AMANI: Reveal

by Marie, Lydhia

  “One word,” Emily replied darkly. “Initiation.”

  I looked sideways at Vivian but she ignored me, crossing her arms over her chest. I had this strange impression that she would have preferred to be the only initiate tonight.

  “Obviously you are going to compete against each other,” Patrick said. “Throughout the next hours, you will be assigned a list of tasks. Your goal is to complete them as fast as you can. The first one that succeeds wins.” He pulled out two very large onesies from a backpack at his feet, as well as a pair of pink scarves similar to his. “It’s very chilly outside, so I brought you those. They’re, um, a friend of mine’s.”

  He tossed the pink onesie to me and the purple one to Vivian. We immediately put them on and fashioned the scarves around our necks.

  “Wow,” Adam said, covering his chuckles. “I’m glad you found me two years ago, Pat.”

  “Wait, you didn’t go through an initiation?” Vivian snarled.

  “Sure, we all did,” Adam replied, clearly amused by her frustration. “But mine was at the beginning of the school year, so we didn’t have to wear these.”

  Vivian crossed her arms in front of her chest and sulked. I had to pinch my arm to prevent myself from laughing.

  I had never been through an initiation rite and I looked forward to the experience. As for the ridiculously pastel onesie I had to wear, it was warm and that was all that mattered for me right now.

  “I look like freaking Tinky Winky,” Vivian muttered.

  At once, Kristin, Adam, and I burst out laughing and I was unable to stop until I saw the look Vivian was giving me, which I was certain would have made Dr. Harold Shipman—also known as Dr. Death, the worst British serial killer—flinch. I swallowed, pressed my lips together, and looked away.

  “I’m going to need two volunteers who will follow our initiates throughout their tasks and make sure they don’t cheat.” Patrick said.

  Kristin’s hand reared up like lightning. “Me! Please choose me!” she repeated, jumping up and down. “I want to go!”

  How can she have so much energy in the middle of the night? I wondered.

  “All right, Kristin, you can follow Vivian. Anyone else? Emily?”

  “Not in a thousand years.”

  “Anyone?”

  They all looked exhausted, but after only a few seconds, Mary’s hand raised hesitantly just above her elbow. “I can go, if there’s no one else…”

  “Awesome!” Patrick shouted. “Then we shall begin.” He dug up two pieces of paper in his bag and handed one to each Vivian and me. “This is what you have to do. I’m giving you one minute to read it, then the clock starts and you have one hour to come back here. That means you need to be back at two-thirty A.M.” He squinted, a smirk across his face, and took his phone out of his pocket. “The minute starts… now!”

  I unfolded the sheet and positioned it under Mary’s flashlight. It read:

  -Eat a Big Mac in less than thirty seconds (start again if you don’t succeed)

  -Break into the library and steal a book (you will take it back tomorrow)

  -Kiss someone on the mouth

  -Find one person who can do a backflip (do not attempt it yourself if you can’t)

  -Come back to the railroad before the end of the hour

  “How am I going to do all this in an hour?” I asked Mary, but she only shook her head.

  “The minute’s passed!” Patrick announced. “Ready? Set. GO!”

  I was still staring at the list when Kristin broke into a run, dragging a reluctant Vivian behind.

  Mary and I looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged.

  “They’re heading toward the McDonalds,” she said, “So we could start with the second task.”

  “Why not!”

  “Good luck!” I heard Adam shout behind us as we jogged toward the street, and then down on College.

  I was surprised to see we weren’t the only ones awake at this hour. Several students seemed to be walking toward Reed Street, bottles of alcohol in their hands.

  “Is there a party every night?” I asked.

  “Most nights, yes,” Mary answered shyly.

  The thing was, I couldn’t even remember if it was the same at Princeton, so maybe this was what college life was like. Attend classes during the day and parties at night.

  Bishop’s campus was deserted when we arrived in front of the library.

  “Let’s walk around the building, see if there isn’t a window open,” Mary suggested.

  And to my great surprise, there was one, just big enough for me to go through. Beaming with excitement, I told her to wait outside and I managed to glide over to the other side. Having no experience whatsoever in breaking into buildings through open windows, I fell face-first on the floor of the computer room.

  “Ow!”

  “Are you all right?” Mary whispered.

  “Yeah. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “I’ll keep guard. If you hear”—she imitated a wolf howling sound—“hide.”

  That was far from reassuring. I hadn’t thought about it before, but what if there was a guard inside? Or an alarm system? What if a librarian slept in the library every night to make sure no student tried to break in?

  That’s a ridiculous idea, a small voice inside my head argued.

  Leaving the computer room, I remembered I’d seen bookshelves in a room with long rectangular tables on the first floor. Unfortunately, the door was locked. Great. Trying to be as silent as I could, I ran up the stairs and was relieved to find the door leading to several shelves packed with dusty books open. I secretly longed to spend the rest of the night in the library, going through all the titles, but I knew the time was ticking and I had to go back to Mary. So I grabbed the first book I could and headed back outside.

  In the middle of the stairs, I froze, goose bumps lifting every single hair on my body. There, leaning against the staircase, was a silhouette.

  Chapter XXII

  Amya Priam

  It was almost pitch black and my eyes hadn’t yet fully adjusted to the darkness, but I could discern hair and a nose. The silhouette did not move, however, so I remained silent and waited.

  Please go away, I mentally requested.

  But it didn’t. Actually, it didn’t even seem to be breathing.

  What the… I squinted and tilted my head to the left to have a better look at it.

  Oh…

  The good news was, it was only a statue of a woman’s face and neck set on a pedestal base. The bad news: well, I’d wasted a lot of time!

  I sprinted downstairs and joined Mary outside.

  “What took so long?” she asked anxiously.

  I felt like an idiot. “Er, I sort of thought there was someone,” I muttered, climbing up the window. “But it was—”

  “—The statue of a woman. Yeah, that happened to me too the first time,” she replied and clapped her hand to her mouth.

  After I gracelessly stumbled out of the window, I frowned at her. “How many times have you broken into the library?”

  Was that why she had known there would be a window open behind the building? Had she left it open herself?

  Mary’s cheeks turned ashen gray. “Promise you’ll tell no one,” she spoke rapidly. “I live with three other roommates and they don’t—well, they don’t take their studies as seriously as I do, so sometimes when I can’t sleep because they’re having people over, I come here.” She shrugged anxiously. “I’ve never stolen anything, I swear. It’s just that I don’t think I’ll get good grades if I sleep two nights a week for the rest of the semester.”

  When she was done, she looked up at me with such a guilty expression. I found it ironic that a person who had the ability to heal others could be so scared of getting hurt.

  “Your secret’s safe with me,” I said. “Should we leave the window open for Vivian?”

  Mary’s colors came rushing back in her face. With a sly smile, she answered, “Seeing as y
ou’re competing against her, I think that the rational decision would be to not leave anything that could help her win, right?”

  “I believe you have a good point there. Besides, wouldn’t it be against the rules to help another contestant?”

  “Definitely. Definitely. And I’m here to make sure you don’t cheat. So…” She pulled the window down and clapped her hands together. “There. What should be our next stop?”

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “We’ve thirty-eight minutes left. Oh, wait! Follow me.”

  She led me in front of the library and told me to stay firmly in place, next to the steps. Then she sprinted and started doing a gymnastic stunt with flips and backflips and other amazing things I couldn’t name. When she was finished, she straightened her coat and walked toward me.

  “Whoa!” was the only word that came out.

  She shot me a bashful smile. “I’m on the cheerleading team. A flyer, obviously, because of my height. Been doing gymnastics since I was three.”

  “Whoa,” I repeated.

  “So, hm, that’s two things you can cross off your list now.”

  “Both thanks to you!” I was so thrilled I could have hugged her.

  Unsure whether it was because Vivian had been looking at me like I was a big fat worm drenched in mucus since I first saw her or because this was the first real college experience I’d had, I wanted to win the initiation so badly.

  “Look! They’re coming our way!” Mary whispered, pointing at two dark figures running in our direction, one obviously more enthusiastic than the other.

  Unfortunately, Kristin and Vivian cut through the lawn instead of using the sidewalk, which meant that they would see us in an instant. And if they saw us, they might ask me how I’d gotten my book and I didn’t want to lie to Kristin. Luckily, though, Mary knew the college grounds more than I did and, racing across the rectangular-shaped area, we were able to retrieve our steps to the street without being seen.

  On our way up, Mary told me the McDonalds on Queen Street was open twenty-four-seven, so that wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Can I borrow your phone?” I asked, thinking about the third task on the list.

  Karl picked up instantly. “Michelle?”

  “No, um, it’s Amya.”

  He hesitated. “Whose cell phone is this? Why didn’t you just come to the basement?”

  “You’re still training? But it’s two in the morning… Er, sorry, I thought you were all sleeping.”

  I explained where I was and why, and after a moment of silence, he told me I should have never participated in an initiation, considering the circumstances and especially in a city we didn’t know, even though I hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. After I promised I would come back in less than thirty minutes, I convinced him to let Xander speak to me.

  “Are you really outside at two in the morning?” he answered, amusement in his voice. “Who are you and what have you done with Amya Priam?”

  This made me smile, instantly reinforcing my decision. “Can you come down and meet me at the McDonalds on Queen Street?”

  “Sure, why?”

  “There’s something I need you to do for me.”

  “Okay. I’m leaving the house in a minute. Be down shortly,” he said.

  This gave me enough time to get to the restaurant and eat my Big Mac.

  “Was this your boyfriend?” Mary asked as I gave her back her phone.

  Very good question, that was. “It’s complicated, I guess.”

  We fell silent as we walked across the train rail perpendicular to the street. To our right, Emily, Patrick, Adam, and Sine were visible, waving at us to hurry.

  “You all have such cool abilities,” I mused. “Especially yours! Have you had the chance to heal many people?”

  “Not really,” Mary replied, monotone.

  “How come? It must be such a great feeling to help others, to take away their pain.”

  “It’s actually more complicated than that. I can’t just heal anyone.” She paused, her eyes filling with sadness. “Not because I don’t want to! I long to have the freedom to heal every single person I meet. I wish there were no consequences, but there are. Every time I heal someone, there’s a timespan in which I feel their pain, as if I’m absorbing all of it.” I stared at her, mesmerized. “But I’m not. Well, not entirely. A small part of the disease or injury stays with me… It’s hard to explain.

  “For instance, when I was younger, I didn’t realize how dangerous my ability was, so I tried to heal my dog after it was hit by a car. I was lucky it only had a broken leg, or it might have killed me.”

  “What happened?”

  “I did heal Winston, but I was left with a sprained ankle, and thus warded off gymnastic practice for months. I guess there’s a downside to all our abilities, whatever they are.”

  “Yeah…” I thought of the fact that, every time I Sojourned, my body became stiff and numb, which could be dangerous if someone wanted to attack me while my soul was away.

  “Did Hibiscus tell you why she’s in a wheelchair?” Mary continued.

  “No… oh God…”

  “Yeah. She was very young—I think five—when it happened. Her family lived in a bad neighborhood in London, and one night they were attacked. Her father and two older brothers were killed instantly while she was able to hide in a wardrobe until the burglars fled.” We turned right on the corner of College and Queen. “Then she went directly for the phone and called the police before she returned to find her family… It was a bloodbath. Only her mother was still breathing. Breathing but barely. She tried to help her—to heal as much as she could—but it was too late. Her mother died and Hibiscus was found minutes later, unable to move her legs.

  “The doctors said it was the shock. She’d seen her family die in front of her eyes, but she would eventually recover. When she was old enough to understand it all, she asked the hospital for a report of her mother’s injuries. They reluctantly gave it to her. I believe she was sixteen at the time. She discovered that her mother had been stabbed in the lungs, shoulder, and, as she’d suspected, her vertebra had also been damaged… Of all the injuries her mother had suffered, this one stuck with her for the rest of her life.”

  We stepped into the McDonalds parking lot and I couldn’t have felt less hungry. I had forgotten all about the race and my own problems. What Hibiscus must have gone through was ten times worst.

  “I don’t really care about the initiation anymore,” I confessed.

  “We can stop if you want. I wouldn’t blame you. Though I sort of wish to see Vivian’s face when we win. She’s been arrogant with me since she joined our group. Seems to hate everyone but Patrick, actually.”

  “I’ve noticed that too. Maybe she likes him.”

  “Hope not.”

  I turned to Mary. “Why? Do you have a crush on him too?”

  “Oh goodness, no!” She giggled. “He’s gay, that’s why. Poor girl. And it’s so obvious, I don’t understand how she doesn’t see it.”

  Stunned, I said, “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “You’ve been with us two hours. She’s known him for two weeks now.”

  I felt a sort of pity toward Vivian. It must have been hard to like someone who could never like you back. Maybe that was the reason why she was so irritable with everyone else. She wanted all Patrick’s attention to herself.

  Since only the McDonalds drive-thru was open twenty-four-seven, we had to wait in line behind a car and wait for our turn to order.

  “I don’t have any money!” I suddenly realized. “I don’t normally sleep with my wallet in my PJ’s, and even if I had, I don’t have Canadian money.”

  I was about to walk away when Mary grabbed my arm. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m here.” She grinned, pulling her wallet out of her pocket. “Same thing happened to me last year during my initiation.” Relieved, I told her I’d repay her on Wednesday at the club meeting. “No worries. It happened to a
ll of us.”

  She ordered a Big Mac for me and french fries for herself, saying they were the “best in the entire world.”

  Thank God I was able to eat the Big Mac in thirty seconds on my first try, because it was far from my favorite meal and my stomach clearly did not appreciate night shifts.

  “So did you have the same list for your initiation last year?” I asked.

  “Yeah…” she said faintly, her freckles glowing over her pink blush.

  Thinking about my last task and waiting anxiously for Xander to arrive, I continued, curious. “Who did you kiss?”

  Mary’s cheeks and forehead turned scarlet. “I—hm—I didn’t know anyone, so I had to—hm—ask the person who was making sure I didn’t cheat.”

  “Who was it? Is he still in the club?”

  “But we didn’t tell anyone! He had a girlfriend at the time and he only took pity on me.”

  “Is it Adam?” I said much too loud.

  She didn’t have to answer as her facial expression told me everything.

  “Guys!” I heard Patrick shout.

  Speaking of the devil, he, Adam, Sine, the twins, and stone-faced Vivian were coming in our direction.

  Mary quickly turned her back on them and blinked at me. “Please tell me I’m not blushing. Please.”

  I made a hesitant face. “Not that much, really.” I couldn’t lie to her. “Kind of like a mild sunburn, that’s all.” She covered her glowing face in her hands. “Hey!” I said to the others to grab their attention. “We’re just waiting for a friend of mine and we’ll have finished all of our—my—tasks.”

  “Then you’ll win! Vivian refuses to kiss anyone,” Kristin said, overly upset. I had my reasons to believe she wanted to win more than Vivian and I regrouped.

  Vivian snorted. “I’m not going to kiss anyone just to win this stupid initiation. I would just like to go back to sleep, if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, come on!” Kristin retorted. “We still have time to find someone. A cute someone? I thought Amya had already finished; otherwise I wouldn’t have let you come back so soon.”