by Aaron Slade
His words stupefied me. “So you’re going to skip college?” The job sounded sketchy and oddly like working for the Military. “Think about what my dad would say. He would encourage you to go to the University to study.”
“It’s not that simple, Casper,” he said. A trace of frustration resonated in his voice.
“What did she offer you? Credit?”
“When this woman first approached me, she made it sound like a job offer, but it’s not!” His anger spiked, but he tamed it before he continued. He turned his head to look off the deck into the green yard. “She said I can either work for her willingly… or she had ways of making me take the job. She’s come to check on me a few times. She found me after work the other night at Legacy. She instructed me to prepare myself for life away from Fallon.”
“She can’t do that,” I said. “You have a choice, Adam. Who is this woman anyway?”
“She said her name is Zana. Zana Marcelo.” Adam cringed as if he didn’t like the taste of her name in his mouth.
The name sounded strange and unfamiliar– definitely not from Fallon.
Adam kept his head low. “I can stay in school until graduation, but she expects me to go with her after that. She says I’ll be serving the Territories in the most honorable way a person can. She tried to make the offer sound appealing, but I don’t trust her.”
I tried to think of someone we could tell. If she really did work above the Military, going to the soldiers for help wouldn’t do anything. “Maybe we should tell our parents.”
“I don’t want to worry them,” he said. “Besides, my parents would be too busy to notice anyway.”
“But what if we…”
“Listen,” Adam interrupted, “I’m going with her. I thought about fighting her. That’s why I fought that night in Vegas, but I’m only good at running. I wanted to tell you so that you wouldn’t be surprised when I disappear after graduation. I’m scared, but I’ll be alright. Military recruitment is a way of life– it keeps our society running. I just never thought I’d be drafted into an elite group.”
“This isn’t right,” I said. I had to do something, tell someone. I couldn’t lose Adam to the Military or any elite groups. I needed my friend, my brother.
“Don’t be sad,” he demanded. “You need to have fun on your date tonight. There’s still plenty of time before I leave, and thanks to my ability I can come back any time I please.”
Just as Adam finished his sentence, Uncle Jesse burst through the door. He grabbed the hammock and rolled Adam out of it. Before Adam hit the ground he teleported to the chair opposite me. Uncle Jesse made himself comfortable in the hammock with a big grin on his face.
“Grow up,” Adam said.
“Someone has to keep you teleporters on your toes.” Uncle Jesse adjusted himself in the hammock and then turned to me. “Big night, huh? I’ve just been listening to your parents’ thoughts, and you’ll be happy to know they plan to be in bed when you get home so as not to bombard you with questions.”
“That’s a relief,” I said. I focused my thoughts back on the date, hoping Uncle Jesse would stay out of my head, and Adam’s head.
“But tomorrow your mom will want to know everything,” Uncle Jesse said, laughing.
Adam turned his attention on me. “Are you nervous?”
“I think eager is the word I would use,” I told him. “After tonight, maybe she’ll be my girlfriend… and she said she was going to explain her ability to me. Finally!”
“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Adam said. “Now that you mention it, I think I’m a little eager too. I’m dying to know what her EHT is.”
“She hasn’t told you?” Uncle Jesse asked. “She must not like you because she told me the first time we met.”
“She didn’t tell you,” I corrected, “you read her mind.”
Uncle Jesse’s cheerful expression made him look much younger. “If it makes you feel any better, what I saw didn’t make a lot of sense. What has she told you?”
I tried to think of how to explain it to him. “She hasn’t told me, but she’s shown me,” I said. I tried to recall my memories of the faint blue aura that Evee gave off for Uncle Jesse to see in my head. The rays of cool cyan light that engulfed her body so elegantly would surely make him curious.
Uncle Jesse turned silent, but he was obviously intrigued by my mental images. “I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said. “Whatever it is… it’s not something I can really describe in words. Beautiful doesn’t really seem to cover it. The girl is undoubtedly a gem.”
“I wish I could see it,” Adam said.
Adam was out of the loop on this one. He wasn’t capable of reading my mental images.
“I’ve been calling it an aura,” I said. I don’t think she plans on hiding it much longer. She knows the mystery is driving everyone crazy.”
We speculated about Evee’s extra-human trait a while longer, but none of us could explain the cyan hue. Uncle Jesse had a good theory. Flowers used bright colors to draw in bees and other insects. He thought that maybe Evee’s glowing was for something like that - purely aesthetic.
“I’m going to take you to the lake just a few minutes before seven,” Adam said. “Then I’m going to show up around nine to see if you are ready. I’ll be in the lobby, so just meet me there.”
I checked a clock and saw that it was five until seven. “We need to go,” I said. I took a few deep breaths to calm down. I’d already started to sweat in the tuxedo.
“Don’t choke!” Uncle Jesse said.
Adam placed his hand on my shoulder. “We’re off!”
We appeared in front of the restaurant, and before I could say anything Adam teleported away. I wanted to thank him for sparing me the half hour drive, but he was gone. I stared at the restaurant and hesitated for a moment.
Here we go, I thought. I can do this!
I stepped forward and climbed up the steps leading into the lobby. From the front, the building looked like a lodge built out of wooden logs. I entered the lobby and saw Evee sitting on a bench waiting for me. She looked around trying to find someone she recognized, and I knew her eyes were wandering for me. She wore the lavender dress from the museum. I sat down on the bench, without her noticing me until the last second.
“Hello,” I said casually.
“Hi,” she said through her smile. The words exited her lips in the same fashion as the first time she spoke them to me. She kept her hands folded in her lap.
“So I’m supposed to have dinner with a girl tonight from my school,” I said. She smiled and caught on that I was pretending not to recognize her. “But when I entered the lobby and saw you, I thought… that you are the most gorgeous extra-human being I’ve ever seen. It may break this other girl’s heart, but would you have dinner with me?”
Her smile seemed to brighten the whole room. “I would love to have dinner with you, but what about the other girl?” she played along.
“I think she’ll understand,” I said. I stood up and offered Evee my hand, but she refused it. The rejection stung a bit, and I wondered if I’d done something wrong. Let the second-guessing myself begin.
She walked over to a well-dressed man behind a podium who sat the guests. She shot me a mischievous grin accompanied by a sparkle in her brilliant eyes. The man led us to our table.
The host took us out onto the deck that jutted out over the calm water. At least a dozen other couples from Fallon sat on the deck, enjoying the tranquil ambience of the lake. One or two gazed away from a meal and looked at me like they knew me, but I ignored them. The host placed us in a secluded corner and pulled Evee’s chair out for her to sit down. I sat with my back to the rest of the people on the deck. I liked the idea of not being able to see anyone besides Evee.
The sun was setting, but a small patch of gold lingered in the sky where the sun would eventually disappear. Violet and rose-colored wisps of clouds surrounded the last bit of yellow sun. A pale image of the moon grew brigh
ter, and even a few stars could be seen in the darker parts of the sky. The colors of the sunset danced on the aqua surface of the lake like red and blue blazes of flames.
“This place is amazing,” Evee gushed. “It reminds me of sunsets on the ocean.” Her cyan aura began to glow through her skin as she smiled– drawing me into her like Uncle Jesse said. “The ocean is off limits in coastal cities due to the Military’s strict boundary laws. Only soldiers can go out into the ocean. Civilians can only enjoy the beach and walk a few feet out into the water.”
The waiter showed up and took our drink orders. Evee ordered water while I ordered lemonade.
“I have something to say,” Evee said. She looked slightly worried. “I won’t be eating any food tonight.” She sat still with a coy smile, as if trying to interpret how I would react. The brilliant cloud around her disappeared, as if she sucked it back into her body.
“What? Why?” I felt confused. I thought the whole point of having dinner was that we would both eat. My plan was to pay for her meal in an attempt to be a gentleman since she had refused to let me drive her. I felt compelled not to eat now, which was unfortunate because I was hungry, and the restaurant was known for great food.
“I still want you to eat,” she added.
Relief spread over me. I had wondered what we were going to do until Adam got here at nine if we weren’t eating. The goodnight-kiss seemed like less and less of a possibility. Evee being my girlfriend felt like even more of a longshot suddenly.
“You confuse me sometimes,” I confessed. I did my best not to sound insulting, but I couldn’t deny my frustration.
“Why is that?” she asked smiling like it was a joke to her.
My head hung low slightly. “I’m not sure. There are times when I think you want to be close, and then there are times when you are intentionally distant. Why wouldn’t you take my hand in the lobby?”
“There’s a reason for that,” she said.
“It’s because I’m human, isn’t it?” I asked. My tone was blunt, and she looked shocked that I had said it. “It’s easy to be close to me when we’re alone, but out in public is a different story.” All of my insecurities rushed to the surface.
She was silent and looked at me still grinning, and the awkwardness was broken when the waiter brought us our drinks. I ordered my favorite meal of salmon and steamed veggies. Evee informed the waiter that she would not be eating, which prompted the waiter to give me an odd look. Either he sensed the tension between Evee and me, or he could read our minds.
When the waiter was gone, she continued. “Do you not like being distant, Casper?”
What kind of question was that? I could tell she was in one of her playful moods, but I was missing something.
“I don’t,” I said. I felt the annoyance leak into my every word. “When I’m with you, Evee, it’s like I don’t have to be ashamed of what I am. I feel normal– I like feeling normal. There’s a certain pride I have in knowing that you chose me. I want to hold your hand. I want to walk with my arm around you. I want to kiss… you.” I paused on the last confession, wondering if I had gone too far.
“I want all of those things too, Casper,” she said, “but I don’t kiss on the first date.” She shot me a wink. “I don’t want to rush anything. I want things to happen perfectly in their own time. And I don’t care at all that you’re human!”
I couldn’t tell if my pride was hurt or not, but part of me felt ashamed for my comments. I was happy to be reassured that being human didn’t bother her. I told myself that the night could still be perfect without the kiss. But like her aura, her lips drew me in like an insect to a flower. Everything about her triggered a lustful, magnetic connection between us.
“You know the perfect time for a kiss could be tonight,” I said.
She laughed and shook her head. “Such a boy. Afraid not.”
“The other things are alright though?” I asked. “I can hug you and hold your hand?”
“Yes.” She struggled to contain her laughter. She set her hand on the table with an open palm.
I reached out to place my hand on hers. I felt more confident for a split second, until I realized that I couldn’t feel her hand in mine.
“What the fire!” I exclaimed. It was as if her hand was a mirage, teasing me. Every time I tried to make contact my hand went through hers like a hologram. “What’s going on?” No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t touch her.
Evee smiled. “This is my ability, Casper. I thought this would be an interesting way of showing you.”
I was confused but I ventured a guess. “You can… phase through solid objects?” I asked. I didn’t understand her EHT exactly, but I guessed there was more to explain. She wasn’t glowing either, which is what I wanted to know about the most.
“I can right now,” she said.
“What do you mean… right now?” I asked. I recalled that Evee had held my hand plenty of times, so I knew that I was able to touch her.
“I’m not really here,” she said. She waited for my reaction.
“Where are you, if you’re not here?” I asked. My eyes wandered around the restaurant. I looked back at her to wait for an answer, admiring the colors that bounced off the lake onto her skin.
“I’m in my room right now,” she said.
I knew I looked confused. Evee did her best to be sensitive, but still struggled to contain her giggling.
“It’s called mental projection,” she said. “My mind can leave my body, but it’s not my mind… it’s just my consciousness and the image of my body that it takes. It’s a type of psychic extra-human trait, so technically Sara wasn’t far off in her guess. I’m just a different kind of psychic.”
I recalled that her father had told me that Evee was unique. I had never heard of an extra-human trait like this before. And it still didn’t explain her glow. I digested all she said in my attempt to know everything about her. The more she spoke of her ability, the more I liked it and felt how fitting it was for her personality.
“So this is why you wouldn’t take my hand?” I asked. It also explained why she wouldn’t let me drive her here. I reclaimed some of my lost confidence when I put it together.
Evee nodded with her smile. “I’m actually in a sleep-like state in my room back at the Military Base. My physical body sleeps, while my phantom body can do whatever I want it to. Don’t be mad, but you’re not the first to know. I told Sara yesterday, but only because I planned on telling you tonight.”
I wasn’t mad. My mind raced over the possibilities of how she could use this to spend more time with me. The waiter brought me my food, but neither of us paid him any attention as he placed the plate in front of me. Evee continued to explain.
“My ability can work over any amount of distance,” she said. “Kinda like teleporting, but sometimes if I go somewhere too far away, I lose my ability to speak.”
“Like… you can’t communicate because your physical body is so far away from where you’ve sent your phantom body?” I asked.
She confirmed that I understood and continued.
“My dad would at times see two babies in my crib after I was born,” she said. “It was a while before we figured out what exactly it was.”
I thought of how interesting it was for her growing up with such a unique ability. I could tell she liked her extra-human trait despite the fact that she had waited until now to tell me.
“In San Diego, it was the only way Dad would let me out of the house sometimes,” she said. “He just worried that the city was unsafe. And I can’t be hurt in my phantom body– nothing can touch me.” She pushed the image of her arms through the table to demonstrate.
“So how are you sitting in the chair, right now?” I asked.
“Well technically I’m not,” she answered. “I’m just able to visualize myself sitting in the chair and my phantom body makes it look like I am.”
I smiled at her and realized that I was looking at the most special and b
eautiful person I had ever met. I think she knew what I was thinking. A part of me felt jealous of her ability. It was the same jealousy or envy I had for Adam or Dad. Abilities could be magical, and Evee’s EHT lived up to the mystery for sure.
Her faint aura of cyan returned and brightened up our corner of the deck when the sun was almost gone. The hue was faint– sometimes I couldn’t be sure that I was even seeing it, but it was there. It matched her blue eyes perfectly, and I was in awe.
“Well I’m glad that mystery is solved,” I said. “Why do you call it a phantom body?”
“My dad named it,” she replied. “He’s kind of an expert with rare abilities, and he thinks it’s important to name all the traits of an EHT for proper documentation.”
“So are you going to show everyone in school what you can do now?” I asked.
“I’m not going to hide it anymore,” she said casually. Her aura gave a small, brief flash like a camera.
I smiled at her. “Maybe you should for my sake,” I said jokingly.
“What do you mean?” She was still smiling, but confused by my statement.
The cyan hue radiated from her skin with a charming glow. Like bees drawn to a flower, I thought.
“If people see you like this, they’re going to think you are even more beautiful, and I might have a problem,” I said. I was trying to be charming, but I had obviously confused her even more.
“Casper,” she said, “I look the same in this body as I do in my physical body.” She examined her arms and shoulders.
“I know,” I said. “I’m talking about the way your phantom body glows.”
She fell silent and still. “Casper,” she began hesitantly, “I - don’t - glow.” She said the words slowly.
“I know it’s not a glow, but more of an aura, right?” I asked.
Silence. “What’s an aura?” She looked more confused than me.
“Think of it as… the color of …,” I trailed off. “What do you call it?” I was surprised no one had ever compared her glow to an aura before.
She waited with a stumped look on her face. “I don’t call it anything, because… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”