The Chosen Ones: Red Smoke

by Mitchelly Melo

  I smiled and turned to the others. Isys now seemed more excited than ever.

  "Elizabeth, are you all right?" Runne said, coming up to me.

  "I'm more than fine," I said, still feeling ecstatic. "Runne, you have to try. It's incredible. It's like flying.”

  "I would, but I don’t want to die," she said, and sat down again.

  "Runne yelled when you fell," Zal said with a laugh.

  "I think she thought John wanted to kill Liz," Isys said. "And if she doesn’t want to go, I want do."

  John climbed back onto the edge of the terrace, Isys soon following him. She stood to his right, taking his hand and they both turned back. I walked to the edge of the terrace and looked down. I could hear Isys scream like she was right next to me. I walked away smiling.

  I walked over to Runne and leaned down to meet her eyes.

  "Why are you do grumpy?" I asked.

  "You may think it is, but I don’t think defying death is fun, Elizabeth.”

  "All right, Runne. If you don’t want to jump, you don’t have to, but you have to be nicer with John, okay?”

  "But he yelled at me.” She said it as if he had disrespected her.

  "I know, but he was just worried about me, remember? If it was you in his place, wouldn’t you have done the same? Didn’t you say I was your friend?”

  She didn’t answer right away, she thought about it for a few seconds. She scowled, looking at me with half-closed eyes, when she realized I was right.

  "All right," she said sharply.

  "Good," I said, smiling. "Are you sure you don’t want to go?"

  “Yes. I'd rather stay here looking at the stars.”

  "Okay," I said, standing up.

  I went to where John was now standing, again dusting off his clothes. Isys practically emanated energy. A strong flame began to burn in her hand.

  "Isys..." I said, looking at the fire.

  She looked at it and made it disappear immediately, starting to laugh.

  “Sorry. I'm very excited. John, can we go again? Please?”

  "It's not just you, remember? I certainly do.

  "That's right," Maena said, coming toward us, ignoring John. "It's not just you, Isys. I'm next.”

  John and Maena climbed onto the edge of the roof and I joined Zal and Isys, who were leaning against the wall. I stopped and watched as Maena approached John and took his hand. She turned her head to me quickly, as if I had called her.

  "Don’t worry, Liz. I'm not going to grab him more than necessary,” she said, smiling.

  I tried to smile, but I'm sure it didn’t seem very sincere. She could hear every thought of mine, no matter how deep it was, and that wasn’t a very pleasant feeling. They jumped into the air the next second, but not before John looked at me and smiled. Some time later she and John appeared, hitting the floor.

  I continued to watch John and the others for some time. John seemed to enjoy himself every time, which made me extremely happy. It was good to see him having fun and forgetting his obligations. It was good to see them all enjoying themselves, temporarily forgetting the fear that surrounded our lives. When Zal began to prepare to go the third time, I went back to the Runne.

  "Do you think they're almost done?” She said as soon as I got there.

  She looked completely bored.

  "I don’t know," I said. "But if you want, I can ask John to take you home."

  "No, I don’t want to disturb them. They seem to be having fun.”

  "They do," I said, turning to look at them. “Come on, get out of that corner. Come and see more closely.”

  Runne got up and we stopped where John and Zal were now climbing on the ledge to jump. Runne sat on the edge, watching. Zal and John jumped up and I looked at her, eager for her reaction. When I laid my eyes on her, they seemed dead. They didn’t look at anything specific, they were just still and open. Before I could do anything, her static body fell back.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Runne! I screamed

  Maena and Isys looked down, perplexed. I did the same and I could still see her, motionless and with dead eyes, before she began to distance herself. I put one foot at a time on the edge and climbed up quickly.

  "Liz, what are you doing?" Isys was already starting to cry, as if Runne were already dead. But she isn’t, I thought.

  "Saving her," I said.

  Without thinking, I plunged headlong into the air. I tried to direct myself to where Runne was, which wasn’t difficult since we fell from the same place. The closer I got to her, the more I could see John, a short distance from Runne, and his expression of despair. When I got close enough, I grabbed her by the waist, curling one leg with hers to make sure I wouldn’t let go. Only at this moment did I realize that if I failed, we would both die.

  The floor was frighteningly closer and I approached John. I heard him shouting my name, his voice breaking. As we stood by them, I held out my hand and John did the same. I stretched as hard as I could, but it still didn’t reach him. Zal was holding hands with John, standing between us and him. He reached out his right hand and grabbed mine, bringing me closer with all his strength. I finally got John's hand. The ground was getting closer.

  He entwined his fingers in mine; taking away my fear of actually hitting the ground, which only appeared in the last few seconds. A short time later I felt a shock go through my body and then a tingle.

  I felt my head hit the ground, the Runne’s weight making the impact greater. I heard another noise and turned my head. John and Zal were also lying on the floor beside us. I realized that I was panting. I pulled Runne off me, laying her on the floor. She was still the same way, staring into nowhere. John got up quickly and came up to me. He held me tightly for a few seconds and I closed my eyes, resting my face on his chest.

  “Why did you do that?” He said, looking me in the eye.

  I know he cares too much about my safety, but I still couldn’t help but get a little irritated. I had saved a person's life, after all.

  “What?” An annoyed expression was beginning to appear on my face. "Runne had fallen, what was I supposed to do?"

  "Not jump! You had no way of knowing you would reach her, or even me. You could have died!”

  "Was I supposed to let her die?”

  "Of course not, Liz. I would have caught her.”

  "But you couldn’t get her by yourself. If you went back to leave Zal on the roof and throw yourself again, she would already be dead on the floor. And if you let go of Zal's hand to try to reach her, he would die. Would you do that?”

  He knew I was right, but was too angry that I had risked my life. Suddenly I frowned, remembering that John hadn’t brought us back to the terrace; I had. Now I had his power too. He continued to look at me with an irritated expression.

  "I did the right thing," I said, coming closer to him. "I did what you would have done.”

  "But I could go back safely."

  "And if you couldn’t, you'd do it anyway!"

  "People," Zal shouted. "She's still the same way."

  "Did anyone check her pulse?"

  As soon as I spoke, I felt a fear taking over me. What if she was really dead?

  "She's not dead," John said, answering my mental question. “She’s having a vision.”

  "Have you seen her like this before?" I said.

  "Yes," he answered without looking at me. "Just when she gained her powers, before she..."

  “Went crazy?” Maena added.

  "She's not crazy," I said quickly, feeling obligated to defend the unconscious girl.

  "Before she isolated herself," John finished, looking annoyed as well.

  “What should we do?” Zal said.

  "All we can do is wait," John answered and went to sit where Runne was. He was worried; I could see the lines forming involuntarily on his forehead. But he tried to disguise it.

  I kept looking at her, waiting for her to wake up. She didn’t blink, she seemed to look through us. Seeing her like this on
ly made me recognize how she suffered from her power, and selfishly made me wish I didn’t have that power for myself. Never.

  I went to John and sat next to him. I didn’t say anything, I just stared at him. I wouldn’t apologize for saving my friend.

  "So ..." he began, still looking irritated. "It looks like you won’t need me anymore."

  “What?”

  "My power," he explained, finally looking at me. His eyes gleamed. "You have it now.”

  “Oh, yes. It wasn’t on purpose. I still can’t control that part.”

  "It was instinct. You felt you were in danger.”

  "I don’t know how I appeared on the roof so quickly.”

  "You're doing very well in controlling your powers. I think it must be another advantage of being an Aster.”

  I nodded, smiling crookedly, suddenly getting embarrassed. I didn’t like to argue with John, but he needed to understand that I no longer relied on his protection. I had to defend myself — and I wanted to — with the powers I had gained. What would be the purpose of getting them if I wasn’t going to use it?

  "I'll always need you, John," I said after a quiet time. "And I'm not talking about your power, I'm talking about you."

  John took my hand.

  "Liz, you don’t know what it's like. For months, my job has been to protect you. And after very little time, I didn’t do that because it was an order. There was something about you. Something different.”

  He stared into my eyes with a clear despair on his face.

  "Some time ago you asked why I had that picture of you." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I kept it because spending the day with you, or taking care of you, wasn’t enough anymore. I needed more. More than looking from a distance, seeing you from afar. I wanted to meet you. When I went home, I could only think of your green eyes,” he said, running his fingers on my cheek. " and the time came that I had to talk to you."

  "When you walked into Joe's and ordered coffee," I reminded him.

  I remembered the first time I saw him; immediately noticing his beautiful eyes. Now it seemed like it had been a long time ago. I smiled at the memory.

  "Yes. I wasn’t allowed to talk to you in any way, but at that point I didn’t care.”

  "But it took a few weeks before you spoke to me and told me the truth.”

  "Until that day I was listening to Zal's advice. He told me that it would be better to obey the orders or at least keep the slightest contact, but I couldn’t.”

  “Good. If it weren’t for you, maybe I'd still be in the dark about all of this.”

  "Look, Liz, I know you're going to use the powers you have, and knowing you, I know you're going to try to save everyone in need, but you also have to understand that it's not easy for me to see you putting yourself in danger.”

  “John...”

  He was clearly distressed.

  "Liz, you have no idea how much I love you, and I refuse even to think about losing you. I refuse.”

  I smiled at the sweet words coming from his mouth. Being loved was everything anyone could want, and this was the first time I felt loved that way. With such veracity, depth and passion.

  "John, I love you." He smiled.

  Another expression other than that of happiness seemed strange on his face.

  "I love you from the moment you kissed me for the first time. Probably much earlier.”

  He pulled me to kiss me.

  "I know things have changed," he said. "Now you're the most powerful of us all. But I think you always were. I think I'll have to adjust. To accept that danger will always be a part of our lives.”

  "But I'm the same person," I said, wrapping my fingers through his. “I'm the same Liz.”

  "Just not so fragile," John finished.

  “And that's bad?”

  "No, but what that implies is. You being the most powerful, you are also the most likely to get hurt. The idea scares me. And I don’t like being scared.”

  We heard a loud panting and got up quickly. We rushed back to where the others were sitting around Runne, but she was now sitting looking at us. She seemed bored, as if this happened regularly. I soon remembered that really did.

  "Runne, are you okay?" I asked as we approached.

  "I guess I jumped after all, didn’t I?" She said, smiling casually.

  "Did you see what happened?" I asked, puzzled.

  “Of course I did, Elizabeth. I'm not dead.”

  "But you looked so..."

  "I was having a vision. That's how I get when it happens," she said.

  John reached out to help her up. She grabbed his hand and rose, quickly recovering.

  "It’s like I'm daydreaming," she continued. "Except I'm also aware of what's going on around me.”

  She frowned.

  "Wow, saying like that sounds weird," she said, frowning.

  "It's because it's weird," Maena said.

  "And reading minds is not weird at all, is it, bald girl?" Runne fired, making Isys give one of her fine laughs.

  "Neither of us is weirder than the other, okay?” John calmed them down.

  "So, what did you see?" Zal asked.

  “The forest.”

  “That’s it?” I asked, clearly disappointed. For all the work, I expected at least a good clue.

  "Yes," Runne said. "It was like I was walking in the woods. It was cool. I even liked it. It was calm.”

  "It wasn’t very nice here for us. You almost died, and Liz risked her life to save you,” John said.

  “That’s true. Thank you, Elizabeth, "she said, smiling. "It seems like having a friend is not so bad.”

  Runne hugged me with the blink of an eye, then walked to the door.

  "I guess we’re calling it a night," Zal said.

  "I guess so," John agreed.

  We got into the elevator and John put his arm around me. I leaned against him and rested my eyes a little. Only then did my body shake. Runne and I could have died today.

  "So..." Zal said, breaking the silence. "Now Liz has almost all of our powers.”

  "That's pretty cool," Isys said. "I wish I could do that."

  "I don’t want to imagine you with my power, Isys," Zal laughed and Isys pushed him away.

  "Do you think Maena's power would be helpful to me?" I whispered to John while the others chatted.

  “Why the question? I thought you didn’t want her power.”

  "And I don’t, but we both know this is no longer about what I want or not. The wise thing to do would be to have as much advantage as possible. You know, if the hunter finds me.”

  I felt John shrink, annoyed at the thought. But he knew that was the reality, so he didn’t try to make me give up.

  "So, in that logic, will you get Runne's, too?"

  "If I have to, yes." I felt my body shake even more with the possibility.

  "Liz, you don’t know how it can affect you. You saw what happened today; do you want to go through that too?”

  I was obviously afraid of Runne's power, because in addition to being the most useful, could also easily break a person. I saw how Runne was before. I wouldn’t be useful broken.

  “You're right. We'll leave it as a last resort, "I said. "But Maena's?"

  “It's your decision.”

  I thought for a few seconds and decided to simply give in to this part of myself. I was finally going to become a Chosen One. I was going to believe that being an Aster wasn’t just a coincidence. As we walked to the car I reached out, touching Maena's arm as lightly as possible. I looked back and saw John watching me carefully. I touched her arm and waited for the shock, but nothing happened.

  “Come on!” I said louder than I wanted.

  “What are you doing?” Maena said, turning around.

  I was silent for a second.

  "Trying to take your power," I said, almost whispering.

  She reacted exactly as I expected. Angry. It wasn’t so implicit, but I suspected she didn’t want to stop being unique.
>
  "Liz's getting ready in case she needs to fight the hunter," John explained.

  "Smart," Zal said.

  Maena reached out reluctantly and I touched her again, closing my eyes. Almost immediately I felt the shock now familiar. It didn’t surprise me anymore, so it didn’t make me almost fall. Everyone remained silent as we got in the car to go home.

  "Are you feeling all right?" John asked as we left.

  "Yes," I said. “I can’t hear anything.”

  "And you won’t," Maena said dryly. "It's like a radio; you'll only have music if you turn it on.”

  "And how do I do that?”

  “It's not that easy. It took me months to learn how to control it.”

  "Try me," I said with a not-so-friendly face. I didn’t like to be underestimated, that was a certainty.

  "First, focus on the person you want to hear," she began. “Of course, if you want to understand better, I suggest you listen to only one person at a time.”

  “And then?”

  “Hang on. Your mind will understand what is happening and the thoughts will come from the person's mind to yours. But it won’t be easy at first.”

  “All right.”

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on Maena's face. For a few minutes I only heard Isys's voice talking low with Zal in the backseat. Then I heard the wind in my ears as John drove through the quiet town. I stood still and suddenly heard something low, but it increased by the second. It started out as a buzzing but quickly turned into a voice. Another person speaking directly in my mind.

  "I bet just because she's an Aster she thinks she's better than me. I want to see when she doesn’t hear anything…” I heard loud and clear in Maena's voice and I gasped with fright, and despite what I had heard, I couldn’t help but smile.

  “What happened?” John asked.

  "I heard it," I said, smiling. "And no, I don’t think I'm better than you, Maena. I'm smarter than to think I’m better than anyone, actually,” I said, turning to her.

  Maena stood still, looking at me in surprise and clearly ashamed. Certainly, she was only ashamed because I could hear it and not of the thought itself.

  "I didn’t think you could control it that fast," she said in a low voice.

  "I believe an Aster can control her powers faster. Certainly it was so with Isys and Zal’s powers,” John said with a smile.