sighed. “Neither am I,” I whispered to his retreating back.

  * * * *

  Chapter Twelve: Before Me

  Mom lingered at the door to my room. Her body movements were cautious and hesitant, but there was a confidence in her stare. Her eyes posed the questions her lips were too scared to ask: Are you in trouble? What are you hiding from me? Why don't you trust me?

  I watched her stand there,
curiously. I wished her warm embrace and soothing words could protect me. I felt my mouth dip into a pout, ready to collapse into a heavy sob. I was so close to breaking down and telling her everything, and then she glanced down at a box clutched to her chest, and nodded, like she received one of the answers she was looking for.

  Sitting down on the bed, she clung to the box clasped between her hands. I pushed aside the homework I was working on and joined her on the bed.

  “What's going on, Mom?” I asked, eying the box. The way she held it made me uneasy. I folded my hands in my lap to hold myself back from reaching out and crying in her arms.

  “I want to show you something,” she replied, revealing the worn edges of a greenish blue rectangle.

  The box was larger than a wallet, but smaller than a pencil case. It looked aged and the word “Tiffany's” was inscribed in a delicate script across the top. Right below were the initials “J & S.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  She opened the tattered box, carefully. Inside was a used deck of cards in the same color as the box, and inscribed with the same details. “This deck of cards was my parents’,” Mom explained. “I want to show you what I found inside.”

  She picked up the deck and sifted through the cards until she landed on a rectangular paper of a different thickness. I watched her pull out an old sepia photograph. Again, she held the picture close before nodding to confirm it was the right thing to do, and then she handed me the photo.

  I gently held the corners of the picture between my fingers. The paper wasn't glossy like the photographs from today. The edges were frayed and browned. I was careful not to crease it.

  And then I saw it. It was unmistakable. My Gifted charm necklace hung around the neck of the young woman in the photograph. She stared back at me with a slight smirk that didn't fit with her tight bun and high neckline of the time. She must have lived one hundred and fifty years ago.