Extraordinary

by Amanda McGee

  “There’s not enough training in the world for this,” Blaze said.

  “I still don’t know how you guys ended up here,” Tristan said. “Traveling through worlds is no small accomplishment. I am quite eager to learn what or who brought you here?”

  “How much time do you have?” I asked.

  “As much as you need,” he answered. “Should I make tea or something?”

  “I don’t drink tea,” I blurted. “I mean, no. Thank you. No, thank you.”

  And forever. I need forever.

  ****

  Chapter Eleven

  The four of us positioned ourselves around the dining room table as if an important conference was about to commence. Sadie moved a vase of yellow, pink, and orange daisies from the center of the table, vigilantly giving them a new resting place on the countertop between the stove and kitchen sink. Tristan sat board straight with his elbows resting on the tabletop, attentively awaiting the details of our unbelievable story. I questioned if I was as eager to know the answers to our questions.

  Blaze already appeared bored. A one-time explanation of our journey was enough for him and I supposed being present in the event counted as explanation number one. That part of the conversation was not his concern. Sadie, on the other hand, enjoyed nothing more than the opportunity for chatter.

  “Gosh, where to start?” she said. “So much has happened and we barely have enough time to process one thing before something even crazier happens.”

  “I guess it all started with our Mom’s journal,” I added.

  I explained the story of the self-revealing journal entries and how that led me to Aunt Leah. Tristan sat with his chin propped on his hands, focused on my every word. He remained hushed until I arrived at a point of the story that stirred him.

  “Why exactly?” he asked. “You just met? You all act like you have known one another your whole lives.”

  “Danger,” I said, utilizing air quotes. “Rumor had it that our abilities would remain hidden as long as we were apart. Our parents felt it was too great a risk so they separated us to protect us. Considering our predicament after only a few days together I’d say they had the right idea...in theory.”

  “So now you have each other and the gift of enchantment,” he said.

  Ugh, he is sarcastic too. Can he disappoint me at all?

  “We are just beginning to learn of our abilities,” I said. “I have visions that warn of danger and dreams that seem to offer insight relating to people I have met or will meet.”

  Memories flooded my brain as I recalled the dreams of Tristan. Heat radiated across my cheeks transforming me into the quintessential blushing girl-with-a-crush. I covered my face with one hand hoping to keep it private.

  Now he was real. He had a name and he was sitting right beside me. I could reach out and touch him. Skin-to-skin contact. I could run my fingers through his magnificent hair...

  Is it hot in here?

  “I can hypnotize!” Sadie screamed. “Well, so far it only works on bugs.”

  The unexpected volume of her outburst caused us all to jump. Me more so than the others since my train of thought had drifted into outer space.

  Sadie’s animated expression morphed into a look of defeat.

  “That’s still pretty amazing, Sadie,” Tristan said. “You should take pride in being extraordinary no matter what that entails.”

  Compassionate and perceptive. Crap.

  His words were short and to the point, yet seemed to be exactly what Sadie needed to hear. Sadie sat up straight, shoulders back, head held high and her buoyancy returned.

  Captivated, I gazed at Tristan, watching him interact with Sadie. My stomach continued to somersault while my heart told me that I was in trouble.

  Shut up, who asked you?

  “Yeah, I guess it is pretty special,” she said. “Blaze can throw lightning bolts or something.”

  Blaze, in no rush to respond, simply shrugged. I couldn’t think of how to clarify the statement further either. It all happened so fast, none of us were sure of what we saw and Blaze didn’t seem interested in trying it again. Who could blame him?

  Sadie was the only one of us in any kind of hurry to use her powers. My migraine inducing visions and Blaze’s lightning hands weren’t exactly a barrel of laughs.

  “Let’s just say the last time my power showed itself, we ended up here.”

  Blaze spoke his peace then stared back at us. I knew this look already. It was his that-is-all-you’re-getting-from-me face. He wore it a lot.

  “It’s amazing the lengths your parents went to protect you,” Tristan said, guiding us back to the story.

  “We never knew each other existed,” I said. “Our lives were completely separate until a few days ago. It was quite a shock. Then to find out magic was real and we can do it, well you can imagine our surprise.”

  “Can you do anything Tristan?” Sadie asked, still distracted by magic talk. “Does everyone here have some type of magical ability?”

  “For the most part they do. Some have psychological capabilities like you and Alex and some have a knack for spells and such. So, tell me, how did you manage to end up here?”

  The fact that he notably avoided answering the question of his abilities did not go unnoticed. Nervous anxiety rushed through me. I wondered if we talked too much or if he wasn’t comfortable discussing his magic.

  “Oh my gosh,” Sadie interrupted. “Alex, your arm. I forgot all about it!”

  With all the commotion, my shattered arm was the last thing on my mind and everyone else’s it seemed. I had felt no pain and no longer carried it pressed into my stomach.

  “Why doesn’t hurt?” I asked. “It was shattered!”

  I rotated my shoulder forward and back then bent it several times at the elbow. No pain.

  “Look!” I said. “Nothing!”

  Blaze, determined to investigate the situation himself, examined my arm from shoulder to fingertip, then repeated the process again in disbelief. My favorite cardigan was stained with spots of blood from Sadie or injuries I never knew I had. Yet, no broken bones or gashes were present.

  “How is this possible?” I asked in a panic.

  “How can you even ask that?” Blaze asked. “We have friggin’ super powers, who knows what that involves?”

  “Maybe this world healed you,” Sadie suggested, looking to Tristan for verification.

  “Not likely,” he said. “Certain people in this world are healers but the world itself has no actual abilities, other than housing our power.”

  “Alex has a new power!” Sadie screamed.

  “Well, at least I haven’t lost the ability to be shocked,” I said.

  “Amen,” Sadie added.

  “This is just great,” I said, wishing their attention would divert elsewhere.

  The three of them gawked at me.

  Step right up folks! Come see the bearded girl.

  “Katerina,” I blurted, putting the focus back on Tristan’s original question. “Well, Blaze sort of, but Katerina started it all.”

  Blaze groaned his version of an apology and shuffled anxiously in his chair. Noticing a look of perplexity on Tristan’s face, I clarified by explaining that a witch named Katerina dropped by and destroyed my home. Tristan moved to the edge of his chair while I described, in full detail, Katerina’s assault on Sadie and the part where Blaze intervened and ultimately we were sent plummeting into Haliwick. As I finished our tale, a burst of air erupted from his lungs. He had been holding his breath.

  “Katerina?” Tristan asked. “Who was your mother?”

  “Rachel Ryan. Well, Edwards was her maiden name.”

  “You are them!”

  Tristan paced around the room, occasionally glaring in our direction like one of us was the Queen of England and he was flabbergasted that she was in his kitchen. Running his fingers through his wonderfully messy hair, he mumbled incoherently to himself until the awkwardness had us all squirming in our cha
irs.

  “Why are you acting weird?” Sadie asked.

  “Yeah dude, what’s up with you?” Blaze grumbled, causing me to snort at his use of the word dude.

  "I just didn't put it together," Tristan answered. "How could I be so..."

  Tristan halted his pacing and returned to his seat at the table. His fingers combed through his hair another time before he clasped both hands together and rested them on the table.

  “Katerina is the reason your mother left this world,” Tristan said. “Every part of the story is unusual and fascinating to us all. Especially since it is extremely difficult to travel through worlds and is nearly impossible survive out of this realm.

  “The magic in this world runs much deeper than visions and hypnosis. The true power of this realm is stronger than any power you, outside of this realm, can imagine. Certain people possess the ability to break through realm barriers and alter a person’s genetic material so that they may live in an otherwise lethal environment. These are the people who helped your mother.”

  “Lethal environment?” I asked.

  “Wait,” Blaze blurted. “Can we survive here?”

  “It is obvious that your half-human, half-magic DNA allows you to live in your realm but maybe not here for very long.”

  “For very long?” I asked. “You mean, we will die here?”

  “I can’t say for sure,” Tristan said. “I can only speculate. Our atmosphere was constructed as a form of protection for us. There’s never been anyone like you here or in your world. Who knows what your genes are capable of? If it’s true then it won’t be immediate, obviously.”

  “You didn’t think to mention this sooner?” Blaze yelled.

  The three of us had been handed a death sentence and, not surprisingly, the news caused severe reactions. Blaze punched the countertop, Sadie started to cry, and I jumped up so fast that my chair slid clear across the room.

  “I’m sorry to have caused such panic,” Tristan said, recognizing the error in his delivery. “This has never happened before. It’s new territory. But if it is true, it won’t be instant. You have time.”

  “Oh, well that’s reassuring!” Blaze exclaimed angrily.

  My head was spinning. Just as I’d grasped one ridiculous concept I was hit with another that turned out to be even more absurd. I was starting to miss being at home, moping around alone. Now we were hunted teenagers with a special talent for magic and attracting evil with a score to settle.

  “I don’t want to die!” Sadie yelped.

  “You aren’t going to die,” Blaze, Tristan, and I said together.

  Silence fell on the dining room. The four of us gazed around the table at one another, somehow comforted by our simultaneous declaration. The tension that once hung in the room like a heavy fog, suffocating us and impairing our emotions and thought processes dissipated into an almost comfortable uneasiness.

  “Okay, one thing at a time,” Blaze said. “We’ve got to try to stay calm.”

  “Says the guy who is never calm!” I joked.

  “Can you blame me?” Blaze asked.

  “If we’re only doing one thing at a time I vote we get the hell out here!” Sadie exclaimed.

  Each of our mouths dropped open at Sadie’s unexpected potty mouth. Yet, she remained unflinching. Her resolve never faltered, she sat board straight, unapologetically owning her words.

  I’m her big sister. I probably shouldn’t find this so endearing.

  “Oookay,” Blaze said. “Let’s figure out how to get out of here.”

  “The hell,” Sadie corrected. “The hell out of here.”

  Sadie’s giggles erupted from a place deep within her. A pure, wholesome place that I predicted took up the majority of her. She was Sadie again. When the laughter faded and her eyes opened they glowed with forceful determination. Sadie was more than a sunny disposition.

  “So all we know is that our mother had to leave here because of Katerina,” I said. “She wanted our mother dead, but why?”

  “Power,” Tristan answered. “From what I’ve heard your mother and Katerina’s feud was a long one. Katerina hated your mother and wanted to destroy her by taking her magic.”

  “So they took her power and let her leave here?” I asked.

  “And she separated us so our power would remain hidden from Katerina?” Sadie added.

  “That does not surprise me,” Tristan said. “Considering your mother’s departure was to protect herself, it is not unheard of that she would go to such lengths to protect you from that same threat.”

  “Yeah but a little heads-up would’ve been nice,” I said.

  “A person is born into magic, it is not learned. Magic is in your genetics and that didn’t change because of your location. But separating you did allow your abilities to remain dormant and therefore hidden.”

  “So we’re walking around with magic beacons?” Blaze asked. “Alerting all enemies of our location? This just keeps getting better.”

  “Katerina’s power centers around dark magic,” Tristan said. “While things like crossing borders are not impossible, they are forbidden. But when your soul is evil, following the rules goes against your character. I would imagine that Katerina wasn’t aware of who she was chasing. If I had to guess, I’d say she didn’t know your mother had passed until she arrived.”

  “What does Katerina want with us?” I asked. “Is this some kind of payback for the drama between her and our mom?”

  “I really don’t have an answer,” he said. “From what I’ve heard Katerina has spent the past twenty years or so consumed by her desire for revenge. Now, for whatever reason, she is putting her energy into you three.”

  “Stupid evil beacon!” Sadie yelled.

  “Well since we’re here we should find out!” Blaze announced. “I know I don’t want to get home then feel like I have to constantly look over my shoulder.”

  “I agree,” I added. “We need help. We need information!”

  “That’s the best part,” Tristan said. “I know where to get it—your grandfather!”

  “We have a grandfather?” Sadie asked. “Well I mean I know we do but are you saying he’s here?”

  “He’s the reason I knew you were coming. He’s the gatekeeper.”

  “Jiminy Christmas,” I mumbled to myself. Only Blaze seemed to hear me, raising his right eyebrow in confusion. I shrugged, not wanting to clarify it was just something meaningless I would say on occasion. We had a hard enough time staying on topic. Knowing Blaze, he was not concerned with an explanation anyway.

  “Can we meet him?” Sadie asked, practically shrieking.

  “Absolutely,” Tristan said. “He will be thrilled. He can also answer your questions better than I am able to.”

  “So let’s go,” Blaze demanded.

  “It will be dark soon,” Tristan said. “It’d be best if we go first thing in the morning.”

  “If we’re alive then!” Blaze exclaimed then stormed out of the room.

  Tristan peered at me through squinty eyes leading me to wonder if my expression showed the anxiety that had my heart pounding and my brain melting into mush.

  Don’t waste your time buddy. I can’t even figure myself out.

  Tristan walked over to me, took my hand and led me out onto the patio.

  “You looked like you needed some air,” he said.

  “Air that can kill me?”

  “Are you always so contemplative?”

  I shook my head side to side, even though it was a blatant lie. Tristan was free to assume but there was no need for me to confirm my tendency to think too much. My behavior was best kept between me and those who loved me in spite of it.

  The worry over my unfortunate state of affairs began mixing with the anxiety of just being next to him. The sun was beginning to set as the afternoon air swirled around us. The world seemed tranquil, yet I was a tangle of overactive butterflies and accelerated heartbeats. I mutely stared back at Tristan. For the life of me I cou
ld not think of a single comment or observation to make, clever or otherwise.

  The rush was unlike anything I had ever encountered. I wondered if it was the feeling I had waited eighteen years to have—or, rather, spent eighteen years avoiding. The heart-pounding, head-spinning connection you experienced with the person you were meant to be with. That was what fairytales were made of. I was not sure that could exist in real life...or whatever our situation was considered.

  The utter ridiculousness of leaping headfirst into a storybook existence with a person I had just met delivered a blow to my typical logic. Premature emotions were not my usual forte and although the daydreams were exciting, they were far from practical. Not to mention that we lived in worlds that would slowly kill the other person—well, we all hoped it was slow.

  My hands went numb and the tingles trickled into my forearms. My vision blurred like a pair of sunglasses smudged by oily fingertips. A flash of heat rushed from my chest and spread throughout my entire body within seconds. I was rapidly falling victim to a panic attack.

  “Oh!” I managed as the blackness devoured me from all sides.

  I could hear Tristan’s voice. The scene was foggy and his words were muffled. No matter how hard I tried, I could not seem to compose myself or understand what was happening. All I could see were intermittent flashes of Tristan and darkness.

  “Alex? Come back to me,” he said. “Alex, open your eyes.”

  I’m right here, Tristan.

  After an unknown period of time, I awoke to him holding me. The two of us were sprawled across the patio just past the door we had stepped out of. Tristan’s beautiful face stared down at me and not even the concern written all over it could diminish his handsomeness. Flecks of gold sparkled within each of his brown eyes. His soft, messy hair wisped across his forehead, framing his smoldering gaze and weakening what little resolve I had left.

  “What happened?” I whispered, hoping this time my words weren’t in my head.

  “You fainted.”

  “Well, that’s new.”

  I had thought myself into a state of unconsciousness.

  Therapy? Anyone?

  I stayed in his arms though the dizzying in my head had subsided. I knew I’d have to walk away from him eventually but for that moment, I had the perfect excuse not to.