The Ultimate Sacrifice Read online

  “How about counting? When someone makes you mad, you count.”

  “Seriously? Are you joking?”

  “No.” She didn’t look amused.

  “I try to ignore people, but sometimes they keep going and going. I can hold it together for a few comments, but it’s when those people keep at it that I lose it.” I explained.

  “And what happens when people do keep at it?”

  “The power consumes me. It taunts me,” I admitted. “It wants me to use it.”

  “Then what?”

  “Mira steps in.”

  Dr. Frost sat back in her chair. “What if Mira wasn’t there?”

  “Jana would have gotten very hurt.” That fact sat hard. “I don’t want to hurt her. I just can’t stop myself.”

  “What about walking away?”

  “When it gets that far, walking away doesn’t seem to be an option.” My teeth played with my bottom lip. “Do you think I’d be able to give myself that shot, the one the teachers could use to knock me out?”

  Our eyes met and she was silent for a minute. “If you can’t walk away, I doubt you could knock yourself out either.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. “Probably not.”

  The bell rang. “Kassia, if you find yourself in another situation, try to walk away or stop it. See if you can.”

  I nodded, knowing that was pretty much impossible.

  * * *

  Mira and I walked arm in arm into the dining hall for dinner. We grabbed our food and sat down at our table. Mira had turned her chair around and was talking to someone else from another table. As I started eating my dinner, Finn walked over and stood in front of me.

  He was glaring at me. “How could you?”

  “I’m afraid you’re going to have to elaborate,” I said, shrugging. I had no idea what he was talking about.

  His face turned red. “Jana. Last night. Ring a bell?”

  “How did you find out?” I thought Mira had compelled her to forget.

  “I have ways. Really, Kassia, how could even try to hurt her?”

  “Seriously? That bitch? Why are you so upset?” I didn’t see what the fuss was about.

  “What did you just call her?”

  His raised voice made my heart start pounding. I felt the fire start to build in my body. I gripped the side of the table turning my knuckles white. “A bitch.”

  He closed his hands into fists and pounded them on the table. “Don’t call her that!” he yelled.

  I shivered as the burning, tingling sensation shot through my body.

  I heard Noe’s voice in the distance. “Mira!”

  In a split second, Mira’s hand was on mine. “What are you doing?” she asked, looking back and forth between Finn and me.

  I wasn’t backing down. He was the one who came up to me and started it. I held my stare. Mira shoved Finn out of the way and got in my face. “Stop it right now!” I followed Finn with my eyes. “Kassia!” She put her hand on my face and turned it so I was facing her. “Stop!”

  Our eyes met and my anger disappeared. “Ugh!”

  Mira squeezed my hand. “You okay now?”

  “Define okay.” I blew air up at my long bangs, which covered my forehead and hung in my eyes.

  Noe slipped into her seat across from me. Auralee walked up to Finn and was talking to him. All the kids in the dining hall were silent and watching us.

  I stood up knocking the chair over and stormed out of the dining hall. Out in the night air, I tried to get a hold of myself. Mira followed. “Hey! What’s going on?”

  “He came up to me and started with me! But, I can’t even have an argument without my stupid gift getting in the way!” I yelled angrily.

  “It’s okay. It’s over. Nothing happened.”

  “Nothing happened because you intervened. I could’ve hurt him!” I thought about what Dr. Frost had suggested. There was no way I could just stop it or walk away.

  “You didn’t. Now, do you want to go back to our room or do you want to finish eating?”

  My stomach rumbled. “Eat, I guess.”

  She nodded and we walked back into the dining hall. Everything had returned to normal. I sat back down, picked up my fork, and finished eating my dinner.

  Chapter Three

  That night, the same nightmare woke me again. People in black suits were chasing me. They wanted to capture me, to use me, to make me into something bad. I woke up in a sweat. I glanced over at Mira to make sure I hadn’t woken her up. She was still sleeping calmly. I let out a deep breath. Okay. I’m safe. I curled up in the window seat again, so I could see the courtyard below. Nobody was out there, nobody was coming for me, it was just a normal courtyard… at 2:12am.

  I stayed in that spot until dawn. Right before I knew the alarm would go off, I slipped back into bed.

  At breakfast, I noticed some new kids were sitting at our table. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but this irked me more than it should have. I stomped over to the table. “Excuse me, who do you think you are?”

  They all looked up with shocked looks on their faces. There were four of them. Two girls and two guys. The smallest, a dark haired Asian looking girl stood up. “What?”

  “This is our table. You need to go.”

  She glared at me, looking me up and down. “And just who are you?”

  Someone nearby snickered. “I’d move if I were you.”

  “Shut up, Karis.” Someone else whispered.

  I ignored them. “I know you’re new here, so I’ll let this one go. Move now and don’t sit here again.”

  The girl was about to say something else, but the boy sitting next to her stood up. “It’s okay, we’ll go.” Our eyes met and lingered for a little bit. His eyes were a medium brown with specks of gold. He smiled, which made his face light up. Then he winked at me, which sent a spark, a very different kind of spark than I was used to, through my body.

  The four new kids moved to a different table. I sat down and tried to take some deep breaths. Calm down, Kassia, it’s all over. I talked myself down. Mira sat next to me. “You good?”

  I nodded. Anxiously, I twirled my hair around my finger.

  “Then what the hell was that about? Our table? Since when do we have assigned tables?”

  “Since today?”

  “Okay… I’m gonna go get the food today. You…relax.” She patted my hand. “Zane? Sit with her.”

  “What? Really?” Zane responded.

  “Has she ever hurt you?”

  “No.”

  “Then relax Zane!” She got snippy.

  Zane sat down. “Morning Kassia.”

  “Morning Zane.” I smiled sweetly. “Listen, you’ve got to lighten up around me.” He stared at me, his jaw hanging down. “I have no desire to hurt you.”

  “But that could change at any time,” he said, his voice shaky.

  “I’m working on that. But, even if I got mad at you, do you think Mira would let me hurt you?”

  “No, but she’s not always around.”

  “Can you think of a time she hasn’t been able to stop me?” I asked. He shook his head. “You’re Mira’s friend, you’re my friend, I like you. I’m not going to hurt you, but you have to relax. Can you do that?”

  “I can try.”

  “That’s all I can ask. Thank you.”

  Mira arrived back with the food. She placed a plate of food in front of me. Instead of my normal cereal or waffles, she had brought healthy food. “Fresh fruit and yogurt for you.”

  “Is this a punishment?”

  “Maybe.”

  I laughed. “Fine.” I bit into the banana and stole a look at the new kids who had settled in at another table. “Wonder where they came from?”

  “Does it matter? They’re here now.”

  “Noe didn’t mention them.”

  “Maybe Noe didn’t see them.”

  “What didn’t I see?” Noe asked, sitting down with us. Auralee sat next to her, wearing a t-
shirt that said, ‘I respect your opinion, I just think it’s stupid.’

  “Them.” I nodded in the new kids’ direction.

  “Oh yeah, I saw them.”

  I looked over at her. “And you didn’t tell us because?”

  Noe’s piercing amber eyes shot me an annoyed look. “I didn’t realize I needed to report everything I saw to you.”

  “This would have been classified as an important detail.”

  “All I saw was them here at school. They didn’t do anything.” She looked over at them. “The boy though…I see him talking to you.”

  “Which boy?” I asked a little too quickly.

  She laughed. “The one with the sun-kissed hair. He’s going to look over here in five seconds.”

  I counted in my head and sure enough, he looked over and caught my eye. I didn’t look away; I waited for him to first. “What’s his gift?”

  She was quiet for a minute. “Can’t tell. I can’t see him using it right now.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “The Asian girl, she’s a lie detector.”

  “Nothing fancy.”

  “The darker boy, he’s a telekinetic.”

  I shifted my gaze to the brown skinned boy with short, black hair. There were a few telekinetic kids here, Finn included. It was neat to watch them move things with their minds. We finished breakfast and went to class.

  * * *

  When I walked into my second class of the day, the new girl was talking with some of the kids. Her eyes were wide and her lips were in an O shape. When she saw me, she stopped talking and stared. The other kids followed her gaze. I knew they were talking about me, about my gift. “Morning everybody.” I raised my eyebrows and smiled at her as I walked by. “By the way, whatever look you were going for, you missed.”

  Laughter filled the room. She turned beet red.

  Auralee was on the other side of the class. Hey Auralee, she scared of me now? I asked in my mind. She nodded without turning towards me. I laughed. Auralee could read minds. I knew she’d be nosy enough to check out the new kids’ minds, but normally she tried to stay out of other people’s heads. If we said her name in our mind though, she’d listen. The teacher came in then and class started.

  * * *

  “I controlled myself this morning,” I told Dr. Frost that afternoon.

  “Really?” She seemed surprised.

  “I didn’t let myself get too mad about a situation.”

  “What was the situation?”

  I told her what had happened at breakfast. “I didn’t lose control,” I repeated.

  “That’s good, Kassia. However, it worries me that this small situation upset you so much.”

  “But it didn’t!”

  “You made these new kids move though?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s our table.”

  “You couldn’t sit somewhere else?”

  Well, this wasn’t going the way I had thought it would. I sat back in the chair reluctant to say anything more. Here I was proud of myself and she had to go make it into something else.

  When the bell rang, she sighed. “I guess I’ll see you Monday.”

  “Sure,” I mumbled and walked out.

  The sun was out and the courtyard was full of students. Mira was by my side in minutes. “It’s the weekend.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  The school had events set up during the weekends that were optional to attend. Some were fun. There could be dances or parties. Other times, they had lessons like dance or art. Tonight was movie night. The weather was nice, so they’d bring out the projector and show movies on the side of the school.

  “We going to the movie tonight?” I asked.

  “Sounds good.”

  “Let’s do lunch in town tomorrow though.”

  “Okay.”

  I caught the new kids looking over at us during dinner. Auralee was being especially open. “The little one keeps wondering about you, Kassia. She’s having a hard time believing what she’s heard about you.”

  I laughed. “I don’t think she’d want to test it.”

  Her green eyes met mine and she smiled. “The golden boy wants to talk to you. He keeps going over what to say in his head. He thinks you’re hot,” she said, giggling.

  Mira rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on.”

  “What? You have a man,” I teased.

  “I do?” she looked surprised.

  “Yes, he would do anything for you.” I nodded over to where Zane was standing.

  “Really Kassia? We’ve been friends for years.”

  “Exactly. You’re made for each other.”

  She stole another look at him. “I don’t know. But, you…you could have any guy here.”

  “Sure. They’d all be scared into loving me so I wouldn’t hurt them.”

  Mira laughed. I loved how her eyes lit up when she was happy. “Should keep them from cheating.”

  “Face it, Mira. I’ll have to marry you. You are the only one who could tell me how it is.”

  She shook her head. “Great…if only you were my type.” We both started laughing.

  After dinner, we made our way to the courtyard. As we walked towards one of the small trees, we passed the new kids. “Are you going to make us move from this spot too?” Arian asked.

  A few kids nearby stared at her in horror. I thought about what Dr. Frost had said to me, and then I laughed. “Of course not silly, this isn’t our spot. Gosh, who pissed in your Cheerios today?” I then continued walking until we reached the tree. I sat down and leaned against it. Mira was staring at me. “What?”

  “You never walk away.”

  “I’m trying. That is what you want me to do, isn’t it?”

  Speechless, she nodded, and sat next to me.

  The movie started. It was an action adventure movie with some romance thrown in. About halfway through the movie, Noe leaned over and whispered, “Five minutes.”

  “Five minutes until what?”

  “He comes.” She winked.

  “Do you know more than what you’re telling me?” I asked.

  “There are some things that people shouldn’t know in advance,” she said and turned back to the movie.

  “That’s not fair.” I pouted. She didn’t turn back around. I felt like tugging on her long ponytail and making her talk, but she’d know it was coming.

  Of course, now I couldn’t concentrate on the movie. I was trying to watch him out of the corner of my eye. Sure enough, a few minutes later, he slipped away from his group. He came up behind me and hesitated, but only for a few seconds. Then he was next to me. I looked over at him and tried to act surprised. “Hi,” he smiled.

  “Hi,” I whispered back.

  I waited; he sat silently watching the movie. Finally he spoke, “Sorry ‘bout this morning.”

  “No biggie.”

  “Arian is just acting out a little, she’s insecure. I hope you can understand.”

  Next to me, Auralee started coughing, obviously trying to cover up a giggle.

  “Yeah…sure. Are you uh…with her?”

  “With her? Like dating?” He seemed surprised. I nodded. “No, we’re not dating.”

  “Oh.”

  “Does it seem that way?”

  I shrugged. “Well, you’re with her all the time.”

  He laughed. “I don’t know anybody else here.”

  “Fair enough. I’m Kassia.” I stuck out my hand.

  He took it with a firm grip sending a warm sensation up my arm. When he smiled, I noticed his smile was just a tad bit crooked and he had a dimple on the right side. “I’m Daxton.”

  “Now, you know someone here.”

  “I guess I do.”

  “Where ya from?”

  “River Oaks,” he answered. River Oaks Institute was the other gifted school on the east side of the country.

  “Oh, why the move?”

  His face turned darker. “I
’m not really sure. We were transferred here, but we weren’t told why.”

  “Odd.” Transfer usually didn’t happen without a pretty big reason.

  “Tell me about it.” He was silent again.

  I wondered what he was thinking. I stole a look at Auralee, but she sat still. I waited for what seemed like a very long time. The movie played on. I happened to glance back to where Daxton had come from. Arian was glaring at us. “Are you sure you and Arian aren’t together?”

  He followed my gaze. “Yeah, but she’s not a big fan of yours.”

  I heard Auralee chuckle. I kicked her.

  “So, it’s just seeing you with me?” I asked.

  “I guess. She’s a friend.”

  “Hmmm.” I’d have to think about that one. “And you want to be my friend?”

  Our eyes met and I felt that pull again. “I’d like to be your something,” he whispered, without looking away.

  Slowly, it seemed like our bodies were leaning closer to each other. I could feel his warm breath on my face. I licked my lips as the urge to kiss him built up in me. It was almost as bad as losing control and hurting someone. I felt like I couldn’t control my emotions. My body wanted to take over.

  “Kassia.” Mira grabbed my arm. “You okay?”

  Our gaze was broken and I looked over at her. She looked concerned. I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I was a little miffed that she had interrupted.

  Daxton looked dazed as well. “Well, I wanted to introduce myself properly. See ya later.” He stood up and walked back to his seat.

  I wasn’t sure what to make of that. I leaned back against the tree. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. Arian was talking to him, her hands flying around. She was obviously mad. He gave her a hard look and she stopped. Then he looked over at me. He smiled, catching me looking at him. I returned the smile and then turned back to the movie.

  After the movie was over, Mira and I walked back to the dorm. “What happened earlier?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” I paused. “There was like a connection. Like we’re supposed to be together.”

  “You looked like you were locked on.”

  I nodded, pulling out my ponytail. “It felt a little like that. An intense feeling. I wanted to kiss him so bad!”

  She giggled. “I’ve never heard you talk about someone like that.”

  “I’ve never felt like that, not even with Finn.”

  We got ready for bed and chatted a little longer. I hoped for a dream that night instead of a nightmare, but apparently that was too much to ask. The nightmare came again right on time, waking me up in a sweat, forcing me to check the mirror, and then wander over to my spot on the window seat.

  I searched the courtyard looking for something out of the ordinary. It was empty yet again, and I was able to breathe easier. But, something in one of the other buildings caught my eyes. A movement? I looked harder and gasped, quietly. The new boy, Daxton, was at his dorm window staring at me.