by Alana Siegel
The muscles in my body were tense because I was determined now. There was no more indecision. We had a plan, and we would save our friends.
I didn't hesitate when we reached Mr. Dimon's door. I grabbed the handle and pushed in. I felt my Gift explode into the room with me.
Mr. Dimon shot out of his desk chair. Mrs. Wolf tumbled out of his lap and on to the floor. Their hair was ruffled and their faces were pink like we interrupted an intimate embrace. I finally understood why our Gifted school nurse was allowed to stay in Pandora.
Mr. Dimon’s dark eyes narrowed when he saw who had barged in. “What are you doing here, Olivia?” he demanded. His voice rang with authority and the muscles of his severe jawline tightened.
Mrs. Wolf cowered in the corner. Her body was visibly shaking, and her frightened round eyes were glued to me.
I took one step forward, and he took one step back, involuntarily. I saw his white knuckles as he grasped the shelf behind him.
I smiled and said, “I guess you heard the rumors about the dangerous female Elste, too.” I took another deliberate step towards him. He struggled to take a breath.
Mrs. Wolf gave out a yelp, and disappeared into a flash of pink. Inhumanly fast, she was suddenly on the windowsill, trying to pry open the glass. The metal casing groaned under her Ikos strength, but wouldn't budge. Without warning, she was another pink blur behind us, attempting to get out of the door.
Justin put one hand on her shoulder and steam escaped from under his fingers. She shouted in agony and stepped back, defeated. Mr. Dimon had watched the interaction with a dawning realization that he was the weakest in the room.
“I know you're scared,” I said and leaned my hands on Mr. Dimon's desk. “And you have the Chancellor of the Meta to thank for that. I didn't fully understand my Gifted strength until she started gossiping, and if you try to run, I'll show you exactly what I mean.” I paused to feel the buzz of my Gift. It twinkled around the edges of my consciousness, and then I winked at Mr. Dimon.
The second my Gift pricked him, I watched him grit his teeth and stick out his chin, stubbornly. He didn't realize I was holding back. No one else knew the power of my Gift because there was no one else like me.
“Still not going to admit you're scared? Maybe this will change your mind,” I told him. Chelsea, Luca, Graham, and Lynn stepped through the door and stood next to Justin, lining the wall behind me. Mrs. Wolf leaned against the wall and sunk to the floor.
Mr. Dimon gulped. His eyes darted between us. “What do you want?” he asked in a low raspy voice.
“We want to know where they are keeping our friends. Where is the Meta?” I growled back. My hands were balled into menacing fists. The fury from the last week hit a peak. Our Gifts were at an all time high. The room was filled with smoky greens, blues, and purples and smelled like a dangerous wall of roses tinted with sickly sweet vanilla and poisonous apples.
Mr. Dimon was not Gifted, but he felt the power, too. He gave in. “Isn't it obvious? The Chancellor built the Meta in an area where she could easily control the most people. Somewhere that is teaming with so many Gifted people it creates a constant fog throughout the city,” he explained and shook his head like it that made it clear. “The Meta is in San Francisco.”
* * * *
Chapter Twenty: Written in the Stars
I had fallen asleep on the plane, and the vivid dream about Derek teasing me felt so real. I didn't want to wake up, but I couldn't ignore the sharp and blunt pain in my side.
I begrudgingly opened one eye and saw Chelsea wind up to jab me again with her elbow. I flinched and said, “Okay, I'm up!”
“Look outside,” she ordered. I peeked over her lap and through the window. First, I saw bright stars twinkling against a black night sky. I smiled. The sparkly gems arranged in my favorite constellations looked beautiful.
Then the pilot announced we should prepare for landing, and the plane shifted. The city of San Francisco came into view. I leaned closer.
A murky cloud of fog covered the city. It hovered around a baseball field perched near the water's edge, lingered over the blanket of houses that covered nearby hills, and weaved in and out of the red cables of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“Do you see it?” Chelsea asked.
“Yeah, it's a big city,” I told her.
She clicked her tongue and shook her head in frustration. “No, really look,” she said.
I leaned in again and focused on the world below, not sure what she wanted me to see. I watched the fog shift and stir like a living being. In the night sky it reflected the city lights below, but something did look strange.
Squinting my eyes, I tried to see it clearer. The fog was doing more than reflecting the light below. It pulsed in vibrant blues and yellows and reds. Mixing and combining, the puffs of air were massive and covered large spans of land.
“You're seeing the other Gifted,” Chelsea said and nodded towards the window. “They need our help, too. This isn't just a mission to save our friends and run. Aunt Ev is right. We have a responsibility to defend Gifted rights. And Olivia, it all falls on your shoulders. As a female Elste, you are the only one with enough power to do it.”
I continued to stare out the window at the multicolored fog. It was beautiful, and it needed to be protected. I closed my eyes and imagined the whole world covered in it. Then, I took a deep breath in and thought of what that world would smell like - delicious flavors, brilliant flowers, and sweet tastes.
Chelsea got out of her seat and Carly leaned in. My jaw tightened involuntarily. I didn't know why she needed to come with us. She was young and volatile, but Aunt Ev insisted.
“That's a lot of pressure,” Carly whispered, sarcastically. She enjoyed watching me squirm. I rolled my eyes and looked at her. She wasn't looking at me. Instead, she was pointing her finger at the back of the chair in front of her as if to say I wasn't important enough to give her full attention.
Besides me and Justin, she was the happiest about our rekindled romance. It meant Luca might take his attention off me and focus on Carly.
I watched a spark jump from her finger and singe a loose thread on the seat. I held back the urge to tell her to quit it and sighed. Maybe Carly wasn't bratty. The problem was she was constantly comparing herself to the female Elste.
I softened. She shouldn't feel threatened. The odds were always against me. She had no idea the pressure I felt, and the helplessness that followed me around when I didn't live up to expectations.
The seat belt sign turned off and the sound of unbuckling played throughout the plane in unison. I stood up and gathered my belongings. Aunt Ev had told us to look for an older man named Bill. She said he was an old friend who worked at the airport and would help us. That was the only instruction she gave us.
We walked off the plane in a small mob. The San Francisco airport was full of people. A row of airport workers pushing wheelchairs cut in between our group. Lynn, Chelsea, Justin, and Carly got stuck behind senior travelers who were indecisive about their next steps.
Luca hooked his arm under my elbow and stuck out an arm to stop Graham. He brought his lips to my ear and whispered, “Meta agents.” The words sent a chill up my spine, and I froze in place.
I counted ten agents with bats and guns. They walked with menacing authority, looking through the throngs of people for Gifted wrongdoers. I instinctively reached for my necklace. The cocky agent on the end of the lineup swung his gun around wildly. A red sloppy liquid dripped from the end. His weapon was filled with the mulberry elixir.
“Olivia!” Chelsea shouted from behind a group of scattered people. I looked over my shoulder for her and locked eyes with a shocked hipster. I watched his baby blues lower their focus to my hand, zoning in on the shiny charm around my neck.
“It's her! The female Elste!” he screamed and pointed an accusatory finger at me.
When I gasped, the Meta agent on the end of the lineup switched his attention. The gun stopped swinging and went i
nto ready position. I grit my teeth, took a breath, and felt my Gift flood my body. The scent of roses burst around me. Time to kick some Meta butt.
“Wait,” Luca whispered. “If you get hit with the mulberry elixir and it doesn't stop your Gift, they will know it’s you. Let's not confirm their suspicions. Right now, we're under the radar.”
Luca was right, no one knew the only female Elste was coming, however, judging by the special care the Meta agent was taking to aim his gun, he knew we were some version of Gifted.
“We can't just stand here,” I whispered back.
“I got this,” Graham announced and launched forward. We watched him take two athletic quick lunges toward the agents. He unzipped the hoodie that was covering his anti-elixir getup. His arms swung swiftly at his sides to propel him, and then he was an army-green blur.
He made it to the first two agents fast enough to swat their elixir guns into the air, and I was hopeful his fighter outfit would make him unstoppable, and he could distract them long enough to escape their clutches; however the last few agents were fast.
In a matter of seconds, Graham reappeared covered in mulberry juice and no longer radiating his green Gift. Every inch of his exposed skin was drenched. His protective gear never stood a chance. The Meta agents circled him.
“RUN!” he shouted from inside the swarm of his attackers. Luca and I listened to him. We turned on our heels in the opposite direction. Catching up with Lynn, Chelsea, Justin, and Carly, we grabbed them and kept moving.
I peeked over my shoulder and saw three Meta agents turning the bend behind us. Red slime squirted in all directions, covering suitcases, walls, and travelers. My stomach jumped into my throat, but I kept running past lanky teenagers, couples with little children, and foreign tourist groups. The adrenaline rush had us all moving fast, but the trained and fit agents were gaining speed.
“Chelsea, you know what to do!” Lynn shouted. There was a hint of excitement in her voice that I would never understand. When it came to fight or flight, I always wanted to run for the hills. Luckily, Chelsea and Lynn were the opposite. Both girls slipped out of site, leaving a wake of apple and vanilla scents behind them.
I glanced back. Our pursuers kept their speed, spraying the elixir in all directions. Suddenly, one Meta agent flew headfirst like he tripped over an invisible wire, and another looked dumbstruck when he ran into and was stopped by what appeared to be an invisible wall.
One agent remained on our tail. I felt my heart beating from within my heaving chest. A puff of blue smoke billowed out from Justin as he jumped and grabbed on to an exposed pipe. Swinging back and forth, the pipe groaned and split open. He landed a few feet in front of the agent who slipped and sloshed as Justin ran forward. The agent wasn't deterred. I gasped as he moved closer.
“I'll charm them,” Luca shouted and began to slow.
“No! People might confuse your charm for mine!” I screamed and urged him to keep moving. Luca, Justin, Carly, and I were frantic.
“I got it!” Carly shouted. She turned on the spot and held both arms out. Lightning erupted from her fingers and lit up the room. The ceiling burst into flames. Fiery ceiling tiles fell on the agent, stopping him cold.
A door down the hall jutted open. “In here,” an older man, wearing worn sneakers and a ratty jacket, called to us. Perhaps it was the fear of being caught by the Meta agents before we even made it out of the airport, or maybe it was the innocent look on the old man's face, or it could have been that I was simply out of breath. For some reason, I trusted him, and we followed the man into the corridor.
* * * *
Chapter Twenty-One: Push
Ding. Ding. An electronic bell rang twice as the doors to the train car shut behind us. Our introduction to San Francisco was the epitome of the phrase, 'take the city by storm.' Therefore, the atmosphere was ironically low key and quiet when we boarded the Bart at the airport station a half hour later.
We might have been running from the bad guys, but the rest of the world was going about their regular day. I tried to imagine heading to work or to visit to a relative. At this point, it seemed irrational.
It was Aunt Ev's friend, Bill, who hid us from the Meta guards. There was nothing particularly memorable about him. A thinning crown of mousy brown and grey hair circled a bald spot. He had slouched as he told us we weren't hard to find. With the destruction we caused in the airport, it was no surprise we had drawn attention to ourselves.
Ensuring no one else found us was proving to be more difficult. Bill couldn't fit us all in his car, so we were taking the train. He gave us specific instructions to meet him at Coit Tower.
I focused on the short-stacked apartment buildings and bright colored Victorian townhouses we passed. I felt every dip and turn the Bart made around the famous hills of the city. I had never been to San Francisco before. I tried to keep my facial features blank so we didn't tip off anyone that something was odd.
I shouldn't have been worried. Train passengers were scattered throughout the car, and their clothing, conversations, and cultures varied, widely, making our group of high school kids appear the most normal.
Two Asian women sat behind us, chattering about organic vegetables and gluten-free pastas. An Apple Inc. security badge hung from the belt loop of the nerdy man on our right. Two men standing arm and arm near the door were wearing matching leather chaps and vests. They all appeared innocent enough, but I couldn't help checking over my shoulder every few minutes.
We had squished into an area with six seats, and I could feel the tension in the air. I looked at my ragged crew. Carly had a habit of biting her nails when she was nervous. Lynn scanned the other passengers like everyone might be the enemy. Chelsea's left hand kept disappearing, and Justin had his arm wrapped protectively around me.
Everyone was anxious, but Luca was worst of all. The rims of his eyes were red, and he bounced in his seat. I wracked my brain for something inspiring to say; something a general would tell his tattered army between battles. Lynn was right: I wasn't anything like Martin Luther King Jr. I sat there fuming at myself.
“We made a mistake,” Luca announced. He was leaning in with his elbows propped on his knees.
“What do you mean?” Chelsea asked. I felt sick looking into Luca's distraught eyes. He hadn't smiled in days.
“We should have stayed together. We shouldn't have let Graham sacrifice himself,” Luca said. He ran both hands through his hair, roughly. I understood how he felt. They took his best friend, just like they took Helen.
Lynn leaned in as well and said, “He did the right thing. Any means necessary to reach the end goal.” Chelsea nodded her head in agreement.
“Well then, we should have led the fight with our strongest asset, and let Olivia use her Gift,” Luca argued. I felt the color drain from my face. Something clicked in my brain, and I wasn't sure if it meant I figured out another piece of the puzzle or if I was becoming unhinged.
I was flooded with frustration. Luca kept secrets from me the whole time I knew him. Maybe I should have been more sympathetic considering recent circumstances, but it was just like Chelsea said it would be. Luca was the other Elste who had lived through the Gifted War. He felt terrible sorrow and reached rock bottom. Despite our friendship, he was desperate and willing to sacrifice my happiness. To him, I was a means to an end, and it made me angry.
Unlike Thisbe, I could foresee his plan, and I was as determined as ever not to let someone decide my fate for me. “So you are willing to throw me at the Meta without a plan, without a support system, without backing me up?” I asked, and the anger in my voice was emphasized with the screeching of the car against the tracks as we went underground.
Luca took the bait. “No, I would never suggest throwing you to the wolves, but it's time you stepped up to the plate, Olivia. You are the strongest. You need to lead instead of standing in the shadows!” He was yelling by the time he spit out his last words.
“A careful leader comes up with a p
lan, rather than haphazardly jumping into the action!” I shouted.
“We have a plan. Find the Meta. Save our friends. You need to risk your own skin for once, and follow through!”
“And get myself killed? I'm surprised you even suggest it when less than twelve hours ago, you tried to kiss me!” His jaw dropped, and I wished I could take it back. I crossed the line in the heat of the moment.
“You did what?” Justin growled. His hands were balled into fists.
“I'm sorry, man. I had a few drinks,” Luca apologized. It was too late. Justin's fist connected with Luca's face. Luca grunted with the influx of pain and fell back in his seat.
“Stop! We can't do this now! Stop!” I shouted. Justin lunged again, and they rolled to the floor. The other passengers looked up from their conversations. We were drawing too much attention to ourselves.
Luca covered his face, and Justin landed a punch into his gut. This was the opposite of rallying the troops. It wasn't what I meant to do.
“Olivia, stop them!” Carly bellowed. I had no choice. I clutched the charm that taunted me from around my neck. My Gift illuminated. I could smell my flowery scent. I bit my bottom lip and worked hard to isolate the sadness. I only wanted it to hit Justin and Luca, and as quickly as possible.
The train made a sudden sharp turn right. Luca and Justin were slammed into the wall. Blood dripped from Luca's nose. Justin wound up to swing again.
“Why isn't it working, Olivia?” Chelsea questioned me. I saw Justin's clenched jaw and the wrinkles on his forehead. He was fighting my Gift.
The train made another sharp turn, and Justin rolled off of Luca. They were both breathing heavily. Neon streetlights seeped through the windows as the train made its way aboveground again.
Justin stood up on his knees, still glaring at Luca, when one of the Asian women let out a terrified screech. The whole car turned to look, even Justin. The woman was visibly shaking. She pointed a judging finger at me and said, “You!” Then, she turned her phone around and there was a picture of me from the airport with the words DANGEROUS ELSTE plastered across my face.