by Aaron Slade
I was so caught up in pretending that I was human, that I forgot I wasn’t. I had to remind myself that I was the reason that the Military was holding the registration. I was being hunted, so that I could be killed. Being extra-human was significantly more difficult than it ever was being human.
When class ended, Evee and I headed towards the cafeteria. I walked next to her with a new confidence. Talking to my classmates had been an invigorating experience. Just knowing that some of the people were capable of pleasant conversation gave me more faith in humanity– well, extra-humanity.
Evee, Adam, and I joined the rest of the group in the cafeteria. Randy had become a full-time member of our lunch table, sitting in the same seat across from Sara every day. Seth talked about his registration and how he’d been mistaken for an actual little kid.
“They asked me if I’d lost my mommy. It took some work to convince them I’m seventeen.” Seth propped his drooping head up on his fists, pouting.
“I accidentally started a fire in my registration,” Randy added, glancing down and nudging Seth. “The guy got burned and yelled at me.”
The whole table found it humorous, even Seth. I could see Randy actually wanted to cheer up Seth. The two next to each other looked ridiculous– like a giant next to a dwarf.
Adam kicked my leg under the table, grabbing my attention and pointing to the back of the cafeteria. I turned around in my seat, looking in the direction he pointed. At first, I didn’t know what I was looking at, but then I saw her. Zana. It was unmistakably her walking back to the gym– the dark exotic features I’d seen in Uncle Jesse’s memory. Seeing her was less significant than I thought it would be. This was the woman who had planned to kidnap my uncle and best friend, but when I looked at her, that wasn’t what I saw.
I saw a woman, who was younger and more beautiful than I imagined. If I were just meeting her on the street, I would never guess that she was capable of such evil as murder and capturing innocent people to be exploited. It took me a minute to recognize that she had an aura. Despite how dim it was, I could see that it was as black as the clothes she wore. It gave me chills to look at it. Not the chills Evee gave me, but something bad. This felt more like a cold shiver down my spine.
I turned around, wishing I could hold Evee’s hand. We made eye contact, which prompted her aura to pulsate like a heartbeat. It made me happy and confident that I had such an effect on her.
When lunch ended, Dad announced on the intercom that they were now at the end of the alphabet. Dad appeared by my side and we walked straight to the gym from my lunch table, followed by Adam and Evee. Dad spoke as we approached the gym doors.
“I’m going to sign the three of you out for the rest of the day after Casper’s examination,” he said. “I’ve already informed your parents.” He whispered, “The further you are from Zana, the better.” He opened the door, leading the way.
There were four stations at the front of the gym blocked off with white-sheet medical partitions. Students formed lines, waiting their turn to go behind them. Dad and Adam teleported to their own corner to keep watch. Evee and I approached the end of the lines when I hit something in front of me– or something hit me. I fell to the floor as if I’d just been run over by a stampede, and was suddenly aware of another presence.
“Watch where you’re going, Casper,” said a voice. Shelby Mason turned visible, showing me her snide smirk. Being harassed by an invisible person was low, even compared to what I’d been through.
“Back off,” Evee snapped. She took three steps towards Shelby, who, for a split second, looked scared.
The joy of interacting with my classmates of fourth period would be short lived. Shelby must have missed the memo that people were being nice to me now. Colonel Ford walked over to where I was on the ground, helping me to my feet.
“You better apologize, young lady.” His words boomed with a strict authority.
I didn’t need this– Evee fighting my battles for me or Colonel Ford making my offender apologize. I felt emasculated and weak, especially in front of Colonel Ford.
Shelby looked at me and then back to Colonel Ford. For a second I thought she considered just walking off, but Colonel Ford was too intimidating to ignore. “Sorry, Casper,” Shelby mumbled.
“No worries,” I said. “I read in A Guide to Extra-human Traits that invisible people are often unaware of themselves and objects around them. I’m not surprised that’s made you a rude person without manners.”
Colonel Ford snickered at my comment.
Shelby rolled her eyes and walked away.
For a moment, I wished she hadn’t walked away, because now we were alone with Colonel Ford. He smiled at me, but I couldn’t help but think the show of courtesy was an act. His expression changed as Evee moved near him, unable to hug him in her phantom body. It made me sick to watch her pretend like everything was fine.
“Shouldn’t you be in class?” Colonel Ford asked Evee.
“We’re not even having class due to all of this,” Evee said, pointing at the students in line. “Besides, Principal Vance is going to sign us out of school for the rest of the day when Casper is finished. We’re thinking about going to get a bite to eat.” She could lie so effortlessly to her dad as if it was nothing. “Of course, I can’t eat cause someone made me come to school in my phantom body.”
“Sorry,” Colonel Ford replied.
I saw a shadow on the ground coming from behind me. When I turned around, I was face to face with Zana, a living nightmare from Uncle Jesse’s memory come to haunt us all. It wasn’t a shadow I had seen, but her dark aura, furling like a thunderstorm cloud. The air around me was wet and cold and my mouth became parched. Her eyes appeared normal, but I couldn’t look away from them. Her exotic beauty was striking, but her presence was chilling.
“Casper, this is my dad’s friend, Zana,” Evee said. Evee’s face did nothing to hide her distaste.
Zana gave a curt head bow now that she was being acknowledged, but made a repugnant face in Evee’s direction that Colonel Ford couldn’t see.
“Frost has mentioned you once or twice,” Zana said. She reached out to take my hand, gripping it more aggressively than necessary. “He told me Evee finally had a boyfriend.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, nervously shaking her hand. “Is this your first time in Fallon?”
“I’ve been here once or twice before,” Zana said.
Of course I already knew her answer, and how she planned to force Adam into her group. In a second, I realized I hated her, and her smoggy aura nearly disappeared before I put my negative sentiments in check. I desperately wanted to give into to my revulsion for Zana, but I couldn’t.
“Are you with the Military?” I asked. “I noticed you’re not in a uniform.”
She looked at Colonel Ford before she answered. “I work for a private benefactor. My employer works closely with the Military and is very interested in catching this criminal.”
I acted as if I believed her lies. “It’s a shame he’s a criminal,” I said. “Flying is too amazing to belong to an offender.”
“It is a shame,” Zana said. “And what do you do if you don’t mind my asking?”
Everyone grinned when she asked me, even Colonel Ford. Evee shook her head apologetically at me in an extra effort to make Zana feel ignorant.
“I beg your pardon?” I said innocently. I understood her, but I had to keep up the charade.
Evee rolled her eyes, looked at me, and then up to Colonel Ford, and shrugged her shoulders. I could see there was something personal between her and Zana.
“Your EHT?” Zana said, using Military lingo. “What is it?” “I don’t see what’s so funny.” She sounded frustrated.
“You’ll have to excuse us, Zana,” Colonel Ford said. “It’s pretty common knowledge around Fallon that Casper doesn’t have an ability. He’s a bit of a celebrity for it.”
“Don’t mistake fame for notoriety,” I corrected.
He n
odded sympathetically, laughing a little. “Some people in Fallon have an unwarranted prejudice for Casper. But Casper is strong enough, and he doesn’t let it get to him. He may even join the Military after his graduation in a few weeks.”
I caught Evee’s eyes, but I continued to act as if I was completely at peace with not having an extra-human trait.
Surprise and fascination spread across Zana’s face. I was more interesting to her as a human than I was as extra-human. “You’re the human?”
I shrugged. “Well according to Colonel Ford, we’re all human,” I said. I took pleasure in being difficult with her.
“Yes, but… you don’t have an EHT?” she specified.
“Nope,” I replied simply, still smiling.
“I’m wondering if we should even waste our time, making Casper register,” Colonel Ford said. “Although we probably should to avoid making it look like you’re getting special treatment. The school might not like it if the principal’s son didn’t have to participate.”
Students already thought Dad gave me special treatment, but I agreed and went to take my place in line, realizing that for a moment I’d almost been free of this registration. I kept my eyes on Evee and her father. Her cyan eyes met mine occasionally to see how far I had advanced in the line. Zana kept gazing at me as well. Her curiosity about me made me nervous, but I was more concerned that she was so close to Evee.
Five students stood ahead of me in the line. The person in front of me glanced over his shoulder, and opportunity struck my brain. It was Michael Valentine– a precog. He didn’t bother to acknowledge me– the two of us had never said more than a word to each other in the few classes we had together– but I had to talk to him. I needed to know how the future worked. With Evee distracted by Colonel Ford and Zana, I wanted to ask Michael a few questions. But I didn’t know how to start a conversation organically with someone who, more or less, despised me.
I tapped Michael on the shoulder. I found myself grateful that he was my size or a little smaller. He turned around and his lips pursed. “Do you need something?” he asked.
I’d already struck a nerve just by getting his attention. I couldn’t ask him directly about Evee’s future, so I tried a different approach.
“I was wondering how your ability works?” The conversation was already awkward. I should have at least asked him how he was doing, but I was so desperate for answers I didn’t think.
“Why are you here?” Michael asked. “You don’t have an EHT.” He didn’t hide his general distaste. He wasn’t exactly up there with the old Randy or Allen Young on my list of bullies, but that didn’t mean he wanted to associate with me.
I could prove to him that his expectations of me were wrong. “I know, but they have to look at me anyway,” I responded. I tried to be polite as possible to get the answers I wanted.
“Why do you want to know about my ability?” he asked. “Jealous?” He had a right to be suspicious. We’d barely talked in four years of high school, and all of a sudden, I was hitting him up for information.
I tried to sound innocent and harmless. “I just want to know if you’re ever wrong about the future?” I said.
My curiosity puzzled him. “I’ve been wrong before,” he said, trying hard not to look at me directly. “But it was more the way I interpreted my visions.”
This was exactly what I wanted to hear. “What do you mean?”
He didn’t want to elaborate any more, but he reluctantly continued. “First of all, you should know that seeing the future is different for everyone who has the ability,” he said. “I can only see my future, but there are other seers out there who can see everything about the future. Sometimes visions are triggered by something like a touch or an emotion. You have to stay open to what the visions mean.”
“Wow!” The chapter in Dr. Miller’s book hadn’t explained anything like that.
Michael continued. “When I said I’ve been wrong, what I meant was that sometimes I see something, but my vision was incomplete. There’s usually more to the reality than I can see in my vision. Sometimes I never understand my visions until they happen in my present.”
It was a joy to know that not all predictions came true. I convinced myself even more that Evee wouldn’t die. I could change the future. I knew that I was capable of preventing whatever would happen. There was something more the seer lady hadn’t seen.
I stood behind Michael for what felt like an hour. The line moved slowly; it took about ten minutes for each student to be examined. I could tell Michael began to enjoy conversing with me when a dim orange aura appeared around him. It took a little time for him to be comfortable around me, but eventually we discovered that we weren’t so different. We both knew what it was like to have parents at the school and what a pain it could be. I had his father for third period, and apparently, Mr. Valentine thought I was a gifted student according to Michael. When it was Michael’s turn to go behind the curtain, I was sad the conversation had to end.
“It’s been good talking to you, Casper,” he said.
“It’s too bad we’ve waited this close to graduation,” I pointed out. I felt tempted to say I could have used more friends in high school.
“Be sure to enjoy that for me,” he said. His look turned sad.
His words caught me off guard. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not going to graduate. I think my grades are bad.”
“You think?” I questioned.
He wasn’t proud, but he tried to explain. “I’ve flunked a few tests, and I’ve looked into my future. I can’t see your dad handing me my diploma. When I look further into the future, I still don’t see myself with my diploma. But keep it between you and me… I haven’t told my parents yet. They won’t be happy about it.”
I nodded my head. “I’m sorry... I wish I had known. I could have tutored you.”
He shrugged in apathy. “Don’t worry about it. I should’ve worked harder.” The conversation ended when he went behind the curtain.
I waited in silence for my turn.
Evee stood next to her father and Zana. Adam and Dad watched me intently by the door to the gymnasium, keeping their distance from Zana. Adam looked like he was ready for anything. He kept his eyes on me, the crowd of students, and Colonel Ford talking with Zana. My conversation with Michael left me in such a good mood that my gold aura gleamed. I had new confidence in facing the registration.
Michael walked out from behind the curtain in silence, and a man held the curtain open for me to enter. There were two chairs in the cramped space sitting opposite from each other. The man dressed in Military medical scrubs and latex gloves, holding a clipboard with several pages of random forms. He didn’t bother to introduce himself, but he gestured for me to sit down in a chair next to a big machine connected to computer monitors. The machine was connected to an odd-looking helmet device, which he strapped to my head. It was a heavy, spidery-looking helmet with several cords and wires sticking out in all directions.
The medic grabbed my hand and forced my right thumb against a pad that copied my finger prints. The screen brought up my entire medical history. The Military kept records of everyone’s thumbprints from birth for security reasons. The medic made a few notes on his clipboard
“I’m going to start by asking you a few questions,” he said. He kept his focus on the clipboard.
I nodded, and the heavy headgear beeped twice, starting a low humming noise like the sounds of fan vents.
“Name?”
“Casper Thomas Vance.” I spoke clear and deliberately and adjusted the helmet on my head.
“What are you parents’ EHTs?” he asked. His voice sounded monotone.
“My mom is a speedster and my dad is a teleporter.” This was simple enough.
“What about your grandparents?”
“My dad was an orphan and was raised on the Military Base, but my mom’s mom could heal people’s injuries with a touch. My mom’s dad had heightened senses. His hearing
, especially.”
He continued writing, so I thought I did a decent job of explaining their abilities. “Where are your grandparents now?” he asked. “Do they live here in Fallon?”
“They both died before I was born,” I said. I’d never thought much of my grandparents cause they didn’t play a role in raising me. Adam never knew his grandparents, but Sara and Seth both knew theirs and lived close to them.
“What about your aunts and uncles?” the medic asked.
“My mom is an only child, and my dad’s brother is a mind-reader.”
It was three minutes before he quit writing and took his eyes off the clipboard. “Describe to me, as best as you can, your talents.”
Silence.
“I’m talentless.” I smirked, waiting for him to catch on to the joke. I was in such a good mood that an amber hue dazzled off my skin, but thankfully, no one could see it except me.
“This isn’t a game, son,” he said seriously. “We’re trying to catch an offender of Military Law, and there’s a very real chance that they live in this town. Now, what’s your extra-human trait?”
“I don’t have one,” I said. “I’m human.” I’d said the words so many times that the phrase had its own rhythm, melody and convincing quality.
The shock hit him. He raised his head sharply and looked at me. “Oh, right! The Vance kid. Well then, I think we’re done here.” He chuckled a few times, no doubt relieved to be done from a long day of dealing with high-schoolers. “The picture of your brain doesn’t reveal any ghost matter anyway. See?”
He turned the computer monitor to face me. It was a little surreal to see a three-dimensional image of my brain rotating on the screen, but nothing stood out on the picture. I followed every twist and curve, inspected every individual lobe, but there was nothing. I was relieved, but at the same time confused. Why did my brain not show any ghost matter?
Once the bizarre helmet was off my head, the doctor opened the curtain for me to leave. As soon as I stepped out, I noticed Adam and Dad staring at me. I smiled to let them know that everything was all right. Evee’s phantom body snuck up on me stealthily, and jumped through my body from behind.